Happy Halloween!!!

Unfortunately we didn't get to dress up this year (yet). As you may have heard or experienced for yourself, the Northeast US got a freaking snow storm this past weekend. I truly thought it was going to be a bunch of hype but I was wrong, dead wrong! Friday night I went to bed pretty late and it was clear as could be out so I was sure everything woukd be fine. However, I woke up Saturday morning to snow...those big, thick, wet snowflakes. The main issue concerning the storm was that with all the leaves on the trees and all this wet snow on top of it, branches and power lines might come down and people would be without power, ugh!
Jeremy came over after work around 12:30 that afternoon. We were eating hoagies and watching The Crazies and talking about how much we wanted it to clear up for the party. Our costumes are awesome, I spent a lot of time on them and the pumpkin I carved was sure to win the contest! While we were talking, as soon as I mentioned that snow and leaf statement the freaking power went out!!! It was a little after 1:00. Jeremy needed to take a nap since he went in to work at 6:00 that morning so I just laid in bed and read all while hoping the party wouldn't be cancelled. But a couple hours later I got a text that the party was cancelled :(
Around 4:30 the power came back on so I quick jumped in the shower. Soon as I had the shampoo on my head, it went out again!! I had enough hot waiter to finish my shower but I have no windows in my bathroom so it was pitch black in there! Jeremy brought in a bunch of candles and took the shower curtain off the rings but kept the clear liner on so I could see. There was also enough hot water for him to shower but I couldn't blow dry my hair! I towel dried it as best I could but I was still freezing!! We were both hungry and our friends who still had power invited us over to play games. Across town still had power so we went to a bar over there, ate and then went to our friends house. Right before we got there half a tree fell on their house!!
Oh and before we left my place Jeremy was cleaning off his car when this chic asked to borrow his phone because her phone died and she needed to get a cab to come take her to work or she'd have to walk...with her little 2 year old daughter!! Being such a good guy Jeremy asked where she worked and offered to drive her. It was literally down the street from where we were going but even if it wasn't we would have taken her, it was horrible out and no cabs were answering.
The bar was packed because so many people were without power. We had fun playing games at Stephen's house and then around 9 we went to another bar to watch the fights. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but...I love UFC!! Watching a bunch of dudes beat the piss out of each other, it's fantastic!! Every month they have fights on pay-per-view so we have to go to the bar to watch it.
I really hoped I'd have power by time we got home but no dice. It was freezing cold in my apt so we lit a bunch of candles and put them on the coffee table next to my bed, it was like sleeping next to a roaring fire Haha!!! It was also one time I was thankful to have a boyfriend who's like a furnace.
We woke up to no power so we decided to go to the diner for breakfast (usually we make breakfast Sunday mornings). The first diner had no power and was closed, 4 others all across town had 45 minute to an hour waits. Cracker Barrel told us it would be 2 hours and 10 minutes and Dunkin Donuts was fresh out of food!! It was complete mayhem!! Finally we tried Manhattan Bagel, their power was out but they could make breakfast sandwiches on their grill still!! We had to eat in the dark but we didn't care! Then we milled around at a giant indoor garage sale to kill a few hours. When we got home, still no power! Jeremy went home to check on his place and pets (he has 2 snakes and a rat) and I just got back in bed and read and slept a bit.
Around 9:00 I was hungry and wanted to see who had power and who didn't. Let me tell you, driving around town with no lights in any houses or businesses and cops directing traffic is kind of creepy. Luckily Wawa had power so I got a sandwich and sat in my car to warm up in the heat, ate and charged my phone and ereader. The electric company said I wouldn't have power til 10:30 Monday night so I just went home, put on lots of layers, tons of blankets on the bed, lit a bunch of candles, got back in bed and read some more. I have no idea what time the power came back on but I fell asleep around 1:30am and it was still out but I woke up around 5am sweating bullets!!
So all in all I was without power for at least 36 hours and the Halloween party was cancelled. Hopefully it will be rescheduled so we can sport our sweet costumes!!
Thanks for reading this novel if you did and I leave you with a picture of (what I think would be our award winning) pumpkin!!



Happy Halloween!!

Owl Fingerless Gloves

Two years ago when I decided I needed to learn how to crochet (because I completely forgot everything my Nana taught me when I was little) the entire reason was because of these Hooked on Owls fingerless gloves by Beansprout Creations. I had bought the pattern and the yarn and thought I could just watch youtube videos to figure out the stitches that make the owl. Well...after a handful of attempts and hissy fits, I put the pattern away and just forgot about it. I realized that the stitches to make the owl were more advanced than my skills (I had only made two amigurumi's at that point) and I would have to wait a while before I could actually make these.

