I'm Too Crafty for my Pants

My grandma (dad's mom) was a crafty lady. That is, she knew how to knit, crochet, quilt, sew, and the like. She also gardened and played the organ, but neither of those really count as "being crafty." She tried to teach me how to crochet when I was a kid, but it didn't take. That first row of crocheting into the chain is brutal for me now, and as a 10-year-old?

Yoyo and the Yarn-Eating Monster

I finished my Yoyo doll!

It's not exactly the right color but that's all I had on hand.

Camille helped me crochet Yoyo. And by "helped" I mean "chewed on yarn until it was all soggy."

She was so exhausted from gnawing on yarn that she passed out, which gave me some time to actually finish the doll. She was playing with it when I had yet to attach the ears, and now that it has ears, I wonder what she'll think of it.

Hoops and Yoyo: A Crochet Challenge

I got a birthday card from my dear friend Marjory, and it featured two adorable little creatures I had never before seen.

Hoops and Yoyo

Wednesday Gripe

Uhh I posted this on Thursday and then edited the Labels today, and now it's showing as being a Friday post. Blogger is being weird.

Camille is teething.

I hate teething.

Teething makes her cry, and it makes me want to cry. I get no sleep at night, and she begins the day by screaming and crying.

Yesterday, she cried for four hours, broken by maybe five minutes here and there when I would give her a new toy or teether in hopes that the new item would make her happy. And it would... for five minutes. Then she would throw whatever it was on the ground and continue wailing.

She finally fell asleep after four hours of crying. Did I mention that I'm sick once again? So I'm feeling generally crappy with a headache and sore throat and upset stomach, and my apartment turned off the water from 9am to 5pm, so I didn't have any running water all day.

On the upside, feeling cruddy kept me inside, and I got some crocheting done! I made an Ugly Bunny, but in my humble opinion, he's so ugly, he's cute!

This one was made for a friend, so I'm working on another one for Camille. It's purple and rather than being an Ugly Bunny, it's going to be an Ugly Mars Monster.

Englebert 2.0

I finished my Ugly Mars Monster, and dubbed him Englebert.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

I went shopping yesterday. I probably don't have to tell you that retail therapy is the best way to de-stress (except maybe a deep-tissue massage on the beach somewhere fabulous), and yesterday I de-stressed a lot.

I went to Ikea for some shelving stuff (which is technically shopping), but the big wonderful purchase occurred at Target.

Jogging stroller!

I purchased the BabyTrend Expedition jogging stroller. The link is to Amazon.com, but I bought it at Target for the same price. The only upside to ordering it from Amazon would have been that I wouldn't have had to drag it inside from my car. The box is huge and ungainly!

It was a total breeze to put together, and I took it for its first road test this morning. It was awesome. If you don't care about bells and whistles and want a jogging stroller for a great price, this one is it. Two thumbs up!

I wanted to road test it yesterday when I first put it together, but I really didn't have the time. So last night, I set my alarm with the intention to get up early, strap Camille in, and go for a nice walk/jog. I was woken up an hour before my alarm (Camille decided that an early-morning party was in order), but I got up and got ready for strollering.

Then I checked the weather.

30 degrees.

Shit! That's cold!

You said it, adorable kitteh.

Now normally, I'd be a weenie and say it's too cold to go outside, and I'd promptly turn on Netflix study for my physio test. But today, I was hellbent on taking the stroller for its maiden voyage, so I put Camille in, wrapped her with blankets, and off we went!

My goal today was to find a geocache that's nearby. I read about it whenever I look up caches, but I just never got around to it. Well, it happens to be right along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which is a bike/walking path that is nice and smooth and wide. Perfect for a stroll!

The cache is called the Suicide Rock Book Exchange, and is a large weatherproof box full of paperback books (and one hardcover Book of Mormon). Since I'm a genius and I know everything, I didn't consult my GPS as I struck out on the trail. I thought, "Suicide Rock, eh? I know just where that is!" and off I went. Well, the cache isn't all the way down to Suicide Rock, so I went aaaaaaalllllllll the way there for nothing.

