A few updates.

so, the house cleaning thing is going really well.  Turns out when I keep the main area of my house clean I go looking for other things to clean so I have subsequently gone and cleaned every messy cluttered place in my house.  Closets, shelves above the washer and dryer, coat closet.  I've even taken a stab at the garage, but it was a very small stab cuz it's FRICKING COLD OUT.  I'll try again when it's warmer.  I did manage to get together a good sized load to Goodwill though, so that was good. And I cleared out some clothes I'm not wearing, sold some to Runway Exchange, and everything I couldn't sell I donated.  I've also decided we're selling our workout bike.  It never worked well for either Caleb or me, it's just taking up space.

In my quest to clean and organize everything I've made Goodwill, the Dollar Store and Walmart my bitch.  At Goodwill I found one of those hanging shoe organizers, and I set myself a goal to get all my and my husband's shoes into it, maximum two pairs per pocket, (this was allowed because flip flops don't take much space.) and anything that didn't fit I had to get rid of.  So I managed to clear out four or five pairs of shoes.  This challenge enters hard mode when winter ends, and I cycle my seasonal shoes. I don't have more boots than flip flops, but boots sure take up a lot more space.

I bought a bunch of little baskets and boxes at the Dollar Store and managed to organize the drawer where I keep all the measuring things and spoons and other random kitchen gadgets. (you know the one.  Everyone has one, and it's usually just a pile of stuff dumped in there randomly.  mine is no longer random.) The Dollar Store also had a large collection of collapsible fabric boxes that I used to organize things in my closet and the laundry room.

At Walmart I bought a bunch of wire baskets that I've hung in my pantry and medicine cabinet to organize all the little bottles.  I also bought some hanging shelf organizers and a little plastic chest of drawers for Shannon's room and filled them with her toys rather than just have them on the floor of her closet. It'll be easier for her to keep her room clean if her toys are better organized.

I really want to get some lazy susans for the top shelf of my pantry where I keep all my spices. I put the ones I use most often in the baskets, but there's a lot more in there, and the shelf is really deep, making it difficult to find things sometimes.

OOH! ALSO!  Based on some things I read I decided to try Mr Clean's Magic Erasers.  Those things are ACTUALLY MAGIC.  I'm talking frigging WITCHCRAFT.  I took them to scribbles on the walls in Shannon's room and I didn't even have to try to get them off.  Some of the black marks were made by a magnet that was dragged on the wall and I couldn't believe it worked.  And it didn't hurt the paint! The previous owner of our house repainted everything before we moved in, but she did it with sure cheap gross flat paint, and every time I try to clean the walls with a wash cloth I just end up rubbing the paint off, but I can scrub really hard with the erasers without taking paint! It's amazing! And it gets the crap off my glass cooktop, and I didn't think anything would do that.  My stove looks like new again.  But the most impressive was that they could actually clean the dried foundation off the walls of my vanity. I've tried everything to clean that off, because I don't really like having my walls splattered with makeup, but I couldn't even scrape it off with my fingernails.  It was stupid.  But now I can!  I have to scrub pretty hard with the erasers, but it works where nothing else does.  I may be in love.

I have also stumbled across LA's Totally Awesome cleaner, which I've read many good things about, so I'm giving that a try as well.  I used it to clean my showers and toilets yesterday, I was reasonably pleased. Not raving yet, but it didn't have to work very hard on the toilet and showers since I've been keeping those clean.

So yeah. Cleaning is going really well.  I'm running out of extra things to clean, but I think that's a good thing.  I even moved my washer and dryer out and cleaned under them- let me tell you, that was horrifying.

as for the vanity things- I said I wasn't doing the hair thing, I have rinsed with vinegar once or twice, I don't really notice a difference.  I'm going to try doing hair masks with aloe vera, it's supposed to be good, plus make your hair grow faster.

