And catching up on mail in

Mail in, some from today:

*Blue postcard from Yuh-Shan Goh in Malaysia (cool -- she might be near where my mom is from ;))
*Postcard from Elke in Germany
*Postcard from Cibele in Brazil
*My Republicans for Voldemort shirt from Goats

And from before:

*Surf the net with me from NerdGirl
*Newbie Pick 3 angel from Kristin McKnight
*Creative Letter 1 from SummerLion
*Smile for Under $1 from Kika/CandyRagz (and she succeeded! A great necklace that looks like serpentine, plus sterling silver, that arrived on my anniversary and got worn for it ;D)

Mini wishlist, away!

That is, mail out: Mini Wishlist 2, including some of these lovely little items ("lovely" used here solely in the sense of "Isn't it lovely I've finally got it sent?" ;)):

A good luck charm, hopefully to help my swap partner win a bit more at bingo ;):



A pair of earrings, so she can win in style:



And some wall art, potentially for her kitchen, because she likes roosters:



And there you have it. ;D My latest late-ish swap is out. I catch up.

More catchup

Mail in:

*Calming Waters

There's some other stuff I have evilly not noted, too, but it's sitting in my car on the passenger seat where I can't miss it.

Still catching up on swappage today since Friday was spent cleaning and doing every piece of laundry I could find, then we spent all weekend in Daytona doing more grandparent-house cleanout, spending time with Brian's family, and chasing the sun, by which I mean we managed to see the sunrise on the east coast and the sunset on the west coast, which Brian has been talking about doing since we first got together. :D

I sent the blue postcard swap, theoretically, on Saturday when I dropped the postcards into the drop box at the condo. Today I'm going to send the "Surf the net with me" swap, including this little ATC as an extra goodie:



Oh, and I picked up some things for the Tiny Box of Joy at Brian's grandparents', but intelligently, I forgot to take them out of the box and bring them with me to package up and send. Oops. Well, there's always tomorrow...

It's swap catchup day!

And the test of my swappycrafty abilities is to see how much I can get done ... without stressing myself unduly. That is the true evidence of skill. ;)

I hear thunder in the distance. Mmm. Thunder. Mayhap I shall print out my Catchup List so I can't be too derailed if the power goes out. ;D

More mail updates

I have word that my SBS Teas Secret Spring Genie received her package finally -- whew! I was a little paranoid about it getting there since the tracking number said it had been forwarded to another address, and I wasn't sure if the old address was a business address, but I do know that my Spring Genie just sold her business to someone else ... eep! Anyway, I'm glad she got it. Relief. :D

There's a butt load of mail waiting to go out today, too:

*Earth Mother's Day Tote Bag O'Goodies (finally!)
*Fabric Scrap Craft (UberLate!)
*Creative Journal Swap (UberLate!)
*Old Box ATCs #3 re-send to Mary Rousseaux (who didn't receive her first ones)
*A postcard to Cibele Fraga (RAK)
*Newbie/changing bad ratings swaps

...for now. I have some other things I ought to put together to add to the pile, too. This list will probably grow. ;)

Another woven tote and a washcloth

Here's that pink tote; interestingly enough, I managed to follow the color guidelines for Project Spectrum 2007 (the colors for April and May are green, yellow, and pink) without intending to.



I also knit a washcloth for the same swap as the purple tote went in:



The pattern is the "ballband dishcloth" from Mason-Dixon Knitting, and I like it so much I'm knitting another to go with the pink tote. The pattern was easy to memorize, looks interesting, changes enough to keep me from getting completely bored, and I can stop whenever I want, if I want to make a nonstandard-shaped washcloth, unlike with the circle dishcloth. And unlike the reverse mitered dishcloth, I don't have to increase constantly and make myself feel like the thing will never end, nor do I have to count constantly or risk messing the thing up. Yay for good washcloth patterns. Plus, I can use up funky scraps of yarn in this pattern for the "woven" bands, and it won't look horrid and random. This pattern is love. :D

Woven eye candy

My first tote bag off the square loom:



I like it. :D I'm thinking of having Brian make me a larger square loom so I can make bigger tote bags without seaming smaller squares, but we'll see.

There's a brightsummery tote bag picture coming along sometime soon, too.

The Spring Genie tally

In the box, I found...

