Well....Here I am again.

So it's been what? Years. I know, bad, bad, blogger. I've a very short att...oh look something shiny...where was I?  I hope to update this to include my crazy life. It may never attract much attention, or be interesting to anyone but me, but I'm gonna see what happens.

I hope to make this a somewhat well rounded blog, encompassing everything that pertains to life around me. Narcissistic isn't it? I suppose that's where the struggle is. I want to share my life, and yet I don't want it to be all about me. Dichotomy you say? Yes...yes it is.

How can I sum up 4 years of life in one post? I am not sure it's possible. I guess short and to the point. Serious life changes here.

Got divorced, moved to a new town, got pregnant, had a wonderful little man, miss the two big kids I already have because they chose to stay with their dad. They're pretty amazing. I work at a pretty fun place. Just like any jobs, it has ups and downs, it's working with the public therefore some of the patrons are not pleasant. That's really the worst part, not being able to punch them in the throat when they act like complete idiots, and usually over approximately $ .30.

I have another "job" sort of. I get to work with an amazing person to create clothing, some of it even couture. That is a constant work in progress as we grow and change and become something amazing.
Also opening a new etsy. Maybe one day I won't be broke! LOL So there you have it. My life.

I'm still alive!!

Well, interestingly enough, I've been busy playing WoW lol. I admit, when I get free time, that 's what I'm doing. Alot. LOL check out my lvl 43 Warrior! You can't see it but I have the SWEETEST axe from Scarlet Monastery too. It's called "The Ravager" and when she attacks sometime she spins and takes on everyone around her. I love this game!!
And just in case you think I haven't been crafting, I have!! Lots of knitting done for 12 days of Christmas swap (aka crafting madness) and I spun 1lb of alpaca and some Sheep Shed Studios mill ends. Check it out! First one is 1lb (minus a sample skein) of alpaca I carded and spun. It was a learning curve because the staples were short! Like just a little over an inch in some places. 1470 yards approx. and almost a bulky at 8wpi. Pretty darn proud of it, it was for a friend. Now I get to spin this gray alpaca that has flecks of rusty red and black in it. It promises to be fun! It'll be for another friend.

This one is the Sheep Shed stuff. My dd and her friends were over dying eggs for Easter and they were done. Epiphany struck and I yelled, "WAIT!!! Don't throw out the dye!!!" Out of all the dyes the green seems to have stuck best. I have a bit more I'll spin up eventually. I don't have the stats on this because it's mine and unfinished sorta so I guess just enjoy. It's sort of self-striping too! It's called MMMmint!

Geek Utopia/Nerd Nirvana/Dork Paradise

I have found it! It is in a fantasy realm (duh!) called World of Warcraft. WoW in abbreviated form.It's an online multi player role playing game. It is world wide. I cannot even tell you how much fun it is. Now I understand all the Wow widow jokes. Not only is it full of elves and orcs and fantasy creatures, but it's full of geeks! Yep. Dorks unite! And last night as I played I was slaying baddies and chatting with another player who had a discssion with me about Tolkien elvish (his name was straigh out of the Silmarillion) And he recognized that my name was elvish too, so that meant at least a rudimentary knowledge of elvish was present!I also spent time player with a bunch of people who go aroudn helping you level up! They're like WoW good samaritans! I'm only level 13 cause I don't get to play all the time, but I would if I didn't practice self control! Today I got a little play time and I joined a guild who helps you get to ASTRONOMICAL levels. The player that invited me today was a leve 71!! It is my favorite game EVER. Look here's my player.

On a crafty side note, I may make a WoW poppet or two! I love this game.

WOWWWWW!!!

This is not so much craft related but oh my what an awesome post this is (at least for me!) Yesterday was my anniversary. I didn't think we were going to do much with church and a pinewood derby race after. But last week someone GAVE us tickets to Third Day!! I didn't think I was going to go because they were out of my budget. But we had incredible seats. THEN on the way to the concert, we rode with some friends. Well these friends are great and amazing and looky what they let my hubby buy from them!!!!

