crocheting – Imaginary Sunshine

I want sunshine!

Michelle — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 01:59:53 +0000

It’s been busy in my world lately, what with a midterm (Wednesday), working on a few new patterns for Chelle-Chelle.com (and I’m working on opening up a pattern store!), life in general. So it’s felt busy, at least to me! It’s still winter and the weather’s been utter crap. There was snow. And then there was hurricane-strength winds hitting the entire coastline of British Columbia on Wednesday. Power went out everywhere (and briefly out for me!). And then it’s been raining on and off, fantastic. I look outside and it’ll be absolutely pouring rain. A few minutes later there will be sunshine and no rain. Mother Nature, please make up your mind (and stick with the sunshine!)

I still have… 2 midterms left until the end of the term (I’ve finished 5 so far – I only have 4 classes, by the way). I have a handful of assignments left, one stats lab report to do (haven’t done the lab yet), one ecology lab report (haven’t done the lab yet) and then, you know, 4 finals before I’m done for the term. I’ve decided against taking summer classes mostly because I’ve done a summer course before and I’m just not fond of it (time constraints) and I only have 7 (seven!!!!) courses left between after this term and graduation, so I’ll be taking 4 in term 1 and 3 in term 2. 7 classes, zomfg. Heh, of course I’m applying for programs for after graduation, but still.

I’ll be done, briefly.

I picked up a vintage (ish) needlecrafts book last week that I’m so excited about. It was only $2 (from the thrift store) but in such amazing condition and has such great instructions for some fun stitch patterns (knit and crochet) and has a huge in-depth section on embroidery, cross-stitching, punch-needle, how to make rugs and so much more stuff. It’s amazing and has been a great inspiration for me lately as I’ve taken to sketching out more stuff that I want to make and have the inspiration to make. So I’ve just been drawing everything. I sketched out a crochet lace shawl that I want to make. Not that I wear shawls, of course, but I just enjoy a challenge!

But in the mean time, I’ve made these two outfits (knitted headband + knitted dress & crocheted hat + crocheted dress) as donation sets for 4alissia.com! Please check out the website if you haven’t already yet!

Better late than never!

Michelle — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:27:43 +0000

The dentist loves me. Mostly because I go so darn often. Heh, not as often as my sister though! I went today for my regular cleaning. My dentist poked around at the spots where I got my wisdom teeth extracted (by him) and my mouth is sore in the back right now because of it. Apparently he was checking that they were healing well by poking at them. Absolutely stupid logic in my opinion. The hygienist that I got today liked me because I a) got my wisdom teeth pulled (so he didn’t have to clean those) and b) I got 4 adult molars taken out when I was younger (so even less teeth to clean, yay?). Plus, it’s okay, because I ended up with a pretty green toothbrush and I got to watch most of Up while I was getting my teeth cleaned.

Oh! My sister D finally gave me my 2009 Christmas present! I got two silicone cupcake/muffin trays! There’s 6 cupcakes/muffins per tray, so I can bake a full dozen. Love! And they’re even red! I’m still on the lookout for silicone mini muffin trays – I’ve been looking for decently priced ones that have enough spots for a dozen (and then I’d buy 2 so I can use up the majority of one batch of batter). Which would be fabulous, but I do love the fact that I finally got my 2009 Christmas present from my sister! Plus, it is exactly what I asked for and exactly what she said she was going to get for me – she just took a while to get around to it.

I’ve also been working (still!) on a new crochet pattern for an infant/toddler/child hat (three different sizes… you best believe I asked three coworkers with appropriately-aged children if I could borrow their children’s heads briefly just for sizing and to get some feedback!). I plan on making the pattern for sale soon… After I’m done doing my prototype hats and getting them out there and tried on! It’s going to be a paid pattern (first one!) on my crafts site – chelle-chelle.com (which also has a few free crochet patterns too!). I do have a few other crochet patterns that I’m working on for the site – there will be a few more free ones coming out this summer along with a few more ones for sale that I’m going to be working on after the current hat pattern, yay. So excited to be working on so many new things though, keeps me busy (aside from work, yay!).

