Lookie what I got! sent me the sheep shirt I’d been coveting. Wooo! I love this thing. Fits great, too, , thanks! I’m really going to make a concerted effort to get to Yarns Forever in Greer today, and I’m definitely wearing this shirt.
Side note: In spite of the half-lidded eyes, I am not, in fact, high. It’s simply that the shirt is so damned brilliant it is blinding me.
In other fiber news, I spun up a tiny portion of the roving that gave me on our trip to Raleigh. 
Wow, is this stuff soft! I can’t remember what the fiber content is, but I think it’s something like 50% Corriedale, 50% marshmallow fluff. I’d like to try to dye the rest, although now that I’ve felt how nice it is, I’m kind of afraid to ruin it. Nonetheless, I’ve been wanting to dye roving, and I think would appreciate me enjoying having that adventure, even if it means I destroy her gift. It was really a gift of the time and enjoyment of using the fiber, wasn’t it? Lord, I hope so. Maybe I should get some junk fiber to practice on first.
I’ve been cranking out Jayne hats like a fiend, and realized yesterday that I had time to make another hat for charity without making anybody else’s hat late. So I’ll be knitting up one for Dallas today. Tomorrow night there’ll be a Firefly shindig, so I can probably get more work done during that, since I don’t think they’ll mind me knittin’ up the Jaynes. That shindig is after I go see lead her team to victory at the Charlotte Dragon Boat races. Go, ! I’m pulling for you – no pun intended!
One unrelated note: My favorite site for the day: Balloonhat.
Yesterday’s earrings inspired me to fish something out of my jewelry box. This is another piece that I made a while back, this one with glass seed beeds and Swarovski crystals on a silk cord with a sterling silver toggle clasp. There are two clear beads just before the clasp that are just garden variety faceted glass.
This is a pretty simple one to make. Thread your beads in the order you wish them to appear, then crochet a base chain out of the beaded cord for that nice twisted look. You want to thread about three times the length that you want the piece to be. The clear glass beads near the clasp are to ensure that you have enough free space to thread the toggle through the ring. Making this bracelet is a little more time-consuming than the dragonfly earrings, but I get more wear out of the bracelet so it’s worth it.
As to style choice, you’re certainly not limited to crystal. I did a version of this out of larger matte beads for my mom, and I think it came out looking very nice. This might be another one to do next time I’m needing a break from the Jayne hats.
Hats up for: ME, ME, NC
Every year so far, I’ve made something for my daughter’s teacher’s children. In kindergarten, it was this cotton sweater. In first grade, it was this baby pullover. Unfortunately, this year, my daughter’s teacher has three daughters, ages 14, 16, and 18. I love this teacher, but I am not making three full-sized sweaters.
Instead, I’m going with earrings. Four sets, because Emily said that the teacher needed one too, which seems only fair. Because I’m a stickler for high-quality materials, the beads and findings are sterling silver and the colored bits are Swarovski crystal. I’ll let the teacher decide who’s going to get what.
I’m pleased with how these turned out. I’ve got more dragonfly wings and Swarovski in my stash, so maybe I should make some for sale. Hm.
Literally shiny! If this is the matte finish, I’m glad I didn’t go for the UV coating. Also, they extended the left side more than I was expecting. The text as designed by butted up against the edge of the card, but when I submitted it to Bizcardguru to print, I nudged it further in to sit within that site’s preferred safe title area. perhaps I was too conservative in not leaving it where it was. But sometimes art gets cut off if you go past the safe area – that’s why it’s called a safe area. Maybe it’s more common in TV than print, and I didn’t realize that. Next time, trust .
However! None of that matters, because I’m thrilled with how these turned out. I’m going to be handing these out to random strangers. And, of course, mailing them off to the Serenity screenings that are giving away my hats. Now all I need are care cards and maybe some non-Jayne-specific cards (although maybe not, now that I see these) and I’m good to go!
We’ve introduced Emily to the wii. She doesn’t want to play for very long, which is fine with us since we don’t want her hooked on video games. She enjoys making miis (each little person you make to represent you onscreen is called a mii) and seems to be pretty good for her age at golf.
