Benny the Monkey

A couple weeks ago I bought Amigurumi. The cover is really why I bought it. If I could make things that cute out of crochet, I would be really happy. So I bought it. Then last Friday was a double discount day at work (I work at JoAnns), so you got 30% off instead of 15%. So I splurged. I bought everything I could for 3 of the projects. The fawn, the monkey, and the bunny. Well, we didn't have everything so I ordered more online, but I'm still missing two colors. I will remedy this... I have everything I need for the monkey now though (my first project) except the eyes for the eyes and arm joints, and they should come soon. Over the weekend I began him and re-fell in love with crochet. I loved making my hat last January, but this is just so much more fun! Granted, there have been times where I just think "WTF am I doing?!" but mainly it's great. The bobbles were *fun* to learn to do. The invdec and rings were really good to learn to do because they'll be great in the future. So far on Benny the Monkey I've done his two arms, his two ears, and his face and muzzle. I'm now working on his body from the head down. I'm so proud of myself. It's going really well and pretty fast and I just feel like I'm actually accomplishing something - which is a good feeling. Benny will be a very belated Christmas gift since I still owe this person for 2006... (I'd started cross stitches but there's only so much of one color I can take at 14 spi.) Benny'll be for my friend's son and I'll be making the deer for her daughter. Though I might change my mind and make a different one (which I would have to buy everything for) since I'm lacking the main color on the deer and I don't know how easy a copper colored soft yarn will be to find. So we'll see. Anyhow, he's going really well. My only problem is that I think I hold the hooks wrong or something as my hands are killing me (though crocheting for about 8 hours in one evening probably isn't a great idea...). But that's a small price to pay for such a neat thing. :)

The bag, cross stitch, and faeries

So I've decided that, while stockinette is easy and fast to do, it's still just as boring as seed. You do either one for too long and it just gets tiring... I'm about half way done with the back piece on the bag. It's 14" of stockinette and then 7" of seed. Actually I guess I'm more than half way done since I only have 1 more inch of stockinette. And it only is the back because I *think* I screwed up the first row, and it's much easier to hide in the back... I have the front left after the back, and then all finishing. Which should be interesting since both Mom and I were having problems understanding exactly what they meant in places... But I get to crochet for the front closures which should be interesting since I haven't crocheted in about a year. I get to try other crochet soon too though. I bought this fancy thread that's white and silver and I get to see if it works well for snowflakes since I thought Mom's plain white snowflakes, while nice, could use with sparkle and shine. So it's up to me to try... Should be interesting. At work yesterday I got to help a woman kit up a cross stitch for her granddaughter. The woman doesn't cross stitch so I got to explain a lot to her. But it was nice to kit up something, especially since I'm stuck right now... I have 2 things that were meant to be for last Christmas and won't be done this Christmas either I don't think. And so I'm not letting myself do another pattern till those are done. Which is part of why I've dived into knitting so hard. I need to do something. And I can only take so much pink... I ought to just finish... The second one will go fast, I think, so it's really just about sitting down to do it. I just feel bad they weren't done last year and so working on them is like admitting defeat, almost. I'm strange... But it makes it hard to work on them. Which is why I don't promise hand made gifts anymore. (You think I'd've learned after Mom had to do the majority of the middle of a scarf I made because I was too slow...) On a different not I bought myself some of my Christmas gifts from my grandma yesterday (since she doesn't like shopping for us, she gives us money so we can get what we want). Brian Froud's World of Faerie is fantastic and an added surprise was the poster he did for "Instructions" in a pocket on the back cover. So happy. :) And The Best of Edith Piaf for $10. Yay.

The Beginning (and things to come)

I thought it was about time I started a real blog, rather than just my livejournal one that's mainly fluff and surveys. So here goes nothing... This will mainly be about my crafting projects, but also -if something really strikes me- there will also be books I've read, movies I've seen, and possibly news stories since I'm a news junkie. I was accepted to ravelry finally (yay!) and they have an option to add a blog, so that's really what sparked this off. I've been on there for a couple hours now, adding all my previous projects and my w.i.p.s. I have 4 of each... I need to work on that ratio. My four completed include a crocheted hat, two knit hats (they're the same hat, too, just one for me and one for my sister), and a scarf I made years ago for the guy I was dating at the time. The four w.i.p.s are a striped scarf I started years ago, a granny square hat I started this past January, a knit cabled hat I started this past January, and the knit bag I'm working on now. The bag is going well. I'm working on the last of the four(?) pockets, have the strap done, and have the front and back to do next. Then all the joining up so it actually looks like something other than random swatches of seed stitch in brown, yellow, and pale green. I'm really proud of it; it's the biggest thing I've made so far. I have so many patterns and magazines now too that it's really nice to get something big made. :) I'll post pictures later, once I get them uploaded. In other news I'm reading five books right now, which is a huge number for me. I also ought to be applying to grad school right now, but am putting it off (which I really shouldn't do any longer...). So, yes, I'm on ravelry as nzfriend. I'm on goodreads (with a mile long "to-read" list) as Bronwyn. :) ttfn