Hey! Long time, no see.

My whole life has been all topsy turvy over the last year.  This has really made me take a step back from everything and really think about what do I want in an online presence.

So in an effort to post a bit more, and be a bit more active in my sharing, I'm expanding what sorts of things I blog about.  With any luck, I'll also find an app that will let me blog from my phone as well.  ;)

I had someone ask me a while ago about my blog.  They were somewhat disappointed that it really only covered my jewelry and sometimes mentioned other things.  They said they couldn't imagine me being such a one-dimensional person. 

This made me start thinking about that.  I'm not one-dimensional.  I'm not monogamous with my crafting.  Jewelry isn't the only hobby I have.

I don't clean much.  That's TOTALLY not my hobby (but if it is yours, more power to you.  Want to come clean my house?  ;)

But I cook, and I sew.  I bake and spin.  I knit and crochet.  I make jewelry in tons of different formats.  I do photography for fun and for money.  I've done special effects for stage and film (it was just college film work, but it still counts!)  I've constructed computers from the circuit boards up, and I've been a free-lance computer tech.I've groomed animals, and trained animals.  I volunteer at a zoo, and some say I live in one.

I'm SO not a one-dimensional person.

So I'm going to try to get more in a habit of blogging a bit more about life in general and what sorts of things I do when I am not at work.  Not that I expect this to ever make the front page news, but there are still people out there who might enjoy reading it.

Maybe I'll start out with a post about the sourdough starter that was out to take over the world.  Or maybe I'll talk about the pizza crust that tried to eat Seattle.

We'll see.  :D

Christmas buys

Please feel free to buy any items in the store before the end of the year.

Sadly, the store will be closing at the end of the year, with no plans to reopen.

I will still make jewelry, because I find that I need to, and I will still be happy to do custom items for people.  But I will no longer have a store front on Etsy or anywhere else.

did some sorting

Okay so I got a lot of sorting done last night.  I found a whole bunch of the little bracelets that i throw in as freebies, and i found some super sparklies that I couldn't decide if I wanted to sell them as they are or take them apart for other things.  I also found nearly 10 pairs of earrings that aren't photo'ed or listed, a handful of necklaces that aren't photo'ed or listed, and about 20 sets of stitch markers that aren't listed yet.

I also found 2 necklaces that I had done as prototypes, but the feedback on them hasn't been super positive.  I'm thinking of redesigning them some.  I really need to contact the person I know who bought one of them and see if she would be willing to try out some of the redesigned ones.  if we found a pattern she liked, I'd update the one she has.

For now, I have gotten a ton of listings back into the store, so we're back at about 90 items available.  I will have a large bill this month, but I'm happy to have stock up there.

I am also having a sale in there.  If there is something you want, use the coupon code "SecretSale" and you'll get 15% off the purchase price.  This will only be good through the 26th or 27th, so don't hesitate too long.  :)

Getting down to business

Tonight I'm going to work on jewelry.  Not making it yet, that space still needs more cleaning, but at least sorting through what I still have in stock and getting it listed, even if it is with crappy pictures for right now.

The wool pile is finally sorted out and mostly put away.  I need 2 more plastic tubs to get the last of it put away, but that involves having more space which I don't have.

I've been neglecting the jewelry front for a while.  Ever since the beginning of May, I've been horribly depressed and it is finally starting to break up a little.  I'm not "over" the death of my cat, but it no longer completely and 100% consumes my thought process.  I still get very weepy at the least little thing about her, and I worry because the last 3 days my other cat, Shu, has spent various parts of the day vomiting, which is what Willow did when her downward spiral started.

I'll tell you right now, I don't know that I can handle losing another pet so soon.  I'm working on the hope/thought that it is a hairball and am treating him accordingly.  I don't know how I will afford vet visits if I need to take him in, but I will figure something out. 

