HaNdKrAfT

posting from my ipod

So this post is being written from my new iPod. I am seriously in love with this thing. The only downside is the limited number of free Wi-fi spots in Jacksonville.

When you turn the ipod touch on its side, the key pad is slighty larger so it is easier to type. Of course the ease of use does make it easier to post more frequently and so I have less of an excuse for time between posts...

Moving, Appliances, moving appliances

I have to start this post by saying that I am a renter.  Yup - don't own my own home.   And so I am moving to a new apartment for a new job at the end of this month.  The place has its pros:  2 bedrooms, 10 blocks from work, a small yard, safe location, and its cons: terrazzo floors, fewer kitchen cabinets and w/d hookups only. 

So that means I have to buy a washer and dryer.   Yikes!  Do I go with the used pair and wonder if I am going to get stuck with a repair bill?  Do I go for the $750 set, knowing I may ditch it next year, or do I go for the $1200 set and move it with me after a year...  I have no idea what to do, especially as I need a new computer too.  The ironic thing is that I spent $1000 on a sewing machine and did not bat an eyelash...

I guess the question is how much will I save in laundry by doing it myself at home, and will the cost savings even out in a year to the difference in price between the cheaper traditional washer/dryer and the more expensive one.  Most people save about $20 a month in water/electrcity, and over a year, that is $240.  Hunh.  Delivery and instalation is the same cost for both.  What to do?

First Finished Object of 08

Seriously, I have not been finishing too much lately.  I managed to get the limited number of Christmas presents done, but that is about it.  With the new job (did I mention I found one?) and the move (did I mention the new job is in Orlando?) and breaking things off with the guy that I was seeing (it was not long enough to be a break-up) I just have not done much spinning or knitting.

But then I saw the Malabrigo Loafers pattern at Coco Knits, and got inspired.  I have blogged about my love affair with Malabrigo before, but lets just say that from the day I goy my hands on it, I have been sucking it up in vast quantities.  I buy iy by the bagful.  I have at least 40 over 50 skeins of it at home, so I knew I must have the Pattern.  I downloaded it on Saturday afternoon and on Saturday evening, sat down to watch Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc.  Twnty minutes into the movie I was here:

At the end of the movie I was finished with loafer No. 1.  What was a girl to do, but put Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade into the DVD player and cast on for the second of the two?  By the end of that movie, the pair was done, and blocking.   I even had about 33 g of Malabrigo left in that color way.  I wonder If I get another skein of the Pearl Ten color way if I could make a pair for myself in this color?  These are currently wrapped and in transit to my dear friend in DC.

But I flew through these so fast, what was a girl to do, but cast on for her own pair?

One down, one to go!

so typical Christmas

I am at my mother's house.  Because I am the single, childless one right?  So I get the "it is much easier for you to come over here because you don't have ...."  Fine.  But I am not a big crowd person.  In fact, throughout most of my childhood I would hide in my room for most Thanksgiving/Christmas gatherings.  Understand, I love my family, but when they are all together under one roof, it is just too much for me to handle.  I have never once left one of these gatherings without a major headache.

Now, my mother knows all of this.  So what does she do?  She tells my cousin that we will eat Christmas dinner at her house.  Right.  After we had it out that at 30 years old, she does not get to tell me we are having dinner there, she gets to ASK ME.  Then, I ask her how many people are going to be there, and she says "just the immediate family."  Fine, I think.  I can do that for about two hours.  But what my mother does not tell me is that "the immediate family" includes my cousin's lover's parents, siblings, kid, and friends.  So the immediate family is over 30 people.

Right.  Yep.  I drive back to my apartment on the 26th.  Serenity and calm, in the face of packing and downsizing.

More Randomness...

1.  Have you ever noticed that when you get food from the drive thru window, you either get too many napkins or none?  Seriously.  Two napkins ought to do it for one person, however fast food restaraunts across the board seem incapable of managing such a feat.

2. What is with the people who fill their back winshield with stuffed animals?  Or guys wh have the anatomy shaped "fender" hanging off of their trailer hitch?

