*emerges from the ether*
And I’ve even been knitting! It’s been a busy summer between performing at a faire in July, working at NYRF for August and September and now working at CTRF.

Cute little guy – landed on our guestbook quill at NYRF
I did finish the dress for that first faire and it came out great. The belt is made from a curtain swag (yep – her waist is that small, lol) and it was a hit (face blurred to protect the “innocent” – or rather because I hadn’t gotten to ask her if it was ok to show her face, lol).
I altered the pattern so that the sleeves were split on the outside and connected with pearly buttons in three spots. I also made it so it bustled in back so she wouldn’t drag it in the mud or trip on it while swordfighting (she’s in my swordfighting group).
Also, as I previously posted, I made up a bunch of new spindles to be vended at the NJ Sheep & Wool at Zarzuela’s booth. The remainder are on their way back at which time they’ll be posted for sale in my Etsy store. Here’s a sneak preview…
Another special project was a rushed one, but successful (finished it in a week!). Here’s where I started…
…and here’s where it ended up!
The recipient is a friend’s darling little daughter who turned 2 on September 19th along with her mom (yes, they have the same birthday!). The pattern is the Swing Coat, a free pattern from Little Turtle Knits (Ravelry link) and I made the 2-3 yrs size, which ought to fit her for at least the next two winters, if not longer as she’s a wee little thing. And she LOVES the sweater – wore it nearly all day (until it got warmer!). Because it’s a little big on her, her mom is going to run a ribbon through the top of the collar to tie it shut better. When she gets older and fills out the shoulders more, the clasp will be sufficient. I will miss seeing her (and her parents) after getting to see her every weekend for nearly all of August and September.
The yarn was stash yarn, so I was pretty proud of that, but that also led me to reevaluate my Ravelry stash and have added a bunch of new things to my trade/sell page. All are priced with free shipping within the continental US, but I’m willing to send elsewhere for whatever the shipping costs. Please check it out and pass the word – there are many goodies in there!
In the diet realm, I’ve kept my cholesterol down (latest test in July was 186) and since last October, I’ve lost 30 pounds. I can barely believe it, but the clothes sizes do not lie. I gave away all my size 12 & 14 stuff to a friend who has reached that point in her weight loss and I currently have a large pile of size 10 jeans to try and eBay, or else give to Goodwill. This is because now I’m down to 4s and 6s. *grin* Now, to just keep that up – especially with winter / hibernation mode coming. I’ll be starting up the regular Wii Fit sessions again since I won’t have running around faires to keep me active.
An additional awesome thing is that my knitting projects require less yarn and are therefore less expensive! To that end, I treated myself to some new yarn recently. One is Rowan Lima in a wonderful dark green heathery shade. Don’t know what I’ll make yet, but the yarn is SO soft and cozy.
The other is Mochi Plus, a superwash color-changing yarn from Crystal Palace – I couldn’t resist the Autumn Rainbow colorway!!! I just want to make this into a simple turtleneck sweater and let the yarn “do the work.”
I have also been given the go-ahead to make a store sample of Mini Mochi using Crystal Palace’s free pattern for a Fair Isle hat that I thought was REALLY cool. I’m trying a colorway not shown on their site, so we’ll see how that turns out.
I’ve also been working on a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend of mine. She blogged about loving the gloves she saw on Mitchell in a promo for Being Human on BBC, so I decided to make them for her. Found some Elsebeth Lavold Silky Cashmere in the perfect shade (and in the clearance bin!) and I’ll post a pattern as soon as I finish the second one to test my directions (and to finish the pair)
So, have I been busy enough, lol? Aiiiiggghhhhh!