Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Slippers Update

Update on those slippers I was going to start work on. I posted about then in April or May. I had only finished one and it didn't quite work out too well. I can't figure out how to sew it together either so it just looks kind of like a small bag with no handle or anything. But I had the bright idea to try it on and see how it'd work as a hat. It works well actually. It would keep the snow or whatever off my glasses and the sun out of my eyes. I'll get pics soon as I always say. I had looked on the site where I found the slippers pattern and she is fixing to open up a store to sell her stuff and she posted some pics of what she'd be selling. there is a hat on there that looks very similar to the slipper/hat i made. so i posted that great minds think alike. lol. I finished the slipper/hat last month but never got around to even finishing off. I did today though.

Few Things I've Worked on

Oh, that little button type thing on the left side is my Ravelry button. It just didn't show up and I'll fix it when I'm back home. But it does work if you click on it.

I have decided to take a break from yard sales until the Bargains Galore event in August. I told mom that we should save our money till then. So, told her to save the money she had planned to spend this weekend at sales so we'd have a nice little collection by August for the 160 miles worth of yard sales. I only have $5 anyway but its a start. So I'll save my $5 and she'll save her $25. She said she'll give me the money because she's not good at holding onto it. I am mainly because I don't like to go to the store by myself. So, no more garage sale stories until August unless I see a sale in the paper that has something I'd want to go look at.

Oh I do have one small yrd sale story. Its not much of one but I think its kind of funny. At one sale, the sign on the road said Sale Garage Big. It was like this on the sign:

Sale
Garage
Big

Drove me nuts everytime I passed it. Shouldn't it read the other direction? And when we finally stopped there, there was an older lady and she kept talking to me! And not my mom. I have no clue why she was talking to me and not my mom...especially since mom was the one buying something. She bought a college textbook on learning Word, Excel, etc. So there's the small story.

Moving on...I got my hat from the hat swap. I'll post the pictures soon. It is blue and green. two of my fave colors. She also sent me some hook grippers and an afghan pattern book. I love patterns and grippers so it was a great day for the mail. I also got a book that day I've been waiting on.

I signed up for the July hat, scarf, member's choice, granny square and pattern book swaps. So we'll see how that goes. I have completed two patterns yesterday.

The water bottle sling which can be found at http://vallieskids.blogspot.com/2009/06/v-stitch-water-sling.html It is for me for when I mow the yard I can carry water around. The yard takes me almost 2 hours total to mow with a push mower and I only take one break and that is after i get the front yard done. I made it in Red Heart Strata Pogo color.

The second pattern I finished was the Thick and Quick Hotpad which can be found at www.marloscrochetcorner.com I made it for my dad for a late father's day present. I made it in Red Heart Super Saver Buff Fleck, medium shade green (don't know what type of yarn), and a navy shade blue (also don't know what type. I think its Red Heart Super Saver jumbo). All are ww though.

I did both of those yesterday. I was so proud to actually get something done the same day I started it. And now I'm working on Lid Grabber which can be found at www.crochetnmore.com/lidgrabber.htm It is being made with the Buff Fleck and the navy blue from the hotpad. The hot pad turned out kind of camo-ish but the lid grabber is turning out to be more like school colors but I don't know whose. lol.

I'm also going to start on the 8 pocket tote bag (sure). And then come July I'll have to start making the hat, scarf, granny square and then I'm thinking on the lid grabber and a soup bowl cozy for the member's choice. I already have the pattern books chosen and the patterns for everything but the granny square. So should be fun.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Yard Sale and Gripe

Ok to start off with...I just found a website called What NOT to Crochet or something like that. I only read one post and it was about tissue box covers. I've never made one mainly because I don't have tissue boxes but I can see why someone would want to make them. But the page I was looking at was saying there is no reason to make them and that they are just plain stupid and that the one they had showed (was one of the free ones from anniesattic.com) was just so hideous looking and on and on. It was so stupid to read. They'd post that annie has crap on her site and what not. That is just so mean. I don't get the point of them posting that kind of crap. I'd posted on there and said that while it may not be my style (way too many flowers everywhere. just looked too busy for my tastes but it did have pretty colors) it was ugly. Then I included in there that if you don't like the item then just move on. Told them there was no reason to post about it and be mean. Stupid people. I don't go around telling people I don't like such and such. Someone worked hard on that tissue box cover and then there they go being jerks about it. People tick me off to ne end sometimes. Thats why I want to be an animal officer. I get to rescue animals (because I like animals way more than people...sorry to say it. of course there are some people who are an exception) and then punish the people.

