I'm ok

I know...I've disappeared from the world of blogging!  I get on each and every week day and read what you all have to say on my lunch break but there are never enough hours in the day for me to save pictures, post and be witty along with work, commuting (at least an hour and a half daily....) and getting ready for Christmas!

Since we travel for the holidays, I have to be packed and ready to go the night of the 22nd as we will be driving up to WNY on the morning of the 23rd....so yes you're doing that math correctly, I only have tonight and tomorrow night to finish everything up then Wednesday night to pack!  Things would be much easier if my job didn't get in the way and things weren't non-stop year end craziness here in the world of HR.

Yesterday prior to wrapping all Christmas gifts, I took 10 min and got a picture of each gift with my actual camera (vs. my phone) and plan to make a quick slide show of all that was crocheted, sewn and crafted this holiday season!

Until then, this quick message that I am alive and still love all things crafty will have to do.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!  I hope to get on before 2010 comes to an end, but no guarantees, things are always 5x busier with the family than I think they will be.

Lots of plans for amazing things crafty in 2011 so stay turned oh! and Happy New Year :-)

WIP it Wednesday

"WIP it, WIP it good!"

Very good indeed, I'm  making some much needed progress on Christmas presents!

My first 2 pictures to share are not so much a "work in progress" as they are a "DONE DONE DONE" project!

What feels like 100 years later it's finally DONE!  This is a Christmas present for Grannie, it's a lapghan (haven't actually measured it other than laying it across my own lap and legs...) and it's all Vanna's Choice.  Sorry the 2nd picture is so blurry towards the top, early morning quick pictures were not my thing today.   I am very VERY HAPPY to have this baby done and ready to be wrapped up before this weekend!

The next 2 are WIPs:

I worked on this last night during Glee and it's coming along nicely.  Another icky picture, sorry my "skills" were a bit lack this morning!  I love Marie Anne's pattern for this, it's nice and thick for extra warmth (and basically if you're anywhere in North America this week you need as many warm layers as possible!).

Here is the hat I was talking about earlier this week.  Correction, this is my 2nd attempt at making a matching hat to the scarf.  On Monday night I ripped out all that I did on Sunday and started again with a hook one size smaller (from an L to a K) and switched from dc to hdc.  I worked on it Monday night late and then for about 5 min this morning after dealing with the ripple "ends" so I'm not all that far along yet, but it's going to be a VERY nice hat.  The next time I'm in Michael's I'm going to have to check out all the colors Loops & Threads Charisma comes in for additional hats (don't worry, this would be for hats to make in 2011)

Christmas, work, and wedding planning is all keeping me extremely busy and I'm starting to run myself a bit too thin.  I'm trying my best to take a step back, eat well and get myself to bed a bit earlier each night.  I have no sick days left for 2010 so I need to be able to keep myself in one piece for the next 10 1/2 business days (plus weekends, and my birthday) until we drive home on the 23rd (!!!)

Fingers crossed our reception contract should be signed by tomorrow and the Save the Date cards will be ordered tomorrow or Friday night.  I plan on addressing envelopes for these over Christmas so they probably won't be mailed out until after Jan. 1, but having a signed contract, hotel block for our out of town guests and Save the Date cards which have been delivered to my apt. would take a GINORMAOUS weight off my shoulders and put my stress level down to I don't know maybe 5 vs. the 15 I'm working at this week.

Just one more WIP to compete before next Wednesday!

30 minutes of work this morning...

and this is all I have to show for it!

Even better yet, it's not a bad thing!  As most of you probably realize, this is a pile of tails that I cut off after weaving in ends.  They are the ends to the pink ripple lapghan that I finished about a month ago and have been procrastinating on truly finishing.  All of the other Christmas gifts I wanted to start just seemed like more fun at the time, and they were!

But now, as I was getting ready for work this morning and thinking about all the things I need to do, pick up and clean before our Christmas party on Saturday I realized that the unfinished blanket was STILL just sitting there.  Just think of the things/presents I would not have to put away (aka hid in the bedroom) if they were wrapped for Christmas and sitting nicely under my Christmas tree!  That was all the motivation it took for me to work on this for 30 min this morning vs. more crocheting on another gift!  In 30 min of listening to the Today Show, I got about 2/3 of one side done!  If I continue on this path each morning the rest of this week, I'll be wrapping this baby by Friday night after work, Saturday morning at the latest!  Talk about good motivation :-)

It's Day 2 of Secret Santa and I have yet to receive my mysterious Day 2 gift, but I gotta say I'm doing amazing well at keeping my recipient on her toes!  I asked her last night when she got yesterday and after telling me about the great gift card someone must have known she would love, she expressed how it couldn't be me "because the post it note wasn't on a pink post it" HAHA 

Here's today's gift

I got in early and left them for her before she got in at 9.....by 9:15 she was eating them for breakfast and said "my Secret Santa is either someone who knows me really well, or knows someone who knows me really well"

The season of giving is more fun than ever before, I love this game!!!!!

Another Productive Weekend

19 days till Christmas
17 days till we drive home for Christmas
less than 17 days to get everything wrapped before going home for Christmas!

Time is flying by so my crochet hook must fly through skeins of yarn as well!

The first part of Saturday was spent picking up, taking down Thanksgiving decorations, dusting and then decorating for Christmas.  By around 3 p.m. I was fairly exhausted from all this so I sat down and crocheted and finished this:

I used this pattern with Loops and Treads (from Michaels) Charisma in Red with a P hook like the directions specify.  I did the 4 rows the pattern calls for and if this had been for me, would have probably liked it a bit longer.  It's a gift for someone with a shorter torso than I so I believe it will be perfect for her.  The black border is just a single crochet with a K hook and JoAnns Sensations Beautiful in Black.  Gave it a really nice touch and just makes it perfect for the recipient that will be receiving this on Christmas Day.  Last night I attempted a simple hat to match using an L hook but after a couple attempts, ripping out and starting over it's still too big for any normal human head.  I was too tired and cranky at that point to rip it all out and start over, the thicker yarn is really throwing me on this one vs. all the hats I've made in the past.

Saturday night was Crafty Saturday with the girls while watching Christmas movies.  My craft for the night was a wedding picture project that I needed to get done and ordered ASAP.  I just fiddled on some ongoing projects once that was completed.

