I'm not dead, yet!

Seriously, I haven't posted anything because Murphy has been unleashing his wretched law upon me! I lost the cord to my camera back in OCTOBER, so my pictures have been held hostage. On the 1st of Jan, I went on a mad rampage through the house, determined to find my camera cord. Of course, I found it the next day...under two photo boxes, a stack of magazines, and a book =X YAY! Oh, wait, not yay...my camera is gone! My usually-so-helpful husband was less than helpful when he assured me that I had my camera in my hand when I went on my cord-hunt =/ I've cleaned, and cleaned, and I can't find it anywhere *cries*

So, I have no new pictures to show you, although I have made TONS of stuff. I made Christmas cards, and stamps, lots of crocheted items (I don't even think I have a crochet post here yet!), pincushions...we (as a family) even made a large handprint turkey for our front door at Thanksgiving.

I suppose for now, I can tell y'all that I am currently working on two bottlecap pincushions (great tutorial here!), and a braided rag rug for under my husband's carboy and fermenter bucket. On Jan 1, we started a batch of cranberry apple mead, and we will be starting a batch of ginger peach mead this weekend. Of course, no pictures on his blog...because I lost my camera. *grumble*

Back to this rag rug. These things are not as easy as they look! I spent a good 3-4 hours sewing the braid together, ending up with a very cute braided BOWL, and tearing it all back apart. I've finally figured it out, and am currently stitching away on it =] I've been home with sick kids since Thursday (respiratory virus; I expect they will both be back in school by tomorrow), so I have had a lot of quiet calm time to work on it =] The reason for the rug is that the bucket and carboy are quite heavy, and I'm always afraid they'll scratch the hardwood if they get slid across the floor. Also, the fermenter bucket sometimes leaks *just a tiny bit*, and so we have been keeping a towel under it. But the towel looks tacky. Especially after we spend 4 hours cleaning, and there is still a bucket sitting on a grubby towel in our front room.

I am working on developing a crochet version* of this wrapped criss-cross shrug. But a little more fitted. And not as thick. And without that horrid fringe. It's not really difficult (it's basically a giant rectangle), but it's a big project for me, and I am having a hard time deciding what kind of yard I want to use, and what stitch pattern I want to use. I was thinking a front-loop back-loop rib, but idk. The only yarns I have a decent amount of are Homespun, and Patons Divine. I've found both will probably be too frustrating for me to make a very large project with. Vanna's is going on sale at Beverly's on the 1st, and I really like that yarn. Plus, I would rather the shrug not be quite so thick as the Homespun and Divine.

I really *LOVE* shrugs. I'm over 6ft tall, and a size 4, so have a hard time finding long-sleeved shirts that fit me well. I also have a pretty rockin' collection of funny (or offensive, depending on who you are, I guess, lol) tshirts, that I like to be able to wear all year long. So, my love of the shrug. They basically turn normal t-shirts into long-sleeved sweater-type things that work very well for me. Also *shhh* I sweat a lot more than I think most people do. Especially at work. Shrugs help keep my little secret hidden, while still letting me look cute (as a bartender should, doncha think?).
List of Crocheted Shrug & Bolero Patterns
List of Knitted Shrug Patterns
I really should practice knitting more. In all honesty, I like the way crochet LOOKS better, but I like the stretch of knit. Oh, who am I kidding? I like that knitting requires less yarn, lol! *cheap!* Although, I did notice that the Lion Brand patterns for that criss-cross shrug require the same amount of yarn for both knitted and crocheted versions.

*While looking up the link for the shrug, I found that they actually have a crochet version. It is much much better, and closer to what I wanted to do with it =]

In other news, we got a really great deal on Sunday. We wanted to go to the flea market, as it was really nice that day. So, we paid the $4 admission fee, only to get in, and find that there were only about 20-30 vendors there! There is usually a couple hundred, at least! Apparently, the vendors were freaked out because it had rained all day Saturday =[ Anyway, we wandered around for a while. I found some books for the kids, and a HUUUUGE bag of rubber stamps (wood mounter, Hero Arts, SU!, etc, all for $1 ea!, and some un-labeled soft pink yarn. But nothing really worth paying the $4 admission. I only bought 2 stamps, as there were almost all giant flowers, ccountry-ish images, and a ton of angels. I got a neat background stamp, and a cool little doodle-y border.

ANYWAY, just as we were started to piss and moan about how much the flea was suckin;, we came across two used, but still usable, Razor scooters. My son had BEGGED for a Razor for Christmas, and his dad got him one. Great. Except that his dad's house is an hour and a half away, and he barely gets to ride the thing. So, we ended up getting BOTH Razors for $10! My daughter wasn't too keep on it. She says she doesn't know how to ride it, blah blah blah. I told her should would have to learn, lol.

Well, I am off to try to figure out why my printer/scanner has stopped finding my computer. I had the bright idea of just scanning in my stamps, cards, etc...and then found out that for some unknown reason, it isn't working.

I shake my fist at you, Murphy!