I'm loving the oil cleansing on my face.  My skin is very soft and it seems to be helping with blackheads.  I'm getting some dry spots right on the apples of my cheeks, so I might need to adjust to less castor oil and more olive oil.  I do the oil every night, and a honey mask after every shower.  In the shower I use a paste of baking soda and water to exfoliate.  I wasn't using any moisturizer, but I've started now in the last day or so, just a little bit on the dry spots.  I'll adjust my oil after I've used up this batch. so aside from my makeup, which I only wear two days a week or so anyways, my face is almost entirely all natural.  I wonder if the dry spots is just my skin adjusting to not being covered in chemicals? I dunno.  I'm gonna stick with it and see what happens.

surprising no one, I'm having a hard time working out.  I'm trying to just do my ten minute video every day, and it's kinda iffy. ah well. I'm working on it.

On the theme of making things run better, I'm also working on a budget, because Caleb wants to get a new car.  The PT Cruiser broke down, and we got it fixed, but we don't want to just sit and wait until it breaks again. so that means more money going out, and my little brother who lives with us will quite likely be moving out in the next few months, and that means less money coming in.  We spend a lot of money on food, so I'm reasonably certain if I work out a budget and plan my meals for the month I can knock some money off my grocery bill.  which we can definitely use.  I'm always seeing those blog posts about women that feed a family of five on $400 a month, and my initial response is always "Bullshit." I'm feeding a family of three on $600 a month.  but after thinking about it, I don't spend money on food very carefully.  So if I plan it out, I bet I can be one of those women. My goal is to cut spending in half.  A family of three on $300 ought to be doable right?  Shoot, I'd be happy with $400.  And maybe we'll eat healthier too, if I'm planning what we eat.

Ooh! speaking of healthy food, I made something for lunch and it was delicious.  I wanted to put the recipe here so I don't forget.

Tilapia, Cucumber and Tomato Wrap

one tilapia fillet
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
half a cucumber, diced
about 1/4 c chopped fresh parsley (I have a theory that this would be delicious if it was cilantro instead.)
about 3 cloves of garlic, minced
about 2-3 tbsp sour cream
salt and pepper
1 tsp ground rosemary
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter or olive oil
whole wheat tortillas

cook the tilapia in a skillet with the butter/olive oil, rosemary, 2 cloves of garlic, and lemon juice. salt and pepper if desired. cook until white all the way through.
while cooking, combine tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, sour cream, and one clove of garlic.  Salt and pepper to taste.
when fish is cooked, break into little pieces and mix with vegetables.  spoon into tortilla and eat!

it was amazing.  it made two wraps that I ate, and enough for one more that I saved for later.

I've been working on healthier eating, hopefully this won't be too difficult.

Look! It's ChibiMe!

made with this: http://www.deviantart.com/#/d5q0ipk

I added a Buster sword cuz SHUT UP.

New Year, I guess.

Once again I'm going on a whirlwind of vanity.  I hate my body and I hate hating my body.  I'm gonna take a stab at changing that. We all know how good I am at committing to that, but I've got to try, right? one of these times it might stick.

first of all, I'm experimenting with some natural skin and hair care to save money and see if it works. supposedly this stuff works better than the crap I buy, so we'll see.  I'm switching to the Oil Cleansing Method for my face, using a mixture of 1/3 extra virgin olive oil and 2/3 castor oil. I opted for a higher percentage of castor oil based on my oily zit prone skin. I may adjust this. I'm also going to be frequently doing honey masks. basically just smearing my face with honey and letting it sit.

for hair, I'm using a mixture of 1 cup water and 1 tablespoon baking soda instead of shampoo and a mix of 1 cup water and 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar instead of conditioner.  we'll see how that goes.

I'm going to start trying the p90x video for abs that we have.  every day, for as long as I can, except for Fridays and Saturdays. too much going on those days. slim my fricking flubby waist.  I'm so sick of feeling fat.  I won't wear half of the clothes in my absurdly crowded closet because I feel like I look fat.  whether I do or not is beside the point.  I do know I have gained weight, I do know I'm on the upper edge about to fall off of healthy weight for my height.  AND I FEEL BAD.  If I do something about it I know I'll feel better.

