better back this up....

figured i better back up my claims of greatness....i mean accomplishments since the tv left....so, in a very photoful blog post, here you go!

Here are the makings of a cupcake hat for eisley - i just have to add the frosting :)

Here are some little pieces i have started and some i've finished:

Here are some felt lovelies that i have made:



















Here is a piece of pottery i painted...double espresso cup and saucer with birds on a wire :)













Here are just a few of cupcakes....














Here is the wall with shelves - i think the color reminds me of nacho cheese from a ball park but i like it still.














and finally - here is my first purchase from Emily Martin's The Black Apple esty shop...
(please note the "cupcake peddler" print from my previous post - which now belongs to ME and will soon be added to our "gallery wall")

update....

so i attended my first knitting club meeting last night.... here's a visual reinactment of the first 20 minutes....

i walk in to borders about 10 minutes late - about twenty ladies have pushed several tables together and there is NO room to join them, so i sit in a comfy chair with my back to them - thinking in my head - oh my god i'm so embarrassed!

so, naturally, i text shane:

me: "oh my word there are a million ladies here and they're all at one huge table with no more chairs. what should i do? i am at least twenty years younger than any of them!"

and shane replies oh so comfortingly "OH MY GOD. did they already see you?" (gee thanks honey!)

me: "well i don't know they're all talking and knitting. i should have gotten here at 6.30 on the dot!"

shane: "can you grab a chair from somewhere else?"

me: "well...i'm in a chair right next to them with my back to them. i'm afraid to say anything"

shane (again so helpful): "oh...i don't know? just say hi or something"

shane two minutes later: "just do it!"

me: "i'm such a chicken!"

then thankfully two more women ( Barbara and Nina ) came in late! i asked to join them and they were super nice! i found out that Nina takes dog agility lessons from denise who also taught my dad and rob! so i knitted with them for quite a while then when they left the main table asked me to join them...wow i felt so cool hahahahahaha! they were all really nice and quite impressed that i had designed my own purse pattern with cables and all! it was actually really fun but a little awkward at first - aren't most good things that way though?

you know you have a problem when...

....your knitting addiction has taken over your house even more so than your 10 month old's toys and various neccessities! here's the corner behind where our two (beautiful green) couches meet and the main dumping location for all things yarn related.

but...from this chaos, has come three very beautiful little things :) first a purse for tess, second a cute little green felted box - completely un-useful, and third a beautiful little purse for emily.

also, i will be attending my first meeting of the Knitters Guild of Northern Colorado tonight. i will be the youngest one there by at least 10-15 years. but, i feel that like in most areas of your life it is wise to have older more experienced mentors around for guidance - even if it is about "just how do i exaclty make a bobble?" wish me luck :)

i DO know how to knit! YES!

i am amazing...yes, i know that sounds totally conceited and arrogant! but it's true! ok, fine....when you're done reading this you'll know it's not really true but i am proud of my "stick-to-it-ive-ness." i figured out on my own with out any special knitting classes how to do cables - i did read a little tutorial online from knitting for dummies but that's not saying anything really! there...see i am amazing. ok fine again, i am not as amazing as i sound defeating this terribly scary monster of knitting called the "cable." because, if you read the previous post, i skoffed at the notion that knitting is only knit and purl. well, it turned out to be quite true. cabling is no more that knitting and purling in a different order than normal and letting the piece do it's own thing. sadly very very simple. here was my very first ever cable -gorgeous isn't it? it then became joined with several other panels to make a completely lucious baby blanket for my good friend's newborn - sorry i don't have a pic yet - but i'll do a photo shoot with the little tyke and the gorgeous blankie later. it may not be an heirloom qulatiy piece - but it was my first attempt and i am quite proud of it!



i am so excited that i actually do know how to knit! i have started on loads of other projects now...purses, blankets, a felted something, and maybe i'll try socks. how oppulent do handmade socks sound? you know they're just gonna get worn out but you still knit them...oooooh it just sounds lovely!

