my first hat

I finished my Jiffy Scarf and I decided today that what I need is a Jiffy hat. I started trying to make one up but I realized that I may have started it out too small. I've only knit two rows so it will not be hard to frog and start over.

Because I sew I am used to following patterns. I wouldn't just cut out something that looks like a collar I would use a pattern piece to make the collar or make up a pattern piece but I wouldn't just be free form or anything. I think that sewing has made me more of a pattern follower when it comes to knitting. I'll knit something from a pattern before I'll just sort of make something up.
I realized that it doesn't have to be like that with knitting. For some reason the simple act of tying fringe to the end of my new jiffy scarf made me realize this. It was like "cool I did my own thing, I added my own fringe rock on." Now I feel kind of like not always following a pattern but sort of making up my own things more.

I guess the intrasia in the armbands is sort of like making up my own pattern but I know how to do those so it isn't like blindly going into the adventure of making a hat.

There hasn't really been much time for me to blog this week. I have been so busy that on Monday night I just came home and crashed.
I am meeting with different realtors today. Today I am really thinking about the condo thing. Mostly cause there are some condos nearby where I already am and then I can stay close to where I am. I am kind of concerned that if I buy a house that I will have to buy a house in north Minneapolis and it won't matter what I tell my friends from the suburbs if I find something cute and on a nice street they won't come visit cause it is in North.
I only say this cause none of my friends who live in the suburbs have come to see the apartment I live in now.
There are some cute condos in my neighborhood so I am kind of thinking about those.

Adventures in House Hunting

I met with a realtor yesterday and we looked at a couple places during my break. There is this single family one bedroom home in an awesome neighborhood and it could work except that it slants. It seemed like there were places where it seemed to dramatically slant. I figure I can rip up the smelly carpet and stuff like that but with the slant I'm just not sure. But it had an awesome front yard and a deck all the way around the house.
I need to think about it some more and make the decision about what is most important to me. I love my neighborhood and I am close to my friends and I love being able to walk to coffee and have independent businesses around me.
I am trying to take all of my hours spent watching Home Makeover and use that when I look at houses but I want to make sure that after I make my mortage payment every month I can still afford buy paint or whatever to make my house a home.

I started a scarf with the Jiffy Quick and Thick. It is totally cute. It was inspired by Melinda's Quick and Thick scarf. I was giving her a refresher course on how to cast on and knit and stuff and I realized that I was not done with the Jiffy Quick and Thick yarn. So I started a new scarf. My socks are still sitting unfinished but they are coming along nicely.
I noticed a two person stitch and bitch going on at my coffee shop last weekend and they were there today too. I thought about bringing the fixings for my sister's arm bands but I didn't. Mostly cause I'll have enough time to knit today and I want to make my project last.
And then there is Raggedy Ann who seemed to be staring at me with her button eyes yesterday saying "Work on me, Christmas is coming soon." So I did a little work on her too. I got one color finished on her.

Long Tall Snoop

Snoop has not been the featured cat here in a couple days. Yesterday his front half was sitting in Lucy's cat bed and his back half had no chance of being in. This doesn't work cause Snoop is the size of her. Snoop's cat bed is extra large.

"I said 'extra tall cat bed, extra tall'" 

Lucy's Jiffy cat bed

OK here it is. After months of waiting and being jealous of Snoop's cat bed Lucy has her own cat bed. Hers is really cute.
I will defenitly be making some scarves out of this.
I may even make one for myself but that means replacing the mustard colored scarf that Brook gave me years ago. It is my favorite because it never gets lost. I have lost numerous scarves over the years but this one has stuck with me like glue.

Lucy's new cat bed 

Approved

I actually got approved for a home loan. So now I need to try to decide on a real estate person.
I am a little confused about the mathematics that actually think that I can afford the mortgage payments. I think I may need to see what I can do at that level to get my payments lower or shop at a lower level. I mean it shows my credit card, student loan and car loan but it doesn't show stuff like how much I pay for health insurance or whatever. Let me tell you that there will be no "fun money" in my account if I get a house.
Lucy's cat bed will be done tonight so I will post pictures of that tomorrow.
For those lucky enough to be on a snail mail list there are some cute Halloween cards coming your way with a kitty that looks like Lucy would look if she would wear a witch has and sit on a pumpkin, she won't so these card will have to do.
OK off to job number 2

In a Jiffy

Oh how I love the Lion Brand Yarn Jiffy Quick and Thick. I have knit up the bottom of Lucy's cat bed in no time at all. Now all I have to do is the walls of the cat bed and then Lucy will have her own bed. I think I may have to buy more of this for Christmas presents.
It is so fabulous to knit with the thick yarn and the huge needles finish things so quickly. I have found my new fix, being such a results oriented knitter and being so eager to share my knitting with all my friends and family. It is so great that it knits up in such a Jiffy. Ok yeah I'm a geek.
Now it is cold both cats have joined me in my bed. They have totally taken over the part of the bed where I like to sleep and are pushing me over to the side without the feather pillows. And they are not sleeping by my feet where but by my torso and head so that I end up moving over to the side of the bed with the less desireable pillows. There really is only one remedy to this problem and that is to buy more feather pillows.
I spent most of yesterday working on my Raggedy Ann cross stitch for my friends mom. With the weather being so cold it is a reminder that Rocktober is just two short months away from Christmas which means I have to finish this cross stitch. She looks more like Raggedy Ann and less like a possessed rag doll because I made a point to fill in her eyes. I like to work by color, trying to get one color out of the way at a time. The current color is blue.


