Penguins and Other Pics

I made Sarah penguin pillows for her living room because I figured she'd probably never find purple winter or Christmas pillows.


And we made a pig pillow, too. I think it kinda looks like a Richard Scarry character.




And finally got a picture of Courage Bear.

Happy New Year!

So, we had a one year old here tonight, so we toasted early so Lisa and Lyam could get home to bed.

"May those who love us, love us.
Those who do not love us,
May God turn their hearts.
If their hearts cannot be turned,
May God turn their ankles,
So we will recognize them by their limp."




More Pics!

Good news!

So, I inherited a digital camera. My mom gave me my stepdad's Nikon Coolpix. Which means, more pics, more often. I will actually be able to post things in a timely manner. Or once the battery charges I will. It hasn't been recharged since like October.

I am bargain fu!

So the zipper broke on my Tuckerman today, and I was really bummed. I loved that coat, it was warm and comfy and had tons of pockets and I got a really good deal.

So we went to LL Bean. And the guy was like, ok, since you don't have your receipt what we're gonna have to give you what it's scanning for now and it might not be for much since it's from last year.

And I said, well, ok. I guess not much is better than a coat I can't wear.

So he looked it up, and it actually came up for more than I paid for it, by $30. So that's good.

Except that the same coat is selling for $179 which is $60 more than I got back. Damn.

So I got a different coat, which isn't rated for quite as cold as the Tuckerman, but what business do I have being outside when it's 35 below anyway. And this coat was only $89.

So I got gloves. And figured I had about $10 left. So I went to check out.

I had $11.45 left on the return card. And even better, I got a $10 gift card for spending more than $50.

Woohoo!

Still learning Japanese

Been playing Slime Forest A LOT lately, and I recognize (though some more readily than others) in the neighborhood of 500 kanji! However, since Japanese uses a completely differently alphabet and writing style than English, there is still the matter of putting the actual Japanese words to the Kanji.

Carl is going to register me for the paid version of Slime forest for Christmas and I believe that includes the pronunciation of the Kanji.

Also, I finally broke down and bought a book to teach me to write in Japanese. And it seems to be a really good book.

Tuttle Language Library's Japanese Hiragana for Beginners, by Timothy G Stout. www.tuttlepublishing.com

It's got writing practice and basic vocabulary. It's a lot like an elementary school reading workbook, there's crossword puzzles and a whole bunch vocabulary worksheets in it.

I'm really excited about the whole thing, because the other day I had that moment you get when you're learning something totally new and all of a sudden, your brain shifts and it all makes sense, instead of being a struggle. I got a new kanji on Slime Forest and I looked at it, and recognized all of the radicals in it. I couldn't figure out what the actually representation was, but I got enough of a feel for it that when I got the keyword, it made sense.

It's suddenly been a whole lot easier since then, I guess my brain "gets" Japanese now, even though there's still tons and tons to learn. Apparently, it takes something in the neighborhood of 1300 hours of study to become even moderately fluent in Japanese if you're starting as an English speaker.

The only thing I feel like I'm lacking right now is that I would like to have someone to practice speaking with and since I don't know anyone who is fluent in Japanese and none of my friends are interested in learning, that may be tough. Though I did find an SAT 2 study guide that has a downloadable .mp3 library for pronunciate and listening practice, so I might use that. It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than practicing with the cat.

Ah, well. sayonara!

Age

Late Nights and Early Mornings

I'm so tired! Wah! This past weekend I worked 7-3 and then 6-2:30. I have three more shifts this week, two of them are 7-3 and the other one is 2-11:30, at least, could be closer to 12. Say it with me, "EW!"

At least I'll get some off hours production in.

Back Home

So, my step-dad's memorial service was yesterday, and it was very nice. He was a well-loved man.

All in all though, it is kinda nice to get back to real life.

Sad News

To anyone who's been following the situation with my stepfather, I first of all want to thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers.

Yesterday morning, after having been sick for quite a while, his kidneys started to fail and he was switched over to comfort care. In a matter of minutes, he slipped away quietly. It's sad and it's hard, but for the last week or so, just being awake has been more of a strain than his body could handle. Mostly, I'm glad he can be at peace now instead of struggling every day for every breath.

Pepperoni bread, yay!

Thought I'd share the recipe, it's so easy I feel like I'm cheating.

Get some frozen premade bread dough and some stick pepperoni.

Cut the pepperoni into 5" (approx.) lengths and cut those lengths into 5 0r 6 thin sticks.

Thaw and raise bread dough according to package instructions.

Separate loaves in half and flatten into a rectangle.

Roll pepperoni sticks into bread dough and bake according to package instructions.

Cool slightly and enjoy, with or without pizza sauce to dip in.

Happy thoughts are a good thing.

A quick update for those of you who have been sending happy thoughts to my stepfather.

His lung biopsy results came back today and it turns out that whatever is wrong is completely reversible with some pretty heavy doses of steroids. He'll probably be in the hospital for awhile yet, but it looks like he'll be going home when his treatment is over.

Keep sending the happy thoughts his way, it seems to be working.

So, wow.

I went to the Mt. Olive store yesterday, as noted in my twitter. I had fun, their framers are quirky but really nice and a lot of fun... and so accustomed to their shop running behind that they don't even care anymore.

All in all, I was glad to be back in my shop today, even though we did have about 10 huge pieces that had to be done today. Doesn't anybody in Easton have small artwork!?!? Damn.

Tree is up!

Well, we had the tree trimming party on Friday and we didn't actually get to the tree trimming part until everybody but Sarah left, but the tree looks good and everybody had fun. And I finally got to meet Sheila, and Troy's son Luke.

Sheila seems really sweet and her and Dave get along well. And she seemed to like us - so even better.

Luke is a really sweet kid, and got along more or less really well with Lyam and Aiden, which we were a little worried about because of the age difference.

All in all things went well.

Happy thoughts, please

My step-dad is in the hospital and not doing so good. He's hopeful and we'll know more on Monday. If you have a moment, send happy thoughts his way.

Do Something Good

"Josh Mirman of Puns and Nerds is trying to raise money to buy toys for children in a place called Yemin Orde. I've known him for a few years and he's a trustworthy sort who really wants to do something good. Look his site over and, if you're so moved, help out. "

(quoted from Something Positive by RK Milholland)


If you know me, then you know that I would love to donate to every worthy cause and that I would love to buy enough merchandise to keep the all the web comic artists (and one particular author) that I read well paid but as I can't afford to do that, I pass things on in hopes that they reach someone who can afford to do something.

*sigh* hate building mechanics

So I'm trying to come up with anything that even resembles a workable mechanic for the short story game. I've got something I kind of like, but Carl doesn't like the way I want to use fudge dice. He said it's not that it's bad, it's just that it's not what they're supposed to be used for.

I said "So? Besides, you don't have any and it would be any excuse to get some." The responsible adult in him wanted to say no, but the gamer in him couldn't argue with an excuse to buy more dice.

I clarified my explanation and I think that he would be willing to give it a shot. I want to use them to represent stress. The characters in this game will have all sorts of abilities, but very little practice with them outside of a classroom setting. I want to use the fudge dice to make it so that you can fail your roll and still pull something off, or pass your roll and do too well.

