a new week

Warning photo heavy today :)  I am really excited about this bag I am making!  The pattern calls it a Striped Bag, but I've seen it called a Granny Bag and a Fat Bottom Bag, which I discovered this weekend while searching YouTube and Google to try and figure out how in the world to do the edging!  The pattern itself gave me nothing and I couldn't find any picture of any bag in progress except for the granny square itself.  I am actually no help either since I didn't take in progress shots while doing up the sides...why?  I have no excuse except my excitement at moving forward with the bag and the fact that the one tutorial I found was based on the pattern I am using but highly modified.  Now I modified the pattern myself using a different yarn then what was called for and using only 1 strand of said yarn and using a bigger hook size to accommodate my yarn, so modifying a pattern that I had never made, I bring troubles to myself  :)  SOOOO, moving on, I used up all of my Noro Kureyon and grabbed the next skein to continue on thinking that it was Kureyon as well when in fact it was Silk Garden, oopsy.  I decided to use it anyway since I was trying to get to my 24" finished square (the pattern calls for the finished piece to be 30 rounds and 60cm.  60cm = 24") Well I got almost across one side and didn’t like it, too thin compared to the Kureyon so I ripped it out and took out the Kureyon back to a finished square, which wasn’t that far back anyway.  So I finished it off at 23 rounds equaling 22 inches.  Measured well since I needed to cut fabric for the lining and then using the Silk Garden and and H hook, I started the edges.  When doing the edges I used this tutorial for reference and modified it to suit my bag.  I played with it and did a lot of holding up and looking at my bag and deciding from my visual of what I liked.  I did right down the work that I did, so that I can reference it when doing another one

23 rounds total

22 inches

Remember what I said about getting decent pictures over the weekend and the upcoming rain?  Well the above pictures are the result, no sweet natural light and with a puppy running around I had to spread out on my kitchen counter as opposed to the floor for a picture, so it's a bit wobbly and even used my big girl camera too...I may need to dust off my photography skills!

We went over to my Sister's yesterday for my Niece's birthday party so I took my bag with me and that is another reason I don't have pictures of the sides, I was working on it there and there were people all about and 8 dogs!  Yes 8 of them, my Sister has 1, my Brother and his wife (that the birthday girl belongs too) brought their 1, my Sister's friend brought her 2 plus 2 puppies from Kid's litter that she had given away when they were little things, but had to be returned because the guy that took them couldn't keep them any longer (sucky, just sucky) and then we decided to run home and get Max and Kid to compare Kid to his brother and sister...so there you go 8 dogs!  Kid had a blast and ran tons of energize off playing in the yard with my Nephew and the other dogs.  Max is always happy over there because someone always drops food :)  

I managed to get all of the edges done yesterday and last night finished up while watching Once Upon A Time and then cut the fabric (black velvet that I got as a remnant a long time ago) and started sewing.  Lesson for anyone doing this, DO NOT wait to sew the lining, do it as soon as the square is done and measured because once the edges are done, the bunches make it extremely difficult to sew the lining in.  You sew it onto the square about 1/2 to 3/4 of the last round and it won't bother the dc's that you need for the edges and will probably make your life a bit easier in the end.  Now saying that I have not sewn much on a crocheted piece before, one time to be exact way back here but that was small and flat. (and still in use today!!) Ok on with the pictures!  Edges done and sewing has begun!

side 1

Oh how I love the colors!

opening 

One side of the front, longer then the sides because I need to fold over the bamboo handles.  Did I mention the colors?

side 2

adding the lining

Just the beginning, the fabric gets a bit wonky in there and I have to be creative with how it fits, good thing this is for me!

sitting up pretty

Just showing how it will look before adding the handles.  I am going to get them on there tonight!

Kid's sister

Anyone at all need a puppy?  She needs a good home and is 4 months old right now and has a brother too (besides Kid) that needs a home, he wouldn't stand still long enough for a picture, but he's solid black with Kid's facial structure.

Spring is coming!

It was cold yesterday, but the sun was shining.  Makes for a good day to have a birthday party!  Walked around my Sister's backyard while the dogs were jumping around and took pictures of the lemon tree coming over the fence from the neighbors place.  I do love the smell of lemon blossoms.

Gotta go finish my lunch while it's hot!

