Good Day!

Today was a good day.  I sold some of my handmade jewelry, Woohoo!  Thanks Alyson!  I would really like to set up a trunk show soon for some of my friends and would also like to start selling at some craft fairs.  I need to get moving on building more inventory first though.

Anyway, I'm exhausted now because she came to the house to view it and it was an unholy wreck.  Piles upon piles of kid toys and school papers were everywhere, and dish mountain had grown huge.  So I scrambled to make the house presentable and set out my inventory (which I am going to try and photograph tonight to get the rest up on my etsy page) before she came over. 

Speaking of etsy, anybody got any good tips on getting more traffic to my shop?  I've had the shop open for a couple of months now and haven't sold one single thing there.  I must be doing something wrong.  Any ideas? You can see some of my wares and a link to my shop if you scroll down and look on the right hand side of my blog.  Ideas and comments would be much appreciated.  Sales also of course!  :)

Exhausted or not, it was well worth it.  Considering our financial straights right now, a little extra cash goes a long way towards keeping a roof over our heads!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Doesn't Everyone Sleep With Their Knitting?

Doesn't Everyone Sleep With Their Knitting?

Tahki Yarns Classic Pullover Complete!

As promised, I have a pic of the completed sweater:

Project:  Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic Pullover
 Size: Small
Needles:  Size 6
Yarn:  worsted weight, Hobby Lobby  I Love This Wool!  Solids - Seal Brown


Mods:

1. Did the body of the sweater in the round, but the sleeves flat. Keeping the sleeves flat helped immensely when it came time to piece it together. It turned out looking very well finished.
2. At the neckline, Idid an additional round of decreases to keep the sweater from sliding off my shoulders and then 6 rows of st. st. so that the curl at the top matched that of the bottom.
3. Used wool instead of cotton.

I was really worried that this sweater had serious problems.  Before blocking I tried it on and both the sleeves and bottom of the sweater were too short and that the waist shaping looked horrible.  The sleeves were about an inch too short, which was odd since according to the specs in the pattern, I had made them an inch longer than I was supposed to.

But with the magic of blocking, the sweater fits me perfectly.  I love the details of the cables on the shoulders matching the cables at the bottom of the sweater and also the curl matching at both the top and the bottom.   I also a love boat neck top, it's so flattering on.

My Frugal Deal Of The Day

The Youngest has this "little" hangup about Super Hero shirts.  We have had the worst knock down drag out fights and temper tantrums over them.  Mainly the fights occur when the shirts are dirty and he can't wear them.  He would wear them dirty daily if he could get away with it.  Which he can't.  Thus the huge, very loud fights.

So I went out today with the goal of finishing up all my shopping for the boys.  One of those gifts was going to be a super hero shirt.  This is a must-have gift that will hopefully save my sanity when another superhero shirt is dirty.  Well, I found one that is perfect.  It has Spiderman, Ironman, Wolverine and some other hero that I can't remember now.  I wrapped it already so I can't go and check.  Darn.  Senility comes earlier and earlier I tell ya.

Anyway, on to the frugality!  I had a JCPenny's coupon good for $10 off of a $10 or more purchase.  The shirt was normally $24.99, but was on sale for $11.99.  It came with a toy car too.  I spent a total of $2.11 for that shirt and toy!  How cool is that?   Two items for $2.11.  You can't get much better than that.

Pretty Thing

I finished my sweater project this past weekend.  It's heading to be blocked now, so I'll have to show you a pic later.  However, I did have one problem with the sweater.  The sleeves.  Too short.  I'm not sure if the designer has short arms or if mine are abnormally long, but they're about an inch too short.  What's funny, is that each sleeve was an inch longer than the pattern specs called for before being set in.  I can assure you that there are not two inches bunched up in the seams.  I have no clue what happened.  I'm going to block it first and then see if I need to pick up stitches on the cuff and add more length.  We'll see what happens.

After finishing the sweater, I picked up a small lace project:

This is the Yarn Harlot's Pretty Thing Cowl, or at least what I've gotten done so far.

For full disclosure, let me state that this is the third cast on of the cowl and it is not the yarn that I originally began it with.

1.  First Cast On:  The first time I cast on for this project, I royally screwed up.  I read the charts like the project was flat and to be turned.  Big Note To Self:  When working with a lace chart in the round, always read the chart from right to left exclusively.  There.  Maybe I won't forget next time.  So I frogged what I had created.

