I forgot it was New Years Eve.

It has become glaringly obvious that I do not have a life.

More on Book Thongs

In looking for more charms for book thongs, I made a discovery: neither craft stores nor generic Walmart-like stores sell decent charms. And by decent charms, I mean anything that is NOT a butterfly, cross, or "Friends Forever!" tag. And it seemed all the beads they sold were either ridiculously overpriced or tacky.

However, while passing by the jewelry aisle in Walmart, I caught a glimpse of their costume jewelry. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about: big, chunky necklaces and bracelets that are geared towards...well, I'm not really sure who they're geared toward. All of the jewelry had stones, small beads, and other pieces on them. The best part was, they were really cheap. Well, of course they were cheap. Once I got home, I quickly cut them up and went to work on making more book thongs.

A Bit of Old News

I made two baby blankets a few months ago for baby shower gifts. I didn't get the chance to take a picture of the first before I had to wrap it up. However, here's the second one:

Again, bad lighting. The colors are actually white, light blue, and dark blue. I got the pattern from Our Best Baby Afghans. Although I love the end result, I did not like making the blanket. Probably because I'm so impatient while working on large projects, but I felt it just took way too long. However, now that I have more experience than when I began, it might go by more quickly the second time around.

Baby Hats!

I just finished this adorable baby hat. I got the pattern from The Happy Hooker and it was really easy. It probably took less than a half-hour. The lighting in the photo is awful...the colors are actually white, light purple, and teal. I love it. I wonder if I have enough yarn left over for an adult-sized hat...

Christmas Gifts are Done!

Four days before Christmas and I finished the last gift...well, the last gift that I plan to actually give this year. This gift is also my first attempt at a shawl. The pattern seemed simple enough, and really it was. It was just so painstakingly intricate. Not to mention, so many stitches. In any case, I'm happy I finished it. It seems a bit large, so hopefully, my friend can just shrink it a bit.

(No, I'm not advertising Hanes socks. I lifted my foot to scratch my leg at the last moment. But now that I think of it, Hanes are good socks...)

Santa's Little Helper.

My dad is a mailman.

He mentioned to the Dude that he always receives letters to deliver to Santa.

This has led the Dude to believe that his grandpa delivers letters to Santa personally...at the north pole.

Between having a cowboy for an uncle
and Santa's personal mailman for a grandpa,

the Dude must seem so interesting in the eyes of his peers.

Layover.

Yesterday, my dad and stepmom had a long layover at
the Denver airport.

The Dude and I went there to have lunch with them.

They gave him some candy and hot cocoa.

After their plane departed, the Dude and I walked back to our car.

As he was buzzing and bouncing around, he said,

"I th-th-th-think Grandpa gave me t-t-too much sugar!"

His name is B-I-N-G-O.

My brother gave me a holiday bear for Christmas back in '87, which I named Bingo. I have kept it all this time, breaking it out every December.

Last night, we pulled out the Christmas box and I pulled out Bingo. The Dude oh-so-politely asked if, now that I'm grown, Bingo could be his now. I was so touched that I said yes, Bingo would now be his--assuming, of course, he took good care of the precious bear.

After a moment, this conversation took place:

Dude: "I'm going to rename him Hornament."
Me: You can't. His name is Bingo.
Dude: But I don't like Bingo. His name is Hornament.
Me: No, his name will always be Bingo. He knows no other name. He's Bingo!
Dude: But I don't like--
Me: It's Bingo!

This commenced for a few minutes, until Josh finally stepped in.

Zombie Gloves.

I want to crochet a pair of gloves.

I'm going to design them to look like zombie hands,

using gray and pink yarn for the skin,

with black yarn for stitches, purple fingernails,

maybe a bug on it.

I'm guessing my g-ma never meant for this to happen
when she taught me to crochet.

Book Thong

In keeping with my oath to create all or most Christmas presents this year, I came up with the idea of book thongs: they're simple, quick, cheap, and (to someone like me) very useful.

To start with, I went to SkyBluePink.com, and perused their charms section. To my delight, I saw...

Lingerie charms. What could be better? I don't know about you, but I get sick of seeing the same old book thong charms: horses, stars, dolphins, or anything else that belongs on a 9-year-old girl's backpack.

Anyways, the charms were really cheap (I think about $1.50 for three). I also bought some double-strand crochet thread.

I got the original pattern at Crochet Me, but made a few changes of my own. Because I was using double-strand thread, I only made a single chain for the length of the book thong (rather than doubling back, as they suggest in the pattern). Also, I plan to use A LOT fewer tassels than they recommend, as well as fewer chains

All in all, I think it took about five or ten minutes, and about $.52 per thong. Not bad at all, in my opinion.

Here are some pictures of my first attempted thong: