Word Up

So I kinda love my Kindle…

When I first bought it, I didn’t take it out of the box for about a month. I would look at the box, go to touch it and then shy away. I finally told my friend that encouraged me to buy it that I wasn’t using it (due to it being in the box and all) and he pretty much called me a nut job. But once I opened that boxed and charged that bad boy up…

It was love at first book.

So sleek, so easy to read and so naked! Sooooo naked!

Enter fancy Kindle skin (and his buddy Book List)!

Here’s a clean view of the front…

And the back…

Cool, right!?!? (Just in case you can’t place the painting, its Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night.)

Although this change totally sexed up my Kindle, it still left it a little unprotected. All I could see in my head was me walking and reading with my Kindle (which I’m known to do – A LOT) and tripping over a water hose (which I’ve also done) AND DROPPING MY KINDLE (which, so far, I’ve managed not to do). But have you seen the prices of protective covers for these things?! Ridiculous!

Enter a Pinterest search and a DIY Kindle cover tutorial!

Adorable, right?!

Check out the inside!

Right!?

But wait! There’s more! Check out the extra storage pocket!

I’m so in love with this thing I can barely see straight. A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.

The majority of this cover was patterned after the Whipstitch Fabrics’ Kindle Cover Tutorial that I found on Pinterest (of freakin’ course). I added the pockets on the left – a feature I saw while looking thru pictures of other DIY’d kindle/nook/tablet covers. I figured they would be a nice place to store Kindle/Amazon/Starbucks/Panera gift cards and booklists (alwayssss thinking…).

Oh and by the way, this little project cost me under $5 dollars. I used some sew-in fleece that I bought on accident a few months ago. I already had the interfacing, cream lining material and thread in my sewing stash. The only thing I purchased was the elastic and the rippled (main) fabric. This project doesn’t take a lot of material and you could make one out of two fat quarters easily.

It’s also very quick to put together. I worked on cutting everything out and interfacing all the pieces over a course of a couple of nights. After that it was super fast – I put the whole thing together in one evening (an hour or two – I’m slow and I had some self created issues to work thru too).

Although I have no real reason to make another one for myself, I totally plan to make at least two more. One more for me and one for a friend of mine. Annnnnd maybe a couple of more for me…you know, so when I change books I can change holders. Variety is the spice of life right???

August 2012 Goals

Goooooooaaaaaaaaaals! Okay, so I have a short list this month all the way around because I want to concentrate on working on a few things rather than be spread all over the place.

Crafty Goals (7)

• Finish Piper’s Journey
  
• Work on Kaya Shrug
  
• Work on Something Blue Shawl
  
• Announce Put it in the Bag Sewing Challenge
  
• Spin 4 ounces of fiber
  
• Make 5 dishcloths for the 2012 Dishcloth Swap
  
• Participate in the second week of the Ravellenic Games
  
• Stay on top of YOP postings
  

Reading Goals (1)

• Freakin’ finish 50 Shades of Gray: Darker
  

See! Short!!!

Yes, I noticed that I don’t have any house goals this month. Fact of the matter is that there are a number of things that my dad and I want to get done to the house ASAP but they depend on other people’s schedule and $$$. Therefore that stuff will happen when it happens. Just know that it is happening – and soon!

June & July 2012 Goals Results Show

There’s a lot to cover since I’m combining my goal results from June and July so let’s get started!

Crafty Goals

• Finish 198 Yards of Heaven Shawl – Done! Read about it here
  
• Start and finish Piper’s Journey Shawl – 50% Done
  You can see my progress here
  
• Finish my LaLa’s Simple Shawl – Done! Read about it here
  
• Work thru Magic Loop Socks Tutorial (by VeryPink) – Done! Read about it here
  
• Start Leaves of Grass Shawl/Pi-Shawl – Done! Read about it here
  
• Start Kaya Cropped Raglan Shrug – Done! Read about it here
  
• Post weekly updates for Year of Projects challenge – Done! Read about it here & here & here & here
  
• Make and post Ravellenics Plans (by July 20^th) – Done! Read about it here
  
• Participate in the 2012 Ravellenics (Go Team Mine!!!!!) – Done! Read about it here
  Working on some spinning, my Op Top hat and some dishcloths. I was going to work on finishing up my Modern Garden Cardigan for the Ravellenics but it just takes too much thought with charts and whatnot to working on while cheering and crying over the Olympics.
  
