What’s the difference between an artist and a craftsperson? A craftsperson gets paid *before* they die.

I’ve been busy of late, as I’m sure is obvious from my lack of posts. Sometimes it’s difficult to post because every minute my hands are on the keyboard means my hands are NOT on my crochet hook. I just recently finished up an entry for Threadknits (more on this later) that I hope will do well. Currently I’m working on a Seth and an Anubis from Egyptian mythology, also a commission based on Anubis. This weekend I hope to finish up Pyramid Head’s knife (yes, the never-ending commission Pyramid Head), slap some red paint on him and his “victim”, take pictures and get him off to his new happy home.

I’ve decided to start getting up at 7AM in the hopes of getting more done. No more lazy mornings, no more snooze button — all an attempt to get more done and finish some commissions that need doing. Hopefully some pictures soon.

Also, I’ve updated my etsy shop with a lot of dolls that I’ve wanted to sell. Give it a look, if you will.

I woke up this morning at 7:15, falling face first out of a nightmare that was so long and felt so real that I could have marketed it as a feature length film. Then I woke up the husband, who brought me meds and drink and stayed up with me and calmed me. That’s why he’s the husband.

So we watched Silent Hill on a Halloween afternoon, as you do, and I worked on Pyramid Head’s… er, head. I thought the front part would have to be reworked, but looking at the screen captures I have from the DVD and the “making of” videos on it, I think I’m pretty close. The back of the head needs to be longer, though, and may need to be weighted. The point of the front of the head throws off his center of gravity and makes him want to bend at the waist instead of stand upright. Nonetheless, I can work something out. Trust the Dollmaker.

Finally I had to stop with Pyramid Head due to lack of Heather Gray yarn; now I’m working on a personal project with the Rainbow Boucle. It’s a delight to work with, but it always makes me feel like I need a manicure to do anything to it. It catches on every single little bump or rough spot on nail or skin.

So now we’re watching the Batman marathon on one of the Family channels; so far I’ve been surprised that they’ve not bleeped anything but “p*ssy”. We’re into Batman Returns and lately it’s been my hobby to look up the imdb trivia page for anything we’re watching. One of the trivia items is that a scene at the end of this movie (no OMG SPOILERS here) was filled long after the rest of the movie and shortly before the premiere, in a great hurry and at great cost — over $250,000.

It’s also been my hobby lately to take the excesses of others and translate it into my own life terms. The husband and I do pretty well on ~2K a month (or less, depending on how sick I’ve been), so the cost of that scene would have kept me and him fed with a roof over our heads for 125 months, or 10 years and 5 months. Fun, eh? A 15 second scene, and a decade of happy married life…

Apropos of nothing, I can’t seem to stop glutenating myself lately. First with the medication, then with the yogurt, and today apparently with cheap pepperoni that was probably cross-contaminated. Yay, hot and cold flashes and stomach pain! Thanks also to the nice male nurse who treated me, who wrote in my chart that I should go to the BRAT diet: Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast. Never mind the fact that I’m outright allergic/intolerant to two options on that list, and a third will cause me issues due to the high fructose… Fantastic.

Anyhoo, that’s it for tonight. May try to go to the store tomorrow, get more yarn, keep trying. I missed Finished Object Friday due to abject depression and apathy caused by profound glutening; I’ll post some FO’s soonish. Promise.

P.S. I’m inflicting this fun little video on you, my friends, because it’s stuck in MY head and I want it in yours too.

I can sit in the bathroom alone. I’m not forced to answer any calls (although occasionally I do use my cellphone; yes, I’m one of THOSE people); I am not faced with any questions. I can read a book or listen to my mp3 player. Sometimes I’ll spend most or all of my break in there, happy to be behind a locked door. Far away from those that would say “Vox, I know you’re on lunch/break/etc, but I just have one more question…” A good-sized portion of my day is troubleshooting other people’s calls, fixing problems above and beyond those that run down my phone extension. For the most part I don’t mind, really. It makes me feel like I’m helping people, even when it gets a bit demanding.

But behind the door, I can escape the troubleshooting.

Sometimes when lunch comes around I just can’t take it anymore; I rush out the door to my car, drive down to the grocery store, grab something to nosh, drive back to the RealJob(TM) and sit in the parking lot with the windows down. I listen to the wind, and to my mp3 player (on it’s lil stereo speaker), and I eat and drink, and I read, and I relax.

