New Year, new plans?

No, actually, I think my plans for this year are probably about the same as they were last year.  But the resolutions, they are different.

First, let's check out last year's resolutions: 

1. Intentionally exercise at least three times a week.FAIL. A lot of fail. I managed it for, oh, a couple weeks.  But then my dad came out for a visit, and that always throws my schedule off.  And then it was summer, and hot.  And then I went to visit my sister. And then my family came to stay with me. And then I wrote a novel in a month. And then my family came back again.  
2. Blog daily. FAIL.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  It was a nice idea.
3. Read lots, at least a book a week.  YES!  I'm not sure if I read a new book every single week, and I didn't actually document them very well, but I did read lots, sometimes three or more books in a week, so I think it all evened out.

And now for this year's resolutions:

1. Finish all of the movies on my shelf before buying new ones.  As of Jan 1, I had 24 unwatched movies.  As of today, I'm down to 15. 
2. Finish an old project before starting a new one.  I have 13 in-progress projects.  Well, 12, now, because I finished one yesterday.  And I'm close to finishing another tonight.  If you want to see the whole extravaganza of procrastination shaming, you can visit my crafty Tumblr at daniemakesthings.tumblr.com
3. Finish the unread books on my shelf. Current count, 67.  Plus 2 in progress.  Plus several ebooks on my phone, but I'm not counting those.
4. Finish the first draft of Frenchie and start on edits.
5. Get my office organized.  With the visit from my niece, lots of stuff moved into the office in an effort to baby-proof the house.  And then we moved rooms around so my new roommate could move in, and my craft room/spare room stuff had to relocate to my office, too.  So I've got my desk, my five bookshelves, a recliner, two boxes of still-unpacked office stuff, four boxes of still-unpacked random crap, four big Rubbermaid bins of yarn, a big box of purses, and about a dozen bags of craft projects (or projects-to-be), plus a closet full of winter coats and costumes.  This will be a long-term project.

It looks like this year is the year of finishing crap.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, actually.  I've got a bad habit of starting on new things before I finish stuff.  (Could you tell?)  

I'm pretty sure that I can make these resolutions this year.  I feel as if I should have one or two that are more challenging, but in all honesty, finishing Frenchie and starting the edits is going to be rough.  Once I realized that this story is actually one that I enjoy AND is commercially viable, it suddenly seemed scary.  Up until this point, I've either not liked the end result of what I've written, or it didn't really fit into any particular genre and was therefore not really marketable, so there's been no pressure to do anything other than write it.  But this one... once it's polished, I'm going to take a deep breath, write and polish a query letter, and start looking for an agent.  That's big.  (At least, it's big for me.)

Annual Project Update

Yesterday, I cleaned upstairs, and unpacked five boxes in the guest room/craft storage room (hence the lack of post - I dropped into bed, exhausted).  Unpacking my two big boxes labelled "Projects" reminded me that there are a lot of things I need to be working on, so once again, here is the uber-list of things I need to finish:

Cross-Stitch Projects

1. Nora ornaments

2. Mom's Christmas stocking

3. Colby's surprise

4. Unnamed baby announcement

Knit Projects

5. Nora's Riders blanket

6. White/Blue/Green baby blanket

7. Nora's legwarmers

Crochet Projects

8. Pink/white blanket

9. Pink/white/purple blanket

10. White/Blue/Purple baby blanket

11. Star baby blanket

Ongoing Projects

12. Dishcloths

13. Baby hats

14. Lip gloss cases

Planned projects

15. Red fuzzy sweater

16. AY's baby blanket

17. BA's baby blanket

Wow... that's, um... a lot.  Excuse me, I'm off to make some stuff now...

I'm ba-a-a-a-ck!

Yes, that's right, after almost two weeks away, I have returned!

So what was I doing to keep myself so busy I couldn't blog?  Well, I'll tell you!  I was at the theatre.  A lot.  Like, every night.  I just finished stage managing a show, and it kept me out until after 11 every night.  Back in the day, when I was all young and stuff, that wouldn't have been a problem.  Now, though... my usual bedtime is 10, so being out till after 11 is problematic, to say the least.  By the time I'd get home, take care of Mia, get my stuff together for the next day, and do my night-time tooth-cleaning-face-washing-wind-down routine, I was hitting the hay after midnight.

