Crochet to Wear

I love to crochet. I have been doing it since I was a preteen, and have continued it these past 10 or so years. I got interested in the craft from watching my mom with her yarns, then picked up bits and pieced from my mom, my dad, and my mamaw (grandma). I began by trying to make a blanket. I know, it's a big project to just "start out" and learn on, but I was determined. Unfortunately I never finished that first blanket. I lost it, actually. Then started another first blanket, but misplaced it for a few years while taking a break from yarn. By the time I was in Texas I had picked yarn back up again, and had actually completed 3 projects. One was a camouflage mini-backpack, another was my first blanket, a ripple afghan in dark Italian colors, and the last was a crocheted replica of the Texas flag, an afghan for my husband. :)

I then got into stuffed animals. I have made many different animals, in many different colors, most of them all my own design and style. I even made an R2D2, from Star Wars. :) I made a large shoulder bag (that I actually used for a laundry bag for a while. A very decorative laundry bag...). I made a World of Warcraft pillow. I have also made a bouquet of crocheted flowers and leaves. That one came out BEAUTIFUL. Since then, I have started many projects and got just too excited about still other projects to really finish anything.

Hopefully I will finish every project I started. There is a blanket I am making from a book with 63 different sample patterns sewn together in patches, a Winnie-the-Pooh shag rug for my son, a large beginners chess set... not to mention the fact that I have many squares made in different colors and patterns, just waiting for me to arrange them into their own small throws.

The project I am currently working on, however, I refuse to put down. Not until it is done and I have decided that it is either a great work of art, or a waste of time.

You see, I am making a dress. Before I talk about the dress, though, I should inform you that I have had a phase in which I tried to make clothing. Actually, I was looking at a book that had shirts, bags, cardigans, moccasins, and even a skirt! All crocheted. For anyone who knows yarn projects, you may know that clothing is best knitted, not crocheted. Most crochet stitches are too big and too open to wear, and so most are designed to be open, like a lace cardigan or a "chunky" coat, or even a beautiful cowl-neck sweater, made with open lace that keeps you a bit warm, maybe in fall but not thick or heavy enough to really protect you from the elements (the cowl-neck sweater is one I definitely mean to try out one of these days). But I want to make a dress. So I have been searching for the right patterns and stitches, and here's what I came up with.

I am going to make it a tank top dress, down to my knees with a lacy border that goes a few inches below that. The 6-7 inches around the waist will be a bit tighter, and the skirt part will flare out some. The top and skirt part will be a slightly dark teal color, and the waist section will be a pale yellow. There will also be a pale yellow 3 layer flower where one strap meets the dress. The teal sections will be done in Seed Stitch, and I think the pale yellow part will be either traditional Single Crochet or perhaps something vertical that might have some stretchy capability.

Now, the hardest part is that it is designed so that it will not be see through. Seed Stitch is a fairly tight stitch, to help minimize the appearance of spaces between stitches. But that doesnt mean there wont be any spaces. I may end up sewing a thin fabric underneath, to make absolutely sure it's not see through, and that will be a bit more comfortable, but I dont want it to unravel if it gets a hole in it or gets caught on something and the string snaps in any place.

So this will be my first project that I experiment with washing and blocking.

My other projects were washed, true, but I have yet to actually "wash and block". The process of washing and blocking, so I understand, shrinks the yarn as well and forms it to the shape you desire. I watched a show where a woman took a project she had "wash and blocked" and cut it. Cut right through a section with a pair of scissors, and the project acted like a fabric, no unraveling, no loose yarn... it was amazing. I will have to do some research to find out exactly how to do that, but it will have to wait till the dress is made. No use worrying about it now if I don't get that far.

Wish me luck on completing a started project in less than a month!

Cousin's Marriage; My Shock

I am going to keep this as simple as possible.