Yesterday was consumed by laundry.  7 loads to be exact.  And that's 7 industrial loads (works into about 2 1/2 each in a standard washer....)  I didn't really have that many clothes that were dirty, I swear.  2 loads were new material that had come by mail, 1 was towels and 1 was bedding which left 3 loads of clothing (the usual whites, darks and other colors loads)  It was after 3 p.m. before it was all dry and back in the apartment.  I started around 10 (and had to make a trip up to the CVS for more detergent while the first load of fabric was in).  I folded all of Jon's clothes which is a bit out of character for me, but he was writing a paper for class all weekend so I was in a giving mood to help where I could.  This meant most of my clothes have not been folded or put away yet if they are folded, but at least all the shirts are laying flat waiting for me to fold them :-)

I've been dealing with a lot of chronic neck pain lately which leads to many headaches and yesterday was no exception.  Instead of continuing the picking up that I should have been doing in between runs back and forth to the laundry room I sat on the couch and crocheted while watching Harry Potter.  I had this done shortly after all the laundry was done:

After 2 tries to take a picture of the hat this morning I'm still not happy with either of them.....it's much cuter on, but I did not believe the new owner of this gift would appreciate the make up off my forehead all over the instead of her new hat!  Another Lion Brand pattern was used for this project.  I used "I Love This Yarn" in tweedy sage which looks really great in person.  It's also very soft, but thanks to an "I" hook and all those single crochets its holding it's shape nicely.  I didn't follow the pattern 100% for a couple of reasons:  it didn't take me as many rounds as the pattern called for to hit 132 stitches and I also decreased one additional row from what it called for because it seemed to large on both mine and Jon's head at 66 stitches.  I also did not join each row at row end, I instead worked in continuous rounds w/ a stitch marker to avoid the yucky ridge I get when I join rounds on anything circular.  Lastly if I were to make this again I would probably make the brim smaller.  I debated this as I was making it yesterday but opted to follow the pattern.  I think it's a little on the large side, but that's on my head....maybe my head is small....

One other project that was finished this weekend were these:

I've mentioned these a few times before and they're finally done and ready to be wrapped up for Mom.  This is the first project I've done using "crocheted ribbing" and actually am looking forward to making myself a scarf after the holidays using this stitch and some pretty yarn

Sunday after the hat was done, we decorated our Christmas tree (which was purchased on Friday after work).  It's a very pretty tree this year, perfect size for the space!  and lots of room for all those presents once they're wrapped!  See:

More spa cloths were created over the weekend as well!  I dug out my cotton collection this time too so now my options are plentiful (about a month ago I specifically purchased what I had planned on using for Christmas gifts this year while on sale).  The more I love these and the more positive feed back I get on them both online and in person the more I've want to make for gifts.  When I got the perfect person possible in my office as my Secret Santa this year, I was really surprised with myself for not knowing what to get for my "big gift"  The obvious choice all along should have been to do this:

I'm still waiting on my latest order from Avon to come in the mail so it's not wrapped yet, I'll be sure to take a picture of the finished project prior to Thursday to share.  I also wish that this picture had come out clearer, it doesn't do justice to the speckled yarn and how great all 4 of these look together....

Speaking of Secret Santa, they changed the rules on us a bit this year.  Instead of just getting a gift ($20-25) for the person whose name you picked from the bowl like last year to trade during our Holiday HR Lunch, they made it a 4 day event.  For the 3 days prior you have to secretly leave a small gift for your person w/ no name.  On day 4 you give you big gift at lunch and they have to guess off of their 4 gifts who it is from.  Apparently this is how you "do" Secret Santa, I've never heard of this or done it this way before.....it's caused a bit of stress but I do love what I came up with for all 4 gifts now that I have them.

I have pictures of tomorrow and Wednesday but after rushing out on my lunch to get today's gift card I forgot to take a picture!  This will be more fun starting tomorrow, but for today it was a FroZenYo gift card :o)

It felt good to get all these gifts done over the past 2 days, there are still many more to do along cookies to bake.  I do wish I had picked up more this weekend, but thanks to "Harry Potter weekend" on ABC family I spent as much time as I could doing all this!

Oh, I worked on this scarf this morning as well:

I really do love this yarn!! (hehe)  I actually started this after Thanksgiving when I was looking for something mindless.  It was going to be for me as well, but I do believe it's now a tentative Christmas gift.  It's tentative because I don't know if I'll be seeing this person over the holidays....it's a good project for when I have 15-30 min to sit down and watch the Today Show before heading into work either way!

Anyone out there understand Blogger better than me?

.............what happened to my page?  If someone out there reading this has any suggestions, please send them my way.  I'm willing to try just about anything, and I've tried everything I can think of!

Last Wednesday morning while stuck working a 5 hour day prior to driving home the day for Thanksgiving, I decided that it was the perfect time to update my layout to something "Christmas-y"  As soon as I did this (using thecutestblogontheblock.com, like I always do) all of my gadgets disappeared!  When I go into my dashboard, they're still there.  On Monday I even deleted EVERYTHING from my dashboard and re-added it all new but with no luck.  I also tried a different template from my favorite layout website, and tried no layout at all and still nothing will bring back my gadgets!  Now, my picture is also off center and I don't understand why!!  I'm really quite computer savvy....I spend enough time each day on one that I should be, and I'm good at designing things (even non yarn/fabric items) so it's infuriating to me that this is still not right!  I've been meaning to write for a couple of days hoping that someone out there in "blogger land" could help (I've also submitted a question on the blogger help page but no one has answered).  I didn't write this on Monday because I acted like maybe the website was just being funky and that it would all come back tomorrow.  It hasn't and I need help!!

As for my crafting, I packed more than I needed to bring home with me over Thanksgiving.  I always ALWAYS do this.  I fear that I will run out of  projects to do and with the stash of yarn and running list of projects I always have to complete I hate to think I'd have to go buy more random yarn just to keep working on something!  I put some good time into a special project on Thanksgiving morning while watching the Parade with Mom, and then did more while dinner dishes were washed and food was put away.  I still didn't get as much done as I thought I would (I really think this project is bigger than I let myself believe).  I also find it hard now to work on a large project anywhere other than my favorite spot on my chaise with my legs stretched out in front of me.  At home (aka my parents house) I sit on a kitchen bar stool since that's where mom usually is (and I REFUSE to sit in the living room and listen to Fox news with dad).  The TV in the kitchen is also an old school 13" tube - hard to watch anything on that when you're working on something in your lap when you're used to a 47" HD flat screen at home!  Progress is progress though and each stitch and each row bring me that much closer to have this done by 12/25 :-)

