The Twisted World of Fiber, Hooks, Needles, Wheels and Dating after Widowhood

This is my story, and I'm sticking to it. Warts and all. I wanted to call it 'Seriously? WTF?', but that doesn't quite explain it all. Or does it?

Monday, January 31, 2011

#%*&% cat ears

      Have I mentioned that I hate knitting these fucking cat ears for the Stackable Cats?  They should use this part of the pattern to torture prisoners, I swear to God.  The medium cat has 5 ears- 3 attempted on dpns, and 2 with magic loop.  Guess which ones are now in the garbage?  3 times I wound up messing up the stitches, so there were 2 or 3 rows of stockinette, and the rest reverse stockinette.  WTF?  Stoopid toothpicks.  lol  The magic loop ones are fine.  The feet and tail will be magic looped, too.  And I am going to make the ears, feet and tail for the large cat first, then make the body.  I am soooooooooo looking forward to embroidering the faces on them.  My embroidery skills suck ass.

      I am almost done with the Hedgehog.  I had to stop because my hand was killing me.  The first section of short rows is done, and now I have the decreases to do (I think).  We may have another snow day tomorrow, so Wooo-Hooo!  Lucky me!  Another day of knitting, cooking, trying to keep the dog from going stir-crazy and moving snow (to who knows where- there's no more room for any more of this shit).

     I will post pictures tomorrow, although everything looks like cat puke at the moment.  Nothing creepier than an unstuffed, unfelted hedgehog.  :-)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Sewing and stuff

Here are the pictures of the Birdie Sling I made. 


                          Can you spot the helper cat in this picture?   lol  The white ceramic stove behind my cutting table holds all my spinning fiber.  The floor holds all the shit I am too lazy to pick up.  :-)


       I have material here to make another one in black and cream, and more fabric is coming to make one for The Daughter Figure.  I think I am obsessed.  It happens with everything I do.  lol   I also am waiting for her new book, Amy Butler’s Style Stitches, because I want to make ALL THE PURSES!  I also made dpn pouches for all my toothpicks dpns.  I machine embroidered the sizes on the cases to make it easier.  I used Amy Butler fabric from fabric.com.  They have some good deals.  AND bought 1 bolt each of interfacing and batting from Overstock.com to make a shitload more purses.  See the obsession taking hold?  This is how I roll with everything- crochet, knitting, spinning, reading.  I have EVERY crochet hook known to man, and most every book.  Same with knitting stuff.  I have fiber up the wazoo for spinning, and a drop spindle that I am too spaz to work.  I have a very good (fro back in it's day) sewing machine, a serger, a pressing ham (really ??), 2 irons... you get it.  And when I find an author I like, I devour everything they've written.  Book, after book, after book.    lol 

       I started a turquoise Huggable Hedgehog for The BF last night, even though I have the Anise and the 3rd Stackable Cat on my needles (and a pillow, and an Emerald Isle Cardigan).  Sigh…………..  The hedgehog seems to be going fairly fast.  My GF that I met in our Rav crafting group gave me the fun fur for his back, because I threw all mine (um. Ok.  Word wants me to change mine to mines.  Do I have the Ebonics version of the program?) out like 3 weeks ago when I moved everything downstairs.  I said to myself- when the fuck are you ever going to use all this crappy novelty yarn?  Hahahaha!  Smart move.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Thinking, not Doing


        I have been thinking about writing every day since my last post, but I haven’t down and actually done it.  I have been busy at work- the bad weather causes havoc in my department, and I just have to hold on for the ride.  It is very stressful sometimes, especially when problems crop up out of the blue and smack you upside the head.  It’s the worst when I’m very busy on Facebook or Ravelry, and I don’t have time for this work crap.  lolol  

