It's been Crochet for Me Lately

Hello my dear readers. It seems I've been off the radar yet again. Time always seems to slip by me a lot quicker than I realize. It's not as if I'm so busy that I don't have the time to blog. It's just that my life is very routine. Some people might find it boring and trying but for the most part I love it. For close to ten years, I ran a small business. It's absorbed my every waking (and sometimes sleeping) moments. It's was a lot of work and stress. I miss it sometimes but I love being a housewife more.

I'm in the middle of cleaning house and making house. My younger sister is graduating high school next week. We also plan to  visit the rest of the family while were are down there and do a little shopping. Well, I plan to do some shopping. Whenever we go to So Cal, I try to get things I can't buy in Northjern Nevada. One of my must visit stops is Mitsuwa, a Japanese market. I buy several good there like miso paste, curry paste, pickled ginger, spices, and a few snacks.

Since we are also visiting Jesse's family, I decided to make his grandmother a lap blanket. A few posts ago, I made his grandpa a lap blanket of his own. Figured it would only be fair to make her one too.

I really love the way this blanket turned out. The colors and the texture of it are just perfect. It's a rectangular blanket. I have a hard time figuring out how wide and long to make a blanket but this pattern makes it easy to figure out.

A few weeks ago we had a freak weather pattern, we got some rain and snow. It was nice. It rained for almost two days which is unheard of in Northern Nevada. I got into a crocheting mood and made myself another blanket. I had to recreate the pattern myself. It was a really fun and easy project.

I bought this a month or so ago off of eBay. I am not one to wear crop tops, but they will make great bodices. I just need to add a longer midriff piece. I've also come to terms with the fact that I can't make a top that I like. If it has sleeves, I'm happy. Anything sleeveless, tank top or halter top? Just can't get it to work. I'm hoping to find a pattern or two that I like. 

I just wanted everyone to know I was still alive and kicking. I still need to plan my outfits while visiting and finish cleaning the house. Not sure if anyone else does this, but I like to leave the house clean whenever we visit family. Less work for me  when we get back.


I leave you with a photo of Ridley looking stoned. Jesse doesn't like that I said that but I think it's funny. I hope everyone has a great week and weekend.

Happy New Yea's 2014

Well dear readers, it's already two weeks into the New Year and  I finally got my new laptop. I just got it tonight; thankfully in one piece and no damage.  Its been nice taking a break from the internet but I did miss reading everyone's posts. I had free reign on my husband's laptop but I'm not much of Mac person.

In these past weeks I was busy making presents for the families and trying to catch up on a few projects and adding news ones. I had a great visit from my mom and nephews. Spent a quiet new years at home. Did some thrift and a bit of sewing.

Im not sure that I did this last year but this year I am planning New Years Goals not resolutions. To me, the word resolutions has a negative connotation attached to it whenever New Years rolls around. I know that 75% of my resolutions have fallen to the side and I have felt very bad about myself for not completing them. Goals, you can work at a steady pace and not feel like you bad if you get side tracked.

My goals for 2014:

1) Knit at least one garment. I have tried on several occasions to start a project only to notice that they are too big. I need to check my gauge more often.

2) Have more self confidence. I love wearing vintage-inspired/retro clothing. I have a ton of skirts that I don't wear because I'm afraid  that it wont be flattering. I want to wear what I want and not be weighed down but what goes on in my head.

3) Learn to grade patterns. I have a lot of vintage patterns from the 1950s. However, I'm not (or will I ever be) a 36" bust. I want to learn to grade up so I can make and wear some of the awesome blouse and dress patterns I have.

4) Keep up on house chores.  I've gotten a lot better at doing chores  since getting married and getting our own place. But I still HATE to fold and put away clothes. It is the chore that I will put off as much as I can. I want to get better at putting them away and the dishes.

5) Be happy with who I am. This one sounds so easy but it sure as heck  isn't. I'm getting better at being comfortable with myself but I still need more work.

There you have it. Some simple goals. I may add more as the year advances but for now they'll do.  Hopefully I'll be making a few more posts now that I have a laptop of my own.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

My Knitting and April's Thrift Haul

Well it's the end of the month and this one sure did fly by. I had a pleasant break from the hum-drum of my everyday life last week. My mom and nephew drove up and spend a few days with me. I say me because Jesse was away the whole week for work. I'm okay with him going away for business but  it does get lonely in the evening for Ridley and I. Well, at least this time Ridley did jump me.  The first time Jess went away, Ridley was really upset and decided to attack my arm to let me know. Luckily, I didn't scar.

