10:56 AM

This is my long term boyfriend Chris. We've been together for, almost 6 years. Here is a picture of him, since I have not taken any pictures of my knitting.

I finished Calorimetry. I ended up still being WAY to wide and WAY to long. But it keeps my ears warm. I need to adjust the buttons and maybe add another one on the other side for keeping both ends secure.

I finally joined the bandwagon and cast on for "THE CLAP!" I've honestly wanted to for a while, but have been to lazy. I cast on with some crappy Patons sparkly yarn that I picked up at BIG!Lots (Which I LOVE! Now if only Ross would carry yarn!) for a whole wopping $1 a ball. But the pattern is much easier than it looked, as well as being very easy to memorize. Which can be important for me because I'm blond times 10.


So I got the back done on Baby's First Tattoo (Stitch 'N Bitch Nation) and it looks okay. This will be my first sweater, so I'm kind of excited to get it finished. I still have to do the REST of the sweater. Now that is where things get bad. Most of the instructions are fine, but for the Front Left piece I get confused. I'll probably read over it tonight, like 4030 times, and than surf the net, pull some hair out and then at some point tomorrow I'll go "OH!!! I GET IT! DUH!" That's the way it always happens.

I re cast on Calorimetry the other night. This is such a simple pattern. The first time I did it, something went HORRIBLY WRONG. Okay, it was my knitting and the fact that my head is NOT THAT BIG. Really. So I was more careful this time.

I used that Caron Simply Soft Heather in Purple and size 6 needles. It's still a LITTLE wide, but it's a good length. I'll take some decent pictures of it when I get the button and put it on it tomorrow. Now, I wanted a stretchy cast off so I used the Elastic Cast Off from Dominitrix. It's K1, slip stitch back to left needle, k2tog, slip stitch back... and so on until you complete the cast off. It probably wasn't the best LOOKING cast off for the job, but it's stretchy. Maybe my Cast ONS shouldn't be so loose?

I've been trowing around the idea of making *sound of empending evil* THE CLAP! BWAHAHAHAHAHA. If you haven't heard of the Clapotis and you are a knitter, you live under a rock. Seriously. But I don't want a WHOLE GIANT THING I WILL NEVER EVER USE. I want a simple scarf for breezy weather. I'll start throwing around some ideas once I can afford to buy semi decent yarn for it.

I AM SO SORRY WITH MY TERRIBLE PICTURE TAKING SKILLS! I will have Bryson take the next set of pictures. He is so much better than I am.

One last note. I am IN LOVE with the fact that the Knit Picks Harmony DPN's come with 6 needles. That's fabulous.

I finished the back on on Baby's First Tattoo. My needles always seem sticky now or hard, and my hands seem to sweat to much. It's really irritating. I was thinking of using an Anime style bunny for the picture and than making a bunny hat in the same colors (Black and White). The sweater is for Vile's Baby. Chris aproves of the color.

Something Chris and I have ALWAYS talked about, is adopting/fostering. Perticularly older kids, where Chris has a soft spot. His parents recently (in the last year or so) started adopting/fostering kids. They pay more attention to their "New Children" than the older ones. Not that they ever gave their two oldest a real chance. But lately, Chris' Step Dad has been real... Nice. And to Chris. Everyone is nice to me! I mean, I'm Kara. I'm awesome. Anyway, I'm getting way off topic. This lead to the discussion we have been having for the last 6 years. Adopting/Fostering. Maybe in six months to a year we would start. When we are settled. Kids from infant to 7 or 8 until the little kids are older. Than maybe teenagers.

This post makes no sense. Maybe I'll post again later.

12:29 AM

Something I've always been interested in are Ball Joint Dolls (BJD). BJD's are jointed dolls that come from Asia and vary in size and detail. Karen Vail does this introduction to BJD's that is very informative.

I think the thing I've always loved about these dolls is the individuality. Each doll is created by you with various parts to make this doll that at some point stops being a doll and becomes an extension of you. I find them to be like knitting. When I knit or crochet something a piece of me goes into each piece and is an extension of me.