OK, not for nothing. I did get some nice pictures. :)

Don't worry: none of these pictures shows where the cache is. In fact, none of them are even near it!

Suicide Rock

The path down to Suicide Rock.

View of the valley from the trail.

The trail is very nice and scenic. I walked it almost every day when I was pregnant.

I found a coin in the cache. It's not a GeoCoin; it's called a PathTag. I looked it up and logged it, and I guess PathTags are different from GeoCoins in that you don't have to place the PathTag in another cache. You can keep it forever if you want! Well, I'm not sure if I want to keep it. It's cool and all, but I feel like I should keep it going. So hopefully I remember it the next time I go caching.

I just had a great idea. I'm going to crochet a geocaching bag. I will keep swag in it. Yesssssssss.

Camille's Springtime Flower Hat

I don't think I'm done with it yet. I want to add another flower, I just don't know where to put it. Yet!

Camille's Valentine's Hat

OK, so it isn't exactly Valentine's-themed. But it's red! And that's all that matters, right?

Right?

There is also a matching diaper cover with a tail on it. But I made it too small for her badunka dunk.

What the Superbowl is Good For

Huhhhh haaaaa absolutely nothing!

Cloche Means Bell

I went to Michael's the other day to get safety eyes for a stuffed animal I made. I got distracted in the yarn section, though, and I forgot to get safety eyes. I did get some yarn, ribbon, and an afghan hook/needle.

As an aside, an afghan needle kind of looks like a combination between a knitting needle and a crochet hook (or just a really really long crochet hook), and has inspired me to create a new term for this type of craft: krochitting.

Anyway, I made another Mongolian Gnome hat.

And with the leftover yarn, I made a cloche.

I didn't finish it, which is why there's a green string hanging under the bow. I had to take a picture fast, before my model got cranky and threw up (hey it's just like being a professional photographer!).

To Etsy or Not to Etsy?

OK, I've finally had three separate people who have no acquaintance with each other suggest to me that I sell my knitted/crocheted goods. So I opened an Etsy shop. There's nothing up yet! I was kind of just giving it a try to see what it's like. I'm going to create a few basic items before I put anything up so it's not just, "Hey, this is the hat I made. Singular. I hope you like it."

I also made a new blog (yeah yeah I know, I have like 29 blogs). It will be linked as soon as I'm done making it pretty.

The Mongolian Gnome

I made a hat.

I call it the "Mongolian Gnome Hat." I'll let you guess why.

Hooking for the Holidays

It's not what you think!

Or maybe it is...

No. Wrong kind of hooking.

Correct kind of hooking.

(By the way, doing a Google image search of "Christmas hookers" will not land you the type of pictures you'd think it would. Neither does "Christmas prostitutes." That one I don't suggest searching if you have a weak stomach, or if you DO have a weak stomach, turn on your filter.)

Crochet! I'm addicted. I know what you're thinking: "Crochet? My grandma crochets. That's an old lady thing to do."

Betty White = old lady
Betty White = freaking metal
therefore
old ladies = freaking metal

Granted, old ladies do excel at crochet. My own grandmother was a crochet ninja. She tried to teach me how to crochet when I was like 10 or something, but I was too impatient. Crocheting into the chain sucks enough for me as an adult, but as a kid it was nigh impossible.

Though it's an old lady thing to do, crocheting (and also knitting, which I also do) is awesome. I made some stuff, of which I am super proud of. Behold:

If you said, "That stuff is sweet!" then high-five! It is pretty sweet. And I made it all.

If you said, "Lame," then fuck you!

If you said, "That's it?" then also fuck you! I crocheted up all that stuff in a little over two weeks, because I'm a maniac. Also because I'm unemployed and we got rid of cable but mostly because I'm a maniac!