Updating

I haven't been able to post anything in so long but at least I have a good excuse, (I have been keeping up with peoples blogs though :)) Just been busy and yet had nothing to really post about. My scarf is still in the works, I would post a picture but I can't seem to capture the purple in it at all and that is bugging me because the purple and the black go wonderfully together. Just got back from the honor's retreat, it was great and extremely tiring, but I got to meet a lot of the honor's freshmen and made a few friends so it was completely worth the little sleep I got.

At my college we have a sort of secret underground group, where we talk freely about certain topics like religion and politics. We are selective about who attends because as I am sure you know certain people can't talk about those topics without getting defensive or preachy.

Anyways we invited a few freshmen and went to the dock to talk and it was nice. But because of it we all stayed up way past bedtime, and though I am not sure what time we went back to the cabins, it had to be around 4:00 am or something and we had to wake up at 7:15, so needless to say we were sleepy sleepy sleepy. It was completely worth it though and I would do it again.

I am about to swing by my house to see if I can find a decent canvas to play on, and get some brushes to. Since I am taking an art class I was able to attend the Liquitex demonstration. So I scored a few freebies :D. I had already bought a mixing set, and then they gave me two mediums, One is a White Opaque Flakes texture gel, and the other is a Gloss Super Heavy Gel, plus I got the primary colors in Heavy Body Paint, so I am ready to try it out.

Here is a side note, in class the other day my logic professor made a reference to Doctor Who, it was pretty great.

Exhausting Hot day.

I am finally moved into my dorm and I went to bed extra early last night. Midnight is super early for me anyways. I woke up at 7:30 and got ready even before my alarm went off so I am super surprised about that. I was energetic and everything it was great. I should have ate something for then a pudding snack because by lunch I was starving off the charts and just lagging behind. But I ate a delicious lunch and then got my books and tracked down the person in charge of the retreat. I was afraid that I was going to bug him or something because I already email him, and the honor's director about going on the retreat but it seemed I wasn't getting a response. So I found him and asked him about it and he said I was in. Which is great because the honor's retreat is awesome. I went last year as a freshman and it is pretty much what made us such a tight knit class. I want to make sure that this year's Honor's freshman have a blast too.

I love my room and it is just great to be able to wake up get dressed and then get back in bed to do some early morning crocheting. I am still working on my shawl but it is a slow process. Books was way to expensive 300 dollars is just to much to pay for only 3 classes. I still need to get my 2-d design books.

I also love that labs don't start until next week so tomorrow I can sleep until noon. Hopefully I wont but it is nice to have that option open.

"Woot!" I just love college.

YAAAAAAARN!

Finally my yarn arrived in the mail. It isn't as soft as I dreamed it would be but I might have set my standards to unattainable. Since I was expecting a soft dreamy cloud like texture lol. It is fairly soft and it does feel warm, probably since it was out in the hot mail box but what ever. It also has a really nice sheen in the yarn. It actually sort of reminds me of lion brand yarn, because I have a grey yarn from there that has a really pretty shine in it. I just hope that it will be enough yarn because the four skeins look tiny but I followed the instructions and I have the required yards and grams. So maybe it will work?

I wish yarn would roll itself into a ball because its a very time consuming task. I hate starting yarn balls. My hands slip and slide around and it take forever to get it to a decent size so I can actually get a good hold on it.



I was in a drawing mood last night so I fiddled around on MS Paint a little. This was the result. I added the background on photoshop from some pictures that I took awhile ago.

I am pleased on how it turned out. I probably could have messed with it longer and got it looking smoother but I think it would have detracted from it.


(A little bit about my previous post. Autumnleaves I completely agree with you on all your points. There are girls like that and in my senior year I knew tons of girls that flirted and teased just about everyone. There were also a few girls with crushes on teachers and it is my understanding that was the case here.

When I first found out about the situation I thought that he might have told the girl that there couldn't be anything and she got mad and made an accusation. However I don't think that was the case since he has confessed of his actions. Though I do not know the full details of what occurred between them. Innocent until proven guilty is a mind frame difficult to hold when the person has admitted some wrong doing.)

Getting Serious (Rant)

(I wrote this a few days ago after checking up on a case in my town that has been developing over lewd behavior between a teacher and a student, but couldn't decide if I wanted to post it or not. Finally I decided to go ahead and post it because I felt it should be posted. Why? I don't really know but feel free to skip this post if you want to, it makes for a serious read and doesn't contain any pleasant reading material.)





It is amazing how many people swarm out of the wood work when something bad happens. At the high school where I graduated from a teacher is convicted of lewd conduct with a student, and now there are swarms of people telling how they always thought he was a good for nothing, and how my school is a terrible school. Shut the freak up, if you had known before hand, why didn't you voice concerns? Thats right because you had no clue, just like everyone else.

