A Very Lucsious Week!

This week of relaxation is the tops. My very glamorous schedule so far has included::

Monday: Get nails done with and have delicious lunch with (while speaking (broken) Japanese to) one of my dearly missed host sisters from Japan. It was so nice to catch up after what I can't believe has been two years. She also brought me a ridiculous number of awesome presents...

Including: Cute japanese stickers, cute japanese pencils, a scrumptious looking cheese biscuit thingy, candy, really pretty butterfly earrings, and a Japanese mirror! The magazine was a real treat. (Actually there were two of them but the other one is in my room so not pictured here.)

Japanese magazines are jam packed with so much awesome stuff compared to American ones, with fashion and style tips galore, although I am fairly sure I can't get away with most of the hair styles.  The pages are so much bigger, and there are fewer ads too.

Cute tote bags! WANT.

And manga too! It is everything needed for survival. I was so overwhelmed by all of these things, but fortunately I had planned ahead for a present in return...

Here is a picture of her holding my somewhat clumsily crocheted Totoro! The pattern is available here.

Tuesday: Get a fantastic new haircut from my favorite salon including, for the first time in ages, bangs. And I had a really lovely lunch with my Mum, followed by going to the gym. I felt very effective, though tired.

Wednesday: Get a skincare and makeup makeover from my mom's friend who is a Mary Kay beauty representative! I still feel so much more gorgeous and taken care of than I have in absolutely AGES thanks to this morning's lovely makeover. As an early birthday prezzie, my Mom got me a bunch of stuffff! I really haven't been washing my face lately, or taking care of my skin, or putting on make up really... essentially I have been sort of in default sweatpants hag mode. Now I am going into posh sophisticated university woman with an edge mode? Let's hope it stays that way. And now, for econ reading and more work on the hat in progress seems to be what is in store for me...

Until we meet again...
Adieu

Free at last?

After all of the mayhem and scurrying about of last week, I am so so happy to finally be back in my hometown for a few days.  It isn't as long as I would like, but long enough that I can really relax in a place that I can truly feel comfortable. It will not, unfortunately, be all fun. I forgot I had a ton of Economics summer reading I had been putting off...(Free! Free! Fre- oh wait... I still have all of that reading.) but good news abounds! I got a good grade in my impossible summer class, and I finished my finals week crochet project as well.

This, my lovelies, is a crochet hook case. But it is not just ANY crochet hook case. It was crocheted using Tunisian crochet.  Although this was my first encounter with the strange love child of knitting and crocheting, I really got into the swing of it. I think it helped that I was desperate to do anything that didn't require me to think.

I think I made the loops of yarn that go around the buttons a little too short, due to project almost done-ness excitement.

If you look carefully, you can see my painstakingly hand carved hook on the far left!

 So of course, now that I have this snazzy new crochet hook holder to hold all of the crochet hooks I already have, I need to get MORE crochet hooks right? I simply couldn't resist, though, since my local thrift store had a special deal. Each hook or pair of knitting needles was only 50c each! Ah, sweet indulgence.

My favorite one may be the furthest right, a really pale matte pink that is a G hook, I believe. ::Gorgeous::

And then of course, some of the knitting needles looked so perfect that I just had to snap them up too even though I haven't knitted in ages. Maybe I will find some inspiration in these lovely vintage aluminum needles? Crochet just seems so much more versatile at the moment...

In other hooky news, here is a bib I made for a friend's mother's baby. (Who has already been born, but I haven't sent it yet... ehehehe. Never too old to drool, right?)

I probably ought to block it... blerrr. And finally, a preview of things to come!

 Here is my latest WIP: a hat. Stay tuned for updates, since I tend to have a case of chronic hatfail.

Hoo, me? Yes, a pattern is in the works for this adorable little fellow who has been a WIP since May embarrassingly enough. Finally finished though, and soon to be patternized.

Til then :: eat, drink and be merry.

P.S. Check out my treasury lists on Etsy! Etsy is a website for busying and selling handmade and vintage items, and treasuries are collections of similarly themed items. Read: excuses for pottering about on Etsy for far too long.

Whittling, Yarnbombing, and Sewing

Salutations! I know that is rather depressingly Charlotte's web of me, but there it is. I can't say that I have been getting up to too much crochet-y mischief lately, but I have been doing some internet craft oohing and ahhing, some sewing, and some... whittling? Here we go.

