Wool Eater Blanket

So last time I talked about finals but this time I would like to talk about where I have been for a little bit and what is happening with some of my posts. I do have a good few things I would like to post but they haven't been done enough so I had only one post set up on auto post. Seriously auto post would be brilliant if I was more dedicated to setting it up. As for where I was I took a mini vacation down to Charleston, South Carolina. I can see why it is such a highly rated tourist destination. The first day my father and I where out of the city. That is one of the few things we have in common, our love of just going out and walking. I enjoyed the walk but not so much the day. The family spent a ton of time arguing and just generally being unpleasant. We had meant to pick up some tea flavored Vodka for my stepbrother and see the famous Angel Oak. Sadly we didn't get the Vodka because we could not find any sign's for the distillery and do to how long we tried to find it we missed the closing of the gate for the oak tree by 17 minutes. Also the whole wile we where driving to find these places my father and I where picking off ticks. I'm not fully sure I got them all off ether. I have one spot on my leg that could be a tiny baby. Ew. That night I didn't sleep well, my family kept the light on in the hotel. I don't get it. I wasn't to happy about this trip to start with. I mean I do love the idea of getting out after all those finals but I was told last minute when we would leave. On top of that I had slept in till 3-4 the day they went for mothers day lunch and they left without me. Missing out on one of the few times we eat out and then told we are leaving early early the next morning is rubbish. They didn't even have the decency to tell me a time till way later. I should be grateful they told me a time at all, normally they don't. When they say early it could be anywhere from 3am till 11am. Like I said, rubbish.

The second day was much better. We went to the Charleston Museum to start with. It was pretty nice. I was most interested in the gun collection, their medical section, as well as their taxidermy section. I had to force my dad to stick around for the last one. I was having none of that rushing through like with the Smithsonian. Next it was down to the Old Exchange building on top of the Battery. The Battery is the wall that kept Charleston safe during its early years seeing as it was such a hard area to start a colony at. The Exchange is the only place the wall can still be seen from seeing as Charleston has artificially raised the ground several feet. I enjoyed the tour they gave. Normally I'm not too keen on the idea but at the same time with a good guide I find everything much more interesting. Finally the last of the day was spent in art galleries. By far my favorite was the RLS gallery. The hostess was very friendly and completely willing to share any information you wanted to know. She shared stories even if you didn't ask. Ok so many she was annoyingly friendly but I still couldn't find fault with her as she was so nice. My favorite artist was Nathan Durfee. Never before could I see myself wanting to buy a painting of a sheep farting into a tuba but I did. Really really didn't see that coming. K.C. Collins was also very inspirational. Anyone who uses an underwater aquarium camera to find references is ok in my book. Same could be said for Erik Johnson's goldfish. Fish are just cool ok?!

Now on to my own art. I really need to paint after all those lovely galleries but for now I'll share more yarn creations. This one again is from a pattern. I'm not a big blanket person so it is kinda the same as with my scarfs, just practice with patterns as a guide. This time it is the Wool Eater by Sarah London. It is a beautiful, and fairly simple, pattern. I'm hoping this will use up a large bit of spare yarn. I say that then buy three skeins so I can have a nice color transition, one I'm not even that happy about. I would call it beautiful up until that last row. There wasn't much I could do about it though. I didn't want to spend much so I wasn't going to buy an extra color and even with checking two stores I couldn't find a very good transition color that wouldn't cost me $20-30 by the time I was done. Oh well I'm sure it will be fine in the end. Though the picture makes me feel better about the real product because I hate it that much.

Back again!

Well that was an eventful trip to grandmothers. We left in the middle of the night and I spend the next three days painting. The first day I had to have been on an adrenalin rush. Not only did I spent the whole day painting I also took two, 3 mile walks. One of them barefooted. They looked at me like I was crazy but it worked out the cramps in my feet from using my stepmothers shoes to paint in. By the end of the third day the sheds at my grandmothers was painted. We went to visit her at one point during those first few days, she wasn't doing to good though. She was tired and a bit drugged from an operation. Next time we visited she was hopping around all over the place showering everyone with hugs and kisses.

We had bad news with it though, my cousin may be going to jail. He was behind a van and the car in front of the van stopped short. The person in the van got out and he hit and killed her. I don't know any more details then that.

The reunion went well. I didn't talk to many people I didn't know most of them. There was probably somewhere between 50-70 people, a good bit probably not in the family. I know in the past my grandmothers priest comes, friends of the family, neighbors, and I think even friends of family members who no longer come because of a divorce. Kinda wild.

I actually payed attention to the capture the flag game this year, only because I was asked to spy for Robert who is the only adult that plays normally. Randy wanted everyone to team up against him, they probably should have. He did something slightly illegal in the game, he tied the flag to an electric pole.

I met the man my aunt is interested in, I really like him and I think he is good for her. I also volunteered to work on grandmothers house this summer if it is not sold and they want me.

