eesh, I tried to start this post Thursday morning and I've been working on it off and on since then. Too busy!

(warning - long, long rambly photo-heavy post ahead)

So I read the other day about a contest thing, where you donate yarn to Interim House - they're teaching the women there to knit and crochet as sort of a stress relieving...thing...boy I'm eloquent - and not only do you get the warm fuzzies, but you get put in the running for a Jordiana Page bag full of knitting/crochet stuff. Here's the yarn I sent:



(excepting the Lion Brand Boucle, because my mom saw it and asked for a hat made from it, and I can't deny the woman that raised me, right?)

How many containers did it take? Not one, not two, but...



(or...two boxes and an envelope, I couldn't fit the tunisian crochet hook into either of the boxes and I'd already written about it in my note, so I was not about to be thwarted!)

Of course, I get there, and the lady tells me I can mail it all in a flat rate box for some eight bucks. Which is like, five bucks cheaper than it would've been seperately. so I did that instead.

I also went on a cleaning the kitchen spree night before last. I doubt my mom thinks it's clean of crafts, but now all of my yarn is shoved into 5 containers of varying sizes, except for 7-8 black and blue skeins of merino wool, for a knit sweater and crocheted hat and scarf, all stripy. Not that I'd wear them all at once or anything, I just really really like stripes. And blue and black. hah.

Tomorrow's going to freakin' kill me...have to be up at the school at six for a meet, (that's when I normally wake UP!) getting home around sixish, and then heading straight to work to close afterwards. Ouch. \

Oh yeah...I finished my fantabulous purse :D Check it out:

View of the holders under the flap, where I can stick knitting needles or tunisian crochet hooks (as demonstrated):



Stencilling along the flap:



yes, those are skulls with cross-crochet hooks and knitting needles. instead of bones. I know I'm a dork but I don't care. the stencil bled a bit, which really disappointed me - I think I waited too long after ironing the freezer paper on it, and I don't think it stuck so well to the canvas in the first place.

Not one, but TWO pockets on the inside:



And on the other side, a big pocket, with more slots for pens/crochet hooks/knitting needles (as demonstrated, again :P):



Couldn't possibly be any more places to shove my stuff, right? Wrong!



Pocket in the back, great for magazines or papers.

Here it is full of all my crap:



And here it is in actual use:



So proud!! It's working great so far. like I said, I can fit eeeeverything in there.

bleh, I need to list some more stuff on etsy. Most of this week, I've just been feeling kind of...I don't know. uninspired. I just want all of this to be over with. I'm sick of the stupid ritual of school taking up my time, of being tired all the time no matter what, and of being nice to people when I don't want to. I figure, most of these people I'm not going to see after I go to college, so why leave on bad terms? And I find myself wondering if it's a bad thing, that there are some 'friends' where my attitude is "have to be nice to them, don't want to leave on bad terms, in a few months I can just let things fade". One in particular just isn't who she used to be. And I think she's just going to end up throwing her life away and it depresses me. Actually, she's mostly the one that I just don't want to end things on bad terms for the sake of comfort. I don't know, it's all confusing. At least I'm a little less twitchy about making all-new friends after talking to Casey, who has many words of wisdom (sometimes :P).

The new girl at work is awesome. I was a little worried since a lot of times girls my age (or...girls in general) annoy me, but she's sooo nice and a total spaz, just like me. We got these new vans in that are pink and black striped with neon green accents. they are amazing.

It's supposed to get cold again. That is not, not, not, NOT cool.

The aforementioned and long awaited photos of the massive rainbow scarf:





(note how I oh-so-cleverly seamed the sun and cloud motifs on there WITHOUT ANY STICHES SHOWING! *is proud*)





And though this isn't the exact hat, it's the same pattern:





I forgot to mention earlier that Ashley won tickets for the AFI/Sick of it All/The Dear and Departed show in Springfield. (or at least, I think I did, and at this point I'm far too lazy to check) Which was pretty freakin' cool - better than I expected. AFI is one of those bands that I like sometimes, but I have to be in the right mood for it. They put on a great live show though, and the other two bands were good too. (gotta admit, I liked Sick of it All better than The D&D) And their guitarist? (SOIA, that is) a *total* spaz. Holy crap, the guy was jumping around and pogoing and running back and forth across the stage for the entire 30 minutes or so that they played. I don't think he stood still once.

Plus, Davey Havok? Say it with me now: mmmmm...