Recently, my 17 year old cousin got married. To a 24 year old Army guy who has been in the Army for 6 years. That means he has been serving in the military for 1/3 of her life. How does a 23 year old in the military meet a 16 year old in high school? She didn't have a job, so not that way. And what does a 23 year old want with an underage girl anyways? It just seems a bit fishy to me if I think about it too much. My uncle was arrested 2 years ago on charges of trying to hook up with a 14 year old. With as much as my cousin loved her dad, it is almost expected that she have daddy issues, so yeah she was looking for someone older, and definitely older than 18 if not 21. And being underage herself just sort of finishes the little "playing out" of the situation. But that's how a shrink might look at it, I suppose. And I'm not a shrink.

My aunt, I'm surprised to say, seems to have been more than happy to get her underage daughter out of the house. If she had to marry her off to do it, so be it. And for what? To try to relive the high school life with her new 23 year old boy toy? Yes, that's right. My aunt is seeing someone younger than my 17 year old cousin's HUSBAND. How much more confusing can this get?

Well, I don't want to think about it any further. All I want to say is that I love my cousin. I am happy for her, and for whatever makes her happy. She is happy being married to Army guy. Which means I am happy for her. I have no place to tell her that she got married too soon, because I got married when I was 18 (although I was almost 19). I have no place to say that older guys must be pedophiles just because they are looking for someone younger, because my hubby is 4 years older than me (although I was over 18 when he met me, and he is only 4 years older, not 6). But like I said, I have no place to say anything. If she's reading this right now I hope she understands that these are my personal thoughts on the matter. I have never met Army guy, and I've been away from home for a very long time. But looking at it as an outsider, that is most likely what they see. I hope she doesnt care what anyone else thinks, if she loves Army guy and he loves her, than I hope they are married for many many years and have lots of kids and a happy life together, and after a few years people will stop commenting on how fast they got married and start commenting on how long they've lasted and how it looks like it was the right decision, after all.

I hope she can forgive me my doubts, and still accept that I wish her the best in her new, married life. Once the shock wears off, I too will be one of those "look how long you've been together, you must be made for each other" people.

But I tell ya what, it shocked the hell out of me to hear about it. I'm not gonna lie, I didnt think she was serious. Only time can heal such things. Heal my exploded mind, time.

Out of Shape

I have been getting back into shape. Actually, I can't honestly say "getting back" into shape, since I was never in shape to begin with. I always envisioned getting fit to be hard, backbreaking work that leaves your muscles sore and takes a lot of your free time, and all you do is build muscle until you look like Popeye after he eats his spinach. It seemed like way too much work and I never liked the "ripped" look, with muscles on muscles. So instead, I sat at my laptop and chatted and redesigned my myspace and even had a neopet and an account on Gaia.

I could sit here all day and tell you excuse after excuse as to why I was never active in high school, or anytime before now, but that's all they would be. Excuses. The simple truth of it was that I was just plain lazy. But then I went to boot camp. Now, granted, it was only Navy boot camp. (Most of you just said "Oh come ON! That hardly counts as boot camp at all!") But even that was a major wake up call. I started out barely able to do 10 push ups and sit ups. I was pathetic. What 18 year old couldn't even do 10 push ups?

Besides being out of shape and mad at myself for it, I was also gaining weight. From the time I joined the Navy to the time I was discharged, I had gained 7 lbs. I started to work out about a year after getting out, but then I got pregnant. After having the baby, it was enough work just learning how to care for a newborn and balance my daily life that I didn't have the time to work out (and for the first time I had a reason, not an excuse). But having the baby made me gain an additional 15 lbs.

It took me a year, but I finallly decided to start getting into shape and being active and fit. And I want to lose all this extra baggage I started lugging around. But I'm starting off pretty simple. I don't want to jump into a hard complex routine; it's making it too hard and setting too many goals at once that caused me to continually fail at attempting to get fit in the past. I start by doing 20 minutes on my elliptical. I do the first 3 or 4 minutes at a nice walk pace, then I start to run. I run until I've gone a certain distance, then I slow down and I walk it out until I hit 20 minutes. Today I ran until I hit 0.85 of a mile. It might not seem a long way to go, but believe me, it takes a lot longer to go a mile on an elliptical than it does to just run a mile.

