Getting Back to Reality

Ok, so I've been out of town for a long time. Where did I go? Thanks for asking, I was wondering around Salem and Boston, MA! It was great, cold, windy, historical...and stuff.

So, I don't have too much to report on the crafty plain. So here are a couple things I worked on/ finished before I left.


This is a glove I made and have never worn, I actually don't like it that much. The thumb was too long on the right and the left thumb was perfuct. But at least I finished the project!




This is the One-Skein Scarf by Denise Cozzitorto featured in the Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller. This scarf was really easy to make, took me about three hours. The most exciting part was that this is the first project I have ever blocked! And here's how it turned out!


Isn't she pretty!

Great Feet On Fire!

So, it's the Sunday before St. Patty's Day and I have been asked by my girlfriend if I want to join her in participating in the city St. Patty's Day Parade. I think: Great! I'm Irish, I'll get out there and "Top O the mornin to ye" to some fellow Irish peeps! What fun!

So, my girl and I go out and we buy all this green stuff to wear in the parade. We got Dublin Shamrocks shirts from Target, green and yellow fabric belts, green flip flops, green bandanas, and cute Irish Luck stickers to put all over our faces and clothes. We then come back to my house and spend 1/2 an hour getting ready and figuring out our driving route and where we'll get some traditional Irish lunch before parading. My roomie even offered us her free parking pass in the city so everything was going our way! Awesome!

We get downtown and everything is green. Everywhere there are shamrocks and Guinness. People are wearing beads, green boas, green hats, and sporting O'Malley stickers (not really Irish parade related, but I suppose it can't hurt his campaign to create white and green stickers and have people wear them while they drink out in the open in the middle of the street!) So, my girlfriend and I find this great place, Mick O'Sheas, that is completely packed with green people. I get my shepherds pie and she gets her cornbeef sandwich and we har-de-har it up with some locals. We snap some great shots of us playing with the stickers we had just purchased. And we are off again.

Now this is where the Irish Luck turns in to Irish F**k.

We are walking down the middle of the blocked off street drinking our beer and heading towards the start of the parade since we are suppose to walk in it. Then we notice this man sitting on the curb with all this steam/smoke swirling around him. No, he wasn't magic, the smoke/steam was coming from the sewer cover in the street. We, slightly intoxicated, decide to inform this man that that might not be the best place to sit for the parade.

The next thing I know, my foot feels ice cold and I'm screeching, jumping up and down, and running for the sidewalk! Turns out I had been standing on the sewer plate with my feet on either side of the hole that was releasing the steam. I had made a run for the sidewalk and sat down, grabbing my friends beer out of her hands and placing her plastic Coors bottle on one foot and mine on the other. Then a cop rushes over to "assess" the situation. His only suggestion was that he could call the ambulance, to which I said, "Oh, that's just silly, I'm not bleeding I'm just burning!" My girlfriend ran back to the car that was parked for free in a garage, but I didn't think in my shocked state to give her the parking pass card. Apparently they lifted the gate when she drove up and she just kept going without paying.

About 20 mins later I had talked to my boyfriend and my mom, all the while sitting on the sidewalk with beer bottles on my feet with people starring at me like I was a parade attraction. Both Mom and Boyfriend suggested that in true Irish tradition (assuming I am not too badly burned, which I was not) I should just suck it up and drink till I couldn't feel the pain and enjoy the rest of the parade.

So, I did! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A) Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Sales at Victoria Secret.
2. Resident Advisor at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, CA.
3. Front line at McDonalds (burned myself with fry grease, had a bad acne breakout, I was 15 and needed a workers permit signed by my parent, then I cut all my hair off and some guy who worked there slapped my ass thinking I was a male friend of his. I quit after 5 days).
4. Office Manager for an Architectural Firm

B) Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Bridget Jones' Diary
2. Jerry Maguire
3. The Color Purple
4. With Honors

C) Four places you have lived:
1. Baltimore, Maryland
2. Los Angeles, California
3. Buc, France (just outside of Paris). I only lived there 3 weeks, but I was staying with a host family thousands of miles away from my parents at the age of 14, so I'm counting it.
4. Annapolis, Maryland

D) Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Friends
2. Wife Swap (Love it! Totally addicted, those people are crazy!)
3. Gilmore Girls
4. Relations

E) Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Chicago (Hello, Gretchen!)
2. San Miguel, Mexico
3. Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Stonehaven, Scotland (Hi, Greg!)
4. Bethany Beach, Delaware (Hey Grrrrrrl!)

