Machine Knitting Rocks!

My dad is hogging my knitting machine. Mom and I were having trouble getting it to work so we asked him for help. He ended up clamping it to a board to level it out and then figure out how to slide the carriage across so that it didn't catch on the needles. Well, he decided it was fun, so he spent like two hours making rows. LOL....I was finally able to use it this morning but then people that don't ever call me kept calling me every time I sat down. I was able to knit 34 rows in a row before I totally f-ed up and had to frog the whole thing.

Nicholas Sparks is signing books this wednesday at the BN on 41st in Tulsa. I am making my sister go down there. I would go, but I work 2nd shift at the warehouse. He writes the best romance novels ever. Besides it's her fault for getting me hooked on his books. I started reading the sequel to Wicked, which is called Son of a Witch. You have to love that title. Anyways, it's really good and I typically hate sequels.

Sunshine, if you're reading this you better tell me what you want for your birthday otherwise I might knit you a hot pink afghan with condoms for fringe. LOL. I think I would have to attach the condoms still in the package otherwise that could get gross.

A Quickie

Just a quick update before this weekend. The Ultimate Sweater Machine arrived on Tuesday. Mom and I are in the process of working all the kinks out of it and getting it all set up. The Gilmore Girls swap was a smashing success. My buddy loved her stuff and I love what I got. She sent me a tote bag with Luke's diner logo on it. It is so freakin awesome. My sis is going to be SO jealous. She also made me a pop tart journal. It is the coolest thing ever and she even used a strawberry box which is like my favorite flavor ever! There's a pizza party at work tonight. Yay!

Books and Yarn

After a busy week at work and a very successful crafting weekend, I decided that I should maybe update this. I finished my projects for the Gilmore girls swap after much debate on what I should make. My next swap is a 12 month long mail swap based on the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I have never read this book, but the basic idea behind it is really cool.
The Rainbow Brite scarf that I have been making on my loom knitter is 75% completed and is awaiting an emergency yarn run to Tulsa next weekend so that I can get two more balls of it so I can finish the scarf and have enough left over for fringe and maybe a matching hat? I also completed another hat for charity while I was watching Desperate Housewives. Bree is my favorite. I can relate to her the most. I haven't made much progress reading Wicked but I will probably read some more of that tonight since I am between projects while I wait for my knitting machine to arrive.
My Quilting with the Muppets book finally arrived yesterday. I didn't realize it was being shipped media mail so that's why it took so long to arrive. I totally want to make something with Kermit on it. I just have to find the right fabric. I also bought The Martha Rules yesterday and devoured it in a couple of hours. It is probably one of the best business books that i have read and it is very entertaining without sounding lame.
The weather really cooled off today so I'm loving it because I can wear fall clothes now like my hoodies and not sweat to death. Yay.
I don't really have any plans coming up for the rest of October. I'll be working nights at the warehouse and probably tinkering with the knitting machine once it gets here this week.

Tales from The Great Pumpkin

I survived the pumpkin patch and I wasn't stuck riding on the short bus with the kiddies. I got to ride with the moms like a big girl. It was so much fun watching them run around in the pumpkin patch trying to find a "big pumpkin" that they could carry because the rule was that you had to carry your own pumpkin back. There's a little play area up front with a playground and hay maze while you wait for the hay ride guy to pick you up to take you to the patch. I managed not to itch myself to death (hay is not a friend of mine) on the hay ride so I was quite proud of myself. Sadly, there was no major disasters to report. There was some parents there so I didn't really have to do much other then take pics of the kiddies, especially of the kids whose parents weren't there. I think it was well worth the sleep deprivation.

When I got back Mom and I ordered the knitting machine. I AM SOOOO EXCITED!!! It is slated to arrive in 7-12 business days. I will definitely be daydreaming about it all week.

I can't believe it's Monday already. The weekend sure flies when it's your time off. I wish the cooler weather would come back. I have never gone to the pumpkin patch when it's sunny and in the mid 70s. Where are you Autumn?

