another addiction...

yes. another addiction. knitting/crocheting books. it started out with those handy little stitch guides for $3 at joann's. then chris's mom bought me a felting book. then i bought a few small baby books at michael's. last week chris took me to a 1/2 priced book store - bad idea. well - not bad really - i got $75 dollars worth of books for $25. bad in that i want to keep going back to these stores and buying more!

at the moment i'm really into the 'hand knits for the home.' it's got a lot of nice patterns - and ones that will incorporate the sewing machine that chris got me for christmas :) i've got a lot of projects on my plate right now - a lady at work just ordered about 11 scarf/collar type garments for her choir group and she wants them done by april! that's good though - i like to be busy doing something i love!

and speaking of which - i'm going to back and knit some before it's time for bed. i'm also going to be watch the campaign coverage (fingers crossed!!)

today was good

today was really good. i didn't do a damned thing.


well, i did - but not the things i normally think/feel i should be doing. usually i feel the need to exercise, clean - do something that everyone generally views as productive. when i normally attempt these things though i never feel satisfied. i didn't enough exercising. i didn't do enough cleaning. etc. etc. so today i woke up early (9am is early for me on a saturday when chris works) and had ice-cream for breakfast. then i read my book for book club for awhile. then i took out my fancy yarn and knitted for a few hours while listening to my ipod (although i eventually had to turn it off when i found out that my brain could not sing along and count at the same time and i ended up having to take out 2 complete rows - i despise reverse knitting). i did attempt some cleaning - but it was because i wanted to and not because i felt i had to. i didn't get very far but i was pleased.


when chris got home we ran a few errands and got some pad thai for dinner (this after we just talked about how we should not eat out so much). then we watched the tele. i knitted. he called his mother. we played some cribbage. and now we're going to bed. we don't go to bed this early on weekdays!

great skiens of yarn!

dear god,


today i discovered heaven. yarn heaven. it was beautiful. so incredibly beautiful. please send me lots of cash so i can return to yarn heaven many times. it would be very awesome of you. thanks.


love,


michelle




a bit much you say? well - then you've never been to yarn heaven. up until this point in my knitting/crocheting adventures i've stuck to the basics - michael's and joann's. they've been wonderful for someone with a yarn addiction on a budget. today however - i let myself wonder into the local (non-chain) yarn store and well....it was heaven.


shelves upon glorious shelves of glorious marvelous yarn! tons of cute storage containers for all your supplies! i fell in love (if you couldn't tell). i managed to only let myself leave with enough yarn for a current project i'm working on - but it was tough. i could see myself going into some serious debt there (which needs to not happen...must save money not spend money!)


so yeah - that's my story for the day. i fell in love with yarn heaven. oh - and isn't the picture below a cool idea? i'd love to have a craft room and do something like this....





p.s. i'm currently accepting donations to support my addiction. please and thank you.

p.p.s. i have a few posts from the past week(end) to actually post...hopefully i'll get around to it soon....

knit tattoo, purl tattoo

i've thought about getting a tattoo once or twice in my life. i don't know if i ever could though. i'd worry about where how the skin would age. i'm also so incredibly anal that if it were in color i'd probably end up coordinating my clothes to go with it - that just wouldn't be healthy. i'd never thought about knitting tattoo's though. not that seeing them makes me want to get one now but i thought they were interesting nonetheless....

updates

the apartment:
it's coming together. we've hung a few things. the second bedroom is still a disaster. i have so many ideas on how it could look better but have no money to buy the things to make it so. it's hard not being able to get what you want rightnow. kari and mark are going to visit this summer - hopefully there'll be enough room for them to sleep in there by then.


my mental state:
i'm far less crabby today. in fact - i'd go so far as to say i'm not crabby at all! (period going away = happy michelle) slightly frustrated with myself for not completely a workout dvd but the squats and lunges i did yesterday have made my thighs want to run away and hide....


christopher:
still amazing. still incredibly awesome. still love him an insane amount. still amazed that he loves me (and all my craziness)!


my job:
see previous post. nuff said.


crocheting/knitting projects:
i think i mentioned that i finally finished all of my christmas presents(!!!!!) i even finished the two burp clothes for my co-workers baby! now i just have to manage actually getting those things in the mail/delivered (this is the part where i usually fail). i am desperately trying to find a cute way to organize my yarn - having it neatly stored but yet visable (ideas? i'm thinking crates....)


my fat:
still (annoyingly) here. i'm working hard to make it go away though. according to the scale at work i'm down one pound. only 34 more to go......


