I'm home doing a bit of a catch-all entry. /twitter

But besides that, since the last entry we've had two fun outings. The first was the Dunedin Art Harvest. I was so in heaven. I haven't made it to an art festival since going to the little (disappointing) autumn one in Melbourne with Lin a little over a year ago (Melbourne has a much bigger, better festival in the spring), and probably years beyond that for a good one. The location and weather were perfect. It was crowded but not insanely so. And some of the pieces were just stunning. There was an oil I fell in love with for $3,500, and a photograph Shawn adored for $300. Neither had prints, sadly, and both were well out of our price range for the originals. There were a few ceramics vendors selling mugs that I wanted but passed on. The only thing that was really disappointing was the jewelry, and that I blame on being spoiled by Wyrding Studios and various etsy sellers (like Ophelia's Jewels, Ackoelade, and South Street Designs). What they were selling at the fair didn't strike me as art, really. There was so little innovation. Which, I'm sure is playing to their general market, but wasn't as thrilling and inspiring as the rest of the show. The talent was just electrifying.

Yesterday we headed over to the Sarasota Medieval Fair, and, like last year, had a blast. It seemed smaller this year, but still wonderful. I picked up a pair of opal earrings from Heirloom Jewelry (nickel-free hooks - woot!). I've been wanting a pair of opal earrings for about 11 years so it was great to find them and know they're wearable without spending a fortune on the outrageously expensive gold alloy I have to have to not be miserable. I also replaced my stock of rose-scented incense from Wood Willow & Whatknots and picked up some dead sea salts from Natural Instinct Body & Spa by Kat. It feels a bit like I'm cheating on South Pacific Body, my go-to place for handmade bath works, but it was too great to pass up, and Kat was so sweet and helpful. I really would've bought one of everything on her table if I could've afforded it. There was also a booth of felted items and some yarn remnants (sadly not enough yardage for my upcoming felting project). The booth was really inspiring -- I'm not a big fan of felting. It makes me a little crazy thinking all the hard work going into the stitches being washed away into a flat fabric. But she had some really gorgeous felts (and tons of them!). There was a bag I coveted and a really, really adorable princess hat.

I've pondered if I'm becoming a bit of a handmade freak, but I think it's always been this way. I've always preferred to buy this way, and loved festivals and fairs for the artisanship and buzz of creativity. I grew up around crafters and artists, and I guess it's just ingrained. I'm really grateful for a husband that appreciates it, too, even if he is kinda bored with my knitting. And I'm extra grateful for having an artist for a best friend who sends me her awesome artwork for eye candy (more like eye death by chocolate).

Online I'm mostly spending my time at Facebook where I, amusingly enough, don't have my face plastered, yet. I need a new pic! I need someone else to take one cause managing taking one of myself with all the wires attached to mine is a bit fumbly. But I like Facebook a lot. Social networking aside (I mean, really, what site made in the past 2 years doesn't have a bit of that going on?), the apps are really fun, and the way MySpace is a collection of (badly designed) blogs, and Tribe is a collection of (mostly dead anymore, woe) message boards, Facebook seems like a collection of fun web widgets. At the moment my profile is a bit of Neopets, last.fm, LibraryThing, Twitter, and Ravelry all rolled into one.

Speaking of Ravelry, that's where the rest of my non-lj non-email time online is spent (add me!). It's a really great resource and wow with the inspiration. I have 78 queued projects. 78! And I'm working on 2. I will never run out of stuff to knit (yarn funds, on the other hand... )

Thanksgiving I'll be spending 8-10 hours on the road and probably 6 or 7 with family. My aunt said she's making me a peanut butter pie. Mmmmmm. Lucky me!