Moses and I have just returned from the park on the loveliest, springiest day of the year so far. The birds have been chirping raucously for a couple of weeks, and the daffodils have been hesitantly waking up, but today -- with the buds of the magnolias and camellias looking like they might burst open at any moment -- was definitively spring.*

Today I had my first experiment with RIT dye, dyeing a linen skirt obtained at a Naked Lady Party.** The skirt began life an unfortunate pale pink, about the same color of my skin when I'm feeling somewhat ill. One bubbling pot of ick and ten stained fingernails later, it emerged blue... ish. I'm not too pleased with the way it turned out; it looks sort of denim-y and uneven, and considerably less "royal" than it did at first. I might buy more of the same and dye over it, but I'll probably just be lazy and wear it as is.

*Yes, I know that spring doesn't "officially" start for another two weeks and no, I don't care.

**I am all about the footnotes today! A Naked Lady Party doesn't actually involve any naked ladies -- it's a clothing swap party.

Spending money like it's goin' out of style

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Etsy? Especially since the new version came out? I love it. It's the perfect blend of four of my favorite things: cuteness, crafts, technology, and stuff I can buy.

In the interest of plugging some really fabulous sellers on Etsy (and, okay, showing off a bit), here are some items I've purchased recently:

The first is one of three postcard-sized print from BirdNerd, whose original art I would buy in a heartbeat if I could justify to myself spending that much on prettiness. The second is a 10x8 print entitled "Cold Toes, Warm Heart" which is painfully adorable in and of itself. The seller, TheBlackApple, had to relist this particular print twice for me because other people kept snatching it up. Highly coveted, this artist is. The last picture is a skein of handpainted yarn from Mystical Creation Yarn. It's a wool/silk blend, I bought two skeins, and it is for a SUPER TOP SECRET project that I can't wait to start!

And now it is dinner time. Adios!

Blythe!

I think I've been spending too much time looking at pictures of on Craftster of all the gorgeous clothes and accessories people have made for their Blythe dolls. I'm really, really tempted to blow my tax return on this. Love.

Ack. Blythemania.

I've been aching to post pictures of what I've been working on lately, but since most of it is for swaps, it'll have to wait for another week or two until my partners receive.

Surprisingly, there are a few things I've made lately that weren't for swaps. First, a basket/bowl I made with Crystal Palace Taos yarn and felted in the washing machine.

I'm using to hold some yarn at the moment, although I'm not sure if its purpose will change in the future. I checked out Cat Bordhi's Treasuries of Magical Knitting from the library and I really want to make one of her moebius baskets, but that will have to wait for some suitable yarn.

This afternoon I made a few cards, in keeping with my goal of sending every member of my extended family a birthday card. Devilninny sent me a number of birthday cards for the previous round of the Invite Your Partner swap on Craftster, but I've almost run out already! I made these four today, and one is already in an envelope and ready to send to my aunt Karen. While making these cards, I've come to the following conclusions:
1) Glue sticks are magic.
2) Rub-on letters are magic.
3) I need a craft table (specifically, I need a craft table other than our dining room table!)
My mom and I have vague plans for a craft day of churning out tons and tons of birthday cards, which I'm wholeheartedly looking forward to -- especially because she keeps calling me to tell me about all of the hidden craft supplies she's stumbled across at her house!

This hat was sent for the Fairytale Swap. I'm assuming my parter has received, but she hasn't been on Craftster in over a month. I hope everything's okay and that she's enjoying the hat! If you can't tell, it's meant to look like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. It was knit in about one and a half days of classes last term.


Lastly, I would like to present you with Exhibit A in the case of "Why Tracy Really, Really, Really Needs a Craft Room":

A very serious situation, indeed!

Shouting Across the Divide

With the house pretty much empty except for the pets, I've been spending a lot of time filling it with other people's voices -- mainly those on public radio, especially Ira Glass. If you haven't yet listened to last week's episode of This American Life, you should, especially because you can hear it for free here [episode 322: Shouting Across the Divide]. Be forewarned, however: it will probably make you cry.

I'm so pleased that my dedication to mailing holiday cards to all of my relatives is starting to pay off; this year, I've received at least seven different cards and letters from family, most notably "Uncle Bud"* who not only personally wrote quite a bit in his card, but also included two photographs and a newspaper clipping. This is, for a lack of a better word, totally awesome, especially because I'm not even sure I've ever met Uncle Bud. Hopefully I will someday, so I can tell him personally how great it was to get his card.

I also received a card from two folks from Craftster who are apparently trying to earn the title of Best Craftsters Ever. Millik and fizzledimpulse, if I am ever in your part of the country, I will be bringing you some cookies. Don't forget, I know where you live!

I have so many crafty projects in the works and so many more that I'd love to start on (especially some personal swaps that keep getting delayed) that I'm really ready for Christmas to be over. If you know me, you know how much it pains me to say that! I love this time of year and I love nearly everything about the Christmas season -- except of course the rampant consumerism and the occasional proselytizing -- but I'm feeling ready to move on.

Fortunately, it's almost over, and then I'll be able to post pictures of the ____ I ____ for my sister, which turned out to be my best ____ ____ ever!

Merry Christmas, everybody! Go kiss somebody underneath the mistletoe!