2.  Second Cast On:  The first yarn was some gorgeous silk that I spun into laceweight singles.  However, the yarn wasn't quite bulky enough and just didn't look right.    I could have gone down a needle size (I'm using a US4) and continued to use the silk, but I decided that the silk would be put away and used in a future project.

3. Third Cast On:  This time, my reading of the chart was dead on, my counting of all stitches was correct and the yarn is working up beautifully.  Whew!

The yarn is some recycled yarn from an old sweater of mine that a moth got hold of.  There were only two small holes, but the sweater was out of style anyway so I frogged it.  The yarn is a lovely dove gray and is so incredibly soft.  Let me read you what's in it:  30% cotton, 22% nylon, 20% rayon, 13% lambswool, 10% angora rabbit and 5% cashmere.  What a mix!

Teacher Gifts

Wanna know how I spent my afternoon?  Making teacher Christmas gifts!

Bracelets are such a great gift for teachers.  My Sister In Law is a teacher and absolutely hates the typical "apple for the teacher" kind of gifts.   I figure that most teachers probably feel the same way, so I'm making all of the kids' teachers these pretty glass bead bracelets.

I'm letting the kids pick out what they think the teacher will like.  I didn't make any of these with specific teachers in mind, I just had lots of fun playing with different color combos. 

I'm going to be making some more for my etsy store.  If anyone is interested in any of these for Christmas gifts, just let me know the colors your prefer and whether you want gold, silver or bronze findings and I'll put some together for you.

 

Flash Your Christmas Decorations!

It's that time of year, when your house comes alive and is cheery and bright.  I challenge you all to flash the interwebz with your lovely Christmas Decorating!

I'll go first.


The Main Tree (there are four, but the rest are all small and scattered around the house):

The Mantle ( my apologies, I couldn't get the lighting right and every pic I took was grainy):

My cute little hutch:

The Clay Pot Nativity Set that I made last year:

My goober of a helper:

Okay, that's all for today.  Now I wanna see yours!  Leave me a link!

What a Cat's Scarf Style Says About Her

The Daily Mail over in England had an article today about what a man's scarf style tells about him.    I thought I would do something similar to show you the completed Old Shale Scarf, but with a Cat.  That's Female.  And named Widget.

First off, is the Old School Look:

 What this says on a cat?  Please God, let this fall off of me and we'll pretend this never happened.

Next up, The Snuggler:

 

 

What this says on a cat?   Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.  Hate me because I'm superior to you in every way.

The next in line, The Undercover Agent.

What this says on a cat?  This one's not working.  The dangly bit was on top of my head, hiding my identity, but it fell off and now I look like a dork.  But this look is fabulous for elongating the body!  Dear God, am I one cat or two?

And last, but not least, The Artiste.

Or maybe not.

What this says on a cat?  I've had enough of the fashion modeling.  F-*bleep* off!

Widget did, however, like the tail that I forgot to weave in though.

It got the big dew claw up!  As opposed to the thumbs up.  that is.  Umm, please ignore the random blurry finger in the last shot.  Obviously the camera woman sucks at taking photos.

*Many thanks to Felicity Cloake for providing today's inspiration!

Afghans, Not Just For Babies Anymore

Plato said that Necessity is the mother of invention.  Do you think he could have been referring to my need for a snow scene under my retro silver and blue Christmas tree that lives in my office/dining room?

This was a baby gift for one of my sons from a great grandmother.  She'd probably have a cow if she saw how her crocheted afghan was being used now.  But isn't it better that we use it and not just put it into a box that's forgotten in the attic?  Here's a closeup:

I love finding alternate uses for items, especially when they've been given to us by family.  It makes things so much more special.

I'm Back

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving.  Me?  Well, there were enjoyable things, good/bad things and some downright scary things. 

On the enjoyable side, I finished one sleeve on my current sweater project and only have one to go.  I'm about an inch into it.  The food was fantastic.  My Mom should be a professional chef.  I've gained three pounds because of it.  Wait.  Maybe that should be in the bad things category.  I also finished the scarf WIP.  If I remember, I'll block it tonight, but don't hold your breath.

