His eyes are a bit hard to see, but I think I like the version on the far right the most. I've actually figured out how to put a bead around the post of a double crochet without there being any yarn on the outside of the bead. I'll work on making a picture tutorial at some point so I don't forget how I did it.
Here is one with the same eye style in a color of bead that is much easier to see. I think I'm going to stick with this style for the ones I do with beads as eyes. I will probably use the old technique when I use buttons as eyes. I had Bill pick up a few cards of buttons because I didn't like how the beads were looking at that point.
I bought these little friends from Cary's Cuttlefish back when you could preorder some of the ones with mistakes. The green one's butt-stamp got a bit messed up and my rainbow one looks so angry! I love them both and being able to get random ones let the universe decide instead of me trying to get onto the website for a launch and missing out.
I think Vox Machina was my favorite campaign played by the Critical Role cast so far because this group felt more like the D&D groups I've been in. Who knows why or how this band of hooligans work together, but they do. I feel like the Mighty Nein fit too well together as a group from the beginning. The third campaign is giving a more VM feel so far.
Bill and I got to see the first two episodes before the general public because we backed the project on Kickstarter and I love it so much so far. I'm glad that I watched it with Bill, even though timing meant that I had to get up for the 6:30am showing. The speakers also didn't want to work right, so while we watched it on the big TV in the basement, the sounds were coming out of the laptop.
It was interesting that there was no Tiberius, but that won't stop me from really enjoying the show. I am aware of what all happened with them and don't blame them for their choices. This makes me really want to buy the comics to get to see what all happened before they started streaming their sessions.
It took a bit of moving things around, but we got The Chosen One to fit into the refrigerator. I sent this to everyone who was coming to the big event to get everyone excited.
Bill smoked the turkey this year. This photo is curtesy of Shane because I was still getting Ryan when it came out of the oven. It does most of the cooking in the smoker and is finished in the oven.
Bill smoked the turkey (as seen above), and also made cranberry sauce, gravy, and yeast rolls. J-Dub made the mashed potatoes. Shane brought some King's Hawaiian Rolls and made two kinds of stuffing. I joked that I brought Ryan. We all ate way too much and had to sit around before we had the apple pie and/or pumpkin pie that Shane also brought.
Once we were a bit more out of our food comas, J-Dub went home and the rest of us played Just Dance until we were too tired. We even got Bill to play a few songs. After that we watched random YouTube videos until it was time for people to either go home or find a place at our house to crash for the night.
It was a lot of fun and I was worried about finding space for everyone, but we would have been fine. A few people ended up not being able to make it, but I think we would have been able to fit them in.
Tank was a bit weirded out by so many people being over, but he was being okay for it. There was some pacing, but he didn't try and jump on the table or anything. He got grumpy when we were playing Just Dance, but he does that when I play it alone. I don't know why he is so against dancing.
I then got to spend my Black Friday the way I like to, eating cold turkey dipped in ketchup and not dealing with people in stores.
I don't remember if I posted about the time I ran over my laptop bag with my work laptop in it. But I got the screen fixed and everything was fine. After a few months I go to sit down to get some work done and it won't power on. I thought I had forgotten to plug it in, so I checked that. The brick's light came on, but nothing on the computer. I ordered another one in case that was the problem and it didn't work. Luckily I'm pretty good at backing up everything.
I didn't mention that when I got my order of business cards for work, I also got some Toyota car parts. The bottom of the box looked like it had opened and was taped back up. VistaPrint had no idea about it, so I contacted FedEx. I got a few numbers to call and eventually got to talk to someone who could help me out. She said to put them back in a box and that they would pick it up, do some research, and see if they can figure out who the car parts were supposed to go to. I got a call the day after they picked them up by a very confused guy. Seems they didn't let anyone know what was happening. He was confused and thought he was supposed to send them back to VistaPrint. I told him that I was told that his end would do some research and see who might have filled a claim for a missing shipment of a Toyota Front Left & Right Outer Tie Rod Ends, since VistaPrint didn't add them. He agreed that that would make sense and thanked me for helping to clear his confusion.
We were able to meet inside at the Church, so Carola decided to come. She's been a busy little bee while we were apart. They are all so cute and it's really fun to look at all the little details. They make me want to make more huggable things.
The test hat grows. One thing I wasn't anticipating was the fact that when knitting this style of brioche in the round you will have two knit-below stitches next to each other every other row. For the most part that was leaving a bar of yarn across the gap. I wasn't a fan of this and so I tried to see if adding a plain row between the brioche rows would fix the problem.