Hmm… golf scholarship… hmm…
So after I posted my little “Ack! Creature Comforts is on? Why did nobody tell me!?” comment yesterday, my father called and sheepishly said, “Did I not? I thought I did!” Aww. I didn’t mean you, Dad. It was a joke, honest.
Besides, he taped it. Way to go, Dad. 🙂
In spinning news…
Halfway done … Half to go.
I’m getting kind of sick of this fiber, as pretty as it is.
On the Jayne hat front, I’m plowing through them as much as possible this week, since production will most likely slow down once Emily’s out of school. She has this thing about me paying attention to her instead of sitting in a chair and knitting all morning. Go figure.
I’ve been saying this for the past two weeks, but I may try to head down to Yarns Forever this week, since it’ll probably be my last opportunity ever to do so. They don’t just sell yarn, but spinning and dyeing equipment too.
Okay, more laundry and Jayne hats. Way to use that college education! Woo!
There’s a U.S. version of Creature Comforts? And it’s on CBS RIGHT NOW?
Why was I not informed??
It occurred to me that since I’m now part of , I should probably put up some actual sock knitting content. I’ve been working on a pair of socks from Tofutsies. I haven’t bothered to remove the lifelines from the first sock. I think it’ll make it easier for me to match up the socks if I use that as my gauge of exactly when to turn the heel on the second one.
These socks are just plain stockinette with a short row heel and 2×2 rib leg. The yarn in these is so busy that working a complex pattern seemed pointless. These socks are taking forever because I only work on them intermittently. That’s fine, it’s not a race. Maybe by Autumn it’ll be done.
In the meantime, it’s Jayne hats and knitting kits nonstop. I updated the reviews page, which is now way too long, so I might have to cut some, much as it pains me. Oh, and a client asked for a “making of” on the Jayne hats, so I sent him some pics and such for his prop replica site. Here it is. Neat, eh?
Had a good time in Dragonrealms this morning. We’re trying to show Plat some extra love this month, so I was there running an event. Very fun! You meet the nicest people in Plat. I think I’ll make an extra effort to run another session this month. It’s very energizing. Or maybe that’s the orange mocha I picked up this morning to be sure I was awake enough for this. I guess if I crash in an hour or so, we’ll know!
The day did improve. The Brownies all had a great time riding, including my girl, who got to brush, help tack, and ride a horse without being led. She was pretty tired before her turn to ride even came up, but she really did a fantastic job. I could not be prouder. As she said after she dismounted, “Tonight, I’m going to dream about horses.”
Get to bed very late. Sadly, this was after midnight, so it does count as part of today.
Be awakened at 5:45am by my daughter, who climbs into bed and takes my spot. I stumble down the hall to feed the cat and get some cereal together for my child. The light in the den is burned out. I find a fluorescent bulb (we’re trying to go green) but have trouble getting it out of the packaging. As my sleep-clumsy fingers open the blister pack too forcefully, the bulb crashes to the ground, shattering. I get the broom and reflect that it is not yet 6am and I am already doing housework.
Stop by my bank and attempt to send money to a vendor. The bank says it has to be a wire transfer. I point out that I’m not doing it for the recipient to pick up, but putting it into their account. They say that’s different, then, and I am sent to the front counter. After a long wait, I am told that no, it does have to be a wire transfer. Which they don’t do on weekends. And which costs $30.
Yeah, no.
I try Western Union. They don’t go direct to accounts. I realize I have to suck it up and do what I should have done in the first place: dig out my password to my online banking and do it that way. That, however, is tabled when my co-leader calls me to say that although we are in the midst of a drought and I thought it exceptionally unlikely we’d get rain anytime soon, it is drizzling where she is. She is 5 minutes from the horse stable where we’re going to be this afternoon. I put in a call to the stable to see what they do in case of rain. I have yet to hear back.
It’s not even noon, and already this day BLOWS.
Nowhere to go but up, right?
In other fiber news, I spun up a tiny portion of the roving that 
