Quick! Somebody! Call I-X-I-I !

Hi all
Been a busy week so let's get cracking with the updates.

The Tunisian Vest From Hell : not a lot of progress has been made, since evidently my cats are in cahoots with the Forces of Evil and have hid the chart I was working off of. I could print a new one, if my printer were working. I'll do it tomorrow at work. I really should get this done before it's too warm to wear a wool vest.

the Gathering Leaves Shawl: I'm not sure whether to blame the loss of this chart on the cats or whether all the loose stitch charts I own have just up and decided to visit Yarnia where all the tape measures, scissors, and spare hooks go. I'm pretty sure I was on row 38 ( and if you haven't bought the pattern.. it's two rows before the damn chart changes pages.. so there was some creative cussing)

I know that doesn't sound like a lot of crocheting, but we're close to Easter holiday, and I have rehearsals out the wazoo for various and sundry productions, masses, services, "why, if it's a day of rest, do I have to get my butt out of bed at the crack of dawn" stuff to do. The fact that I get any time at all to make pretty knots in yarn is basically a good thing.

Today, being Sunday ( and Monday comes afterwards) I drove up to WEBS to go to their big author event. I primarily went to go meet Mary Beth Temple, the host of Getting Loopy a podcast I listen to religiously. I've gotten to know her online but had never met her in person. WEBS is in Easthampton, MA. I'm on Cape Cod. Mapquest said it was a three hour drive. It was slightly more like a three hour tour.. a la Gilligan's Island.

So I left the house at 8:00 this morning, gassed up Blue, my trusty SUV (named because when someone asks me what kind of car I have, I say "Blue") grabbed some coffee since my addiction to the fruit of Juan Valdez's loins is well documented, and my printed directions..from...Mapquest....
Ok back to the house to grab the directions, then grab a fresh coffee since I'd finished the first one and headed out to the western part of the state. I DID remember my Ipod, so I had that set to an Audiobook and figured that would keep me company on the drive.

Massachusetts is bigger than I thought it was. A LOT bigger. And unlike in my neck of the woods, when you get out west, past Boston, past Worcester (which, for out-of-staters, is pronounced "woostah" not "wohr-cess-ter") they don't believe in the things I take for granted here in what I affectionately refer to as civilization.
Things like convenient gas stations, or service areas.. or ANYWHERE I can safely pull over to find somewhere to get rid of two large iced coffees that I rented this morning.. if you get my drift...

after driving 3.5 hours ( and finishing half the audio book) I finally got off the highway and into Easthampton, I needed to put more gas in the car ( I don't like driving on less than half a tank) and found a nice clean-ish gas station. I left there with a full tank and an empty one. yaaay. Then I promptly got lost. (Canada sends its love)
I drove around for the better part of a half hour before pulling into an empty parking lot and checking my directions from mapquest, and was about to call the store when I realized.. waitaminute.. I have a GPS enabled Cellphone
I probably could have thought of this a half hour ago. I might even have thought of it four hours ago and just programmed the damn thing from the start.. but I am a bear of very little brain. Stunning good looks, but very little brain.

I programmed the address into the phone, and it kept saying "you are too close to your destination" I'm thinking.. no.... if I were that close I'd be sitting in the parking lot. (wait for it) and I'm sitting in the parking lot of a newspaper (wait for it) facing (wait for it...) oh..the exact road I want. I find a store front marked "WEBS" and pull in. I'm the only one there, but since I was early for the event, I figured, no big, I'll just sit and work on a piece while I wait.. and wait.. and wait. I eventually looked up at the clock and said to myself "Self, this event was supposed to start ten minutes ago, where is everyone".
Yeah..did you know WEBS has a bead store? I didn't.
Did you know that bead store is literally fifty yards from a HUGE HONKIN WAREHOUSE also bearing the WEBS logo, that is, in fact, their yarn shop? I didn't. To be fair, I was facing the opposite direction..from every other car in the effing parking lot,and was busy working on my crochet. It's SO not my fault that I didn't notice EVERY OTHER CAR going DIRECTLY BEHIND me to the warehouse.
Shut up.
Finally met Mary Beth after signing in. Had a massive blast. She's just as lovely in person as she is at her podcast (which you can vote for at the CLF blog to win a 2011 Flamie for best podcast)

Me and MB

Now here's the part where I think I need to consult a medical professional..
I'm in a large warehouse full of yarn.. quite a bit of it discounted.
I DIDN'T BUY ANY!!!!!
not a single skein.
Didn't even want to....
I might need professional help..AAAAAAAAACK!

Double-stuffed..

ooh--Doublestuff!
Did you know Oreo cookies are vegan? I did :)

So, as promised, a double posting to make up for the one I missed last week:
Turns out it wasn't a tummy bug, it was my ulcer.. so I'm back on medication for that and feeling better thank you:
What's on my hooks? Im doing a Gathering Leaves shawl by Lily Go in some leftover cotton thread. I like how it's going and I think it'll turn out nicely. Might add another run of the pattern repeat if I don't like how it's growing.
Came up with this little fellow:

An Oodigurimi or Amigurimood.. take your pick. I'm s-l-o-w-l-y writing the pattern down. I don't have tech editors for my patterns so I write them up, then make them twice more using just the written instructions so I know they're idiot-proof ( because if I can do it, anyone can). If I run into a problem, I figure out where the instructions went wrong and fix them. So far I've re written the brain and the head four times. Oy vey.

I've also starting writing down jokes and comments for the 3rd Annual Crochet Liberation Front Awards, a.k.a the Flamies. Once again I'm honored to be asked to be the color commentary a la Joan Rivers..except of course I have less plastic surgery and more sequins. Since it IS going to be broadcast I have to keep everything PG 13 or cleaner.. so I'm editing now.. lots and lots of edits.. LOTS and LOTS of edits. I think I've redacted more material than McCarthy at this point. If you're so inclined, you can Hook the Vote here .

Per my previous post about babies and what kind of genetically engineered plumbing they have, I've now discovered what my cousin and his wife are having. A baby Boy..sweet! So this is what I'm making. ( to my cousins: NO PEEKING!!!) A big thank you to my Uncle Marty for finding out.. so does anyone want a slightly used Mission Impossible suspension harness..hm..well actually I can find another use for that...

I'm also going to be going to WEBS this coming Sunday to go see a bunch of Authors at a big event there. I'm really looking forward to meeting some people whom I've only ever talked to online. Especially Mary Beth Temple, author, Crochet Goddess and host of one of my favorite podcasts, Getting Loopy. If you haven't heard this podcast, Download it, it's awesome and very informational.

So maybe next week I'll have pictures from the event.. some new yarn to show off ( I will not go insane buying yarn at webs, I will not go insane buying yarn at webs.. I'm deluding myself, I'm deluding myself)

ugh!

Sorry.. no post this week.. I've been SEVERELY ill since Wednesday and instead of being a good Fibear and getting my Crochet Fu on I've been curled up on my bed whimpering and praying for death. Feeling slightly better now that I have passed on the G/I plague from hell onto other family members. Will make a bigger post for next week.
Image courtesy of A Doctor A Day

Finished stuff, semi finished stuff, bears, Bears, and tattoos.

The tunisian Firefly vest:
Translating it from a knit pattern into tunisian crochet, back is almost done, and I'm thinking of futzing with the front cable, I might do it as written, I probably wont, I really like the middle cably goodness

The Teddy Bear people get when they don't tell me the gender of their child you @#%^!@$ers!

and the reason why I'm going to take a quick break from crocheting for the next 48 hours

CLF Represent!!
Got it in honor of National Crochet Month!