…..and so do the people that made it!! (link to the pattern: http://gnathalie2.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/pretty-pretty-flower-scarf/)
Here is my flower scarf made by fishbonette over at ravelry:
LOVE the yarn!!
And here is one by Circe (? french blog so i’m not sure of the name!!)
BEAUTIFUL WORK!!!!!
Thanks again to everyone who makes or even thinks about making one of my patterns!!!
EDIT: just found tingletangle’s scarf on ravelry ~ AND IT ROCKS!!!
Here is the new pattern for the cat toy i designed, semi-pic on the next post but i’ll post a good pic soon. It takes like half an hour or less to make and the cats and kitties have gone insane over them!!!
Good pic of the toy!!:
Click here for pdf:
Here is Chewy playing with the toy:
and this is Tasha tempting the cat with the toy:
And the whole time i’m typing the pattern this is in my lap:
He still doesn’t have a name yet, so any suggestions are welcome!!!
have fun!
Nathalie
…and i’m an addict. Not alcohol or drugs…no, it’s much worse. I’m addicted to kitties!!!! If it wasn’t obvious before, here’s what happened:
Me and Natasha went to the vet a few days ago to spend tons of money we don’t have on flea stuff. I bought 7 vials of frontline plus and 7 capstar pills ~ totally get those cause they’re only like $4 each and it instantly kills all fleas that bite them over a 4-6 hour time span!! ~ anyway, we got there a few minutes early and there was a girl standing outside with a fluffy grey kitty that she had found in the storm drain by her house. Apparently she’d been to every vet and pet store in town looking for a place to bring the cat, and long story short we have a new addition to our family!!!
Tasha named her ‘princess’, but then changed it yesterday to ‘alexandria’~ sorry about the crappy pic quality but the kids smudged the camera lens!
She spent the first few days growling and hissing at all the other cats, but yesterday she started settling in (she still hates Twinkle and Momo!)
Why in the world would i go and bring another cat home when we have so gosh darn many? First of all, she’s totally cool. Secondly, we lost 3 of Milkshakes babies to a nasty upper respiratory virus that ran through our house and we were all so upset about it i figured Alexandria would be a wonderful distraction!
~ These are the only pics i have of Piggy and Baby Girl:
Piggy is the white/orange one in the middle, we named him piggy cause the tip of his tail was bent! Baby Girl is the black/white one on the right. The second i saw the first cat sneeze i had all of them on penicillin but the those two were just too young to handle it. The saddest for me was piggy, i knew he wouldn’t survive and he couldn’t breathe at all so we took him to the vet to have them put him down but he died a couple minutes before the vet got into the room. Thankfully Baby Girl didn’t suffer as long, i just wish we didn’t have to lose them like that.
Here is Piggy like an hour before we brought him to the vet:
We miss you, Piggy!
The only cat/kitten in the entire household to escape the wrath of the virus? Rose!!!
She’s also the kitten in the middle in the pic above. She is fearless!! When Alexandria first came in the room, she was just growling and hissing away~ all the other cats ran off but not Rose! She jumped right over and started sniffing her new friend!
I am totally in love with Battlestar Galactica, so i wanted to name Rose ‘Athena’ or ‘Sharon’ after the cylon… why? Cause this is Cheetos baby “Boomer”:
the name fits!
Alexandria prefers to play with toys, whereas the other cats prefer wrestling around, so i designed a toy just for her:
Better pic and pattern coming tomorrow!!!!
later!
Nathalie
Maddie loves baking stuff without a recipie, and my god she worked wonders this time!!! We were out of baking soda and baking powder, but that didn’t stop her~ she made a delicious heart shaped shortbread thing with chocolate drizzled fruit on it!!
Mommy came over to pick up Tasha last weekend and brought me 2 bars of dark chocolate~ which Maddie used for the cake. All of it. And then true to form, her and Adrian decided to splash spoonfuls of melted chocolate at each other leaving me a giant mess on the floor. Without a mop. But you know what? I ate more than half of the cake~ that girl can mess up the kitchen all she wants if it means i get dessert!!!!!
I also finally got to start and finish a crochet project without getting drinks spilled on it by the cats~ i used this pattern
(http://www.suncatchereyes.net/rolypolybunnies.html) Super easy and fun to make, but the next one i make i’ll use actual google eyes instead of a sharpie!!
Adrian got a good picture of Twinkletoes sleeping:
(the stain on the floor is fingerpaints!)
Here is our beauty queen, Milkshake:
Here is what was under the pillow:
And here is sleepy Worry Wart:
Later!
