Crafty Pants!

I’m a pretty impatient chef, so I’ve never had this problem before, but overcooked pasta is really gross. Don’t let your cat guilt you into not getting up for 45 minutes. It’s a lose-lose situation, because eventually you’ll have to get up, and you’ll be eating mushy pasta while he’s staring at you angrily from across the room. At this point, I’d rather be eating al dente pasta while he stares at me angrily from across the room.

Testing my ability to post from my new phone!

I would like to tell you how I managed to begin my morning yesterday with a BANG. I was a little slow that morning (again) and I got out the door by 8:30am. I decided to go a little more casual and wore my skinny jeans and new flat boots. I thought that the boots would be easier on my feet when walking down the hill, and a little less noisy in the office. I’m already tired of people peering their heads out their offices as I go CLUNK CLUNK down the hall. With tea and my direct deposit form in one hand and my purse on the other, I speedily walked down the hill to work. I bypassed my usual tripping spots because I didn’t have a heel to get stuck. Feeling safe, I picked up the pace and stepped hastily onto one of those yellow metal “textured” plates that are supposed to prevent slipping. In my case, it acted as a slick surface to my shiny new boots and my feet shot right out from under me. I didn’t just stumble, I fell FLAT ON MY REAR. I spilled tea all over my arm and direct deposit form.

I hastily stood up, checked myself for damage and quickly moved on, hoping to God no one saw me. I passed a woman in her car with a look of shock and pity. I just shrugged my shoulders as to say, “hey, it happens!” I really wasn’t embarrassed for some reason. Life is too good right now for a little spill to keep me down. But it was a bit embarrassing to hand a wet and crumpled form to the HR lady…

Hope you day is a little less eventful!

Two-point-five weeks into my life in San Francisco, and I got a great job! I’m very excited to start, but I still have a few days left of ‘vacation’. I had fun the first week wandering around. I still love to explore, but I’ve had to limit myself, because I really haven’t any moola yet. With all these amazing shops around, no one in their right mind could resist, so I had to quarantine myself. To ease my ‘new stuff’ desire, I decided to make something new.

I made it with Lion Brand Cashmere Blend, which I got on sale for 60% off. I used about 1.5 skeins, so I might have enough left over to make a matching one for a Christmas present.

Puffy Slouchy Hat
Bulky weight yarn, size K hook. For Worsted weight use a J hook

The numbers in the [] say how many stitches there should be.

Puff stitch: (YO, insert hook in next st, YO, pull up a loop) 4 times, YO, and draw through all loops on hook. (Here’s a video)

You do not have to join rounds, and this will create a spiral, and there will be no seam. Use a stitch marker if you do this, and keep the stitch count the same.

1: ch 4, 12 dc in first st, join in ch. (Just grab one loop from top of the chain. This makes the seam less visible, and this will make a circle.) [12]

2: ch 3, work 1 dc where chain is (in same st as join - ch3 counts as first dc), 2 dc in each stitch, join with sl st (remember, the ch counts as a st!). [24]

3: ch 3, work 1 dc where chain is, (work 1 dc, 2 dc in next stitch) around. Join. [36]

4: ch 3, work 1 dc where chain is, (work 1 dc in next 2 sts, 2 dc in next st) around. Join. [48]

5: ch3, work 1 dc where chain is, (work 1 dc in next 3 sts, 2 dc) around. Join. [60]

6: ch 3, 1 dc in each st around. Join. [60]

7: ch 3, 1 dc in each st around. Join. [60]

8: ch 3, 1 dc in each st around. Join. [60]

9: ch 3, puff st in same st as join, dc in next st, (puff in next st, dc in next
st) around. Join in top st of first puff. [60 sts: 30 puffs, 30 dc]

10: ch 1, (sc in top of puff, sc in next dc) around. Join. [60]
* It will look like you are skipping stitches here, but you aren’t. Just
remember, sc in top of puff, skip spot, and sc in top of dc post. Make sure you have 60 sts here!

11: same as row 9. [60 sts: 30 puffs, 30 dc]

12: sc around, same as row 10. [60]

13: same as row 9. [30 puffs, 30 dc]

14: sc around, same as row 10. [60]

15: ch 1, sc in each st around. [60]

16: ch 1, (sc in next 3 sts, dec over next 2 sts) around. Join. [48]

17: ch 1, sc in each st around. Join. [48]

18: same as row 17. [48]

19: same as row 17. [48]

20: same as row 17. [48]

21: ch 1, (slip st in next st, ch1, slip st in same st) around. Join in first sc.
Fasten off, weave in ends.

NOTE: As I mentioned in my original craftster post, I had intensely studied a pattern online. I don’t have a printer, so I tried to visualize it as a crochet chart. I have an insane memory, and graduated with a 3.98 GPA by only reading the texts the night before the tests. When I made this hat, I thought I was only being inspired, but I essentially recreated the hat. People have pointed it out, and I am very disappointed that I wasn’t being creative, I was just recalling it. SO, all accolades should go to the original author here: http://patternsbydot.blogspot.com/2005/11/bobble-beauty.html. My sincere apologies. I know it’s hard to believe, but it wasn’t intentional at all. I posted this at craftster, but I never got around to posting it here. :/

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by arrrghmatey.

Giants game! Amazing seats, plus we got free tickets to the ‘clubhouse.’ great for when it gets cold out!

Eating a red bean bun from chinatown, in washington square park.

We had a little ‘fete’ at this house!

The most amazing Toffee cookie yet. Westfield mall. Shopping alone is pretty boring! So boring I had to treat myself to cookies and milk.

Oh, the wonders of living two blocks from Chinatown!

Well, I’m back! I’ve actually been back for almost two weeks but life has been so busy, I haven’t had much time for crafting or posting. I think once I’m settled in my apartment and a job, I’ll be creating once again. The last month in Pau was the best month of my life. However, it seems like every month this past year has been the best month of my life!

I have been spending countless hours these past days going though ALL my belongings, and trying to reduce it down to just two suitcases and a few boxes that will be shipped down at a later date. It was really quite freeing; shedding all that unnecessary junk made me feel like I was peeling off layers ad layers of bulky clothes. With each bag sent to Goodwill I felt a little lighter and less constricted. That is, until I got to my art supplies (and books).

I see my supplies as pure potential, and to see them go was like seeing a million possible projects disappear. It was sad to see them stuffed to unceremoniously into a garbage bag, but I knew I had no where to keep them, and they would make some other creative person insanely happy. I’ve literally donated two large pickup trucks full of items (my parents stored a lot of items for me over the years), but those five bags of art supplies were the hardest to hand over.

My books were almost as hard to give away, except that I actually made about $50 selling them to half price books, so that softened the blow a bit.  I have quite an attatchment to my books, and so I still have a large blue Rubbermaid bin full of books that I couldn’t bear to part with. I’m not sure what I am going to do with them, or how I will get them down to San Francisco, but I’m pretty sure my father (another avid book lover) will gladly store/read them for me in the mean time.

Only a few more days and I will be in a new apartment, city and state!