Weekend goodies

I finished up the Bears hat and even got out my camera to take some pictures!  The pattern for the hat, super easy...short and long rounds (I cannot find it anywhere right now either!) but the flower was just not working for me, I'm sure I was doing it wrong but it was turning out way too big and way too complicated for such a small hat.....so I did a simple flower instead.  Katlyn approved and that's me done with 4 baby hats!   I will now repeat the same hats for my other Cousin and then ship them off.  

Girly Bears hat

Picked up some new buttons on Thursday night.  Went to JoAnn's a peeked around there for a bit, found some red yarn as well to get my red hat going again.  Been working on it and have only a few rounds left.  DVD watching helps with my crocheting!  One Piece Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights and Doctor Who Saturday night.  I do love me some Doctor time :)  So got these buttons, they were buy one get one 50% off and I can't resist a bargain or a button!

New buttons

I still love the first button I found in my stash of things, but couldn't find anything similar but either of these 2 designs will be fine.

Love this button

I also got asked to make a baby blanket for my brother-in-law's new Granddaughter.  Wants it to have her name on it.......that should be tricky!

And finally my Nieces birthday is next Saturday.  I started this blanket for her many moons ago and it's still far from completion, think I can get it done in time for her birthday?  Is that laughter I hear? Why yes it is!  Of course it's coming from my Daughter and my own head.

Still unfinished blanket

Well tomorrow in October, the start of a crazy busy month and really the start of the holiday season.  It's runs together so fast that before you know it Christmas has come and gone!  Yikes!  Gotta love those thoughts of Christmas already!

I will leave you with a picture from yesterday's photo session with a very bouncy puppy!  He really wouldn't cooperate with the picture taking!

Off to watch The Doctor!

Listening to: Burrito by Seether

Another hat

So I started the baby Bears hat last night after digging out the proper colors from my stash, makes me laugh at how small these hats are.  Nearly done with it and tonight will have it done and the flower added to it to make it girly.  So that makes 4 hats and then I will repeat those 4 before I try to make anymore.  Of course there's still loads of time left, since the babies these are for are not due until December and January.  

I really should be thinking of Christmas projects and I'm sure my Nephew will be requiring new hats and Julie had her baby boy so Katlyn thinks he will need some hats too....oh yes and Brooke asked for one!  Yikes!  I need to get a list up and running, October is a busy month for us!  I have my vacation at the end of the month and we are spending it in Santa Rosa.  Katlyn turns 18 and really wanted to have her birthday up North with everybody so I worked it out that we will be there for her birthday, Halloween & Steven's birthday!  All in a weeks vacation.....yeah I'm that good!  Ok I didn't do anything other then give birth to 2 of my children 6 days apart with Halloween in the middle, but that's something!  Planned the trip last year after Katlyn's birthday was kind of a bust and she was not overly happy with Halloween either.  So I figured that we go up to Santa Rosa and stay for a bit and trick or treating with Brooke will be much more Halloweenie and enjoyable then around here.  We will be squeezing a Disneyland trip in as well since it's Halloween time and they do it up fun at the park.  I do love Halloween! 

After work Katlyn and I are heading to Target to pick up The Avengers DVD and have a movie night, yay!  hmmm, I should get some popcorn while we are there too!  

That's a wrap here!

Listening to:  Cry Baby by Joss Stone

Hello, hello, back to the work week...gotta love the Monday's!  I had a nice pleasant weekend in which I did numerous chores around the house but did not even make one trip to storage.  That's not good at all.  I am never going to get it emptied out at this rate!  Anyway enough of that, on with crocheting stuff I did get done!  So this first item up is the remains of may hat that I so badly wanted to make in this red yarn, there wasn't enough...rip, rip, rip.  Back to the drawing board with a new red, just as soon as I find the elusive red!  I will go up to JoAnn's sometime this week and look around.  

Bye-bye hat!

Up next is this baby turban which I found while looking through pins on Pinterest and loved it here is the direct pattern link.  I had to do a bit (ok a lot!) of modification to the original pattern because the yarn I decided it needed to be done in is a bulky weight, so that meant following the pattern exactly would have made a giant baby hat.  So I did a lot of ripping and and fiddling and got it to work out just fine.  It's really a very cute hat and I think I will do another in the proper weight yarn and see how it comes out.

