I suppose I should start by saying, "Hello. My name is Jennifer, and I am a GEEK!"
The yarny website I spend FAR too much time on, Ravelry, has groups of crafters from all over the world, of all levels of ability, all gathered together to share our crafts. Last year, I joined a group of folks who love Vanna's Choice yarns - they do swaps, KAL/CALs, and all things fun. I've been making my two blocks for each of the two CALs that I've joined - yes, that's FOUR blocks a month. Lately:
So - as if that wasn't bad enough - I've found an even GEEKIER, NERDIER FUNNER group of crazy people
on Ravelry. The Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup (HPKCHC)! They have "terms" (like the school year for HP) and competitions (i.e. "1000 points to Ravenclaw for that outstanding scarf!") and houses (the regular four) and sortings (I'm not sorted yet - SOON though, I hope!! I'm Ravenclaw through & through, fingers crossed that's where the Hat puts me!). Yes. Total Geek Out! I love it. I get POINTS for stuff I'm going to do anyway! (Okay - okay - imaginary points that don't mean anything, but POINTS!) And we get BADGES for doing different tasks. The last term was January through March. April is an between-term month, then "classes" start again in May. There have been different challenges in April - like getting your "favorites" list in order, clearing out your "Queue." This is my Badge for "The Fearless March" - I had to summarize my crafting over the last 3 months and propose my upcoming projects. Yay Nerdy Jenn! (Yes, that's Neville Longbottom on the badge).
I told Jes about it & she just shook her head. Must be hard to have a mom so totally given over to the Nerd-Side. But Damn! it makes me smile!
And in other news, something else that's had me smiling and grinning and even laughing quite a bit this week: taking care of Hank, my granddog, while Jes & E are vacationing. It's just impossible not to grin while getting puppy kisses - to laugh when he bounces up and down to be held.
So those parts of my life are doing well - my crafting & puppy loving. If only I didn't have to waste so much time at work!
Here is the 9" version that I'm mailing to an online friend in Michigan. People in our VCGroup are making blocks in the "sock monkey color palette" & sending them to her - then she is going to join them into a blanket for her friend who is battling cancer.
This pattern is called "Double Framed Lace" that I made for the Big Toes Swap in the VC Group. We called this swap "Big Toes" because that's usually a criteria in other swaps, that there can be no holes big enough to get your Big Toe through. Highly technical measuring device, there. 
