Manly Movies + Inspiration =

Monday night the family all settled down in the living room to watch The Bourne Identity.
Last night we all settled down for the sequel. It was late when it ended, but nobody had anywhere to be today so we stayed put and watched the Ultimatum as well.

Best man-movies ever.
Really. I prefer chick-flick type stuff, but if I'm going to watch a "guy movie," give me some Bourne. Or Mission Impossible. I can do that, too.

Anyway, I'd kind of lost my habit of crocheting while movie-watching. Inspiration left me, so I quit. However, inspiration bit me last night and those two action packed movies left me with this:

Adorable, right? Obviously, the inspiration had nothing to do with what I was watching.
It has 3 pieces - the hat, the bow part (which is just a small rectangle), and the ...uh... part that goes around the bow (which is just a tiny rectangle, plus a loop and a button). This is so that you can :
A) not wear the bow
B) wear the bow buttoned to the side, or
C) wear the bow buttoned to the side & cinch up the edge of the hat to give it a differentish shapeI really hadn't been planning on making it for myself, but... it's so perfectly, exactly what I envisioned in my mind that I don't think I could part with it. Plus, it's yellow. Need I say more?

Unrelated except for the crochet factor is this little owl mask. He's been lying around in my "finished projects" bin for... ever, and today I pulled him out, did a mini photo shoot and listed him on Etsy.
I'm rather fond of him, but I seem to recall my little sister asking "why did you make an alien head?" when I finished him. :|

I also added photos to existing inadequate listings, and I'll be adding a pair of elbow-length gloves to the shop later tonight.

Aaaand, that's about it. I don't really have anything else to add. So, I'm gonna go eat some lunch or something practical like that. lol
Happy Wednesday, friends. :)

Caiti

Ten Days of Listings

What started as a plan to post an item a day for 7 days turned into 10 new items in my shop!
I skipped Sundays.
Here's how it went down:

Thursday, January 7th


Friday, January 8th



Saturday, January 9th


Monday, January 11th


Tuesday, January 12th


Wednesday, January 13th


Thursday, January 14th


Friday, January 15th
January 15th

Saturday, January 16th


Monday, January 18th

Thanks to good lighting on the 14th, I was able to take pictures of all the scarves I already had, subsequently allowing me to continue listing things without having to make anything new. ;-)

YAY!

From the Library

Hallo!

Our internet provider is wonky this week, so I'm at the library.

I was unable to post my item-of-the-day on Etsy yesterday. (see above for why)

So, here I am, at the library, posting it now.

I guess I could just say I was sticking with the tradition of not working on Sunday and not count it as a loss. :) That works. So, now I say that they are Monday's item and we're all good.

While I'm here, I'll add that I'm unhappy the library won't let me get on Facebook. :(

However, I am happy that I can check out a George Winston CD. They have a sad selection of music here (actually, they have a sad selection of everything here. I am not impressed.), but I did discover George Winston and Wynton Marsalis thanks to them.

Now, If you have any ideas on how to make my Etsy shop more successful without my having to spend gobs of money, your advice is much appreciated. I suppose I'm off to not check my facebook.

Happy Monday, folks.

Caitlin

25 things plus One

My friends kept tagging me for this "25 things about yourself" thing on Facebook. So I did it.
And now I'm sharing the results for you people in blog/email world to see, too.

1. Due to my open personality and strong tendencies toward honesty and transparency, I feel I have very few interesting/random things to share.

2. In 2009 I struggled with wondering if it's okay to just let go of dying friendships. ... I might still be struggling with that, actually. It's amazing how you think you'll be friends with someone for forever, and then you just... aren't.

3. I've lately held that the photography is going to be the most important part of my wedding (besides the groom, obviously). As long as there are gorgeous pictures at the end of it all, I'll be happy. lol

4. I'm a perfectionist. Which means when I try something and fail, I beat myself up. If I try again and fail, I give up. Which is why I'm not good at playing the guitar and why I can't even properly play beginner level piano anymore. Practicing and failing was just too miserable.