Good/Bad Things - Yay!  We're not moving to Raleigh!  Now I don't have to figure out all the moving stuff.  Boo!  Now there isn't a job in the foreseeable future.  The whole thing fell through based on several factors.    Now I just have to deal with the depression that has set in with the two adults in the household and keep it from affecting the two kids.  It's hard for me to be all creative when I'm depressed.  I tend to pick up books and read to escape reality and this severely cuts into my knitting time.

Downright Scary - A family member was given some scary results on some medical tests.  The person has to go back for more tests to confirm the first tests, so we'll know more at a later date.

Whew!  It was quite the Thanksgiving Holiday this year.  November has not been especially kind to us.  Let's hope December will take pity on us and cut us a break.

Goodbye

There are four less feet clicking on our floors today at my house.  One less gentle loving friend to greet us at the door.  It's heart breaking.

Jette was 13.5 years old and suffered from hip and knee problems.  Her body just couldn't keep up anymore.  We're going to miss her dearly.  A more gentle, psychotic looking dog you've never met.  She was the best alarm system that we could have had and a wonderful playmate.   She was our first baby and is the first to go of our four footed children. 

It's been difficult to explain to the Youngest.  When he asks where Jette is, we just tell him that "She's at God's house."  He asked us after that if the baby was hugging her and we said, "Yes, Baby Jesus is hugging her."  It's only the truth.


Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I'll see you on Monday.

Easy Denim Quilt

I showed you a WIP last week that was over a year and a half old.  Well, this week's FO completely put it to shame.  This one took me over SEVEN YEARS.  Yep, seven whole years. 

This is my denim quilt that I began way back when: and finished a couple of nights ago:

We were cleaning out the garage and I found it.  The reason that I never finished it was because of the scissors and denim combination.  You have to clip through two layers of denim and two layers of cloth and it's very tiring on the hands.    When I found it again, I got it out and started cutting. I ended up using small garden shears to do it. I was supposed to be doing laundry, but we all know how that goes, huh?   I ended up with blisters on my thumb and my pinky finger the other night as I finished it.  Not the fun part of this quilt.   Then I washed and dried it and it was ready to go. 

The denim was all from jeans that were worn my me, the hubby and the Eldest.  The Youngest wasn't even a thought at the time of this quilt's beginning.  This is such a great way to use up old denim jeans and jackets.

Here's a close up so you can see what I'm talking about with the clipping of the denim.  The clipping allows the backing fabric and the denim to fray so that the backing color peeks in through the denim in the front. 

It is an incredibly easy quilt to make.  The hard part is getting enough denim to start the project. 

How do you make it?

Wash your backing fabric first!  Then start cutting out squares.  You will have to do some math to figure out how many to make.  It depends on if you want a throw size or a specific bed size.  This one is a twin size.    A smaller quilt would have been so much smarter to do on my part.      I believe the squares were around 6" square.  Then they were sewn in strips - one denim and one fish.  Next, the strips were all sewn together with the seams all on the denim side.  Clip the seams carefully, don't go through the sewing.  Wash and dry about four or five times and you're done!  You really don't need more instructions than that for this quilt.  If you want more details, let me know and I will attempt to remember back seven years for you.

It's extremely heavy.  This would be a great one to leave in the trunk of the car and use for picnics or other outdoor activities.

Santa Lives at the Mall!

Here at the House O' Shea, we're gettin' into the Christmas Spirit a wee bit early.  We do this every year really, because I hate the Christmas crowds, specifically, the ones waiting to see Santa.

I got the kids dressed up and off we went to the mall.  (I should have inspected the Eldest before the picture, I let him dress himself and I didn't notice until we got home that his collar was all out of whack.)  There were no other people in line, yay!  We walked in, talked to Santa and off we went.  Well, sort of.  It took about ten different takes to get an okay picture.  They were either blinking, not smiling at all or were distracted by other stuff in the mall and wouldn't look at the camera.  I took what I could get, messed up collar and all.  I'm sure Santa's leg was going to sleep with the Eldest sitting on it for so long.  That kid is heavy and tall for his age (9),  he's 85lbs!  

The Youngest was really funny, he went back to talk to Santa some more since there weren't any other kids waiting and asked him where he lived and if he knew where we lived.  Santa replied that the elves have a GPS to help him get to every house, so no worries there.  When we got home The Youngest said, "I had fun going to Santa's house!"  Did you know that Santa lives at the mall? 

