Why Don't Scientific Discoveries Happen When You Need Them?

Too bad they didn't have this research done when I was in school! Maybe my Trig teacher would have realized I was paying attention after all! ;)

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

I had a brilliant idea for a new necklace/choker, but I'm not entirely sure how to make it work yet. I'm hoping to combine some tiny crocheted roses like these:

and tatted roses like these: with a tatted edge. The trick is going to be making the tatted roses and crocheted roses as close to the same size as possible and then coming up with an edging pattern to connect them. Not to mention, keeping the cat out of my hair while I do it. If it works, I'll probably use it as my entry for the Spring Contest being held by MissKnits and sarahinflorida, which means I need to get to work! Still wonderine what colors I'm going to use, whether I should make the roses all the same color or vary them, use solid colors or varigated thread. Too many decisions, too little time!

Oh, and I'm featured on a fellow etsian's blog! Come check it out: ww.gemsbyjerri.blogspot.com

Okay, off to work on various roses, more info to come as this project develops ;)

Busy, busy, busy!

Well, I finally managed to fight the new kitten off long enough to make a few quick projects. Cat toys, of course! I even managed to make a few extras that she hasn't claimed yet to list in my store.

I also finally got around to photographing and listing another baby afghan. Been a busy day or two. Now I just have to finish listing cat toys and go make some more.

And I still have to put the findings on another tatted choker and try to come up with earrings to go with it or something. No rest sometimes.

A Chicken in Every Pot. . .

And a sweater for every chicken!

New Pretty!

Finished the one with the beads first:

She Walks in Beauty Choker

Still working on the other flowering vine choker, but this took center stage for a while. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of the star beads. Earrings, maybe?

It's Almost That Time Again

Ash Wednesday is right around the corner and this year I've thought long and hard about what to give up for Lent. Last year, I gave up going to the movies. It wasn't nearly as bad as the year I gave up chocolate, or worse, the year I gave up chocolate AND coffee.

I had a hard time figuring out what was the right thing to give up this year. Finally I decided to give up fast food. I eat way too much of it and I know that it's not good for me. Hopefully, I'll get a little healthier and maybe even lose a little weight in the process ;)

I'm also hoping that after giving it up completely for 40 days, I might eventually be able to find a little balance and not eat so much fast food in the long run. Yeah, I know I'm not good at balance and moderation, but hope springs eternal, right?

Or Not

I decided it didn't need anything after all.

Flowering Vine Choker

I started another flowering vine choker last night with a slight variation in the flowers. After a few repeats, it began to feel too monotonus to do essentially the same pattern twice in a row, so I also started another choker with beads. We'll see which I end up finishing first.

Seems to Need Something More . . .

Someone suggested that I try to make a tatted choker with some bright spring colors. I've been experimenting with this traditional edging pattern and thought it might work. So now I have this happy line of spring flowers, almost to the length I want it, but it seems like it might need something else to make it a choker. I don't know if I should go back and do the same edging along the other side, whether back to back or trapping the flowers in the middle, or if it's fine and I'm just trying to make more work for myself. Opinions, anyone out there in cyberland?

The safety pin is placed at the last spot I measured it to save time and frustration ;) We took several pictures, but it's so delicate, this is the only one that turned out decently. I suppose I should just get it to the length I want before I worry too much about what else it needs. Good thing my amazing tatting callus is back!

What Do You Do?

I know all of you out there are thinking how awful it must be to have your hubby working all day on Valentine's Day, leaving you alone to entertain yourself. What do you do when you're alone on V-Day? I'll tell you.

You watch your husband get ready to go to work and whine at him and make him feel bad about leaving you alone. (Well, you try to make him feel bad, but he's so annoyingly level-headed it doesn't work so you get mad at him instead.)

You sit in bed wondering what to do with yourself. You do this for a while.

You get up, get online and spend a few hours messing around, promoting your shop, blogging, etc. You get bored with this.

You put a chick flick your hubby doesn't like watching in the DVD player and gather supplies to make a silly sock creature out of Valentine's socks given to you for that purpose.

You get annoyed when you can't find the socks and fire off an angry text message to hubby at work accusing him of losing/hiding the socks.

You find the socks in plain sight and send an apologetic text message.

As you watch chick flick, you create a strange creature and then get annoyed with it when it won't tell you its name or story.

You give up on Valentine's Day altogether and do family stuff for the next few hours. When you get home again, you fall and twist your knee, thus ruining the next few days as well. You curse Valentine's Day and all who celebrate it and become bitter and cynical (well, more bitter and cynical).