The example I gave was this: Ok, your character took a class in Pyrokinesis, so she can, in theory throw fire balls. She rolls, hits her target number. But she's never done this outside of class. She rolls her fudge die (or dice) and they come up all positives. Over-successful result. She doesn't throw a fireball so much as she shoots a laser beam through her target, and the guy behind him, and the guy behind that, her buddy behind him and so on.

Basically the dice dictated that she panicked.

I like that idea, I just need to work it out so it's not so messy.

Dave will be here shortly, I'm gonna run it by him. See what he thinks and maybe run it past the whole game group on Monday, if I don't work.

What type of die are you?

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Semper Fidelis Tyrannosaurus!

Yay! We've got another Venture Bros. fan! Dan's hooked! I showed him a couple of the "Top Ten Supporting Characters" on America Loves Lists and he said "Oh, my, God! I have to see that show!"

So we gave him the Season 1 DVDs to borrow and he watched both of them in like 3 days. Then he watched all the commentary. Now he wants to borrow Season 2.

Twitter!

I've signed up for Twitter now. You'll see the widget in the sidebar of this blog. Now you can check out what I'm up to when it's worth mentioning, but not worth a whole blog post.

Happy Birthday, Chickie!

Short Story becomes an RPG

So, this short story I'm writing is turning into an RPG. So far I'm only working on character creation and brainstorming the rest. I think Carl and/or Dave will have to help either build a mechanic or find one that suits it. Carl has suggested that I read Wild Talents, so I will probably do just that as soon as I have everything that is in my head typed up, written down, hammered out, etc.

It's pretty good so far, because it seems like it could be a light one-shot or a long-term psionics or supers game. We have to build character advancement suited to the "Class Schedule" character creation, but that seems like it will work relatively well.

In the meanwhile, yes, I'm still working on the teeny animals patterns. I'm a little bored with the puppy, I think I"m going to work on the octopus next. Which reminds me, I used most of my wiggly eyes for Christmas ornaments, so I should probably buy some more, at least of the smaller sizes.

I'm still deciding what to do with the actual short story itself, I'm thinking of posting it as a blog, but I'm not quite sure how to handle that. Plus, I'm kinda afraid people will like it. I'm not a writer, what if they want more from me?

Tomorrow I have the day off and I'm looking at putting some serious time into putting the living room back into order, there's only a couple of weeks before the tree trimming party. I need to at least have the bathroom and the downstairs in order for that.

I also will probably get started on crocheting Nibbler, from Futurama. Should be interesting. At least I have practice at making eye stalks from the Traxxian. After a sweater, an afghan and most of a vest, I'm itching to get back to some 3D/doll work.

Gotta love the internet.

So, having just posted a few minutes ago that I was totally stumped about what to do for work for Christmas, I spent some time playing around on some craft sites and I figured out what I'm going to do. North Pole sign posts! Craft sticks glued to candy canes, how easy!

Projects moving along!

The short story is going well. Added three more sections tonight. (I hesitate to call them chapters even though I'm numbering them that way, because it's only 12 pages so far.) As Dave said, conflict drives a story and so far I've got the antagonizer (yes, I meant it that way, I know the correct term is antagonist.) introduced and I'm working on setting up our dear narrating main character for her downfall. I'm know, I'm evil. I don't think this is going to have an entirely happy ending.

Her biggest conflict is in her own head and I don't believe that I am a skilled enough writer to be able to carry a story long enough to solve that one.

I'm thinking that since it's not likely to be economical to print this thing. I certainly can't ask anyone to spend $8 on what's likely to turn out to be about 20-25 pages and actually, in good conscience, expect them to pay for it.

Also, the living room is coming along nicely. Slowly, but nicely. I didn't get much done tonight, but that's because I was making soup out of the over-abundance of green tomatoes that I brought in the other afternoon.

The baby afghan is nearly done. I just have to finish the border. Yay!

Still brainstorming on the set of patterns to go along with the little bunny and the puppy. For some reason I feel like it needs to be a set of 6 or so, related but different patterns.

I need to think of something to do for work for Christmas. I made candy cane reindeer last year and I want to do something for everybody again, but I don't want to do the same thing, because there's so many people who are still here from last year. I was debating Hershey kiss angels, but I'm afraid that they might be too time consuming and expensive. Candy cane mice would be cheap, they're tedious. I'm looking for something with only a couple quick steps. Sigh.

Oh, well. I guess I'll come up with something eventually.

Story is taking off and the cookbook is getting written.

So that crazy dream I had the other night is turning out to lend itself pretty well to a short story, I have eleven pages so far. However, I found myself suffering from some sick twisted form of writers where I'm not technically, but the story is trying to write itself from end back in my head. I know where I want to go, but I'm not sure how to get there.

I should stop and ask for directions.

On the plus side, I did get some work down on the OMG cookbook, it has not been a completely wasted day. Woo.

Tales of MU

The following is a copy of the first chapter of the online story Tales of MU, posted here by invitation of the author. Please note that while this teaser is safe for all ages, the rest of the story is intended for adults. If you enjoy this chapter, the address to read more is http://www.talesofmu.com ... and please spread the word by sharing the link or copying this entire message to your own journal, blog, forum, or personal webpage! Permission is given to post the first chapter only, without any cuts or edits, and with this entire message attached. Note: e-mailing to friends and printing out copies are also acceptable forms of distribution.

TALES OF MU 1: Welcome to MU
"In Which We Meet Mackenzie"
by Alexandra Erin

Despite the presence of cardboard signs trimmed with crepe paper and balloons, I completely missed the front door of Harlowe Hall and instead ended up in a big spartan lobby/hallway that linked three different residential buildings. I thought that’s where the sign had been pointing... later, I’d find out that Harlowe’s entrance was actually below the ground level, off a sort of sunken patio that was screened from view by the shrubbery I’d walked past. Nobody ever wandered into it by accident. The lobby was full of people, bustling among the front and rear entrances and the three large hallways branching off from it in every combination of to-and-from. Most of them were carrying at least a suitcase. Some of them were trundling luggage trolleys, often with a mini fridge and/or TV.

I stared around blankly, hoping for a sign of where I was supposed to be. Luckily, somebody spotted me and took pity on me.

"Hey, frosh!" a sharp, but not hostile, voice said. I spun around and saw a preppy-looking guy without any baggage. "What you looking for?"

"Harlowe," I said.

I caught a look that was a mixture of surprise, disgust, and fear, but he hid it pretty fast. He pointed to a set of double-doors leading to one of the hallways.

"Thanks," I said, keeping my voice as neutral as I could. He had helped me, after all.

I lugged my suitcase, backpack, and duffel bag down the hall. The staircase was easy to find, and it took me down to a big glass-fronted common room that was positively packed with people. Surprisingly little sunlight reached in through the windows. Most of the people there were sitting around in the second-hand sofas and chairs, or just milling around. It looked like most of them had already checked in. There were three lines of people leading up to the long reception desk, but the longest one only had four students in it and they were all moving quickly.

