I Win Neener Neener

Update: I am a horrible, horrible person. No, I really am. See, I wrote this post last night. I forgot to mention something and I should be shot. *cry* One of my very awesome Christmas gifts came from Christina over at Llama Llama Duck. Do I really need to link her? She's in every other post, I promise. Plus she's on the sidebar. Anywho, Christina sent me one of these for Christmas.



The saddest part? I had it on my wrist while blogging. And I forgot to write about it. I even forgot to take a picture of it. I'll be hiding under my desk and flogging myself with some cheap acrylic yarn if anyone needs me.

Ok, so Erin had this cute little contest on her blog about guessing Santa. I cheated and guessed twice so she made me pick one. I picked right. Yay me! She was sweet enough to ask me what I wanted and I responded with "Meh, I'm easy to please. I'm happy with a postcard!" Well, my prize was on my coffee table when I got home. Did I get a postcard? Hell no. What I got rocks so hard it isn't even funny. Ok, it is a bit funny. Plus, I got to take pictures of it with the new camera. Glee! Actually, all of the pictures in this post were taken with the new camera.* Shall we begin? Let's.

First off, I'm not sure if I liked the contents of the box or the box more. Erin is truly imaginative and the box just cracked me up. I giggled like an idiot. Why you ask? Because it was the perfect addressing for a Stalker.

(Address erased to protect the not so innocent.)

Does that not rule?? A ransom note for the Stalker. Heehee! Next we have the contents. Hoo mama. I am a lucky girl.


That's a little bag and buttons from the Piddleloop Store (Adorable stuff, check it out)and the cutest little card. Click to enlarge as always. Under it? Oh that knit stuff? You don't wanna see that. Nah. No, seriously, you don't wanna see it. Ok fine. Erin also made me this. Oh. My. God.


That, my Dear Stalkees, is a hand-knit shawl. The color is beautiful and it's soooo freakin soft. I must have pet the darn thing for a good 10 minutes. Ok, I got a little teary-eyed, but we won't go there. Must have been some dust or something. Erin, it's gorgeous. I am truly touched and so completely unworthy. Did I mention it's soft? Oh, and ummm....It smells good too. hehe

On to the Christmas booty! No, I am not gonna show a picture of my booty on the blog. It was pirate talk. Geez, people. Anywho, I believe we have discussed in the past that T and I don't have any kids. (Yes, our initials are T & A. Yes, this makes me giggle. My brother and his wife are S & M. That makes my mother uncomfortable and makes me giggle more.) This means my folks have 3 grandkids (2 out of state) and T's folks don't have any grandkids. This means we still get to rake in all the presents at Christmas. This is the best birth control on the market. Yes, we have covered how selfish I am, let's not retrace our steps. So a picture of the pile of my gifts and the "grandpuppie's" gifts.


See the square white box on the right and the long box on the floor below it? Ball winder and swift, baybee. Score!! No, I don't have any photos of it out of the box because I don't have any place for it yet. That is Saturday's project. I am so excited. Yippee skippee! This means that the 23 skeins of cotton, alpaca and silk yarn I have for sweaters isn't quite so daunting any longer.

Now, my in-laws have a gorgeous home and the perfect place to try out the uber camera. First a picture of the Christmas tree, in a dark room, on the fireworks setting.



Pretty! Now a photo of the tree in a dark room with just the flash.



Yes, the tree is tied to the shutters. My in-laws have 2 cats that think the tree is there just for them to play in. Don't all cats think that? Meet Lola (she's 2) and Ilyushin (he is 16). Yes, even their cats match.

One of my mom's Christmas gift is still at my house. I'm guessing it is now a New Year's Gift. Works for me. It's a pillow with a story. On one of her trips up to see her dad, she brought back some things of my grandmother's for me. One of them was what looked to be an unfinished pillow. In the same bag was yarn she was using to make it. Mom asked me to finish it, and while it's a simple granny square, I had to make do with what yarn there was because all of this yarn is no longer made. I don't mean the colors have been discontinued. I mean the companies no longer exist. Some of this yarn is from the 40's, some from the 60's and some from the 70's. They don't make them or the colors anymore. Oh goody. A challenge. I also had to figure out which size hook she used and try to match her gauge. This is the results.

Yeah, I'm pretty proud of it. Mom is going to love it. One last photo to show off the camera skills. This is some of the stuff on my overflowing mantle, taken with the zoom from the couch. (It was Stalker Angie, in the living room, with the camera. Sorry. I had to.)



Look at the freakin detail! You can even see the dragons scales. I am so impressed. Oh the dragons? Those are 2 little kissing dragons. They were the cake toppers on my wedding cake. I am such a dork. *giggle*

Hope everyone has a great day!

*No cameras or items were harmed in the making of this post.

P.S. Everytime I use the word "freakin," the spellcheck wants to replace it with the word "foreskin." This would totally change my posting style. Hehe

Exploding Stalker

My living room has exploded. Rather, Santa exploded all over my living room. I can't find my loveseat. I know it's in the room, but it seems to be buried under this mound of boxes, baskets and bags. T and I got so much at Christmas I need a storage building. His parents and mine always go a little overboard since there are no grandkids for his folks and only 3 for mine. This makes for groovy Christmases for the older "kids", namely, us.

My dining room has exploded. Rather, my dogs have exploded all over my dining room. Sometime between Friday and Christmas day, my dogs decided outside was not a necessity. They quit asking to be let out. This is so unlike my dogs. Now the Demon Dog never minded where she went, but my 3 babies have always begged to be let out. I got home Saturday night from our Christmas With The In-Laws, and there were these little.....presents....all over one half of the room. The other half looked like they had dragged all of their toys and plopped them all into a pile. It was insane. They have been fussed at. The "presents" have been exchanged for a cleaner carpet. The treats have all been put away as punishment. That will surely teach them. At least they rediscovered the great outdoors again. Ugh.