I also do 20-25 crunches (one crunch for me is one to the right and one to the left. So it's "right" crunch, "left" crunch... ONE.) Then I do sit ups. I can only do 20 of them right now, but it's such an improvement that I can't complain.

I find that I have a lot more energy now that I'm working out, and as long as I keep short term goals, and only one or two goals at a time, I can stick with it. Before, I used to be like "im going to weigh this much, and be able to do this much, and this, and this..." and it was just too overwhelming. This way, all I tell myself each day is:

You are going to weigh 120 one day, but right now, let's just get to 137. Then you'll be the same as you were in high school! That's awesome. And these sit ups and crunches will take inches off your waist! You will look good and feel great. You CAN do it. Good Job!

And you know what? I CAN do this. I WILL be 120 one day. And my waist? It's going to be smaller. And the best part? I will look good and feel great. I'm already feeling great!

I'm good, I'm great, I'm wonderful. :)

Sweet (smelling) Dreams

I have been having some really weird dreams lately. All week long, actually. And I'm starting to think they mean something.

About a week ago, I had a dream. I don't even really remember much of what it was about, but I think there were people in it; maybe people I know, but no one that I recognized. Whatever happened, I woke up smelling smoke. Like, there was a fire. It was about 2 or 3 in the morning, and my instincts told me to run to the other bedroom and check on my son. Well, I did. And there was no fire. No smoke. I couldn't even smell it anymore. I went through the entire house sniffing left and right, and did not find anything that looked, smelled, or even felt burned or hot. Nothing. And no more smell of smoke. So I went back to bed; the rest of the night was peaceful.

A few days after that, I had another dream. This one definitely had people I knew. Old friends from back in Florida. And I was happy, wearing shorts and having a good time. It was a good dream. But for some reason, I smelled oil. Or maybe gasoline; but I remember knowing that it was the smell of oil. I woke up smelling it; and once again my instincts took over and I checked on my son. Nothing. Then I checked the entire house (again). Still nothing. And I hadn't smelled oil since waking up.

Then last night, it happened again. I woke up smelling smoke. This time, I knew I dreamed it. I don't know what I was dreaming about, just that I remember flashes of images and color and sound, but I woke up with the smell of smoke and just lay there for a moment, waiting to see if I could still smell it. And what do you know? Nothing. Of course, I checked on my son again just to be 100% sure. You can never be too careful, especially when it comes to your sense of smell.

Which starts me thinking. I used to not be so sensitive to smell. When I was first pregnant with my son, I got the heightened sense of smell that most pregnant women get. I could smell that we were low on propane 2 weeks before we ran out. I could smell a skunk before it was anywhere near the house. But I had my son almost a year ago, and I'm still noticing the heightened sense. Maybe it's because he's breastfed; maybe that has kept the hormones in my body and I'm still getting "pregnancy perks".

But is it possible... could the sensitive sense of smell have triggered something in my body that is allowing my dreams to have an extra sense in them? For me to be able to smell my dreams?! And why is it always smoke? I don't recall any fire or smoke or oil in the dreams. So why smoke?

Anyone with any answers, I could really use some right now. Until I find out why I'm smelling my dreams, I'll pray for sweet dreams and peaceful nights (or at least sweet smelling dreams).

Garden Layout

Well, it's raining all day. I was hoping to work in my garden today, but since it's raining I decided to plan out the layout of my garden.