Since returning home from Thanksgiving I haven't been to productive on Christmas crafties....this has been due to a number of factors:

1. we drove home on Wednesday and I didn't get to bed until 2 a.m., I was up everyday by 7 and spent the last 3 days back home traveling to, checking out, discussing and arguing over wedding venue details, and we then didn't get back until after midnight Monday morning so saying that I'm exhausted this week would be an understatement.  Tack onto that all the Year End work that's going on right now and I can barely walk to my car after 9 hours of crazy in the office.
2. I'm so excited about all the wedding details that are coming into place that I'm having a hard time with not quitting my job and planning my wedding for the next 8 months.  I realize that I can't give my almost finalized Save the Date cards as Christmas presents though so I really do need to get crackin' (and wrappin')! ;-)
3. I'm starting to stress about all that needs to get done in the next 20 days before we go home for Christmas!  Yikes we drive home in 21 days we have no Christmas tree, I need to unpack from Thanksgiving before I can decorate for Christmas, our Christmas/my birthday party is a week from Saturday, presents need to be finished and wrapped, no Christmas cookies have even been thought about yet

Last night after spending far too much time trying to pinch pennies on my Save the Date cards, but I did get a chance to finish up the slippers for Mom.  My apologies for not properly linking the pattern here....I have searched and searched through all the blogs on follow and can't find the right post.  If you posted the pattern, please feel free to post the link in a comment for your rightful credit.  I didn't follow the pattern 100% because Mom and I wear size 9 and they never would have fit as the pattern read, but the pattern certainly got me off on the right foot and I love it!  This morning I tried my best to get out of bed early (this happened 45 min after the first alarm went off no less...) and I got 30 minutes done a a pair of slipper socks.  I love how simple this pattern is so I'm testing it in my favorite color (which will match Grannie's ripple lapghan of the same color perfectly!) as a solid and will then try a Christmas color scheme in my head if it works out!  I hope to have some pictures to post soon.

I'll leave you for today with this wonderful information regarding the wedding:

The best number for marriage and a wedding would be 6 the number of family, responsibility and commitment.

8 for fertility and wealth.

1 is the number of new starts, beginnings.

08.06.11

A productive weekend

I'm a day late in posting this. As it turns out every once in a while you're impatient for a short week to be over with and the days actually fly by! I don't know where yesterday (Monday) went but I was definitely busy and the next thing I knew it was 5 p.m.! I'm not really complaining about this, I desperately want it to be time to go home and see my family. For those of you who don't know (probably all of you...) it's been about 6 1/2 months since I was last home which is a ridiculous long time for me to w/o making a weekend trip up to visit. I also haven't been home for Thanksgiving in 6 years, none of my family has seen my ring in person and Jon and I will be looking at some venues over the weekend - I have PLENTY of reasons to be excited to go home!!!

I would say that the entire weekend was devoted to working on Christmas presents, which it kind of was, but unfortunately most of Saturday was spent having nothing go right and really getting nothing finished. I did make some progress on Sunday, though maybe not necessarily on the projects I should have been working on but I'm happy with what was done. Sunday also brought 3 hours at the Wheaton mall shopping for clothes for Jon for Sunday and I spent a good chunk of the evening getting my clothes packed.

Below are pictures of what was completed/worked on from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening:



These are a Christmas gift using Marie Anne's pattern and Bernat's new Jacquard yarn, which by the way I am totally in love with!

I really love the idea, the pattern and like I said this yarn. I'm looking forward to one day making a pair for myself....probably come January. I think they will be perfect for my extra chilly office to make sure I can keep my typing at 80 WPM all day!

This will eventually be a hat and it'll be going to the same recipient as the fingerless loves. Hobby Lobby was not joking around when they named their yarn "I Love This yarn" because I really do love this yarn! It's much softer than Red Heart and provides many more colors. I've stocked up on quite a bit of it both online and when in a store out of town but this is my first experience using it. I look forward to experimenting with it more! Again, probably not until January.....

Harry Potter mania has been upon us. We borrowed the first 6 DVDs from our neighbor to prepare for Deathly Hallows Part 1, which we went and saw on Friday night in IMAX. Such a good.movie! I didn't "buy into" Harry Potter in college because I didn't want to get sucked unto the hype. I'm totally into it now and am loving it.

Saturday night was spent watching more of the DVDs at home and I worked on these:

I actually finished one on Saturday night and I believe my eyes were closed before my head hit a pillow on the couch. It had been a looooooooooong day of crafting and some troubling bumps in the road (like realizing that you bought 1 yard less material than you needed to making a Birthday present for your favorite, and only Momma....) Those snowman pants will not be a Christmas present.

The 2nd slipper was started on Sunday evening. I'm very close to having it finished, just never enough hours in the day! I can't relocate the patter online right now (I printed and brought home me with last week), I'll be sure to post the link when I get them finished and post that picture.

Like I mentioned, sewing was my big challenge on Saturday, but on Sunday morning I did get these finished:

They are AMAZING. So comfy and warm I can't wait to wear them while I'm home for Thanksgiving (it's too chilly for me in WNY after 6 years). I will be buying more fleece material very soon - who knew I would finally find something other than no-sew blankets to make with warm fuzzy fleece!!

I'm still plugging away on my spa clothes for Christmas this year. The best thing yet is that FINALLY found my acrylic G hook!!! I'm back at a pace I'm happy with at about 1 hour per cloth (I get distracted and look up at the TV shows I'm always catching up on during my night and weekend crocheting so I find this acceptable). Now that I'm happier with how everything is going I'm starting to come up with additional ideas of colors and gifts so I think I'll be crocheting with cotton a bit longer!

You've seen 4 of these before....I still haven't taken care of the ends on 99% of them, because I hate weaving in ends, but this may be the last time you see some of these as I plan on starting to give some away as housewarming gifts, etc. but new pictures will be coming of new colors and finalized gifts, etc over the next month.

There was also a 2nd pair of pants, flannel capri lounge pants to be exact, that were made for my Momma's birthday. Unfortunately I didn't remember taking a picture of them until after they were wrapped and packed! oops! I guess I'll just have to take a picture of them on her this weekend! I also made 2 matching pillow cases in the same material, just a different color background....one for her and one for me. Again forgot about the picture taking, they are currently wrapped with the pants. I'll take pictures this weekend and share.

Please don't judge any misspellings or typing/grammar errors. I'm still at work 15 min after I should have left trying to finish this up since I wanted to post it yesterday. I'm heading home now instead of proofreading and getting myself packed for my weekend at home!!!!

