Hi, I'm Sydney. I borrowed my mom's blog today.

 

I had the best day.

I slept in, then I got up and followed my mom around the house.

Then I hung out with my dad in the study. Then he took me outside so I could play in the mud. I love how it feels in my toes!

I got rinsed off and bundled up into the car...my people packed some stuff and we met up with Auntie Kara and I got to go on a lovely car ride.

We got to a state park, and went for a nice hike.

I got to cross a river and walk in sand and up a hill. Fabulous!

It was great to see the butterflies, flowers, and lovely fall colors.

Then we left as the sun was setting and I slept until we got to the barbeque place.

I got to eat the leftover meat. That was great!

then more napping in the car and then we got home where I got a bath and now it is time for me to sleep some more.

ahhhhh. what a day! :)

-Syd

 

Famous last words.

Maybe running will be my new hobby. :)

Maybe I will knit socks one day. :)

 

TD (the dog) and I made it to the second cattle guard today. I know the first cattle guard is a mile and I have no idea how far the second one is, but it really felt like some sort of accomplishment. I feel 100 and TD seems none the worse for wear. We jogged for 37 mins. solid (99%). We had to pause a couple of times for things like a couple of passing cars and to deal with Gray Dog. Thanks, BIL, for the running is only 20% physical advice. :)

 

I was having a nice lil jog with my TD. Gray Dog follows us and gets all up in TD's grill and trips me. UGH! But after the probably 2.5 miles, I was in NO mood. I was just waiting for the Gray Dog to come out and bother us again and I was going to unleash (verbally), but I guess she/he used their doggy survival instinct and stayed away. I'm amazed at how that dog seems poorly trained, but understands, "go away!" in scarey deep voice really well. I think it confuses TD because she's on a leash and she kind of looks at me like, "um, where exactly do you expect me to go?". There doesn't seem to be a command for disregard what I'm about to say. :)

 

I'm going to work on the WoW blanket and watch some tv.

I hope everyone has a great Friday!

 

 

I started training for a 3 mile jog last Wednesday. The run is for a good cause and I'm excited to try to meet this new challenge since I've never come close to jogging/running anything over a mile. Will running turn out to be another new hobby? probably not. :)

 

I was surfing ravelry.com and ran across a very talented artist. Barbara made this:

I'm inspired by her use of colors and textures....gorgeous! I'm amazed by how she captured fire. I plan to make something with similar colors one day.....the idea of freeform knitting and crocheting also interests me. I would love to be able to freeform cables one day.

 

My friend, Stephanie reinspired me to work on the WoW blanket. She and I talked about using post double and trable crochets to get the look I want without me having to work the whole blanket from the front (a huge pain in the arse)...but the more I thought about this, the lion would have looked like he had dreadlocks....so I kept thinking and Lisa said, "why don't you knit it?". Granted, this is her answer to most of my crochet issues, but I was stunned and had to wonder why I hadn't thought of it myself. But then I knew why....knitting a blanket this size is not for the faint of heart, but I like things to look the way I want them to, so I ordered my addi turbo circulars and I'm off to the races. Thank goodness the girls talked me out of double-knitting it. I only considered that for 5 mins, but I'm sure it would have been the death of me....well, either that or I'd have gotten a lovely padded cell. :)

 

The World of Warcraft blanket is now about 15% done. A vertical yarn lazy susan would make this go a lot faster. I'd like to be able to untwist the yarns midair after I've twisted them for carries. Hopefully, the next color section will have less long carries. There does seem to be a patent for what I want, but no product online that I see.  I did find a way online to make a $5 yarn swift online using a plastic lazy susan, wire coat hangers, and duct tape. :)

There is something great about knitting a blanket when it is cold and rainy outside. :)

 

In other news, Couples Retreat was a good movie. :)

 

Peas out!

 

Yesterday was eventful.

 

I stepped on a scorpion. Thankfully, it was dead. :)

 

I wondered if dogs really do have a sixth sense because I was painting my toenails and Sydney came over and smelled them and then growled. The color? - WICKED. :)

 

I met up with friends to go to a tailgate before a college football game. That was really fun. I can add got out of a cab somewhere other than an intersection, walked across a fwy (on a bridge - not the actual fwy), and attended a tailgate to the things I've done in life. I worked on the pink blanket at the tailgate while watching the game on tv. Later that night, I successfully hailed my first cab. He says he stopped for me because I was calm and not drunk. :)

 

I brought my own Vitamin water & Diet Dr. Pepper to the tailgate and as I was meeting people and drinking my VW, one guy said "Yea, help yourself to the beverages, but we're all out of Vitamin water." LOL

 

Here are some life lessons that I learned over the course of the night:

Don't wear jeans that brush the ground if you may be forced to use a port o potty.