Questions for you:

What’s something new that’s going on in your life? And on your blog/website(s)?
What is your favourite recipe (baking!)? Any that you would recommend?
What is something that a family member did to you that was hurtful? Did they bother apologizing for it?

Productive days

Michelle — Thu, 06 May 2010 03:41:14 +0000

So today… I cleaned my room, cooked, cleaned part of the house (yay for the vacuum cleaner…) and checked for my grades (again!). I’ve only gotten 2 of 4 of my grades in so far. I’m still waiting on math (the big nailbiter) and my plants biology class. I also got the grade for my paper for my plants biology class – A+ on my paper about global warming and how it concerns polar bears (yeah, I know, I wrote about polar bears for my plants class paper). Weirdly enough, my school has a grading standard where A+ is not the same as 100%, but I’ll take it nonetheless!

I have also been working on items for a Blythe ‘geekcraft’ swap that I’m participating in (conditions include… all handmade things by the giver only):

On the left is Tertiary Jane (wearing a Mario mushroom hat) and on the right is Sophie, wearing a black beanie with the Star Trek logo (yay, for internet for letting me know what the logo looks like).

Imagine a world without me

Michelle — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:42:46 +0000

[+2 bonus points if you know the title of the song referenced to in today’s blog entry title! +1 extra bonus point if you can also name the artist behind the song. No search engines!]

I’ll even throw in a hint, the first verse:

Imagine a world without me – say you’re falling apart
Let’s pretend you’ve missed me for a while
Wouldn’t you say you were lonely and love was breaking your heart?
Put on your Sunday best and fake a smile

I’ve been listening to it on repeat today, I actually got tired of listening to Jack’s Mannequin (is that even possible?), so I went and found something new to listen to. And thus have been listening to this song on repeat… all day long. So if you can guess it, you get bonus points. Not quite sure what you’d be using the bonus points for, but that’s okay.

Today’s been fairly relaxed. I only had one class today (… like all Tuesdays!), so I went to the hospital and to the mall after going shopping with my friend. Yeah, those are two places I didn’t expect to put down in sentence, ever. My friend wanted to go to a new store that was on the bus route, so I went with her and I just kind of went ‘wtf’ at all the prices because everything was like 100% [insert name of expensive fibre type here]. I didn’t stay there too long.

I went to a hospital close to school to donate a bunch (17) preemie-sized baby hats (all machine washable; colours included pink, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple and black) at the front desk. The woman was really appreciative and asked me if I wanted a tax receipt for the hats that I bought… I declined because erm, I didn’t buy them? The yarn used was all spring cleaning week pick-ups. I know, it sounds kinda gross, using yarn picked up on the side of the road. But they were all found in plastic bags, they were all dry, and I threw all the hats into the wash before bringing them to the the hospital. Besides… if you ever heard my dad go on and on about green hats, you wouldn’t wear one either. Teehehe. And I went to the mall because I got two copies of the same book for my birthday, so I had to return one of them. Shall be transforming a copy of Story of O to maybe a smutty romance or a crochet pattern book. Also went and got two new shirts – photos eventually, when I get around to it. My sister wanted to steal one of my shirts after she saw it (“Because it looks like it was made for me!”) and for the other shirt, she went “You should never wear this one in public”. Good thing I didn’t buy it for her, right?

Other than that, everything has been going fairly well. Stayed up during my biology class today (despite the utter boredom over material that I learned in greater depth last year). My sister’s been working on a new knitting project and she let me see it today and it looks fabulous. I’m going to try to sneak photos later, it’s a reversible cable knit scarf in this delicious soy-wool blend of yarn, yum.

Anyways, hope everyone had a wonderful Tuesday!

Floundering

Michelle — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:54:17 +0000

2 more work days.

Work has been a touch hectic. I’m alternating between working at my desk, helping a coworker move files and random stuff and working in production (mmm, cutting things with pliers!). Tomorrow is going to be my “End of Summer” lunch, which should be pretty fun. I’m also halfway done my dozen crocheted cupcakes (I have 6 completely stuffed and sewn up! I still have 2 more cupcake tops to crochet and then 6 cupcakes to stuff and sew together – which will be happening tomorrow). Ahh to self-imposed deadlines and not starting my epic ‘baking’ spree earlier… I think after this it’ll be a while before I make another crocheted cupcake, even if they’re so darn cute! (No photos… yet.) My sister J picked up four of them and started juggling them, it’s so much fun to see cupcakes being tossed around in circles like that.