5. One day when I'm rich, I'm going to get microdermabrasion done on my face. Maybe lasik surgery, too. (the spell check doesn't know those words. lol)

6. I read The Prince by Machiavelli and liked it. And I felt guilty because I totally agreed with him.

7. I love socks and hate flip flops.

8. I like my feet.

9. I've never been out of the United States. That's going to change, though.

10. If I were a boy, I would have a crazy huge collection of ties and cuff links. Cuff links are the awesomest.

11. One day I was singing and thought to myself "wow. I don't sing nearly as well as I thought I did." and then I was sad.

12. One day I had another sad realization. I used to think I was pretty well-read. Then I realized I'm only well read in childrens' books and classics from the 1800's.

13. I'm an excellent cook. Not to toot my own horn or anything... :P

14. My life has a hole in it without a bird. :(

15. I really really want to learn French, but I feel guilty because I'm sure it would be a useless endeavor... you know, in light of the fact that nobody here speaks French, and why would I ever need to use it?

16. I am most definitely biased in favor of little boys. They're way funner and way cuter. That's just how it is.

17. I have mad eye-twitching skillz.

18. One day I'm going to turn all of my blog posts into a book. I wonder when one day is.

19. I never want to be too old and mature to color with crayons, skip down a hallway and sing made up songs.

20. I wish I could sing like regina spektor and hayley westenra. Whose voices are totally different, by the way.

21. Sometimes I wish I looked like Audrey Hepburn... and somebody else, but I can't remember who. But, actually, I like the way I look pretty well. I wouldn't really change my face, given the chance. :)

22. I don't like painting my fingernails. I have tried, and having colored fingertips always catches me off guard. And then they chip, and then they have to be redone, and it's just way too much work. However, I love having red toenails. *shrug*

23. I almost always spell guard wrong. It's funny the words that throw me off. I can spell microdermabrasion no problem. But guard and piece always get me. I want to switch the vowels.

24. Sometimes I still feel like a stupid failure because I never finished algebra.

25. If I call you a weirdo, it's like compliment. Seriously. It basically means "You're an interesting person, and I rather like you" in Caitlinese.

WOW! I thought of 25 things! It took way too long. :)

The "plus One" would be the first installment of my resolution to post a new item in my Etsy shop every day for 7 consecutive days. Behold:


So there you have it!
Now if you'll excuse me, my cell phone is ringing. :)
Bye!

Thoughts for 2010

So, the new year came in with fun times at the Looneys' house. Coffee, Apples to Apples, fireworks, and the best friends ever.

Upon inspection of my cards, I realized I had an excellent description of the perfect boyfriend.

Upon inspection of her cards, Katie realized she had an excellent description of a typical girlfriend. In case you can't read them: Complicated, Fantastic, Naive, and Phony.

We girls have a mantra for the new year. A little rhyming nugget of inspiration, if you will:

-God will send men in 2010-

I know you're so impressed, aren't you? lol So, I guess we can't dictate what God's going to do, but we can have some active faith going on, right? And it makes us laugh, and laughing is good. :)

Furthermore, my blogworld friend Jess inspired me to make an inspiration board.

I have made a small list in my head of things I would like to do this year. I made a small cork board tonight that I am going to add my resolutions, goals, and inspirations to. I encourage you to make one for yourself as well. Organize your goals and resolutions into an artistic visual piece...put it on the wall in a place you will look at every day. I have mine placed to the left of me as I sit at my desk.

Now to procure a corkboard. Or maybe I'll improvise with an unused poster frame I have. Oh, and lest I forget - some goals to fill it would be nice, too.
Let's see...

• A book a month - plus review/synopsis
• Write random kind notes
• Save a couple thousand dollars
• Read my Bible
• Consistently practice the guitar
  
• Maybe learn some French
  
• Drink more water

What else? I need an Etsy goal. None of those are really "whoa! noteworthy!", but I'm trying to keep it realistic and doable, but something I'll have reason to be proud of at the end of the year.

Ideas, people?

In the meantime, keep an eye out on my shop. I'm going to try to add a new item every day this week! I've already got 3 things finished, so watch for them!