The Great Pumpkin

I finally finished the baby hat that I was making out of Red Heart Baby Clouds yarn. It turned out so cute! Then I started something for me on my Blue KK loom out of "Bright Clouds" Lion Brand Watercolors yarn. It's a wide scarf that is going to look really cool. I have already started my second ball on it. I am absolutely in love with this yarn. If i were a ball of yarn, this is the one I would be.

Tomorrow morning, I am giving up bonus sleep time to go to the pumpkin patch with my sister's preschool class. I haven't been to one since I was a tater tot. It will be insane, but I couldn't help be swayed by visions of Linus and the Great Pumpkin (which is my favorite Peanuts story). I am sure this will spawn lots of stories and hopefully some cute pics since I get to be the photographer.

As the Craft gods would have it, the Ultimate Sweater Machine deluxe is on sale at Joann's and if you get it online there's a 20% off coupon that you can use so it is one awesome deal considering the deluxe version comes with all the accessories you would have to buy separately if you just got the regular one. I think Mom and I are going to order it tomorrow since this is a limited time sale thing and we can't find it cheaper without having to do the online auction thing. I'm pretty excited about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other than that, I plan on the usual working at the warehouse this week. I am also going to try to finish reading Wicked this week. It's my bedtime story.

Wicked Good

Screw the critics. I saw Elizabethtown today and I LOVED IT. The plot was so good, i love the knitted red hat, the kick-ass scrapbook with the mixed cds and the crazy-ass relatives. oh yeah, and Orlando Bloom was pretty easy on the eyes. Cameron Crowe did a great job with the movie soundtrack too.

Well, I am just now finally getting around to reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire. I don't have good excuses for why it has taken me so long to read this infamous book, especially when I have read all of his other works with the exception of the just published sequel Son of a Witch.

This week has flown by pretty fast due to my new job. I kinda of like working second shift and having the weekends off. Plus I get to look at books, movies, DVDs and CDs all day long--I feel like an unofficial librarian of sorts. I need to dig out my stash of t-shirts from college because I refuse to wear my nice shirts to work in the warehouse. You would be surprised how many people show up in their designer jeans and shirts...Craziness.

I have been a total bum when it comes to crafty pursuits. I hope to fix that tomorrow since I don't really feel like I accomplished much of anything today other then sleep and going to the movies.

Oh Happy Day

What an exciting day! My Muppets quilting book still hasn't came in the mail yet :( On the positive side, my swap goodies from Steph in Philly did and I just have to say that she totally rocks. She made me this really cool matching necklace and bracelet that are so pretty that I am going to wear them the next time I do something more important then going to WalleyWorld. I wish I lived in Philly--they have cool stuff there. I finished watching season 4 of the Gilmore Girls just in time to start working on my stuff for my next swap that I am participating in which is GG themed.

Oh yeah, the big news. I go to orientation for my new job tomorrow. I am so excited to be working again! Money and getting out of the house are very nice things.

Book Worm

I am such a blogging slacker. I have no good excuses. I've been making tons of hats on my looms cause I am easily entertained by it. Unfortuneatly it hasn't made a noticeable dent in my yarn stash under my bed. LOL...It also occupies me while I am waiting for a couple of packages in the mail and a call from the job people. I love my night time Tv too. I've became hooked watching Just Legal on the WB and Gilmore Girls keeps getting better and better. I can't forget the two Apprentice shows either. Rainy and hot weather needs to go away. I need a nice 60 degrees with no rain and a little sun. In non-yarn related news the next book I plan on reading is The Colorado Kid by Stephen King cause he's one of my most fave authors and it's October so it's a perfect time to read his works. I also went to the library book sale today and there was six boxes of kids books there and I about died. i found four mint condition Eric Carle books that were only 25 cents each ( i can't possibly describe the excitement and satisfaction about that find)and I got three Sesame Street books as well. I have to stock up because I know a lot of people right now with small children or babies on the way. Literacy is your friend.

My List

Most people make new years resolutions but why bother with tradition? Since this a pivotal year for me, I decided to come up with a list of 25 things I want to do before I turn 26(sept.25, 2006).