I posted a new entry yesterday over at Chelle-Chelle.com asking for pop can tabs (silver ones!). I know quite a bit of my offline friends do read this blog (and perhaps not my crafts site) so I thought I’d mention it here. I’m collecting them for use in a crochet project that I can’t start yet because… I don’t drink pop very frequently? My ideal beverages are iced tea, tea, water and hot chocolate (bottled, steeped, poured, mixed). Nothing that really comes in a pop can. So I plead for you to save them for me so I can make/get started on this new crochet project.

Things to do within the next week:

Buy organic chemistry book(s)
Buy infant psychology book (and take a photo to show everyone the uber cute cover!)
Buy a few notebooks
New clothes needed (cleansed my wardrobe of things I no longer wear, no longer fit and has one too many holes)
Wake up on time (a given)
Write an email to volunteering people (need to switch days/times again!)
Sleep
Find my Staedtler pens (where the !&$@ did they go? -tear- They were in my desk drawer just last week and now I can’t find them)
Relaxing (before the 9th)

If you’re starting school next week (or started school recently), what do you still have to get done?

Hot chocolate & textbooks

Michelle — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:37:35 +0000

Three. More. Work. Days.

A public service announcement: Kristi got her site back up! Go visit Kat-Astrophe.com!

Ahhh, work’s been interesting lately. Monday was kinda workish, today wasn’t any better. I’ve been keeping busy though. Plus I discovered where they keep the hot chocolate packets (powdered) in the little kitchen at work! I’ve been taking advantage of that and I’ve had a cup of hot chocolate in the morning for both days so far. Seriously: best thing ever. I forgot how much I missed hot chocolate until I had the first cup yesterday morning. So I had one today, hoping that it wasn’t a fluke in how much I missed it, and it wasn’t a fluke. Excellent, eh? I just love the smell of it in the morning and it’s easier to make at work than tea (because I take my tea with honey rather than sugar and they only have sugar and I don’t feel like bringing in honey so it just doesn’t taste the same). So seriously, I’m suggesting that everyone go and have a cup of hot chocolate. Right now. (… Unless you can’t have sweets or chocolate, in which case, please don’t!)

But, like I’ve said, I have 3 more work days. Which should be pretty good! My “End of Summer” lunch out with coworkers and my boss(es) is on Thursday instead of my actual last day (Friday), but it should be fun! I’m looking forward to it, it’s going to be at a restaurant that I’ve been to before (erm, it’s a restaurant chain, but I’ve been to one of them before and it has excellent food).

Everything else has been going well so far. For my parting gifts for my coworkers, I have a dozen cupcake ‘bottoms’ and 10 (TEN!!!!) cupcake ‘tops’ so far! Yay! I’ll be finishing the last 2 tomorrow night and hopefully get started on sewing everything up and stuffing them all so I actually have them done by Friday (which will be awesome).

Oh, someone on Facebook contacted me regarding a textbook that I’m selling (for $85 – I bought it new at $129 last year and had to buy it brand new as it was the first time that it was being used) and asked me if I would please sell it to them for $65 (!!!?!) since they were “hoping to find the book at a good price”. I replied that I was not willing to drop the price to $65 for them (because like dude, seriously, I could get $65 from the bookstore’s buyback!) as it was in excellent condition (first owner, no highlighting, not so much as a folded page corner!). Then they reply back asking me what the lowest price I was willing to sell it at was. My reply? $85. Now, if they had first messaged me asking if I was willing to sell for $80, I probably would have accepted the offer. A $5 reduction isn’t much to ask for and most sellers will accept it in order to get rid of their books, but a $20 reduction? On a book that I should have priced at $100? (I couldn’t do that because everyone else and their freaking mother is selling it at around $85-90. Stupid people.)

@ Dayze – It was a Chinese restaurant and while I love freebies too, I did have to pay for my ticket to go see the play (and half of one of my sister’s ticket as it was her birthday gift).

I hope your Monday and Tuesday both went well and that your Wednesday is even better.

Spending Sunday with the sisters

Michelle — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 06:05:31 +0000

@ Georgina – That is so not cool. I wish we had that sort of system (there’s student loans, where the government gives you an amount and you have to use it towards school and such, but you do need to pay it back after, with interest).

I had a good day today. I skipped volunteering (well, I told them last week that I wasn’t showing up!) because my sisters and I had tickets to go see a play in the afternoon. We went out for brunch first with the family, it was to a new restaurant that was having its grand opening weekend. The food was great, they had some issues with servers not knowing the table numbers quite yet. But all in all, the restaurant itself was great. The downside was the other patrons. My sister got yelled at by an elderly woman who entered into the rest room a few seconds after her and my sister had taken the last available stall and had to listen to the woman the entire time going on about how children no longer respected the ‘old people who always need to have respect’ and whatnot… I was cracking up while she was telling us about it.

Anyways, my sisters and I had a great time out! We saw a Shakespeare play and it was really excellently done (A Comedy of Errors), there was some freebies there (small desserts, coffee – bleh, and gift cards to a coffee chain – I’d say bleh to that as well, but they offer baked goods!), which was a nice perk. The line it took just to get a small chocolate dessert was massive, my sisters lined up and I just walked around checking things out during intermission. The gift shop section, stuff like that. It was really fun and afterwards we just spent some time walking around and going window shopping.

I haven’t done a whole lot tonight, but I made excellent headway on my end-of-summer crochet project. I’m making crocheted cupcakes to give away to people on my last day of work. So far I have 5 “vanilla” and 5 “chocolate” cupcake bases and 1 chocolate-coloured “frosting” top. I only have 9 more to go. I’m going to do one in cream colour, a couple in pink, yellow, purple and blue. And then I’ll be stuffing them and finishing them all up. And getting an absurd amount of photos of them all, just because I can. I might even make an extra one to keep for myself (if I don’t get sick of making them?).

Hope your weekend has been excellent! I have 5 more work days!

Q&A and work musings

Michelle — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:11:05 +0000

Questions from Kelsey:

1. When are you finished work?
My last day is September 4 (Friday).

2. Quickly think of all of the people you know and based on your standards of “defective relationship material” what percent is non-defective?
I laughed when I read this question! Umm, I’d have to say most of them, so probably about 60%. But it doesn’t stop most of them from being in relationships anyways.

3. Favourite death cab song?
Do I have to pick only one? The Sound of Settling, for sure, and A Movie Script Ending.

4. Have you heard the band Hello Dragon? Look them up and download the singles off their website. They make me happy =)
No, I haven’t. I’m downloading as I type! (For those curious: hellodragonmusic.com is where you go for free downloads!)

5. How excited are you for school to start? =P
Umm, excited in the way that I don’t have to get all stressed out by work anymore (I’d just be stressed out by school instead – I don’t think that’s much better). Not excited to pay tuition or buy textbooks, but I’m excited for something new and challenging.

Question from Becca:

1. Do you keep a scrapbook?
I’ve always meant to keep a scrapbook. I started one when I was younger (and when I was in Girl Guides) but it’s remained unfinished for years now. I was given a scrapbook that was done by my friends for my 18th birthday… Does that count? But no, I don’t scrapbook myself. Even though I own the fancy scissors for edgings, loads of ribbon, cardstock, pretty scrapbooking paper and even 2 12×12 scrapbooks that are currently blank (I occasionally use them as backgrounds for taking photos of stuff).

Questions from Caity:

1. What kind of shampoo do you use?
I am currently using Garnier Fructis. But I have no brand loyalty when it comes to shampoo (soap on the other hand, I almost always use something that has and smell like shea butter).

2. What is your favorite cool drink to quench your thirst?
Water (if I’m feeling boring) and iced tea.

3. If you could be anywhere in the world where would you go?
For vacationing, I’m assuming… I’d go to… Europe! I haven’t been to all the countries yet. Or Hong Kong or Australia or New Zealand or Japan… Let’s just say I’d want to be in loads of places. If I had the time and money.

