proof

slim fit pants + struggle to get them on = wendy feels…not so good about herself. i know i’m not fat, so i won’t say that’s how i feel, but i do need to put the breaks on all the munching i’ve been doing. with the new apartment coming up, i can’t afford to buy new pants.

speaking of the new apartment, we get to go and see it tonight! so excited! i’m going to take the digi-cam, so there should be pics of it later.

i want to get some more things up on the site tonight too. i have a new monster, a scarf, and a tiny itty bitty purse to put up. i haven’t been able to take pics because the weather gets overcast right as i go to take them. the flash really screws up the color so i have to use natural light. *crosses fingers* maybe tonight!

and now i’m super late for work! must run!

here he is! isn’t he an adorable baby?

his little feet are just adorable! i was worried how they would turn out, and they’re perfect. what’s not perfect is his body/head. i need to go down to a 10.5 for that, as the knit fabric on 11s was so loose it didn’t fully felt. this is not a kid safe monster, sadly. the fabric is so loose that a really good tug would probably pull his eyeballs out. i guess i should put that on the website description. bleee.

i’ve been in a funk the past few days. i think secretly, deep down in dark places, i’m scared about moving out. change scares me, i admit it. i’m worried that something will happen after we move out, our money will dry up, and since we don’t have savings we’ll be screwed. i’m worried that my friend at work will regret telling me about the apartment and never want to see me again, let alone have me living above her. mostly, i am just worried about the money. jon’s business has been doing great, and it has been for a while now. he’s getting lots of work from lots of places. i just have difficulty thinking positively. all my life i’ve lived with low expectations. that way, when things go badly, i wasn’t really hoping for anything else. when things go good it’s awesome! unfortunately, it’s given me a very pessimistic outlook. jon is not like that at all, and it’s been wonderful having him around. this funk would just not go away. until today!

i love my stylist, Hideyo. she is the sweetest, friendliest person. someone has to really have a talent to get me to talk for an hour, because i’m a generally quiet person. hideyo and i talked pretty much non-stop today while she was doing my hair. we talked about moving out, we talked about what mom is going to do without jon and i to help pay the bills. we talked about my website and how exciting it is to finally be getting business (and not from people i know). we talked…you get the idea. i feel so much better. plus i look pretty! there’s nothing better than a really good haircut to cheer you up. i feel so much better.

i also got the info on my secret pal today! woohoo! i love secret pal time!

next monster: a yellow birdy! i hope this turns out, i’m going to be using the bulky wool from handpaintedyarn instead of the pure merino. i’ve felted with it before, but always in garter stitch, and it was of course bumpy. i think if i do the monster in stockinette it will be a little smoother. i’ll post here when i have results.

i’m excited for secret pal coming up! the only yarn i’ve been able to buy lately has been stuff from Michaels so that i can knit at the register when i’m working. things were so much better before some idiot i work with complained about it (if she can’t have fun when she works, no one can). they used to let me use whatever yarn i felt like, now i can only use stuff i buy there. michaels doesn’t have even a single kind of wool. no wool at all! ugh! secret pal will hopefully give me a reason to head down to yarnings, my most favorite place to be :) here’s my survey answers. i tried making a wishlist on froogle, but where they previously listed nearly all of my searches with items from yarnmarket.com, they now seem to only search ebay. putting items on your wishlist that will be gone in a week is not a good idea!

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

i am totally a yarn snob. kind of ironic that i work at michaels. i love soft wools, mainly because i love to felt. merino is your friend! i absolutely adore handpaintedyarns pure merino worsted, aka malabrigo, but i can’t afford it as malabrigo, and handpainted hasn’t had it for months :(

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

nope, though i can see myself spinning maybe a decade from now, when i’ve got my own house *crosses fingers* and can afford it.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

i’m allergic smoke like you wouldn’t believe. technically i’m allergic to animals, but i don’t care. i’m thinking about two kittens within a year from now. perfume…i am not allergic, but it does bother me, in an annoyed kind of way :)

4. How long have you been knitting?

four years? five years? not too sure.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

yes. amazon

6. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

honey, jasmine, and citrus scents. i absolutely adore Lush’s flying fox, and happy hippy sounds pretty sweet too.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

oh yes! i love candy. runts, nerds, mazing, those butterfinger crisp things, lindt truffles, the list goes on and on! not dark chocolate though, it’s too bitter. i like the sweet part. bitter never did anything for me. oh, and pocky!