Make a serious effort to take your own T.P.

Invest in some pepper spray gel. My second cab ride came with a free safety lecture.

 

Laters.

 

Where did August go? It was great fun, but hmm. what did I do?

- finished the cream crocheted cables blanket complete with chocolate border. It looks great if I do say so myself.

 

- went to Denver for some work-related training where I met some very cool folks and learned a lot.

I tried a Bourbonzola Burger (with American rather than gorgonzola cheese) at the Rock Bottom Brewery. Now, I like to keep people's expectations reasonable so they are not disappointed, but this was one of the best burgers I've ever had......but you should keep in mind that most of my fav. burgers are the pineapple/teriyaki ones.

I also had dinner with one of my new friends at a place called Indulge. This wine and tapas bar was VERY cool and if you are in the area, you should definitely try it! I had never had tapas before, but they were delic!...and the banana split martini was great also.

 

- 80% completed my firest amigurumi animal...it is a giraffe for the SIL & BIL's baby boy...now I need to sew him together......"I HATE assembly" is my middle name.

 

- started surprise WoW blanket for the husband (TH) for Christmas

 

- celebrated 9 years with TH :)...I'd marry him all over again. :) 

side note: I notice a lot of bloggers say DH for dear husband I think? but that just isn't me, so I'll be calling him TH. :)

 

- got really frustrated with crocheted WoW blanket when I realized I need to work the blanket all from the front -UGH!!!!!!

 

- started on pink blanket for good friend little girl #2 and set aside the monstrously frustrating WoW blanket.

 

- TH ruined WoW blanket surprise when he was looking for some ribbon for a friend of ours when I was not home in the craft/gift closet......he decided that the only reason I would have a bag full of gold yarn is for an Alliance blanket. Sometimes he's too damn smart for his own good! ugh....but now I've put it aside, so who knows if I'll finish it. THAT will be a surprise. :) It is 10% done and holding for now.

side note: damn isn't a curse word b/c it is in GwtW (Gone with the Wind) :)

 

- went to the local Children's hospital for a tour and to donate my first blanket there. I left the purple flower blanket in their hands and am very excited by the prospect of making and donating more blankets. :) This new cause really speaks to me. The idea of blankies comforting sick and hurt kids just makes me feel cozy.......like drinking hot chocolate with tons of whipped cream or marshmellows, but it's calorie free! A big THANK YOU to Monica Kennedy(http://crochetbymonica.gather.com/) for sharing the flower blanket pattern. :) and thank you, K, for inspiring the connection to the Children's hospital. :)

 

- went on vacation with TH for a week. That was lovely! :) 

I enjoyed the:

  rooftop yoga at our oceanside hotel. I really enjoyed the semi-sun(there was a pergola)/ocean/great yoga teacher combo. 

  nice live jazzy type band playing just below our balcony. Their music and the ocean sound in background was amazing. sigh.

  things we saw while scuba diving too (turtles, trunk fish, and stingrays, etc.)

  beachcombing

  seafood crepes

  glassblowing shop

  relaxing with TH

 

So, now Sept. is in full swing and it is time to get moving. There are many things to be done before Christmas! ah how I love the holiday season! :) It's a marshmellow world.....

 

 

I'd like to make a blanket exactly like this one for a friend's second little girl. I didn't make this one, so I'm trying to hunt down the pattern. If you run across this and know of the pattern, any help is MOST WELCOME and appreciated. and B4 you think I'm just lazy, I went through 47 pages of patterns in Ravelry search and I'm not even sure how many via Google yesterday. There are higher quality photos in my Photos in the Blanket album if that would help.

Thanks! :)

 

(deleted a couple of photos to help blog page load faster since I'm already 2/3 way done with this blanket. :)

 9/12/2009)

First order of business, I have to send out some thank yous. My friend, MM gave me these pretty flowers (thank you!) and I thought it would be fun to take a pic of them with Syd. For some odd reason, she was afraid of them. I think it was the sound the vase made when I sat it on the tile. You can see her kind of leaning away from them in the pic and I love the expression on her face. :) --"I know I'm going to get a treat, but I don't like this one bit. Crazy flowers in some sort of container can't be trusted....."

