Danido Crafty » personal

So, I started teaching classes at Knit Las Vegas this week. I did the sock class on Thursday. Which was fun and it felt nice to help people figure things out and to give feedback. It wasn’t hard, each of the ladies was pretty good at what they were doing and they were all pretty far along in their socks.

I will be going over next months class schedule with Christine, the owner, early next week to see what other classes I can teach. I’ve got some ideas that I’m pretty excited about.

I also knit up a sample of the Moonset Chemo Cap to display at the store, and the pattern is being used for a charity event that Knit Las Vegas is sponsoring called the Pink Scarf Knit-a-thon. Which is not just scarves but also hats and lap-ghans. The cost of the kits are being donated to charity and then the finished products that people make from the kits will be collected and donated to charity too. So I’m glad I could offer up my pattern to be used for such a wonderful cause.

I snapped some pictures today of the sample cap and the kits surrounding it because, well, quite frankly I’m finally starting to feel like a ‘real’ knitter because other people are making my stuff! (Plus my mom wanted to see the kits and I’m sure my Godmother DeeDee would like to see a cap I designed for her be used in such a beneficial manner.)

Pictures!

Hat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kits!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hats AND Kits!

I also picked up a kit for the scarf that is being done for the knit-a-thon as well, which is a really pretty lace scarf designed by the gal who owns South West Trading Company Yarns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m doing mine in a real pretty green yarn called ‘Rock’ by Vickie Howell (who I can’t really stand, but the yarn is awesome.) the yarn is a milk fiber and cotton blend and it knits up beautifully. I’ve used it for coffee mug wraps in the past and it washes and wears very nice. I think this will be a beautiful scarf.

The trick now is to finish it in a month to be able to donate it. The trick to this is having it hold my interest long enough to work on it consistently. It’s not a hard pattern at all, I just have a secret (well, not so secret) hatred of scarf knitting. But it’s for a good cause!

Also, I have a nine hour flight on May 8th and May 16th (to Ak and back from AK) that I’m pretty sure I can knock most of the scarf out during those flights alone. If it’s the only thing I take on the plane to knit, I’ll get it done in no time. 

So, in other news: I turn 26 tomorrow. This is the first in several years that I haven’t felt like a complete waste of flesh on my birthday. The last few years I go through the all too familiar circular thinking of "I’m another year older and no farther along in my life. I’m not married, I have no children, I don’t own a home, no degree, no career…I’m pathetic."

Now, you’ll note, I still don’t have a degree, a wedding, babies or a home of my own BUT I am doing fairly well in what could be considered a career. I recently left, on very good terms, a position with ADHD Knitting that paid me well to do things that I loved and allowed me to learn a lot about running that kind of business as well as let me learn at the elbow of someone who I consider to be a fantastic knitter and my own personal mentor. I am now teaching knitting at a very nice yarn store, located in a beautiful neighborhood. I have the opportunity to sell my finished products at a few places around town and I’m designing my own patterns now that other people seem to enjoy. I think I can say that I am successful at what I’m doing, even if I’m not making a ton of money at it right now.

My health is good, I am still in love with a wonderful man (even if we aren’t married yet.) and I live in a nice home (even if it isn’t my name on the deed). I have two beautiful dogs and a very fluffy cat (so what if my kids have four legs instead of two?) and I’m considerably closer to a degree this year than I was last year. And hopefully this time next year I’ll be fixin’ to graduate.

It’s been a very good year. Full of lots of learning and obstacles and challenges. I’ve met great friends, (some of whom are coming to spend the evening in my back yarn grilling various things and enjoying Mike’s patented Dani-ritas) and have had opportunities presented to me in this year that no degree would have ever earned me.

All in all, I’m quite pleased with myself as I prepare to roll into year 26 of the Great Dani Adventure.

We’ll see how I feel when we get close to 27….

So a few things just to keep everyone up to date and a longer more in depth post will be coming soon.

First of all I’m sort of working out of Knit Las Vegas now. I’m teaching some classes and helping out around the shop.

Second of all the Moonset Chemo Cap pattern is up on both Raverly and in the patterns section here on the site. It’s free of course and it’s a real pretty PDF now.

