This is a big deal folks! An unbelievably cool event is letting US have a booth, whaaaaaat?! Amy Kate will be there representing. If you are in the area, you need to go to this real bad. This is one of those things that is fun for the whole family, if you should feel the need to take them with you. Read more about the event at their website, here: http://makerfaire.com/detroit/2010/

Join us this Saturday during the South Park Walkabout for “Craftabout at the Walkabout!” Sam, the kind owner of Whistle Stop Bar, is a big supporter of us crafty types and is letting us set up in front of the bar from 6-9pm. There will be about 10 different vendors selling items ranging from pet accessories to jewelry to baby items to…well, lots more!

Come say hello and show your support by getting a drink at the bar (I know, I’ll have to really twist your arm) then wander around South Park and check out all the fantastic local businesses we have, many of whom will be offering specials and sales that night.

Go to this website to learn more about the walkabout and the neighborhood of South Park: southparkscene.com

And check out the happenings Whistle Stop Bar while you are at it…

For those of you with arty aspirations, check out my friend Brooke’s website at fireandflowers.com. Not only does she have lots of good project ideas, but she is now teaching classes so you don’t have to figure out how to do these things on your own. She has classes for both kids and adults covering a variety of projects. I’m totally blown away by her creativity and talent, it’s very inspiring!

My friend Laura recently started making sock monkeys, and their darling little faces made me want to write a haiku in their honor:

Monkeyface cuteness
socks too sweet to put in shoes
have a banana

Get your own monkey at Laura’s etsy store by clicking here!

When my nephew Shane was born, I knitted him a teddy bear using Blue Sky Alpaca’s Baby Bobbi Bear pattern.  He’s five now, and this year he got really into stuffed animals. The bear became one of his favorites; he calls it “Cuddly Bear” and takes it everywhere, which is just all kinds of awesome. However, the poor thing has been loved hard and is pretty worn out. I told him I’d make him another, and this time I’d make it fatter and more cuddly, since he uses it as a pillow so often. His sister Paige told me to make her one, too, in purple. I was scared it would look like a Grateful Dead bear but it came out pretty cute. Here’s the final product:

And the happy recipients:

It’s a really good pattern, and much easier than you would think. The hardest part is dealing with four double-point needles at once, but if you aren’t clumsy like me than it’s not hard at all!

Not what you want to see a few doors down from your hotel room:

Okay, now this might sound like yet another justification, but I HAD to buy a new New Machine. The old New machine went haunted. For real.

I hear a noise. I go down into the basement to see what’s up. The sewing machine is like, “Oh, what’s up you? Just down here sewing some invisible stuff while you watch Office reruns.”

It has obviously been sewing on it’s own down there for quite awhile, because its light was glowing an exhausted yellow orange and there was a wad of bobbin thread the size of a marble under the plate. The needle had said “hellz naw” a long time ago and along with the pin that tightens it, had worked itself loose and made it as far as the floor beneath the sewing table before I intervened.

I know what you are thinking, and I did indeed check for industrious singing mice and elves hungry to be paid in first born children. Nada. All I had was one haunted machine in the midst of a major crisis.

So I was pretty much screwed at this point. It’s my main machine. I have loaned out the old Old Machine to someone else, all I have is this lunatic; unreliable at best and possessed by demons at worst. Maker Faire is looming at the end of July, I can’t put this thing in the shop and there’s no getting Stephen King’s ass on the line when you have a demon possessed piece of machinery.

And then I saw it. IT. This gorgeous piece of aqua steel, refurbished by a very nice French Canadian man in Québec. Angels purred. Milk turned to honey turned to wine turned to Newcastle. Fireworks went off in parts my brain that are only dimly lit by 2 watt bulbs any other time. I had to have it. Look at it….I don’t really think I need to explain. At least if this beautiful thing goes haunted there’s a pretty good chance that it’s haunted by some kick ass lady in kid gloves and pill box hat, who is just basically coming back to let me know it’s really not ladylike to sew skulls onto handbags.

I’m thinking being haunted by whoever owned something this amazing, is going to result in some pretty cool stuff. At least until the next new machine comes along.

According to the Sent box on my phone, several of my friends got this around 2 am this morning:

“Crap, I just fought a tree because this dick-head bird was being an asshole. Guess I won’t win the ‘sober person of the year award.’ “

And that, kids, is why drinking and texting do not mix. That bird was really being a fucktard though.

Well, it’s finally here. Tonight ABC will air the last-ever new episode of Lost. I have seriously mixed feelings about this; six years is a long time to be in a relationship, and I just don’t know how to feel about it coming to an end. Part of me is relieved to finally be getting out of something that was only fulfilling some of my needs and this clean break will force me to move on with my life. We’ve had the kind of relationship of which Lifetime Original Movies are born- passionate, angry, loving, deceitful.  Sometimes it worked and sometimes I felt it just wasn’t right for me. When we came together in 2004, my devotion was unwavering and well-earned on Lost’s part… then a few years later I was bored, frustrated, sure we were going nowhere and I almost broke it off.  Before I could, Lost turned his act around and brought the spark back to our relationship, bringing me surprises and joy, and yes, a bit of pain, like we had when we first got together. I didn’t know what Lost was going to give me each week and the anticipation kept me interested, big time. Now I’m mostly scared that our ending will be a disappointment, and that I’ll have to try to move on with so many questions unanswered. All I hope is that Amy Kate is wrong and that the whole saga does not turn out to have taken place on the back of a sea turtle.

On a related topic, I was searching the job listings online today and found this:

Wanted! Enigmatic visionary to take over guardianship of large island. Must know how to lead through vague messages, inappropriate touching and complicated use of lighthouse mirrors. Candidates must not be allergic to Black Smoke, immortality, polar bear dander, or corrupt humanity. Should have experience in weaving, donkey wheel maintenance and manipulating managing difficult personalities. Extreme Mommy and/or Daddy issues a plus. Free lunch of mango and wild boar will be provided daily. Contact Jacob for more information at 481-516-2342.