After I finally learned and understood how to make cable stitches for Liz's scarf and Kara's gloves, I thought I might be able to attempt these gloves again.
I had to modify the crap out of this pattern though! I used a smaller hook than the pattern called for and I had to take out about 12 stitches per round to make them fit me. I know I have small hands but the size made with this pattern is ginormous!! I also added a stretchy ribbed cuff around the wrist.




Please excuse these phone pics. My camera is being a jerk and I can't turn the flash off anymore. I know most of the time you WANT the flash to work but it was completely washing out the owl pattern. And that's the whole THING!!

Anyway...I used buttons that my mother gave me that belonged to my Nana. I painted the pupils on and I love them! I am so incredibly pleased with these gloves, I kind of want to wear them ALL the time!! I'm just so happy I was able to make them since they were the reason I started crocheting in the first place, I know enough about crochet now to be able to modify patterns to fit me, they're pefect for Fall and I was able to incorporate something from my Nana who taught me to crochet in the first place. I wish she was here even more now, just so I could show them to her <3

More Afghan News...

Not too long ago I took a look at the three goals I had set for myself for the year and realized I've really only got one and a half done!! The half being the granny square afghan I have been making for myself...since freaking January!! I've had all the finished squares sitting in a basket next to my tv stand and then another basket sitting next to my couch with all the yarns and necessities to finish the rest of the squares I needed. I FINALLY finished the last squares!
Here are some close ups of the last 28 squares. Oh and one of my Halloween rats...

This is a shot of all 88 squares, whew! I can't believe how long it has taken me to make all these!! I noticed that from the first squares to the last ones, my crocheting has gotten looser and looser. The last ones I made are about an inch bigger all around than the first ones I made. Oh well, I learned from the Blogger Blanket Project that even if the squares aren't all exactly the same size, once they are stitched together it'll be ok.

It took me a while to get the squares all laid out in a way that I thought would be random enough yet not have a bunch of the same colors all together. I really wish that I had used a lighter blue color. When you really look at it you can see the difference between the black and blue but at a quick glance they kind of look the same. Oh well, I love the colors all together none the less.

I have started sewing the squares together now. I have 5 columns of rows stitched together so far. I have 3 more to go and then I have to sew those all together. My goal is to have it finished before I host Book Club at my apartment on Nov. 6. I think it's feesable. Once I have all my Halloween stuff finished. I'm making my entire costume, parts of Jeremy's and I have a pumpkin to carve for a contest at the party we are going to. Our friends, Shannon and JP always have the best Halloween party, I'm so excited!!

Oh yeah...Goals

Half way through the month isn't too late for a recap and a new list, is it? Haha!

September Recap
Read another book of my choosing - I read A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. I loved it and you can look for a review soon!
Get out all of my Fall decor and decorate - done and done!
Figure out gifts for Liz & Kara's bday - check!
Sew together swapped Granny squares - all finished!
Finish the September pick for Book Club - I never got the book and I don't plan on catching up with this one either, it didn't sound very good.
Make 3 more items for my Mystery Project - I didn't make anything =(
Announce my Mystery Project - clearly that didn't happen, it's still in the works though...

Meh I didn't do too well this month, this funk I've been in clearly effected all areas of my life!

October Goals
Read the Book Club book (it's my pick so I HAVE to)
Read another book
Work on and announce the damn Mystery Project already!!
Make my Halloween Costume.
GET A NEW JOB!!!

Not too many goals...just enough though =)

Granny Square Afghan...FINALLY!

Remember the two swaps I did for Granny Squares? There was one through Craftster that I did a while ago and then the Blogger Blanket Project that I did not as long ago. I've had a huge pile of squares sitting on my craft table for a while and last week I decided it was time I sew some of them together! I used all of the squares from my 6 Blogger Blanket Project partners and I was able to use one set of squares from a Craftster partner because her squares were a bit smaller than the 7" the others were so they fit better with the 6" BBP Squares instead.
I decided I was going to keep each partners set of squares together, I like the way it looked better than having them all willy nilly. This blanket is 6 squares by 7 and it is the perfect lapghan size. I want to bring it to work (why are offices always kept at subzero temperatures?!?) It's now on the end of my bed waiting for me to make a decision...which I need your help with!