The next day, you post about it in your blog and hope that makes you feel a little better.

It does ;)

Quoteables for Valentine's Day

I love quotes! Here are a few of my favorite love quotes in honor of Valentine's Day:

"Where there is great love, there are always miracles." -Willa Cather

"Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. " -Franklin P. Jones

"If you have it [Love], you don't need to have anything else, and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter much what else you have. " -Sir James M. Barrie

"Love is a friendship set to music. " -E. Joseph Cossman

"When you are in Love you can't fall asleep because reality is better than your dreams." -Dr Seuss

Missing: Muse

Alas! I have lost my creative spirit today! I can't seem to think of my next project.

So, I've added a poll! Help me design my next tatted choker. Maybe even more than one ;) Take a look at the chokers already in my shop to get an idea of what I can do. Or at least, what I'm talking about. Thanks in advance for the input and keep your eyes out for pics of my new projects, coming soon to a blog near you! (Well, this blog at least ;)

If the poll options are too limiting (it's harder to figure out what to ask than I thought it would be) just leave me a comment with your ideas. Inspire me!

Promotions! Promotions!

It's time to start moving stuff out of my shop. There are too many things that have been sitting there for too long. So, here are my current promotional deals:

Free shipping on all baby afghans in the month of February.

And, this weekend only, buy any knit, crocheted, or tatted item and get the card of your choice for free! Just tell me the name/item number of the card you want in 'notes to seller' and I'll bundle it up with your item!

More promotions and specials coming soon. Help me make room for new inventory!

At Last! I'm Popular!

Take that everyone who was snotty to me in high school!

Okay, I'm not Prom Queen popular or anything, but I did sell two copies of this pattern in one day! And I've sold two sets of Juggling Geese within a week. Makes me feel pretty good. Now, if only some bigger ticket items would become popular ;)

After working on tatting projects for about a week, my tatting calluses are finally starting to build up again and the thread isn't cutting into my fingers as much. I really need to stop letting the calluses soften and heal. It's a pain to build them back up, in more ways than one!

Busy Hands

Two new tatted chokers in two days! It might have been three if I hadn't screwed up the spacing on the second one and had to redo the whole thing. Anyway, here's a peek:

Both are listed in my shop if you want to see more pics!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20732284

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20732465

Random Musing

I believe that daytime television reflects the decline of the intelligence of the average person.

Warning- Impending Rant

I'm getting sick of people in the ad business. I'm sure it's a much harder job than all those of us sitting at home on our butts shouting "I could've come up with a better idea than that!" think it is. But, honestly, I'm tired of stupid ads, ads that don't truly reach their target audience, and ads that shoot themselves in the metaphorical foot. I have two main complaints about advertising at the moment.

1. Why are ads being aimed at me not written by people who understand me? Does anyone think that Always' current slogan "Have a happy period" was written by anyone other than a hopefully deluded man? I don't know a single woman who would consider having a "happy period." How often to you get an excuse to be bitchy to everyone? This doesn't mean that anyone of any gender should assume that a bitchy woman has reached "that time of the month." Keep those opinions to yourself, or we'll have to kill you. I just mean that all I do when I see those ads is grumble and scream at the TV rather than actually listening to the intent of the commercial. There are plenty of other commercials that fall into this category, but I can't think of them at the moment.

2. Why are all the personifications of bad things so darn cute? It started a few years ago with the absolutely huggable "Migraine" monster attacking people at restaurants and such. I took one look at that precious little thing supposedly causing all this misery and wondered "Why don't my migraines look like that? He's cute! I want a little one to cuddle!" Now it's adorable Heartburn, and the cutest of all "Hungry." My annoying Hungry is more like a rabid Cerberus and he doesn't ever offer me food, simply demands I go hunt and/or gather my own even if it means risking life and limb.

I guess, like many of us, I just sit at home and watch TV commercials (no, I didn't even watch the Super Bowl for commercials, I watched DVDs) and marvel at the fact that someone got paid for that idea, people competed to play those roles, and someone is going to make a ton of money from it in the end.

Back from the Blackhole

Hooray! I found the camera! It was trapped in the multi-dimensional vortex that was the pile of crap on our coffee table. The chaos has been contained for the moment, but there's no telling what the future holds. . .

Anyway, now I finally have the infamous Jayne Hat picture on the computer, so here it is:

I think they turned out well! Of course, my pants are still coated in a fine layer of wool in various shades of yellow and orange. I can't seem to get rid of it all. Totally worth it though!