And lastly; I hate Spring. My allergies are trying to kill me and no amount of allergy medication seems to help.

More soon! I’m off to teach my first sock class this morning.

I just did forty five minute of yoga. While I watched the Americas Next Top Model on VH1. It was pretty awesome.

And now I’m about to have a steak for dinner…which I’m pretty sure completely negates the forty five minutes of yoga.

Other things I did today:

• Knitted on my sweater. It’s taking forever. I kind of hate it.
• Followed my dog around because something is wrong with her ear and I feel the need to check on her every five minutes.
• Pushed on her ear until she squeaked to find out where the hurt was
• Felt intensely guilty and then fed her half a bag of treats
• Painted my fingernails a deep purple
• Talked to Kaitlen for a little bit, wandered off, forgot I was talking to Kaitlen, then remembered and started talking to Kaitlen again.
• Needle felted the face onto the crocheted version of the My Ex bag. Which I will post a picture of after the bullet points end.
• Listened to my “You Can Never Go Home Again” mix on my iPod, which is a mix I made for myself last year when I had my little emotional break down and flew home for a week last July.
• Got incredibly home sick and then promptly turned off my iPod and started watching ANTM.

A picture of the Ex head I did:

Which because I didn’t feel it would be appropriate to model it after one of my own Ex’s I decided to make it look like myself. Only instead it kind of looks like more like…oh, I don’t know, the Wicked Witch of the West.  I even tried to make it look more like me by posing it with needles and yarn…no dice. Still looks creepy.

Now I need to go take a shower because I’m a bit smelly after the yoga and get ready to eat dinner (my yoga negating steak.) and watch some more reruns of CSI or Law and Order until it’s time to go to bed.

Tomorrow includes:

• Taking the dog to the vet and finding out what is wrong with her ear.
• Continuing work on converting some of the knit ADHD patterns to crochet, which I’m stoked about.
• New Knitter Night at Knit Las Vegas from 6-8 p.m.

My life looks so much less boring with bullet points.

I know that fiber folk of all types are caring and giving people, well right now there are some little faces that need some help.

Right now in Pima County in Arizona there are almost 800 animals that have been seized from a home there in what has been described as the worst conditions some of the responders have ever seen. These animals are victims who cannot help themselves. They are being cared for by the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. Humane Societies are notoriously under staffed and under funded and I’m certain that this crisis has put a tremendous burden on them. I hope that each of you can find room in your hearts and bank accounts to donate a few dollars to help the Humane Society in Arizona continue to give these animals the care and attention that they need and to help them find forever homes instead of being euthanized. Please also forward this email on to anyone you think may be able to help.

If you would like to adopt one of these animals that would be even better and I am offering to personally drive to Arizona (only a few hours from my home in Las Vegas) to pick up an animal and I will help arrange to get the animal to you if you need the help.

You can read about this story and donate to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona at the following link:

http://www.hssaz.org/

Thank you!

 

** Some of you have may already seen this as I have sent out an email similar to this to my contacts and I have also posted this on a few boards on Ravelry. I cannot  begin to express how upset this story has made me and I will not stop asking for you to reach out and give a little to help these poor animals. If I had the ability to, I would be on my way to Arizona as we speak to rescue one or two (or 800) of these little faces myself. If you or anyone you know wants a dog, thinks they want a dog or wants a baby but would settle for a dog, please PLEASE share this with them. These animals are in danger of being put down if they cannot find homes for them. I will make the ‘puppy run’ to Arizona myself to bring one back if you cannot make the trip.

I knew someone, it seems like forever ago now, that used to say that phrase all the time.  “Such is life…” He’d say it so often that it kind of became how I thought about him. Still think about him to this day. He wasn’t a close friend, not someone I hung out with on a regular basis or anything. He was a musician and he was a very smart guy. I remember one afternoon in particular, I was in a diner and we were filming the public access television show I used to help out with. (Long story: involves a boy, a star crossed love affair and a lot of crying, but there was also the t.v. show) So we were there and they were filming the show. At this point I didn’t really formally work with the show, I was just there hanging on. The boy that ran the show was interviewing the musician who had this famous phrase and as a way to explain why some opportunity or another had passed the band by, the musician said simply “Such is life” and left it at that.