He BUILDS guitars for fun. This is a beautiful guitar. I'll admit it I cried. A month or two ago our friends had a bit of a garage sale and he mentioned selling it. It was for an amazing price, but still not within the budget. Well he's been letting the wonderful hubby pay him off bit by bit. It sounds beautiful too! It's awesome. And it's mine. woo!

The concerta was great too. Here's a couple of my fav pics
Look Mac almost has the same guitar! woo!

This was a cool pic from Switchfoot's lead singer going climbing the back wall and singing. The spotlight hit him just right.
Third Day doing "Run To You" one of my new favorite songs off the new album. It was an amazing show. It was soooooooo much fun!

Robin Hood...again

Okay, so it should come as no surprise anymore. It'll take some time before I get this out of my system. I made a handkerchief with Robin and Marian on it. I don't know what I'm going to do to finish it, but I HAD to finish this project. It's on a handkerchief to symbolize the tears cried. Cause I'm a dork. LOL It even made it to Hottest Topics on Craftster. High praise indeed for my geekery! Here it is! (The original pic is a couple of posts down.)

More RH rambling

Okay, so I'm still not over it. I was wondering around Youtube today because the BBC Junkies on ravelry sent a link with Richard Armitage interviews. Well that just snowballed and I found a beautiful video. I think it's Evenessance "my immortal" but it sounds different. It's soooooo sad....
Here it is.


Poor Robin.

In other news, I'm finally to the lace segment of my Feb. Lady sweater. Sot that's nice. I'll post a pic later....maybe. LOL

Here's a yarn I spun up for my soon to be Etsy. I'm going to get some more stuff up before I open it officially. But I hope to have it running by November. I've got two swaps to do also. So I hope I'll have enough time to get everything together. Here's the yarn


That's it for now.

I'm in mourning...and also slightly pathetic!

Okay, why am I in mourning? Marian died! Who? Marian the character played by Lucy Griffiths in the BBC version of Robin Hood. It's probably the only show I totally keep up with. And they killed her! How can this be? Robin and Marian's love story was central to the show. And Will and Djac stayed in the Holy Land! I feel like I've lost a real person. This is why I'm pathetic. I clearly need more friends or a life or therapy! LOL The only happy part is that they finally were able to be married. So she died married to Robin. I don' t know what they'll do with this from now on, but it'll be at least a year before I'll know. And I've just heard they may not even release it in the US! ACK! If you read this and you are from the UK, I will find something to give you-money, yarn, lovely handcrafted goodies!- in order to have this on DVD especially if they don't release it here. Seriously.

In Memoriam....sniff...On the other hand, I did make some progress on a knit-a-long I'm doing. I'm doing the February Lady Sweater. I'm doing it in Cascade. I don't remember the colorway, but I call it kermit green! Here's my progress so far.

Well that's my latest update. Oh I may or may not join the Ravelympics. I'm still thinking if I have enough time. I have two swap packages coming up too. So I don't know. If I do I have to figure out which team I'm going to join also.

Yep, my life seems full of shallow things, but it's only because I like to keep it light here. And just a little pathetic, mourning characters on tv shows n stuff. Yeah I'm cool like that. ha.

Sheldon and the Jacket of evil

So I tracked down Sheldon. He was hiding behind my daughter's bed. Well technically it's "Sheldalina" according to my kid but I call her Shelly. Here she is. Up close and personal.


Full on view (and my yard!)




Side view so you can see her pretty shell.