Fragments of conversation reached me over the general murmur and buzz as I got in line.

"I’m actually taking nineteen hours of classes this semester. That seems like a lot. Does that seem like a lot to you?"

"You know, this was my safety school."

"Can you believe they don’t even let us have candles in our dorm? How are we supposed to..."

"Did you see the weapon policy? They’re pretty strict."

"Name?" the woman asked me when I got up to the counter. She had a nametag which read "Gwendolyn Rodrigues - Resident Advisor."

"Mackenzie Blaise," I said.

"Is Mackenzie your first name or your last?" she asked me, turning away from me to a table against the back wall, covered with large envelopes.

"First," I said, adding unnecessarily, "Blaise is my last name." What can I say? It was my first day at college, and I’d already made what felt like one giant blunder, even if nobody knew about it. I was the tiniest bit nervous.

She found the packet labeled "Blaise, Mackenzie" and handed it to me.

"This is a copy of your class schedule, a calendar of events, coupons for the student union, and emergency phone numbers," she said. "Now, you’ll need to read and sign this statement about compliance with the university’s weapons policy." Even though she was obviously a student and only a few years older than me, she already had the voice and facial expression of an officious bureaucrat. I could tell that being an R.A. was only one step in what would doubtless be a very fulfilling career for her in the field of interfering with others’ lives.

"Of course," I said, barely glancing at the slip of paper before signing it.

"And, of course, I have to see the weapon you’ll be using."

I reached into my coat and pulled out the knife, the twisted bronze hilt protruding from a lambskin sheath, and laid it down on the counter.

"That’s your main weapon?" she asked me, eyebrows raised.

"It’s the only one I’ve got," I said, with a silly grin.

"Only it’s not very big, is it?"

"I’ve never been much impressed with size," I told her.

"It’s barely enchanted," she observed. I wondered if she could tell that at a glance, or if there was something under the counter telling her that.

"The policy I read just said a magical weapon, it didn’t specify how magical it had to be," I pointed out. I’d been expecting this reaction, but it didn’t make it any less irksome.

"It’s just... life on campus can get dangerous..."

"I’ve never needed anything bigger," I said testily.

For a few moments, she looked at me like she wanted to say something... like she was going to invoke some little-known rule to throw me out until I came back with one of those absurdly huge broadswords or big spiky maces, but finally she just said, "All right. But there’s a nice little weapon store in town, if you change your mind."

"I’ll remember that," I said.

She held out a small manila envelope slightly larger than a business card.

"Here’s your room key and a pass card to get in and out of the building after dark," she said. "Though it’s best not to wander around campus too much at night. Stick to the lighted paths, and travel with a friend as much as possible. It’s all in your campus security pamphlet."

"Yes, thank you, I’ve read it," I said, reaching for the packet. She still looked doubtful, but she finally handed it to me.

"You’ll be needing this back, too," she said, handing me my knife, hilt-first.

"I’m actually hoping I won’t."

"Oh, yes, of course," she said. "Welcome to Magisterius University, Ms. Blaise."

READ THE REST OF THE STORY AT http://www.talesofmu.com !

Um, yay, I think.

Well, the living room is done, mostly. We ended up with a green accent wall. The edging needs a second coat and we have to paint behind the radiators and the parts where the Spackle wouldn't dry, but otherwise it looks good. The entry way will be yellow eventually too.

Also, I had the craziest dream the other night and I told a couple of people about it and they thought it sounded interesting and said I should write it down. I did and it was going really well, except now I've fleshed out pretty much everything that was part of the dream and I don't know where to go with it. *sigh*

Maybe if I give it some time it will figure itself out.

Yellow Walls! Here we come!

So the boy human is still sanding, but almost done. It looks like there's a good chance we'll have a yellow living room by tomorrow night. I'll be happy if we can get the Gripper and one coat of yellow up, but I honestly don't see why we can't do all of it. Especially if we get a good early (ya know, not noon) start and if the couple people who said they might help actually show up. Woo!

::edit::
We finished sanding!
::edit::

It took ya' long enough!

So, we're finally getting the living room painted. We have vacation this week and figured there wouldn't be a better time.

We're sanding tonight and painting tomorrow. I'm posting this while I take a break to eat dinner. We haven't gotten much accomplished yet, but Dan brought over two electric palm sanders, so it should go much quicker from here. Sanding blocks are great, in theory, but have I mentioned that my living room is huge? And has a 9 foot ceiling?

Anybody want to help?

The cat will probably never really forgive me for the noise from the sanders, but he'll get over it a lot when he sees that his humans are happier.

Happy Birthday

Today was hubby's 37th birthday. So, I made him a cake. A Chthulu cake in fact. It was fun.


It had marzipan tentacles, and red gel eyes.


And was pink with gooey filling inside.


And took a shitload of green icing dye.

(hubby is the middle picture)

We also re-playtested Retail Hell and made some changes. Things seem to still be moving forward, but I need to pest my artist and still haven't emailed the guy about using the font.

Woo! Just in time!

As happens every time I have off on Thursday, I got up 10 minutes after I should have already moved my car for street cleaning. But like always, ran outside wearing my clothes from yesterday and got my car moved with like 5 minutes to spare before the Parking Authority ticketed me.

That's the thing about living in the city. It doesn't matter if my car's in the way when the street cleaner comes or not. If it's somewhere it doesn't belong when the APA car comes by, then I get a ticket. Usually the APA person is just ahead of the street cleaner, but sometimes they're a couple blocks or more and sometimes they come back after the street cleaner, just to make sure nobody moved their car back before the signs say you can.

On top of that, the new mayor did us the huge "favor" of making street cleaning year round, not that they actually do it when the weather's bad anyway.

Then there's the great snow removal plan, which as winter approaches, I'm really hoping that they won't use again this year, because it sucks. Rather than plowing as the snow falls and cleaning up the plow piles on what would normally be a no-parking, street cleaning day anyway. They wait until the snow has totally stopped to do anything and then they, apparently randomly, select days in addition to street cleaning that the roads will be no parking and come around with a mutated combine and pick up all the snow.

The pick up all the snow idea is great. Except that I had to call in to work because I couldn't get off the block I live on because they hadn't plowed at all. And except for the fact that when they finally did plow, they plowed me in so hard that even with the help of a guy with a little Bobcat plow it still took up 3 hours to did out my car because I had to crawl under and use my ice scraper to get the snow and ice out from around my exhaust system.

Can you tell how excited I am to live in the city, where we supposedly have "better" snow removal than everybody else? My best friend's parents live on top of a mountain and have less trouble leaving their house in the winter than I do.

speaking of stuff that's awesome

So awhile ago I found an online novel called Tales of MU. Go check it out, it's awesome. And while you're there, check out AE's other projects.

wow, so no game last night

So, due to a caffeine headache, an unspecified illness, an inability to return phone calls and a misunderstanding in which "we're gaming at 5, but I'm not sure what's for dinner" might mean we're not gaming, we didn't game last night.

Which sucks cause I wanted to playtest the Retail Hell rules tweaks this coming week, but Carl has his heart set on doing the thing we were supposed to do last night. *sigh* I guess we'll see.