I sewed the squares together with white yarn and I am having a hard time deciding whether I should add some kind of border to kind of pull it all together? I was thinking just a white border with the same style stiches as a granny square, 3 double crochets in each space around. What do you guys think about that? Do you put borders on your afghans if they aren't all uniform squares? Do you think that would look okay with all these different squares? I mean worst comes to worst I can just try it and if I don't like it I can get rid of the border but...I'm so indecisive sometimes!!

Anyway, here are some pics to give you a better idea of what it all looks like together. I really love every square and how they all look together. I'm so glad I participated in these swaps!





Thanks for stopping by and I'd love any of your input!!

Boo! I'm Aliiive!

I bet you thought I fell off the face of the earth, huh? I've been in quite a funk the last month or so and had no desire to blog. I've been kind of depressed about my job/school/career situation. I'm hoping to have it changed and all figured out in the next month or so, please cross your fingers for me!!
I really wasn't even doing much of anything worth blogging about anyways so it kind of evened out. The last few weeks though I've been feeling better and picked up my crochet hook again. Two of my dearest friends had their birthdays at the end of September so I'm sure that's why I got back to crafting.

Liz's birthday was Sept 20th and I made her two things that I am in love with (as well as gave her what looks like a fun game called Liebrary). Liz loves coffee, she worked at Starbucks for two years and that place definitely rubbed off on her! I've been seeing little coffee cozies around so I decided to make her one. I sewed this little guy up one night and he fits perfectly on a Venti sized cup. The button works but it's really just there for show.



I also made her a scarf which I am madly in love with! I now see many scarves in the future of those I give Christmas gifts to LOL! I've never made a scarf before and after searching Ravelry for hours and getting a basic idea of what I was going for, I decided to make my own pattern. I put two rows of Front Post Double Crochet stiches on either side of a cable stitch. It took me a little while to get the hang of the cable stitch but once I got it, I breezed through this beauty.

The cutest thing happened while making this too. I don't know if you guys are fans of stitching in public but I certainly am. I tend to crochet while waiting for my laundry or really anywhere that I think I'll be sitting around for a while. I had to get my car inspected last month and I knew I would be waiting but didn't know for how long so I packed my little craft bag with my yarn and hook just in case. I was sitting in the waiting room for about 30-40 minutes so I got a good amount done. A really nice woman was sitting next to me and first started talking to me by asking where I get my nails done (I paint my own and there was easily month old polish on them lol) and then she asked what I was "knitting". Does this happen to you fellow hookers? How do you handle it? I just smiled and said "Oh thank you, I'm crocheting it for my friends birthday. It's a scarf." I feel I HAVE to correct people or something. I can't let them go on with their lives not knowing that crochet exists!! Anyway...she said she has a few things at home that she once started and never finished but thinks she should dig them out now that I reminded her. She was really interested too, she was touching and looking at the scarf very intently and asking me all kinds of questions. I enjoyed it a lot actually, it was nice to kind of bond with this random lady over some yarn and a hook!

Anyway, I took about a bazillion pictures of this scarf to try and get some good ones (please excuse my scowl in the one of me wearing it!) The color is my favorite, it's Vanna White's Cranberry. Liz just recently starting wearing red. I tend to wear red a lot and think it always looks great on pale, dark haired girls. So once I saw she was wearing it more often I decided I had to push more of it on her =P
I think this is just such a great color for fall AND winter, it was perfect! Plus it's so thick and cozy! Also, I had no idea how long to make the scarf. I didn't want it to be too short that you couldn't get some good wrap around with it but I also didn't want it so long that it'd stick out the bottom of a jacket or something. Well after searching the internet for a bit I found the general rule of thumb is to make the scarf as tall as the person it is for. It makes perfect sense and thank goodness Liz and I are practically the same height! The color is shown the best in the picture of me, the last two I really wanted to show off the stitches but the sun kind of washed out the pic a bit.





My friend Kara's birthday was Sept 25th and I made her a really cute pair of fingerless gloves. She's always cold and smokes so I thought they'd be pretty perfect. Since I am now addicted to cable stich they had that on it. They were red with a black border around the fingers, thumb and wrist. I was pretty proud of myself making these too because the pattern I used made a gigantic pair so I had to rewrite it and take out lots of stitches and I moved the thumb hole. It's amazing when I think back to when I first started crocheting, I would look at a pattern and my head would spin. Now I'm able to write out my own!
Anyway, I'm a jerk and forgot to take pictures of the gloves before I gave them to Kara =( Hopefully I will have my camera next time I see her wearing them.

The funny thing about making all these cold weather items is that it has been ridiculously warm here the last few days, almost 90 degrees!!

It's good to be back friends, how have you all been?! I have tooooonns of blog reading to catch up on!!