catching up

I have been busy but this is my most recent finished object. They are cute. From the Stitch and Bitch Nation book of course. I just have to get cute buttons for them and then they will be ready to go.
Still working on Barbie's fishnets but I am getting close to being done with one of those.

cute baby booties 

Last night was the first time that I have been at home before 8 pm in ages. OK I think a week really but I was done with all my work and stuff by 5 and so I got to watch movies and deal with the pile of laundry on my bedroom floor.
Dealing with the laundry meant that I also changed my bed. Snoop loves to help with this household chore. Snoop sits on the bed while I add the sheets and blankets. I try to "get the lump out" of the bed. Sometimes Lucy plays too. Her job is to help me move the lump.
So anyway here is a picture of Snoop hiding under the sheets on the bed. Snoop!


cute Snoop  

Music to knit to

OK so the current is still just the best little radio station ever. The music they play makes me so happy.
Yesterday Mary Lucia had been talking about music to clean to which made her ask what music you listen to while doing certain activities. She said today that someone knits to the Outkast. I have never tried that. But after listening to the current for a while today I feel like I might need to knit myself a Joey Ramone doll from the Stitch and Bitch Nation book. Just to be my listening companion for The Current. Or maybe I should knit a Joey Ramone doll for The Current. Sort of like an awesome music mascot.
I'm sure that since it is listener supported radio that they would rather have my cash money but they may get a Joey doll until my mailbox gets fixed and the paychecks that haven't been reaching me get hear.
I have not gotten a couple pay checks through the mail and I am a little ticked. But it looks like fixing the mailboxes will happen. I saw the boxes containing the new mailboxes in the hallway today. No one works on weekends around here so it will probably get done next week sometime but at least after living here for 6 weeks I should start being able to receive my mail.

all about the music

OK really I have to continue professing my love for 89.3 the Current. As soon as I get some funds worked up I will profess my love finacially but for now I'll just write about it here.
It is so awesome to listen to awesome dj's a and a great mix of music. It was so wonderful tonight cause there was this total punk vibe going on but mixed with Willie Nelson and Duke Ellington. The 2-7 DJ Mary Lucia was so awesome today when she talked about how some drivers want mellow but some want to rock out. She had played some mellow but now it was time for some guitar.
I spent my teen years hoping that I would grow up to be Jane Pratt and run an awesome magazine like Sassy. Today I decided I want to be a DJ or be the lead singer of a band. Blame it on the awesomeness of the station but I am just like yeah, it's about the music.
The kids I baby-sat last night wanted to watch The Who- The Kids are Alright. The 2 year old gets this little pint sized electric guitar and starts playing along with the band. See what I said- All about the music.

A crisis. Really?

I heard the word crisis used to describe the situation with Social Security. That it will run out by 2075 and so it is this huge crisis facing America.
To the folks trying to sell this crisis I want to know is something that my happen in 2075 really a crisis? Why are we running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to revamp the system.
Social Security running out in 70 years seems like we totally have enough time to address it without trying to pivatize it right away.
I think that instead of freaking out someone needs to open the floor to suggestions of how to encourage people to save money.
We debate for hours of who should teach children about sex and evolution/creation, but no one ever talks about who teaches their kids about money. Just as much as any other value the way people deal with money gets passed on to their children.
If you walk onto any college campus today chances are that there are people standing around using t-shirts, cd's, hats and other prizes to lure people to sign up for credit cards. When was the last time you saw someone giving away prizes for starting an IRA, savings bond, mutual fund or other such investment.
There are many other problems facing our country today. Perhaps we should be running around trying to fix the health insurance situation or trying to come up with alternative energy sources. Nobody runs around freaking out because if we don't start using alternative energy and stop contributing to globabl warming Minnesota is likely to look like Kansas in 50 years.
So that is my rant for the day .

sometimes you want music

I love music but commercials drive me crazy. For the most part I feel like I spend more time changing stations to avoid them. So I listen to MPR- Minnesota Public Radio.
Today was an exciting day. The launch of MPR's new music station 89.3 The Current. Being a news junkie I listened to Bill Kling talk about it the other day on Midday and again on a re-broadcast this weekend. So I was a little excited about a MPR station that would play the kind of music that I would want to listen to.
Of course I will continue to listen to all my programs on 91.1 but it is nice to have music to listen to without commercials.
With two stations to meet my diverse needs for both news and music I will have to renew my membership.
My membership lapsed in October and I haven't renewed because I am currently in a "music phase" after being bogged down with news and different viewpoints and election disappointment. I switched to commercial music stations for the majority of my time but now with my brandy new station I am going to have to pay up. That way when they say "listener supported radio" after a really kick ass song set I will know that I am one of those listeners.

