Just a little hit...

I had the urge to make something last night. Could be that I was prompted by the looming deadline of Mother's Day. Anyhoo. I had a few dollar store placemats still hanging around from when I made these bags. I decided to see what a bag made with two long sides and one short side would look like, and I came up with this.


I figure that it'll be perfect for those times when I go to the farmer's market for just a baguette and a few sundries. Usually, I have issues with my baguette escaping, but I think that won't be a problem now. As you can see, it's easily portable with just the one strap on the back, but when it needs to be opened to carry tall skinny stuff, the other strap (which is tucked inside until needed) comes into play.


The closure also comes courtesy of the dollar store - a hair elastic and a button from a big bag of random buttons. The little OMGWTF patch was an afterthought - the zigzag stitching that I used to attach the hair elastic was ugly, and I happened to have this patch lurking in the label drawer. Yes, I have a label drawer in my craft room. This particular patch comes from the early days of Etsy, and I dearly wish that I had more of them, but this was the last one I had.

Guess I'll have to take this baby on a test run...market bound, I am!

Worthwhile crafting...

not that most of my crafting isn't worthwhile, but this latest FO is for a very good cause. Craft Hope is currently collecting beanbag sets for orphans in Liberia. I signed up to do a set of shapes.


Used the remnants of the two charm packs that I used to make for a patchwork skirt earlier. Mr. Munchkin helped me make the labels for the shapes, using twill tape and rubber stamps from the dollar store. If I'd been smart about it, I should have attached the labels first, but instead I pulled a dumbass move and had to handsew each of the labels on. They're filled with aquarium gravel. I think that I'll be making another set for the kids, as they were quite taken with this set. And speaking of the kids...I wanted to show you something that I made last summer. I totally forgot to blog about it until now.


This is Mr. Munchkin's pirate coat. What a labour of love this FO was. Seriously, I don't think that I'd ever make something like this for anyone that I didn't give birth to. Those aren't fake pocket flaps, eh? I learned to make welt pockets just for this coat. So, my little pirate captain can shove gold doubloons into his little coat until it bursts. Which is how a pirate's life should be, no?

In a listy mood today...

#32 of things not to say to your small child

Child: Daddy, I'm scared of the monsters in the closet!

Husband: Don't worry. I chased all the monsters out. So the pirates would have room.

Child: ...

Pirates?

Husband: G'Night!

*door closes*

Me: Get your ass back in there and make this better. Now.

More proof that God has a sense of humour:

Me (last night at KOL): Happy Zombie Jesus Day, Steph!

*large man who appears to be wearing a black coat stands up and frowns disapprovingly at me as he leaves the cafe*

Steph: Uh...I think that was a monk. The big swingy cross around his neck kinda gave it away.

Me: D'OH.

*cut to this morning*

Me: Owwww.

Husband: What's wrong?

Me: Well...last night, when I was tossing and turning...I somehow managed to whack myself in the forehead with the corner of the night stand. Hard. Seriously, there's a massive purpley goose egg with a corner shaped dent there now.

Husband: Huh. Looks like the monk was praying all night for someone to knock some sense into you.

Trying something new...

I just want to say thank you for the love. Honestly, I was a bit whiny in the last post - I do apologize for that - as I'm currently suffering from a dire monthly need for chocolate. (Apparently, this is how most women refer to PMS, according to Steph. I always called it PMS, as in "Poor Mister Season".)

As for the something new, I'm knitting myself a sweater! I've finished off all of my current projects, excepting a pair of socks for Mr. Ninja but since one sock's done, I'm giving myself a mulligan on that one. I finished all of the projects for my LOTR swap, and I'll post pics of the entire package after it's arrived. But I can't resist showing you the part that I'm really proud of.


I call these "Gauntlets of the Witch King". They're adapted from the Pyroclastic sock pattern from knitty. Knit in Dream in Color Starry (Purple Rain colourway). Don't they look like something one of the Nazgul would wear under all those flowy robes?

Anyhoo, I've never knit myself a sweater. I've knit sweaters for the man, the boy and the girl. But nothing for me. I was looking for a cardigan that would knit up quickly and was a little feminine (nothing too fru-fru). Estelle is what I've chosen, let's hope it works out! Knitting it in smoky grey Malabrigo, on 4.5 needles. I'm not a fan of how the pattern is written, but so far, so good. About to start the lace section. I'll let you know how it goes.

Happiness can come in the mail...

As I have found out this week. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I've been indulging in some retail therapy. (I really have to stop being such an angry person - it's hell on the pocketbook.)

More Fleuvogs.


I love these shoes even more in black. I was weak and succumbed to my intense love for their red sisters, and ordered another pair that I *could* wear until the day they bury me in them. I think I've started down the slippery shoe hoar slide.

