Can't Win 'Em All...

So, in an effort to save some cash and get a little healthier, Jake and I have switched to only drinking water at home.  Now, this may not seem like a big deal to most of you, but for us, it's huge.  I am an iced tea-aholic (note: this does not mean Long Island Iced Tea, or Sweet Tea.  I'm talkin' plain ol' Lipton here.).  And I'm a LAZY iced tea-aholic, which meant that my morning didn't start until I was paying for my iced tea through a drive-thru window.  Being the kind and generous wife that I am, this also included a tea for Jake.  In our neck of the wood, this translates to $5 a day, or $150+ a month, on iced tea.  When we finally sat down and did the math, we were horrified (although the iced tea was our compromise after we did the Starbucks math a year ago...).  So now we've switched to plain water, and we're pretty happy with our choice (especially now that our caffeine withdrawal headaches have gone away).  Plus, the money we've saved has paid for Mims to go to swim lessons all summer!  Score!

Now that we're water drinkers, we are completely obsessed with our Nalgene water bottles. I've become such a water bottle snob.  It's hilarious, and completely ridiculous.  I love my water bottle so much, I don't go anywhere without it.  It's got a wide mouth top so I can add ice easily, so, of course, I ONLY drink ice water.  I know, I'm a nut.

However, I'm completely annoyed at the condensation that accumulates outside the bottle because of my ice obsession.  I constantly have a damp ring on my jeans from resting my bottle on my leg, and the front of my shirt is damp because of the bottle dripping condensation as I take a drink.  Annoying!

"Hold on a minute!" I thought to myself the other day, "I can crochet myself a solution to this minor, but immensely irritating problem!"  So I crocheted a sleeve for my beloved water bottle.  It was shimmery and gray and beautiful.  I slid it on the bottle, and it was perfection!  It absorbed the excess moisture.  My bottle looked so pretty!  I was a happy, happy girl!

...until I tried to drink out of my covered bottle.  The crochet stretched (as it is known to do!) and the cover started to slide around the bottle.  The dampness of the yarn made the bottle so slippery I wasn't able to maintain a solid grip around it, so as I took my sip, I suddenly discovered that I had 32 icy ounces of water rushing towards my face in an uncontrollable waterfall.  I doused myself, and half of our new couch.  Crochet fail!!!

So you will not be getting a pattern for a gorgeous one liter water bottle cover from me.

You're welcome.

xoxo

Mini Amigurumi

I'm not an amigurumi person.  I know that so many people are, but I've just never gotten into it.  However, I am VERY into crocheting in miniature, and my seven-year-old is very into tiny dolls, so when I went looking for some tiny projects to occupy some of my time this summer, Mini Amigurumi by Sara Scales seemed like a great fit for stretching my crochet muscles.

It took WAY TOO LONG for me to figure out that all of the instructions were written in British crochet terms, but once I finally read the patterns correctly, the instructions were clear and easy to follow.  I used embroidery floss and a size B hook and my projects all came out perfectly, adorably small!

Because they're all so small, I was able to work them up pretty quickly, and was able to turn them into some very fun last minute gifts for Mims and some of her friends.  Tiny crochet is a big hit with first graders.

And after a got the feel for amigurumi, I was inspired to try a project on my own.

It's Perry!  We love P&F around here, so it was kind of a no-brainer for me.  He's about the size of a quarter.  Mims wants me to turn him into a necklace for her, which I will probably do, if I don't turn him into a keychain for me! LOL!

xoxo