Aug

31

2 finished projects!

crocheting / hurricanes / john / projects

Yesterday I finished weaving in ends on the shawl and snapped a quick pic:

Seraphina Shawl that I’ve now made 6 of. :) It’s a great pattern. I made it using 4 skeins of Joann’s Debbie Mumm’s Traditions in Pine Needle colorway.

After a few starts and stops on finding a pattern I could use easily, I got started on the Hot Cross Slouch Beret from Interweave Crochet Winter 2007. I finished it up today. John snapped a couple of pics for me:

In weather news, we’re good here. There has been a lot of wind today, and it’s actually kinda nice outside. We’ll likely get rain tonight and tomorrow. It rained off and on all day yesterday.

In bike news, John rode the bike down the road yesterday with a major clutch issue. Today the clutch was repaired and the bike went up and down the road with no issues whatsoever! :) So we’re happy that it’s basically done.

Okay, time to find what my next quickie project is for the next day and a half. Tuesday is time to get back to work! Happy weekend everyone!

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Aug

30

3 Day Weekend!

crocheting / designing / friends / john / publication / submissions / yarn company

Thursday night I finished my Seraphina Shawl in the Debbie Mumm yarn. No photo yet because I’m lazy and haven’t woven in the ends. :) So that’s today’s plan.

No yarn arrived on Thursday, either, so I went to Dani’s on Friday with a clear conscience. I worked on a new top for me from Doris Chan’s book Everyday Crochet. Didn’t get really far because I did spend a bit of time in the morning swatching for SSP#3 since Dani had some yarn leftover that is the same as what they’re sending me. I finished doing my math and it is going to work out. That makes me happy! We went to Joann’s so Dani could get some handles for a purse she’d made and while there I grabbed the three colors I’m being sent and played around with a layout with the help of Margarita. So that’s done now, too. :) Yay! This project will hopefully fly off the hook.

Last night yarn from the yarn company came in. Which is good because that means I have the weekend to work on it. Granted, it was after my contact left for the weekend so I’m kinda waiting on a few things. Although I do have the pattern written and I’m almost done with the first one. So I’m going to get a couple done I think and then wait. I have to have it shipped by Friday and I think I can do it. It’s a quick project and should be pretty easy to knock out.

Today is a bit of a lazy day. I’m going to work a bit on the yarn company project, weave in ends on my shawl, and work on the top I’m making. Margarita is coming over to hang out and crochet later on. John will be going to pick up a tool to work on the bike and then hopefully get it finished up today. Close to 6pm Debbie will be swinging by to drop off a CD for the web work I need to do for her.

I’m not sure yet what the plans are for Sunday. If I have anything to do with it, it will be a whole lotta nothing. :) Same with Monday. I figure at some point there will be people here to watch the bike run up and down the road. I may talk John into getting some stuff for the grill on Monday. Or we may head out to visit friends. Haven’t decided yet and that’s okay with me. :) Now, if UPS delivers today and I get the yarn for SSP#3 I may start on that tomorrow. But, no matter what….Monday is a DAY OFF! I’m not doing any work related stuff on Monday. None at all.

Granted, all this is dependent upon what two possible visitors do. Gustav and Hanna are set to come to either side of us sometime this weekend, so we need to keep an eye out. I’ll admit, the fact that Gustav is predicted to possibly go up to a Cat 4 makes me a bit nervous. I’m cool up to about a strong Cat 3 and then I start getting anxious. We’ll see. I feel bad for New Orleans since it seems he’s headed there. That’s IF the high pressure system holds over us. Eh, too early to tell.

I hope everyone has a relaxing and safe holiday weekend. I may not post much depending on what we do.

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Aug

28

A lot done for a half day

designing / lessons / math / submissions / swatching / yarn

First off, thanks to my wonderful webmaster, the site is back up! :) Yay! Thanks, babe!

This morning I followed up on two potential students through email. Not sure when I’ll find time to fit them in, but hopefully our schedules will mesh.

The yarn for the two projects that I need to work on hasn’t arrived yet, so this morning I did the math (ew) for the publication project. I also did a much larger swatch in a similar yarn and I think I’ve got a good game plan for when the yarn does arrive. So I’m feeling pretty good. I am prepped and ready to go with both projects as soon as the yarn gets here. Yay me!

So, because I am all caught up, I’m going to take the rest of the afternoon off. Tomorrow I will be at Dani’s for a girls day. Hopefully yarn comes tonight so I can work while I’m there. If not, well, then I don’t know what I’ll work on. :-/ I’ll likely just be taking a long holiday weekend.

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday weekend!

