It's been a busy year! Haha~

Holy zombie jeebus, I have not posted in a really long time for either real life stuff or my crochet and knit!  Shame on me I suppose~
When will I ever learn to be a steady blogger?  The world may never know.

The speedy update since my past post is that I am now married to my long time guy  (woohoo!), we have adopted a new kitten (feisty, teething snuggler of awesome), one of my best friends recently had an adoreable baby girl and another one of friends is soon to have a boy.  The husbeast and I finally upgraded to "smart phones" and now we are addicts like the rest of the people in the world with smart phones.

For part of this week we are in Sunriver, OR, (my husband is attending an ODAA seminar and conference while I get to roam around and play).  It is gorgeous up here if you like high desert, mountains, clear skies, museums, golfing, horse back riding, bicycling, inner tubing and shopping (during the summer).  Come winter, I would say it's a safe bet that there are a lot of skiers out here.  I am hoping that we can come out here again sometime soon, or spend our next vacation.  It has been really nice to go somewhere with sun  (this "summer" has been very cloudy, wet and late in arriving where we live), and I am pretty sure that I would be happy just laying around on the balcony or floating in the water for a few more days.  Sadly, we leave on Friday though  (which is the start of the local music festival here).

When it comes to crafting, geeze I have been busy!  Here is the list of things that I have finished:

• 16 amigurui turtles (wedding reception table decor)
• 7 purses for the wedding
• Matron of Honor Purse
• Brides Maid Purse (friend)
• Brides Maid Purse (sister-in-law)
• Mother of the Bride Purse
• Mother of the Groom Purse
• Bridal Purse (used - and apparently I never took a picture of it specifically. lol Apologies!)
• Bridal Purse (unused)
• 2 coffee sleeves
• Feather Scarf
• Iris the Gourmet Monster
• Learn to Knit Cuff
• Head Band with Vintage Crocheted Flower (no picture)
• Bear Ears for Newborn Hat (made for my friends' new baby)
• Harvest Hands (made for my mother)
• Crochet Lace Fingerless Mitts (made for sister in-law)
• Yoga Mat Bag (no picture)
• Pineapple Scarf (made for sister in-law)
• Honeycomb Lattice Cowl (made for my mother)
• 20 Coffee Sleeves (made for my husbands office as a generic winter holiday present)
• One-Skein Scarf (from Stitch 'n' Bitch Happy Hooker - made for one of my aunts)
• Victorian/Steampunk Ruffled Spats
• Easy Adjustable Slippers (I do not think that the pattern was well written at all).
• Crochet Spring Scarf
• Cabled Mitts (crocheted - the is the project where I really learned that using dark yarns for things that involve important design elements such as texture or cables, is not a good idea. lol)
• Fit to be Tied (no picture)
• Perfect Purse (no picture - made for my mother)
• Airport Scarves - Romantic Hippie

Amikomo-9 Yawaraka Lace Café Curtain

Day One:  This is the first time I have ever really used a chart to follow a pattern.  If the pattern were written out in Japanese I would have a much easier time of it since I speak and read Japanese (luls).  Eventually my brain kicked in though and I am done with the first motif square.

Something important for people to note on the chart that at the very center of the motif, the character for "wa" indicates to ch2.

Initially I attempted to Magic Ring this pattern but the look changes and the yarn I am using made the ring more difficult in the pattern than just doing a straight ch2 start.

Currently, I am wondering how it is I am going to be joining all of these motifs together.  I have never done a piece made up entirely of motifs so my brain is wrapping itself around that issue at the moment.

First Etsy Shop Listing!

I am so excited, my first listing is finally up!  When I first took the Census job I thought that I was going to be working a lot less than I am (I'm not complaining), but it has taken me such a long time to get my shop going!

Hurrah for having it up and a listing to show!  I will upload more in a day or two to keep my listings fresh and at the top of the pages. :3

Blue Face Scrubbies (or Coaster) Gift Set

Honestly, these little scrubbie sets are a breeze to make and if I have the dedicated time I could make a lot of them in a hurry, but after the ones that I have made I will be so glad to go back to making purses, hats, scarves and little, random projects!

I worked the majority of Memorial Day Weekend in our states attempt to catch up the people in Cannon Beach to the rest of the nation.  It was a lot of fun even if frustrating to go through a ton of EQ's with so many brain fart errors.  I really do not see how so many people just do not understand how to fill out a questionnaire correctly.  EVERYONE had at least 5 days worth of training.  There is no reason to have any of these mistakes. Rabbble rabble!

