Time to move on up...

It's been awhile, eh?

I've found that I'm a very seasonal crafter - probably has something to do with the fact that my sewing room is in the basement, and that wool is stinkin' hot to work with in the middle of summer.

Since I've been quite unfaithful to ye olde knitting lately, (seriously, my knitting output has been close to zilch for the past few months) I've decided that I can no longer limit myself to just a knitting blog. That, in addition to the identity crisis that I am starting to enter as of late...I need a new headspace.

thebuffaloherdtheory.blogspot.com is where you'll find me in the future. I'll be posting more varied ruminations there: snippets of my writing, book reviews, gaming stuff, crafty items, and lots of soul searching, I'm afraid. I'll try to keep the melancholy to a minimum but will still have lots of the snark lurking around.

Hope to see you there!

Hi.

I'm still here.

Really.

I've just been sick. Really sick. "I should go get meds" kinda sick. Turns out the nasty flu that I picked up a few weeks ago was actually pneumonia. Yeah. I'm finally almost over it apart from the occasional involuntary coughing spasm. And now that my family is finally gone home (nothing to pick you up like hosting Easter guests while hacking up a lung), I'm recuperating on many levels.

I have a few of the dresses to show you, but not all of them as some are in the wash already. I admit to dillydallying with getting these all finished, as I have a hatred for gathering fabric that is comparable to that of a Trekkie for Star Wars fans. (Google it people...it's an epic hate-on.) Excuse the crap photos...I'm waiting to upgrade to a DSLR until the new Canon Rebel comes out. HD movie capability, baby.

This one is the Peasant Dress pattern included as part of the Portobello Pixie Claire pattern:

These next few are mods of the Portobello Pixie "Claire" - took the bodice and extended it to an A-line dress. Tried different methods of cinching the waistline.



These are from the halter dress tutorial from Just Tutes:


These last two are for a friend of mine and her daughter who are looking forward to a new summer baby. See? Same material, different results...it's just like genetics! The little one with the ties at the shoulder is an Itty Bitty Dress from Made By Rae.


And finally, a pirate princess outfitted and ready to set sail...

As for knits - I have one measly pair of mittens done. These are for Mr. Ninja, and he's happy to see them. Now that the snow's all gone, of course.



Starting a pair of Rainy Day Socks in Fleece Artist, as much to my knitterly shame...I have exactly two pairs of hand knit socks that survived the winter. All the others bit the dust. Ungh.

Dibble Dabble...

And away ya go. So far this week, I've been sewing a lot, spinning a bit and knitting a bit. Here:


Autumn Walk in BFL dyed by Funky Carolina. Love this one. It's navajo plied, albeit poorly done. About a fingering weight, maybe? I've figured out why I don't like navajo ply, it's because I have to do it sloooowly and concentrate on it the entire time. Totally not my style, 'cause I like to ply fast. Yeah. I was the girl that your momma warned you about.

No knitting to show you - it's all UFOs at the moment. But lots of mitten action.

I've gone on a real sewing binge as of late, mostly gifts. I know of at least four babies that I'm sewing for (either REALLY recently arrived or expected this summer), including my VERY FIRST NIECE/NEPHEW! I'm super excited about this...namely because it takes the pressure off of us to propagate the family Christmas albums. The AT-AT only takes up so much room...


So lots of diaper sewing, one baby boy quilt, some wee dresses and some sewing for my munchkin:


Pattern is Claire from Portobello Pixie. LOVE this pattern, although it's a lot more fiddly than I'm used to. I'm setting myself a goal of sewing Miss E two weeks worth of summer dresses, as I am hoping to outfit her for the summer in just those. To that end, I managed to cut out 12 dresses today...now for the sewing up. To the batcave!

A mess of excess...

So why'd I post the pics of my stash? It has to do with public accountability, rather than a lame ass attempt to brag about yarn. If you know me irl, you might have guessed that I don't really care about stuff - I have a tendency to give away yarn at the drop of a hat. I'm just mostly hoping that posting this pic will give people the freedom to berate me if they catch me sniffing yarn at the LYS...Couple of reasons that I have it all gathered in one spot:

1) I'm planning on selling a fair bit of it. But before I can do that, I have to know how much there really is.

2) Christmas gifts. (Yeah, I know.) I'm thinking that this is the year that I knit mittens for everyone. So we're looking at a minimum of 15 pairs of mitts of varying sizes. That's going to take some work, as I'm also planning on spinning the yarn for most of them.

3) It's a great baby amuser.

The Return of the Light...

And not a minute too soon! I find that the winter really saps me of the desire to do anything but hunker down on my couch and eat my own weight in chocolate. But with Spring finally arriving, my energy is slowly returning. Honestly, if you think that my blogging's been delinquent...you should see my FO pile. I think that I've got about 4 projects in total to show for the entire freakin' winter.

A pair of "lobster" mittens, requested by Mr. Munchkin. (Use your inner 5 year old's imagination, people.) Peenchy peenchy.


A scarf out of some sparkly rainbow handspun.



A very pink baby sweater out of more handspun.


And a pair of plain vanilla ribbed socks for my MIL's Christmas gift. No pics, as I was too brain dead to remember to take pics.

In other news, I have officially reached SABLE. Really. No kidding around. Here, look.



Once it was all amassed, I was initially horrified that I owned yarn that I had totally forgotten about. Then I remembered my Mum's stash and felt slightly better. But still. I'm not allowed to buy any more yarn for quite a while. I'm going to have to start bigger projects, me thinks. Yoiks.