Ye Olde Stalker has exploded. Rather, no, wait. Nothing exploded all over me. Eww. And I only feel as if I should be exploding. There was soooooooooo much food over the weekend. It was nuts. There were 4 of us at my MIL's and she cooked for like, 9. I swear. Then there were 6 of us at my folks house. My mom cooked for 12. I went to the other Mom's (of the adopted family) house and we pigged out there. Every house had too much food for dinner, every house had appetizers and what T calls "grazing material", and every house sent food home with us. Large quantities of it. We could feed 12 people on everything we brought home. There's 2 of us. The puppies would love to help, but they don't get table food.

Now, there has been some interest in the comments about the new kick ass camera T got me for Christmas. Well, here's the info for it and a picture of what it looks like.

Yes, I love it. Yes there is way too many pictures on it already. No, I don't have any of them loaded. Cuz I'm lazy dammit! You know this! You've read this blog how long now? Been stalked by me how long? I will have photos for Friday. I have a few gifts from Christmas that I must share with the blog world because they rock too hard to keep to myself. My MIL got me exactly what I wanted and Dear Stalkee Christina sent me something oh so wonderful to have....hell, I may update later tonight so I can share quicker. Glee! So, if your camera is dying, I recommend this one so much it's ridiculous. It has a fireworks mode. Yeah. If this camera were a man, I'd so cheat on T. Ok, maybe not, but I would be tempted for the first time ever. Hell, if this camera were a woman I'd still have some very naughty thoughts. It. Rocks. That. Much. You'll see. I'm gonna prove it to you.

Until then, Hope everyone has a great day!!

This is not the post you seek

I've been working on a post since December 9th. It's long. It involves a ton of pictures. This is not that post. Allow me to explain. December 9th would have been my Grandmother's birthday. She passed away almost 2 years ago on February 13th. The very long post is about her, some of her finished objects and about the person she is. It's definitely a tribute to her, and yet working on it has been very painful. I still plan to post it, but not today. Reading it still reduces me to tears and I'm not ready to share her yet. Yeah, I'm being selfish and I promise it won't be the last time. Instead, I'm going to have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with all 3 of my families.

Also, I have a ton of pictures for posts now because Stalker Momma got a new camera that freakin rocks. (Do I have any of them uploaded? Hell no.) 5.0 megapixels with a 10x zoom. This thing has a fireworks setting! A museum setting! Plus it sounds like an old fashioned 35mm when you take a photo. Oh yeah, I'm a happy girl. I'll be watching my holidays unfold through the view screen in the back. Heehee!

Until next time, my Dear Stalkees, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel, and Happy New Year. Whatever it is you celebrate at this time of year, I hope you get what we all hope for.

Extension

Is it just me or is everyone going nuts this year? Christmas found a way to sneak up on us all, I think. I don't know how. We had Halloween. We had Thanksgiving. Everyone knows Christmas comes right after, and yet we all seemed to be deer in the headlights thinking "Well where the hell did that come from?" I have one day to get all of my work gifts together and the cards signed. That means I have to do it tonight. I have 2 days to get the in-laws stuff wrapped. 3 days to get my family's stuff wrapped, and 4 days to get my other family's stuff wrapped. My kitchen is a mess *shudder* and I have to cook something for each Christmas dinner. I need to do laundry. All 3 dogs need a bath. And their nails clipped. I need my toe nails clipped. It's amazing how the list just piles up there. Who are you again? Oh! Yes. Right. Extensions.

The previous rant was not to prove that my next 4 days suck worse than your next 4 days. Nay, friends. Indeed it was to announce that I have come to my senses and have decided to extend the deadline for the contest. With all of the holiday madness, it's silly to expect people to have any time to do something for a contest. The deadline is now January 30th. This will get us past the holidays and give something fun to do before tax season hits. *yurk* You can go here for contest details.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Why The Stalker Isn't Allowed In Public

Hi ho everyone! It's ye olde Slacker Stalker apologizing for missing the past week. And a day. Let's not get picky. Usually I take a few minutes in the morning, load my photos and then blog on a break at work. Well the past week has held no breaks for me and home life has all been about presents, wrapping, cooking, baking, feeding dogs, working and getting ready for the Nutcracker in Houston.
Yes, the camera was found and photos were taken. It's difficult to take photos of yourself in a dress, so I had to hand the camera over to someone else and I think they were drunk. Ok, I really can't complain. The few I took look as if I was drunk too. But I had reason. Really.

The plan for Saturday was:

7 am. Crawl my sleepy arse out of bed. Enjoy coffee, time with the hubby, time with the puppies, a nice long shower with leg shaving involved and then get dressed for the drive.

9:30 am. Head out the door and to the salon to have my hair done. Nothing major, just curls down my back. Ok, tamer curls than I usually have. Enjoy being spoiled.

10:30 - 11 am. Drive to Houston.

Noon. Arrive in Houston. Make gingerbread house with the family I went with. Get ready with plenty of time to spare.

4:30 pm. Head for dinner looking glamorous and woo every man in sight with my beauty.

6:30 pm. Head for Wortham Theatre and woo every man in sight with my beauty. Enjoy Nutcracker. Head home.

This is NOT how my day went. Don't get me wrong, I had a fabulous evening and got to spend some fun time with some very good (if decidedly odd) friends. MY day went a little more along these lines:

7 am. Roll over, shut off screaming alarm and go back to sleep.

9:30 am. Drag my tired arse out of bed. (Did I ever mention how little willpower I have against my bed once I am in it? My willpower is miniscule.) Get coffee and think of how much I actually need to do before I can leave.

10:30 am. Hope in shower for the world's fastest shower by a female ever. Pack clothes for the evening. Find makeup. Pack makeup. Find camera. Pack camera. Grab dress, shoes and cape from the spare bedroom and lay them on the sofa for transport to the car. Shoo dogs away from dress they so desperately need to lay on. Pack everything into the car.

12 pm. Head for the salon to get my hair done.

