Blah Blah Blog & so on ......

Product reviews and demos pt. 2

2011-12-04T13:49:00.000-05:00

Ok so I've finally be able to test some of these products as far as prepping and cutting goes. Some of the products failed in this 1st testing experiment. but I still have another one to do with them before I give you a final and over all conclusion as to the best method and what to buy.

So today I used a couple different products that I'll list below.

Martha Stewart Crafts Flocking, Glitter & Foil sheets ( 3 different products )

Provo Craft Yudu Foil and Flocking sheets ( 2 different Products )

June's Tones foil transfer

Heat & Bond Lite
Cricut Transfer tape

So what I basically did for this test is cut big enough pieces of the Heat & Bond and applied it to the proper side of the transfer materials so that I can have them ready for cutting in my Cricut. This step was successful.

Now came to the mounting and cutting part. Mounting the foils onto the cutting mat was ok until you had to pull it off to readjust. This caused the paper to come off and basically making it very difficult to handle even with the Heat & Bond attached. So this method with foil is a FAIL right out the gate because I didn't even get to cut it.

Now on a side note. I did have success with my second method using the Heat & Bond. And that's basically cutting your shapes or whatever out first them pressing the Heat & Bond on your shirt then doing the foils on top of that. But I'll go over this method in Part 3 a little later.

Top: Marth Stewart Crafts Foil Middle: June's Tones foil Bottom: Provo Craft Yudu foil

Next I went with the flocking. Heat & Bond onto the flocking. the MSC flocking has a plastic sheet backing and the Yudu flocking has a heavy paper backing on it. Everything went well up until the cutting. This method did not cut the flocking so good even with proper settings. The flocking would just tear and look over all crappy with the cuts. So this is sort of a FAIL as well.

Top: Yudu Flocking Middle 1: MSC Flocking

So lastly I have the MSC glitter. Heat & Bond placement great. Cutting was a half and half. You can't really do a kiss cut with this method because of the glitter but the plastic backing sheet on the glitter is thin enough to cut full through and get a good result but still not what I was looking to accomplish with this product.

Top: MSC Glitter sheets Middle: Kiss Cut method (Fail) Bottom: Full cut method.

I'm going to try 1 more test and see how that comes out this way I can do a final comparison and give you an overall idea of what is the best way to go with these products . Stay Tuned!

Product reviews and demos

2011-11-25T22:56:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,

So I've been buying a lot of products lately for T-Shirt design. Mainly to see what is out there on the general retail market for the everyday consumer so to avoid the endless hours of online combing for the lowest wholesale market specific prices and vendors.

As far as the garments go, I've only used one vendor so far out of New Jersey. Their shipping was extremely fast and product overall was a 9 out of 10 . Sizing is very good especially for the plus sizes that run long to accommodate for belly room in the shirt.

http://www.wholesaledirectusa.com

I've been buying some 8.5 x 11 glitter heat transfer sheets made by Tulip Brand. Retail wise they run you 14.99 and you get 4 sheets per package and they have 3 different color packages to choose from. I've been mainly using the Urban pack which is has Purple, Pink, Multi Silver and Aqua sheets. I've been using my Cricut Personal to cut out my designs from the sheets then weed my design ( take away the excess material) then place and heat press using my iron.

Tulip Fashion Glitter Shimmer Transfer Sheets

Instructions.
*Cutting these glitter sheets on a cricut machine you want to place the shiny poly side down and the backing side up. set the blade dial to 3. your speed to 2 and your pressure to 2 and cut. NOTE: make sure your images are cut in reverse or flipped so that when you put it on the garment it's facing the right way.

*Weed your image.
*Place image on shirt, have iron at the highest setting usually COTTON, no steam. If using a pressing sheet ( silicon or wax paper ) keep iron moving over the whole design do not let it stay in one place for a long period of time because the poly sheet is not heat resistant and will shrink and melt. This is the only CON to the product. also you want to make sure you do a 10 second count and peel hot to warm. full cooling will cause the adhesive on the poly sheet to really stick to the garment and may cause the glitter transfer to pull off.

This is an example of the Aqua Glitter Sheet

The next product I've used is Foil transfer sheets. This product is applied using adhesive with the option of heat. So far I've purchased 4 brands and have only used 2 out of the 4 since I've just recently purchased the other 2.

June's Tones Foils ( they also sell adhesive) one that I've already tried.

This Product comes in a few forms. you can get a 16pc value kit with different types of foils that are 6x12in sheets for around $13. You can also buy by the sheet 6x12in or 12x12in and a 12in x 50ft roll ( best value) as low as $31.20. I haven't seen this product in stores and I've just ordered directly from the company's website.

The cross bones are the Junes Tones Rainbow foil. I used Heat & Bond cut out shapes as my adhesive.

Simply Screen Foil Sheets by Plaid. ( they also sell adhesive) second I've tried

This product comes in a 6 sheet pack of 8x11 sheets for 9.99 but I haven't seen them in the stores anymore which has caused me to look at other products of the same type

Martha Stewart Crafts Foil Sheets ( adhesive also available ) not yet tried

This products comes in a set of 6 sheets you get 3 different colors in each package. There are 3 different color sets to choose from as well. The sheets are 6x7in and sells for 9.99 - 11.49. So far I've only been able to find the at Michaels.

YUDU Foil Sheets by Provo Craft ( adhesive also available ) not yet tried

This product comes in a set of 6 sheets and 2 colors in each package. There are 5 different color sets to choose from. Each sheet is 12x16in and sells for around 9.99. I haven't seen these in store yet. Jo-Ann's website does carry them you can also find a few online retailers or directly from Provo Craft.

Martha Stewart Crafts also has a line of Glitter transfer sheets at the 6x7in size but you need adhesive for this. And she has a line of Flocking which again you need adhesive.

Provo Craft also carries Flocking sheets and you'll need adhesive to do the transferring over to your garment. These run you alil more price wise and you only get 4 sheets in a pack and 2 colors with 5 different color sets to choose from. Same sizing on sheet 12x16in.

Once I test the rest of these products I'll post pictures and instructs on how I use them and do a "bang for your buck" comparison on everything. My next step is to get the actual heat transfer vinyl, glitter and flocking that does not need adhesive you just cut, weed and press. The products listed above you have to take and extra step.

My suggestion is that if you do decide to purchase these or any of the products that are carried in major crafting retail chains is to keep an eye out for coupons usually you'll find 40% - 50% off ones for Jo-Ann's, AC Moore and Michael's

Long over due.

2011-11-16T23:14:00.000-05:00

WOW! It's been awhile since I've updated so I think better take the time and do so.

I guess I'll just give alil run down of what been going on since last time to keep everyone up to date. I've finished a few quilting tops. Also started a few tops and completed some quilts as and and I think I have 1 in the process of being quilted now for completion. I've also jumped backed into the whole T-shirt thing, but this time using heat transfer stuff such as, foils, vinyl, flocking and glitters. Trying to come up with some more designs to hopefully start selling by the beginning of the year. In other news my day is great was awarded employee of the quarter this week for 3rd quarter of the year. Was a very nice surprise and it's really cool to feel appreciated for the efforts I make everyday.

So I think over the next few weeks I'll glance over my blog and tie up some loose ends as far as some tutorials I've half assed on here and need to finish up. Also thinking about doing some more "Give Aways" I just gotta think of what will be fun . I just like to share and give back and make someone's day alil brighter. So I promise i'll be back within the next week to get this blog back in gear :)

Start Quilt for Dummies : Part 1

2011-09-09T23:31:00.001-04:00

Hey Everyone,

So it's been a bit and I figured I'd do a little sew a long / lesson for everyone. I've decided to, and as you can probably tell by the title, make a Star Quilt of the Lone Star / Bethlehem style. All the photo's i'll be posting is my second attempt. I do have photos of my first but I got as far as trying to square up my final pieced diamonds and ran right into an EPIC FAIL. So I walked away for 2 days and came back with a clear head and got the job done. Well all 8 diamond pieces that is. Anyways lets just get to the fun :) Sit back enjoy and sew along if you'd like.

Step 1. RESEARCH ( I've covered most of this for you here but still it's fun to do alil research of your own ) I've found a few links mainly videos I'm happy to share with you.

First up is www.fonsandporter.com , you may have to subscribe to their video feed to view the video on the bethlehem star. There are 2 parts to that series in the the 1400 series video 1401 and 1402.

Next up is Jan Krentz full DVD on how to make a Lone Star Quilt. This one is a 3 day rental on Youtube that runs 3.99,

Last but not least and I think the most fun is Quilt in a Day - Radiant Star Technique , which is FREE and gives you some good tips. There are also some basic stuff floating around the internet too but nothing I felt was worth mentioning .

Step 2. Picking your fabric. I used a Jelly Roll of a fabric collection I bought at Joann's. Usually Jelly Rolls will have fabrics that all go together and from 1 whole collection. As mentioned the first star I did was crapped but I only used 10 strips from the Jelly Roll on the that star and the other 10 on the new one. Jelly Rolls are 2.5in x 42 - 44 in strips of fabric .

Step 3. After you've picked you're fabrics you can begin cutting. If you're using a Jelly Roll then no need to cut the strips because the work is done for you. If cutting you'll need to cut as many 2.5in strips selvedge to selvedge in all the colors that will be in your final pieced diamonds.

At any time feel free to click on the images to enlarge them to get a better view :)

OK so now I'll walk you through everything I've done so far.

In the pic above I've picked out the strips I want to use for my diamonds to make my star and also the fabric I want to use as my background. I've set my strips in 3 rows of 3 since you'll be making a 9 piece diamond. If you look closely you'll see the pattern the colors will make in the end. The 2 full orange pieces are the top and bottom points.

This is how I laid out my fabric rows to get the ready to make strip sets.

Row1A - Row1B - Row1C / Row2A - Row2B - Row2C / Row3A - Row3B - Row3C

Keep this in mind later on as well when you as piecing the rows together .

Now you'll want to sew your strip sets together with a 1/4 in seam. You'll want to offset each fabric in the set so that when you go to cut a 45 degree angle later on you won't be wasting a lot of fabric. Remember each strip set has 3 strips only for this pieced diamond.

Once you finishing sewing your first 2 strips together press your seam open rather then to 1 side. This will help you later on when you are piecing. Now sew your 3rd strip on, again offset the strip because of the 45 degree angle you'll be cutting. After you sew that strip press the seam open. and repeat this process for other 2 strip sets.