A new knitting book!


I've had this on pre-order for awhile. Showed it to Mr. Ninja and he was enthused about it. Although afterwards he said two things: I have to knit a sweater for myself first, and that you should never spring "clothes talk" on a man...apparently, you have to ease them into it.

Finally, proof that I have friends who love me.


My, what a big package! Guess what it is?


That's right. I have friends who send me alpaca fleeces. Out of the blue. Thank you Chiara! I am the luckiest girl in the world, and I'm very grateful for the love.

Now then...I'm definitely going to need a drum carder - I've been toying with the idea of getting one lately. My hand cards just won't cut it for this job. It'll either be an Ashford Wild or a Fancy Kitty. Any opinions out there?

Time better spent...

than doing something...ANYTHING...than what I did this month. Seriously, I have just about nothing crafty to show for an entire month of existence.

A pair of new shoes (which I LOVE - and deeply thank Meegiemoo for, as she was the one responsible for showing me the Fleuvogian light). I'm being good - these are for my brother's wedding, and I'm not wearing them until July. (Yes, it's killing me a little...) I'm not really a "shoe" girl, but these may just convert me. It's amazing how comfortable they are, for high heels.


Copious amounts of travel planning. Yay!

A nasty bout of pink eye for the whole family. Yuck.

Lots of patterns traced out and transferred to paper. Yay!

Plenty of washed fabric to iron, cut and sew together. Boo.

Finished my first set of linen napkins. Yay! (No pics yet, as they're all in the wash. Imagine the same print on the outside, and various coloured polka-dots on the inside.)

Attempted to knit a shawl and had my ass kicked by the pattern. Boo.

A renewed sense of must-get-out-and-stop-being-such-a-misanthrope. Yay!

A renewed sense of crap-it's-hard-to-be-social. Boo.

Finally caved and bought a blu-ray of Mamma Mia. Yay! (Yes, I am a closet ABBA fan.)

Quite delighted with how my current knit swaps are going - I'm in a LOTR swap atm, and have just signed up for a video game swap. (Odd Ducks on Ravelry, of course.) And I was very happy as I was asked to be a moderator for the Odd Ducks, and I'm currently modding a Chinese Zodiac swap. And some of the planned swaps for the rest of the year include Pirates, Zombies/Apocalypse, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, Grimm's Fairy Tales, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Ahhh, it's good to be amongst my tribe.

Escapism...

I don't know if this is something that you do too, but when I'm trying to escape from something (situation, person, etc.), I craft. As of late, I think that I've been trying to get away from the weather. So, I've been hiding in my craft room (read: basement), and making stuff. Probably doesn't hurt that I have a new toy - my sewing machine died a rather loud and smoky death awhile ago, and I was lucky enough to find a Janome MC3000 very cheaply on Kijiji. I freakin' LOVE this thing, and am delighted enough to ignore much of my knitting UFOs for it. Besides, I need to get a head start on Miss E's summer wardrobe, yeah?


A spring skirt. I am desperate for colour these days, so I grabbed a charm pack (I think it's the Riviera line from Connected Threads) from the stash and improvised this. Hope that she'll actually concede and wear it...there may not be enough pink in it. *eyeroll*


More fun with the dye pot. Mostly gunmetal silver with a hit of blue. I think I'll call this one Katana. Same merino base as usual.


A knotted tulle tutu for the princess. I used this super easy tutorial, and if I have to make another one in the future, I'll definitely be using shorter sections of tulle. She was tripping on this one.


Ahhh, baby gifts. This one has still to make its way to the intended recipient...'cause I'm a lazy ass. But how awesome is Pirate Bootie? *snort* My first intarsia, and definitely a learning experience.


I've been trying to get away from using paper napkins at home, and here's part of that movement. Made from Japanese linen that's woven to show different patterns on each side of the fabric. Very cool. I've got a metric asston of different fat quarters of this kind of fabric, so you'll be seeing different sets eventually. I'm considering making some for the etsy shop, but really? I'm going to need to find my motivation first. I think I may have left it under the couch.

After a rather alarming incident at the library last week where I was caught without the stuff for a diaper change, I decided that I needed to make myself a diaper clutch to toss into whatever bag I'm carrying. I'm pretty sure that there's an easier way to make this kind of bag, but I was winging this. Very pleased with the end result, as it's just enough colour to keep me happy. Pretty sure that it'll be absconded with once Miss E's older.




And finally, Happy Birthday to Miss E. Yeah, I'm still in shock that she's as old as she is...it's all going by way too quickly. My sweet baby is two!!! Holy CRAP!!! Here she is, ready to dig into her cake. Plates? We don't need no steenkin' plates...