Listening to: Hate Me by Blue October

Friday update of sorts

Got more of the bag granny done, up to round 14 now and I do really like it, though to me it looks huge.  We shall see.  I do start on the next skein, which is the same colorway and after that it will be different, I like eclectic, so I am hoping for the best (I typed beast first, haha yikes!)  I think we are supposed to get rain this weekend, so not sure if I will be able to get any decent pictures in natural light, but I will be trying.  I got really lucky with the second skein of this yarn, the outside end was the same color as I was finishing up so I was able to felt them together and just continue on with no major change, nice when things work out.  

Round 14

I took pictures this morning of the Treasury yarn in Abstract and you can see the colors so much better in these, they really are gorgeous.  See how they look nothing like the website "swatch", so much better in person or in this case, my camera!

Considering this is a Friday and a normally happy day, I am in a foul mood.  I have people calling and bitching me out because their attorney is not in the office and as I have explained, I do not work for their attorney I merely answer his phone line if it rings thru to my desk.  I do not know when or if they are going to come in and since they don't let me know when they come and go, I don't even know if they are here or not until the phone rings thru!  Of course though I get to deal with the very anger clients because I have no answers for them, the abuse today in particularly bad and I am not amused.  I also paid all of my bills this morning leaving me with a huge amount of stress considering that payday was yesterday and I have to wait another 17 days until the next one, it could be bad considering I haven't grocery shopped yet or gotten gas in my car....crap, crap, crap.  I need to sell stuff, what can I sell off?  I have a million and one Hallmark Christmas ornaments that really need to go, but I haven't a clue as to how to get them sold, I guess I can try ebay.  I should talk to a friend of mine that sells his stuff on there, maybe he has pointer how to's that won't cost me a lot up front.  Enough whoa-is-me stuff, I need be happy....where is my yarn?  

Puppy training this weekend, he needs some serious reeling in! He is very needy and I guess that's my fault, we got him so young that I coddled him so he had an easier transition coming away from his mother and 5 siblings, I mean he was only 6 weeks old.  I moved my computer to the coffee table in the mornings and sat on the floor with him so that he wasn't alone and well I have just continued with that over the months.  Well I am not a spring chicken and sitting on the floor is becoming cumbersome (ok it's the getting up off of the floor that's the problem) so I moved my laptop back up to the dining table or kitchen counter and he wants none of that, just sits there staring at me!  With an occasional whine thrown in for good measure, I need to break him of that.  There's also the lease training, he goes on a leash but walking him is insanity, he doesn't mind the leash really, he just wants to run and jump on Max.  All he wants to do is play, that's it, everything is a toy to him and it's always play time.  He does sleep really good, all night in fact but during the day it's play, play, play with a nap tossed in every once in awhile.  I just need to get him trained so he's not so wild! I'm sure he will outgrow it too, but in the meantime! 

Right, that's it, I'm off to get my desk cleared off and wait for the work day to come to an end, soon very soon.

Listening to: Hard to See by Five Finger Death Punch

2 in a row

Sad news...Joann’s did not have anymore of the colorway I needed for my bag.  I guess it’s going to sit it out for a little while whilest I work on a new one using the Noro I have on hand (which is what I should have done in the first place, since I am not supposed to be buying yarn for myself!) I did start the Noro bag last night, I took apart the little squares I did way back in 2007 and felted them all back together in the proper sequence of color changes, into a new ball of yarn!  The felting idea came to me because I didn’t want to waste 6 inches from each end of the square thus losing quite a bit of the natural color change.  I pulled out the squares, tied the matching ends together leaving about an inch and a half tail of each side and then twisted and needle felted away.  The Noro has lumpy bits already so the felted bits are completely unnoticeable and that makes me very happy!  I am loving this new purse already and the colors rock.  The pictures of the squares were taken in 2007, I found them in my Flickr stream way back when I started up on Flickr which I had started to join a crocheting group.  Now these little squares have a whole new purpose, to become my newest purse!

the beginning

This is what I did with the Noro originally back in 2007 

The beginning square is the first one I did and now the start of the bag, I just continued around from that square after felting on the next color.  So far it looks pretty good.  I have another skein of the same color and then I have different colors, so I am going to match them up according to the brightness and go from there.

