These first photos are of the stitch marker bracelets I sold last week.
These are hats I finished last week. The pirate hat is for the Ravalympics.
Shetland Not-So-Shorty modeled by my disgustingly cute sister.
Margaret's birthday cake.
to try and upload some photos. But then I forgot my camera. As G would say: Wa Wa Waaaa! (in her best gameshow losing voice.)
I guess you guys will have to wait.
I sold my first set of stitch markers last week. I wanted to wait to post about it to make sure they buyer liked them. Here's what she said:
Shannon,
THEY CAME TODAY!!!!!!! and I LOVE THEM!!!!! I cannot wait until Saturday to show them off (my friend is definitely not getting hers until after the weekend!)
I really like the fact that they fasten with the magnets–so easy and so smart. And you did such a good job mixing and matching up the beads–I envy your artistic eye!
Thanks again. I’m sure I’ll be in touch with you again.
Sara
Well, we have a birthday coming up next weekend. That gives us less than two weeks to clean the house. Having company over really helps to motivate us to keep things clean, but there's always a mad dash to give everything a good once-over and it usually ends up with me apologizing for the mess anyway. This year M has invited a few friends from gym class. The thought of strangers coming over really makes me want to make sure everything is nice so, I've decided to start doing a little each day. Of course, that is much easier said than done, especially with three anti-adults running around and spreading "fun" everywhere. If I have to clean up the large foam alphabet puzzle one more time, I swear, I'm going to tie those ankle biters up until the party. I try to use the flylady system, but it's very difficult to do alone and DH thinks doing dishes and laundry (but not folding or putting it away!!!) gets him off the hook.
The other problem I have is our hardwood floors. DH tried to mop with pine sol and Murphy's against my better judgement and now there's a sitcky film I can't get off. Martha says use vinegar and water and that worked a little, after FOUR tries.
Do any of you have suggestions for cleaning up while playing zone defense against three children OR for cleaning hardwood floors (walnut, specifically?)
In other news, the Shetland Not-So-Shorty is done. I also finished a New Republic Hat. Well, alsmost finished it. The buttons I got from ebay have the shanks cut off. Stupid me thought "no shanks" meant they were the kinds of buttons with holes. Uh, no. They are buttons that used to have shanks, but have been castrated.
I haven't had time to figure out how to fasten the band of the hat, but I'm leaning towards an embroirdered "X" where the button should go. If anyone has a large (2") button to donate, you know how to reach me. I'll get action shots up as soon as I figure out how to get my camera to quit giving all my photos a ghostly white halo.
ETA: "We" is my Four-year-soon-to-be-five-year-old. We'll be kntting at the Chimes for "me" in March.
My husband hates it when I say "Crap." I think he should be glad I can censor myself before the big words come out and make George Carlin blush in his grave (rest his soul). In real-life, away from my children or boss, I cuss like a sailor. It's something that got picked up in college. Boy my sorority was a bad influence. Trust me, if I didn't have kids or bosses, "crap" wouldn't even be in my repertoire.
Anyway, the crap-i-tude come from my new theme. Pretty, no? However, all the widgets got lost in translation so I have to go back and update all my links and other sidebar goodness.
If I linked to you before and I miss you this time, shoot me a message and I'll fix it. It's not like my sidebar was super-updated anyway.
Good news is I'm about 10 minutes away from finishing the Shetland-not-so-shorty I've been slaving over. It feels so nice to finish something.
A fellow raveler is sending me enough yarn to finish my wavy lace stole and possibly make a hat.
Ravelry is awesome!
With the new job I was able to move some things out of the studio. 
Of course, now it's a ginormous mess. 
Time to get cracking, I guess.
I am selling some stitch marker jewelry. These are great for displaying your markers and for keeping them handy, because you never knoww when you might need a marker.I have necklaces, bracelets, and keychains.
The necklaces are $25. They are 18in and have lobster clasps holding 6 stitch markers.
Bracelets are $15. They are 7in with magnetic clasps. They also hold 6 markers.
The keychains are also $15. They have 6 markers and a decorative end with matching beads.
I also make empty necklaces and bracelets so you can add your own markers and can make custom stitch marker jewelry as well. Email me for details.
In honor of the Tiger's awesomeness and impending trip to the college world series, I've added another pattern to my sidebar. I haven't worked this chart yet, so let me know if there are any errors and I'll take care of them.
It looks like I'll have a job soon. I'm doing some contractual stuff for my local research center and they want me to join them full-time. All I have to do is finish my current contracts which end June 30, and there's salary negotiations, of course.
Ironically, I'll probably post more working full-time than I do sitting home all day just because there won't be any children to run after. Knitting might suffer, but its not as if I'm cranking out the FOs anyway.
It'll be really nice to stop for Starbucks and not have to worry if I can afford it or not.
The project we are working on for the center is a huge database that will track all students in Louisiana from birth to workplace. I'm trying to not let the "Big-Brother-ness" of it all get to me. This database will track school, health, and court records so far. We'll be able to find out how much a specific teacher affects learning outcomes, for example, or what factors affect the liklihood of a child going into the court system. The difference is that we'll have complete data from all years of life, so there won't be any assumptions about things like parental variables or neighborhood effects. I promise to use this data for good and never evil!!! The best part is no other state is even close to having good enough data to even try such an undertaking, so we can be at the top of the list for something good. That doesn't happen very often.
In my sidebar, I've added a pattern for my Subversive Skull Cap. I created this pattern and chart due to the utter lack of skull-themed cables out there. If you try it out, send me a photo and I'll post them here.