12:05 pm. Head home to grab Christmas gifts sitting in living room for the family I am heading towards.

12:15 pm. Head for the salon to get my hair done.

1:30 pm. Head for Houston.

1:31 pm. Stop for gas because I only have a quarter tank.

2:45 pm. Arrive at friends house. Sit and chat while everyone takes showers since they are running a bit behind as well.

4:00 pm. Realize everyone else is running around getting dressed and I am still in jogging pants and house shoes. Get make up on and get dressed.

4:45 pm. Head for Dinner at La Strada in Houston. Mmmmmm....tasty. Realize the waiter is flirting with me by leaning over me to get to friend's glass to refill it and by getting an eyefull of boobage as he does so. Begin glaring at the waiter. Waiter brushes AGAINST ME as he reaches over for friends water. Tell friends if waiter boy does it again, nice restaurant or not, I am stabbing him in the groin.

6:30 pm. Head for the Nutcracker. Stand around looking nice (No, not glamorous but we did our best.) and while turning to head for the auditorium, break heel of left shoe. Walk a smidge funny trying to favor left leg due to broken heel. Realize our nice box seats are 3 flights of very narrow steep stairs down. Take shoes off entirely to keep from breaking neck. Enjoy ballet.

Afterwards we ran around (Me without my shoes. In Public. My mother is getting chills right now for no reason she knows of.) and took pictures like drunken tourists. This first blurry shot is the humongo wreath they had in the atrium.


Next we have a shot of the lovely Christmas tree they had out.

Here's a shot of all of us, post ballet, in front of the lovely Christmas tree. From the left, it's Pam, myself, Beth behind me in red, Jessica and Von, Pam's hubby, looking like Cousin Guido. We teased the poor guy all night.

Next is the big ass gingerbread house they had there. It's made with little gingerbread man cookies. It was pretty awesome.

After running around the Wortham sans shoes, we headed off to Katz's for dessert. Yes, there is a famous Katz's in New York. This one was started by his son. Then it was back to their place for gift exchanges, of which I have no photos because I am a dunder head.

Next is photo of me, out of costume of any sort, hair off my neck and back (that shit gets hot people, let me tell ya.) Exhausted to the point of giddiness.


I then gathered my things, old and new, and headed home. I obviously made it fine. Despite the shoe breaking, the steep narrow stairs my legs are STILL recovering from and being so far from being on time for anything that day, it was a very lovely time.

Update: Yes, I had an absolute blast! As far as the cape, you'd think I'd be afraid to take it off. People kept trying to take it from me. Alas, no pictures of the cape. If I have to I will have a picture taken of just the cape. I'm thinking of just wearing it for winter over a jacket. It's really warm. And Norma Dear, I swear on all things wooly, the shoe really broke. I need to take a picture of it. lol

Kudos

I owe thanks to a couple of folks who have really helped with this contest. I'm really not all that put together on most days, so I need all the help I can get. First I want to thank Norma for the free advertising. She told me she would mention it and I'm glad that's all she did was mention. Three paragraphs on her blog is one hell of a "mention." Thank you, Norma Dear!! I got a lot of hits from her "mention" and a great big "Howdy!" for all of you who stopped by and for those of you who delurked.

*Update* Kudos to my Dorky friend Pinkerbell (giggle). I got free advertising for the contest on her blog as well. Thanks hon! I feel so loved. Heeee

Deenz asked in the comments if there was a deadline for entries. There isn't one for entries, just one for designs. I would like to have all designs by December 30th. If some of you would like that extended due to the holidays, just let me know. I'm a very flexible Stalker. Well, in this sort of thing. The only reason I can reach my toes is because my legs are so short.

The other huge thanks goes to Christina. She's my personal Jiminy Cricket most days. If I post on a decent schedule, it's because she sends me an IM to "pester" me. It was also her idea to have the contest, to have the Stalkee gear and she's a damn good editor. If anything gets spelled correctly, it's because she proof reads my posts and giggles at me. She also made sure you guys had all of the information you did for the contest. Once I posted the entry for the contest, our conversation went something like:

Christina: What about this? Are you going to tell them about this?

Me: Crap. Let me update.......There.

Christina: Better. Now what about this?

Me: Dammit! Forgot that. Hold on......Got it.

Christina: Now, what about image sizes.

Me: Huh?

Christina: CafePress has image resrictions, you know.

Me: *Sigh* Let me see if I can find their image size rules.

Christina: Well here, try these 2 links. They should have all of the info.

Me: *blush* Thanks.

Me: Ok, it's all updated. Anything else?

Christina: Nah. It looks good.

So you see, this blog may be about me, but she really runs everything. Hehe Thank you again, Christina. Even when I grumble, I am so grateful for you. Oh, and "Haha!! I posted before you pestered me! :P" And, yes, I am a dork.

Now, it's freezing outside and I have a camera to go find before Ms. Ryan beats me to death with some Mongolian camel yarn.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Misc.

Ok.....so...a post. Yep...uummm...I still have a butt load of stuff to post about, but it really needs pictures and I think my camera may be buried in my back seat somewhere. I haven't LOST it per se.....I know I have it. I know it is in one of 5 spots. I know if I got up off my lazy arse and moved one or two items I would find it. So until I get motivated to find the damn thing, here's what ya get.

So, anything new with you guys? Not much new here. Started a new skin care regiment. *yawn* Umm...oh! I ordered the cape/wrap/ruana thingy for my dress for the Nutcracker. Picture is below, only I got the black faux fur trim.

Pretty, no? I think it will be nice and cozy. And yes, there will be pictures. After the ballet. There will be makeup as well. I promised some folks I would. That's why the new skin care regimen. Hehe

Ummm.....contest. No entries yet, but it's still early. I'm sure my stalkees won't leave me hanging here. Of course, if I didn't check every 10 minutes, that might help too. For those of you who claim you have no talent for this sort of thing, do you mean to tell me you don't know somebody who DOES have the talent for it? Someone who might be bribed rewarded as well? Someone who could be included in prize giving? I'm a very flexible Stalker. I am always willing to change as needed.

