~ [Shadkitty Knitty] ~

Mar 18, 2011

Boosted

Today was a fabulous Friday at school! I made $22 in tips today between three clients. Beau says it was the skirt (yes, I wore a skirt), and it might have been. But I think that my skill helped. The last client of the day came in with a picture of a scene style haircut. Wish I could find the exact pic he brought in, but oh well. Another student was convinced that if anybody could achieve the desired look, it was me. Going into it, I was a little unsure. But really, only a very little. My instructor said that there was no way to explain or set up the cut, just to go in and do it. Having that kind of freedom really just releases all my creativity! This time there are pictures!

Before:

After:

What do you think?! He works at Hot Topic and says he'll send me loads of business, and that he'll take better pics of it later! Oh this was exciting for me! Everyone was so impressed. My instructor said she never knew I had it in me. Psht. ;) You all did. And here is a shot of my makeup for the day. "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you and everything you do. Yeah they were all yellow"

I don't really feel like doing a product list right now, kinda tired. Also, at the request of a couple of my friends, there will be a lot more of these posts, and maybe a few video tutorials. Apparently they are in need of some help!

Labels: hair, makeup, school

23:34 | |

Mar 4, 2008

Distant Dreams

So, lately, I have been spending most of my time thinking about what I'll do once Mr. Shad is home and all of the crazies are out of the house. This is like...a year away at best. Still, after talking to a fellow Raveller (Raveler? either way) I am really

beginning to feel excited and motivated. There is one thing that I have been dying to do, yet I couldn't because of my responsibilities to my family. Now my chance is getting closer and becoming more plausible. Oh, in case you are wondering, my dream is to become a makeup artist.

On to the crafty content! Alright, I finished the Knitter Project/Serpentine Mitts. I also finally finished spinning the Cerelia yarn. It's gorgeous. OMG it's beautiful. To be honest...I've completely lost track of what I meant to post about. I started this post about two days ago or something. Mr. Shad is due home "mid-April", which means any time in or around April. We're creeping up on his birthday, my knitversary, and St. Patty's Day. Which is one of my fav holidays. In light of the impending holiday, here is Cerelia. Tell me you don't want it.

Next up on the wheel is that stuff I got from Mouse when I visited her. We've been

trying to come up with delightfully twisted titles for it based on the fact that the colors make it look like a My Little Pony mane. I think her best one was "My Little Pony in a Blender". *snicker* It's really rather pretty though. I've never spun from a batt before, so I asked my LYS owner for her recommendations. She said I could A) peel off wool from the side a little at a time or B) split it down the middle and then predraft it. I chose 'B' since I had wanted the colors to be more blended (would have gone to the shop and used the drum carder but really...don't have time). Had I chosen 'A' I could have navajo-plied and ended up with a nice self-striping yarn. Not sure that is what I really wanted though. Too late now. :)

And um...here have a mug shot.

That's it. I think. Oh wait, so, Brandy wanted to change her hair, she decided it

didn't match her eyebrows. Of course, I come up with the brilliant idea that she should do a dark brown with some redlights (which are red highlights duh). We decide to do it Friday after our regular Chik-Fil-A night. While at Wal-Mart debating over the different colors she admired the haircut/style of one of the girls on the front of the box. I'm not completely sure that sentence makes sense. Just go with me. Anyways, I tell her that I don't see why she couldn't pull off that style. So...we're up til 4am doing her hair, and then she goes to the salon to get it cut today. hahaha

...Apparently I keep hitting the "save now" button instead of the one that says "publish post". lol

Here is a quick look at how Somewhat Cowl is doing:

I'm totally wearing a push-up bra in those pictures. I wish my bosoms looked

that good. lol Also, got a really kickass wpi tool. It's from Karatstix. She is really amazing, she made it using a couple of pictures that I gave her of my tattoos AND it was only $8 (WITH s&h!!). So, if you are a spinner, go. Now. If you're not, she also sells needle and hook gauges. Trust me, it's worth a look. I even got a little keychain square out of the deal. (It's the small thing in the picture.)

