It’s been a while since we’ve done the parade-of-finished-objects around here. not in small part because I’m resisting figuring out what the hell broke the image uploader in wordpress with the last upgrade. Since I throw a pic of everything into flickr anyway (and I really should go back and do tags and descriptions and such, but I never really got into flickr and tend not to care *shrug*)…where was I? Oh, yes. I put it all into flickr so that it can go in my notebook on the Rav, so I can just link those pics here. Duh. I still want my blog fixed, but this is getting to be an unmanageable list anyway, so here you are:

My lunchbag:

Soon to be replaced, I’m afraid, with something that actually has insulating qualities, but I’m very pleased with it and will find something to use it for, in any case. I had several odd-sized dishcloths just sitting there begging me to give them a strap. So I did.

The Magic Scarf:

My oldest daughter decided that this would go to my husband. She’s very concerned that Daddy be warm enough. She’s a sweet kid. I used this pattern: Magic Scarf. I am ridiculously pleased with it. Simple, but it gave me great practice with basic knitting skills and the husband claims it’s the coolest scarf he’s ever seen. He’s a sweetheart, too.

Spacescape:

I found it almost impossible to get a good pic of this, but I’m terribly excited about the way it came out. It’s technically not quite a FO, since it still has to be readied for hanging, but I’m counting it because the creative work is done. Anyone know how to photograph black fiber successfully? ‘Cause I’m stumped.

And last but not at all least, Totes For My Unruly Children:

This is from a pattern I got as a Ravelry Download (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/enero-crochet-tote) and modified to get the sizes I wanted. I needed to use up some cotton that the girls damaged and I was feeling a little diabolical, so they got something to motivate them to pick their stuff up…disguised as a present! Bwahahaha!

I think that’s it for the moment. Enough, though, yes? LOL.

Why, I thought you’d never ask!

It’s sort of an interesting adjustment, the going back to work thing. Even at only 32 hours/wk, it feels like my time is entirely not my own. I know I’ll get used to it, but I feel like I’m just so incredibly behind all the time. Plus is that I’ve got an hour lunch, so I’ve been able to get some crocheting done after I eat. Yay!

Today I’m working on another dishcloth design. Love, love, love. My fresh yarn shipment is supposed to be here later, so I can continue re-stocking the shop. I have some birdies I need to make real soon now that will likely take up the next few days, since they’re easy in comparison.

I’m trying to finish the bleepity-bleep laundry, too. LOL.

How are all of you?

The more they stay the same.

My hook is *flying.*

I’ve been making a concerted effort to clean up after myself. I’ve started a huge number of projects and really, really wanted to start more…but I decided to kick myself (gently) and finish some of what I had before I started any more. So later today after I download pics I’ll wrestle with WordPress and get some FOs posted here. (The upgrade broke the image uploader. *headdesk*)

I’ve also been working on some charity projects, including this one. I’ve been working on squares for this month’s Charity Blitz at The ‘Ville, too. Past time to clean out my scraps, and what better way than to make something lovely for someone who needs it?

Work is going well. I’m really going to like this job, I think. Time will tell, but my first impression is very positive.

Now that I’ve finished a few things, I’m trying to figure out what else to start. Hmmm…maybe I should finish a few things more first, while I’m in the mood. LOL. I really need to start bringing this stuff to work. An hour at lunch is a long, long time when you don’t have to run all over the place. Yay for being too broke to eat out! Hee!

Back later.

I’ve got a new pattern up! It’s here, and also at Etsy and Ravelry:

I’m thrilled with how this turned out. Big thanks to Tracie who was kind enough to test for me and help smooth out my wording.

Enjoy!

I haven’t made a point of outlining my family’s financial situation here, because it has nothing at all to do with crochet. Well, unless you count the degree to which I’m annoyed by the vicious classist rhetoric surrounding the very existence of Red Heart Super Saver, but I’ve managed to mostly tune that out while mentally composing notes for the rant to end all rants over it, but that’s another post for another day.