Turban view 1

This shows off the colors better.

Next up I found this cute hat that said it was a 30 minute hat, I like that thought.  I did it and really it is super easy and adorable.  I found the pattern at Ravelry, just search 30 minute baby hat.  I used Sugar n Cream cotton for the body and Bernat cotton (very old little skein I had) for the flower.  I didn't do any adjustments though I would suggest reading through the entire pattern first, because I didn't and ended up pulling out the increase row do to me not paying attention.  Also the flower pattern along with the hat says you should have 6 petals, but I somehow got only 4!  As it was getting late and I was done watching Doctor Who for the night I left it and just worked it up with only 4 petals....works for me!  No one will be any wiser, except for anyone who reads this and now knows I boo-booed!

Flower on side

flat 

giant flower with a pretty button to finish it up

And my round up of the hats I have done so far.  Finished 3 and I will be doing 1 more for sure, which will be a beanie in Chicago Bears colors with and added flower to girly it up!  I have a couple of patterns in mind so I will hunt out the proper colors when I get home later and give one a go!

3 down!

Sunday is laundry day around my house which is easy with just 2 of us, 2 loads...boom, done.  Unfortunately I have a puppy who likes the play with empty water bottles or in Saturday's incident, not so empty water bottles!  Unknowingly when I went to bed on Saturday night I innocently tucked my toes under the sheet and immediately hit a wet spot! WTH?????  I know it wasn't wet when I woke up that morning and made the bed, the bed was still made when I went into my room so what happened?  I sniffed the wet spot...no smell, it dawns on me that Kid had gotten ahold of a less than empty water bottle.  I went in to scold ask Katlyn about it and she pointed out her water bottle on her table, I peeked in my room and the bottle I had (key word there) on my nightstand had gone missing...ugh!  So it was mine and it was about 3/4 full of water.  The joys of puppy ownership!  Said puppy is a lazy puppy at times too, like lazy in he doesn’t want to hold his head up so he will use Katlyn’s hand!

So sleepy....his lip? (do dogs have lips?) got stuck on his tooth!

Back to work now since my boss is on the other side of my cubical right now!

Listening to:  Back On My Feet Again by The Babys

Back to Back

For no reason at all, I am yammering on in another post one day after the last yammering post.  I took some random around the house pictures this morning while waiting for Katlyn to be finished getting ready for class. I worked hard last night to get a tiny bit of order established in the chaos of boxes and to find the top of my coffee table that had gone missing sometime Saturday night!  

See that, that's the floor...yes it is still concrete!
Baby steps people!

Found some Christmas and Halloween decor in the boxes and put the little spider on the mantle. 

He's cute for a spider

 Looking out the window, Katlyn's bike could use some exercise.

fancy editing added for effect :)

Proof that I did indeed find my missing coffee table top!  I do so love this coffee table, it's been in the family for quite awhile now.  It started life as my Sisters' and then when she didn't need it any longer I took it in. (I always take in the discarded)  My kids grew up doing their homework on it, playing their cars and legos on it, dancing on it, using it as a seat and in the extreme my oldest thought he would use it to practice his carving skills.  As I like to say, my table is full of memories!  It's a running joke in our family now when something gets nicked or spilled on, we just say it's another memory.  I do hope my kids pass that along to their kids one day, because furniture can hold a lot of memories!

Yep there it is!

And just for some color....

a bowl of bonbons!

I did get a quick picture of my newest hat, it's red, red, red and I like it bunches.  Well the color anyway, the yarn has an odd feel to it.  Can't quite describe it either, it feels lightweight but doesn't look lightweight and while this pattern I'm using is always springy, it look lighter too and I'm not talking about the color.  The color is actually the most perfect shade of red (hard to photograph).  I don't know what brand of yarn it is, as it came to me in a swap package and hanked without any tag at all, so really no clue!  I hope there is enough to finish the hat, looks like it's going to be close!

red!

Time to go home!  I'm out the door!  Board meeting tonight and more unpacking!

