Oh geez...Her Crazy-Ass Did It Again!

Okay, I think I've been pretty good at the spending. Well, I was. Until I went to the yarn store last week. And then I did just buy a fancy CrackBerry...Okay, who am I kidding? I spend a lot of money sometimes! But I think I've been better lately because there is so many things I want that I tell myself I don't need, so I call that PROGRESS!

But last night, I went and checked out some embroidery patterns that people have been warning me about. And I fell in love, and I couldn't help myself. And I bought a whole bunch. Then there was a deal at the market and I picked up nine flour sack dishcloths for close to nothing! So...I hope this embroidery thing pans out, because I have yet to start anything, but now have a bunch of supplies AND patterns!

And last night I made yummy fish tacos and had my sister-in-law over, and we talked about yarn- among other more normal things...So I must be going crazy, because I've never found it cool to talk about yarn, even at my knitting best. But I was able to give away a little yarn, so I can make room for my sweater-to-be yarn I plan on buying soon. Further proof that I have the best yarn-supporting hubby ever! He encourages me to buy it and tells people that I make cool things! Best hubby ever I'm tellin' ya'.

A pic of the ends of the "straps" that hang down the hat. They're little pitchforks! So cute! All that is left are the horns. I have to wait for my sister to try the hat on so I can get proper placement of the horns. Everytime I've attempted to get her to wear the hat she has been bugging me for TWO YEARS to make, she tells me, "No, my hair's up and I don't want to mess it up."
D-I-V-A! Pain-in-the-ass diva! I'm about to tell the ungrateful bitch to shove it!

Devil Hat

I've been working on the hat for my pain-in-the-ass sis. She went into heavy detail about wanting "ear muffs" on the sides and long "straps" hanging down. She's lucky it is set like that in the pattern, otherwise I'd tell her to kiss my ass.

I'm actually digging the way it's turning out. I may have to make one for myself now too. It's pretty simple, and the yarn I'm using is so cheap. It's a win/ win.

~The Good Life~

Sometimes I think I have the most awesomest (yes, I know that isn't a REAL word) hubby ever. Yesterday he worked his butt off all day working hanging drywall for extra cash, then decided to take the night off his regular job so he could go on a bike ride and hang out with the fam. I dropped off the pink and yellow dishtowel to it's new owner, and chilled for a little. I know it'll be in good hands. Then I got to go home and knit until dinner was ready. Oh wait, I failed to mention that Rick cooked everything! And it smelled so good while it was cooking! And tasted yummy! Yes, my Rick. The guy never cooks! He cooked, watched the baby, cleaned up the mess (wiped down the sink, stove-and even gave the baby a bath and put him to sleep!!!!) Wow. I was IMPRESSED. Needless to say, he got some.

I finished the back of my tube top, wove in a bunch of ends and it's now sitting in a pile while I ponder whether or not to block it (press it) before I sew the two pieces together. Hmmm....


Then I started (and almost finished), a hat that will have devil horns on it when I'm done with it. My sister's b-day is in August and I promised her this hat a few years ago. While she saw me working on it, she didn't even remember wanting it. So immediately I wanted to choke her, since last week while I was knitting up my tube top she was bitching for me to make her this hat.

WTF, does she have dementia or something? I mean, I know it runs in the family, but she isn't even 22 yet!



I've been totally salivating over this sweater. I know it'll be a bit of a challenge too. I showed it to Rick and he actually thought it looked cool. Usually he isn't into knitting, but after the tube top he seems to have changed his mind about it. I think I'll buy myself the yarn once I finish seaming the top, and finish my sister's hat. I may need something to keep me motivated.

And to prove that I really do have the best hubby ever, he's letting me buy my red Blackberry that I wanted since around New Years'. Yes, I've wanted it for that long and held back. My sister-in-law just got it, and I whined about it to Rick and last night he told me to order it before he changed his mind. Yay!!!!! Oh, how he spoils me...

And proof that even if I clean my house like crazy everyday, I live with a toddler keen on destruction. Look, he wouldn't even turn around when he knew I was taking his picture!

Still Me

I'm sure that some of you guys are a little thrown off by my more recent posts. Yes, I knit. Weird, huh?

I started blogging when I was pregnant and not working anymore and had nothing better to do other than knit and show off all the baby sweaters I still have yet to complete. Since then, this has been more a blog about bitching and life. Isn't that what blogs are supposed to be about anyway? So, you may see a little knitting here and there...but you will still see the dresses, the cool shit I buy, my adorable little kid, and hear me bitch about Rick.

Why? Because I love to do it, and apparently that's my nitch in this blogoshpere.

*Oh, and the anchor top will be done tonight!*

Friends Don't Let Friends Loose In Yarn Stores...

How it is that when I get a last minute invite to Jo-Ann's, I end up spending more than the other two women who had planned on going? I seriously only went to get a transfer pen. Then ended up with a pen AND a pencil. And some glue to set it. Then some wannabe Addi Turbos. Then I saw some yarn I'd been eyeing for a year. Then I needed to buy yarn for a beanie with devil horns on it for my sister's b-day. And then a Twix bar because I was hungry. Uh. This always happens to me. That makes a total of ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS this week. And yes, I'm broke, and apparently going need to pull this money out of whothefuckknows. I bought 5 skeins of yarn and a bunch of gadgets. ??????? I spent more than the other girls! My sister-in-law is a total yarn junkie and I swore she would be spending far more than me. I think I barely exceeded her in spending by a dollar...but still!



So, in more, "Knitting drives me crazy" news, making the tube top longer seemed to be a bad idea. It's almost done and looking way too long. It was just hard to tell until this point. The intarsia threw me off, that's my only excuse. So, at this point I'll finish this half then decide whether to pull it and do it properly/ or burn it with a torch in the back yard while on a crazy manic knitting gone bad episode. Hmmm...tough call.