The problem with BDJ's is the nice ones, are freaking expensive. REALLY expensive. But the possibilities for each doll are endless. The eyes, hands and wigs (yes, wigs) are removable and replaceable at any time! I love this. The thing is, sometimes your paying $100 + for a head alone, just so you can have one that's different.

So I've chattered enough, and Chris is falling asleep on the couch. So for your viewing pleasure, links!

Okay, so it's only one link, but if you go to the bottom of the page they have a links list of where to by them. Trust me, if you start looking you won't be able to stop.

I knit a swatch for Baby's First Tattoo with Caron Simply Soft. As you can see, This is a TERRIBLE swatch. I'm absolutely frustrated with the quality of this awful swatch. As you can see from this CRAPPY photo, that the cast on is nice and loose, the knitting is fairly even and I screwed up, but who cares, it's a swatch.

What I'm upset about is that tight cast off. Honestly, I have always done a tight cast off, and I thought I was doing it all loose, but I have GOT to do some swatches for doing a cast off that is loose and stretchy. This Cast Off is NOT loose or stretchy. In fact you can see where along the bottom, it's all loose and bunched up. The top is stretched as far as it will stretch to! It is seriously that tight. So readers, what cast/bind off do you use for a nice stretchy one?

I love Halloween. I always have. As a kid, it's the one time of year that you can stay out late on a school night, dress up in stupid costumes of your favorite characters, and eat candy until you gain 20 lbs. As a parent it is a completely different joy, and crazy amount of self induced pain. My favorite part, other than watching the kids enjoy trick or treating, is simply raiding their candy for the next month. Now I know why my Dad was always excited around Halloween.

Around here, Halloween is kind of lame. The kids can't wear their costumes to school, half the houses are dark, and sometimes (like where we are) you have to drive to go trick or treating. This year, a bunch of groups, including the classic car club decided to get together and do a trunk or treat. This is where you go trunk to trunk and people give you candy. It's a neat idea, and if it's small it works. This one, they must not have expected as many people because it was so disorganized and crazy. The first time we got there, there was a line to the street which was a busy street. We skipped and went door to door instead. When we got back, there we had to stand in a long, disorganized line where people would stop to talk to all the people they knew and than get mad that you went AROUND THEM. Please. If you are going to talk to your friends, keep walking! Hello! We left after one row because most people where out of candy and the place was just lousy.

Door to door was terrible too. Some houses more than make up for the fact that 30% of each block is blacked out. It was really disappointing, but I'm pretty sure that EVERYONE IN KINGMAN was at that stupid Trunk or Treat. It was actually pretty sad. I remember being a kid and going door to door. There would be maybe 2 houses on three blocks that would be dark, and you would come home with a pillow case FULL of candy.

At this point, Chris and I are currently discussing the idea of in the next few years, having Halloween parties for the kids and their friends and parents. Invite some kids and send home massive amounts of candy and party favors. It would be safe and fun.

I now leave you with a picture of my Cat who lives with my Mom because my Son is allergic. I got her before my oldest was born and had her up until August when I had to send her to my Mom's. She's still mine, and if I ever left town or my parents were to move I would bring her home and we would figure something out. I love her like my she's one of my own. She was so happy to see me last night and followed us to the car.

Okay, so I'm a total wimp. I decided to switch, but this isn't because I didn't like Word Press, only because you have to pay to change the CSS and I can't change the full layout the way I wanted to that way, and DAMN if I wanted to PAY to change my CSS (donating NOT included) I would buy a domain name (which IS in the future).

Projects have been moved up and down in my que. Projects have been temporarily abandoned. Projects get added every day.

My main goal is to start knitting for two babies on the way. First off Rachel is having a baby. So I need to add her to my list. Jekob and Angie are having a baby! This somehow got me really excited and I started making plans of all kinds of things to make mini Jekob! It's a girl, by the way. I've been making Chris keep track for me.

I'm leaving this post short because I'm adding and subtracting to the layout and in general being lazy. Forgive me. I will be adding more later.

Since this is a "new" blog. I will leave you with a picture of me.