Three new projects!

So my husband and me went out and purchased two new but used chairs for our library.  Given that they were used we didn’t exactly have a choice on colors but that is ok.  It is ok because I can crochet some blankets to go over the chairs.  That is actually one new project, two afghans that I have no idea when I will complete.  The second project is a birthday present for my husband, and nope I’m not telling!  Third project is a sweater for myself.  You see I was actually going to finish the project for my husband except my needle broke!  I was knitting along, yes it is a knit, when Ta Da! my needle came off of the plastic wire, yes it is a circular needle.  Grr!  Did everything I could to fix it but no go, looks like I have to buy a new one.  Except the nearest needle is half an hour away, of which I’m not driving for just a needle.  That is where my sweater comes in, once I pick up the needle I need my husband will be home from the North Slope, this means I can’t work on his project.  So I will work on my sweater.

Below is a picture of a square in the afghan and two pictures of my library:

iCloud? Sigh.

I know, not really crafting, but it is a bit personal.  iCloud sounds great, sounds awesome, except it really doesn’t give me personally all that much.  My husband and me do not buy anything more then tv shows and apps from Apple.  So this whole syncing your music, not so great for us, plus I would rather just sync to the computer then pay the $25 a year to have it streamed to me.  Consider for a second that the $25 a year does not include additional bandwidth.  The iBooks syncing would be wonderful except it is only, as far as I can tell, with eBooks purchased through iTunes books.  Again, doesn’t really help if you go else where for your eBooks.  Contacts, calendar, and mail… I’ve taken care of all but contacts already.  Not that hard really.  Just find an email provider and a calendar provide that is on line and follow the directions on how to set up.  This one has me scratching my head as to how it is exactly new.  But the contacts will be nice.  Perhaps once fully implemented things will become clearer.

Now, iOS 5.  That looks interesting.  I’m liking how the notifications are looking and sounding from what I can tell.  Really excited about the notifications being on the lock screen.  The iMessage… hmmm… can I treat it like texting?  Meaning, can I message my husband when he is up north but not connected to the internet?  So that when he does connect he will receive the message and then can respond?  Newstand, if the prices are decent can’t wait.  Todo, sounds very interesting, hope they integrate it with the calendar and hope you can group stuff not just by location but also by activities or projects.  It would be nice to set up tasks for my knitting and crochet, as well as perhaps some wood working stuff.  See, it is on topic!

I suppose it really boils down to a wait and see.

Christmas Presents! Now?

A friend of mine has found a crochet Dalek (Dr. Who) that she would like me to make her for Christmas.  I have agreed, it seems like an easy enough project, though I have found some mistakes which I have been meaning to bring up with the pattern author.  Even with those mistakes, the pattern is fairly easy to follow.  And now I have begun to consider making other stuffed animals and what not. 

The project page can be found here: Mist Panther’s Dalek 1

Pattern here: (Raverly) A. M. Downs Dalek and here: (Etsy, free) A. M. Downs Dalek

I am currently using Caron Simply Soft Eco color Spring Moss, it’s a grey color with green tint to it.  Pictures will come in time.

Socks are finished!

Wahoo!  I should have made the cuffs a bit tighter but Monte loves them anyhow.  Unfortunately, some cat hair from a friends house got on them and he is allergic to cats.  So they will need some washing first.

My own socks

With Monte up north I decided to work on my own socks.  They were finished in about three days.

Yarn used: Simply Soft, a blue color

Pattern: A simple toe up sock generator found here.

The heel was done using a style found at TessKnits here.  And the short row style found here.

The socks turned out fairly ok though a bit smaller then I wanted.  Either my gauge is smaller then I thought, or it is just because I am on the high end of the pattern size.  Foot size is 9.  The heel had to be taken out the first time, I started too soon!  My first pair of toe up socks, I just could not find anything out there that would give me a good rule of thumb for starting the heel, which by the way is quite roomy.  I used a three strand cable, just not a normal braid style.  The strands have more space between them.

Now the pics!

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Afghan on back burner, socks up front.

Hubby needs something to cover his feet while walking on our cold floors.  His socks are too thin and his feet are too big to just go out and buy slippers.  Hell, Big and Tall only go up to size 13!  So I am going to give my hand at toe up socks, hopefully they will be thick enough.

Pattern creation can be found at Indigirl’s site here.

My own project can be found here.

I’m going to use some left over yarn, Caron Simply Soft Autumn Red.  The pattern is toe up, first time for me, hopefully it isn’t too much trouble.  I’m also hopeing to find a nice linear cable pattern for the front and top of the sock.

Some pictures!

Some progress has been made on the Baby Blanket and here are some pictures!