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  September Hatathon 2026 is here!!

Stockholm - 23

• Lolivieri - 4

• MinnieMay9 - 6

• knitsamazing - 13?

  I went to go in as a team member, but it was a few days in so I wasn't sure if I was going to make it.  Lolivieri and I were in a small group for a while before knitsamazing wanted to join.  I never saw how many knitsamazing wanted to make, but they had mentioned a half marathon at one point.

  I didn't even keep track of how many items I put in here.  When I first got into makeup, I didn't realize how long it took to get through products.  The little pots of eyeshadow didn't look like they were going to take three years to get through, so I over bought things I liked.  I didn't include things that could have already gone bad, that were open. or not sealed in any way.  I'm doubting if there is a chance that I will be able to work through what I saved, so I know I would never be able to work through everything I had.  I hope they like it.  I'm also going to get some makeup brush sets to go with this.

  I thought these sets were so sweet.  When we received them Miss Spud had almost already grown out of them.  I didn't want to open them take the things out just to have her not be able to wear them more than once.  I'm going to send them down to Wise, VA so someone, or a few other people, can really enjoy them.

  The night we got back from the cabin I was working on a hat and saw Tank running around Bill's chair out of the corner of my eye.  I also saw a small blur running around.  I went over and saw that Tank was chasing a mouse.  After they moved on from going around Bill's chair, they were by the overturned ottoman.  I got Bill to hold Tank while I got the green mouse trap.  We couldn't see it, but Tank was pawing at the plastic carpet runner.  It was in one of the folds.  I emptied the plastic bin that was right there and Bill dumped the mouse into the bin after I put the trap in.  It tried to jump out, but the bin was slick and tall enough so it couldn't get out.  I put the lid on so that Tank wouldn't be able to get back in while we waited until morning to take the mouse out.

  When I went to check on Peanut Puff 9the mouse) the next morning, they had gotten their tail stuck in the trap door and weren't able to eat the whole peanut butter puff I left in the green trap.  I freed their tail and took them on a trip to a new home.  I had a doctor's appointment to go to, so they had to wait until I was done.

Yearly Yarn Tracker:

Yarn In: 22 (0)
Yarn Out: 43 (0)

Total: -21

What happened?

  I bet you noticed that this year came to an end differently than previous years.  There were no posts about me frantically trying to finish as many things as I could to get them in before the end.  The End Of The Year recap was even late getting posted!  So let me tell you what all happened.

  First of all, I got sick.  Not sure what it was.  It could have been the flu, food poisoning, a stomach bug, or someone sneezed too close to me.  Either way, I was totally out of commission for a bit.  I rung in the new year with Saltines and Green Apple Gatorade.

  Not too long after I started to feel better we got a set of bookcases from my friend.  She has since moved out of the state and her mother isn't allowing her to throw them out.  Since I had not touched the living room at all, we had to do some re-organizing to get them in.

  I also fell really far behind in work.  I had scheduled my days out to get as much done as I could.  Sleeping all day puts a damper on that.  I've still not caught up all the way, but some changes we have implemented will make doing that be a lot easier. 

  If nothing else, I have found a home for all of these.  I tried selling them, but no one was really interested.  I hadn't thought they would be, but it didn't hurt to try.  54 back issues of popular comics isn't really something people are looking for.

  Second Story told me they would take them, but not until after Jan 4th.  Today is the 6th, so I think it will be fine.  They also won't go straight there.  I'm giving them to Andrea (the one who takes the pictures) since she makes more trips than I do.  It makes more sense that if she is already going that she take them.  Gives me more time to see if I remember how to knit.

  I know it hasn't really been long enough for me to forget, it just feels like it.  I even finished another hat on December 25th that never got a mention.  It was going to be the first on my post about getting things done last minute.  Hopefully I can get a good picture of it before I hand it off and forget to.