• Finish spa cloths for Annual Dishcloth Swap – Epic Fail
  Haven’t even started a new set since Eve squashed my original idea. Sadness L First thing on my list to take care of after I wrap up with the Ravellenics!
  
• Stash cotton yarn and Vanna’s Choice on Ravelry – Epic Fail
  Decided just to stash new/incoming yarn and fiber. I may come back to this one day but we’ll have to see about that.
  
• Take pictures of Modern Garden Cardigan & Op Top and post to Ravelry – Done! Read about it here & here
  
• Dye 16oz of Fisherman’s Wool with Kool-Aid – Done! Read about it
  

Reading Goals

• Finish Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James and start the second book of the series – Done!
  I’m still working on the second book…with very mixed feelings.
  
• Start Catching Fire (Book #2 in The Hunger Games Trilogy) by S. Collins – Postponed…
  For some unknown reason I want to finish the Fifty Shades of Grey series before I get back to the Hunger Games books. No clue why. None. I’m sure that after finishing Fifty I will be aching for some good writing, solid characters and easy reading. For the love of Bob…
  

House and Yard Goals

• Green up the backyard – Done(ish)!
  My Dad and I really tried to green up the backyard. There was watering, weed & feeding and even reseeding. Some grass grew, the weeds flourished and then everything else just turned brown and died no matter what we tried. Lame. We’ve kinda given up on what’s back there and decided it will be best to just dig it up and replant. My uncle said he would help with the official killing and tilling and of the “grass” sometime soon. I’m thinking about planting Kentucky Bluegrass so I can have a pretty greenish-blue lawn that’s apparently deer resistant. Cause, you know, we have deer issues in urban Los Angeles (LOL!).
  
• Start planting and arranging potted plants on patio – Done!
  I’ve planted a ton of plants between the patio and along the sides of the house lately. Some are doing better than others (such an understatement…my Cone Flower is UNHAPPY) so I’m moving things around still trying to find the right placement/sunlight/shade/water/etc. Pictures to come once things get more finalized and stop trying to die on me.
  
• Buy doormats (for both front and side door) – Done!
  
• Continue planting plants in the front flowerbeds – Done! Read about it here
  
• Buy new bedspread/comforter – Postponed!
  Toooooooo hot to even be thinking about buying a comforter…I’m currently sleeping on top of my covers as it is! Will cross this bridge as we approach Fall.
  
• Fire gardener and start taking care of the front yard – Done!
  Make no mistake, I didn’t do this because I like cutting the lawn and weeding and whatnot. Not. A. Fan. to be quite honest. But, I was given a brand new lawnmower as a thank you gift from a friend for painting their garage so I don’t have an excuse for not using it. And, I’ve found that instead of weeding I can squirt weeds with Round-Up and ignore them. My kind of “weeding”!!! Totally saving something like $40 a month. Plus my gardener’s son wears wayyyyy to much cologne when he comes to deliver bills/collect payments. Ugh…I can smell him for a solid 15 minutes after he leaves my house…Blah.
  

July 2012 Goals

Okay, I haven’t posted my results for my June goals yet, but they will be coming soon! I promise! But seeing how we are well into July, I wanted to get my July goals up (especially since I’m already working on a number of them!).

Again, I think I’m a little heavy on the crafty goals this month, but I can’t help myself! The yarn calls my name. Plus, I’m participating in a number of challenges at the moment – StashDash2012, Year of Projects/Blog-a-long, Ravellenics Games – and I’m trying desperately to reach all of my goals associated with each challenge. Thanks goodness they all overlap!

Crafty Goals (8)

• Finish my Piper’s Journey
  
• Finish my LaLa’s Simple Shawl
  
• Make 2^nd Very Pink Sock
  
• Start Leaves of Grass Shawl
  
• Start Kaya Cropped Raglan Shrug
  
• Post weekly updates for Year of Projects challenge
  
• Make and post Ravellenics Plans (by July 20^th)
  
• Participate in the 2012 Ravellenics (Go Team Mine!!!!!)
  