Labels: friends, hair, life, rambling, Somewhat Cowl, spinning, wpi gauge, yarn

10:11 | |

Jan 8, 2008

No Resolution

I decided I'm not doing resolutions this year. Why make a list of all of the things I hate about myself, only to still be just me? Maybe I improve one little thing, like taking over the finances, or doing laundry more often. In the long run...it's really not helpful to me. When something becomes a problem, I fix it. I like things that way and don't need to point out all of my faults, then stress about how I'm not keeping my resolutions. The closest thing I have, is that I refuse to cast on any new projects till all of my UFOs are either frogged or FO'ed. Which is actually more of a goal than a resolution. I just want to enjoy this year, last year really seemed to be tough, there were definite good things that happened. Ups and downs like every other year.

This year was definitely a good year knitting-wise. Though, I haven't been knitting for very long. Participated in some swaps, met up with awesome knitters, finished a lot of projects. Tried a few new things. Look at those finished objects! It makes me feel rather productive. But was I a fearless knitter? I'm sure some of you read the Knitting Daily.

How about you? Did you Knit Fearlessly?
I like to think I did, the knitters at my LYS say I'm a challenge oriented knitter, and are always impressed by the way I jump into projects.

What would you knit in 2008 if you were really the knitter you've always dreamed of being?
A shawl. Actually, several shawls, some lightweight lacy ones, maybe a simple worsted one. Functional knits. Things that I would wear more than look at. More gifts.

Here's some things to think about:

• Is there something you haven't tried because it seems Too Scary?
Hm. Not really. No shawls, not because they are "too scary", but because of my fear of becoming bored and abandoning them. So, a fear of commitment?

• Is there a technique you want to learn, or learn to do more skillfully?
Color-work. I'm not 100% pleased with the way my stranding looks.Beading? I guess. Seaming.

• Is there something that stumps you?
Um...nope. I've always been able to figure things out, even if I need help to do it.

• Is there something that you are dying to try, in your secret knitter's heart, but haven't dared because you think you're not a good enough knitter?
I guess I am a fearless knitter, I've never shied away from a pattern or project because I didn't think I could do it. However, spinning on the other hand...I want to spin enough balanced/consistent yarn to knit a sweater.

• Are you always knitting The Same Old Things, and you'd like to try something new?
For awhile it was socks, socks, socks. However, I think I've really expanded my repertoire, as it were. Even learned to crochet a bit!

• Do you always knit for others, and never for yourself? Or perhaps you only knit yourself accessories, but never a lovely cardigan or pullover to wear?
Actually, I'm a selfish knitter. Occasionally I knit for others.... I'm not sure that makes me a fearless knitter. It might be indicative of the opposite. I'm afraid that the beloved knitting will end up at the bottom of someone else's closet and go unappreciated.

So, I think I might be a fearless knitter...but my confidence in other areas is lacking. Note to self: work on being a fearless crocheter and spinner. :) I've posted random pictures of my weekend and all throughout.

Labels: friends, goals, hair, hanging out, Jayne Hat, kids, knitting, life, lists/surveys, pictures, reflections, resolutions, updating, weekend

23:43 | |

Nov 6, 2007

Magical Trevor

I don't know why that song is stuck in my head. But it's a much better title than "I'm a lazy bum and don't want to do anything, including update my blog". Right?

We are going back to mostly pictures again. Sorry. There hasn't been much knitting. Even the second pedicure sock isn't done. Still 12 rounds from finishing. Actually, I did turn the heel on the Nermal socks. No pictures of that though. I did take a picture of Kyle and Emily, figured that I talk about them so much, might as well get a picture, right? See Heather there? That was before we went on a hair cutting rampage. Yes. Everyone has short hair now, except Nolan, who didn't have much to start with. So we left him alone. Kyran looks so much like my brother now that it's a little disturbing. I even called him Daniel once last night. Heather looks SO adorable! Not that she wasn't cute before, just that she looks much better now. You can see her adorable little face.