Pictured above is the way you'll want your strip sets looking when you are about to cut your new sections. You'll want to find the 45 degree angle and TRUE UP the end of the strip set so that you will get your diamond section rows. Once you do this you'll be ready to cut small strip sections on a 45 degree angle. Those sections will be cut at the same size the strips were wide which would be 2.5 inches.

You'll also need to cut 8 strip section for all 3 strip sets to get all the parts you'll need to make the 8 larger diamond that will make up your star.

When you're done cutting you should get 3 piles like this :)

This pics shows a mock up of the final diamond and how it should look.

In the pic above I had to do a drawing of how the row pieces get sewn together. Remember to do right sides facing and you'll also want to use spray starch and pins for this. Trust me it helps A LOT. So once you connect Row 1 to Row 2 repeat with Row 3 then do this process 7 more times to make your 8 ( 9 pieced diamonds )

Once all your diamonds are done press the seams open and WOW you've complete a whole 9 piece diamond that will become 1 point of your star.

Now you can lay out your full star on a table or a design wall and see how it looks. You can also audition your background fabric now too, to see if you like it or want to change it.

So there you have it folks the 1st part to my Star Quilt for Dummies sew a long.Keep any eye out for part 2 of the journey and any questions feel free to to email me at ananyimusic@aol.com

Fabric Overload !

2011-08-24T17:12:00.000-04:00

HELLO Everyone :)

Well it's been a awhile since I've last posted, I've just been busy working and what not. But right now I just wanna share my latest collection of fabrics I've acquired. I went alil nuts at Joann's today they had alot of stuff on clearance and on sale and I just couldn't help myself.

To get a better look just click the images to enlarge.

Zig Zag Quilt Finished !

2011-07-14T21:50:00.000-04:00

YAAA! So I finished the quilt the other day. It came out really great and the hubby really liked it and has used it every night since :) so happy.

Now to break in this Cricut and Yudu machine :)

Zig Zag Quilt update #1

2011-07-06T00:33:00.002-04:00

So I've started a new quilt that I've just titled " Hubby's Orange Zig Zag " nothing special or fancy just what it is.

I'm just going to show a picture time line of the progress thus far and then I'll talk about what else I have to do after the pictures. So here goes.

So that's where I'm at now 1 full strip section done ( 2 rows of 10 blocks) i have 3 more of these sets to complete. Then I'll cut my binding, batting and backing. Make my quilt sandwich and begin my quilting. Not sure if I'm going to do anything crazy or just follow the zig zag lines.

Update ( July 7th ) So I got all 4 strip sets done . Now all I have to do is piece them together and prep for making the sandwich and binding.

( Update July 9th ) So I finally got the quilt top completed. now I just have to cut the binding, Piece my backing and cut my batting then sandwich this thing and start my quilting :)

New Quilt :)

2011-07-03T01:40:00.001-04:00

So I've started a new quilt. I'm so excited about it. I had another pattern in mind and other fabric I wanted to use but things just happen where you go with something else instead. I decided to use some fabric I had in my previous stash. Then I drafted up a mock design of the Quilt in photoshop with images of the main 2 fabrics.
Here is what I came up with. hopefully at the end it will be 48 x 60 finished.

Book WINNERS!!!!

2011-06-25T20:06:00.000-04:00

OK so I didn't feel like waiting till tomorrow cause I'm just antsy and excited like that :)

Well here they are the WINNERS.

2 - Desiree Thompson

17 - wyvern713

22 - Yarnguy716

36 - Bill D

51 - Birdernaturalist

Congratulation guys & gales !

I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who entered the contest it was so nice that people took interest. I will continue with this idea but I just have to figure out what and how I wanna do it. I'd really love to be able to do 1 once a month or 1 ever 2 months. We'll see what happens ;)

btw the number were picked randomly from random.com I just placed them in order and then matched to your posting order :)

Give awat Update !

2011-06-25T16:06:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone ,

So today is the last day for entries. I'll do the drawing tomorrow at some point , then contact and post the winners on here :) Good lucky everyone.

CLOSED as of 8pm est time on June 25th "GIVE AWAY TIME !"

2011-06-17T19:36:00.001-04:00

Hey Everyone !

OK , so do I have some exciting news. I happen to have gotten 5 copies of a book I think alot of knitters will enough. The " Socks a la Carte" book which I think is a must have for any knitter who wants to make socks and just loves to knit.

So here is the deal. This Give Away is FREE to enter, will last 1 week ( Friday June 17th till Saturday June 25th ) Then I will randomly select 5 winners.

"So what do I have to do?" you ask. Well just leave a comment on this Blog entry. Say hello or just say anything and that will enter you into the contest. But please be mindful and kind and only enter 1 time :) Once the random numbers are drawn those people matching the numbers ( which would be the order of which your post is placed) will be contacted so I can send your Book out to you :) How exciting !

OK, Happy Knitting !

It's been awhile ....

2011-06-12T19:30:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone out there,

WOW, so it's been awhile since I've posted anything hasn't it . About 3 months to be exact. That's kinda crazy but life has been that way too in those last 3 months. So some good news is I have a job now. Been there since the middle of April I think, had 2 pay raises and a position promo since then too. GO ME !

My crafting time obviously has been cut since working but I still try to find time to squeeze in some needle work here and there be it knitting or crochet. I'm getting itchy to make a new quilt top too.

Music work has been kinda good to me lately. Been working with new people and some old friends. Have some exciting up coming projects that I don't wanna give away just yet you'll have to posted to find out.

The Hubby and I are doing better relationship wise since I'm back on my feet working again and helping him out. So all and all things are looking pretty good and I'm happy with life as it if right now.

Still missing my mom every time I think about her. I'm not as physically emotional about anymore but it's still there. I know she's watching down on me cause I don't think all these good new things would have happened if she saw me just being week and not overcoming the pain.

Well till next time and hopefully sooner then later. I'll keep everyone updated on what's up in my life ;)

Knit Along with me pt 2

2011-03-13T05:54:00.000-04:00

So here we are again :)

To continue where we left off let me recap. So far we've Knit up the Body or TOP part of our Retro Sweater Tee. Go HERE if you didn't catch this part or need a refresher. Now it's time to do the Bottom ribbing hem.

Now this has been a little tricky for me so i'm going to give you 4 options on how to do this with details.

BTW if you click on any of the images you can enlarge them, but the best way would be to right click and open in a new window.

All options are going to start the same way and that is by turning your knit piece on its side so that the ribbing is on the top and bottom but make sure that the edge you are picking up new stitches on is the edge without the neck shaping. I would suggest placing a marker of some kind on the side with your neck shaping as to not get confused.

Stitch count layout courtesy of Cheryl Brunette

For the first 3 options please follow the picked up stitch formula above for evenness.

Lets start with Option 1:

Picking up 82 Sts from 76 rows directly from the BOND USM. OK first let me tell you that I don't suggest this one at all. I had a very hard time doing it . The fabric didn't stretch far enough and the needles are placed too far apart to begin with. I gave this option as an "So you know" I don't recommend it but you can try it.

Option 2:

When picking up your stitches with the circular needle make sure the right side of the fabric is facing you.
Picking up 82 Sts from 76 rows using a circular needle that will match the gauge you need. Now since I used KP4 on the whole top section including the ribbing. I would use KP3 on the machine for this area but since i'm going to hand knit get the closest matching needle for the gauge. Now just Hand Knit a 2x2 ribbing for 28 rows Bind Off and you're done this side.

Option 3:

When you put the stitches back onto the BOND make sure the wrong side (purl) is facing you.
Same as Option 2 only after you've picked up your stitches knit about 2 rows then place all the stitches on your BOND knit 26 more rows then do your 2x2 ribbing , Bind off and you're done with this side.

Option 4: (Thanks to Sharon B from the BOND USM Facebook group for the idea)

With the chosen KP for your bottom ribbing do a closed cast of 82 needles of your choice. Knit 28 rows, do a 2x2 ribbing. Bind off. Then start your Top section but use a "Seam as you go" technique for the stitch and row that is given. The Seam as you go will be done on the left side of the bed and neck shaping will be on your right.

Here is a finished panel.

Once you've finished one of these options you will have completed 1 whole side. Just repeat it all over again to so that you have 2 matching pieces. Seam across the shoulders and up both sides and you've just completed the BOND version of the Retro Sweater Tee.

Original pattern can be found HERE you may have to register in order to download it but it is free.

Knit Along with me :)

2011-03-11T00:32:00.001-05:00

Hey Everyone,

Wow I can't believe it's almost a month since my last post. Well like I said I've been busy musically so that's been taking up a lot of my time but I'm glad to be back and sharing stuff with you. This time I thought I'd do something a little fun, so here it goes.

In this installment I'm going to do a Knit Along. Showcasing a pattern that is Hand Knit and adapting it to the BOND USM. This Garment it called the "Retro Tee" and looks like this. BTW if you click on any of the images you can enlarge them, but the best way would be to right click and open in a new window.

The Image below shows the measurements and layout of the garment.

These next pics show the yarn I've decided to use .

The original pattern calls for a gauge of 13Sts and 18 Rows to = 4 inches
My original swatch (shown below) was does using a KP3 and came to 15Sts and 23 Rows to = 4 inches

With that in mind I decided to go with KP4.
I cast on 55 Sts in waste yarn and knit a few rows.
Then with my MC and COR I knit 4 rows
w/ COR bind off the first 2 stitches then knit across

w/ COL decrease 1 stitch on the right, now knit across

w/ COR decrease 1 stitch on the right, now knit across

All your decrease rows are done.
w/ COL knit 34 rows
w/ COL Increase 1 stitch on right side, now knit across

w/ COR Increase 1 stitch on right side, now knit across
w/ COL Increase 2 stitches on right side, now knit across

All your increase rows are done.

w/ COR knit 4 rows

To make this next section a little easier to see where you start your ribbing use a piece of waste yarn and a tapestry needle and weave over the loops at the top. I choose to a 1 over 1 under weave. but you could do a 2 over 2 under weave if that will help with the final 2x2 ribbing you're going to finish with.

w/ COR still using KP4, knit 14 rows
do a 2x2 ribbing with these 14 rows ( I choose to start on the left and started my ribbing at the 3rd needle in)
keep in mind you have 55 sts so when you get all the way to the right will you have 3 sts left in stockinetee.
Now bind off .