1. Get laid again
2. Buy a knitting machine and make cool stuff on it like the Cherokee Maiden does
3. Pay off the plastic
4. Go to California and visit A
5. DCI Champs in Madison (woo-hoo I like Wisconsin). to fly or drive?
6. Get a pair of kelly green chucks, a pair of black low chucks and the chocolate low chucks that are sans laces
7. Visit my cool relatives in Iowa and go shopping at my fave outlet mall
8. Use up my yarn stash so i can buy more and not feel guilty.
9. Make progress towards getting my own apartment or low rent shack

Uh, I can't think of any more because yeah resolutions suck. Maybe I will come up with some more later. I have made three hats on my Knifty Knitter, started a fourth and made a super cute pumpkin. I have to rotate hobbies cause I am hard to entertain. Mom and I helped my lil sis clean up her classroom. We were there for 5 hours. No-YAY! We steam-cleaned the magic carpet so it now smells clean and not like pee. I also got to organize a closet. YAY!!! I love doing that. It's like a little treasure hunt.

Finally we have some Fall weather

So I just realized that it's been awhile since I last blogged. Well to be honest, there isn't a whole lot to report. I made two baby hats using one of my knitting looms and they both turned out really cute. I will post pics on Flickr sometime. I also made a scarf for my swap buddy using my rainbow colored $1 yarn from Target that turned out to be pretty cool. That same yarn also made it in to one of the baby hats. Did you know that they have little baby camo hats at Walley-World?Just amazing. I've been keeping my eyes out for good deals on baby stuff since my best friend is having a baby in January.

I have a job interview on Monday. yay. I do much better when people actually interview me than when they just look at me on paper. I actually have to bring my HS diploma with me. What a hoot. This job pays about $10.00 hour on a weekly basis and they have full-time openings and I don't have to talk to people on the phone. Yay. Cross your Ts and dot your Is for me on this one.

Oh--season premiere of Everwood was last night. YAY!!! It was my last regular show to premiere. I want to live in Everwood or at least the place that they film the scenic shots in Colorado.

Well, it's off to the craft show for now. Hopefully they have some more interesting stuff to look at then the last one I went to.

After the birthday

I think I have semi-recovered from all my birthday fun yesterday. Sunshine and I went shopping for 7 hours in T-town and it was great. I found the lastest issue of Bust magazine at BN so now I have quality reading material. I also got more $1 yarn cause the SuperTarget had a bigger selection than the Target I went to last time did. I love my new purse from Aeropostale( it's way cute and on sale). One of my other friends sent me an itunes gift certificate so I am enjoying that already, I have downloaded 8 songs so far. Mostly country and rock. Today I have mostly done laundry and job hunting (which sucks donkeys). Tonight I am going to hopefully finish up some more crafts and finish reading The Sugar Camp Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini.

Shop-A-holic???

So my lil sis gave me one of my b-day presents today. It was the My Little Pony Season 1 boxed set on dvd and the Moonlighting pilot episode also on dvd. Yay! I can't wait to watch them. MLP is very hard to find on dvd. The duckie towels have been completed. I decided to hell with the Pooh cross stitch because i didn't mark where I left off on the chart so now i just have a random grouping of stitches--go me. I started on this black cat halloween design. I have the pumpkin and part of the leg done. why do i always pick stuff on 18pt aida cloth? I baked a funfetti cake and made some margarita flavored Jello for the big ol birthday bash tomorrow. My sister "made" me go to the Gap (Outlet store) with her today and I bought a cute shirt to wear tomorrow. Lol. She spent more than I did so I feel better. The sales associate tried to get us to sign up for Gap cards because "we're in there all the time and we could save more money." Sadly, I do go there a lot because they do actually have clothes in my size and I've gotten some really good deals there. I can't wait until my friend has her baby so that I can spoil him/her with cutsey clothes from baby Gap. I'm an even bigger fan of Old Navy (also in the Gap family) but there isn't one in town. Hmm....I will prolly have more to say tomorrow evening, so good nite.

the Abridged version

Three-year olds are exhausting. They did like the pumpkin guts. I finally finished my Finding Nemo cross stitch. Tomorrow when I have recooperated from today, I will start on the little Pooh design that I started and never finished--do i see a trend? Nemo is my 76th completed cross stitch project so I must be doing something right. I also want to do some Halloween stuff cause I think Halloween is a cool holiday. I heart candy.