And my school isn't a crappy school, we are a small school, we have a small budget, and no school is perfect. Plus I have always found that schools are what you make them. Sure there are extraneous circumstances but if you think your school is a terrible place, AND SO BORING. Change it. Don't just whine about it.
And don't attack his family. They didn't make him do what he did, and you can be sure that they are shocked and hurt.

This whole story makes me just sick. I thought I knew him. He was my class sponser and I hung out with him at Six Flags. I was in his leadership class, and he helped give us the best homecoming dance ever. He got me to be more active in my school, and my community. I thought he was an awesome guy. I respected and trusted him. I guess that is why I feel sick and betrayed. I feel like I am being over dramatic or something about it, because he didn't do anything bad to me. But I feel like he stole something from me. My faith that good people are really what they seem, and not just trying to get close to children or something.

That faith probably should already have been gone, but it was my school. It was never supposed to happen there. Bad things like this happen to other places. We were only supposed to worry about getting sucked up in a tornado and pathetic school fights.

And another thing that makes me mad is that he did have some good ideas. We had a poverty awareness where we raised can foods and slept in boxes at the school. It was a wonderful event and I would like to think that it helped people but now it is marred because his name is associated with it. He could have done a lot of good in this world but he had to go and ruin it with a stupid, stupid, disgusting decision.

Yawn!

I was nice and shared my bed with Serenity last night, she slept just fine until around 6 o clock then she had to go outside and use the restroom. That is the one thing I don't like about sharing my bed with any of our pets is they have to use the restroom around 6. For such a big dog she shared the bed pretty good and a lot better then my cat Rintie. In Rintie's eyes the only place to sleep is right on top of me usually on my arm, neck or face. I love cuddling up with her but I don't like actually going to sleep just because I don't want her laying on me.

I woke up early then I have been to go and get ready for the up coming semester. All in All I had a pretty successful day. I got a new ID, decal, and got an application for student employment. I also went to the dentist for a teeth cleaning and got my car washed. My car is now clean and happy (which is sadly pretty rare) My teeth are smooth but my gums are sort of sore from the flossing. I have never been fond of dentists. I don't like the smells, or the grit from the tooth paste they use. I am afraid of drills and giant needles. The only thing I do like is laughing gas, but getting that also involves drills so it is not worth it.

Before I washed my car I decided to swing by a convenience store and pick up something to drink, so I could drink it while I was going through the wash. So I get out of the car and since I am just running into the store for a second I decide I don't need to bring my keys. This would be fine but I guess I am a habitual car locker and I locked my car, through down my keys and shut the door. Only to realize what I had done when I got back to it and it was locked. Luckily for me my papa is a good sport and he went into town to unlock it for me with very few jokes on my behalf.

My yarn still hasn't been shipped and I am getting restless. I really don't have anything to crochet until it comes in, though I guess I could start on another hat with my bamboospun yarn. I really don't want to make anything with my acrylic yarn because since I have worked with cotton and bamboo I don't like the feel and looks of it. I am so excited for my new yarn to come in because it will be the first time I have worked with wool and it is Merino which I hear is so soft and warm.

I got a notification about the Phat Fiber boxes date and I am debating on trying to buying one. I like surprises and it could be interesting but it is just samples and I could buy other yarn with the money. So I don't really know if I will or not. Decisions decisions. Maybe I will just get lucky and win one. Yeah right but a girl can dream. Speaking of dreams I actually had a dream about yarn and fiber! That is probably a sign of clinical obsession. Aren't I in trouble. :D

Sorry about the terrible long blog of rambling. I am a pretty good writer just not when it comes to blogs. Though I think at the very least I am doing a pretty good job of keeping things updated. I have started blogs before only to make a post or two and then forget about them. I just wish Blogger had a notification system set up about recieved comments. If they do then I haven't found it yet.

New Yarn is In the Mail

Those two colors are on their way to my house and going to be worked in to a beautiful scarf/wrap that can be found Here! It is adorable and I am so excited to start on it.

The yarn is a sock weight that only cost $4.29 dollars and is 50 grams/ 218 yards which is a lot more then what I was finding for the price so I am pretty happy about it. It has pretty good reviews and the only problem listed was splitting but I think I can work past that. Valley Yarns Huntington is the brand name and I found it on Yarn.com.

I finished my Papa's Riding Hat. I am going to make me one too because I really liked the way it fit while I was making it for him. I used a new stitch that my friend Livie showed me. It is called the Reverse Stitch and I was a little leery of it at first but it was pretty easy and made a wonderful finishing look.

Milestone

I have finally accomplished a skill that I always envied. Being able to crochet with out looking. This isn't saying that I work fast. I am considerably slower but its a start. I think its amazing how the fingers can memorize a motion, and do it with very little thought. Ah the wonders of the human body.