Reading Goals (1)

• Start Fifty Shades of Grey: Darker by E. L. James
  

House and Yard Goals (2)

• Green up backyard
  
• Start planting and arranging potted plants on patio
  

June 2012 Goals

While I didn’t complete all of my from my May Goals list, it was a very successful month of crafting, reading and house/yard work. With the summer settling in quite nicely here in Southern California this June, I see lots of opportunities to read outside at coffee shops, knit/crochet in public and do some outside house and yard work making it very easy to meet my goals this month.

Trust me, I know this month is looking VERY craft heavy, but that’s because I’m participating in The Knit Girllls’ Stash Dash 2012 (end of May to mid-August), the Ravelympics (end of July to early August) and the Annual Dishcloth Swap (mid August)! Apparently I can’t say no to a yarnie challenge and I have a slight case of startitis! (Must knit all the yarn!)

Crafty Goals (9)

• Finish 198 Yards of Heaven Shawl
  
• Start Piper’s Journey (get to lace edging)
  
• Start Pi Shawl (first 25 rounds)
  
• Finish spa cloths for Annual Dishcloth Swap (I’m magically 90% done with them!!!)
  
• Work thru Magic Loop Socks Tutorial (by VeryPink) – 1^st sock
  
• Finish stashing cotton yarn on Ravelry
  
• Stash ton-o-Vanna’s Choice on Ravelry
  
• Take pictures of Modern Garden Cardigan & Op Top and post to Ravelry
  
• Dye 16oz of Fisherman’s Wool with Kool-Aid
  

Reading Goals (2)

• Finish Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
  
• Start Catching Fire (Book #2 in The Hunger Games Trilogy) by S. Collins
  

House and Yard Goals (4)

• Buy doormats (for both front and side door)
  
• Continue planting plants in the front flowerbeds
  
• Buy new bedspread/comforter
  
• Fire gardener and start taking care of the front yard
  

  
   

May 2012 Goals – The Results Show

Crafty Goals

• Pick and test a dishcloth pattern for Annual Dishcloth Swap – 50% Done
  I think I’ve picked Grandmother’s Favorite as my pattern but I didn’t do a test knit (I’ve already made it a million times though!). I do have something cool in mind to make the pattern more interesting….details in June…
  
• Crochet a pin cushion – Nope, couldn’t find one I wanted to make…
  Sadness…Will probably end up buying a funky shaped one over the summer some time (avec a coupon of course).
  
• Knit Star Crossed Slouchy Beret for Saori – Done with details here and here!
  
   
• Start 198 Yards of Heaven shawl – Done with details here!
  
   
• Hand dye Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bare yarn – Done with details and a how-to here!
  
  (Top: Orange Cascade 220 that was overdyed with RIT Wine dye; Bottom: Knit Picks Bare that was dyed with RIT Evening Blue dye)
  
• Stash all full skeins of cotton yarn on my Ravelry stash page – Mostly done here
  Will finish this up along with stashing all of my Vanna’s Choice and acrylic yarn in June!
  

Reading Goals

• Read 50 Shades of Gray by E. L. James – 56% Complete
  It took me a while to open and get my Kindle up and running but I finally did and the first thing I downloaded was 50 Shades of Grey. It’s going well so far even though the prose isn’t great. But what it lacks in literary quality it makes up in guilty pleasure reading hotness! Very, very hot!
  

House and Yard Goals

• Plant ground cover in tiny flowerbed in front of house (under bathroom windows) – Done and more!
  
  Instead of buying a whole flat of this stuff I asked a friend of mine at work if I could clip some of the overgrowth at work. Free and easy! I also bought some other plants!

• Feed backyard – 50% Done
  It took me a minute to actually make my way over to Lowe’s and buy the type of weed and feed I wanted to put on the backyard (the type that you attach and spray on with the water hose). Now that I have what I need its always to windy to do it when I get home. I definitely don’t want this stuff spraying back in my face or on the puppy. Hopeful I can get this taken care of in June. Maybe…
  

• Buy an additional water hose for the front yard – Done (by my Dad!)
  

***********************
Yeah May!

Not bad! I didn’t get everything taken care of on my list but I feel like I accomplished a ton. I’m pleased.