Fifty-Six Dollar Pumpkins

For the record, it turns out that the stupid shower curtain from wal-mart had a giant rip in it so I returned it and ended up going with a clear one from the Martha Stewart line at Kmart which is still rip-free and doesn't look like bubble wrap.

So my sister and I went to buy two regular sized pumpkins at Wal-Mart tonight for messy day at my sister's preschool tomorrow. They were clearly priced at 2.98 each. Imagine our shock when the cashier rang them up for a GRAND TOTAL OF $56!!! Holy shiest! I almost dropped an F-bomb when she told us the price. She claimed that they were the giant pumpkins (which those are outside and are obviously huge and there's no way we could've fit those in our damn cart). We offered to show the cashier and the CSM the sign but they declined saying that they would "trust us this time" while acting like we were trying to rob them. For the record, in order for me to pay that much for pumpkins they better be some from some seeds that came over on the Mayflower and were grown in Martha Stewart's personal garden! Anyways, all i have to say is that i hope the kiddies have fun playing with pumpkin guts tomorrow and I can't wait to decorate for Halloween.

In happier news, I bought the new Bon Jovi cd. Yes, my name is Melissa and I love Bon Jovi. I love all 80s rock bands. Many hours of my youth were spent rocking out to Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Firehouse, Slaughter and in later years Pearl Jam and Nirvana. Any band that comes out with a CD called Slippery When Wet is definitely my kind of band.

Crafting right along, the duckie hooded towels are almost finished, my Mom finished the Coming Home poncho and I am moments away from completing my mini Finding Nemo cross stitch. I am half-done with the stuff for the current swap that I'm participating in on Craftster.

My daily rant is over. I must go now to the land of Bon Jovi so that I can rock out while I cross stitch. Big grin.

Bubble Wrap

Hell has frozen over. I bought a clear shower curtain today. The only reason why I did it is because the people that "custom-designed" the house that we live in were total idiots and didn't put overhead lighting in the shower. So my bathroom is very dark and remodeling is not in the budget, so I thought getting a clear shower curtain to replace the dark flower curtain thing that came with the house might brighten the place up. I got one at wal-mart that i swear looks like a giant piece of bubble wrap and the bathroom appears to look brighter but we'll see. The bathroom is doomed because there is burgundy and hunter green wallpaper stuck on the walls (which is pretty) but it doesn't do much to help the horrid lighting situation.

In other news, starting October 13th, my cell-phone is going nationwide. There was a difference of five bucks and 200 minutes so i decided I might as well change it to nationwide, that way i won't have to pay stupid roaming charges when i travel places. So now i will only have 800 anytimes minutes instead of 1000 but i usually only use 100-200 anytime minutes a month anyways because i have an add-on that makes my nights and weekend minutes start at 7pm. As a bonus, I got 150 free mintues for seeing my local agent to make the changes. It's a lot easier to do it in person (and my local agent is nice). Ironically, my cell phone bill was waiting for me when I got home.

On the craft front, I finished a little cross-stich picture of Tinkerbell (as in Disney). My mom is finishing up work on the Martha Stewart Coming Home Poncho that she is making for me. Too bad that i probably won't be able to wear it until January because it's really warm and right now it's almost October and it's 94 degrees today.

In other news, it is less than one week until my 25th birthday and job hunting still sucks.

Crafty Goodness

Last night we did end up finishing the Coca-Cola purse and it is super-hot. Mom and I went to this little craft fair. I ended up ending a little butterfly shaped scrubbie and the coolest suncatcher for my car that is made out of blue star beads. We got a cross one with purple beads for my aunt which I know she will love.

It looks like while I'm job-hunting I'm going to do some volunteer work at the school where my sis teaches cause they need some one to make their bulletin boards. Yay--I love to cut and paste.

Mom and I went through four huge tubs of various craft magazines that she has accumulated over the last twenty years and edited it down to one smaller tub. The Clean Sweep guy would be so proud.

I have also updated my pics on Flickr. I didn't write descriptions for them because I think they are mostly self-explantory and if somebody wants to know more they can leave a note.

Free As A Bird

So much is happened. On Wednesday, I decided the hell with it all and I quit my nasty miserable job. Now I have to get a new one (job hunting stinks) but this time I am going to do a better job and get something that I can actually support myself with and that doesn't involve being chained to a phone or performance-based pay.

