Christmas Sweaters

I've been working on Christmas sweaters so I thought I'd do a blog with photos of my progress to date. The patterns on this page are from the March 2007 Crochet Magazine, and the book Plus size crochet, Fashions that fit and flatter by Margaret Hubert. This is the sweater that I'm making for my sister-in-law only I'm using black yarn. It's a really easy pattern. I've already made one for my mother and it turned out really nice. I used Vanna's yarn that I purchased at Michael's. It works up really fast and sews together nicely. The first Photo is of the back of the sweater. The next photo is of the front sides of the sweater. Since it's a bolo everything looks so small. But, my sister-in-law is a small woman and it looks just right on her. The last

picture of the black sweater is of the sleeve in progress. I hope to be finished in a couple of days.

This next sweater is for my niece. It's worked in a shell patten and is really pretty but it's taking a really long time to work.
The second photo is of the back of the sweater. I used a no. 4 yarn instead of a no. 3 yarn so it is working up larger than it is supposed to but I'm hoping it will work out anyway.

Two Sweaters

I'm still working on two sweaters for Christmas. I'm finally making some headway. I can see them taking shape. I returned some yarn to Michael's today because it was to big, patten called for 3, it was 4. And I figured I can't work on 3 sweaters at once anyway. But next month I'll buy some yarn and try to start the third sweater for my niece. I'm still waiting for my Crochet Dude book to come in the mail, then I'll have 4 sweaters to crochet.

I uploaded a bunch of new photos of paintings onto my art website today. I had to reduce the size of them to fit everything in. These were from my years at VA Tech. It's too bad I only have five pages on the website to use. I could always upgrade but I don't want to pay the extra money.
Well I'm off to watch Smallville reruns.

It's cold this morning. I'm refusing to turn on the heat until I just can't stand it any longer. I've enjoyed my $45 electric bills this summer. Unfortunately I don't think it's going to last much longer. Plus it's raining outside and the dog refuses to go to the bathroom in the rain in the yard. She has to be walked, and I'm not one for walking in the rain. But I think I'm going to have to get the umbrella out and brave the elements this morning, for her sake.

I'm still trying to crochet as much as possible but I only have two months left to finish these sweaters. I don't know if I can do it. But I'll give it my best.

I woke up in the middle of the night and misread the clock thinking it was 5:30 when it was actually 12:30. So I got up and took my meds and ate breakfast and sat down to the computer and it was a full half hour before I looked up at the clock and realized my error. I stayed up for a couple of hours before going back to bed. I'm not sure why my internal clock is so messed up.

I'm hoping some of my movies come in at the library today. It will give me something to look forward to this evening. But I don't know if the interlibrary stuff goes on over the weekend. Who knows.

I've been posting more on the groups at Ravelry. Nothing big, just introductions, that sort of thing, Kind of easing my way into it.
Well that's all for now.

Today I added several more pieces to my projects page at Ravelry. One of those was the long skinny scarves that I crocheted for the craft show last year. Here is a photo of them. They were crocheted out of ribbon. Unfortunately I didn't sell any so now I get to wear them. They were really fun to make and the ribbon was fairly easy to work with. It took two balls for each scarf.

I have to go to Roanoke on Tuesday, I was thinking about looking up any yarn shops that might be in the area. I'd like to see if they have any patterns that I'd like to have. I'm thinking about making a really skinny scarf and am thinking I'll go to Mosaic and buy the yarn there since it won't take very much, and I'll need a thinner type than I can get at Michael's or Wal-mart. I just wish I had more money. There never seems to be enough. Isn't that always the way tho.

Nice Day

Today is a good day. I'm actually feeling ok. Went to the thrift store this morning looking for stuff to use in my art work but struck out. Did find a rug for my kitchen, a couple of VCR tapes, and a shirt. Isn't that always the way, you end up with a bunch of stuff you didn't plan on buying. Oh well.

The dog is actually behaving herself right now. That's a nice change. She's 16 years old and in her senility she barks a lot at pretty much nothing at all. She stands there in front of me look for all the world like there is something I should be doing to make her happy. But for the life of me I can't figure out what it is, And so it goes. But I don't know what I'd do without her. She's my constant companion. She's a beagle cocker mix and quite cute.

My sweaters are coming along nicely, hopefully they will be finished by Christmas. I ordered the Crochet Dude book so I can have some patterns for the men on my list. I just need to crochet faster. And so now I'm off to do just that. Later.

Mags

I saw that issue of Juxtapox and it really was great. I especially liked the article on Polly Morgan. It makes me want to go out today and do some bargain hunting for found objects.

Two new Mags

Bought two great new mags today. Juxtapoz Art and Culture Magazine, and Cloth * Paper Scissors Collage Mixed Media Magazine. Both of them Rock. They've given me tons of great new ideas for my artwork. They not only work with paper but also fabric and found objects. There's a great article about Monica Canilao. Seriously, if you can find these mags at your local bookstore they're worth the price.

Anxiety Day

Today I'm having an anxiety kind of day. I suffer from generalized anxiety disorder and some days it's just more out of control than others even though I take several kinds of medication to keep it under control. Today I'm a bit off the wall. I've tried to crochet. I get one row of one sweater done and another row of another sweater done but can't settle down to get any real work accomplished. It's very frustrating. I've tried reading but to no avail. What I really want to do is shop. That always seems to help. Unfortunately you have to have money to make that work. I've spent an inordinantely large amount of time screwing with the computer; playing with my web page and Ravelry.com. I've called everyone I know who is home. But nothing helps, I feel like I'm jumping out of my skin today. I do wish that I could get more done on my sweaters, I'm feeling the Christmas time crunch. Well I think I'll go to the bookstore. Later.

