Ha, ok, I’m just kidding about having minions. But it’s great to have crafty friends. Especially ones who continually amaze with their humor and the ability to make you say “Holy crap, I want one of those!!”  pretty much every time they make something. Such is the case with Maryse. My internal List of Things to Make is continually updated when she finishes something. Except for that crazy scarf‚ of many colors. I love it to tiny bits, but just looking at the bag containing the gazillions of little globs of yarn required to make it, well, sign me up the next beach sand counting detail and let’s leave it at that.

And Ms. M has done it again. But this time, it’s with an extra dose of glee for me. Ya see, she’s gone and made a Kitsch Kozy. For the book! How cool is that? Now I feel like I’ve made it to the Big Time!

Maryse has posted directions on how to make this particular brand of granny goodness. Check it out! The best part is that she made hers out of non-kitschy classic wool. Was it because she felt the book deserved better? Has she developed a petroleum allergy? Uuuh, nope. Turns out she dumped all her acrylic on me back when we were making stuff for the Tin Can Alley patterns. Sly, Maryse, real sly. Oh well, more book covers for me.

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OK, so have you ever not blogged for so long that you almost start to feel afraid to? Yeah, that’s where I’m at. It’s not that I haven’t been writing posts. I write them constantly, throughout the day. Trouble is, they’re all in my head and they never seem to make it to the screen. So let’s just pick up as though I hadn’t fallen off the earth.

First things first. Look what I got!

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A brand new niece!! Blogging community, meet Ginger. Ginger, meet the bloggers! She was 5 weeks early, but was healthy enough to come home after just a few days. She’s a trooper, as are her parents my brother, Danny, and sister-in-law, Shannon. I think she’s about 2 weeks in this picture. She’s going to be 4 weeks on Friday.‚ Awwww lil’ Miss Ginger . . . Crazy Aunt Stitchy can’t wait to give you a dollar every time she sees you, even if your parents say no.

Toes, people. LOOK AT THE TOES!!!

*thud*

It’s ok, I’m fine, I just passed out from the cuteness, it’s cool.

Next things next. Knitting update. Sadly, a pictureless one as the camera batteries seem to have taken a hike. I’m pretty sure Mike knows where they are, but he’s pleading the fifth at this juncture. When the subpoena comes in from the courthouse, I think the mystery will be cleared up. One sock down, another almost at the heel. I Heart Toe-up socks. I do, I love to try them on after every fourth row. Love. It. Also, I finished the mini-skull tote, I just need to seam it and felt it. Ok, so “finish” may not have been the right word. But still . . .

Now for some linkety links. I am hoping to revamp my links page soon, right now it’s totally neglected. Poor thing.

First, if you don’t know Julie Jackson, you should. She’s the genius behind Subversive Cross Stitch. I was the very first interview in her new series “Crafty Query”, named for it’s vary vaguely creepy host of the same name. Just look at him. That laser beam stare, that middle-finger-pointing thing, those curtains. As I said to Julie, “I would tell that guy anything he wanted to know. Anything.” I love her patterns, I think I’m going to get “People are Cattle”, but there are too many good ones to choose. I may get a few. Plus, she now sells the crazy gold frames , so you can really class it up! Yay Julie! Also, if you want to snort with laughter, check out her cat Boone. I played this over and over, then made Jon watch it over and over.

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Check it out! I’m #3 on the Yahoo 9!!‚ Cooool! They’re something about that girl that I really like. Even without the sound on, she’s really interesting and expressive. I like to watch her. She’s purty. Make sure you scroll down to the poll section. Vote early and vote often!!

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Feast your evil eyes on‚ Natalia’s amazing jewelry at the Evil Eye Emporium! This bracelet is my favorite. It’s so delicate, yet so . . . snakey. I’m going to be doing some holiday shopping here, fer sure.

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And I have a huge apology to go along with this next link. It’s the Vintage Knit-Along‚ by the Kitchener Bitch (LOVE that name!) I had a delightful email exchange with her, joined up and promised to mention it. I’ve been remembering it on and off for weeks and I feel really bad. I had always thought it would be great fun to start and take part in a Vintage KAL, but time has been scarce, so I was so glad to see someone doing it. I had dreams of participating, but I can’t seem to get much of anything done lately. But I do like seeing the cool stuff that’s going on over at the group blog. Go see! There’s even a yarn contest!

Thank you to everyone who’s been checking in with book sightings and for all the great feedback! I’m trying to respond to everyone, but seriously, work has been busier than it’s been in a long time, so I’ve had very little time to be social. In the end, my day job wins every time. Mama needs yarn and tin can money, after all. Also, I’ve been working on some cool creative stuff that’s not yet ready for public consumption. It drives me crazy when I’m working on something cool can can’t share it, but trust me, if it all works out, you’re going to love it. Very exciting! Hopefully one project will be ready for sharing very shortly. Fun fun!!

OK, that’s it for now. I know there’s more, but I’ll come back and share when I remember it. I need to get used to doing smaller bursts of posting when I think of things, rather than waiting, saving things up, and then totally forgetting them. Hopefully I can get better at my time management now that my plate is spilling over with To Do Lists.

Oh, and buy the book! If you like it, feel free to write a review on Amazon! (I’m also trying to get better at self promotion. More on that tomorrow.)

This Kandy Klown is the worst of both worlds for a kid. Its arrival on Christmas morning could very possibly be enough of a buzz-kill to ruin the whole day. Pep-O-Mint is the least loved of all sugary confections. Well, it’s a close second to a giant block of sticky ribbon candy, anyway. Perching the decapitated head of a clown on top does nothing to add to its appeal. Graft on some ambiguous yarn limbs and you’ve got what grandma would call an “adorable treat” and what junior can’t wait to strap an entire package of firecrackers onto.