Monday, June 30, 2008

Just a quickie

Cupcakes won! I have everything to make them. I'm going to make chocolate cupcakes with 2 different frosting's. One will be a peanut butter frosting (made with fresh peanut butter) and the other is a yummy butter cream frosting/filling that my mom used to make. It's fantastic. I know I said I would make it on Saturday, but my mom's very good friend mother died. So I wasn't able to. But I am hoping to make them Monday or Tuesday.
My strawberry clutch is almost done. I finished half, cast on for the other side, got a bit into it, and messed up. So I frogged it. And then I re-cast on. Now I'm almost halfway through it. I LOVE it. I can't wait to use it.
Ok, that's all now. Here's a cute picture for you to look at! It's Asta crocheting!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

June?

Already? Oh boy, I'll have to be a better blogger huh?
My nose is unbroken! Healed! Well, mostly. It still hurts every so often but nothing like it did. And I might not be having surgery. I have a deviated septum that drives me insane. On Monday, I'm having skin tests to see what I'm allergic to (I had a blood test already) and then my Doctor is going to treat it. If the septum doesn't get better with allergy shots and meds then we'll talk about surgery.

My mom is still getting migraines, though not as bad as she was getting. She's going to try and take things out of her diet and see if a food triggers it. Keep your fingers crossed we find out what's causing them!

Since my nose was broken, it was hard to knit and crochet. I couldn't look down for more then a few minutes at a time. I crocheted a few washcloths and finally finished the back and bottom of my cat bag. I'm now working on the sides. I am hoping to finish it up this week so I can felt it and use it.

I wanted a rather quick knit that was a bit more than mindless, but not so much that I couldn't watch a movie. So that's why I casted for the Strawberry Clutch. Which I'm calling Strawberry Fields forever.


Cute huh? I love it. I haven't gotten much done so far, but I was only working on it for about a little bit.
I did finished a sock today. The pattern is Baby Cable rib and the yarn is STR in medium weight, the colorway is Spring Fling, and it seems that you can't buy it anymore. So HA! I love the colors. So nice, and of course I love the yarn. I just looked on their website and fell in love with pride. It's so bright and colorful.


I've made a bit of progress on my other WIPs. I'm almost done with the gusset on my mom's mother's day present, Jaywalkers. Yes, I know it's past mother's day. Your point? In my defense, she has yet to make me this one shawl in Wrap Style. From Christmas.

I'm past the heel on my O's socks. Which brings me to something. Now, so you can understand what I'm going to tell you I guess I should say a few things. I'm 20 and I took a year off going to college to decide what I wanted to do. Then, last year my grandfather had a stroke and my mother started getting sick so she asked me not to go to college or get a job so I could help her out. I said yes. I help my grandfather out and my mom. Ok then.

About 2 weeks or so ago, I went into Yarn Gallery and asked for help on my O's. It had a short-row heel and I had never done one before. The owner wasn't there, but 2 employees were. One was off helping my mom getting yarn to make a lucy bag and the other was "helping" me with my sock. I explained what I needed help on and the woman's response? "Oh, I never did one off these. Just do a heel flap." So I explain to her that I don't want to do that I want to do a short-row heel. Her "You should just do a heel flap." At this point, I'm getting a bit pissed off. So I tell her no, I'm going to do a short row heel. And then she "helped" me. By helping, I mean telling me what I already knew. So I said thanks and decided I would look it up on the web. As my mom was paying for her yarn (and a skein of sock yarn for me) the employee who "helped" me asked in a very bitchy I am so better than you could ever be tone "Katie, do you have a job?" I said no, I help my mom and grandfather out. She (I swear) shook her head and did this tsk tsking sound and went back to her knitting. Then, as we were leaving, she said in the same tone "Katie, how old are you?" I said 20. And again she did the whole shaking her head and the tsk thing and went back to her knitting. This woman had no right to judge me like that at all. That she would say that at her place of work just boggles my mind. How could an owner let someone who treats her customers like that work in her shop? In this day and age when I could easily go on the web and buy the same yarn cheaper, but instead I went to support my local businesses. Well, no more. I'm never going back there again. And I urge you not to go either. Go to The Soxy Lady, or Oh Susannah in Lancaster, Yarn Calling in Kutztown (I've never been there yet, but I hear the owner is very nice). Some yarn shops think that no matter how they treat their customers, they will keep coming back. I read how people walk into shops and no one greeted, much less are asked if they need help finding something. I get that yarn shops can't compete with some of the online prices, but they can at least find it in them to be decent at the very least to their bread and butter. Right?

So anyway, I've decided to have a poll. See in the upper right hand corner? You get to vote for what kind of dessert I'll make on Saturday. The poll will close on Thursday, so I can get everything to make it on Friday. And bake it on Saturday. The choices are Lemon Bars (as requested by Hopi), Souffle, Coconut cake, Cupcakes and a surprise! So go vote!