4. If money was no option and you had to buy yourself something selfish that you wanted, what would it be?
Ohh, so many choices. I think right now, if money was not an option and I had to buy something incredibly selfish, I’d buy a country… One that’s already established and self-sufficient. Barring that, I’d buy Blythe dolls by the buckets! (Not very practical, but they’re so much fun.)

Questions from Jenna:

1. Which upcoming movie are you excited for?
Umm… The Time Traveler’s Wife! I’m going to see if I can get Clay to see it with me (and Clay, if you’re reading this, pretty please with a cherry on top?)

2. Which Blythe would you get next?
If money was not an option, I’d get one of each. ^^ But since money is an option… I’d like to get either: Fruit Punch, Piccadilly, Honey Bunny Once More, Friendly Freckles or… Simply Peppermint. Or Prima Dolly Peony. Or… It’s an never ending list, isn’t it? I would love to get a Blythe from the BL mold (Rosie Red! Non-encore version!) for sure, one day… Before they get too expensive (even though they already are?). There’s a lot of dolls that I want to get. FAO Hollywood is also on the list, as well as Prima Dolly Amaryllis… Bet you’re sorry you asked now, eh?

Thanks for the questions everyone! If anyone has any more questions, feel free to ask and I’ll include them in my next entry.

So, as some of you might recall, I mentioned having to move all my stuff from Building A to Building B in a recent entry (Work blues…) and this move (for me) was supposed to occur early this week (my supervisor say Wednesday at the latest). It’s Thursday and I’m still completely at Building A. Tomorrow is Friday and there has been no mention of me moving to Building B tomorrow. So not this week, perhaps? Today has been another bleh today. Work people were awful at teasing me today. Oh well… Only 16 more work days left…

…

Holy crap, only 16 more work days. After that, it’s 3 days of break and then it’s back to school with me for about 3+ months then Christmas break… Time flies when you’re having fun…? Maybe. I didn’t realize it was going to be ending so soon (but then, I suppose, it is August and all). I need to write an email to volunteering soon to let the coordinator that I will be changing my volunteering days/times again. I’m thinking Fridays after school again, but since I get off school at 1, I’ll probably do about 2 hours/week again. I might switch it to Tuesdays, because then I could get there by 11 and they allow volunteers to stay until 4:30… Maybe. Not sure yet. I’ll probably start off at about 2 hours a week and then see how many hours I can handle with my course load (only 4 courses/semester next year, for both semesters – but the courses are pretty study-intensive…).

My plan(s) for tonight involve crocheting… I’m making little bunny stuffies! I will totally take photos when I’m done. I also have a few more ideas when it comes to jewellery. I have a necklace and earring set that I’m practically dying to make and my sister went and picked up the clear beads that I was kinda missing to ‘complete’ what I was going for, yay for J! So I’ll be crafting a lot tonight, which should be fun. Overall, I’m feeling rather productive today. I got a lot of stuff done at work, none of which was particularly fun, but I got it done. So I actually kind of find it odd that I’m feeling like being productive tonight, but stranger things have happened before, I suppose!

Anyways… I’m off to go be productive and crafty and whatnot… I hope everyone had a great Thursday and an even better Friday!

Work-a-lot Bear* & Buzzy W.A.S.P. update**

Michelle — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:36:52 +0000

Dane – I tend to just refer to them by their first names amongst my family, or go “so-and-so’s kids”. But I call them my second cousins, but they call me auntie. Which is kinda awkward since the oldest of the three is only 6 years younger than I am.

Heather – I don’t have that much discipline. In August of last year, I sat down and made 5 theme headers in advanced so all I had to do was update colours and such. I didn’t use all 5 of them, but I did use a couple. But umm, I’m kind of feeling lazy this year.

I got a commission from someone at work to make them an amigurumi (the little bomb critter from Mario). Which is pretty cool. Luckily, it’s pretty small and was pretty fast to work up, so I got it done while watching tv tonight. I’m going to be bringing it into work tomorrow. Of course, I told my family and my dad just goes “… People buy that kind of stuff?” and my mom just goes “People buy a lot of stuff, just because you think it’s useless doesn’t mean that everyone else thinks that way”.