I'm annoyed with this purse that I made...impressed with all the shiny colors of the rainbow scarf, I decided to make a rainbow messenger bag. Which took FOR-FREAKIN-EVER, I might add (those straps? so boring)...and when I seamed it up...due to a minor error, one side of it is an inch higher than the other. And even if it was just for me and not for my etsy shop, I wouldn't be able to leave it that way. Sooo I'm letting it sit and not looking at it for a while so it won't annoy me, and I'm probably going to have a go at re-assembling it tomorrow.

things to do tomorrow this week:
-fill out application for MSU
-reassemble purse
-get started/finish on my grandma's hat
-finish wristwarmer set for etsy (and get buttons for neckwarmer)
-finish cupcake
-finish listing for scarf
-list hat, reassembled purse, cupcake, neckwarmer, and wristwarmers
-round purse
-skull purse
-file taxes (rebate = good)
-make myself the freakin' purse and laptop bag that've been in planning stages for FOREVER (sewing may be a lot more instant gratification than crochet, but you can't do it while watching Buffy)
-order Denise set and mohair yarn

whew. when I put it like that, it seems really depressing. also, go figure that as I'm actually getting started(ish) on my two sweater projects, it's finally warming up. Supposed to hit 70 sometime this week. I'm not sure if I believe it, but if it does happen, I can deal with having some knit/crocheted garments that aren't wearable until next winter. (although I think the mohair will probably breathe enough for me to get at least some wear out of it...) also on the to-do list at some point is try out some of those patterns from the 70s that I got from my grandma (were originally my great-grandma's), because there's some neat clothing patterns that I could probably adapt. The whole thing is that I hate working from patterns, but I can't normally figure out how something is done and how well it works until I've...done the pattern. d'oh. It's interesting how (flipping through those patterns just now) that people want to say crochet was so tacky in the 70s, but they figured out something that people want to ignore today...that you can't use worsted-weight yarn for really wearable garments (stuff that isn't a poncho/hat/scarf, though I dunno how wearable some of those ponchos were...haha). I think that's a good reason everyone thinks of crochet as so chunky.

I think I might destash by putting some yarn/random stuff up on etsy. mainly my knitting looms...now that I can needle-knit, I don't really need them any more. And I wasn't too fond of the chunky results anyways, except for something like a hat (which...I never got, I'll admit, haha). or I might just give them to my sister, she seemed to like them. At the very least, I'll probably be getting rid of some of them. Or maybe use them to make some fun-fur scarfs first...I got some for Christmas, and that stuff is HARD to crochet with (can't see the stitches).

not looking forward to going back to school tomorrow, I spent my whole weekend feeling like crap. at least I don't have to work again 'til Thursday (and Friday, and Saturday)

Anyways...wow...long rambly post...ok, night now!

So I go to Michael's on Thursday, and I'm looking at the magazines (can't find knit.1). This girl who works there glances at me and goes "man, you're here all the time aren't you?" (which made me laugh) I go back and see the sale yarn, and grab a skein each of black and blue merino wool to make a stripey scarf and hat with. Friday, I go to Springfield to check out Simply Fibers, which is pretty cool - and the lady who works there is totally friendly, unlike the lady at the Needle Niche (what a freakin' snob). After I left there, I went to the Thread Peddler, or what used to be that store, as apparently it got closed down. Pointless detour. Randomly wander around Springfield for a while, go in a big circle, and find their Hobby Lobby completely by accident. Buy some clearance yarn and chocolate. I went home, and decided to go straight to Joplin to just get some more of the merino for the aforementioned sweater...the same girl is working. I walk up to the register with five more balls of wool...she looks at me and says "you're an addict, you have a problem".

That cracks me up.

I managed to find knit.1 at Hastings today, and at the same time stumbled across this 'zine called Razorcake, which was only $4 and looks fan-freaking-tastic. 'a non-profit magazine to cover independent and underground music'. Maybe it'll be a decent replacement for AMP, which has swiftly gone downhill in my opinion. I mean, the columns are still ok, but they went from covering NOFX and the like, to My Chemical Romance...who seem like nice guys, but c'mon, not my thing.

I still need to order the Denise set - the store in Springfield apparently doesn't carry them, will just order them in. Phooey. and the mohair yarn to crochet my sweater with.

Speaking of which, this annoys me. Not so much the actual post as the comments. Like people never knit anything ugly, oh no. It's always crocheted. Esp. the post about how crochet is only either tasteless or classy. Gag me, what a bunch of snobs. (not that anyone besides me is really going to care at all, but y'know)

I feel like CRAP. Again! It's not fair. I am so totally and unbelievably ready for summer, or spring at least.

this song makes me laugh (it's on this month's Journey's cd...very fitting for Valentine's Day):

14 people in the club
Ima robot with no love?
Backstage she came rolling up
She said, "Do anything and I love ya."

Well, there must be a mistake
Girl, you're way too hot
You could make a million dollars with the face you got
Don't you know my last number was a flop?
She said, "Do anything and I love ya."

Well, I don't do love letters
I'm no good with flowers
If I forget your birthday
Will you still love me?