I love my car. It’s driven me away from some truly awful things, and driven me to some absolutely magical things. It also has leather interior; an option that I personally feel the gods invented as a gift to man. I feel no guilt about loving leather — if I could have, I would have followed my Native American blood and eaten the cow and made other crafts out of its parts, too.

I’ve finished up another crocheted quilt square, this one with the “Bear Claw” pattern, and I’m about 85% done with Reno from Final Fantasy 7 — got to finish eyes, hair, and goggles. I’m hoping to have him done for tomorrow’s Finished Object Friday. I’m about 60-70% done with Pyramid Head; I hope to have him finished up for next Friday. The SOMETHINGINCRECIBLYPINK is on it’s way; I’ve found yarn for the hair, so now I need to finish the wings and put it all together.

I scrapped my Halloween plans for the weekend (my costume will keep until next year) and so I intend to spend as many hours as I can sacked out on the couch in my bathrobe crocheting like a fiend.

Yesterday was a bit more exciting. I think I like Cherrycola Red Heart Yarn. I think I like, MORE THAN like it. I think I’m in love with it. So I’m working on an afghan with it. Only problem is, I only had 3 skeins of it and I needed more like another 15 or so.

So the husband and I went on The Great American Yarn Hunt. We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid –

Sorry, I spaced there for a minute and thought I was going to Vegas. We didn’t actually have any of that. But what we had was a rabid desire to find Cherrycola.

We went to:
1 Walmart
2 Michaels
1 Hobby Lobby
1 Joann’s

And at Joann’s we hit the jackpot. Not only did we find Cherrycola… not only did we find 15 skeins of it… it was ON SALE. Usually I don’t like Joann’s because their selection of yarn (at least, the location in my area) is not the most choice, but this time they did right by us.

Now that’s gonzo. *grins*

Also at Joann’s I got a skein of Williamsburg Print (also Red Heart) and 4 skeins of Sensations Rainbow Boucle in Red Print.

Now, working with the Rainbow Boucle, I can tell you that the yarn itself is a dream. It goes along just fine with my trusty I-hook, it’s softer than unicorn farts (which are pretty darn soft, take my word for it) and all in all just a total delight to crochet… UNTIL IT KNOTS.

Because of all the little boucles (I assume that’s what they’re called), it ties itself into little knots due to the terrible friction deep in the heart of a yarn skein. And you have to GENTLY ease them apart or the whole thread just breaks. Luckily I’ve only had this happen once; I have a way with yarn.

Sooooooo… projects for this next week:

Finish up Pyramid Head from Silent Hill
Finish Reno from Final Fantasy 7
Finish up something INCREDIBLYFREAKINGPINK.

Then take some pictures and ship some things out. Oh, and that whole RealJob(tm) thing I’ve got to do until I can buy my own yarn shop.

I’ve also done a lot of work on a character from Deathnote, Matt. All he needs now are some finishing touches on his jacket, his glasses, and his gloves. Then he’ll be ready to ship off to the commissioner.

Next, I’ll be finishing up a Pyramid Head doll (from the movie Silent Hill) and a random VERYPINK Fairy Godmother, and so on from there.

My darling husband/webmaster took a TON of pictures last night of some new dolls: my Spider Jerusalem, the crocheted Bowel Disruptor I carried to Dragon*Con, the Dark Queen and Dark Rook from the Fantasy Chess Set I’m developing (you know, in my COPIOUS spare time…), and the Sephiroth I just completed.

I hope to post some pictures of my work soon, and also post more serious content soon. I thought I would have time to develop it, but between work at the RealJob(tm) and various dramas occurring in my sphere I’m lucky to just get the chance to indulge my fixpick up my crochet work every now and again.

Apropos of nothing, I think I’ve lost yet another pair of scissors in my couch. I do most of my work on my couch (since I don’t have a spare room yet for the huge stash of art supplies that owns me), and every week or so I’m losing hooks or other tools down in the cushions. At least this time it wasn’t the Titanium-Coated Shears of Doom.

More on them and everything else later; time to get ready to go to that RealJob(tm) I was talking about…