I know, I've been absent...

I have enjoyed being semi-unplugged since I officially stopped working on May 15th.

Have been very busy as well.

There was finishing the Dress.




Really wish I had a dress form....this hanger does NOT do this dress justice...at all!

There was mad, crazy, almost all night gaming at KublaCon...

There was bike fixing, switching out of various and sundry bike bits and pieces.

There has been bike riding almost EVERY day! I've dropped 5 pounds so far... YAY!

And there was not much knitting or other crafting...except for Mom's birthday earrings.





I've been in a sort of a 'crafter's block' situation. My head is bursting with crafty ideas for knitting, sewing, crocheting, embroidery, combinations of all of the above...lots of prototypes for stuff to put out on my shop need to be made...the crafty list is endless.

Yet...I could do nothing.

Enter the craft palette cleanser...








Remember the "birthday balls" from last summer?

Well those 45, plus about 5-10 more, along with random balls found here and there round the Chaos, make up this BIG, HUGE, bad boy of a blankie (big enough to cover a twin size bed and then some - in the photos, it's on my double bed). Enter Size S extended Tunisian Crochet Hook, 3 strands held together, and Voila! Check out Stitch Diva for an easy Tunisian Tutorial - I also bought my S hook from them at Stitches West back in February. They also have a pattern for a stash buster blanket, but I just did my own thing.

The dominant colors in my acrylic stash were black and various shades of dark blue. I held one strand of black, one strand of blue and then just grabbed for colors. The balls were stacked nicely in the container according to color, so I attached one color, used it til it ran out, then started on the next and so on and so on. The photos don't do it justice as it's rather cool looking and flows pretty well from one section to another. Using the black and blue as the "glue" was a very good idea. Eventually I ran out of black and blue and then started in with the other base colors of green and dark red...and then found some more black, so added it back in... It was a fun project!

I started this sucker on the evening of June 1st...worked on it every night that week for about an hour or two, one or two hours over the busy weekend, left it alone until last night...DONE!

Insta-warm blankie, and the acrylic stash is G-O-N-E. At least I think it is....I'm sure more of that stuff will pop up...I swear, it breeeeds.

It's BIG, it's HEAVY, and it's Spencer's. He likes lots of weight and warmth on him in the winter while he sleeps. This should do it.

Craft palette cleansed.

Had an interesting last few days, but will save that for another post. I'll try not to stay away from the computer so much. :)

What I did this past weekend...Stitches 2009

....first...we get ready...

Here's Ms Cow all strapped into her carry tote - which also doubles as my knitting bag when she tags along.



This was taken early Friday afternoon. She was a bit excited, so had to make sure I didn't forget her.

Later that evening while the laundry was going...I made these...

5 sets of Pink Ribbon Stitch Markers...



3 pairs of Pink Ribbon Earrings...



7 Pink Ribbon Cell Phone Charms...



All of these Pink Ribbon goodies were dropped off at the Yarn Dogs booth at Stitches for them to sell to raise money for their "Knitters for Knockers" Avon Walk Team 2009.

If you'll remember, back when No-blog-Rachel did the walk with the team, I provided some goodies for them to wear and sell then as well.

Saturday morning, we're all set to go and head out on BART to meet up with the rest of the group... Here's Ms Cow in her tote with my knitting, nestled inside my rolling shopping cart. Although I did take the cart on BART, I did not take it into Stitches. Figured there would be way too many people and I was right. Just wish everyone else who had a rolling cart would have left there's in their cars as well....



Some random shots of Stitches...












At some point the 5 of us...6 if you count Ms Cow, actually stopped for lunch...

Ms Cow never left the bag...she preferred to stay strapped in her safety ribbon for the duration.



The convention center was swarming with people, running here and there, oooohing and ahhhhing and running into each other...she was much safer staying in her carry tote.

Before and after lunch there was shopping, of course. After lunch, 3 (4) of us sat in on a drop spindle spinning demo at the main stage. OOOH, that was cool.

After the demo, there was more shopping.

About 5pm-ish, we all decided that we'd had enough and headed home. We stopped off for a lovely dinner and some questionable Italian lessons at a Macaroni Grill.

Waiting for the BART train home...poor Ms Cow has passed out. Good thing the knitting is there to cushion her. And no, not one of us actually knitted at Stitches. I did knit one row on my two-at-one-socks to show two of the ladies how I managed to not get myself all tangled up...but that doesn't really count.



Thanks a bunch to the wonderful AmpuT who drove us all in her converted van. Dudes, that thing rocks! It was so cool! Too bad I didn't get a photo of it when they pulled up at the BART station to pick me up... hee hee hee.

There were 5 of us (plus one wee little Cow) riding in style down to Stitches. The other 3 ladies I didn't know before this, so I have 3 new knitterly friends. And we had such a fun time! They are all so funny, we were laughing and smiling the whole time. Except for at the end when I think we were all about ready to collapse and decided we needed to leave and get some food. Once we got some food in us tho...heh heh heh heh...

OK Cherry, here's some photos now of what I bought while there...

Everything out at once...inspected and kitty approved...



Close up of some discount Cherry Tree Hill Sock yarn in Wisteria, the Whimsy Scarf Pattern (going to use the Cherry Tree Hill to make it), a few pin/buttons/badges...I seem to be collecting them...I heart sheep...Stitches 2009, and a Fiber Fiend Monster dude.



