Hamster Love...

I crocheted some hamster tubes yesterday. I don't know why. I haven't felt much like crocheting or doing anything, lately. I don't know where these came from. I had been wanting to crochet a hamster hideout/hut for Oak (the Russian Dwarf Hamster) since we got her. But, she loves sleeping inside her toilet paper roll tubes. ?? (We put them in there for to chew on-which she also does..) I remember Relic Raider crocheting a tunnel for her guinea pig, on Crochetville. So I thought, "I should just crochet her a tube". I chained long enough to fit just around the toilet paper roll tube. Then just crocheted back and forth. I put it up on my pattern blog. It's so easy. You don't really even need a pattern. But...

Oak loves her tube, by the way. She won't come out of it, sometimes.

I made another one, for Mia. She doesn't seem to like it as much. I washed her hamster hut for her. She does seem to like that.

Here's a funny (blurry) picture of Mia with her cheeks stuffed full. She's so funny. "Holy Cheeks, Bat Man!"... lol

I want to breed her and the male, Rhino. I talked to the owner of the place where we got her (and him). But I've been reading about "Hamster baby horror stories" (from inbreeding). :( I don't know if they would be related, or not.. I don't know if we will breed them, or not; either. The owner of the store said he would take any babies they had. (I wanted to find out before hand...) If they do have babies, I would want to keep one. We'll see...

I've been working on yoyos. I have had these going for a long time. I just decided to try and join them one day. (For a purse, like Joanieponytails). I got both sides done. I just need to crochet around them and join.. Do the straps. Make the liner.. I haven't even finished my Bloomin' Bag. I got both straps done on it, though. Need to sew them on, and make the flower. Then the liner..

I also have a freezer bag of yoyos I had been saving up to send to Jana for Crafting for a Cause. I started putting some together for an afghan. (Sorry, Jana!) It's kind of fun. I am going to need a lot more, for a whole afghan, though..

Well that's about all. I feel like going back to bed. Or making more coffee. Or vice-versa. I can't go back to bed anyway... I woke up way too early this morning from cramps. :/ Can't stop yawning. At least it's cooler today. Yesterday was 102. :0

Long Blog Post... :P

Look at what I got in the mail, all the way from the Philippines!!! :D Mimi's own Shapely Tunic pattern. And, she sent me a gorgeous beaded (you can't see the beads very well in the picture) flower. I am still trying to decide what to sew it onto. Thank you so much, Mimi. :) Mimi's Tunic pattern is also available for sale at her Ravelry Store: Shapely Tunic by Mimi Alelis. And, at her Etsy Store, if you don't have a Ravelry account. mimicrochet's Shapely Tunic You can also see Clairethere's version of the Shapely Tunic (on Ravelry). So cute in all colors. :)



Here are two more of Mimi's 8-Petal Flower Pendant necklaces. (Ravelry Store link. ;P)

By the way, Mimi just had her first magazine pattern submission, in Interweave Crochet!! I am SO happy, and excited for her! Congratulations (again :P), Mimi!!


This is a project I just recently started. A knitted Steering Wheel Cover for our oldest son's first car. I shoulda posted a picture of his car. Oh well. Maybe next time. It's nothing fancy. A 1990 Buick Century in dire need of a new paint job. But. It's a first car. :P He said the steering wheel is gross. I got to thinking, "I bet there HAS to be a pattern for a steering wheel cover on Ravelry"... :P Yup, there is. The one I liked best is the Simple Steering Wheel Cover. He wanted it "Black and grey". ?? I had some black/grey/white variegated in my stash (I need to buy one more ball now). So that's where it is now.. If it turns out he doesn't like it, he can always buy one. But he said he would like one.

And, more knitting.. :) I don't believe it myself, but I actually finished a garterlac dishcloth. I tried doing garterlac, like 5 years ago. I could NOT understand it. So I gave up even thinking about trying another one. Until recently. It was the pattern of the week (even though it's technically like every two weeks, now) on the Dishcloth Weekly Knitalong Group I am in on Ravelry. And, someone posted a link to pictures. That helped me so much. I think if it wasn't for those pictures, I wouldn't have got it. As it was, I had to rip it out twice because I lost track of what I was doing or supposed to be doing. I almost ripped the whole thing out, once. But I ripped it back to a point and walked away from it. LOL When I came back later, I said "Hey, I know what I was doing here" (Miraculously)... And, I finished it. I don't know if I will ever be able to do another one. But. :P The pattern is in PDF file, so I thought it would just be easiest to put in a link to his blog. (Criminy Jickets) The pattern is in the sidebar. Also, a link to the Flickr page with the helpful pictures, that someone helpfully posted! How to Garterlac Pictures. Here is my finished cloth, and I will shut up about it. ;P

Oh, and more knitting... :P Some Knit Hair Raising Headbands. From the Lion Brand Yarn website. I knitted two so far. (I am getting waaaaaay deep in getting away from the projects I already have going, I know... Sigh.) But, they are finished. (Except the steering wheel cover.)