Next, take your work off the machine and flip it upside down. Make sure the purl side is still facing you and re hang 54 sts.
Just repeat the step above except you have 54 sts and you'll just start you're ribbing on the 3rd st in from the left side to even out the pattern. After the ribbing is done bind off.

Now you can take your knitting off the machine. Remove your weights and waste yarn and or anything else you have dangling from your piece. Now you have finished the top part of 1 side of your garment.

OK , you can either repeat this whole step by step tutorial so that you will have both your front and back top portions done and ready for the next section of the tutorial. OR, you can wait till the next tutorial and finish everything then.
I hope everyone enjoys this and learns something and has alot of fun doing in it the process, I know I did.
Any questions feel free to ask. E-Mail be at Ananyimusic@aol.com

Wow, So much is going on!

2011-02-18T18:47:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,

So yeah, It's alil weird looking back and realizing how much stuff I have going on and getting done. So let me get the bad stuff out of the way first. That would be that I'm still without a job, but I'm making due. I'm still keeping my head up though, it's all in timing something will come through for me I just know it. But beside that a lot of wonderful things have been going on. Musically, the Jipsta single for "Part of the Year" that I produced reached #10 on the Billboard Dance Charts and will hopefully continue to climb. I have remixes out on 2 other singles right now. Two edit mixes for The Roxtar's "On the Radio" and One for mix, extended and edit for Aiden Leslie's "Worlds Away" both on iTunes and various other Digital download sites. In other good news a Music Label I had started years ago with a friend in Detroit named Hank. We are relaunching with a fresh look and sound. The first single will be a side project of mine called "Sol Pacifico - Bodega" not sure of the release date yet cause I'm waiting for the digital distribution guy to get back to me with that info. Once this single is launched I have some other goodies in store. I still have a few music projects on the table I'm running into mental blocks with but I'll eventually work the kinks out.

Now that the musical side of things is done, I'll go onto my craft side town. I recently Frogged an old project and recycled that yarn for a new project, as seen below.

which used to be this.

I haven't taken a picture yet but I have a baby cardigan on some needles right now. The back panel is almost done. I'll post later on about the progress of this project. But wow I'm so happy with all the things I've accomplished and that I'm working on. It's so nice to say you've done something and you have something to show for it at the same time. I'm still finding my niche with knitting. I do know that I'm not really a hat and or scarf kinda person even though I can knit them. I am leaning towards the whole sweater area, so hopefully that's where I'll find my comfort. I really do love designing things.

T Top Sweater and other things.

2011-02-04T07:07:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,

So let's see , what to tell you about in this post? Well, I almost have a T Top sweater done. It's a child's size 2 knit on the USM. The pattern was from the Knit for Kids web site and is the 10th anniversary pattern. Here are some pics of it .

Also I've been doing some stuff to get my label back up and running, We should be ready by mid March or the beginning of April at the latest. Will be great to finally get all my music back out there again. Once I have that settled I will start on store front site and get all that going. Looking like a busy year for me YAAAAA!

1st BOND Sweater

2011-01-30T17:50:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,

So It's been a few since the last post. I think I may have said I was gonna post everyday about knitting I've done that day. Sadly enough I don't think I've followed through with the knitting 11 minutes a day for 2011 like I wanted to. BUT I'm still knitting so all is not lost. Friday I started a sweater on the BOND USM ( that's a manual knitting machine for those don't know) the pattern is by Cheryl Brunette, who is an amazing person. Even though I've only just come across her online and chat with her through the Facebook USM Group we both belong to, She has shared so much with everyone and is such a great teacher when it comes to making a sweater. I'll post links to some videos and info about her in a bit but let me show you the sweater I made first.

And there it is, a child's size 3 sweater I believe that it turned out to be. I'm very pleased with it and to top it off it doesn't look crappy or cheaply made. It too me a total of about 6 hours over 3 days. Not too bad but I'm sure if I wanted to I could just do it all in one shot and be done with it .

OK so here are the links for the stuff involving Cheryl Brunette

Sweater 101 website & book
Cheryl Brunette Youtube Videos for the BOND ISM/USM

Meet your BOND - Playlist ( all the videos play back to back in order)
First BOND Sweater - Playlist ( all the videos play back to back in order)

Enjoy Everyone and Happy Knitting :)

Todays Progress and Updates

2011-01-17T06:11:00.000-05:00

Wow , I feel so accomplished today LOL. even though my clock/schedule is running alil odd lately. I seem to bee keep night owl hours but let me get back on track here.

For my 11 minutes a day I sat and finished up the body of this Raglan Sweater. And boy does it feel good to actually get to a goal . Now all I have to do is work these sleeves and weave in a few end and I'll be all done.
Here are some pics of the progress.

Now on to other news which would be MUSIC, so I've had some projects to work on since the beginning of the year. Aiden Leslie's Worlds Away, was one of them which I've finished and submitted and comes out in Feb. My friend Cliff has a project called "The Roxtar" and I'm remixing a song called "On The Radio". I have 2 edit versions of my mixes done and I'm just waiting on another friend I produce for to give me a rap vocal to drop in the mixes. I'm also doing a remix for the Perry Twins song "We'll Never Know" ft Abigail plus a remix of "Do it like a Dude" by Jessie J and "Hold it Against Me" by Britney Spears. And some original productions floating around on the table too.

11 minutes a day for 2011

2011-01-16T09:31:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

So one of the ladies in the USM FB group has this little thing going on for the year as a type of knit along I think the concept is great and I'm going to be following along right with her. Here is a link to what it's all about 11 Minutes a day for 2011.

Thus far I'm had about 10 - 20 minutes each day since the beginning of the year and put in my 11 minutes this morning while watching "Knit & Crochet Today" . I'll probably end up putting in another few 11 minute session through out the day on the Raglan sweater I have on some needles. I'll be posting my session updates daily so be on the look out. Till later

New Changes for 2011

2011-01-15T22:08:00.000-05:00

So I've decided I wanted to make some changes. I gave the blog a new coat of paint so to speak. Hope everyone likes the new layout. It's free generic one but I it fits for what I'm doing :).

Not much to really update on. The Raglan sweater body is almost done but coming along slowly. Still haven't made my way to the basement yet to start cleaning. You know I really should cause I'm starting to piss myself off for the fact I keep putting it off. I know it's not just a hard thing to do I just have to motivate myself to get it done. Umm let's see what else. OH, been getting alot of music work in and most of it done, sucks a majority of it is free work but sometimes you just gotta do those freebies I guess. I can't believe its already the middle of January. So I guess I'll be back in a few days for another update once I have something to talk about :) See ya then.

First post of 2011 !

2011-01-06T20:06:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone or anyone? LOL oh well I'm sure there is someone out there who reads my posts. It's better off that I don't dwell on or think about if anyone is reading it so as to not lose my sanity over it. So in my last post I said I wanted to write a book,which I very much do but I've come to realize that the process is more then I thought it would be. It's something that I am still very much interested in doing and I have so many ideas in my head of what I would want to write about but right now I think I need to focus on other things and not get my self caught up in something I'm not sure I can handle right now. Luckily there are some easy and alternative avenues in the book making / writing direction I can take but for now I'm just going to back burner the idea.

So on my Dec 12th post I talked about some projects I have in the works. I'll give some updates on those now.

The Top Down Raglan Sweater is probably about 60% done now. I'm almost to the bottom of the body portion then I'll just have the sleeves to do and I'm done. here are some pics of the progress.

Next is the Neck Thingie / Cowl I'm making for a friend. I have 1 more section to finish off then it's done all I'll need is to find 2 Huge buttons then it will be complete. Here is a pic of the progress.

(add on 5 to minutes later)
OH, I forgot to mention. I took some pics of my work area in the basement at it's now/beginning phase. I have a goal in mind but I haven't set a deadline yet for when to accomplish said goal. I'm part of a Quilting forum on Ravelry.com and they started a thread called CLEAN SWEEP. It's about you work space before and after. So I took some pics and posted them as to get some motivation. Hopefully that happens, crossing fingers. Here are so pics of that.

These 2 pics above are the area I'm in now.

These 2 pics are where I'd like to move my area to.

Yeah so those are about it for what I'm doing right now. Musically I have some things on the table I need to finish up but to see a mental image of that is kinda a episode of Clean House. Anywho till next time.

Write a Book or not to Write a Book?

2010-12-25T23:58:00.000-05:00

Been sitting here for a few hours and thinking, you know the last couple of weeks I've had a lot of time to think and it's just amazing of all the things you think of at times. But tonight I've been thinking I really want to write a book. Even if it never gets published or no one reads it. I want to write something that's about my life including all my experiences plus branch out into the craziness of life that is my friends, family and people I've met along the way as I remember it. There will probably be some embellishments on some of the stories but will definitely be as true as I could possible remember it. I know this sounds like one of my crazy ideas but I feel it's something I really need to do for some reason. I think the hard part now is where to start and what to do. I have the idea in my head and the story is all there, now it's just getting it down in ink so to speak. I'll just have to keep looking online on how to begin. Mainly it's the organizing or what the book will be who is gonna be in it and how it's going to flow from beginning to end.

Exchanging a gift that someone gave you.

2010-12-24T14:43:00.000-05:00

So I'm reading this article online about how to go about exchanging a gift given to you on christmas and then I get down to the comments section where people get all high and mighty and i'm just shocked

So someone you know be it a family member , your BF/GF or a friend got you a gift for Christmas, and it falls in the many categories of Gift FAILS ( too small, too big, ugly, no use for it, not something you wanted, etc... ) OMG! What do you do now? well here is what I have to say about that.

First let me just say if someone doesn't know you well enough by now to know what you like or would want then they really shouldn't be getting you something without trying to atleast find out. I don't mean to sound so cold or want to come off that way in this post but I think it needs to be put out there cause you know all us have been on the receiving end of a bad gift and some of us have been on the other end and gave a bad gift.

CLOTHING
Major issue. When someone gifts you clothing it usually always ends in tragedy. It's either too small, too big, really ugly or just something you'd never be caught dead in. Usually most of these items come from your parents or grandparents and sometimes from friends, GF's & BF's. So to avoid these issues on Clothing gift fails here are some helpful hints for both parties.