knit, purl, knit, purl... yarn over? what the...?

so as some of you know and most you don't, i know how to knit...and crochet and decorate cakes and pin insects inside a bug collection box and make rag wreaths and all sorts of other arts and crafts...all thanks to 4-H - well i think actually my grandmother taught me crochet but that's beside the point. i have dabbled in the yarn arts for well over ten years - in fact i think i joined 4-H when i was 9 or 10 so probably more like 15 years in the world of yarn and yarn accessories. thanks to my friend down the street lana, i joined a 4-H club and learned that i was to use my head for clearer thinking, my heart for greater loyalty, my hands for larger service, and my health....hmmm what was that last H of health for? wait right there...i'm going to do a little google search...ahh yes, still with me? ok my health (duh) for better living...not just for myself, but for my club (my 4-H club), my community, my country and my world. what a great pledge...i should do that pledge every morning i think! anyways, i never did animals at the fair or anything like that. just meetings about creating memory books and lots and lots of knitting instruction. which brings us to my current dilemma. i read a book called the yarn harlot: the secret life of a knitter by stephanie pearl mcphee - hilarious, but really only if you or someone close to you knits. she inspired me to take up a big project - not just a scarf that i could whip out in an hour or two but a real project with no cheating on large gauge needles! i have endeavoured to knit a blanket...a baby blanket - i'm not crazy enough to jump from scarf to queen size blanket straight off, come on how silly do you think i am? don't answer that. i have high hopes for myself, high high high hopes for this blanket - it will be an heirloom passed down for generations, treasured by all who touch it, all who even catch a glimpse of it! ok, really i just have high hopes it will be straight down the sides and maybe have two colors...maybe. knitting is just two basic stitches (or so they tell you) knit and purl. you put the needle in the loop one way and that makes it a knit stitch and if you put the needle in the other way, well then you get a purl stitch. sounds truly easy doesn't it! well you're wrong. well, not totally wrong, if you just want a flat (think boring sweater flat) blanket with no texture it is super duper easy - back and forth - knit one row, purl one row, knit one row, purl one row...on and on and on.... so why i am in a dilemma? well, first off, since it's been a while since i picked up knitting needles (crocheting goes much faster but you use at least twice as much if not three times as much yarn as knitting) so when i looked at the yarn's suggested gauge of 9, i assumed it meant a size 9 needle - or a 5mm needle. however, i was wrong in my assumption and they in fact meant a 9mm needle or a size 13 needle. BIG DIFFERENCE. i got through a skein of yarn and a half and then shane so politely asked me, "is it going to get looser?" i pulled myself back from the beautiful creamy, wool blend (so it's clothes washer safe - hello it's a BABY blanket it has to be washable) and for the frist time in about 5 hours of knitting take a good long look at it...it is so stiff and tight ( thank you teeny tiny needles) that even as a sweater you couldn't move your arms ... hmmmm what to do - i'm not half way yet, i could start over...oh god. or i could somehow add cables or something interesting and make it just for looks on the side of a crib...brilliant, i'll do that! this is the vision i now began to have in mind for the awe-inspiring blanket:

or not...problem two...remember how all those hours and hours of knitting instruction in 4-H 15 years ago only produced in me the ability to do the only two stitches you are supposed to need, knit and purl? i looked at a pattern for cabling - there are crazy things in there like YARN OVERS, DROP STITCH, CABLE NEEDLE... not to mention that a pattern looks like this - can you read it?

1. Work Row 1 (RS): P4, k6, p4.
2. Work Row 2: K4, p6, k4.
3. Work Row 3: P4, k6, p4.

4. Work Row 4: k4, p6, k4.
5. Work Row 5, the turning row: P4, sl 3 sts to cn and hold in front, k3 from LH needle , k3 from cn, p4.

i didn't think so...now i'm going to have to go a specialty yarn shop and look for a class on knitting because apparently i don't know how to knit after all...whimper whimper