Thursday, April 7, 2011

science is fun useful!*

so i have this lovely silver tea service that was my grandmother's, which i've been meaning to polish since high school (which, if we're generous, was 10 years ago...)



and i've decided that i'm finally going to get it done, but hate polishing stuff, and it's super yuk to be around, so i took to google to see if there was a way to make my own (non-toxic-y) silver polish, and google did me one better...i can make my own silver DIP! so i don't even have to polish, i can just soak. which is exactly my speed. tested it on a small scale with my bracelet last night, and it seemed to work relatively well, so i'm going to go big tonight...

so, it totally worked, right before my eyes, score! the coffee pot still needs some work, but i think that this is good enough for now. better than a half-assed attempt, but not quite full assed. also, as i was doing some (very slight, let's be honest) buffing, i thought "this would have been the better part of some poor woman's job back in the day" and that made me VERY happy that it wasn't even slightly part of my job description.




*while the watching it un-oxidize before my eyes was kind of fun, this was also work, so more useful than fun. although i do recognize that science is, in fact, fun...just not in this instance.

Friday, April 1, 2011

i feel like a legitimate sewer today!

sewist? sewer? anyhow! this morning, i patched the knee of my favourite jeans. just decided that i really actually needed to finally do it, and that i wanted to wear them, so i bit the bullet and patched them up, bam! look:

Thursday, March 31, 2011

exciting

i got this today:

Saturday, March 19, 2011

sock theory

SO, i'm sure that we've all heard of the infamous "second sock syndrome" whereby one gets bored after the first sock and then still has to make a second sock to end up with a pair. i was telling a colleague the other day that i'd come up with (during my insane sock knitting for everyone at christmas last year) for circumventing the sss. so here's my theory:

1. knit sock one (pair one).
2. knit sock one (pair two).
3. by the time you get back to pair one to knit the second sock, it's new and interesting again.
4. by the time you get back to pair two, ditto.
5. you end up with two pairs of socks, and aren't bored.

so. it works, in theory. it was working for my co-worker-knitter, until she was sidetracked by another sock that she just couldn't resist. and being the good person i am, i definitely made fun of her.

confession: i'm really no better. i'm most of the way through a pair of socks, and have a work project, the wispy cardigan, and somehow still managed (in a day and a half), to start a knitted tutu, a pair of baby booties, and another pair of socks.

sigh. my name is katrina, and i have a problem. :) my problem is that i have a christmas' worth of sock yarn in the basement. and a short attention span. at least they will get done well in time for christmas...?

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

buzzzzbuzzbuzz. finally finished some long overdue bee blocks, which means that up next i really need to get my butt in gear to ge my bee quilt blocked and sashed ASAP for our quilt show in 8 weeks. it needs to be finished at least enough to be measured for registration by april 10th...less than a month from now. totally doable, right?

textured block



book shelf block for our (other) bee-brarian :)





and two square blocks round out the set and catch me up to date and even a tiny bit early!




and here is my quilt non-progress. same place it was about 8 months ago:



Sunday, March 13, 2011

pintucks, here I come!

our february challenge chez beehive (yes, that would be *last* month's challenge) is to create a textured block. so i'm going to pintuck.

and, because i still needed ravelry pics for some mittens made AGES ago, and my blog is about 80% ridiculous animal photos, i present the animals minding their own business:



and then the one that gets me on the radar of the spca...

Monday, March 7, 2011

successful party, and the cat licking his bum.

it's been a full day. the man's birthday, and thus party, and the cat was so stressed, he hid under the bedsheets the whole time. but now he's leaned up against me cleaning his bum. mister man says that this shows that he's so comfortable with me that he can clean himself, and wants to be near me. i'm not sold on the idea.

anyhow, lovely party. tired, but happy. my friends are awesome, and happy moment: boys in the living room with beer and loud nerd talk, girls in the kitchen getting things ready to eat. and the boys are all capable cooks, and the girls are all modern-y career girl types. but it just made me really happy in that moment to have the house filled with noise and everyone just around, and even to be kind of weirdly traditional through no real design of our own.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

introducing....the PITA twins!

