Updating

I feel terrible for not actually doing much life updating lately. You wouldn't believe how neglected my real journal is. I haven't even opened it in the past month because I don't want to see when the last entry is dated. Helpful, huh?

But I thought while I'm on checking Etsy stuff before I go to bed, I'd let you all know that I haven't died of that stupid cold yet. It still hasn't gone away. It's making me grumpy and uber tired. Yet I keep doing stuff. I went caroling yesterday. With a screechy voice. lol. But I hate to miss all the Christmas fun because I have a cold!! Of course, I think with all this activity and little rest, I'm prolonging it... ah well.

Here's a random picture for a little visual interest. I just dicovered Picnik.

An apology is in order for the neglect of Life Lesson Mondays. This sounds like a lame excuse, but I can't think of any good life lessons. I keep wishing something mildly bad and laughably funny would happen to me. No such luck. And the recesses of my memory aren't serving me well lately, either. I want to continue the series, but if there are no Life Lessons, there can't be a Life Lesson Monday. Unless I sway from my theme of obvious-yet-hilarious, or whatever.

In other news, I followed my better judgement over my heart and did NOT buy one of the adorable budgies on sale at PetSmart. (Vincent would have been SO mad.) My mother, on the other hand, gave into abouding cuteness and purchased the sweetest little red guinea pig. His name is Gimli. Thanks to me. **bows elegantly** We were tossing around names, and Abby went into Lord of the Rings characters. I told her if we were picking a name from LotR, Gimli would be the best guinea pig name. And it kinda fits his smallness and redness. Awesome.

Shopping for my preschoolers was fun. I raided the dollar store. I'm so glad they're all boys. I got dinosaurs, candy, and sugar donuts for everyone.Woo Hoo! And I got a collection of dinosaurs for my classroom. There are two in there now, but they're mean, ugly dinosaurs. I got cute ones. lol I'll have to show you some time. Remind me.

Random Bullets:

• We had a gingerbread house decorating party on Monday. It went really well.


• I went to the orthodontist today, and the Dr. said everything was going perfect, and I don't have to have any teefs pulled!


• Then I went to starbucks and when I ordered, I said my name was Caiti (I always say Caitlin...), and asked for carmel (I always say caramel). Just because I wanted to do something different.


• My eyes are bothering me right now.


• Two of my left contact lenses have ripped for no reason, and so now I don't have the same number of left ones as right one left. **Grumpy face**


• I still need to buy christmas presents for my brothers.


• Etsy is driving me crazy. I love crocheting, and I love making money, but I am so ready for a break. I can't keep up!



• I got a compliment on my Etsy banner today, and was asked if I ever considered going into graphics design.
  


• I can't wait for my business cards to come!! I'm so disappointed every day when I check the mail and there is no little box for me. :(


• Dinner and skating Saturday with my SS class is going to be so much fun!

There. I'd say that's a pretty good off-the-cuff blog post. At least now you know what's going on. :)

~Me

Books and Yarn are Happy Things

I've finally finished reading Mere Christianity!
( It took me far too long to read, thanks to the growing yarn stash I'm trying to whittle down.)

It was a really enjoyable book. (I seem to be at a loss for good adjectives tonight.) Well written, and easy to understand, it was serious without being heavy or dull. Lewis had a great sense of humor, and a knack for explaining things with neat little analogies. A very quoteable sort of fellow, too.Whether you're looking for the meaning of Christianity, a little encouragement and guidance, or simply an enjoyable non-fiction read, Mere Christianity comes highly recommended by me. ;-)


I went to the library today and checked out House of the Seven Gables, a book of Ernest Hemingway's short stories, and Villette on CDs. House of the Seven Gables I had gotten on CD before, but decided not to listen to it after the introduction. I could tell by Hawthorne's style and wit that it will be one of those better read. Somehow those long, rabbit-traily sentences, and ironic jokes don't have the same sort of effect when someone else is reading.

I'm not anxious to begin Villette, because I'm sure it's going to be dark. I like dark (Dark like Charles Dickens, and the Bronte sisters. Not dark like... well, creepy and morbid), I'm just not sure that I'm ready to dive in yet. I know it's going to be a good story, though. It has to, right? ...

I'm curious to see how I will like the Hemingway collection. I listened to The Old Man and the Sea on CD a few weeks ago, and couldn't wait to put in the next disc every time it stopped. Of course, that wasn't very often - it was a short story, you know. But still. The narrator was very talented, and combined with the vivid, prosaic imagery, I was pulled right into the tale. On the other hand, Laura read A Farewell to Arms, and dubbed it "crummy." We shall see.

Those aside, I'm expecting another book from Amazon to come any day now. But let's move on to my other topic, shall we?

You will recall my mention of an ever-growing yarn stash. I have discovered the most wonderfullest place to buy yarn online. Dangerous. Today, in a valiant effort to organize the masses of yarn attempting to entangle my dear little room, I pulled it ALL out, and TRASHED some of it! **gasp** Only the bits and peices of leftover stuff I'm never going to use. You know how I know I'll never use it? Cuz I've had it for 3 years and never used it. Anyways. Now I have a whole boxfull of new yarn from that great website. I've only used a bit of it so far to make a custom hat for a very nice lady.

I've got a couple things made already that need listing, and then even more things in mind that I need to get started on. ... Not to mention the partially finished pairs of gloves that are all stashed in a bag under my bed. I'm pretty much hating those gloves right now. They're a pain to make. But I NEED to make them! People like them! **sigh** I like them, too. Just not making them.

