Wow that was dorky. Please excuse me, I woke up to find Cody had left the tv on Children of the Corn, which sort of puts you in an odd mood for the rest of the day. Ok I don't care I'm moving forward with this anyway.

First I want to praise a wonderful group blog called DeStash - Cash for Your Stash. I'd had some yarn from my stash that I wanted to sell for various reasons. Turns out that angora and I are not friends, which is funny because Melon's fur is so similar. There was some yarn that I liked but would never ever knit with.

So I gathered it together and put it up for sale in my etsy shop for a while. Aside from the Vesper sock yarn, which went within hours of course, nothing else sold. I had joined the Destash group blog when I first heard about it but hadn't posted anything because I wanted to get a better feel for the format. You know how that goes with online groups - it's smart to lurk for a while to see the general etiquette and standard behaviors before jumping right in.

I found myself with some free time and a desire to sell that stash yesterday so I posted the yarn. It was easy. I uploaded the photos to flickr (avoiding the bad "sale" word that will get you banned, using the word "unclaimed" instead), used fds flickr toys to make some composite photos, then used the templates the Destash blog already has set up when you start to create a new entry. I already had the descriptions and details for the yarn on my etsy site.

I don't know if it was particularly good yarn - some of it was. Or if I'd underpriced myself - which I tend to do. Or the quality of the photos - doubtful. Or using the flickr toy to make a composite photo - I'm voting for this one. All the yarn was sold in less than 12 hours. The only yarn that's still up there is just waiting for an echeck to paypal to clear and I need to remember to take that down. Woohoo! Money for the cruise!

So I would like to praise the Destash - Cash for your Stash blog.

Now, I need your praise. Not for me (although that's always welcome!) but for your favorite bulky yarn.

I'm making a cabled shawl with pockets for my friend's grandmother and can't decide what yarn to use. The pattern is from Knitpicks so they have some of their yarn recommended but I'm not sure about the colors.

She likes deep jewel tones - wine, blue, not green, maybe purple if it's not too bright? and I like to use very subtle tweedy or heathered yarn with cables. I think it hightlights the depth. Not variegated unless it's really subtle and no stripes. This is for a grandmother in Iowa so I want to keep it simple with rich colors. It needs to be really soft but not shed all over the place and not pill. Handwash only is ok.

I'm looking for 3.5 - 4 stitches an inch on US 10 needles. I don't really want to double up the yarn as I think that would be too complicated to work with on this so I'd like to stick to bulky or thereabouts. A little bigger or smaller is ok though.

I need it soft, colorful, and the ability to get 880 yards of the same dye lot for under 50 bucks. I'd spin the yarn for this but I've got way too much going on right now. I'm not adverse to discontinued lots or ebay. I'll probably end up going with Knitpicks' recommended yarn but I wanted to see what else is out there.

Hey, since this friend works like a block from Artfibers so I might give her a list of requirements to bring to the shop during lunch so she can pick it out and send it to me to knit! That would be fun! LOL no I don't think we could get 880 yards of anything from Artfibers for under even 100 bucks I'm just kidding.

So please praise your favorite bulky yarn!

I've just cast off like a bagillion stitches for a project I've been working on. I can't discuss it for a little while though. It's a secret. Don't say anything Snbers! Not till I post pics!

I attended a marvelous sit-down with some other members of the Albuquerque Craft Mafia last Sunday and we had a great time! What's really fun is we all have different craft backgrounds. Even though Beth and I are both knitter/spinner/dyers we both do very different work.

I'm doing my best not to panic that we have two group craft shows coming up, one on Nov. 17th and another on Dec 1st. But now that I have this big project mostly finished (still have to weave in the ends but thankfully I don't plan on blocking it) I can make all kinds of fun things to sell. I'm thinking of a shibori bag or two? Some stuff with my handspun?

Cody's been making me practice driving around our neighborhood. I'm not happy about this but he's been bribing me with coffee. Oh yes I can be bought. If this means I can eventually drive myself to the gym to swim, to get coffee, and go to the knitting groups, well, it's worth it. But it's scary and hard for me to do.

I need to go find some lunch now. But I'm so happy about finishing that project I had to blog about it, even though I can't say exactly what it is.

I had dragged all my yarn, all of it, into the den and spent several days going through it all, deciding what to put in a gypsy kit, which of the more complete or untouched yarns to sell or trade, what I might as well give away to a newb (hello lion brand homespun!).

Then the real fun began: I went through all that was left, the stuff I couldn't bear to part with, and put them into gallon zip top bags with their sibling yarns, if they had any, sometimes even a copy of the pattern that I have earmarked for them. Oh my. So I have a big really embarrasing list now. Want to see? Of course you do!

These are current projects that I intend to finish within the next few weeks

1. Funky Scarf - this is a really interesting project that I'll go into more detail later
2. Secret Pinwheel Blanket - for an undisclosed with-child recipient
3. Pink and red naturespun squares - for another undisclosed with-child recipient (one of the many)
4. Beaded Scarf - using the yarn from a few posts back - for a client

These are projects that are on the needles but I don't know when or if I'll finish them

5. Will's scarf - a totally simple scarf in sock yarn but it's pretty low on the priority list
6. Crochet scarf w/ Artfibers Gypsy silk yarn - Yarn from my best friend last year and at the moment just a very long chain. I will learn to crochet dammit
7. The Ugg Set - I just need to do the front flap and the ears on the hat but inertia has really set in
8. Shadow Shawl - I love this project. Really. But other projects constantly overshadow it - so to speak.
9. Baby Sweater - oh yeah! That one! I think we've found my oldest UFO here! The good part is it's maybe a year old so that's not TOO bad for a UFO. I guess.
10. Sprout Giotto Sweater - oh yeah! I forgot about that one too! I've gone back and forth about frogging it and making something else. But it's actually kind of cute. I don't think I have the stamina for "actual sweaters" because...
11. The Big Girl Knits Sandy Cardigan - I'm still on the first panel and it's cute! The brown bear lion's brand turned out to be way more red than the photos showed so back to kaleidescope it goes. I did go ahead and order the color cards for several knit picks yarns and I'm going to check out the Cascade at the LYS too.
12. My Fleur De lis shadow pattern - yeah, that. I hate that now.

Just wait until you hear about the ones I plan to do sometime...