Well, what are the odds of
One true love?
You say "high"
But I have my doubts

What are the odds of
Me letting you down?
Please don't cry; it's just your love
It creeps me out

Now she can't stop from loving me
Making me food, touching me
I told her, "I ain't got money on me."
She said, "Do anything and I love ya."

Yeah, I know your mom makes fun of me
And you caught your best friend under me
I guess this means you're done with me
She said, "Do anything and I love ya."

Well, I go out all hours
You get strange phone calls
I'm so A.D.D. with you
But you still love me

Well, what are the odds of
One true love?
You say "High"
But I have my doubts

What are the odds of
Me letting you down?
Please don't cry, it's just your love
It creeps me out

You're creeping me out

She don't screw my friends
And she cleans up my house
All of this love girl is creeping me out

haha. I told Jessi, who came in to see me today, that for Valentine's day I was going to go buy myself chocolate and then come home and watch Fight Club and crochet. She thinks I'm weird. I think it makes perfect sense.

I feel really bad for my manager. His mom recently passed away, and obviously...ow. I never know what to say in situations like that, what's ok to say and what sounds stupid, and I just...I see how broken he is about it, and I realize that if I was in the same situation I would probably be worse off. It makes me realize that he's closer to my age than I normally think of him as (I'll admit, I look up to him and ask him advice on a lot of stuff, I consider him a really close friend even if he is my manager), and that he probably thought he had another good 10-20 years with his mom, if he thought about it at all. Who thinks about that? It's sad, and it makes me want to hug everyone I care about.

Ok. So. I read this, and that lead me to this, and I'm not gonna lie, I bawled like a baby. Which means that at least half my tax return (oh crap I was going to file that today and I forgot >_< SuperCrafty store in all likelihood. You should buy some too. Even if you don't knit. 'Cause it goes to that adorable baby's momma. And hey, there's embroidery and stuff too. Also if you're at a total lack of what to buy...you all know SOMEONE who could use it...*cough* ;)

Besides which, there's some nice stuff at relatively low prices (the megamart shopper in me cringes, the fiber-geek is all "ooh" and "ahh"), considering.

In the very good news, the scarf and hat set is finished. And it looks damn good, if I do say so myself. Pictures should be coming soon. Although I have to say, that if anyone ever asks me to make a 6"x6' scarf again...I'll charge more. It doesn't bother me so much this time because I know the girl, and because it wasn't her fault that I TOTALLY underestimated the amount of time it would take (I'm thinking it added up to something like 10-12 hours total). Hah, I'm such a whiner. This is why I rarely tackle big projects. Although that should be changing soon because I'm planning on doing my first crochet sweater soon. And knit, soon to follow. Aren't you all excited for me and stuff?

But right now I'm taking a teensy(as in, 2 day) break from crocheting that will probably extend until tomorrow because most of the scarf was done on Tuesday when I stayed home sick - message kiddies: something like 8 hours of crocheting in one stint? BAD IDEA. My wrist was killing me until recently. And it's still a little touchy. Yup, I'm a dork. A dorky dorky hooker.

And the other half of my tax return is going to get spent at Simply Fibers in Springfield. If I can *ever* get there. Was planning to go on Saturday, and the weather is supposed to be icky in the extreme. So I might try for tomorrow. Maybe. I dunno.

I'm feeling marginally better. So, like I got ran over with an SUV instead of a truck. although I'm not sure there'd be any arguable difference.

This comic cracks me up. It's like me, except with yarn/needles/hooks/fabric instead of glue and glitter.

I dunno if anyone noticed, but I've added quite a few links to the sidebar. A ton of crafty/knit/crochet links, and some local bloggers that I kept meaning to add but forgot.

If I feel up to it, there's a good chance I'll go thrift-storing tomorrow. I hope I do.

I didn't mention before; as far as commissioned stuff has been going, I'm doing okay. A girl I talk to regularly from a forum I go to wants a cloudy day cloche with a matching scarf, so I'm doing that, Dave wanted a plain black hat for someone with a big head, if I'm allowed to disclose that :P , and Daniel T from school wants a royal purple hat (go figure). Nobody's bought anything for my store yet, but hopefully I'll be able to finish up the commissions tomorrow and then spend next week in art working on some new stuff for my shop.

so now, I'm going to finish this row on the scarf, and then go to bed. maybe with a brownie in between here and there. btw, pizza =/= good flu food.

I feel like a truck ran me overrrrr. Ow. I started feeling ucky last night, and when I woke up this morning, I stayed in bed for some 2 hours because I just didn't want to move. This sucks, because it means no excursion to Springfield, no Denise set, no Pan's Labyrinth. *sigh* The only thing it DOES mean is lots of sitting or laying down. And probably crocheting too. I still need to make a laptop bag and a new purse...but that requires all that walking. Maybe tomorrow.