Here is the quick swatch I did using the yarn farther down from the hat. Yes, the hat is pushed down these needles, I just don't want to take it all out to find out I don't like this version either. While it is a fun stitch, it doesn't have the same look as the one on the top. Another note to make is that I'm knitting the hat inside out, so the top picture just shows the inside.
I have figured out a fix though, an odd number of stitches. That way I just keep repeating the two pattern stitches and it automatically offsets itself and no bar. I have a plan to decrease one right before I start the ribbing without interrupting the pattern too much.
The stitch pattern shows up the way I would like, but it is a bit hard to see it unless you are looking at it closely. I'm wondering if that is because I'm working with cotton yarn, so I might end-up making another hat like this anyway. It might also work itself out once I block it. Cotton does have a tendency to grow.
As you can see from the picture, I'm left with almost a full wrap around after my sewn bind off. This could be for a few reasons. It could be that I just allocated too much and have extra. It could also be that since you have to pull all of the yarn through each step that between binding off the first time, taking it out, and binding off again I was just stretching the yarn more and more. I don't feel like taking it out again, so this is how it is going to stay. The yarn was already starting to get a bit fuzzy and frayed looking.
I was looking through older posts and I thought I had mentioned it on here, but I somehow forgot! It is also a pretty funny story. I was watching random TikToks when a video showing someone making a granny square sweater popped up. I watched the other parts of Topknot's Trunk video series on it and on the last one they mentioned that they were looking for someone to help them write a pattern for the sweater. I decided to comment that I've written patterns before, even though I didn't think anything would come from it. They commented back for me to email them and after sending a few examples they hired me!
It was a bit tricky for me because I usually write knitting patterns, but they seemed to like what I did. If you like the look of it, you can buy you own copy of the pattern on their website under Crochet Pattern - Make Your Own Granny Square Sweater.
I told you that I would be back with a lot of pictures. Kathy H D Kingsbury is at it again. I like how she makes a lot of sets. I put all of these into a box to get dropped off with our connection to Casa Ruby. I tried to group pictures together as best as I could for each matching set. Everything is crocheted and I still have not heard if she has a Ravelry page or not.
I have some stuff that I have also finished, but I thought this post should just be about Kathy's lovely things. I have a whole blog about what I've made, so a post or two doesn't need to be about me. I've also used her items to test out a basket Bill found in our garage as a photography background.
There is also a bit of a story time. Back in college Bill and I would go to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show and yell things at a screen. We knew people on the live cast and always had the best time. Once we graduated we found a group here and went a few times but then stopped for a reason I don't really remember.
Fast forward about 10 years and we have started going again. We again know someone who is part of the live cast. It's been fun to go, but something felt different.
This last Saturday night/Sunday morning there was a cast reunion. It was for very sad reasons, but I'm glad it happened. It helped them with the sad event, and there was even something special before the show. It was also a really good show, more like what I remember seeing when we first went. There were some things being yelled that we hadn't heard for years. (Denton, Denton, ra-ra-ra) It was really interesting during some parts because a few different things were being yelled at once.
I think I'm also glad we stopped and hadn't kept going because I think we would have seen the cast shifting and changing. I feel that this way we can appreciate both casts separately as their own entities.
Some people make me feel like a slacker! First I saw someone knit themselves a pair of leggings (Cathy), and now we have someone else knitting wedding dress. It isn't totally done, she still needs to add the edging on the shoulders. That means it has been finished before you even are reading about it.
My co-worker, Beth, has a friend who likes crocheting. Kathy H D Kingsbury made all those bags, hats, and the mitten and hat/scarf set. She wings a lot of the patterns but also follows a few. I asked Beth if she has a Ravelry page, so we could look at all of her other things, but as of right now, she doesn't have one.
I have a bag of hats and squares that I believe we got from Alison. I put off taking pictures for way too long and don't totally remember any more. Carola will make some really cool monsters out of the squares.
I've finished this hat recently. That's all I can say is really totally finished. I finished knitting the sweater, but it still needs the two buttons picked out and sewn on. I also have a couch crochet scarf that I keep working on, but haven't finished yet. I'm really close though.
I even started another hat this last Saturday. It has been so long since I worked on the blanket that I forgot that I had to throw another skein of yarn in, so I only got one more row done before I had a short tail dangling off my project. My knitting bag looks quite full because I have a bunch of yarn I want to use next in it. I usually forget this and pick something else, but this time I was forced to use some of it. I also seem to have a color theme going on between the peach blanket and the coral/flamingo hat.
