Tifffany's Ramblings

Thursday, September 30, 2004

Ugh, my computer is broken. I don't know what the problem is...possibly a virus...so it is trying to be reformatted (but resisting greatly). I'm also in a bad mood cause I got really sick of Vance's underbed boxes sitting on the fireplace (they have been there over 2 weeks now, and he was supposed to do something with them right away) so I tried rearranging the stuff under the bed myself. Now the bed is all torn apart and only 1 of them fits (there are bars underneath preventing them from fitting properly). So I'm exhausted, angry, and can't go to bed. I can't wait til he gets home...

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Felted Bag & Handle Woes

It's time to post WIP pics of the felted bag I am working on as a Xmas pressie. First, the before felting pic.



Post felting...



I really like the way it's turning out. I used the Sophie Bag for inspiration, but varied the width and length of everything (as well as how often I decreased). Basically I just glanced at the directions then knit by the seat of my pants. This bag took exactly 3 balls of Lion Brand's Landscape yarn...which is a 50/50 acrylic/wool blend. It did felt well since it is a wool strand wrapped around an acrylic core (and not totally blended). It's got a really interesting texture.

I beaded some silver handles to go along with it...but I'm not sure how I should/want to attach them. Here they are:



Any suggestions??

My friends are coming over in a few hours...so I had better finish getting ready. I think I am gonna make some fruit salad in addition to the brownies I baked this morning, mmmmmmmmmm.

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Mail Call

Yesterday I got a gifty in the mail from Marie! They are really fun and pretty fingerless mitts! See...



They are so pretty and soft that I can't wait for it to get cold enough to wear them. When I got the package and saw them, I immediately put them on and started humming the theme to Rambo and punching the air. Yeah!

Guilty Yarn Pleasures

I've been telling Vance to not let me buy anymore new yarn. When I get the urge, he is supposed to say "Remember you have that box of yarn [from the GSRP] coming and you don't know what kinds of things will be in it!" He has been doing pretty well, but he sleeps til noon and I get up hours earlier and I already saw the big sale in the Hobby Lobby ad. So, somehow, this happened:



I don't know how it happened, eek! Luckily I still have time to hide the evidence and he will never be the wiser, right? (On a sidenote: it's my personal yarn money I spend...I don't sneak out and spend both of our bucks on my guilty indiscretions). The green Woolease Chunky is going to be a Raglan sweater (pattern from the ballband) for my stepfather for Xmas. Hopefully 6 balls is enough, it's all they had in that color. It should be a pretty and nice gift...and for under $20. And hopefully a quick knit. The fun fur I just couldn't resist...the colors...the sale price...

And now for something completely different...

Check out this. Real life models of some of M.C. Escher's work...nifty!

Monday, September 27, 2004

Gmail

Does anyone out there not have a gmail account and want one? I have 6 invites that are sitting here unused. If you want one just drop me a note in the comments with your email addy that I can send the invite to...and it will be yours (up to 6 people)

Sunday, September 26, 2004

I'm finally posting pics of the baby sacque and bonnet I knitted recently. They are done in Woolease Sport in the White Multi (white with a sparkly thread running through it). Here they are:




It actually took me awhile to finish them, because they required size 4 needles, which aren't included in my Denise needle kit and which I didn't happen to have in circulars (I am purging all of my straight needles). So, off to my LYS it was...and of course I didn't come home with just the needles. In fact, the needles constituted a very small percentage of my total purchase. The rest of it was...



a ball of Crystal Palace Squiggle in a fun red/orange/yellow colorway and...



a great big hank of Great Adirondack 100% silk yarn. This looked a lot more brown/coffee colored in the dim shop, but now that I got it home it has more of a purpley/maroon tint to it. Oh well. There's 900 yd in this hank...enough for a lightweight top.

That's all...the new bag I am working on has been knit and felted...now I just need to attach handles and possibly a clasp.

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Yesterday I had my interview and it went ok, but I don't want that job. Vance was sick so I spent a lot of the day taking care of him, but he's feeling much better today. Earlier this morning we went out to breakfast at a buffet and lo and behold as I was standing to get my drink I hear an "excuse me," so I move out of the way. Once again I hear an "excuse me" but this time followed by "is your name Tiffany?". I look up and I see my friend Jeremiah who I went to college with back in Pennsylvania. I knew him and his then girlfriend now wife Jenica had moved out here so that he could go to chiropractic school and I had been trying to get their contact info, but I didn't expect to see them. They only live about 10-15 mins from me. It was a very neat and fun time.

