Making art

After writing that whiny post yesterday, then moping around the house for an hour, I finally lit a fire under my butt and got some work done:
I know you can't tell what it is, but that's because it's my latest design and I don't want to give it all away until I have some better pictures and the pattern typed up and PDF'd.

It's made from some gorgeous hand-painted silk that mom bought at a KW Knitters' Fair a few years ago. She decided she didn't like the colours, so I snagged it off her. I cast on months ago and have been working on and off since then. It's great TV project and is designed to acommodate the beauty and challenges of working with hand-painted yarn.

All should be revealed by the end of the week.

Losin' my mojo and other dissapointments

Well, Horseypie is almost done and Vickey had her baby last week (you can check out Samantha's blog for the details)I just have the back legs left to do, but I really haven't felt like knitting lately... it's a good thing I have until the middle of April to finish it.

I'm almost done the second square of my afghan, but other than that I haven't touched any of my projects. I just really feel like I'm losing my knitting mojo. Maybe it will come back soon maybe not.

In other sad knitting news, Dave's Leo has completely stretched out and is waaay to big now. I think it's the combination of alpaca and silk, it just seems to have no memory.
I'm debating what to do about it, and I'm leaning towards taking it all apart and making my self a shawl... it is really lovely yarn (Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk) just not great for that project.

And....to top it all off, Dave's car has just crapped out on us (which it really shouldn't have, it's only a 2002, with 130,000 km and the engine has been absolutely babied... I'm harder on cars than he is) so we are probably looking at least $2,000 (or more... much more) to fix it.... *sigh* C'est La Vie, I guess.

It's been raining all morning, but the sun is finally peeking through the clouds, so I think I'm going to walk to the store and buy a lottery ticket... things have to look up at some point!

Earth Art

Horsey's not done yet... and baby is still holding out.

I did managed to get the body stuffed at mom's last night, but I still have all four legs to knit. No pictures either because the stuffed body looks oddly fallic and it's just not appropriate for my PG blog.

I will however share with you some of my newest beads.

They came in the mail yesterday and I am ever so excited. I have more on the way too... each one it's own one-of-a-kind work of art.Blue Chalecdony Geode SliceLabradorite (one of my favourite stones)Fire Agate

I got a couple others including a beautiful Amethyst crystal which I may just keep for myself. These will be turned into pendants and put up for sale soon.... but first I have to finish my horse!

Flutterby

Well, I'm happy to say the blahs seem to have abated (no doubt sped on their way by the return of Dave Thursday night... gawd I'm such a sappy girl.)

I have been informed by Samantha that I am probably the cause of Vickey, her sister's late baby. (Baby was due on Tuesday, and as of Sunday night has yet to make an appearance). Apparently the fact that I'm not done knitting for Baby X is holding things up.

I was making the horsey block blankie for Baby X, but as you know, I got bored with it (or just blahhed with it.) However, I found an actual horsey pattern on Ravelry and started it Saturday evening. I'm using the yarn I bought for the horsey blanket (I bought Bernat Baby Sport in bright blue, yellow and orange) but Dave insisted I make it yellow with blue hooves instead of orange with blue hooves. (Why I'm taking colour advice from a boy who is colour blind, I'm not sure.)

I finished the body up today, but ran out of stuffing. And a half-stuffed horse body with no legs doesn't make much of a picture, so you'll just have to wait to see it. Mom is trading me a bag of polyfill for a bag of quilt batting, and with any luck, I can finish the legs and get him stuffed tomorrow so Vickey can finally pop the little rascal out.

I can, however, show you my latest project.

Dress-up faerie wings!!!!

I'm getting ready for show season and wanted to add a few new things to my line up.
These are nice small wings, perfect for little girls for Hallowe'en or dress up. Of course big girls can wear them too (I am making a set for myself.)

I was having so much fun making these until I burnt my hand on the hot glue. It's been a long time since I've used a glue gun and I forgot how darn hot those things get.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be interfering with my knitting, but it still hurts like a sonofanutcracker! (right on the tip of my finger!)

I will have some other new products to show you over the next couple of weeks, and thankfully they don't involve hot glue. (I certainly surprised Dave with the creativity of my cursing - and now he's pretty sure I was raised by sailors)

Ughy....

I'm feeling really ughy... about everything. I think it's because I'm getting sick.

I started attaching blocks of the horsey blanket, but I'm really not loving it now. I think I'm going to find something else to do for her. Like maybe a knitted horse... any suggestions?

I worked a little on my spiral blanket, but I just couldn't work up any enthusiasm for it. I stared at Dave's socks, considered casting on the second sock of the pink pair, but just couldn't muster the strength to touch either. I'd really like to finish the shawl I'm designing, or even the shrug I've got on the go, but neither are getting me revved up. I don't even have the energy to bead or draw.

I could be that I'm just a little lonely too. Dave has gone away for March Break, and I'm not getting the 30 emails a day at work, and the constant ramblings over messenger.

Hopefully it will pass soon. (and he should be coming home tomorrow)

Wow.. this is a really depressing post... okay, enough whining... next post will be more up beat. I promise

Handyman

I've said before that Dave is pretty handy when it comes to doing things around the house, computer and car. And today he proved it again.


When we got up this morning, he announced that he had some shelving brackets and we were going to go to Rona and get the rest of the pieces to make me some shelves above my beading table.


I'd been talking about it for a while, as the studio was in sad need of organization. The wool was pretty well under control, and so were the art supplies and books (other than being a little cluttered... it just needs a spring tidy) but the beads were starting to get out of hand.... even taking over the ironing board - which is cat territory. (It's right under the window, and since when do I ever iron? They might as well make good use of it.)