I need to get busy!
Krissy, the one who did my banner, mentioned that she wanted to go to Eastern Market. I told her about how fun it is the last time I went and donated some of my fabric. Since I had another bag to go through and we decided to do a Girl's Weekend, I thought it was the perfect time. This is what came out of the last mystery bag and I took to Jamie, though I almost forgot it in various places three times.
After getting some Bloody Marys and breakfast foods for lunch, we bought some brownies and headed home. Later, while I got her hooked on Critical Role, we ordered our favorite things from the local Thai restaurant. It's funny how no two places have the exact same things.
This house was pretty impressive. Every tree was coated in lights, every edge on the house had a bright line, and there were faux deer and giant ornaments in the back yard. I also love the sign right out front. My phone isn't the best at taking pictures in the dark, so you might not be able to read it. It tells people to text LIFE to 50333 to donate $10 to St. Jude. Many other people stopped to take a look as well, so I like how they we getting that donation suggestion out.
So many colorful hats! One for each of her grandchildren and a few of them have the brim and top colors based on what they like. The one in the far back only needed the top and that cords added to be finished. She brought them all in so we could all take a look before she mailed them off.
It is so impressive that she started these back in the beginning of October. With as many color changes, and so many ends to weave in, I can say that I am blown away. All the hats have the stripe pattern and the fleur de lis, which are both in the book knit hats! edited by Gwen Steege. She also had a bunch of grid paper tucked into the pages because she made up a bunch of her own to make them more interesting.
It has taken me so long to publish this post that almost a whole week has gone by (coming up on tomorrow) and I even finished that hat made from all the leftovers. The picture isn't the best, but Panera's lighting isn't made for photography. It was a pretty fun hat. It is a small feather and fan and after I finished it I wondered if I should have made a brioche rib with it. Too late now.
Time to go back to the Hearts and Waves hats!
Our little Wednesday group is filled with some awesome people. I know every group has some awesome people, but I'm going to brag about a few we have at Santini's on Wednesday nights.
She is a dive coach and makes one for each of her divers and the swim team got so jealous that the coach now buys them from her for the swim team.
She plans each one out on graph paper before making them out of yarn. It also isn't like each one is the same with a different name, each one has a different image on it as well. She had some pictures of previous ones she had made and they are all super impressive.
Not to brag too much, but The Fiberists have joined our ranks. They are fun to be around and make yarn into some really pretty colorways. You can also buy roving they have dyed if you like to spin your own yarn. They sometimes have a booth at some yarn events, but they do not have a permanent store currently.
A few of the people I follow on various forms of social media have various forms of passive money. It usually has to do with something they did once; a logo, or ebook that then sells off of a website. I have had a bit of that with the two pay knitting patterns I have up on Ravelry. I know I had plans on putting up more at this point, but I keep getting distracted.
I do have the yarn I need for it, so once I finish the Better Together shawl, a commission knit, a little leafy dress, and the Impulse Scallop Shall, then I should have time for it. It also gives me a bit more time to decide if I want to make it into a half or full circle shawl.
Bill has taken a bunch of really nice pictures while we were on vacation and I thought it would be really cool for him to do something with them. I know a lot of cosplayers sell prints online and that is how they get most of their money. I know that Bill would rather be seeing the sights than stuck in a cubicle, so I thought this might be a neat idea. Do both for a while and if the photos become popular enough, switch over to that. Don't know if he will try it out or not.
Two of my neighbors have put their houses up for sale recently. One sold really quickly (the one I saw before we left for Scotland) and the other has been listed for a few weeks, but has had no real bites yet. At first I was a bit bummed because of the picture above. I didn't know that Gail crocheted and of course I learn about it as they are leaving.
When I talked to her I got some good news. They aren't in a huge hurry to get their house sold. This means that I got to tell her about Wednesday knit-night and tell her that I also crochet. She was really interested in it and might come out some Wednesday and hang out.
I also got to learn more about what she makes. She got tired of just crocheting afghans for people and they got tired of receiving them. She then started making bears for Mother Bear Project. The bears can be either knitted or crocheted. I told her I would keep an eye out for some bear colors at the Free Yarn Event that was in the plans for later in the day.
One of my friends told me about this and we decided to check it out. My mom was worried that if we got there too late that all the yarn would be gone. I was less worried about that even though it wasn't mentioned anywhere how much yarn or what kinds there would be.
