New Years

freak me out. There's so much hope and happiness about a new year. I'm always worried I won't have packed the tree up on time and catch bad juju for the next year. I know that's an easy fix, but this being off thing is like a terminal disease. It just saps you of your strength the longer you are off! I've gotten so sorry...or well...sorrier. But I did managed to pick up the little decos scattered through the house this am when I got up (ah hem...10:30ish). D got the 2 boxes our decos go in out of the storage room, so I have no real excuse not to do it today. I'll think real hard and try to come up with one right after I post here.

Since I last posted, I've been a busy little bee. Or maybe I've posted since I've done some of this, but I didn't talk about it, so it still counts.

1. We, J and I, drove to the Miss'ippi/Lousyanna line on the 21st to fetch her son P who lives in TX with his dad most of the time. Remember she works with D as a part timer...those kinds of moms don't rake in the cash, esp. while they are still in college. So I have seen a few things on the way and back again. Like this:
There is a town called "Chunky." Reckon all skinny folks live there?

And another thing about Miss'ippi, they like first names as town names. Weird. We drove through Jackson, pased Brandon, saw Flora and Edwards, passed by Flora, and I half expected the next exit to be Fauna...but it wasn't. I think it was Pearl.

I saw and crossed the mighty Miss'ippi. Didn't pass out. I have a thing about bridges. I am phobic of them....seriously. Scared to death of them. But I made it over this one. Just don't ask me to drive in the Charleston from Savannah. WON'T DO IT! That bridge is high, it curves, and you can't see around it. To top it off, we wound up stopped on the damn thing with DUMP TRUCKS! I just knew we were all going to die. D-I-E! I cried on that bridge. But NOT this one:


I also visited the meanest gas station in Lousyanna. They wouldn't even put my little post cards in with their mail. Besides, it said "FOOD MART" on the outside, but it was really a "BOOZE MART" on the inside. I bought my 4 little LA postcards and fairly ran back to the car. They wuz mean, even on a Sunday.


And as weird as Miss'ippi was about first names, Lousyanna was just as unimaginative. Here is a sampling of the towns we saw on the exit with the mean gas station:
Really, a mound AND a delta...in LA, really?? Who'da thunk?

The next day, J and P came over to bake cookies. We were all so messed up from the 12 hour trip that I only managed to make choc. chip, but we made cookies all the same.

Oh, and I bought a new car. :D It's a used 2010 Ford Fusion with a blue paint job, leather seats, a moon roof, a 6 cd player, and it GOES with it's happy 6 cylinder heart. We couldn't be happier. We're still missing a few things to have it perfect (like a front tag bracket), but I keep harrassing the fellow that sold it to us at RiverTown Ford, so I hope that we'll get it all taken care of soon.

We've also been to Fantasy in Lights again, but this time we had a real live little one to share it with. P had a fantastic time and was the quietest I've ever heard that kid the WHOLE RIDE! And he sat still. That in and of itself is a miracle next to the loaves and fishes. He is a wiggle worm.

Then we've also been to Chuck-E-Cheese's. I felt like a 7 year old all over again. I played skee ball and all the little coin eating games. The pizza tasted a little like sugar was put in the crust (prolly was). But P and D had so much fun. You would have thought D was 7 too. The boys played some Johnny Nitro comic game for like an HOUR. J and I kept feeding them coins and starting them back up when they were killed. When we ran out of coins, we had all played, and we made it through 2 of the comics games and were in the third one. A good time was had by all. P even gave us some new fridge decos in the form of three spin art pieces he and his mom made with a gift from santa.

OH and we all 4 had a silly string war on our playground the night before we went to see the lights. The grown ups were out of string pretty quickly, but P saved his up for a sneak attack.

So, that's a fair account of how I've spent my last few days and weeks. Hope all is quiet and peaceful tonight as the ball drops or wild out and party hardy if that's more your style. We'll be out and about tonight at the bars downtown to watch everyone get really trashed and have a good time ourselves.

THE WORST GIFT EVAR

MVI_4683
Originally uploaded by venutian_beauty

If you love me, you'd never get me the thing I avoid like the plague. Just sayin'.

