Alive, sans kickin'

Yeah, I'm still around. After losing what turned out to be TWINS, to my second ectopic rupture, I didn't feel much like posting anymore. I've now lost both of my fallopian tubes, and cannot get pregnant. Tragic, for sure. Currently, I'm waiting for yet another surgery, to take care of a scar tissue adhesion that is causing me pain, and a cyst on my ovary. Surgery is scheduled for August. Ugh.

I'm also having some problems with anxiety. My husband is going away to interrogator school on Feb 5, and will be gone for 5 months. Everyone keeps saying, "Oh, that's far away, you still have plenty of time..." yadda yadda. When you live the life we do, moving every 2-3 years, your concept of time changes. 6 months is a HUGE chunk of time. We're moving to Ft. Polk, LA, next July. Yes, it's a year away, but it feels like tomorrow. I'm not sleeping well, because I'm having disturbing dreams about moving by myself, custody issues, and struggling with the idea of being separated from my honey for half a year, only to be separated for a year and a half. Ft. Polk is where interrogators go to be prepared for deployment *sigh*

This summer has gone pretty well, so far, though. The kids have been pretty good, although my 9yr old son has entered the "I cannot tell the truth" phase. It's hard not being able to trust anything he says. I suppose, just like sleepless nights with a newborn, that this is all preparing me for the teenage years ;)

I have been crafting, mostly crochet. AND, I've been knitting! Much thanks to my wonderful mother<, who taught me more from two states away than all the knitting books I've read ;)

So, here are some pictures, just a sampling of some of the things I've been doing. I'm still doing swaps, a handful at a time, and I've really been enjoying sewing a lot more lately =]


Cherry stamp, carved for the "I <3 Cherries" swap on Swapbot


Little crochet mushroom, with hand-beaded straight pins.


Crochet coinpurse, with zipper, and little crocheted cherries (also for the "I <3 Cherries" swap on Swapbot)


Crochet beret, made from a pattern picked p at my LYS. I *love* this thing, and wear it all the time =]


My first finished knitted project, a sock for my iPhone. I really love this, it works better than any other iPhone "case" that I've had!


Wedding cake toppers (prototype). A good friend is getting married next spring, and asked me to make these for her.


Wire-wrapped jewelry sets, made for teacher gifts. (black is Swarovski crystal, blue is faceted sodalite)


Knitted fingerless loves. Again, I totally love these, and wear them a LOT, usually with the crocheted beret above.


Crocheting a super soft, fuzzy, scalloped scarf.

There you have it. I have been busy, despite pain that won't go away, and anxiety that has me jumpin' at the wind. I will make an effort to blog a whole lot more, although I must warn that my pictures may get crappier, as I have been seduced by the convienience of taking them with my iPhone, and uploading them immediately ;) I also tweet frequently over on Twitter!

Knock It Off!

*I keep editing this, because I keep forgetting things. Forgive me if you are using a reader!*




I actually look pregnant, believe it or not. It's not baby, or anything yet, of course - it's all fun stuff, like huge amounts of gas, and water (I'm Jupiter! I'm Neptune! I'm Jupiter! I'm Neptune!)

Anyway, my two favorite pair of pants do not fit me comfortably anymore unless I unbutton them. So, I made a knockoff maternity gadget, that will remain nameless (basically, it's a "Second letter of the alphabet" Band). Too effing easy to make to spend $20+ on one! Sheesh! This band hooks around the front belt loops of pants with snaps, and stretches comfortably to hide the unbuttons and resulting belly gap. Pretty nifty, imo. I might have to make them for my family for Thanksgiving Day use ;)

It's dark, and I am really tired, so I don't have a picture of the K Band in use, but I can assure you, it is in use right now. Every night, I lie on the sofa with my feet up, and my pants unbuttoned, and honestly, it just makes me feel fat. This is much better =]

Here is my little drawing, so that you can visualize my awesome new K Band. Except that mine is made of black cotton/lycra, with black snaps. The short ends are not turned & topstitched or anything; I just serged across them with black thread (they are hidden when they are looped around the beltloops, anyway. Oh, and the other half of the snaps is hidden in the diagram by the folded over ends. There are four complete sets of snaps on this.



