Cheap bike basket 30 second how-to. If you even needed a how-to.

It's already August!  Where have I been? The Pharmacy.  Biking.  Job interviews.

After a stretch of 6 days at the pharmacy in a row, I had enough.  I decided to, just for the hell of it, throw out two job applications.  Seeing as how I applied to 100 jobs and just got rude rejection letters last year, I figured it would take several months to even hear back from any of them.

I was wrong.  The first application I sent invited me for an interview.  Then they hired me.  In less than two weeks.  So I am now a part time library assistant in for the Oregon City library.  I am kissing my pill-counting days goodbye. You know, forever.

I've also been volunteering at OMSI on their grant-writing team, and I've been having a great time at it.

Happy cats are not on the sidewalk!  Happy cats are just on the porch!  

What else?  After gaining 8 pounds since January, I decided to start biking again.  And I'm doing it in style.  I recently purchased a red Electra cruiser and I've had fun taking it all over the city.  My old bike, which needs a bit of work, had a basket on it; this bike didn't.  An easy fix:  Any square basket and some zip ties.  I've found so many of life's problems can be solved with zip ties.  Its not incredibly stable and/or weight bearing, but a few books, a purse or a bottle of water would fit nicely into this basket and leave my hands free for riding.  And if it breaks I could probably buy six more for the cost of a real bike basket.

Total cost: $1.99.

On to the bike seat...an easy crochet project.  I devised a way to keep it on the seat, but I haven't ridden with it on yet.  Most people just lace yarn through the bottom and tie it on, but I thought for whatever reason I'd try something else...If my method fails I can just take it apart and lace it through the regular way.

Directions later if anyone is interested.

Here's a video for you:

QoGS

Lately, I feel like the Queen of Granny Squares.

Living so far away, I really feel disconnected from family and friends.  I also love sending people things in the mail, ever since a special someone sent me cookies at a terrible time in my life last year.  Spreading joy through the US Postal Service is a great way to keep in touch with people I care about back in Pennsylvania.

Back in March during a visit with my Mother's family, my cousin Mark and his wife Heather announced their first baby would be born late this summer.  Having JUST learned how amazingly fun crochet is, I decided to set to work creating a blanket for baby!

The hardest part:  Heather doesn't want to know the gender of her baby.  She is decorating with a theme that would suit either a boy or a girl.  I find this very progressive and interesting, considering we live in a day and age when some women put so much stock in the gender of their child they do crazy things to achieve their coveted boy or girl.  I won't go into it, but I might decide to do the same as Heather if I'm ever (super accidentally) having a baby. On second thought, I'm not very good at waiting for news like that.

So this is what I came up with:

The pattern is:  Carseat Blanket by Mary Ellen Wells.  I used Acrylic yarns because babies are messy.
Caron One pound Makes up the blue border and various colorways of Vanna's Choice make up the centers. All in all, it cost a little more than $50 dollars for the yarn, but I had plently left over, and I'm making a hexagon afghan for myself with them.  I bought an extra shade for mine, a really girlie pink.

Its not even close to done, but here is the pattern: hexagon how-to.  Pics soon, it's going really fast, maybe it'll be done by Zach's birthday?

Ravelry project link.

I'm hooked...

So many people have tried to teach me...For years I put off learning it....but here it is:  The other day, I learned how to crochet.  Sorry guys, its way, way way way way way way way way more fun than knitting.  It doesn't make me want to pull my hair out, and it goes way faster.  I still don't think its as pretty, but it has lots of advantages that I am looking forward to.

Just like my knitting, all of my crochet will probably be made out of giant yarn.   Yes, I eat a lot of Thai food.  

Using Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick that I purchased from Goodwill and a GIANT size P crochet hook, I created this scarf using the pattern 200 by John Brinegar as a guide, I made this scarf in a little over 5 hours (mostly while watching South Park).  

I've also been trying to make some dishcloths as presents for when I come home.  But they are knit, and that is dragging.  I think there was a reason I needed to branch out, and that is that I think after 5 or so years of knitting straight I've lost my mojo.  Maybe after a hiatus I'll be ready to dive back in.

Next up:  Hats.