Abracadabra, Presto, KAZAM!!

Utter Clutter, Batman!

Around this time last year we redecorated our living room. The Hubster moved his gargantuan television to the wall above our fireplace to help make a feasible floor plan, and I built melamine shelves in the little niche beside the fireplace to house all of the electronic must-haves that attach to the television. We were delighted for the shelves, save for one aspect. Board game storage was below the shelves and, while we always keep it neat it just made everything look cluttered!

Then, around June last year, the retail store The Hubster works for was doing a HUGE drapery reset. This meant that all of the floor samples were being replaced. Rather than throw these samples away the store decided to hold a silent auction on all of them, with the proceeds going to a children's charity. Ummm...all that fabric? Yeah, I drooled a bit (okay, more than a bit, but I have some pride!) and begged The Hubster to bid on my behalf. He did. We won. I was the proud owner of hundreds of drapery samples. The possibilities were infinite! To date these samples have made a panel for an odd, octagonal window in my bathroom, been shared with, and inspired a living room and dining room redo, for my mother and father; and, now, utilized to hide my tidy yet cluttered board game storage area!

This is REALLY about to happen!

The only problem was how to hang it. We bought a dowel rod, but couldn't figure out how to secure it under the shelf properly so that the brackets didn't show and there was no gap between the shelves and the curtain. This past week The Hubster and I were cleaning at my parents house and I was hanging things in a newly reformatted closet in their guest room. I saw the closet bars and had a EUREKA! moment. I asked my father if just the closet bars and brackets were available for purchase, as they were part of a kit. He wasn't sure, and I went about my cleaning with my brain hard at work planning on finding a time to head to the home improvement store and see what I could find. A few minutes later, bless his heart, he came downstairs and presented me with a package of the coveted closet bars and brackets! They were left over, and he had no use for them. Gee, you think I was excited?

The Hubster, hard at work on
his Honey-Do List!

Yesterday was the first day of The Hubster's first vacation of the year. We're heading to Cincinnati tomorrow morning bright and early for our first childless and petless anniversary trip since June of 1999! WOO-HOO!! Just a quick, weekend jaunt to a baseball game (Go, Reds!) and a nice hotel. We'll be back Monday, and are planning on spending the rest of the week getting some things done around the house that have piled up. You know the things I'm talking about...getting the fireplace cleaned up and the damper closed for summer, fixing squeaky doors and leaky faucets, some painting, and the doozy - moving our outdoor building to a lower location and fixing the floor. After we had an unexpected free day this morning, thanks to thunderstorms and a cancelled ballgame for our youngest kiddo, we decided to go ahead and tackle the curtain project. I headed to the sewing machine to cut and hem the drapery sample to the correct length, and The Hubster got busy cutting the metal bars to length and attaching the brackets under the edge of the shelves.

The whole project, from the gathering phase to the finished product, took about an hour. We're both absolutely tickled with the results, and unbelievably enough we did the entire thing without one loss of temper on either side! Now THAT is proof that it was a truly magical project!!

Abracadabra, Presto, KAZAM!!
Utter Clutter, you have been puttered!!!

365 Days of Positivity - Days 7&8

I missed yesterday, but I had a good excuse....HONEST! My excuse is my positive, too. How's that for confusing? You see, my hubby had a mass removed from his foot yesterday, so my day was filled with me playing Madam Pomfrey. The positives of this are:

1. The surgery was text book, with no complications.
2. My hubby is home with me, safe and sound, in very little pain.
3. The doctor told me that the biopsy was just a technicality, and that he feels sure that the mass was NOT malignant.
4. Once he gets through recovery, his foot pain will be gone.

So, there. Does that let me off the hook for being a day late?

Now for today's positive. Today I installed new Roman Shades in my living room windows - hardware and all - BY MYSELF! A sense of accomplishment AND new shades? WIN-WIN!!