A pap smear? Really.

Umm no. I'll take a wad of cash instead.

Random Stitches

And now for something completely different...

Sewing!

I've been a little blue as of late because I've wanted to sew. Only sewing would make me happy. Sew sew sew sew. But my little $54 brother sewing machine was having NONE of this sewing thing. I'd bought it a few years ago at Walmark on the Black Friday crazy sale. I sewed it to death. Made all sorts of crazy things on it and never paid much attention to it. I blew out the fuzz balls every now and then that lived in the bobbin case, but nothing serious. Well, it's always had personality issues. It'll work for a little while and then snap every thread I put in it. I had enough of it and called to see about getting the stupid thing serviced. It would have cost $69.99, and it wouldn't be ready until after the new year. UM NO. I want to sew RIGHTTHISFRIGGINMINUTE!

Enter Saint D. He got to thinking in the car that the stipid little $54 machine wasn't really worth the $69 it was going to cost. And I wanted to sew RIGHTTHISMINUTE! So he asks, "why don't we just buy you a new one? There's one on sale at the store for cheap."

I'm sorry, was there a question?

YES! Due to some packaging error at Joann's, we got the nicer of the machines I'd wanted for the price of the baseline machine. Someone at the factory was sticking the wrong machine in the wrong box. SCORE for me. The machine was marked at $128, and I purchased a few half yards of fabric (like 8) plus a by the bolt package of fusiable web interfacing. Our final total was only $111. Granted, we used some coupons and my teacher's discount, but DANG. That was a steal. I kinda felt guilty that I snatched it at such a fabu price.

Enter J and today. She is a friend who works with D, and she's a sewer. We like to get together and make these cute, simple bags. It's her pattern, and she's planning to make up a billion of them to sell at craft fairs. We work as a team. She does all the PITA parts like cutting and ironing, and I do all the sewing. She HATES to sew in the bottoms of the bags, so that is all me. She brought over a stack of them that only needed the bottoms sewn in, and that's what I set myself to doing. Then she had another stack that had already been cut and only lacked the iron-on interfacing. She ironed them on, and I stiched them up. We were our own little sweat shop. I only poked/tore my fingers up once that required a bandaid out of all 22 bags we made today. 4 of them were mine to keep. It was a good day.


If you look at that pic, the top four are mine. You can only really see the top 3 because my Geisha one is squished under the vintage santa print.

And that brings up another issue. I found a new quilt shop in town. Well, new to me. It's right behind my house!!!! Like if I weren't a giant fat kid and a scardy cat, I could walk to it! I'd have to cross like 8 lanes of traffic to get there at one point, but I could technically walk there. That's the place that we found the vintage santa print and the skunk print. J is a HUGE fan of skunks (no idea why...), and she had a duck when she saw it. It's really quite cute. I liked it. We made her a bag straight away when we got home.

So, that's what I spend this fine Friday night doing. A nice cozy night by the Singer and good company. OH, and pizza. And a great torte that didn't look 'sactly like the photo because I can't follow simple directions. It still tasted mi-t-fine though.

Oriented

I have been doing a bit of navel gazing today, and I was inspired to post. I thought all this up in the shower as I washed my hair. Seems that's when I get my best ideas these days.

All my life, as I was growing up, I thought I was straight. Just one thing for me...easy, relatively uncomplicated.
But then I went to college, and I fooled around with other types. I found that I liked more than just one type.
And now I'm out of college, and I'm still fooling around on the weekends. And I find that simply calling myself Bi isn't cutting it. I thought for a while that it would; I even loved the idea from Miz Violet to make a shirt that proclaimed my bi-ness, but I don't think that covers it all anymore.
I've thought about the label I'd like to wear on this blog, and I've tossed straight and bi out the door. Now I've been thinking about being tri, but that sounds a little narrow (only 3) and it also sounds desperate (try anything once).
SO what I think I'll call myself now is poly.

There. I've said it. I'm POLYCRAFTUAL!

I knit. I spin. I crochet. I dye. I sew. I bake. I love to make stuff.