I still need to email the guy about the font I used anyway.

OOH! I did find a great CD this week though. Seastories, by Minnie Driver. Yes, that Minnie Driver, the actress. Apparently, she's a pretty talented singer/songwriter/guitarist because she wrote all the lyrics, most of the music, sings on every track and play guitar on most of them too. And it's REALLY GOOD!

I've been telling everyone about it and my husband's probably tired of hearing it - me talking about the CD and the CD. I have a bad habit of listening to a new CD over and over and over until I have it mostly memorized.

You'll be taking on a luxury liner!?!?!

Dave ran his oneshot tonight and I got stuck as team leader. I suck being party leader and hilarity ensued. Dan was the first PC kill, but not until after he rolled a ridiculous overkill damage roll and destroyed the "boss" in one turn! All in all, I think it was a good intro to gaming for him. He enjoyed himself and plans on joining us in the future.

On a side note, we realized that if everyone who's been threatening to join us shows up at once, nobody owns enough chairs to host. oops!

Zombie game could be big!

Wow! So it turns out that this zombie game thing is getting bigger than I planned. I've asked a friend do to the art for me and I sent off a copy to the guy who posted a comment about my last post. He going to playtest for me! It's good because that way I can see if my rules are clear without me being there to translate "me to English" so to speak.

Carl and I looked some today at putting on Lulu.com as a .pdf download and it looks like that will probably be the most reasonable way to distribute it. It will keep the price to a minimum and make it widely accessible.

This is all really exciting!

Playtest!

I've been "threatening" to throw together a zombie slaughter oneshot for almost 2 years now, inspired by a particular job I used to have that I hated so much I used to ask my husband to call me in dead.

So, when our gaming group decided that, at least for the time being, we were better off doing oneshot games, I said I would finally get everything down on paper. We've been playfully calling the game "Retail Hell" for quite awhile now and decided to just title it that once and for all.

This past Monday, we playtested it and I've been working on some edits since then. We're going to playtest with the edits to intro a couple of newbie gamers into our group and if all goes well, I think I might see about publishing it on Lulu.

Holy Crap, or the biggest zucchini EVER!

So, I got out of work early today, we're short payroll, so I volunteered. Anyway, I'm trying to find constructive, but small things to do because I don't want to be caught up in some humongous project when Carl comes home, which could be any minute, or in two hours, that's sort of how working for family goes.

Anyway, I looked out the back door and noticed, among other things that the weeds are ridiculous and there are MORE TOMATOES! How is that possible? It's September! And not only are there still ripe ones, there are still green ones! AND BLOSSOMS! What the hell!

I know I plant tomatoes because they do really well, and don't get me wrong we are getting pretty small ones. Not cherry tomato small, but think smallish plum tomatoes. But I have in complete honesty picked roughly 200 tomatoes already this year. I made a quart of homemade sauce, two quarts of salsa fresca, a huge mixing bowl full of bruschetta and have given away in the neighborhood of 75 more. And I just picked about 35 more.

And that's not the best part! I picked all of the tomatoes I could reach from the sidewalk, well until my bowl was full and then I went in the house for another bowl. When I went back outside, I decided to sneak around the back of the grill and pick from the other end, so I could get a better look at my broccoli while I was out there.

But I wasn't prepared for what I saw. I knew that my zucchini was still blooming, but I didn't realize another zucchini had actually started. I've given two away already, a large but still basically normal sized one and one that was huge - especially considering two days earlier I had looked at it and thought it needed about a week before I could pick it.

There was a zucchini that is hands down the biggest zucchini I have ever seen. And my friend Tony used to pick 5 pounders regularly. The thing is as big as the cat and weighs probably around half as much. I'm guessing not less than 6 lbs.

With absolutely no exaggeration the thing is 16 inches long and better than a foot in diameter! It look more like a bludgeoning weapon than a vegetable. The cat is actually afraid of it!

Yay! Photos!

Finally, a pic of Peanut! Yay! It's about time, right? If you don't already know Peanut is the sole muppet in Jeff Dunham arsenal of characters.

Yes, I know, his shoe shouldn't be green, but I like it anyway, and yes, the shoe does come off and he does have 4 toes on that foot as well. His hair is lime green ostrich feathers just like the real thing!


So, this is Kon. I'm particularly fond of the belly button. I cheated a bit on this one and use some felt. The inside of his mouth and ears as well as his mane and claws are felt. Ironically enough, the eyes are buttons and the belly button is a crocheted disk because I couldn't find a button with the holes in the right place.

Yes, there's a reason he looks so angry. On the show Bleach, he is a stuffed toy inhabited by a "mod soul." A soul that was artificially created, but is a living soul nonetheless. However, being stuck in the body of a stuffed lion, he is generally treated like just that.

Woo! Hubby might get published.

It's all in the very fledgling stages right now, but the short version of the story is this.

Hubby found an RPG book he really liked, had a great idea about instead of fighting monsters you could fight aliens, the author of the original book loved it and it looks like he'll be writing the supplement. So far the guy likes everything Carl's doing, so YAY!

Kon is finished! Mostly.

Well, since I have an impending baby afghan, I thought that I'd try to tie up a couple of my loose ends projects before I get started on that. So, I'm been working my fingers off trying to get Kon finished up and I finally did last night, except that I still need to buy button eyes and sew them on. (will get photos up as soon as I can)

Also, we have hot water again! YAY! (UGI badly [$300] undercharged us and then we incredibly unclear about what we needed to do to keep them from turning off our natural gas while we bust our asses to make up the difference that they undercharged us. I think it sucks because most places [well, retail, anyway] are like "crap, we undercharged that person, guess we eat it, that sucks" and these guys can take anyway our hot water cause they screwed up - twice)

Ooh, and the flowers went over unbelievably well at Dave and Julie's wedding. People were commenting on them all day. Someone asked who their florist was. Oh, and Dan and Robyn are thinking they might have me take care of their flowers. (photos here too, I promise)

All in all, things are pretty good, except that the living room is still not painted. Damn!


Age

yay, one thing done, a million to go

Woo! I got Dave and Julie's flowers completely finished. Well, I do still have to wire the bow on the side of the flower girl's basket, but otherwise... Anyway, I took them into work to get Kathy's opinion (she's the floral designer), and she loved them and so did everyone else. So I think we're in good shape.

Now for the baby afghan, although, I'm waiting for friends and family weekend to but the yarn for that, so I might be able to get a little bit of something else worked on in the meantime. I've been fooling around with a crocheted truck for a friend's little boy I may start that over because it's not working out that great and if I can get something resembling a coherent pattern from the redo, I will post that.

Also, I should have time to finish the little puppy I was working on. I keep looking at the bunny worrying over the embroidered face, though. I'm seriously debating switching to pompoms and wiggly eyes. Hrm.

Had a crazy dream that an ex-boyfriend of mine (who will remain nameless here) was desperately trying to convince me that my husband is bad for me, but couldn't come up with any good reasons. Weird, right?

wedding flowers

So, this week was pretty lame, with me being sick and all, but I think my stomach finally worked itself out.

Last night I was feeling a good deal better and today, I actually feel human.