Receiver - Do your self a favor make up some kind of index card style gifting stats on yourself for people. Sadly certain people in your life really should know you by now and should really know better but unfortunately that's not always the case. Something like this can really come in handy but it can also back fire. Don't hand them out to everyone, just the people you know who usually get you these kind of things and need to know you garment stats. Basically just list you sizes and fits, color choices, fabric likes and dislikes maybe even allergies. Something like this can avoid hurting someones feelings when you get something you don't like and can also save you the hassle of having to return and exchange a gift cause honestly who wants to go through all that.

Giver - OK i'm gonna just come out and say it. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE BUYING FOR! And from that if you're still content on buying clothing for someone I'd suggest asking that person what they like and don't like and what size they may be. You don't have to be out right with it but you really do need an idea cause going in blind when it comes to clothes for someone else can be disastrous. OH and Moms, Dads, BF's & GF's, if you don't know by now what those people like then SHAME ON YOU! OK, so say you did things the right way and you think you got them what they wanted but aren't totally sure. Please leave the receipt in the box with it just in case and let them know it's ok if they take it back or exchange it .

ELECTRONICS
This one can be alil easy but still tough so again here are a few tips.

Giver - I'd say no matter what it is electronic that you give just make sure that a receipt is given with it incase something happens where they have to take it back especially if it say a warranty. one But really if you know the person you are gifting for is tech savvy you should really know what they'd like or want as far as this subject goes.

So this one is for everyone. Money and Gift Cards.
OH what a wonderful delight to get. I can't tell you how much I love it.

Giving money can do no wrong just realize who you're giving money to, to determine how much you want to give.

Gift Cards can be alil tricky though. This is when you really need to know who you're giving it to. There are all types of gift cards out there. The best kind are the ones that are basically like prepaid credit cards or all purpose gift cards. Can be used just about anywhere for anything. Usually your best bet and the best way to go if you know your person if really picky. Store specific gift cards you just want to make sure you know where that person shops alot. Same goes for Restaurant gift card, give them one to somewhere they eat at alot or like.

That should cover your basics. I know there are so many more things I could have added but these are the Major issues and my opinions on them . I hope this was helpful.

Dec 12th Updates

2010-12-12T06:44:00.000-05:00

Hey Peoples :)

OK, so what kinda news do I have for you today? Let's see, well I'm gonna post some links to things I feel people should check out. And I'm gonna tell you about the progress of some things I'm working, plus some other random stuff going on in my life. So let's get started shall we.

I guess I'll start off with some (Works in Progress).

Top down Raglan sweater. This one is about a child's size Small/Med. I'm knitting it in a Blueish/Lavender color and I've decided to add a lace pattern to the front of the sweater just below the chest. This is the lace pattern I've decided to use Orca Tails , just adapted to fit the sweater. The pics below show the sweater at It's early stages. I'm more the a 3rd down the body of the sweater already but have set the project aside to take a break from it for a moment.

Neck Cowl / Short Scarf. This item is for a friend. He's been eying this thing for sometime from a Knit Wear designer he saw on face book, so I took a look at the thing to see how it was made and constructed and saw that it was really basic and offered to make him one because , well I wanted to and I just so happen to have the colors and type of yarn it was made in. Down below shows a pic of the item , not the one I'm doing but the original and I'll post links to their sites.
abhaya fibers on facebook
abhaya fibers on Etsy
abhaya fibers Blog

So I guess now onto the music aspect of things. I've finished my mixes for World's Away by Aiden Leslie ( Facebook ) Still working on mixes for Tyler Jacob's song"Cry No More" ( Facebook , Official Site )
"Party of the Year" Jipsta ft Sandy B is finally out and doing well got news that we made #2 Breakout on the Billboard Dance Charts. This is a song I produced ( Diva Nation ) for him early in 2009 that's finally seeing the light of day. Oh and I'm also working on stuff for Mila Jam.

OK so now on to the Links YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Very Pink Knits ( Website , Youtube ) I love this lady. The tutorials on her youtube page are GREAT, I couldn't recommend a better place to find videos on hand knitting patterns online. The cool thing is she doesn't really give you the actual patterns or measurements in the video she just helps you work through her patterns that are available for purchase on her site. I got hooked (no pun) when I saw her Socks videos. SOOOOOOO great.
Diana L. Sullivan ( Youtube , Blog ) I came across Diana's sites through Ravelry. I'm on a BOND sweater machine knitting group on there and she posted a link to her BLOG which also contains the videos she has on her Youtube page. Very helpful stuff and so useful too. Go take a look.

This is basically all the stuff that's going on for me right now. I have to give my sister a ring tomorrow while I'm thinking about it. I'm supposed to house sit for her over Christmas while her and her hubby travel. My mom was supposed to do it but unfortunately she passed away the Friday after Thanksgiving. So my sister asked me to do it and I gladly said yes. I'm still trying to find a job but I think the hunt is going to have to wait till after the holidays. I really want to work again. Being broke and not being able to help the hubby out with the bills really sucks and is getting me down. Hopefully the darkness will pass and the light will once shine again but for now it's just 1 day at a time. The House cleaning is still a slow and steady process but it's getting done. I started on the living room but I think what I wanna do next is tackle the basement so that anything that needs to be moved down there can be . I'm going to concur this house if it kills me. I really want a CLEAN house to live in for once. Well I guess that's it then for now . Till next time :)

Not So Happy Holidays

2010-12-06T18:42:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,

Well where do I start? I guess with the bad news. I never thought it would happen this soon but such is life and things just happen out of nowhere. I've had the unfortunate experience of having my Mother pass away on Friday Nov. 26th. I knew she wasn't doing well health wise for the last few month but she fought long and hard to try and keep her spirits and her health up for everyone. Luckily she got to spend time with her grandchildren before she passed. I'll truly never get over my mothers death because she meant the world to me even in our times of disagreement I still loved her to death (and beyond) thankfully she knew how much I loved her and with that I think it was easy letting go and getting past the fact I'd no longer see her again. I have my memories and she'll always be with me in my heart and hopefully she's still around me keeping an eye out on me as I move forward in life. Mama you don't have to worry anymore now, no more pain and suffering.

Now on to some positives. I started working on a raglan sweater which will probably fit my Niece, Destiny. Start date was Monday Nov 15th worked on it for about 7 days then took a breaks the following week. I picked it back up around the 29th and now I'm pretty much halfway down the body of the sweater. hopefully i'll have it done soon.

Also I'm making some great progress on the the cleaning in the living room. Got a little frustrated tonight cause I got to a section that was alot of his stuff and he's picky about what get touched or tossed etc... so I stopped but I'm about to go back and get started again cause if I stop for too long now I'm not sure I'll get anything done. OH and why is it that when you're trying to clean it just feels like you're making a bigger mess LOL.

I'll post again soon I promise, no month at a time inbetweens :)

when your past resurfaces

2010-11-11T07:15:00.000-05:00

I never thought I would see the day when I'd have to face the person from my past who I was in love with and wouldn't show it to anyone. He wasn't even a boyfriend but a close friend of mine that wanted to explore and now he's come back to try and reconnect after 11 years. I'm not sure how to feel about it all cause it just brings up too many emotions and memories. He was asking me what I've been up to and if I still thought about him and that I shouldn't forget where I came from. But you know after I came out, not many people that were in our little group of friends stuck around to be my friend. A majority of them moved on and had their own life that didn't include me and to be perfectly honest I'm kinda OK with that. I'm also hoping that by reconnecting with this person he doesn't expect me to just pick up where we left off 11 or so years ago cause I'm in a relationship with someone right now and I just can't be doing that kinda stuff. I told him how I felt about him back then and how it affected me. He didn't realize I had such strong feelings for him in the end. And I never really forgot about him, he was my first after all. How can you forget your first? OK so I keep pausing on this lil blog every now and this for this entry cause he keeps talkin and the more he does the more I just don't care so I guess I'm over it .

Rain Rain go away!

2010-10-06T08:22:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone,

Wow, It's Oct 6th already and I could have sworn I just wrote a blog entry yesterday. Silly me, the days are just running together anymore. So I've made some cleaning progress with the house, nothing huge but some small steps in the right direction and I think the rest of the day I'll be doing various things around the house so that I can get this place into order. I'd really love to start on the basement and get that all sorted out with so that I can set up a nicer work area down there and maybe even actually get to move the stuff out of the dinning room and maybe even the back room so we have an actual house. It's time to get the hubby's butt in gear so we are on the same page. I'm sure he's think well if i'm home now alot and not working I should be doing something but I think he should at least help me alil bit you know. So yeah where was I? LOL Oh yeah cleaning. I'll most likely start with some laundry today and organize that and maybe see about getting Purple Heart to pick up some things. I know we have tons of stuff here that he nor I wear that can be given away or sold. Alot of other things I had in mind I wanted to do personally I will be putting on the back burner for the time being because of things out of my control. As for the job tip, It's coming slowly and I've applied for a few places online so I'll be waiting to hear back from them in the next couple of days to weeks but I'm still keeping an eye out for any job opps that may come up.

As for my crafting stuff, I'm so excited to started on working on some new things but I really want a fresh and clean space to work in before I really start on something again. I have the screen printing stuff, Knitting, Sewing and Crochet I'd like to do but with the confined space and it being so messy and restricting I feel like my creativeness is getting sucked out of me.

Oh and this weather isn't helping me feel better either will it just stop and be regular fall weather for once LOL.

Anywho I guess that's all for today, till next time :)

September Closing Update

2010-09-25T19:13:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

     So there has been alot going on the last couple of weeks. I've got some good news and some bad news. Let me get the bad news out of the way since it's only 1 thing which is that 2 Thursday's ago I was let go of my job because I was no longer needed, the plus side is that it wasn't on bad terms and I am still welcome back there anytime. They did say they still needed me for 1 night to help out but I was an overall budget cut for them, but I needed some time to collect myself because just out of the blue being let go from your job can really do a number on you.

    Now on to the "Good" news. I'm working on a Crochet bag pattern, right now I have the bag section form and half of the fold over flap. I'm thinking of doing an optional closure design so that people can use regular buttons or metal snaps. Also I've been asked to Design and construct a Fanny Pack from an existing one that is no longer usable. So I'll be working on this as well and once I'm done with that I'll have another item to add to my Original designs. Once I finish the crochet back i'll post some pics.