Update: I finished the front piece, and am very proud of myself for actually completing the intarsia. And if I do say so myself, I really like the way the anchor turned out! It kicks ass! And I put it up next to me, and it's only a little longer. If I had gone and read the directions and knit 12 rows of striping instead of 15, I think it would've been the perfect length, but I think it will barely be noticeable to anyone other than myself.


I'm not looking forward to weaving in all those ends. I've been working on it for a while already, so there isn't much left to do. Im almost there.

Now I get to start ton the back piece!

Progress

Intarsia is a mother f-in bitch! Everything I have every started that had it, I have put down and has been hibernating for years. Waste of time, waste of money, waste of space in my closet. But I was determined to figure it out this time. Every time I liked the way it was coming, I would realize that I fucked up the chart and had to start all the way at the beginning of the anchor. Fuck! But last night I got to where it actually looked like an anchor, so I was willing to put it down and get some sleep.

The pattern is from Knit1 Magazine. Here's the pattern. I got idea from The Domesticated Dame when I saw hers on Ravelry, so I will give her due credit for it. Hers looks awesome, by the way.

I hope to be finished with this by the end of the weekend, but since I get bored wit projects easily, it may never get finished :(

Also, I plan on embroidering some dishcloths, and Craftyminx's knitting pin up, and I really love Stellina's Man's Ruin. My hubby actually wants to get that tattooed on him, so it seemed extra cool. But I'm starting off small, and admiring everybody else's work. And I probably will b asking for a lot of advice. So thanks!

Just Call Me Ruby...(RedRuca) Stewart

Man, today's been a doozie? Is that how you spell it? I worked this morning from 3AM-8AM. The kid kept me up until midnight, and I was so scared that I'd sleep through my alarm- that I couldn't sleep. By the time I went to bed around 9AM, I had been up for 24 hours!!!!!! WTF, right? Usually when I work that shift, Rick takes Seamus for the day and I let myself sleep until noon. I woke up at 3:30 that afternoon! I forced myself to get up, drank tons of coffee, and then went to a doctor's appointment at 4. Then I went to Michael's and bought some yarn for a tube top I'm going to knit. Did I mention it has an anchor on it? And black and white stripes? Anyone who knows me, that equals love in my department. My best friend got me a bag for my b-day that has anchors and sparrows all over it. Yes, I love it. Since it's a little too over sized for me, I use it as a diaper bag for now. I also bought a few embroidery things. But no one there could help me figure out how I was supposed to transfer an image onto the cloth I plan to embroider on. So I went and looked at the tutorial by Craftyminx, and realized that I'm supposed to trace it with a transfer pencil. Cool. I guess I'm a little slow, but I'll admit that I'm pretty fucking clueless in this department. It's new somewhat uncharted territory for me. My Nana showed me how to embroider when I was in forth grade, but the image had already been on the cloth. So I bought tons of embroidery floss in all the colors I liked and thought I'd use, a ring frame thingy, and some needles that I hope are big enough to loop the floss through. I spent $40, which is a lot less than I expected, but I still have to buy the dishcloths, some fabric and the transfer fabric. So we'll see what the grand total really turns out to be!

And when I got home, I noticed three packages. And I'm a girl that loves to see packages! (Wait, that sounds kind of like something Samantha from SATC said.) Well they were mail packages. One was a frame that I had ordered a longtime ago to put a picture from my bachelorette party in, another was some fine china display holders, and the other was a little one from this sweetie. It looks like handspun(?) yarn and a little note with it. How sweet is that? It's fucking awesome and so cool that someone wanted to do that for me. So thanks Michele! And your name is spelled with one "L" just like my mom's! All this stuff has made my f-in day. And now, this Ruca's on a cleaning/ organizing binge again. And I will probably stay up way past my bedtime knitting my tube top. Look, here's how much I've done so far.





And then I wiped all the dust out of the built-in hutch and set up my fancy china on the display thingies. I think it looks so perfect and organized that people will be so mesmerized by them, that they won't notice that the floor is sprinkled with dog hair and the clutter on my desk or dining room table.

.Perfection.

Last week a little packaged was shoved into my mailbox. I could see the mailman struggling, and I knew it had to be it. And it was!!! Yay!!!


I opened it as fast as my greedy little hands could move.Yes, the lovely Betsey Booms, did her thing and made the most fabulous (yes, I know I write for dramatic flare, not for proper grammar), apron I ever did see. Yes, it is absolutely perfect. In fact, it is PERFECTION at it's best! And that is the highest compliment my cold black heart can give. I love the fabric, it looks like my kitchen. It looks like my floor. There's a fancy mixer in red (damn, maybe I should've gone with red instead of yellow!). The stove. The curtains. Ahhhh, I love it so much! I could pontificate for hours over the perfection of this apron. In fact, I wore it all day long. It looked great.







I wish the pictures had turned out better. I had envisioned them different, but Rick's been working day and night, and the pictures I took were with 10-sec delay. The first is the fancy Nikon and the others are my shitty little Canon. I feel bad that they aren't better, and I promise I will come through with some AMAZING ones in the next week. I just didn't want to put off this post anymore, and I just wanted to go on and on about how bad ass this fucking apron is. Do you see the Dolly Parton boobage? Do you see the amazing fabric? And trust me when I say that this is A+ craftsmanship and quality. Go buy one! Seriously, Betsey if fucking amazing!!!!!! She has already told me about one with sushi rolls on it and I'm already going crazy. Go buy an apron goddammit! They're cute, sexy and make me want to bake and clean, or at least hold a feather duster.


And I've heard aabout many other fabrics that I feel my kitchen needs. So keep churning them out baby, and I'll be saving my pennies to buy them!