  Along with getting shelves to organize some of the things we have, Bill has been trying to be more active in getting rid of some of the stuff we have gathered that we don't really need.  As much fun as it is to have 100 Amazon Prime boxes laying around, most are too small for Tank to enjoy.  While trying to figure out what to do with them, besides break them down and put them in the recycle bin, we found Give Back Box.  It is such a cool idea!
  So many people have Amazon boxes laying around and I'm sure there are people with items they would like to donate, but don't have a center that is easy to get to.  This solves both problems.

I'm a Critter Now!

  Starting on the Thursday before last I had found myself with a scratchy throat.  It then progressed to a full sore throat that lasted through Friday and Saturday.  I felt pretty good on Tuesday but then I got a bit worse on Wednesday.  Bill had sent me a link to an episode of Critical Roll on Geek and Sundry.  It wasn't the first episode, but it was a more light hearted one that didn't give away too much of the story-line.  It was hilarious and about flying cows and I was hooked.
  I had already been a fan of Geek and Sundry and have watched a bunch of Felicia Day's Flogs and Table Top with Wil Wheaton, but hadn't watching much beyond those two.  I'm not sure how they got invited on, but Critical Roll is a show where a bunch of voice actors play D&D.  They had been playing about a year or so together before they came to Geek and Sundry.
  When they are streaming on Twitch they donate any money that is sent in to 826 LA and they encourage people to check out if there is an 826 chapter near them.  In only a few episodes they have gotten to the point where they only have time to read the names of people who have donated over $20 because they were getting so many.  They have even had some other people representing other charities stop by everyon once in a while and have given the donations from that night to the other charity.  Most of cast has also has a list of charities they personally support.  They are such nice people, I want to be friends with all of them.
  They are all also very good at what they do.  Matt Mercer is an amazing story teller; you give him a crumb and he will not only tell you about the cake but the kitchen it was baked in and maybe a bit about what kind of day it was.  Everyone one else is so funny and good at improve.  They also get very into it and love their characters so much.  Back before they started playing on the stream they had a death of one of their party members.  Everyone was crying about it and did everything they could to bring her back.  Some people might think that is silly since they are just numbers on a piece of paper and images in their minds.  I think it is awesome because it helps everyone involved get more into it and makes it so much better now that they are sharing it with the world.  Their playlist can be found here, and their Geek and Sundry page can be found here.

  Now that I've gotten that wall of text of me fan-girling (and not so secretly wishing I could be friends with all of them) on to what I got done while watching them run around while causing trouble and fixing problems.

  I finished that hat you saw pictured in the post from a few weeks ago.  There was another thing I changed before that I hadn't noted.  On the second one I made I had decided that I liked the heart lace better without the very top row of lace.  Of course I realised this when starting my last heart of the hat.

  While I had achieved the effect that I had been hoping for with the first try, but you know I like trying new things.  I wanted to see if I could still get the flowing and branching off effect if I didn't use the ribbing and used stockinette instead.

  While it is a cool texture it doesn't look as much like flowing water as when I first did it.  Both are good looking, but I think I like my first attempt better.

  I really like this Aura yarn by Austermann.  I was worried that it was going to be a bit hard to work with because of how smooth and slippery it seemed to be in the ball.  Bits of it was also slipping off before I even started working with it.
  I wasn't very bad at all.  I used metal needles and didn't have any more worries about stitches jumping off the needle than I have had with most other yarns.
  This is a Scallop Lace Hat.  I wasn't sure what all I could make with what I had left and I remembered making this once before and that I liked it.  I didn't know how it was going to turn out because the yarn was a different thickness, but I think it turned out pretty well.

  Since it went so well before, I decided to give it another try.  I know I said that I was going to give the rest of this yarn back to the donation pile, but I was still feeling yucky and didn't want to move around too much to rummage through yarn to find something.  This was sitting near me on the couch.
  I didn't run into any more problems with it, so it seems that the yarn itself might be fine and all the problems I had run into before might have just been the fault of how the yarn had been stored before I got it.  It must have had a hard life.