But the show is now finished, and it was a fabulous success!

Today, being Memorial Day, was a day off from work, so not only did I not have to go back to the theatre, I didn't have to go to work, either!  It was glorious!  Of course, I woke up at my usual time.  The light in the summer makes Mia wake up much earlier than I'd like, and she won't let me sleep.  Since I was up, I decided to have a productive day.  I did 7 loads of laundry, knit 14 rows of Baby Bear's blanket, packed two more boxes, watched Julie & Julia, The Pursuit of Happyness, Mona Lisa Smile, and Fame, and the first four episodes of Season 1 of Dexter.  Wow.  I also made lunch and dinner, walked the dog several times, and vacuumed my living room.

Oh, and I've been working on a new story.  It's not on paper (or screen) yet, but I'm ironing out some details in my mind, and I should have something tangible very soon.  It's nice, doing some more writing.  I've been on a reading kick lately, and it was a nice break from writing, but I'm ready to dive back in.

What about you, blogglings?  What have you been up to for the last few weeks?

Finally! Finished a few!

This week has been, well, crazy.  I'm feeling pulled in a dozen different directions, and I've been multitasking beyond my standard capacity at work, but that's okay.  I went out shopping last night, and in addition to buying the pillowform I needed for one of my projects (see below!), I bought a new notebook.  There's just something that feels good about a new notebook.  I used to be a Moleskin gal, but lately, I've been using the Ecosystem notebooks and loving them.  I'm feeling the need to write by hand, and I'm about to start the re-write on HEA, and it just felt right.  So the new version will start out hand-written in a pink notebook.  Very princess.

I've put the blanket for Otter/Baby Bear on hold, mostly because I tried doing the color-blocked section, hated the way it was turning out, and ended up frogging ten rows of blanket.  Otter, you'll appreciate this - I'm using Grandma's needles for the blanket!  Our grandma was notorious for getting almost all the way done with a project, realizing she had made a mistake somewhere earlier, then ripping out the whole thing and starting again.  I didn't rip out the whole thing - I kept the first 100 rows, so it's not too bad.  But I'm waiting until I have time to go to the yarn store and ask for advice on how to proceed.

In the meantime, I've actually finished two other projects.  The first was a birthday present for a friend - Matt bought a sock monkey for Brie, and wanted her name embroidered into a tattoo on its arm (like those commercials where the toys went crazy - do you remember them?).  I've been putting it off for months, but tonight, I finished it!  It wasn't hard at all, and it didn't take long to do, but I just didn't get around to it.  Now, though, it's off the list!

The other project I finished (at 10:30, which is after I wanted to be in bed, and has delayed this post) is a sweater-turned-pillow.  I started this one YEARS ago after finding this awesome yarn.  Unfortunately, I didn't get enough to actually finish the sweater I started, but I really liked the pattern. So I modified it, and voila! Years later, a knit/crochet pillow cover.  I'm pretty happy with it.  And there's just enough of the yarn left to make a simple scarf or something small.  Maybe.

So that's what I've done while waiting impatiently for the weekend.

More POV musings and a new tracking thingy

After writing about possibly trying the first-person POV last week, I feel like the universe is sort of conspiring to make me try... In my blogroll today, I came across this post about first-person.  The whole thing has been marinating all day as I've been working on other projects at work, and I think I'm going to do it.

Well.

I'll try the first chapter or so.  We'll see how it feels.  The thing is, I've already started mentally rewriting it, and it feels good.  I just need to try it on paper and share it with someone else, I think.

In other news, with Otter's maternity sweater done, I've moved on to Baby Bear's blanket.  However, I work best when I feel pressure, so I'm creating pressure by posting my progress here.  Until it's done, at the end of each blog post I'll be including the current progress of each section of the blanket, the number of balls of yarn used up, and frequent photos.  If that doesn't motivate me... well, then the blanket won't get finished :)

Day 3:
Section A: 10/10 rows complete
Section B: 32/90 rows complete
Section C: 0/111 rows complete
Section D: 0/90 rows complete
Section E: 0/10 rows complete
Balls of yarn used up: 1
Total length: 7 inches
Percentage complete: 13.5%

National Crafting Month

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard by now about the earthquake in Japan.  I hate how useless disasters like that make me feel.  Maureen Johnson, though, isn't being useless.  Check out her blog, and think about donating. ShelterBox seems, to me, to be a brilliant idea!  If you're like me, trying to figure out some way to help from halfway across the globe, this could be your answer.

