Giving a little back...

This time of year makes my brain start thinking about charity. I always try to do little things to give back year round. I donate clothing to my local non-profit instead of tossing it in the trash (people don't do that, there's always somewhere local that will take things!) and when we use them, I also donate my soda cans to the same place (because they get them crushed for money.)

Sometimes I'll randomly give a dollar or two to some foundation, but it really takes cold weather and the holiday season each year before I start thinking harder about giving back.

Every year the above mentioned local non-profit organization, Appalachian Outreach, (which just happens to be a branch out of my alma mater) does a Coats for the Cold drive here locally. I always try to give something, or at least help out with collecting coats and accessories from other people. This year, I just happen to be downsizing in my Etsy shop and I've got bunches of hand-crafted scarves and hats that haven't found happy homes. So I'm making a box full and taking them down to AO to be part of the Coats for the Cold drive next week.

I highly encourage everyone to find out if there's a local Coats for the Cold drive in your area any time in the next few weeks, and if there is, to find something that you could donate for the good of others this winter. Or do something to give back. I'm a pretty big fan of Toys for Tots too, and I try to do that every year, or another local toy drive. Even if it's just something little, it makes a big difference to people who maybe can't afford a new coat, or scarves and hats for that matter, or kids who aren't going to have a great Christmas for whatever reason.

So, go and give a little back! Right now! :)

I keep on fallin'...

IN LOVE!

Have you heard of Pandora yet? It makes my heart sing! It's Internet radio, and not just random Internet radio either, but customizable radio! You enter an artist, or a song, and it compiles a streaming radio station based on music from that artist and other similar artists.

You can't pick a specific song and start with it, nor can you browse the list once it starts, it just streams. You can tell Pandora if you like or dislike an artist or song as it streams into your playlist, and it remembers and builds your list based on that.

And the best part?

It's totally free!

Pandora gives you 40 free hours to listen each month, and you can make lots of different lists too! If you go over the 40 hours, you have the option of paying 99 cents for the rest of the month unlimited, or you can subscribe to a more advanced service that has more services and unlimited listening.

I really like how it's helped me discover several new artists just based on one artist that I like, Anya Marina, who rocks my socks off. :) This is an Imeem playlist, since one thing Pandora doesn't do is let you compile and post specific lists, I had to use another site.

Some of the songs are only 30 second clips but you can listen to the whole song on the Imeem website. If you look in the top of the box (next to the artist photo on the right side) while listening to a 30 clip you'll see a ? and you can click it to go through to Imeem to listen to the full song, and you should be able to do that without an Imeem account. Enjoy, and go check out Pandora!

Pandoras Box

Fall Scarf Fun!

The weather lately has been wonderfully cool, finally! It snowed in Colorado a few weeks ago!!! (right after I got back from there, of course *frown*)

Cool weather makes me start dreaming of pulling out the long sleeves, coats, sweaters, and scarves. I've been rearranging my Etsy shop lately to showcase some of my favorite fall designs. Here are a few of my favorite fall friendly scarves. There's a ton more where these come from, so check me out! :)

White Chocolate, $18

Mardi Gras, $30

Cirque, $25

Adventures of the Traveling Scarf!

As I've mentioned before, I spend a lot of my time over at the HPKCHC (Go Slytherin!). Well, this glorious idea came about to start a round robin type traveling scarf group, and it was so overwhelming received that it got its own Ravelry Group.

There are about 50 people in four different groups currently making scarves. I'm just blown away by how neat of an idea this actually is. I didn't take a picture of my square (because I'm a bit of an idiot sometimes, really) but I've requested one from Australia where my scarf currently is. Yep, Australia! Isn't that the coolest?

By the time my scarf arrives at me again, it will have visisted several spots in Australia, England, and have taken a scenic tour of these United States. There are 12 of us total in each scarf group.

I only recently got the first scarf from the person above me on the list (she's in New Hampshire). We each add our own yarn and pattern/stitch of our choice to each scarf, following some basic rules set by the owner of the end scarf. I really hope she's not out there somewhere, about to read my blog, because I'm about to post a picture of her scarf on it. :)

waits to make sure....