Plus, I made a set of Cushy Crutch pads for my hubby's crutches. Just making short trips to and from the bathroom was making his underarm area raw and sore, and putting more weight on his hands to relieve the pressure under his arms was just going to cause another issue, so I grabbed some super bulky yarn and set to work. 45 minutes later - including installation - he was good to go! These babies are my own pattern, and will be going in my Etsy store A.S.A.P.!

So that's it, my positives for the past 2 days. Not bad. Not bad, at all!

NaKnitMo...

It's almost over, and I'm right on target. So far this month I've knit 24,484 stitches. My goal is 30,000. As I've got a seemingly never ending list of Christmas crafting to do this year there should be no problem fitting in the rest of the stitches.

This past week I finished one WIP, and completed two new projects. The WIP was my Dierdre Afghan, that had been hibernating in a closet since January of 2008. It's now finished and waiting to be wrapped up as a gift for my MIL. It's shown folded so that you can see the neat "weaving" on the reverse side.

Saturday I finished up my Cozy Cowl, a new project and a gift for one of my youngest son's Sunday school teachers. It's a gorgeous knit, and I'd really love to have one for myself....I foresee another on the needles one day this winter when I'm snowed in on this mountain!

Yesterday I cast on and knit a beanie for my father, who recently had his long locks chopped off for donation to Locks of Love, hence the project name of Lost Locks Warmer.

Dad usually does this hair donation every other year, but said that his hair drove him so crazy this time that he thinks it was his last time. A bit sad, really, as I'm so used to seeing him with a ponytail at this point.

This morning I hope to cast on a pair of Mobile Mittens, by Maria Moesby, for him...to match the beanie, of course. I need to have them done by Thanksgiving, however, as his birthday falls on Turkey Day, itself, this year and the set will be his gift from me.

Now that I'm done updating on my crafting progress I guess there is nothing more to do but sing off and get back to it! Everyone have a wonderful Monday...and make sure it includes some chocolate!

Another project done!

My second NaKniMo project is finished! I finished up my NYOBE 2008 Lapghan last night.

With the work that I did on my Dierdre Afghan tonight my total stitches for the month are at 12,802. Not bad, but I was really hoping to be past the halfway point by now. I guess I'd better get cracking!

I'm hoping to finish Dierdre tomorrow, and cast on a cowl for my youngest son's Sunday School teacher this week. If the real life monster can be tamed, that is. The pictured lapghan is heading out the door Wednesday for donation to the local Ladies' Auxiliary, who give to local veterans' homes.

Polsterung

I've gone and done it, this time! I've managed to wear my body down to the point that I came down with pneumonia. I've never had it before, and let me tell you it is SO NOT FUN! During my sick time my hubby has been a gem. He's gone in late to work to keep me from taking our youngest to the school bus in the mornings. He's made sure I've had food, drinks, medicines, humidifiers, tissues, blankets, etc., all gathered around me in a little circle of love when he left for work. He's done the grocery shopping. The cleaning. The laundry. The cooking. Cared for our youngest. Waited on me hand and foot. All while he, himself, is in pain.

You see, my hubby is awaiting foot surgery on BOTH feet. He has herniated arches that fat deposits are seeping through, leaving the bottom of his feet looking and feeling like he has marbles under his skin. He has one large nodule on his left foot, but his right foot has 6 or 7 of the nasty little bludgers. The surgery can't be performed, however, until said nodules quit growing. Leaving my darling husband in a constant state of pain. His doctor has given him a strong anti-inflammatory prescription, but there is nothing that will help with the pain. Oh, and did I mention that my hubby is also on his feet for his entire 13 hour shifts at work, often walking over 10 miles during that shift? Yeah, poor guy, huh?

So, I got to thinking this morning about how wonderful he's been to me while I've been down for the count. I wanted to do something for him to try to take care of him, though I knew that I was impaired physically by my illness. Then I remembered the one lonely sock at the bottom of my project bag that I designed for him over a month ago. A thick, cushy, worsted weight pair of socks...ribbed for optimum fit and comfort. In the colors of his choice. As is usual when knitting socks I flew through the construction of the pattern and the first sock, then shoved newer, brighter projects to the front burner. EUREKA! What better way to show him that he's appreciated than by putting HIM first? So around 10:45 this morning I grabbed my supplies and set to work...and around 30 minutes ago I finished weaving in the ends. I may still be down and out, but by golly gee my hubby is going to have soft comfort for his tootsies when he gets home tonight!