Speaking of stalkees, I have this nifty little tool in my sidebar that tells me when I get visited and where the visitor is from. It seems to have gone haywire today, but that's the nature of the beast. Anywho, I'm noticing some lurking. Well, Lurker McLurkalots, what have you got to say for yourself? I'm a Texan. Say howdy! I'll probably just feed you some chili and cornbread. :)

Hope everyone has a great day!

And the winner is....

The poll has officially been removed from the sidebar. The voting is at an end. Everyone waits with baited breath for the results. Or, maybe not. With 14 votes in, we had 12 votes (86%) in favor of the Stalkee gear, and 2 votes (14%) that were rather non-committal. On one hand, nobody flat laughed in my face. This is a good thing, I think. On the other hand, there seems to be a few folks out there just lurking. Lurking for lurks sake. Not commenting. How am I supposed to stalk you if I don't know who you are? Poll? Oh Stalkee gear. Right.

Ok so here's the deal. We're going to have a contest at Casa de la Stalker. Yay!!! One of you lovely people will get to design the Stalkee gear. That's right! You heard me. I would like you guys to submit designs for the merchandise. It will be a small something on the front with something larger on the back. Is that vague enough? Hehe

What I had pictured (but then I have a sick mind) is something along the lines of a female figure, dressed in black, sneaking/tip-toeing along with a small black mask on. There should be yarn involved. But then again, that's just my mind. What says Stalker to you? What should the saying on the back be? All entries will be welcomed, but please try to keep them mostly family friendly. While I might find pornographic banners entertaining and worth a chuckle or 2, other folks may not. Also along the way, I am hoping to get a new sidebar button for the blog out of the deal. I know. I'm sneaky. So submissions will be front and back ideas for merchandise and/or a blog button.

Update: Multiple submissions for merchandise design and/or sidebar button are welcome. Feel free to submit as many designs as you would like.

As mentioned this is a contest. That means prizes! Yay!!! It's good ones too, let me tell ya.

1.) Winner of the merchandise design contest, will get a Stalkee gear T-shirt with their design on it, a set of 8 stitchmarkers made by me with their choice of colors, and a shopping spree of up to $35 at KnitPicks. That, my dear Stalkees, is quite a bit of yarn/patterns/books.

2.) Winner of the blog button contest will get a Stalkee gear mug and 2 skeins of the sock yarn of their choice from KnitPicks. If more than one button is used, all of the other submissions used will win a Stalkee gear mug. Buttons are for the sidebar. This isn't a banner sized thing. Think in terms of small please. :)

3.) Due to the upcoming holidays and the fact that people actually may have better things to do than to design stuff for me (I don't know what it would be, but there you have it), the deadline for designs is December 30th. Yes, a month is a long time, but not when there is Christmas knitting/crocheting/crafting to be done, gifts to wrap, homes to decorate, parties to attend, jobs to go to, children to raise and significant others to coddle cuddle.

4.) Please send all submissions to stalkerangie AT gmail DOT com. I think you can figure it out from there.

5.) For the merchandise, it will be through CafePress and they do have image guidelines. The following links should help with any questions you have on that end.

Beginners Image Workshop (A general FAQ on creating images for CafePress.)

Product Templates (A general idea of image sizes per product.)

If there are any questions, comments or you just think I'm off my gourd, shoot me an email or leave your email addy in the comments. It's one of my pet peeves about blogger is that I can't respond to a comment via email. Grrrr.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Ballots closing

Last day to vote on Stalkee gear, folks! If you don't vote, you can't complain about the outcome. Or something. Anyway, tomorrow we will have the tally with graphs and percentages and which camp won and what kind of fun activity the Stalker has planned for her stalkees. I guarantee it will be worth some thought.

See you guys tomorrow!

Oh, because the question was asked, the dress from the previous post was purchased from Igigi and if you are...well, round, then you will love this site. All of the dresses are very feminine and just gorgeous. Affordable too. I think I love this site. Toodles!

Pretties!

Short post today. Yes and no post yesterday, for those of you who are observant. Work has just been really hectic and home life has all been about working those work frustrations out on the kitchen floor, bathroom floors, carpets...But hey, clean is good, I suppose. If you're into that sort of thing.

How was your Thanksgiving? My wasn't too bad. Not my favorite holiday, but everyday can't be my favorite. I am, however looking forward to the next few weeks. I'm not decorating for Christmas this year but I am going to my annual viewing of The Nutcracker in Houston. This year we decided to go all out in finery and I found a very lovely dress. Wanna see? Yay!



I am hoping to look half as decent in it. There will be photos of me in the dress. Hopefully, this will be a smidge more flattering than the overstuffed doll outfit from Halloween. *groan* Shoes? Why of course I'll show you the shoes! I got them in yesterday and they are a perfect fit for my tiny fat feet. So elegant.....and sparkly. I will probably fall down a lot from trying to watch my feet as I walk.

I am very excited about getting to dress up. I'm even going to wear makeup and do something to my hair. Maybe. Let's not be hasty. I do need a pedicure before then, though. Ugh.

Anywho, tomorrow is the last day to vote! Check the sidebar. Throw me a vote. Let me know your thoughts. Tell me your deepest secrets. Oh. Sorry. It's that stalker thing. Hehe

Hope everyone has a great day!

Is it Turkey Day yet?

So yeah. A post. Hmmm....I do have tons to post about. Yarn aquisitions, exciting family things found....but they all deserve pictures that I don't yet have. Because I'm lazy, that's why. Well it's a lot of work to lay it all out, get a picture in focus....I'm a Crocheter, not a photographer. Then when I lay it all out there are pooches in the house who think they need to get right in the middle of everything and sniff everything and get right into the photos. No, of course I don't mind posting pictures of them but this isn't a dog blog. Besides. It's Thanksgiving this week. I want a holiday. And I will pout. I will. I have one hella bottom lip you could use as an ashtray when I pout.