minerva:
suprisingly more likable. as soon as i wrote that post about her she changed her tune. she will now tolerate you getting close(er) to her face and petting her. she has even taken to sleeping right by my head and also jumping into the sink whenever i'm in the bathroom doing anything in front of the mirror - kinda cute.


albus:
he's still incredibly strange. lick. lick. lick. lick. lick. lick. lick. lick. lick - you get the picture.


my hair:
it's getting long - but not cute long. it's that inbetween stage - neither long nor short. it's driving me insane and i desperately want to cut it but i'll give it a go until the end of may.


my stomach:
not hungry but chris is making dinner so i think i'll go chat with him :)

A Good Day

today was a good day. really good.


it started out rather early (well - early for a self confirmed champion late sleeper). i got up to attend Stich & Bitch :) chris came over to my place and together we drove over holly's. i had a fantastic time! aside from the book club meeting this was only the second time i've hung out with chris and i really enjoyed it (we should do it again soon okay :))! there were a few other ladies there as well - all scrapbookers (you'll have to come next time kelly!). pete (holly's husband - who so kindly made us lunch) was there along with her daughter claire - so incredibly adorable! we just chatted and crafted and before i knew it it was about 2:30 (it started at 10)! so we headed out and plan do it again in about a month. thanks holly!


while i was there chris, megan and carter did some running around. the science museum and the fire station (megan got a super cute picture of chris and carter that i'm waiting for her to send).



when i got home we just sort of hung out. we were all kind of tired and fell alseep to The Polar Express (carters favorite movie - we only watched 3 times so far - ay yi yi! :)). afterwards mandy and nathan came over for dinner (i love chipotle). we watched carter to the most hillarious "butt" dance ever - times like that make me wish i had my video camera permanately strapped around my neck.....
right now megan is attempting to put him to sleep. she's been trying to do it for the past hour i think :) carter is 3 and the people and excitement and being away from home have turned him into - well - a 3 year old. he's had little fits all day long 'no! don't talk to me ever kitty! (he actually said that to minerva). megan is embarrased and keeps saying he's never acted like this - i just laugh. you can laugh when they aren't yours. (right? :)) right now he's coming up with every single excuse in the book to not have to go to bed. i can't blame him - i once pretended to sleep walk :)
once she does get him down we're going to watch The Shining. we started it last night but fell asleep right before it got scary. so we're starting it over tonight (chris has never seen it!). so there ya go.....a play by play of my day. how was yours?

TTLIFF!

that translates to - Thank The Lord It's Finally Friday! (tgif seemed rather dull...)


i'm seriously so happy that the weekend is here! not the work was stressful or anything but who doesn't prefer two days off over going to work? that and i have some plans for the weekend :) tomorrow chris and i are going to a 'stitch & bitch' at holly's house. (not my chris - a friend chris) i'm really excited - i've been wanting to get a group of gals together to do this since i moved down here. (i miss our knitting nights carrie!) perhaps i'll host a few sessions at my place as i know of a few co-workers who are also interested.....


as for tonight chris's (my chris) sister megan and her son carter are coming over. in fact (since i started this blog right before they arrived) they are here now! megan is attempting to put carter to sleep. she put him down in my room but i'm worried that albus hid under the bed. albus and minvera are not the biggest fan of small beings. i'm sure - given time - that they would be. it just takes them time. albus* hated chris for about a week when they first arrived. so yeah - they are here and will be for the weekend. unfortunately megan has a bit of a cold so her and i might just chill while chris takes carter out and about tomorrow...we'll see....

we just got done watching peter pan. i bought a copy before christmas when i saw it was out. but they remastered it. i really really prefer the hand drawn charm of the older version - anyone know of how i can get an old - non-remastered - copy on dvd?

alright - i think carter is asleep. megan and i are going to watch 'the shining.' i've never seen it and she says i have to :)

*i was watching ellen today (of cours) and she was talking about her pets. her cat liked to sleep up my her head and she attributed this to the fact that he was part abyssinian and those breeds were more dog like. i was intrigued becuase i and a lot of other people have said that albus is more dog like. he isn't a lap cat but constantly has to be at your side and walking along with you wherever you go. he plays fetch (i'm not kidding - he will walk back with whatever you throw - he prefers balled of socks - and trot back to you and drop them in your hand). and he has to sleep at my head. i did some researching and it also mentioned the fact that abyssinian's can have defects that cause them to groom themselves compulsively - leaving bald spots. albus does not do this but he does obsessivley lick any and all surfaces he comes in contact with. his favorites are skin (he will lick you and lick you and lick you - i swear if you let him he'd like a layer off....) - he's always licking my legs, and plastic bags. he will not stop licking plastic bags. ay yi yi! minerva is the same way about the skin thing. they're weird. but at least now i may know why...

uh oh - carter is up! gotta go.....