But it was a productive week, I guess. I got pretty much done at work and I have Julie's wedding flowers almost finished. I only have one more corsage, her bouquet and whitewash the flowergirl basket. Well and the ribbons, I need Sarah to make the bows for me as I cannot make consistent ones.

Please do not mistake this morning post as me having the day off. I"m actually leaving as soon as I click post and grab some shoes.

Age

new baby in the family

So, I haven't been crocheting much lately, Kon in still only like 3 1/2 legs and no body, and and the little puppy I was working on looks like a dirty snow ball right now.

I've been working on a quilt top that is going to be part of a labor barter with a friend. (She's buying everything, but I'm doing the sewing and in exchange she's going to do a cross-stitch for me that I know I'd never finish.)

Plus I've finally been getting the house straightened out. Yay! Living room in still not painted, work schedules have been preventing that.

But, now it looks as if some of the other projects will have to be put on hold. My cousin and his wife are due in January with the first baby in our close family since my sister (she's 23). We just found out she's expecting a girl and the shower is in November, so I need to get cracking on an afghan. I will try to keep the pattern from getting completely insane so that I can't post it. NO promises, I get carried away a lot lately.


Age

I forgot

I totally forgot to mention, we went to see the Simpsons Movie and it was awesome!

*sigh* Christmas already.

So, I know I've mentioned before that I work at Michaels. Guess what I did today. I got to spend the day with Frank, one of my favorite coworkers, putting out Christmas ornaments. Make your own ornaments, paint your own ornament, miniature ornaments, blah blah blah.

plant what?

Apparently I have plantar fasciitis in my left foot. Which is a fancy way of saying my foot hurts. I have a ligament that's swollen.

So, I have anti-inflamatories to take and I'm not allowed to walk around barefoot. 'til it gets better.

Whee!

what is wrong with people?(part 3)

Ok, so a few months ago, I went to Exton (which is like 45 miles away, but takes like 2 hours to get there) to meet with Dave and Julie about their wedding flowers. We picked out all kinds of stuff, they told me how many corsages and stuff they needed and I bought the stuff to make the flower girl's basket and get started a little.

Then they called me to tell me now to bother because he mom didn't want them to use silks, because it would look tacky and because she had wanted to take care of the florist for them and because whatever.

But they still wanted me to do their centerpieces.

Then they called me to tell me that they found really cool candle holders or something and they were gonna use that for centerpieces instead and sorry for the troube.

But could I still do smallish teardrop arrangements with bows that they could tie on the pillars in the church.

Then they called to say, nevermind we don't want arrrangements on the pillars because the church requires any altar flowers to be live flowers and that they be donated for the next day's worship service and they thought that some silks and so live would look funny.

But if they needed anything else, they'd let me know.

So....

Now it's 3 weeks before the wedding.

Then they called me to tell me that her mother can't find a florist in their price range who's willing to do a wedding on such short notice.

So will I still do their flowers?

And the best part! They still don't have an organist for the ceremony.

In other words, if there are no patterns posted in the next month or so it's because I'm apparently rescuing a wedding. Something which I am completely unqualified to do, but has become my job because I apparently have a knack for floral design.

New Patterns in the works.

Woo! In crochet related news, I am working on some patterns for the website. There's a bunny, so far, and I'm working on a puppy. Also, since some bright pink Sugar 'n Cream went clearance today at work, I was thinking that I might buy a ball and make an octopus.

***
If you have a Michael's nearby and would want pink cotton yarn, there's a color of Sugar 'n Cream that's 25 cents for the little size ball. (regular $1.49) It should be on an end in the yarn section, or in the clearance section depending on your store.

**edit** It was apparently a systems error, that particular yarn is back to regular price. **edit**


***

And now back to our regularly unscheduled post. I've been trying to work on some patterns for you all that will work up quick, but not look cheesy. Cause cheesy's only good if it's what you're aiming for.

Everybody's home! YAY!

Thanks to everyone who sent thoughts and prayers our way these last few days. My stepdad's surgery yesterday went better than we could have ever hoped. Better in fact than what the surgeon had originally said was the best case. In fact he's home already. Yay!

Which also means that I'm home as well. Which means that I didn't have to share the living room with my mom's cat Weebles again.

bored, still no pic of Peanut

I haven't forgotten about getting a pic of Peanut posted, the friend who took the pic doesn't have internet access right now to email it to me. *sigh* I do want to let everyone know, there will not be a pattern available to make Peanut, as he is a licensed character that I do not have permissions for. Since I do not have permissions, I didn't write anything down. Sorry.

what is wrong with people?(continued)

*sigh* So I checked my email this morning and there were a bunch of lesbian biker chick spam emails that had been sent through the Crochet Pages Yahoo!Group. My apologies again to all who received those.

I know the group is terribly inactive since I stopped writing newsletters and I feel really bad that the only that comes through is garbage.

Age

Hrm. Quilt, bras, etc. In other words, what is wrong with people?!?!

*sigh* I went to Staples today to blow up some leaf drawings I found to use as the quilting pattern on my leaf-print, non-pieced quilt. And guess what I found out. You can't pay cash for copies at some Staples stores anymore. And it will soon be most Staples stores and eventually ALL STAPLES STORES!

You have to either use a credit card (FOR 6 CENTS + TAX! WHAT!?!?!) or go to the copy center register and put money on a convenience card (not less than $1) then put your card in to the card thingy on the copier and as you make copies it charges your card.

I wonder if every copy is a separate charge to your credit card or if it goes through at the end. I should have asked. They changed the signage from B&W copies, 6 cents to B&W copies as low as 6 cents, too. Probably cause people bitched cause some of the copies were more than that because of the sales tax.

Just like they probably switched to card readers because people are too damn cheap to find a nickel and a penny for a photocopy. Or because people are thieves. Same thing, I guess.

And while we're on the subject of stupid people, why don't women realize they probably should think twice about wearing a white shirt in the rain? Especially when said white shirt is practically see thru to begin with? And when they're wearing a bra that can be seen thru their shirt at 100 yards already?

What is so difficult to understand about the fact that your bra shows less through a white shirt when is matches your skintone? Why is this hard, people?

Same thing with white pants. If you are any color other than albino, you should not wear a day-glo white thong with thin white pants.

It's called underwear for a reason! And unless you're an underwear model, the general public probably doesn't want to see it.

Haven't painted yet, but feeling better.

Wow, so somehow, just knowing that I have the potential to have a way less depressing living room makes me so much happier. (Happy Happy Joy Joy) I"m actually looking forward to the two days or so it will take to paint.

Woo! Now we just need more bookcases and about 6 feet of speaker wire for the stereo and we're set!

Age

Guess we're not painting after all. Ooh, oh yeah, new patterns!

So, Jess is coming up today, and she was supposed to help me paint over the hideous red paint in the living room. But it's raining. So the paint will take forever to dry. Now in fairness, the red wouldn't be so bad if say, it was a slightly lighter shade, or if it didn't make my living room look like a blood spattered cave, or it we hadn't had to sponge paint to disguise the fact that the paint was bad and Jenn and Joe (idiots they are) didn't believe me and wouldn't let us return it. It was watery, and took like 5 coats.