Moving on to a nicer topic now...

Yard Sale again!!! Mom and I went Friday. There were not many in the paper this time so we just went to all we found in there that we could figure out the addy to. At one I bought a box of books for $3.50 (counted them when I got home and there were 32 books total in there). I also bought some fabric, a few sewing patterns (got 4 free things of thread for buying something at one sale), a small ball of multi-colored yarn and a few hand lotions. I only had $10 this time around and spent all but $2.60 and then I spent that at the store because mom wanted to buy some gravy mix. I also bought a purse (that she said was new and I got it for $1) and a little bucket that had 3 new bags of different kinds of bath salts. Mom bought some books, a few VHS movies, bread slicer holder thing, a hot pad, a mug warmer and a few other odds and ends. There was one sale that was selling some Avon stuff. There were two perfumes that I've been wanting but she was selling them for $10 each. I told her I only had a $5 left (because i did at that time) and she said she'd sell it to me for $5. but i wanted both but i didn't buy either because i have 3 perfumes at the apt and I have yet to wear them anywhere. Overall it wasn't too bad a day. Again most of the people didn't know how to price things. The lady who was in charge at the sale that I bought the box of books...she asked us what she thought she sale the books at. mom told her they tend to sale for $.25 each. they do tend to sell better for that much. mom and i will rarely buy a paperack that is $.50 or more unless we really want it.

I looked at the paper today and there were more sales in there than yesterday's paper. I think that is just stupid!!! Ther was one sale I would have loved to go to. They had Xbox 360 games for sale and I have been looking for some. Not fair that the stupid sale wasn't in the friday paper. the sale was going on since thursday so why wasn't it in the thursday or friday paper? Doesn't make sense to me. If they could only afford one day for the ad to be running then put it in for thursday or friday...not the last day of the sale. we would have gone but 1. we slept late and 2. we ran out of money on friday. lol. I think we're taking a break next weekend. oh there was one sale that had a purse i would have loved to get. it was $7.50 tho. i mean seriously who is gonna pay that at a yard sale? i would have asked if i could get it for less...except not a single soul was out there to ask. we were there waiting for like 5 minutes and no one came out. mom had coughed at one point and we were talking loud enough for someone to know we were back there. mom bought the heating pad there. she just put the money on a table and we left. i would have stolen that purse if i wouldn't have felt guilty afterwards. lol. i don't steal things but someone really should ahve been there. this was in a bigger town...well bigger than home but smaller than where my apt is. a lot of crime in that town and the house was not in the safest looking neighborhood. confused me but oh well. not my stuff.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Great New Site

Found another fabulous site. So far I have found like 10 recipes i want to try and a few of them I actually have the ingredients for.

http://www.goodcleanluv.com/bath_recipes/soothing_bath_treatments.html#more

This particular link is for soothing bath treatments for stress relief, oily skin, dry skin, skin softening and one for bites and itching.

There are facial recipes, lip balm recipes, bath recipes, lotion and hair recipes and other misc. recipes. Check it out. Its probably healthier and cheaper than the stuff you get at the store. There is one mask (Milk and Honey Moisturizing Mask) that all you need is honey and milk.

Here is the recipe for that and remember it comes from goodcleanluv.com

Milk and Honey Moisturizing Mask
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon milk

Mix together, smooth gently over cleansed face and throat with cotton ball, leave on for 10 minutes, rinse with warm water gently

After the Dress blog

http://afterthedress.blogspot.com/

I haven't looked at her blog much but she does have a series about how much fabric you need for a certain project. She has one that they showed in the email for how much fabric is needed for making pants. Just thought it might come in handy for someone out there.

CSN Rugs Giveaway

Thanks to CSN Rugs you have the chance to win this Couristan Rug - Recife Veranda Cocoa and Black 5′ 3″ x 7′ 6″.
It’s the perfect artistic swirl for your craft room or art area.
For your chance to win simply e-mail Comps@craftgossip.com with your full name and address.
Due to the size of this prize this competition is open to US residents only.

Click on the Couristan Rug link and it should take u to a picture of the rug. It is a beauty and sales for over $100.

Little Bit of This and That

Yay for me I found where I hid the set of crochet hooks I'd bought at a yard sale two weeks (or so) ago. I'd put them in a chester drawer and I never look at those. My room at home is only so big and I have chester drawers, bookshelf and one of those big things that always comes with a mirror. The name escapes me at the moment.