Nathalie
Out of all the products ever made for acne, the only one that ever worked wonderfully was Bonne Bells Ten-Zero-Six. I bought it at a mall over 15 years ago and it rocked! I haven’t been able to find it at any stores here for years and years and years, and now that Madaleine needs pimple stuff seeing as how she unfortunately inherited my genes for super acne (sorry bout that!) i was on a quest to track down the elusive wonder-astringent!!!!
AND I FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so freakin excited~ i swear this is the absolute best acne whatever out there!!!!!
http://www.colorandflavorshop.com/home.php?cat=48
On to the snow:
It snowed on Sunday and just as Adrian predicted the power went out. For three insanely freezing cold hours. And right when i had put hamburgers on the stove! Oh, and when the power came back on guess how i remembered about the burgers?! yeah, i know, i should’ve turned the burners to ‘off’ instead of leaving them on ‘high’~ i was in the mood for papa johns anyway.
Here are pics that Madaleine took for me (she’s in charge of weather photos cause she takes the best ones!)
i like this one cause of the raindrop!
Natasha got a huge pile of snow and formed it into ‘Bob’, a snow frog:
it really really looked like a frog!!
Sorry, sweetheart! No prince today!
She was really upset though, cause about ten minutes later Hamster accidentally knocked it over.
Tasha took a kitty outside pic:
This is either Super Cheeto Friend or Sandy (i can’t tell!)
My computer got a crap load of viruses and i have had to re-boot it three times in the last month, but it’s all fixed now so i can start taking and posting more stuff again!!!!!
My new obsession???? Music and movie downloads!!!!!
How?
1. download this: http://www.bittorrent.com/ this program thing is downloads the movies and stuff onto your computer.
2. search for torrents. there are TONS of sites to download torrents from but the one i use is: http://thepiratebay.org/
3. you will need these two codecs: www.divx.com (download the thing, you can uncheck everything just not the codec!, totally free)
http://www.xvidmovies.com/codec/ (also free)
4. i also needed an ‘ac3′ codec for sound, get that here: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/AC3_Filter.htm
(you might need this download from microsoft if you have an older version of windows media player: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/AllDownloads.aspx )
5. For non-virus/non-spam torrents, this is the BEST page to go to: http://thepiratebay.org/search/axxo/0/99/200
6. Other secure user name links that are good are these:
http://thepiratebay.org/search/vomit/0/99/200
http://thepiratebay.org/search/devise/0/99/200
If you’re looking for a movie and it’s not listed at these three sites, it’s just not available yet!
Always download .avi files!!!
Downloading movies and what to do (aka. How to get a movie without downloading viruses)
1. Let’s say you want to see the movie ‘Role Models’
(it’s really funny, i saw it last week!!)
2. Now go to this link: http://thepiratebay.org/search/axxo/0/99/200 (same link as above)
this is the page for role models :http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4735181/Role.Models[2008][Unrated.Edition]DvDrip-aXXo
3. click on ‘download torrent’ , then click ‘open’ and it’ll open the bittorrent program you just downloaded. then click ‘ok’ and the movie will start to download in the bittorrent box. when it’s done, just go to the ‘downloads’ folder on your computer and it’ll be there!!!
4. In the download box you just clicked ‘ok’ on, note that it lists the files you are downloading.
1. the text file ‘demoniod’ is just the tracker/uploader info page. harmless.
2. the blue computer icon thingy is a system info for the movie. also harmless. you can uncheck both if you want, no biggie.
3. the movie icon, this is the movie file!! don’t uncheck it!!
5. on my computer it takes like an hour or less before the movie is done. when it’s done, i get a conversation bubble that says ‘blah blah blah is finished downloading’. go to the bittorrent shortcut on your desktop (the green one with the white swirly thing) and open it. Then click on ‘completed’, then click the movie title, then hit the red X to remove it. All done!!!
What NOT to download (aka. I killed my computer so you don’t have to)
1. DO NOT download torrents that have movie files with .wmv, .wmp, .rar!!! Why? i have yet to be able to find a way to play .wmv or .wmp files, and usually those are just spam anyway. if you download one and push play it’ll just have a message that says you have to go to a website and fill out offers or it’ll say to purchase a special movie player (i.e. purchase viruses!) Same with .rar files. unzipping/opening them and jackpot! you win a trip to the store to buy you’re very own new computer cause the one you just had died….from a virus or 50. so don’t download those.
2. DO NOT download torrents with any text pages entitled ‘Readme’ or ‘Password here’. just virus-y spam. total crap.
3. DO NOT download torrents that have like 50 compressed files. even if the site is totally trusted, i wouldn’t risk it. plus, who the hell wants to unzip a million files just to watch a movie!!