   In the weeks to come I really want to get the ball rolling on my Etsy store and maybe a website. I'd really like to try to have alot of my Items for sale be custom but at the same time I want stuff that's already made that they can buy and not really have to wait for it to produced and ship.

recap august till now

2010-09-16T12:24:00.000-04:00

So i finally got the Charity AIDS Awareness quilt done for the Summer Games Auction. we had set the starting bid @ $100 but it wouldn't even go for that so it's on hold till the next event coming up. kinda sad no one wanted it. Oh well. but here is a Pic of it.

Been working on some other things as well. some more handbags and lil change purses. stuff to start off with for an online store. also have 3 quilt tops that need to be made into full quilts. one is the star one i made for me , the other is a asian inspired one and the 3rd one is a Nine inch Nails one i made for an old friend for a present.

It's been awhile.

2010-09-06T04:31:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure where to start, August was a very stressful and hectic month and September is looking to be just as stressful. I'm trying to work on a few things at the moment. I have a crocheted afghan in the works its blue and purple and i've also learned out to quilt as you go. much easier since I don't have a HUGE working area. In the process of finishing a quilt for an A.I.D.S. charity. not sure what else to write just wanted to through something on here to close up the gap alil. once I get some things done i'll update this again . see ya then. I'm Out!

OMG time for a rant

2010-07-14T21:46:00.000-04:00

OK, now a lot of the crafting I've been doing I've learned by watching videos online mainly via YouTube, but I've just about had it with the eHow / Expert village videos. I mean COME ON, how do they get away with pawning this crap off on us as informative and informational HOW, I ask HOW? Let's see,

1) The topics you look up aren't even grouped into play lists a majority of the time and if they are they aren't in order so you can watch it step by step.

2) why are they broken up into tiny ass videos like that if you are allowed 10 minutes a video then freakin make each section 10 minutes.

3) They are very vague, and I've noticed that with alot of ones I've had to pay for too. What is it with these instructors not being very detail oriented i mean come on the reason most of us are paying for it or looking and downloading it is because we are beginning and well some of us need it broken down to the most smallest detail.

4) The people doing the video are only out to promote themselves not really caring to much as to give you any info on what the video is supposed to be teaching you.

Oh yeah while I'm at it let me talk about these "CRAFTING" show hosts. There are a few in particular I just can't stand cause to me they are assholes. Let start with naming Martha Stewart and Sue Hausmann. These 2 actually bug me the most and here is why. Martha for instance has this better then you 1 up mentality. Lady can the shit you are no better then anyone else, why do you insist on having guest on and making them look like asses because they choose to do something in a way that you don't get over it lady not everyone is like perfect lil Martha. Ugh I hate it so much when people act like this and do that kinda stuff. Now on to Sue Hausmann. She may be a very nice lady but I think as a host of a she she is a real ass. Time your segments out lady. She always seems to be cutting her guests off on projects and the set up and just arrangement of things, WHAT A MESS! Poor people that go on her show I'm sure have a set up for their project but she is always cutting them off. How about you do some pre-production and make sure you have some time for everything you want to cover in your show, maybe some note cards etc.. Also some of the Stylicious girls
one of them and I can't remember her name but GOD does she always seem miserable and dead on the show or what GIRL snap out of it, if you hate it so much stop doing it. And again they are always cutting each other off with "well why do you do it that way I wouldn't" honestly I don't care just show me how to do it the way that is being shown and if I like it enough to want to do it myself I will probably end up modifying the pattern anyways to fit the way I work.

OK now on to some people I really like, Nancy Zieman (sp) she's not bossy, very informative, right to the point, let's you know that everything is just a point of reference and you can interp things any way you want to as long as you're happy with the final product. Vicki Howell, man I can't get enough of her she is just so up beat and easy to like. enough said. Fons & Porter are my next and last people to add right now. I don't really like them together but when they do segments when it's one or the other man do they have their shit together. I can't tell you how enjoyable it is to watch the show and not feel anger or have to roll my eye or want to turn it off is all i gotta say on them. Now I'm still kinda new being only a few months into the fabric crafts and almost 2 years fully into fiber crafts. I know there are probably a ton of shows out there i could be looking into but these are the ones and peoples that air on my local cable provider so it's all I can really judge on at the moment.

PS. i have a few projects in the works right now that I don't really want to prematurely talk about in case I don't finish them but I'll keep you posted as they are finished.

More bags and stuff :)

2010-07-01T08:27:00.000-04:00

new bags yaaaa !

2010-06-25T15:08:00.000-04:00

YARN SALE !!!!

2010-06-17T01:21:00.001-04:00

Hey Fellow Knitters,

I have some yarn I want to get rid of to clear out my stash. It's mostly sock yarns that I splurged on

last year. The deals were too good to pass up when I bought them but as my passion for hand crafts has moved to something else that I feel is alil more suited for me I've decided to clean house.

What I have for sale are 6 yarns from the 2010 Collection Julia's Yarns.

I've looked on her site to see if some of these are still being sold and most aren't but instead of me marking them up because they are no longer in production & to try to make my money back , I figured i'd just sell them at a lower price and give you guys and even better deal.
Yarns are stored in a Smoke Free Home and Pet Free Area.

Also Shipping is $4.95 flat rate, so it's not going to matter how many items you get.

75% Super Wash Wool 25% Nylon / 50grams / 9 balls Available

100% Wool / 50grams / 10 balls Available

100% Merino / 50grams / 3 skeins Available

50% Tencel 50% acrylic / 50grams / 8 skeins Available

100% Bamboo / 50grams / 8 balls Available

100% Wool / 50grams / 10 balls Available

New Items I Made.

2010-06-14T22:39:00.000-04:00

Here are some new things i made yaaaaa me!

Ladies Wallet #1

I have to get a zipper foot and a better matching thread for stuff like this

once I get the new sewing machine it will be easier. Still not bad looking though.

This is a Proto-type bag I made

not loving the final outcome of this but the design was on the fly so

I have to test the design a few more times

Maybe i'll do a long strap with D rings & loops on the side next time.

Box Pouch Bag 1

2010-06-09T13:54:00.000-04:00

hey hey it's me again, so this morning before I went to sleep I decided i wanted to make a bag so I tried out a pattern. I added a few things to it but I think the pattern could still use another adjustment.

Wallet Project 1

2010-06-09T05:50:00.000-04:00

Hello :) it's me again, so here is the first wallet I made. It's a Men's wallet, I used some let over fabric from the Japanese quilt top I made. It has 2 money pockets, 1 zipper pocket, 6 card slots and a snap closure. I got the pattern from Here. And I also have another one set up ready to be made. Once that one is finished I'll post pictures as well.

The stitching isn't perfect but the final product still came out really nice and the more I make the better they will end up looking.

online store venture

2010-06-08T22:46:00.000-04:00

Hey Peoples,

So this is just gonna be one of those posts that I just talk for a bit. No pics just yet cause nothing there isn't really any need for them today. Awhile back and probably long before that I've always wanted to be in business for my self you sell stuff you make. I've sorta done that with some people I've worked with when it comes to music, selling them songs I've produced for them or remix work etc.... And even when i was younger and my mom was into crafting we made some thing and sold them even baked some stuff and sold it. But now i want in for myself and i know i have the know how and the talent to do so. It's just figuring out what people want to buy or what they will buy. I took up knitting cause it was fun but right now i'm rethinking that i mean i still may want to do it because I've actually invested so much money into that well i can't just give it up and drop everything now. Same with the Screen Printing on T Shirts, I've just invested too much money into it to just drop it and kick it to the side. Now I've taken up quilting and sewing and well I actually kinda love it cause i can see results faster.

With all that said, I basically would like to open an online store that sells Handmade items by me in the following areas.

* Quilts, Pillow cases, Pillows
* Handbags, Purses, Tote bags, Woman's & Men's Wallets
* Men's Underwear, Men's Shorts
* Unisex all over design T's, Unisex Screen Printed T's
* Patches, Stickers, Notebooks, Postcards
* Some Knitted apparel such as socks, scarves, hats, vests & sweaters
* Fabric by the yard, Fat quarters of fabric lines I've designed
* A section were people I know can sell their stuff through me

I already have the company name down and a logo. I just need to make sure that i have a few things ready for sale and where to sell and how to get out there and market myself. So of course i still have alil researching to do. Also i have to make sure i price things properly so that people will actually buy it.

Now my next major purchase is another sewing machine, the Brothers CS-6000i it's a computerized machine for a really reasonable price, I was going to get it this week but decided not too. I will be getting it with my next paycheck though.

Monday Shopping YAAAA !

2010-06-07T21:55:00.000-04:00

so there really isn't must to talk about just wanted to post some pics of the stuff i got today while shopping. i went to Joann's and AC Moore today. we also went to 5 Below but i'm not gonna post that stuff cause most of it was Luau party decor for the hubby's B-day party / Luau Beach Party at the club in 2 weeks. so here are the pics.

roll of inkjet fabric i got from AC Moore

Got more fabric by Jay McCarroll at AC Moore (right side is new left is the stash i already had)

3 different bundle sets i got at Joann's

3 more bundle sets from Joann's

last bundle set from Joann's I bought.

I also bought 2 spools of thread and 4) 7in zippers

and 8 snap closures.

Japanese Inspired Quilt 2

2010-06-02T11:04:00.003-04:00

top is done.

Japanese Inspired Quilt 1

2010-06-02T05:10:00.001-04:00

so I started a new quilt top, it’s gonna be modern vs classic / traditional (japanese/asian influenced)
I took a fat quarter and (I guess you can say appliqued) pieces I printed out on fabric sheets with some extra Designs I found off the internet I liked. I used a close zig zag stitch to give them a patch like look. I’ll Probably square this up and use it as a center block.

here is a picture.

FINISHED diamonds and zig zag quilt

2010-06-01T02:42:00.000-04:00

yaaa its done.

Diamonds and Zig Zags? Quilt

2010-05-30T11:23:00.001-04:00

So i got hit with alil inspiration yesterday. i whipped together a small quilt i guess it's baby sized. It's 36in x 36in.
i had the center part completed yesterday and today i finished the trim and basting now it's just to quilt it. I really want to wait till i get the new sewing machine. I've been conflicted on whether to get one and since wal-mart has a brothers compurtized one for $150 with free shipping i'm gonna get it plus it comes with a bunch of extra quilting parts. so anyways here is the quilt. this time i didn't take pics along the way.

