Mission Accomplished

Prom was a success. Holy crap was it stressful though. I was up until 4.30 AM finishing my dress (along with the help of my super-special-awesome sister-in-law, without whom I would not have been able to do this) and then I had to get up at 6.30 that morning to do stuff with my mom. So basically I got 2 hours of sleep the night before (or rather, morning of) prom. Whew. That's ok, though, because my dress was awesome, I looked awesome, the people there were awesome, the limo was awesome, the food was awesome (funny tangent story--the dinner before prom, I ordered a "wedge salad" without knowing what a wedge salad was. Never do that. I was a little surprised when they brought out a literal wedge of lettuce with bacon and dressing over it. heh.)

Unfortunately, since my camera is on BACK ORDER (stupid polaroid people...mumble mumble whine groan, etc.) the only pics I have are those that other people took, and right now the only accessible one is the proof from the people who took it. Soooo, here that is:

I'm on the right. :) Obviously my plans changed throughout the actual making process. Instead of crocheting the entire thing, I realized that that would be too heavy, so instead, Darlene and I decided to crochet the bodice, then do a fabric skirt. There was tulle underneath for a crenoline, and a silver sash across the waist, mostly Darlene's idea. Basically (as I've stated before) I couldn't have done it without her. :)

The Physics of Idleness...

Wow, I can't even believe that it's been over a month since I've updated. Naughty, much? Ugh. So the day is almost here. It's the day before prom and I'm FREAKING OUT. Know why? ...Because it's the day before prom and my dress is...UNFINISHED! I know, I know, I've had plenty of time to work on it, but the problem is...you know what, I'm not even going to make lame excuses about working too much at school because frankly, I feel like all I do is make excuses for why I'm not working on my crafts. Seriously, I've done little to no work on the dress since I finished the back of the bodice, and for the past few days I've been just crocheting as much as possible to make up for lost time. And the consequences of waiting until the last minute? I've had to cut back. No capelet. BERK. I was looking forward to that, but I just don't have the time to make it. I've also decided not to make my own purse, but that was only partly because of the time issue. I was planning to make this big clutch bag from this pattern that I got from a vintage crochet magazine, but as we all know, the purse must match the shoes...and my shoes are metallic silver. I don't know about you guys, but I tried looking for metallic silver yarn that would match my shoes, and it just didn't happen. So I bought one. Which reminds me, another thing that I should have done weeks ago but neglected until yesterday--prom accessory shopping. I had $160 courtesy of my dear daddy (acquired by my very, very uncharacteristic whining of, "Daddy, everyone at prom is going to be pretty, and I want to be pretty too!" I'm not saying I'm proud of it, but shopping sprees make me feel GOOD, gosh darnit!) And so, now I'm about to head into my junior prom with a new tiara (something I've never worn), pretty silver, sparkly jewelry, a new haircut, lip plumper/gloss, and other miscellaneous things that I purchased yesterday that actually had NOTHING to do with prom (three new shirts, a pair of sparkly rhinestoned earrings, new sunglasses with rhinestones that match said earrings, a pretty rainbow bra, five new pairs of funky underwear, chocolate covered coffee beans, Midnight Pomegranate body spray, and another pair of earrings that I got for my friend Anna for going shopping with me and for putting up with me being a me-monster all day. She's such an awesome person ^_^ ) But the crucial thing missing from this picture? THE FREAKING DRESS!

*Breathes* I'm about to go to my dear, lovely, amazing sister in law's house so she can help me finish it. Because right now, I need all the help I can get!

*NOTE* Unfortunately my camera is still being held hostage by the Polaroid company. I'm going to call and complain about this today. I want my freaking camera!

SUCKAGE

I really need to stop being so lazy. I've got, like, maybe a month before prom, and all I've got done is back of the bodice. I still have to do the front, the sleeves, the skirt, the capalet, and the applique. Ummm, behind much? Yeah, so I'm gonna go do that now... I swear...right now...I'm picking up the yarn, and I'm going to freaking MAKE THIS DRESS. Watch me, now.

(un)dead

Wow. I really haven't posted in a LONG time. Why, you ask? Craziness. School has been crazy, home has been crazy, and I'm applying to summer programs in the area so I can have something good to write on my college applications next year.

I did, however, get crafty, like I said I would in my last post. I'm designing a scarf (and I'm excited about it). I'm about halfway finished with it (sorry, no pics yet), but I think I might have to put it on hold because I need to work on my dress. I NEED TO. Because Prom is like less than two months away, and I need to finish this darn dress.

In other news, Books-a-Million finally got my copy of Crochet Me in. They never called me, so when I thought it had been long enough, I just went down there myself and sneaked a look at the shelves to see if they had it behind the counter, and sure enough, there it was, with my name stickered to it. I didn't ask if they had it, of course, because I didn't have the money with me at the time to buy it, so I just sort of peeked over the counter while the cashier was with someone else, saw it, and walked out...inconspicuously...like a ninja...of the night...

Triggers Nostalgia

It just started to rain, and I'm feeling inspired. I'm gonna go make something, and watch Dodgeball.

Rainbow Spiral Scarf + Pattern

I made this scarf a while ago because I was jonesin' for something rainbow-y. I also luuurrve spirals, so I decided to put the two together, and this is what I got! It's a self-tasseling, spiral, rainbow scarf! Woohoo!

Hoorah for sideways pictures!

My Attempt at a First Time Pattern:

You will need:
Any sort of worsted weight yarn in these seven colors (I used Caron Simply Soft):
Red (A)
Orange (B)
Yellow (C)
Green (D)
Blue (E)
Purple (F)
a size G crochet hook, and a size I hook.

Using the G hook and color A, ch 240. Cut the yarn, leaving a 6-inch tail.
Row 1: attach another strand of A, leaving a six-inch tail, using the I hook HDC in 2nd ch from hook and each ch to end. Cut yarn, leaving six-inch tail.
Row 2: attach B, leaving a 6" tail, HDC in each HDC to end. Cut yarn, leaving a 6" tail.
Row 3-6: Repeat row 2, using C,D,E, and F each row.
Finishing: after you cut the last yarn tail, that's it. The tails make the tassels, and the tightness in the chain, combined with the looseness of the rest of the rows makes the spiral. :)

...and by a tad, I mean A LOT.

Hehe, I know I should be working on my dress, but I got distracted again (this time by a pretty vintage hat pattern). It only took me...less than an hour to make, so it was more like a little overdue instant gratification. I needed that. (Sorry, no pics. I haven't taken any yet, and I can't get to it now since I'm at school.)

Also, my sister-in-law's mother let me borrow a BUNCH of old 60's-80's era crochet magazines that she had, and I made some copies. It only took 6 dollars and an entire afternoon to do.Totally worth it. I'll be busy with those for a while. :) I also got 4, yes FOUR, new crafty books. Son of Stitch 'n Bitch, Not Your Mama's Knitting and Crochet, and Crochetme. Crochetme hasn't come in yet (I had the store order it for me) but I'm eagerly waiting, and I have the other three to keep me busy til it gets here. I'm excited about learning to knit, I think it'll be good for me to have more skills in my possession. I'm superduper excited about the double-knit argyle scarf in SOSNB. It's awesome. And the Pseudo-Kimono in Not Your Mama's Crochet is pretty cool too. I just have to remember to finish my dress before doing any of that.

Down, girl.

And for the most superspecialawesome news of the day/month: I GOT MY RAVELRY INVITATION! W007! So after school I'm going to get started on that. YAY! I don't have time to do it now, since I'm at school now (blogging during lunch.)