Holden's Hat

Brad's co-worker asked for a hat. (click on the picture for full view.)

Hats!

I haven't posted in forever and also haven't crocheted in about as long but here are three hats in three days.

The Great Reno Balloon Race 2011

Sunrise

Original Poem by me

mind racing
time blurring
missing you
chasing myself
searching rooms
finding loss

Those things that catch our attention and keep it

Years ago I took an acting class through the community college. The professor was a working actor from Chicago. He told us a story of a small play he had seen when he was younger where a background character walked on stage with so much Presence that he actually upstaged the lead actor. It was not on purpose, it seemed, it was just that this bit player performed so well that he inadvertently caught the attention of the audience, or at least my professor and his friends. He claims that the upstaging offender was Robert Redford before he was famous.

Yesterday, I was flipping channels and came across a program already in progress on Directv's 101 (where they showcase channels and programs we may not be watching but might be interested in). The program was a National Geographic documentary called "The Conspirator: The Plot to Kill Lincoln" and it was fairly interesting. Now, as sometimes happens with documentaries, it's not always easy to tell when they were made. I noticed that James McAvoy was playing a part in what appeared to be reenactments, and I thought, "Wow, he was a reenactment player? But he's got such presence! Wow." Then that reminded me of the story I told you about above regarding Robert Redford. I've been a fan of McAvoy since seeing "Penelope" which is a fun movie if you haven't seen it yet, check it out.

OK, so here's the coincidence: McAvoy wasn't a reenactment player; the documentary had borrowed clips from a new film coming up. Now, I promise that I haven't seen previews or news about this movie. "The Conspirator" opened in select theaters on Friday and it's directed by Robert Redford.

I can't wait to see it.

Greg's Hat*

*Modeled by someone who is not Greg. Thanks Brad!

Hannah's hat

It happens to match my tote bag... Hooray for using exactly the entire remnant!

BABY BEANIE!!

OMYGOODNESS! I have to make more.

Tote bag

The pattern claims it's a grocery tote, but I like it enough that it might be a diaper tote. I haven't decided yet. What do you think? Not bad, eh?

Brad's Beanie

Brad bugged me for a hat. He says that I make things for other people and always leave him out. Double crochet, wool, modified pattern (one hour project my ass).




[Edited to add: Looking back, I see a scarf that I made him that he doesn't wear... ahem.]

Been a long time... new baby blanket

This is my first crochet project in almost exactly a year. No pattern, half-double crochet with the wrong size hook (smaller) than the yarn gauge called for, and a triple crochet border. It's a nice cozy, heavy blanket for the new baby. It has so much love crocheted into each row, and by love I might mean beagle hair...

A Big Announcement (Cross-post from Bahbrown)

So, the pictures below are of Baby Brown. No, this isn't a "V" baby. Looks like a little lizard-alien, though, right?

My estimated due date is March 25, 2011 which puts me at about 13 weeks. This little bug is a wiggler and the doctor said it was a happy baby. It kicked and punched. Brad thinks it's a boy. Maybe. We'll see toward the end of October if we can tell.

Hannah is excited. Brad is excited. I'm excited, but I will tell you that I am exhausted and tired of getting sick.

"Blockade Billy" by Stephen King is not for kids. Period.

It's a short story paired with "Mortality". It's bound in a small hardback volume. It has a sort of Rockwell-esque illustration on the cover. It has foul language, sex, violence, and more of those sorts of things. It is not for kids. Don't judge a book by its cover, folks. But do read this book if you like Stephen King and are over 18. I enjoyed the stories. Well, as much as I could without freaking out that my 12 year old nephew was also going to read the book. Don't worry, I called his mother and put the brakes on that. I know. I sucked all of the fun out of life for the kid, but he can read it when he's older.

Blah.

I'm not getting a whole lot done these days. Ugh. But hey, here's a blog post. Check that one off of the ol' to-do list, eh? I did get through two Austen books, though. I enjoyed "Pride and Prejudice" more than "Sense and Sensibility". "Persuasion" is next after a little baseball a la King. I did print out a couple of summer crochet patterns, but haven't picked up the craft again. But, yeah, here's a blog post. A completely boring laundry list of tedium but it's better than nothing. Right.

Did you know my brother is in a band?

Did you know my brother is in a band? Did you know his band is very active in the Reno community and very active in raising money for charities?

Visit: http://bigremote.net/

Also, YOU can help them win the KRZQ FM 100.9 Spring Forward by Paying Forward contest. This month they're helping out cuddly animals. Just donate under Big Remote. http://www.spcanevada.org/events/special/springforward.shtml

Green

I've been a bit overwhelmed lately because I'm trying to do too much so I'm cutting corners a bit for the sake of knocking off three blog posts in one. I'm blogging, craft boasting, and putting up a Theme Thursday post all in one quick picture. As a beginner's project, I sewed t-shirts into grocery bags as a way of recycling. One of them happens to be green. That's Han's favorite.

Mirror

This week's Theme Thursday is Mirror. I'm a day late, but here goes:

I look without seeing
into my own eyes
what do people see?
I don't know the whole
just pieces of me
hair, lips, eyebrows
not a face but facets
I am cheated
When, how will I watch
my own eyes change color?

Red

Red

I never willingly wore red when I was younger. I always stayed with those colors complimentary to the winter skin tone I was supposed to have according to that seasonal make-up trend. I wore blue in every shade, green, and gray. There was a lot of denim in my wardrobe back then as well. The only red shirts I had were part of my Godfather's Pizza uniform. I hated the red visor that went with it as well. I was convinced it was the ugliest thing I owned, but you wear what the people paying you want you to wear, right? At least the tomato sauce stains weren't as noticeable. Red was never a color I bonded with well. All of my dishes and linens were blue. I shied away from red and, looking back, I don't know why. Now, I look around and red is peeking out at me from everywhere. I have a red phone, red file folders at my desk, a favorite red sweatshirt that I snagged from my husband, red blankets, candles, portable speaker, Tupperware (and a lot of it), cooking pots and pans, and more than one pair of red socks. Maybe I'm pulling in little bits of red to make up for denying myself such an energizing color. Maybe I just like the color more now that I'm not wearing it for a living.

My latest projects.

I've been on a roll! This was a pattern that came with this fun lime green sport yarn. I made this for Elizabeth because she likes lime green.

My sister asked me for a striped scarf in Reed Raider colors. Here it is! It's a bit wide, but it gauged correctly so I guess it's supposed to be wide to be extra cozy for those chilly football games next season.

Brad was a bit jealous that "everyone else in the world and your sister" got something crocheted by me so I made him a scarf which he actually likes. It's snuggly without being too fem, he says.

Sherrie's Gift

This was my largest project yet and also the one that's taken the longest. I made this shawl for my former boss, Sherrie. She is a fantastic lady and I loved working with her. I found this yarn and immediately fell in love with the pattern and texture. I made up my own pattern for this project which is basically alternating rows of single stitches then spaced double stitches. One of the things that happened is that the shape of this shawl ended up in sort of a parallelogram instead of a rectangle or even a trapezoid. I also had such a great learning experience making it.