So, it seems I have been terribly neglectful of my Blog...But I have been having Big Fun and running around like a crazy thing!
I went to the zoo!
They had penguins, ZOMGS!
And I saw a budgie throw up, but I did not get a picture of that...:(
I did get to see the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibit at the ISM while it was here...(For some obscure reason, it is not in the exhibit archive on the museum's website, but here's the NYT article about it anyway). It totally rocked...I wish I had gone earlier, actually, since by the time I got around to checking it out, they were sold out of the exhibition catalogues and another book by one of the featured artists...No pics, since I had it beaten into my head during a uni course in museum conservation that Pictures Are Bad (though other people were taking some...*sulks*)...I did get chased around the museum by a random (randy?) Filipino guy...
And I met one of my former crochet students at the interactive part of the exhibit, where you sit and knit and become part of the exhibition yourself! I felt like a total party pooper though...They had various people coming in and working on various charity projects, one of which they had designated to be given to Afghans for Afghans...Except they were making those strip afghans, which A4A specifically asks people not to send; and in acrylic, which they also cannot accept...*sigh*
/bitchiness
Guess what???
4 gold medals and 2 silver in the Ravelympics!

The best part for me were the WIP projects...I really liked having that motivation to grab up a couple of the WIPs that had been lurking around and get them out of the way...Funny thing is, the WIPs I did work on only had little bits left to do...Like the granny square bags just needed a little bit more felting and shaping, the handles sewn on, and a shave...Basically an evening's work, but I had not touched them in months...WTF?
I only got silver for one set of socks, because I started a pair of these, which are really easy and fun for a noob sock knitter like me...But I figured out pretty quickly that there was no way I was going to finish both pairs in 2 weeks, with all the other Ravelympics stuff I had signed up for as well...I got one done, and am actually going to cast on the other this weekend...Signing up to do the Cascade Fixation socks was just sheer lunacy...I think I thought that since the one pair of socks were just footies, they would go very quickly...They didn't take long, but I keep forgetting that sock yarn and size 2 needles are Not The Same as worsted weight and a J hook...*rolls eyes*
One thing pissed me off mightily though...I put the black and white socks in as one of the WIP events I wanted to work on...Remember, my sock brain fart? I figured that it would be a pretty easy fix, so I pulled it out, frogged it, and knitted to the end of the yarn I had frogged...But where was the rest of the skein? In with my sock yarn? No. In with the rest of the fancy yarn? Nuh-uh. Over by the acrylic? Naw. In the drawer with the yarn tools, over by the futon, in the box under the table, wherewherewhere??!?!?!?
Still haven't found it.
Stupid Yarn Sidhe.
Lookit what I did!

It is quite possibly The Worst Yarn In The Whole World, but it is MINE! I spun it MYSELF!! I will completely ignore the fact it goes from sport weight to bulky to worsted to super chunky and back to sport weight and simply glory in the fact that I SPUN SOME YARN HERE, PEOPLE!!!!!
This is the cozy little spot where Heathen Mama and I passed a very pleasant afternoon, spinning away...Well, I found it pleasant...I think that she probably found it slightly less so, what with the "Why is it doing that?" and the "What is this for?" and the "I need you to fix this for me" and the "Look at me! Look at me!!" every few seconds...
(I love spinning...)
Besides, I needed to get some revenge on good ol' HM, since she dragged me (yes, kicking and screaming) to the Trading Post's fabu Labor Day sale...
OMFGS, Halloween Socks!!!
And something really cool to spin with, once I get the hang of the damn thing...

And then Somebody got way overconfident and came up with the brilliant idea that we should have a mini-KAL and do a shawl together with this gorgeous, gorgeous yarn we found...(I got Argyle Socks, and I think HM got Pink Posey--clicky, and then go to the colors section)
A picture totally cannot do this yarn justice...The way the colors meld and play together is just beyond my nooby photography skills...It is all black and purple and red and burgundy; it makes me think of blackberries...Claudia Hand Painted Silk Lace, if anyone's interested...I so love it...But now Heathen Mama is all, "We should make this!" Or "What do you think about this, I really like it!" and she is pulling The Scariest Knitting Patterns Ever Written out of her ass, and I am all, "I think would be really nice as, say, a Garter Stitch Scarf, OK???" and cowering in fear...
And I have absolutely no excuse, because this whole thing is totally self-inflicted, and was my stupid idea in the first place...I feel so bad, because HM is my friend, and she is going to go through such a horrible experience, holding my hand as I whine and wail and shriek my way through my first lace project...But she had to know what she was getting herself into, and besides, doesn't that lickable pink yarn she got make up for it???
What else have I been up to??? Making political avatars for people's Ravelry profiles...

And busting my ass working on cool stuff for the
Etsy shop...

I have been cranking out some really cool stuff recently, if I do say so myself, and have had tons of ideas for new items...It's just finding the time to get them out of my head, into reality, and up on Etsy! I am doing a bunch of updates, since I've finally figured out that a bunch of little updates over a few days are better than one giant update all at once (more hits on the Etsy front page = more people seeing your stuff)...I have a whole new line of gift tags I'm making as well, and they are Teh Cute, so I will make sure I Blog them as soon as I get some pics taken and items up in the shop...
One of my Rubbernecker Ravelry buddies has kindly offered to help me with some of my graphics as well, so I am looking forward to getting that revamped, and working up some nicer-looking Ravelry ads and suchlike as well...
I'll dispense with the iPod Tuesday post for this week, since noone cares about my music except me anyway, but I have to post this, courtesy of Rollins Causes via Hello Henry, because it is freakin' brilliant...