I feel like I've gotten a lot done, though most of it needs to remain hidden for just a while longer. There are several projects that are still fair game:

First, all of my craft "stuff" was organized and relocated. Initially, I was pretty defensive about my stash, but I realize, only now, that it really had gotten out of hand. It only looked mildly offensive, creeping out of the office corner, silently displacing art pencils and drawing books, but when I finally donned the organization armor, well, I had several moments of complete defeat.



I now have all of my "stuff," labelled and organized under the bed. Of course, if I buy any more yarn at this point, we're going to have to move. (By the way, this picture only represents a fraction--both sides of the bed are filled with my utilitarian clear (and clearly marked) containers.) (No one has noticed my laundry basket hiding under the desk containing all the stuff I am slowly repopulating the office with)

Within the last two weeks, I have also become self-taught in the arts of reversible fabric headbands.



We were selling something identical at work and I realized I could make them myself--much more cheaply than buying them at work, even with the discount.

A great way to hide my motley, unkempt hair!

I have some works on the needles, but not quite ready to share. Some are for the mum, and well, you know, I'd like to keep it a surprise. I'll post once I've sent those

Spring!

No knitting to show for this weekend, however I have spent it wisely pursuing other interests. It was such a lovely day today---J, L and I grabbed some Chinese food, took Q with us, and went for a walk. We ended up in one of my favorite places--a small, outside theater that's owned (presumably) by the nearby elementary school. It's right off the bike path, but nestled far enough back that you might just walk by unaware. Q loves it back there. He can run around, play and not have to be humiliated by walking on a six foot rope connected to a human. I love it back there because it's quiet and a good place just to go and clear your head. I don't know why J loves it, but it's some place where we've actually both, separately, thought about getting married. Anyhow, we enjoyed a delicious tofu lunch and J and L played some frisbee while I laid around and enjoyed one of the first real spring-like days.

We came home and I ran up the road to get some bird food. I had two feeders out back, both full of suet. Last year, I had wild bird seed that attracted a wider range of birds. I came back with my arms full!

Here's a look at my new bird feeder (shhh! it wasn't on the list). I moved the smaller, metal feeder that was hanging here to closer to the door, since I wasn't sure how long it would take for birds to get used to the newer feeder. Not thirty minutes after I hung it, I had my first diner.




I also planted all my seeds today. I have been really, really, lazy about getting this done, but here are all 100 of them in their new homes. This will be the first year I start herbs from seed. I bought all my tomato plants last year at the farmer's market and had so many tomatoes, I gave a lot away. I think I'll plan to get my tomatoes from the market again--besides, there's a lot more variety there than I can get anywhere here, and they were very inexpensive.

I expect that if I have good luck with all of these, I'll be sharing as well. I planted basil, cilantro, tarragon, dill, fennel (my new favorite veggie, ever!), and parsley. I also had a packet of oregano seeds, but they got lost under my bag and, well, by the time they were found, I had run out of room. I have plenty of everything left, though, so if anyone is looking for seeds, let me know and they are yours.





I also noticed that my chives from last year have already started to come back, and Q took a keen interest in the rosemary plant, surviving now for three years. (About a year ago, he got into some rosemary bread that had been sitting on the counter... needless to say, it was a horrible experience. I lost the vomit count at 19.)

Spoiler Alert!

Where have I been, my dear readers (er, reader, aka, hi mom)? Well, despite appearances, I have been a very busy bee. I am amidst my first Craftster swap--a knitted dishcloth swap... simple enough to not stress me out and get me off on a good foot.

My partner has already sent and so I've was very busy this weekend trying to finish everything up to get put in the mail tomorrow. Surprisingly, I actually got everything I wanted finished!

Here are the two required dishcloths I'm sending. The first is a two-color pattern that, although I didn't like the picture on the website, I do like how this turned out. It's much more fun in person. I'm a terrible photographer. I don't have the patience. You'll just have to trust me on both.



This second was from a set of geometric dishcloths I really admired. I think I may make a whole set for the house and this was a great, encouraging, start. Pretty easy pattern to follow.