So far this morning

I am quite pleased how it's coming out, a bad picture taken quickly at the office because the ones I took last night at home were quite off in the colors, it was very weird.  The brown looked red and the blue was way too purple, different lighting I guess.  I will be working on this as much as I can to get it completed, it's only 30 rounds and then 10 sc so I am hoping that I will have plenty of yarn to complete this one!

I didn't leave Joann's empty handed though, bad girl that I am supposed to be on a yarn diet....but I had a 50% off coupon!!  I mean come one!  One simple does not waste coupons!  I got this, which funny enough was the original color that I coveted when I first saw the yarn online.  I will take an actually picture later on, when my boss is not hanging about and post it, because even though this is off of the Red Heart website, this picture does not do it justice at all!   the oranges are not shown and the overall brightness of the yarn is not showing at all, it's quite stunning and well I bought a skein.... 50% off people and well I am weak :)

Red Heart Boutique Treasury in Abstract

I best get back to work before I need to take off to pick up Katlyn and go to the bank (Payday, woohoo!!)
A short lived woohoo because I have bills to pay with it and not much extra this month, one of the reasons I shouldn't be buying yarn!  

Listening to:  I Got A Gun by Brides of Destruction

New Things

As you can see I’ve been making changes.  I think change is a good thing, but I am not really sure where I stand in the changes I’ve made thus far.  I background might be too much, the header might be too little.  I am still working things out.  I do like the idea of my own picture as the background and not just a generic something, but I think I should do some toning down so it’s not so distracting.  I was unhappy with the way my header was looking because for some reason I cannot adjust it to fit properly across the top and align with everything else.  I will just keep playing with it until I hit the right combination of balance.  Stay tuned.....

Up next is my new bag!  Can I say YAY!  I am really excited to be making this bag and love the yarn.  I have used up the only skein I bought though and now have to go get another, hopefully they will have the color I need.  If not I will set in aside and start a new one :) I have a few skeins of Noro and love the color changes of it, so I will simply put all of those together, I have 5 balls total plus the squares I worked up from another ball of it, so that’s 6.  I am going to have this bag one way or another!  Heres' the progress so far.

13 rounds from the first skein

I think I will look for fabric to match while I am at Joann's tonight as well, though I don't know the finished size of the square so that would be a premature purchase.  I probably have some in the closet anyway.  Speaking of the closet, I need to whip up that project bag for my swap partner, better get that done because I like everything wrapped up and shipped by the 15th and yeah that's tomorrow!  I believe the yarn I purchased for her will be in the mailbox when I get home, silly me shipped it to my home address instead of my work address like I always do!

And now for somethings completely away from yarn and crocheting....
My alarm goes off at 6 am Monday thru Friday, I get up throw on my robe, fetch Max from his sleeping state and gather the necessary things to take him downstairs for a walk. (a flashlight is one after the time change this past weekend) anyhow, we wander out to the front of the complex so he can take care of business and I can start my day.  Well this morning we head out the gate and right in front, double parked is a police car, empty and dark....weird, but whatever not my business.  I take a couple of steps and notice 5 other police cars, all lined up, double parked, empty and no lights of any sort on.  Ok now VERY weirded out, telling Max to hurry up (yeah like he listens!)  I look up and down the street and nothing, no one at all...I am beyond creeped put now and hustle Max back inside the locked gate and go back to my happy place locked inside my condo!  We have been watching a lot of Doctor Who....things happen you know :)  Never did find out what was up, all cars were gone when I left for work a little before 8 and the street looked normal.  Who knows.
Along the Doctor Who lines, I got these for Katlyn.  She loves them and for a $1.25 made her smile big!

3-D Glasses

Can we talk about television shows for a minute?   Now we don’t watch much “TV" per se in fact there are days that go by without the television even being turned on, we do watch certain shows on Netflix but other then Once Upon A Time, there is no program that we watch on a regular weekly basis.  We watch anime series, One Piece is one that I get when the DVD sets come out in English.  We started watching Doctor Who from the 2005 revamp of the series and really enjoy it.  Now where is this going you may be wondering, I have noticed that watching this show is like having a major crush on someone.  It gets in you head, in your system.  Seriously I feel like I have some weird obsession and much as I try to keep it in check, I can’t stop thinking about The Doctor.  Is it just me...crap it probably is, I feel like some silly fangirl just typing it all out now.  I don’t mean thinking in a romantic sort of way either, it’s like I want to sit myself down and read everything and watch everything that happens in the show, it’s not a crush on David Tennant (we are on Doctor 10 right now and anyway 9 is my Doctor of choice) it’s more like a crush on the whole show itself.  I don’t know how exactly to explain it other then I am head over heels for the show right now and could easily be the crazy fangirl at any moment....oh wait, I think I may have crossed that line a bit just by typing this up!