I did not use Lion Brand Cotton Ease. I just used Sugar n' Cream. Or you could use Peaches n' Cream. Or acrylic. I love how these feel. Not like the plastic headbands that give me a headache after about an hour. The green one I will probably send to Pine Ridge. I need to get some more colors to make more. (Someday!!...) They do work up fast, though. So. :D

My Fendi Knockoff Bag is FINALLY Finished! :D

After only four and a half years (almost)... :P How pathetic is that? And the sad thing is, the purse itself, I started January 4th, 2006. And finished crocheting it the 7th. It just took me four years to put the lining in and sew on the handle. :/ Oh, actually, four years and five months to the day- How weird is that?...

It took so long, maybe it is actually back in style now? ;P I don't care if it's "in style", or not, I still will use it. I was so bored yesterday. I didn't want to work on any of the projects I had going. But I really wanted to start another purse. The Bloomin' Bag, to be specific. If you don't have a Ravelry account, you can also see it here at Crochetville. Actually, here is the link to the pattern (PDF file). (Or, the webpage.) (I really, really want to make one of these! And, I want a red one.) But then I started thinking about the red Fendi Bag I have already done, and how I REALLY, REALLY, need to finish some of my gazillion and a half projects I have going. So... The oldest project I had going is finally DONE! Yay, me... :P

Here is a picture of the lining. I got the fabric at Walmart for like a dollar a yard. I had to hand sew it all. Now I have two crocheted purses/bags I really like and will use. (The Chakra Purse, and this one) :)

I am actually afraid to post this on Crochetville. After hosting the CAL for this bag, and getting SOOOO many PM's for the pattern I had just about had it.. The pattern isn't even available for free anymore. A couple years ago or so I found out the designer of this bag had it on her Etsy store, but that was two computers ago; and... I don't think her Etsy store is up anymore. Update: I just went back to that CAL, and saw a post that someone else has a version of this bag!! Awesome!!

Now, what's my next oldest project?.. Hmmm... :P

Tomato Plants & a Baby Bunny

Here is the picture of the tomato that we have growing on (one of) our plant(s). We planted them in those big Home Depot buckets. Still, something must be getting into them. Two of the tomato plants are completely missing, and the one is broke in half. So now we only have this bucket shown, and two plants in two of the other buckets. :/ We think it was rabbits.. There was a bag of mulch by one of the buckets. They probably crawled up that way, and got into the buckets. I feel like I'm spelling tomato wrong. Is there only an e on it if you say 'tomatoes'?... Anyway~~

Speaking of rabbits, guess what our 13 year old caught the other day?... A baby bunny. It went behind this board (it's shady over there, all the critters go behind there, the ground squirrels, lizards...) In fact, there was a lizard there when we were trying to get the rabbit. It was easy to catch, we just blocked off both ends so he could pick it up.

Poor thing was scared to death. He said "It's heart is pounding". I told our son, "He (or she?) will scratch you, he has claws." (And look at those feet!! He's got his hand on half of the legs!) He kicked pretty hard, too. Our son has held bunnies before, though; so he knew what to do.. It was just the mother in me, had to say that.. :P

One of his legs had blood on it (you can kind of see it in the next picture) :( Poor thing. He ran off pretty fast when my husband put him down, though. So maybe he wasn't injured too bad.