My mother should have always known what I was. She taught me most of what I know. My father might be ashamed, but he always has been - no big change there.
My boyfriend won't be surprised when I come out to him because he's always been there for me. He even likes to watch!!!! Ever since I've started bringing girls home to craft with me, he's been all eyes and ears when I'm fooling around. You've never seen a better fetcher when you're all tangled up in yarn or stuck at the sewing machine for hours trying to get 1 damn hem straight.

I figure now's as good a time as any, I thought I'd come out to all my friends and admit that 1 craft or hobby just isn't enough for one girl. Hell, two or three aren't either! I'm up for all the crafty love I can stand. March loud and proud ladies and gentlemen! We are POLYCRAFTUAL, and we are happy to say it!

***Nearly died laughing as I typed this entry by the way. I wrote this in a spirit of silly happiness and do not mean to be disrespectful to anyone who has really had to come out and tell his/her family something painful. I do not mean to mock you with this post. I was shooting for funny.

As promised

MVI_4428
Originally uploaded by venutian_beauty

A rather poor quality vid, but it's still funny!

My Fridays

I have a confession to make. I've been busy doing fun stuff and living a really full life these last few weeks. We have a new friend who wants to be as good a friend to us as we always are, and we've got a new bar.

I just have to channel Toby Keith and say, "I love this bar. It's my kinda place!"



We have finally found the gay bar in Columbus, and while I'm not gay, it's about the most fun you can have with most of your clothes on. Rilly.



And the costumes are FANTASTIC!!! I would just love to make friends with one of the girls so that I could help make them.


So from mine to yours, Have a Happy Holiday...no matter who you are or who you love!


ps I'm uploading a video on my flickr right now...it's a trip!

Fair Time

I got up early on Sat. morning to trek to D's Mom's house in Americus to ride to the fair in Perry, GA. It was an interesting ride.
Early

Later


Latest


The Fair means:


Candy apples.


Cotton candy.


Fried stuff.


Stuff on sticks.


Cat calls.


And meat on the grill.






And we went to the Montgomery Gentry concert that night.



Terrible shots, but a kick ass concert. :D

No, I'm not going to talk about my broken car that I killed today. We're gonna pretend it isn't broken. Instead, we'll leave this post with a pretty picture.

Helping Others

So I'm on it again. I've got my do-gooder cape laced up and ready. The Violet of Lime and Violet needs to escape her current situation and her cheating hubs has taken the money out of their accounts. Like all of it. SO, I'm donating all of the cash I make on Etsy sales. You can visit this blog to see all the fantastic things people are doing to help this woman out.

Also, there's another warming project out there. Warmth For Washington. I'll be knitting for it too.

Blogging

I'm terrible at it, but I do think about it quite often. I take random pictures to share with the blog, but I never remember to come and actually share them! So here is a record of my blog thinking for the past few weeks.
I've been stalking Ysolda it seems. First I cast on for Ishbel [rav link]with the rest of the free world. Here you see D trying to help me knit. If he hadn't been so cute, I'da killed him. He didn't manage to drop any stitches though. Thank god.

Here's a picture of it in progress with, I think, all of chart A done. It mostly looks like a pile of st. st. at this point.

I also made her plum cake because D bought this ginormo thing of plums at Sam's right before we went on vacation. OF course they were "ripe" when we got home. I peeled them and made a cake. I bought a pound of greek yogurt when it only called for like a third cup, so if you know what the heck to do with greek yogurt (not eating it straight...ick), let me know. I guess I could make gyros again and have better tzatziki sauce.
D's been cooking too. He makes strange things sometimes like these honeyed figs.
They smelled divine. Too bad I don't like figs. He ate them with ice cream from a can.

He made green pasta last night while I watched When Harry met Sally for the 1087th time. He got stuck on the "puree spinach" bit because we don't have a food processor and the blender was NOT working well with others. He managed to stick something in the blades while trying to puree. When he snatched the cooking utensil out, he slung spinach all over the kitchen. I put him in time out to boil the noodles while I made nice with the spinach. No more mishaps. It was good even though it kinda looked slime green.

