Lists

Oh hi there.

So, my computer took a 4 ft fall that destroyed it's hard drive.  Thanksfully Apple replaced the hard drive for free with my warranty, but I lost...
- Pics (let's be honest, this was probably the best and only way to keep Marty from accidentally seeing me in my wedding dress)
- Songs (current hits like Weird Al's Another One Rides the Bus)
- Microsoft Office (!!!! boo)

We still don't have a new apartment.  Since we are splurging on rent, we are being super picky; but it's stressful and exhausting.  When we get our new place, I am doing the following:
- Making a beer sampler and ordering a giant pizza and watching my favorite Pearl Jam DVDs.
- Crocheting some hats.
- Getting a DVR and DVRing like a mazillion shows and having my giant cozy blanket shipped from Pittsburgh to me.

But on the bright side, this happened last Friday!!!

A Lil Hello

Haha here is a funny picture of Topher chomping on Mister's tail!

Well, we are moving out of the Crooked Nook soon... hopefully... eeek.  Time to be grown ups or something, whatever, who cares.  Anyways, I am a lil bit preoccupied with that/having a nervous breakdown/my ulcers are getting ulcers, so I have not been able to focus on blogging & crafting.  I have a few projs (that is cool slang for projects) in the pipeline of my brain:

- An awesome turquoise hat with a different colored brim that is synched in one spot.  Adorbs.
- A chevron-stitch beanie for Marty.
- A cute pinky baby hat.
- My wedding dress.  JKKJKJKJKJKKJKJK LOLOLOLOL... but for real though getting that sh...thing fit has been an... adventure...

Happy Monday!

www.nataliedee.com

Rag Chevron Throw

"Trust me, man, I been a lot of hats." -  Sincerely, Rag Chevron Throw

Haha did you ever see the movie My Idiot Brother?  The movie is whatever, but it was 100% worth it for one of the final scenes - watch here.

So with that as an intro.... after so many years of crocheting, I have amassed a bunch of leftover scraps of yarn (some still in half-hat form).  I have been meaning to use my random yarns to make an awesome rag blanket so they stop taking up space.  I have also been meaning to make a chevron stitch pillow.  Then one day I saw this Neat Ripple pattern on Ravelry, and decided it was perfect to make an awesome chevron stitch blanket for Marty.  Woot!

I really only looked at how she did the chevron stitch so I can't say that I truly followed the pattern.  See more details below for how I modified the pattern.

I used hook size K10/6.5MM.  I repeated colors, but not in consecutive rows.  I tied new yarn in at the end of a row.  I finished the raggedy edges by knotting over again, and then I trimmed each string to 3 inches.  At the end of each string itself, I tied a knot to avoid fraying.  I had a bunch of thick blue yarn I knew I would never use for anything else, so I tried to use that as a unifying color.  I was skeptical of using my sparkly holiday yarn, but I think it really looks awesome.  I also love the hot pink acrylic row.  So rad.

Marty loves his blanket!  The whole time I worked on it he kept saying how awesome it was, and he has even asked for a chevron stitch hat.  Yey! 

Starfish Slouch Beanie: Part Trois

So apparently my Starfish Slouch Beanie pattern is a "popular post" on my blog.   As a result, I decided to try to re-do the pattern to share on Ravelry.  Although the pattern works, it had some kinks, and I don't think the result is as polished as it could be.  See below for pics and revised pattern!

For this Starfish Slouch Beanie Pattern - click here!

If you are interested in seeing what this pattern looks like with added rows for added slouch - click here!

Snow Storm, Stay Warm

Since I love making wearable crochet, I always love to showcase my work on real people, who really wear it!  Here are pics of my lovely model sister in the Molly Spiral Floves and the matching Eternity and a Day Scarf.   

You too can be this adorable!  ShopTeabeans on Etsy!  hehe

Hope you are staying warm in some handmade crochet!

WHAT?!

OK... it has been a LONG week.  Not gonna front (do people still say that??).  Looong hours at work, half marathon training, volunteering, and trying to squeeze in wedding planning in any second of free time if possible.  Normally I try to make every second of my life productive, but tonight I was going to veg and drink a beer and tweet and watch Tabatha Takes Over (which WILL NOT PLAY ON ON-DEMAND I NEED A TIVO SO SAD).  Anywahsss, I logged on to Ravelry, and apparently my Criss Cross Hat pattern is getting a ton of hearts??  

I kinda hoped the floves would, and I was stoked to see they hit over 100 hearts today, but then I saw the hat got 89?!  And was on the homepage of the crochet patterns?!  Exsqueeze me, backing powder?

So getting back to my earlier point... I wasn't going to blog or anything, and then I saw that.  Thanks for reading everyone/anyone!  And thank you to Melanie for asking about the Criss Cross pattern!  I sure hope everyone who queued it can make it - I am nervous about the pattern's accuracy.

Happy Friday!!!!

Blog Love, Cat Love

Please allow me to deviate from my normal blog nob fare of craft crochet thingies to tell you about KittyKind (and also my cats).  So we adopted Mister a few years ago after we moved into the Crooked Nook.  Marty was working late nights, and I wanted a buddy around.  

Anyways, it was fine until Marty got normal hours, and then Mister started to seem to be more like purring furniture than a lively pet.  He doesn't care for playing so for the 3 hours at night we were home, he pretty much continued to lay around until bed time.  What a sad existence!  

Anyways, we were very blessed to have such a sweet cat.  Neither of us were cat people AT ALL, but in NYC it's hard to have a dog if you have a busy lifestyle and a small apartment.  Every single human who has met Mister has fallen in love with him.  He is not shy and will work his way onto anyone's lap for a purr session.  In fact, at KittyKind his listing said: "100% chance of...love showers."  KittyKind is a no-kill shelter. It's so hard to believe, but Mister was actually returned once because he was TOO snuggly. I am not even joking.

Sooo we were both very skeptical about adopting another cat.  We had a good thing going with Mister:  he is so sweet and completely non-destructive.  One night I was volunteering at KittyKind, and I mentioned fostering a kitten.  Five days later we had a munchkin.  Things were rocky for less than a month, with Mister hissing & sometimes attacking Topher.  Now, Topher is just as much a snuggler as Mister (slightly more shy), and Marty adopted him a month later:

The two boys (Mister & Topher!) play several times daily, which just makes my heart so happy!  Here is a video, but I am dying to get a good one of them romping around & chasing each other!!

Anyways, the moral of the story is:  if you live in NY, you should consider adopting from KittyKind!  And if you don't, you should consider adopting your cat and supporting no-kill shelters.  Here is Topher's success story on the KittyKind blog.