So, what do I knit on consignment?

This will be a quick post but, hopefully, I will be able to get a couple of photos up of some of the items I've been knitting on consignment. With Christmas coming up, it's important to get your orders in soon. Email me for prices and other questions. Also, if you hop over to wombatknitter on Ravelry, you can see lots more. :-)

Fingerless Gloves and Slouch Hats

Another Quick Note

Check out the Forcecast.net for October 5. They have reprinted an essay Paul wrote!

Check out this contest for Malabrigo goodness!

Just a quickie post here (yes, I'll eventually finish the Dragon*Con postings) because I found out about a few contests after watching the Knitgirllls latest video blog.

First of all, here's a contest with several ways to enter. There are 3 skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn up for grabs, so head over to RainloverKnits to check out the action.

Second, another contest of yarn-y goodness at Laugh.Love.Knit. Leave a comment to enter.

I'm heading over there to enter both of them. See you there!

Dragon*Con 2010, Part One

After a long hiatus, why not return with something spectacular like Dragon*Con? So, here goes.

I'll start with the pre-con week. What do I usually do right before con? Certainly, it's not anything as mundane as laundry and packing. Nope, it's costume time. And my girls descended on my abode early in the week with their scathingly brilliant ideas, fabric, glue guns, and accessories. We were back in the pre-con sewing frenzy.

Now, this costuming brainstorm devised by Caitlin and Mary also needed to be kept secret until the Sunday of D*C so I had to post enigmatic status reports on Facebook and keep photos to a minimum. So, I took these:

Altogether, I think sewing took 3 days but the results were spectacular. The girls worked their magic with their hats and accessories whilst I concentrated on their bloomers. I ended up making Mary's twice because I really didn't like the results of the first try. So, after a trip to Joann's for more fabric and trim, a complete reworking of the pattern (I ended up redrafting one from her measurements instead of trying to alter Caitlin's pattern) and more late-night stitching, I was finally pleased with the results. Best of all, they fit!

Of course, no trip to D*C can be planned without Grampa's help in the snack department so he brought about 3 bags full of crackers, granola bars, and other pretty healthful foods. (Okay, we won't count the Pop-tarts.) Mary and I were planning on a Friday and Sunday excursion whilst Paul was only going to be able to join us on Sunday due to work scheduling. Caitlin would try to get there on Friday night but definitely be there for Sunday evening. That was our plan and we actually did pretty well sticking to it.

End of pre-con phase. Note to self, getting to sleep around 4am is not usually a good idea when the alarm is set to go off at 8am. Just sayin' . . .

Who turned out the lights?

I'm posting around 3:30am after a couple of power outages just because I am wide awake and decided a short post is better than no post at all.

Around 1am we decided to watch some Doctor Who because we're just on a roll like that. Friday night we watched The Deadly Assassin (Tom Baker) and we began The Talons of Weng Chiang after a short power outage shortly before 12:45. Now, mind you, at this point there was no severe weather. Earlier we had lots of thunder, lightning, heavy rain, and even tornado watches. But things were rather peaceful when things went black. Throwing caution to the wind, we settled in for some Who-viewing.

Unfortunately, we had only watched part one when the power left us again. Interesting timing, too, because it was at the exact break in the programming. Right after the giant rat made its appearance.

I had the laptop on so there was some light in the living room but with the Internet gone, all I had to do was playing Spider Solitaire for a bit. With about 30 minutes battery time left, I decided to give up and track down the candles, forgetting one of Murphy's Laws which says that as soon as you get the candles lit the lights will come back on. sigh. Of course.

So, I think I'll knit for a while before I turn in. I'm pretty excited about my knitting - I've learned a new technique. Since I'm in a shawl mood and can look forward to long rows of purling on the wrong side (eek!) I tracked down some instructions for Portuguese-style knitting which has much smaller movements, particularly when purling. After about 30 minutes of practice, I've pretty well got it down so I'm good to go on the shawl. I'm no speed demon but I do like having another method to turn to when the project calls for it.

I'll put pictures of the work in progress tomorrow.

Remember those commercials that boasted "Milk - It does a body good"?

Well, what you probably never realized was that, while Milk was out front getting all the glory and sending innocent lactose intolerant bystanders into spasms of pain often rivalling natural childbirth, Toto was trying to get our attention, barking at that mysterious curtain. Who or what was lurking there, you ask? Why, it's the red-headed stepchild of health. The one you don't want to pay attention to for very long because you're just too busy. It's poor, maligned Sleep.

Come here, Sleep. Introduce yourself. No? Oh, well. Sleep is often difficult to control. Right now, it's being Shy. You know what that is - we used to call it Bashful and it was sort of cute, like the dwarf. Of course, now it's quite serious and poor Bashful drags this baggage around everywhere it goes. Baggage with labels stuck on it. You know the ones - they all say rude things about an inability to socialize and people often try to stick them on homeschoolers. But I digress.

So, let's get back to Sleep. Oh, how often I wish it was that easy. Sometimes Sleep plays hide and seek, often finding such good hiding places that you can't find it for days. It can be quite elusive. Just when you think you've found it - Poof! - barely beyond your grasp. You can picture it behind that curtain, tugging desperately whilst Toto keeps yanking in to opposite direction. Some nights, the game goes on for hours, until one of the other participant finally gives up the ghost, leaving the other alone, gloating.

But, that's just when Sleep doesn't want to be found. What about those nights when Sleep really wants to do its job but we're too busy or absorbed in Something Important to pay attention to that stupid, damned Toto, yapping all the time, always wanting attention, dragging us kicking and screaming to see some dusty old curtain. Sure, we know what's back there. It's just Sleep. Sleep thinks it's got so much control with all those wheels to turn and ropes to pull. Yeah, sure. Great and Powerful. We know better than that. Get back behind the curtain where you belong.



If you were all that important, somebody would have made a commercial about you...like Milk.

Hmph, Sleep. How important could it be, anyway? Surely, we can get along with little doses of it. We have to show it who's boss. I mean, come on. Some nights you just have to beat your high score on Bejeweled - or finish that book - or knit a few more rows - or even all of the above. Besides, whoever heard of "Sleep - It does a body good"?

Has it really been that long since I posted?

Just a quickie note because I am determined to begin posting again for this blog. I am trying to figure out how to add some Ravelry info, but that involves the dreaded C-word (code) and I would love to add the progress bars that I'm supposed to be able to add, too. If I am successful with that, I will do Numfar's Dance of Joy. So, please stay tuned.