*6 personalized notecards, each different
*Kool-Aid packets for dyeing with
*jumbo clippie stitch markers
*a beachy tea-pot-shaped tea bag holder
*2 Sevi Kay natural lip balms
*fine-point Sharpies in pastel(? anyway, not standard ;)) colors
*pink socks with a Martini glass and a wine glass embroidered on
*green flower-embroidered springy hand towel
*pastel pink scoop hat (the kind useful for wearing while gardening ;D)
*a salsa mix variety pack: fruit salsa, super-hot salsa, and gourmet salsa
*Adult Pop "Gotta Get It Hits" CD
*clip with a sandal and my name (the kind you hang from your backpack or use as a keychain)
*flowery magnetic shopping list, magnets, and spiral-bound address book
*Luminessence rose-scented tulip pillar candle
*Hershey's Cacao Reserve dark chocolate truffles
*Aleeda Smoothie body wash and body cream set in Pineapple Mango
*New Delhi Tea & Coffee Co. raspberry white tea
*SBS Teas Decaf Cinilla Moon tea

Whew! Thank you, Secret Genie. :D

Holy mother of swaps!

I must have been a good little crafter at some point, because I'm getting some incredible swap packages suddenly. It's like I saved up all the goodness by not whinging too much about not getting my goodies from Swap-bot flakes, or something. ;) Check out what I saw when I opened the giganto box that was sitting on my step from my SBS Teas Secret Genie:



Whew. Now I have to convince myself to open it all. ;) It's like swappy Christmas in spring...

Weaving three-stranded

It's a little more strenuous than weaving single-stranded, at least on the square loom, but still nowhere near tedious. It looks quite nice, too. :D



I'm using three strands of worsted-weight cotton. The front is cream, pink, and orange, and the back will be pink, variegated pink and white, and orange, because I don't have enough cream to finish another square. The effect is much the same, anyway. :D

The squares won't be big enough on their own to meet the tote bag size requirement for this swap, so I think I'm going to end up doing some picking up and knitting, and I may use this opportunity to try the "belt weaver" thingie I picked up from Jo-Ann on a whim, to see if it will make a decent strap, too. This swap probably won't go out this week, but hey, at least it will contain an awesome bag. ;D

(Unrelated, but just in case my swap partner is watching, I haven't forgotten my Spin to Knit Orphan Handspun downstream partner, either! That package will probably go out next week, too. ;D)

Yellow postcards, a belated pin cushion, and a fleece update

Sent three yellow postcards the other day for a swap. This scan is of two of them, because the third was basically a repeat:



As always, there are metallic bits that don't scan as metallic: in this case, the hand-drawn swirls. I really like how these turned out and I ought to make a bunch more stuff in this style. ;D

I also finally finished my Fabric Scrap Craft. OMG. I was originally making a coiled rag basket, but, er, it was in a plastic bag on the floor at Brian's and one of the lovely kitties, in a fit of pique, sprayed the outer bag. Although the rag basket in progress was hidden inside some scraps in the bag, rather than risk sending something that stinks of kitty bitchiness, I made an entirely new object and will leave the potentially stinky rag basket in the potentially stinky house. (Brian does clean a lot, but you start to get paranoid that you're desensitized ... ;))

Anyway, here's the pin cushion I made to replace the rag basket:





The scraps are left over from Virginia's first recital dress. I waffled between whether the light side of the fabric or the dark side of the fabric would be better as the official top of the pin cushion, and went with the dark side for some reason, but I think it looks good either way, so the recipient can really take her pick. ;)

The lace on that is hand-knit, too. :D I even blocked it (and now that I think of it, I either meant to take a photo or did take a photo and am now not sure where it is. Erk). It says in my swap recipient's profile that she likes Jane Austen novels, so I was inspired to make something that reminds me a bit of that time period. I hope she likes it. :D

In the Great Fleece Adventure, the black wool I washed earlier this week seems dry now, so I'll probably take that to visit the roving carder tonight. More wool washing seems in order for today, and while I originally intended on doing the llama next, I'm trying to figure out if I can dehair it, and I don't want to mess with it until I know whether I can and what I need to do for it. Chances are it'll need washing before I dehair it, but you never know, and it's not like I don't have other stuff to wash. ;)

Also, I did try hand-carding the short-stapled mystery destash wool, and it did work a lot better on the hand cards. I haven't tried putting it through the drum carder again yet because I still have some of the Lovely Long-Stapled Fluffies on there and I don't want to have to clean the drum carder twice in as many days just to spastically interrupt my current batch with a trial. ;)

Handspun and Spring Bunny packages, illustrated!