I've been working on some projects with my mom. We finished one out of two purses. The second one is going to look really cool because I found this really unusual black Coca-Cola fabric for it. We also made another crochet hook case that rolls up. The homemade ones are the best because they tend to hold the hooks in better cause you can customize them to fit the types of hooks that you have. I finished the Openwork Square block and I am proud to say that it turned out really nice. I finally got my digital camera back from my sis so now I can take pics of my completed stuff for my photo blog. I have temporarily shelved the felt project because I tried to make it this morning but the shape was all wrong and it made mad so i threw it out. I still have more felt so I will attempt again later this weekend. Mom and I are also making two hooded duckie towels for my friend that is having a baby in January. It's really easy to do and they look really cute when they are done (it's a Martha Stewart pattern--did i mention that she's my homegirl?).

On the tv front, I finished watching the last of my Roseanne Season 1 dvds. I have managed to make it through four QAF episodes while my mom is at wal-mart(don't even ask about that).

A Good Thing

I finished the half and half block yesterday and then it was onto the next block, #10 Openwork Square. Now a block that has a one hook rating is supposed to be easy, but I have a severe learning disability when it comes to interpreting crochet patterns. There's eight sections with three rows in each section and it took me numerous frogging before I got my counting right and finished section 1. The good news is that sections 2 and 3 went a lot easier and I think it will look pretty when it is done--I am using Caron Simply Soft in "embroidery" which is a varigated yarn done in shades of jewel tones.

I also got some felt at Wal-Mart to make this subversive little stuff toy that I saw on a Craftster post. Those who know me, have an idea of what it is--to the rest of ya'll, I'll leave that up to your own little dirty minds.

I loathe my job but I am torn because I just qualified for decent insurance. Grown-up stuff sucks monkeys.

Back to crafty goodness. Martha Stewart's new crafty show "martha" debuted today and the hole in my heart is now filled for now. I have decided that I would like to live in her new studio, in one of the cabinets in the craft room. The whole entire studio is fully-functional right now to the faucets and the greenhouse. She taught Marcia Cross how to make scrambled eggs. Tomorrow is the "coming home" poncho day. Mommy is going to tape it for me because i will be at stupid work.

It's off to the land of crochet where I can turn all my frustration into a pretty little square.

Betty Crocker Eat Your Heart Out

Where to start...First, I conned my sister into going to Tulsa this morning with me so that we could go to Target. I hate shopping alone. I wanted to check out the infamous $1 yarn at Target that the girls at Craftster have been discussing for the last couple of weeks. I ended up with 10 little balls of yarn, a pair of 13mm bamboo needles, and two little spiral bound knitting books. Plus some other random stuff. Then we went to Old Navy, where I picked out teacher-appropriate jeans that my sister could wear on casual fridays at the preschool she teaches at. I found black socks with glow in the dark skulls on them. How cool is that??? Did I mention that Target also had 10 pack Crayola fat markers for 1.04! Holy cow, we bought a lot of those for the kiddies to get crafty with. Praise Jesus, gas is only 2.72 a gallon, I can't believe I'm happy about that, but that is much better than over three dollars like it was last week.

After the shopping expedition, I came home, spent a lot of time petting my new yarn stash, and baked five sheets of slice and dice cookies--chocolate chip and some sugar cookies too. I also watched disc 1 of Roseanne Season 1. I forgot how funny the earlier years were. George Clooney had the thickest hair then--how lush!

My List

Well, I have the next two days off and boy am I glad! I just found out that i have to go through another useless training class that runs Mon-Fri this coming week. I also had to attend a meeting today because i'm now eligible for benefits (as in insurance). I don't know, it's a decent paying job but I just don't like it. I show up because I have to.

On to the fun stuff--I am half-way through crocheting my half and half block. I am going to make my frosted sugar cookies tomorrow using my new Pampered Chef cookie cutters. I am also trying to brainstorm ideas for crafts to make for this new swap I am participating in Craftster this month. Repainting my toenails is on the list to do as well. Pretty much anything on my fun list.

Fun times...