Nude

no...not that kind of nude ya perv.......sheesh.....


i mean nude as in no-make-up. zero. zilch. notta.


it's something i've thought about many times before - going without make-up. this last time i decided to do something about it. give it up - for an entire month. i even got a co-worker to do it with me (the only difference being that she gets it sit up and away in her cubicle whereas i'm greeting everyone that walks in the door....)


i don't wear a lot of make-up to begin with. eyeliner. mascara. and blush (oh lord how i'll miss my blush stick!) no foundation - the thought of caking something onto my face like that bothers me. i went through the powder faze in highschool - when it was cool to have your compact with you at all times. now i can't stand it. so - i'm not giving it up becuase i think it hogs up too much of my time. i just think it's time that we (women) start thinking of ourselves as naturally beautiful. i don't think there is anything wrong with make-up persay but for some women it is truely a crutch. they will not - unless possibly in need of urgent medical attention - leave the house without it. ever. why is this? do they truely believe that they are ugly without it?


i admit - there are times when i wake up and think - oh hell no - not walking out the door like this. but i want to get over that. that's why i'm doing this - so that by the end up of the month perhaps i'll think i look better without it. i'm happy that darrah (hi!) is doing this with me. she was so concerned and when she came in this morning she looked exactly the same as when she was wearing make-up (minus the sparkle of eyeshadow on her eyes). she looked beautiful!


i'll admit that it was not fun to look in the mirror and see the bareness of my eyes - but i liked it anyhow. and any dislike was quickly outweighed by the fact that i could rub my eyes! think about it - everyone gets that little tickle in their eye at some point during the day. instead of having to carfully not mess up the eyeliner (etc) you can just rub away. it's very liberating! so - feel free to join me if you want. post some self portraits of yourself (mine were taken with my camera phone - hence the quality) and see how your perceptions change over the course of the month.

oh - had to include a picture of the finished hat! i started on one of the orders today :) if you want one let me know :)

Loose Lips

ah friday. how i love thee.....


today was good. my stuffy snotty leaky-faucet-of-a-nose is finally clearing up. (wahoo!) and (as sexy as it may seem) i'm sure chris will appreciate being able to kiss me without having a kleenex protruding out of my nostril.


at work a few new developments occured. the girl to whom i normally send all work related inquires up to is being transferred to a new location (or fired - not sure which). this means that i will now have to deal with all the people (aka morons) coming in the door. i know what you're thinking - shouldn't i be doing this anyhow - i am the receptionist after all. well....it's complicated. i'm a sort-of receptionist. a poser. i didn't even get a performance review because there is no job description for my position. in the words of my boss 'what am i supposed to critique you on? how many hats and scarves you've made?' so yeah. a guy came in and gave me a list of numbers to give people coming in. we'll see how it goes.....


after work i got my bangs trimmed. i went to a new place. as much as i love the $5 bang trim the other place offered i was not willing to risk 'poofy-claw-bangs' again. (i swear - they whip those thinning shears and go to town before you've even had time to open your mouth in protest!) so i shelled out a bit more but am really happy. in fact - this is the best bang trim i've gotten thus far. it has a certain bit of funk. i like it. and i got the eyebrows waxed. thank god - they were getting scary...


and now i think i'll return to the couch and try to finish chris's hat. we're going to duluth tomorrow and it'd be nice if he had it to wear. i've gotten a lot done in just the little bit of time i worked on it at work.


oh....the juno soundtrack. first of all - if you have not seen this movie. do so. very good. i wish i had been like that in highschool. not pregnant - just spunky. but the soundtrack! i am self proclaimed movie soundtrack addict. love them. in fact - 5 seconds into the movie i turned to chris and told him i wanted the soundtrack. and you know what - he bought it for me! a suprise :) (i really don't think he has any imperfections...) i love it. love it. i have the song 'loose lips' stuck in my head as i write...

okay. off to the knitting.

