Apologies....

I have been shamefully neglectful of late, and do hereby resolve to improve matters. Soon-ish.

December Crochet

THE STITCHES
I learned a whole bunch of new stitches in December... Multiple stitches in one photo are labeled in the photo.*these are not new stitches, but it is a picture of several of them together
I think the pineapple pattern is part of why I started crocheting :)
Around the post, front and back

V Stitch
Mesh Stitch (unblocked, it is supposed to be squares)
Fishnet ;)
Half Doubles
Afghan / Tunisian / Idiot Stitch, side one
Afghan Stitch, side two
Monk's Cord

THE PROJECTS

If I followed a pattern, is is from the Stitch & Bitch Happy Hooker book, recommended by the amazing Carla, go buy it if you're interested in learning to crochet!

This hat has been the bane of my existance, four tries and it's still not done :( The black will not unravel, and I keep reducing the stitches too much.

Pretty hat, has the opposite problem of the pink hat - the bottom of this one grew too big, and once again, the yarn does not unravel.

Black Chenille, with ribbon, for Deb (Who is fabulous!)

Green with pink & green ribbon; smaller black chenille
Dark Teal Shell Scarf, and my first guy hat, for Dan-the-greatTeal Hat & Scarf, for Elaine-the-gorgeous (as soon as I fringe the scarf...)

Set for the cutest family ever...

For my Mom, Stepdad, Sis-in-law, nieces, and nephews. All of whom rock :)

The beautiful Carla, in her muffin hat and scarf

The adorable Gabby, dynamite in red

The front and back of the Cherry bag, a thank you for a special Cherry ;)

It's A New Year...

Five Indulgences of 2007
Indulgence #1: A week's vacation in Seattle or California, where I will visit my friends in each place and do touristy things if they appeal. Preferably during a season where the weather there is better than the weather here.

Well, not this past year, but I did move to a new house, spend three days doing touristy things in Chicago during the summer, and went to Cherry Con in Covington, Kentucky.
Indulgence #2: a 90 minute, full body massage by Carla's former masseuse. I bought a 60 minute massage there for someone else as a Christmas present, does that count?
Indulgence #3: A teacher for digital imaging. I did get an instructional DVD about developing digital photographic workflow, which helped some...
Indulgence #4: I will take time to paint this year. I painted a huge basement, then did a very intricate hand paint job in my bedroom. No, it's not "art", but it is painting. I did do some other craft projects involing painting, also.
Indulgence #5: I will adopt two cats this year.I acquired three cats when I moved, making this the only indulgence that I fulfilled without qualifications :)

So... Once again, Jenny-the-amazing has an end of the year post I feel compelled to imitate.

Lousy Things About 2007:

1. Same job :(

2. And I worked Halloween, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day.

3. I did not see several of my friends, even the ones who live near by.

4. I missed Talk Like A Pirate Day AND Global Orgasm day.

5. I still am not blogging on a regular basis.

6. There is something wrong with my digital camera. Sometimes, it signals that it is in focus, but the finished picture is blurry. Also, it's very temperamental in interior light situations - more so than before. (It's never really liked candle light or house lamps, but it now hates conference rooms now, too.)

Great Things About 2007:

1. New place

Really, this one has a subset of great things- terrific roommates (both of the guys cook and clean, as well as being great people to hang out with. How lucky am I?), three cats, home office, bedroom that I love...

2. I won at NaNo, and have a book I still want to finish writing as a result.

3. Will Write for Wine!

4. Cherry Con

Again, a subset of things to love- wonderful people, amazing giveaways, nice hotel, great roommate.

5. I learned how to crochet. (Pictures of December's accomplishments forthcoming...)

Now, it's time to look ahead. Since it was so much fun, I'm doing the Indulgences for 2008, as well.

Indulgence #1: Crochet a queen size afghan for my bedroom. I have some yarn, an afghan I love that my mom promised to teach me how to duplicate the stitch on, and a newly discovered appreciation for crochet. Also, keep playing with different kinds of yarn and stitches.
Indulgence #2: Trip to California. RWA Conference, Vixen, the Drawing Club, maybe lunch with the amazing Doug, possibly some tourist activity...
Indulgence #3: Paint. I know, this is one from last year, but still very important to me.
Indulgence #4: Believe in my ability as a storyteller. Finish the first book, and start another - NaNo again, when the time comes.
Indulgence #5: Wine. Loving the Will Write for Wine podcasts, and trying new wines semi-regularly.

