Monkeys!

Christmas is coming!

I'm super stoked, I love Christmas and working at *unsaid craft store* puts me in even more of a Christmas daze.

And since I work yarn and always crochet on my breaks everyone at work knows that I make toys.

So a lady I work with (She helps me stock kids :] ) asked me if I could make her a monkey for her daughter for Christmas. Because her daughter specifically said "I guess I want a stuffed animal. But it has to be one no one else has" 

So she asked me : )

And here is the fruits of my labor! 

 She decided that she had better get two since she has two daughters and didn't want them to fight over them :D So I gave them each a skirt in her daughters colors

I made this pattern myself and am so happy with how they came out. (Do you see that they even have little thumbs?) And since it's a monkey and not an ape I gave it a tail. You need to think about those things, you know.

This is definitely one I will be making for the bazaars next year.

Oh yeah, we're still here.

Wow, who knew this thing was still active, right?

It's coming up of the end of fall term for both Dea and I and it is officially kicking our butts. 

In between work and finals for various classes I still somehow squeeze in time for crocheting : D

On the weekend of the 19th I went to the lovely Beaverton high school and set up shop for the day. Everyone was extremely nice and the people running the bazaar were very hospitable. But now almost all my inventories gone! Which, I suppose is a good thing but I still have 2 bazaars left : F

Everyone was very very nice and I am definitely planning on going back next year : ) 

This weekend of the 3rd of December (It's officially Christmas season, who else is super stoke?) I will be at the Sabin-Schellenberg bazaar in Milwaukie. Since I'm bring my own table I'm pretty sure I'll be down the hallway by the offices : )

 Is it just me? I'm having a really tough time typing right now. Learning two languages and still trying to speak good English is sheer craziness. 


I just made a cute dinosaur that needs a home, come see him this Saturday! : D

I do love my family.

Purple Text - Dea

I love my family. Oodles, loads, tons, a freakn gaggle. 
We do remember when my lovely Aunt Maggie gave us a big ol' bag of yarn correct? 
No?  
Here you go.

My cousin Morgan just gave us a ridiculous amount of yarn. 
Ridiculous. 
Remember that Karis and I have a lot of yarn. Between the two of us we have seen a lot of yarn and by no means exaggerate when talking about the lovely skeins. 

But this is glorious.  

That is 48 skeins and 3 balls of yarn. For free. 

Morgan's husband's aunt is old and she crochets wash clothes, and also happens to an excessive hoarder. 

Which in our case is beneficial. *thumbs up* 

 

What have I been up to?

Purple text - Dea
It has been a while since we have updated. What have I been up to? 

Why let me show you.  

Oh that is right. That is a test swatch of a quilt. 

I rock 

*fist pump*

Admittedly it does look a little janky, but considering I've never done it before and I had ratty ass scissors to cut my fabric I did pretty well. ;D


This was brought on because I want a cool blanket. Something with like, Pokemon, dinosaurs, Disney princesses, cupcakes, neon colors, cartoons or something awesome on it. 


But when you are a big kid and have a queen size bed, they leave the Pokemon and dinosaurs for the twin size blankets. 


This was my problem you see. 


So I decided to stick it to the man and make my own darn blanket!!


As you can see, I'm going to practice a little more, con my boyfriend mom into letting me borrow her fabric cutting paraphernalia. 

But come on, look how cool that is!!

 

Baby Blanket Awesomeness

I finished Tawny's baby blanket. And it is freakn adorable.
I knew she wanted pink and green, so I just did a straight forward double crochet blanket. When it was finished though it didn't feel like it was done and the black that I had originally wanted for the border looked awful.
So I decided more pink!

And let me tell you, it's mother freakn adorable.

Yes, I haven't tucked in the ends yet but that baby isn't coming until December.
I've got time.

Blankets

That's it. It's happened. I've fallen in love with knitting.

My grandma used to knit all the time; mostly blankets but also socks. Knitting has always seemed too amazingly fantastical and complicated that I never even dreamed that I could achieve it.

But little by little I've (Again, this is Karis) been making strides to achieve such greatness. You can see in one of my posts about my first attempt at Cables.

But recently a bunch of people in our family have gotten pregnant and being the crafters we are we felt the need to make baby blankets for said unborn babies. (It's something our grandma always used to do and we are nostalgic people)

Here's the blanket I'm working on for my cousin Mary-Kate's baby:

They don't know the gender yet and I thought this yarn was gender neutral. I'm knitting a border of three knit stitches all the way around and then alternating squares of knit and purls. I love knitting, it makes me feel really cool. Which is lame.
But you see how the tips of my needles are red? Turns out the yarn was flecked with red dye that rubs off onto my needles. It's kinda cramping my style because it gets caked on there are the needles don't run as smoothly against each other. Don't worry though, I'll run it through the wash before I give it to Mary Kate. 

Here's the blanket Dea's working on for her boyfriends sisters baby who is going to be a girl:

The mothers name is Tawny and she wanted the colors to be lime green and pink and that she liked the way they looked fused together. So Dea's double crocheting with a fat L hook. She's had to frog it two times now because she hasn't liked the size/she only has two balls of the green. As soon as the blanket body is done she's going to frame it with black shell stitches.

And all out of the goodness of our hearts.

I think I'm going to start making baby blankets to sell at the bazaars. Toys are nice to make but they're not exactly portable. You have to take the yarn, hook, stuffing, eyes, scissors, needle. It's also really relaxing to just sit back and knit.

And you trust me when I say that I'm gonna try and tackle some kind of new knitting skill. I just need to find a nice grandma who's willing to teach me.

The yarn

Two posts in one day, amazing, right?

Anyway, Dea and I just got home from our annual family camp out up in Washington. And in between eating, talking, and drinking 'till we puked our Aunt Maggie says:

"You know what, girls, I think I might have some yarn up in the attic that you'd be welcome to."

Now, I wouldn't exactly say that I hoard yarn, it's more like collecting urge, but I love getting yarn for cheap. It makes me feel accomplished. And you know whats better than cheap? Free.

 I put my altoid can in there so you would have something to compare it to size wise. Both bags are filled with yarn. And not the cheap yarn, either.

If I wasn't ready to pee myself by this point this certainly made me:

My aunt freaking knitted that. My mind was blown! I thought stuff like that was myths from how to books and Martha Stewarts closet!

Amidst my gales of girlish giggling brought on my pure happiness I found a bag within the bigger bag filled with squares. A grocery bag stuffed with crocheted squares of purple and blue. BAM. That's an instant blanket with the right stitch!

Two things make me happy: food and yarn.