Here's some new things you might not have seen.

Nothing like a good, stripey beanie!


What do you plan on doing this year?
-Caitlin

Time for some Christmas Fun!

Today's gonna be a good day.

In a couple hours I'm leaving to see a movie with my friends. The Blind Side, in case you were interested. And then the Michael's in Conyers had better have that yellow yarn I need, or I'm going to be in trouble. (on the bright side, YAY for Christmas sales!)

This evening is my Sunday school class Christmas Party. YAY! The only problem is that I don't have a white elephant gift... yet... heh...

Anyways, it's going to be a long and super fun day, I think.

Don't forget - it's the last day of my giveaway! Participation has been WAY lower than it was earlier this year, but that's ok, because it gives each of you a better chance. ;-) SO! Pick your fave and leave a comment!

I'll just go ahead and apologize for not having my new stuff added to the shop yet. I'm currently working on some brown gloves, and I've already finished a couple of unique stripey beanies and pretty wool scarves. I just haven't been able to photograph them yet. meh! And now I really don't have time to get them up for Christmas.

Oh well! Enter the giveaway here, and I'll declare a winner tonight, if I can stay awake. =)
Merry Saturday!

Caitlin

Giveaways are Fun - Christmas Edition!

In the spirit of Christmas (and self-promotion) I am henceforth issuing the decree for a second CaitiJo Giveaway!!

**crowd yells huzzah!**

I thought about picking one item (such as the elfin slippers -wouldn't those be a great Christmasy thing to pick?) to give away, but then I remembered that I had already made this poster that says "pick your own prize" ... I didn't want to make a new poster, and I guess people like having a choice... So.... there we have it!

Lots of other people usually give you about 5 ways you can get an entry, but I like to be simplistic. Here's how it's gonna go down:

1) Just leave a comment saying what you would pick should you win.
2) Saturday evening, December 12, I will pick a winner by using a random number generator.
3) Winner will be notified, and congratulated publicly on my blog.

Should you win and find yourself thinking "darn! I should've said elfin slippers instead of black gloves," or, "no fair! that crazy awesome beanie wasn't listed when I posted my entry!" no worries. Changing your mind is allowed. ;-)

So. Take a gander, pick your fave, and enter to win a Christmas gift for yourself!
(Or for a friend, if you're feeling generous.)
Spread the word if you feel so inclined.

Happy Entering!!
-CaitiJo

Apparently, blogging has become a once-a-week thing for me. Bummer!
So here's the deal on the latest happenings.

I will not, in fact, be participating in the Christmas Marketplace at the PCA. After stressing out about it, I realized that there is way too much stuff going on this week for it to work out anyways. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday different members of the family have to be at church in the evenings. Plus, Mama's working. Soo... that would have made participating virtually impossible anyways. So I dropped out. Sad, but kind of a relief.

Etsy's been fun... I made a couple of sales over the weekend (which I need to make/ship today), and am wrapping up the last of my Christmas trades. Trading has been awesome. And I just gotta say, this shop is still my favorite. Not that I'm dissing anyone else... just throwin' that out there. :P
And I'm working out a trade with these people, too. Exciting!

Now I'm eating some oatmeal. Courtesy of myself. It's good.

In other random news, I'm pretty much going crazy posting links from Stuff Christians Like all over Facebook. New favorite blog! Satire = awesome. Christian Satire = super awesome and hilarious. Especially when it's one of those "been there, done that, now let's look back and laugh at it" things. You know, stuff like saying "I was just flipping channels" when you watch something you shouldn't, and having to hold hands during a prayer. Then there's the humorous observations on random stuff like email forwards, true love waits, and judging people that use the table of contents in their Bible. It's just good stuff. And I'm going to preorder the book.

This post has now taken way longer than it was supposed to because I just spent forever at that site. Again.

I'd better go for a walk or something before I sit down and crochet the day away.
Wishing you all a super happy week. :)

Me

the holidays are here!

Sooooo. I'm sittin here in a green sweater, drinking hot cocoa with a splash of coffee out of a mug that says "given enough coffee, I could rule the world."