We are about to head out to Vance's sister's place for her birthday, and I will get to give the girls their Halloween bags. Before I go, I just wanted to show the pic of the socks I made for Marie. Head on over to her site to see them modelled!

First off, we see them with the cuff down, which is how I made them to be worn:



But I also took a pic with the cuff undone, where they look kinda funky:



That's all! I have a few more pics of the baby clothes I knitted and a bag in a pre-felted state but I gotta run! Will post those at a later time.

Friday, September 24, 2004

Down on the farm...

Here is who I spent my Thursday with



Yup, we finally made it down to Vance's parents' house and the farm. These are the only cows left living behind the house for right now, and they will be going back to the herd next week. The first one is named Kamryn and the second is named Whitey. We had a lot of fun feeding them cow cookies (some sort of mineral sticks), persimones, and bamboo leaves.

Also, here is a little guy that lives right by our apt building.



Can you see him down there? It's a lil rabbit. There's a couple that we have seen here...and we have seen deer tracks but haven't yet seen the deer that they belong to.

I also got up close and personal with lots of mosquitos...bleh.

Time to go! I've got an interview in a little bit. Tomorrow we are heading to Vance's sister's house for her bday party...then his vacation is over and he is back to work. Actual craft content coming soon.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Arghhhhhhh after several errors on the baby blanket I was knitting, it is now sitting in ripville. I pulled out all the yarn and double wound it...so I have 9 balls waiting for some future project...someday...*whine whine*

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Whew! It's been a busy coupla days around here. Our plans to go down to the farm on Saturday were thwarted due to a thunderstorm in those parts. Since we wouldn't have been able to feed and pet on the cows and such, we decided to put it off. So the new plans are to go down there this Thursday. I have a third interview with the Investment company this Friday, and I have to have a marketing plan written up to bring in...so I will be working on that.

In other news, I am doing a knit swap with Marie. I knit her a pair of socks and just sent them off today...so she should be getting them soon. I did take some pics, but I'm not going to post them until she gets her package...it's only fair that she sees them first.:)

I also finished the strips for my Dad's afghan and now I need to attach them together and do a border....yeah, I'll get to that eventually.

Also knitting on the white layette set...about 15% through the blanket. Bleh, so sick of knitting baby blankets at this point;perhaps it's time for a new project...

I got the new Crochet! the other day...not really anything I want to make in it tho. However, I picked up the new Knitter's today and there is a funky hat in it I may not be able to resist. Like I need more hats...

New FO pics coming soon!

Friday, September 17, 2004

I have some fun FO's to report. Well, they were fun for me at least. I've had the idea of making some Halloween bags for awhile, and Wednesday proved to be the day to start designing and making them. Obviously they were really quick (and fun) to make...taking less than 2 days. I used all yarns I had except for a small skein of green I had to go buy. These were all done in el cheapo Red Heart (or the like) yarn...except for the gold thread which is Lion Brand Gold Lamé I had leftover from something years ago. Here are the finished pics:



These will be going to two little girls (Vance's nieces) to use this Halloween for Trick-or-Treat'ing. He thinks I should give them to them soon, so that his sister won't go out and buy sacks, so I guess I will give them away tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we're heading a few hours south to visit his parents on their farm. May be back the same day, or might not be...but I will be back soon for sure!

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Finally, some FO's to report. I've been super headachey the past few days (today incl) possibly due to the weather so I haven't been posting all that much. I do have some pics I finally took tho. First up is the baby blanket I knit. This is the first time I've knit any kind of blanket, and it was a pain. I did it all on the diagonal, but made the blanket rectangular, which was easy enough. I used 2 colors of Caron Dazzleaire and just changed the color whenever I felt like it, making a random stripe pattern. At the end. I worked a row of sc and a row of backward sc with one strand of each color held together, because I had tons of ends to weave in and didn't want to try to weave them into all the garter stitch fabric. Here is the finished product, I quite like it:



It is pretty big, so it will be good for a baby to use for several years.

Next up is a quickie scarf I made in basketweave using one strand of Bernat denimstyle (leftover from my Cardie) and some offwhite Mohair I got in trade from LoriO. Here it is:



Now I am working on designing and making some crocheted halloween bags with xstitch embellishments. Hopefully all will go well with them! Also am working on a scrapghan knitted on my Bond for my Dad for xmas.