 

 

A friend of mine made this incredibly gorgeous blanket and then gave it to me. I'm still not sure how I got to be so lucky. She's a great friend and an incredible crochet mentor. I couldn't believe how fast she finished it. I will treasure it always. Thank you, Sam!

Everytime I get the camera out, Syd thinks it is all about her, so I couldn't resist including her in a pic. :)

 

It has been a very busy few weeks. I helped hostess a baby shower last weekend and that was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed making a corsage and figuring out what to do for favors. Sam was also sweet enough to make these cute baby bootie mint holders. I can't wait to meet Baby since his parents are so great! :)

 

Meanwhile, I finished knitting the border for the Neopolitan baby blanket, but the 16th sq. was giving me so much trouble that I think I'm going to have to visit the LYS (local yarn shop) for some help on the climbing vines. I've tried them 3 times and am missing something.

Now that I have missed the fair deadline, I am thinking of also reworking the easiest square on the blanket to be something more complicated, but we'll see if I decide to just use the completed one.

I did some experimenting with seaming and decided I liked single crocheting on the front the best. It doesn't lie 100% flat, but I really like the way it looks. So, I'm starting to assemble it and maybe I'll try to get to the LYS this week...

 

I am making great progress on the crocheted cables blanket with the chocolate edging and might even finish that today which would be awesome! :) I'm really jonesing for a completed project. :)

 

We went to see the hot air balloons yesterday. That was pretty cool...There is something fabulous about all that color and fire. Thanks, MC, for introducing us to the Lake Flights. :)

 

 

In other news, I saw the Ugly Truth recently. I enjoyed it.

I also saw the Hangover not too long ago. It was pretty good too. Now I know what to do when I discover a Tiger in my bathroom. :)

 

Peas out.

 

 

I've knitted 15 squares for the pink/white/brown baby blanket (one is double-wide). I need to block them, knit the edging, do some finishing embellishing on three squares and then assemble it. I have about 2 weeks to get it ready for the fair. It will be close, but I think I can do it. I'm planning on blocking two squares a day while I knit the edging. I assembled my blocking board yesterday and am probably more proud of it than is warranted.

 

The most challenging thing recently is trying to put white swirly ding-dong type icing on the cupcake. My first idea was duplicate stitching. That did not deliver results that I was happy with so I ripped it out. Plan B was an i-cord, but even the smallest one I could knit was too big....so, onto my third choice which I'm about to attach. I chained (crocheted) a chain the length I needed and will sew it on with clear thread in the swirly pattern, proving there is more than one way to ice a knitted cupcake. :)

 

Now, how to squeeze in a little project for the SIL baby shower now that she's having a boy? hmm.

 

NOTE: If you've been following my progress on projects and wondered what happened to the small cream blanket I was knitting for myself, I frogged it and made a hat. :)

 

Laters!

So, my SIL is having a boy....and I'm 75% done with her baby girl blanket. But, I'm very happy for them and excited about all the little boy things I'm going to start work on ASAP! :) and I knew what I was doing when I started the pink blanket 2 weeks after I knew she was pregnant. Point of fact, I wrote this blog last night before I KNEW it was a boy and saved it as a draft. :)

 

I just finished the flower square. I had to stop knitting Mon. night because my right fingertip was splitting and about to bleed. I nearly died when my friend's reaction was, "put a bandaid on it" accompanied by a "and keep going" look. Thanks, Sam. :) I think she should coin the phrase, "no pain, no state fair ribbon."

 

The square only has two flowers. After starting the first flower, I really felt that the lack of the third flower would not make the blanket any less attractive/loveable.....er, I really felt that two flowers were more balanced.....blah de blah...my fingers were bloody, 2 was good. :)  I knit all the time; I'm really not sure what it was about the pesky flower petals that brought such havoc...my theory is that the increasing and decreasing stitches use different parts of my fingertips than usual knitting/purling...or the 100+ temp. outside is funking up my skin...but I'm not a knitting/finger doctor, so who knows?!?

 

Truly, my state fair goal this year is to not get disqualified. I have no real idea what I'm doing...but it is fun and I'm learning a lot and should SIL baby #2 at some point be a girl....baby blanket. check.

 

Peas out.