Although that may have been because the genius in the paint department at Home Depot the day we bought the paint sold us the wrong primer. Joe made the mistake of saying the walls were painted plaster and the clerk went on a quest to find primer for plaster. Unfortunately, we didn't actually need primer at all, let alone the primer for "uncured plaster or unsealed wall board" that they sold us.

But, I only worked in the paint department somewhere, what do I know. I tried to tell them we didn't need primer, let alone the wrong kind and I tried to tell them there was something wrong with the paint, but Carl was the only one who would listen and they thought he was "just siding with his woman so she doesn't feel bad."

Ye Gods! but I hate those people. (Not Carl, I mean Jenn, Joe, and Ryan)

At any rate, we're going to at least prep for painting today, so maybe sometime this week I can start making it so that my living room doesn't depress me anymore.

*****

Ooh, here's the important/non-rant part. Two new patterns on Age's Crochet Pages!
Flying Piggy
Courage Bear (does not have a photo yet)

*****


And now, back to the rant. Just kidding, I forgot what else I was gonna say.

Thanks for reading,
Age

Family Reunion today

The reunion for my dad's family is today. A woman from New Jersey who we just recently (within the last year) found out is extended family will be there. Which is basically why I'm going. We'll probably be heading up before too much longer. Hilarity may or may not ensue.

Age

New Critters Finished!

Woo! I just gave Sarah her "congrats about the job" gift yesterday. She's a huge fan of Jeff Dunham (check out On A Stick Productions), especially Peanut! So, I crocheted her a Peanut doll. She LOVED it! Soon as we get some pics, I post them. She's in the middle of moving so it could be a week or so.

I also finished another little critter as a surprise gift, and his pattern will be posted to Age's Crochet Pages as soon as I know I won't be ruining the surprise. (ie. the person he's for looks at this blog and my site from time to time.)

I started working on Kon, from the anime/manga Bleach. (see Wiki here) So far I only have legs done, but I think it's going to go well. Will post pics when finished.

I think that I'm going to take a break from Kon and finally get the piggy pattern written down and posted, this afternoon.

went hiking after all

So, Dave and I went on a 5 mile hike yesterday. What should be the hardest part of the original 20 mile hike we had planned. We're both really glad we took the time to scope it out.

Plans are still in the works for a longer hike, but we're not sure when or how far.

So, no jury duty after all. I had to report back to the court house to find out that there were no trials happening today after all.

What a waste of time.

Glad there's gonna ba an impartial jury!

Wow, so I got summoned for jury duty, anybody know how that works? They send you a letter and a crappy little questionnaire that you have to send back. Then they wait two weeks or so and send you a letter that says "just thought we'd remind you that we haven't bothered to tell you if you're actually needed for jury duty or not."

Then you have to call and the phone call tells you everything your need to know, should your "panel number" be requested. Except it doesn't really tell you everything. They let you guess at some of it.

Then there's the dress code. "Dress for a job interview." I'm in management. To me, that means wear a suit. However, upon arrival and seeing how everyone else was dressed, I remembered something. Construction workers don't wear suits to interviews. A significant portion of the potential jurors were wearing jeans and workboots with their preppy little oxfords.

Then we actually get there and we're left to sit a half hour, spoken to briefly, shown a video that looks like it belongs in a Jr. High Street Law class, given another crappy questionnaire and left to sit some more, while the initial prescreening of our paperwork happens.

Except that it didn't. It's now 10:20, a full 2 hours after I first arrived at the court house. The jury coordinator comes in at this point and proceeds to admit that while she thought it was strange that a judge who never does jury selection on Monday morning would want a jury at 8:30 Monday morning, apparently it didn't strike her as strange enough to actually check with the judge. She just took the clerk's word for it.

At this point, we're all thinking, thank god, they're going to send us home. If the judge doesn't like to start trials on Monday, that means they'll pick from the people who were summoned for tomorrow, right?

WRONG! That means go find something to do for 3 HOURS and come back at 1:45 for jury selection. Which will take not less than an hour and probably not more than an hour and a half to two hours.

So basically, I got up early, got dressed up, drove 10 blocks because I can't walk that far in dress shoes, parked in a crappy, poorly lit parking garage, walked 3 blocks to the court house (because the parking garage in just past 6th and Linden and the courthouse in at 4th and Hamilton), sat for two hours and then was dismissed for a long lunch and 5 more hours of wondering if I have to serve on a jury or not.

They'll only be picking 14 of the 45 of us, which is basically a 1 in 3 chance, which with my luck probably means that I'll get picked. Oh, and did I mention, I"m not missing work for this, I'm on vacation! Because my manager didn't tell me that the company does jury duty pay and I can't afford to only get paid the piddly $9/day that they pay jurors in order to fairly compensate us for fulfilling our civic duty.

Way to pick an impartial jury! Piss everybody off, then ask us to decide someone's fate. Because this if for a criminal trial, which could last anywhere between 4 hours and 3 days.

I can't believe that there's no better way to do this. Phone interviews or something. I mean they plan the docket ahead of time. Somebody had to know that there was no trial today. Oh, wait, the judge did know that. Apparently it was just the woman in charge of when the jury actually had to be there who didn't bother to find out.

But I'm not angry or anything. Not me. I enjoy it when bureaucratic red tape destroys my vacation. That's my big thrill in life.

Almost forgot

We may be losing some of our very first tomatoes this year. We have a birds next in the awning over our back door. And there's at least 3 babies. The other day I stepped outside without realizing and mommy bird flew away and didn't come back for hours.

Hopefully the little ones grow up and fly off soon, because there's a lot of work to be done in the yard. Plus the cat is very agitated about not getting to play outside.

Age

Yay! Pictures!

So, Sarah stopped by and finally remembered to bring the camera with her. So, in no particular order, here are the dolls I've been working on this year that haven't already been posted. I warn you, I'm kinda prolific.

This is Domokun. As cute as he is, unfortunately, there will not be a pattern appearing on Age's Crochet Pages as he is a licensed monster and I do not of have copyright permissions.

This is the girl version of the Dammit Doll. Her pattern is already on the website, this is simply a pic of the new sample which will be getting posted to the proper pages shortly. This is the only doll in this batch which has a posted pattern.

**edit** Her picture is now posted to Age's Crochet Pages. **edit**



This piggy was made at Dan's request. Hopefully the pattern will be posted before long, with a slight modification to the tail. On this one the tail is needle tatted.



These lovely ladies are my kitchen dolls. Red dress is a bag holder. The blue and green ones are currently sitting on very tiny display shelves, hence the floating look. The green ones short sleeves were originally intended for her hands to be stitched together to hold a towel and the blue one was supposed to sit with a soap dish in her lap. I love them so much and I'm afraid of ruining them, so they've ended up on shelves and out of the way of my cooking messes.

The pattern for these three may eventually get posted to the site, I haven't decided yet. It's really long.



This is my simplified version of the Kadoma from Princess Mononoke, complete with his own cherry branch to perch on. He is not fastened in any way, he really just does balance that well. In case you are not familiar with the story Princess Mononoke is one of Hiyao Miyazaki's films. The Kadoma were trees spirits who granted passage into the forest when asked nicely, but didn't contribute much to the action other than looking on with curiosity.