Star Quilt update 8

2010-05-26T22:18:00.000-04:00

YAAAAA! ok so i finally have the quilt top together. i'm still conflicted about doing another border though.
After I figure that out then all i have to do is sew the 2 pieces for the bottom and then sandwich everything together.

Star Quilt update 7

2010-05-26T04:54:00.003-04:00

Star Quilt update 6

2010-05-25T14:04:00.000-04:00

ok so here is an update one the quilt progress. I've started sashing the blocks and assembling the rows.

This is Row A and B. working on rows C, D and E.

I've had to change up some of the layout because stupid me had to get alil ahead of himself on the sashing .

Star Quilt update 5

2010-05-23T19:48:00.000-04:00

So I've finally finished the last 8 blocks last night/ this morning took about 2 and a half hours now all I have to do is figure out the sashing and borders and square up the blocks.

Star Quilt update 4

2010-05-21T06:13:00.000-04:00

This one is just going to be a written update because there really wasn't anything to take pictures of. The last 8 blocks are all that need to be done, and my progress so far after getting home from work, I think I went down in the basement around 3:30am and came up around 5:30am. I chained sewed all the small squares to the rectangles to make the star parts and then I ironed them. I also cut 3 inch wide stripes of my 3 different black and white patterned fabrics so they are ready. All that's left now is to construct the actual blocks and that shouldn't take too long. Once the blocks are done I can move on to figuring out the border layout.

Star Quilt update 3

2010-05-20T04:38:00.000-04:00

Did some more blocks i have a total of 12 done now and 8 more to go. yaaa for progress.

On a side note I have a remix project i still need to finish and then do some promo stuff for the bar for tomorrow night.

Star Quilt update 2

2010-05-19T21:33:00.000-04:00

So I got 3 more blocks sewn up and 11 more to go. I've also picked out the fabrics I'll be using for my borders.

These are the 3 new blocks, I would have done the 4th one (purple and green) but I wanted to come upstairs and do some other things I'll probably go back down later though.

This is the rest of the color pallet.

These are the fabrics I've selected for the borders.

bright stars quilt update!

2010-05-19T05:22:00.000-04:00

So Monday night i took about 3 hours to cut all my star block pieces. Last night I started piecing, as of now (5:30am wed morning) I have 6 blocks complete and 14 to go. They don't take me that long to complete really but right now it seems that the pace I'm working at each block is taking 30 minutes with prep and assembly.

here is a pic of what i have done so far

new quilt block update

2010-05-18T04:00:00.002-04:00

So I've looked at all the bright fat quarters I had and bought 6 more today. right now i have 2 blocks completely sewn and i just spent the last 3 hours (1am - 4am) ironing cutting and stacking the pieces so that they are ready to be sewn. each square as of know will finish at 11inches and I've made up a layout for me to follow. right now i have a 2 inch finished black border on the layout but I'm not sure I'm gonna use that i have some black and white patterned fabric fat quarters i want to use up. so here is the design hopefully with all my math the measurements will end up to be 67 inches x 54 inches.

new quilting block

2010-05-17T09:05:00.000-04:00

it's new for me and here it is.

the bottom one shows the colors alil better.

New quilt Project 1a

2010-05-14T06:54:00.000-04:00

Hey there,

I've started some new blocks for a quilt. Right now I just need to piece the 2 blocks together and add the additional strip to one of the sides (as to not waste as much fabric as possible) here is a pic of it.

i'm not too sure i'm going to be able to find these fabrics again since there were in a fat quarter set @ Joann's when i got them and they were on clearance so i know it's gonna be hard to find them. Since this is basically my base what i may do is just take it with me shopping and find some fabrics to match it in color and i know the pieces aren't very matchy matchy but i really like the whole randomness of the piecing. since these 2 blocks aren't sewn together yet i may even just border them as to not throw my self or other people off when looking at it and saying it looks uneven when well that was my intention to make it uneven. so as this quilt comes to me and build i will post more pics of its progress.

Project updates !

2010-05-11T22:50:00.000-04:00

Ok so I've finally finished something. The kitty quilt i made for our little kitty, Wally. Here is the outcome of that.

This is the Front view, I did a tie off method since this was a smaller and my first quilt.

This is the back view, as you can probably see he's got his hair on it already LOL.

This is just a close up of the front to show the ties.

I also took some pics of the scarf I was talking about cause I wanted to show mine instead of pics of someone elses.

Ohhh and now to something exciting and kinda fun. So ever since I've decided to quilt I found out that there are places you can get your own fabric printed and I thought "oh wow that's a cool idea" Then I found out Jay McCarroll from season 1 of project runway had designed and put out a few lines of fabric for crafters. This made me want to make my own even more so i found a web site that would allow you to do this in Yards to an 8x8 swatch even fat quarters price is alil up there but for personalized fabric i think its sweet plus they have a knit fabric which I'm gonna love cause then i can do T-Shirts. So anyways back to the point. I already knew they made printable fabric sheets for inkjets in 8.5x11 then through my searches on Youtube i found out i can do my own at much a cheaper cost to me :) so i did just that and here is the out come so far.

My Hello Kitty design on fabric

on card stock to see it better

cutie animal design by me on fabric

on car stock to get a better view

So yeah that's what I've been up to the last couple of days at home and I'll keep ya posted what my next projects will be and the progress on them :) TTFN

New ventures and such....

2010-05-04T20:41:00.000-04:00

Hi There :)

So it's May already and I haven't really been up to much. Knitting is kinda on the back burner at the moment, I do have 1 project I keep working on while I'm at work but that's only because the damn thing stays in my bag so where ever I take my bag that projects goes with me. It's an Orca Tail scarf pattern kinda makes a design that looks like Whale tails or Mermaid Tails coming out of the water.

(not my image it was taken from the site i got the pattern from)

And I've decided to take up quilting. My first project is a lil quilt for the kitty and some random blocks I'll probably turn into baby quilts. so here are some pics

once the quilt is done I'll post more pics, this is just the top and Wally has already claimed it for his without knowing it's already being made for him :)

Happy Birthday to me !

2010-03-23T20:19:00.000-04:00

So it's still my birthday and I turned 30, feels good was alil sad last night we went to the parx casino in philly I left with 150 only going in with 80 then we came home and went to the sands in bethlehem and lost it all despite doing well early on. When I got home I was just bum'd out and fell asleep, well when I woke up today I saw alot of people had left me birthday wishes online and on my phone so that was nice even people I don't know wished me a happy birthday online so that felt really good. The hubby and I went out for dinner to a seafood place not far from the house, it was really good. I loves him so much. He gave him his kodak HD video cam since he bought a new sony camera a couple weeks back and he gave me 200 bucks LOL but said i could use it to gamble which is ok but i'm gonna save it for something . I have no idea what i want yet :) so tonight i'm going over a friends house to work on my costumes for my show on thursday night i'm so nervous about it i dont even have the songs picked out yet and i hope that everything goes over so well i gotta get some stuff together for the prizes too. well i think that's it for now. i'll let you know how my show goes over durning the weekend.

the actual update

2010-03-10T03:36:00.000-05:00

So I said I was gonna update everyone the other day on what's been going and I didn't, bad me. T-Shirt thing is on hold right now till I try to figure some things out with it. The knitting is slow again probably just the ole winter blues, you know don't wanna do shit. I did manage to start the kitchen on Sunday morning around 2am. I wanted to start it around 7 or 8pm after the hubby left for work but I kept saying "I'll do it in an hour" then another hour passed and another till finally I told myself "ENOUGH, just get up and do it" so i'd say about 70% is done since Sunday night. I didn't touch it much today but I did make some progress yesterday and hopefully I'll make some progress tomorrow and get it fully done. just a few more pots to clean then I can work on the stove and work my way around to where the microwave is and along that whole side and eventually the floors. So I'm taking it at a slow pace for now hopefully I can keep myself motivated enough that after I finish the kitchen I can then move onto another room, which one I'm not sure yet. There is the basement, the living room, bathroom, dining room (which I've seen but haven't been in since I moved in back in March of 08' he has a bunch of stuff stored in there which we need to sort out badly), our bedroom and the spare room (which I've seen but really haven't been in or used because he has all his studio stuff stored and piled in there). Yeah so I'm pretty upbeat about this is whole cleaning thing right now until i hit a block again when he starts getting pissed that I'm throwing things out that he may or may not need. I think he's got the symptoms of a Hoarder, I know I have minor ones but I'm willing to atleast thrown stuff away unlike him. Once this weather warms up things will go a little faster for me. Also if I keep away from the casino I think I'll be fine too, it's getting kind of depressing now for me, but I won't get into all that right now.

quick update

2010-03-05T16:52:00.002-05:00

hey guys, just a quick check in. lots have been going on but I have to get ready for work. I'll write a full posting when i get to to work to let everyone know what's going on :)

February goodness!

2010-02-10T00:31:00.000-05:00

Hey!

OK so where should I start? Well since this is all about me being random in thought. I decided I'm on a mission to knit some socks damn it. last week I hand knit 1 multi green sock it came out well so that's where my mission began. What is the easiest way to knit a sock? Trying to subtract time via not having to sew up any seams or even hand knit it. Well tonight I think I came to the conclusion that, Hand knit socks in the round is the easiest and maybe the fastest, and here's why. so last week when I knit the 1 green sock it was broken up over 3 days with about 2 hours time invested. Tonight I tried to knit 1 on the Bond and that didn't go so well. Spent 3 hours in the basement trying out a pattern with adjustments for my size the outcome not so good and the time put in not good either, not to mention if I had done both socks on the Bond and they did come out perfect I'd still need another 30 minutes to an hour to sew the seams. So hand knit it is. My other issue is finding the right measurements for my size, so even though I've done all the basic math in my head it's all going to come down to having to swatch the yarn I'm going to use find the gauge and knit my sock accordingly. OK so that's alil more work then I want to do. I hate sounding lazy when it comes to knitting but jeez I just want to knit the damn thing and be done with it LOL I want some damn socks already. BTW I've knitted socks on the Bond before and they came out good but I want something that's actually in a mens size. My quest continues for now and hopefully I can post some results once they happen.