In all seriousness, I will spend the week taking pictures for blog fodder and I have a very heart warming story to share when we return to our regularly scheduled (stop laughing at me) blog. Besides, I have to decide what project is going to what house for each individual turkey feast (I have 3 to attend) or if I just want to pack up my 2 current WIPs and the yarn for a 3rd and decide on the project when I get there. So much to do! But then, that too is a story for a future blog post.

So Monday there will be a post, with pictures. Bring tissue if you'd like. Some of you get teary eyed at the drop of a hat, I swear. In the meantime, delurk and say hi! Go vote on the sidebar! Go get some extra cranberry sauce! You know you ran out last year. Hehe

Happy Thanksgiving, my Dear Stalkees!!!!

We have socks, people!!

Ok, we have one sock. And it's not done yet. But I got pretty far in the limited time I have to do the essentials like playing with yarn. But first off, I got the book!



This book rules so far. It really does. You have to know the basics of crochet to be able to follow it, but that's ok. Cuz I just happen to know the basics. Heee! What I like is that it states up front that this book does not cover those basics. If you don't know basic stitches, they are easy enough to look up on the internet, or it's really inexpensive to get the basics books.

What I really like is it's basics I know, but I have already learned 2 new stitches and I'm just to the heel. Once you read through the first basic pattern, you get a grasp of the sock structure and how to make it work with crochet. This one is a top down sock, but there is a pattern for a toe up sock that has me really eager to get to. With a toe up sock, once you get past the heel and into the leg, it is sooooo easy to incorporate some really fun stitches. Not to mention the gorgeous crochet border that will be available to place at the top.

I see some sock design in my future. I cannot tell you how exciting and frightening that is. Exciting because I love making stuff up in crochet. There is such a variety of things you can do once you learn the basics. Frightening because I'm the one who stated on just about every blog I stalk that I did not do socks, nor would I ever do socks. Oops. Anyway, onto the sock so far.

The first is a picture of the back side of the sock to give you an idea of how the yarn is patterning out. I'm not sure I like the colorway. In other pictures, this sock yarn was all bright greens, pinks and turquoise. That's how it looks in real life. There is a butt load of oranges and browns in this yarn once you work with it. Very not me. No bother, I know who they can be a gift for and they'll be perfect for her. No, it's not a stalkee. Nobody needs to panic about finding these bright ass socks in their mailbox.

The next picture is of the short leg of the sock. Check the cuff, people. Yeah, that's crocheted. Can 't tell can ya. Oh sure, once you click on it for the bigger pic you can, but pretty damn nifty just the same. Can ya tell I am loving this sock despite the colorway?


Last, but not least, we have the heel. Yeah. Beauty. I'm ready to start the decrease now for the turn then I get to go for the foot.


Woohoo!!! Feel the excitement folks! I am hoping to have some extra time this next week during the holidays to get more crocheting done. Oh hell, who am I kidding. I wanna play with my sock.

Have a great day!!

Just FYI

There will be a real post later this evening my Dear Stalkees. I didn't get a chance to photo the crocheted sock and the book yet but I am finished with the leg (Shorter than the pattern because I either want a freakishly long sock or a tiny one. Cannot abide by a mid-calf sock.) and the heel flap and I'm ready to start the decreasing for the heel turn. So exciting! Anyway, more on that later this evening when I have the pictures to share.

In the meantime, go vote in the sidebar! Delurk and say Howdy! What is everyone's plans for the upcoming Holidays? How far along are you with Christmas shopping/knitting/crocheting/crafting? Who else gets tired of the stress of gift giving some years and wants to call off that portion of Christmas?

Who else wants to go home, make 2 turkeys for Thanksgiving, a vat of stuffing and just open your doors to whomever stops by? I am going to do that one year. Make 2 huge turkeys, get a couple of long folding tables and chairs, make a bunch of stuffing, gravy and mashed potatoes and invite my family, T's family, all our friends and our neighbors to stop by if they want. Maybe bring a side dish or a pie. Easy for everyone, plenty of seating, use paper plates and such for easy clean-up. Thanksgiving done, very little travel done, and nobody has to stress over who is being left out. Heh.

Go vote! Delurk! Have a great afternoon! See you this evening for the real post. :)

Hump Day Anyone?

Happy Wednesday, my Dear Stalkees! First off, I did get the book. A sock has been started. I'm already half done with the leg. I am learning new stitches and this makes for a very happy stalker. There is much glee at Casa de la Stalker.

A request has been placed from a Dear Stalkee who shall remain nameless (See Christina? I can keep my mouth shut.) that I create a Cafe Press store of Stalkee gear. I have a poll on the sidebar to get a guage of what everyone thinks of the idea. If there is a favorable response, there will be a contest for Stalkees to submit a design. The winner would get a prize of...uumm.....well let's just see how it goes. It would be a kick ass prize, though. More info on what the submission would entail once I see how the response goes.

The poll will remain up until the 30th of November.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Brought To You By The Letter F

F is for Finished objects.

I thought I'd show off a couple of objects finished before I ever started the blog and have nothing to do with afghans. Shocker, I know. One of them you can't really see and I hate trying to photograph anything black. You just can't seem to get any details. Anywho, the first object finished is a scarf I made for T. It's exceedingly long and looks just the right length on him, the tall freak. (Love ya Dear.hehe)


You cannot tell it, but this scarf is actually knit. I taught myself to knit before I ever thought of crocheting. Scary, ain't it. It's done in a simple basket weave pattern that I just fell in love with. It's the whole reason I taught myself to knit. I never knew at the time that there was so much more out there. Anyway, it's k4p4 for 4 rows, p4k4 for 4 rows the alternate. That's all folks. Then fringe away and ya have a scarf. He seems to really love it. He's had it for 3 years now. Also we have a pic of Alex, our Lhasa Apso male, modeling the scarf in such a way as to suggest that even cold, wet and miserable from having just come back inside, one can be macho in a scarf.

