Finished!

So, I've been a bit quiet. Mea Culpa. Things have been rather hectic around here, but I'm hoping to get all updated.

I have a bunch of projects on my needles, have snagged some more fabulous fibers and stitch markers, and I doubt I'll ever get the opportunity to share them all with you. LOL.

However, I did just finish a hat and I want to introduce you to the Bubba hat:

The Bubba Hat ... in action

It was crafted from this fabulous yarn I snagged over at Gherkin's Bucket on Etsy. It's creamy, soft, luscious and just sparkly enough to keep me happy without sending me into a glitter-coma. The pattern is Handmaiden's In An Evening Toque hat, found on Ravelry.

Here are the yarn skeins I got:

Bubba - Superwash Merino/Silk/Nylon Sparkle/Faux Cashmere blend; bulky, 90yds

Quinn - 80/20 Superwash Merino/Silk blend; worsted, 202yds

The colorways are from the Vamp Camp Collection and are based on characters from the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Yes, I am a fan. I couldn't resist and the price was SO reasonable it made it a certainty that they'd be mine:)

I also picked up some stitch markers from the lovely soccerchic21 over on Etsy as well. Again, with the True Blood series (and trust me, there are more I'm waiting on because I went on a mini shopping spree as it had been ages since I'd gotten yarns to fondle!)

Eric Northman markers

Pam markers

Sam Merlotte markers

I have a few more projects on the needles right now and hopefully, when finished, I'll share them!

XOXO,
Bella

Where on Earth have you been, woman?

I'm here. I promise I haven't gone anywhere.

I've been on hiatus, working on several projects, some craft related, some not so much.

But just so you know...I haven't abandoned ship:)

XOXO
Bella

The Daily Dude!

Dude meets fried rice.

Fried rice is, to the Dude, very nommy!

No really, it is now his new favorite snack.

And he's finally comfortable being in my hands, too.

Pretty Dude.

XOXO
Bella

The Daily Dude! (The Peen Hut Edition)

Today's presentation: Dude's Peen Hut arrives!

Oh lordy. No she didn't! *hides face*

Out of the box, it's more peen-like than previously suspected.

The Dude is concerned. And rightly so.

Out with the old, in with the new. New bedding all purply and lavender scented!

The carrot enticement works...momentarily.

But more incentive is required. Especially with the sheer amount of humiliation involved.

The Le Bon Croissant does the trick, nicely!

Mission accomplished! Peen hut integration complete.

XOXO
Bella

The Daily Dude!

Dude on his slide. Note the puffy cheeks.

He looks like such the little porker! But really, he's just stuffing his face to move his food stash from the slide to his log.

See? Piggy!

I'm not posting pics every day because, well, I don't want to bore you with the utter cuteness of the Dude as he goes about his hamsterly business. Suffice it to say: He's always adorable.

XOXO
~Bella

The Daily Dude!

Whatchoo looking at?

Handsome boy!

The Dude is glum.

This is the face I came to work to find staring at me. He wants out of the cage to play, but I wouldn't let him at that moment. Pouting Dude.

He even tried to "come hither" look me into letting him out. It worked. *laughs* I'm such a pushover!

XOXO
~Bella

The Dude Continues to Abide.

There's a hole in my yard.

I forgot to mention that the city is doing some sort of road work out in front of the house, and apparently, our lawn became a casualty. I woke up from a dead sleep thinking that someone was about to drive a wrecking ball through the living room, only to discover that they had dug a deep trench in the front yard (INTO THE YARD) into which they were going to put a fire hydrant. The most amusing part about the situation (aside from not even knowing they were planning on doing this) was waking up to look outside and see a man's head floating in my lawn....with a cigarette hanging from his lips. The irony is palpable.

And because I feel the need to inflict more Dude upon you all, the daily Dude-dose:

Dude meets Carrot. Dude apparently loves carrots, like whoa, and will wake from a dead sleep just to partake of one.

Dude is not so impressed with raspberries. Whoever put it in the hammie-wiki is fired.

That's all for now;)

XOXO
~Bella

Meet Dude.

The Dude abides in his twisty slide.

Meet Dude.

He is my black bear hamster.

Yes, I am aware we have 5 cats.

Dude is in my office, away from all felines, on the bookshelf near me so I can enjoy his company while working late. There is no risk of any feline getting in here without strict supervision from me.

Dude has a nice big purple and green cage with a wheel in a tower that he absolutely adores. I know this because he's been running in it for the last 6 hours.

Dude...is made of awesome.

The Dude shows the Monkey what he thinks of her camera.

My Dragon was sweet enough to let me finally have Dude because I've always wanted a hamster. So now, I have one to keep me company on the long nights that I'm up taking calls. I can't wait until he's tamed:)

In other news, we went to the most AMAZING brunch this afternoon. Portage Bay Cafe, for those of you in Seattle, is an organic, fresh, faboo restaurant down off of Roosevelt. I had an amazing Rancher's breakfast with the most delightfully fluffy over-easy eggs, super crispy bacon, tasty chicken/basil sausage, oven roasted potatoes, and THE best challah bread French Toast ever. Dragon had this scrumptious cinnamon french toast with maple syrup and fresh whipped cream.

