Wet and rainy and I should be crocheting!

It's Friday, Friday the 13th actually, not that I'm superstitious about it....quite opposite in fact.  Brooke was born on a Friday the 13th and since than I have had no bad luck issues relating to the day.  :)
I has been raining pretty hard today which for us Southern Californians means armageddon when it comes to driving!  Madness takes over and everyone forgets how to drive!  Ok maybe not everyone and honestly maybe I just notice the crazy driving more when it rains because I am on high alert for the madness!  I would much rather be at home sitting on the couch hook in hand than out driving I can tell you that much!  A couple more hours until that happens though!
Now I have been trying to finish up Katlyn's Sgt. Frog hat and did manage the base all fine and dandy but than came the side flaps....I frogged them (hahaha, I frogged the Sgt. Frog hat!  No, not funny?  Just me I guess) 3 different times after they were full size, I just didn't like them at all.  Of course I left the hat sitting on the dining table this morning without taking any pictures, but  I was pretty well annoyed after I finally got the flaps done and Katlyn is still not happy with it!  Told her I was done with it, going to rip it all out and start over, but first I was going to bed.  I woke up this morning to a note on the hat asking me not to rip it out and that she had ideas how to make it work. Cute.  I think I may block the flaps to get them to stop curling and I just need to add the red star, which I worked up last night but it proved too big.  Really never had a hat be so darn difficult!
I am going to start a new scarf tonight.  I need to add some new color to my scarf collection.  I am finding myself highly attracted to yellow right now (Katlyn says I'm a bee) and I don't seem to have what I am looking for in my stash, so we are going to go up to JoAnn's after work and check out what they have in the way of yellows.
So this is just a quick and nearly picture less post because I have not done anything except that bloody hat this week!
So on with the pictures I do have, only 2 but something!  The fiber is the fringe of the scarf  I am wearing today.  Have a great weekend!

Fiber Friday

 

A very tired puppy

Listening to:  Burrito by Seether

Weekend Monsters

Well here we are again, back to Monday morning.  I would be blue but there's no point.  Let's keep a good attitude about the day shall we...

I had a busy weekend, well not super busy but I did get things done and I always like that.  Katlyn and I dyed eggs on Saturday and that was fun, we got creative and the eggs came out pretty cool looking, which I would show them off BUT I left my camera at my Sisters house yesterday and the pictures are on it and not my phone this time.  Sure I break out my camera to use and then leave it sitting on her table!!  Ugh!  Fear not though, I took plenty of pictures with my phone, though just none of the eggs.  So moving along as there's nothing to see here....yet.

Now here is a hat that Katlyn asked that I make her, again a character's hat and again no found pattern for said hat!

Sgt. Frog

Keroro is the one in the front and that is the hat I am currently working on, though she did say she is going to want them all and since Kululu (the yellow one on the left) is her favorite, I am assuming his hat will be next up!

Progress so far

I have finished the base of it and adding the side flaps tonight and than the red star, hopefully won't be too difficult!

So this was Easter weekend and of course I really can't afford to go out and spend gobs of money for candy and stuffed bunnies and all that stuff so I thought I would make something for my Niece and Nephew since we were going to spend time with them, but I really didn't think I could get anything done in time, so I never started.  Well of course I woke up on Sunday morning mad at myself for not even trying and after making coffee and feeding all the animals, I grabbed a recently frogged thick/variegated yarn and a big ole hook and started making one of these, I had seen them before when looking for monster ideas for Toni's birthday gift and was thinking about them for Easter presents, but again just didn't think I had time to get them done. I really cannot tell you how simple they are to work up the basic pattern, I just added my own touches and yay!  So now you can see how I spent my Sunday morning!  Coffee and hook :)  My works in progress below!  I did clean up after each one.

Riley's

Samantha's

Katlyn's

I was pretty excited at how fast I could work them up and just had a blast doing them.  I finished up Riley's pretty quick since the yarn was a bit bulky and the hook was an L, added eyes and stuffed him up!  I was excited at that point because it took all of 30 minutes to get it done, So I went in search of yarn for Sam's....pink camo it is!  Had some green felt that matched up nicely and yay!  Ok one more for Katlyn, I oulled out some Lion Brand Baby Wool I think it's called and you can kind of see the ball in the picture where the colors does change, but it never changed while working her monster up (well there are slight variances in the yellow, but not the blue/green that it changes to)  so anyway, Katlyn's ended up being pretty much just yellow.

And there you have the story of Easter Monsters, they were a hit!  Who needs a stinkin' stuffed bunny??

Since I couldn't be up in Santa Rosa with Brooke, they sent me pictures so I shall share :)

Christopher & Brooke

Just a very sweet picture

I think I have covered pretty much everything now and I will get myself back to work now.