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Aug

27

Website update and a day off

crocheting / designing / friends / holidays / john / submissions / swatching / website

The parts for the server came in today. About an hour ago, actually. The server is currently in surgery and I keep hearing heavy sighs coming from the office. That may or may not be good. I’m not sure and I’m not going in to ask. I do hear the box being booted up (the fan is really loud on this box and it sits by the door to the living room) and then turned off. Fingers crossed everyone…..we’ve now been down for 5 days. :(

This morning I did some swatching for the next yarn company project, chatted through email with my contact there, was able to turn around and go a slightly different direction and send that to her, and now I’m just waiting for the yarn to get here so I can get started.

It’s good that it’s been a slow day, my body needed the break. So I took the much needed nap and am just relaxing. Tomorrow I will start working out some of the math for the next submission project (soon to be titled SSP#3) since that yarn should be here soon, too. Busy busy time.

This weekend is turning into another girls’ weekend. At least for part of it. Friday morning I’ll head to Dani’s and meet up with Margarita. I may be working while we hang out and chat, but it’ll be good to get out of the house. On Saturday Margarita is going to come out here and hang out. Sunday may be the day John’s motorcycle goes down the road for the first time. He’s so very very close. It’s exciting.

I’m taking Monday off. I figure that even though I work from home, I should still take the holidays off. Besides, at this point I’m not sure what the weather is going to do so I can’t make any other plans than that. Apparently Gustav is on his way and will likely be a Cat 3 by the time he reaches the gulf. Eh, we’ll see. The porch is still cleared so I’m not too worried about that. Water is still in the freezer and I’m still good on yarn and batteries for my light up hooks. :)

Okay, I need to go figure out something for dinner and see if the “surgeon” needs a soda.

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Aug

26

Birthdays, work, and downtime

crocheting / designing / family / paperwork / submissions / work

First off, a very happy birthday to my sister, Kelli!!! She’s older than me (hee) by 2 months and 10 days. :) Wait, what? Let me explain….Kelli and I have been best friends since elementary school. We were 5 or 6 when we met. Over the years we’ve moved from being friends to being family. She is truly a sister to me. And today is her birthday. :) I do wish you all the best, my dear!

That’s her on the right with the fabulous bangs (I can’t do bangs, don’t ask) and me and her daughter, Josalynne. Yes, we’re all styling with our white shirts and jeans and sunglasses for our family picture day many years ago. Jos is now up to my shoulder and will be 12 next year. :(

I got up this morning and wrote up the pattern for SSP#2 (well, edited it and such), printed it out, packaged it and the item itself into a handy flat rate box from USPS and ran up to the post office. So that’s off!

I came home and started working on gathering receipts and such. I took care of my income/expense spreadsheet and my mileage spreadsheet. And now I’m caught up. And ahead of myself on what I planned for the next two days. I am not used to that. Seriously. I’ve been going nonstop for over a month now and suddenly I have time to breathe.

Since I anticipate being very busy in the next couple of weeks (I have another yarn company project coming and the latest design to get accepted) I’m going to enjoy this and work on something for me while I can. :)

It is about to storm. Which is bad because John’s on his bike today. :( I hope it passes over quickly and that he’s picking up another hour of work so it will have time to pass over. I should get off of here and take the dog out before it rains.

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Aug

25

Lots of things…..

crocheting / designing / friends / ravelympics / submissions

First and foremost…..

That’s my gold medal for Sweater Sprint in the 2008 Ravelympics. No, there are no silver or bronze medals. There is only do or do not, there is no try. :D Anyway, yeah, I finished. :)

In other news, the package I sent to the yarn company arrived there today and my contact liked it and we talked about my next project. Which will soon be on its way. :) Yay!

Also today I wove in all the ends on SSP#2 and did the final blocking. It’s currently in the other room, and will be packaged tomorrow morning to be sent off. :) Woo!

So I went back to the station today to have lunch with Bossman (well, former Bossman). It was nice to go and have lunch and chit chat and catch up. After lunch I wandered around the station visiting with people. I got to show off the magazine (you bet I took it with me) and talk about living my dream. :) It was a good trip. Even if it did take up the whole afternoon.

I had contemplated working on editing SSP#2′s pattern tonight but I really would rather do it when I’m clear headed tomorrow morning. I think now I’m going to work some more on the Seraphina Shawl.

Tomorrow I will finish up SSP#2 and run to the post office to send it off. Then I will work on paperwork this week. I’m learning to take the downtime as it comes. Oh, and I will need to call my sister and wish her a very happy birthday tomorrow. I won’t tell you how old she is, but she’s older than me. ;)

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Aug

24

Yesterday was the day for finishing

projects / socks / website / yarn

I had a rather productive day yesterday. I didn’t get my housework done, but I did finish quite a few things. I got my Ravelympics sweater done (as seen in the last post) and then I worked and finished SSP#2. Last night while watching Harry Potter I finished the end of the second sock that I’d had for a month. Here’s a pic of them:

Now I’m on hold for doing anymore socks because I’m out of sock yarn. :( Well, I’m out of nice sock yarn. I have some that I’m likely going to use to design with, but that will come later.

