Shipped the iguana out to the photographer Tuesday morning, I sure hope he gets there okay. I ended up just using a variety of packing materials and laid him on his side so hopefully his dreadlocks won't get smushed, and he won't lose any toes. In his hand we decided to go with a mirror set into a bottle cap, so he can admire himself whenever he likes.



Now it's 2 weeks till Bead Expo, and the Collector's public debut--time to make some beads!

The Collector is nearing completion; I attached 3 of his feet yesterday and hope to ship him to Wayne early next week for his portrait session. This project has been really intense; one of those that went from concept to sketch to actual object in record time. A funny side effect of this is that as wiped out as I've been after working on the critter all day, I have to find something else to work on to calm my fevered brain!

I have FINISHED a project bought at Stitches. And I'm making real progress on the Circle Jacket. I think that my current frenzied state was necessary for me to stick with it for the first several rounds until it started making sense, but one result of compulsive knitting is that the pattern isn't perfect...the shaping appears to be fine though, and that's what counts. Oooh and the addi naturale circular needles are heavenly, really. The pattern called for not only dpns, but 3 different lengths of circular needles. Turns out I went directly from dpns to the extra long . Whatever!

Even with the knitting to occupy my off-iguana time, I have been losing sleep over the dilemma of shipping this thing without smushing his 'do. The most radical idea so far is to suspend him upside down in his shipping box, then fill it with packing peanuts. No, really.
Heh, I think figuring this out may take longer than it took to make him!

With the NCAA tournament starting tomorrow and all the hype about 'Bracketology'...which is still one of my favorite words, I thought this was pretty fun: The Final Four of Everything. There are a couple of brackets you can try for yourself, selecting top movie death scenes, marital arguments or ad slogans. I was really disappointed in the ad slogan one, it doesn't have 'Don't mess with Texas' on it at all, and of course that would trump everything else. I guess brackets started by someone else are always going to be flawed, but if you need a bit of diversion today, give it a try.

After 4 or 5 tries, I got the circle jacket going last night. I'm not at all sure it is looking like it's supposed to. The fancy 'twisted float' pattern starts next, and my fingers are crossed. Maybe it would help to un-cross them when I start knitting...

As for that Very Special Project, it is a piece to be entered in the Bead and Button Bead Dreams contest. I was afraid they might have some rule about things being shown before they get the pictures, but I re-read the rules and didn't see anything, so here's a peek:



Yep, that amazing head is by Wayne Robbins. He made some feet too, but they go on last so they don't get knocked around too much.
If you want to see him (the iguana) (or Wayne) in person, he will be appearing at the Bead Expo in Oakland April 13-15. I'll be there too, helping Penny in her booth!
Come see us!

Oh I've been a bad blogger, haven't I? 6 days since the last update? What on earth have I been up to?
Well, I do have a very special project going on that has a very short deadline. I'm inclined to keep it sort of on the down-low until it's done and relatively squared away, but it is going to take up a lot of my time and thought, so I'm finding that very difficult!

I'm also working on something I got at Stitches, but it has gifty ramifications so I can't talk about it, either.

What's a blogger to do?

Ah, here's a picture of the jacket that Penny and I are each making, planning to make, uh well, anyway, we bought the yarn for it:



I'm glad I found a picture to remind me how much I really love this and just can't wait to wear it! It is in the queue and will probably be started in a few weeks...when it will be finished is entirely up to the knitting gods...

Wow last night was wild...somehow LambChop decided that he wouldn't be able to sleep unless he was lying on top of me in one way or another...he's no mini-cocker either, he weighs every bit of 28 lbs...combined with the usual puzzle of getting my legs straightened out with big Finnegan down at the foot of the bed, and let's just say I woke up (if you could call it sleeping) feeling like I'd been hit by a truck!
I believe I see a nap in my future .

I had ambitiously planned to pull weeds in the front garden today, but I think I will wimp out and use RoundUp. I have it on authority from a forestry professor here that it has a very short half-life and is an okay product to use...I would much rather have a tired trigger finger than a broken back!

Ahhh, also getting stuff cleared out of the studio today, uh no I don't mean I'm cleaning it, just sending hubby to the dump and taking in the recycling! LOL I was inspired this week with an idea to simplify my household organization (heh, "organization"), but that kind of thing always seems to come in second to whatever fun project I'm working on!

Speaking of fun projects, I got to meet Blog commenter Noralie in person at Stitches! She was wearing one of her amazing creations and had some special requests for me and Penny. This lady is one amazing knitter, seamstress, chrocheter, you name it! I only wish we had had more time to visit--we probably would have, but I had left my cellphone at the house and Noralie had to resort to having us paged in the Market Hall!! She showed us one of her works in progress, and trust me, it is going to be something special. I hope she will send us photos to post when it is finished!

Let's try this again; I had a long and lovely blog all written up this morning but somehow lost it, and that always makes me so mad I have to sit out for a while before trying again....

So Penny and I had a whirlwind week. I arrived in San Diego on Wednesday, and we drove up to Penny's sister's house near Sunnyvale on Thursday. The weather was rainy, but the clouds and intermittent bright sun made for some spectacular views along the road. I had thought we would be going up the coast highway, but apparently that is entirely impractical. It would be impossible to complain about the scenery we enjoyed, steep mountains, ranches, and widespread farmland in the valleys. Even some sheep! The sheep were particularly appropriate, given our destination was a knitting conference.

We spent all day Friday at the Stitches Marketplace, and were interested to compare the experiences of Bead Show v. Yarn Show:

*Beads are smaller and easier to lug around. Yarn is lighter and doesn't break, but it's bulky.

*The first time you see a big display of seed beads or crystals, you are likely to swoon. The first time you see a big display of hand-dyed yarn, you are likely to swoon, but this time you have a nice place to land.

*The tools for playing with yarn are lots nicer than the tools for beading. I hate to say it, but really, how excited can I get about needles and pliers when there are things like this to be found:


Penny and I each got one of these giant Tunisian crochet hooks. Do either of us know how to do Tunisian crochet? Of course not!

I had to have one of these for my needlefelting:


It's called the Elegant Felter. Mine is made of stripey, gorgeous Cocobolo wood and I can't wait to use it!!!

On the way to Santa Clara, Penny and I stopped to visit Liz and Dan Eister, of EisterGlass. They have two Yorkies, like Penny and Scoot do, but these little girls are gopher hunters! I could have spent all day watching them dig BIG holes in the garden.

Coming home Monday, we had a good visit with Paula and Teresa and their critters. We got in the pen with the miniature donkeys and they are just tame and adorable and totally pettable, like dogs! Paula showed us her studio and her latest project--see it on her blog!

Tuesday was for winding balls with all the new yarn (I did it till my arm was sore and still didn't get it all done), and practicing for the complicated patterns we both picked out. In the evening we went to watch Mr. Penny blow glass! He let us lay out the colors, and I even got to make a paperweight all by myself! (Well, almost)

Whew, how's that for an update?