And it seems that I have a new collection in my life (NO MA- no elephants from you unless they are OLD or very cool). We've had the first one for a while. We found it in D's nothermom's house when she passed away. You put the coin in the trunk and pull the tail. He puts the coin in the seat on his back. Very cool.
Then I found the wooden/copper one at an antique place in Warm Springs and I needed him. He looks like an old souvenir from India or something.

And last but not least, I picked up the little elephant planter from a thrift store in town. TOO CUTE! Fez the monk rides in him.

I've also been knitting other shawls than Ishbel. Meet my silk kerchief. This is s'posed to be made with Noro for it's fantastic colors to stripe against each other, but noro is spendy. I am not. I used my own handspun. The blue stripes are from batts purchased from HeartstringsbyDee on Etsy. The orangey yellow bits came from a batt by Funky Carolina. This thing is sooo squishy. Oh and the border yarn was spun from BFL roving dyed by Jenna at UniquelyYoursDesigns.


Up next on the list of stuff I've been up to we have spinning and dyeing. I hung them all up together to dry after a leisurly soak in the tub in many many bubbles.

To round out the yarny arts, I've also been crocheting. This yarn tried it's hardest to work as a lacy baktus scarf, but it ain't happ'nin. I give you the floaty fall scarf instead. I'm starting on my second ball now. :D

I've also been quilting. But don't judge these. I didn't use a ruler the entire time. And I can't sew a straight line to save my life. Ma, go somewhere else. You can scroll down and see Bug's quilt, but then go away. Yours is up next. You'll spoil Christmas.


My pantry had gotten out of hand, so I attacked it. Here is the before shot. No, I haven't finished, so there's no after shot yet.

And now a few out takes from my photo sessions with The Diva himself. I don't know what happens to him when I pull out the camera. I guess it's to make up for YEARS of being too shy for words.



The Merino Kid

I can remember

Today, my grandmother died. She was my last living grandparent, but she hasn't known me for a year or better. She hasn't known my father, my uncle, or any of our other family members. But she knew my Papa John. She remembered that he was dead. That's what she remembered.

And now I remember her. I couldn't bear to visit after the last time when she couldn't remember me or my parents. She wasn't my Grandma anymore. I think I should feel terrible that she died without my saying goodbye to her, but I don't. I think that would be selfish. Good byes are for the living. The dead aren't leaving you forever, you just can't see them anymore, but they're still by your side. I'm not sad she died either. She was in pain and her quality of life had flatlined long ago. She had to be taken from her home shortly after she lost her husband and put in the one place she never wanted to be, a nursing home. But we had no choice at that point, it was too dangerous to leave her alone.

All that aside though, I remember her tonight. The woman she was to me, and the woman I will carry with me until I die. My grandma gave me many gifts over the years. I was her number one granddaughter. But the one gift she gave me that I cherish most is the gift of crochet. She pulled me into her tiny lap, into that awful orange striped recliner chair, and she taught me the basic stitches while my hands were still smaller than hers. She taught me to move the needle and to wrap the yarn so that it wouldn't slip from my fingers, and I still wrap it like she did even though I have all five of my fingers on my hand where she had only four. I can make all of the stitches she taught me still. My hands can remember her.

Memory loss is a thief in my family. It has stolen from us all, on both sides of the tree. I sit at the bottom, waiting for my turn to be taken. When I forget where my keys are, it bothers me a little that the thief is in my house already, so early. I should have years before I have to bar the door with a chair or a well placed nail. Even so, I hope that I will always remember her, and those like her who have made me the woman I am today. But I know that these are just dreams, and that my thief will one day come for what's his. The things I hope I hide from him are in my hands tonight...those things these people taught me. I hope I never forget to hold my yarn and needle the way Grandma did. I hope I never forget to core a navel orange and squeeze for the juice like Papa John. I hope I never forget how to bait a hook like my Daddy. I hope I never forget what goes into my Mama's biscuits.
At the end of it all, I hope.

Two Months

Seems like two months between posts is about the right amount of time for me to remember to blog. I'm so bad at this. I'll never have a book published- I can't keep followers interested in a semi-dead blog. OH ZOMBIE BLOG.