Anyway, we bustled off the the store, got our supplies and came back, at which point I had to kick him downstairs while I tidied the room enough so he could at least get in and actually hang the shelves... he likes to hang over me and mutter things about me being like Agnes, the goblin from Labyrinth, who lived in the trash heap and collected everything.


But, after a swift tidy, and some handy drilling on Dave's part( I have an awesome drill, but I never use it.... it's awesome though) My beads are all tidied and organized. I actually have space on the table to work... even if Rocky sprawls out in the middle of it.


And it feels (and looks) good... now if only I could do it to the rest of the house. I think I need a couple of days to just do a good spring clean!


As for knitting, I've made some, but not much, progress on the horsey blanket.... so I'd better get back to it.

Roxy!

Meet the newest addition to the Studio!

She arrived yesterday and I promptly secured her wig (which is sold separately.... whats with that... who wants a bald mannequin?) and dubbed her Roxy.

Today Roxy and I spent the day modelling and photographing stuff for the Etsy shop! There is lots of new stuff up there (especially for those getting married)

The only place I have to take advantage of the afternoon's natural light is on my TV stand, which as you know, is also the cats territory. So of course, I had to work around this....

And then this....But I have a secret weapon! Open a window!

Well it worked for about 10 minutes, then it was back to getting in the way.

Dishes are my Nemesis

Everyone has that one chore they hate - that one chore that they try to avoid at all costs -I'd like to say that laundry is my nemesis, but it's really not true.

Laundry is more of the dishes evil side kick. And I don't really hate it, I just have a bad tendency of putting it off, and then when I finally do it, it gets forgotten about . It's not unusual for my laundry to sit for hours clean in the washing machine; days after its been dried in the dryer; and weeks after it's been washed, dried and folded in the laundry basket. (Actually it usually gets dumped in a corner of the room because I need the laundry basket for something else - and usually not laundry.)

I'd like to say that laundry is my nemesis, but I can't (Sam has also claimed laundry as her nemesis so it wouldn't be fair to laundry)

Nope, for me it's dishes. If given the option of cleaning the cat box or doing dishes... I will opt for the cat poop every time.

I'm not exactly sure why. I didn't grow up with a dishwasher, (we didn't get one until I was about 14) so it's not like by moving into a house with no dishwasher I've been suddenly thrust into a world of unimaginable dish soap and hot water hell.

As children helping with the dishes was always part of our chore list. Even if my only job was to dry the dishes and put them in the cupboard as mom washed them, come dish washing time, I inexplicably had to pee.... every single time. And contrary to popular belief, I really did have to pee.... but I'm pretty sure it was psychosomatic. I also spent a lot more time in the bathroom than it should normally take for and eight-year old to pee.

So, understanding that... it's easy to see why I came home to this today...
Now, in my defence (and contrary to Mom's popular belief) this is not the norm. Normally, Dave does my dishes (I cook, he cleans, I think it's a fair deal). And Dave is usually only here on the weekends, which is about the only time I cook and make a lot of dishes. When it's just me, I eat cereal, or snack on rolled up lunch meat and cheese slices, devour bags of chips, and eat cookies for dinner.

But, Dave's started coming during the week as well. So I've been cooking during the week. But this week, he didn't clean all the weekend dishes before he left Monday morning (like he usually does) and when he came Tuesday night it wasn't until 11, but he hadn't eaten yet so I cooked tacos. Then we went to bed without doing the dishes (because it was late) and then we were both up and left for work early so they still didn't get done. And last night, I decided cookies and cold cuts wasn't going to cut it, so I made a real meal (chicken and mash potatoes, which still isn't as good as mom's) hence.... all these dishes. Now I really can't leave them for Dave, so I just have to suck it up and do it... but first I have to clean the cat box.

And you'd think that someone who hates dishes so much certainly wouldn't be doing this!
But they aren't in dish cloth cotton, and they won't be used on dishes. More will be made and they will be sewn together as a blankie for my friend who is about to pop out a bundle of bodily fluids... I mean... joy, any day now!

A Friend to Knit With

First let's just say it.......

Awwww.....

While they hang out together all the time, I usually don't catch them like this... I think it was because I only left one piece of clothing scattered on the bed, instead of the usual... several.

Second....Sorry for the lack of bloginess.... I've been pretty busy, here but not much of it was blogable.... mostly beading, but then not beading anything spectacular... just getting ready for this season of shows, and re-organizing/cleaning the bead stash.

I have been picking away at my afghan.... and I've decided that I'm going to do blocks and sew them together with a border in between.

I'm all about blocks lately (I've started a second block afghan, but thankfully this one is for a baby so if I keep at it, it shouldn't take too long).I think it's because I have so many projects on the go, that the blocks are small enough that I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something.

I haven't made much progress on anything else. Icarus is stalled, mostly because I haven't been in the chart mindset. When Ive been knitting, I've wanted mindless. Also, I keep thinking about all the projects I've started and put away.... and I keep finding more!

To add to the chaos I also got this lovely present in the mail today:

This yarn is gorgeous - it's a silk/cotton/viscose blend and it's the perfect colour for me! I only got five balls of it (that's all that was available) but it was a super great deal, and I can't get over how nice it feels. I see another shrug in my future. Though I should really finish the one I'm working on.

So I guess I better get knitting....

But first thanks to mom and her faithful friend for ripping back one of my other projects to get rid of my oopsy.... I did manage to make some headway on it this weekend, but I can't tell you what it is until it's done!