Okay then. Her starter piece was this nice little knitted cable section, sooo soft and pretty. I started on the same end as her cast on and did a nice little front post/back post ribbed section in a pretty green. Even though I can knit, I'm not planning on knitting on anyone's scarves unless they want knitting only, as I'm not very good at anything except basic stockinette just yet.

I feel really special to be taking part in something so cool, and I'm going to share pictures of the scarves as I get them and work on them.  I'm hoping I can still get a picture of my original starter from Australia without anything else on it yet (I want my scarf to be a surprise) and I'll post that too. So, that's me, how are you?

The pics of knitted glory...

Or not knitted glory. But there are pictures, nonetheless.

What Knitting's Taught Me Thus Far...

I finished my first knitting project last night, and I'm so excited!

I've crocheted forever, but knitting is something quite new to me, and quite hard actually. I had tried to learn several times before, but it wasn't until my trip to Denver that I finally got someone (Kristen) who understood me well enough to get how to teach me.

I'm still terribly excited that I completed a project without having a breakdown or throwing the needles. The only thing I've ever managed to knit before this is a swatch, and even that usually resulted in the needles being thrown across the room.

I'll be posting some pictures in a few days, but in the meantime, in honor of learning a few things along the way with this piece, I'd like to share those things, in hopes that they might help others.

• Unlike crochet, the number of starting stitches you cast on does not directly relate to the width of your piece.
• Related to the above point, casting on 40 on 15s is *way* too wide for a scarf
• Watching television while knitting can sometimes lead to disaster, and the forced repeat of several rows due to error.
• A russian join is a good way to connect two balls of yarn together, but it doesn't work very well when you're doing something open, or using 15s. Or when you aren't really good at it.

Denver Wanderings

I can't believe I waited an entire month before I blogged any about Denver! I had such an awesome experience out there with Man and Kristen, and I blogged on the Owls Blog about some of our crafty adventures. It involves whore cups and penguin stamps, and is definitely a worthy read.

Rather than repeat that all here, I'd like to put up a few different photos. You can see my entire album on Facebook.

I really enjoyed the scenic vistas out at Red Rocks and of course took a bunch of pictures out there. They were getting ready for a concert, so we couldn't actually see the ampitheatre itself, but we still got very close, closer than this actually but I just love this picture.

Downtown Denver. I just love buildings, and isn't this a beautiful sky??

Me playing with black and white photos and angle. This was a really cool street near where Man lives. It's got lots of cute little shops on it.

My Geek Dream's Coming True...

What is my geek dream, you might ask?

Let's just say it has something to do with Hogwarts. And by 'something to do with', I mean GO. Love. Hug daily.

And now...Universal Studios is going to bring that dream to life for so very many of us, coming to a theme park near you Spring 2010.

I Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts.

Must...Go...Hogwarts. I just like the idea of the whole little section of the park being devoted to Harry Potterdom. The article above says that all of the restaurants and everything in that area are going to be Potter themed, it's very exciting.

Something Every Day...

It's going to be something every single day, guaranteed, going forward. Starting...

NOW.



It might not be exciting, but it's something. Isn't it funny?

And Now I Present Yee...

Beware, the fandom's weakening...

A New Goal...

I'm just so horrid at updating this blog, and I hate it. My blog is like this constant nagging child, screaming for attention, and I'm just not any good at updating it.

So.

Since we're transitioning into the fall, I'm going to make it my goal to update my blog once a week minimum. And the posts will actually have to be interesting. *scary, i know*

I'm setting fall Etsy shop crafting goals and coming up on a new term at the HPKCHC on Ravelry, so there will be things to blog about. Honest. ;)

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in 15 m!

YAY! Cleolinda's done it again! God, how I love her...

I present to you, HBP in 15 minutes!

**Warning: Swear words, extreme movie spoilers, and moments guaranteed to make you giggle loudly are included***

More Musical Fun...

I recently saw Movits on the Colbert Report, and fell in love! They are this awesome blend of irony, a Swedish swing rap band! And they are amazing!