Finally, a photo of my super-awesome Spin to Knit orphan package from Ina:



There are some Peeps, some saltwater taffy that Brian tried to steal right out of the package, a postcard (awesome, since I collect postcards), and two skeins of lovely handspun. The green one is laceweight, beaded and hand-dyed (and the beads are strung on the handspun itself, not on a plying thread); the royal blue one is sport weight, which I don't have nearly enough of. Huzzah! There's also a super-cool knit, beaded bracelet that's cool enough (I did say super-cool ;)) to have been featured in the pattern designer's blog, which makes me feel unreasonably privileged. This package deserves ubergushing, which I did in email, so insert tons more gushage and appreciation here.

This is the other awesome package I received recently, from Nancy for the Eccentric Pastiche Secret Spring Bunny swap:



There are tons of the goodies that I asked for, and I know that to stay under the spending limit, Nancy must have used some of her unending supply of Jo-Ann coupons. There's a Sand and Sea Teeny Tiny Cassette Punch, a flexible ruler I suddenly can't remember what it's really called, but which will be awesome for drafting patterns, two BIG nature-themed rubber stamps from the price category I never even consider looking at because it's way out of my range, a ColorBox Petal Point pigment ink pad (I believe I asked for pigment inks in any color, because I have only black ... so rather than pick, she got me ALL the colors! ;)), a tiny shoe pendant/charm in a super-cute hand-sewn tiny baggie that I think is made of ribbon, some non-gourmet jelly beans (I love the non-gourmet kind, is why I mention that ;)), a little hand-made notebook, a pendanty thing that looks hand-made, too, although I have no idea what it's made of, and some Kool-Aid packets for dyeing, two of which I pulled out to immediately dye some Columbia roving. Plus, the wrapping materials were so pretty I took a picture of everything before I unwrapped it, and the tissue paper and ribbons will so get reused later. ;)

Big kudos to both Ina and Nancy for sending awesome packages. I love my swappy pals. :D

And just for fun, here's a photo of Plankton, the hand-dyed Merino I bought from Neauveau and which is still being played with in terms of processing methods, because I want to do it justice:

Another swap I'd love to do...

...except I'm not allowed to sign up for any more right now ;), is the Fiber Swap. Fibery goodness! Must ... not ... sign up ... yet...

More secret swapping...

I finally have my partner assignment for the Spring Genie swap at SBS Teas. Cackle. Here's hoping I can come up with something(s) great to send her.

I also have to work on my Secret Bunny package for Eccentric Pastiche. My partner's stuff is kinda difficult for me since she has virtually none of the same theme tastes as I have, and of the stuff she specifically asks for, I don't know what half of it even is. Then there's a lot of it that you can only get online, which is ... interesting for me, to say the least, since I don't have a ton of money to use on paying for shipping. I'd prefer to be able to hunt things down locally and use all the allotted fundage for this swap on actual items. Oh, well. That just means this one is going out a few days late while I hunt down the scrapbooking shops in the area, and search them for things that fit the bill.

I was going to make today an art catchup day, but I'm not feeling the artistic creativity, so I haven't figured out what I'm doing yet. Orange Cat 2 kept doing bizarre (for him) things last night, like knocking my glasses off the nightstand just before drinking out of my water glass, so I kept waking up, and didn't get a whole lot of refreshing sleep, hence this morning's inability to figure out what I feel like doing. Brainmist, laaa.

Getting into trouble: of swaps and trades :D

Never mind the drama on Swap-bot lately; it seems to happen everywhere, as soon as enough people decide a thing is important in their lives. The culture of the modern times (and probably of many times) seems to make the fearful rulemongers among the loudest voices in any group ... and even if they drive other people away, that doesn't mean we don't exist, nor does it mean we don't have power. It just means we aren't hanging out with the fearful rulemongers. ;) Are the rule-bending freaks more frightening to control freaks as an unseen underground, or as visible annoyances under their control? Rule freaks ought to think about that before they drive people away ... but alas. Thinking is sometimes at premium.

Anyway, I said never mind that. ;) I had to say my piece, and it's said. One of my latest frivolous, crafty troubles is that I've gotten myself into another trade; in this one I'm knitting a shawl and some wristwarmers for someone in exchange for a beachy bag full o' goodies. Another is that I'm about to embark on knitting Purl McBigBottom (with its annoyingly Stitch 'N' Bitch name ;)) as a semi-angel for the April Fool's Fun swap. I'm not sure I'm really needed to angel, since the person who's supposed to send the swap is still in communication, if in a bit of a strange spot, but if semi-angeling will get rid of some of my stash and let me knit a purse (which I haven't done before but have been wanting to), then why not? More goodies for all, and more stashbusting for me!