And here is the JACKET OF EVIL on Lola. Well pinned to her, Lola is a bit chesty for it to button. Now here are a couple of views of the jacket of evil. So many little things to do, hand sewing the ENTIRE lining in. And I had so many things go wrong with this jacket I was angry just having it here. I even managed to sew the button holes on the wrong side. yep. Like 12 hours before it needed to be done. I thought I was going to do bad things to the jacket at that point. When I gave the jacket to him and told him that I put the button holes on wrong the first time, the look on my face must have said, "Go ahead, say something...I DARE you!!" I did sew them up and make new ones. I told him take "the jacket" (because at this point it was like saying a dirty word to say jacket) and never bring it back. LOL Well here are the only shots I have, as modeled by Lola. up...hehe



So there you go. What I've been up to recently. The rest is a secret...

Making stuff...gettin' stuff

Okay, so on the making stuff front, I have something for Kishcrafts, something for sewknitter, knit a Sheldon for my daughter and a commission that is pure evil. Evil I tell you! I can't really say what the stuff for kish and sewknitter is, because well, it's for a swap and that would spoil it. I love surprises. So that must remain a mystery for now. My daughter has lost Sheldon in her room so I can't even put that pic up. I've got to start remembering to take pics though. I've made some stuff I was kinda proud of and forgot to take pics.

The evil commission is in the form of a civil war military jacket. It is truly evil. I've always done well when it comes to sewing clothing. I can make clothes w/o patterns, adjust and alter all that stuff. Not like a pro, but I'm efficient enough. The jacket I'm making has a very strange pattern, and I've had to alter it due to the height of the person I'm making it for. No big, except that it hates me and tries to make me miserable. Seam allowances change w/o warning, the sleeves are too wide at the shoulder, I've had to redraft from a smock (long coat) to an enlisted man's coat. which is in itself interesting. I have never had so much trouble with a piece of clothing. I've sewn satin baby dresses (for dedications) and have never had the troubles I have with this jacket. Well anyway, I've ranted lately, and I've not worked on it today so I'm not nearly as upset as I was earlier this week. I've actually had conversations with the jacket, informing it of how much I loathe it. I clearly need to get out more. LOL I hope to take pictures of this foe once I've vanquished it!

Now for the gettin' stuff. I have recently really become enamored with all things Asian. I love the Japanese stuff especially. A friend of mine is from the Philippines which is totally cool, because I love her and she shares all kinds of great information from her country. She also shares my excitement over things like anime' Asian inspired/themed things, and we're both kind of dorky and a little random. So it's never dull! Anyway, she's super sweet, and she went to an Asian market -that I didn't know existed!- with her family for a certain item. Well she brought me back a fabulous treat! Calpico! Look! Mine was the Hello Kitty w/the kimono.

It's a milk-based drink. It's powdered milk and lactic acid and flavors. It reminded me of an orange flavored otter-pop. I was so excited I actually jumped up and down...yep I really am that big of a dork! Anyway, it was blog worthy. I plan on doing something with the wrapper, or the container. I don't know what yet, but I will do something!

I guess that's it for now. I will try to include more crafty pictures.

Fun stuff!

Okay, so lately I've had an obsession with all things Asian. I love Manga, Shojo, bento, Japanese gameshows. I love Ninja Warrior, The Unbeatable Bansuke, and I've forgotten one I used to watch that a friend from the Philippines reminded me of, Takeshi's Castle. You can find it online. I love kawaii (cute) stuff like food and even poo with faces. This is where my crafting has been going. So anyway, I'll include craft stuff later, this is just too funny to not post. Oh, I found this on www.oneinchpunch.net It's not all family friendly but there is some awesome stuff there!



If you look on my Ravelry account, you'll see lots of the Japanese knitting/crochet stuff I've found. I lurrrv it!

Random thoughts with minor craft relatedness

I can't even think of how to begin this entry. The last few months have been sucktastic at the highest level. Lotsa junk. I had a stinkin' flu for like 2 1/2 weeks before I had to go to the ER and get a breathing treatment. I was barely up to doing daily stuff w/o sweating and breathing like I ran a marathon. It was stupid and I am glad I'm finally better. Still have to take maintenance inhaler which sucks, but ah well at least I can live normally again.