 

I’ve always admired that musician, and his serene nature. I never saw him angry or riled up, I never saw him upset or sad. He always appeared just mildly amused and vaguely pleased with life in general. He also lived in a total shit hole apartment with a bunch of other people and a lot of empty beer cans. I was there once, the apartment did not jive with what I knew about this guy in general. It was very weird.

How all of this relates to me: I am trying to live in a more ’such is life’ way. I’m tired of being angry, upset and otherwise just icky. So I’m going to stop. Now.

So on to the knitting!

I ordered some soap from Pegasus Soaps and they just begged for some hand knit soap sacks. So I knit some up!

The soap in this one is some great oatmeal soap that is soft on your hands.

This one has some herbal soap in it and I’m using it instead of a loofa in the shower. Works great. This one is made out of some stashed Peaches and Cream kitchen cotton. I wrote up the pattern for this as I was doing it. It’s on the patterns page here. It’s nothing spectacular but I’m pretty pleased with the results. They’re quite useful.

Awhile ago I knit up these little socks for my bosses new baby.

I love them. I love them so much it’s silly. They’re knit up on US1 needles from the toe up with Lornas Laces Shepard Sock yarn. I wrote a pattern for these too, which you can see here. Too bad my grown up socks don’t work out this well.

I’ve been knitting on an adult sized sock for about a month. Last night while I was knitting on it my only US1 circular snapped, SNAPPED! While I was knitting. So I had to put the sock back on double pointed needles. I really liked working the sock magic loop and I made this horrible gasping noise when the needle snapped. I’m going to email Knit Picks about it tomorrow and see if I can get it replaced, but if not I think I might try metal ones instead. I’m not sure wood needles are the best thing for knitting socks. Especially when they snap in half when you’re in the middle of a freaking row.

Oh well, such is life…

I’m going home to Alaska for a week. I’m leaving next Wednesday, the 6th and I’ll return to Vegas on the 12th. This is a mental health excursion. I have hit the wall with everything here and I’m completely overwhelmed.

So, I’m packing my knitting, a couple of books and my iPod and heading back. I intend to spend the week just doing nothing. Enjoying the comfort of home. I want to dig my toes into some wet cold sand on the beach, preferably Bishops Beach in Homer, but I’m not sure I’ll make it all the way to Homer. I’ll take the water off the bluff in Anchorage though. I want some Chinese food from New Segaya, and a mocha from Kaladi Bros. I’d like to browse the stacks at Title Wave and maybe even check out a few of the local yarn shops.

I’m going on a tight budget (like $12 basically.) but that’s okay because I’m going mostly for things I can have for free: trees, fresh air, family and familiarity.

I’m hoping to get a few of my WIPs completed or at least farther along. Right now I’m taking a break from the ribbed halter I’ve been working on to whip up an iPod sock real quick. The back of my iPod is getting all scratched up, so I’m using the little hank of Artyarns super Marino I got for my birthday. It’s not really enough to do anything else with, and it’s a really pretty colorway, greens and purples.

I should be able to finish it up today. Pictures to come when it’s done.

Seriously. For the third time now I have left my ATM card in the ATM and driven away. I am an idiot.

Ack.

I think so.  So yesterday, in the middle of the first morning rush (about 7 a.m.)  I was slicing a bagel to put in the toaster, and while I was sawing through the rough sesame bagel I sliced my left palm, deep. I, like the idiot I am, just put some neosporin an a Band-Aid on it and didn’t go to the hospital until after 2 p.m. when I got off work. I wasn’t going to go at all, except the damn thing wouldn’t quit bleeding, and I usually clot pretty quickly. I know I clot fairly quickly because I tend to cut, scrape and other wise harm myself on a fairly regular basis. Anyway, so when I got off work I butterflied it close and went to the ER. It wasn’t too bad until they soaked it to disinfect it and then the evil doctor (also acting in league with the Devil) pried it open with his cloven hooves and stuck the liquid of a thousand burning souls in it. Then it hurt. Turns out I nicked a vein, which explains why I wouldn’t stop bleeding. So they super glued it back together, slapped a big bulky bandage on it and sent me on my way. When I was getting the discharge instructions from the nurse, she was going over the list of things I couldn’t do. I was fine with “no work, no dishes, no heavy lifting” etc, but then this crazy bitch told me I couldn’t knit or crochet for THREE TO FIVE DAYS! What the HELL am I supposed to do with myself? The cut is on my left palm at the place where my wrist connects to my thumb, so somehow I’m supposed to keep my thumb immobile for three days so it can start putting itself back together.

People who know me, know anything about me, know how hard it is for me to simply hold stiff for any length time. Holding still for 10 minutes is tough for me, three days is unbearable.  Technically I’m not supposed to be typing, but I’ve figured out how to type without using my left thumb. Thank God, it wasn’t my right hand. 

The only problem I’m really having with this ’ no left thumb’ thing is picking stuff up, and zipping my pants. So, for right now I’m sticking to pajama or yoga pants and I make someone else pick stuff up. Which doesn’t always work, but I think I’m going to work on teaching the dogs to fetch things for me.

Well, I’m off to watch the History channel for the next three days.

Which really doesn’t mean anything except Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy is on tonight.

Right now I’m doing two VERY important things:

1. Avoiding homework

2. Avoiding my family

I’m really not sure if this is a side effect of PTSD, the agoraphobia or just a long life of being generally stressed, but I’ve hit this wall where I just don’t really want to talk to any of the people I currently know. Except the ones I live with. (Mike, Josh, the dogs, the cat…)

I really wish I lived somewhere else. Somewhere with a legit art school or at least a legit school with an arts program, since Las Vegas seems to be the universal SUCK HOLE of continuing education. I want to take a spinning class, and of the two LYS in town, one (the good one at least.) offers classes, but it requires going across town every Wed. night to attend. Going across town is one thing when I have someone with me, as I usually do when I go yarn shopping at this store. However, attending a class would mean that I was traveling alone. Which means I would be going farther away from my house than two miles unaccompanied. Which, does not happen often and rarely if ever happens after dark. (I’m out of Klonapin, anxiety attacks are not fun after dark, on the mean streets of Las Vegas without anti anxiety med’s.)

 

Anyways, enough of emotional Dani breakdown time. I’m enjoying a delicious and healthy fruit smoothie (gag, I need chocolate) and actively procrastinating, in fact I’m procrastinating so hard it’s sort of making my  head hurt.

I am so close to finishing the new improved Short n’ Sweet (just a couple more motif reps on the body, then sleeves and finishing and it’s done!) but I keep staring at it and just lack the motivation to finish it.

I bought my Mom an mp3 player that I need to unpack, install and load up with music and pictures before crocheting and/or knitting her a cozy for it. It’s her Mothers Day present. I think I might make her a quick cap and frilly scarf too, since she does of course still live in Alaska and will actually get use out of a spring scarf set unlike most of the people I know.

 

I winged a hat and scarf for a friend of mine on the way down to San Diego a few weeks ago (when I got blueballed on penguins, thanks Seaworld.) and I liked how they came out, so I might try to figure out what I did tonight while watching my shows. I’m sure Mom would appreciate it.

 

I need to set up my etsy.com shop. It would be nice to start selling some of the stuff that is now stuffed into every corner of my house. Plus, I’ve spent a small fortune on yarn that doesn’t get used because I’ve yet to purpose it into something I will actually wear. I think I need to stop crafting for myself and start crafting for profit. Well, and non-profit. I’m going to work on some puppy blankets to give the local shelter.

 

OH! I nearly forgot, I got my stuff from my swap partner! It’s awesome, he really caught on to my near debilitating obsession with penguins, he made me a needle threader polymer penguin, and a felt needle holder (for normal needles, not tapestry or embroidery, too small.) in the shape of a penguin, the needles hold in his belly under the white park. This will make sense when I actually upload the pictures onto the computer. Which I will do after I accomplish the rest of the list of things I’m putting off.

*sigh*

Math homework here I come.