Owwie!

i just got back from the dentist. my mouth hurts.


this appointment was to set in place my permanent crown. when i sat down they told me that they don't do novacaine. (uhhh...excuse moi? pass that by me again?) i told them that i would prefer to have it and so they gave it to me. perhaps it was out of spite at having asked for it or perhaps his aim was off but the the area they worked on did not get numb. instead - the entire right side of my tongue is beyond numb as are the right halves of my lips. but not the tooth area. nope. not at all. felt everything they did. still do. and it hurts :(


not only that but my nose is raw. that hurts too. hmph.




oh - update on the previous post. i stupidly decided the finish the hat at work. i knew i should have waited until i got home where i wouldn't be distracted and in such a rush (to finish it before i left for the dentist). and i paid for it. the hat is..well...too big. granted chris has yet to try it on but yeah. too big. i'll wait to make a final judgment until he gets home but i think i may end up having to start it over. ah well - practice makes perfect, right?


and that's all for now. i'm going to change into comfy clothes and rest. i'm stuffed up and sore and feel like doing nothing :)

I can Knit!

chris wanted me to make him a hat.

he picked out some yarn. the yarn just happened to match the scarf that mandy made him for christmas last year. the scarf that she knitted. because i am slightly ocd i decided that the hat must be knitted so as to match the scarf. so we picked out a pattern....

the pattern called for 5 needles! 5! i decided to brave it though. unfortunately i got the wrong size dpn (double pointed needles) and the yarn i had was too thick for it. so i ended up finding another pattern that started from the bottom up and gave me time to go get the correct size dpn. after some help from D (resident volunteer greeter / knitter) and some other co-workers the hat is lookin' pretty gosh darn good. the tricky part was learning the dpn method (which i'll have to use tomorrow when i finish up the top of the hat) and also learning how to attatch the other ear flap....

i must say that i'm rather impressed with myself after having only knitted one (horrific) baby blanket and one scarf. so there ya go Carrie - your teaching me how to knit has not gone to waste :)

ain't he just so cute?

Hats....

i would like to knit a hat. a hat for chris. a hat with earflaps.


i have no idea how to do this.


what are double pointed needles?


why must i use four needles (how do you even do that???) instead of just knitting on the round with circular needles?


my brain and eyes are sore from searching the web for answers to these questions and looking at hat patterns. if you have answers - or can find a cute pattern please please pass it along :)


thank you :)

Super Happy

i want this book.

mandy (chris's sis-in-law) got it for christmas from her hubby and the patterns inside are awesome. so so so cute.

i know i've done a supreme amount of bitching lately about my complete lack of funds but it isn't that expensive. perhaps i could purchase it? but how to justify it......

i could make some cute gifts for people (or sell).

i'll think about it while i go bust by butt. speaking of busting butts the ladies who started this whole weight loss challange brought in the scale to work today. not because we've reached the end of the compitition but to see who exactly our competition is. i have stayed the same (boo! - but on the plus side i'm losing inches which is even better in my opinion. the weight loss will follow). one lady gained 9 pounds! i felt bad for her but inside went 'yes!'. mean? probably -but i could use that $200 and some prize.....

oh - if you any of you have some across cute and unique knitting/croteching books out there let me know :)

i feel good!

dananananana....

i knew that i would now......

danananananana....

i feel nice....

dananananana....

like sugar and spice

okay...you get the point :)

no big reason. i just feel good. one reason is the exercising. i'm sticking to it this time. there is absolutely no excuse for me to sit on my ass and not do it. i got up this morning and exercised. that's something i've been thinking about doing and come morning it's just so darn hard to get up. but i will now. i know how good it feels to get on that treadmill - blast some good music and get pumped. afterwards i'm really awake. the shower feels better. i feel better. it's a good. i love it.

also - i have more energy throughout the day. even if i'm bored - my mood stays good.

so yeah - i feel good. and i thought i'd just share that with y'all since i might be too busy to blog tonight. after work i'm meeting my dad for dinner. he's down here on business which is great becuase i left my winter coat in Duluth over Christmas and he's bringing that down. he's also bringing the very large bottle of Bailey's that my brother got us :) in return i'll give him the scarf (that i finally finished!!) that i knitted him for Christmas. then it's home to exercise. maybe some crocheting afterwards.

how are you today?

Off to a good start....

so i'm off to a good start - my tooth broke :(

well - part of my filling broke on New Year's Eve and later that night part of the tooth broke. luckily my insurance kicked in yesterday so i can get it taken care of soon (in about one hour to be exact :))

dealing with the insurance company this morning was a royal pain in my ass. because the insurance just kicked in i haven't recieved my cards yet. so i called to get my information. they told me i hadn't selected a dentist and so i couldn't have my information. (note: nothing in the sign up stuff told me i had to pick a certain dentist - in fact i made sure i chose the option that did not) anyhow. i finally found a dentist they accepted and they hopefully faxed my information to them. i asked the very clearly if i was good to go - if all i had do was show up and they said 'yes'. this of course means squat but we'll see.

oh - and for those of you who might have to deal with annoying automated phone systems - press a whole bunch of numbers until they automatically direct you to an actual human being. works every time :)

alright - i'm gonna knit a little more and then it's off to the dentist!