I know that one should be careful about spending too much time drooling over other people's internetly acheivements but this one is really cool!

Awesome, no? Apparently, this is part of a "subversive crochet" movement called yarn bombing, in which people knit or crochet "tags" or pieces of woven art that they then set free into the world as you see above! Check out http://yarnbombing.com/ to see more awesome pictures and explore the world of yarn bombing. I am quite intrigued, but don't know if I would have the strength of character to put so much time and effort into something, and then leave it at the mercy of the wind, rain, and other people. (Picture above is from yarnbombing.com)

Another hilarious, though controversial, website that I am now hooked on is Regretsy. It is a website which finds the most heinous and ridiculous Etsy products, and cleverly lampoons them. While I understand that some artists (prounounced ar teeeests) are very sensitive about being featured on a website like Regretsy, I think they are weenies and should suck it up and either stand by their art and not care, or admit that what they are selling is ridiculous, and that is part of its appeal. Here is an example of their fine work...





Hilarious. Go check it out! (Images are from Regretsy. com and Etsy.com)

And now, on to my own acheivements that have transpired in the interim since my last post. I was struck after stumbling upon A Crochet Ninja with the idea of carving my own crochet hook. It isn't the first time I have ventured into this genre of DIY, but the last one I tried to make ended up unfinished and not very functional. Here is how my latest try has been going:

 I definitely want to do more shaping around the throat of the hook, because the size it is right now makes crocheting very difficult to do quickly and smoothly. I also need to get beeswax finish at the hardware store to make it look really polished and usable.

Adventures in cooking this week include... PIZZA! It turned out alright, and it all got eaten, but I wasn't a huge fan of the dough. It was very yeasty and puffy, while I prefer a more bread flavored thin crust.

Ooh la la! You may remember these napkins from my "The Eagle has Landed" post, but they are napkins no longer!! My friend S and I had a very jolly holiday type day a few weeks ago (yes, that is how late I am updating...) including walking around the Marina, and all the way home, stopping at thrift stores and art stores on the way. Then, to make a really fun day even better, S helped me make my 1 dollar Ikea tea towels into a super cute tote! And when I say helped, I mean she did all of the planning and sewing really, and I cut and sewed next to nothing. But, all is well that ends well because for some odd reason she said I could KEEP the bag. Marvelous. Here are some pictures from the walk...

 

Well, that is about it for the last couple of weeks of backlogged posts! There are lots more patterns and recipes in the works, never fear. Next week I have a ton of final related work, but after that a week of sweet freedom awaits! Until then, stay crafty my friends.

 .........................................................

Song of the week: Mad World, covered by Gary Jules

TV show of the week: Murder, She Wrote (There are 10 seasons on Netflix!!!)

Cooking and Shopping and All Good Things

Well, my last post was briefer than I meant it to be becos it was also supposed to have sundry creative musings from the last few weeks and proud pictures of thrift store finds and home made meals, and etsy wanties too!

So, I have been shopping at a local thrift store in the cellar of a nearby church and it is simply fantastic! Here are some lovelies I have acquired...

This book was actually from the free pile outside. It has a gorgeous red leather cover, and it is a children's reader with excepts from The Wind in the Willows (above) and other stories such as The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis.

These sunglasses were also free, but the little rhinestone in the lens makes me feel so ridiculous that I can hardly bring myself to wear them anywhere people I know will see me... but seeing how clumsy I am with sunglasses I thought it just as well to grab them for backup when I break my favorite ones.

Ooh la la so glamorous. Not the pearls, the case, of course. It isn't real leather, just an old cassette holder that now holds alllll of my flashcards from Japanese. Maybe not so glamorous then...

 Scrumptious sewing and knitting sundries Buttons for 5 cents a piece, 25 cents for stitch holders and thread on a super kewl wooden spool in barbie pink.

10 cent cookbook, apparently belonged to one of the thrift store volunteer's 90 year old mother! Sweet 5 dollar electric mixer.