This weekend has been very busy. Yesterday lunch at Hula Hut was DELIC! We had a LOVELY visit from Kara. I think I'm going to suck her into my knitting vortex when she's local. Then off to a pool party at Big D's which was a lot of fun! (is the chicken STILL on the bbq?)!! Happy B-day MM!! :)

 

This morning, I'm going to finish the double-knit heart square for the SIL/TX fair blanket and continue the flower square whilst watching HHaW. After that, there will be 3 left and the border. :)

 

My absolute favorite knitting tool has turned out to be my size D crochet hook. It is PERFECT for fixing mistakes if you catch them early. I've just learned double-knitting and I'm really not sure why anyone would do anything else when working with two colors. I LOVE IT! :) I've already picked out a double-knit blanket that I want to try.

 

Happy Father's Day to my dad!!! :)

and to my FIL!

I'm the luckiest girl alive to have two such wonderful dads in my life.

I am feverishly working on a blanket that is headed to the state fair if I finish it in time. If my SIL is having a baby girl, then it will also be a gift for her/her hubby/new baby....if they are having a boy, I have an idea for his blanket that I'll begin in Aug.(after fair submission deadline). I am learning a TON and hope the blanket turns out as I've imagined it will. :). So far, I think only one square of the blanket really could use a re-work and luckily it was one of the easy ones.

 

I looked at the winners of the Vanna's Choice contest and am definitely inspired to use more color than I had first planned....or really more than I was using b/c I was getting so irritated with the colorwork. So, I've got my second wind on that and finished 2 multi-colored squares this weekend. This brings the square count to 4 solid squares done and 4 (really 5 because one is double-wide) multi-colored squares done. There will be 16 squares total and a border. I have tons of other things I'm looking forward to working on, but I'm forcing myself to focus on this. Thank goodness for a deadline. :)

 

In other news, I saw a preview for a show in the CW fall lineup called Vampire Diaries and while it is probably inspired by the Twilight craze, I'm really looking forward to it. I caught up on True Blood this weekend while I was knitting up a storm. :)

 

So, at some point in the not too distant past, I heard someone (probably in a movie) say something looked a "hot mess". At the time, I had a hard time thinking I'd work that phrase into my daily vocab. Turns out I was wrong. I attempted this hat:

 

It is really pretty and I'm quite sure that if a person can read the pattern and knit, it works out beautifully. I, evidently, cannot read a pattern. I confused this with the other hat I was considering that was worked on circular needles in rows. So about 1/3 of the way in, I realized something was wrong, but wasn't sure what, so I kept going. Things didn't look quite right, but since I was feeling negatively towards the alpaca I was using, I thought maybe it was to blame. So, 2/3 of the way in, I thought, hmmm. this isn't right. This looks a hot mess........

So, I ripped a couple of rows out of it to see if I could salvage it and figured out what I had done. I had been so excited by my new found continental speed that I had been paying no attention to the pattern and how it was really supposed to look at the beginning and the fact that I should have been working in the round. I pretty much invented my own pattern to decrease at the top and ended up with a hat that any non-knitter would be pleased with. :)

and I felt a strange sense of accomplishment that I ripped and then picked up 110 stitches. This is huge progress for me. :)

 

Here are a few pictures for you to admire or laugh at depending on your mood.

 

I've finished my first cable knitting project, steamed it, and actually done the assembly. That is the shocking part. :) It doesn't look perfect, but I'm happy with it. My husband actually laughed when he saw it and said, "that's the tiniest purse ever", so, I explained that it is just for shopping/going out when all you need is a credit card and id. I'm thinking of wearing it later today to a college softball game. :)

 

 

I'm working feverishly on the huge navy blanket which I feel like I'll never finish and the crocheted cables blanket.

I want to get started on some slippers, but have told myself I must start another knitting project, not a crocheted one to further my skills for the GAAA. If my SIL has a boy, I may knit a blanket for him. But, I won't know whether to go for a girly blanket or a boyish one for another two months, so I'll have to come up with a different knitting project for the immediate future....not to mention the fact that I wonder if I'm actually up to knitting a blanket. Last time I tried to use circular needles, it did not go well.... I found a pattern for a vintage bridal coat that I would love to do in black, but I think at this stage of the game, that project might end in tears....so I'm still hunting.

 

In other news, I just saw the second Harry Potter movie (watched the first one a couple of weeks ago) and I know I'm way behind the curve, but they are not half bad little flicks...and no, I haven't read any of the books. :)

The small cable purse is coming along; I've completed the knitting (long I-cord & body of the purse). Now, I need to steam block it and assemble it. I think I'll try to get to that tomorrow night. I can't WAIT to wear it! It is the perfect size for credit card, ID, etc.