Note to other drivers

To all the drivers who felt that they had to flash their lights at me during the already stressful situation of driving in massive amounts of snow it would be good to remember two things.
The first thing is my car is little. It has little tires. It is low to the ground. It can not plow through snow with the same grace and poise as an SUV or extended cab truck.
Second thing is perhaps driving at a slow and steady pace when I can't even see a lane is actually doing all of you who got stuck behind me in certian spots a favor. Perhaps you would have taken those spots a little faster had I not been in front of you and maybe you would have spun out. Count your self lucky to be in back of a cautious driver and not in a ditch or with a beat up car.
That is my observation of the day.

so cold it hurts

It is so cold outside. I momentarily had my mittens flipped up so that I could do things like use my keys. By the time I got to my door my fingers were turning red.
Yesterday they had a story at the end of the news about a kitty who had jumped into a bird bath and then jumped with her wet feet onto a fence which her feet stuck to. What I wonder about this story is where is there a bird bath with water that isn't frozen in Minnesota. Perhaps they have heated bird baths and that is what this was, like a little birdie hot tub.
I started making the 2 needle fishnets and they are coming along slowly but nicely. I need to jump over some attention span hurdle that prevents me from really liking socks because I know that I have to make two.
Lucy goes out into the hall every time I open the door. I don't know what she thinks is so interesting out in the hall. She usually hides from things like other people and ceiling fans. It seems strange that she would venture into the hallway where there might be both.

Kitty Taco 

Done

Starting tomorrow we are going to be having a cold snap so it is a good thing that this hat has ear flaps.
I just underwent a major hair change today cause I decided that today was the day that I would donate my hair to Locks of Love. So I got like 10 inches cut off and lost a couple more inches in the styling process.
It is totally great cause I now have layers. It is pretty much the only time I have ever had layers. Mostly because in my mind the word "layers" is associated with the eighties feathered look. Not that I ever had that but I was convinced that if I asked for layers I would end up with eighties hair.
So next I am going to work on the 2-needle fishnets from the Stitch N Bitch Nation book. They are for my friend for her birthday which isn't until March so I have some time.


The cold is coming, it is a good thing I got these done. 

Super cute mittens

I have completed my first pair of mittens. They are this super cute little number with a matching hat from the Stitch N Bitch Nation book. This hat will be pointy at the top but unlike the mini-sombrero that I knit in the fall this is supposed to be pointy. It has ear flaps too. The one in the book is red and pink but there was no red and since I was dying to get started I decided that purple would be super cute too.
I am very looking forward to the winter carnival this year because now instead of trying to make my scarf behave as a hat I will have the perfect winter carnival headgear. Maybe the snow and winter is just waiting for me to finish with my matching hat and mittens. I am so proud of my mittens that I might invest in little mitten clips just so that I don't somehow lose one.

Super cute mittens 

new home

OK the moving is complete. I am officially in my new condo and everything is well.
I get to have a little shopping spree at Ikea at some time. There is this cute little desk that I like but I also need large frames for some posters that I have so that may be what I end up getting.

Mittens
I have started to knit some mittens. I started them this morning but I ended up having to frog them really early on and start over because I missed some important part of the directions. I guess I just got going and turned the page to quickly.

let the moving begin

OK so I have begun moving things to my new place. I took two loads over yesterday and 4 loads over today. I drive a small car and I haven't cleaned out my trunk so they have been small loads so far. I moved a piece of furniture over today.
The painters are still working on it so I feel a little limited in what I can bring over just yet because I do not want to be in the way.
I have to set daily goals of what I want to move so that I can be sure to get everything done. So I think tomorrow I will move some boxes and my coffee table.

visions of knitting dance in my head

Last night I had visions of all the scarves I was going to finish with four hours of uninterupted knitting time. I was baby sitting but the kids were supposed to be in bed by the time I got there.
This was not the case and in the changing of the guard I had two pretty awake kids on my hands at 10:30.
It was kind of shocking to me that two baby sitters couldn't get at least one of the kids in bed especially since one goes to bed earlier than the other one.
I got the littlest one to sleep pretty quickly and then was watching a movie with the 4 year old. I thought I would pull out the knitting then since the Land Before Time doesn't really require all of my attention. Wow was he ever facinated with the yarn. I knit probably about 5-10 rows the whole night with 10.5 needles and eyelash yarn. Oh well.
But on the positive side I am very close to finishing my Raggedy Ann cross stitch. It is the outlining phase and then I will be done. In time for Christmas.

packing

So I have today off, well so far I haven't been called for any temp assignments, so I am working on packing.
The packing has been going well so far. I am still trying to get rid of stuff. It has been really easy for me to get rid of my dolls and pez and stuff but now I am trying to get rid of books. Getting rid of books is a much harder thing for me to do. I feel more connected to them so it is harder for me to part with them. I lived by a Barnes and Noble for a couple years so I have a lot of books. Fortunately I found living in the city that I am closer to the library than I am to a Barnes and Noble.
Sometimes the libraby is kind of tough because you might have to wait for a long time until the book becomes available. That is another reason that I have a lot of books, because when it comes to what I want to read I don't always want to wait for weeks on end.
Now I am trying to decide which books I am willing to part with.