Two Square Circular #1's, 24in. These things rock. I was hoping to find something like this for my sock knitting. The transition from cable to needle is wonderful, and the cable is soft and supple...no kinking or curling here! YAY! I am just rocking on Honey's socks now. :) Ooh, and one of the 2 drop spindles I bought. One top whorl and one bottom whorl. And check out the leather straps. Those are for my Suede tote bag lined with firemen fabric that has been hibernating while I look for handles.



Here is an awful photo of the second spindle, a Blue Faced Leicester Roving braid and some lace weight Yarn Place Grace and Jojoland Harmony yarn. The Grace is all mine (multi colored with greens and blues and greys) and the Harmony is for a gift (swear to you guys it's the colors of Rainbow Sherbet). As I start the projects I'll have better photos - and I've stashed it all in Ravelry, but need photos there too . It was too dark and dreary for the last few days to get any good ones tho.



And lastly, Ms Cow is leaning on a big ball of some sort of roving fluff in a really cool coppery brown color. I have no idea what it is...I bought it cos of the color. :) If I'm going to be learning how to spin, I may as well like the color of what I'm totally ruining...



Not shown in any photos...the very large size S wooden, extended crochet hook. Stitch Diva ran out, so I had to order it. That should be arriving in about 2-3 weeks, depending on the amount of orders that poor man who makes them ends up getting out of them. Once I get that hook, the Random Acts of Acrylic Blankie is back on!!! I'll burn thru that acrylic in NO TIME!!!! I really LOVE Tunisian Crochet...

Anyway, I pretty much got home about 8:30pm-ish and just about collapsed on the couch. But not until after I had put everything out on the bed and photographed it. Cos you know I'm just gonna tear into everything and then there will be no more photo ops.

Anywhoo...spent all day Sunday and part of today recovering. It was not so much the sore feet and back from wandering up and down the convention hall floor, it was the wool sensitivities! I started sneezing towards the end right before I left, but didn't think anything of it.

Was fine thru dinner.

By the time I was settled in at BART waiting for the train home, it had hit. And hit in a BIG way. My eyes were swollen and watery and itchy. My nose was getting stuffed up. And my throat was so dry. And my hands...they were itchy as well.

Delayed reaction. Sigh. I had done so well all day long. I thought I would be able to survive unscathed. I was wrong. I guess I can handle a yarn store size amount of yarn stuff, just not a convention hall sized amount.

Oh well, this will definitely make me think twice about ever going again. But I'm as so glad I went this one time and finally saw what all the brouhaha was about.

Yes, it's big.

Yes, there's lots of stuff to buy and see and all that.

Been there, bought that, had the reaction...don't need to go back now or ever wonder what I was missing.

StitchesStitchesStitchesStitches

StitchesStitchesStitchesStitches....

OK, not that I've got that out of my system, I can calm down a bit and do what I need to do to prepare for tomorrow. Its just as bad as preparing for a trip for goodness sake.

I am excited, can you tell?

There seems to be a few more bodies in the Stitches Road Trip tomorrow. YAY!

Nothing like socializing and getting down with your yarny self with those who understand your knitter-speak.

Party on knitters...

A busy night last night...

...things are all a-buzz in the Chaos lately.

Some of the reasons can't be revealed just yet, but they will soon...after Stitches.

Yes, I'm going to Stitches!!! Hitching a ride with the AmpuT early on Saturday morning.

I'll be looking for you No-Blog-Rachel!!!

We have all been very creative lately.

Even Ms Cow has gotten the "I need to make something NOW" bug.

We set off to JoAnn's Craft Superstore with our 40% off coupon yesterday at lunch.

You see, Ms Cow needs a Tea Set. Now, we've been to Japantown, Chinatown, every toy store in the area, have searched Ebay, Etsy, Amazon, everywhere...and no where...NO WHERE have we found a tea set sized for use by the Cows. We did find a teapot in Chinatown (which is a bit on the small side), but no tea cups were to be had anywhere! Now, if Cow and Ms Cow were sized the same as Barbie, this would be a non-issue...

Well, being frustrated by the whole situation and Ms Cow being the take charge crafter that she is...we decided to make our own.

So we needed clay.

Since when are there so many freakin types of clay?

Anyway, after much scrunching of brows, looks of dismay, feelings of despair, and knashing of teeth...we decided to get some Super Sculpey. Once we're done shaping it up, it will be baked in the oven and then we can paint it.

Here is Ms Cow with her first little ball of clay. This will soon become a tea cup.



We had lots of fun working with the Super Sculpey. It's very soft and pliable and won't dry out since it doesn't harden unless you bake it. So far so good. We'll keep you all posted on our progress.

Here's Ms Cow with her evenings worth of work:



Four tea cups, four saucers, a sugar bowl (with lid even!!!) and a creamer (with a spout!!!).

She's very clever and good with the clay our Ms Cow...

We won't be able to use the teapot we have with the cups we're making, it's too small for these Cow Sized cups. But, we can at least use it as a model for one we can make ourselves. Ms Cow really likes the shape of it.

Can't wait to make more things with this clay...it's fun!!!

Meanwhile, Ms Cow, Spencer, and I are preparing for Stitches...and the Kublacon!