I Did It!

First, I made my 50,000 words for November, yay! Even better, it's not all crap :D

Mad love to the Cherries, especially the CherriesNoMo group. I wouldn't have tried this year without them.

Also, in November, I listened to thirty one podcasts (the entire Will Write for Wine archive.) And I learned a lot, and laughed a lot. I cannot recommend Lani and Sam too highly, and they started a forum on their site that totally rocks.
I also learned to crochet last month, with help from my mom and the internet. Above is everything I could find that I made during November (there should be a few more test squares, I tried a lot of the new stitches out that way instead of just diving in to a scarf or whatever.) I am in love with fuzzy yarn that is impossible to use if you're a beginner (take the mossy green, for example. It's beautiful, feels wonderful, and kicked my ass four damn times.) I am better with the other, see?

Also, I scored just under 10 million points on Frescoz, a highly addicting game from the same people who made Bubble Shooter. WARNING - I'm not kidding when I say addicting, both of these games can be major time suckers, and Lani (who got lots of us hooked on bubble shooter) has been called several unkind names for introducing people to it. I still love her, though :)
Now, I have to go get ready and run to work :) Later, I'll post the other things tht got me through NaNo.

I Am A Great Writer.

Which sometimes necessitates breaking out the tiara. The boa is on the floor next to me, in case I need it too. 19051 words to date, 2068 this early morning, just when I was starting to wonder if I would have a good writing night ever again. Mad love to Jennifer Crusie for the tiara, and to Lani & Sam, for the inspiration to make my protagonist suffer. I still don't know where I am headed, but at least my characters aren't standing around bored! If you write, go listen to the podcasts :)

More NaNo, Talk

I'm not overly superstitious, but I do have tendancies. So, I'm thinking my current writing misery was possibly influenced by my last NaNo image, with the crying eye and the question "Why?"...
However, blue butterflies are recurring images in my writer's collage; I believe this one may be luckier. I'm just sayin'...
I know sometimes chasing distracted trains of thought can be productive (the girls in the basement working in strange and marvelous ways) but I'm seriously unsure why we all wanted to watch all the Billy Ray Cyrus clips from Dancing With the Stars on YouTube. Although I am of the momentary opinion that he may still be a better dancer than I am a serious writer...
Consider the addiction to ellipses tonight, after all! However, even if fate and luck are existent, I believe that what you tell yourself matters, so I've got something to say:

I am a GREAT storyteller!

Now, if you need a laugh, some book talk, and a little distraction, check out Samantha Graves and Lani Diane Rich's podcast & website, Will Write For Wine. I am rationing out the podcasts, to motivate myself to write. Mind you, I think Lani's books are brilliant, and will someday get my thoughts together to actually review a book here. I haven't read anything by Sam (who also writes as CJ Barry) but hopefully I will find one in a bookstore this weekend. After I catch up my word count!

NaNo & More Bedroom

Of course, NaNo is a huge challenge, and I'm trying not to be discouraged by how hard I'm finding it. I thought the first week was supposed to pass in a rush? Only the first day did for me. However, as I have never finished anything longer than a couple pages, the fact that my page count is at 12 is very encouraging. I can do this. At JCF (Cherry Forums), there is a thread called "I am a great writer" which discusses (among other things) how what you say, and what you believe, affect your reality. I am a great writer.

So, Saturday night - after I made my 1667 for the day, I finally put up my shelves, and unpacked the candles and frames. I'm pretty pleased with the way they look. The ribbon on the upper left corner is to neaten up the edges, but I don't think it's the right trim yet. *sigh*
These are my favorite set of shelves, but they were a nightmare to hang, since they needed to align. Although I was temped to hang them with a gap between them, but then my mistakes trying to hang them would show. In the end, I'm glad I didn't give up...
This is a shelf for my home office (which was already painted lemon yellow, but I like the lightness among all the bookcases and desks. I'm excited that it's back to being a home office, for the five weeks I painted the bedroom, I slept on a futon mattress on the floor of the office.