Originally, it was just a few tomato plants, some peppers, and some herbs. But I wanted a vineyard (well, really I just wanted a few grapes) so my hubby surprised me by bringing home 6 different types of grapes (2 of each) and some blueberry and raspberry bushes. I already had a lemon tree, which I planted in the corner of the yard, and I had already decided on a nice corner behind the house for my veggies. Well, we have a huge pasture beside the yard, and we decided that it would be a great place for a vineyard. So I mapped it all out on paint :)

Behind the house, I will have my garden. It will have 2 rows of 6 tomato plants per row. Then it will have a row of peppers, both 2 serrano and 3 jalapeno. Then a row of 9 green peppers, and it will end with a row of 9 red peppers. Along one side of the garden will be a planter box raised up 6 inches or so with parsley, sage, mint, and 2 types of basil. On the other side, between the fence and the garden, will be 2 lemon trees. On the other side of the fence, in line with the top lemon tree, will be 4 bushes. 2 Blueberry and 2 raspberry. On the other side of the bushes, in line with both lemon trees, will be 2 more trees but I'm not sure what kind they will be. I may go with more lemons, or limes, or I would love some grapefruit trees. And below the bushes, between the trees, is my vineyard. It's going to be 2 rows, 100 feet long each.

I have to see how the cows are around the grapes. If they spend too much time there or try to eat them, I will have to fence in the vineyard. In that case, I will fence around it and connect it to the yard fence, and there is a gate into the yard next to a lemon tree that I can take out, so I can walk straight into my vineyard from the back yard.

I'm not going to get any lemons this year, and I don't know about grapes just yet, but I know I already have a serrano pepper growing, and all of my serranos and jalapenos are flowering. I have a green pepper flowering too, and most of my tomatoes. So I am excited about growing some veggies... I have never been able to get anything to grow before. I used to have an English Ivy plant a few years ago... I couldnt even keep that alive. So wish me luck, and a good harvest!

Muscle over Mass

So I gained a pound yesterday. But it was muscle. I know because my legs just sort of feel stronger. I started using my Elliptical, too. My friend and my hubby went half and half to get it for me a few years ago, and although I do have phases in which I'm all about working out, for the most part it's been just sitting there. I think this blog is going to help me keep it up this time. I have my iPod, with new music on it and a lot of my favorite songs from Glee (Tuesdays at 9/8c on Fox!). My iPod even has movies on it for workout marathons. I meant to do some crunches too, but lost track of time before I was too tired to do them. So I'll get on that today. Not sure how many I'll start with, but even 10 is an improvement over none. I'm thinking about even doing some "military workouts". One of the few channels we get is a military channel, and twice a day they have bootcamp style workouts. But harder.

Besides the workout and weight stuff, I am so excited! My sister will be coming down to visit in 22 days! And my dad (who is bringing her) says that my brother should be with them when they drop her off. It's almost a requirement for my mental health to see my brother once a year MINIMUM.

Put in the A/C window unit in our bedroom last night. Thought we could go without it for a while longer, but I broke down 10 minutes after I laid down and was too hot to fall asleep. See, we don't have A/C out here. This house is like 100 years old, and it isn't insulated, so no one ever put in any air conditioning. Thought about getting a new water cooler for the living room. Cheaper than A/C but still cools you off a bit. Our bedroom is the only room in the house with an insulated wall, so it's the only one with an A/C right now, but we need to put one in the other bedroom now that we have a little boy to take care of. I woke him up last night to put in our bed since it really wasn't fair that we get to be cool and he had to sleep in his room with a tiny little fan. But tonight we will give him the big Stanley blower that we were using. It wasn't enough to blow across a King size bed and cool my husband and I, but it's plenty for a 1 year old in a crib. At least until my sister gets out here; then we may just buy another A/C after all. Thank god for ice and ice cream. And pools. We just got a little 10 foot around, 2 feet deep pool for the backyard to cool off during the day. When my sister gets out here, we'll get a bigger above ground pool. Anything to cool off. I feel bad for all our animals; all they can do is sit in the shade and drink water. They dont have fans and A/C, and they can sit in their water like a pool if they want to, but then they have to drink it. Poor animals.

Well, time to get on that elliptical! I will be 120 lbs this year!