Our 13 year old went through a phase (before the hamsters) where he wanted a baby bunny SOOOO bad. The place we got the hamsters at has bunnies, and they breed them. The babies are SOOOO cute! (That's where they held the babies at..) Their Dad said "NO BUNNIES" :( So, I was pretty surprised when he caught this bunny, he didn't say, "Can I keep it?" (..I think the 7 year old said it.) Anyway~~

I don't have pictures, but I have made some progress on my Forest Flower Pullover. I finished the sleeves, sewed the side seams of the sweater up. And yesterday I tried making the first motif. (Sigh....) I don't know what I did wrong, or if it is the pattern. (I don't think this pattern is written very well at all.) First off, they say to use worsted weight yarn to get gauge-- you have to crochet with a super small hook, and it felt like cardboard to get the right gauge. So I tried using a smaller weight yarn and that worked. But I still had to rip out two rows of work to make it fit me right. (And I usually wear a medium, but for this I guess I am making the small--and I still am hoping it won't be too big..). Plus, I only did 60 of the scs to begin the body of the sweater. Otherwise, it would have been a mini skirt! Then when I did the sleeves, I had to make the smallest sleeve, too. Otherwise it would have been to my elbows. ?? I don't get the whole pattern... But, I will keep trying. I really like the sweater. I think I got an email with a video on something on this sweater. Now I will have to go through all of them and try to find it. (Sigh...)

It feels sooo nice to sleep in now that school is out! I don't think I was getting enough sleep the whole time they were in school. Now I feel like I can relax, finally. Our 7 year old got sick the day after school was out. :( (AGAIN!!) Poor kid has been sick ever since I put him in school! I hope it was just that he hadn't ever been to school, and you know how germs go around schools... (Grrr!!!) I can't believe our 13 year old will be starting his last year of middle school next year. I feel so old... :(

Summer is Here..

Not that I am happy about the heat... :( It was 102 where my husband works, yesterday. I am not quite sure what it was here but it was HOT. This morning I looked at the forecast for the next few days here and it is going to be a high of 105 one of the days. :( 102, and 104 the other days... Ugh.. Anyway, the kids last day of school was yesterday so to me, it's officially summer now. (That, and the heat has fully kicked in now..)

Well, onto my projects!! I finally have pictures.. :) This is Mimi's 8 Petal Flower Pendant. Mimi gifted me her pattern~ and I love it! Thank you so much, Mimi! :D I have actually made one more, and am halfway done with a third one (with lots more color combinations in mind, too.) I just haven't taken any pictures of them yet.. Thank you, Mimi. :D

Here is a knitted dishcloth I actually just finished this moring. (How quick am I to blog about it this time?.. :P) It's the Tweedish Cloth. It's actually the second one I made from this pattern.

I made it to go along with the Retro Ribbed Hand Towel I already had finished. (Actually that is the Retro Rib Hand Towel, spelled that wrong, sorry..) I think that it makes a cute set. Someone on the Dishcloth Weekly Knitalong Group I am in on Ravelry, said they were making a set out of those two patterns. I thought it sounded like a good idea. So it isn't MY idea... :P But they do make a nice set. Don't you think? :)

This is the first Tweedish Cloth I finished. I am now making a Retro Rib Hand Towel to go along with it. In orange and w/ a green stripe. My hands are hurting from knitting so much, though; so it might take a while.. :( I used orange and "lemon/lime" for this cloth.

I was going to post a picture of our little tomato we have on one of our tomato plants. I haven't downloaded it to my computer yet, though. It's so cute. I'm so happy it is getting tomatoes! I hope they turn out. I kept forgetting to water them for a while there. Thankfully it was a cold spell, then. It was really unseasonably cool here for a while. (I was beginning to hope it wouldn't actually get hot this year... ha!!...) They said on the news it hasn't been that cold (this time of year) since 1968. :0 That's before I was even born. :P Anyway~~ Now I have to remember to water them every day (twice a day, sometimes). We have also been having some ground squirrels up by our house lately. I got a new kind of bird seed to attract "colorful birds". (And some!) There were Quails out there, and the ground squirrels. Apparently they love this seed, too. I saw one ON my bird feeder this morning! They keep coming under our porch. (It's shady..) Plus my husband had put a muffler from ?? I don't know where, under there. Well the squirrels were living in it!! I told my husband, and he took it out from under the porch; so no snakes start coming up by the house, too. Trying to eat the ground squirrels. Ugh... Well they are still trying to live in there. I was moving it around today when I was out watering the tomatoes, and after a minute, a ground squirrel came flying out of there. I guess I am not going to feed the birds here anymore. The kids play out there, and I don't want them getting bit by a snake or anything. It's bad enough the 13 year old is trying to catch a ground squirrel. (Sigh... Boys!! :P)