Well, I've mainly been working on finishing my bucket hat which I did and finally weaved in the ends. I'll post pictures of what I've done and the links later. I left the hat at my mom's. I'm trying to finish up the coasters for the coaster swap. They are not hard to complete or anything and I'm on the 4th one. I just have a ton of library books I need to finish and I keep wanting to play Dead Space on the xbox 360. The coasters came from coatsandclark.com and I believe they are called Crochet Coasters...how original of a title.

Not much else to report. Once I get done with the coasters and mail them off I'll be working on the Patchwork Bag from lionbrand.com and also their 8 pocket tote. I already got the colors picked out and now just gotta get to it. I love bags but I've never made one before so I can't wait.

Yard sale news...not much really. We went on Saturday. It stormed on Friday so we didn't go then. It was a bad storm. There was a tornado sighting just on the other side of town. I should have stayed at my apt but I came home instead. We had some big limbs down and tons of small limbs everywhere. We have 3 huge trees...ok no 4 I guess. There is one on the left side of the house by the bedrooms in the front, one on the right side ofthe house in the front and two in the back of the house kinda close together. They are in the same area at least. Anyway, mom caught my cold (even tho I'd been gone 2 days before she got sick with it) so she wasn't feeling the greatest at the sales. We didn't get too much this time around. People didn't know how to price. I mean $1 paperback and $4 for hardbacks at one place. I didn't see any craft stuff at all really. I bought 2 movies and a smallish tub of thread. The movies were $3 total at one sale and the thread was $2. I don't know what thread costs at the store so I don't know what to compare price wise. I counted them all out and there are 138 total things of thread (mostly the smaller type ones and 4 bobins if that is how its spelled and a few of the medium size ones and then one of the bigger size ones) plus quite a few sewing machine needles and some pins. I didn't have any of that stuff before so i'm happy with it. mom bought an air purifier mainly just becuase it was noisy. we have our air purifiers from old time (if that makes sense) and hers broke. We've mainly just been keeping them for the noise since we hate for it to be silent when we go to sleep. So she's been sleeping in silence and it annoys her so she bought that. She also got 2 cup warmers for my grandfather since he's been looking for one and some books also. That is all I can recall although I think she bought one or two more things.

Thats my news for now. I'm sure I'll post some links later that I find in my craft email from craftgossip.com Great newsletter and has tons of stuff about all sorts of craft stuff.

Papercraft Pleasures Blog Giveaway

New giveaway....http://papercraftpleasures.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-candy.html

Check it out!!! She's giving away a Zutter Bind-it-all!!! So head over before July 1st and check it out

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Another yard Sale tale

Well another yard sale story!!!

Mom and I went yard sales again on Friday and Saturday. We didn't hit too many on Friday because my phone died so we had no way to figure out where to go with the addys we were given. We go to yard sales in another town since ours is tiny and doesn't really have much. I don't recall buying too much that day except 3 good size pieces of different colored fabric. They are really pretty and I think they'd be rather expensive in the store. well their prices were hidden so i ended up paying $15 for them. so that just kind of dampened my mood. Expensive lesson learned I guess.

I circled all the Saturday sales and then went online and found addys and how to get to them from each sale we were going to. It worked out great. Went to about 23 sales that day. Came across quite a few that I hadn't even written down so it was more than 23. At one, I found a ton of old sewing patterns. The little tub thing it was in (there were 4 tub things total) had a $.25 sticker on it but each pattern had a $1 sticker so we asked and the lady said I could have all 4 tubs for $1. apparently the lady who actually was selling the stuff was being mean to the girl who was running the sale so the one running the sale just sold the other ladys stuff for whatever price she wanted. When mom and I got home we counted them up and there are 132 patterns total and I got them all for $1. the mean lady was screwed out of that much money. pays to be nice to people especially if they are helping you out by running your yard sale for you. Ha ha!!!

I bought two tins also so I can put some yarn in it as a holder since i don't want to pay $10 for one yarn holder at hobby lobby. they are biscotti tins so they look kind of cool on the outside actually. gotta drill holes now though. Also bought some crochet hooks so I don't have to keep dragging my others back and forth from home to the apartment. Bought 5 other patterns and some books and a huge box full of craft stuff for $2. I LOVE the house that particular sale was in (the craft box one). if you've ever been to eureka springs, ar...well the house looks like it belongs there. I love Eureka Springs and I'd move there if I could.