Ramblings

Started a new sweater today. This one is for my neice. It's a rather interesting pattern worked in a cluster style, I'm not sure how it's going to turn out since I'm using a larger guage yarn than it called for but the same size hook. We'll see. If it starts looking bad I'll pull it out and change hook sizes. I didn't check my guage I'm bad about that, actually I wanted it to be a bit larger than the pattern called for.

On a different note: I've looked at a lot of other people's blog pages and noted that they have photos inserted. I'm thinking about doing that with mine. I also need to add more photos to and organize my flicker web page. Right now it's just a hodge podge of photos with the art ones mixed in with the crochet ones. And every time I look at it I think oh crimy I need to be working on a new piece of art. But with Christmas fast approaching and three sweaters to finish I think that's on the back burner for a while.

New Stash

I'm very excited. Yesterday a new Books A Million opened just up the street from my house. I stopped by to peruse the crochet books and found a great book of plus sized sweater patterns. I'm making my niece a sweater for christmas and had not been able to find a great pattern but this book had just the thing. So I bought yarn, Vanna's Choice, a yarn that I really like and by the way can afford. It was actually on sale for just $2.00 a skein. I was also excited because my Ravelry Market bag came in the mail yesterday and I used it to put yarn for another sweater in to keep while I work on it. It was perfect. I'm planning to order The Crochet Dude Designs for Guys from Amazon today. I need a book with men's patterns in it and this looks like a good source. I've joined several groups on Ravelry, now all I need to do is start joining in to the group discussions. I've said a couple of things but nothing big. I'm still learning my way around the site. Well gotta go for now.

It's raining outside

It's positively pouring down rain outside this morning. I made a run to the grocery store at 5:30 to pick up a few things and nearly drowned. Yech! A good day to stay in and crochet. Maybe I can finish the baby sweater. Only on sleeve to go. then I still have two more sweaters to crochet up and then to top that off I have to buy the yarn and crochet two more before christmas. I'm not sure I'm going to make it this year. I should have started earlier. It was much easier when I was crocheting hats and scarves for everyone.

I've joined several groups on Ravelry. Groups for artists, people with tattoos, piercings, mental illness. quite a few actually. It was quite exciting to look thru the groups and pick out the ones I wanted to be in. And I had someone choose to have me as one of her friends, I was honored. It's turning out to be quite a nice web site.

Particularly difficult pattern

I'm having trouble today with a difficult pattern. An arm is giving me trouble. I've crocheted it in at least 5 times and ripped it out as many. It's just not right but I'm trying to watch TV and crochet at the same time so this may have something to do with it. Actually I'm watching reruns of Smallville. Not that I'm a great Superman fan but I've watched just about everything else the library has to offer and I'm not great at multitasking. I guess I'll hash out the sleeve in the morning when I'm fresh and can spend my undevided attention on the project. It's a baby sweater and shouldn't be that hard, I just think I'm not paying enough attention to the directions. Anyway, back to Smallville.

Threads

Today's thoughts are about threads. Or maybe more specifically yarn. I love yarn. I love the look of it the feel of it the smell of it but not the price of it. In my wildest dreams I can afford to go into a yarn shop and buy anything I want. But at 16 dollars a hank it's out of my price range. So I stay with Michael's and buy the off the shelf stuff. I've been thinking about ordering it on line it's not quite as expensive that way. I want it all and I want it now!! I just can't handle delayed gratification very well. I wish I had more money to spend. I wish I could crochet faster. Maybe I can sacrifice food for yarn, I need to lose a few pounds anyway.lol. Anyway just some thoughts for the day. See ya!!

Current crochet projects

Today I thought I would talk about the projects I am currently working on. Since it's nearing the holiday season and I'm short on money everyone gets croched ware. I'm working on a Jackie'O sweater for my little niece, it's in a beautiful shade of blue. Then there's the bolo sweater for my sister-in-law in black. I've made this one before and it's really nice. Then another different bolo with lace for my niece. It's also in black. I still have to come up with something for my brother, and my other niece. I just gave my mother a sweater so I guess we can think of that as an early Holiday gift. I'll try to post these patterns to the website as I get more adept at doing that

Random Art Thoughts

Today I've been thinking about my art. Mostly about what's been blocking me. I haven't produced anything in months. You see my art is about memory, more specifically having the person viewing it experience memories from their past that are triggered by the pieces of artwork. Truth be known I'm running out of space to put the pieces in my apartment. I haven't had a show in several years. I actually need to submit some of my pieces to some shows but just haven't gotten around to it. What I need to do is build a web page but I can't afford the software. So isn't that a conundrum. Ah well something will come of it then. Maybe I'll show some of them here in my blog, it's better than nothing. Well with this I'm feeling inspired so I'm off to stretch a canvas and do a bit of painting. Later!!

The first day of blogging

Today is the first day of a new experience, blogging. I've heard about it, read about it, seen it, but never had the nerve to do it. But today that changed. I became part of an online community called Ravelry, it's a knitting and crocheting community and they have links to blogging addresses so I thought why not! I can ramble on as well as the rest of the population. So this is my first blog entry. TADA!!!