A cool thing happened though. I discovered legal crack. Yep it comes in the form of a Starbuck's Chai Tea Latte'. It is seriously my crack. I begin to plan when I can have it, I think about it when I don't have it. I'm giddy when I get it. Okay maybe it's not quite that bad, but it's pretty darn good! I also found that it's just a box of tea (Tazo) that you can buy in the store for around $5 instead of 3 1/2 for a cup. So I make my own crack now. It's awesome. Try it if you haven't. I'm almost convinced they put something in it. LOL

Now one more thing before craft stuff. WHAT THE HECK??? Cirie and CHET are still there????? I cannot believe anyone would listen to her. And she's so super smug about "controlling" her tribe!! And the blond from the "outcasts" who keeps Chet around. Why????? She's clearly digging her own hole there. UGH even Ozzy, who up until now, I thought was a really smart player. Why didn't they keep Joel? Get rid of him in the merge, but man he's needed for brute force. WHY OH WHY would they listen to her?? She knew she's next. I don't care for Joel's lack of compassion about dragging Chet, but he [Chet] gives up every time it's tough! Clearly Ozzy's judgment is clouded by his hormones. Which is another @@ moment. I had high hopes for Yauman and they got rid of him, I had thought I'd support Ozzy. Now I hope the little blond ice cream scooper kids wins. He's the only one that doesn't seem so arrogant. I think the "favs" are getting big heads. Big question is , why do I care? LOL

Crafty stuff. I love me some poppets. I don't even know when it happened but now I'm slightly obsessed with them. Still knitting. Did a super awesome hat recently. But I had to hurry and ship it and as usual I forgot to take a picture. It's the Transformer Toque. You can find the link in my Ravelry account I think. If not then look at Craftster. The lady who made up the pattern is a genius, and if I wasn't so lazy I'd find her name. I'd say I'll find it and put it up, but...yea. It was fun and I made it with baby alpaca. MMMM alpaca.

I got a couple of lbs. of fiber from Sheep Shed and some from Babetta's recently. Fun fun.
Here's some stuff I've done recently. All the stuff being shown has come to me via swaps. Can you say Craftster love??? yeah. The black/pink is about sock weight. I spun it from some lovely rolags sent to me by Raynbow. The other came from Astormorray. The middle rope is mohair. It's wonderful! I'm combining it with some angelina and some rust colored roving.

Catching up!

I have been falling behind on my blogging, it's no wonder nobody reads it. So without further adieu here is a monster "look what I've done" post.

My wheel, I've named him Wylie. Sitting there on his lazy-kate is my first navajo plied yarn. I love my wheel!

Next, my yarns. I'll just add the group shot, if you want closeups you can look at my crafster posts.

I suppose the picture loading isn't working right for me, oh well.

A couple of pics of Lola, hem still unfinished. One closeup of the necklace and belt. I loves me the belt!

The last pic is a sweater (aka the five hour sweater) I made for a friend's baby shower. I ran out of yarn and couldn't find anymore of the purple so I got the bright idea to add some fur to the ends of it. It went over well.

Yessssssssssss!!!

:::Insert maniacal laugher and odd jerky movements some might recognize as the "happy dance"::::: Oh yes indeed I am happy. Happy doesn't even begin to cover it really. I'm ecstatic, overjoyed, a little insane maybe. I GOT MY WHEEL. Oh yes my friend, I will have a wheel soon. Thanks to my honed stalking abilities, and also to the fact I can "hold it" for 45 minutes while fighting with some other person who thought they would snipe MY wheel in the last 20 minutes. Oh no, not MY wheel she won't! Okay so I'm slightly dramatic. I'm pretty darn excited. I've had "wheel fever" for while now, but this dutch company on ebay keeps selling them so cheap with hand carders, a lazy kate and even a skein winder. I won a Louet s60. squee! I wish they had a "get it now" button, kinda like the "buy it now" one. That would be sweet. Now I have to wait two weeks. Who knows what kind of madness may ensue over at Sheep Shed or the various etsy shops now that I know I will have a wheel. My LYS is getting silk hankies and more dyes. Okay, I'll quit ranting but this was news that couldn't wait! I'll post pics when I get it. Along with the pics of Lola's outfit if I ever finish it. ha.