1. Thuja w/ lt grey Trekking XXL - for Cody
2. Besotted w/ Jo Sharp - probably not until next January haha
3. Felted Clogs - also for Cody, believe me the guy's earned some toasty feet with his wonderful fiber husbandliness
4. Booga - I have never done one! And with all the noro I have, I really should
5. Felted hedgehog - still haven't gotten to do this one. Now I did knit a stuffed hedgehog toy last year for my nephew but that one wasn't felted and this was before the FiberTrends pattern
6. Cabled Baby hat - yeah, there's another one. This will be in the same pinky acrylic stuff as the bootie socks
7. Fair Isle Socks - the first fair isle pattern I'm going to try! That cool knitpicks pattern with the self-patterning sock yarn and the solid.
8. Knee High socks w/ koigu - these will be done sometime this fall
9. City Shawl - has been sitting around waiting. Ramona called me a shawl queen and I'm afraid that I am. Not the biggest, but I'm working on it.
10. Windy City Scarf - this is a simple ribbed scarf pattern with some cool handpainted loopy mohair. Stuff from Chez Casuelle always gets me.
11. Favorite scarf and hat patterns using some Maisy Day Handspun
12. A Felted pottery pattern from Plymouth using some Neutral Noro Silk Garden, sort of an experiment with some leftover noro
13. Multi directional scarf using grey manos
14. The Magknits multidirectional scarf pattern using some Jaeger Baby Merino
15. Sabrina Tam from Knitsimple using Berroco Optik
16. Something fun with some great handspun silk blend I bought from Greenwood a while back
17. Comfy Shawl using some handspun from Hello Yarn
18. Feathery Lace Stole using marmalade kidsilk haze
19. branching out using yellow la luz silk
20. Airy Scarf using a white blend from a local artist, Robin Pascal
21. Heartstrings' Beaded Swirls beaded lace socks using Lorna's Laces Yellowstone.

You can be honest. Does this make me look crazy?

Oh! I also put this site together for a friend of mine who's hosting a knitting retreat at Ghost Ranch north of Santa Fe during the last week of October. I'm not sure if I'm going to get to go. All the discretionary funds are being saved up for the cruise and to be honest I'm a bit princessy about my sleeping and bathroom arrangements, and I've heard that they're pretty rustic at the retreat. But it looks like it would be really fun and a beautiful landscape to explore if you weren't a big ninny like I am.

Today I'm doing something that's kind of interesting: I'm going through all my stash yarn and putting some fun selections together to sell as kits with a pattern I've written up for a smaller version of my Artfibers souvenir shawl, which I've been calling my Gypsy Scarf. This was initially an idea for the funky scarf swap people but I thought anyone might enjoy it. We'll see how many kits I can get together today. This seems like a really cool way to stashbust and spread the funky scarf joy. So keep an eye out for photos of those sets tomorrow.

Also, I'm really excited because I just found out that Knitting Pattern Central has linked to my Kitten Mittens (still one of my favorite knit things ever) and my Silk Garden Flower patterns.

Now here are some much more flattering photos of the yarn and roving I dyed the other day.

This is roving I dyed for my funky scarf swap person. I'm going to spin it a worsted weight, knit a scarf lengthwise on some 13s, then felt it with a bunch of bottlecaps held to it with rubber bands for a cool shibori resist method. I'm calling this roving We Want the Funk

This is some sock yarn I dyed for a friend of my sister's. (Hello Laura!) I've been calling it Green River after the CCR song. Yes I'm a dork.

The rest is up for sale in my etsy shop.

Here is some superwash fingering weight merino that's very similar to Green River but is a bit brighter. I've been calling it Waterlillies

Another superwash fingering weight merino. I've been experimenting with a new yarn painting technique that gives this really interesting "pointillist" effect as colors fade into other colors. Thus this is called Pointillist. It's going cheap as there are some dark spots I'm not crazy about. I think it would still look really interesting and fun! I just thought I should mention it.

The rest is Corriedale roving that I bought from a family farm from last year's shearing and dyed. I'll spin it all eventually but thought I'd put it up anyway. Let me know if you want me to spin it up for you!

I'm calling this one Carnival Flirt. There's a little over 4 ounces.

This one is Schmoop. Because blues and greens always make me feel a little schmoopy inside. Over 4 ounces.

This is called Sydney because it made me remember watching the harbor. This is a smaller one, 3 ounces.

I just heard about a woman who's selling some of her yarn to pay for her sick kitty's procedures.

Here's the link.

Lots of Classic Elite and Cherry Tree Hill.

Buy some yarn! Pass it on!

I've been working on the illusion version of my fleur des lis washcloth this weekend and wanted to see if the pattern made sense to other people too. I'm sending an illusion cloth as well as two knit from the regular pattern off the the Louisiana state museum on friday along with the patterns to give away (or sell for charity) at the exhibit.

I'm working on a chart but right now just have the text file that goes row by row. I was really surprised to find that it was five pages long when I printed it out.

Knitting this shouldn't take long at all - three or four hours for a moderately fast knitter and 1 ball each of cotton yarn in 2 contrasting colors. Anyone interested?

Look what I found in my inbox today

Holy crap, ya'll! I'm going to have a piece in the Louisiana State Museum!

I love doing these things. We've all heard that women tend to be nurturers, and crafting is "women's work". But we're taking that attitude and making it our own, making a difference, even if it's in small ways - like knitting squares for a blanket to soothe a sick child.

I can't volunteer to work directly with the children, or be anywhere near sick or homeless animals. I don't have the strength for that- it hurts my heart too much. But I can knit and make useful things fairly quickly so this is one way I can help.

I have a new knitting goal (like I don't have enough) - I'm going to try to knit at least one charitable item a month. It might be one square for a project like grace, a hat for dulaan, a crate blanket for the local animal shelter, or a scarf for the snb's latest project (I LOVE how we're working together on projects like this). I've been very lucky in my life and this is one small way I can help.

So here are some squares I'm mailing out today for Grace's friend, Justin.

I knit eleven squares in the last week or so. Lots of different yarns used there - kitchen cotton, sock yarn leftover from my jays (doiuble stranded), some handspun from sandstone ranch, cotton leftover from my old ballet tee, the turquoise is some cotton I'd bought at a discount shop and experimented with immersion dyeing, and there are several using some nice Rowan yarn from my mom's friend at the Assistance League which completes an interesting circle of giving.

So those are all done blocking and are going out in the mail today with some nice yarn donated to the prize pool. Along with a nice package of goodies for my secret pal 7 angel gal. She's going to love it.

