Overwhelmed!

I haven't blogged in a while because I'm up to my neck in projects. And people just keep giving me more. One of these days I have to learn to say "no" sometimes.


Like that will ever happen.


I'm crocheting egg cozies, a baby afghan, and working on tatting on a handkerchief. I also have to make an afghan, a hat, and work on puppet costumes. Between family and friend showers and events, church, and my shop I'm stretched pretty thin. I have to try to accomplish most of this by Easter.


The egg cozies are crocheted so tightly, they're making my wrists hurt a little, so I have to take lots of breaks, but they're almost done!


During my breaks, I've made a few cards that aren't listed yet. I figured it was time to make some appropriate for Mother's Day.

I had to re-do part of the second one. I love my sweetie, but he's very unobservant sometimes. He put a plate with some grease on the bottom down on top of it. I had to replace the quote block. I guess it's my fault for not putting it somewhere more out of the way. But don't tell him I admitted to that ;)

And now I'm sitting here blogging when I should be working on one of these myriad projects. I don't know if I'm going to get all this done before I go insane. I sure hope so.

New Shop!

My shop was feeling a little crowded and scattered, so I decided to move all my cards (including the new ones I made this weekend ;) to a brand new shop! I'm hoping to add some scrapbook pages and other things in later. For now, it's just cards. Come take a look and tell me what you think!

www.KeenasKards.etsy.com

Come and Vote!

Well, the voting has been going on for a few days for the Spring Contest. I'm a little behind posting this, but I wanted to make sure I did ;)

Come see all the pretty spring items and vote for your favorites!

http://missknitsetsy.blogspot.com/

Let's Move Out!

I finally added a clearance section to my shop. Things are getting a little crowded in my shop and my finished projects box at home, so it's time to move some things out. Drop in and see if anything strikes your fancy. Pendants at 50% off! Prices so low I must be crazy! ;P

Finished!

I finally stopped being lazy, refilled my shuttle, and completed my latest choker:

Twilit Roses Choker

It's my first nod to my Twilight obsession. Yes, I admit it. I'm addicted to the Twilight saga. I read them all twice within a two week time frame and have listened to them multiple times on audio. I think they're filling the void that the last few Anita Blake books I've read have left. Don't get me wrong, the Anita books are still good, but it seems like we're losing a lot of the mystery and chase aspect and replacing it with power and sex. I still love Anita, but she's becoming someone different than the character I fell in love with ten years ago. Or maybe that's just me.

This choker might have turned out a little better, well at least a little more like it was in my head, if I'd been able to find a red apple charm. I couldn't find one easily, so I had to settle for a pewter apple instead. It still looks great, but it's not exactly my original vision. Of course, how many projects ever turn out the way it is in my head initially? If it ever happens, I'll let you know.

Ever Get the Feeling Everything Is Against You?

Well, yesterday was exciting. Wait, let me wipe up that dripping sarcasm before I continue.

I spent the morning arguing with the printer about whether or not it was going to print my business cards correctly. I insisted it would, it kept saying it wouldn't. As usual, the stupid printer won. Luckily have some business cards in the mail which I ordered from KBdesignCo so I don't feel quite so bad.

After losing yet another battle with technology, I went back to working on my Twilight inspired choker modeled after my Rose By Any Other Name choker. About three inches from being done, I ran out of thread in my shuttle. As is the theme of my day, the thread was across the room and buried. I was so frustrated, I put it away for the day, so I wouldn't defenestrate it. (Vocabulary word of the day, kids ;) Go look it up if you're confused)

Good news is, I've got a decent start on a baby afghan using some newly purchased yarn to go with the leftovers from the one I finished about a week ago. Bad news is, I'm not entirely sure I like it. We shall have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Random Musing

I think men, as a general rule, are better at making sound effect noises because, as little boys, there were constantly immitating explosions and gunfire.

Finally Listed

The camera decided to be evil and uncooperative for a few days. For some reason, it took me five tries to get decent pictures of this choker:

Heart of Gold

At last, I got usable pictures and was able to list it in my shop. I love this choker! Hopefully someone else will love it, too!

Busy, Busy, Busy, Yet Again

Finally finished the choker and listed it in my shop. I decided to go with organza ribbon ties. It's nice and long, a whole yard of ribbon, so that it can be cut, adjusted, etc as necessary by whoever buys it. Of course, now I have two more yards of organza ribbon in two other colors because I wasn't bright enough to remember to take the piece with me to the store to pick out the ribbon. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a use for it eventually.

I have another choker waiting to get photographed and listed. It's actually been waiting around for a while for just the right opportunity to list it. So far, the pictures have all been disastrous, but I have high hopes I'll get some good ones today or tomorrow.

I loved the way the rose choker turned out so much, that I got an idea for another one. I'm going to use only crocheted roses this time because I like the three-dimensional effect. If I can get the cat distracted long enough to let me work on it, it should be finished soon. Unfortunately, one thing I really wanted to put into it, a red enamel apple charm, has turned out to be a lot harder to get my hands on that I would have thought. I think I'm just going to have to settle for the pewter apple charm I picked up just in case. Not quite what I had in mind, but it should work anyway.

So Now What?

The crochet and tatting is done for the choker, at least the main part.

But now I have the problem of figuring out how to turn this great piece into a choker. I don't know if I should just add a lobster claw and a split ring chain like my Ninja Temptress choker. I'm also toying around with the idea of sewing ribbons, probably sheer to both ends to use as ties. Anyone have any suggestions? I'd really love to finish this within the next few days and I just can't seem to make a decision! Help, everyone out there in cyber land ;)

Snow and Roses

It's a beautiful snowy day today. Well, it's beautiful as long as I don't actually have to go out in the snow so that it can turn to slush in my shoes. I made Chris go take pictures this morning so I could enjoy the snow from the comfort of my electric blanket.

Still trying to get the choker idea to work. There is now a large pile of mistakes and misstarts and bits of thread representing many failed attempts to make it look right. I think I've finally got it, though.

I'm going to have to use spare thread to figure out how to turn the corner and go back along the other side. I don't want to have to restart the whole thing. Hopefully I'll make some good progress today. I think it will only take a few more roses to get it to a good length. I love it when an experiment starts to come together well!