Lastly and possibly leastly, are my "girls." They are basically three dimensional doodles based around three things.
1) I really wanted to make a doll wearing Chuck Taylors.
2) I really wanted an excuse to give a doll a burgundy streak in her hair.
3) I couldn't think of any other way to combine girly pink with camo.

Thanks for reading,
Age

Age's Crochet Pages Update

I just finished uploading a huge update to the Crochet Pages Site, which among other things, includes (finally) a link to this blog.

Things to expect from this update:
- lots of new patterns
- a few new pictures
- the newsletters are all posted in an archive
- a new link bar at the top of the pages
- a link to this blog!
- error correction to the plain English granny square pattern (Thanks, Sam, for giving me the opportunity to find that!)

A few unfortunate things with this update:
- there may be some unavoidable bugs
- there are still tons of Tripod ads (sorry, can't afford to upgrade the membership right now)

I hope that this update goes over well and hopefully some of you will find your way here.

Thanks for reading,
Age

Bender is finished!

Well, the bad news is, I never did find the leg that I'm pretty sure the cat stole. Either that, or it walked off on its own. The good news is, I finished Bender anyway. Dan is thrilled with it, although I told him he can't have it until I figure out whether I can make Fry or not.

Ah, well.

finished with bender, sorta

Wee! So the bender doll is finished. Kinda. Everything is crocheted and it's all sewn together. Except his left leg. Which I'm pretty sure the cat stole. Damn! Ah, well, I guess if a bit of straightening this morning doesn't reveal its whereabouts I'm gonna have to make a new one. Damn.

Age

Glen Onoko and possible new pattern

We hiked Glen Onoko today. It was really nice, and I feel at peace again.

In crochet news, I crocheted a little flying piggy today and I anticipate getting the pattern posted to Age's Crochet Pages within the week. *hopes*

Also, the plumbing is all fixed. YAY!

Age

camping, plumbing and bad pics

Hrm, so the camping trip looks like it will be just me and Dave after all. Of course, not if I have jury duty.

With a little luck, I come home today to plumbing that doesn't leak, yay!

No pics of Domokum yet, the batteries were dead in the camera, which is a little bit of a foreign idea to me, my camera is fully manual and I don't use the flash. *sigh* Oh, well. The bigger disappointment really was how many of the pics looked really good on the camera's lcd, and even better on the screen at the photo center thingy, but turned out to be crappy blurry prints. That cost 10 cents more than they should have cause we went to Walgreens and then are sticking together because the guy stacked them before they were dry enough.

This on top of having to wait all day because they have the only photo center in the world that doesn't print automatically plus the fact that the photo center software promises you pictures at times of day when you can't actually get them, plus doesn't give a claim slip sometimes, plus having the least helpful woman on the planet help with photo stuff while the lab isn't actually open.

Yea! Bottom line, don't go to Walgreen's for pictures!

Age

*Edit* I had to go back to Walgreen's today for a refund because my prints had adhered to each other. *sigh* (6/22/07)

In other news...

Woo! The other day we emailed Jeff Diamond (the creator of Orbit) the pictures of the Traxxian doll I crocheted and he emailed us back pretty quick to ask if it would be ok to post the pics on his site. Check out my mention here. --It's under orbit players are superior human beings--

Should have pics taken, at least, of the Domokun by tomorrow. Not sure if I'll be able to get them posted or what, have to see, I guess.

Dave and I took Jessy hiking today, and didn't get quite as far up Glen Onoco as we wanted to, but I think my pictures will turn out pretty good and we had a lot of fun. We also have made some tentative plans to do two-day Appalachian Trail hike in July. I was surprised, Carl is actually interested in coming with us if he can get off from work. Of course the entire trip is dependent upon my not having jury duty that week.

All in all, it so far promises to be a reasonable good summer and on that note I think I'll gonna cut this short, because we also went swimming in the Lehigh, so I smell like the river and don't want to go to bed that way.

Age

Domokun is finished!

Yay! I finished with Domokun and he is currently sitting on top of the monitor. As soon as I can get digital pics I'm get them posted. He's cute. I'm pleased.

Guess I have to call Sarah!

So, um, Dan's an ass, but he's helping us fix our house.

Bless his heart, I love the guy, but last night, our friend Dan came over to look at some stuff around our house, because he's going to help us fix up some stuff. But then he goes and says, "hey, you should move to Lebanon with us." And I said "what, are you nuts? I can't do that!" He looked right at me and said "Why not?"

So now I'm all worked up because as crazy as it all sounded at first, the more I'm thinking that it kinda makes sense. Not too move out there to be near them, but the idea of at least considering that area when we decide to sell the house we're in.

*sigh* This house has so much history for us and so much of it was bad and it really bums me out anymore. I think that maybe, if there's any cash left on our giftcard after all the plumbing stuff, I'll buy the yellow paint we've been wanting for the living room. Jen's red paint has to go. It depresses me. Carl calls it "Satan's whorehouse red" cause it looks like the walls are painted with the blood of sacrificed virgins.

But, the garden is going well, and I'm getting a chance to give some of the plants away which is great. Tomatoes for Sonja and maybe Julie, spearmint for Katherine and Kathy, mums for Katherine and Julie - yay! Oh, and I planted the chocolate mint plant I bought at Somerset in the yard 'cause it wasn't doing very well in the 3rd floor. *sigh again* Almost all of my herbs have died.

I'm wondering if I can pull up some of the busted concrete by the back steps and start a kitchen garden. Might be more than I'm bargaining for, but I think I might try anyway. Need to get a hose reel or a hook or something, though, if I do that.

Decided to get the $2/month membership to Slime Forest, but I'm gonna see if Carl will do it through his paypal account for me. I don't have one and don't want to set it up.

Working on a crocheted Domokun (a Japanese TV character) . It was tricky to figure out how to get the body to be a cube, but now that I figured it out, I think it will be cute. I'll post pics when it's done.

Need to finish Marty and Dee's afghan and then Dan's Bender doll. I need to study armature a bit before I finish Bender, so I kinda put him to the side for a while. Still debating if I want to make Frye to go with him. (hee, would you like Frye with that?!)

Oh, and I found an awesome webcomic. Check it out. It's called Questionable Content and it's crazy funny, but not for kids.

*sigh* It's late. Off to bed. Have to get up for my walk before work.

Age

Still learning Japanese

I've been making sure to play Slime Forest every day because otherwise I know I won't remember anything and I've learn 83 katakana, 51 hiragana, and 209 kanji, and I saved the princess. Woo! Now I think I need to buy a membership so I can get the rest of the adventures and stuff.

Oh, and I started walking every day at Trexler Park, in an effort to get back into shape. The commute to Pottstown didn't agree with me very well and my asthma and allergies being bad further complicated things. I initially lost 20 lbs. when I transferred to Bethlehem, but then I kinda plateau'd there. I haven't been weighing myself, instead I've chosen to judge my progress based on how I feel and if my pants have started falling down. So far, so good. A pair of bootcuts that I love cause they're cute but always had a tendency to sag a bit, have started to become a serious issue. I need a belt or I won't be able to wear them at work anymore. Yay!