bah-bah-da-dahhhhhhhhh! it's:



handout




and THE KITTEN!


i swear, this morning, they hatched a plan that went something like this:

handout: hey, i'm locked out!
the kitten: shit, me too. they lock me out all the time.
handout: well not me! so here's what we're going to do: i'm going to sit outside and whine for a half hour or so. then, come back after an hour, when they're good and asleep again, and start up again...
the kitten: ok. you know what i finds works well for me, batting at the door. sometimes, i even jump or thow myself against it.
handout: GOLDEN. i'll paw at the door and maybe throw some small barks in with the whining.
the kitten: ok. and once you're in, i'm going to jump up on the windowsill. OH YES. i will jump onto the windowsill *scheme-y paws*
handout: done and done. then i'll get on the bed and lick them a lot.
the kitten: YES! and i'll wander aimlessly and meow, then jump up and down onto the windowsill and the bed and the windowsill and the bed, and then meow some more. AND THEY WILL WANT TO PET ME SO BAD BUT I WON'T COME.
both: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*end scene*

they then proceeded to carry out this plan STARTING AT 7.00 ON SUNDAY MORNING. today, i have honestly no idea why we have pets.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

non-crafty

but fun. look!


mixer


flea market'd today, and it was AWESOME. i've been thinking a lot about wedding registries, and about how the only thing that i really want is a mix master, and VOILA. i even bargained. cleverly, since i'd only actually brought $10 in cash with me. muahahaha! it works and everything, and has TWO different bowl sizes. i'm in business! so long as i can find somewhere for it in the cupboard, since mister man has already given me notice that it won't be staying on the kitchen table. *pout*!

ps--sorry for the crappy photo, too lazy to go find an actual camera, and my cell phone doesn't love the indoors.

Friday, February 25, 2011

i ♥ my serger



it's teensy and cute and it makes me feel like a real sewer to even actually have a serger. i inherited it from a friend's mum on long term loan. and it just makes me happy. fixed up a few shirts today (with the serger, obvs), and put my sewing room more or less back together, which is nice. i might even get back to some actual sewing time in.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

so this one time, my LYS totally tricked me

by having this 20% off sock yarn sale. which would normally have been fine, but one of the girls from work called me after work, and left me a voicemail message at work (she leaves before I do) to tell me about this sale, which i otherwise would have missed completely. and being that my plan for next year is that EVERYONE on my list is getting socks, twenty percent off isn't a bad deal. in fact, it's such a good deal that i bought yarn for about 15 pairs of socks. because i'm clearly completely insane. but at least now i'm all set for christmas. in the first week of february. teehee!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

so i've been thinking that a really funny post about how i've clearly hit rock bottom--i'm sick, and have been so pathetic that i've been eating pogos (corndogs) and watching jersey shore ( :( ) and screwing up mister man's stupid koolhaas hat AGAIN, and how i'm clearly pathetic.

and then i woke up this morning thinking about a darling friend of mine, and felt that it must mean that she was gone. and she is. not unexpectedly gone, but really, finally gone. and although i'm still sick and pathetic, i'm also sad, and feel stupid about feeling so sorry for myself. because her new little family has such a gaping hole, as to all the rest of us. sigh.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

oooh baby, it's cold outside.

let's be realistic. it's also really cold in my house...stupid still no furnace. :( but, at least it isn't wet. and thankfully all of my bee-girls are ok, but australia is having a hard time. and crafters are helpful sorts. there is a TON of stuff up for auction:

Photobucket


it is mind boggling how many amazing, skilled, lovely people are offering up one of a kind, amazing, creative items for auction. so if you're so inclined, it would help a lot if you checked out what was out there that maybe you would like. and if that isn't really your bag, you can also donate directly.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

reason 5039548 why i love my man


i got home from my quilters' guild meeting to find my socks and underwear all clean (which keeps me from having to go to the laundromat for another little bit...) and nicely folded on the bed. i don't know why this got me, possibly something to do with the huge pink sock pellets, but loves it. :)