So I had a pretty fun Saturday!  First,  I took Mister Lee (Leopold) for a walk and he was super happy about it.  I’m continuing to lose weight and am down about 19 pounds.

I’m feeling good. So I’ll force you to look at this selfie. LOOK!  No I’m kidding. But, I’m happy that I’m successful on my eight millionth attempt to lose those last twenty-five-ish pounds.  I’ll do a blog about my weightloss in a few weeks so hold tight for the details.

Then, I cleaned my living room and basically sorted all my crafts and hobbies into their designated zones…. It’s getting kind of cluttery so I NEED to address my nightmare guest room closet that I have been carelessly making more and more disorganized since I moved here in December.  This week/next weekend I’ll get that all organized too.  I need to think about how to organize it properly though as there is no hanging rod or built in shelf so I’m going to have to buy something to act as a structure.  Any closet organizing help?  I don’t wanna spend A TON, but I want it to be sturdy.

Gosh that was boring okay now onto the fun stuff!

I took a class at nina – which is a fabulous knitting and yarn shop on Division here in Chicago (right were the Renegade Craft Fair was last weekend).  It was for a Chevron cowl – I mainly took it so that I could socialize with other knitters and get out of my habit of ‘solitude-knitting.’  Well it ended up I was the only one in the class which I was more than over-qualified for.  The instructor who was a total sweetheart felt bad, because I knew how to knit it by just reading the pattern so she didn’t have any new information to offer.  I did however have a great time chatting with her and found out they do a knitting group every Sunday so I think I’ll start going to that to make some friends.  Here is the chevron pattern that I ‘learned’ how to knit.  It’s actually really fun and simple.  I’m always amazed at how people discovered techniques to manipulate the yarn like this.  Damn knitter geniuses.

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Then of course because I was there, I bought some amazing yarn from Knit Collage – which is a magical yarn company.  Their yarns are just so unique and beautiful – I fell in love with them all, but chose this one.

It’s so beautiful if I had dreadlocks I would want them to look just like this yarn…. le sigh.  Yes, thats a AAA magazine – didn’t know I was so cool did you?  I digress….. I’m pretty sure I’m going to do something similar to their bandana pattern available on their website for only $3.

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You know you all want one now…. go to their website.  Do it. Do it now.  You can ‘thank me’ aka ‘scold me’ for showing you this little gem later! 😉

I also started a really fun baby bootie knit project on Thursday.  I did a ‘tester’ bootie as a trial run and I loved the way it turned out.  I was so angry none of my mean animals would let me try it on them 😦 – what good are they if they won’t model my knits!?

Step one:  knit till a little area for toes emerges….

 

Step two: then knit the rest of the shoe……

 

Step three: add the inside sock and TA-DA! A baby moc-soc!

Okay, okay, so it took more than three easy steps.  It did however only take about 3 hours (I’m not a beginner though so use your own judgement here).  Here is the pattern it is only $5 and there is a coupon available on that Ravelry page with the pattern.  The designer is so creative and amazing! This is what her moc-socs look like.  (I used left over yarn (recognize the red/white/blue from Leopold’s Sweater?!) so that is why mine is ‘crazy’.)

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I’m glad I did a test run on them though.  I have a few little tweeks I need to address just based on my knitting style so that it mirrors her finished product a little better.  Overall it’s a wonderful pattern and I am going to love making a lot of these little guys.

Gosh I’m exhausted and it’s only 9pm! Tomorrow I’m taking Lee to a Fall Frolic with other pugs.  Hopefully he can try to make some friends too.  I’m not holding my breath though.

Happy Weekend Friends!