Pasta machines are evil.

Or maybe it should be fun to have a giant hunk of clay stuck behind the rollers so I have to take apart the machine for the second time, suffering the excitement of loose washers maddeningly running around inside the half of the machine that I can't figure out how to get off because the screw holding the side on is underneath the thickness adjustment knob, which isn't coming off in any logical fashion. (Unless the logical fashion is "pull really hard," a method I almost never use unless I first see it used without harm to the thing being pulled on. ;))

Oysh. Why didn't Troy have the sanity to show me how he got the machine apart and then back together? Silly boys. ;)

Picture bonanza

Things I made for the Slacker Homemade Gift swap:







The red thingie is my first bit of hairpin lace ever, and it's a scarf. Yayyyy. ;) I need to get a good photo of the scarfage, itself, so I can feel safe sending away my firstborn. ;D

This is my Things with Wings matchbox, too, which was sent a bit ago, but I didn't post photos immediately:







I also received my own Things with Wings matchbox a couple days ago from Australia, and should be a good swapper and post photos, shouldn't I?

Speaking of swaps ... I wonder where my Spin to Knit handspun swap is? ;) My partner did say she procrastinates, but I hope she doesn't procrastinate herself completely out of sending me my skeins. ;) (I seem to have this problem acquiring handspun from other people...) I also need to finish and send my own skein for this month, actually. This FLaRF thing is kicking my butt in terms of time to craft 'n' swap.

Random polymer clay

ObPersonalBlether: Poor Brian got shot down this morning, as he called it. He's looking for a new job, and our friend Paul works at a tool company where there's a job opening. He made it sound like an easy in, so we went by to drop off a resume before work this morning ... where they made him fill out an application because they don't take resumes, then interviewed him immediately, apparently with the attitude that he was wasting their time because there were three other more experienced applicants in line for the position. On top of that, the interviewer made Brian late for work at his current job, which I find absolutely idiotic. That sort of behavior is completely inappropriate in someone holding a management position. If I had known the man was in the process of not only making Brian late, but also making Brian feel bad for no good reason, I would have hunted them down in the building and interrupted the interview to insist that Brian not be late. Just goes to show I should feel free to break rules and be crazy; if he's not going to get that job anyway, why should Brian waste his time with someone who thinks he has better things to do?

Grr. Anyway. ;) It'd be nice if I could make Brian feel better without making myself feel worse (and I mean both of those things generally, as in, he ought to feel better in general without my feeling worse in general, 'cause what's the use in that?), and one way to do that would be by bringing in more income with things that I already like doing. Must come up with a good craftiness business plan.

The requisite photos for today are of a) a heart I made for a Valentine's swap, and b) some extra goodies I made while I was playing with clay, namely a heart for me (that's the one with the curl on one side, sans beadies), plus two beads with beads in them. ;)



And the backs of the hearts: