Still Here!

I've noticed that while the Caffeinated Mommy had added all these wonderful tutorials and made several posts in the past few weeks, I've um...made none. Oh whoops... But as the Caffeinated Mommy and I have joked about on many occasions, knitting takes a lot longer than sewing. ;-) While she can crank something out in a couple of hours while her boys are napping, I'm amazed if I can finish I project in two or three days.

Lately, I've been feeling a bit under the weather, and DH has been super busy with work, traveling for more than half of the month, so I've been knitting, but I haven't had the extra time to write anything about it.

I finished a couple of projects for the Glee Cast Knitting Project that a wonderful group of Gleek knitters and crocheters put together. We made hand knit items for every member of the cast, and we're hoping that these lovingly made items will be worn by the actors on the show. It'd be pretty cool to see something I made on TV.

So here were my contributions:

Two hats for Finn (Cory Monteith). It was rather difficult to find a pattern for a character whose wardrobe is pretty much confined to jeans, striped polos or a football uniform.

Then, at the last minute, I made this cowl for Mercedes (Amber Riley). I love how it turned out, and I'll definitely be making another one for myself. :-)

For more information on the yarns and patterns I used for these items, visit my other blog: Somewhere Between the Stitches.

I also finished some other projects recently, and I don't think I've shared them here...

A dinosaur hat, made for a friend's little one who recently turned one:

The Stereostyle hat, which I also made for the same little man as the Dino Hat, but this is an improvised pattern, so I'm working on writing up both a knit and crochet pattern for the headphones. Will share them soon!

The hat itself is knit, but the headphones are crocheted on this version. I've made up another one with knit headphones, but I haven't got a photo of that one just yet.

I'm also still plugging along on the Ratchet and Clank hats, although from time to time, I need a break from those hats. Since I'm writing a pattern for those as I go along, it requires a bit too much thinking for my knitting tastes and there's only so much of it I can take at a time. ;-) So far, Clank is complete, and version 2 of Ratchet is in the works. Hopefully, I'll be able to share those patterns soon!

Glee, Toxic Chemicals, and Pirates Galore!

For my first post on Creative Momnesia, I have to admit that I'm slightly distracted by the television... DH and I are watching Glee. ^-^ Heehee... I've seen every episode, but I'm trying to get DH to love it as well, and I think he likes it. Love is a strong word. He does like musical theater--one of the very few things we were able to afford, or rather we scrimped and saved for while we were grad students in England was to see Phantom of the Opera in London's West End. It was magical... But my preference for musical theater tends to be silly (think Hairspray), and DH's is much more serious (Les Mis). He does however really enjoy Sue Sylvester. ;-)

Anyway, when the boys were napping today, I went on a power shopping trip to Target, Wegman's, and the nail salon where I got a LONG awaited pedicure. My feet are soooo soft now. Well, at Target, I picked up a jar of sterling silver jewelry cleaner. I've never used it before, and I have several pairs of earrings that have basically turned black. I never really thought about it before because I have about a billion pairs of earrings, so the ones that had turned... I just stopped wearing them... But in the last couple of years, my earring holes have become quite sensitive to non-sterling silver and gold. Well, once the boys went to bed tonight, I grabbed some earrings and took off the seal to this jar of magical sterling silver cleaner. I read the directions--seemed easy enough. All I had to do was dip the earrings into the solution for 10 seconds. It was amazing. I was so impressed that I didn't even notice the stench of rotten eggs that filled the kitchen--until DH came downstairs and was like, "what the hell is that smell?"

Well, I cleaned several pairs of earrings, completely fascinated by how sparkly and shiny these previously black and crusty pieces of jewelry became. Then I looked down at the label. And in tiny, little, barely legible print...it says "This product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer." Hmm... And I looked inside the jar and floating in this magical clear liquid were these little white particles. Just what does this solution do??? But then I looked at my virtually brand new earrings... And I figured... I have never, nor will I ever, live in the state of California. So I think I'm good.

Ugh... How can it already be midnight? I keep getting distracted by all the singing and dancing so this posting is literally taking foInstead on to the pirate! Instead of casting on and starting my Glee knit project, I'm making DH a cozy for his psp, and mapping out the chart for the pirate pattern that he wants on it... That took the better part of this evening. Here is my incredibly well-drawn chart:

It was drawn on my iPad, so it's actually kind of terrible... But pretty cool that I drew it on the iPad, right? Anyway, I'm kind of disappointed that DH wanted a pirate symbol rather than a ninja, although it comes as no surprise as DH is definitely more of a pirate. Which is quite unfortunate because I'm a ninja, and pirates and ninjas are natural enemies.