I cut a rectangle 5in by [how long the fabric was when I stretched it comfortably from beltloop to beltloop over my unbuttoned pants]. I ironed the curly edges of the fabric flat, ironed a small strip of lightweight interfacing to each end (about 5in x 1in), folded the piece in half long-ways, and stitched up the long open edge. Back to the ironing board, I worked the piece so that the seam was centered in what became the back of the band, and ironed it flat, making sure not to slide my iron around so that I didn't stretch out the fabric much. Serged up the short ends, and applied snaps to the ends. I found that keeping the outer snaps closer to the corners kept the corners from poking out, or getting weird shaping from edges curling, etc.

I used lightweight iron-on interfacing on the very ends of the band, so that the snaps wouldn't rip through the fabric, but the center portion of the band would still remain stretchy. I wish there was stretchy interfacing...

I have some more of this type of fabric, and will probably make a couple more of these. But first, I need a new cap die for my snap press. After surviving countless trips across the country and back, little kids, big kids, men that are fascinated by a sewing "tool", this one die has finally wandered off.

If my mom is reading this: I used some of the black stretchy fabric you sent me ages ago to use on the edges of gloves...it boggles my mind how I managed to hang onto so much of my stash throughout these past 5 years! I think I have a gift...or a problem ;)

I just can't help myself!

More baby stuff:


Free pattern for Noodle Baby Hat from Haakpoes
Free pattern for Grandma's easy 10-step Booties on Ravelry

Yarns are: Red Heart Soft Yarn in white, and Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille in Fruit Salad.

Another Noodle hat - I just love these things! I didn't put the cuff ont his one, although I am thinking I will. I don't really want to, because the cuff is really boring and long to make, lol...but the hat feels like it is missisng something =X

The booties are SO simple, and very cute, I think =] They really take about 30-45mins to make the pair. They are worked flat, and come out looking kinda upsidedown-"T"-shaped, then it's stitched up. Simple! I'm not sure I am going to leave the variegated cord in there; I have ribbon that looks just like that yarn, but would probably be easier to tie/untie.

I added the picot edge to the top of the booties: After completing final row, turn. *Sl st in nxt st, ch1, sl st in same st* across. That's def my favorite picot edge, I tend to use it a lot (like on my mushrooms in the last post).

I spent all day yesterday cleaning. I mean, ALL DAY. I didn't do anything else but clean! lol It was nice, though I still haven't tackled my bedroom (yikes). We need to have someone come in and take a look at our wiring; both bedrooms only have one working outlet now =X Very inconvenient! But I suppose I should make sure that the electrician can actually WALK through the rooms before I call, eh? ;)

Baby, it's cold, I mean hot, I mean cold, I mean....

Wow. I'm like, pregnant. FOR REAL. Puking, peeing, craving, sleeping, demanding, pregnant. Quitting smoking has been surprisingly easy - the smell makes me barf. Unfortunately...wait, I mean UNFORTUNATELY, coffee makes me barf, too! as do eggs, asparagus, and most dairy =[ I'm craving chicken like WOAH - not just any chicken, but Shake -n-Bake chicken. I bought a giant box of it, and have been eating probably 2-3lbs of Shake-n-Bake chicken a day. The last time I had Shank-n-Bake, my mother made it for me. And my mother had stopped cooking by the time I was in jr. high, so it was a looooong time ago!

Oh, for the record, my due date is November 1, but since I will be having a scheduled c-section, this baby will most like be born on Oct 26. I think that is great! I'll be fat when it's warm out- (my mom has always warned be that this is NOT a good thing, but...)-that means that I can get away with shorts and capris, instead of the $70 extra tall maternity pants! Seriously, with my two kids, I spent more on two pairs of maternity pants than I did on their carseats & layettes!

Okay, I'm done being pregnant for now. On to the crafty stuff!

