I Need a To Do List~

I slept in a bit this morning...

and then spent over an hour browsing on some new-to-me design (interior) blogs.
Sounds like a colossal waste of time, but OH, so much inspiration! Not so good for the ADD though, now my head is swimming with even more things I want to make and do!

Here are some links if you are interested in that sort of thing...
Some are new (to me) and some I have been following for a long time~
decor8
Design Sponge
decoFabulous
made2create (some great DIY home decor ideas)
The Yvestown Blog
Supermarket Sarah (some raw kitschy displays)
Brooklyn Limestone (great decor/design/ renovation ideas)

Sunday we hit the Pearl in Portland for lunch and some walking around.

Here are shots of the window displays at Anthropologie!

Made from plastic water bottles... which I totally want to try to make for some spring decorations around here.

Yesterday I finished up some serious custom yarn orders~ phew!
They are gorgeous, but were so very time consuming.... . I have a case of spin-ass-itis, which means my back hurts from sitting and spinning for hours and hours. duh. I could get up and stretch occasionally I suppose. I just get into what I am doing and forget.

My Ann was feeling under the weather yesterday. No extreme symptoms, just achy, nauseous, and slightly feverish all day. Hopefully she feels better once she wakes up today. We missed a group excursion to see the Percy Jackson movie. which was very very upsetting for her. Maybe we can see it today?

Paul's flight was delayed in SLC because some woman refused to remove her ipod for religious reasons?! So they kicked her off the plane, started up the runway, then had to turn around so they could remove her checked luggage from cargo. Nice lady. sheesh. What religion would that be? anyone?

So not sure what today will bring... until Ann wakes up. Will snap some pictures to add here once I get to the studio.

Here are some of the Knit Pins I have recently put in the shop.

HILARIOUS!

There are 24 Knit designs, 9 Spin designs and 4 Crochet designs. Go see!
xo

Splat and a Valentine~

Last night my new friend Michelle came over for some art time in the studio.

I promptly demonstrated to her how effectively and FAST I can hit a wall.

Not literally, haha. I mean metaphorically.

I was done, fritzed, tired, and could not muster up the energy to even KNIT. (I know- gasp!)

It was really really pitiful and embarrassing.... sigh.

The only thing that seemed to be functioning was my mouth. I have the gift(curse?) of gab and it gets worse when I am tired. My filters seem to go to sleep first.

So I talked to make up for that wall-slam. A lot-- I talked a lot.

Hopefully dear Michelle will come BACK to play again.

TODAY I was all skippy and focused.

Took care of a bite of bookkeeping and tax follies, then made a foam heart plate to print with.

Michelle gave me a piece of this foam (think really thin styrofoam tray) to make a plate from.

This is what I made~

Inspired by the design on this old vintagey table cloth that was my gram's...

I added more hearts to the design.

Here it is printed on white copy paper~

The foam does not lend itself to great detail in your print, but it is fun to play with and good to get you GOING.... see Michelle? I can make stuff.... really. (hyuck)

Here I printed it on a map~

Here I printed it on a scrap of old sheet music~

Here I printed it over the pitiful collagey valentine I tried to make last night.

It helped...

Tomorrow I would like to make the design a bit more knitterly? and maybe carve it into rubber or linoleum.

Reenie Sweater~

I have been wanting to make myself a sweater from this yarn since Sock Summit (Aug. 08) but could not find a pattern that makes me happy. I am built like I am 5 mos pregnant, but am NOT prego. Wow-- did I just admit that? haha So I am basically stuck between a woman’s XL and plus sizes. The XL are too tight around my middle and the plus sizes too large everywhere else. I am an anomaly. But that is another therapy session entirely. haha.

Knit patterns usually fall in that same conundrum.

So I am designing my own pattern as I go. To flatter those parts I want flattered and mask those that need masked.

This is a top-down raglan sweater, using combined techniques from EZ and BGW and the many patterns I have read. Ravelry Project Link~

Here is a photo of my math and notes...

Gauge is 20 st/ 4 in. and 26 rows/ 4 in. on a sz. 7 needle.

Yarn is Yowza!-Whatta Skein! from MissBabs.com

Colorway is Cadet.

Photo of the front section and the raglan increases~

2/5/10~ Cast on 172 for the neckline. The recommend neck size according to the percentage scale was too tight for my tastes. K2P2 rib for 11 rows (about 1.5 in.)

2/6/10~ did a ton of math and measured a favorite sweater to decide on raglan percentages, etc. Made the back section smaller than the front and am adding short rows to make it longer as I do the raglan decreases. I plan to add about 2 inches in short rows. Today I ripped back to the neck border for the third time and started yet again… all part of the learning process. My short row wraps were making an ugly hole on the right side. I realized the short rows were starting and ending too close to my raglan increases. duh. So I started over and started them 4 stitches from end rather than 2.

2/7/10~ Today I took the time to sit and figured out more detailed math for the yoke. How to space out the short rows, etc. So far so good. knitknitknit.

Photo of the back section (where I am adding the short rows)~

FFfffffphttt...

Did the title make you think about clicking away from this page?

Things have been marginally routine and vanilla around here the past few weeks.
Paul was in NY for a sales meeting and gone for 8 days. I tend to be a bit 'off' when he is gone for a long period of time. Co-dependent? perhaps. whatever, it is what it is....

I did get a ton of site work and updates done while he was gone though...
He came home last weekend just in time for my sinus infection to hit full swing.
So this week has been a decongestant haze.
I finished a knit hat for my baby brother, a late Xmas gift. (more pics at the end of the post)

and I finished swatching for planned sweaters for the girls. More on that later too. Oh and I cleaned. That is kind of a big deal. Cleaned meaning vacuumed and dusted, not just clutter control.

GEESH, why am I even bothering to post? No pics, nothing much to record. No big creative news.

Just life happening. In all of it's boring glory. It can't always be whoohoo... thankfully. haha.

reenieout

Happy Ground Hog / Birthday Day!

Don't know what to make in honor of Ground Hog Day?

Here is your dinner recipe for tonight found here ~

The misspellings make it even funnier. You gotta read it.

Contry-Style Groundhog

1. 1 groundhog
2. 1/2 c. flour
3. 1/4 tsp. salt
4. 1/4 tsp. pepper
5. 1/4 tsp. soda
6. 1/4 c. cooking oil
7. 1/2 tsp. sugar

NOTE:Clean and skin as soon as possible. Remove all sent glands. Cut off head, feet and tail. Cure in cool place by suspending from hook approximately 4 days. When ready to cook, lard according to recipe.

Dress groundhog as for rabbit, removing the small sacs in the back and under the forearm. Soak groundhog overnight in salted water to remove wild flavor. Combine flour, salt, pepper and sada; rub into groundhog pieces. Brown grounhog in hot oil in skillet; sprinkle with sugar. Reduce heat; add 1/2 cup water. Cover; simmer for about 30 minutes or until tender. Remove cover; cook for 10 minutes longer.

Happy Groundhog Day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND... today our Xena girl turns 4!

A true Ground Dog. (get it? snort)

Such a good girl.

Last night she sang with me as I did my rendition of "My Favorite Things"

(from the Sound of Music).

She knows how to score noms from the dinner table. goodgirl.