My mom decided she needed a break and drove up for a few days of R &R. For us that usually means thrift stores and eating. We had a great time. We tried a new pho place in Carson City and I really liked it. The food is fresh and MSG free. Also they have some bomb steamed pork buns. We also saw Captain Americe: Winter Soldier. That was a great movie. It was action filled and had a great plot.

Needless to say, I had a blast with my mom and nephew.  I get very home sick sometimes and don't really know how to deal with it. I start to get a bit depressed and want to see my family. I'm hoping that we'll be able drive down to So Cal for my sister's high school graduation. It would be nice to see the rest of the family  and do a little shopping.  Okay, maybe a lot of shopping. I try and take advantage of all the awesomeness that is So Cal. I try and stock up on Japanese food staples like miso, curry, pickled veggies, and ramen (among other things). My mother in law has been awesome and gotten us stuff before too.


Here's my first vintage elf on a log. This sucker is heavy. It's a solid piece of wood. I found him hidden under a ton of Christmas items at the Goodwill in Reno. His hat is a little faded and the Merry Christmas sign is broken but I think he'll make Christmas more fun.

I got this vintage St. Thomas wallet for 50 cents. Some of the fabric is cracked at the joints but I think a bit of nailpolish will fix it up. I really like this wallet because of its compact size. It'll fit perfectly in a small evening purse. It had a coin purse, a bill holder and a couple of slots for IDs/ATM card/ credit card.

How cute and kitsch is this planter? It still has the maker sticker on the bottom. I don't usually buy planters but I had to have this one. No chips or cracks and I think it was used as a pencil holder too. There are a bunch of graphite marks on the inside. I figure I'll buy a succulent plant and add it to my kitchen windowsill collection.

Anytime I go to thrift stores, I always look for circular knitting needles (left) and double pointed needles (right). I bought this lot for $4.25 Which( if you are a knitter or crocheter) you know is a steal. There were a lot of needles that day but I only buy the sizes I don't have. I also bought a hand press (used to steam flat seams and edges) for $2.00

Oh, how I love straw bags and purses! I bought this one for under $2 and it's in excellent condition. I love the top design on this but I may need to change the tiny straw handle. I just need to figure out with what and how.

Last year I saw a bunch of girls post photos of their Christmas cards using these tiny clothes pins. Aren't they cute? I bought  this dead stock package for 10cents. I love how cheap some items are in rural areas.

This jacket is perfect for the chilly Autumn days. I often have a hard time dressing casual whenever we go out to run errands. I think this will work perfect. Besides, I love front pockets on jackets and sweaters.

Another thing I look for and won't pass up (if priced right) when out thrifting is yarn. Especially vintage wool yarn. Fleisher's yarn is one of the brands I often see in vintage knitting books and have never come across. I bought 4 skeins of yarn for $2.00 .  I may make a pair of mittens and a matching hat.

 Another package of yarn for 99 cents. Not sure what I'm going to make with it but I'm sure I'll use it in no time.

I haven't bought any brooches in a while.I often come across some very big and very gaudy brooches that are over priced. This brooch was a dollar and as cute as a button. I love the tiny spoon and rhinestone details.

This is my first pair of vintage rhinestone earrings. They have screw backs which I don't like too much but the glitter and shine they provide is gorgeous. Now to make a nice dress to wear them out with.

I have been on a knitting binge for the last few weeks. I have been "craving" matching or co-coordinating hat and scarf sets. I don't know how or why the idea started but it's taken over. I made myself this hat and scarf set a couple of weeks back. I bought the  yarn at Goodwill and bought the only  two matching skeins. If there had been more of this color, I would have bought it all up. Can I just say,  I love the key hole scarfs. They give you all the warmth of a scarf without the added bulk. They are easy to knit and look so chic with coats and jackets.

This second set I knitted for my mom. She's always cold and hates long scarfs, so I made her  a shorter version of the scarf. I did add a small pom to the top of the hat. It's the same color as the scarf.

This is the second time I've knit this pattern and I totally love it. It's super easy to memorize and has a wonderful leaf pattern. I did alter the pattern to include a thumb gusset. Now I want to knit one in every color I can.

I haven't been in a sewing mood lately. I tried to make a pouch the other day and it had some issues. I think I'll wait until I'm not so tired to try again. I want to make more tops and dress but just don't have the drive. I'm hoping I can knit my nephew a stuffed dinosaur for his birthday. I want to knit him a stuffed cat too but I guess we'll see how things go.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I leave you with this photo of Ridley sleeping and being cute.

