Long Time No Write!

So I haven’t updated this blog in a long, long time – but a TON of things have been going on! First of all – and the biggest thing- is that my husband and I moved to California! We’re living in Venice, only a mile from the beach! It’s such a different lifestyle than NY, I was really worried I would hate it…. but to be honest, I’m enjoying it quite a bit! I do miss being near my family, and I miss autumn and changing leaves and the way the air smells right before it snows… but I can’t complain about the weather here! At first I was bummed because I didn’t think I’d be able to make any more warm scarves or hats, but there have certainly been some chilly nights that have called for some extra layers!

Secondly, my workload has increased considerably. I’ve taken on another comics-related job in addition to my main gig, so my schedule has become MUCH more hectic! Unfortunately, that means less time for crafting… which sucks because I have so many things I want to make: sweaters, socks, hats, gifts, Blythe clothes, amigurumi… the list goes on and on!

However, I have managed to complete a couple projects since I ‘ve moved: I finished my Cobweb scarf, my Jolly Roger Sweater, and I completed a project from Twinkle’s Book of Big City Knits! I also completed the seabird bag from Andean Folk Knits and several Blythe outfits for my own dolls as well as swaps I’ve participated in!

Here are some pics of my FOs!

Oh, and back to life in California, I’ve made some friends including the talented and inspiring Cecily Keim, co-author of Teach Yourself Visually Crocheting! She’s always introducing me to new, fabulous yarn and has the most lovely crocheted swatches that look good enough to eat! I can’t stop geeking out over the fact that her patterns appear in magazines, including the coveted Interweave Crochet! I feel like I can learn a LOT from Cecily about crochet!

Anyway, along with her and my husband, and a couple other pals, we’ve created a sort of weekly crafting club or get-together called “Craftonite” where we meet up, eat, drink, and make stuff! And we’ve had such a good time doing it, we’ve were inspired to apply for a table at Felt Club this past November, and we got in! Woo! We also made a Craftonite website! There’s not much on it yet, but we’re planning on opening an etsy store at some point. Anyway, Felt club was quite a success! We sold crocheted amigurumi budgie buddies, Cecily sold lovely snowflake ornaments, and my husband and I sold our Dollar Dreadfulswhich are short stories inspired by the original dime novels. Oh, we also had prints and buttons and I sold my knitting comic ashcan! We were all worried about getting enough stuff done to fill up a table, but we actually had almost TOO much stuff to fit on a table. It was a fun day!

In other news, I recently got into Ravelry. I haven’t had much time to play around with it yet, but I’m really looking forward to using it to organize all my projects and yarn! There’s nothing I love more than organizing chaos, so that will be fun!

As far as Blythe goes, ever since getting my first doll, Lemony, back at the beginning of the year, I’ve become hopelessly addicted! I’ve now got 7 dolls!!! I used to say that 3 was my limit. But now I’m thinking maybe 9 or 10  is a good cut-off point. I don’t want to get TOO many because then I won’t have enough time to  play with them all, but they’re all so unique and they all have their own personalities that I can’t resist! I’m really excited about knitting and crocheting more things for them because I want to update their wardrobes with something other than Barbie clothes, and because making little hats and sweaters is so quick and satisfying! I want to get back to sewing as well, but I haven’t yet unpacked my sewing machine. I do have a little crafting room in our new place (um, more like a converted closet!), but it’s a bit of a train wreck at the moment! One day it’ll be very cool!

Anyway, that’s the general update. I’ll try to post more often about the various projects I’m actually working on. (Right now, I’m tackling my first pair of knitted gloves! Yikes!) And now that I have a shiny new bike I keep wanting to adorn it with a cool bike cozy! Stay tuned!