Results.

Three out of four pics of the Halloween hat made it into the item listing (and no, the main pic is not the one at left). Thank you, everyone who voted!

Oh, the other thing that happened as a result of this listing is that I finally decided on a permanent name for the glass head that serves as my excellent hat model: Heidi! (The foam skull's name is Yorick, obviously.)

Help with the Halloween hat.

Sooooo many good pictures of the Halloween hat that I cannot decide which four or five to pick for an Etsy listing. Literally, I've narrowed it down to the 43 best (no, of course I'm not going to make you look at all 43). I especially need help picking the photo that will serve as the "main" photo in my listing. Keep in mind that I want this hat to be chosen for Treasuries and/or bought up long before Halloween. Which one do you like best, from the ones below? Please leave a comment, specifying 1, 2, 3, or 4 (the numbers are in the upper left corner of each photo). I appreciate your help!

One of the many reasons to love Team S.N.E.A.K.:

The possibility of new, fun avatars every Monday and Thursday (attack days). Yes, we sometimes have an avatar theme, as specified by the person who's that day's sponsor. Here are a few of mine:

I know - you love it and you want to know more; click here.

This hat's off to a fundraiser!

I'm donating my Hopeful Hat (remember, the one I started knitting while working at the Obama campaign staging area on Election Day?) to the Dog Day Afternoon silent auction basket full of INCrowdteam goodies, with proceeds benefitting the Humane Society of Hamilton County. I guess that gives the hat's name a whole new connotation! So, if you want it, you're gonna have to go bid on it on September 13!

Special thanks to my teammate Dragoncat, who not only made me aware of the INCrowdteam in the first place, but is also coordinating this donation basket!

You know you want them.

Too bad - these earrings are mine! But you can get your own pair by proceeding immediately to the shop of my fellow S.N.E.A.K. Attacker, laruefashions.

I'm in love with the trumpet flower beads, I tell ya! At least now I know what my ears will be wearing to Kathy Griffin tonight!

Wow!

Okay, so while I was making my Treasury a little while ago, someone else - editionbw - was putting one of my knit scarves in his Treasury! Talk about clever (be sure to read his comment, which is right below the last row of pictures)! Love it!

As you can imagine, I am thrilled to pieces, thanks to Benjamin from Toronto!

the PLEASURES of PLEATHER!

My new Treasury (alternates, too)!

It's magic!

This is 70% cotswold, 30% alpaca handspun yarn. The brown is natural alpaca color, and the green is acid-dyed. Purchased from Blumzieluxuryyarns during a S.N.E.A.K. Attack. The color, appropriately, is called Andes Mint.

This is a neckwarmer I made with the yarn. Do you like it? Is the photo weird? Can you tell what the hell it is in the photo?

Lots going on!

I'm an official S.N.E.A.K.er (see lovely little shoe on the left for link)! So, to celebrate, I made a team Treasury West, especially since there's a Sneak Attack tonight - it's soooo fun, and a way to totally make the day of other shops with few sales!

You think I'm done, don'tcha? Nope - there's a handmade soap giveaway on the Sneak Team blog, along with a wonderful interview of my teammate Marlene. Go enter! Or maybe not, since I really want to win. That's right, you never read this blog post, and you hate beautiful, luxurious, high-quality handmade soaps and lotions.

Shhh, don't tell...

...but the color combo for my latest Treasury West came to me when I was taking my car through a car wash last week! Their soaps are pink and blue, and I love it when they mix together!

Thank goodness my various teams and pals had items that fit my concept! Alternates will be subbed in as items sell - so go buy somethin'!

Birdy fun!

Guess what? Tonight my first Interstate Interview posted on the INCrowdteam blog! I'm pretty excited, and I think it came out really well because I picked someone I "know" from lj to interview. I got my childhood best friend's mom one of their birdhouse ornaments for Christmas, and she's still talking about it! Wait a minute, let me add a picture of one of their birdhouses, and you'll see why. Cute, huh? Yeah, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Hang on, now; before you go running off to shop at Times And Chimes, go read the interview!