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

i’ve been having a lot of fun making beaded stitch markers. i’m going to start up a site soon to start selling them, whenever hubby has the time to design a site for me.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

i like mellow guitar stuff (coldplay, travis, garden state soundtrack) and techno (that’s a super broad term, specifically lamb, portishead, telefon tel aviv, thievery corporation, etc). mp3s are awesome, my ipod loves them :)

10. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can’t stand?

i like all colors. mostly i like bright things. i’m not too into deep, muted tones. i would rather have something in bubblegum pink than mauve. i’ve been into orange and yellow lately, though i don’t really have anything in those colors, i just like them. odd.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

i currently live with my husband jon, and my mother. this will hopefully be changing by the end of june. if you see the post a few days back, jon and i are going to see an apartment soon, and we really want to move out. despite the fact that jon and i pay more rent than she does, my mother still treats where we live as “her” place. she also likes to tell us what to do, like when to do the dishes and clean the bathroom. she’s driving us insane. i love her, and i appreciate all she has done for me (and jon, most people would kick out their daughter and her fiancé when they’re both broke for two months like when jon moved in), but it’s time to move on. we don’t have pets, but we want to get two kittens at some point in the future.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

a nice house, some land, jon, and the cats.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

merino wool! i love one strand, rather than plied, but either way it’s better than acrylic. most specifically the pure merino worsted from malabrigo. i like natural fibers in general, alpaca, any wool, cashmere, etc. even blends are cool, as long as they are soft. i’m sensitive to wool, so i don’t like anything scratchy. though i do admit to liking kureyon, i can’t even contemplate putting it near my skin. kocheran is one of my favorites. colorway 10 has been calling to me for a while now :)

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

red heart acrylics. i don’t have a problem with non-natural fibers, just have to be nice. gedifra and berocco make some really nice yarns. plush is super soft.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

little monsters! i have so much fun making them! and making money on them is pretty sweet too.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

i’m an instant gratification person. i love to make baby booties and hats. i can make a pair of booties in an hour. i don’t like kids, but i love making stuff for them. strange, isn’t it?

17. What are you knitting right now?

i’ve got a few scarves going, i pick one up, knit for a while, and then move on to something else. they’re around for a little variety. i’m also pretty much always working on a little monster. they don’t take long, but i make one or two a week.

18. What do you think about ponchos?

ugh. no.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

circular. my wrists get sore, so the circs take the pressure off them.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

aluminum and plastic. my absolute favorite are my Swallow casein needles though. i love them so much! i wish i could replace all my dpns with them.

21. Are you a sock knitter?

nope. tiny needles and knitting forever just doesn’t appeal to me. i like to make fuzzy feet! that’s about as close as i get to sock knitting.

22. How did you learn to knit?

i wanted to make a harry potter scarf, and someone i worked with knew how to knit. she was kind enough to teach me the basics, and it just went from there.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

it’s getting close on a year now since i started a tank top from the rowan summer tweed collection. not sure if it’s ever going to be finished. at this point, i don’t even know where i am in the pattern.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

i love koi! as you can tell from the blog layout. i have a strange obsession with them. i want a koi pond when i have my own home.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

thanksgiving and christmas. the food is so good! nobody beats aunt sara’s stuffing. it’s the best food in the world.