Procrastination at it's Finest

There are many things I should be doing right now....important work things, but it's Friday at 11:20 a.m., I'm already hungry for lunch and am slowing loosing my motivation to get the work completed that needs to get done today...seems to me like the perfect opportunity to take a break and write some more about those darn spa cloths :-)

As you can see here I've made some more progress on my 3rd spa cloth (whose colors I am TOTALLY in love with by the way!) The last couple of nights after work haven't given me much time to work on these so I chose this morning before leaving for work. It's always at the worst moment that I crave time with some yarn, a hook, coffee and some good morning TV. Once again I chose procrastinating on getting ready for work over getting to work early.....and I came so close to getting this done! After yesterday's bomb threat in Logan Circle making me an hour late for work, I thought it best to set this down and pout as I walked away to go finish doing my hair and get dressed.

I'm still struggling with how long these are taking to come together. I've decided to blame it on a combination of the metal hook and the fact that cotton has no stretch to it. I'm used to working with yarn that works with me, not against what I'm trying to do. This isn't even my first project using this stitch so I won't blame that. Oh well, maybe I'll come across an acrylic G hook this weekend! Or maybe if I spent more time focused on what I was crocheting vs. also catching up on DCR'd TV I would go a bit faster.

May try to time myself tonight if I can before we head out to see Harry Potter (!!!). Tomorrow I need to focus on that sewing I mentioned the other day (that still hasn't been started), try on clothing options of our Engagement pictures <3>

Have a great CRAFTY weekend!

Spa Cloths - harder than they should be?

What is it about a final project that only measures 8"x8" that has to take so long? Seriously if I was making a scarf, I would get SO MUCH MORE done in almost 2 hours that just a little square with trim. But, that's how long it took me to make just one of these last night....almost 2 hours!

100% cotton yarn is very soft, but it seems as though the process of crocheting with it is difficult for me. I am remembering this from past experiences and am now wondering why I thought it would be a good idea to have around 10 of these on my Christmas gift list to get made....maybe I just need to spend some more time trying to find a non-metal size G hook because I am starting to think that maybe my acrylic one would be better, maybe not, but I'm willing to try anything at this point to make the process go buy faster than 2 hours per cloth....your comments and suggestions are welcome :-)

I think tonight I'm moving on to sewing for a bit. I have some gifts for my Momma's birthday that I need to get done before heading home for Thanksgiving in 1 week! YAHOO for a nice long weekend at home (with the family AND wedding planning details!!!) - it is after all my first time home for Thanksgiving in 6 years!

C'est Fini

I'm always so excited when I complete a large craft project. When I have all of the ends woven in as well I feel as though it's cause for celebration!

Yesterday I completed my "Baby Girl Hexagon Blankie" that I started last Tuesday!

The picture is a bit blurry because I was standing on the couch this morning to get a clear shot of the full blanket...apparently I wasn't a steady as I thought I was ;o) The blanket is actually about 3 feet across, definitely something that the baby can grow into....which I felt was important. Everyone makes blankets and buys clothing for the newborn which don't last very long. This blanket is big enough to be a lapghan for me (minus the bottom of my legs/feet sticking out) so I think that she'll be able to enjoy it as a toddler as well!

I whined and complained through the last 4 rows and 2 rows of the border on this one. I hate that when you make one big hexagon or square the larger it gets, the loooooooooonger it takes to get all the way around again! I then of course cried and pouted through the weaving in of aaaaaaaaaaaall those ends too. Again I'm going to ask why it is that I insist on making these projects with all many ends to weave in at the end? I'm seriously considering paying people in cookies to do this part for me! It was getting late (only around 8 but since it's dark at 6 these days it seemed like it was about 10) and I had been working on this non stop ("NO BREAKS!" Heather says) since about 2. I'd had it with crafting for the day but knew that if I stopped it would be forever before those ends were taken care of....seriously the lapghan of the same colors in a ripple is still sitting on the chaise mocking me waiting for the ends to be dealt with! I knew it was now or never and just kept going until there were like 4 more and then I had the energy to finish it up!

I just may force myself to weave in the ends on the pink ripple tonight and maybe try and finish up those fingerless gloves so that I can start fresh with something new during Glee tomorrow night!

Oh if only I didn't have to finish putting my closets back together tonight!

Fast and Furious Hexagonal Love

Yup I've found myself a new love....crocheting hexagons! LOL never knew something as silly as a Granny Square with 2 extra sides would be so exciting, but I'm definitely enjoying myself on this project. It could also be because I'm still using the pretty shades of pink and Lamb from the lapghan and I'm still having a bit of a love affair with the combination. Between the extra pink I still have and the sales going on this week on Vanna's Choice I just may have to stock up on my some Lamb for a project for ME (that won't get touched until after the holidays)!

I had some disagreements with some of the first hexagon patterns I looked at so Monday night's attempts to start the "Baby Girl Hexagon Blanket" did not go too well....everything was ripped out and I started over with a new pattern last night.

I had it ready to go by 8 so that I would bring my work with me for the watching of the new episode of Glee! Good Tuesday night indeed. Glee was super great (again, finally!) and I got lots of rounds done on the blanket.

Yes, yes I know the first couple of rounds go so fast that you look like you're working at lightening speed and the next think you know it's like you hit a brick wall and how some how crocheting backwards.... I gotta say though, 10 1/2 rounds on a new pattern w/ color changes in 1 hour, while trying my best to focus on a new TV show was pretty impressive.....at least I think :-)
This is "fast and furious" because my day has FLOWN by and I want to get home to get the Mt. Everest sized accumulations of laundry started ASAP. My official WIP post is gonna have to be a WIP-it Thursday this week!! hehe
I mean, the sooner the laundry's done the sooner I get crochet again right??? And besides, I can always put the clean clothes away tomorrow....or this weekend ;o)

A Solid Weekend of Crocheting

I honestly believe that I spent about 95% of my weekend crocheting. Miss KaitiMae and I had a wonderful time together as well. We went out for a few meals with Jon and walked around downtown Silver Spring on Saturday afternoon, but most of our time was spent on my couch being crafty and watching movies....basically my idea of the PERFECT weekend! We even made Christmas cookies on Saturday night and had a Christmas movie marathon with Jon (White Christmas and Elf for those who are wondering). I crocheted all the way through White Christmas and we all sort of laid down during Elf which meant we all passed out and we watched it again on Sunday morning while crafting!

My goal was to finish up the lapghan (WIP it ripple in cream and pink that I posted about last week). I did this by around 2:30 yesterday...yipee!! It's probably around 36" long and I'm still in love with these colors. I'm actually going to make a 2nd blanket with them and a 4th color (lighter shade of pink). I'm thinking a hexagon baby blanket, but that'll depend on whether or not I can get the hexagon shape started!
There are no pictures of the finished lapghan yet because I haven't even started to weave in ends yet. Seriously, I hate weaving in ends........about 3/4 of the way through I announced to Kait how I couldn't understand why I keep picking these patterns and projects that leave me with so many ends to weave in! I will work on them this week and I refuse to photograph it's beauty until actually completed. Right now it's folded up and sitting prettily on the end of my chaise (where I sit and do my best crocheting) looking at me with big sad puppy eyes over not being completed. Ok, I know, the lapghan does NOT have eyes, that would be incredibly creepy, but you get my point.

Since I didn't want to weave in ends yesterday and I'm shy the lighter pink I want to use on the hexagon (AC Moore trip already planned for tonight after work) I decided to start on a new project. This time I went a bit smaller and got to work on my first pair of fingerless gloves. I really love the idea of these and found a great yarn for someone special this holiday season that I also believe with get great use out of a pair! I made one and it's extra purty :-) I started the 2nd and very quickly got frustrated when I noticed that the pattern doesn't look right. The entire time I was crocheting the first I was a bit panicked over having to replicate this a 2nd time to make a pair and have them look the same. It was around 6:40 last night at this point and I realized it was already dark out (the downside to gaining an hour of sleep Saturday night) and I had probably been crocheting for around 20 hours total since getting home from dinner on Friday night. I just couldn't bring myself to rip it out and start over/figure out what was wrong. I instead laid my head down to watch TV and pretty much passed out by 7 for the night.

I now need to get a small list together of things I need to pick up this evening for my next round of projects, but will first leave you with my final 2 thoughts of the day:

1. This yarn is rapidly becoming a new obsession of mine. I'm using it for the fingerless gloves and it's very soft and the colors are extra yummy. I plan to stock up on more colors soon (though I may wait until Thursday after work when I start getting 20% off my purchase for Veteran's Day sales at Michaels). Oh and by the way, to every store that wants to bring in business with Veteran's Day sales, please remember that not all of us work for the Fed Gov't, school systems or a bank and we don't get that holiday off! I know that if I were patient I could wait and do all craft story shopping on Thursday, but as you all should know by now I'm not a patient person and I don't want to wait! This means I'm punishing myself with 2 trips to VA this week...oh well at last it's a week where I get out of work early.
2. As I continue to work on Christmas presents and post things about them here, I'm going to leave it to every ones imagination who these projects are for. Some that are obvious I will most likely not post pictures of at all for fear that they actually do read this and it will ruin the surprise! and I do love a good surprise. Maybe a recap post after the holidays of ALL Christmas presents made this year is the way to go!

WIP - Election Night recap

I made the trip to AC Moore on Monday evening for more Vanna's Choice Baby (Lamb) but thanks to a ridiculous night of DC traffic it was 8:30 before I got in the door and changed out of my suit...just to find out that I had NOT taped DWTS!!! I sat down quickly and started watching and eating what was left of my dinner - I really wanted to get started on crocheting! At this point I should have had an hour and a half of uninterrupted crocheting before Jon was home from class. It seems that boy has a 6th sense about needed attention as soon as I'm focused and putting work into a yarny project...

Turns out that little was crocheted before he was home (2-3 lines tops) because I ended up dropped everything into my lap as soon as the dancing commenced. Some weeks I only glance up from my project but for some odd reason this week I just couldn't bring my eyes away from the TV as soon as they were dancing again, good or bad!

Thanks to Election Day and Election night results with friends yesterday evening, I had myself a good long chunk (like 3 hours) to crochet away. Once I was home and the apt was picked up to a point where we wouldn't be embarrassed by anyone coming over, we quickly had dinner, I got myself a drink and started crocheting.

Somewhere around 10:45 after a drink and a glass of wine I was too sleepy to keep going, it's still a work in progress so it's my WIP this Wednesday. Here is the picture I stopped and took this a.m. before leaving for work:

I only have 3 more things to say on this today:

1. I LOVE THIS BLANKET! Just becoming obsessed with how pretty the colors are together...

2. I seem to find working on this in the mornings IMPOSSIBLE since saying that I would starting doing that. The temperature in my apartment has finally regulated itself with the change of seasons and it's a nice cool temperature in my bedroom every morning and all I ever want to do it wrap myself up in the comforter and stay there forever! Today was the worst day yet this week....I could have stayed there forever (or at least until I was ready to crochet!)

3. My lack of morning crocheting and need to clean in the evenings means I am longing for the weekend so I can reunite with my new favorite project that I'm going to have a hard time giving up this Christmas season!

Oh and Kait's coming to visit so yea! There's that to look forward to as well :-)

I can't believe I let that happen...

I'm a planner. I make lists, I cross things off said lists and I would never start a big project (say crocheting a blanket) without all the yarn needed...



That was all before this weekend. I have had the yarn for this picked out for at least a year now and did not have time before the holidays last year to even start the project with delusions of being able to finish in time. I've gone back and forth on what stitch I wanted to use and how I wanted to use the colors, etc. I finally saw a pattern online that I liked and I made the executive decision to use the pattern with my chosen colors to make a lap blanket for Grannie.



I am in love with this yarn and have been stock piling it for a long time now. Perfect color for a blanket for Grannie along with a similar shade of pink that's solid and a cream...I decided to save some money by using a Pound of Love of cream yarn vs. the beautiful Lamb baby Vanna's Choice that I'd have to buy. I started crocheting on Saturday evening and even after my "color specialist" (Jonathan) gave me the thumbs up on the Pound of Love shade of tan-ish cream, I was not happy with it by 3 stitches in. It was a bit too stiff up against the soft Vanna's choice that is coming out extra soft and snuggly thanks to my dc stitches and a K hook. I ripped it out, went into the study and found the one only skein I had...and it wasn't even a full skein, I'd used something of it for something else that I can't remember! As soon as I started to work stitches with Lamb it was just perfect!



I should have gone to AC Moore yesterday morning. Sundays are hard because we go to the grocery store early and I wanted to get some work done around the apt. With most stores like AC Moore closing around 6 on Sundays, it's so hard to make it there in time, it's usually around 6:30 when I want to go!