I'm feeling smug and busy today.

that peer pressure can sometimes be good. Behold.

Do you also like the hedgehog stitchmarkers Triplelle made for me? She's selling them now!

I'm also now officially a member of the koigu cult. I've joked about it. I've owned some for almost a year. But I'd never knit with it until now. I can't get over how shiny it is, the richness of the colors. It seems like at the end of every row I'll just stop and marvel and the colors and the magic of this pattern.

See? Sometimes peer pressure is ok.

And am I the last person who found out they can subscribe to yahoo group feeds in bloglines now?

I'm really proud of this stuff. It's the craziest yarn I've ever spun ever. Clearly I've been taking a stab at the freestyle spinning in the style of Pluckyfluff, Material Whirled, Insubordiknit to name just a few.

It's called Drag Queen Grover. I was talking about it the other day and the photos really don't do it justice. I spun some Merino that was dyed varying shades of blue thick and thin style, spun randomly (using my hell's angel hair method) with some locks of fluffy mohair that was also in varying shades of blue. Then I strung a bunch of iridescent acrylic beads onto clear nylon thread and plied the thick and thin yarn with the thread. It created a sort of boucle looking effect. With occasional beads. And sometimes I twisted several beads together creating a little necklace hanging off. Crazy stuff. Looks like a muppet in drag. And it's blue like Grover so...Grover in drag.

I hope I don't get sued by the Sesame Street people. There's an extrordinary amount of this yarn considering it's a novelty freestyle type yarn: 160 yards. More than twice what you usually see for sale. Beverly thinks it would make a HELL of a One Skein Wonder :)

This stuff is just nutty. The mohair is really soft and fluffy as is the merino. The beads make cool clicky sounds. It's not nearly as tangled as it seems in the photos. The sun was at a very odd angle when I took these.

Anyway, I'm planning on selling this for seventy bucks. But wait! If you buy in the next ten minutes (ok not really I'll be offering this the whole time) I'll throw in these two matching sample skeins!

The one on the left is a fifteen yard skein is a single ply spun from just the blue mohair locks. The one on the right fifteen yards and is the mohair spun with random locks THEN plied with the singly ply of the mohair locks. So that's 30 yards of matching yarn IN ADDITION to the 160 yards of the beaded stuff. Possible material for the cuffs of the OSW? You decide!

All that for the low low price of 70 US dollars plus four dollars shipping! I'll be posting it on the Etsy site on Monday so let me know in the comments if you want to buy it first!

I seem to have been in a blue mood lately because I also took four commercial yarns in varying shades of blue and plied them together to create a really cool super super bulky yarn.

This yarn has one strand each of: imported electric blue brushed mohair, slatey prussian blue brushed merino, teal brushed suri alpaca, and baby blue plied cotton (leftover from my ballet t). It will continue to fluff out over time creating a really interesting depth of colors as they all fluff and blend together. It's just under 50 (49.88 to be exact) yards. Using much larger needles, like 35s and 50s, this would create a great scarf.

I'm calling it Extreeeeeeme Blue. Yes, that's a Harold and Kumar reference. I'm a dork. I'll be putting that up in the Etsy shop as well selling it for 25 US dollars plus 4 dollars shipping. So let me know if you want to snag it first!

So, with my silly sales pitches overwith I'll show off the Marilyn sweater that Scout got from Anna for me. Thank you Anna!

It's really nice isn't it? And I got Cody to take a photo of both my hands at the same time wearing the armwarmer things!

Before

(That shirt says Leeroy Jenkins Whelp Training Academy - as in Leeeeroy Jeeeeenkins. I stole it from Cody. Well, he wears my free to stitch free to bitch and craft pirate shirts)

After

Think there are enough photos in this post? I'm not sure. Oh, and I finished the first sock of what I'm calling the "Ironic Cabled Socks" and I'm well into the second one. And I've finished spinning a good amount of some pink superwash and white tencel blend. Not quite as funky as Drag Queen Grover up there but pretty nice.

Ok I feel all caught up now I'm going to go do some sock knitting.

Lots of photos. Lots.

First we have my third installment of Yarn Stash Appreciation Sunday. This week? Amazing handspun yarn (usually) bought from the artists themselves.

There are closeup photos in the Flickr Set so I'll just briefly tell you about each yarn. Clockwise starting from the top left: Two hanks Raspberry Tea by Maisy Day from Hello Yarn, Three different yarns (Pink thick and thin, blue thin, Santa Fe Rainbow thick and thin) from Sandstone Ranch.
Bottom Row from the right: Three big skeins of yarn (two green, one pink) from the Jitterbug shawl kit from Hello Yarn, in the bottom left corner are three skeins of lovely wool and silk from Greenwood Fiberworks, and above that is the unbelievable light sensitive yarn from Material Whirled.

Aren't they beautiful? I highly recommend each and every one of those spinners. And yes, there seems to be an awful lot of pink there. This wasn't exactly done on poipose but I certainly don't think it hoits.

Next, I finished the little collar project for Winter. I ended up just sewing the fabric inside and not making it a collar cover - just a collar itself. We never use her collar for the leash anyway, we always use a halter for that.

It's soft and it fits her nicely.

Oh, and here's something else I finished last night..

Yep! Finished my Jaywalkers! I even sewed the ends in. Go me!

Even though I made them a good bit taller than the original pattern, I still only used one skein of that Cherry Tree Hill Birches. Less than a yard to spare but just one skein. Which means I can make another pair of socks in this fun color.

Now, there's this backyard meme going around but to be honest. You really don't want to see my backyard. It used to have trees (that had to be cut down due to a fungus or something), and it had a big yard of grass with built-in sprinklers. But we both believe that having a yard is both a pain in the ass and completely an irresponsible thing to do in the desert so now it's mostly dirt with weeds and a lot of dog poop. So I'm going to show the parts of my backyard that I like.

This gargoyle that guards our back door.

Our only remaining full-sized tree

And this.

No, not the arroyo drainage construction that's been going on behind our house since last May. Nor the gross red wooden fence. But my little desert savannah camoflage dog.

Of course she makes the den pretty fun too

If you're curious about what the rest of the house looks like (with a few changes since this was made in early 2002) check out my eerily accurate Sims recreation of our house.

Technically it's not Friday but I'm a rebel...Here are some photos of the finished shawl. Still not blocked but I know you won't mind.