 

Here is a picture of the finished purse. It is not perfect, but I'm proud that I figured out how to decrease on a cable row. This is in fact my first knitted project that included decreases and the first knitted cable item that I've completed. :)

 

 

Last weekend, I delivered the strawberry banana blanket. Baby M was more excited by the idea of a present than by the blanket itself, but I think that is to be expected from a toddler. Her mom really liked the blanket. I look forward to it being roughly loved in the years ahead. I hope she loves it as much as I loved my yellow bunny blanket (I wonder whatever happened to that old thing?)....

One of the girls that I taught to crochet finished her first blanket and was kind enough to send me a couple of pictures. I'm so proud of her - it looks great! Here are a couple of pics:                                                            Way to go, Turtle! :)

 

 

 

And when I think about the girls that I'm teaching to crochet - I have yet to convert any guys, but I'm working on it -

I have to think about my mentors. So, I'd like to take a moment to thank Sam who takes the time to teach me even though I do everything backwards because she's left-handed....thanks for sharing tons of great tips, and helping me troubleshoot when the problem is that I just don't read. :)

 

And thanks to Meghan who was such a help when I was getting started and learning to crochet in the round...it is now my favorite way to work. :)

 

And thanks to Lisa who teaches me about knitting as I teach her about crochet. She's always happy to admire my work even though I can see her thinking that everything would look better knitted. :)

I've finished the Strawberry Banana blanket and am hoping to deliver it next weekend. The pansy baby afghan is also completed. My grandmother and I spoke on the phone after she received the Love Knot Edged blanket and she sounded so surprised and happy. It really reinforced the giving of surprise afghans. She was so sweet and we had a lovely chat.

 

The navy blanket for my husband is still at about 30% - it is not very interesting (solid navy, single-crochet), but is easy, so eventually, it will be finished. I worked on it on the way to Avenue Q with some friends yesterday....and in case you were wondering...they are not kidding about the mature content.  Overall, I enjoyed it.

 

Last week I took a Knitting 2 class at a local yarn shop. I learned that I had been wrapping the yarn the wrong way as I was trying to learn continental knitting, so this should help loosen up my stitches and has made knitting more enjoyable these last few days. I may be able to make a GAAA after all! I'm working on a small teal cable purse to practice and have ordered some wooden cable needles online that I think I'll enjoy.

 

 

I also started a crocheted cable blanket from a pattern in Interweave Crochet magazine. It is gorgeous. I can't wait to finish it! I want to try to give it away, but this is my first blanket that I'm not sure I can part with. Luckily, the Pinwheel blanket took 2.5 years, so though it was pretty, I was glad to see the last of it. Perhaps I should change my occupation to "hater of assemby." :)

 

 

I've finished the green/cream love knot edged speed hook lapghan for my grandmother. I mailed it last Friday. I hope she likes it.

I added a photo to my album if you'd like to see it.

Navy blanket is probably 30% done.

I started an Italia yarn speed hook blanket for a little girl I know. I wanted to make a blanket that she can drag around. The last one I made for her was more like an heirloom. This yarn is really soft and I think she'll love it. It is pink, yellow, light green and white. I'm almost 2/3 of the way finished.

 

In other news, I had a Twilight movie watching party last night. I had not seen the movie in the theater since all my girls caught it on opening night while I was camping. Here is a picture of the cake I wrote Twilight on. The party was A LOT of fun. I'm already looking forward to New Moon coming out on DVD. :)

I really liked the movie overall, but I was disappointed they didn't do a better job with Jacob - that hair would make any guy unattractive. ugh. I was really impressed with R.P. I thought he totally pulled it off!  I guess I'm Team Edward after all. :)

 

Last week I was skiing and it turns out, I CAN be too tired to croceht/knit. Who knew?!

 

I haven't knitted in awhile. I took a break after starting to learn how to knit in the Continental style. I'm very slow, but plan to work on this some more starting this weekend. I think once I have the hang of it, it will be faster for me than American. The GAAA(Great American Aran Afghan) is my final goal, but I definitely feel this being a LONG term goal.

 

I have finished 2 skeins of what I expect to be an 11 skein crocheted blanket for my husband. I think I'm 15% through since I plan to edge it. The goal is Christmas.

I'm 90% done with the cream/sage green blanket. I started this easy blanket to try out a love knot edging I found online. Once I've given it to the recipient, I'll post a pic. Don't want to spoil the surprise...

 

Now, I'm getting back to work....I plan to crochet and watch a vampire movie tonight before it gets dark. :)