Making a List...

i've been rather absent from the blogging world it seems.....

we've been getting situated in the new place and getting ready for Christmas. i have a ton of pictures to post but haven't gotten around to uploading them yet. who knows when it will happen...

i've already determined that gifts (at least some of them) are going to be late. i had high hopes of crocheting/knitting something for everyone but that quickly fell apart. i had counted on all that free time at work and then BAM - they gave me stuff to do! who knew?! then the moving took away more than a week of my cozy nights sitting on working so.....yeah.... but i'm not getting stressed. this is my absolute favorite time of the year and if they gifts are late - they're late. if people get mad

(which i'm sure they won't) then that's too bad.

i also need to make time for baking - i LOVE to bake this time of year :) i already have a list a mile long of all the ingredients i'll need :)

tonight chris and i went shopping. we finally sat down this past weekend and made a list of everyone we're buying for and what we're buying them. and for the most part we got it all done which makes me happy. that and going out and buying buying buying always makes me happy - which isn't great i guess - but oh well :) we found some really cute stuff so i'm excited :)

and now that it's almost bedtime i'm off to have some dinner :)

oh - christmas cards will be going out soon! if you think i don't have your address (and just to be safe - assume i don't) e-mail it to me! and if you want to send me one (:)) e-mail me as well :)

hmmmm..think that's it for now :)

hope ya'll are doing just peachy!

p.s. i hate the spacing on this. it just mushed everything i typed into one lump and won't fix it. argh.

Knit Five, Purl One....oh $#!%

fixing crochet mistakes is WAY easier than fixing knitting mistakes. i'm trying to learn but it's difficult. luckily the volunteer greeter today is also a fantastic knitter and extremely patient!


this scarf has been started over about 5 times now and i'm praying that this latest mistake can be fixed and i can finish it!

ay yi yi yi yi yi!

Basket Case...

oops - i meant basket WEAVE! (but when it comes to all this yarn and crocheting/knitting i think i am becoming a baseket case...sigh...)

i decided to knit - and learned some new pattern stitches. the basket weave (shown above and below - it will eventually turn into a scarf for my dad). the sugar cube. the mesh. and the seed.

it's fun until you drop some stitches but i'm learning how to fix those so all is going well so far :)

oh - and i converted two "non-bloggers" into bloggers today :) so - welcome Vija and Mia - you're gonna love it!

Yarn A-Go-Go....

i didn't realize i had amassed such a collection of yarns......

chris and i got a note today informing us that they'll be showing the apartment this week! this is stressful - the apartment is a) a mess and b) somewhere i'm not technically supposed to be living but all one of the closet and its contents say otherwise....

we decided to not worry about 'b' as it is what it is and we'll be gone in a month. as for 'a' we started to clean. this included doing the mountain of laundry we had and me attempting to sort through the mess i've made of his place....i can be a slob (i know i know...you find it hard to believe but trust me on this....)

i made some headway. the floor outside the closet can now be seen. first time in months. the chair in the living room can also be seen - in it before all that yarn - shown above! ay yi yi! where did it all come from? i only started crocheting 2 months ago! and so much yellow yarn from when i knitted that horid baby blanket for my nephew - SO much yellow yarn....

but it looks good now, eh? :)

i'm workin' on it.....

Knitting Again

i'm knitting again :) (and strangely enough also reading a book called knitting)

another co-worker stopped by my desk with a skien of yarn (purple again - seems to be a thing..) and wanted me to make the scarf show on the label. i said sure - then noticed it was knitting. i thought i'd have a hard time picking up the needles again but it was easier than i thought and i'm glad i did it - opens up the crafting world a bit more.

the scarf doesn't look like the picture on the label but i've begun to notice that these projects rarely do. oh well - it's super soft and thick and i'm liking it. i'm not liking the fact that the yarn has already managed to work itself into a clusterfuck or the fact that i'm a tight knitter despite desperate attempts to avoid it. other than that it's going good.

but i'm still stuck on a price. this project is something that requires home time as the yarn - pulling from both ends - is too much of a mess to have at the desk. so it's taking up my time. am i sounding snotty? i don't mean to - i love doing this. i just don't know how much to charge when people ask me...ideas? please

so yeah - the world of crafting in michelle land is going splendidly :)

i'll start posting some finished product pics along with some patterns (or links to them) soon (well - maybe after the holidays as some of them might be gifts...)