Um, so this happened....

Lack of Progress Report, part... am I over 100 yet? Anyway, back in October, I discovered the HibernaStitchatorium group on FB, and all the lovely things they make. As I hadn't stitched anything for a while, I pulled out a wee kit:


And I just went blazingly fast on it, and in two days, I had this:


And it's been there ever since. To add insult to the UFO, I'm not even sure where it is in the house right now....

Patterns? We Don't Need No Stitchin' Patterns!

Your anniversary is fast approaching. You want to get something that Means Something... so what do you do?

1.     Think of something that the two of you say once in a while (the sillier the better, as reading it will bring a smile). Okay, I was in a last-minute panic, as I couldn't think of ANYTHING. While at a S'n'B on a Friday night (the project in question being needed two days hence), the internet coughed up this little gem (for which the Lovely L is entirely responsible, as she'd just asked me if I'd seen a chart of the design anywhere - serendipity):


2.     Start stitching. The friend hosting was able to scrounge up spare thread and fabric (and a needle). This is what I had by the end of the evening.


3.     Keep goining. By staying up absurdly late after I got home after the S'n'B, I was able to get this far:


4.     Finish up. And Saturday night, after he was asleep, I was able to finish up.


5.     Frame. Because I'm that sort of person, I had a mat that just happened to work well in the house; a black frame has since been added.


*Phew!!* Luckily, it did indeed Mean Something, and he liked it. Yay!

It was Good TImes, it was...

Blast from the past time - found this little model for a wee cross-stitch kit, one of several that was used to teach cross-stitch to first-timers at the erstwhile CastleCon and EveCon.


Can't remember if I designed this one or if Tammy or Missie designed it...!
I really miss that con...

So, Mom almost stole my green-and-orange scarf (seen here). As (a) I like this scarf, (b) it's MINE and (c) it's 8' long, which is a bit much for her tiny frame, I needed to get her one of her own. Luckily, the stash coughed up this about five minutes after I had the idea:


In about 8h of marathon Project Runway All-Stars catching-up, and completely wihtout her knowledge (which is NIGH IMPOSSIBLE, but I did it!), I managed to make this:


I also managed to wrap it up so it's not identifiable. I think this will be, perhaps, the sixth present I've managed to give her in my *entire* life that she hasn't managed to accidentally find/see beforehand!

(PS, she loves it.)

Never sure if I should put some of my art photos up, but if one doesn't sell to any of the stock photo sites that buy my stuff, might as well use it here, right?


I was rather proud of the way your eye goes right to the owl. (It did, you know it did, don't lie!)

Future projects... maybe....

There's a bunch of cool stuff out there I'd like to knit or stitch:


LotR One Ring scarf


I really need to find this pattern!


MOAR OWLS!!
Because a hat, scarf and sweater aren't enough.
OMG, I totally need to make Owls boot toppers!!!


Celtic Shamrock!
And, okay, there's probably a zillion other things, but these are the ones I found recently. :)

The *good* VD...

I'm not sure if I really buy into the commerciality of this Hallmark Holiday, but I do like the idea of romance.

Me? I'm celebrating the first Valentine's Day of my adult life wherein the day itself falls on a Friday, and I do NOT have to work late closing the library or filing something with the SEC/OTS. If I was so inclined to go out to a Fancy Dinner (or whatever normal people do on Valentine's Day), I totally COULD.

Wheeee!!

Money Bunny

And now, for something completely different:

Money Origami!


My very own Money Bunny
Instructions here: http://origami.about.com/od/Money-Origami/tp/How-To-Make-A-Money-Origami-Bunny.htm. Wheeee!!

SHINY!

So, there was a fun twist for the first Quidditch project this term - pick a "real" quidditch team, and make something that embodies the spirit of that team. I picked the Magpies... the only "value" of the team was "OOOOOO, SHINY!"


SO SHINY!!
I think I should get bonus points for managing shiny *and* House colors (we were told that just doing the team's colors wouldn't count).

Have You Seen This Stitch?

Can anyone tell me what this stitch is, please? I promised my MiL I'd find out, and I just rediscovered the photo. Broken rib? Some sort of traveling twisted thing? Any ideas greatly appreciated....!

And sometimes I *find* UFOs again...

Back in the summer of 2012, I hit upon the idea of a little knitted pirate from my favorite video game. By September, he was coming along nicely - see BoH Pirate, Arrr. And then, stuff happened.

I found him again recently, and at least he's got arms now!


I'm working on his headscarf and vest. Still not sure how I'm going to handle the swords and beard....

Does it count as a UFO if I can't find it?

So last fall, the Slytherin Dueling Club let us choose our project types for duels. I decided "hey, why don't I knit a hoodie made entirely from different sized and patterned mitered squares? I hopped right on it...


And got most of the squares for the front done:


I even managed to buy a hoodie and reverse the zipper to the "inside" so that the lining of said hoodie will be (a) hoodie material and (b) have pockets. I'm a huge fan of inside pockets.

As you may have guessed, that last photo is where it's been since the end of October. And once again, I have no idea where the Safe Place I picked to put it and the rest of its yarn is...!

Three Years Ago

Three years ago, in the month of January, I knitted a lot of things. "With Flames" seemed to be the theme of the month:


Yeah. Not so much this year... but things in general are different. And one of the things that's different is I'm going to start linking my kniting/crocheting/spinning posts on Ravelry again. I stopped doing so at the end of 2010, and that's a shame. I know this isn't the most widely-read crafting blog out there (and being gone for 3/4 of 2013 didn't help), but it *is* read. And it's a great record for me to prove that yeah, I really DO accomplish things.

A scary number of things, actually. Most of which I can't find - including the hat from my icon, which I loved, and which I'll have to replace.

And there's a sadness to seeing an abandoned blog out there in the ether. Just hit the "next blog" button up on top of the screen there ten times, and see how many blogs are still posting in January of 2014.

I want to keep this record going, for myself, and for anyone that might stumble across it. I want it linked to Ravelry, and all the projects there. I want the posts tagged, so I can find things easily (although really, the word-search function on blogger is pretty good!). Because in the long run, this might be all that's left of me in fifty or 100 years, if it's true that the internet will never really die.