There can never be enough flip-flops in my world!

Part of the fun of being a new member of the Etsy Bloggers Team is that we have regular activities, such as blogging about a different Featured member each month! At first I thought to myself, "Oh, crap, I hope I don't do this wrong..." and then I clicked on her shop and clapped and almost squealed with glee. Those of you who know me know how I love a fun flip-flop notion, so imagine my delight at discovering those flip-flop guest books and scrapbooks! Cute, no? Oh, and, as our team name suggests, she's also a blogger, so you should definitely pop by and say hello. It's good to meet new people!

John Hughes Tribute Treasury West

Click and show the love.

John Hughes.

Rest in peace.

And thank you.

My Knit Madness is even more serious than I thought, and here's how I can tell.

I don't know if you heard, but Indiana received a lot of rain the other day. Since the flooding in June 2008, people (especially those in the southern half of the state) get really concerned. Well, it's no wonder! Yesterday at lunch, a colleague was telling us about his trip back from Cincinnati in that rain. Interstate 74 was closed, in both directions, for something like six hours! Hundreds of cars were stopped in big groups because there was deep water rushing like rivers across the interstate in front of their cars and and behind them. A police helicopter had to land in the median due to treacherous flying conditions. People literally had to turn off their cars and sit there for hours.

I swear that this is the first thing that came to my mind as he was telling us about it:

I guess I'd better stash some 'emergency' yarn and needles in the trunk of my car!

I'm a joiner - who knew?!

Alright, so in the past few days, my memebership to two Etsy teams has been accepted! That's right, I'm a Blogger and I'm FAST. Don't even get me started on the Sneakers; I popped in to a Treasury, said hello to them and before I knew it I was sneaking up on Etsy shops with even fewer sales than mine and buying up everything I could get my hands on - loved it!

So, when the Bloggers' question about what I'm doing to prepare for the holidays, I guess I'm planning. Networking on Etsy and networking outside Etsy (October 17 is the Hoosier Artisan Holiday Boutique). I'm knitting like a crazy person, hoping I'll have enough stock for that thing. How would I know, it's my first craft fair?! Yeah, so I'm trying to distract myself from being petrified about that by making Treasuries and buying stuff. Whee!

Progression...

Here's how all 16 selections in my new Treasury West look together:

Everyone in it is on the Team I just joined, Esty F.A.S.T. (Fiber Arts Street Team).

Edited to add that I originally had two fibers from one seller in the active part of the Treasury, which I think is against the rules, so I had to sub out one of FiberFancy's beautiful items, but there's still one in there!

Have I mentioned the baby booties lately???

Yeah, so Merino's cousin is going to have a baby, and she asked me if I would make her some pink baby booties. I immediately gushed with congratulations and said, "Of course I will!" then an instant later it struck me that I have no idea how to make booties. Well, I have searched high and low for patterns and yarn; the first pattern just could not possibly be any cuter. I love it, and I tried to make 'em three times. I just can't get it, and I get discouraged when things turn out to be so far above my current skillset. The second pattern appealed to me because not only is it adorable, it's also seamless! I thought to myself, "Amen to that - even if it's too much for me, at least I won't have to sew anything at the end!" I found a yarn I luuuuuuuuuuv. I learned a new cast on. Again, I'm not getting it. I was so ticked at myself that I had to start a scarf, just to reinforce my belief in my skills. The scarf is so awesome I can't even tell you, but I cannot bring myself to start the second bootie pattern for the third time.

Guess what I did this morning? I started shopping for booties on Etsy! What the hell?! The important thing to Merino's cousin is not that she have the cutest hand knit booties in the world - the important thing to her is that her baby have booties that I made. Okay, I get it. Sigh.

I was knitting away on the scarf and watching DVRed episodes of Match Game, and all the sudden it hit me; I got up and went into the office and said to Merino, "Why do I have to follow someone else's instructions? Why can't I just figure out how to knit these booties on my own?" So that's where I'm at now; I'm going to devise my own way to make 'em. I'll keep you posted.