for display purposes only

Birdies ready to sell:
I hung the wee birdies in a branch I cut off the lilac tree a couple of months ago. I think they like dangling about better than lounging around on the table. I'll have to take it apart to get it to the school gym for the crafts fair, but this is a good way to keep the birds' bills from getting smushed and keep the cat from clawing them out of a box and on to the ground for the dog to gnaw.
They did that to a body the cat flicked out when I was in Juneau. Pet cooperation is hard to hate, but fairly annoying.
The whole thing in front of a window salvaged from a neighbors' weatherizing project. Too pretty to put outside. 1/2 gallon mason jar...canning jars are the perfect crafts project container. Smaller ones are great beer mugs.

it's only just begun!

Winter scenery time is here again! Sunrise kissed the mountain tops at about 8:00 this morning and there's about 1/2 an inch of snow on the ground, yippee! So worth the cold ears to get to walk in the beauty!


Fall sales mean little felted birdies, it's time for Christmas crafts fairs!

Last but not least, it's time for cats to be inside near the woodstove or on the crafty table.

accidents in the home

Allowing your pets to do chores in the house is not recommended and can be down right dangerous! The cat was splitting the kindling for the day when a huge log fell on her pinning her legs to the ground. She called out in agony, meowing at the top of her little lungs for help. I, naturally, took a picture before freeing her from her potential grave. Poor dear, it takes a long time for all 9 lives to flash by.

nothin' to see here

So... there I was feeling guilty for reading instead of working on crafts show products. (uh oh) I decided to do something that's been on the nagging list o' shit to do: fix the dripping faucet in the bathroom (oh dear god don't you remember what happened when you "fixed" the bath tub faucet?).

I was all ready, had the tools, the screw drivers, the wrench and the ipod to listen to the Jon Stewart interview on Fresh Air. I shut the water off, disemboweled the faucets, cleaned the o-rings and put it all back together, no problem (yeah, right). When I went to turn the cold water back on the little handle under the sink came off in my hand and water shot out. Right in my face. I didn't swear! I screamed NOOOOooooo! and put my hand over the leak. Other hand found the little handle and together they tried to screw it back on...3 (or more) times. No dice. I said NO a few more times and tried to figure out what to do. Thank god my cell phone is water proof. I ran into the living room, grabbed the phone and made the humiliating "HELP ME" call. I fucking hate plumbing.

another go at lace

After reading the Yarn Harlot's post about arsing up a pattern, I thought I'd share my latest attempt at lace knitting "a fun fast knit" from Knitty. Nothing complex, something small and oh so soft and lovely... mmhmm, I have been un knitting and re-knitting a lot. Apparently, I can't count above 19 or is it 17? I have given up on lace more than once when the lumps and holes don't line up correctly.

I'm not going to toss this one across the room for the cat to enjoy, really I'm not.

This month has been incredibly kind to late bloomers... My first successful sunflower courtesy of 70 degree fall days, yay!
My brother after hours of splitting wood to help fill my woodshed, thanks bro!

wishes granted at a cost

I took in a renter this summer since I was working very part time. Working part time to give me time to make art. Having this person rent from me sucked the art right out of my summer and I took a second job. I met her last summer, she seemed pleasant enough... sounds like the beginning of one of those teen angst vampire books, doesn't it? She's leaving in less than days that now number less than 2 digits, thank dog.

My wish is to get back to my art. To felt and dye and bead and paint and sew and not carry around the annoyance of a renter that doesn't wash dishes, empty garbage, sweep floors, remove hair from the drain thingy or shut her mouth. Seriously...she won't stop talking even as I walk in to the bathroom and close the door. I feel mean going to use the toilet!

Deep Breath.

jam!

Blueberry jam! My friend Julia and I made jam from some of the berries we picked...my first time ever making jam. It all seemed like scary (could make jars of bacteria laden ooze) voodoo to me, but I might be over that trauma. Jam. We made jam and have a lot more berries and those cherries to jar up! Some of last year's berries got made in to liquor...that helped with the 'making bacteria' trauma. yeah.

more than a month later...

I'm not going to do that "sorry I haven't posted" post...no really I'm not. (sorry I haven't posted)

I've been busy making stuff and doing stuff and letting summer get away with me in a good way. I have another job...getting paid to weed a giant garden! An acre or so of veggies and a huge flower garden. I am being paid to do battle with my favorite enemy, the canadian thistle.
This is the latest raven bracelet to go out to Svenson's. It hasn't sold yet, but got rave reviews from the owners. I kinda really like the red outline for the birds...and they look a little like a chorus line to me.

This is sweater duck. (see, I've been busy since we last met) His owner said "you scare me" when I said I'd knitted him a sweater, it's good to scare people with random knitting. I suggested that sweater duck would be a good deck hand on the owner's commercial fishing boat, but he's still shore side.
One of three quart + containers of blueberries picked yesterday. There's jam in the near future. I also have a tree full of pie cherries I'm hoping to pick tomorrow before work...jarred pie filling to go with the jam. Can't wait for winter to sit and read and wonder at how busy I suddenly became in August.

I organized volunteers for the merchandise booth at the fair this year. That's the booth I worked in last year when I put up the 'fair hair' post. No fancy hair this year, but 4 days of free passes for my organizing efforts, not bad pay if you don't think about the frustration of working with seemingly vacant humans. NOT the volunteers, they rocked.

and last of all...summer has returned to Haines, it's sunny and warm and beautiful.

another one sold!

Another cuff sold! Again with the 'thank goodness I'm freaking about money' moment: in the same stack of mail is the property tax bill! Maybe I can conjure up another sale before the bill is due...maybe a couple of them.

Currently working on another raven cuff and a couple embroidered necklaces with very slow progress. I have a whole list of excuses for not beading, some of them good (extra hours at work) and some of them lame (Alias on DVD) and some I don't want to admit to.

I made a springtime/flower doll for Lora K. who's dealing with chemo (my excuses are so lame in comparison!) and has two young boys and a seriously good attitude. She was diagnosed with cancer but they downgraded it to something less dire...but really? Chemo is awful no matter what the diagnosis.

Last year at about this time, I took myself off to the clinic to talk to a therapist about why I was so miserable. The therapist agreed with me, it's incredibly difficult to make friends here especially with women. She described it taking years to get beyond surface polite behavior. This year... I know why. There are many more women than men here and once a woman gets a guy she guards that relationship with her life. I thought he was a better person than he is (the excuse I don't want to admit). I fell for his b.s. and now get to trudge through the recovery... bleh.