Friday, September 10, 2004

I haven't posted in awhile cause I haven't had much to show or tell. I went for an interview with an investment company on Tuesday, and I have a second interview with them next Wednesday to find out more about the job (in depth). I am almost done with the sacque of the knit layette set I am working on, but I realized I don't have a #4 needle (well I do, but it's a straight needle and I refuse to use it) and an acceptable #4 circ has so far eluded my capture. I may go out to my LYS and see what they have, or I may just order something online. I'm nearing the end on the garter knit blanket, so I will have that to show soon.

Besides knitting, I've been painting and beading. I bought a bunch of beads and made some stitch markers for the GSRP as well as some other things. I painted a little box which is almost done and which I will probably show soon.

Yesterday I pampered Vance by taking him out to lunch (my treat) at his choice (Olive Garden). And then last night I was very sneaky. I had made Rice Krispie Treats and he took the last one on the way to work. I was pretty sure it was the last one and when I chastised him for leaving an empty pan out and not putting it in the sink, he swore there was another. Of course there wasn't. So I cleaned the pan, baked cookies, put them in the pan and hid all the baking tools in the dishwasher. When he came home I sweetly asked him to please get me the last Rice Krispie Treat. He knew there was none left, so he went to the pan filled with dread but opened it to find it full of cookies! heheehheeheh sneaky sneaky.

Starting Sunday Vance is on 2 weeks of paid vacation, and we have a free weekend trip to Grand Rapids we might take advantage of. That's about all...gonna go now cause I'm feel quite a bit crappy.

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Little boy blue, come blow your horn...

New baby clothes! I had a random skein of woolease sport in royal blue and whipped up this set. Near the end I ran out but remembered that I had some leftover from a sweater I made for my Mom last Christmas. Whew! Here is the set:



That's about all. I'm still working on a knit set that is taking considerably longer (because I am a slower knitter and because I take breaks from it to crochet and such). I also started a diagonal garter knit blanket in 2 colors of Caron Dazzleaire. It's a relaxing, mindless knit and good to do at the computer during downtimes.

By the way, the new Magknits is out! Check it out!

Friday, September 03, 2004

Since I still don't have any new FO's to post, I thought I would share some old projects that I hadn't yet photographed. These are some things I've made for Vance over the years. First off, a panda Xstitch which I made into a pillow, complete with bamboo fabric:



I finished the Xstitch and pillow in June of 2000 (I know this because I actually stitched it into the panda in white).

Next up is a dice bag I made. There is another, but it is currently MIA. On this one I used blue velvet and xstitched a celtic knot in gold. I used that ripaway xstitch fabric and a chart I found online then cut the fabric and formed a bag:



For the inside, I used fusable webbing to attach the velvet to some matching blue satin and added velcro so that the dice are sure to stay put:



The other bag has Vance's initials in a Celtic font.

In other news, my hair sucks. I realized yesterday it was completely uneven, so I went back to get it fixed and the woman (same woman) chopped it all off. It is seriously to my chin now and I can barely put it in a ponytail. I hate it so much that I probably will wear it up for months til it grows another 2 inches (the length I actually wanted it). I think I need to go cry and eat some chocolate...

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

No pics today, since I am caught up on them and am now working on some slightly more time consuming projects. Last night Vance and I went out to Joe's Crab Shack and the new Exorcist movie with his friend and his friend's girlfriend. The movie was alright; I must say I was disappointed. The historical stuff was ok but too stretched out, the special effects were neat but kind of misplaced once you finally got to them. It definitely didn't live up to the first one...but since it was a free movie I'm not complaining.

Since Marie asked about the job hunt, I guess I will give an update on that. There's not too many jobs to apply for, but I apply to all the ones I have seen. I have gotten a few calls, one for a teaching job at Sylvan and one from a financial consulting company who saw my resumé on Monster.com. I have an interview with the latter next Tuesday. Not sure yet what the job entails, I guess I will find out then.

In unrelated news, I chopped off all my hair! OK not ALL of it, but damn close. I would say I had about 8 inches cut off. It's now right about at my shoulders and feels sooooooooo good. Maybe I will post a pic in a few days after that choppy new haircut look grows out a bit. I bought Vance a bunch of ink washes for his little pewter figures he paints today, and tomorrow we have a date to go to Michael's to get some acrylic paints (for him) and for me to shop too, heehee!