I've been a bit naughty.

Instead of working on my last final paper (and again asking myself, why are you an English major? and then being slightly cheered by the fact that creative writing people only have to take 3 upper-division lit. classes) and preparing stuff for the house I'm living in next year, I went shopping.

First stop was Borders, because they give me more coupons and better sales than B&N. And the people there are helpful and nice. I will refrain from ranting about B&N's customer service. I bought Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid by Lemony Snicket, which isn't exactly crafty but writing counts too, and I love Daniel Handler. I read my mom "There are some people who say home is where one hangs one's hat, but these people tend to live in closets on little pegs," and then I had to explain it to her. Oh dear. Nothing he says is profound, but I think he has an amazing ability to describe emotions and interactions honestly and in such a way that you feel exactly what he is talking about. I'm sure there is a word for that last part, but lately my recall has been impaired. I then browsed the craft section and decided I need Knitting Lingerie Style. Sehr sehr schön. (Hey, I don't know French, so lemme use German, k?) It's mostly things one would wear in public, inspired by pretty underthings.

Then I went to my LYS, the Happy Cat, and spent $50, on top of not getting any of the yarn I came for. What I did get called out to very core of my yarn soul, so I had to get it.

Lovely sock yarn from SWTC--a blend of wool, soysilk, cotton, and chitin, which is made from crab and shrimp shells and is anti-bacterial. I had to get this for many reasons. It's enough for two socks, it's sooo pretty, it feels delicious, and I get to say I have yarn made from crabs.

3 hanks of artful yarns serenade, which is 70% cotton and 30% angora, and is just yummy. The pink is a bit brighter than the photo, and the green is quite bright. There was a whole pile of hanks of this on a table, and I could not resist. Plus they wound it into adorable little balls for me. I'm going to make a sexy little summer tank out of it, something that screams "touch me!" It does seem that I can't multiply in my head, so I think I need to go back for another hank tomorrow. I'm going to use my best friend's method of paying cash so it's like the purchase never happened. In the mean time, I've been on the hunt for a suitable pattern, and discovered that lace tops tend to show off the nips. Have a gander:







I do like that first one though. What I really love is this:

The only problem is it has no bust shaping, which I clearly need. I finished the front of Cupcake from SnB crochet the other day, and you can see I just had to do a wee bit:

Photobucket is being mean and won't let me rotate it. Anyway, the sides are supposed to be straight. I pinned it to the back and tried it on, and it has killer bra of doom straps. Hopefully once I add the sleeves and shell stitch edging, that will go away.

In other crafting instead of working news, I finished Dogmar's "formal" collar today.

It's very simple, just nylon webbing, D ring, plastic snap buckle, and cheap faux crystal trim. I did the construction by machine, and stitched the trim by hand. Hopefully now Dogmar won't be mistaken for a boy all the time. Her "casual" collar is pink and green, but it doesn't seem to help. I guess pit bulls just look like boys. I'm putting it on her tomorrow, and I hope the massive buckle I used doesn't bother her. She has almost no fur on her chest, belly, and insides of her legs, and she has a little bald patch on her neck from the collar she had at the shelter which hasn't grown back yet. The vet said she was either just naturally naked, or still stressed from all the recent getting adopted and returned crap she's been through. I used a small, smooth buckle for the first collar I made her, which she recently snapped with a good lunge towards her bathroom spot. (Somebody always waits until the absolute last second to ask to go out.) Normally she gets walked on a harness, but I wanted a sturdier collar for quick trips to the bathroom / in case she gets loose.

That was a bit excessive, but I'm done now, and I should really get to bed.