This is now the ZOMBIE BLOG.

*cackles*

Really, I'm posting for a good cause today. I'm all hopped up on do-gooder juice today and have a few things to mention. All you sewers, knitters, and crocheters, listen up- this one's fer you. I've found out about a charity project called Iraqi Bundles of Love run by a guy whose wife is on my blog roll of things I check compulsively. I'm discounting the skeins I have left in the shop to help finance my packages to the Iraqi Bundles of Love project here It costs around 11 dollars and some change to send each box. I have 5 to send. If I manage to sell all of the items in the shop, I'll pack some more boxes to send with the extra funds. So not a penny will go into my little hands because I'll spend it right back on shipping the boxes that I pull together. If you felt so moved, you could wrap up your own bundle and send it along. Art posted guidelines and says that almost any crafty item from knitters, crocheters, and sewers would be welcomed. Think about living in a land of no LYSes or fabric and craft stores. We could open the world to them with 11 measly bucks. :D

And, closer to home, Nest is taking submissions again until Sept. 1. I know that is like NO time to knit up stuff, but I thought I'd throw that out there too since I'm all do-goody today. :D I've got about 6 hats knit up and am 1 mitten into a pair to send along too. This year, I'm using my own handspun too, so it's exxxxtra love going out to Mainers. How boring am I, nothing but text? I'll have to dig up some pics to drop in here.

Please do think about sending something into these charities because they do good things for people and aren't scams. As an american, I know I have more than enough to keep myself in the plush life, so sharing should be second nature to me. I also know that it hurts to share sometimes, but that little "mine" sting is NOTHING next to the "don't have anything" hole that sits in the heart of some countries. So please do think about sharing some of your stash. You know you'll die before you make up most of it into something to be used anyway. These people need it. We just want this stuff. .

Thanks for checking back in on me. I'll not even try to be crazy and say I'll do better at posting- you and I both know it's a lie. :P

Not dead

Nope, I'm not dead. Have been feeling that way a lot, but I'm still kickin'. I had some major creep bug that stole my voice last week, so you can imagine how much fun teaching was. HA. I typed a lot. Good think I type really fast.

I've been knitting and spinning and crocheting like a fool again too. I spun up about 2 oz into frog hair yesterday, boy is it thin. I plan to spin the other half soon and two ply it. I think it will have nice long color repeats like a certain Japanese yarn that is so hard on my hands, but I make no promises.

I'm making my brother a toy for his birthday based on the Kate pattern from Knitty (ravlink). I started to just make it a rockstar cat, but then I put fangs on him and his ears next, and lo and behold- it looked like a bat. So I'm going to finish out the Kate bodt with arms and legs, but then I'm gonna mod me some bat wings to sew on to his back. I think I'm also going to give him a mohawk and pierce his ear. I also bought some jewlery finding (chain extenders) to attach to him that will make him look like he has a wallet chain going on. Bub will get a kick out of it, or at least I hope he will. I'm using up some handspun for this, but I'm gonna have to use commercial yarn for the wings. I'm thinking black batwings.

I also knit the free pattern by Raynor called Sugar Bunny(ravlink). It was her take on the best bunny by lionbrand except she knit it up. It was a really cute pattern, and would have been great if I could read. I made the feet for the hands and then got so excited I sewed them on. Of course, once I had darned all the ends into the stupid thing is when I realized that I had screwed up. There was no way out either. I used some really pretty handspun to make a shawl to hide the UGLY seam I made when I attached her head. Again, not a pattern flaw so much as a crafter flaw.

I'm also thinking of making a little stuffed dog for a lady who loves dogs and is retiring from my school. I don't know her very well, but it doesn't look hard to make and it will be a sweet thing to do.

I've been spinning a bit more too, and here's the proof.


I've been taking weird pics in the fruit section to show my mom orange lemons.


I've been walking down by the river and really getting irritated by irresponsible people. We picked everything in that pic up from the river bed/bank, even the plastic bag it's held in. This was our second load.

But there were some nice things to see while we were playing riverkeeper.



And one last pretty pic, but not at the river. This is in D's dad's back yard.