Sick of This Cold...

Title references both the weather (51 yesterday....34 today) and the viral version in my head. While I think a walk would benefit the head cold...the outside cold prevents me from doing so. (not so much ME, but the 4 year old I'd have to bundle beyond mobility...)

So here I sit, stuffy and coughing. Waiting for this thing to run its course. Since I'm not getting much accomplished today - though I did cut out some felt for ornaments - I thought I'd post a few pictures of the latest works:

Hand spun from the previous post.

MMMMmmmmmmmerino. How I love thee.

And new bags..."Kelsey"

"Mariah"

"Celeste"

And now, back to an action packed afternoon of cutting felt shapes on the couch with an enormous glass of water and 100 kleenex.

Don't forget, giveaway entries until Sunday, I'll draw a winner bright'n'early Monday morning!

Ok, ok...mid-morning. :)

What? You mean you're NOT mindreaders?

Well, dear friends....I was just re-reading my previous blog posts, and just felt that SOMETHING was missing. That certain something, that extra touch, that....uh....date of the blog give-away drawing!!! DUH Sarah!

So, for all of my non-clairvoyant readers....Sunday, November 23rd. Midnite Illinois time. (and if you sneak a comment in at 1:00am, I won't tell.)

Just thought that bit of information MIGHT be relevant. ;)

Why it takes me an hour to make one card...

Alternate title: Crafter OCD

I'm in lockdown mode, trying to get things made for a craftshow I'm doing on the 23rd. I haven't done a craft show in almost two years and I'm in a slight panic. The whole "how much do I need to bring?"

"what if its too much?"

"what if its not enough?"

and of course "what if I don't sell one stinking thing..."

I'll be glad for the 24th to come. ...hopefully with a few dollars in my pocket. We'll see.

So my goal is to make an item or two each day ...to avoid the ever famous 'up till 2am trying to crank out anything and everything'. Its not good. Its not fun. There's not enough coffee the next morning to compensate.

So, this morning I sat down to make a card. Over an hour later (shut up...I know) this is what I have:

Ok, NOW....the issue of the yellow flower. Do I need it? Should I leave it off? Or should I put it here?

or here....

or maybe here....

what about here....

or....leave it the heck alone, set it in the done pile, and call it a day. For the record, I will be mulling this over while I'm at work tonite. It will bother me until I come to a decision. (and for the heck of it, tell me if you have a preference, because at this point, I've looked at it too long and can't 'see' it anymore, thus why I'm setting it aside for now)

In more constructive efforts, we have:

Another card (not thrilled with it either...too much white on the front...not sure what to do about that)

Quilt top, while not my style, I am awfully darn happy with how it turned out. It measures about 30"x40"...now to quilt the darn thing.

This one is still drying, so I haven't done a WPI count or official yardage, but its around 190 I'm guessing after its bath. The colors are SOOO pretty if I do say so myself (and nicer IRL of course) Its 100% merino, which pretty much makes me want to eat it for lunch.

Still a WIP -

Eddie's fingerless gloves/foldover mittens. Yeah, not for the craft show. But of utmost importance since its been a tad chilly in the mornings when he's doing his papers. I think he'd rather not wait until the end of november for these suckers.

And my latest 'only a crafter would understand' project:

A hundred and fifty-some yards of laceweight shetland wool. There are 3 more balls to be skeined/washed/dried, so I'm thinking I'll have about 600ish yards of this when I'm done.

Oh, where'd it come from? Here...

For those of you who aren't following....I bought the vest for $2 at the salvation army, cut the top off above the armpits (as I was taking it apart I realized the armholes are cut and sewn, which makes the top useless for unraveling, but still good for felting) and unravelled the bottom half.

Why do that? Well...because I wanted to? I wish I had a more logical answer than that, but that's all I've got. What can I say? :)

Andd Zach's 'new' rainboots. Which he loves. And wears constantly. Works for me.

(the fabric beside him is paired up for new cosmetic bags...I'm almost positive anyway)

Has anyone seen October?

I swear I'd just set it down here on my desk, went into the other room, and now its gone.

So in the spirit of NoBloPoMo (national blog posting month) I'm trying to post twice a week all November. I know, its supposed to be EVERY day of November, but I was already out of the game when I thought of it on Sunday and realized it was already the 2nd. oops.

BUT...we're aiming to get back on track! I miss my blog. And all the people that go with it.

First up - THE GIVEAWAY! Uh...I'm extending that ;) If you posted on the last post, you're still entered :) There are 2 'prizes'. They may or may not contain bits of fabric, yarn, buttons, paper items, and any other trinkets I feel so inclined to throw in. Heck at this point they may very well be stuffed with leftover halloween candy!! (We limit the boy to one piece a day....we do not hold ourselves to that same standard. You'll see me at the gym much more frequently the next few weeks...that's all I have to say)

You know the drill, enter in the comments section, be sure I have a way to get a hold of you. Wrangle one of your friends to leave a comment and you'll get entered twice.

And now a few quick things we overlooked at our last meeting:

Hat Attack II -

For you non-knitting nerds who have things like "a social life" (pshh! whatever..) Hat Attack is a kill or be killed, last man standing, death match....with yarn. Ok so that was anti-climactic. At any rate, the idea is the pattern is released, and you have to knit and send off a hat to your 'target' before you get a finished hat in the mail. Once you get a finished hat, you're dead. Warm and cozy, perhaps, but dead none-the-less. The idea being to knit like you've had 3 pots of coffee, and send off finished hats in rapid succession to beat out the other players.

Well....I hated the pattern. And to no fault of the pattern writer, she did great. Its just not my kind of pattern. So while I knit at a good pace, I wasn't at any risk of a speed related injury. And I was thrilled to be killed with an AMAZING hat. Its plenty big enough (I'm a bit obsessive about hats that actually function as hats, not cute little tams that sit atop your skull.) its in the perfect colors (gray and white) AND...its knit from hand spun yarn, ...from her own sheep.

Folks, we have a winner! I. love. it. Could not be more thrilled! (Ignore the fact that I don't look 'thrilled' so much as 'washed out and exhausted' ....I was trying to do this first thing after I woke up before Zach got up. I know, not my best look.)

I admit, I was a little nervous as to what I'd get back, but decided the fun was worth the possibility of an ugly, small hat. There was a suggested yarn, which a few days into the game, was getting less than rave reviews, and I wasn't looking forward to getting a raspberry and citron hat... I may have even danced a little when I opened the envelope. Maybe.

Now the delightful part....I can't find the card she sent with the hat that lists her website. ...but I will!! And I'll post it here. I have a feeling a certain 4 year old made off with it to put in his Lightning McQueen wallet....

But its awesome, I love it, and its already been worn a few times.

Oh, and just for kicks, here's part of the hat I sent on:



I did get farther than that, but not by much.


And another 'better late than never' - my "new" (coughcoughbackinaugustcoughcough) pendant from homestudio
Eddie got it for me for my birthday. ...sort of. I gave him a list of about 10, he picked one, and then in classic Sarah style, I decided I liked a different one BETTER and changed the order. heh. I was pretty bummed, they used to have a great buy 2/get 1 free, buy 4/get 2 free....deal, that we missed by about 2 days. BUT...I still love my pendant.

I tried to get a picture of me wearing it -

mmmnope.

well, sort of...

when all else fails, put it on the floor and snap a picture!

And in other news, its supposed to be SEVENTY-FOUR today. (yes, Illinois, November, after we've already had a frost, and snow flurries...) so I'm getting ready to WALK up to my polling place and get my vote on. ...I'm also taking a 4 year old with me....let's hope this goes quickly!