I can't properly describe how much I enjoyed knitting this. Or really how much I enjoy knitting with anything I buy from Adrian's shop. Her sense of color and great visual sense of using simple patterns to enhance the beauty of her (and Sarah's) handspun yarn is unsurpassed. I don't say that lightly either. I may be a new knitter but I've been studying color all my life. And I always find something truly desirable to knit with in her shop updates. You might notice that I had this knitting project interrupted for a few months. But you might also notice that I bought another kit in the meantime. The prices might seem a bit high if you're unfamiliar with the usual cost of handspun yarn - but it's important to consider how much wool is actually being used in the thicker yarns. Believe me, if you love unique and soft yarn it's totally worth it.

Cody said that I haven't taken enough photos of Winter with my knitting lately. So here's a gratuitous dog being tortured by knitting photo.

Don't let that hounddog face fool you. She loves the attention. And she was happily eating a greenie about three minutes after this photo was taken.

I started my besotted scarf but things got a little sloppy. So to get back into the practice of knitting cables I've been knitting a collar for Winter. Regular collars tend to rub on her short fur so I've been making one that can cover a new one. The idea is based on this necklace and I'm using some old mercerized cotton that I bought at a local store where 80s yarn went to die, or be bought for a dollar a skein by a newbie knitter.

It's knit on US size 4s and will be sewn into a tube using some fabric on the back then slipped onto a collar.

Technically since it's pink it fits into Project Spectrum right?

And isn't it sad that we've recently lost both The Old Man from A Christmas Story (as well as Kolchak The Night Stalker) and The Artful Dodger from Oliver (also in that terrifying show HR Puffinstuff)? What great guys they were.

It's just day 2 of the yarn diet and I get an email subject that reads KOIGU SALE. Yeah. No fair. So it looks like Kaleidoscope Yarns is having a 15% sale of all koigu kppm. Including the kits. Does it count in a yarn diet when someone buys yarn as a gift for you? Anyone willing to buy the Charlotte's Web #20 kit as a gift for me? Ok never mind. Just go buy something and post photos. I can live vicariously though your shopping.

Edited to add: LOL my friend Juus just bought the kit for me! I really wasn't expecting anyone to actually buy it so I'm completely shocked. Thank you Ms Juus! Leave a comment telling my friend in The Netherlands what a dear sweet giving friend she is. We'll get that box of prizes mailed someday I promise.

And please give her your condolences about losing her kitty, Carrot, earlier this week. I forgot to mention that our circle of friends and family has lost another pet. It has not been a good year for pets but each of them were loved and were taken before the pain became too much for them so at least there's that.

I just finished my Punkin Patch Shawl. Yeah. I suck. But it was just so soft and lovely and I was sooooo close to finishing that I stayed up last night and just kept going until suddenly I was done. Then tonight I figured out how to do a single crochet around the edges. It's so soft. I can't stop looking at it and petting it. But I still need to block it so I guess it's not officially done yet.

I also finished spinning the rest of my Spunky Eclectic roving a few days ago and tonight I wound it up and washed it. All 858 yards. Oh yeah. And I'm not selling it. It's mine mine mine.

So while I procrastinate picking up the stitches for the gusset on my Jay I've been looking around to see what I want to knit with my handspun. This is offically Special Yarn so I want to knit something I will use and enjoy. Now before you start your suggestions please remember that while 858 yards is probably sufficient for a sweater for the tiny people among us remember I am not small. I am a short, wide hedgehog and usually the largest size in a pattern is still not going to fit my generous chest measurements. You don't even want to know them they're at their worst with all the recent changes in meds and bad episodes going on.

I don't think I want to make a bag with this yarn and I definitely don't want to knit the dog a sweater with it. I'm not planning on felting but I would be open to that if the project is right. Thanks to my last two FOs I'm fairly rich in shawls now as well - unless it was really really different from what I've already done. So I'm stumped. I was thinking maybe another loop d loop ballet t (possibly with sleeves this time) or I dunno, Bobbilicious without the bobbles or something. I also have several patterns for top-down raglans too. Or maybe Tubey with a solid matching color for the sleeves?

This is a bulky thick and thin yarn that will mostly self-stripe with brown, pink, and cream. I'm totally open to a big-needle openwork sweater idea. I just want it to fit. Suggestions? Ideas? Please?

Oh, if you've noticed strange typos lately please excuse them. It seems like every time I start to type Melon decides it's time for pets and keeps rubbing her face on my hands and the keyboard. Or blocks the screen with her tail.

Day one of the yarn diet: I'm feeling ok. Learning to ignore any sale emails. I still have last minute yarn buys in the mail so I'm not really feeling it yet.
Fiber is included in this diet. Hardware and notions aren't.

then I have to go give the dog her heartworm meds and cast on my besotted scarf!

I had fun at the snb tonight. Lots of people were there! There were quilting ladies and a few people I never even got a chance to introduce myself to. And I finally got to meet Adam! The notorious guy knitter of Albuquerque! This guy has fierce knitting skills yo. That intarsia blanket he made (for his THIRD knitting project) is great! And he entertained the crazy punk knitters among us (Swatches? We don't need no stinking swatches!) with all his swatching, swatch-felting, measuring, and pages of design notes for his bag. It will be the perfect size of course. But all the notes were kind of cute. These engineers. They so funny.

Several of us brought our knits of shame tonight. Beverly had her crazy fair isle vest. Lauren had an amazing fair isle sweater and an intarsia bag. I had my Pumpkin Patch Shawl and Devan Sweater. The sweater was all knotted up in the extra yarn. It was a bit mess. But the shawl was a pleasure to pick up and knit again. I might even finish that one soon. And I turned the heel on my second Jaywalker sock tonight. YAY!

Project Runway fans might enjoy parts one and two of an interview Out.com did with Tim Gunn. I had no idea he was a practicing sculptor AND worked at the Corcoran Gallery in DC before moving to Parsons!

I didn't finish le Clap Sunday night. Or last night for that matter. On Sunday I got lazy and forgot to finish the last few rows of Section 3 before starting Section 4 and had to tink back to fix it. I was also easily distracted by the shiny email box and cleaned the bathroom. That, in itself, warrants a holiday.

Last night I made some progress. Amidst a scary PMS meltdown wherein the world is very lucky I didn't have access to "the red button." Did you feel the earth shudder with relief at around 10:30 last night? Yeah, sorry that was me. Anything and everything was getting on my nerves last night. DAMMIT why are they showing this stupid skiing stuff don't they know I want to watch the tacky ice dancers? Oh noooo I'm out of diet cokes. But I don't waaanna go in the dentist tomorrow. How dare that person say that about my adopted home state?!? If they don't like it they should leave! Fie! Fie I say! Yeah, it was bad. And scary. A few decent meals and lots of sleep later I'm doing much better today.