The picture above is about how it looked when we got there. This doesn't show any of the yarn taken by people who got there before us and it doesn't show the many bins of yarn that were brought out while we were browsing. There was a ton of Homespun. I have a love/hate relationship with that stuff. I love the way it feels, but the twisted texture isn't very friendly to work with if you hold the yarn in a tight manner. There were also a bunch of fluffy bulky yarns and some Red Heart Super Saver. It seems the yarn was in bags which had to be generally sorted and put into the bins, that is why it was taking a bit for them to get it all out.
The pervious owner of the yarn had gone to stores when they were closing or going out of business and buying all their yarn. The amount of yarn that has gone unused may look impressive, but it turned out that she has made over 300 prayer shawls for her local Prayer Shawl Ministry. That is super impressive and also explained why most of the yarns she had were nice and soft.
Later in the day they posted on the Event page that all the yarn has found new homes. It was really hard for me to not grab all of the bulky yarn since there were so many fun colors and it is so nice to work with. I did grab a few colors and hope to figure out what to do with them soon. I'm glad Ravelry has the search features that it does. Put in the yarn, how much I have, and also have the option to put in what kind of item I might have in mind. So nice!
Yesterday was kind of lame for a few reasons. We were working on taxes and didn't have all the info we needed, so we needed to file for an extension. Well, the program kept trying to get us not to, but Bill finally got it to work. We also tacked the drip that was happening from the master bedroom shower.
Bill cut down the ceiling and then had me take video as he ran the water. Though I don't think he necessarily had fun cutting it down, I don't think he hated it.
We had Tank take a look at it. He wasn't sure how to fix it, so we will have to check more sources.
However, today was different for me. I had a whole list of things that I wanted to try and get done and I was hoping I could before I was supposed to meet up with someone. The first thing on my list was to get some certified mail that Bill missed signing for. It was really funny because when I handed the lady the slip she said "Who's handwriting is this?" and then tsked at it. I heard some yelling from the back and then she brought it out. Turns out our carrier didn't put it with the other envelopes.
I then headed to the auto-supply shop to get new wipers. Mine were worn out last year when I got my car checked and I promised the guy I would get new blades. I kept forgetting and since it has been a year, I needed to get my car looked at again. The guy at the store looked them up for me and we got me some new blades. I had to get two brands because they didn't have two of the same kind. I was worried it was going to be hard to fix, but they were super easy to change. You push on a little button and the old blade slides off. The first blade just had an adapter that I had to pop off before it fit. The second one had an adapter on it that I had to take off and then put the one that worked for me on. Also pretty easy. I felt super accomplished.
I had downloaded some Netflix movies onto my phone so I would have something to do while I waited my turn to get my car inspected. I drove up and I was first in line!! So I only had time to take that picture and then the guy was walking over to take my car to the bay.
I had finished everything I was hoping to get done before 2pm before 11:30am!! This meant that I had time to get some other stuff done.
We have been without a working air filter for a while now. The one that was in there had fallen over. Today I decided to try and slide it out of the way and put a new one in. That didn't work because there wasn't enough room. I then got a flashlight and some tongs and dragged it out. It took a lot of pulling, but I win the battle. You can see it is properly gross. New one is in (hopefully in the correct direction) and hopefully we will have nicer air in the house.
Look who is done and dry and getting some screen time! My shrug is finally done! It is in the bag to take to knitting on Sat to get donated.
Here is my my first hat done! I can't believe how fun it looks. Everyone who saw me knitting it was super impressed. I even had to give some demos how I was doing it, especially since I wasn't going to the very end of each color, but I stopped two stitches before so I could keep the tension on each color and not worry about putting it too tightly at any point.
Since I was doing the tension trick I was worried that the top was going to get messed up. I was worried that there was going to be mostly one color and only one stitch of the other colors. Seems I was being silly because it turned out perfectly.
I thought that this was going to happen on the first hat, but you can see where I ran out of the blue yarn. That one kept getting over spun as I worked with it, so I wasn't too bummed. I was also planning for it, so I liked that it did happen. You can also see that is is possible to pull the new color a bit too tightly as you go if you don't pay enough attention.
I was thinking that I was going to have enough yarn to make one hat. Well, I made two hats and even had some left over. I made these from a crochet bow pattern I found on Pinterest. I think I will give these to Carola to add to monsters.
On Sat we had someone new join us. She usually works at Nature's Yarn on Saturdays, but they didn't need her that day so she decided to come to Wegmans and have lunch and knit. She didn't even know we were going to be there! She was making those crochet octopus critters for Cancer Kickin' Critters. She knows the people who run it and everything.