YouTube: What I'm Watching

Hello my dear readers. I hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent some time working on our backyard and had of first BBQ of the season yesterday. Yay! The wind finally calmed down enough to start the grill up. Wind is a huge factor for us because we love to use our charcoal grill and don't want to risk embers flying up and starting a fire.

Today I wanted to let all of you into my YouTube world. The videos and channels I subscribe to. I truly love YouTube. It can be a helpful place. You can find almost anything you want to learn or do there. I learned to knit from using many of the helpful tutorial on YouTube. I still use it to learn new techniques or refresh my memory.

Today I will show you some of my favorite channels. They aren't all vintage/retro inspired but I thoroughly enjoy them.

A Vintage Vanity: This is a chnnel hosted by Jennifer. She has awesome tutorials on vintage/retro hair, a sewing serious and talks about her life and he hobbies. She is really fun and her videos are easy and helpful. I love all of her videos and am always eager for the next one.




 
Cooking With Dog  I love this show. If you love Japanese food and a cute dog mascot named Francis this show is for you. Chef and Francois will walk you through many authenic Japanese meals and desserts.




Lisa Fremont Street  Im sure a lot of vintage/retro gals have come across Ashley's channel at one point or another. Here is a lady that works her butt off, bringing  us great hair tutorials, product reviews, VLV tips, and makeup reviews. She has a lot of cute and fancy hair tutorials.




RunnyRunny999 RunnyRunny is a Japanese man who started making how to videos for fun. He makes great easy meals and is very entertaining too.






CherryDollFace Cherry is another awesome lady who does hair and makeup tutorials. She's easy to follow and has a great personality too. I particularly love the winged eyeliner tutorial of hers. Here eyebrow tutorial is also good.






These are a few of the channels I look forward to whenever I check out my YouTube feed. Do you have any favorite channels. Let me know in the comments.

I hope everyone's week goes well and is a good one.

Spring Has Sprung and I've Been Cleaning

A couple of weeks ago we went out to dinner and saw 300: Rise of and Empire. I forgot to post my outfit for the night. I really enjoyed dinner with my husband. The movie was okay. It was very action packed but it left me feeling king blah at the end of it. It seemed to me that the plot needed more depth and character development.

 

 Dress: Made by me

Shrug : Torrid    

Bangles: Vintage Lucite 

                 and modern plastic

 Earrings: Vintage faux pearl clip-ons

Over the last couple of weeks, I haven't had much inspiration for making or knitting much. I think I'm a little burnt out from knitting the capelet for my aunt and the hoodie for my nephew. I enjoyed making those items since they are both challenging and new.

I have gotten three small projects done over the last couple of weeks. I made a small pair of curtains for the kitchen. I've had this fabric for a few years just waiting to be turned into something cute. I had about a yard and a half left over. It took me a little over an hour from start to finish.

 

If I had had a few yards of this fabric I would have turned it into a circle skirt or a sun dress.

In our last visit to So Cal, my mother-in-law gave us this ottoman. It was Jess's grandmother's back in the day. I often use it when I do my hair and make up. It's this weird  yellow color and vinyl. One thing about me: I love the smell and feel of leather/vinyl but not in furniture. I always stick to it . I love vintage mustard color but this one is kinda bland. So, I made a cover.  I bought this fabric at a thrift store a few months back without knowing what to do with it. This was also a surprisingly easy project. An hour, hour and a half at the most and nothing special. I may re-make it in the future but for now I'm happy with it.

A few weeks ago, Jess's grandfather began chemo and radiation treatment. He's doing well and my mother-in-law is helping them out.  I decided to make him a nice lap blanket to help him through it. I love to crochet blankets/afghans. This was an easy and fun project. It's my first one-piece rectangular blanket.

I'm sure Grandpa will like colors. He's an All-American kinda guy.

This week has also seen me cleaning the house like crazy. I cleaned both bathrooms and the kitchen. Every year, I try and go through everything we own and rearrange what we use and donate or throw away what we don't used/need. I actually looked forward to cleaning the house now. I also did a lot of yard work. I cleaned out  and weeded both of our flowers beds over the last weekend. I have never been prouder of  clean dirt. I plan on laying down some brown mulch and leave space to plant some drought resistant flowers.

I also sat down and re-arranged my earring and brooch collection. I love being able to see and re-discover new pairs of earrings that have been hiding in my jewelry box. These are some of my more showy pairs.

Here's are most of my brooches. I love this collection. They range from the 1940's to present day. I've made a few of them myself. And some of them my mother-in-law gave them to me.

The rest of my earring collection. I'm sure my husband will say that I have plenty of earrings and don't need anymore. Oh, how wrong he is. We can never have enough accessories.