I'm making progress on the clap though. About to do the sixth repeat of Section 4, then that half-repeat, then I'm on the home stretch. It's conceivable that I'll finish it tonight at Knit and Kvetch but I don't want to jinx myself again.

If you guys would just stop posting in your blogs I'd get bored and go knit. Or stop posting insane completely fascinating stuff like this. Thanks to that site I've actually started reading and knitting at the same time.

Beverly has proposed that we pick up and try to finish our old moldy projects during Lent. Which is odd because, not being one who really observes Lent, I'd already thought that might be a good period of time to try a committed yarn diet. It's short enough where I won't go insane but long enough where I might stop the compulsive shopping. Thus the yarn photos. I'm trying to remember and appreciate what I have. But I'll definitely pick up my pumpkin patch shawl. It's close to done and I'm sad that I had to put it down to start the Giftmas knitting. And I might even start working on that damn baby sweater. I'd overestimated the size enough such that the cutieniece will probably still fit into it.

So. We're going to Village Wools on Friday as planned to buy some yarn and stuff. They were broken into last weekend and everyone's trying to help them out so they can fix their ceiling and still be able to move to their new place in May. I'm going to buy this as well. Light-sensitive glow in the dark yarn. Holy shizzle fizzle. That's right it's so incredible I reverted to Snoop Dog Speak rather than outright cussing- also rare enough to warrant a holiday. Reenie was generous enough to put it on hold for me until Friday. She. Rocks.

In other news I've been drinking an Odwalla smoothie every day and all the pets are just fine. Everyone was on the bed in a big pile earlier. I am going to go warm my feet in a big hot bath now. And have a snack. Mm hummus.

Just ran into a few articles and thought I'd post them.

Fairly recent articles
Interesting article about spinning last month in the NYTimes - via Maisy Day
Article about knitting in The Street.com (a financial online mag) - via my Mom
Knitting news category at Topix (news reader)

Slightly order articles

MSNBC article from a year ago about boys who knit
News compiled by Revolutionary Knitting Circle (last updated Feb 2005)

Older articles about knitting collected by straw.com (Crystal Palace yarns)

See? What your junior high gym coach said when he was teaching health class was true. You mess around you end up with the clap. Booo.

Lots to share today but I need to go get ready for the Stitch and bitch.

Firstly, I finally won something searching with Blingo! A ten dollar itunes certificate or a movie ticket. Guess which one I chose? In case you don't know what it is, Blingo is this search engine thingie run by google but for some reason (don't ask me why) if you register for this one and do searches you might be randomly chosen to win stuff. Usually small stuff but hey. Stuff! So if you sign up using this link and you win stuff? I'll win it too! And if people sign up using your link? When they win stuff YOU win stuff. Nifty.

Also, for the project spectrum folks I've got this neat thing setup on my sidbar that rotates all my smaller buttons randomly. Refresh the page and you'll see another one. If you want to display this on your site just use this address for the image: http://www.egeltje.org/images/specrandom/rotator.php
and this is what you'll see Niftier.

I got a surprise present from Mr. Man this morning. I really wan't expecting anything because I'd already gotten my silly tshirt, I was just hoping he'd pick up a mocha for me from starbucks on his way home from work. But he ran into this dapper little guy who wanted to meet me.

I've named him Dapper Dan. Because he's so cute with his little pants and coat with a cute little white shirt and an adorable sweater. He doesn't like Fop. He's a Dapper Dan Man Bear.

And we got a basket of yummies from my parents for V-Day! Yay for presents!

So that's about it. Oh, one more thing. After a little bit of sleuthing I found out exactly who it was saying those ugly things about the local knitbloggers. Have to say I'm saddened and disappointed. Apparently she's done a lot of this backbiting behavior over the years and people are starting to get annoyed. Every religion has its own version of the concept of getting back exactly what you put out into the universe, whether it's called the golden rule, the threefold law, or karma, so it might be a good idea to try being nice when you're interacting socially. You'll get a lot more out of it.

Sorry about the downer but it just had to be said. Stream of consciousness thing I guess.

I'm so lazy these days I've given up any pretense of posting a narrative blog entry. Just lists. And if I get any more morose and whiny on here I'm going to become an official emo blog. But if I'm destined to have a small animal-themed emo blog with occasional knitting posts, then a small animal-themed emo blog with occasional knitting posts I write.

Anyway, this is old-schooll link style bloggin, babies.

1. I'm incredibly proud of my friend, Scout. Where she gets the energy to raise two children, keep a spotless house, work at a yarn store, knit (and finish) projects on a consistent basis, and get quoted in a major US newspaper is beyond me. I envy her energy.

2. I have no idea what I've done to make a sweet guy like Cody love me so much. That he can be woken up with his wife in a pitiful state of simultaneous tears, nausea, and hunger because she's too sick and weak to figure out what to eat, make blueberry toast for her, introduce her to the eighth wonder of the world: apple slices with peanut butter, all without being cranky or upset, then go back to bed makes him a guy who should win a nobel prize for husbands.

3. I'm fairly sure that Zola has Wobbly Hedgehog Sydrome, a misleadingly cute name for a horrible disease. It's supposed to be similar to human MS. Basically her legs are getting stiff and can't hold her body up so she keeps falling over, especially when she tries to walk. Eventually she won't be able to move by herself. And while there are things that I can do to slow the degeneration there is no cure. I've been noticing slight changes since last fall but thought she was just being lazy and enjoying her new heating system a lot. At just under three years old she isn't that old for a hedgehog. And she's been much more vocal lately. For a while I thought she was just getting more talkative, now I think they're little honks of frustration because she can't get to where she wants to go.

This isn't definite yet. We're going to the vet this weekend. But it's looking pretty likely (warning! heartbreaking video of sick hedgehogs in this link!). Another genetics-related disease, despite going to a serious breeder. If there is a god I'm giving it a big middle finger right now. (Kind of explains the above crying hungry nauseous situation doesn't it?)

I've been holding her up to help her get some walking on the table and giving her little massages. The spookiest part (as it was when Melon was sick) is this is the least cranky and most compliant she's ever been. You know they're sick when they're not being feisty. And I don't think she can form a complete ball anymore.

