The weather of the last few days has taken a turn for the chill, and the heat-loving sun-worshipping downright reptillian part of my soul, the part born in Egypt and Israel and Seychelles and California, the part that clings to tank tops and bikinis and sweat has been screaming in mortal terror. I am unquestionably a creature of the heat, though I can love the cold too with a little effort and a lot of layers. Still, my comfort zone has shifted indoors this weekend, which has the plus of increasing my crafting time. I'll get to the specifics of that in my next couple of posts, however. In this post, I want to address the slow yet sure results of my slow yet sure paring down of stuff and clutter. In particular, I went through my collection of sewing patterns today and picked out those which no longer interest me. I offer two of said patterns, both unused, to you:

P239

You can see the back of the envelope here.


2810

And the back for this one, here. First come, first served.

In other news, I hold in my chilly little paws a ticket to Rilo Kiley at the Ogden in Denver tomorrow. I am excited: I have a rather intimidating Gross Human Anatomy exam in the morning, and it'll be nice to let loose for a night befre plunging into studying for next week's General and Molecular Genetics exam. You know how it goes: no rest, wicked, yaddah yaddah.

Six
My inadvertent kitty-inspired no-unaccounted-for-money Stash Diet of Doom has led to the discovery of all sorts of interesting projects I forgot I was working on, and the formation of a lot of ideas for various leftovers and scraps. I am looking forward to a great many awesome FOs and an emptier, cleaner, better organized closet. This is a good thing.

Five
All of my recent tests, including the one I didn’t get to study for because of the Weekend of Sick Cat, have been B's or higher. I’d prefer higher, of course, but given the circumstances and considering that I have no issues with the homework and extra credit assignments it seems a good start to the semester. Now I’ve just got to cross my fingers for the exam I have at five pm tonight.

Four
I have an FO to show you. Yay for the first knitting FO of the blog! I will be posting this FO and such shortly after I mail out all standing etsy orders this morning. This is also a good thing. Furthermore, all orders received (and I think most of the first wave of orders have been received- I got them into the mailbox Saturday morning when the orders started pre-dawn on Friday) have given me positive feedback. It’s so very lovely to know people actually like the fruits of your creative labors.

Three
It was warm yesterday and should be warm again today. I am a creature of the heat, and winter (while great for skiing and warm knit things) has certainly been dragging on. It’s amazing the vigor that a single warm day injects into my mood.

Two
In my recent search for ways to pass on some kindness, I’ve discovered a local cat rescue group who’s put out the call for crafters to craft both items for the cats and items to sell to raise money for the cats. Now that’s something I don’t have to wait for my finances to recover to do! I’ve also discovered a local wildlife rescue group with a donation-run gift store and a few other similar opportunities that allow me to work from the materials I have.

One

Enough said. I've been updating this post with Tigger-news, since that's the post I've managed to link most of the people who have helped me to.

* * * *

Writing this little list made me wonder what little things make other people’s days good, and gave me an idea to try and make said days even better. Behold, the first Corvus tristis stashbusting give-a-way! (Told you I was getting cool ideas for my stash.)

I’m not sure if I have enough readers to do this,and am perfectly prepared to have zero responses. This will not stop me from putting the offer out there. Optimistic and determined, remember?

See, I’ve been going through my stash recently, and have realized just how much cool bric-a-brac I’ve stashed away. Not only do I have beads and findings and yarn and fabric, but I collect random little things that I think I can turn into something –game pieces, buttons, dice, vintage bottle caps, micro machines (so awesome), charms, rocks, etc. I’m going to put together three little bags of such beads and bric-a-brac and give them to three random commenters who tell me why their day is good. I’m really not sure I have enough readers to do this: for all I know less than three people read me regularly (I should really install some kind of counter). Ergo, if anyone reading this does know other people who would be interested, feel free to send ‘em over. Participation worries aside, it’s something fun and good that I can do so I’m going to try anyway.

So. Comment. Tell me why today is good. Win random stuff to inspire creativity. I'm going to keep yarn, fabric and paper stuff out of it this time, but I hope to do this again. Let’s set a tentative deadline for a week from today for entries, and the end of today for me to get bric-a-brac bags together and take some pictures of them. Go go go!

ETA: Bric-a-brac bags!