        I am still knitting the stackable cats.  And knitting.  And knitting.  Stockinette, anyone?  The first one took what seemed like 2 seconds to knit.  It was very quick.  The 2nd one, not so much.  I was under the impression delusion that I might be able to get them done for Valentine’s Day, but I think I will go back to the original plan, which is finishing them by the beginning of April.  The cats are a surprise for The BF, but he keeps putting his 2 cents in every time he looks at my computer while I’m on Ravelry.  He saw the Huggable Hedgehog pattern, and promptly lost it.  “Awww, they’re so cute!  I neeeeeeeeeeeed one!  I can strap it in my back seat!  Can you make a smaller one to hang from my mirror?”  Sheesh!  He’s worse than The Daughter Figure.  lol  

        And, God help me, I have been sewing again.  I moved my table and machine down to the main floor, along with all my knitting book, yarn, needles, fabric, blah, blah blah.  I brought my grandmother’s really cool foldable dining room table up from the basement.  I can open just one side and it is perfect for laying out and cutting patterns.  Have you heard of a work triangle for your kitchen?  Well, I have one in my craft room.  lol Sewing machine, cutting table, ironing board.  All accessible on a rolling chair.  How lazy cool is that?

        Later today or tomorrow I will post pictures of the bag I made and the dpn cases I whittled out of fabric.  I forgot how much I love to sew, and it is so much nicer to have it all at my fingertips.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Cat Matching and stuff




            The BF’s birthday is at the beginning of April, and I thought he would love a set of Stackable Cats, since he loves his babies so much.  The Daughter Figure and I spent many days comparing cat colors to yarns, and think we came up with the perfect combos for each of the critters.  For the smallest cat – *NOTE* sizing terms are for illustrative purposes only.  Under no circumstances should anyone believe that these cats are small.  lol  Ok, for Honey, we chose Knit Picks City Tweed HW in Orca. 




For the middle cat, Wicket, I am using Knit Picks Shimmer in Spice and KP Merino Style in Fedora.  Since the Shimmer is lace weight, I will hold 2 strands together along with the Merino Style.  This should prove to be endless fun on dpns. 





For the big ,Willow, all 30 pounds of him, I am using KP Telemark in black (duh) and Crystal Palace Mini Solid in Walnut Brown held together. 



            I have been working on a sweater coat for me.  Yeah, me!  lol  The pattern is Anise from Sarah Hatton for Rowan.  I have added a few centimeters to the length because I want to make sure it covers at least half of my ass.  I am almost finished with the back.  I’m not sure if I will make both fronts at the same time.  I am usually ok with doing that, as long as I separate them before I start any decreases.  Not doing that would make my head explode.  I am using Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick-n-Quick in denim because I want to be able to just toss it in the machine.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Really, Insurance Company? Really?

            After almost 3 months of doctors, blood work and more doctors, The BF has a diagnosis.  He was born with a genetic disease called Klinefelter Syndrome.  Nice that it took 46 years for someone to figure this out.  It explains so many things about him, though.  It is a very interesting chromosomal abnormality that is not inherited; it's just a 'shit happens' kind of thing.  Ok, so now we have a diagnosis (which I suspected from the beginning, but who am I)?  lol 
            We have a prescription for a testosterone gel, and a $40.00 per prescription discount card.  All is good, right?  Well, I take everything to the pharmacy, the guy plugs in all the info, and it comes back DENIED.  Ok, I will not hyperventilate in front of the nice pharmacist guy.  He assures me he will fax the necessary info/forms to the doctor, and the doc will hash it out with the insurance company.  I go home, empty handed, and immediately call the doctor’s office.  I’m sure they don’t want to hear from the girlfriend, but I don’t give a shit.  Since it is lunchtime, I leave a message with the insurance woman at the office.  I text The BF and tell him to also call.  I wait a few hours, and call again- this time speaking to the woman at the main desk.  I then call the pharmacy- twice.  Nothing back from the doctor, and the claim is still denied.  A different pharmacist assures me she will re-fax the papers to the doctor.  I am starting to think that choosing women doctors was a mistake.  A male doctor would totally get it, and would have personally called the insurance company.  lol  
            The mission tomorrow, since The BF is off, is to both keep calling the doctor’s office until they beg us to stop.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, because I was, to fill it without insurance is $366.00.  Oy fucking vey!