Job for a day

OK so I love taking on little random temporary assignments and gigs. I mean sometimes by the end of the day I am so glad that the job of the day is not my regular full time life. Other gigs I am like OK that was kind of cool.
I like my regular job but it leaves a lot of free hours sometimes and they happen to be the hours that most of the rest of the world is working. This leaves me thinking ah-ha I should be using this free time to make a little extra money. Especially with the condo buying. I guess it is kind of scary to give up all that money that I saved up over the last year. Even if it is for that purpose because I thought I would have longer to save and would have more money.
I was going through stuff last week and I realized how much useless stuff I collect. Anyway the really great thing about moving is the opportunity to go through and look at some of my little collections and decide to get rid of them or keep them. The dolls are going, as are the pez dispensers and those will hopefully be followed by the happy meal toys. I don't have a lot of anything of these things and so that is why I think it is best to get rid of them now when I want the money.

Holiday cards

This is one of the shots that I was hoping would be on my holiday card. Lucy looks kind of mad in this one so I am buying boxed cards as back up. I haven't given up on the idea that the cats should do a holiday card together but I can't wait until it is convenient for them either because that may take a while.
I can't wait until we start Secret Santa at work. I have a while to wait since I don't think it starts until 2 weeks before Christmas so you do 2 weeks of little gifts and clues and then at the end you do one big gift.
At work we also adopt a family. Everyone kicks in some money and we split it up between the family members. Some people make scarves and blankets too. One of the best things is when we all get together to wrap the presents. It is so amazing to see everyone wrapping presents and assembling bikes. It is no wonder that Santa does what he does cause all that giving and wrapping and joy really makes you feel good.

Felines Navidad 

project freeze

OK I am very proud of myself. I resisted the temptation to buy more yarn even though it was on sale. This is kind of hard to do cause I have all this babysitting money burning a hole in my pocket.
But I decided that the babysitting money has to be spent on me even if it just means putting it in the bank so that I have more money later down the road. Peace of mind when it comes to money is a great gift to give oneself.
I saw what I am going to make my reletives in NY. Well I think but I am not sure. There is this really cute fabric and I thought about making something for their cabins out of this fabric. But then they would get matching gifts and I don't want there to be any tension. But hey my sister and I got matching gifts all the time when we were kids so it really is the thought that counts.
I've been getting rid of everything I can think of on ebay these past couple weeks. I'll do anything not to have to move some of this stuff. Plus I hold on to way to much stuff and I need to cleanse and simplify.

scarves

The great thing about being addicted to making scarves is that I will have plenty of presents for people this year.
It isn't that I don't like to spend money on people. Buying yarn is spending money. I would rather give something that comes from me and that is useful.
The past couple years I have been giving PJ pants. This year it is going to be scarves and armbands.
I stock up on candles from Melaleuca throughout the year and those make good little gifts for people too. The only problem is that sometimes I get them and they smell so yummers that I forget that I bought them to give to people or at least to have on hand just in case I need a quick gift for someone.
I bought a first birthday present for my friend's baby and then realized that the bath time stuff I got him might not be right for his age. So instead I got him one of those soft squishy books. He is totally into board books so I might be on the lookout for one of those. I also think that all my friends with babys need the book I Love You Forever. I don't think that I Love You Forever comes in board book form.

Hola Gato

Hola gato 

This hat looks like a sombrero and it only took me a couple days to realize that it was the perfect sized sombrero for Snoop.
The plumber came and fixed my toilet and so that is a wonderful thing. Now I know how my cats feel when I change the litter box.
My scarf that I made and was pictured in an earlier post has gotten so many comments. I think cause it is so bright it really can't be missed.

A huge mess

Yesterday when I got home from work my bathroom had been flooding for five hours. There was water in my apartment, in the apartment below me and in the basement. I got to bed at like 1 am after cleaning my place, my neighbor's place and the basement. Now I'm just hanging out waiting for the plumber.
So this is the hat that I knit. I just kind of made it up and it is my first hat. It is kind of entertaining because it looks like a sombrero when it is sitting on a flat surface but when I wear it on my head it looks more like knit hat.


my knit sombrero