Now, on to my own stuff...

Did you know that this month is National Craft Month?  That's what the big sign at JoAnn's told me yesterday, and I'm pretty psyched about it.  If you haven't gathered from my other posts, I'm a big crafter.  BIG.  So it stands to reason that I should have BIG plans for this month.

So far, I've finished Otter's sweater, made her a card to go with it, a birthday card for Tanya, two back-up birthday cards, SIX bridal shower cards, three general cards, worked on Mum's cross-stitched Christmas stocking (for next year!), finished a dishcloth, and finished three more squares for my picnic blanket.  And we're not even halfway through the month.

My goal in this National Craft Month is to finish up at least one of my other outstanding projects.  I'm thinking the picnic blanket will get targeted, if only because I want to go on a picnic before it gets too hot out.  Of course, the Hufflepuff scarf is another good candidate.  Once one of those is finished, I'll move on to the next round of baby gifts (do people ever stop breeding??).

And, of course, I'll still be reading and writing.

Speaking of reading, I'm still working my way through Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire.  Today, when I sat down to open the book at lunch (because that's still when I do most of my reading), I realized that I'm almost done.  It still doesn't feel like I've actually made any progress, if that makes sense.  There was a lot of the story that was presented as dreams/memories, and I think that's why I feel like I'm still waiting for the story to get going.  It's not dragging - I just feel like I'm waiting to get to the conflict, but the number of pages left makes me feel like I should expect the resolution soon.  Once I'm finished, I'll be able to give you a better impression.  I hope.

And speaking of writing, I sat down to continue editing "Happily Ever After" and realized that I need to just start over.  But that's not a bad thing!  The first draft let me get everything out.  Now, I can start working on the story using the characters as I knew them by the end.  Wish me luck!

Letters to things

I am totally snagging the awesome letter-writing-stylings of Kiersten White.  You should go check out her blog, because she is really cool.  And short!  And her book, Paranormalcy, is a New York Times Bestseller (which I feel very guilty about not reading, because I read her blog faithfully, but I just don't like reading hardcover books - they don't feel right in my hands - so I'm waiting for the paperback edition).

And now, on to the letters!


Dear Spiders-who-look-like-dryer-lint,

   I know it's still a bit chilly outside.  However, I would appreciate it if you would STAY OUT OF MY BEDROOM.  I would also appreciate it if you would stop lurking in the basket of clean-but-unmatched-up-socks.  There is very little that freaks me out as much as reaching to pick lint off of the sock I want to wear, then realizing the lint has legs and is moving towards me.

Arachnophobically yours,
Danielle


Dear Clean-but-unmatched-up-socks,

   I promise, I haven't forgotten you.  I just had a lot to do this weekend, and getting you all back with your partners will have to wait until the rest of the laundry is washed and dried, the dishes are done, the carpets are vacuumed, the guest room is decluttered, and Otter's sweater is done.

Until my downtime,
Danielle


Dear Otter's sweater,

   Yes, I realize that you're a maternity sweater, and that we're on a deadline.  I'm working my hardest to get everything else tided up, so I can work on you without getting you covered in dust or spiders or mis-matched socks.  I'm not avoiding you, really!  I can't wait to get back to enjoying our time together.

Hurrying through the dishes to get to you,
Danielle


Dear mean pug at the dog park,

   Don't bite my dog!

Snappishly yours,
Danielle


Dear Blogglings,

   I hope you've enjoyed my outbursts at (mostly) inanimate objects.  I hope to finish reading another book to review soon, so we can return to a more writer-ly focus here.  Until then, please enjoy visiting some of the awesome blogs I follow by clicking on the "Links" tab above, or just clicking on this link to Kiersten's blog.

Always (trying to be) entertaining,
Danielle

Great Expectations

I know that I'm an over-achiever.  I'm also pretty hard on myself, and after yesterday, I think I may have to lower my expectations.