Now, I'm almost done with the shopping for the boys.  Again, I hate lines and people with miserable attitudes, so I shop as early as I can.   I've never heard the Youngest as for anything until today.  Crap.  Now my shopping list has been expanded by a couple of toys.  He asked for a Batman Bat Cave with Robin, Joker and Penguin.  They should be delivered next week sometime.  I couldn't wait, I ordered them as soon as I got home from the mall. 

The Eldest has a mile long all year round list that is usually filled with expensive electronic type games, so he's no problem, but I figure I have to get the only thing that the little guy has asked for all year long.  Cause Santa has to bring at least one thing on the kid's list, right?

Return of the WIPs

It's the Return of the WIPs Episode of All Things Shea!  Well, only one really.  Remember this project?

This is the Old Shale Scarf (Ravelry link) by Tienne.  I'm using Colinette Jitterbug Sock Yarn for it.  Aren't the colors great?

I started this project back in September 2008.  The whole project was sidetracked by lots of other projects.  This time, it's sidetracking my current project.  I am halfway through the first sleeve of my sweater and very bored, so it's time to pickup and finish this little 2008 WIP.

It's funny really, I don't have very many WIPs.  (That's Work In Progress for those that aren't familiar with the term.)  I'm a fairly monogamous knitter.  There are only two other WIPs that I have sitting around and those were planned that way so that I would have something to do between big serious projects.  This, however, has just been plain neglected, poor little scarf.    

The Thrill of Bargains

I hit up my favorite thrift shop over the weekend to get the Eldest some "camping" clothes.  Basically, he needed some play clothes that he could wear that it wouldn't matter how much dirt he ground into them.  So, off I went.

Check out the cool deals that I found:

1 pair of camouflage pants = $2.48
1 pair of pants (zip off, REI brand, never worn) = $2.98

Perfect!  But I found more goodies too:

1 Rubbermaid storage tub (it's pink, but I can live with that) = $.99  Most of my jewelry making stuff fits in it, which makes me really happy.  I've been tired of using three smaller storage boxes.
1 Knit It Sheep Kit (Retails for $14.99, still shrink wrapped) = $1.98

Being frugal can be hard, but sometimes it's just plain fun.  All that for $8.93, which includes the 6% sales tax in this county, and let's not forget to mention the thrill of finding stuff for next to nothing.  Combine that with the $22 bucks that I saved on our grocery bill from coupons and sales and you can go ahead and call it a good weekend! 

Of course, my Monday totally and supremely sucked, but what else can you expect from a Monday anyway?

Moving Issues and Sweaters

Yikes!  I just realized that I haven't mentioned yarn or knitting kinda stuff since October.  Wow.  Can you tell that I've had other stuff going on?  My interests are wide and varied and I seem to have the attention span of a flea lately. 

There is a reason that the attention span is so tiny right now.  Remember me telling you about the hubby losing his job?  Well, another has come along.  We're not thrilled about it, but we're going to have to take it.  He has sent out a bazillion resumes and nobody is calling for interviews.  I mean, Atlanta is a big place.  Isn't there somebody hiring around here?  So, the new job.  It's in Raleigh, NC.  He starts in December and will be there by himself for a good while. 

See, we've got numerous things that have to be done to our house before we can sell it, we have rental property to deal with and the kids are still in school.  The housing market still sucks so it looks like we'll end up losing money and then still not be able to get a loan for a new house in NC cause we won't have any cash to roll over into a new house.  Sucks huh?  On top of that, he's not going to be getting paid very much. 

At this point, we're not even sure that we'll be able to survive even with the new job because of the moving issues!  See, I told ya there was a lot on my mind right now!


However, this is a knitting blog and there should occasionally be knitting to look at right?  Here's where the sweater stands at the moment:

I have finished the front and back and I've begun the first sleeve.  I started that while on the school bus rides to and from the Ga Aquarium yesterday.  The kids were so funny about it too.  Is that hard?  Why are you doing that?  Do you take that everywhere you go?  They were so fascinated that someone would be knitting on the bus.