Woo!

Alrighty then, I know I am officially a dork. I got my ravelry invite and now must decide to play on it or go to bed so I can get to church at a decent time. I don't currently even know all about what I can do on ravelry. I know there's a chat room. A CHAT ROOM for knitters!! (and Crocheters I hold love in my heart for both!) can you believe it. Though it seems slow, probably because everyone is knitting and has not figured out how to type with their face. (I personally find this a hysterical visual! A bunch of crazy fiber enthusiasts with busy hands bashing their faces into their keyboards and looking hopefully at their screen to see if they formed actual words...) Okay it's late. I'm tired but oh so excited. It's like sitting at the cool kid's table! LOL

I am in fact a clutz and a slacker

Okay, so I bet you're wondering why I would say that?? Well, first, cause it's true. I don't know if I fractured my ankle or sprained it really bad yesterday. Why is that a big deal you say? Because I was jumping off my fireplace ledge. LOL Don't ask...

Why then am I a slacker? Because I've failed miserably at my hopes to compete in Tour de Fleece. No I wasn't doping...just dopey! LOL I started off strong. I blame it on the purple beast. I had to break from it, dig out another spindle and dye some Bombyx silk to keep from going mad. Then life just got crazy. I haven't spun in like two days. The silk is lovely tho. When I can find my camera batteries ( I think they're in my cd player) I'll take a pic of it. It turned out nice w/lots of green, brown, orange, and as a nod to the Tour yellow. Though the brown and green seemed to swallow up all the other colors. Oh and wait'll you see how Lola's been dressed! ( my dress form) I got this pattern I'll edit in the number when I'm feeling less lazy, that is a totally cute 50's style dress. And it's done in a cherry pattern! I love cherries. And a big red patent leather belt! I'm in love! I just need the right shoes and jewelry! Anyway, more later.

Tour de Fleece

Okay, so it's taken me forever to start the blog I said I was going to do. I haven't had nearly as much time as I had hoped. Nor did I win the wheel I was bidding on. >:-( . I really thought I had it. Sigh...Oh well. I'm getting better on my drop spindle anyway. I have tons of purple roving. That's what I'm spinning right now. Thing is, I don't like purple. My mom is uber obsessed w/it tho, so I'm going to ply it with something lavender and make her socks for Christmas. I'm sick of purple but I have 3/4 lb , maybe less. I have lots of Sheep Shed Studio's mill ends in red tones, I love it. I may order some black so I can ply it for something for me. What I don't know, maybe something done in entrelac. I also am considering joining Spunky Eclectic's fiber of the month club. I've seen lots of beautiful stuff come from there. I want it. LOL.
So here's the purple stuff.

Yay!

I'm so excited! naelany helped me out! I needed bar thingies. I got 'em! Woot! (does anyone say that anymore? If not all the better! Why be normal??) I am beginning to like crafty blogs. Unfortunately the only crafting I'm doing is for swaps. And it would kind of give away what I was doing.

I can talk about the handspun swap a bit though. I am rather please with how things are turning out. And it's kind of weird to be able to say what I'm working on. And it just so happens that I was in my LYS and bought a bunch of roving! 1lb!! And how very fortunate for me that it was in some colors my partner would like. But that's all I have to say about that.