4. DO NOT download torrents that look ‘iffy’. for example, a file for ‘Coraline’ thats been up for 18 weeks. or a movie file with no text info. or a movie file thats only been up for a few hours and already has hundreds/thousands of ’seeds’ and ‘peers’. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.torrent)
5. DO NOT download torrents for movies with the wrong genre, like a comedy listed as ‘action’ or ‘thriller’. Total spam.
Example:
For the movie ‘Role Models’, here are some links to BAD files so don’t download them!! this is just to show you what bad ones look like:
http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/55991653/role+models?tab=summary (this one has ‘readme’)
http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/68794261/role+models?tab=summary (wmv extension)
http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/53766105/role+models?tab=summary (not only does it have ‘readme’ text, but it’s listed as an ‘action’ movie!!! )
http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/57605889/role+models?tab=summary (this one is .rar, compressed files= password=VIRUS!!)
What do the abbreviations mean?
Example:
Role.Models.TELESYNC.XviD-ORC.TPB.
There are 5 parts to a torrent file ‘name’.
1. (Role Models) The name of the movie (or book, or whatever.)
2. (TELESYNC) The format in which the movie was released. Other ones are CAM, DVDrip, etc.
3. (XviD) The technology used to encode the movie. (Divx is another one. also Ac3)
4. (ORC) The name of the person responsible for releasing the movie. Others are axxo, devise, vomit (gross, i know, but ’secure’)
5. (TPB) The tracker name. (TPB stands for The Pirate Bay, others are ISOHunt, or Torrentbox)
CAM: camcorder recording, usually a tripod set up right in the theater. (i downloaded one where you could see the corner of a seat through the entire movie!!)
WORKPRINT: A copy of the movie made from an unfinished studio version. ‘movie’ quality, may not be 100% identical to the theater release. These usually have counters or watermarks. (the only good version of Paul Blart Mall Cop has a counter running at the top of the screen throught the whole movie, also has ‘property of whatever’ that pops up a couple times throughout. you don’t notice the counter after a few minutes!)
TELESYNC, or TS: still a camcorder copy, but then audio fed directly from cinemas sound system.
R5: R5 is retail DVD from region 5 (europe, africa, north korea) not quite sure i understand this, but mainly the picture is DVD quality, the sound is not.
SCREENER: theatrical release versions, these are the ones sent to movie reviewers or academy members. has the occasional watermark that says ‘promotional copy’. (mall cop movie had this)
TELECINE or TC: lower quality copy reel. colors a bit off.
DVD-RIP: final retail version of a film, typically released before its available ‘in stores’
DVD-R: complete copy of the original DVD.
HDTV or DS Rip: a recording made directly from tv.
Lomg story short:
1. download these things:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/AC3_Filter.htm
2. go here and get movies:
www.thepiratebay.org/search/axxo
3. watch the movies! (these movies will play on your computer. to watch them in your DVD player, you need to convert and burn them with any avi to dvd program~ give me a bit and i’ll find a ‘free’ one and post it)
Nathalie
yup. i bought some pipe cleaners at walmart last week for the kids to mess around with. Tasha made a pile of pencil grippers while i printed up some pages of a McCalls craft book.
Patsy spent the night with Tasha while Madaleine spent the night up the street and we had so much fun sitting on the couch trying to figure out the instructions!! Cute book, but i swear there has got to be an easier way to make the dumb critters!! I think most of the glue ended up on the blankets!
Me and Patsy both made trees (without a pattern) and then i made a camel. What did Tasha have to say about it? “Mama the camel has 2 humps”!! (sung to the tune of ’sally the camel’ from Barney) What cracked me up was when she started singing ‘Tasha the camel has no humps’!
So, here is a group photo of our pipe cleaner creations:
Her stuff is on the right, mine on the left, with James’s flower tree in the middle.
What else have i made recently? Not much!! With the kids home and bored all i really get to do is referee fights and play ‘volunteer maid’! But i did make this adorable puppet~
the cats are getting used to it!
puppet extra loves Twinkletoes!
The kittens still prefer my lap over any other spot in the house:
Oh, wait, nevermind! They LOVE piling up next to the couch (don’t worry- if you step on one we’ve got 15 more!)
I also made a car for the cats, i used the free pattern from crochetville :
http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=91065
and this here is my favorite kitty pic of the week, it’s Hamster and Chicken Nugget sleeping:
i know it’s blurry, i had to zoom in from across the room!
later!