Sorting jewelry tonight will let me sit on the couch with a pen, post-its, and the wheelie box and let him drape himself over my lap or shoulders.  I need to run the inventory of what is in stock, and I need to let him feel better by cuddling with me.  These two things are (thankfully) not mutually exclusive.

It will also be good, because I do appear to be fighting a summer bug of some sort and my joints ache, my head hurts, and my tummy is upset.  On the upside of that (what?  There's an upside to illness?)  It's the first time I have felt ill since my tonsils were removed back in March.  Before they came out, I was sick most of the time, and at least every couple of weeks I was down with something.

There will be a store update by Wednesday at the latest, depending on how fast I work tonight I might even get a few things back into the shop.  I'm debating on whether to renew their listings, or remove the listings and start over.  Maybe half and half.

Can you drown in wool?

I'm wondering that right at the moment.  I bought 2 sheep fleeces a little while ago, and 1 baby alpaca fleece a long while ago, and I never got around to washing the alpaca.  So I bundled all of them up and took them to the local fiber mill to be washed. 

I also took up all the bits and bobs of wool that I had lying around.  And then all the fleeces that I was given.

I swear I didn't think it was that much.  I really was looking to spin some really soft alpaca and wool so I could add it as an element to some jewelry I have in mind...

yeah...  apparently, that's a big honking piece of jewelry.  The pile of wool that came home with me is about 40 pounds...  to be added to the unknown quantity I already had at home.

Guess I better get to work on that jewelry, huh?  :)

I have a plan!  It involves, dye, cardboard, tulle, beads, wool threads (handspun super fine yarn in this case because I need it to be wool and thin enough to go through the beads.)  And a lot of imagination.  But hopefully I should have a prototype soon.

However it does mean that my being seen out in public is going to be even rarer than it is now.  :D

Depending on the weather, and if I can find the resin, next weekend may be full of making small resin items.  Which would be good as I have plans for them too!  But those are a summer, outside project.  The resin puts off fumes which might kill the bird.

But rest assured, there are plans...

Oh, and if anyone has old sunglasses, the kind with either mirrored or colored lenses?  Specifically the lenses, if you don't want them anymore, I do...  VERY MUCH.

I have (yet another) plan!  And I need mirrored and colored sunglasses lenses.

not dead, just horribly horribly busy

The sad thing is that I distinctly remember posting in July and the posts are not here.  :sigh: story of my life it seems.  :)

July was Tour de France and for spinners, Tour de Fleece.  Short version of that is that spinners who want to participate set goals and spin yarn while watching the Tour de France bike race.

I didn't watch the race, but I did spin some!  I also made some more stitch markers and then sold them all before they even got to Etsy.  Hmm.

I spent a lot of time putting more stuff away in the house and making space.  I have a goal that the front room will be unpacked by the end of the year and the dining room/office will be rearranged so it is much more useable.

I have lots of fiber and yarn put away finally (but got some down today and forgot to put it back.  Oops.)

I have a lot of jewelry stuff put away finally.  Of course, now I need to get it back out so that I can work on some new things.

I have also come up with some new ideas for some jewelry that I want to work on.  Now if only I had more time.

My stupid throat continues to heal, and the bills continue to mount up.  I'm trying to keep a handle on it all, but some days it just doesn't work.

It's only Wednesday?

Over the weekend I bought a potting bench.  For the plants on the patio.

I am thrilled to death because I've wanted a potting bench for years and years.  Now I finally have a place to pot new plants without having to bend over at strange and awkward angles.  And in the winter, I can move plant pots into the bin portion of it and surround them with hay to help protect them from the weather.  :)

It will ALSO be a FANTASTIC place for me to set up some outdoor photo shots.

This weekend is going to be spent putting that together and getting all my things put away on/in/around it.  Then I will spend some time making more stitch markers and finally I shall get out all of the photo stuff and get photos done.

Which reminds me that I want to see if I can light my photo tent more easily with the studio lights than the table top lights.  The studio lights are much bigger, but will diffuse the light better for better shots.  Guess we shall see!