That's pleasant. :)

It's almost time for a hair update.

I'm doing lots of trades on Etsy for christmas presents. It's awesome fun. Except for I have like 5 trades going at once now and it's getting a litle confusing. I'm so excited about all the cool stuff I'm getting for people!

Yesterday I realized it had been almost a week since my last post. Today it has been a week! AH! Sorry. :(

So, there are some pretty cool things coming up in just the next 3 weeks. Ah, the busy rush of the holiday season! Here I shall list some of the events I'm looking forward to:

• wednesday my Katie will be home from college, and Caiti, Katie, and Katey shall all go out for coffee in the morning. <3


• thursday is Thanksgiving. HELLO! THANKSGIVING. It rocks. **hums Josh Groban's Thankful**


• I just found out my awesome S.S. class is going ice skating soon. I've been waiting for this!


• December 2, 3, and 4th will be a first for me. The drama teacher of a local high school contacted me and asked it I wanted to participate in the Christmas Marketplace at the Henry County Performing Arts Center! Everyone who participates donates something for a silent auction and sets up a table to sell their goods before and after the Christmas performance her class is doing. How cool is that?! Come see me. ;-)
• December 12th is the College and Career Christmas party. I'm in charge of decorating a table for that. It's going to be SO FUN!!

So, there's more but we'll stick with that. I just wanted to do a quick update.

By the way, nobody'd better call me out on saying "holidays." I hate it when people make a fuss about the word "holidays", fussing about Christ being taken out of Christmas. I'm opposed to avoiding the word Christmas, too, but "holidays" is totally legit. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years togevva! So... I just wanted to rant about that for a second. :) And while I'm at it, I'll throw in that I think "season's greetings" is lame. Maybe that's just me.

Anyways, spread some holiday cheer this week. I'm off to make some stuff!

bye!

Happy Saturday!

Hello!

Welcome to Saturday. The sun is shining, the coffee is fresh and delicious, and it's going to be a good day.

I have some pictures I want to share, so just bear with me while I be random and show you pictures that have nothing to do with each other. :D

I didn't mention that I had planned to make a matching hat for those nifty gloves, did I?

But I did. See?

A couple days ago I was sitting here at the computer, looking out the window, and the sky just went black with birds. It was crazy. A HUGE flock of birds was just... I can't think of a good verb ... I dunno. Swarming is a lame word. It was more like undulating. But that sounds weird. At any rate, this huge flock of birds was just flying about, and it was so awesome. I ran outside as fast as I could to take a picture. I was disappointed because I only got like 1/4 of them in the shot, but it still turned out pretty cool.

Yesterday was good. I crocheted some stuff, and took 4 packages to the post office. Then I came home and got ready to go paint our sunday school classroom with some friends. I decided to take the camera and found this picture on the memory card.

Oddly morbid, yes? I was rather surprised. They took pictures of themselves rolicking happily in a leaf pile, and all of a sudden there's this. My little people apparently have some sort of appreciation for darker art. Who'da thunk a playful romp in a leaf pile would result in this creepy little photo? Awesome. lol

So, then I went to church and spent a little over 5 hours helping some super great people with some painting. Cubbie Bear and his friends have been banished from the walls. We've got some classier colors going on now. (shout out to Allison on her super trimwork!)

So. It's a great day for a walk. And since I'm caught up on Etsy orders, I can crochet whatever I want today! I plan to have a lovely day, and I wish you the same!

Bye!

The Vicious Cycle

I feel guilty for not blogging, therefore I keep not blogging.

Sad, isn't it?

I did finish those gloves! After many hours of torment trying to get the roses even.I could use the excuse "I've been crocheting a LOT" for not blogging. Which is true, except that I've spent plenty of time at the computer, too.

At any rate, here are some of the things I've been working on.
(can I just say I'm super proud of this photo?)

Currently annoyed because I ran out of yarn to do the scallop trim on the elf slippers.

I'm also in the middle of a making-non-slip-slippers experiment utilizing "craft goop" on the bottoms of the slippers. We'll see. I had faith, but it is waning.