The added benefit of this pattern is that it mirrored the design in the matching dishtowel I knitted. Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I had used a different cotton yarn. Though it turned out really pretty (again, this picture leaves a TON to be desired but, I've already warned you), I think it would have been nicer a little thicker. With this picture, you can only sort of make out how great the button is--I got a set of these polymer clay buttons from etsy.com awhile ago and I've been eager to use them.



I also knit this cloth and threw it in for good measure. I REALLY like this pattern, though the cloth itself is a bit small (mine was about 6 1/2 inches square). I've been toying with the idea of knitting a bunch of these and combining them into something a little along these lines



Lastly, I knit these I-wish-I-had-these-as-a-kid slippers. They're puppy slippers! I've already got one request to make another pair, too!

Oh, the weather has been amazing, my weekend was wonderful and we saw a double rainbow today, but my, how stressful stress can be!

My mom & grandfather visited us on Sunday. It was wonderful to see them both. I cooked a giant vegetarian feast and was so stuffed for the rest of the day that I could hardly move.

Monday, with a flurry of crafting not seen yet, I learned about the joys of ironing (it can actually be fun!), I worked on my hat some more (will it ever be finished?), and started (and FINISHED!!!) a pair of wool slippers.

Tuesday was a terrible day. I spent my lunch hour undergoing some intensive "yarn therapy." I am hiding the reciept from J and spent the rest of the afternoon in the office at work trying to resist the urge to pull the yarn out "one more time" to play with. Oh, I've got yarn for almost every occassion, and even some I have absolutely NO idea what to do with.

I wanted to post pictures of the slippers and also these very, very cute coasters. The battery is dead (why does this keep happening?!) and the charger is downstairs. One would think that something would motivate me to either 1) take the battery out of the camera, take it downstairs and charge the battery, or 2) bring the charger upstairs to charge the battery here, however, these two ideas can be further from the truth. I hate making trips of any kind for only A reason. Give me at least two and I'll think on it.

Q has been quite a curious pup of late. He carried one of my slippers upstairs, devoured the plastic bottle containing the cat's medicine and has been quite moody.

I think I'll take a bath and try to soak some of this out. Pictures soon!

A LOT of Nothing!

This weekend, though productive mentally, has lacked in show. I have started a lace hat pattern. A lot of firsts with this one--working in the round, some new increase/decrease stitches, first lace pattern. It's been a great & rewarding (and yes, hair-pulling) adventure. Although it's faaaaaar from as wonderful as I want it to be, I realized that maybe I should finish the pattern from start to finish all the way through. I don't want to get to the end of the pattern and realize that I have no idea what I'm doing.

I also made my first cat toy. The cat wasn't too happy about sniffing the catnip through the bag, but once it was in felt fish form, it was too irresistable! The dog even wanted to join in (but we know he's a big bully).



I have lots that I still want to try to finish up this weekend, but it's half over and I'm not making much progress. The house is a mess. My attempts to sew have take n my coveted free time from washing the sheets.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

This was my first attempt to do any strand knitting. It was so insanely easy that a) I think maybe I missed something and did it entirely wrong, or b) I should not have waited so long to do it.

Not only did it go much better than I anticipated, the entire project was a fast knit--I started this late last night and had it finished up before the afternoon. It was also a very mindless patern... that is, until I started imagining what my dog would like like wearing the scarf, and I started stitching with the wrong yarn.. But, tell me, could you stay focused?



I am going to try a more complicated pattern later tonight. We'll see how that goes before I get overly excited...

To Every Craft, A Purpose!

Before I show you my new project, remember I began sewing with my machine when I made those potholders... was it two weeks ago?

I present to you: my knitting case!



And here's more:




Of course, I have no pattern to use so I flew by the seat of my pants, which is a dangerous thing to do when you know as little as I do about these sorts of things. I think it turned out well.. I'm excited to use it! Next time, there are a couple of things I think I would do differently, but I am really proud of my Sunday morning project.