And, yes, we will be putting her down when she's no longer able to move by herself. I believe very strongly in controlling the pain and keeping a good quality of life for my pets. The ability to say that there has been enough pain and to stop it now is one of the few things we can control. So we will. We'll probably send her body to the Veterinary School in Ft Collins where they can perform an autopsy to confirm that it was WHS. If it's positive I'll contact the breeder so she'll stop breeding that line.

4. I've been a greedy little yarn hoarder lately. Not only did I buy the gorgeous Maisy Day pink and green shawl set from Hello Yarn (even though I haven't finished the pumpkin patch one yet), I managed to snag two skeins of Vesper sock yarn (one midnight knitter and one neapolitan). I higly recommend subscribing to her etsy shop's rss feed that's how I managed to grab em before she was bought out. I've also been given the most amazing yarn lately - Lorna's Laces sock yarn, a great pink silk blend from Artful yarns in San Fran, really cool fiber to spin. But I think I mentioned that in a previous post. I should take some yarn porn photos. Especially of the bombyx silk bell. That thing is COOL!

5. I saw a post about fabric by a Japanese designer that used to be in my room when I was a little girl. It was the spookiest thing because I'd totally forgotten about this colorful automobile themed fabric. My mom stretched it over wooden frames like painting canvases and had them hanging in my room. Total freakish flashback when I saw it.

6. This is possibly the most depressing article about body image, women's value, the male gaze, and mental health I've ever read. A beautiful girl has a horrible psychosis - hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, inability to function..the whole deal. The only medication that works for her makes her gain weight. Everyone else is upset by the "loss" of her beauty despite her complete lack in interest in her physical change (presumably because she's happy to not be seeing or hearing things?).

The doctors seem to think the fact that she doesn't have stringent standards of beauty is an indication that she's still "broken". Fuckers. Between the romaniticizing of a beautiful crazy woman, the lack of value in mental health vs. the overvalued beauty standards, the creepiness of her doctor allowing his obvious physical attraction to his patient affect the medication and choice of treatment, not to mention the stilted way in which the article was written makes me, more than ever, Blame the Patriarchy.

7. This, on the other hand, is one of the more inspiring posts I've read in a while. And I read a lot of inspiring posts. Not only do I love the idea of Vanessa Bell, Dorothy Parker, and Henri Matisse being together in the same room, but the idea of sitting around knitting with them..what a delicious idea!

8. On a similar note I've decided, after hemming and hawing about the "commitment" of joining another knitalong, to join Project Spectrum. The concept of knitting with specific colors every month to celebrate the beauty and power of color strikes way too close to home for me to not get involved. So for the Month of March I will be knitting with the Red and Pink Posie color of Silk Road Tweed to make a besotted cable scarf.

9. I'm looking forward to Friday more than I've looked forward to watching the olympics in a long time.

10. Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of the night I learned to knit. I know. Weird isn't it?

Believe me, I had no idea I would enjoy this particular hobby to this extent. I hadn't been creative with my hands pretty much since finishing my sculpture degree in 1997. Before that I'd been a tactile creator in one form or another since I was a young girl playing on my electric pottery wheel and painting on my little easel. But that myth about it being hard to be creative when you're happy is kind of true.

It's not a coincidence that I also met and moved in with the love of my life that year. Which is funny because I'd broken a lot of barriers that academic year. A set of my paintings had won an award at the annual student show, I'd joined a life drawing group of professional artists, which was also instrumental in changing how I felt about my own body because I discovered that the plumper, curvier models were a LOT more fun to draw. But I'd also had a major depressive episode, been diagnosed with and put on meds to treat depression for the first time, gone through major changes with some important friendships, and been alone with my mother when she had her first seizure, worked for a magazine that quickly went under, and taught myself html in a weekend. It was a weird-ass year.

So after a long incubation period, I started creating with my hands again. And it, as cheesy as it sounds, has changed my life. Oh, believe me, I'm sure I did my share of eye-rolling about the fiber arts when I was playing the macho power tool welding sculptor game. But I'd taken some great classes on women in the arts and already worked with Judy Chicago. I knew the potential of expression, great ideas, of history behind it. But I think it was when I saw Mac post about the knitty womb that really caught my attention. This was feminism and history and creativity coming together in a crazy fun way. Then I saw the Joey Ramone and Joan Jett dolls and Cody overheard me sqeal about the coolness of it all.

I started to fantasize about making my own DeeDee (the smarter, more pensive Ramone) doll. So for giftmas before last Cody bought Stitch and Bitch and Stitch and Bitch Nation for me. Then helped me buy what I needed to get started. Then took me down to see his crafty aunt when we were fixing her computer. She showed me how to do a long tail cast-on and a basic knit stitch. And the rest, as they say, is history. I was hooked.

And thank the gods for it because I finally found something to create with my hands again. I've actually found a way to be creative and feel somewhat financially successful too. The fact that it has hugely calming side effects has been a wonder too. And I've met some great and interesting friends. Which was incredibly important to me when Jocelyn, my best friend and major link to the rest of the world, moved to San Fran. I've been getting out at least once a week. And getting back into the groove of being a proper socialized person again. Not just some cranky feral woman who sleeps by day and is afraid of most people. Well, I'm being a little dramatic but sometimes it felt that way.

So thank you Cody. Thank you Mac. Thank you Knitty and Debbie and my Crafty Aunt-in-law. Thank you to my Albuquerque knitting friends for being so tolerant of my seeming constant need for positive reinforcement about my projects. Thanks you guys.

Ok, I'm off to take care of my little honking hedgehog I think she wants some food.

So bad. Soooo bad.

I've been pretty busy this week. Went to the Stitch n Bitch (I totally dare SFSE to send C & D letters to knitbloggers) on Tuesday and had fun. Jamie bought me dinner and dessert for this web thing I'm working on with her. And I got all kinds of cool gifties from her too! I also got a bunch of fun gifties from Jocelyn who visited Artfibers to get my giftmas present. I am so super friggin spoiled. Oh, did I mention what I bought for my quitting smoking anniversary? I got a pound of thrums fiber (which is on super-great sale right now) from Spinderella and a city shawl knitting kit. The thrums are already here can you believe it?

Ok so pics..

These are the finished tweedy fuzzy feet before felting.

I felted them tonight because the in-laws were coming by. The photo is terrible because it was still wet and indoors with a flash but I wanted to show how the tweed looked after felting before they left. They did not even think this was odd. So this is the heel.