I'm also thinking I'm going to add hydrogen peroxide and baking soda to my teeth brushing routine. why not?  let's cover all the bases.

I've started taking biotin every day as well, since that's supposed to help improve my skin hair and nails.  don't care about the nails so much, but whatever.

Incidentally, this isn't a vanity thing, but it is something I'm starting that will help me feel better about myself.  I found a good checklist of house cleaning chores broken up by day to help maintain a clean house which I am now trying to follow.  Everyone knows a clean house feels better, and I won't feel so lazy and useless if I can keep things clean.  I hate when the house is messy, because I only work part time and that's early in the morning.  I spend the rest of the day lying around and feeling sorry for myself, being really bored.  It's really pathetic.  There is no reason for the house to get so messy.  I've only got one kid, two when Eloise is over, there's no reason to be so helpless.  plus maintaining is easy.  Yesterday it took a while, like several hours, to get the cleaning done since the house was messy, today it took like a half hour. it was nice. if I keep it up it'll be like that every day.

PLENTY OF TIME TO WORK OUT. LAZY ASS.

so let's see if I can stop being so useless.\


***EDIT*** I bailed on the baking soda thing.  my brother in law the physics pain in the ass made some snarky comment about how that would only increase the alkalinity of my hair and destroy it.  I did a bit more research and I think I agree.  dammit, I hate when he's right.  I'll never tell him though. still doing the vinegar, but maybe once a week at most.

The Official Rinoa Heartilly's Duster Pattern

 

Rinoa Heartilly's Duster and Armwarmers

 

Supplies:

Size 2 (2.75 mm) knitting needles (I strongly recommend 14” length for at least the back panel)

Size 2 (2.75 mm) double pointed needles

yarn needle

white fabric paint

two small silver buttons (The ones I used were 1/2” across)

Yarn

I used Knitpicks.com Shine Sport in Sky, 60% Pima Cotton, 40% Modal® natural beech wood fiber. Anything would be fine as long as it's sport weight. For my length I used 20 skeins of yarn. Online is definitely the cheapest way to go when buying that much yarn. Knitpicks.com is an excellent source, and so is elann.com. Because of the ribbed fabric, I might recommend you use a wool yarn so you can block it flat and have it stay, but I really liked the look of the cotton yarn.

This jacket is a size medium tall, made to fit my medium sized 6' tall frame.

Gauge: 10 rows to an inch, 6 sts to an inch.

Abbreviations:

CO- cast on                   pfb- purl front and back

k- knit                            kfb- knit front and back

p- purl                            sts- stitches

The Armwarmers

CO 60 sts onto three double pointed needles.

Join, knit 2, purl 2 all the way around.

Continue until desired length. 
They took about one skein each. 

Cast off using whatever stretchy bind off you're most comfortable with. I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. (Site with description of bind off technique: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php)

Mine were 11 1/4” long. It is not necessary to taper the tube to fit your arm, the ribbed pattern will keep them snug.

The Duster  

The Front Panel (Make 2)

CO 16 sts on to straight needles

knit 2, Purl 2 for 6”

start increasing here. (if you have a preferred increasing technique, feel free to use it. This is just the one I used.)

K2, p2 until the last two sts, pfb the last two stitches.

K2, p2 back across

k2, p2 until the last two stitches, kfb the last two.

P2, k2 back across.

Continue until you've increased to 44 sts. Remember to always increase on the same side. Make sure you're paying attention to whether you're starting with a knit or a purl on the next row after increasing.

At 44 sts your piece should be about 10” long.

Continue knitting without increases until piece reaches from shoulder to ankle. This was 56 ½” total for me. It took about three skeins of yarn.

( I am TALL. Although once it was done I wished it was a bit longer. Make sure you adjust this for yourself.)