We picked up some stuff that was in grandma's living will. Anything that was gifted is to be returned and she had a few other wishes. My dad gets a few old bibles, a small rocking chair for children, a doll bed made by an older relative (this is to be offered to one of my aunts), as well as a few other objects and a portrait drawn of his grandparents I believe. He also asked for all pictures done by this one artists. It was pretty tough figuring out who the artist was. I had the feeling it was a guy  but my dad thought it was a female friend of his grandmothers. All we had was the last name to look at. First we tracked down who dad thought it was, she had the right last name. Turns out she was his grandmothers sister. We found it on the old family tree dad put together. Then we wondered if it was her or one of her children. Finally my cousin Rachel, who has done expensive work on the family tree, confirmed it was not Helen but her first husband.

Grandchildren are not apart of the will unless their parents pick up something for them but I did get pictures. They where ones of my mom or of me seeing as I was the only one who could claim them. I believe they also agreed that any stuffed animals that my grandmother made would go to the great grandchildren. The grandchildren already got stuffed animals from her.

I also got a lot of yarn from my Aunt Joy. She always has a ton in boxes all over the house and she lets me pick some up. My chest is now filled again. I had to take down all the blob bunnies so I could use my floor again. She also gave me starwars ties. Kick ass.

That is all I really wanted to say about my trip. Today sucked but I had to write this out. What made today suck was a lot of things, almost a thousand dollar text book bill and my ipod being washed. Not to mention my stepmother being nasty about the incident because I pissed her off.

I'm just left being tired.

No pictures with this one. I have one but I'm not waiting for my camera to charge in order to add it.

Sale

I found out there was a sale going on at Michel's. I wish I had more then $10 on me. I would have gotten more simply soft yarn and I would have also picked up a few prisma colors. I miss the few I had in Colorado. I'm excited about what I did get though. I'm going to even skip drawing today to work on a few projects without worry.

Tools, Storage, and Buttons

Lots and lots of buttons....so much so you will probably think I'm a bit strange. Before that lets look at my yarn stash and where I keep it.

This cedar chest, which makes my yarn smell nice, was picked up at an auction and stuck in my room and left unused for a wile. It was a few months ago that I made up my mind that it would be the perfect spot for my projects. It is a bit too full with yarn to put everything in but that can just be motivation to work more.

This is my everything small tray that goes inside the cedar chest. It is a perfectly handy thing to have and I feel it fits everything nicely. You can see a pair of knitting needles but don't ask me about them I barely know anything about knitting. I will tell you they are size 4 if you are curious. The blue and orange things in the middle are stitch markers. More then likely the best investment I made for crochet. Down a little to the left is the tapestry needles I use. I must admit they waste a good bit of string but they are SO much easier to use then standard sewing needles. The teal thing is a sewing touch up kit for loose buttons and things. My mother gave it to me a very long time ago.

This also reminds me yesterday I talked about my hooks but I forgot to say something. My aunt was the one to give me my first for an H hook but my mom also gave me her F hook. She didn't do too well picking up crochet. I later learned she was using a hook 4 sizes too small for the yarn she was using. XP

I recently picked up another mini sewing kit just to get a few more things on the cheaper side.

And finally my piles and piles of buttons.

I love those little canisters. Kinda wish I had a place to hang them.

Materials

I'm very cheap when it comes to materials in most cases. A large amount of my yarn comes from my Aunts or places like Big Lots that sells small, special type yarns for a dollar. I also use acrylic, man made fibers, to keep the cost down. Brands like Red Heart use these types of fibers and cost around $2.33. I consider this a pretty good price for the amount of stuffed animals you can make with it. By far the most common type of yarn that I adore is Pound of Love from Lion Brand. As the name suggests it really is a pound. For $7.97 this yarn just keeps going and going to the point sometimes I want it to go away. Slowpoke, as well as these projects:

 have been made using this pound of love yarn. As you can see by the last picture I more then likely still have half the skein. You can also see a tan lump of Satin Bernat yarn. It is a very nice feeling yarn with a bit of a shine to it that the others just don't have. The fuzzy cat had the pound of love paired with Phentex Fashion Eight yarn. It took one skein of the Fashion Eight yarn and came from Big Lots. One last type of yarn I use regularly was a gift from my Aunt when she was cleaning out her stash. It is called Luster Sheen and is a very small type of yarn.

Here are my crochet hooks:

Starting with the purple they are K/101/2-6.50mm, a standard size H, a G/6-4.25mm, a F/5-3.75mm, a E/4-3.50mm, and finally a 5/1.90mm. K is used for doubling up on yarn or for special fuzzy yarn. Both kittens at the start of the page where made using this hook. The second is what I use for Red Heart yarn or others like it. G and F can both be used for baby thread but more often then not I will use F. E is what I use for Luster Sheen. 5 is good for thread. I do not use my 5 hook often but it is a handy little one to have around.

And finally my top 5 yarns I currently have in stock:

1) Move over baby animals, snuggly ducklings, or anything else cute and associated with snuggles this is by far the softest thing I've found in a very, very long time.
2) Still very soft with deeper colors I don't often see with this type of yarn.
3) I'll admit it is a really weird set of colors that should be a crime to use for carpet, I'm looking at you my elementary school, yet I am deeply attracted to it in this skein.
4) I just realized this one looks like my bed spread....not too sure how I feel about that.
5) So far these rolls have been found at Big Lots but this final one came from my Aunt N and is a Red Heart Holiday yarn. I don't know if it was a limited time offer or if I'm lucky I can find it now. I'll just have to keep a look out.

Keep an eye out tomorrow there is more to come.