In any case, things are tight. Hell, things were tight 6 months ago. They’re impossible now. My ventures have helped, but not enough. I haven’t found a job even remotely related to what I was doing before, and my husband is still hunting for something steady, too. So I’m starting a job Saturday morning stocking shelves. Doesn’t pay great, but it will juuuuuuuust cover the rent if the hours are as advertised and the taxman doesn’t help himself to more than Social Security. Which means I’ll probably fall short, but that’s better than we’ve been doing.

So I’m afraid that we’ll probably go from quiet to really quiet here with the additional time constraints. Though I wouldn’t be completely shocked if spending some of my time out in the world unleashed a bout of chatty, so who knows. LOL. I fully intend to keep the Etsy shop going, no matter what else happens. In any case, don’t be surprised by anything you see here during the transition.

I think I just developed a total blog crush on Fleegle.

Thatisall.

So I got home from my interview yesterday to find that my two older children had destroyed…tangled, stomped, and partially soaked…most of the yarn I’d left sitting on my desk. I was planning to make more dishcloths to restock the shop a bit. Um, plan B?

I think I have another set of the same colors, but I’ll need to dig. And order sooner than I would otherwise. And it’s so not a good time for them to destroy supplies! For the love of love, I was off interviewing in the first place because there’s no money to keep things going! *headdesk* The business would be paying for itself rather neatly by now if I weren’t diverting every. cent. to paying outside bills. And those are about to hopelessly swamp us anyway.

*sigh* They’re 3 and 2. What do they know? But it still makes me sad. And today, instead of making, I’ll be de-tangling and seeing if I can save some of it for my own little projects, at least. So not what I had wanted to do, but the longer I put it off, the worse it will be. So here goes…

Silly life.

I finished my piece for the freeform crochet challenge I referenced earlier…no sharing until the show is up but if you’d like to see some incredible freeform go poke around this site: http://freeformcrochet.com/ Amazing stuff. (Note to self…that should be in the sidebar.)

I’m scrambling to get the shop restocked, so it’s dishcloths, dishcloths, dishcloths for now, which is fine because I love doing them. I’ve got a job interview tomorrow, so with any luck I’ll be even busier before too long. Bad for blogging, good for eating. Food is good. Full stop. LOL.

More as soon as I can manage it.

This is.

Very, very, VERY cool.

I am no longer waffling about making another granny ‘ghan. Not with this little tool in my arsenal…

I’m more than half-finished with my piece for the 2008 International Freeform Crochet Challenge, which is wonderful not just because it needs to be done Real Soon Now but also because it’s starting to come together and I did not, as I had feared, produce some unworkable *thing* that would have to be tossed out the window and run over repeatedly for the good of humanity. I’m actually rather pleased with it so far. We’ll have to see if it turns out the way I’m picturing it. I may not be so pleased by the end of the day, lol. Unfortunately, I can’t show this one to you right now. Fortunately, that means that once the show is up I’ll have tons of freeform-y goodness to link you to.

And that’s pretty much been my weekend. The weather has been unexpectedly lovely, so we did some work out in the yard and let the kids run around like kids out there yesterday, which was awesome for everyone involved. Not what I had planned to do, but it worked! So I guess the rest of my weekend has been a bit freeform, too. Heh.

I got a few things photographed that needed to be mailed off, I finished a package of charity square-lets I’d been working on, and I finished/photographed a few new dishcloth sets for the store. I also started the spring cleaning in earnest today, since it finally feels like spring here. I heard it’s supposed to last a whole day, ROFL. Have I mentioned lately that I love New England?

Next up: a pair of freeform projects that have been hanging over my head. And I’ll probably work on the magic scarf while we watch the Idol results, since that’s official goof-off time.

After those three things are finished, we’ll see what’s next. I have a couple of bigger things hanging around, too…

That sounds as awful as it is, doesn’t it? LOL. Seriously, I’m looking around my workspace and figuring that it’s time to damned well finish a thing or seven. I’m holding out a project or three that I desperately want to start right now as rewards.

Y’all, it’s so bad I’m not even sure what’s there. At least the girls pulled the needles out of my Squidge for me today, and since I was maybe a quarter done at the most I just frogged the thing. One down! ROFL!

I’m going to start at one corner of my desk and go until I hit the end. Wish me luck…I could get lost in here.