Now, for the best part of my day. Er. Yester-day. lol First, actually, a bit of background on how that day went. Heather had been up and down all night, we didn't get to sleep until 3am, and she didn't wake up until nearly 11 btw. I spent the morning paying bills and balancing the checkbook. Always fun. Not to mention I was missing Mr. Shad particularly badly. *sigh* Anyways, I was in a mood. Enter Super Pal! AKA Dawn. She is really a great pal, and this box couldn't have been more perfect unless she had found a way to put my hubby in there! It made me so happy that I teared up, actually. Anyone who knows me will know just how fitting these gifts were for me. Oh, and Dawn, it's okay you couldn't find the Turquoise Jeans. I love the Ingrid's Blues, the Claudia Handpainted is so soft and squooshy! Had to resist temptation to cast on! Must finish current projects! Here, have lots of delicious pictures. I didn't want to make a mosiac because then you couldn't see anything.

What you are seeing here is: a skein of Universal Deluxe Chunky Tweed in Ocean, some yummy-licious sounding hot cocoa mix (Green & Black's Maya Gold), a mug/cup in which to put that cocoa, a PotC loofah/squirter, a journal (ps, have I ever described my affinity for journals on here? I'll go find some of the ones I have...just you wait), a cheshire cat keychain (CUTE!), Claudia Handpainted in Ingrid's Blues, there was a cute little bag thing that mug was cozied into it is adorable, some iron-on patches, and temporary tattoos. I assume those last are for the crazies. If not, it's too late, I already said they could have them. :) Seriously Dawn, you rock. Thank you SOOOOOOO much!

Labels: babies, hair, kids, pictures, PRGE, rambling, socks

11:20 | |

Nov 3, 2007

A Little Less Sixteen Candles....

Actually, there should be more talking and less pictures this time. Or at least more talking. Sorry to be so out of it, the kids and live have kept me pretty busy. I think today is the first day I've really been able to pull myself together enough to actually post. You're going to have to scroll down for knitting content though. :D

Halloween was great, even if Nolan didn't get to wear his ice cream cone costume! He fell asleep before we went trick-or-treating and I didn't want to wake him. It had been a long day already. We went to the mall to buy Kyran (p.s. He is Cry-Baby, not The Fonz) some new shoes, and then just to kill time. You know how it is. Kyle and Emily are finally back, I don't know if I mentioned that. It has been GREAT to have them here. Finally I have someone to hang out with during the day. Emily and I have been hanging out most of the week. Monday she came over so that I could take her to a doctor's appointment. Wednesday (Halloween) we did the mall and hung out until her husband got off of work. Then he

and I took the kids around the neighborhood.

Then, of course, we got paid on Thursday. Emily really wanted to get some grocery shopping done (they had basically nothing in their house, since they had been gone for some time), and I needed to do fall wardrobe shopping for the kiddos. Where else to go but Wal-Mart?! First we stopped in at Fantastic Sams so that I could tame my mane! Actually, I have been wanting to cut my hair again for awhile. Really tried growing it out there for a bit. Still, I could not resist the temptation of short(er) hair when Elizabeth cut hers! The whole experience was fantastic, when you get a haircut, a good one, it should make you feel like a ROCKSTAR! You should start peeking over your shoulder for paparazzi! lol So, I go in there with an image in my head, a magazine, and a vague description. The magazine didn't have exactly what I wanted, instead I had to kind of combine two different pictures. The girl who had originally been my stylist was slightly unsure of her ability, and called in a more senior

stylist. She was ECSTATIC by the idea that they would get the chance to really have fun and do something new! That made me very happy, I have found that conservative stylists are more apt to mess up my hair. Mostly because they are too afraid to take a chance with it. The cost of the cut was only $15 in the end, so I gave a 100% tip (technically it was 50/50 because the two of them split it as they both worked on my hair). I had budgeted for $40, and they really did an outstanding job! From there we went to Wal-Mart where I blew $300 on food and clothes. Still in budget, btw. Thank goodness for the separation pay! Heather and Kyran badly needed new wardrobes, Heather still needs new shoes. Kyran's pants all were 2-3 inches above his ankles, and Heather was wearing socks with her sandals because none of her real shoes fit her anymore. Nolan has loads of hand-me-downs, so he wasn't an issue. Though he became really attached to this red shirt I picked out for Heather....

