Tuesday, May 31, 2011

WIP it GOOD!

Well, Well.... Here I am again, after so many days...weeks...

I planned on having all these glorious TA-DAHHH moments, but that's clearly not what happened.  What did happen was I became overwhelmed with work and then lost my job.  Gotta love how that works out, huh?  I guess God could tell that I was really overworked after having spent 2 years working all night and staying up all day to do some combo of  school, a second job, housework, and child rearing.  I was tired.  But losing my new job was a bit much!

At any rate, my husband and I decided that I should just kick back and do the "Mom Thing".  I am excited about that!  Though, I don't think I will be very good at it.... The amazing thing is that I will be able to make more posts and finish more projects with all the time I will have!  The scary thing is that I will have so much time, and Bri + Bored = A Hot Mess!!!  I get crazy, when bored.

So what have I worked on in the week or so since I lost my job?  Quite a bit, actually... it's rather frightening!

 Ha!  It has been a long time, since I have had one of these pictures.  I picked up a third shift at my old job, working with Demons, err, I mean Lovely Little Angels at a childrens' home.  I totally couldn't resist the picture of the insanity.  I have movies, snacks, and yarn to keep me up all night.  Surprisingly, tonight has gone rather quickly and rather easily!  I am impressed with myself.  The last night shift I worked was Mothers' Day.  I seem to have a knack for picking up shifts on holidays, while super exhausted!



This little purple thing is a lil' project for my daughter.  I haven't decided if I should post everything at thing one time to show all 4 requests made by my Little Darling...or if I should do it in a 4 part series.  I have finished one of the requests she put in, but I have this one (89% done) and 2 other blankies to make.

The cardi is for this one-armed gremlin I know.... Just kidding!  I don't know any one-armed gremlins, but it is for something special.  Usually, I reveal too much too soon and I lose interest.  Can't do that this time.  I have to keep it all secret, but I will show little snibbly bits of what I am doing.  When I fully get my shizz together, I am going to tell everyone what exactly I am doing.......ooooh, and that will be one HAPPY DAY!

This is going to be a blankie made of the same colors that were in the one-armed cardi up above.  Oh, by the way.... two things:  (1) These pictures were all snapped with my phone, so I could post from work.  and (2) The cardi will have another sleeve put on!  The blanket is made from the same colors used on the cardi and it is also for my super-secret fantasmal amaze-tastic project that will be explained in due course.

Since I will be blogging MUCH more often, I should probably explain something......
1-- I curse.  I do.  I have a potty mouth that makes most grown men blush like little nuns.  For the most part, I don't curse much in posts.  But an F* Bomb or two may be dropped, pending an appropriate topic!
2--  I will never be MeMe Rose (awesome!!) CreJJetion (phenomenal!!) or Attic24 (superb!!)  Most of my pictures will be quick snibbets because I am impatient.  I am also not anywhere near as chirpy.  I will never blog about pretty tea pots that I found in some corner shop, my awesome bagel-muffie and latte from my fave coffee shop....or pets of any sort.  While I freaking LOVE LOVE LOVE these blogs to life, I am just not that ... happy, patient, and/or enamored with the small things in life

If I am lucky, I will inspire some odd-humored, eccentric, indie-rock loving, kitschy quirkball like myself to come up with a creative blog where s/he can also express him/herself happily in her/his own way, free of judgement.  That's what I hope for!

Now, that we have that sorted, I have to do some work.  It's over halfway into my shift, and I have just been watching movies, walking around, and passing gas all night.  Time to get serious!  Depending on what sort of exhausted stupor I end up in after work, I may make another post later today to show some more things I have finished and that I am working on.  I know what you are thinking.... "You finished 2-3 things, you have shown us 3 WIPs and there is still MORE????"  My answer is a sweet, simple, "Yes".  No kidding, I have been a crochet BEAST!

Too-Da-Looooo for now!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Just Checking In....

I am secretly sneaking in this post from work!  Even though I have my own office and no one micro-manages me.... I am always looking over my shoulder and sneaking a quick read through all my favorite blogs. 

I now work in a transitional housing program for homeless single mothers.  There are moments in which I am completely frustrated and totally stressed.  I would be a freakshow if I did what I felt like doing at times...which is crawling under my desk, hiding and rocking out to some music on my phone until I felt like interacting with another case. 

Rather, I have learned to start each day with a few moments to skim through and read my favorites.  Man, Oh MAN!  It makes the whole day better to see such beautiful, sweet, wonderfully written and photo'd blogs out there.  There are days where I am banging my head on my desk and having vivid visions of jumping out my window (which is small and ground level--don't worry.  No suicide attempts here!  I can't blog about life if I'm not living!!!) and making a fast break for the elementary school park across the street so I can swing all day and pretend to be a child, relishing the glory days of a life minus any responsibilities whatsoever.