Listening to:  Who I Am by Nick Jonas

Exhausting weekend

I wasn't kidding about a cleaning weekend, too bad the cleaning out of the storage unit creates chaos in the house!  Seriously, boxes everywhere at this moment!  Why I ever thought it was a good idea to collect fancy Barbies is beyond me,  oh yes and Beanie babies and I have loads of Hallmark ornaments form my Mother's storage....sigh, does anyone use Ebay anymore?  We got quite a bit done just Katlyn and I.  We will be making more trips during the week, but I think we have a good chance of getting it all clear before the 1st and that is $141.00 a month in savings!  Honestly so much stuff.  We did take a load over to Goodwill on Sunday and I have another 2 full boxes of dishes and household things and a 3rd box started.  We have a bag of blankets to take to the animal shelter and I hauled 2 boxes to the dumpster.  So pretty productive!

So much stuff!

I also had to do regular weekend duties as well and did I mention that it was 100 plus the entire weekend?

Laundry always needs doing!

The dogs ever so sweetly hung out with me during the weekend events while I did laundry they slept in the hall close by.  While I went through boxes they lounged on the couch and while I did dishes they sat by the kitchen waiting to see if I would give them a handout.  They were most helpful, especially Kid who thinks that every stuffed animal that comes into the house is his!  So a box full of Beanie Babies made him extremely happy.  I only let him keep a couple though :)

Chores?  We don't understand that word!

Now I did manage to get some crocheting in as well, not this hat I have pictured though since I actually completed that Thursday night but didn't have pictures, lucky I was able to find it again in the mess I made.  I am working on a new hat with red yarn and while it's somewhere on my coffee table I forgot to grab it this morning before leaving the house!  

baby hat #1

So there it is, my weekend.  Whew!  Oh yes and there were smoothies, lots of smoothies!  Katlyn is experimenting making smoothies, we got some basic ingredients and had fun. Of course nothing beats Jamba Juice so we did stop by yesterday after our last trip for the day at storage and when we went in the couple ahead of us in  line gave us one of their buy one get one coupons!  Tastes even better when it's half price!

Listening to:  Waiting For A Girl Like You by Foreigner

Friday's update

So the hats have begun.  Pretty sure right now in this heat that is all I will be doing because they are small and easy to handle.  This is a simple beanie done in a baby yarn that I picked up at Alysha's house with no label. Brooke wants a hat in this too.  I finished this hat last night actually, but haven't photographed it nor have I cut and woven in the tails, so I will get pictures over the weekend.  

Yarn and the Wii controller...good times!

So for some quick filler pictures....

Kid loves my bed, he loves to jump on it and tunnel under the many pillows I have (doesn't everybody have 8 pillows on their bed?) I come home daily to pillows strewn about from his playing.  I find his toys under them even.  Yesterday morning after getting ready for work and gathering my phone and shoes he jumped up and proclaimed himself King of the Pillows...ok,  I actually said that since he had plopped himself right in the middle of them!

King of the Pillows

I have a busy cleaning weekend planned and of course it's going to 100 plus degrees outside the entire weekend...ugh!  I have to get my storage unit cleared out before next month.  I realized I am paying out a ton of money monthly and heck, I can use that money elsewhere!  The bill has just been in my budget, so it comes out monthly and done, well finally clicked that I don't need to have a storage.  Well I do because I have too much stuff, but I am getting rid of it, everything must go.  Either I will find a place for it in the condo or the Goodwill will be getting it, but I am done.  Now saying that, it's 108 out right now and Katlyn and I are going after work to collect boxes.  Can I tell you, she's not all that happy about that idea!

So that's about it for now, I have 2 more hours left at work and then off to storage and then home where I will be sorting through boxes of things and sweating, there will be yarn in there as well and probably some Doctor Who as well.  I finished up with 10 and Rose again last night and yes there were tears again :)
I'll leave you with some nummy new M&M's.  White chocolate ones!

I love the holidays!

Listening to:  Anytime by Journey

road trip etc....pictures!

The time has arrived for the road trip up to Santa Rosa.  Friday morning, 8 am we head out.  Star blanket...not done!  Baby shower...Sunday at 1pm!  Yikes!  Christopher did the driving at the start of the trip while I sat in the front passenger seat leaving Katlyn in the back with the dogs.  When we stopped for a quick break her and I switched spots, weird riding in the backseat of your car.  

Arvin, I try to shoot this every trip.

I worked on the star blanket the entire time, while the dogs settled down for a nap...with Katlyn.  They were sleeping in the back with me, but as soon as Katlyn reclined the seat a bit then they took that as an invitation to join her!