I did start a new project last night. I know, I have a few things hibernating that I should get back on to. But, I wanted something somewhat mindless and easy for me to work on. So what did I do?

I started another Seraphina Shawl. This time out of the Debbie Mumm Traditions yarn I got nearly a year ago at my birthday. This is the last of my “birthday yarn” that I’m finally using. That’s where my sweater yarn came from. If y’all remember, John gave me a gift certificate and told me that I had to buy yarn for me for a specified project. So I got the yarn for the sweater and the yarn for the convertible wrap (that I need to finish, it’s nearly done). The DMT yarn I got with a gift card to Joann’s for my birthday.

Anyway, today’s plan is housework and possibly taking a day off from crocheting. I need to weave in ends and block SSP#2, but I may let that wait until Monday. My hands could use a break. We have to go shopping later after lunch to Comp USA. The server has died. This is very distressing and sad because that’s where my website is hosted. So it’s imperative we get it back up as soon as possible. Everyone keep their fingers crossed that we can find what we need locally so we don’t have to wait for it to be shipped.

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Aug

23

Crossed the finish line!

crocheting / designing / ravelympics / submissions

It’s done!

No, there won’t be a pic of me in it until January. It’s already 83 degrees outside and it’s only 9:15am. This sweater is very very very warm.

I’m pleased it’s done. Now I can get back to focusing on SSP#2. Which, as of last night, was completely together and one side of the edging is completely done. All four rows. So, here’s the thing. I was playing around with the edging and couldn’t decide what I wanted to do and how it would look. Rather than going all the way around and then end up ripping something out, I decided to join each of the colors and kinda work them at the same time (no, this isn’t what I expect the crocheter to do…it’s just faster for me). Basically I work part of the way in the first row, then go back and pick up the loop for the second row, work up to just before the end of the first row, and repeat for all 4 colors. :) Since I’m working this with it laying out on the dining room table, this seems to be the most efficient way to do it. I think I should be able to be done today. Then tomorrow will be the final weaving in of ends and one final blocking. Then Monday will be the final tweaking of the pattern and ship on Tuesday. Whew.

Well, time for coffee and to start housework before I work on SSP#2.

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Aug

22

One down one to go

designing / lessons / submissions / work

As soon as I finish my coffee I’ll be heading to the post office to send off the yarn company project. :) Yay! It turned out quite well and I’m very pleased with it. Then when I get home it’s back to work on finishing the submission project. I should be able to finish it by tomorrow to prepare for shipping early next week. At least that’s the plan now.

Yesterday I ended up with just one student. The first lesson canceled on me. I got the call 5 minutes before I left the house. But, I still got paid. Why? Because we implemented the 24 notice policy. I don’t know about other teachers, but it’s not like I roll out of bed and head to teach. I spent 2 hours yesterday morning writing up a lesson plan and a student handout. Had I known the night before that the lesson wasn’t going to happen I would have printed the one sheet I needed for the 2nd lesson and worked on other stuff in the morning. So most of my day was lost for design work.

In weather related news, we’re just now getting the storm bands from Tropical Storm Fay. I find it funny in a way. Tuesday the storm ran right past us and we didn’t get anything. Now that she’s circled back across the panhandle, now we’re getting rain.

Oh well, I need to finish my coffee so I can head out. Have a great Friday!

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Aug

21

Lots of things

designing / lessons / projects / ravelympics / submissions

My lunch appointment yesterday got rescheduled for Monday. Yeah, I don’t miss that job at all……the lunch is with my former boss so we can catch up (we were great friends while I worked with him) and he got slammed with stuff yesterday and couldn’t break away. The next day our schedules work together is Monday. So we’ll see.

All the ends are woven in on the yarn company project, and all it needs now is a quick light blocking and then packaged to go. I’m waiting for a return email from my contact there so I send it to the right place.

I have 2 back to back lessons today at the shop. I’ve got the lesson plans typed up and all that and ready to go. I need to crochet up a few samples for the first lesson before I leave.

But…great news….I just got word that another design has been accepted! They’re figuring out the yarn and all that now and I should hear something more soon. :) This is an awesome feeling. I wonder if the excitement goes away after a while. ‘Cause right now every single design that is accepted makes me happy and giddy.

Tonight I’m hoping to finish up my sweater for Ravelympics. Last night I was able to get the second sleeve sewn in and started weaving in ends. I only have to finish the neck edging and then weave in a few more ends. It could very well get finished tonight!

Anyway, I need to go finish up my work. Our skies still look like a storm is here. It rained last night and looks like it might rain today but I don’t know if it will.

Have a great day!

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