Accessory to – um, well, me…

Check it out – I designed a newsboy hat for myself, along with a coordinating super-skinny scarf.

And then a shot of me wearing them, taken with the aid of our always-cooperative bathroom mirror:

It was really fun! I’m so very proud of myself. I’ve never designed anything like that before, and I think it turned out so very well. Now I’ve got the urge to try and see if I can design other ‘wearables,’ although I keep telling myself that I really ought to go back to that last kitten, whose disembodied head is sitting in my crochet basket even now.

On another topic of interest, I’ve been losing weight. I’m pretty proud of myself, and as of this morning, I’ve lost 14 pounds since this April. (My attention span is relatively short for dieting, so it’s been in gradual spurts.) I haven’t been this light since – age fourteen? And I was shorter then, too, so – well, I’m just doing really well. What’s my secret, you may ask? Well, aside from the sugar-free fudgesicles (only 35 calories, and they taste great!) I attribute my lack of over-eating to my crocheting. Hands counting stitches aren’t wandering through the refrigerator…and when I get bored, I get creative in the kitchen. Unfortunately for my calorie-counting ways, ‘creative’ = chocolate-peanut butter sauce swirled in with brownie batter. Mmmmm… I’m so bad.

I guess it’s a good thing I get so engrossed in crocheting. I started the hat one day while Max was eating his breakfast, and I finished it just after I gave him his dinner. I spent the whole day crocheting as fast as I possibly could, because I just couldn’t wait to get to the next round, the next step. I was pretty tired by the time I finished, so I relaxed the rest of the evening. Even while watching the Simpsons, though, my fingers were twitching to start another project! (Anything but the kitten – poor kitty, I’ll give you a body someday…)

Oh, and hey – CrochetMe comes out tomorrow! Ohhhh….I hope they get it up faster than last time, the wait was killing me! I kept checking every five minutes, just sure it would be there ‘this time…’

Easy Tunisian, my sweet patootie!

So, I thought I’d pick up tunisian crocheting over the weekend.

Let us never speak of it again.

No, seriously – have you guys tried to learn tunisian? Did it suck? I’m not even sure I was doing it right. The stitches slid around on the hook, got in my way, and when I managed a little swatch, it didn’t really look like the diagram in my book. Tunisian is advertised as crocheting that is ‘more like knitting,’ but now that I know how to knit for real, I’m wondering why I feel the need to pick up a technique that is being so friggin difficult.

I already had the hooks, I picked them up when I was about 13, 14 or so and started a project with the afghan stitch, which I later frogged down to its component parts. So, either I used to be able to do it, I never could figure out how to do it (can’t remember), or I was doing it incorrectly. (That would be my guess ) I definitely have vague memories of the process, because while I was working on it this weekend, I kept thinking “this doesn’t feel right…” and I don’t think that was entirely because it felt nothing like my comfortable rows of single crochet, nor anything like my knitting.

In other news, I’ve joined the happy, active community at Crochetville (about time, too… ) where I found some willing pattern testers for my llama. You remember the llama, right?

Is anyone else excited that Crochetme is coming out on Saturday? Heeheehee…

Cats and hurricanes

Awwww, sweepy kitty. I’m glad that’s over, it was tricky. I’m really enjoying creating these crocheted toys. I’m an artist, you know – or you might not know, I suppose. I am, I’m an artist. Not professional, or anything, but I’ve always loved to draw, and paint, and such. I never really managed to do much in 3-D art, although I wanted to. Paper and pencils are cheaper than sculpting materials, you know. I always thought that I’d be able to do it, but I never got the chance. It’s kind of nice to have this sort of vindication, to know that I can create in three dimensions as well as in two.

I have one more kitten I want to make, a playful white kitten to round out the set. I might take a little bit of a break, though, and do something else. Like dishes. Not that I’ve been neglecting my chores… But hey. Maybe a hurricane will come tonight and blow away all of my dishes. Okay, not really. Hurricane Rita is moving in our general direction, but they say that we shouldn’t see the hurricane itself, just storms and winds that she’s dragging with her. That was by no means the projection earlier this week, but I’m glad we’re not supposed to be hit by her. We were expecting nasty weather tonight, but perhaps we’ll get to order a pizza after all!