Return of the Belly Roaster

We're officially one week into fall here, and it's certainly starting to feel like it, where I am anyway. The heat is on in my apartment which means as soon as the cat realizes this, she'll have her favourite place to sleep back:

Yes, the belly roaster has returned. It's a shame she hasn't realized it's on yet. I turned it up this morning for her so it would be nice and cozy, but she was only interested in sleeping on the bed today. Ironically though, as I was turning up the heat, my friend was telling me about turning her air conditioning on again.

The chill in the air means lots of cozy nights on the couch with my stud beside me, watching whatever takes our fancy on television because I'm not so fond of the freezing cold. But in the mean time, I get to wear cute sweaters and boots while we get our fill of fall activities before the real cold hits.

Unfortunately though, when I'm not wearing those cute boots, my feet can get a bit chilly. This brings me to this next project I may start this evening if I'm feeling ambitious and I can find the supplies I need later this afternoon:

My slipper socks that I bought last December on Boxing Day are currently dying a slow death and will soon be in need of replacing and these slippers seem to fit the bill. Though I'm not so interested in the flowers that these slippers are decorated with, this pattern is exciting because the designer is from my city, and so these are the slippers that will be made. If all works out and I can use the yarn I think I want to for these, I should be able to make some slippers and a new snuggly blanket for those nights on the couch.

WIP Wednesday #1

Today I thought I'd show off one of my many projects on the go at the moment. This project I simply started because I had the yarn and the pattern. I couldn't resist a 1lb ball for $4, and I can't walk out of Michaels without using my coupon. I bought it back in about January or February this year, in hopes that I would be using it for my friend's baby someday, but it turns out I picked the wrong colour. From day one I said she was going to have a boy, but I still had a glimmer of hope that I'd be wrong and I could shower her with millions of pretty pink gifts. Next baby perhaps?

I'm not going to lie, I've been working on this project awhile and I don't imagine it will be finished for awhile either. Love pink, but the farther along I worked I started liking the pattern less and less, and I'm certainly not pulling it all out and starting from scratch and wasting the time I've put into it for $4 of yarn to set aside for another something someday.

Who will end up with this blanket? I have no idea. But someday someone I know will have a tiny cute baby girl and hopefully when that day rolls around, I'll have this blanket ready to be wrapped up.

Where It Began

An unconventional baby blanket for an unconventional mother. In this case, mom was not a girly-girl, but a little princess was already on her way. Clearly cutesy girly pink was not the preferred choice in this scenario. In fact, I know a green Bumbo chair was scanned onto the baby registry just because mom was so tired of scanning pink things.

Now I myself am certainly a pink girly-girl. If I ever have a daughter, my house will be filled with anything and everything pink before you can close your eyes. I managed to put aside my love for pink and find some yarn that incorporated pink and brown, the nursery colours, and green, which was mom's favourite colour.

The best part of this blanket? How much faster I could make it than the one I tried knitting previously. Bulkier yarn and the magic of the double crochet made for smooth sailing. When I made a mistake I could just pull the yarn rather than carefully backing up my stitches. Heck yes, you better believe crocheting is for me! Since this blanket I've kept on going and never looked back.

Sadly though this is the only picture I have of it due to an untimely laptop death and the fact that I generally don't bother to back up my hard drive. Maybe some day I'll learn.

I Have a Problem

It's a big problem. You see, last summer a friend of mine's sister found out she was pregnant. I thought this was great, an opportunity to learn to crochet. I tried to learn the whole knitting thing with a previous friend's baby, but instead I learned that I'm not a knitter. Rumour had it that crocheting was a lot easier, so I decided I wanted to give it a try.

I have a Grandma that does it all: knitting, quilting, sewing, cross stitching, crocheting... you name it, chances are she knows how to do it. I tell her my plan and she finds me a simple pattern to get me started. I pick out the yarn and bring it to her so she can start teaching me how to do it. Turns out, I'm a natural crocheter! Much better than knitting, I can do it a lot faster and no pesky dropped stitches.

The next day my friend calls and says she has some news to tell me. Turns out, she and her husband are expecting baby #1! This was the edge of what turned out to be a very slippery slope, though I didn't know it at the time.

The last time I checked, I've managed to accumulate approximately 50 pounds worth of yarn in the short time I've been crocheting. I live in a two bedroom apartment with next to no storage. This is a problem.

A lot of my yarn I've accumulated I actually have a plan for. I have the pattern, I've bought enough of the yarn, it's just finding the time to make it. However, I love a good sale. If there's something I know I will need or use reasonably soon, I will buy it. This is also a problem.

My natural skill for crocheting, babies, cute patterns I find, and irresistible sales have led to this:

A queen size bed's worth of yarn. It's mostly Walmart's fault for closing one location so they can move to a new building. They put all of the remaining 1lb balls of yarn on sale for $1 each. Who can say no to that when they're regularly in the $8-$10 range? I've also amassed quite the collection of baby yarn because my friend's little baby is too cute for words and secretly begs to be spoiled by his Godmama.

Will I ever make it through this pile of yarn? Only time will tell. Thus begins my new quest: to trash my stash.