First Post of 2010

2010-01-05T06:24:00.000-05:00

Well where should I start? I guess Happy New Year's everyone. Things are starting out alil odd and rough but I think once I get past this month things will run alil smoother for me. The family thing for the hoildays feel through . I'm not sure why but my mom decided to cancel it and just not reschedule with the hubby and I. No big deal really but it was just an odd christmas this year. I ended up being along all day Xmas eve and Xmas day but had show on Xmas eve at the club that went ok for the lil bit of people who did come out. New Years Eve was ehh just didn't feel special you know. We ended up going to the casino on Xmas night which was a bad idea even though I did win some money but I thought it would be a good idea to go again later on that week and just lost it all stupid me. And again after new year's now i'm broke just waiting for the money to come in from somewhere. I really need to stop going it's not good.

So i've been trying to keep busy with some side things so I don't lose my sanity .

1st The music thing is kicking back up again, JP (Jipsta) and I are doing a couple things. We have a few songs in the works and he did some vocals on a track for a Drag Queen in NYC named Britney Houston. so I figured i'd ask if it needed a mix and they said yeah so I'm doing that as well then i asked to see if he could get me a vocal track from his new connection for this Maxi J song called "Bring the Rain" and that came through so I been working on that as well. Now to my surprise Jonny McGovern likes what I'm doing so much he sent me 3 more acapellas to work on but I have to back burner those for the time being cause I have 2 paid jobs i need to attend to before the end of the month. 1 is for JP and that's the Nasty Boys track and the 2nd is a new remix for Ehm for his song Favorite Thangz it was the first song we ever worked on together so that should be fun I hope. Also I hope I can get Dean to get a new project started or something cause I would love to have another album or even an EP released with him this year.

2nd The screen printing stuff, I order a hobby kit plus from Ryonet in washington state it was like 199.95 on sale I ordered it the day after xmas and it says its gonna be here on the 7th so we'll see. I'm just really excited to get started on making T-Shirts and selling them. I may have to do some marketing research to see what kinda shirts people would buy sizes and prices they are willing to pay.

3rd The knitting stuff. I still have yet to seam up the vest I know its messed up after spending all that money on yarn. came out to be a $60 vest . the colors are nice and the knitting is done well but some spots I messed up on, I'd still wear it though. hopefully I can get more projects done and starting selling that stuff too.

ok I think that's it for now its about 630am on tuesday the 5th and I think I'm losing track of what I'm writing so I'll end it here. Till next time.

Update

2009-12-22T23:58:00.000-05:00

Hey Yall,

:) so here is my occasional update. My family decided not to do xmas on the 21st (yesterday) not sure when we'll be doing that. work asked me if i'd do all the food crap for our xmas party and i said yeah. we were going to have it catered but i guess the owner realized it would be to hard to do on the 28th. i have a drag show on thursday night hopefully that will be fun. also finished 2 mixes in 3 days for some people that deal with Jonny McGovern out of NYC 1 is Britney Houston's new song "Party Trail" which features my friend JP (aka) Jipsta so since i normally produce for him i decided to do a mix and i figured since he was cool with these people i would ask him to get jonny to give me the pella for Maxi J's song "Bring The Rain" which the hubby and I worked on together and it came out really good. now onto my next project?

checking in

2009-12-17T04:19:00.002-05:00

hey peoples,

not much is going on, since the christmas is just a week away i havent had much to write about i should be getting back on track after that i'll probably have something to write about then.

Sweater Vest Update

2009-12-03T04:28:00.000-05:00

I've finally gotten the whole back panel done, bottom ribbing, neck ribbing, armhole ribbing and the full back. I'm half way done the bottom ribbing on the front panel hopefully I can get that done in a bit so that tomorrow I can work on getting the rest of the front done. Project is taking me a little longer then I wanted it to but it's going to be my first real project/finished item or anything clothing wise I've ever made for my self so we'll see how it turns out.

Next I want to work on a vest for my sister for Christmas I have this nice Rainbow Classic Yarn from Sensations by Jo-Ann in a Purple / Lilac / White / Brown colorway something a little girly but still grown up hopefully she'll like it. But lets get my vest done before I commit to anything else.

Sweater progress?

2009-12-01T17:09:00.002-05:00

Hey yall,

So the test sweater i guess has been back burnered for the mean time and I started working on the Alvin vest from the first pattern book I bought. So far I got the full back panel done. Started with the bottom ribbing by hand then worked it the full way up on the knitting machine. Now I'm just doing the neck and armhole ribbing by hand. I got the neck part done, it was alil rough on my hands but it got done. The armholes seem to be alil tricky cause u have to pick up stitches, which I wasn't sure on how to do so I had to watch some videos online to see what i'm doing wrong. So now I know what I wasn't doing so i can go back and finish off these armhole ribs and then knit up the front bottom ribbing and start getting this piece together.

Precious

2009-11-29T21:19:00.000-05:00

OK so I just saw this movie "Precious" and I have to tell you I cried for about 80% of the movie. It plucked at a nerve and just made me realize alot of the stuff I went through growing up, not as deep as the story goes but some of the more surface issues in it. I highly recommend going to see this movie if you have the chance.

Weekly update

2009-11-28T21:25:00.002-05:00

Monday - lol I Roget what we did on Monday , I believe we went out to eat and then went home nothing special.

Tuesday - I went to Joanna and bought a butt load of yarn and a new bond knitting machine to attach to my other on so I can have a bigger needle bed to work on.

Wednesday - I had to dj for our reunion night at the club . It went well nice crowd I was pleased.

Thursday - nothing special had off but had to come in anyway to put up some promo stuff around the club.

Friday - had to work.

Saturday - went to the knitters edge today for their extended black Friday sale spent 117 got a lot of nice yarns and a pattern book for mens stuff with Noro yarn by Jane Ellison.

Hopefully tommorrow I can work on my vest.

Blah blah blurp from my iPhone

random mess

2009-11-24T20:56:00.003-05:00

Random mess of Yarn mostly just balls of stuff.

012, originally uploaded by DivaNationRemix.

bottom shelf

2009-11-24T20:55:00.007-05:00

018, originally uploaded by DivaNationRemix.

5th shelf

2009-11-24T20:55:00.005-05:00

017, originally uploaded by DivaNationRemix.

4th shelf

2009-11-24T20:55:00.003-05:00

016, originally uploaded by DivaNationRemix.

3rd shelf

2009-11-24T20:55:00.001-05:00

015, originally uploaded by DivaNationRemix.

2nd shelf

2009-11-24T20:54:00.003-05:00

014, originally uploaded by DivaNationRemix.

Top shelf

2009-11-24T20:54:00.001-05:00

013, originally uploaded by DivaNationRemix.

New Toys YAAAA!

2009-11-24T20:51:00.000-05:00

So I went shopping today bought a folding chair to use in the basement, a small rug for me to put on the floor under that chair, a new bond knitting machine to attach to the other one so I can have more needles to work on and a bunch more yarn. I've been buying alot of yarn and I still have a crap load from last year when I splurged on JL yarn. ok so i'm gonna post these pics and see what happens

Drag Pageant Aftermath!!

2009-11-23T02:24:00.000-05:00

OMG someone please save me! LOL. So I had to fill in for my hubby and DJ a our Nightclub/Bar's Annual Drag Pageant and let me tell you it wasn't fabulous at all. The person I was hoping to win didn't even place, 2 contestants dropped out at last minute and the winner well no one likes her, she's very hated and a trouble maker not to mention that she doesn't even support of come to the place on a regular basis like the others ones do. I would have rather the damn thing be fixed then to have to deal with this bitch for a whole year. So yeah it ran smoothly we ended up starting at 830 only 30 minutes behind not too bad. It ended at 11pm. its 2am now I got home around 1 and just waiting for the hubby to get home :) now for Wednesday I have to do the Reunion night that should be fun again standing in for the hubby while he works regular gig.

On the knitting tip I've been bouncing back and for on a few projects which I think I need to get organized on but since this week has been so hectic I haven't gotten much done. so far I have :

1. Alvin Vest by Jane Ellison (bottom ribbing of back) completed but that's as far as I got cause I want to get #6 circular needles so all the stitches sit OK now I have 150 stitches squeezed on 14" straight needles.

2. a Size Small Adult pull over sweater on the bond knitting machine. so far I have the back / front and 1 messed up sleeve ( I won't screw up the second sleeve ) after I do the second sleeve I'll just need to do the neck ribbing and the cuff ribbing then seam up the left and right edges. (this one isn't for anyone it's just to see how the pattern is made and how the garment looks and if i can change it some to make it something I'd want to wear.) PLUS i want to get another knitting machine so I can connect the 2.

3. A pair of socks done on 2 needles. This has been a stop and go project. I've done socks before with double pointed and on the bond machine now I'm just trying this because I can and want to although I know I won't like that fact I'll have to sew the seams.

so yeah thats just a recap. cause I know I've already talked about these.

I also have some things I started and never picked back up from last winter.

1. Thick 1x1 ribbed blanket made of Wool Ease yarn in a heather gray and off white or wheat color.
I'm doing it in strips (kinda like a bunch of scarves put together to make a blanket) I have 1 strip done and 2 more started its something I want to pick back up but each strip is about 2 and a half skeins of yarn and each skein is about 7 bucks so at the time it was alil expensive.

2. Orange throw for couch. Just some cheap orange yarn I bought in bulk it was like 8 skeins for 6 bucks so I bought 2 packages. was just making this sorta the same way by seaming 50 stitch strips (scarf like) together I got 3 strips done and just haven't touched it since then.

what am i still doing awake!!!!!