Not much happening on the crochet front, sorry. But I'm still working on that site update. I hope to get in live (short a few pics, though) shortly, possibly by the end of the weekend. No promises.

Age

You're learning what?

So, it kinda happened by accident, but I'm trying to learn Japanese. We watch a lot of Japanese horror movies and anime and I realized that I'm starting to pick up things without subtitles from time to time. Then the other day on one of my favorite webcomics, Something Positive, there was a link to a game I had found a long time ago that actually teaches you Japanese. It's called Slime Forest and it's available here. It's free for the basic game and pretty cheap to buy the registered version.

Age

It's about time

Well, after years (literally) of knowing that I didn't have a photo for the girl dammit doll I finally got another sample made and as soon as I can get my scanner working or get ahold of a digital camera I will get it posted. The original sample may or may not be owned by a little girl named Lily (long story, thanks, John).

I also have a sample made of the ring-centered granny and that photo should be posted along with the doll. Jessy is helping make up the other samples I'm missing, and I'm going to ask Sarah about pictures of the things that just don't have photos.

And even better, I'm finally getting the patterns that were sent in the newsletter, but never got posted coded up and ready to be uploaded.

I'm excited, the site is actually getting to where I'd like it to be. I have a template for my pattern page now so I don't have to worry about trying to remember what the hell I did with the others every time I need to add a new pattern. I know that page views on the site have dropped off because of a lack of new stuff and general laziness on my part. I'm trying to remedy all of this but actually staying on top of things. Woo!

Thanks for hanging in there with me,
Age

Age's Crochet Pages Update/Overhaul

Been working on some minor layout changes on Crochet Pages. It's sort of a continuity fix, to make the pages more consistent in appearance. I'm also working to remedy the severe lack of photos. Jessy will be helping by making some of the samples that have apparently gone mixing/been given as gifts.

I'm looking forward to getting everything "together" so speak, finally.

Age

In the meantime

I've been waiting for the sun to go down a little so that I can plant the afforementioned little tomato plant and water my teeny backyard and garden. In the meantime however, I've started working on archiving the Age's Crochet Pages newsletter onto the website. As soon as I've gotten everything swapped over from Word documents to HTML (web) format, I will borrow the hubby's thumb drive and upload everything to the site.

No, I do not have any current plans to start up the newsletter again. Sorry. This doesn't mean I'll never consider it, it just means not right now.

Age

Current Projects as of June 1

Currently I am working on a Bender Doll for my friend Dan in exchange for helping us fix some things on our 3rd floor. (pattern can be found here)

Also in the works, and nearly finished is a star quilt afghan (not the one on my website) for a housewarming gift for a couple I know. Their apartment building burned partially a couple months ago and they are currently living in another apartment while theirs is renovated (it only took water damage). I'm hoping to have the afghan done in time to give it to them when they finally get to move back into their original apartment.

I've got lots of things I'm brainstorming sitting and waiting for me to have the time and ambition at Kayuda. (www.kayuda.com) If you've never heard of it, Kayuda is a web-based, nonlinear thinking/planning/writing tool. I think it's great. I brainstorm supplies for my projects there as well as using it to organize my thoughts for the cookbook I'm writing. Lots of people use Kayuda for things like writing and programming and though it's pretty new, it seems to be a big hit.

Oh, I bought a 3rd tomato plant for my garden. I've gotten tired of looking at a completely empty tomato cage on the end of the first row. It's a Bonnie plant, which I've never bought before, but it came in a peat pot and supposedly you just take the wrapper off, tear the bottom off the peat pot and stick the whole thing in the ground. I've planted from peat starter pots in previous years and they work pretty well (ask my husband about the Sunflower Massacre - all the grass died cause it didn't get any sun past the sunflowers), so I have high hopes for this little plant. Of course I had high hopes for about $25 of starter herbs and herb seeds and most of them have since died. Only the basil and the 3 varieties of mint are still doing well.

ah, well.
Thanks for reading,
Age

What is Age's Other Pages?

Hi, all! It occurs to me that at least some of you have noticed that sometimes a lot of time goes by in between my postings of new patterns on Age's Crochet Pages. It also occurs to me that at least some of you might be interested in what I'm doing when I'm not designing free original patterns for your personal use. (If you request permission, I do sometimes grant it, on a case by case basis, for other uses.)

For the most part what I do when I'm not designing free patterns falls into one of the following categories:

• crocheting stuff that I couldn't begin to explain how I made it, from someone else's pattern or something that I can't share the pattern to for one reason or another
  
• working (Framing Manager, Michaels Arts & Crafts #4714)
• fixing up our 100 year old row home
• gardening (flowers out front, veggies in back, herbs in the house)
  
• other arts and crafts (I'm a whiz at Knifty Knitter if you ever need any help.)
• as of right now, blogging
• gaming (RPG's - like Dungeons and Dragons, but we don't actually play that particular one)
  
• not much - we watch a lot of movies and anime

Lately I'm been making a lot of dolls, and I can't seem to find much of anything about anybody crocheting any dolls on the internet. There's lots of amigurumi (funky, miniature, oversimplified dolls crocheted in spiraling rounds) going on, but I haven't found much else. So I thought, if nothing else, I'll at least share what I've been up to.

Thanks for reading,
Age

So, what have I been doing lately?

These are some of my more recent photos. You may find I'm a little erratic about posting news photos, this is because I don't actually own (believe it or not) a digital camera. Which means I have to pest Sarah to bring hers over and then wait for her to send me the pics.

Dave's Birthday Present


For those of you who don't recognize this guy, he is a Traxxian. Specifically, Pinefresh Kitty-Litter. Yes, he has 4 arms, and yes, they are poseable. Traxxians are a playable race from the RPG Orbit. (We're also gamer geeks around here.)

(btw, from left - my husband, Carl; me; our friend Dave)

This particular Traxxian was actually an NPC (non-player character) in our orbit campaign. He was the head engineer on the spaceship we were traveling on - hence the overalls and flannel grease rag in his pocket.

Dave enjoyed playing the character for us and it was a big plot point in our game, so I made this as a birthday present for him back in March. (If you look closely in the background, the partially finished Chthulu is hanging out in a shoe box.)

Baby Booties

The baby's name is Ava Grace. She's the daughter of a friend of a friend, which is silly, but she's also the only baby girl I have access to as a model. The booties are crocheted as one piece, socks attached and are basically a slightly oversized version of the shoes I sometimes use for my dolls.



Chthulu


Chthulu is one of the "Great Elder Gods" who was written about by H. P. Lovecraft, followed by many others. The legend is that Chthulu is a god who preceeded humanity and now is slumbering beneath the ocean. Presumably, one day Chthulu will awaken and rise up from the depths. Probably, he'll eat us. Not because he's evil, more likely just because he can. Or he might not.


This much more cuddly version is a crocheted copy of a plush Chthulu my husband purchased a number of years ago. He has red button eyes and armature wire in his wings to support them and make them poseable.