Here's the deal: on Sunday evening, I was lamenting the fact that I hadn't accomplished anything all weekend.  I thought about it for a minute, then realized that I did get some stuff done.  I wasn't sure if it was enough, though, so I sat down and made a list.

• baked and frosted a cake
• vacuumed (with some help!)
• washed one load of dishes
• washed, dried, and folded four loads of laundry
• hemmed curtains (which are, like, a mile long and curvy)
• made a sample scrub cap from two different patterns that I sort of merged into one
• wove in ends and finished eight dishcloths
• made french toast 
• went grocery shopping
• went to dance rehearsal (about 2 hours)
• went to theatre rehearsal (about 4 hours)
• ripped four cds to my computer and updated my music software
• took Mia to the dog park (more on that later!)
• changed my sheets
• changed my nailpolish
• took out the garbage

And all that is in addition to hanging out with my SO and going out to eat a couple of times.  When I sat down and looked at that list, I realized that I did a lot.  A LOT!  Especially considering that I had two rehearsals, plus an hour or so at the dog part, plus shopping.

So maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself.  I think the problem is that I keep looking at all of the things are still left to do, unfortunately.  But I'm going to work on it, because I'm tired of feeling like I'm not good enough.  Wish me luck!

A Change in the Plan

If you've been following my blog, you probably know that I've got a schedule: Tuesday is fiction day, Thursday is writing about writing day, and Sunday is crafting day.  I've talked to a few people, though, who have mentioned that they don't really read the Sunday craft posts, because they don't fit with the rest of my blog.  And you know what? I realized that they're right.

I have another blog, Confessions of a Yarn Whore, that I have neglected for a while.  This weekend, I copied my last few crafting entries over to that blog, which I consider my craft blog.  I've decided that I'll still blog about my crafty stuff, but I'll do it over there.

That leaves Sunday open.

I thought about it for a little while, and I've realized that there's something that goes along really well with writing - reading!  So on Sundays, instead of filling you in on my craftiness, I'll share a bit about what I've read each week.

And if you really want to keep up with my crafting, follow me over at Confessions of a Yarn Whore, or just click the link at the bottom of every Sunday blog!

***

Want some crafty goodness? Check out Confessions of a Yarn Whore!

I made stuff!

Yes, despite the craziness of my life (which involves much drama (literally), much work, much unpacking (still), and much preparing for my parents' visit), I managed to make stuff this week!


I finished the baby blanket for Rachel-at-work, and decided to give Karen-at-work a baby blanket that I had previously completed, because I think the one I had started on was less gender-neutral than I had anticipated.

The two blankets are similar, made with "Oh My!" yarn for the centre portion (white for Rachel, yellow for Karen), with an outer band in blue/white/yellow "Heaven" yarn, which may be the softest yarn on the face of the earth.


I also modified another pair of scrubs into maternity pants, although I made them differently this time - I found my ribbing when I was unpacking, and I remember putting it aside from the other fabric because I knew I'd need it.  I remember putting all of the other fabric into my sewing cabinet in the closet (which now has a crapload of stuff in front of it), and I don't remember seeing the ribbing (which makes sense, because I remember putting it NOT with the rest of the fabric).  Unfortunately, after looking all over, I still couldn't find where I had put it.  I ended up going to Jo-Ann's, and the woman in the fabric section directed me towards the seam binding when I asked her for ribbing (they're all sorts of brilliant there!), so I ended up just getting a knit fabric that matched the scrub pants.  I only altered one pair of pants, even though Rachel gave me three, because I want to make sure that it'll work.  Cross your fingers - she'll take them home tomorrow, so I should know by Tuesday.

In other crafting, I caved and ordered a stamp set from Papertrey Ink, and I've totally made the prototypes for this year's Christmas and winter holiday cards.  Whee!  And they're all sparkly and pretty.  And I LOVE PTI!  I'd never used any of their stuff before, but the stamps were wonderful and simple and soooo pretty!  I'm a convert.

Casting off!