Listening to: Throw Me Away by Korn

Flying Bunny

The bunny is done and off in the mail, it won't make it there before Easter, but oh well I got her done!

The bunny went mouthless, I tried a couple of different mouths and they looked so out of place and Katlyn said that she liked it better without a mouth, so there you go.  Approval of a 17 year old, for a 3 year old!  She said it looks like one of those bunnies that little girls drag around by the arm everywhere they go without the mouth and with the mouth it looked creepy.  Added a bow tie (bow ties are cool) and a little ruffle around the bottom of the body and waalaa....all done!  Heading to Santa Rosa as I type.  

Toni got her monster yesterday and was very happy with it.  She posted a picture for me :)

She was pleased~

and also posted a picture of Steven wearing his Bender beanie!  I love them, they are fabulous and I am completely sad too!  While everyone loves their presents (I'm fairly certain Brooke will too) all 3 of these last things I've made have gone 400 miles away and that is putting me in a serious funkified mood.  I miss my boys and I miss my Granddaughter.  Katlyn thinks it's because we haven't been visiting since Thanksgiving and I do suppose she's right, but hell, the price of gasoline right now is killing me....sigh.

Priceless

Well enough of this downer crapola, it is after all Friday and Good Friday at that and it's National Tartan Day!  Katlyn and I will be dying eggs tomorrow or maybe tonight since she's very excited to do it, she is going to tie-dyed ones...should be messy!  Messy is always fun!

I have to start another project too and I haven't decided what that will be yet, though Katlyn expressed an interest in her own bunny..hmmmmmm.

Listening to: Shakin' My Cage by Joe Perry

Where's the hump?

It's Wednesday but why do I feel like it's still Monday?  I feel like I've done nothing all week and yet I know that I have.  Weird....

Progress on the bunny so far, got the head done Monday night, no mouth yet, want to wait until it's all together and see what kind of mouth I want it to have.  This yarn doesn't work up like worsted weight yarn, it feels a bit light, and as you can see but the picture of the head, there is a definite wave in the stitches.  Again....weird.  I don't know if it's so noticeable because of the yarn coloring or it's just wonky from being stuffed.   It really doesn't matter much, just something I noticed, I'm sure Brooke won't care at all.

Bunny head

 Got the legs done last night and started on the body, probably would have finished the whole body, but I was watching the last 2 episodes of Doctor Who with the ninth doctor and there were tears impeding my ability to crochet :)  I am hoping to finish this up tonight though and already told Katlyn we need to go back to watching the 11th doctor so I can get it done.  I don't have an attachment to the 11th doctor, making crocheting while watching a whole lot easier!

got the legs done and the body started

 Went to JoAnn's last night looking for wooden beads in pretty colors (which I found) and found that there were purse handles on clearance, yay!  I got some that are bigger than the bamboo ones I used on my granny bag and so the next bag will be able to go up on my shoulder!  They didn't have many and I got a pair and am going to look online for some more.

Got these in dark brown.

 And just because, I have include some bath time pictures.  Probably should have taken these not using Hipstamatic or at least checked the film I was using, but nonetheless my wet boys getting clean!  Neither are fond of bath time and poor Max looks like a malnourished dog when he's soaked!

Wet Kid

Wet Max

Ugh, I suppose I best get to doing some work, though the phones have been a bit crazy this morning already and that's work in itself!

Listening to:  Electric Blue by Icehouse

Head of a monster

Yes it started as just a head and I went on from there.  Now I had a monster in mind, but this has a little smile that is making it not very scary at all!  I guess I should have done a meaner face, but since I am making this up as I go, it is what it is.  

Hello Sweetie!

The legs I had a bit of trouble with.  I had an idea in my mind and I was having a problem getting that idea into crochet form, so a couple of starts and ripouts later, I managed them ok.  I worked the body from the legs up, again winging this whole thing because the only other amigurumis I have done were all parts put together individually.  I did the legs Saturday and then settled myself on the couch after dinner with my yarn and The Doctor and got busy with the body.  I really didn't take any other pictures though during the process...silly me, but in my defense it was nighttime and I was snuggled in!  Seriously, I didn't even want to get up to get cardboard to make the pom-pom and instead used my ipod that was right in front of me on the coffee table :)

The start of the body and the last picture until completion.

I just worked away on this until I was done, sat there on the couch watching The Doctor (revisited 9 while Katlyn was watching One Piece, in Japanese, in her room) until 1 am.  Katlyn found that amusing because I am so not a late night kinda girl, but I was on a roll and here she is....all done!

Ta-Da!

Now I like her just fine, but really felt she was missing just a little something, and so last night I gave her a little bling!  She got earrings and a belly button ring!  Well there she is all done up and I like her and can only hope that Toni does too.  She didn't turn out exactly as I planned, but I think that she is great!

Quick picture before shipping off the Toni!