I finished the doodle scarf I had been working on - it only took me a couple days =] Using a heavy worsted wool, I chained until it was ~about~ 6ft long ("Charlie, can you stand up, please?" *measuring chain vs. his height* "Okay,thanks".), and then made loops of chains, fastening each back into it's beginning with a slip stitch. I worked single crochet up the chain, between the loops. I had originally planned to go up one side, then back down the other but I got about halfway back down the 2nd side, and I didn't like it. So I stuck with the one side =] I have already gotten several complements on it and it is surprisingly warm, for how small it is!


Next up, these sweet little mushrooms that I spent WEEKS perfecting the pattern for! (that will be available soon, right here - I just need the weather to cooperate for some pics!). These were made for some swaps: 5 went to KnitSonya, for her Handmade Mushroom Swap; the red one went to Sonya, herself; there are two more, with green sequin spots instead of the white felt spots, and those are going to two different Swapbot swaps.



And, finally, I whipped out this little baby cap yesterday. The cap went really quickly, took less than an hour, but the cuff seemed like it took forever, heh. I just worked on it a bit here and there; while drinking chai, and eating the most perfect raspberry chocolate mousse at Kelly's Bakery (seriously, it was the size of a votive candle, but it was perfect!); worked on it a lot while Charles was taking a cigarette break-he's really sweet, and sits pretty far away from me when he smokes now, but I like to sit out there with him, and chit chat =] I also worked on the brim a lot while Charles was cleaning and sterilising the kitchen to bottle our most recent batch of mead (his brewing blog will be updated this evening). Oh,a nd yes, I did taste a sip of the mead! We bottled the cranberry apple, and it was a lot more dry than we expected, and also a lot more apple than cranberry. Has a weird flavor to it, I think it needs to age for a few months, but Charles drank half a bottle of it last night!

Oh yeah, the hat! The pattern is the Noodle Baby Hat on Ravelry, by Deirdre Fabery.


Oh, and here is an "in progress" picture of the Swirls Cap that I am working on for me! I totally <3 fpdc =]


So...yeah, a lot of yarning going on! I actually have several ATCs that I've yet to post, too, but I need to go work on getting the rest of my Lottsa ATCs for Swapbot!

Crap, see how braindead I am?? I keep forgetting that I have more to say ;) My husband is giving me my progesterone injections every night (100mg), and doing a very good job of it =] Progesterone is the same hormone that is responsible for PMS symptoms, so I'm just not even trying to be "normal" anymore, lol. Anyway, I wanted to publicly dote on my amazing husband, who although pretty apathetic about having a child of his own, has been incredibly supportive, and just all around sweet. I have been getting breakfast in bed, flowers, and VIP treatment since I broke the news to him =] I'm not sure if he is just hiding excitement/joy, or if he is trying extra careful to make sure that the baby and I am okay, because he was so torn up seeing ME so torn up last year.

Either way, I'm enjoying it =]

9257946572687 Cards...almost

And this one by my daughter, who is going to be SEVEN in less than a month! Holy cow, where did the time go?!



So, yes, I have been busy! I've spent a couple hours today taking pictures, cropping, posting, etc, so you'll have to wait for another day to see all the crochet projects that I have worked on =]

Do Wah Dotee

Found this page in one of my older sketchbooks of DoteeDoll faces. Feel free to use these to embroider your own Dotee faces! =]

Black and white and read all over!

I love black and white animals! Almost as much as I love giraffes ;) I carved the zebra, orca, and sleeping panda stamps after sketching out their main shapes from wildlife photos found on the 'net. Identifying basic shapes and patterns in nature is the focus of the next art class I am teaching ;) And I wanted these stamps for a swap I am in...stay tuned for ATCs!

The horse and flower stamps were carved from a piece of paper that I found while cleaning my creative space! I had drawn them a while ago, when I first started carving stamps; I do not remember if they were drawn from a source, or if I actually drew them (I'm sure I didn't draw the horse....but doesn't it have a lovely Mary Poppins feel to it? =)

Last, and probably least, is a felt mini-stocking, created for a swap. I think it's adorable! It is stuffed with a tiny baggie of colourful buttons, ready to be sent off to it's new home in Mission Viejo (I used to live there, in a past life).