The dogs migrated to the front!

Now there is this hotel that we pass in Oakland and I try every trip to get a decent shot of it, but I have yet to manage one!  Going up again in October so I shall try again then!

Crooked and shot through the window!

I hooked the entire trip and made some pretty good progress but still didn't get it completed on the road!

hooking away!

Arrived in Windsor and oh the weather was fantastic!  Blue skies, sun shining and the pretty temperature!  Wonderful for sitting outdoors and working on this star while enjoying Brooke playing with the dogs.  

Brooke and Uncle Steven :)

Steven and Toni came over and we had a bbq.  I love hanging out with my kids!  Of course I still had to finish the blanket so I worked on that and got it done!  Next up the mustache binky!  Took a couple of tries, but got that done too!

mustache binky!

All done

So the last round was only the 4th of orange, but Katlyn insisted that is how it should be.  My OCD tends to take over on things like that, but I left it and finished it off.

another mustache view

Lunchtime!

Monday morning rolled around and once again it's time to hit the road.  Said our goodbyes and off we went!

Monday morning ready for school

 Here we are on the road home.  Katlyn drove pretty much all the way and I worked on Alysha's purse.

Going home

Of course the black Manos hank was not wanting to cooperate when trying to get it into a ball so that was a lot of fun!  I used my visor to hold it and worked from there!

Visors are good for holding your hank!

Ta-Da!  All balled and ready to work.

Bee Sweet worked up.

So the front flap will be done in Bee Sweet and then the body will be both Manos (back) and Bee Sweet (front).  The yardage on the Bee Sweet is small and it's so expensive that I figured that was the best way to work it up.  I will be doing the handle in both yarns as well.  So I did get the entire bag worked up and now have to line it and do the handle and some decorating, I am going to do a black flower on the front and it's good to go!  

Hats and more hats are up next since I have baby hat requests.  2 Cousins are having girls in December and January, so baby hats for them.  Plus I have a new hat design and of course Katlyn always has hat requests and I might even get back to my other WIP's one of these days!  Yay to getting things done!

Listening to: I Like To Move It (yes from the movie Madagascar!)

Out of town~

Back with pictures soon!

I love when Tuesday's Monday!

Totally forgot to post on Friday, must have been the whole "woo-hoo, it's a 3day weekend" mode I was in.  So I got a bit of things accomplished. Always a good thing!  Made lists and followed them, and while I didn't get the entire cleaning list crossed off, I made a great dent in it.  (My bedroom is always last and I really need to make it first!) So my desk is still a catchall and I have yet to rehome a few things, overall I am pleased that I got so much done.  Now this is Friday mornings update picture of the star, I worked like crazy beans on this baby all weekend, so there is another progress shot down the page too.

Round 10ish

Here is the stripy blanket with a new edge, don't really think I will add more, but then again I change my mind a lot.  It could end up with another round (or 3) of border.  I only want a simple border because I love the texture of this blanket and don't want to deter from that at all.  I am going to lay it out and photograph it and see how it looks and decided then.

a simple border

Friday night I worked on this star, Saturday I worked on this star even taking it to my Sister's house where we were for a BBQ and swimming.  I worked on it Sunday during my 10 minute breaks, (I started a new regimen to help me stay better focused UF@#$YH ) and then after dinner.  I worked on it throughout Monday and then settled on the sofa and put on Doctor Who for the reminder of my evening.  I am up to round 19, actually it's round 20 but since the first round is the spoke in the middle I don't count that.  Yay!  I just need to finish a bit more of the green and then back to white for 2 rounds and then the orange and I think that will be it! Whew! The shower is on Sunday...fingers crossed!

round 19ish

Now, this pattern while super duper easy, is not my most favorite.  Reasons being, that it doesn’t sit flat no matter what I do and it seems more novelty then practical.  I’m sure I’m just weird in that I like my blankets to cover me fully and that baby will not mind one little bit!  Ok enough of that.

I have to finish this so I can get a purse worked up for Alysha (I posted the yarn way back here yikes!) and I have designed a new hat that I am very excited to work up.....but cannot do it until these things are done!!!
Must. Finish. Other. Things. First.

All done, off to get some work done!

Listening to:  Turn The Page by Metallica