I made a super cool scarf I was going to show you, but my pics disappeared!

I think this rain is ushering in the more wintery weather. Goodbye, pretty colors. I'll miss you.

So... Yep!
I'm ready for Christmas music, but I know I'll be sick of it by mid December if I start listening to it now. Building anticipation, I guess. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Caitlin

P.S. Sales have picked up some! wOOt!

A Frustrating Problem

Hello.

I just realized that I've got to redo some pictures in my Etsy shop.

This does not look like the same color as this.


And the sad reality is that neither representation is quite correct.
"Fig", in actuality, is not as purple as the first example, nor is it quite as pink as the second example.

This realization has made me quite distraught because, for some unknown reason, my inner photographer has died. I always take like 100 pictures in order to get 5 good ones for Etsy. And lately, I can't even seem to manage 5. I don't know if it's the camera, or if it's me, but what used to be fun is now a dreaded task. I suppose I could just open up picnik or something and tweak colors until I think they're closer to real life, but I would hate to mess up and misrepresent.
But I'm already misrepresenting! That's the problem!

So, until I realized that I was having an absolutely delightful day.
And now I've decided this little trifle shan't ruin it.

I had pumpkin spice coffee this morning, thanks to my fantastic aunt. (love you!)
My dears Katey and Alicia came over and shared it with me. Then Katey and I went for a forever-long walk and talked about C.S. Lewis and becoming and all sorts of nice things.

I expounded upon my recent realization that to become who you aspire to be, you must attempt to be it in order to really become.
**blank stare**

The more I try to say what I mean the less it sounds like what I meant to say.

I think I'll just go continue having a productive day.
lol

Happy trails, yo.

Re: hats, adjectives, and audiobooks

Wow. My blogging skillz are dying!

**dramatic noooooooo**

At least I'm here though, right?

Just thought I'd drop by and show off some more new stuff in my Etsy shop. Told you I'd jump on that ball, didn't I? ;-)

So, here's the new lemongrass beanie. I can seriously whip up one of these in a few minutes. Minutes, I tell you! Did I ever mention that I love instant gratification?
Perhaps now I need to work on my flower-makin' skillz, because it does look a little plain, doesn't it? But I think it could be a good boy hat, too, and boys don't like flowers.

I also just so happen to be very proud of this "eggplant" beret. I hated purple up until sometime last year. Now I love it. (all purples not included. for example: Barney purple. yuck. Also not a fan of pastel purple.)
I haven't done a good literary post in a while. Maybe that's what I should do next.
I listened to Tess of the D'urbervilles last month. You know why? Because it was the only other audiobook in the library narrated by Davina Porter. I seriously love that lady's narration. The book was fantastically devastatingly, depressingly romantically beautiful.
I'm pretty big on the "ly" adjectives. ;-)
Cumulative adjectives, too.

I'm moving on past Davina Porter, though. I plan to listen to Big Fish this week. It's narrated by some guy. I don't remember his name.

And in case you're wondering what's with the audio books instead of lovely, real-life pages, I shall tell you why. It's because it's awfully hard to read and crochet at the same time. Really, I prefer to read pages than listen to someone else narrate, but when I do so much crocheting the books get neglected.

Sooo... If you'll excuse me, I believe I'll be off to notify the DOR that my business has changed locations.

goodbye!

Crochet Update

It's been a good week, Etsy-wise. And otherwise, actually. But since I can't think of anything to say about the otherwise part, this post shall focus on Etsy happenings.

Sales are up this week! woot!

I didn't think the green vest I love so very much would ever sell, but I was wrong.

Chaucee
at TaylorHouse Designs ordered some custom gloves in navy with mustard trim. They turned out really cute!

One order this week was placed by a name I recognized. Hooray for return customers!! She ordered some blue slippers and black gloves. Turns out, she placed a custom order before, and I never got back with her about it. That's embarrassing. But she still came back! Yay!



In other crochet news, you finally get to see the "fantastically pretty hat" I mentioned in a previous post.