Anyway, as I said, it was fun!  I had lunch with my CL and FOSA both Sat & Sun at Mo's and both times we had a fantastic table right at the windows.  It poured on Sunday and I was soaked for almost the entire day, BUT I got to meet 8 corgi puppies when I went to someone's house in an attempt to find a proxy that could tell me if the other houses in the area were seasonal/second homes or not.  I still have a joygasm whenever I think of all those little puppies.

Granny Square Market Bag - Completed

I am still not in love with this pattern, so much so that it's a "I barely tolerate it's existence and it's glad that I cannot see where I sewed in the ends otherwise I would have three balls of yarn back to use for something better."

The bag functions just fine.  Aesthetically it's a mess unless it's in use because of how the pattern is structured in making the bottom and side panels.  I was going to put a flower on the bag, but that just didn't look good on the bag for some reason. =^O.o^=  Over all, I love the front and back panels, but I hate the bottom and sides.  The pattern would be much better served if the sides and bottom were done in three separate pieces and attached rather than one large piece of floppy doom.

Materials used:  Lily Sugar'n'Cream cotton - Key Lime Pie (3 skeins), US H hook

Generic picture

Close Up of Front/Back Panel

What the bag looks like when not in use.... 

Etsy Shoppe Now Open!

That's correct, I finally have my Etsty store!  Now I just need things to sell. =^>.>^=;;

I've been so busy with the Census that I have had hardly any time to work on my current projects, but I am almost done with a second granny square market bag for my future mother in law. :3  I hope that she likes it when it's finally finished.  And I am hoping that I DO finish it before they take off into Portland because I had originally wanted it done for mothers day but I messed up on my counting for the sides and bottom. =^>.<^=;;;

Max's Shadow Cap

My friend on Ravelry (Melbav) sent me this pattern. :3  I am really happy with how the hat turned out, but I will do some tweaks to the brim and make it smoother and rounder than how it came out this time, the next time I make it. xD

Beau thinks I should make one that is green and yellow to show my UO pride. =^>.>^=;;  That might look a little odd, but that's OK!

Currently, I do not know what to make next.  Since I started taking belly dancing classes off of FitTV, I really want to make one of the following, but I don't have a color of yarn (or enough of it) right now to make a set.
Josephine Halter
Josephine Scarf
Josephine Gauntlets
Although, I could always just make the belt!  (Huge image, apologies!) Josephine Belt

Rabble Rabble Update

Rabble rabble!  So, alternately I have been lazy and then as soon as I wasn't lazy and wanted to take pictures I was unable to find the USB cord for my camera. /fail  But now said cord has been located and pictures of the things I have made are up!

First off, the list of finished projects:

• National Crochet Month Mystery Crochet-A-Long project: Surakarta Board (I know I messed up on it, but it isn't an item that I see myself using any time soon and I do not think I will make another one;  However, this was a great project for me since I learned how to carry yarn and do tapestry crochet).
• Grocery Bag - Made for my mother.  There was a smidge of a depth perception moment when I attached the handles, but that's OK since there is now more effective room to tote things like tall produce and bread!
• Winged Hairkerchief - Materials used are a mystery yarn that my mother found when she went out garage sale-ing.  Over all, I enjoy the pattern but if I make another one of these I will use a lighter weight yarn or just a yarn of better quality so it drapes nicely.
• Divine Hat - I love this pattern.  The textures are firm enough without being uncomfortable and the yarn I used (not stellar yarn but I still like it) makes this hat soft and warm.  I think this would make an excellent chemo cap for anyone in need of one, and it is super cute for just wearing around on a cold day.
• City Girl Cap - By far, this is my favorite project that I have done in the past month.  Now that I know the pattern works and the minor changes I will make to camouflage the joining stitches, I will make a hat or two in colours I wear more often.
• Flowered Cloche - No picture yet since it technically is not finished yet.  I need to make a decorative bit for the side, but the hat itself I hate due to the pattern royally sucking.
• 100-Yen pouch - No picture yet since I am lazy.  But this is a simply, cute little coin purse. :3  When I finish the cloche I will take a picture of both the hat and the coin purse. xD

This weekend was a good one.  We went in to Portland ti pick up my engagement ring (it was being resized), and we got to have lunch with Syd, Pete and Joe. :3  Sydney loaned one of her knitted sock books to me and I can hardly wait to start working and learning how to make knit socks. xD  Hopefully I don't entirely FUBAR the socks the first one or two times I make them!