So I  just wanted to take a moment to say: 

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH AND SO VERY KINDLY to all the beautiful women all over the world who post these wonderful posts to keep my days full and light with literary and visual delights, temptations, inspiration and ideas.... THANK. YOU.  SO. MUCH!

Project update???  I am all over this little boy blanket!  The bigger hexies that I started would have made a blanket in 80 hexagons.  The smaller ones, especially with no border is going to take more like 120-150.  So, I had a little breakdown at the comittment I was going to have to make....and then I took a deep breath and got my hook on!

As of right now, I have 96 hexies of various color combos and I have not repeated one color combo yet!  I am really proud of this because normally I am super boring and I have to plan & draw everything out.  It makes for very "manufactured" looking finished project, but it is lacking this creative adventurism, which is likely not even a word. 

What I mean is I am on a mission to create Creatively Sponateous pieces that are full of interesting color combinations.... and this is all in an effort to move closer and closer to my big surprise.  This time last year, this surprise wouldn't have been possible because I couldn't commit to anything whatsoever, but I finally found my knack!!!

Hint:  I LOVE making things for children :)

So, stay tuned for a more picture-filled post so I can show an update of my progress on this little boy blanket and a preview of the colors to be used for the girlie version...and a little TA-DAHH! 

Have a Tremendous Day!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Little Boy Hexies

I have been seriously thinking about these little boy hexagons. I always do granny something. Granny squares, puffy granny hexagons, granny hexagons, granny smith apples.... oh wait, that was food. But at any rate, 90% of my crochet items are some how related to GRANNIES!


In my last post, I mentioned that I didn't like the hexies I had finished, and this is what they looked like. The more of them I made, the more irritated I became with the outcome.
So then I decided to use a smaller hook, take out one of the double crochets in the clusters, so it's more like a V-stitch, and I added a color...

These are the same color combinations and everything, but I like the smaller one much better!


I guess I should have made another one, but I was so excited about how cute they were that I had to stop and share!

So now, I just have to decide if I want to connect them with the navy border, or without it. I am really feeling like I might try to connect them without the border. That will give me more color options.... let's see what happens!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Boy, Oh Boy!

It's MAY! I am happy to be making a post on the First Day of May...rather than the middle of May and then again at the end. I still have no idea what happened to April! I can't believe it escaped me so quickly!

As I mentioned in my last post, I need to remember my little "personal pledge" for 2011: Finish As Much As Possible. In honor of that promise to myself, I chose to go back to a project that I started.... I don't know when.... Maybe January or February. Some time around then, I realized that nearly everyone was pregnant. Yes, I have baby fever. Yes, I would love one more Little Darling... a Little Darling Jr, I guess :) But I am serious when I say that EveryOne is Preggers! I have never logged on to Facebook and seen so many ultra-sound pictures at one given time in history the way that I have been experiencing now.

Some time ago, I started a slew of projects for my pregnant friends and new mamas. I finished the girl set, and I couldn't recognize myself in the mirror. Me?! Finishing something? What?? Yeap! I did! Didn't I? And I am about to do it again with this project. I now have 3 friends who are having baby boys.

So I have this little blanket for a friend who is due this summer. It's about big enough for a carrier blanket. As with the girlie set, I am going to make a larger blanket...and a little cardigan and hat.

I really like the colors. I think they are fun and cute.
But I want to do something different for the larger blanket. I love, Love, LOVE making granny squares. They are so much fun, but I think, for the larger blanket... I will make it out of hexagons instead. I made some, but I won't show them yet. I am not 100% sure if I am excited enough about them to keep making more. Now that I look at them, I feel like I might be soon changing my mind and going back to some variation of squares.

And as for what else will be in the baby basket... I don't know. I find it difficult to come up with things for little boys. Less color options. Less clothing options. Less crochet stitch and pattern options. So everything will be completely up in the air for this project. The only thing I know for sure is that I will be finishing it soon. I have another little boy basket to create by this summer as well. The crazy of it: I think both friends are due nearly at the same time--WILD!

So this will give me some Opportunities to try new color combos and new patterns. I can't reveal much for now, but I can tell you this..............

For this project, I will be using these colors, in this yarn as well as 100% cotton yarn for the clothing items.


Yup, that's all I got.

HAPPY MAY!



And if you live in my city, or have a thing for horses...



HAPPY DERBY TO YA!