I only had $17 on Saturday and when we got done I had $11 so I didn't spend much but the car was packed. Because of my cold that i got last week from yard sales i hadn't gotten much sleep friday night and then mom made me take some kind of cold pill and i was just rather sleepy but thankfully i'm one of those people who can stay awake for a long long time. may not be healthy but i am only 21 and a major night owl.

oh I also bought a ton of cross-stitch stuff even though I don't know how to yet but it is also on my list of things to eventually learn or at least try to learn. so why not get stuff when its there.

mom and i went to the bargains galore on 64 last year (huge yard sale event all along highway 64 in arkansas will be August 13-15 this year if interested) and there was one sale that had a TON of fabric. i didn't plan to learn to sew at them so i didn't get any. i so wish i had now. We plan to go again this year so I hope i can find tons of stuff. The event is just giant. highway 64 runs from Conway to Ft Smith (or maybe even a little further past Ft Smith all in Arkansas). there are yard sales everywhere. you can find antiques of all kinds, tons of craft stuff, movies, books, cds, glassware, etc. some of the homes that have huge yards (because this is the natural state after all and there are tons of places who have cows in their front yard which i guess is why the yards are so big) let a lot of vendors rent space on their yard. in ozark, there are a lot at one of their parks. I think their site said it was 160 miles of yard sales. I'd say that'd be well worth a drive from somewhere else. if that makes any sense.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Yard Sales, Random, and Link

Ok one of these days I'm really going to get around to creating my own patterns and posting them. So far I've just been trying out other people's patterns. I got my June partners for a hat swap and also a coaster swap. So I got to get to making those and mailing them.

I do plan to start the 8 pocket tote from lionbrand.com except I dont have cotton yarn so I'll be using what I got already.

Oh!!! My mom and I went to yard sales Saturday and got some great deals. Lets see...I found a picture frame that was perfect for a picture that was sent to me of Neha who I sponsor from Childrens International. She is so cute (9 years old now I believe). But I've been looking for a frame forever and this one was just perfect. Of course I'll post pics of most of this stuff later just to show 'em off. lol. I also got an antique sewing machine with its own cabinet for $15. It still works to but problem is I don't know how to sew. I always planned on learning (along with getting knitting down, embroidery, quilting, candle making, soap making, etc.) . Then at another sale (that we accidentally came across...we'd missed our turn for another yard sale so we were going to turn around in this one neighborhood just bc i always wanted to go down and see the houses so we turned there and saw a yard sale sign) I found sewing patterns and some material. I got 9 patterns for $.05 each (the price on the patterns that was the price if u bought them at the store was between $12.99- $15.99) and the material was definately over a yard for $.25. I only paid total $0.70 for it all. Mom and I had added up the original prices on the patterns and it came to over $100 so i got one heck of a deal. I asked mom if she thought that someone was trying to tell me something like learn how to sew. lol

I got a box of yarn. I don't recall what type...Oh wait I do have a skein already. BRB.

Bernat Baby Coordinates is what I bought. There were like 7 full skeins and a couple partial skeins. I got the whole box for $6. I looked at walmart and the price they have for one skein of this is like $3.50 here. So yay for me! I also found at the same place a carry thing. I don't know how to describe it. martha Stewart showed how to make one on her crocheting and knitting show she just had not too long ago. Help me out if u have any idea of what I might be talking about. lol. Thanks. I got some other random stuff but that was the cool stuff I was thrilled about.

Gotta love yard sales. Mom found a bread machine that works (paid $1 even tho the sticker said $3 but mom had asked if it worked and the lady didn't know so she just let us have it for $1. she's the same lady i bought the yarn from) and a shredder ($7. she had one but it broke and my grandfather is never going to fix it so she wanted another one) and some other odds and ends. But it was a great day!!! Only downer is I got a sore throat from it all (guess someone had it and I got it...darn them!). sunday it grew worse...i felt like i was coming down with the flu. monday i felt better but today i have a cold. i worked hard to not get sick. i've been around 2 people (not in the last few weeks tho) who had colds and i didn't get sick from them. so why now? Oh well...I'll live I guess. just sucks thats all.

I actually started this post to let you know about this blog
HERE. She has some cute stuff and I plan to maker her cornflower coasters but maybe add another row and see how that turns out. The coasters have to be at least 4inches for the swap so if it turns out nicely enough for me i'll just do that and send it.

Looks rainy...and i haven't gotten my neighbors kicked out yet. i imagine if i keep complaining and so does someone else (even tho its just me living above the neighbors and no one else is in this building but us but someone from the building next to us could...) that they'll eventually be kicked out. Long story tho.