Chaperone for a day

I am now officially in need of a good stiff drink.  I chaperoned a field trip at the Eldest's school to the Georgia Aquarium.  While the aquarium is incredibly cool, chaperoning elementary children in a crowded venue is like herding cats.  It was fun though, don't get me wrong, just exhausting.  I got a few good pics to share with you though:

Love how the kids look like shadows here:

I love seeing the alligator like this:

 

 

The shark isn't very clear.  It was almost impossible to get a good shot of most of the exhibits.  You're not supposed to use a flash, so most of my pics weren't as nice as they could have been.  

One of these days I'll get around to showing you my knitting again, like tomorrow!

It's Elementary My Dear Watson

The Eldest portrayed Dr. Watson of Sherlock Holmes fame for a presentation at school on mysteries.  It was worth 40% of his grade.  He got a 105!  The costume got him the extra brownie points.  This was a costume that we put together a couple of years ago and he got to use it again.  The bowler hat, moustache and pipe all came from party city.  The coat is a jacket that belongs to his dad, but looks like a trench coat on him.

  Yay Eldest!

In Nanowrimo news, I've had to give it up.  Once again, family and sicknesses have derailed me.  I may try again at around 500 words a day instead of the 1667.  I was managing that amount just fine, but for some reason the 1667 just wasn't doable.  Maybe next year.

I Got Tagged!

Abby,over at BittenbyKnittin tagged me for an award! 

Here's the details (as stolen from Abby's blog cause I'm lazy):

The Neno’s Award Rules and Regulations:
1. As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.
2. To seek the reasons why we all love blogging.
3. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.
4. Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.
5. Answer the award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.
6. Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.
7. Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.

Why do I blog?  I began this blog as a place to put my Knitting FO's.   It quickly morphed into a place to put stuff about my boys and then my weird spinning and diy projects.  It's kinda funny, but now I get more hits on diy stuff than what I started out doing.  I guess more people are into makin' and doin' their own stuff now that the economy has gone south.  I love that more people are branching out now and trying new things for their home and hobbies.  Maybe now I won't be the only "weird" one!

Now, it's my turn to tag! 

I'm going to tag Filth Wizardry.  This is a new blog that I've just discovered.  This woman puts me to shame on the stuff that she comes up with for her kids.  I'm especially in love with her hotdog/spaghetti supper that she came up with.  I am so doing this tonight with my kids.

What a Difference!

What a difference some hot glue and beaded trim makes!

Before on the left and After on the right:

Burlap Curtain Project Review:

1.  I did this on a bay window.  It would normally be very simple to do the hardware for the project, just have 3 straight curtain rods and 2 swivel socket connectors.  Put them together and install.  However, Ikea's connector was for a 90 degree angled wall and the angle for my bay windows was not.  Thus, the blow torch that I mentioned in an earlier post.  It would have been much simpler to use a swivel socket connector.  This carries on the tradition of my making every single project I touch much more difficult than it needs to be!

2.  My burlap panels are not going to be closed, they will stay as they are in the pic above.  So I cut the panel in half, approx. 24 inches wide.    If they were to be closed I would have left them at 48 inches wide, but that wasn't necessary for these windows.

3.  No sewing necessary!  I added 9 extra inches to my finished length.  1 inch to be turned under at the bottom for the hem and hot glued and 8 inches to be folded over in the front for a faux valance-y kinda look.  Obviously I do not know the formal name for this type of curtain.  Normally you would put the black part of the trim to the inside of the flap, but I wanted the black trim to echo the black bar above and the knobs on the cabinets.

4.  The panel is hung on the alligator clips attached to the rings.  So, you don't need to sew a pocket for the rod or put in grommets.  Grommets are not my friends.  They don't like me very much.

5.  For the bay window, I did 4 total panels of burlap, which was super cheap.  It was $2.99/yd and I had a 40% off coupon from JoAnn's.  The trim was purchased there as well.  I only used about two yards.  I got this on sale as well.  There are also 4 sheer panels that I found at Big Lots for $5.00 a piece.

Here's how I hung them up:  Panel, sheer, panel, sheer, sheer, panel, sheer, panel.  Or, one panel on each side and one in between each window.

6.  These go down to one inch above the floor.  I wanted a more dramatic look in the breakfast nook than shorter curtains would have given me.

So my breakfast nook is now complete:  (Please ignore studious boy doing homework)

I added new chair cushions and table cloth and it's finally done!  I love all the colors and textures in my kitchen now.