I've never had to stop crocheting because I ran out of yarn :-( it was very sad...






ISN'T IT PRETTY?!?!? I'm in love and will be sitting here all day wishing I was home working on it. I will be racing out to AC Moore tonight as soooooooon as I can get my butt out of this office chair to stock up, racing home and enjoying every minute I can put into this!
LOVE LOVE LOVE!

I need your comments!

Ok, so I mentioned how I didn't like that lighter blue I started using for the 2nd Granny Square scarf I'm making. I also checked the brown vs. what was in the "stash" that I thought was darker and it turns out it's the same color!
Anyway, this morning I took a minute (or 5...) and dug through to find a darker teal that I was hoping to have. The last thing I need sitting around my apartment is a half used skein of yarn! I found a darker teal, it's Red Heart instead of Vanna's Choice, but actually after crocheting half of a square, I like how the center turned out so much that I'm thinking about switching over to all Red Heart...Please see below:

Unfortuantely it's kind of hard to tell the difference in the picture but on the square on the left, the blue is more of a "country blue" not teal at all. I ever think the darker teal makes the same brown look darker...weird.

I definitely like the darker teal (the Red Heart) on the right - I think it's because Red Heart isn't the softest yarn in the world and the "stiffness" once crocheted makes it hold the different stitches much better. I'm thinking that I may switch the cream over the Red Heart, if not all 4 colors as I would love to see if it would make the 2nd round "spokes" stand up more...if it doesn't, I'll go back to the Vanna's as it's softer for the cream, brown and pink (the blob of color sitting there...) and use the Red Heart teal (I'm fairly positive that Vanna's Choice does not come in a color that looks like this.



Please leave comments and let me know what you think! Now that the weather has finally cooled a bit to a normal fall temperature, I'm in the mood to craft once more!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

It's "finished" but I've been a bit uninspired...

Here she is in all of her lumpy, abstract glory! Yes, apparently this Christmas stocking is female....it will have Holly on it after all!



I actually got this finished up on Monday evening while watching DWTS vs. the laundry I needed to do. Luckily every laundry room from 8-11 (floors of my building, not hours...) was busy, so I got to crochet instead.

My thoughts are that I should not have whip stitched so tightly or with the stocking inside out...I'm using that as my "excuse" for the lumpiness that I believe you can only see upclose. As for the weird shaping where it goes from leg to foot I'm stumped. I followed the pattern to a T and it's all funny looking...hopefully when there are presents in it this holiday season you won't notice.

I gave up Monday night when trying to make the Holly leaves because my first attempt didn't go too well. This morning I was getting ready for work and thought that maybe I'd just cut out Holly leaves from green felt and crochet the berries...I like this idea but I really feel that it's a bit of an early cop out...I haven't even tried to crochet a 2nd time when it's not dark out and I'm drained from spending 2 hours finishing the crocheting and stitching together at the end of a long work day, nor have I attempted to make out of regular green yarn that doesn't have the silver in it - I think this would make it easier to see what I'm doing... I feel the pattern and my crocheting abilities deserve at least the dignity of trying one more time...

Problem is since finishing that on Monday night I'm having a hard time focusing on one project and actually getting work on it done. I tried to finish the cats, a very simple project that I seem to be bored by. I also started the 2nd version of the Granny Square scarf on Tuesday night, but quit after the first of 16 squares. It looks good on the "thicker" (not really thicker, just non-slippery) yarn, it's definitely holding it's shape better....I'm just not in love with the country blue color that I for some reason bought instead of a greenish teal. I think I need to make an AC Moore trip for a different green/teal and possibly pull out a darker brown from my stash before going any further.

I also keep thinking about making blankets. I've got this craving to work on a couple of different patterns I have in mind for the holidays but don't want to start them until the cats are done for Halloween, the stocking has a Holly leaf and I've at least got some control on the Granny Squares and colors (this is a good project to travel with so I'm ok with not having it done before starting a blanket).

It wouldn't be completely out of character for me to just pull out a bag of pre-picked yarn for a blanket and just start in...but I haven't. Probably because it's been unseasonably warm at almost 80 degrees and very humid all week. They finally turned the heat on last Friday when it was freezing but it's not OUT OF CONTROL hot everywhere in my apartment. I have barely been able to sleep the past 2 nights and want NOTHING touching me because I constantly feel sticky. The balcony door has been open when possible but when it's super humid out (raining cats and dogs most of yesterday) and there is very little breeze this really doesn't do much of anything than continue to piss me off that I'm so hot and make me have to listen to unnecessary noise outside. Yes, I'm tired and hot, I'm cranky at ridiculous things this week.

Obviously no work before leaving for work has been done this week. Lack of sleep, unnecessary heat all the time and crankiness have made me barely care about getting to work on time.

Thankful for air conditioning in my car, the fact that my office is still freezing and that the temp is going down tomorrow....maybe once I get my work done this weekend I'll be in the mood to crochet again!

Weekend accomplishments

I can not say that across the board I got a lot done this weekend...I should have spent more time working around the apartment than I did, but most if not all projects that I started were only about 75% completed. I did get a good deal of work done on crafts in my procrastination for all things work/cleaning related!

Saturday morning while catching up on Grey's and Private Practice from the past 2 weeks I got all those nasty little slippery ends woven in!



I almost did a little dance I was so excited to get to this point! I refrained and got to work on the border, which I insisted on having done before I would start unpacking!



FINALLYY FINISHED and I'm in love! I'm honestly very proud of myself as well. This is the most complex Granny Square pattern I've ever used, the first time I've joined squares as I worked (loved it!) and it's a project that's been on my mind forever and that I've had the yarn for FOREVER so it feels really great to have it done!! I think this one is going to Mom for her birthday in 2 weeks, I want to start the 2nd version with the thicker yarn first to see if that's really the one I want for me, or if I want to keep this one and give the thicker yarn one to her...Right now my plan is to start work on this during Rocky Horror Glee tomorrow :-)

I seem to be getting a hard time by a few over my listening to Christmas music so early this year. Part of my realization that I leave too many Christmas projects to the last minute means that I've already started making Christmas presents and decorations. I did some seriously damage at AC Moore on Saturday stocking up on red, white and green yarn. When you spend 2-3 hours working around the apartment but find yourself dreaming of your next project that you'd rather be working on...you tend to enjoy the accompaniment of some Christmas music to make you work just a smidge faster!