I started a bunny last night for Brooke.  I am using yarn that I dyed with Kool-Aid which is a lovely pink/yellow combination.  Again I am not using a pattern for this, just going by a drawing I did, but should be fairly simple after the monster, bunny needs a head, a body, legs, arms and ears, oh yes and a pom-pom tail....yep easy peasy!

Bunny head in progress!

So that's it for my weekend, I stayed pretty busy which is always a good thing!  Going to do some work now, the boss is out all day and his secretary called in as well, ahhh, the peace and quiet!

Listening to: Night Songs by Cinderella

Something new

This was in my head today.  I looked around yesterday to see if I could find a bunny to make Brooke for Easter and didn't find anything I really loved so I sketched a rough looking bunny and put it in my book and forgot about it last night.  (Damn that Doctor!)  Well this morning while getting ready for work I was thinking that I wish I had know about my Son's girlfriend birthday sooner (it's the 1st) because I could make her something.....this monster idea popped into my head.  I grabbed a skein of a turquoise yarn and popped it into my bag this morning on the way out the door.  I know that everyone has seen them around, but I haven't made one before, so I searched around this morning and again couldn't quite find what I was looking for, I did see someone had made one with a pom-pom on the top of it's head (hair maybe) and the idea sprang from there....had to have a pom-pom haired monster!!  I drew the head a pom-pom hair and added the parts and edited the parts (notice the whiteout bits)  I chose the Cascade because it was on the gloves I was wearing and I knew I had leftovers of it and I like the green bits with the turquoise, so when I picked Katlyn up from class and dropped her at home, I ran in a grabbed the ball of Cascade to add with the turquoise.  So this is an extremely rough draft to the monster I have started, and by started I mean did 6 sc into a magic circle :) 

Mad art skills I tell you!

Color choices!  

The blue yarn is Vanna's Choice Baby in Little Boy Blue and the greeny one is Cascade 220 Quatro.  I can't wait to see how this develops, should be interesting.  I have made Amigurumi things before, so the concept is not new and really after the Bender hat, I am enjoying making things up.  Funny thing about that though is that I am usually a very pattern needing kind of girl, but since the Funky Gloves I made I am liking the freedom of just winging it!  I hope I can get a lot of this done tonight while watching The Doctor, we moved on to the 11th Doctor last night....interesting is all I can say at this point.  Nine is still my favorite :)

I mean come on!!!

That's all I have to say!

Listening to:  The Beat Goes On by Sonny and Cher

All's quiet today

I am the only one in the office and have been since 9 am, even the phones are quiet.  Oops, just heard the back door shut, someone's here.

I finished up the Cartman beanie for Katlyn, it's a simple hat anyway, I just added a little to it.  I purchased the Strata Beanie pattern awhile ago from Playin' Hooky Designs and have made many hats with it.  The hat comes out very solid and squishy, as my son says.  Solid AND squishy?  How does that make sense?  I guess you have to feel it to understand what I mean, though I'm sure there is a better term to describe it.  So I did that up and then added the yellow band and folded it up and tacked it down (Katlyn asked that I do that)  Next I did the pom-pom, so much fun with a crazy puppy who for some reason finds my scissors fascinating, he didn't care when I was wrapping the yarn around the cardboard so much, but as soon as I started snipping I couldn't keep him off my lap!  He's such a weirdo, the entire time I was shaping the pom-pom, he was sniffing around me and kept sticking he wet nose in the little fuzzy pile of yellow yarn which of course lead to him sporting little yellow bit of fuzzy all over his nose!   So here it is all finished up, I had to take a quick picture this morning and I'm telling you, there is either not enough light or too much.  I think I might need to make my own light box for my finished items.

It's a semi sunshiney day 

She let me take one as we were heading out this morning.

Now what small project can I do next?  I'm sure Katlyn will have more hat ideas and that will keep me busy and I have more fingerless gloves in the queue, so I'll see what tickles my fancy when I get home tonight.  

Ok remember how I said that I like the quiet of no one here, well the problems arises with that when my office which normally has 3 of us pinons in it has only me and I need to pee.....this could be a very long day!   I will be the one sprinting down the hall every couple of hours!  Oh well at least it's quiet and after yesterday I need the peace!  You ever notice how someone elses mood infects you?  I say infect and not affect because really it's contagious.  I wasn't having the greatest day anyway yesterday, but when you share office space with someone who is always angry it can bring you down even more.  I can't understand one's need to be so angry and yet so passive about everything.  You either have to let the anger go or fix it, I don't like the stress of being so angry about e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. and it doesn't do you good healthwise either!  I am ranting again, oops!  

I'm off to get some work done now, in my quiet, happy place....well I am at work, so not super happy when I could be crocheting, but alas the bills do need to get paid!

Listening to:  Bully by Shinedown