You don't have to think it's awesome, but I'm still thrilled with it.
Since I made it up as I went, I don't have a pattern. Sad! I guess I should try to decode it sometime. However, making it up as I go is fun sometimes, so I did it again.

People keep asking if I've found a new job now that we've moved. I haven't. Just so happens, I haven't been looking. Honestly, I don't plan to. Not yet, anyways. My plan for now is to really focus on my Etsy shop. Make new things, list more frequently, ...I dunno. Try to make my presence a little more known. And I'm looking forward to it. Pouring more concentrated effort into making my little shop work will be fun!

As for this very present moment, I think I need to see if there's any chocolate ice cream left. All of a sudden I feel like rambling, and this post is long enough already. =D

Have a happy week!
Caitlin

Driver's Ivy Scally Flat?

Hello! This is a crochet story.
If that doesn't interest you, you may leave now.
(but it does have cool pictures. ;-) I promise.)



So, apparently there are a lot of names for this particular style of hat. I've heard driver's cap, golf cap, ivy cap, scally cap, flat cap... If there are any technical differences between the hat structures, I stand unawares.

At any rate, I've always wanted to make one. I browsed for a pattern a couple times, but didn't really find anything, so I moved on. Then I watched this music video the other day. (Need To Breathe - Washed by the Water) I just kept going "duuude! Their hats are awesome!" through the whole video. Then I decided that I Really Must Make One.

So you know what I did? I did what any sane person would do.
I whipped out Laura's trusty laptop (oh, wait. I already had it cuz I was watching the music video. nevermind.), and started looking for crochet patterns. All of the ones that claimed to be what I wanted were floppy, beret-like things with brims poking off one edge. Of course, that's fine and good if it's what you're going for, but that's not what I was going for. For hours upon end, I searched for a pattern. For hours upon end, I was met with nothing.

Being the brilliant person that I am, I exclaimed, "if I could just find a template of the shapes I'd need - like from a sewing pattern or something - then I could figure out how to crochet them and put them together!" So, I began a search for a template. Or any sort of sewing pattern for a flat cap. Yeah, um... all I got was the medieval muffin sort of flat cap. And one person on Etsy had a pattern. Good for her. But I really didn't want to pay that much for a sewing pattern when what I wanted was a crochet pattern anyways. (It just occurred to me that I'm really dragging this story out.)

When I went shopping and found ZERO cap patterns at the store, I gave up. Looking for patterns, that is. I went home determined to create one without a pattern. Hey, that's how I make almost everything else, right?

Sooo, I pulled out a nice little conductor-y type hat of my own to help me estimate the size my cap would need to be. Then I drew a nice little shape for how the top of my cap should look. Then I found a nice little skein of wine colored wool and got to work. The sides and the brim were a lot harder to figure out than the top. The brim was just a big ol' pain, actually.

Two Star Trek episodes, one Janette Oke movie, and at least 6+ hours of non-television aided work later, I have my SUPER AMAZING CAP!!



I say, folks, I am so insanely proud of this thing.
And that stupid brim gave me fits.
It's a little big on me, and the pattern definitely needs tweaking (that is, if I can reinterpret the chicken-scratch I furiously scribbled as I worked), but I'm very happy with it. It looks just like it was supposed to!!

P.S. Isn't my brother Nick a fantastic model?

P.P.S. I know you were all just dying to find out what the new thing in my Etsy shop was. (that was said with just a smidgen of sarcasm, in case you mis-read it silently to yourself.)








Beautiful red fingerless gloves. Now you know.

Oh hello!

I hope you've all been having a nice life. My blog subscriptions are all backed up. I have no idea what's going on with anybody except for the Looneys and my "church people." Which really isn't all that bad, actually. It's kinda like things used to be before the internet took up 75 percent of my life.
haha...

During my prolonged absence I've been doing more reading. I feel like I need to apologize for the impersonal nature of my last post (The Remains of the Day). Summer reading, I decided, would be a little more fruitful if I wrote something about each book after I finished it. And so I did. However, since the completion of The Remains of the Day, I've also finished Fahrenheit 451 (which was fantastic), and Romeo and Juliet (I've never read Shakespeare before). I've not written about those yet.