*I put his name in quotes because he's not my uncle; until recently I wasn't even sure how exactly he was related to me. As far as I know, he's my father's mother's brother.

Where are you?

Okay, I must confess: I have a serious weakness for blog ad-ons like stat counters, the WIP bars, wists, et cetera. But this new one is really, really neat. It's a guest map! And it lets you (yes, YOU) mark where in the world you are!

!!!

I highly recommend that you click on the sidebar link that says "Place a pin on my guestmap." It will be awesome, I promise.

Ultimate Soul Christmas!!

Liz burned me a CD called "Ultimate Soul Christmas" and it is pretty much the best thing ever, if not for the sheer awesomeness of the compilation itself, then at least for the reaction it gets from my housemates. I love it. Our knitting group meets (for the second time, hooray!) at her house tonight, so I hope she plays it.

Not craft-related whatsoever, but today is World AIDS day. I suggest you recognize it by doing one or more of the following things:
- set up an appointment to get tested for HIV if you aren't 100% sure of your status
- talk to your current sexual partner(s) about their history
- research how many people die every day from this totally preventable disease
- write to your elected officials about why you think it's important to fund HIV/AIDS prevention programs
- talk to your friends about how to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS
- donate money to fund HIV/AIDS prevention programs or research
- educate yourself (and everyone you know!) about HIV/AIDS

Or just look at this picture some of my favorite craftsters (millik & fizzledimpulse) sent me this morning:

This girl was totally wearing a skin-tight pair of jeans that had cats and swirlies painted on with shiny gold paint!! Of course we took a picture for you, because what are you going to do when you see cat pants in real life? You can't tell they are cat pants in the photo, but I'm going to share with you anyway because it's the thought that counts, right? (from millik)

I love it. Gold stars for millik and fizzledimpulse!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's officially the holiday season! Of course, I've been talking about Christmas since September, but now I can shamelessly hum carols and work on my holiday cards without looking like such a basket case. Unfortunately, most of the things I've made intending to give as Christmas gifts have already been given to the recipient. I made sure to buy some wrapping paper a few days ago, so from now on, anything that's finished will be getting wrapped immediately so I'll be less likely to give it away early.

And no, the picture doesn't have anything to do with anything, but I got sidetracked midway through this post and couldn't think of anything else to say. I think Moses in a helmet says it all, don't you?

Happy holidays, folks.

You're so vain, you probably think this blog is about you...

I made myself a pair of legwarmers out of an old sweater (cut off the sleeves, then stitched up the back to make them fit my calves) this morning because they went perfectly with my skirt and cardigan. It put a spring in my step all day long, I looked so cute.

Then, during class, I knit myself a hat out of some soft, fuzzy yarn that I like to think looks like polar bear fur. I sort of rushed through it because it was so chilly out, but I finished it in time to wear home!

I felt incredibly vain all day in my legwarmers and later my hat, so I checked myself out in every reflective surface I walked past just to verify that I did indeed look totally foxy. It felt pretty good.

The ants go marching

Last night I finished the hat I was making for Mr. Catpants (hooray for internet semi-anonymity!) and, not to toot my own horn or anything, but it's pretty damn fabulous. I used Mission Falls 1824 wool in "heath" -- absolutely wonderful to knit with, it was like a massage for my fingertips -- and modified a free pattern I found to make a hat large enough to fit his giant noggin.

Also last night, I managed to knit a few rounds backwards (and skipping a needle) on the socks I'm making for myself. I'm so irritated that I don't even want to look at it right now. That'll teach me to knit when I really just need to go to bed.

In other news, I'm squished in between the stereo and the bookshelf, as we had to move my desk last night in order to spray pesticides all over the baseboards. That's right, the ridiculous amount of rain we've had is causing flash-floods in Tillamook AND floods of ants in my living room. I always thought the ants were supposed to go marching down, to the ground, to get out of the rain, not up into my house to party on my desk.

Attention quilters!

Craftster user orange_sunset is looking for help making a "memory quilt" for her dad from fabric her grandmother passed on to her. She's not a quilter, so she's looking for help. If you want to give her a hand, she'll mail you some of her grandma's fabric for you to make a quilt block or two out of. She'll piece all the different blocks together herself, but she needs 56 of them (hopefully by Christmas). If you're interested, check out her post on Craftster and let her know!

Homework? What homework?

Meagan and I spent far too long in the yarn section of Joann's yesterday, but we made it out with some pretty good deals. I have two new projects in the works: a long, skinny scarf for myself (made with the sofest. yarn. ever.) and a checkered throw pillow for the house. I also bought some size 3 dpns for no apparent reason, but I'm sure I'll find a use for them.

Also! Look to the sidebar! I spent far too long figuring out how to get progress meters to work, so now you will be able to see how far along I am on whatever it is I happen to be knitting! I can tell you are all very excited.

Now, off to work on my craftster trading card and maybe eventually write a paper.

WOO CRAFTS

So here I am, jumping on the latest bandwagon: craft blogging. Fortunately for you all, I'm suffering from a head cold and am too loopy from the store-brand medication I took earlier to write much at all. My poor swap partners; I'm still going to attempt to craft today. Here's hoping I don't ruin everything in my haze.

Oh, and hi!