Not even kind of about knitting

See the sidebar that says "I may start posting more fun stuff about life in general"?  Yep, that's where we are today.

I do have knitting that is finished, but that can wait for next time (maybe by then I'll have a little more done).

Anyhow, as those of you who know me will already know, my husband is a freelance artist with a major focus on comics.  This means we spend a few weekends a year being a presence in Artist's Alley at the cons in the province and this past weekend was Calgary.  It's our 3rd year in a row being exhibitors in Calgary (read home) and trying to eke out some funds from this whole art thing.

Personally, I am not really a geek so much.  Video games were banned in my house growing up.  We never did have a Nintendo (yes, I am one of those kids who would come over and try to make Mario jump by shaking the controller up and down vigorously.)  However, somehow I did step into that world before having met Dave - computer games weren't banned, so I played many many hours of Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. (MANY MANY hours).  Though, I must admit, Dave did find some lacking in my geek knowledge - he would laugh that I say this, as he refers to my lack of knowledge regarding geek culture to be that I "grew up under a rock".  I also must admit that even though I tell Dave I've never seen Star Wars or Indiana Jones (he fixed that already, don't worry) that I was sort of lying.  I remember my parents renting these things when I was little.  It was a movie.  We watched it - once - probably in the 80's sometime around when I was 8 years old and had better things to do than remember every movie I watched (or rather, these specific movies).

That being said, I do love geek culture.  There is so much fun stuff - and as Wil Wheaton said -  it's great to be surrounded by people who are brought together by love.

Over the past few years of going to these cons I have learned a lot about superheroes in particular.  Now I can mostly pick out costumes.  I remember being stared at in disbelief the first time I asked "who was that supposed to be?"  It's getting to the point that if I don't know, they're either really obscure characters or Dave has no idea either.

I'm getting off topic though - the point was that we were at the Calgary Expo this past weekend, and it was fantastic.  Every year we have fantastic table neighbours who are so nice and welcoming and willing to share their booth set-up tips or spread the word about other Canadian cons.  The exhibitors look out for each other and will do the rounds to say hi to table neighbours from previous years.  We spend one weekend with these people a year - and it's always nice to see their smiling faces the next time.

In addition to getting to know our neighbours, somehow we are getting to know the people who come by the booth year after year in ten minute increments - and they seem to actually care about how things are going for us.  Now that is something you don't find every day.  People at work may ask how you are doing, but they don't really care.  They want you to say "fine" and continue with your day.  There was a lot of warmth and heartfelt congratulations and stories shared this past weekend from people we meet once a year for a few minutes at a time.  I am just blown away by the sense of community at these conventions and how you can run into people time and again and they remember you.  You contributed to their con before, you had a conversation, and they appreciate that and reciprocate.

On top of all the new / old friends - I ran into some old / old friends from back in my university days, when I was still trying to get as close to the palaeontology world as possible (without needing a phd).  I lived in Drumheller for a couple summers near the beginning of my university career and met some fabulous people.  It's been 13 years since the first summer I lived there - I was 18.  Those summers were a lot of fun and the people I found didn't quite fit into the small town scene - they've since left Drumheller for the greener pastures of Calgary and Edmonton and it's kind of unbelievable that after all these years we still remember those summers and the people that made them so great.

I am so grateful that these conventions bring so many people together in such a fabulous showing of community.  I couldn't be happier to be a newcomer to this community and be welcomed just the same as people who can geek out to a degree that baffles me.  Thanks Calgary.  :)

Delinquent Blogger

I have excuses.  Do you want my excuses?  Not really?  Well, you're getting them anyways coz it'll make me feel better.
1.  Work has been stupid busy and I have zero drive to accomplish anything when I get home.
2.  I am working on a sweater.  It's a really easy pattern (read: boring).  I no longer want to finish it.  Motivation ~= 0
3.  Sleep.  Yep, I have been actually getting a decent night's sleep lately.  This cuts into knitting time.

Okay, excuses are done.

What the heck have I done since I last blogged?  It's been a while.  HOLY!

Good thing my ravelry can be sorted by "most recently completed"

TA DA! SO, I finished a baby blanket that I've had on the go FOREVER!  So pleased!  And then I packed it up in a drawer, didn't take any pictures and called it done.  Woops.  I must admit, I still don't have a plan for this blanket.  I kind of figured it was for a baby boy.  A friend of mine is having a baby boy, but I already started another blanket for that one.

A picture!  With the border!

Repeat pattern.  I love it though!

I finally finished my rust tweed shrug - again, I did not take a picture, but I have been wearing it.  It's REALLY freaking warm.  Glad I got it done by the end of the winter (being that it's March winter has not yet left us, but it is tantalizingly close to spring... pfft... sweaters).

Best image I have.  I know, it's hard to see.

The L'infinita cowl I was working on gained completion (and photos!  Why have I not blogged this yet?) and then I wore it non-stop.  OMG  I love that thing.

GORGEOUS

I don't seem to ever wear it long.  But it is a lovely colour.

Of course, I did more stash-busting and made yet another baby sweater.  I might have to take all the things out of my drawer (you know, the non-existent baby stash for possible future?) and take a picture just to let you folks all know how out of hand this is getting.

Awww....