Papa's Riding hat is working up wonderfully. Which is surprising because I am fairly sure that I goofed a lot on the original pattern. I like it so much I think i will make me one. :D I am at the trial and error part because I am trying to make ear flaps for him. But I think I am just turning it into a helmet looking thing. If it ends up looking funny I will just have to frog part of it and try a different approach.

I can't sew

The stitching that I used to hem my bag and make a pocket for the string fell out so I just wove it in. I don't know if it is just my sewing skills or if the needle was wrong, but oh well the new way works.

I finally frogged that pitiful scarf into a jumbo two-skein yarn ball and I am working on my papa's hat. I am using this really soft bamboo spun yarn, I just hope that it is warm too. I am working a pattern from memory because I can't find where it is wrote down, so I hope it turns out okay.

Family reunion was today. I had a lot of fun at it like always. My brother and me teamed up against My mom and her brother. (Well he is actually her cousin but they grew up together so its like they are siblings. Either way he is my uncle. lol) Anyways we kicked their booties, it was great. I managed to get myself an ace in the hole twice and when out twice. Thanks you Uncle Homer for teaching me how to count those bones. I stayed up late like normal last night but I woke up early which is way out of the ordinary. Maybe I can get my sleeping schedule fixed tonight, because I am SLEEPY!

Next saturday is move in day at the college so I will be back in to the halls. So excited, this year is going to rock!

Hope everyone had a wonderful day, and I think I will be going to be soon.

Pictures of Tisket Tasket Bag

Electricity has stopped acting up at least for now. So I can post pictures! They are not very good pictures, it looks a lot better then it does in these photos. The flash did something weird with it.

Bag laid out long ways with handle as a shoulder bag.




This shows the button I attached on the bottom so it could also function as a backpack.



And here it is being held up as a backpack.


Winter and Spring are probably my favorite seasons. But really I love them all, I just don't like the heat of the summer, but I love swimming. Its getting so hot here that swimming isn't very fun either because the water is hot. Gross.

I am thinking about trying to write out the pattern for the bag. Just to see if I can remember it.

Finished for real

I finished my bag and I am SO proud of it. It works as an over the shoulder type of bag, or if you don't want that it can be a cute drawstring backpack. The pictures don't really capture it well, but I could just be biased. ;)

I gave up on the thistle fiber, it was brittle and just difficult to work with. However my papa said that he would buy me some fiber but I think I will wait on that. I don't know how much college is going to cost this semester.

I have a lot of projects I need to work on, just which one to do first. The funny thing is most of them are hats. I love making hats though, they quick, cute and useful. I will probably work on my papa's hat first. It will be the quickest and I don't need to go and get more yarn for it. Plus fall is just around the corner and I want him to have a warm hat. I might take apart the scarf I made for the yarn for it. The scarf was a waste of good yarn. Bamboo spun fiber, it was surprisingly soft. Or at least to this newbie, I think it will make a very nice hat.

Something is seriously wrong with our electricity and it keeps on cutting on and off.

So i can't post up pictures right now.

I will do that tomorrow if the problem is fixed.

Finished... Sorta

So I basically have the bag finish. It at least funtions as a drawstring bag. But I want to add a handle on it, but I think I will put that off for now. I am getting aggravated at it and my brain hurts from trying to figure out how to sew in the drawstring.

I have really realized just how difficult designing items for crochet and knitting is, and this bag was simple, I can't imagine more difficult projects.

But at least I got a nifty little project bag. That is what I am planning on using it for though I might use it for other stuff too.

And here it is my not completly finished but at least funitional bag. I call it "Tisket Tasket Bag"






You can even wear it as a Hat! (though I wouldn't recommend it.)

So Close

Well my once hat turned bag is almost done. I am so excited; I love how the colors are turning out. I got to use all of my favorite stitches (which are the double crochet and the front post crochet if you are wondering) and I sort of learned a new one. I wanted horizontal ribbing but didn't want to go get my book. So I just did what I thought would work and it turned out good. (at least in my opinion).

One of my favorite things about crocheting, or well any craft really is watching a project come to life. At first you just have this ball of yarn and a general plan of what you want it to be, but as you work with it, it changes. This bag was first going to be a hat, but as I was crocheting it just sort of told me it wanted to be a bag. Now I am not saying that I speak with yarn or anything of the sort. I may be taking a leap here but I think most people who paint, draw, write, knit, crochet ect.., know what I am talking about. You will sit down to do something and then all of a sudden by some whim that you can't explain, it turns into something else.

Anyways Picture Time!

This photo show the general shape and relief stitches better. Though the colors are sort of wonky.



And this one shows the colors almost perfectly.


Hopefully I will get finished pictures up soon. And hopefully I can finish this with the yarn I have so I wont have to scour the town for another ball of the yarn.