I am about to update the shop. Give me about 10 minutes to fire away!!!

For Father’s Day, we went to Half Moon Bay to eat eggs benedict. The drive was really pretty, and it’s a shame I only had my phone cam to capture anything!

We wandered around down town a bit, where I found an AWESOME yarn shop!! I need to go back and check it out more closely!

We also wandered into a bakery where I bought this giant Portuguese sweet bread. I couldn’t stop eating it.

I painted a couple closets in our new house this weekend with my mom. Hairy and I were over there tonight, finishing up some stuff, and Bibi and Bunny brought a gross Elmo doll from the yard INTO THE HOUSE! YUCK!! There is all kinds of garbage and toys and giant piles of leaves that needs to be cleared out of there. Who knows what else the dogs will find and drag inside!

Just in case y’all don’t follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I posted a sneak of a cupcake coffee cup cozy. They are all finished up (10, all unique colors/flavors!), and I just have to finish up a few more things before uploading to Etsy! Finally! I am thinking maybe getting stuff into the shop on Wednesday. I have a ton of house-related appointments this week!

I crocheted these funny birthday candles for a felted project. Cross your fingers they don’t melt and mutate in the felting process!!

Hairy and I went to Ikea today for some color inspiration. I didn’t find much there tonight, but we did come away with these cookies with the funny name!

My life, among other things, is all about these right now:

I’m not very good at visualizing color in a big space like a room, and I get really stressed out about it. I have to remember that it’s just paint, and you can always paint OVER it.

Retro Minty Kitschen:

Serene, Candy Blue Master Bedroom (I haven’t found paint chips I really like yet for this room. Everything I pulled was too baby-blue.):

Girlie Barbie Bathroom:

Bold Blue Dining Room:

Sunshine Yellow Craft Room and Grass Green accent wall for Living Room:

Hairy’s Man Cave with Bright Red Door Frame Accent:

It looks like we’re moving! I’m partly excited, and partly overwhelmed. The only constant in life is change!

I had complained recently on Twitter that I couldn’t crochet for very long because I would start getting a sore spot or blister on my pinky. I then wrap it up in a bandaid for padding, but the Bandaid Method just seemed ridiculous.

Elisha suggested I try out the Hamanaka crochet hooks, which you can find on eBay and Etsy. They are a bit pricey: $50 for a full set, so I opted to purchase just one hook off eBay. They sure are cute, tho!

Pic taken from this Etsy shop.

They are double ended, so you actually get 10 hooks altogether. I was hesitant to try out the Hamanaka because the hook itself is very different than what I am used to. I use a cheapo aluminum Susan Bates set. It’s what Grandma Wendleton started me on back in the day, and I have never strayed. The Susan Bates hook has kind more of a wedgey area for the yarn to get lodged into. The Hamanaka and Clover hooks have more a swoopy curvey area.

This blog has a really good comparison photo, with my favorite Susan Bates style on the right, and the swoopier curvier kind on the left.

I have tried using the Hamanaka on a few small things here and there…and my yarn keeps slipping off the hook! I will give it a little more time, but I wonder how difficult or important it is for me to change my crochet style to adjust to the hook.

I have also seen crochet hooks covered in polymer clay, like this:

So I wonder how much that helps in avoiding blisters as well.

I actually bought a bunch of polymer clay for another secret project, so I might experiment. I’ll letcha know if I do, unless it turns out super ugly and I have to go hide.