Oh...and dear hubby? When you read this, like I know you will...I love you. Thank you for taking care of me, and for showing me (yet again!) that marrying you all those years ago was a very wise decision, indeed.

Hooker Corral

That's what I made today for my new craft room. It's a fairly detailed pattern, surprisingly, but easy enough to crank out in a couple of hours. I'm planning on doing two more - one white, one black - to house my knitting needles and DPNs next. I just have to empty more crochet thread spools first!

Three out of three!

I finished today, and will be sending all three hats off in the post in just a bit when the post office reopens from their lunch break.

I've posted pictures for the recipient, and she's excited...always a good thing when making things for people, huh?

Now to move on to other projects. I have about a zillion pattern ideas running around in my mine...I'm thinking it's just about time to start getting them transferred to a physical environment!

I Love Socks!

I do, I really do. There is just nothing like the feel of warm, woolen, handknit socks. Even better is when you make them for yourself!

I finished my Anastasia socks this morning, and am going to be sporting them while toting mounds of laundry to and fro today.

Be jealous!

F-list <3!

I mentioned in this post about a week ago that I was making some stuff for an f-list giveaway on my LiveJournal account. Today is the day that I posted the giveaway, and that post is f-locked, but I thought I'd post here and show-off, er, I mean share what I made for them!

The core group of my f-list, including myself, are Twilight fans. It went without saying that the giveaway would be Twilight related this time around, what with the DVD coming out on March 21st. So I made a set of Twilight themed dishcloths, and threw in a Jasper bookmark and a little Tribble that I knit out of scrap yarn. There is a red apple, or forbidden fruit, that is the mark of the series as a whole. A white "Two Hearts as One", to symbolize Edward and the heart that he gave her. A turquoise swan for Bella, which is pretty self-explanatory as that is her last name. Lastly, I made a tan "Get A Clue" to represent Jacob, or at least his more beastly side. It wouldn't be a Twilight giveaway without touching on that infamous love triangle!

Well, that pretty much sums up my week in crafting. I'm torn between what to start next, a pair of socks, a hat, or some armwarmers. I'm debating right now, as all will come in handy soon when baseball practice starts for my 9-yo. Our oldest is taking a break from baseball this year, as he has just started his first job, so my time on the field will be cut a bit, but I'll still need some warm woolies until Spring finds its groove!

My Op Top!

I finished my Op Top hat. It was a great pattern, and only took me 3 days to complete - and that's with very little knitting time. If you're wanting to ease into Fair Isle knitting I would highly recommend this pattern to you.

Anyway, enough chatter, check out my hat!



Next on the list is a little surprise for my LJ flist, at least for the Twilight lovers on it. If you're interested in being the one to score the goods you have to be the first to comment to the finished item post (which will be a friends only post), so head on over to http://jennbrad52.livejournal.com/ and friend me before I finish the project. You probably have until the end of the week, then I'll be done with the project and making the post.

What's this? A non-weight related post!

I've been working on Monkeys this week. Socks that is, from this pattern that was featured on knitty.com. I used Sock Love yarn - spun & dyed by my dear friend the Craftborg. Alright, that takes care of all of the credits, I think... so onto the socks!

I am lovin' these babies - they are snuggly, soft, warm and absolutely made of WIN!







I've now cast on the Op Hat, a pattern I got on Ravelry. I'm using Knit Picks Swish DK in Hollyberry and Maple Leaf, and a set of US/5 16" Knit Picks Harmony circulars.

I'm not overly thrilled with the yarn at this point. On my monitor the Maple Leaf looked to be a lovely orange that would offset the Hollyberry. In reality? It is red. Very red. Cherry red. It doesn't look bad, in fact it's very interesting. I just had my heart set on orange and burgundy...