Saturday evening I got the white finished and started on the leg (all 10" of it) though I didn't get too far before crashing (I had been awake since 5 a.m.....the curse of falling asleep at 8 p.m. on a Friday night!). AC Moore didn't have Red Heart Holiday in stock, but they did have this lovely stuff in LARGE "pound of love" skiens so I'm using that instead. Crocheting with 2 strands at all times means a couple of things:
1. NOTHING will be slipping out of this finished stocking, it's crazy tight and stiff
2. Since I just have 1 large skein of each color, I've had to wind small balls of each color for my 2nd strand slowing me down a bit
3. I'm not used to crocheting with 2 strands with a K hook so the tightness and stiffness slows me down and gives me hand cramps quicker than I would prefer.

Last night I made lots of progress while we watched "The Princess and the Frog" (don't judge, it's a REALLY cute movie. Jon and I both thoroughly enjoyed it, laughing at many parts....it makes me wonder why Disney is so adamant about only doing Pixar movies now a days, the classics are so much better!)
Anyway, here is what the stocking currently looks like, not exactly a "stocking" yet....all your gifts (or coal haha) would go flying right out the back!!



Last night I set my alarm for my new plan of getting crafting done in the morning before work...then I couldn't fall asleep for what felt like FOREVER... When my alarm went off this morning, I laid there an extra few minutes thinking about how nice and warm my bed was and how much I hated mornings...I then remember I was getting ready for work; unfortunately it turns out the "getting ready I was doing" was a DREAM....it was now an HOUR later than when I wanted to get up. This only gave me about 10 min to crochet this a.m. (I also ended up about 40 min late for work...seems when I have my mind on crafting nothing else matters!!)

The "stocking" now looks like this:


All things considered that slowed me down, it's coming together quite quickly actually. I'm hoping to finish it up tonight during DWTS inbetween all the laundry doing that must be done tonight!

OH...on Saturday night I all the sudden had the urge to switch back to Halloween vs. going forward with Christmas so I drew, cut out and started these little cuties

I cut out 4...planned to stitch 2 this year and keep the other 2 filed away for next year but this is all the further I've gotten...might need to focus on finishing up this little one and his friend tonight instead of I'm actually going to enjoy them this week :-)

So close!

So who would have thought that instead of sitting on my couch bitching and giving those yarn tails the stink eye that if I actually sat there and worked on weaving them in while catching up on the phone with a good friend (she was on speakerphone) and then spending about 10 minutes before leaving for work this morning that I could get so many of those little buggers taken care of!! Seriously, at 7:05 this a.m. I was mad that I couldn't just finish it up - if I wouldn't have been late for work by doing so, I totally was have sat there and finished! But look so close!!



Yes, just 3 of those little guys to go! 13 done 3 to go! Pretty excited, I really want to get a border on it and be able to move onto something else! Oh and be able to wear that little beauty :-)

I made the realization/decision yesterday that I think that in order to get all of my holiday crafting done I'm going to keep getting up at 5:30 to get ready for work - even on the days when I don't have to be in until 8:30 as this will give me around an hour or so to sit and work on a project before leaving for the day! Now don't get me wrong, I'm really not that much of a morning person, but once I'm up I'm up and if I've got my coffee and a blanket I feel like this is a perfect time for me to take advantage of. Most nights when I get home from work, I don't get much crafting done after eating dinner as I'm just too tired from working all day and too full for eating ;-) This means I only get large chunks finished on the weekends, and that just really doesn't give me enough time to get it all done. Seems to me it's just much more logical for me to go to bed a bit earlier, get a full nights sleep and do some productive crafting in the morning!

I'm telling ya, I'm gonna be so on top of it this year!


Oh, and I believe fall is officially upon us. We went for a hayride and had a bonfire with friends last night. It was crazy chilly and if it wasn't for this guy, I would not have lasted!



It was cold, I'm exhausted for so little sleep last night and am rockin' the glasses and bun today but it was still lots of fun!

Now, if I could only figure out when it is that my apartment building would like to go ahead of get the heat on already!! It's October 22nd, I think it's fair to say that we're not getting another heat wave and will no need the AC again until spring! Even Metro is talking about managing another Snowmageddon if it were to hit again this year, TURN ON THE HEAT ALREADY!!!

P.S. that goes for my office building too - I'm wearing my scarf still and think it may be snowing behind me!!

I tend to procrastinate when it all seems too overwhelming....

We've been back from Florida since Sunday evening (got in the apt around 10:40 p.m.) and I've felt a bit overwhelmed by all that I could be updating on here....

First of all the vacation was AMAZING! As most of you already know, Jonathan proposed in front of Cinderella's castle on Saturday afternoon (10/9)!! The moment was truly amazing, I did not cry as many (including Jon and myself) thought I would have....instead I giggled for about 30 min....seriously could not stop laughing. Now I was not laughing in Jon's face like he likes to tell the story - I was CRAZY happy and that's just how the emotions came out....Jon also opened the box and the ring went flying out, through the fence and into the grass in front of the castle so while he was on his hands and knees looking for the ring before I'd even seen it, how could I not laugh and giggle! I ended up taking 930 pictures over the 9 days we were there and we had about 189 pictures on our photo pass so I have lots of work ahead of me to go through and get the ones I like the best posted on FB, and Picasa, and well....it just hasn't happened yet. I also need to order my CD of the photo pass pictures so that I can post them as well - there are some really great ones, including those taken during the proposal - they're coming, just keep an eye out for them!

My crafting has stalled a bit over the last few weeks, which always makes me sad. Too much time had to be spent packing for the trip and now I'm so tired at work by the end of the day that I crash when I get home (not to mention the baking that had to be done Tuesday night and my nail appointment last night). I'm still working to finish up my Granny Square scarf that I'm absolutely in love with! Problem is I'm at the point where I have 8 tails times 15 squares that need to be woven in.....yes 120 crappy like 5" pieces of yarn that are making my life hell! I worked on this a bit on Monday during DWTS, but only got about 3 squares completed on commercial breaks before I was too annoyed to continue on. I'm thinking that this weekend when I'm looking for a break from cleaning that I'll welcome this awful task over cleaning :-) Once all the ends are in, I've just got to get a SC border on it which will be a piece of cake at that point.