3. I wonder why I am constantly surprised and irritated by the inefficency of large agovernmental organizations.  This morning, I had to get up two hours early to go to an appointment that was supposed to last all day, but lasted part of the morning, and went through part of the afternoon.   Why break the damn thing up? And why make someone wait an hour just to get a signature on a piece of paper.  Yep. what I said: I am constantly surprised at the inifeicnecies.

4. Unfinished objects and the lure of a new project.  I have finished exactly three things in the last four months.  This is WAY down.  The lure of new yarn keeps sucking me in, and I cant't seem to stop it.   I will be lcky if I finish all of the socks for christmas though.

Have you ever wanted to finish a project so badly that

you have used whatever was on hand to get it done?  Well I have.  I am so bored with this project that when I entered the home stretch was done knitting, and the only thing left to do was to sew up the back of one piece, I used this to do it:

And then used this to cut:

And so now all that is left is the felting.  And since this is a Christmas Present, I won't put up any spoiler photos just yet.

How do you acheve victory against an Aunt who

gives you socks every year for Christmas?  And no, not the hand knit, beautifully dyed socks either.  I am talking about the multicolor, plastic wrapped bag of crew socks.  I have painstakingly explained to my Aunt that I don't wear socks.  Nope.  Not even since becoming an avid sock knitter, and dare I say nearly obsessed dyer and collector of sock yarn!  For the complete and total hilarity irony of this, see some of my older posts on socks...

But getting back to my Aunt (whom I really do adore) I have asked her to either buy me all black socks (practical, so I can wear them to work) OR athletic socks (not tube socks!)  I mean really, she has a limited income, and I feel guilty when she spends money on something that I can't or won't use.  Last year this was most certainly true, because she gave me girls large socks.  I may have size 6.5 feet, but really!  At least some little girl at the local homeless shelter got new socks.

So I am getting back at my Aunt by knitting her a pair of socks.  I know.  The irony did not escape me either.  I am using Fiesta Boomerang Misty Morning colorway, on size 6 needles.  Here is my progress so far:

Welcome, HaNdKrAfT Etsy Shop!

After a few bumps (no internet) and delays (me, procrastinating) my Etsy shop is up and running.  I have sold two skeins already, and it has not even been 24 hours! I still have more yarn to load into the shop, then I am going to start adding Sterling Silver and Gemstone Stitch Markers.

Check out the link to my sight in my typelist!  I certainly hope that everone likes my yarn!

Monday, Monday

So HaNdKrAfT is going to happen.  I mean, my HaNdKrAfT Etsy shop.  This afternoon, I get to pick up my next batch of acid dyes from the UPS guy (who is either holding them hostage or graciously waiting form me to politely retrieve them from him- depending upon your point of view.)

My Etsy shop is going to feature hand made jewelry, and hand dyed yarns and roving.  I will offer other things from time to time, including hand spun, but those two things are where I spend most of my crafting time.  Right now, my goal is to make back my initial investment with the yarn and dye.  Essentially, I want my customers to have unique, beautiful products, and to have my crafting habit support itself.

I will only make one of a kind or limited numbered items: part of me is that I get bored; especially with dyeing roving and yarn.  You may see the same color way in one or two skeins of yarn and a roving, but once that dye lot is gone, it is gone.   Occasionally, I will make three pairs of the same earrings.  That is about my limit - before I get bored.  I promise to let my customers know if the item is one of a series (1 of 3, etc.)

For my KnitWitz customers, I will continue to feed your addiction to sock yarn as well.  My "open mouth insert sock" line of sock yarn will still be sold exclusively at KnitWitz.  I will update more tonight!

Blogging with regularity

There are several people who discuss with me on a regular, and might I add, unwanted basis.  I however should be discussing the regularity, or lack thereof, of which I am posting on my blog.  I could say that work has kept me away, and I that would not be a compleate fabrication, however, I have really been lazy about it.

It is not justifiable laziness, but laziness nonetheless.  I hereby make the following pledge to my friends out there in blog land: hence forth (or at least until the end of the year) I will blog no less than one time each week.