I'm nearly done Rachel's baby blanket! I decided this week that I needed to focus on one project, finish it off, instead of hopping from piece to piece.  So I concentrated on this blanket, and I'm casting off.  Unfortunately, I ran out of yarn.  I miscalculated the amount that I had left.  Even more unfortunately, the edging is made of a wonderful yarn called 'Heaven' that is fluffy and REALLY difficult to undo.  So now I need to go and buy one more ball of it, so I can finish the blanket.  But I'm 2/3 finished casting off, and once I'm cast off, all that's left is weaving in ends and trimming them.  And I'll probably do the weaving-in before I get to the yarn store.

Next on the list: finishing Otter's blanket.

In other news, I'm closer to being unpacked!  I unpacked my books, and I filled four boxes to give away.  I put up my wind chimes outside.  I'm charging my power screwdriver, and I'll probably put up my drapes in the living room on Wednesday (they need ironing first!).  I've got a taker for my big box o' yarn, and I've got a place to donate my clothes.  Now I just need to find a place to send my books (oh wait, NaNo is doing a book drive!), and my purses and bags...

Also, I got flowers this weekend, and they are lovely.  Thank you! (Because I know you read this!)

Weekend update!

Normally, I'd post something about crafting on a Sunday.  This week, though, I've done about three row's on Otter's blanket, and half a ball on Karen-at-work's baby blanket.  The rest of my 'free' time has been spent on my apartment.

Yes, that's right, I've been cleaning/tidying/emptying spaces and packing boxes.  I'm moving at the end of the month, and I'm trying to get my life in order.  And it's hard work!

I did, however, discover that the storage area under my stairs is actually an interdimensional space.  I pulled about 2/3 of the stuff out of it, and realized that it covered the entire floor of my living room.  And there was still stuff left.  I have a closet of holding! (Okay, yes, I'm a D&D geek. Deal with it.)  I'm really hoping that at least one of the closets in the new place is going to be a closet of holding too... if not, I may be screwed.

Today, I put shelf paper on the shelves in the new kitchen, and I packed up most of my glasses/cups.  I'm hoping to take those over to the new place and unpack them today.  I need to run the dishwasher, and then I'll have all my dishes clean, and then they'll get moved over, too.  That means that I'm doing takeout for the rest of the month, but you know what? That's cool.  I like McDonald's and Subway and Taco Bell and all that jazz.  There are a lot of options nearby, so I should be fine.

There's a part of me that's really sad to be moving, because I have an amazing apartment right now.  However, it's exciting, and fun, and a great way to clear out crap.  Now if I can just manage to let go of stuff... I've actually considered giving away some books.  Eep!!

I doubt that I'll get much crafting done next week, either, but that's okay.  Once I'm moved in to the new place, I'll have a day of knitting to make up for the week of boxes.

Foiled!

Yes, that's a wall lined with aluminum foil.  Six rolls, plus the better part of two rolls of duct tape.  Why?  All in good time, mes amis!  But if you want a hint, go visit Colby...

So the foil was today's project... earlier this week, I worked on my sister's blanket, and I've got less than half a ball of yarn to go.

I'm going to pick up the rest of the yarn for Rachel's baby blanket this week, since she now knows that she's having a boy.  I've switched a project - one of the girls at work saw the blanket that I was thinking about finishing and giving to Karen, but she fell in love with it.  Now, the purple/blue blanket is designated for Angela.  Karen is going to get a white/confetti feather and lace pattern blanket, which I'm in the middle of working on now.

Also, I made cheesecake!  It was awesome!  It weighed over three pounds... just a little rich!

I think that was all - for me, it was a slow craft week.  Of course, every time I say that, someone else rolls their eyes and tells me that I did a ton of stuff.  We'll see what next week brings!

A busy week

It's been a crazy week!  But in a good way!

I feel like I got a lot accomplished, at least craft-wise.  I started with making some cards:

I was really happy with the way this one turned out - it's just a piece of printed cardstock, with "hello" from the new Stampin' Up set that my sister sent me.  I cropped the corners with my new corner cropper, and voila!  Hooray for easy, but pretty.

I also finally finished Spencer's blanket!

I'm going to have to wait a few days (until the next payday) before I can send, but I can't wait to get it in the mail!  I've got one ball of light blue baby alpaca yarn left.  I'm not entirely sure what to do with it.  Any suggestions?

Finally, I'm coming very close to finishing the yellow-and-white wave blanket.

I've used a ball and a half this week, and I've got half a ball left.  Even better, it's got a home now!  My little sister is going to get this blanket once it's done.  It's not too big, just enough to cover up when she's curled up on the couch.

I also did four rows on the baby blanket for Rachel or Karen (I've got two blankets going, and the gender of the babies will determine who gets which blanket).

Hmm... only three photos... I almost feel unsatisfied.  But crochet can be time consuming, especially when working with a 3.00mm hook, so I'm going to ignore that feeling.  Now, on to the writing!

Feelin' good!

I have had an awesome weekend.  Absolutely awesome.  Did I mention it was good?  Like, really good?

I sat down to write my usual craft update, and I feel like I don't have all that much to post... I mean, I finished one little project, and some cards, but aside from that, all of my work has been on projects that are big enough that I can't finish them in a short time frame.  Plus, I tend to get bored if I work on the same thing for too long...

First, the photos:

Illoria's dice bag!  Now all of the girls in Tanya's clan have special dice bags.  Whee!  I'm thinking that next time we game, I'll take a photo of all of the bags together.

The card for Grandpa and Karen (Yes, I make multiples of cards.  It's easier that way.)

Birthday cards for friends who shall remain nameless (because I haven't sent them yet, and I don't want to give it away).

Second, the list!  These are the projects that are currently in progress, in order of pressing need for completion:

• Spencer's baby blanket
• NaNo Hamsterbeans
• Hufflepuff scarf
• Rachel's baby blanket
• Karen's baby blanket
• Picnic blanket
• Pillowcase
• Dance sweater/legwarmers
• Yellow/white wave blanket
• Purple/pink/white wave blanket
• Pink/white granny square blanket

This week in crafting!

I haven't done nearly as much crafting as I would have liked to do!  But that's okay.  I was social this week, and I spent a lot of time reading.  That's not to say I didn't do ANYTHING, though!

I knit my way through four balls of yarn for Rachel's baby blanket, so I'm 2/3 done.  Now I need to go and pick up two more balls of yarn for the main part of the blanket.  Once she decides on a colour scheme for the nursery, I'll pick up a ball of Heaven yarn to finish off the edge.

I've managed a few more rows on Spencer's blanket, and I'll probably continue on that this afternoon and evening as I watch LOST.  Hey, it's Sunday.  It's a good day to watch TV.

I'll probably make another set of cards this evening, since my sewing machine is still out.  The blogosphere is full of cards with stitching on them, so I'm going to join the trendiness, I think. I was thinking about sewing some scrubs, but I'd rather just finish cleaning off my table so that I can host people for dinner next weekend.

Oh yeah - I decorated a wedding cake.

My friends are getting married in October, and I'm going to make their cakes.  This is a sample of the top layer, so they can see how it tastes, and see how it looks.  After meeting with the caterer yesterday, it's going to change... a lot.  I've got a few more ideas for it, and I'll be Photoshopping different sample details onto it.  I was really happy with how it turned out, even if it's not exactly right - I was terrified of trying fondant for the first time, but it worked out well.  It was much easier than I had expected.  Of course, now I've got leftover fondant hanging out in my fridge... maybe I'll make a little cake and take it to work.

Also, I learned that Red Velvet cake uses A LOT of red food colouring!  Two ounces of the stuff!  Luckily, I've got red silicone spatulas, so I didn't dye any of my utensils while making the cake. :)

And that was what I made this week!

In other news, I was called "smart," "really intelligent," "mighty purty," "adorable," "cute," and "charming" this week - how's that for an ego boost?  And all of those came from different people!  I think my self-esteem is picking up again, and it's only been about a month.  Good for me!

Shhh... I'm late...

Okay, the Sunday post is showing up late, and I apologize. I was on the phone, and I totally forgot to post before I crawled into bed. *is shamed*

But it was a good week in crafting!

I altered a pair of pants into maternity pants for one of the two pregnant girls at work, which was much easier than I had expected it to be. Even better, that means that I've dragged out the sewing machine, so I'm planning to use it to embellish some cards later this week.

I got a couple more rows of Spencer's blanket done, and I REALLY need to move it up to the top of my list. Wait... it IS at the top of the list!