One cannot (so it would seem) turn to face the damn light at least once. Any attempt to turn Mr. Macho towards the light resulted in getting growled at and a slightly toothy grin. He and I need to have a talk about his place in the blogosphere. I won't have this attitude, even from a top model. It's unseemly.

Moving on, Dear Stalkee Jeanie has the cutest little bears on her site(she's also starting a Sexy Knitters Club. You guys so need to go check it out.), so I thought I'd share the one I made (The bear. Not a sexy knitter. I don't make those.). He's done in a variegated lavender thread and stands all of 2 inches tall. He has crocheted eyelids and even has little thumbs on his arms. I say it's a he because do you see that nose? Looks broken in a fight to me. I never said I could embroider. He has teeny tiny eyes and eye brows. My next one will have beaded eyes I think.



F is for Ferf*cksake!!!!

I did not have my book this weekend that I ordered. There were no crocheting of socks going on. I am slightly miffed at this. Only slightly because all of my rage is over the fact that it sat in Houston for the entire weekend. One damned hour away! One shitty hour! Arrggghhh!!!

On the plus side, according to the website, it was delivered to Casa de la Stalker at 2:18 pm, CST today. It will be on my front porch today. Hopefully, there will be sock making going on tonight and tomorrow. We'll see. Don't make me drive down there. Grrrr.

Hope you guys have a great day!

Fun Stuff Friday #2....Ok, it's mostly weird, but still fun.

Look! It's Friday! And I'm Posting! Not that it's going to be a very long post, but hey, it's something. You people are so picky.

So the first fun thing I have, is an awesome site for a guy that is oh so artistic and skillful. Yeah, it reeks a bit of Halloween, but pumpkins are for Fall so go here and enjoy the pumpkins. They rock.

What the hell is this?? This is just truly frightening. I mean, even I could knit the yarn equivalent of a particularly nasty hair ball, felt it and then sell it for way more than it's worth. Am I missing something? Can someone explain the appeal to me? Are they just luxury cat toys? The Fancy Feast of yarn toys.

Speaking of hairballs....*ahem*......why???? This stuff is all over the internet as "young and hip." This is not "young and hip." This is crap yarn made from what used to be wonderful fiber. I have never spun a day in my life and I could do better. Norma Dear, if you ever complain about your yarn being uneven again, I shall buy something like this, fly to Vermont and beat you silly with it. This yarn seriously pisses me off. I would rather have acrylic yarn anyday over that.

I am hoping that by the time I get home, this will be on my front porch and I will be able to lose myself in it over the weekend. Maybe I'll be able to forget that "yarn" and the hairball toys.

What I did on my blog vacation.

Hi, my name is Stalker Angie and I'm a Happy Hooker. *giggle* Thanks for that, Erin/Pinkerbell. Cracked me right the hell up, that did. I really do have the bestest Stalkees in the world. Supportive, unassuming, non-judgmental and funny as all get out. No, I don't know what that phrase means any more than any other Southerner, but we've always used it and are too stubborn to stop.

So, me and knitting. I guess I'm just stubborn because I really love how knit stitches turn out better than I like most crochet stitches. It's the process that isn't me. I guess I am an instant gratification person. Well, no that's not true either. Not when I took an entire year to make a bedspread for my mom. I don't know what the deal is. I'll start off fine, then I start to get tense, my stitches get tighter and then I get frustrated at how tight the knitting is and so I get more tense.....This is not a relaxing past time for me.

Now, when I made the Sophie purse, I was relaxed through the whole thing. First time color changes, working in the round for the first time, picking up stitches for the first time, and felting for the first time. Not. One. Tense. Moment. Anything else I cast on turns to shit in no time flat. So I hide it away and avoid it. I might even stick it in our front bedroom and avoid the room all together. Somewhere in my house is 4 or 5 cast on knitting projects that I need to find, rip back and save the poor yarn that's crying out to be used for a finished product.

So, when I finally come to my senses and drag my rotting corpse to where I store my crochet hooks, what's the first thing I cast on for? An afghan. I love making the damn things. I love the variety of stitches you can incorporate, the play on colors and the fact that there are no rules. You can take a finished size, chop it up into piecemeal squares and make a bunch of squares in varying size, shape, color and texture. It's just fascinating to me. You end up with something that looks very like a stain glass window, or a painting. Or you can go simpler and end up with something that belongs on the back of the sofa meant to keep you warm on chilly nights. It's something you would have found at your grandmother's house or something she might have given you as a wedding/first house gift. It's home. It's simple. *Ahem* Which is how I'm beginning to sound so we shall move on.

I'm making this afghan for my oldest brother's wife. She is an absolute sweetie but doesn't take crap from anybody. She loves pink and is one of the perkiest people I know. But she's not....froo froo. She's just good people. I honestly wish I knew her better, but they live near Sacramento, California. It's a bit of a drive for a weekend visit. So anyway, I think these colors suit her perfectly.

I need 40 squares and they will be set on a diagonal so that I have a nice funky edge that will have (dear God, no! Not the fringe!) tassels on the points. Lovely thick multi colored tassels. I am not fringing an afghan and it's tacky and when you try to snuggle, fringe tickles. Blah. Here's a close up of one of the squares. Tangy, no?


Now, during my mind's hiatus, there was some serious stash enhancing going on. More that what I already showed you. Not my fault! A yarn store opened here and I have to avoid it like the plague lest I get sucked into it's yarny goodness and come home with a super duper brown bag (already happened once) that you could tote a small child around in. If, ya know, you were into toting small children around in brown bags. Weirdos.

So what came home with me? Well some of what I already had, but I also snagged this.


