WHOO!! MORE Yarn in the mail!!

Omg. I love Secret Pal 7. <3

My dear SP sent me my first package today, and it makes me so happy! I got a copy of Yarn Harlot's "At Knit's End", a box of Toblerone chocolates, an ADORABLE grey sheep tape measure (XD) and best of all, a skein of Mountain Colors BEARFOOT--what an awesome name for a GORGEOUS yarn!

Here's a pic of my haul:



...er, let me move the cat and see if you can actually SEE the stuff.



There, that's better. XD

This RULES.

THANK YOU, SECRET PAL!! <3

Site update

New pic up on divinebird.com; the Wednesday Merchant Road update is the Artillery Mage. Check him out, and if you stop by, sign the guestbook!

He's also upon DeviantArt under my chocobogoddess gallery.

That's all for now!

I Must Be Insane.

I have joined the Knitting Olympics.

In one of my less than perfect moves, I have decided to take Ms. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee up on her challenge. I plan at this point to be making a lace shawl--nothing hugely complicated, but a lace shawl nonetheless--from the metric ton of Fluffo I seem to have accumulated. Since I have never successfully completed a whole shawl, this WILL be a challenge for me. This also is on top of everything else I must do, which includes my normal art updates, working on a new portfolio, finishing up current commissions, helping my dad, reworking the novel, cuddling with my honey, and of course, the everyday little things that seem to take up more time than I expect.

...BRING IT ON, PEARL-MCPHEE!

I am ready. Just--well, caffeine doesn't count as a performance-enhancing drug, does it?

The Dartmouth Scarf

I give you the Dartmouth Scarf.



This was my Christmas gift to my little sister, who is doing her Master's degree at Dartmouth. She wanted one of the school scarves, but they sell for something like $80 at the co-op, and they're crappy acrylic. I decided to make her a REAL school scarf. This baby is all soft wool, boasts 21 stripes, and took me a couple of months to complete. It is, so far, the biggest labor of love I have yet undertaken.

Not that it was a difficult project, not by a long shot. It's just tedious and time-consuming to knit nothing but stockinette in the round for 5 1/2 feet. XD Plus, I couldn't knit it at the movies, for instance, because I needed to keep the row count even between stripes.

All in all, though, it was totally worth it. I am in love with this scarf. It is double-thick (it's basically a really wide tube), it's super warm, it can be worn any one of a dozen ways. I will be sorry to mail it off to teh Seester, but she already loves it (I gave her the 1/2 finished object at christmas) and I know she'll take care of it.

Besides, maybe she'll give out my card. ;)

New Year, New Business! New Site! Clicky!

Ok, so.

I've been working a temp assignment for the past few months, and it ended the day after Christmas. I'd been extremely sick (see last post for the gory details), and the prospect of going out to find yet another crap job for another few months made me feel even worse. I decided to let myself get better and then I'd think about what I would do next.

The result is that, two days later, I sat down with my (awesome) husband and told him I'd figured out just what I would do. It would take a lot of work, a lot of time, and a lot of discipline.

I've been doing small commission art for friends for a while now; there are several pieces I've put up here for print sales, but I've never really pursued a career using my character designs. That's all changing. As of today, January 4, 2006, I have reopened my secondary site divinebird.com and turned it into a real access point for commission art, print sales, and more.

Every Wednesday, a new image will go up with a vignette about the character portrayed. Today, I started with Neelie, a dye merchant who will act as the 'hostess' of my site. Later today, a second image will be added, and Neelie will be the one telling stories about the characters.

I have several commissions in progress now, and I am open to accept more. All new images going up on divinebird.com will be offered as prints here and on merchandise through cafepress.com, with items through DeviantArt also being added later once I get used to their designs. I know a lot of people watch me through my various sites (many thanks!!) and I hope that, even if you aren't interested in buying one of my pieces, you might think of someone else who would.

I suppose it clicked for me to try this after hearing yet another person ask me why I wasn't a full-time artist. I have a long way to go before I meet my own standards, and I am sure you will see changes as time goes on. I expect that of myself as an artist. By the same token, if I wait to become a 'serious' artist until I meet my own standards...well, let's just say that I don't think I'll ever do it. ;) I think a lot of you understand that!

I know I can do it.