These are on the second level of the jewelry box. Bits and bobs that I love but don't show well.

 

 I still need to go through my purse and shoe collection. I need to see what items I use and which I don't.  I should buy a shoe rack too so I can easily access and see my shoes.  We're going to Reno this weekend to clean my rings (insurance purposes) and we're also going to look at furniture. All of our couches and chairs are broken.  The recliner chair broke at the begining of the week and Ridley has been upset. Since I can't stretch my legs out enough, it means Ridley can't lay on my lap. Spoiled cat. 

Oh, I hope we can find some cool vintage sofas or couches. I love vintage furniture because it was made to last and the fabric designs are just neat. It's be great if I could find some mid-century furniture at a great price but that remains to be seen.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Finished Projects and Latest Finds

 It sure has been a busy few weeks. The weather has held up pretty well. No major snow falls, but we have had some very windy days. Not that I mind.I  don't really go out much during the week except to get the mail and put the plants out. Speaking of plants, I'm going to have to clean out the flower beds in the backyard soon. I may want to weed out the flower beds and fill it with mulch to keep the weeds sown and make it look nicer. Maybe plant some drought resistant flowers for the spring and summer.

 I have been meaning to post more often but ever since my unintended computer hiatus, I find that I'm spending less time on the internet and more time working on keeping my house clean and working on projects. I love reading everyone's posts and commenting but now instead of doing it ever few hours, I do it every couple of days

I'm not sure if I mentioned that my nephew was getting christened and my aunt's birthday are in March. I wanted to go to both these celebrations but for some reason I got the dates mixed up. I thought they were the last weekend of march but it turns out they're this weekend. I kinda figured we weren't going to go so it wasn't that big of a deal. I did have to rush to finish the presents for my aunt and nephew.

My mom asked me to make  knit my aunt a capelet. I had the darnedest finding something nice and not too fussy. My aunt never been a fussy person. I found this pattern on Bernat yarn website. It was very simple and a quick knit too.

Close up of the button cover and trim.

I also made her a key hole scarf. I designed the pattern by myself. I've made a similar one for my mom and thought my aunt would like it too. I really like this style of scarve. It covers your neck very well and isn't bulky under your jacket. It looks very nice with a jacket or coat.

This shows the colors better. Its called sandstone. I may need to buy more to make myself a scarf.

This hoodie is for my nephew. It is also the first official garment I have knitted up.So I can cross it off of my goals for this year. I got the pattern off of Ravelry. It was a very easy knit and easy to read. I did change a few things. Instead of knitting the sleeves flat (back and forth), I decided to make set in sleeves. I picked up stitches and knitted it in the round. It looks a lot more professional this way.  I love it to bits. This makes me feel like an official knitter.

Front

Back.

This gives a better view of the front of the hoodie and the button band.

I found this awesome vintage cape/shrug for my mom. It almost looks like a bed jacket.

I love the ribbon detail on the sleeves.

I also found this vintage homemade cardigan. It is in amazing condition. No snags, no rips and the color is beautiful. It is a bit tight across the arms but I can deal with it.

I love this pattern. I hope that in the next few weeks I can figure it out so I can knit a pullover.

I also found this super cute retro cardigan. It's a nice neutral gray with beautiful beading across the shoulders and collarbone.

Close up of the bead work. I'm thinking of changing these buttons. They are pearlescent but don't really go with the sweater. Im thinking somethin round and maybe made of glass.

Another vintage homemade find. This was in the men's section but I think it's too pretty for a man to wear. It fits great and will make a great summer shirt. It looks like it's made from some kind of linen fabric.

I'm thinking of removing the pockets. It really squishes my boobs. I'd definitely save the pockets for later projects.

How awesome is this fabric. It's such a wonderful print. I got around 6 or 7 yards of this fabric for $2. Yup $2. I'm think a skirt circle dress with a solid purple or green bodice.

This was an eBay find. I have a lot of clip on earrings I don't use because I forget I have them.  I love hearts and I knew this would fit the bill. It's from the 1950s and in great condition for it's age. Now to find a couple more.

I don't find earrings with thrifting very often. I usually find them more at the rummage and estate sales. I got all these for 50 cents a pair.

These beauties are vintage Crown Trifari Jelly Belly Moon Shells. I looked them up and they are selling anywhere from $190 to $350. I'm definitely keeping them.

I found this original Harper Bazaar ad from 1949. It's pretty awesome. I never find actual ads for jewelry I find.

I hope everyone has a great week and weekend. It's suppose to be  very Spring like this weekend. I leave you with a photo of Ridley hanging out in the laundry hamper. He's so darn cute!