I have also added a few new items to my shop.

A nice little scarfling,
and slippers in a new color.





I plan on making the scarfling in a couple different lengths and colors.
Just need to do a little more shopping. ;-)
I'm really proud of the picture of this one, actually. Methinks it turned out pretty sweet.

Today I put to use some bits of yarn left over from slipper-making. They turned out so cute! Guess I'll list them over this week. The sad part is, hats are my favorite thing to make, but they are certainly not the best sellers. Nevermind, though. They make me happy. :)

So, I suppose that's all the bookish, crafty talk I shall bore you all with now.
I'm off to have a little more tea before I sleep.
Wishing you a pleasant weekend,
-Caitlin

These are a Few of my Favorite Things

I've been browsing Etsy this morning, as I do most mornings, and I thought it would be fun to put together a little treasury of my own, featuring items from my favorites.



I added these to my favorites the other day.
They're not the only set of yellow vintage mugs in my favorites.
I love yellow. I love coffee mugs. I love vintage. How can I help it?


Now are these earrings cool or what? Permanent origami butterflies.
They're beautiful, unique, and colorful. So cool.

Do you know what I would make with this amazing wool?
Neither do I.
Probably a beret. They're my new "thing." I've made 6 the past 3 weeks.
But get this- it's dyed with Kool-Aid.



GreyBrocket is easily my favorite seller on Etsy. Which is really sad, because as of yet, I haven't bought anything from her. But I haunt her shop continually. She recently added a whole collection of neat screenprinted stuff to her assortment of amazing vintage goodies.
I think this bag is my absolute favorite out of everything I've ever seen in her shop.
It's yellow, and it has a bird.
Happiness in the shape of a bag.




I don't think I even need to say anything about this pair of earrings.
A (good) picture is worth a thousand words.


Orange vintage hoodie!! YAY!


Okay, so this is actually one thing in my favorites that I will never buy.
I just couldn't justify buying a cute pillow.
But I can't help loving it.

These mugs were feeling left out, so I decided to include them, too.
They're also from GreyBrocket.



I'm in love with this ring. Really.



Okay, I stumbled across these one day and had to add them.
I just realized they would be perfect for embellishing my kool-aid yarn berets!

And so, there you have a ton of my favorites in no particular order. I'm pretty sure my favorite colors and animals are reflected quite clearly in this lovely little list.
Please do not buy any of these things unless you're buying them for me.

Just kidding.

Happenings of Late

Not a lot has been going on ... Teaching, crocheting, laundry... the usual. I had a great babysitting job recently, and I've already been called on for a second time, so that's quite pleasant.

The lack of "reading" in the first sentence has brought to my mind the fact that I really ought to be reading some or other good book. I've been meaning to get started on at least a few the past couple weeks, and I just haven't.

Another random thought: I have been using the word "ought" a lot lately. I don't recall using it so frequently before. And while we're speaking of words, if you really wanted to know the definition(s) of SO, here is the link for you. Quite interesting, and much too long to paste into my rambling blog post. Thanks to those of you who were brave enough to reply. There are so many definitions, I'm sure you at least hit one of the nails on the head. :D

And now for some crafty revelations.
I designed a new hat pattern! WOO HOO! And it turned out right! I thought to myself one morning, "Self, I should like to crochet something new." "So?" said my other self, "what do you have in mind?" "Well, I was thinking of a hat." "A hat? Haven't you already made a bunch of hats?" "Yes. But this time I'm going to make a sort of a cabby hat. I'll invent it as I go." "Oh. Good luck."

Ha ha! I showed me. I was SO thrilled that it turned out the way I wanted! I think I said "Yay! it's the right shape!" like 5 times.


Halfway through the hat, I lost the hook I was using, and switched to a bigger one. And, what do you know! As luck would have it, that size change turned out to be very important for the right sort of shape.



I didn't think it would be noticeable, but it made a difference. I know this, because I tried to make more like it, but used one hook throughout, and they weren't right.

Anyways, I'm proud of my little brain-child hat, and I shall recreate him as soon as I find my other hook.





Another idea of mine, sparked by my cloak:

Gnome baby. hee hee... I have another fairyesque addition to my crocheted stuffs, but I shan't show you just yet. Savin' it for later.

And now I have come to the point where I am sitting, scratching my head, and wondering what else it was that I was going to say. Surely there was something, something more interesting or important than my crafty prowess (lol), that I had planned to tell you. Alas. If there was, I cannot recall it.

Since I've been sitting for quite some time now, trying to think of something else to write, and have come up with nothing, I leave you with this thought:

Anything is possible when you're a child. Take, as proof, this dead-serious statement from Silas. "When I grow up, I'm'onna be Ooby Doo."

Hoping your legs weren't pulled harder than they ought to have been on this unusually warm day of April First, I wish you a happy week.

Love, Me.

Secret Project

One day, I saw some red wool on sale. It was a lovely color, and very inexpensive, so I decided to buy some.

I do that a lot -buy things I don't need because they're on sale. I have a big ol' blob of white cotton yarn I have no idea what to do with because it was on sale.

But upon consideration of this red wool, I thought to myself "I must needs decide what to make with it before I buy it. Methinks I shall attempt a hooded cloak."

With no pattern, and only a basic idea of how to get the right shape, I began. Many hours, thousands of stitches, and a calloused finger later, my secret project is finished.

The original plan was to felt it, but I like the definition of the stitches so much, I have decided to leave it as it is.

If I were to sell it, I would need to charge around $85.00. I think perhaps I may make another and give it a go.

So, what do you think?