I did not bind off any pieces until I had all 3 seamed together so I could make sure they were all the same length, since I didn't count rows.

The Back Panel (Make One)

This is a wide piece, I strongly recommend having 14” long needles for this.

CO 16 sts each from two different balls of yarn. to start with it's gonna be two separate pieces, doing it like this makes sure they're the same length. (Pictures are done with different colored yarn to illustrate what I was doing.)

k2, p2 across both pieces each with their own yarn, for about three inches. so you'll have two completely independent pieces just hanging off the same needle.

 

kfb/pfb depending on what's needed on the last two sts of the first piece on the needle and the first two sts of the second piece. so towards the inside, increasing the pieces towards each other. keep doing this every row until the pieces together measure about 11"-12" across together. that's about the comfortable length to go across my shoulders. I increased each piece to 42 sts.

to join the pieces, do one more row of increases, except after knitting across the first piece, instead of using the working yarn from the second piece to knit it, carry the yarn over from the first piece. pull it tight so there's no gap.

k2, p2 one row after the join to solidify it. piece was 4 1/2" long, about 11" across.

Now, you increase the outsides to go down across your back and under you arms. Increases must be finished when the piece is 10” long to match up with the front panels.

Plain row means k2 p2 across without any increases

increase means kfb/pfb the first and last stitch of that row.

plain row
plain row
increase
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
increase piece was 5 1/2" long.
plain <---- one inch

plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
plain <--- two inches (eleventh row is extra to make up the length) 6 7/8" long

increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain <--- three inches, just shy of 8" long

plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain <--- four inches. no need for an extra row. 9 1/8" long

increase 1 st on each side (to make sure we have a complete bar of ribbing)
plain
increase 2 sts on each side
plain
increase 2
plain
increase 2
plain
increase 2 <--- 10" long and 128 sts across.

I realize the increases are unevenly split on the rows, feel free to change this if it bothers you, as long as you have the same number of increases. Do not change the last inch of increases, it is important for the shape to have more increases in the last inch. This is what worked for me.

Again, make sure you're paying attention to whether you're starting with a knit or a purl on the next row after increasing. Since you're only increasing one stitch on each side for the first few inches it's going to be a little strange. Pay attention.

After the final increase row, continue to knit without increases until piece is desired length.  This took about 9 skeins of yarn.

Once pieces are done, seam together using the mattress stitch. I was very careful to pick places for the seams so as to not interrupt the ribbed pattern. This will be awkward if you didn't bind off to make sure that all three pieces lined up. Once you're sure, bind off using the same stretchy bind off you used for the armwarmers. Wash and block.

BLOCKING STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. The nature of ribbed fabric is to pull in, so these pieces will look small. Blocking will set the stitches and stretch out the ribbing so it looks nice. Blocking also provides a perfect opportunity to paint the wings on the back of the jacket.

The Wings

A few notes. I opted to paint them on because that is how it looks to me in shots from the game.

Looks like paint to me.

The image I used for my stencil can be found here: http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=129189

in the first response from Leradny she has a link to the image. I've included it here just in case. I stretched the image until it took up the entire page. That size seemed to match best to me. Also, make sure to place the wings fairly close to the neckline, they're supposed to go across your shoulder blades.

My method was to paint it on with a sponge using the stencil, but this smudged the details quite a bit. I would suggest adding a bit of water to the paint and using a spray bottle to spritz the paint on. I have a theory that this would go on cleaner. Keep in mind, I have not tried this. I cleaned up my wings by mixing a bit of blue with the white and painting in the smudged details.

Blocking is the perfect time to do this, once it's dry, because it's all pinned down, stretched out and secure.

 

 

Stitch the two shoulder straps together once everything is dry. I used a basic whip stitch.