lucy checking out her cat bed 

Real estate

So the price of houses is just high enough that I can not actually afford to buy a house in a place where I would want to live. I tried to do some math but then realized that I forgot to figure in the fact that "the man" would take a portion of my income so that buying might not be a realistic option. I am not sure though, I'll have to see.
But I learned that I have a rockin credit score for someone my age. This is mostly cause I couldn't get approved for anything in my college and post college years because someone stole my itendity to open a phone line. I got that removed though because how could I have had a phone number in Michigan when I lived in Iowa.

I completed a couple armbands for my friend Molly this week. They are really cool although I may take a day or two or three off from knitting just to give my hands a break.

Sexy MoFo armbands 

Lucy's bed

Even though Lucy is content to sleep on my bed and in her world it is probably me who is allowed to sleep in HER bed. I finally came up with a solution for the Lucy cat bed that doesn't involve eyelash yarn. It does involve super thick yarn and huge needles so hopefully it will knit up quick, maybe even next weekend.
For now I have to focus- on armbands. One of my coworkers is paying me to make her arm bands so that rocks. I'm down with getting money to make armbands.

Met with a mortgage person today and I have decided that I need to win the lottery. The Powerball is back down to 10 million and I did not win so I guess my higher power thinks I still have things to learn.

I hear a lot of lottery winners go bankrupt but I would like to say that I would not be one of those lottery winners. I would put it all in a bank account and just live off the interest for the rest of my life. I could do a lot on the intrest of a heafty Powerball jackpot. I did not win though so I will have to wait and see if I can prove that in my lifetime.

Busy Girl

I have been so busy that I haven't had much time to write something fun on here.
My new obsession is the thought that I should buy a house. I have to see how much I can get approved for but there is a house in my boss's hood that is super cheap. So I am hoping that the mortgage people will be like oh yeah you can afford that house. And I hope that no one else buys it before I can get approved and stuff. If I can't have that house I might be more content with a condo but I guess we will have to see.
Today I did Pilates. Also known as Pet the Snoopilates because Snoop thinks that I want to pet him whenever I am doing pilates. So it is like stretch, reach and pet the Snoop.
Pictured below is one of the wristbands I made for Brook. It says Punk. But the kind of cool thing is that someone else saw me making them and she wants to pay me to make ones that say "MoFo" on them. That is pretty cool.


Brook's "Punk" wristband 

Galactic Pizza

I saw a Galactic Pizza delivery driver today. This totally made my day. It is this pizza place but they deliver driving these cute little electric cars and wearing superhero costumes. They don't dress up as Superman or spiderman or whatever. There are their own superheroes like Galactic Girl and the Space Cowboy. I think I saw Galaticus cause whoever was driving the cute litte electric car was wearing a helmet like Galaticus does.
I got home from work today and there are those real estate locks on all of our apartments. It isn't suprisig or anything but all of the sudden I am thinking I need to sort/pack/throw away stuff. I have been slowly selling of this box of my dad's old books on ebay but now I am thinking I am ust going to have to take what I can get for them at the used bookstore because I just don't have the time to sell them right now.
Anyway I finished a pair of armbands for myself and I am going to begin working on a pair of arm bands that say "Punk" and "Rock" for my friend Brook. She is the one who gave me loads black and purple yarn that are perfect for doing that kind of thing with.
Although I am feeling this overwhelming pressure start re-packing my life up I need to sleep so I can get up and work tomorrow.

Bush is whack--- Take the White House back!
That was the best yard sign I saw in my neighborhood. I love it cause it uses the word whack. Signs that use the word whack pretty much rock. I wonder if Shrub would be able to use the word "whack" in a sentence.
So here is a cute picture of my cats. They are totally socially aware. Every morning they clean off a yogurt lid to send in to the Breast cancer foundation. There was a commercial this year when the pink Yoplait lids hit the shelves where the women were all licking off the lids of the yogurt. The commercial said something like Together we can lick breast cancer. Snoop and Lucy are totally helping the cause. They have collected more than 20 lids.

Snoop and Lucy fight breast cancer 

Laundry

My fortune from lunch today was pretty good. "You are an angel. Beware of those who collect feathers."
I have been making a little progress on my socks this week although my big project of the week has been pad stitching the lapels on these tuxedo like tap outfits.
I usually like to knit at the laundromat because I go to this no-frills laundromat. By no frills I mean no Ms. Pac Man, or touchscreen video games or TV or anything else. But of the several laundromats I have visited this one has good washers that actually get my clothes clean. I can usually get one armband done at the laundromat but today I totally forgot to bring any knitting. I didn't even bring any books about knitting so that I could read about fun projects that I want to do.