2009-11-21T08:45:00.001-05:00

So it's like 8:30 am on a saturday and I still haven't gone to sleep from friday night. BLAH! So my friday was kinda of a bust, I slept till about 5pm got up and ready for work , then I went to work at 7pm. It was kinda dead as usualy and we had new strippers in, big freakin deal, since when was it ok for strippers to just look good but have no personality and or can't dance? It confuses me really. And I never realized how bad acrylic yarn picks up cigarette smoke. (said tracking) I starting doing a size small sweater on the knitting machine on thursday night or wednesday night, can't remember exactly but anyway, I did the whole back piece ( wed or thurs) then hand knitted the 2x2 ribbing while I was at work today. Also hand knitted the 2x2 ribbing for the front while I was at work so that when I came home all i had to do was put all the stitches on the machine and work the front. That all went alil well. There are a few messed up spots that aren't too noticeable but I know they are there and well it bothers me but It's not something i'm gonna fix at this point cause this sweater is only a test. So yeah, after i got the front and back done I seamed up 1 of the shoulders so I could start an arm. This is were I really screwed up. Instead of doing what the pattern said (more or less reading it carefully) I didn't get the Sleeve shape that is required for the sweater. I was supposed to knit (96 rows) decreasing 1 stitch on each side every 7th row but I only decreased 1 stitch every 7th row which didn't leave me with the 40 stitches it said i should have left on the hooks. I also think that 7 x 13 = 91 and not 96 so the pattern is messed up there too. cause after that you have knit 11 more rows to get 102 and 96 + 11 = 107 in my book not 102 . yeah so the shape on the one arm is messed up but thats ok I made sure everything is where it should be now. so hopefully when I find time again i'll seam up the other shoulder and make the other sleeve. after that all i'll have to do is knit the cuffs and the neck and seam up the sides into the sleeves. LOL it's giving me a headache just thinking about it . I should have taken pictures of the process but I didn't even think about it. so yeah like i was saying about cigarette smocking really sticking to arcylic yarn. I think I got a headache and somewhat sick from the smell when I got in the basement and having it so close to my face.

Randomness Part 4

2009-11-19T17:28:00.000-05:00

so it's back to work today. Having off 4 days in a row now begins to get at you in a way where you just don't want to go back to work after the all that. luckily it's not that many hours I have to put in for the weekend. That's right this week I have to pull double duty with the damn Drag Pageant and the Reunion night. atleast it's Extra money in my pocket. I started the back of a Small adult sweater this morning on my Bond Knitting Machine. Now I just have to do the Front, The Sleeves and the Ribbed edges. It's a pretty simple pattern when you think about it. its just all about measurements and stitch counting and converting the 2. LOL oops lost my train of thoughts i'll continue this later.

iPhone connected

2009-11-18T20:47:00.001-05:00

Yaaaaa I'm connected with my iPhone now :) god I'm such a dork.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Randomness part 3

2009-11-18T05:53:00.001-05:00

So it's like almost 6am on Tuesday / Wednesday and I'm still awake kinda. We went out to lunch today and to run the Hubby's friends to get their car inspected, came home did nothing then went to Applebee's for some dinner. I downloaded a printer app for my iphone today and tried it out and it works it's kinda cool but it's also alil pointless at the same time when you have to leave your laptop or PC on just to connect to the damn printer. Non the less it still worked so it's all good. And I updated the look of the blog, I like being alil geeky sometimes so YAAA ME! I uploaded a bunch of pictures of the kitty to flickr ( here is the link ) pics of wally
hopefully that will show up right if not its still there to copy and paste. umm what else? I think thats it for now

Randomness Part 2

2009-11-17T08:09:00.001-05:00

Oh geez It's late or early (5am), depending on the type of person you are. I figured I would fill you in on my Monday adventure. I ended up falling asleep on the couch after being up all night cause I couldn't sleep. Been feeling that way lately not sure if I'm just bored or depressed or what the hell is going on but anyway, The hubby woke me up around 1 or so and I ended up just going into the bedroom and falling back asleep. About 4pm he woke me up again looking for the new toilet seat to put on. So he ended up doing that instead of me. We got ready so we could go out to dinner and then to movies. We went to Carraba's which was OK but extremely pricey to me, what we ended paying we could have went out to eat somewhere else 3 times. Then we went to see 2012, it was OK but 2 hours and 40 minutes is a bit much for it and the movie just drug on.

I also bought a new pair of Size 8 circular needles 29" long, i actually need a size 6 for this vest I'm making but they didn't have them so I'll have to wait till I can get over to Knitter's Edge or to Tucker's. I also machine knitted up a new swatch pattern for an alternative design to the vest, using Gray / Black / Lime Green and Fuchsia, It's really pretty.
colors are actually brighter then they look in the picture.

Machine Knitting these stripes seems to be a bit of a pain in the ass only cause when u switch yarns you have to cut the ends cause it doesn't do well with carrying the yarn up the sides which means you have to do alot of weaving in ends afterwards instead of as you go with hand knitting. I think I'm gonna take some pictures and add them to the blog. Maybe I'll even try to do some kinda redesign to it too.

Accomplishment or Failure?

2009-11-16T04:35:00.000-05:00

So it's now 1:30am on Sunday night, I managed to start on the bathroom, toilet all cleaned off, sprayed down the shower removed the old toilet seat to replace it with a new one and BAM. The darn nuts on the bottom of the toilet that holds the hinges to the old toilet seat on will not come off and I just happen to not have any tools handy. Just Great! So I just spray out the shower and went in the living room to watch the stuff I recorded from earlier to watch. I did manage pick up some of the sock knitting though got the heel shaping done and have begun with the bottom instep. I'll probably need another couple hours direct on it to finish up but think I'm going to hold off on the seaming till i have both socks knitted up. I'll add pictures eventually but for now you'll just have to hear me talk about.

Procrastination

2009-11-16T02:33:00.001-05:00

Well here I am about 2 hours later, I've had dinner and set down to watch TV in that time, I was hoping the special on Head Shrinking was on but i had missed the first airing of it and have to wait till the Midnight airing and while flipping through the channels i saw that the Wizard of Oz was coming on at 10:15 so i figured i'd watch that till the other thing came on. Meanwhile I know what i should really be doing is umm CLEANING like I said I was going to do. I just can't seem to get my self motivated and at the same time in all this I want to work on my knitting. What a guy to do. I'll let you know how it goes as the night progresses maybe i'll accomplish something. Till then wish me luck.

Randomness Part 1

2009-11-16T00:25:00.005-05:00

So where the hell should I start? hmmm ok I've got it.

This coming Sunday we are having the annual Miss Stonewall Pageant at work and since my hubby can't do (which he usually does) I'm filling in for him. What have I gotten myself into? I'm only doing it for the pay, other the that I can't really stand these things. They never start on time, everything is always a hot mess, no one knows whats going on and the people who should just be taking orders and directions just take it upon themselves to run it any which way they please.

Then on Wednesday night we have a reunion night coming up its supposed to be the biggest night for clubs ect since everyone is home for the holiday blah blah blah who cares LOL. Anywho like I said before the hubby normally does this event but since he has previous engagements I'm filling in for him and just like before I'm doing it for the money. I just hope to god like last year I don't get distracted or nervous and screw up because some people like to come in the DJ booth and tell you what to do when they have no clue what to do as a DJ.

Now on to things outside of work. I finally went to the Bethlehem Yarn shop "The Knitter's Edge" OMG let me just tell you, I was so overwhelmed in there. I just wanted to buy everything (all the yarn) LOL. The selection and colors I thought I was in knitters heaven. So I ended up buying some things.

I bought a Men's pattern book ( Queensland collection Book 9 by Jane Ellison) Fabulous book, the patterns are modern easily altered and come in plus sizes, cause I'm a bigger kinda guy :).

I also got some needles and yarn, thank god i bought alot of yarn cause the one pattern I decided to do called for it but i still need to get a few more skeins so that I have enough to complete it. Right now I've only completed the bottom ribbing for the back of the Vest. I have to get a set of circular needles to do this right. I'm very set on finishing this Vest, I HAVE TO. So while I let the vest sit I decided to try my hands at the 2 needle socks again. since I picked up a pair of #2 and #3 10in bamboo needles. I started sock 1 on Thursday night put in about 2 hours ( I like to take my knitting with me to work and knit between orders in the kitchen ) 5 hours on Friday night and about 2 and half on Saturday. I got ankle instep and heel done now I just have to finish the bottom of the foot join at the toe and seam up on the sides and begin the second sock. Once I do this I will be satisfied knowing I can do 2 needle socks even though I know that doing socks on double pointed needles is much easier since I only have to worry about seaming at the toe.

Now for the house issues. I've set a goal for my self around Halloween that I would start getting the house in order for the Christmas holiday so that the hubby and I can actually decorate the house. Let me tell you how overwhelming it is to see such a messy house and get motivated to clean. Yeah exactly. When I moved in it was slightly the way it is now, I know I've added alil to it since then but I really wish I could just focus on getting this house in order on time. And as I'm writing all this I could be cleaning and getting stuff done but tonight I figured I would do this then get to cleaning while the hubby is at work. I've got maybe 3 more 4day weekends to do this and I haven't even begun to break the ice on it yet not to mention the weekend I was motivated i started on the bedroom got maybe 30% of my side of the room cleaned up and on trash day wet the trash out from that side of the room. The hubby decided that what I thought was trash wasn't and he put the bags on the back patio to go through them. Well I wasn't too happy about that and really it just felt pointless to me to do anything else since well I can't through anything out without running it by him and he isn't one to help me out on this issue. So unproductive! Tonight I'm going to attempt to work on the Kitchen and Bathroom and go from there.

Introduction

2009-11-16T00:08:00.000-05:00

Ello!

So let me just introduce myself and give you alil background on me. My name is Joe, I'm 29. I was born on March 23rd 1980. I'm an Aries. The youngest of 3 children to a Single Mother. I was born and raised in Norristown PA. I lived there for 28 years. I'm openly gay (came out when I was 15) I have a large background in Food & Cooking. I also Read, Write, Produce and Remix music. I dable in other forms of creativeness such as knitting, crochet, screen printing, sewing, minor graphic design, clothing design. I love to entertain as well but that's a newly discovered trait of mine.

At this point in time I work in a Bar as a cook and promotions/ advertising director. I live with my wonderful and beautiful boyfriend of 2 years in a nice little house with our cat Wally. So I think this better much sums up the introduction of me. Now I'll be getting onto all the randomness of my life. Please sit back and enjoy the ride.

WOW first post.

2009-11-15T23:42:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

So this is gonna be my umph-teen time attempting to try and start a blog. It's going to basically be a random journal about me and what I do in my life, my spare time, my hobbies ect.. i'm sure you get the idea. That's why I've decided to call it "Blah Blah Blog and so on", probably not the most original name but I think it gets the point across to exactly what's going to happen on here:) .

So please bare with me as I try to fix things up a bit here and get my self started and situated. After I get all aesthetics delt with I ramble on about my self so that you'll get to know me alil better.