I finally made it to the yarn store again, and used a gift certificate to pick up most of the yarn I need for a new project - a baby blanket for one of the girls at work. I'll need to pick up the rest of the yarn (for the edging) after she decides on the colours for the nursery. I'll also need to pick up yarn for the other pregnant gal, but I can only knit so many things at once! I'll finish blanket 1 before starting on blanket 2. While I was out gaming on Saturday, I knit my way through one of the balls, then realized that I had made it too wide, and frogged it all. Yesterday, while watching Dexter, I re-knit the whole ball, so it's going pretty quickly.

I'm still plodding along with the Hufflepuff scarf and the picnic blanket, but the baby blankets have priority right now.

The newest thing on my list? I've got a ball of fluffy purple yarn to make into a dice bag for Illoria, and that will likely be done for this weekend, since she's coming over to play!

Finally, a new store opened close to me - JoAnn's! What does this mean? If I want to make stuff, the store is five minutes away, so I don't have to haul my cookies all the way across town to Michaels! I'll still go to Michaels, of course, since they're the best source around here for all things Wilton, but if I need scrapbooking paper or cheap yarn or stickers, I don't have to go far at all. Yay! Also, they have fabric!!! The sewing machine is totally not getting put away again, ever.

And that, my friends, was my week in crafting.

Crochet, Cards, and a Puppy Photo

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It's been a slow week, but the temperature has been far too hot to be all that productive. There was also a day off on Monday (spent recovering from eating grilled cheese and watching fireworks on the 4th), which wasn't nearly as productive as one might have expected.

I did get stuff done, though! I made 40 feet and 20 ears, enough to finish off 10 hamster beans. Of course, I only got one hamster bean body done, but the body is probably the easiest part for me. The fiddly little ears and feet are the parts that I don't like. I figured that, by doing those first, I was much more likely to finish the beans. I hope that I should finish the bodies in the next two weeks, then I can make another set of feet and ears. The plan is to have enough hamster beans to give out in goody bags for NaNoWriMo this year. Last year's co-ML has volunteered to help out, too, so I'll be sending her the pattern and recruiting her. If she can make a dozen or so, it'll help out a lot.

I also did another section on my Hufflepuff scarf. My friends and I are talking about going to the Harry Potter theme park in November (hmmm... that's NaNo... I'll have to rethink that!), so I've got a deadline now.

I didn't work on the picnic blanket at all, since I didn't watch LOST this weekend, but I did get another six rows of Spencer's baby blanket done! He's about three weeks old now, so I want to get it done ASAP.

I made some cards, too, for my grandpa and sisters. Overall, not bad for a slow week.

Oh. Crap. I just realized that I was supposed to make maternity pants for one of the girls at work this weekend. Hmmm.......... I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow!

One last photo - Mia, bathing in a sunbeam. She's just so pretty, isn't she?

Crafty Holidays

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Between Canada Day on Tuesday, and today being the Fourth of July, I got far less crafting done this week than usual. Because I'm barely getting in under the wire on this post, here's a short list of what I got done:

- baked and frosted 7 dozen cupcakes

- a few more picnic blanket squares

- T's MadHatter dice bag

- half a round on the blue baby blanket

And that's it. Yeesh. I feel [relatively] unproductive. I think that, with tomorrow off, I'll spend some time making hamsterbean ears (so that they're ready as the hamsterbeans get made). I'll probably also make some more squares.

Then on Tuesday, I'll be seeing about taking Mia to the vet - I think she's got an ear infection, the poor thing.

Update, as usual on Sunday

Not nearly as much done as I would have liked, but my mind has been elsewhere this week. I did manage to finish the bag for my cards. It's made of a yarn called "Panda Silk" and it's really soft. I think I'll use this yarn for other projects in the future.

I've finished another 10 or so squares for the picnic blanket, so it's progressing nicely. A few more weeks, and I'll be ready to start assembling it. That, of course, will take several more weeks. But it will get done. And, with any luck, it will be finished around the time that it starts to cool off enough to have picnics again. After all, 102 degree weather is not really picnic weather.

I'm also nearly done TL's MadHatter Dice Bag :) It will definitely be ready for delivery the next time I see you, buddy.

Just a reminder, if you want to get some goodies, all you have to do is comment on this post! You know you want it... I'll keep checking for comments for a few more weeks. Thanks again, everyone, for following my posting.