It's almost the most wonderful time of the year again, and I have many projects in mind that I want to get completed for the holidays. Each year I bite off more than I can chew and find myself by around 12/20 cutting out those projects that will not be done in time and still around 2 a.m. on Christmas Eve/Day am sitting up wrapping that final gift that is finally finished. The last 2 years I've even sat at Grannie's on Christmas morning frantically crocheting while it's not my turn to open a gift so that I can go home and wrap these gifts before Christmas dinner! The stress of all this last year made me swear to get as many projects done in January as possible so that it wouldn't be as bad this year....well only 2 things got made before I wanted to move on to something spring like or just took a break from crafts in general. I'm still thrilled to have these 2 made - it's 2 less hats for me to make now! Problem in each day I read my favorite blogs and get my favorite crafty emails and end up with more and more fun ideas that I wish working on could be my full time job! Since I started sewing this summer as well I've also purchased a great deal of material to sew gifts with on top of the standard crocheting and plastic canvas projects. It also doesn't help that all of my family members have many scarves at this point so projects have moved on to afghans and pillows which take much longer to make! After I get everything unpacked this weekend and the apt cleaned, I'm seriously spending as much time as possible over the next 7 weekends to get it all done at least before my birthday this year....I'll keep you updated as I go along, and will hopefully have pictures to share as I do!

Speaking of pictures, here are some of the Granny Square scarf that's giving me so much grief, from back when I was just having fun making the squares

As you can see in the last picture (bottom row right) how many tails there were just at 4 squares....this is the first pattern I've ever used where you join the squares as you make them and while I was hesitant of enjoying that at first it's been really great...I just think I should have taken the time to weave in my ends along the way too....maybe next time (yes, I love the pattern and colors so much I've already purchases similar colors in a different brand of yarn....which is a bit less slippery so weaving in will probably be better 2nd time around!)

P.S. Thanks to everyone for their congratulations to Jon and I! It means a lot to see so many people happy for us! <3 data-blogger-escaped-br="">

It's that time again = WDW 2010

Wow - I can't believe it's finally here! This morning I called Red Top and booked our cab for 6 a.m. tomorrow morning...taking us to the airport obviously!

This week has been a bit challenging for me.

1. I've been THRILLED to be working my first full official week as part of the Human Resources team! This has brought on some anxiety and stress in being my last week in the office before being out for 5 days and my first even day in HR in 6 weeks! I've struggled to get everything done and am down to the last 2 things on my to do list with 3 1/2 hours left before 5:30.

2. There is always so much work to get done before going on a trip. I worked basically non stop around the clock last weekend picking up, cleaning, organizing, decorating for Halloween, doing laundry and packing, and I thought that I'd have very little to do on week nights so that I could rest up and be ready for Disney! Well every night turned into a production that left me working non stop and by Wednesday I was becoming so stressed that I was no longer excited about Disney. This in turn made me VERY depressed and I almost broke down in tears at the nail salon on Wednesday night. Thank goodness for all the work off my to do list that I got done last night, I've been very excited all day today......this means getting focused work done has been all but impossible!

I've wondered all week long why I don't recall being this stressed out last year. I mean I was working at the same company, making the same trip - what could possibly be so different? Then, about 5 min ago I got on here and found my blog post that I remember typing up on my last day in the office last year before Disney. I remembering typing up a list of things I still needed to do and thought that might be beneficial to see today. The answer became clear very quickly why I was less stressed out last year - we left on Sunday, not Saturday! Now don't get me wrong, I'm actually thrilled to now see that we have a full extra day in Disney this year (now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure Jon told me this when we booked the trip....good thing I was listening :-) right? ha). It's totally making sense now why I was about to break down mid-week. I looked over the things I had to do last year as of Friday afternoon around this time and I planned on packing everything that night and then was going to clean and hang by the pool all day on Saturday.....no.wonder.

Now I wish they would let us go home early on this overly gorgeous fall day we're having! My co-workers want this to sit at a happy hour outside somewhere...I want this to go home and pack now and then do crafts all night to make up for my crazy ass week - ever the dork I am!

Have a great 9 days everyone, I'll be posting pictures via FB mobile uploads along the way to be sure to check 'em out!

Uneventful....sorta

I wish I was writing this with lots of fun new pictures to share of all the great things I've been working on, creating and have finished....but I have none of those things to share! It's not that I've been doing nothing though - Jon and I went camping for a 2nd time at Loft Mountain last weekend so all the prep work of packing happened last week, we were out being one with nature after leaving straight from work on Friday afternoon until returning on Sunday afternoon when I said I was going to lay down just to catch up on Private Practice and pretty much never got up again (other than to shower all the camping smells away!)

I did spend about 2 hours on Sunday evening trying to learn the new pattern for a crocheted scarf. After 2 hours I was annoyed when I found a mistake made in both squares I had completed and I quit for the night. Monday morning I had some spare time before work and I was able to tear apart the 2 squares that I'd messed up the night before and pretty redid all of it w/ in 20 min! I like how it's turning out, and am enjoying crocheting it now that I understand the pattern and all it's many changes the more I keep doing it.

Getting started on a new project of course means that I sat at work yesterday obsessing about all I wanted to be making (even thought I didn't really have the time yesterday to be thinking such things at work with all that I had going on). I opted after work last night to head out to ACMoore, JoAnns and Michaels to pick up some supplies because I hadn't really been since like late July and I was getting the "itch" (plus I was sick of throwing away my great coupons each and every week!). Off I went while Jon was a class thinking I'd be home with plenty of time to work on my new love affair scarf....

Unfortunately I didn't get home until close to 8:20 and had the pesky task of unpacking from camping which I had promised Jon I would get done while he was at class...that and do the sink full of dishes and take a shower thanks to the lovely late September, relentless HUMIDITY that refuses to leave the region. I did all this work as quickly as I possibly could on my commercial breaks of Dancing with the Stars (which thanks to Jennifer Grey being on this year, has become a new favorite show for me) so that I could get some crocheting in before Jon got home and things turned into "pay attention to me" and "I don't want to watch this"....I did a bit but by 9:30ish the crazy day of travel reservations at work, my shopping adventures in VA and the racing around to get my work down had taken it's toll and I couldn't deal with sitting upright AND using my hands....

Tonight, well tonight is gonna be different! I'm leaving here and praying for as little traffic as possible - given the shooting on U St. today, right in my commute path the drive may be a disaster. I am hoping to get a work out in and then after dinner am sitting my little butt on the couch with a drink and am crocheting the night away! This will of course only be able to happen during commercial breaks come 8 p.m. but that's ok....I'm gonna get my work done quickly so that I can make some concentrated progress before Britney/Brittany makes it FAR to hard for me to concentrate!

Happy TuesGLEEday everyone, and Happy Crafting!