OMG! So good. So worth the 30m we had to wait for a table. So worth the pricetag. If you live here, and you haven't been? Get yer butts out there and enjoy the organic tastiness that is PBC.

Kratos and Mumbles celebrated their 2nd birthday on the 22nd, although we didn't celebrate it officially until last night. I can't believe that 2 years ago I was helping their momma bring them into this world on my living room floor. My big boys. See how they've grown?

From left, Kratos, Mumbles, Punkin at about 1 month old.

The Birthday Boys...still lovin' each other:)

So they got a nice chicken/fish dinner and some new fuzzy mice to play with! I love my boys!

Aside from that, I'm still forging ahead on my magic scarf, my cabled purse, and my Her Eyes scarf. I swear, if I didn't tell myself to stop, I'd literally have like, 20 projects all going at once. As it is, I need to get started on the Christmas gifts I'm planning. Especially since one of them is all lace.

I was a bad girl, didn't take my vitamins and meds this weekend, but we had so much fun that I didn't even think to take them:) Cordell came over for a while on Saturday (well, over 12 hours) and we had a fun time setting up his character and starting up the game again. Pizza, beanbags, and fun times were had by all!

Later this morning we're taking Bella-car to the mechanic because her oil sensor is finally shot to hell. She's talking more and it's driving me insane. So we're getting her fixed. We'll probably hit the grocery store while she's there. Dragon's going to work a little late so he can hang with me since we have to be there at 8am and he starts work at 9am. He won't be too late, I don't think, and he had an early meeting on Friday. It'll be nice to have him with me at the mechanic:)

I think that'll do for an update for now.

XOXO
~Bella

Happy Post-Zombie Jesus Day!

This is what I get to see everyday that I take Dragon to work. See? Mountains:D

So not much going on in our household this weekend (or for the past few weeks rather) thus the lack of updates. HOWEVER!!! I have completed some projects, started some new ones, taken a SLEW of pictures and I am here to inflict all of this information upon you.

Behold ye, and tremble in fear.

Purple Jade and Sterling Silver...so pretty!

This is a purple jade pendant with a silver dragon on it, courtesy of Uwajimaya Market in downtown Seattle. I also got some Puchi miniature meals...and they are made of awesome and cute!

Puchi Mini Meals...dangerously addictive.

It was amazing and we will definitely be going again sometime soon. It's so refreshing to finally have a place to go to get the awesome Japanese food that I remember from Japan:)

Now, on to the completed works! First up the infamous crochet orange scarf and knitted hat out of the Orange Slices Merino yarn from Andrea :

Finally completed. Very warm and very bright, they help to keep the dreary Seattle chill away. My favorite part (aside from the yarn) is the edging. It's a crochet braid stitch that looks to be much more complicated than it really is.

Then I splurged a little bit (a whole $6) and bought the Applejack hat pattern from Croshay Designs and proceeded to make two of them. The first is out of the amazing BFL in the ColdSteel colorway from the faboo Andrea .

And what's more, I had so much left over that I decided it needed a scarf to go with it, so I'm currently using the Magic Scarf pattern by Crazy Aunt Purl and still working on it:

Then I used a combo of the Dexter colorway in Merino/Silk blend from Cosmic Fibers Yarn on Etsy and some of the Obsidian Merino/Tencel from Andrea :
I didn't have enough of the Dexter to do more than the hat, so I'm thinking that if I knit a scarf for this one I'll do it strictly out of the Obsidian. And I'm thinking cables:D

Then we have the latest Calorimetry that I'm making for my BFF Dawn down in Alabama out of the most AMAZING chunky baby alpaca yarn! I picked it up from Yarnzilla for a steal and I will definitely be getting more of it because oh...it's so lush! I believe the colorway is called Ember Melange and the photos just do NOT do it justice!

That's my little purple skull cupcake stitch marker from Scary Merry over on Etsy. I adore them:)

And last, but certainly not least, I'm working on yet another scarf, this time using the incredibly gorgeous Her Eyes tencel from Andrea . Again....photos cannot capture how truly beautiful this yarn is, folks.

Those are the new bamboo needles I picked up on Amazon for a steal! I now have no excuse because I now have every size from 0 - 13 in 9" straights and DPNs.

I'm using the Old Shale Pattern, found on Ravelry, and so far, it may not look like much, but I swear, when it's blocked? It's going to be utterly fabulous!

So that's it for now:) I swear it's taken me entirely too long to get this update on here. But I'm sure that after viewing such beautiful yarns, you'll need a rest.

The battle for the water box is on. First Blade...

Then Kratos;)

Until next time;)

XOXO
~Bella