Etsy sales have picked up some! Three or four sales in one week! Yeah!

Yesterday I went and had some fun with my friends and didn't exactly keep good track of my money... I almost spent more than I had, but fortunately I made a sale and got paid during the day, so nothing bad happened. Thank you, God!

Today's plans : Go pick up "The Beautiful Fight" from the library. Make some slippers. Ship some orders. Go to church. Oh wait. The things that require driving to town might have to wait til tomorrow...

So, anyways, now you know what's going on with my life.

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Caitlin

Unrelated Accomplishments

Hello!

Remember when I made that lovely green vest thing?
I posted a poll on my blog that said: What should I do with the green vest?
(because, if you'll recall, it was a little too small for me, and I didn't want to sacrifice my favorite buttons for something I couldn't keep.)

You answered:

Get over the button issue and sell it on Etsy	1 (5%)
Put on new buttons and sell it on Etsy	19 (95%)
Give it away - family or friend maybe.	0 (0%)
Heck with too small! keep it!	0 (0%)

Oddly enough, I decided against the majority.
The vest was just so pretty, it deserved my bestest buttons.


So, here you have it.
Finally properly modeled, photographed, and listed on Etsy. YAY!

So, moving on to the unrelated accomplishment.

I just so happened to write a poem that was very pretty.
It's dark and sad and beautiful.
Behold!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Momentary silence.
Unnecessary fears.
Return to pain and violence
Immersed in private tears.

Time is neverending
Elusive glimpse of peace
Darkness and pretending
Aching for release.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I'm very proud of my sad little brainchild.
And I'm amused by the fact that I wrote it while in a very silly, happy mood.
It can be difficult to focus on dark imagery when you're feeling chipper. But I did it!
After I told Katey and Alicia to stop making me laugh and let me focus for just a second.
I always write strange things at their house...

Anyways, that's just a random update to share the things I'm very proud of.
Maybe I'll remember to update again soon instead of abandoning my blog for over a week as I seem to have gotten into the habit of doing.
=)

ttyl!
Caitlin

Crochet Foray

New things have been on the crochet horizon lately. On my quest to venture into making different sorts of wearables hence unexplored, I heard of a magical land called Ravelry and requested an invitation. (You have to have a code to get in) It's this cool community of knitters and crocheters, full of patterns and projects and tips and tricks. Yay! So, I found this neat free pattern for a cropped cardigan type thingy. The pattern calls it a capelet. Actually, the pattern is the crocheted version of a knit pattern inspired by a capelet somebody saw in Anthropologie. That was a tongueful. Or it would have been if I had said it.

Anyways, like I said, I found this pattern and decided to give it a whirl. I had the yarn lying about just waiting for this type of project, and everyone said that it worked up really fast. Fast projects are the only kind in my world.

True enough, a couple of hours and a skein and a half later, I had this lovely little blue ... thing. I don't think capelet is an appropriate term, and "cropped cardigan" sounds snobby. Bolero? Shrug? Whatever.After such success, I decided to try again with some Caitlinesque modifications. Some lovely green yarn I found on sale was also waiting for just such a project. Such was also the case with a pair of black vintage buttons - they're reserved until I find just the right project that deserves them. And this was going to be the one. With something more vest-like in mind, I set to work.

Exactly two skeins, a couple hours, and an episode of Good Eats later, I had this:

After taking this picture, I realized you could probably see it better against a not-so-similar shade. You might not can see them, but I safety-pinned the Favorite Buttons on. I'm very pleased with my result, but a little sad because it seems to be too small. Of course, it's supposed to be small-ish, but... yeah. I think I'm going to have to sell it or give it to somebody. And the buttons go PERFECTLY with it. Just like I'd envisioned. Problem: I want those buttons. Nobody else can have them. So if I can't keep this vest, the vest can't keep the buttons.And there you have it.
Should I make more for my etsy?

P.S. I put a poll on my sidebar. Take it! Take it!