Nathalie
there was nothing to watch on tv so me and the girls started watching videos on the ‘ondemand’ channel, and these are the ones we liked the most:
then when on demand stopped working, the tv was on pbs and there was some celtic women music? on and they were singing enya! love enya, and this is the song they were singing:
and then that reminded me of an AWESOME cd i listened to a million times and didn’t return to my mom for months:
and of course i can’t seem to find any of the other songs on that cd, but it’s really cool anyhow!
Nathalie
Yay me!!! So Sandy went and had babies two days before her ‘getting fixed’ appointment and they were in the attic and it’s been freezing at nights! I tried, i had the kids try, i even had the teenage neighbor crawl around up there and try but she had them way over on the side where the roof slopes down and it’s impossible to reach! But i went up there today and found them all over on the other side and got them all down!!!!!!! One white, three orange and one of the orange ones is a girl. I put them in Madaleines closet and of course right away she’s trying to move them again~ but ha ha ha ha!! I closed the closet door so she can’t get in the attic again!!! Here are the little furry surprises:
And Snowball’s kitties and the other cats get along so well!! Here they are all comfy and asleep on the arm of the couch:
This is my favorite sleepy pic of Baby Buster:
One of my favorite things to see is when i pour the cat food and all the cats come running~ here is a cat tail pic:
I swear, i have the sweetest, happiest cats in the world here!!!!
And for a ’show and tell’, i found this kiwi on craftster~ it’s from a member of the crochet cafe group on yahoo:
Awesome kiwi, Tina!!!
And what am i working on right now? I’m making a monkey from a free pattern over on craftster:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=278195.0
Later!
Nathalie
I know that recycling and going green is all the rage nowadays, so i thought i’d jump on the bandwagon~ with Halloween candy!!! Tasha and Madaleine went trick-or-treating with neighbors last night while i stayed home with a very asleep Adrian. Before they left, Tasha gave me a handful of whoppers (yummy!)
So, i’m eating the whoppers and thinking how trashed the living room is gonna get when they come home and the whole time i’ve got the cats fighting over the candy wrappers……….and then it hit me (aka lightbulb!)
I can use the candy wrappers as stuffing for the cat toys!!!!! Super crafty me!!!
Good wrappers to use? Whoppers, most gummy type candies, smarties, and any ‘crunchy’ sounding ones
Bad wrappers? Chocolates like twix or snickers, paper ones like now and laters, tootsie rolls, and Vanilla Ice
And now for the pattern!!! This is my candy-fish :
And i used about 6 whoppers wrappers to stuff it:
Materials:
size G hook
ww yarn (i used Lion Brand Cotton Ease)
candy wrappers
Pattern:
with main color, 5sc in a ring
rd1: 2sc in each sc around (10)
rd2: 2sc in first sc, sc in next sc around (15)
rd3: 2sc in first sc, sc in next 2 sc around (20)
rd4-7: sc in each sc around (20)
rd8: sc2tog, sc in next 2 sc around (15)
rd9: sc2tog, sc in next sc around (10)
stuff fish here
rd10: sc2tog around (5)
rd11: sl st to close hole, chain 20
r12: sl st into rd11 sl st (bottom of fish) and chain 15
r13: sl st into r12 sl st and chain 10
r14: sl st into r13 sl st, fasten off
For the ‘fishing line’, attach any color yarn with sl st to the top of the fish and chain like 50 or so. I made a loop at the end by just tying a knot, and i used black yarn to sew an ‘X’ for the eyes.
The cats LOVE their ‘crunchy’ candy fish!!
(Twinkletoes and Dandelion)
Now with that out of the way, what else could i do with the candy? I’ll tell you one thing: We hate tootsie rolls here!! We call them ‘Tootsie Roll Poops’ cause they’re nasty and they suck. And it looks like poop. Don’t believe me?! I had the great idea to plant ‘tootsie poops’ around the house and pretend like the cats did it:
We found poop under Madaleines bed:
And on my bed:
And on Adrians pillow:
And on the girls’ desk:
And right outside of the litter box:
Gross, huh?!!!!!
And finally here are some baby kitty pics that me and Tasha took:
This one is my favorite one that Madaleine took last week:
Awwwwwww!!
Oh, i almost forgot!! I made Madaleine a hat a few days ago:
And i made a Jack Skellington ball!:
Later!
Nathalie
(get it, steph?!) Jimmy was a fantastic friend that died 10 years ago this week, and he is the one that made up the whole ‘gnat on the windshield~ splat, splat, splat’ thing!!!
Anyhow, this is my alltime favorite picture of us:
Wish you were still here!!!
Nathalie