Whew, we are now up to Friday, yesterday. I dyed my hair black to cover the faded purple and give me a uniform base to work with. Besides, I kinda like it black. Especially when it is short, gives a sharper contrast. Anyways, I was really just killing time. Then plan was to meet up with Kyle, Emily's husband at a new tattoo shop. Actually, it was an expansion of the shop that I went to for my phoenix, and my tattoo artist was made the manager of this new shop!! So, I had to go pay my respects, as well as getting a much longed for tattoo (hey, I budgeted for that too, I'm not completely insane). Well, I ran late, as usual, and Emily decided that she really wanted to bring the babies to the shop. Or, she wanted to be there. She is feeling that "have fun while I still can!" vibe right now. I told her that was really up to her, that it would probably be easier to keep an eye on them at home, but if she had her heart set on going out that I didn't think Nik would mind. We drove off to Bombs Away 2 with crazies in tow.

Now we get to the knitting part. Remember, I knit while getting tattooed, it keeps my mind off of the pain. Really, I have a low tolerance for pain and I know if I'm knitting and focusing on the simple in, around, out, off motions I will be fine. Nik loves it because he says it keeps me still, which makes it easier for him to do his job. Also, with my last tattoo he said that he has seen full grown men complain more than I do! Which made me feel rockin. Okay...I lied. Here are all of the pictures. Trust me, this isn't even half of them. Kyle took LOADS of progress shots. You can literally see the tattoo develop. One of my favorite shots was an accidental one, he meant to photograph the tattoo, and instead got Nik's hands in there. lol But I think that is kinda cool. Oh, those are the Nermal socks I am working on there.

Labels: blogging, hair, Halloween, kids, knitting, life, tattoos, updating

09:57 | |

Aug 23, 2007

Finishing

It seems like I've been on a finishing kick for the past few days. I decided to skip the last 3 decreases on Eiffel (hey, I tried it on first), because I was running out of yarn. So I bound off on that Tuesday, then washed and blocked it yesterday. It's still wet, I was hoping putting it in the garage would make it dry faster. That thing is like an oven. When I was dyeing last summer I would hang the skeins in the garage and they'd be dry by that evening. Of course, Eiffel is bigger than a skein. Anyways, here's a picture of me trying Eiffel on, at that point it was still 2 inches from the bind off point. And night, keep that in mind.

You remember Baccarat Player was finally completed. I mailed it off on Monday, and my mom got it yesterday! Now we have pictures of the FO on it's model, I admit that I like it a lot better now that it's on my mom instead of my needles. For something so fiddly to knit, it looks gorgeous. The Fancy Silk Sock has a heel and gusset now, there are pictures but really no reason to post them. It's not much different than the last couple of times I posted pictures. My camera has me all excited. not to mention Ravelry. I'm ALWAYS on there. Updating EVERYTHING. *sigh* Oh, and checking up on you guys. :D Man, I don't know who has more projects in their queue, Lana or Mouse. Every time I turn around Lana has queued a new project (a lot of them make me go Oooo! I want to knit that too!). Eventually I will update my bloglines to reflect my friends on Ravelry, I've got like...30 some friends or something. :)

Also on the finishing table were the green baby booties. All I really had left was to sew on the buttons. I love the little green buttons, they make me happy. These ones were done in the round. My LYS owner had also done some in the round, and come up with a way to eliminate that little indent from

the Turkish CO. Mine is still there but it's on the inside. These are also slightly larger than the first two pairs, they fit one of Heather's larger doll babies, but still not any of my actual babies.