Ok now that my crazy Tardis colored flag is waving for all to see, I better get back to work and try to pretend I'm normal!

Listening to:  Detroit Rock City by KISS

I love Mondays....just kidding!

Here we go a fantastic weekend round up!  Ok maybe not fantastic, but I do have pictures!  We wnet to Joann's on Friday night as I needed ribbon to use for drawstrings on the new project bag I am making for my monthly swap over at Ravelry.  Well Joann's has changed up the store recently, I mean changed it a lot, Katlyn and I felt a bit lost going into the same store we've been shopping at since 2001!  They moved all of the aisles, moved things to the front...oh I am not fond of change when I usually just walk right in and can go right to the ribbon section and get what I need.  The problems that we face in life! ;) Sorted out where the ribbon was and then went to see what they did to the yarn section....the horrors that could be waiting for me!  Found the yarn in pretty much the same area but low and behold, they branched out a bit AND oh my goodness....they have NEW yarn!!! Happiness, much happiness followed I can tell you!  They are now carrying the Red Heart Boutique line which I have seen online only (well except for the Changes yarn I've used previously for a hat for my Sister and hated!)  I had been looking for a yarn to make a purse (this purse to be exact!) and had seen this yarn online, but really will a million other ideas in my head these days, I wasn't in a rush, though to be honest that purse has been pushing it's way to the front for the last couple of weeks.  I'm guessing that fate intervened here because Joann's now carries this b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. yarn and they have 6 different color ways to choose from, oh the choices!  Katlyn helped me pick the color and it's gorgeous.  The yarn is 70% Acrylic and 30% Wool and is super soft and just works up nicely.  I am using a J hook, though the label recommends an L.  It is a roving type so I can't go too fast with it or it catches but I love it and will be saving my coupons for more of this yarn in the future!

Colorway is Tapestry, with greens, orange, purples and golds.

Now i shall come off my yarn cloud and show off the gloves that has been rejected :)  This is the first one I made for Katlyn as I explained in my previous post, she thinks it's off somehow, I think it lacks balance.

Glove 1

So I started over with a bit less white and a bit more texture....guess what?  She still doesn't like it.  Sigh...I'm going back to black and white for her!

Glove 2

Now up next is the black/gray/white square I have been playing with, I think that it will be pretty cool looking all together with the same squares.

Crappy picture, but you can see the idea.

Leaving you with a picture that I took while playing with my camera and the puppy...though there is no puppy in the shot or even close to it :)  

Listening to:  Fade To Black by Metallica

Friday and nothing to show for it!

I had my bag packed and ready so I could take some pictures and left it sitting on the couch this morning.  So I have no pictures and really nothing exciting even if there were pictures.  I finished up the one glove that was Tardis inspired for Katlyn and she has rejected it....said it's too boring and that she didn't want a Tardis, just a mix of the colors.  I have to agree with her, it's really not all that fabulous, just a bit flat I think.  I will take pictures though and show it anyway and maybe it will evolve into something different.  I also came up with a new square color scheme.  I have been playing with the idea of a black and white granny square since before Christmas and even bought a few skeins each of Vanna's Choice in black, white, charcoal and gray and they have been sitting in their respective bins waiting for me to do something with them.  I decided on a square starting with white, then gray, then charcoal and one final round of black for a total of 7 rounds.  Looks pretty good and I am thinking that they will look good grouped together.  Pity about the photos though...I guess I will dust off my camera tomorrow and make up for the lack of photos today!

I am in a weird mood today as well, can't really tell if it's bad or not.  Definitely leaning that way though, which is quite odd for a Friday.  I have had to deal with stupid people this morning at work and that never helps my day, you would think attorneys would be a bit nicer....oh wait, silly me I forget that they think that being nice to the person answering the phone is beneath them :)

I took some pictures at the office some there is something to look at!

This is what Kid thinks of the whole thing!

It's Friday and there's sunshine!

Only 3 1/2 more hours to go, I better stay busy I hate counting the hours!

Listening to:  Who's your Daddy? by Toby Keith

Monday...here we go!

Here I am, feeling almost 100% again, though my nose still has lingering issues I can once again breathe and smell and walk around normally, well as normal as one can be!  Now I have nothing fabulous in the way of crochet reporting (I have managed a bit) I did find my pink haircolor!  Yes I am super happy about this fact as the last time I did my hair it was a bit of a disaster and since have not repeated the same error, so needless to say my hair has not been looking so mighty fabulous these day and the underneath color was a faded mauvey color and quite hideous actually.  I looked online to where I got the last one since, but no luck, the one place I did find wanted $8 shipping....ummmm no!  Bright idea I FINALLY get, look for another beauty supply in the Valley (not Sally’s, they don’t carry it.) I find 1 that is close to home at the Von’s I sometimes go to, so I figure I’ll check it out when I get a chance.  Still with me, this is a novel!!!  Anyway, I get up to go off a do marketing on Saturday morning, because we have really no decent meal making supplies in the house and other than hot dogs in the freezer, no meat!  Head out to the market, and they are working on the roads with a closure that there was no signage up until you were right there!  Now with gas being over $4 a gallon, I am not driving all over the place to find my way around to the market that is generally easy to get to, so instead I turn around and head of to the other Von’s...highly annoyed at this point!  Fortunately I remembered that the beauty supply I wanted to check out is in the same center.  Things are looking up!  Walk into a Beauty Supply/Gift Shop thinking there is no way they are going to have what I need, but the lady points me in the right direction and they have my precious bottle of color!!  Day much improved!  Purchase color head to the market yay!  Spent a small fortune at the market, but we got meat :)

Home, groceries away, get a bit of housework done, Katlyn wants to go shopping. For clothes.  With her own money!   Can’t pass that up, off to Kohl’s.  I love girly time with the girl :)

I did buy a skirt, don’t know if I will EVER wear it, but it was cute and only $8 and I did say I wanted to dress more girly.

Well now if you’ve stuck it out this far I shall provide and bit of visual stimulus now! 

The finished set.  Katlyn has taken them over until I finish a pair for her.

This was taken while girly was in the dressing room trying on her fabulous finds

waiting...

Saturday night dinner, just the veggies, the steaks were in the broiler already and I loved this green!

Asparagus

Started Katlyn's gloves Sunday morning and snapped a picture with the sun streaming in.  At first she couldn't decide colors and then we were going to do black and white and then she changed to a Tardis inspired color scheme.  I hunted my stash for a lovely Tardis blue and though the picture doesn't do it justice, it looks to me a pretty close match.  It's Vanna's Choice in Colonial Blue.  I have made progress on these, added a round of black, a large chunk of white and more black and well my idea was to do the rest in the blue but of course the girl had other ideas!  When I showed her the nearly finished first glove, she said no, she wanted a mix of yarns like the ones I've already done, not a Tardis, just Tardis inspired....sigh, what was I thinking?  rip, rip.  Now tonight after work I will be adding some other blues to compliment what I've got already.

A new set, the sunshine gives the yarn a bit of sparkle.  Supposed to represent Tardis blue.

I think that nearly covered the weekend with way more information then anyone wanted to know, but hey I have fantastic hair again and that makes me happy, which is good because I have been down lately.  Aside from being sick, I have money stress and just the blues in general.  I am realizing that I spend entirely too much time on the internet looking for ideas and pinning things and yet never doing them....hmmmm.  I work at a job that just barely covers expenses and I should get a new one, but I have a lot of freedom here at work...I can blog, bring Max to work, leave for nearly 2 hours and pick up Katlyn from class twice a week, wear jeans and flip flops to the office and hell I'm almost 50 and do I really want to start over???  See...blues!  Oh well C'est La Vie it will all work itself out as it usually does and I will recover soon enough!
I'll leave you with a picture of Kid and his lei.

Just because he's so cute :)

Listening to: Patience by Guns N' Roses