First I have to find some suitable needles, though. I don't know that I have any in the proper size, but whatevs. Adaptation is the name of the game for this dealie, and it's a purse, after all.

Oh, and I'm also hoping to join the Create-Along soon, which is a community blog for knitters who want to design their own patterns. I'm a Rank Beginner at that, but I'm hoping to learn a lot from that blog, and to be one of those people the blog owners are hoping to free from their uncertainty about designing. 'Twould be awesome. :D

Fantasy travel agent swap open

I've started a swap called "Fantasy travel agent" on Swapbot. Details:

Summer's coming (or at least spring break ;)), and who's ready for a little vacation? In this swap you'll exercise your imagination, visit far away places (in your head, at least), and send a little souvenir of your travels on to others! This swap is geared toward artistic/altered artist types, and "wannabe" or newbie artists are welcome, 'cause we all have to start somewhere. :D

For this swap, invent an exotic locale. You can make it up entirely, base it on a real place, use a real place but give it an "alternate universe" sort of twist, or even use a historical nonmodern place. A magical Hawaii, maybe? A Caribbean where pirates still exist? A far-off planet with friendly alien natives?

For your chosen locale, you'll send to one partner:

* A brochure advertising this place. The brochure should be hand-made in some way, but you can make it on your computer and print it out, or draw the entire thing by hand, collage it, or any other form of creation you choose, as long as you make it. And make it attractive, with pictures and colors and interesting text -- after all, you're trying to get people to visit. :D
* A postcard from your imaginary place, with an anecdote on the back about your vacation there: tell people about the natives, the food, the shopping, the weather, a bizarre local incident, local history, etc. You may send the postcard inside the swap package (with a fake postage and postmark stamp?), or maybe send it "naked" through the mail so it gets a real postmark and a stamp. If you send it before or after the rest of your swap, you can use it to "tease" your partner. ;) Oh, and obviously, you'll have to make the postcard, unless your imagination has a gift shop. ;)
* A souvenir from your location. It can be touristy, like a refrigerator magnet or t-shirt for your fantasy place, or it can be cultural-feeling, like a hand-woven basket or hand-painted coconut bowl, but it must be a unique item with some hand-made aspect -- so buy something and alter it to make it more appropriate to your fantasy location, or you can completely hand-make it, whatever you choose. The value of your souvenir should be at least $5, but there's no top limit, in case you get terribly inspired to make something super-impressive. ;) Other souvenir ideas: a book of local recipes, "native" mask, landscape painting or framed "photo" (digital altered art, anyone?), or even some local candy or treat, if you're a creative foodie type.

You have a month from the sign-up deadline to create your fantasy travel swap package, which technically gives you almost two months if you start as soon as you sign up. If that doesn't sound long enough, and enough people mention it, I'll happily change it. :D

One recommendation: take a picture of your swap before you send it. You might wish you had later if you don't. ;)

Newbies with filled-out profiles are welcome! Perpetual flakes aren't ;), but a couple of bad ratings in an otherwise fine record won't get you booted. If you want to be a swap angel for those who get flaked on, let me know, since I want everyone to get something.

Come and play, and if you have questions, ask 'em!

Brainfogged

Again! I made two bookmarks, scanned those and the purple postcards, stuffed a couple envelopes for the I (heart) books swap, and wrote the survey-letter for a getting to know you letter swap on Swapbot, and now I'm a little brainfogged and would like to take a break from slogging through the list of things to do for other people and potentially do something for myself.

Last week (was it last week?) I worked on my experimental knitted, felted tricorn. I felted something on purpose for the first time a couple of days ago, first attempting to do it by hand, but that was too slow, so I finished it in Brian's washing machine, which worked quite nicely, except that the dish soap I was instructed to use didn't seem to want to go away in the rinse cycle. ;) I like felting, so now I have something to do with scritchy wool that I don't want to wear on my skin. Yay. So that was my thing to do for myself the last time I had this question.

Today I still ought to package up my Old Box ATCs for that swap. It isn't required for the swap that I embellish them any further than they are embellished by their own surface design, so I refuse to allow myself to feel pressured into embellishment. If it occurs to me while putting contact info stickers on the back that I should embellish them somehow, then cheers. But if I just put them into envelopes the way they are, then that's fine, too, because it explicitly gives me that permission in the swap info.

Time for self

I've packaged up four swaps with notes today ... Now it's time to do something for me for a bit, before I work on creating some more swaps for others.

But the question is ... what to do for me? Eek.

Superfringe!

That's the second hairpin lace scarf, which is getting sent today for the "Anything you can do..." swap. More crazy crafting yet to come!

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.