Already in Love

How freaking awesome is this custom NatalieDee comic that Marty had made for me for our celebration of 5 years together???  Soo good - right down to my hair, and wearing my favorite color!  I actually had on a dress in that color today when Marty gave me this!  And the drawing of Mister is SPOT ON!  Check it - too perfect:

Readers of my blog know that I LOVE Natalie Dee, so this pretty much made my life.  Her comics are sooo ridiculously funny.  Visit her site, and get your own custom Natalie Dee comic!

Ms. Balloon Hands

Crafts!  Ok... this is kind of a lame craft like the stamps I put up earlier, but I like to upkeep the blog.  To celebrate 5 years of Kmart, I made Marty a little surprise party out of balloon animals!

Unfortunately I only know how to make dogs really.  When I said that to Marty he said, "yeah, but you are REALLY good at making dogs!!"

Nautical Trial

I ordered some awesome nautical rubber stamps for use somehow in my wedding decor.  The stamp designs are AWESOME, but they were sent as just a flat rubber pad.  You have to cut them out of the pad and mount them to something to stamp them.  Saturday, Marty and I tested them out.  We picked a stamp that was small and that we didn't love (in Marty's case, didn't know what the image even was) as a test.  I cut it out (per the instructions) and hot glued it to a water bottle cap (not per the instructions).  Marty wrote "Test 1" on a notecard, which was totally cute.  Here is Test 1 in blue ink:

There wasn't a Test 2 haha.  JK JK there were a few other tests, but I don't want to share them here bc it could give away an awesome wedding craft idea that someone might steal and use before I get to, and I am not really very good at sharing.

Finally, I will leave you with the image that I was left with as I headed out for brunch Sunday morning:

Future hubs/cat baby totem pole.  I am a fan.

Bottoms Up

Arghhh I spent so HOURS trying to follow this one part of the crochet swimsuit pattern that said, "inc. at ends 1 st. every 2 rows 21 times."  How to interpret??  Literally (1 stitch), that turns the work into a triangle instead of a trapezoid.  So after many an hour, I have finally decided to increase 1 stitch every two rows on BOTH outside ends (which would, in fact, make a trapezoid).

Anyways, at least I got to watch that new Zooey show & Workaholics, neither of which disappointed.


Love
Katiebeans

The Endless Summer

I am trying to be very focused this year.  I only want to tackle one project at a time, patiently & thoughtfully, without becoming overwhelmed by all the hundreds of things I want to make.  That way hopefully I can enjoy crochet, and also make some quality projects.  So here is a sneak peak of the bathing suit I am "patiently & thoughtfully" working on.  Right now I only have a couple of cups, but I have a bunch of good patterns to cobble together, and some awesome inspiration.  Pattern & pics to come...

Side note, I am reading Marty's book The Answer is Never, which so far feels like a history textbook on skateboarding.  I guess there is a surfboarding movie called The Endless Summer, which the author references.  Also he references 70s chicks in crochet bikinis.  Also, some of those pics I snagged are from Free People's site in a section called "Endless Summer."  So, full circle.

Big Bouncing Babies

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on two super secret projects, and here is one of them!  Two of my most favorite people are having a little bebe boy.  Some of us lady friends of Christine combined our crafting powers to make a congrats baby blanket.  Brooke, Kristin, and Kate knitted strips of brown & blue, and I crocheted a cream-colored border, using this border pattern.  Here is a close up:

Before the crochet edge, the knitting piece was 151 stitches x 240.  I did a rough measure, and if I recall correctly, the full blanket is about 5 ft by 3.5 ft.  Big for a baby, but perfect for a winter snugging up with your newborn!

Here is a pic of the lovely future baby-mama opening the blanket at her shower!  The yarn was Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton.  The knitters used size 9 needles, recommended by the yarn.  I tried using a J/10, which was recommended, but it made too big of stitches so I switched to I/9.

And here is a pic of Brooke, Christine, and me!  We all unintentionally dressed to match the blanket.  

I had fun at the shower and was also grateful I didn't have to suffer through the Steeler game.  I hope everyone had a good Sunday, and maybe took a minute to remember those who died ten years ago today, especially the heros of flight 93.  

xo

Katiebeans