Still Alive

Hello? Does this thing still work?

If you can't tell, I've had another exam. And I'm pretty sure I rocked their world.

I've also been busy doing other things, a lot of firsts.

My first nephew arrived. His name is Jackson and he is cute.



My first trip to NYC, or anywhere in the Northeast, really.



Which also happened to be my first real vacation with my husband



My (and Jen and Brenda's) first triathlon relay



I've also been crafting.

The hat in that first picture is the only thing that I've knit for Jackson so far. I've started on a blanket for him, and sewn a few burpcloths.

I've also made socks for my Nerd, but they're not pirate socks. He needs to quit his bitchin'.



That's really all I've been to recently. Well, that and learning some Latin (using Rosetta stone) and playing a little Portal.

Look at me still talking when there's Science to do...

Happy President's Day

This is the perfect occasion to post this little gem:



Jonathan Coulton is an indie artist with some seriously cool songs. He's the evil genius behind Code Monkey, the folk version of Baby Got Back and the closing credits of Portal. Some of his stuff is sweet, some is strange, all of it is funny.

Organized Chaos

Everybody has a place to put all their junk. In some homes, it's a drawer. Sometimes it's a closet. Since we moved, we have had a whole room for this. Which also happened to be my craft room.

Everything had a place, and I could usually find anything I was looking for, but it looks like a disaster zone.

These graphic images are not the for the feint of heart, or for neat freaks.



These are most of our books. These piles are organized by size, which was actually a really good way to organize them.



This is my craft/study bookcase, and some boxes in the middle of the room.



Desk covered in junk, and more junk.



Even more junk.



And the closet. Notice how it's nearly empty. That desk was supposed to be my sewing desk. I never used it for that.

The room looked like this from the time we moved in until my sister moved in almost a year later. When she moved in, we had to combine my husband's office and mine.

Now, the room looks more like this



Now the junk is contained to a closet. The blue boxes are my stash, and the board next to it is my blocking board.



and I have a desk to study on



husband has a desk for his computer



and all of my craft supplies are in this awesome shelf that hubby got me. I had a smaller shelf before, but it kept falling apart. This one is supposed to hold 900 pounds. It should be able to hold all of my supplies.

Christmas Crafting

Yes, I know it's late. I've been busy recently, to say the least.

I have been pretty productive with crafting though.

Even though I swore I wouldn't I did do some Christmas crafting. Since I had not planned any gifts, they were all really last minute.

This year, Christmas was with the inlaws. Nerdy Husband's mom got a Snappy Hat from Picnic Knits. It was definitely fast, made in less than a week. Corrina is a very talented designer, and a fun person to be around.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the hat, but I used this: Aracunia Azapa, a wool, silk, mohair blend.



During Christmas, I finished three things:



A doily for my grandmother

It is actually a bit big, but I'm sure she'll love it anyways. Haven't had a chance to get it to her yet.





This is a crocheted grocery sack for my mom. My family uses them. The yarn for this was actually given to me by my mom, so this bag has been recycled in more ways than one.

Sorry for the awful picture. Apparently the spinning wheel isn't a very good model.







An Everlasting Bagstopper for Katie (future sister-in-law). Her favorite color is yellow, hence the yellow stripe. She is so sweet, she seemed to really like it, and I think she will really use it (as a tote bag), so she is definitely on the "knit-worthy" list for the future.

That's all for now. Next week (or whenever)- stash toss and I clean my room...

It's Begging to Feel A Lot Like

spring around here. Seriously, remind me, is Florida in Australia? It's not?!? Then why is it getting hot in December? It's been in the 70's here for most of last week, which is warm even for Florida standards.

The knitting group had a Chili Night/Secret Santa Gift Exchange. It was a blast, even though it was warm enough that chili wasn't strictly necessary. There was a ton of good food, and lots of fun. Jodi was an awesome hostess, and Jen organized the swap online.

I think the swap went really well, considering we know each other so well. Jen was my Santa, and she really came through. First there was a "Red Neck Dye Kit".



The saying on the front is "It's like Skittles, except it's not candy. See the Rainbow!" It's Red Neck because it came in a trash-bag box, which was the only thing that would hold the contents.



Inside is everything needed to dye yarn/roving: gloves, a wide assortment of KoolAid, and vinegar. Very cool, and will go well with



about a pound of roving. Most of it is white, and some of it is this beautiful heathery grey, which will be really neat to dye.

The roving came in this awesome bag that Jen sewed:



Yes, that is pirate themed fabric. It was really well put together, with grommets and a drawstring.

And now I've got to get back to feverishly crafting. Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!

How have I not posted this yet



I got a wheel for my birthday!

It's a Kromski Sonata, that comes with its own backpack



Indy is mistrustful, afraid I'd forsake him for my new toy. He has no need to worry. I've spun less than an ounce on it since I got it in October. Not that I don't want to, but I just haven't had the time, I'm focusing on Christmas knitting.

I did spin this



It's thick and thin like crazy, slubby, and overspun in some parts, and very pretty in its own way. Especially after I dyed it



and knitted it into this



It's part of a pound of plain domestic wool I got from Webs, just to practice. I have a bunch of pretty fiber from plenty of sources, but I feel like I wouldn't do it justice if I spun it now.

I do have some plans though, more spinning to come!

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. I was home for 5 whole days. It was fun, but busy. We had about 30 people for Thanksgiving lunch, and on Saturday, we threw my soon-to-be sister-in-law a bridal shower. She is cute as a button and we're so glad to have her in the family. The shower was a roaring success (or a least a loud din, with 30 ladies talking nonstop), everyone seemed to have a good time.

My mom and sisters did a great job on putting the shower together. There were hand made chocolates (which I had no success at - I kept breaking them), and paper crafts galore. Mom made these cute little boxes for favors.



I've been relatively busy with crafting as well.

This Teddy Hat was made for my cousin's 2 year old



It's some random blue acrylic. I used an invisible cast on and 2x2 ribbing throughout. The ears were crocheted on afterwards, then wet felted by hand in the sink. I pulled apart some pink wool and got it back to close to fiber-like consistency and needle-felted the center of the ears. I'm pretty sure I saw a picture of something similar on Ravelry, but I haven't been able to find it and don't know how it was made.

Then there are these two pillows, made for a gift for my older sister. They are made using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Aslan colorway, and Lion Brand Wool Ease, quite possibly the strangest combination of yarns ever. These were started a few years ago, before I had a good understanding of gauge. It all worked out, though, the sock yarn parts just have a little more white between them.

One has a flower motif on the front, from the crochet motif harmony guide.



The other side was box-stitch.



The second pillow has a granny square on one side



and some double crochet. The tab on the side is worked sideways, which shows the color a little differently.



The other part of Michelle's gift was an Everlasting Bag Stopper.

This is what it looks like empty



and filled



There's just a little bit of stretch. Just a wee bit.

With that said, I have to get back to working on Christmas gifts.