F) Four websites I visit daily:
1. www.craigslist.com
2. www.crazyauntpurl.com
3. www.yarncoffee.blogspot.com (plug!)
4. www.idealist.org

G) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Philly Cheese Steak
2. New York Bagels with plain cream cheese
3. Cheeeeeeeeeese, all kinds
4. Boyfriend's Apple Pancakes

H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Walking through a wine vineyard in Tuscany, Italy
2. Knitting in a stone cottage in Ireland
3. Playing with Koala bears in Austraila
4. At the Zoo.

Ok, since I haven't clearly figured how to add a photo album on this blog I am going to take this opportunity to post some of my work. Hope you enjoy!


This is a baby sweater I made recently. It is done with mostly double crochet and can be done in about 3-4 hours. I got the pattern off of www.Crochetme.com, it was submitted by Julie Holetz who converted the pattern from a knit pattern she liked. It is called Baby It's Cold Outside (this year's favorite Christmas song). I used Lion Brand Homespun for the main body and Red Heart acrylic yarn for the edging and buttons. This sweater is made for an infant but you can add four more stitches to the width and two more rows to the length and supposidly it will fit a 12 month old.

Ok, this scarf is called Hole-In-One. I got it out of The Yarn Girl's Guide to Simple Knits by Jilie Carles and Jordana Jacobs (they gave up medical and law careers to persue their own yarn store called the Yarn Company in NY). Gotta love a dedicated craftisan! I used a yarn called Angel Hair that I purchased at Joann Fabrics. It's made in all Stockinette Stitch. I loved this pattern, it was quick, easy, and fun (just how I like my projects)!


Now, I know this is not crochet but I have to admit that my first step into textile arts was taken in with a cross stitch pattern in my hand. I think I cross stitched some sort of bookmark with a bunny on it for a girl friend. It took me about a weekend to finish and I thought, "Wow! That was great, I made a picture using just fabric, thread, and a needle." Not to mention the counting, and counting, and counting! This particular cross stitch to the left though did not take me a weekend, nor a week, nor a month, nor a year. That's right, it took me five years (count them, 1,2,3,4,5 years!) and my poor mother waited patiently for this gift. I started when I was 15 and kept putting it down, getting bored, picking it up again, getting stuck with pattern not lining up, ripping out stitches, feeling hopeless, and putting it down again. So, after five years I finally finished it for her. I mounted it and framed it in a beautiful cherry wood frame. She loved it! And she cried (yes, always my goal, making people cry)



This is but a tiny crocheted flower that I try to wear with my black pea coat. Although sometimes I get the idea that it might look cute on the back pocket of of a dark pair of jeans with a red shirt and black boots, or on the lower back of a black button up shirt. I can't remember when I made it or what yarn I used but I do enjoy it's sheen.


I made this hat last winter while learning to knit. It was extremely simple and I didn't have to knit-in-the-round (Thank (your deity here!)) I got the pattern from The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits, it's called the Knitting Club's Hat.




Ok, well time for the Oscars. I can't decide who should win, I love them all!

So Long, Long Hair!

I did it! I finally let go of all my hangups about my long, long hair and cut it all off!
"You have such pretty hair, don't cut it" people would say to me. I had such guilt about the cutting it but seriously it was too heavy and it had been that way too long. Beautiful yes, but just because I am cutting it doesn't mean what's left isnt' beautiful too. It went from straight long layers to short bouncy just above my shoulders. I can still put it in a ponytail and now I feel carefree. No longer spending too much time taming the tresses.

Before and After!








In other knitting and crochet news I just got the new Happy Hooker book! My collection now looks like this
This book's title is A Yarn Girl's Guide to Simple Knits
Now if we'd just get that 3' of snow I could stay in and knit and crochet the days away!