Work was pretty okay. A lot of data entry today. A lot of “…” and “Is that a 4 or is it a 9? again. Oh well… I have meetings to attend on Wednesday… Which will apparently last all day long (whoot?). I’m just so excited. I can hardly contain it. But work’s been going okay, I guess. I spend more time at my desk entering in numbers (oh, the excitement!) then talking to people nowadays. Which is good, because I’m being productive. But at the same time, I’m not being very social at all… The only people I talked to (beyond ‘hello’ and ‘have a nice day’) were my supervisor (who told me about the meetings) and my mom. Like, for real, that’s about it. I didn’t even see the boyfriend at work today and there was probably a 30 to 60 minute time period when we were both in the building. This is getting depressing…

And because it’s getting depressing, I’m going to stop writing right about here. The W.A.S.P. situation hasn’t changed too much – it’s been raining all day so there hasn’t been a wasp in sight! But we’re sure they’re just hiding somewhere… Where it’s a touch warmer. Or they’ve figured out a way to get back into their nest. Ew.

Oh, and when you’re wearing a yellow and brown striped shirt (known as my ‘bee shirt’ at work… ugh) and coworker asks you “What’s the buzz today?” (that would be from A – the pervy older male coworker), the appropriate response is “Leave me the f**k alone. Please and thank you.”

Especially after having another pile of folders worth of work dumped onto your desk.

Just saying.

* I heart Care Bears (probably always will). My favourite is Funshine Bear, but I get called ‘Cheer Bear’ and ‘Grumpy Bear’ a lot at work because I have shirts with those bears on them (and yes, I am 19). But D gave me a new nickname (Work-a-lot Bear).

** Missed the previous couple of entries? W.A.S.P. = unWelcomed Annoying Stinging Parasites & … and W.A.S.P. part deux

What was your first clue?

Michelle — Wed, 20 May 2009 04:18:33 +0000

This is what a “Mister Snuffles” looks like. Go check him out. He is going to be given away tomorrow to D. Plus I had a lot of fun photographing him, he’s quite the ham for the camera. He even takes over my face at one point (but I decided not to post up photographic evidence of the fact that I lost a fight with a stuffie). But nonetheless, Mister Snuffles is done and all wrapped up and ready to be given away to his new home.

Today’s been pretty okay, in terms of… work. It was relatively slow. I spent way too much time trying to schedule meetings for the week. And since I have to drive for the meetings, I was hoping to get them on the same day, just at different times. No such luck. I have one tomorrow morning and one on Friday morning. My mom has one on Thursday morning. All with different to go over completely different things. So many meetings! I might be scheduling another one for Friday as well, I’m not sure yet… I’ll have to see how tomorrow goes first. Must say, I didn’t anticipate so many meetings this summer. Oh well, I get to meet new people (although, after the initial meeting, they’re not so new anymore).

People were fairly chatty with me today. Some people that don’t say much to me beyond ‘Hi Michelle’ and ‘Good morning, Michelle’ asked about my weekend. When I mentioned volunteering, they’ll ask me where I volunteer and what I do. One of them commented that it was good that I was doing something ‘worthwhile’ with my time rather than spray painting buildings… I must say, I’ve never spray painted a building before in my life, so I don’t think that I’d be doing that if I wasn’t volunteering for just two hours out of a week.

I had a weird conversation with people in the lunch room. Well, it was a sort of conversation. With A and A2 (I think I’m going to get confused with this…). A2 asked me what I did over the long weekend, and he told me what he did. A mentioned what he did as well and then I commented about volunteering and A just looks and me and then I get this conversation happening.

A: So, has anyone died on you yet?
M: [insert blink and stare here] Erm… No, they haven’t.
A2: Oh, well I bet someone will soon! [laughter]
A: You know when you become a nurse, people will die on you, right? Of course, if you end up treating me, I promise not to die. [wink and a chuckle]
M: [… not quite sure what to say] Umm, okay? [goes to microwave to collect lunch]
A: You know you have to be ready for it, right? I mean, everyone dies eventually.
M: [starts eating pasta] Uh huh… [opens newspaper to comics]
A2: I think she’s ignoring you.
A: Michelle, are you ignoring me?
M: What’s that?