This is for sure one of my best finds EVER. 25 cents for a brand new gorgeous SIGG water bottle. Shwaaaaa. That is essentially it for the pics of my thrifty finds. I got, on my Saturday trip, a cute vasey cup thing for 25 cents, a brightly colored mug for 10 cents, a 50 cent polka dotted hankerchief, and FINALLY a good grater. The one I have has such small gratey holes that it essentially blenderizes whatever I try to grate. So I am very GRATEful to find such a GRATE thing... (chuckle snort). Today I got a few knives and buttons and a funnel. Really, it is the most awesome place to stock an apartment kitchen on the cheap with sturdy wares that you know will hold you through the most miserable day in chefdom!! Speaking of which, here is documentation of various cooking projects from the last several weeks... mostly delicious.

This is probably the most delicious meal I have cooked, in my opinion. Artichokes, 4 dips, my favorite salmon, and french bread :) . The dips were: garlic-mayo, olive oil & oregano & balsamic vinegar & garlic powder, peanut butter & cider vinegar, and butter & garlic powder. Nom nom nommm...

Really gooooood chicken pot pie! Made it the week before my midterm and it lasted a while, but I never got tired of it.

Zucchini tomato quiche. This was my first go at making quiche, and I was relieved to hear from a bunch of my friends who I forced it upon said that they liked it quite a bit. Happy dance of food making yess.

This dinner was pretty exciting too... Blackberry Sesame Pork Chops:: BROILED! I didn't even know what broiling was, but thanks to the interwebs a quick google revealed that it is cooking food in this crazy secret drawer under the oven that looks like the pits of heck. It was so scary, because all of the websites warned about how easy it is to burn food when broiling. I didn't burn the pork chops! Hurrah for that, but when I was making popovers later I realized that I forgot to take the dripping pan out and it was (and still remains) really gross and burney. Ah well.

I think that is it for the catch-up posting, hopefully more to come soon with etsy wish lists, awesome cupcakey goodness, and.. whittling? I am going to try to update more often with shorter, sweeter posts rather than bloated ones every several weeks. Hope you are all enjoying :: crafts :: cooking :: shopping :: life!

Coming Up for Air

These last few weeks have been a terrible hurricane of being sick and gulping lemon-honey tea, and trying not to fail my Japanese class. As of yesterday, I have officially completed an entire semester of Intermediate Japanese in 5 weeks! How well I did is another question, I am afraid, but I guess that will work itself out and what not. [Update: as of this posting I got an 86% on my midtermy final nonsense so HURRAH]

On a happier note, I have managed to get in a lot of crocheting craftosity within the last few weeks in my stolen moments of free time. Here are some samples of my sundry small projects...

 Here are my apple cozies! They are cute little fruit hold-ey type things that stop fruit from getting bruised in your bag when you are taking it along for a snack. The red one is mine, and I gave the blue one to my mum. Found the pattern on Ravelry, and you can find it here. (You have to have an account, but it is free, and totally awesome!)

This is a bookmark I made for my Japanese textbook, because we always have to flip back and forth between the workbook and worksheets and the textbook and the dictionary. It is really easy because all you have to do is make a heart from this super simple free pattern, and then tie a piece of yarn in a complimentary color on in the length you need for whatever book you have in mind.

I am afraid this is a rather poor picture, but here are my crocheted Mary Jane house slippers. They were a quick Saturday morning project, and while I started off a Ravelry pattern, it was just looking ...off. So I made up my own. Here it is:

Mary Jane house slippers (for a woman's size 8-9 for narrow feet)

Chain 3
R1: Dc 12 into furthest chain from hook.
R2: Dc 2 in each around :: 24 sts
R3-R5: Dc in each around :: 24
R6: Dc in each for 15, leaving 9 uncrocheted.
R7: Ch 2 to turn, and then dc in each til end. Repeat R7 until the slipper is long enough to just meet around the back of your heel. Then, finish off and sew together the back to form a slipper!

Finishing touches
In another color, slst to start at the heel. Sc2tog around for 2 complete rounds. Finish off. For the Mary Jane effect, slst on one side of slipper, ch 20, slst by original slst and finish off. Sew a button on the other side from the slsts and you're done.

If I was going to make these again, though, I might want to sew in a lining for a sole on the bottom because depending on how much I have been on my feet the knots of the crochet can be a little uncomfortable. Happy hooking...

This is an adorable et petit coin purse. It is a great beginner project, and I just whipped it up on a 45 minute BART ride. The pattern can be found here.

Well, I was planning on putting a whole lots more about cooking and thrifting and all that, but as this draft has been sitting in my to be posted pile for a few days, I think it best to just get it out into the world, and follow up with more soon!

Cheers <3