So, imagine my happiness when their album Äppelknyckarjazz popped up on iTunes' New Music Tuesday today! Yay! I didn't buy the whole album, but got the song i had heard on Colbert, Fel Del Av Gården and made this playlist so I can listed to the rest of the album to pick my favorites. Thanks to Imeem, I can stream the whole thing to see what I like and what I don't. listen! Love!

(You might have to click through to Imeem to listen to the full songs...)


Äppelknyckarjazz

Team ESST's August Weekend Shopping Extravaganza!

My supply shop, PiratesDreamofPearls (that I share with PresentsforPirates and KnitandPearl ) is a member of teamESST, or the Etsy Supply Street Team. They have these awesome Weekend Shopping Extravaganzas, and they have one this month! Come check it out for some great specials! Click 'this month' for the official Promo Thread on Etsy.

Here's some info from the TeamESST blog:

ALL ETSY SHOPS - HANDMADE, SUPPLIES AND VINTAGE - are invited to participate by placing an announcement in your shop and joining in with promoting on the "Official" Promotional thread in the Etsy Forums. This will be a “Shopping Event” similar to a Public Marketplace. There will not be a "Overall theme" since Etsy is a Global Marketplace hence, the seasons, cultures, holidays, etc. can vary quite a bit. Although not required, we do strongly encourage shops to have a feature, theme or sale as this can pique interest and help you to draw people to your shop. You do not have to participate for the whole weekend simply join in when you can on the Promo thread in the Etsy Forums.

My sale is 50% off Storewide! And US buyers who spend $25 after discounts get free US shipping. Yep, yep! Come check it out! I'll be adding new items all weekend!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade suenosdejmi.etsy.com

Get Moving...

Muevete!


One thing I really can't ever get enough of is any kind of music with a good beat. I like other music too, but if a song has a great rhythm, I'm hooked---doesn't matter if it's pop, hip-hop, or in another language, if you can move to it, I'm with it. :)

Have a Laugh On Me, sorta...

A very funny Stewart/Colbert moment. How I do love the moments like these...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Daily/Colbert - Universal Health Care
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

*Testing: 1, 2, 3...

I'm working on some videos for the Trunk Show. I started this one a while back using Picasa, but stopped it when I realized the quality might have issues. So I got frustrated (naturally), then IckyDogCreations had some of hers on her blog, and taught me how to do the Picasa videos through Blogger, and when they show up they show up a lot better! This is me working on testing them. Whatcha think?

Warning: these have music!

The above video is my original edit, and this one is me going back in and doing some editing.

Love, Alisa :)

This week's showcased Owls member in our little HPC (hooters promo club!) is lovealisa. Alisa's one of my favorite Etsians, and I like to think that she would be even if she wasn't an Owlie. She's always had cute items, but recently she's went through this big shop overhaul and has started making adorable clutches and relaunched her jewelry line as well.

A part of her overhaul was new graphics and a new approach to photo taking. She shared a lightbox tutorial with us on the Owls blog, and it's definitely on my list to make one of these for myself! I mean, look at these results!!!

Check her out over on the left with her Etsy mini, or just click through here:

Happy Birthday to...

Me! And Frida Kahlo! And George W Bush

I'm enjoying a nice slow birthday at home, had a birthday lunch, and launched the new Etsy Owls Challenge. I haven't entered a challenge for the team since Valentine's Day, so I was excited to actually enter this one. Come on, it's Frida! I can't miss Frida! This little gal is my entry:

I had a lot of fun making her, and I think she's in great company with some of the *awesome* entries that the Owls and Spanglish team had to offer.

Now I'm off to crochet. :) Go vote for me! :) (click that awesome entries text above to see the blog!)

I have a Facebook Fan page!

I'm not sure why, but sure enough, I have one!

Now I know this is exciting news, and I really hope that I can use it as yet another promotional tool ( Twitter, anyone? ). I've managed to get some photos uploaded, and the next step is getting people to fan me, right?

So what are you waiting for???

Also, while you're clicking some fan love, be sure to check out my friend Squarejane (of whom I have fan page envy) and also our Etsy Owls Team fan page.