What I did this weekend

While most Coloradans are probably out enjoying the wonderful weather we're having (and always have) I've been inside fighting with my allergies and working. Woo thrilling, I know. BUT! I did sneak in a couple of fun things between work proposals and events for my folks' paper (www.desertexposure.com).

This may not be fun to most, and normally not for me either but the thought of cleaning with vinegar reminds me of my Norwegian roots and my stingy grandma. So when I saw this on pinterest I had to do it (click on the picture to go to the recipe over at Nature's Nurture, btw I emailed Sarah at Nature's Nuture about cleaning my baseboards and she emailed back RIGHT AWAY, more on that later).

Mike cleans our floor constantly and whatever he is using seems to attract more dust. I ran to Dollar Tree at got everything for this floor cleaner and went to work. It is amazing! Easy peasy and 24 hours later (in a house filled with a dog and a cat) the floor still looks great. 

Also, this cleaner works great on our NASTY baseboards. I don't think they've ever been cleaned, they were sticky. So I asked Sarah at Nature's Nurture what to use and she said "the floor cleaner is now my go to cleaner, try that and let me know if it works." So I did and IT DOES! With a little elbow grease our baseboards will soon be white, not brown (ew). I also snuck over to Joann's and got all the supplies I need to make a ton of these:

I'll let you know how they turn out. Oh and I'm also finishing some booties for a friend of our's new baby girl AND designing our wedding programs. 

My Craft Room

I get a lot of compliments on my craft room (thanks friends!), so I decided to blog about it. I'm lucky enough to have a room all to myself where I can be creative make all sorts of things. 

It also serves as my office and my desk and I had a long stint of togetherness when I was finishing my Master's.

Recently, I went on an organization melee and after a rather extreme weekend of sorting, labeling, and putting in some thin shelves, I'm pretty satisfied with my room. I declare this room: DONE! 

I knit, sew, paper craft, and a bunch of other random crafts. Lately, I've been making a bunch of wreaths (not just for the holidays!), glitterfying everything, putting bling on the jeans of my butt. All sorts of things. I like to dabble in a lot of different crafting mediums (when I want to be taken a little more seriously, I bust out a mixed-media collage) and I needed a room that let me explore all the sides of my creativity. Now I have it! Take a look! Let me know if you have any questions a bout the products I used (most everything for storage is from Ikea and The Container Store)

Oh and my craft room also has a comfy chair and a big closet filled with bigger things, including all my wedding organizing. 

My desk, a view from the door. To the left are two bookshelves and my tv on the wall. Oh and that's Lucy, my ever-so-helpful cat.

My desk is set on three 3x3 bookcases from Target. 

Each bin is labeled. The front shelving unit is filled with all my yarn sorted by color. There is also another 3x3 underneath the L of my desk. 

A close up of my fabric boxes from Target.

The tags are card stock that I cut into rectangles, used my corner rounder, a hole punch, and attached with cheap ribbon. 

The shelf to the right of my tv. 

Simple Billy bookcase from Ikea, filled with container store mini-boxes (I think they are $1.29 each) and Ikea boxes. I got the small Ikea boxes for $1.99 for 2! Thank you close out.

This is one of the shelves on the bookcase to the left of my TV. 

Those boxes were such a great deal that I bought 16 of them! 

I saw a craft room on Pinterest that had super thing shelves like this and I had to have them. 

I used a 3/8" bit on these 1x2s and drilled 1/3 of the way in. Then I used my regular bit and drilled right into the studs. Counter sinking these screws made drilling straight a wee bit more easy! Total cost for this project, by the way, was 8 bucks!

I went a little label crazy. I bought those clear bins for  A DOLLAR at container store. They are normally $18 but they were on the clearance wall and the guy who is in charge of the clearance area was there and he said to me: what do you want I'll make you a deal. I cleaned up! 

So that's my craft room!

Knitting Project Line up

I've got a lot of knitting to do! Here's what's coming and links to the patterns on Ravelry and the yarn I'm using.

Ravelry: Odessa by Grumperinag

Odessa hat for Sue. I've already started this one, in a turquoise color. I shortened it by a 20 cast on stitches because Sue has a small head and I'm not using a DK weight. I don't know what the yarn is I'm using, it is worsted and I got it at Joann's on an end-cap, I just hope I have enough.

Ravelry: Thermis by Kris Knits

Knit Picks: Cadena in Platinum (Bulky)

Thermis cowl for Rebekah. This is one of my favorite knits. It is super cozy and soft and I've made it multiple times. The pattern is $2.49 but I've made it like 4 times, worth it!

Ravelry: The Inga Hat

The Inga hat, for me. I'm not great at colorwork, but I just got a colorwork thumb thing to make it easier. I'm obsessed with this hat, it is gorgeous. I bought yarn to make two of them.
Knit Picks 1st hat: Coal, White, Saffron accent
2nd hat: Dusk, Peapod, Gulfstream accent. The colors of the second hat are up in there air because I bought a bunch of other colors too, but that's what I'm leaning towards.

Who needs a pattern! Not me!

This last one is yet another project for Rebekah, she's been bugging me to knit for her for a while now so I'm finally getting down to it. There's not pattern for this one, but it is pretty much a huge circle in st st. I'm using a bulky knit from Knit Picks in a beautiful red. I got new 10 and 13 interchangeable circs and a 40" cord. I'll post pictures of my progress.
Knit Picks: Saffron

UPDATE: Well, as noted in my most recent post (1.8.12) life has has a lot of ups and downs the last 6 weeks. But, I have completed the Inga hat in a wonderful black, red and white. I'll be making another. The only problem is the damn brim keeps rolling and I think it needs some fleece sewed in the brim.  I also completed the Odessa hat but Sue still hasn't gotten it. Either I've been sick or she's been in Europe! I'm finishing up another hat, a slouchy one, that's not even on this list for Vani that was her xmas present. Don't worry Rebekah! I'm still working on your giant cowl thinger, after I screwed it up twice.

Pom Pom Snap Scarf (Sneak Peek)

Here's a sneak peek (and obvious self portraits) of a new scarf I designed. It has four snaps and can be worn in a multitude of ways! I'll post more pics when I have a photographer (ie Mike) It has blue pom poms all around the edge and I'm wearing it wrapped three times.

About time

It is about frickin' time that I start a blog, well start a blog and keep it going. In 9 months I'm getting hitched and in the mean time not only am I letting my creative juices go extra crazy, I'm actually going to document what I'm doing. I live in Denver with my wonderful fiance Mike, our crazy blue tick coonhound, Maverick, and our insane cat, Lucy. We just bought a house in July and we are constantly working to make it feel like our home.

I'm a Pinterest addict (the tab above takes you straight to my pin board), Ravelry lover and have a problem with always having to be doing something-- so I might as well be blogging about it!

Thanks for stopping by :)