  I finally remembered to soak and block this.  This was the crochet version of the Neck Warmers I had been knitting like crazy.

  I think it looks pretty cool.  The main body of the neck warmer is done in extended single crochets and the leaves are in single crochets.  I had planned on having the whole thing in singles, but it was taking a long time to get anything done and it was becoming a bit stiff.

  I was feeling better, which was good because I had run out of yarn within easy arm's reach and had to venture forth to find more.  While I had that green and leafy project swatched out I didn't think I was ready for it yet.  Since I was on a hat roll I found something that I thought would make a cute hat.
  I cast on and started knitting.  I figured I would try the second version of my Wish Braid hat I had in mind.  I got a few cables up and saw that I wasn't going to have enough yarn to finish.  I then took it out and re-cast on with one less repeat.  There should be pictures before too long at the rate I'm going.

Forgotten Yarn

   I know I started this blog so I would have a place to show off the things I made and donated to charity.  I did post once, some crafty items that I didn't make, but donated.  I'm wondering if I should list any of the items that I didn't make and aren't craft related that I donate.
  Above is a picture of some tops I got for free a while ago.  I was going through Craig's List and saw someone giving away a big bag of shirts.  I saw a few I liked and got the bag.  I have since pulled out the two tops I liked and these have just been sitting around.  I did a second go-through to see if my style has changed enough that I might like any more of them.  Nope, still feel like I would never wear them.
  I had them listed on LetGo for a while and no one has even expressed some passing interest.  I wondered how long I should let them sit, since I've contacted people about items that were listed for over a month.  I decided the other day to list them for sale on Craig's List.  The listing is good for seven days.  If they don't sell in that time they will be getting donated.  I have a pair of boots that I will be doing similar to.
  Now, after all that, back to what I was wondering.  Would it be okay to post those things on here?  I am donating them, but I didn't make them.  I also know that this is my blog and I've gone off into left field many times on here before.

  I was walking through my kitchen and saw a large plastic bag.  When I peaked inside I saw some poor yarn that had been forgotten.  This bag was supposed to also come with me to K&CC.
  I asked Bill if he was shocked that I was getting rid of yarn.  His first answer was that since I said I was going to do it, that he wasn't shocked that I actually did it.  I then clarified that I wanted to know if he was shocked when I said I was going to do it.  He said he was.  Nice to know I can still keep him on his toes.

I started something.

  I got all the knitting done on the secret project, I just need to get it blocked and find some buttons for it.  I've also finished either 2 out of 3 repeats or 2 out of 4 repeats on a cowl I'm making using the strawberry lace stitch pattern from the shrug I made.

  My mom found a "new" place for us to eat.  We got out of the 'monsoon' and into a cute cafe.  The funny thing is that I had eaten at that place before, but not exactly.  Over a year ago someone told me they remembered a bead shop being in a shopping center not far from my house.  Well, I drove and walked around the small strip mall for over an hr before giving up on it.

  Since I was there so long I went and ate at a little cafe that was off to one side in the shopping center.  It was really good and the owner was super nice.  He pushed the table closer to the couch when I was having problems doing it on my own.  I went back later since I remembered all the good things about that place but it wasn't there anymore.  I didn't remember the name, only the place where it was.

  Turns out they didn't close, they moved.  Now they are a lot more noticeable and their menu is even a lot bigger.  I'm so glad Fresh & Organic Cafe didn't go out of business.

  As my mom and I were leaving she was complaining that there was so much rain and no rainbows.  She got one, well, a nubbin of a rainbow.  It is to the left in the larger part of the light area in the picture.

  Here is something I am really excited for though.  I finally got an e-mail back about the make-up bags.  I have a very positive go-ahead.  Since I have gotten that I have started a GoFundMe for the bags.  While I would love to ask for some donations, I would just love some shares to get the word out.