On a side note, I've been teaching needle arts (primarily knitting) to a bunch of kids at my kid's school. I love it so much. I'm sad that Friday was the last day. :*( But the cool part is, well there are two cool parts. #1 I get to go back next year. I will miss the girls I taught tho. Esp this one girl I'll call Sam. She was funny and different. She reveled in it though. She had a really dry sense of humor. Every time I saw her it seems she had needles and yarn in her hands! And this other littler girl, I can't even remember her name. She had SUCH a hard time knitting. The first session she actually left with her yarn in knots and in tears. It broke my heart. She was the youngest. 3rd grade I think. So the next session I sat with her the whole time. The next time I saw her she had used up all the yarn we gave her and made her mom go buy her some more. She had completed MOST of a scarf. In a week's time. Someone who the week before didn't even know how to knit. Gives me warm fuzzies. All the girls had made something by the end of teh 6th week. Most scarves, some more than 2! Okay #2 I got flowers (that were gorgeous!) a thank you card from the teacher (who was super nice) that I worked with and the students, some gorgeous wool yarn, cotton yarn, and a gift card to Joann's!! Right before a big sale! Can it get much better??? I can't wait for next year!

Help!

All right you knowledgeable people out there, I need help. If anyone actually reads this that is...ha. I want different pages, pretty ones, not these prefab ones. And I want the little bars that tell you how far along you are on a project. I want all the fun stuff I see other people having. Is there a link where I can learn how to do this? If so pleeeeeeeeeeeeease tell me. I'll be your friend forever!

On the crafting front, I have exciting news! I was at a yard sale the other day and ran across a dress form, my size for $30!! Woohoo! I have named her Lola. Lola likes it here. I haven't had time to make stuff for Lola to wear, mostly because I keep changing my mind, but I have a few jackets to cut up and recon and I just got the Anthropolgie catalog so we should be good to go soon. It amazing me how many people on Craftster have already made similar things that Anthropologie is puttin out for like $182. ick I won't say never, but man I cannot see paying that much for one top. Especially one I know I could make! I'm glad to say that wider leg pants are still around! I was having visions of looking like an Oompa Loompa w/ skinny jeans. heehee Oh an update on my 80's tribute. I found some Caron's "Shadow" that is a self-striping (of course!) yarn that is plied with a gray so it's a really muted stripe, but cool none the less. I'm half way through with what is basically a circle shrug, but may not be able to finish it in time to wear it. Bummer. Here's to hoping shrugs are still around. I think I may have figured out how to add pics so I'll take a pic and update later.

The 80's

Heh, the 80's . What a fantastic time it was. And it's even more awesome that the 80's have come back! I love everything about the 80's...well... almost. I don't love shoulder pads. And I'm iffy about leg warmers. I've been reliving my youth ( ah I've dated myself) and watching all my old favorite bands on you tube. I have to say, I almost feel sorry for some of them. I was watching White Lion ( used to thingk Mike Tramp was gorgeous.) and there's this part where he totally flips his hair and gives a "come hither" look to the camera. I still have the giggles from it. Ah the 80's cheese factor is fabulous.

I used to think that my mom sitting there going "I remember when" was ridiculous. Um...maybe it wasn't so ridiculous after all. I love my life now, but there's something to be said for reminiscing. I think I may pay tribute to the 80's some how in crafting.

....maybe knitting some leg warmers could be the start of it. Or something checker board. hmmm

Crafty Goodness

I love Crafster. My family loving Craftster...not so much. Okay my family probably wouldn't even know Craftster existed if it weren't for me going, "Just a second, I want to look at one more thing on Crafster." Or having to get up in the middle of a movie or soemthing because I finished something and have to post it on Crafster. I will probably post what I'm doing/crafting also, but for now, this will serve as a place for my swap partners to find out about me.

I love rich autumn-like colors best. Being that I'm a red-head with pale -read:lack of pigment- skin those are best for me. I love Lord of the Rings, medieval, (just not evil thanks ;-D ) art, sewing, ATCs knitting,spinning,(If you're wondering , why yes I'd LOVE a spinning wheel.) Pretty much anything you can make I'd love to try. I knit a lot. I love yarn. I want a yarn store. Not to make money, merely to justify having copious amounts of yarn with a believable excuse! Bear with me as I figure out how to make my blog a fun place to visit.