The Trim

CO 8 sts

Knit in stockinette until desired length.
It took two and a little more skeins of yarn for all of it.

you will need three pieces, one long piece to go around the front and neckline of the jacket and two to go around the sleeve openings.

once the pieces are long enough to fit, (length will vary depending on how long you made your jacket.) stitch the two edges together with the knit side out. The fabric will be curling this way naturally because of the way stockinette curls.

Sew the flattened tubes around the edges of the jacket.

For the strips that close the jacket in front make one more small strip the same way about 6” long. This one will be the one you sew the buttons on.

For the strip with the buttonholes, make another strip with the buttonholes at 1 ½” and 3 ½”. Strictly speaking two buttonholes aren't necessary, if you just to one, center it on the piece. For my buttons I made the buttonholes 5 rows long. Vertical buttonholes simply involve switching to a new ball of yarn halfway through to row to create a separation. When I sewed the edges together on the back I simply stitched the edges to the edge of the buttonhole on the front to leave it open.

If ypu have a different method for making buttonholes, feel free. This is just how I did it.

Now you're done! Get a black v neck tank top, a denim skirt and black shorts and go save the world with your knight!

If you have any issues please feel free to contact me, either by commenting, or through my Ravelry account, which is linked in my sidebar. Have fun!

Here it is!

It's done.  It's finally done.  The trim seemed to take FOREVER.  I suppose, looking at the dates of my posts, it did take a little over two weeks.  I would not have thought it would take that long.

For the trim, I basically knitted a long strip of fabric, 8 stitches across, stockinette stitch, for what felt like a million miles, to go around the front and neckline and the edges of both sleeves.  Stockinette curls up anyways, so it was forming itself into a tube, so I just sewed it shut and then sewed the tube along the edges.

(I do have a minor problem I'm trying to ignore, but I think I'm gonna end up having to fix it.  I didn't measure how long I made the tubes for the sleeves, I figured holding it up to the opening would mean I'd end up pretty much the same on both sides, but I didn't account for knitted fabric's irritating tendency to be entirely different shapes and sizes and different times.  As a result, one sleeve is smaller than the other.  It's not visible when I wear it, but I can feel that one armhole is tighter.  I can detach it and fix it, but it will be a pain.  so, for your reference, I strongly recommend making sure both sleeve pieces are the same size.  which should have been common sense.  sigh.)

The strip for the buttons on the front is the same thing.  sewed the buttons on one and did vertical buttonholes on the other.

Random detail note:  these buttons are smaller versions of the exact same ones I used on the front of my skirt for the rest of Rinoa's outfit so they'll match perfectly.


so there it is.  Took a little over a year, if you include the long hiatus I took.  Five months of real solid work.

It took about two skeins of yarn to do all the trim, plus the ends of other skeins that didn't quite get finished.  so I used almost exactly 19 skeins for this. 

Literally.  this picture I took immediately after finishing at work this morning.  This is the yarn I had left.





So I think I will organize my notes and put together a pattern of sorts for Ravelry, and then not knit again for a long time.

ADFKJGASDFKJLKJHGALKJSDF

THE JACKET.  IT'S DONE.

more info later.  now I just feel like crying from relief.

Hey, look, clothes!

A random clothing post for ya, I haven't had one in a while.  I got in to another of Crowdtap's Old Navy sample shares.  this time it was for dresses.  I only got one coupon to share, so I took Amanda.  I was kinda surprised by our selections.  I thought I would get a sweater dress, maybe one of the cowl neck ones, but then I found this:

and I completely loved it.  admittedly it's noticably shorter on me than it is on the model, but that's what I get for being 6 feet tall.  it's really cute and festive.  I still had a $10 gift card to Old Navy so I bought some cute cable knit tights too.

Amanda, however, did go for the sweater dress, which is really weird, cuz that's never been her taste.  Hers is the one below, except hers was pink and brown striped.  couldn't find a picture of her colors.  but it looked really cute on her with her brown fuzzy boots.   

anyways, we were both pleased.  I love shopping and not spending money!