So they look pretty good. My fil loves his fuzzyfeet. LOVES them. And Cody told me tonight he wanted me to make a pair for him. this is the first time he's asked for me to knit something for him. He's just not a sweater or scarf kind of guy. But fuzzyfeet I can do. And since fuzzyfeet have become sort of my canary project before trying a new sock technique I'm going to do his on 2 circulars. Won't that be exciting? I have no idea what yarn I'm going to use. I might even use the yarn that's leftover from my other fuzzyfeet projects. Wouldn't that be cute and interesting?

And here's my finished Jay

I love this sock. I'm getting very little work done because I keep just looking at the stitch pattern in awe.

You know how new parents are when they just can't stop taking photos of their baby? I'm pretty much like that with everything I knit

And spin

And my puppy

I have good news, I've finally found a religion I can get behind.

There's a music meme going around but since I did that one not too long ago I thought I'd just show the last few songs I've listened to

Wickerman - Pulp
Freedom of Choice - Devo
Time is on my side - Irma Thomas
Rollerskate - Call and Response
Calling Dr. Love - Kiss (heeeeeeee)
Mary Susan - Blood on the Wall
Deceptacon - Le Tigre
You never even called me by my name - David Allan Coe
Don't make me over - Dionne Warwick
This city never sleeps - Eurythmics
(I can't get no) Satisfaction - Cat Power (her new album kicks ass too)

And finally I need to get something off my chest. I've become addicted to Dancing with the Stars. I tivo and enjoy both the Thursday and Friday night episodes. And it's all Beverly's fault. It's also her fault that I'm trying to get Cody to take me to see Pam Houston read at Bookworks tonight.

As of yesterday at noon I have been a non-smoker for three years. According to QuitTime, I have not smoked 38,384 cigarettes and saved $6,717.20. Cody says I can get a $50 prize for myself. What to buy what to buy.

I finished the tweedy fuzzyfeet for my father-in-law on Friday night at a big dinner with the Aunts, their daughters, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters. I will felt them to fit his feet when he comes by this week.

I also just finished my first Jaywalker. That's my very first "normal" sock, ladies and gents. And I cast on the other one like a good girl.

And I spun (for the first time since December) a bobbinful some great Neopolitan roving from Spunky Eclectic. The roving was a giftmas prezzie from Cody and his mom so I'm keeping this yarn. It was nice to spin again I didn't realize how much I've missed it until I was doing it.

Photos to come soon, tomorrow when I wake up. I've been busy with family stuff and a web project and my usual lethargic self. (yay hypothyroidism and depression!) I had a good night tonight. Cody was at work but I had all my babies (except the hedgehog) cuddled up with me. We watched strange programs about Tomb Hunters and Cannibalism on the History Channel as I worked away on my sock. Also a Cary Grant Ginger Rogers movie called Once Upon a Honeymoon which has Rogers recite the original Pledge of Allegiance (sans the under God part that wasn't added until the fifties). That's always interesting.

Thanks for your thoughts about my sister and her kitty. It's hard to lose a member of the family, even when it's a fuzzy member.

I didn't get to work on the Jaywalkers at the KnQ as I'd hoped. The ends snapped off one of my (not cheap Lantern Moon) dpns on the way to the knitting group!

Thankfully the stitches didn't slip off or anything. I didn't want to mess up the great rhythm I had going with the pattern using 5 needles. We went to Village after KnQ and I picked up that set of sock needles Jamie pimped on her blog. I will be calling Yarnmarket tomorrow to see if they can do anything or if I should speak to Lantern Moon. Really, it's not like I was being abusive to these needles they were in my knitting bag and the others were fine, I'd had them just over a week, and they weren't cheap for needles - like seventeen bucks. So, yeah, I'm hoping I can get some help.

Or maybe this is payback for being too flip about the lady with the Cherry Tree Hill Birches issue. I didn't think I was being that way but who knows?

The good part is I usually carry extra projects along so I had everything I needed to start on another pair of fuzzyfeet for my father-in-law's birthday since he enjoyed the ones I made for Christmas and asked for another pair. These will be in an interesting grey yarn with tweedy flecks of color.

I think it'll felt nicely. I don't remember exactly what brand it is but I picked it up at Village last week (it's two shelves below the Manos). Anyway it's masculine enough to keep my fil happy but fun enough to keep me interested.. I turned the heel at the group then did more work at Flying Star with Beverly. We had so much fun last night hanging out doing yarn and book things.

I finished the toe up this morning. Such a great "mindless" pattern for the times I don't want to have to think too much - just keep going around and around then do the heel then round and round then do the toe.. And if there are a few small mistakes it doesn't matter because it'll be felted anyway! Yaaay for felting!

Oh, I loved the Lorna's Laces Stripe that Carol was using for her "Jays" that I looked around online for some. I found this great color with pinks and chocolate browns from an ebay store.

And I'm getting some beautiful Socks That Rock yarn from Ramona for designing a few buttons for her Olympic Knitting Fanalong. These will be SO COOL to knit with!

I am swimming in incredibly cool sock yarn!! I just want to knit cool socks and wear them and cable something while I wear them. Do it all. Now now now! Hehe just kidding. I'm just trying to get through my first "normal" pair of socks. Then I can make another pair with the other beautiful yarn.

Ms. Sugarbug is doing a lot better today. She's gotten used to the room and has let us give her a few ear and chin scratches. It's cold in this part of the house so I have a microwavable disc heater under her blanket and turned the heater on in the bathroom for a few hours this morning.

She has some beautiful ocelot-like markings on her side and a stripe right down her back. I'd almost say she's a ridgeback kitty.

Meet Sugarbug.

She's not a very sociable kitty. She growls and hisses at any attempt to pet her. Despite attempted bribery in a few different forms and doing all my usual "getting to know a kitty" tricks. We have a cat here that fails to understand the purpose of catnip. Not working. She did play with the wand toy a bit which was nice. I'll keep going in to check on her though. Maybe we can be friends.

It makes me appreciate my cats though. They will do anything to get head and chin scratches (and in Phunq's case, spanks). They love pets and attention all day long. Especially Phunq. He's not even shy with strangers. He'll come right up and start talking..."Merrrrr give me pets! (and spanks!)" Melon and Kurry take a while to warm up to strangers but they'll be in your lap within about two hours. Love my kitties. Hopefully I'll get a better photo of Ms. Pouty Sugarbug. She was on the bed on her blanket last night but went back under the bed when the sun came up.

