I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off these past couple of weeks...Since one of my winter goals is to work from the stash, and complete some WIPs, I finished up this rainbow afghan...It had been sitting in the closet literally for about 10+ years...It's very bright, probably too bright, but I think it's fun! (I have no idea where the pattern is from--I remember it was from some strange crochet magazine years ago, maybe a Woman's Day special issue or something along those lines??)
Then I got a pickle up my butt to try and play with designing stuff, because I have decided that I am a Big Time Crochet Artiste...Just some scarves, and I haven't done any finishing on them yet, because I can't make up my mind what to do...Picot edge, fringe, pompons, what, what!??!!? I love being a Libra...
Since Some People have babies on the way (SQUEE!), I have been poring over baby patterns on Ravelry, but I ended up finding this in one of my crochet books...So cute, if I could only get over my Second Bootie Syndrome and finish up the other one!!!
And continuing with the whole Baby Theme, one of the women at work got knocked up, so I had to make a little something for her as well...(Also with the procrastination? I still haven't sewn a button on this...*sigh*)
And a bag storage thingie too! Much nicer than some old Kroger bag hanging off the pantry door, huh?
So, I just found the little organizing tab for my Ravelry queue, and organizing is what I need, so I clicky-ed...OMFGs, there is something really wrong with my brain...Now, I don't really use the Favorites button all that much; basically if I love it, or want to remember the project to do my own version or whatever, it goes in the queue, not in Favorites, but I have been trying my best to keep it edited and down to a 'reasonable number'...
Or so I thought...
37 bag patterns? 17 sock patterns?? 99 shawl patterns??? Ninety nine shawl patterns!! I AM SCARED OF LACE, PEOPLE! WHY AM I QUEUEING SHAWLS???
*sigh*
But look!
Since I stopped smoking in the house, I can have my sock yarn out, being all decorative and sh*t...It's a little dark in this picture, but I really like having the colors visible, to get me thinking about projects I need to finish up and things I'd like to start on...
It's just New Year, so I have been thinking over the last couple of days about things that I want to do over the next few months...I would say these were New Year's Resolutions, but I am sort of biased against that term, as it conjures up images of weight loss schemes and unused gym memberships...
1. My Etsy shop has been going quite well; of course, I have not yet achieved World Domination Through Stitch Markers, but I am pleased with how the work I put into it over the spring and summer has paid off...I have plenty more ideas, and have been a little frustrated recently, since my ideas have been more prolific than the amount of free time I have available...But some cool stuff is in the works...
2. I am going to learn to spin properly...It is so much fun! Maybe if I get Really Ambitious, I can pick out a project and take it from the wool to the finished item (I am only thinking about roving, because at this point, buying an actual fleece, with all the washing and carding and stuff, would be way too ambitious!)
3. My major plan for this winter is the Craft Yarn Council's crochet teacher certification...I would really like to do the CGOA Master in Basic Stitches to hone my skills, but I think for now I will work on my teaching skills, since the master class is a year-long commitment, and I have a lot I want to do in the next few months...
4. I am thinking about expanding some of my Etsy stuff...Maybe a supply store, to get rid of some of my crafty stuff...Or a new shop with some of the other stuff I make; I've been working on designing some patterns, and usually the way I work, I make an item, and write it down as I go, and then make a second one from my instructions, to test the pattern, so then I am stuck with two of whatever I've designed...Why not see if I can sell the finished products as well?
5. If I'm making New Year's (Non) Resolutions here, I guess I should think of a couple that are non-yarny? Um...Well, I resolve to return all my Netflix DVDs on time and...In the coming year I'd like to get a new tat from one of Pat Fish's designs...How's that? *grin*
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...
A while back, I was offered an opportunity to teach a crochet class at Gen Con...Now before you go all floopy, Gen Con runs a whole bunch of different classes, apparently, to keep non-gamer Significant Others entertained while their partners geek out on the gamer stuff...
Super cool! I was stoked...Corresponded back and forth with the nice Gen Con Organizer Lady, sent her class descriptions and questions, etc. etc. Went out and bought materials, started to plan out the projects I would do (had one pattern in my head but needed to invent another one for the class), all good, right? Well, I realized last night that I hadn't heard from her in a while, so I shot her a quick email to see if I needed to do anything else before Gen Con, when do I get my tickets, all that good stuff, and she responds that since I didn't fill out a form that I didn't know existed, she had assumed I didn't want to teach at Gen Con, and oh sorry, you can't fill out the form now because registration for classes is closed...
*grrrrrr*
The only good thing about this is that now that weekend is free, and it just happens to be the exact same weekend as Stitches Midwest! *snort*
So let's look at some yarn to soothe ourselves before we continue to the next tragic cherry on my cake of woe...
I was very fortunate a couple of weeks ago to be gifted with a brand new mattress...My bed was so old, and totally decrepit...The nice gentlemen from the bed store came up to my place and slapped that mattress on so fast you'd think they'd done it before or something...
It was then that I noticed the problem...
Beautiful, brand new, comfy-comfy, pillow top with that Swedish space age stuff inside...Niiiiice!
Except...
*cue scary organ music*
It is taller than me...
Can you see how far it goes up on the bed frame? It's about waist height to the top of the mattress...
These are my feets...Dangling miles above the floor...
I can has bench?
*sigh*
And so, here's the Feel Better picture...
On a lighter note...I finished the Haskabooben...Hartebooden...Fahrfegnugen...Whatever the fuck its name is...bag...
I am kinda in love with it, even though I don't think I made the handles quite long enough...
The olive green is coming out as a kind of strained peas baby barf color, unfortunately, but it's not really...*frowns*
And I did some work on a felting project as well...
The black yarn is Garnstudio's Eskimo, and I am completely in love with it...It's a chunky with no twist, and it's so smooth in your hand...It would be really great for maybe a giant slouch around all weekend kind of cardigan or something...The grey is some Rowan--I got them both on clearance and since I am trying to work on stuff from my stash (being kinda broke and all), I started working out some sort of felted bag idea...I've finished the piece now, but haven't thrown it in the washer yet, so stay tuned...
