Nothing to Worry About

Last night the doctor called to check in on me and say the lab results came out fine. I didn't say I already thought I was fine. It's kinda like the pilot coming on the intercom of the airplane and saying, "There's nothing to worry about." Makes me feel like I missed out on all the anxiety.... I guess that's not a bad thing.

In the meantime, I've been working like a dog. A clever dog. With thumbs. I pulled out my jewelry-making apparatus and dusted off the skillz. (Just added the z there. They were only skills when I learned.)So I'll be showing at the CRB Christmas Bazaar this Saturday! Me!

I found a box where I had dropped in some beads I thought looked pretty together and left 'em there. Baroque (that means odd-shaped) blue glass pearls, Blue Austrian Crystals, and these pretty seed beads. Using every single crystal and pearl, I made this collection. I'm calling it The Blue Frost Collection. Sounds classy, huh?

I'm calling this one "Crystal Palace," and yes, those green stick-things are actually woven of tiny beads. At least, they're tiny now. I think they get smaller when you don't use them. And if you say anything about needing reading glasses, you should know I'm humming It's a Small World right now, so I can't hear it.

There's a Snake in Mah Boots!

... and a hole in my bellybutton. I didn't want to bring it up to the beforehand and cause worldwide panic, but I just had a "procedure." That's what they call it when they knock you out, poke holes in you and take something out just so's they can look at it. I wonder if they ever dress you up in a feather boa and fake mustache while you're unconcious... I would.
Well, the upshot is I'm fine. But there's a hole in my bellybutton.

Meanwhile, here's a peek at a prayer quilt I've been working on. It's scrappy pink and dark green. I just behave as though the pink is all one color and the green is all the other. It's supposed to make a kind of star. We'll see. Looks kinda like strawberries to me.

And this is the Leaf Lace Scarf from Vogue Knitting Spr/Sum 2005. When I bought the mag, I could only attempt the very easy very Vogue stuff. Now I feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Also, I charted the pattern. That's new for me. I think. The drugs are making me a little woozy. Not like that's a bad thing...

Messages I'll Never Have #1

We have a whole family answering machine*. That means Tiny gets her friends calling... or did, before the dominance of the text (but she still gets calls from her coaches and stuff), I get my cool friends calling to tell me about parties, and the Man of the Place gets business calls there. Now my friends are clever and fun and crazy messages are totally appropos. However, sports-minded individuals (coaches) and business-minded folk often aren't prepared for my ready wit. Or my recorded wit. So we have the boring-est message ever:

"Thanks for calling! Please leave us a message."

I mean, really. The outgoing message is a perfect opportunity for creativity. I have a friend whose message is that instrumental Boom-chicka-bow-wow, and that's it. I love it.

So, from time to time, I will reveal an outgoing message I'd love to have... but never will. Here's the first one:

You know what? We're not going to answer the phone. We're not. We're just not.
We may be screening, hovering over the machine, waiting to hear your voice. But
that's the thing. You don't know. (Pause) Bwa-hahahahaha! beep

Feel free to use it.

*Yes, we've heard of voice mail. We prefer to devote a portion of the kitchen counter to a machine that presides over our calls, blinking its little red eye at us.

Cinderella Redux

Last Hallowe'en, Tiny waved her magic knife and created a lovely Cinderella pumpkin. (She really amazed me.) This year, she continued with the theme:Think I'm proud of my kid? Of course! Turns out she's a fairy godmother. That's right. Tiny can turn a pumpkin into a carriage!

Quick Quiz

What is the difference between the upper pin (orange head) and the lower pin (yellow head)? And don't say one's orange and one's yellow.

Don't know? Look again.

Still don't know? Here's a hint: OUCH. That's right. The yellow pin can hurt you.

Tip for the day: tuck the end of your super-pointy pins back into the fabric.
It'll save you loads of time. (I was gonna make a joke about waiting to clot,
but that's just gross, right? We'll skip that for today.)

News! I've been crazed lately (Yeah, I know, how is that news?) Well, I've got a market for my bags: Two Sisters and Ewe in La Mesa, California. And they're ordering other stuff, too! DPN (That's Double Pointed Needles, to you and I) Cases and Circular Needle Cases (They're not really circular: it's two knitting needles connected by a cable so they can be any shape you want. You could even call 'em Pentagonal or straight-ish or Polyhedronal Needles, if you wanted to. Of course, nobody'd know what you were talking about.) But I digress. A lot.

Anyhoo, here's what they look like:

(in process. Gotcha.) I put batting in both styles to give it strength. It's like a little bitty quilt to hold your needles. (Wait. You gotta read "little bitty" in a squeaky voice. That's why it's all slanty.)

Here's the DPN Case open...

...and closed.

And the Circular Needlecase open...

...and closed. I wanted a closure on this case that would keep the needles inside really well, so I made a buttonhole and fabric loop closure. I couldn't find any ideas that I liked so I had to innovate. (And that's my Word of the Day.) Did you remember to read that in a squeaky voice?

Here's What I Can't Work On...

... because it's Christmas run-up time! See, I got the beaded cable part all done on both socken (plural for sock.) And here's what I can work on... ... But I can't show you. On account of needing to practice my sneakiness. Guess you'll have to ask Spycat. So we'll call this project Spycat's Secretz. It's about 10% done, thanks to a day of hardly anything else. It helps when Tiny's sick and her care preempts going out stuff.