Yay Me!

I won a prize! How cool is that? Know what's even better? It's exactly the prize I had my eye on, a beautiful knitting journal by Lain. I won it from Holly as part of Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive. So awesome.

I was never able to post pics of the blankies that I sent, but Holly took great pictures of them and posted them here. Check 'em out. Thanks so much, Holly, for running a great pet drive and for the awesome prize!

Today

Here's what I have planned for the rest of the day:


The couch, some crafty stuff, and hanging out with my dad for a little while. Happy Father's Day, Daddy, and to all the daddy's out there!

I've Gone Scan Crazy!

The Fire Blanket (almost done!):

The doll afghan:

My latest bracelet, which isn't done but I already sold today:

And the Munchkins' Ratatouille artwork:

(Sort of) A Picture, Yay!

I've rediscovered a craft that I dabbled in while in high school, and spent lots of time over the weekend practicing. I forgot how much fun (and addicting) making hemp jewelry can be. Since I'm just practicing, and I'm notoriously cheap, I'm using some stash Size 10 crochet thread as "hemp" and seed beeds. The bracelets I've started so far look decent, and the latest is perfect for Project Spectrum.

That's it on the left. It's for the boyfriend, and I like how it's turning out. The one on the right is another one for practice, and it matches a pair of earrings that I made myself last week.

The next bracelet I have planned will work well for Project Spectrum, too. Black with shiny colored beads, and maybe some earrings to match that one as well. After the computer goes to the computer doctor and comes back, I'll scan that bracelet.

I'm so excited that I figured out a way to add some visual interest around here. I had forgotten all about my scanner. Yay for (sort-of) pictures!

Yuck.

Sorry, that's the best title I could come up with for this post. Yesterday was one of those days that just plain sucked. Every time I turned around it felt like someone or something was there to kick me. And the worst of it is, the "financial upswing" I was hoping we were coming into is now nonexistent. Ouch. No new digi camera anytime soon.

I stayed up way too late working on the doll aghan for a little therapy session, so I'm way tired, but I feel a little better. The afghan is almost done and it looks quite cute, even if I was half asleep when I got towards the end. Oh well, all I can do is hope for a better day today.

Summer Fun

I haven't made it any farther on that same old Fire Blanket, but for good reason. Yesterday, a girlfriend and I loaded the Munchkins and her little ones all up in her good old Jeep, and took off for the beach. Completely spontaneous, so much fun. The Munchkins loved playing in the water, even though it was still quite cold, and my friend E and I sat on a picnic bench with a cooler full of food and cold soda, just kicking back in the summer sun. All in all, it was a wonderful day, and we're definitely planning more day trips like this to happen on a regular basis. Summer is definitely here.

I also started another project. I've been following along with several blogger's latest obssession with doll quilts, and I believe I've caught the bug. I started a crocheted doll afghan with leftovers from the CCCD blankies, and I really like it so far. Doll afghans are small by nature, therefore perfect for summer crocheting, in my opinion. We'll just see how far I can go with this new inspiration.

Pictureless Progress

I've been working on nothing but the Fire Blanket since I sent off the pet blankies to Holly, and my efforts are about to pay off. I'm 2/3 of the way done joining all the strips together, and then I plan to add a small border that wasn't included in the pattern instructions. WooHoo! Almost to the finish line! I absolutely HATE sewing squares or strips together, so I finally broke down and learned the Flat Braid joining method. Love it, love it, love it. It's not a whole lot faster than whipstitching, but it sure is less of a pain in the a**. And I'm crazy about the way it looks: a nice, flat, pretty little braid between strips instead of my uneven sewing. Looks good on the front and the back. I'm very pleased with how this blanket is coming together.

On the financial front, we just might be on the upswing around here, so a digital camera should be coming soon. I would love to have it in time to post pics of the FB as soon as it's done, but I'm not about to slow down on the blanket to wait for the camera. So there will be pictures, but probably not right away. For now, I'm going to clean up the house so that I can focus on joining strips when I get home from work. Have a great weekend, everybody!