Ooooh, it's a jolly holiday with Mary...no wonder that it's Mary that we love...

Baby come back

Ugh, my computer was in the shop forever! I still need to take it to the Apple store to get the battery replaced (before my warranty expires on Nov 4!).

I've been really busy lately! Working in my daughter's classroom twice a week, and also teaching art classes in my son's class. It's awesome, though; not that I enjoy being busy (really, I don't), but I really enjoy kids, and I love teaching, even if it is only in an assisting capacity =]

I have managed to create some things.
Stamps:


You see that little whiskey bottle stamp in that last picture there? My husband carved that! He did a really good job for someone that has never carved before, and claims to have no artistic ability ;)

Collage painting thing:

I created this for the Artists/Crafters Challenge #01 - Juxtapose swap at Swapbot. On a stretched canvas, I used Golden acrylic gel, Golden fiber paste, acrylic paints, some goldfish images torn from a notecard I had, and "bubbles" of Diamond glaze. Diamond glaze is some awesome stuff; I can't believe I didn't pick it up sooner!

All in all, not the most productive month for me, but I have been enjoying myself. I've been feeling really old, lol....my thermostat stays at 68deg, I am asleep in bed by 11pm most nights, and awake at 7:30am! I can barely function before my morning coffee, and, this weekend, Charles and I opted to stay home and watch a movie, rather than go to the big party at a club downtown. Our 22yr old friends just didn't understand *sigh*

It's got me looking ahead, though, which I think is a good thing. I think most people tend to look backwards when they feel old. I've decided that in 10-15years, I want to have a big farmhouse, in a rural-but-not-too-far-from-a-city area, with goats, ducks, llamas and sheep (yaaarn!), and chickens, and a big ole pickup truck, with a bandana-wearing dog, fruit trees, a vegetable garden, and a small field of corn (for my husband). Blackberries, and raspberry bushes, and, dare I say, a clothesline!

See? I haven't turned into my mother! She stays up later than me ;)

Alas, my husband does not share the same goals/dreams. His ideal "grown-up world" is a hammock in Hawaii, a column still percolatin', and a never-endding supply of Volkswagens to work on.

*sigh*

Hawaii has flying cockroaches o.o

When you teach your son, you teach your son's son

SON: "Mom, I'd really like to ride the bus to school this year."
ME: "Ok, we might be able to do that. Will you take care of your sister on the bus? Make sure she is safe, has a seat, and knows where to go?"
SON: "Yes. And if any kids bigger than her pick on her, I will find them in the halls (if the school has halls), and I will tell them, 'HEY! That's my sister! If you mess with her, you have to deal with me!'"
DAUGHTER: "But what if the kids are bigger than you??"
SON: *shrugging* "Then I kick 'em in the balls."

We are making progress in the field of Big Brother Responsibilities. We have never encouraged ball-kicking, though, lol...

STAMPS!

1. My son had been asking me to carve him a worm stamp for a couple weeks. I didn't realize that he wanted a worm coming out of a hole int eh ground, so I taught him a simple masking technique, using POst-It notes =]
2. I carved this deer stamp for my partner in the Hand carved stamp #2 swap at Swapbot. isn't it fantastic?! ^_^
3. I carved a whole bunch of little stamps while at work last Saturday. Some of them are SO tiny! hehe I really like the nautical star, and the hammer and wrench =]

My kids got their hairs cut for school (today is their second day of school, btw). My little girl went through about a half dozen magazines at the salon (if you can call Fantastic Sams a "salon", lol), and settled on a picture of Rachel Leigh Cook that she fell in love with. She was very assertive in the chair, telling the stylist exactly how she wanted her hair, and how she DIDN'T want her hair, hehe.

She had about 7 inches cut off her hair. I was fine with it, but slightly disturbed at how fine SHE was with it. She kept saying, "I'm FINE, mom! If I don't like t, it'll grow back. It's just hair!" It now only takes about half a minute to brush her hair in the morning (down from about 10 minutes!), and we think it looks really great on her ^_^