Now, meet Jaywalker

We're getting along REALLY well. In fact, I'll be turning her heel today. At the Knitter's not Quitters group. And if all goes well, I might be finishing tonight? Maybe.

About the Cherry Tree Hill Birches yarn. I didn't hear about the fading problems with it until after I'd ordered it. I'm going to operate on two assumptions: it was the machine wash and the possible phosphates in the detergent (since she's in England), and possibly a bad dye lot that caused the color bleeding. So to at least try to avoid it I will handwash them and use my usual baby shampoo. Thanks to KnitterGail's test swatches I'm fairly confident that they won't bleed too badly. If they do..well, I'll just overdye em a different color! Not my favorite option considering that the reason I was willing to pay a heftier cost for this sock yarn was because of the neat handpainted colorway but, hey, I'm just trying to keep it all in perspective. (Yay for that Zoloft Wellbutrin cocktail eh?)

So I feel a bit better but sound a lot worse. This seems to be part of the healing process so fine, I guess I'll deal with it. I took a hyper cleansing shower and steambath yesterday and went out last night anyway.

While I was starting this

with these ladies at Flying Star

(more photos here and here)

the dog did this

and now has a belly full of 16 large greenies.

That's 32 ounces. A month's supply.

Eek!

So today between letting the dog outside and back in every few minutes I have been doing more work on this

and wearing these

Well, I managed to catch that cold that's been going around. Or I'm severely allergic to the angora in the Noro Transitions yarn. Either way I sound like Tatum O'Neal after a week-long bender. Should I be spooked that Cody thinks I sound sexy when my voice is raspy? Maybe he has a weird fetish for Cathy Moriarty sound-alikes. But I don't sound nearly as cool as Marianne Faithfull.

I went to the Knitters not Quitters group yesterday and I hope no one catches it. I didn't lick anyone's knitting needles when they weren't looking so hopefully they're all safe. I needed to see my KNQ gals I hadn't seen them since the Christmas party. Of course Beverly and I went to Village Wools afterward (even though we'd both been there yesterday to visit Jamie) then went to Pars for some comfort-food Fesenjoon. I really think that dish could help promote world peace if more people knew about it. It's impossible to eat that and not be happy.

I finished the handknit hat with Hello Yarn thick and thin in granitey colors.

Turns out it was quite large

So I felted it

I think it looks really nice. And will be pretty warm too. And if my cousin doesn't like it as a hat she can use it as a really cool bowl

Have you noticed how the seasons tend to affect the colors I like to use? Weird isn't it? I've been calling it Seasonal Color Affective Disorder. SCAD!

And, of course, if affects what default layout I like to use for my weblog too.

Not much time to write a post at the moment but I have a lot of fun photos to share.

Anyway this is the scarf I knit in Noro Iro last week. It's a pattern called "Opposing Biases" that I picked up at my LYS. Basically it's two panels of biased stockinette (one skein for each panel with enough kept to make fringe) that are grafted together. It curls a bit even after severe blocking but I like it.

Then I knit this fun giant needle (US 35s) garter stitch elongated stitch scarf knit with some purple knit wool-nylon ribbon yarn from my Mom's friend's stash with tufty white novelty yarn from the same stash added for crazy fringe. (love that craaaaazy fringe) It was very hard to photograph properly. But it took about two hours to knit. Seriously.

I took a few self-portraits too since I haven't taken any since I dyed my hair and my mother-in-law cut it before I left for B'ham. The dye was just some pantene stuff from Target. And, of course, Cody's mom used to have a shop so it's not like I let my mil give me a bowl cut or something. I usually just have her or Valena in Birmingham cut it these days. I don't really trust other people with my hair anymore.

(Interesting factoid: both Cody's and my mom are (formerly natural) redheads that were licensed beauticians at one time. That's pretty much where their similarities end aside from both still being in happy long-term marriages.)

I really like this photo

Although my hair isn't exactly at its best here after being slept on and not brushed or anything yet.

But you can get a good idea of the color anyway

I also got a photo of the dog just after she finished scratching her ear, which wasn't exactly my intent

Phunq sitting in the window

Our view of the big watermelon from the sideyard.

And a photo of me with my dad at Nana's Farm in Holly Springs, MS circa 1976-77ish

Looking forward to tonight's SNB! My post holiday prize of Noro Transitions should arrive in the mail today for me to play with! And I'm working on my cousin's hat.

Hey. How're you? Good. Good. Me? I'm ok. Tired. Really tired. Not sure if it's meds (yes I've been taking them), holiday hangover, residue from the severely delayed flights home, or the horrible state of the house here (blech you don't even want to know). I'm just tired. Sorry if you've been worried about me not posting. I'm fine really. Just trying to get back into the rhythm of the household. And sleep. Lots of sleep. Come to think of it, it might be that trying to cut down on caffeine thing. Yeah that might be it.

But I had a good holiday visit with my parents. Here are some of my favorite photos from Birmingham:

Dad's Irish Hiking Scarf photoshoot on Mom and Dad's back porch

Mom's Mini Clapotis floating on a bush in their backyard

and this photo I took when we were taking the ornaments down on New Year's Day

I also snagged lots of old photos and digitized videos from Mom's computer. Lots of things to explore - and possibly post sometime. I'm not ashamed to say I was a disgustingly cute child. Not ashamed mostly because it's all been downhill since about eight, or it seems like that sometimes.

I did my wrapup on the holiday knitting group weblog and am now officially eligible for a gold star. Have to say I'm pretty proud I got it all done. But I haven't spent much time looking back. I've already made a few fun scarves and have MUCH fiber to dye and spin. Did I mention that great deal I got on six pounds of undyed Merino and Corriedale roving? Hehehe, considering all the roving I dyed on Thanksgiving and spun was half a pound I'd say that YEAH I've got some work to do this spring.

Mom had some great yarn waiting for me that was from a friend who'd cleared her stash out. Novelty ladders, some fun fur, plenty of Berrocco and some Debbie Bliss. Fun stuff. I've already made a purple dropped stitch scarf with fuzzy white fringe. And there was the pound of spunky eclectic neapolitan roving Cody and his Mom got for me for giftmas. And the needle felting kit Beverly got for me. I really should do a rundown on the gifts shouldn't I? Is there a way to do that without coming off as a braggart? Probably not.

So I have a short list of items I'm planning to finish by March or so-