Just for fun, I changed my hair again. I've had some purple hair dye in my bathroom since like, May. lol But just got around to bleaching it on Sunday. Tuesday I got it cut and then put the purple in. In case you are curious, it's Raw color, Purple Passion. Fair warning it smells like grape candy. Which, for me, was great! The smell of hair dye doesn't really bother me, but grape candy smells way better. Yummy smelling hair products are always a plus. There aren't any good pictures of the back of my hair after I put the purple in, so you'll have to deal with one of the pre-dyed ones. It was right after I had gotten my hair cut. The girl who did it did really well considering I could only give her a vague description of what I wanted, and that Nolan was on my lap being all cranky.

Labels: Baccarat Player, booties, Eiffel, Goddess, hair, happiness, knitting, project spectrum

09:28 | |

May 3, 2007

Punk Sock Star

I wish I had had a camera today! I felt on top of the world! Sunne is right, a good haircut and stylist will make you feel like a rock start. And I was pimping out my newly completed Thelonious socks with some rolled up jeans and 1" heels. Today I decided to go out with a friend of mine (who I had thought was not my friend anymore, long story) anyways, she wanted to get her hair done. When we got to the salon, I decided it was worth the extra $20 to look the way I wanted. This is seriously better. Another friend will be giving it some color soon, whenever she is not working. Which, actually, is rare. Do you love my Cry-Baby shirt, or what?

So, in fiber/knitting related news, Etsy is horrible and addictive, I love it. :D Yesterday I got in a gift for someone. Today

my fiber came in. *drool* Okay, so I have been stalking Maine Woods etsy shop for ages. I just love the cute little pictures of the rolled up bats (they are bats in that form right?), tied up with brown raffia. Finally, I ordered one. I just couldn't take it any longer. When it came in, and was larger than I had expected, I was SO excited! Somehow the pictures are misleading, they look much smaller. The second package contained my FatCatKnits fiber. It is beautiful. My only problem is that she didn't give the color a name. However, with colors that beautiful, who cares? Knitting has been slow, I just haven't been feeling it (okay, more accurately I haven't been feeling the projects I'm currently knitting). Got a few inches on the huge sweater done. And finally a pic. Just for laughs, I put it on Heather. It's cuter that way.

Hm...what else? My calves ache from the heels, my arms ache from carrying Nolan, my abs ache from doing some crunches last night, and my head aches from being here with the crazies alone yesterday. I couldn't help myself, Flint Knits has inspired me to knit some yellow socks, so I bought some CTH in Yellow from The Loopy Ewe. And then, some Deep Cove from the Yarn Pirate's new shop. Stopped by Bombs Away to see if Nik has finished my design. He hasn't. Slacker. :D The house is clean. Babies need baths and naps (can anyone say early bedtime?). Mouse invited me to join Ravelry! Seriously, everyone has been talking about it and I am so excited. Yet, scared at the same time that it will eat up the small amount of time I allow myself for doing my actual crafts. Oh well, I'll enjoy it! Now I am off to feed, bathe, and tuck in my babes. Then it is off to cavort on Ravelry. *grins*

Labels: fiber, hair, happiness, life, Loopy Ewe, purchases, rambling, Ravelry, sweater

15:39 | |

Apr 28, 2007

Lose Yourself

Well, since Lady A's debut I have spent all of my free time putting her to use. She squeaks and moan, but works wonderfully. I love her sooo much. Of course, I rarely knit or blog now! Also, since my best friend was here I was being a good girl and paying attention to her. Oh, I've got the picture of that skein that I navajo plied for you all. Even though it's not a great pic because of my stupid webcam. It is one of the best looking skeins I've made, I mean, the actual skein looks nice they way it was wound up. Another note, it's actually 52yds. I think I said 26 in the last post, but I lied. Well, really I just forgot that I used my large niddy noddy, which is 2yds for every once around.

I...am dumb. You get what you pay for. Linda (LYS owner) tells me so all of

the time. Still, she recommended this salon! Yes, I only paid $12 for it...but still, a haircut should not make one look so silly. Everyone says "Oh, it's so cute!" Um, I'm 22, not 12, cute was NOT what I was aiming for. Pretty, beautiful, even sexy, but not "cute". *sigh* Oh well. I'm off to have dinner with my family and a few friends.

Labels: hair, life, spinning, yarn

18:11 | |