Mmmmmm....Wool. This lovely stuff was going to become another Sophie bag with black and silver handles. The mind has been changed. It shall now become this. Sooo pretty. I see a black ribbon with white or silver polka dots. Or a solid silver ribbon. Or so many other fun things. Hell, maybe a pink ribbon with black polka dots. I could go wild!!

I also made the mistake of discovering Elann.com. No seriously, bad mistake. Do you see these?

Those are cotton yarns. I have 8 skeins of the sage green and 10 of the cobalt blue. The sage (Pakucho organic cotton) for my mom and her olive skin tone, the cobalt blue (you can read the label) for me and my pasty pale complexion. So divine. And speaking of divine, I also got the following from Elann.


I have 8 skeins of that crack yarn and it is pure alpaca, baby. Worship the softness. Write songs in it's honor and then weep when you sing them for you are unworthy to praise the softness. I really like this yarn.

And now, my dear Stalkees, it is confession time. I am afraid I have deceived you. I have done something I swore never to do. I had lost my fiber way. I...I was desperate. I needed something to fill this void I had. I know it doesn't mean much, but I was miserable the whole time. It's a fiasco.

*sigh* I cast on a sock.


This is as far as I got. Those DPNs really are torture. And here, in all it's glory, the yarn I am was using and it's evil counterpart.


And that's not even the full depth of my shame. There's more. I went on a sock yarn binge. I thought, maybe if I could make a sock I would like knitting. Here, I lay bare my soul and my stash to you.


I know you are asking what the hell I plan to do with 4 skeins of sock yarn. Never fear, Christina comes to the rescue yet again. She has found me sock patterns in crochet! A book was ordered. This book. And then she found me this pattern that just cries out to be made. I will have these socks.

Yes Virginia, there is a Yarn Diety. (Update: a Diety is a Deity for crocheters who cannot spell and/or type. Shut it. hehe)

Hope everyone has a great day!.

Coping

Ok, yeah I missed the post on Friday. I mostly lost track of time throughout the day due to how busy I was. I also think a part of me really hates seeing that picture of me on the blog. It's a horrid picture and completely unflattering. It also makes me really come to terms with my roundness. Now, you would think this wouldn't be a shock. I knew the clothes were getting bigger. I knew I was having a harder and harder time being active. You just have to understand the last real photo I had taken was at my wedding seven years ago. Seeing anything current is...well...Shocking.

According to this article, I have the equivalent of 2 medium size turkeys (Potentially deadly turkeys. Who knew??) hanging on my chest. If that's the case, I have an entire cow hanging off my hips and a decent sized goose on each thigh. I'm a fucking barnyard. I think it's time to start killing us some chickens, Maw. Yes, I have a plan for doing something about it, but more on that later. This isn't a diet and exercise blog. Although it might become one and I don't blame you for running as fast as you can from the crazy lady I will become.

On the yarn front, I've had to do some serious rethinking. I know that some of you may go into some sort of apoplectic seizure so I am warning you, this is not for the faint of heart.

I don't think I like knitting.

I'll give you a moment.

Yes, I know how to knit. I am not a Knitter. Hell, I'm not even a knitter. I'm a Crocheter who knows how to knit. I have begun avoiding my projects because they are all cast on needles. Not a hook in sight. I picked up a crochet hook on Friday evening to test a theory. I grabbed some acrylic (Hang in there guys, just take deep breaths. I know this is a lot thrown at you at once.) from the stash and went to town. It's the most relaxed I've been in months. It's the most at peace I have felt in months. I wanted to cry it felt so good to have that hook in my hand. I've already completed 1/8th of an afghan for my brother's wife. I found myself being torn between Guild Wars and yarn for the first time in a long time.

I am having fun with my yarn again.

This was not an easy conclusion to come to. I have even been hiding projects from my Dear Stalkees. It's time to come clean to the blogging world and I will do so. Next post. Besides, I have to quit giving Christina things to hold over me and beat me with when I don't post on time. Hehe

Next post: What the Stalker has been doing behind (almost) everyone's blog backs.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Halloween: The Aftermath

Ok, First rule is no scrolling down to see the pictures. Stop that! You have to read all the garbage first. And yes, this post does actually include a picture of the elusive Stalker. I said no scrolling! Cheaters. Yes, Ye Olde Stalker is short as shit and round, but not as round as that costume makes me look. Sheesh. I look like an overstuffed Holly Hobbie. Of course, this costume does contain about 1,000 yards of fabric. It was meant to be full. It was not meant to make me look full. But, I still look cute as hell. Heee. This post also contains pics of the Mary Jane shoes I made for the costume and this blog is turning into a playground for someone with a foot fetish. Yikes.

So, without further ado, here's....Wait! I have something else to show first. *Insert evil laugh here* Dear Stalkee Christina sent me a lovely gifty in the mail. I got an adorable card with a picture of the famous Daisy on it. Isn't she adorable??




On the back of the card is the story of Daisy and how her mother came to be at the shelter....Daisy is a very lucky girl. It's a sweet story with a happy ending for a very rotten pooch. :)

Inside the card was an even better gift. Christina sent me a tatted bookmark. It's beautiful and I envy her tatting abilities. Someday I get to teach her to crochet and she gets to teach me to tat. It will happen. Oh yeah, here's the bookmark in all it's, if a bit blurry, glory. I never claimed to be a photographer.



I am a lucky Stalker indeed. Now we shall get to the shoes. Luckily I wrote down what I did because the original pattern I found was obviously for people with very skinny feet. The pattern can be found here. Oh and I used an I hook instead of a K for a tighter finish. First the top view.

And then a side view of both of them. No I am not really that pale. I was still in costume. :P



I am really proud of how these turned out. And don't tell all of the die hard Knitters out there, but I really missed crocheting.

So gang, I guess that's about it. Time to wrap up....Huh? No no no you don't wanna see that silly picture of me. It's really not worth it. Imagination is so much better. Wouldn't you rather discuss butt boils? No? Fine. Here. *grumble grumble*

Next post, Fun stuff Friday. Maybe. We'll see. I'm so lazy unpredictable.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Happy Halloween!

First off,

That lovely collage of pics includes one from our dear Stalkee, Christina. The one on the left is her ranger in Guild Wars having some in-game Halloween fun. Thanks, Christina!

I did dress up for Halloween today, but the pics will have to wait. Cuz I don't have them yet. I'm supposed to be Raggedy Ann, but I so didn't feel like painting my face this morning. I hate anything on my face. So I was basically just cute. Heee! I did make my own shoes for this costume though. I crocheted some Mary Jane shoes and they turned out so freaking cute. People are trying to order some! I wanted to knit some since I have Erin's pattern, but i didn't have time. :( But! some knit ones are due.

In keeping with the holiday again, I have some very scary photos. These are more.....disturbing than scary really. I have mentioned before the size difference between T and myself. I have proof. I was goofing around one day and tried to grab his flip flops to run outside. My feet are tiny. His are...not so tiny. I give you, "I promise that is an adult foot in another adults shoe." And next to it is our grungy flip flops next to one another. Can you guess which one is mine??

Now, keep in mind that my shoe there is a small flip flop and I have lots of room around my foot when I put on the shoe. Mini feet. Weird. *shudder*

And now for yarn porn!! Yaaayyy!!!!There are some yarns I got off of Ebay that I absolutly love. Someday they too shall tell me what they want to be. The first one is a sport weight wool Called Maine. Both of these are hand painted yarns and I love the colorways.

Sooo pretty. The next one is my fav. I really wana do it justice when I use it. It's a fingering weight wool and the colorway is Spring. It's just....yeah. I take it out about once a day and play with it and smell it. Such a weirdo.


Next post, my Halloween costume and why the Stalker needs to avoid baggy clothing.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Hello again!

Ok I am totally whinging about how busy work is and no I shouldn't be posting at work but home is busy too. :P

*sigh* There is no yarn porn here. There will be on Monday. I don't blame you for leaving. *sniffle*

On the plus side, I am thinking Penny will be in a new home by the time I get off work. She has a foster home now and after this 60+ lb "puppy" has had 3 Lhasa Apso/Shih Tzu's to play with, she gets to go play with a 150lb Great Dane! I'm thinking she will love it. We're very excited for her and I look forward to having yarn stashed safely all over the house again. Glee!

Ok, time for Fun Stuff Friday! Not that I'll keep it up, but it's a thought. As of last night, Guild Wars has gone Halloween and it is the most awesome thing ever. I would have bought the game just for this. If you have it (Hint Hint Christina!) I insist you go play. You won't regret it. It rocks.

In keeping with the upcoming Halloween, I have something so very creepy...this site is not for the weak-hearted. If you are easily frightened, do not go here. If laughing so hard until you pee yourself is scary beyond words, then avoid opening this page at all costs. They look so proud.....*shudder* These are the people who almost took over the world.....the dominant sex. Hahahahahahah!!!!!

Next we have The Worst Halloween Costumes Ever. *snerk*


A real post on Monday. Seriously. There might even be me in my Halloween costume on either Monday or Wednesday. Be afraid......

Hope everyone has a great day!

Awwww......

Warning: This is a picture heavy post. It may take some time to load.

Ok, I know I promised more, but I gotta keep you coming back for SOME reason. It certainly isn't for my timely posting. This posting is all about the first crochet project I ever did. I made an afghan for my mother-in-law that didn't quite turn out how I had planned. Not always a bad thing.

Her house is done in shades of purple and green. It's everywhere. Sage and lavendar, moss and aubergine, hunter green and grape purple. It's really rather pretty. So I chose purple, sage and cream to make her a ripple afghan. I got pretty far into it when I realized my ripples were more like soft scallops and the colors were soooo not working that way. It was fugly. Fugly I say! And I suck at ripples. Or I did then. No telling if I could do it now, but why would I try? I never did like ripple afghans, why would I want to make one? So I decided a simple granny square afghan would do. I didn't have a clue as to how to make a granny square. Off to Google!

Do you have any idea how many different patterns there are for granny squares? Neither did I. Not a clue. So like an idiot, I chose some of the hardest ones I could find because they were "pretty". Duh. On the bright side, it taught me just about every stitch out there in crochet land. The challenge was born! Must learn new things or the Stalker gets bored.

Now, in choosing the squares I did, I didn't realize what a true idiot I was until I started finishing them. I know guys don't like to hear it, but size matters. Sorry fellas. It really does. Especially if you plan to take squares and turn them into an afghan. I had 6" squares, 7" squares, 10" squares, 11" squares and 12" squares.......huh??? So I just kept crocheting around them until they were roughly the right size. I went with roughly. I like roughly. Besides, I wasn't planning to join them right next to one another. I was gonna make up my own join. *Snerk* What a dork.

I actually had one square that took me 6 hours to figure out and another one that took a full week of twisting and swearing. Then it took another 3 days of laying out the squares and then moving them. Walking away, coming back and moviing them again. I then gave up and had my best friend come over and help me lay them out. She got it perfect in like 30 minutes. I'm still not sure how much I like her. She's sneaky.

So I crafted my join. Just looops. So freaking easy. I make loops and join them as I go. No need to be the perfect size! The edging I got from a baby blanket I found on the internet somewhere. I liked it just for that edging. So, without further ado, I give you Linda's Afghan.

You can click on it for a larger view. I really am proud of it. And it did turn out straighter than the picture suggests. It's on a bed. Gimme a break. Sheesh. :P

I am also posting little pictures of each square in the order they are on the afghan, starting at top left. Again, you can click on them for a larger view but I must warn you. My left boob is a camera hog. It kept invading into the pictures unbeknownst to me until I loaded the pics on my pc. Damn you breasticles!



And last, but not least, a closeup of the edging.



Next post, yarn porn and something fun.

Hope everyone has a great day!