And now for something completely different!

Actual crocheting! This is a pattern from the "Happy Hooker" book. It's the belt/scarf/guitar strap pattern. I chose to make it as a guitar strap as a Christmas/Birthday present for a cousin. I didn't make it quite as wide as the pattern, as the strap hooks I found only allowed for part of the width the pattern called for.
I struggled a bit with trying to figure out HOW to turn it into an adjustable strap. The guy at the guitar store suggested I buy a plain strap and sew it on, but my concern with that was that it wouldn't be adjustable, or the only ways to make it adjustable would be to only sew part of it down, which didn't sound like it would be a very good solution. I did buy the plain strap to try to get ideas from it. As I was studying it, I realized that I could just take my brand new seam ripper (it came with my brand new sewing machine) and use the plastic parts and just thread my crocheted creation through in place of the original strap!
Then I took my brand new sewing machine (it came with my brand new seam ripper!) and sewed it in place much more securely than I would have been able to do by hand. (Which is how I thought I'd have to do it until I got the sewing machine)

The yarn I used was Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I ordered Harvest, Malibu Blue, Midnight Blue and Goldenrod. They were out of the Harvest and replaced it with Barn Red, which they said went nicely with the other colors I had chosen. I think that it worked out ok.

This is the project I took with me the night my 18-year-old cousin and I stayed up outside a Best Buy store all night in order to get our siblings Ninetndo Wii's for Christmas....

We had thought that being in California would be much nicer than being in Iowa (where she lives), as December in L.A. isn't usually that cold. We were wrong! It was FREEZING! It rained all day leading up to the all-nighter. I think the temps in Iowa were actually warmer than what we sat in! But we had a couple very appreciative siblings on Chirstmas morning. And the all-nighter is probably the only way I managed to finish the strap, as I was WAY behind on it before this night, and finished the night with only 1 row left to do.

I know I didn't crochet this...

but I did make it with the sewing machine I got for Christmas.
So, I guess this blog is more 'jen makes and fixes stuff' than 'jen crochets'! Which is likely to be the case for a while, as I have a lot of crafty (and some, not-so-crafty fixer-upper-type) ideas for my new condo! Now, if I only had the time to make them all!
The reason I put a curtain on a closet on the stairwell landing is that's where my cats' litterbox is. When I was shopping for a new home, I wanted a place where the litterbox would be out of sight, but not totally out of mind (otherwise I'd always forget to clean it out!) When I saw this little closet on the landing of the stairs, I knew I had found the perfect new home! :) I took the door off the closet (because the kitties haven't yet mastered opening doors!) and popped the litterbox in it. The only drawback was that it is exposed whenever you walk up or down stairs, which, when it's just me and the furbabies is acceptable, but if I ever have company, I wanted a way to hide it a little more. And since I am in the midst of planning a belated housewarming/belated birthday party, I needed to get to work on concealing it a bit. One thing that I am very proud of (yay me!) is that I didn't use a pattern!!! I made it up all by myself. Of course, curtains are probably about the easiest thing in the world to 'make up', but I don't care. :)



Shadow checks out the new decor. He's too masculine to admit he likes the botanical print. (I think he just wanted to pose for the camera!)

Scout comes downstairs to give her approval.