creeping by on little sparkly sock feet

This week…

…has been Something Else. Things just started HAPPENING, as though an asylum of Chaos Demons descended upon our quiet little lives, tossing us into the mayhem just to see what we would do. Then I got sick, and we got a new vacuum cleaner, and that freaked out the animals, and by the time I looked up, it was Thursday and I hadn’t blogged for two days.

::waves::

Hi! I’m back now.

Good Crafty Fun

I’m knitting some sparkly lace socks. I’ll be blogging about those over on Knitting Daily…uh….any day now. Yeah. (Real Soon.) I’m using this yarn:

Precious from Shameless Twist. OH BABEEEEE this is Deh Awesome. Folks think that the sterling silver bits in the yarn might make it scratchy….nope. Soft, soft, and sparkly, but not in-your-face sparkly like bad dimestore yarn. This is The Good Stuff. (Sparkly socks, you will be MINE.)

I’m also looking for fabric to make myself some dresses. I finally got Nicholas’ mother’s sewing machine all set up and cleaned and tuned, and I’ve got a few nifty patterns I want to try. The first one is this:

Ceylon from ColettePatterns.com

Or perhaps this:

Crepe from ColettePatterns.com

Anyone have any cool online fabric sites to share? I went to the local Fabric WorldO’Woe, and jiminy crickets! Is it just me, or have the fabrics gotten…cheaper…somehow? Not in price, obviously, but in quality. I’m a fabric Ho; if I’m going to spend time sewing a nice dress, then I want some nice fabric to start with. Funky prints? Tone-on-tones? Deep solids?

This all started because Nicholas is threatening to put in a call to Stacy and Clinton, the style-savvy hosts of What Not To Wear. Since I gained back a lot of the weight I’d lost two years ago (blasted meds!), nothing fits and I’m wearing shapeless solid-colour frumpy things. I’m not going to make the mistake of trying to lose the weight first, because There Lies Madness & Ugly Clothing, so I’m looking for ways to look cute and bring my curves along for the fun, without having to submit my wardrobe to the scrutiny of She Who Adores High Heels and He Who Loves Plaids.

So if you have any favourite curvy clothing sites, or fabric sites, or anything sites, bring ’em on!

The Fourth Deep Winter Kindness Giveaway

Let’s have another giveaway, shall we? They’ve been so much fun!

This week’s goodie:

That’s a copy of Socks: A Spin-Off special publication for knitters and spinners, by Rita Buchanan and Deborah Robson. (I got that photo off of Google, the actual copy I have here is in better condition that the one pictured!)

20 sock patterns, from lace to cables, from colourwork to entrelac. The patterns are aimed at the handspinner, but there is enough information given for any knitter to make good use of the patterns. This is a GREAT sock book, one of my all-time faves. Why am I giving it up? Because I have two copies, one to keep and one to give away.

To enter the drawing for the Socks book, just leave a comment on THIS post. (Rules are here; but leave a post on TODAY’s post for this drawing.) I’ll do the random number generator trick and announce the lucky winner on the last day of January, which, of course, is…a Monday. Next Monday, in fact. Monday, January 31, 2011.

I also have a second goodie to give away this week: A big hank of handpainted worsted-weight wool in blues/greens/purples. So the second name on the random-generated list gets the yarn. Woot!

Truth One

I’ve got a rep of being a cheery sort of gal, a comforting and kind sort of gal, a playful and creative and fun-to-hang-with sort of gal. I like that reputation; for the most part, I think it’s even true. But it’s also true that I’m human, and the effects of an unfamiliar long, cold, dark winter are starting to show. It’s also true that there are Big Things going on behind the scenes here at Chez Wiseheart, future-changing sorts of things, things I can’t talk about just yet, but things that have the potential to make a Big Happy or Two come into our little lives. We don’t know if these Things will actually happen or not; and the truth is that we have no control over whether the Big Happys happen or not. We don’t even want to hope too much, because if we hope, and the Big Happys don’t happen, then we’re going to be sad.

Put above ingredients in large mixing bowl. Beat with hammer for four wintery months. Add large flakes of snow and liberal doses of freezing temperatures.

No wonder I am feeling stressed and a bit crankified!

Truth Two

However…it’s also true that even though I’m stressed and cranky, I’m surviving this chilly January. I’m surviving in part thanks to you folks and your funny, wise, heartfelt commentaries on the blog; I’m surviving in part because we seem to have come up with a really fun little game here, what with the Giveaway Llama and the Deep Winter Fairy and the giveaways and all. I spent time this week putting together the three packages that went out to Becky (the Meg Swansen book), Rachel L. (a something nifty from my stash), and Rachel v.d. H. (another something nifty from my stash). I had to go around and figure out how to mail the oversized book; I wrote up little sheepie cards for each person; I made each one a stitch marker and tried to come up with a creative way to put everything together so there would be smiles on the other end.

I’ve been thinking about February, in fact. I don’t have an endless supply of goodies to give away, so I can’t keep up the weekly giveaways (although I plan to do them now and then, because they are so much fun!). I think I have come up with a couple of ideas to make February have its own playful delights, so stay tuned…because really, you just never know what I might come up with.

Feeling Like You Wanna Help Someone?

Pete needs our help. It’s pretty much impossible to continue being a farmer if your barn burns down and insurance doesn’t cover it.

Random Nifty, Silly, Good Stuff

Lucy Neatby is a brilliant woman. She is also very, very wacky.

If you feel the need to knit an udder, Lucy has a pattern to help you wit dat.

Howie has been crocheting for three years. Howie is also brilliant, and he is, in his own way, also of the Wacky Family.

Robots Are Poor Tippers

That’s one of his crochet artworks. I highly recommend you go here and enjoy seeing the world through Howie’s whimsical eyes.

For the Doctor Who fans amongst us: More Doctor Who toys. (WANT.)

That ought to brighten up your week a bit. I know it does mine!