26. Is there anything that you collect?

koi things. yarn ;)

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

i have one to interweave knits, but now that i work at michaels i can get them cheaper than the subscription price.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?

not really. i’ve gotten away from using too many patterns. i don’t like to make clothes, they take too long and what if i put it on and it just doesn’t go with my body? i’m not good at judging those things from a picture, so i stick with accessories, and other things i don’t need patterns for.

so that’s me and my fiber information! i’ve got to run now and get ready for a hair appointment. one more thing about me: i’m perpetually late!

i just keep pumping them out! meet nezumi. she’s a sweet little mouse! i’m calling her a mouse, and nezumi is japanese for mouse, despite the fact that she doesn’t have a tail. i didn’t know what she would be until after she was felted, so i didn’t make one. i should start putting tails on some of them, even if i don’t have plans for a species. they’re cute with tails.

jon and i will be going to look at an apartment of our own in the next week or two. we’re both so excited! someone i work with told me about it. it’s her aunt’s place, and they live in the downstairs. we would be upstairs. one bedroom, off street parking for one car, use of the basement for storage, central air, and the only utility we would have to pay for would be electric. her aunt doesn’t want a deposit, just some advance notice when we decide to move out. her aunt seems so laid back about it all! we have to go and see it yet, but as long as it’s even somewhat nice, i want to go with it. my main reason why: we get to have pets! at no extra charge! the chances of finding a one bedroom apt. in north wales that allows pets and includes most utilities and at the rent she’s asking are slim. we are most likely going to go for it. we went to target last night and started picking up things we didn’t get from the wedding. it’s so exciting! i can’t wait to go and see it. mom’s also giving us some furniture (sofa, big fluffy chair, kitchen table and chairs). since her surgery she can’t sit in the living room furniture anyway, so when we leave we take the old with us, and she’ll get new stuff she can actually use. that will definitely save us a ton of money. i just hope there is room in the kitchen for the table. i don’t have any idea how big the apartment really is.

i’m going to hopefully make some more little monsters today. we’ve got to save as much as we can before we move out!

froggy is done! i’ve named him fred. he turned out a little fat and wide, so i incorporated that into his personality. i think he’s pretty darn cute :) jon asked if frogs have ears. i told him that my frogs do.

i’m gonna go watch the x-files and make stitch markers. fun! i’m deliberating going to the quakertown knitting meetup tonight. i have no one to go with and won’t know anyone there. not sure how i feel about that. skeery!

my second froggy is coming along quite well. it would come along quite better if i could get off the computer and keep knitting on it. silly world of warcraft, taking over my life! i haven’t been too obsessed with it, since jon is working on leveling up a new character to play with me, and we’re just doing all the low level quests again. i rip through it all since i’m level 18 and his character is currently level 12. on the plus side, my cat is getting experience he needs to level, and i’m making money (game money, not real world money).

here’s a pic of the froggy in progress:

it’s basically going to be like the tiny frog i made, but slightly larger, and with a bit more of a neck. and stripes! the stripes are going to be so freaking cute.

to tell the truth, i really need to buy more malabrigo before it’s gone from the last website i’ve found that carries it. i need more colors for the little monsters. i’ve made one of every color i have. combinations of colors are all i have left. of course, i’ll buy it at $12 a pop, and the next week handpaintedyarn will have it back up on their site for $7.50. not to mention jon and i are looking at an apartment soon, and we’ll need every penny we have to move out. bleeee.

i’m going to go check the mail and get a shower. i want to finish froggy2 today, and get started on another monster. no idea what it will be yet, but i’m thinking something red and blue. we shall see.

kitten avec whip (whose real name i do not know) is taking donations for an excellent cause, and will be having raffles for those who make donations. the cause is the center for reproductive rights. it’s something that i also feel strongly about for reasons i don’t want to go into here. just check out her site, and if you can afford it, give something. i have no money, and hope to give stitch markers. i’m waiting to hear back about that.

ok, i’m off to play some world of warcraft. god i love that game. i’m slowly adding more to the blog, look for new features in the future.

only a small amount of knitting done today. i wasn’t at my register much today, which is where i normally knit on work days. we got an assload of new yarn at work, so i was helping amy and carol reorganize the department. i was suprised at how much i liked being out on the floor. i think it was the not dealing with as many customers that made it so nice :)

the devilish angel is no longer the latest monster. meet teeny bunny. she’s a bit of an awkward looking thing, so i incorporated that into her personality. i know i said next up would be a pink elephant, but i was inspired and had to make her :)