Domestic Geek

Despite being sick, I managed to get quite a bit done this weekend.

On the crafty front, I finally got around to sewing the watch band for the iPod Nano that Dad and I got for Marcus last Christmas. I swore I'd get off my duff and get it made before this Christmas and I did it with a more than a month to spare.



I've been getting into making amigurumi lately. The first one I ever made was a Yoda for my desk at work. My most recent one is this cute little pumpkin pie:



I also finished knitting a dish cloth that was a test knit for a friend of mine. No picture yet as she has not yet released the pattern.

I made a really yummy dinner on Sunday night. Beer can chicken (free range) with sage, thyme & rosemary stuffed inside, baby red potatoes & broccoli with oregano, olive oil & sea salt and corn muffins. All organic, of course.



We had to board up the skirting where a raccoon tore into it to get under the house. I hate raccoons.

I got all the bedding washed, got the dishes caught up, bathed the rabbit and cleaned her cage, made a sketch for this week's Team Housewares golf poster...whew. Too bad the work week started again and is cutting into my productivity.

I've got to face the fact...my body is getting old.

I'm trying to work on a pair of crocheted earrings from the July/August issue of Crochet Today while I watch Lost streaming from Netflix on my PlayStation 3. I'm using a tiny steel size 12 (1mm) hook with crochet thread and I can NOT see the stitches. *sigh* I had to bust out my Ott light with the magnifier on it so I can work on these.

I knew my eyes were getting worse and it was time to go in for an exam and get some new glasses. This reinforced that thought. Oh, to be able to afford laser surgery.

Speaking of Crochet Today, that was the first and only issue I will ever buy. That magazine sucks. The earrings are the only thing in there that I will make. Most of the patterns are stereotypical of what people hate about crochet. Most of this stuff is FUGLY!

OK, gripe over for now. Off to crochet.

Happy WWKIP Day (or World Wide Knit in Public to the uninitiated and open to crocheters)! It's actually turned into a week-long event, so you've got until the 20th if you want to join in.

Don't know if I'm going to get much knitting done today, though, as...

It's also the 20th Annual Estes Park Wool Market. As soon as I wake up enough and find my coat and umbrella (it rained quite a bit last night and is still at it), I'm heading up. I can't wait to see the alpacas and angora bunnies.

I keep seeing these neat beaded bracelets on Etsy. At $40 or so, I couldn't justify getting one. I was sure they were time intensive and worth every penny the sellers were asking, I just can't spend that much on a bracelet for myself. I've got a plan brewing that I hope I can share soon, but at the moment, I need to save every penny I can. I saw on someone's blog yesterday (can't remember where, I surfed a lot yesterday) that she had been shown how to make one of these bracelets. Now I was determined to learn to make my own. I came across this tutorial (posted below) yesterday. As soon as I dig out my beads, I'm going to give it a shot.

AnnBenson Bead Crochet Primer

ETA some additional links to help me:

http://www.designstolove.com/thread/1058/bead_crochet.aspx
http://www.beadseast.com/primers.html
http://www.beadpatterncentral.com/tubecrochetprimer.pdf
PDF chart to graph designs: http://www.beadpatterncentral.com/graphtubecrochetPDF.pdf