Okay, so that's everything I've finished recently... how about things I've started.

Starting with the sweater that is sucking my will to live.  "Look how cute it is!  oh and look how easy it is!  I'll just make it for my sister's birthday.  It'll be so fun and easy.  Awww..."  @$*&;%!  I think I have something ridiculous like 250 stitches on my needles at the moment and what I get to do to those 250+ stitches is seed stitch.  FML.  Seriously... why did I think this would be a good idea????  This sweater is WAY too boring.  It consists of stockinette stitch and seed stitch.  It is easy though.  But man, where did my motivation go?  Out the window?  With the fun?  Oh yeah, that's where it went.  I'm hoping when I finally get it off the needles that it will be super super cute and well worth the agony of a FREAKING BORING PROJECT.  **Note to self** you are no longer a beginner.  Stop attempting beginner patterns.  You hate them.
(I am a really really bad blogger and wrote this a couple weeks months ago.  I have since finished this god awful thing.  It's cute.  Sister seems to like it.  Feeling less rage.)

Somehow it looks better when folded in half

FINALLY FINISHED!

Then... remember that gorgeous yarn I bought at the "mayan apocalypse sale".  Ya know, she who dies with the biggest stash wins?  I think I'm about 3 balls into my lap-ghan that I'm making with it.  (I made the pattern a lot thinner).  I love working on this, therefore, it is getting my attention instead of the aforementioned sweater.  Sadly, this means I had to put a moratorium on this lap-ghan in order that I might actually get the sweater done for deadline #2 (deadline #1 came and went and I was not finished - deadline #2 is when Katy gets back from school - March 18th.  gah!)

Love the yarn.  Going to be quite the teeny blanket though.

Mmmkay... so now all I have to do is go take a whole ton of pictures and put them in this freaking post - otherwise... Most.  Boring.  Post.  Ever. (Took me waaaay too long to get pictures, but I did it!)

Stash-busting Baby Stuffs

It would seem that I'm quite behind on posting some things.  Like these adorable baby sweaters.  I found a couple really quick / easy crochet patterns and I was aiming to do some stash busting - so off I went.

These came together really quickly and the finished product is pretty darn nice if I do say so myself.

Moogly Sweater - is cute, but not terribly practical for winter.  I think if I were to do this again - they do say that a sleeveless version is nice too - so that's where I'd be headed with this one.  For me, this one came out a bit tight and a bit small.  I made the newborn size, so I'm hoping that it will fit a newborn?  (I don't know these things).

Looks like a watermelon!

Baby Bumpy Sweater - hey, look!  A sweater for a boy that actually looks like it's for a boy!  WOO!  Came together very easy, the bumps are the easiest way I've ever seen to make bobbles AND it's darn cute!  Only complaint on this one is that the back seam is not particularly nice.  I figured out how to make it look less blech about halfway through and at the moment I have no idea what it is.  I think I decided not to count the ch3 as part of the sts and then still did a dc in the same st (just have to be careful that you're not increasing every row when you do this!)

I did miss doing a collar as I ran out of yarn

Those bobbles look awesome.

So, please forgive me for being a couple months behind on posting these.  Apparently I finished them at the beginning of December.

Back to Reality

Well, I apparently was too busy to post over the holidays?  (I really wasn't - but I WAS having a good time)

So, being that this is the New Year and all, I made myself some crafting related resolutions.  Pretty much entirely because I spent a good 3 days cleaning up all the files in my craft room so that they were useful and not just a garbage pile (are we sensing a theme?  I'm sensing a theme.)  So now I need to keep the momentum up.  My crafting resolutions are simple and, hopefully, effective.

1. Finish All Hibernating Projects - this is the biggest and the hardest.  It would mean that I finish my cleopatra wrap and that lovely green-ish diagonal striped blanket that I've had in progress for ~4 years.  This would make me very happy (and make me feel like I *can* start new projects - not that I don't as is, but I feel guilty leaving these stragglers behind).
2. Wind My Nice Yarn Into Center Pull Cakes - I am beginning to have quite the stash (and not just of crappy walmart yarn) and none of it is really wound and that makes me not want to use it (even though it's amazing!)
3. Store Yarn / Supplies Better.  I currently have just a giant basket that is filled with random yarns (mostly crappy walmart yarn) and a little paper box beside it where I keep my scraps.  So, I'm thinking what this will entail is finding a creative way to store my knitting needles and properly storing all my newly wound hotness. :)

So, that's it.  Those are my crafting related resolutions.  I have quite the list upstairs in my teeny tiny craft room - this year my resolutions are MORE or DO rather than LESS.  I feel like that is a positive way of looking to the future.  More of the things you love and take action for things that need to be changed, rather than eat less, lose weight etc.  

Okay, less resolutions, more craftiness!

Let's see... so I'm taking that mittens and gloves galore class over at craftsy and I made some lovely thrummed mittens for my sister for Christmas.  They turned out AMAZINGLY even if I did have to rip a good portion out at first because my thrums were ginormous.  Katy seems to love them and they are super super warm.  

Little thrums (these are actually the big ones)

Mitten #1 = done!

DOS!  Dos mittens - yeah, my spanish sucks

And those slippers.  You know, the god-awful cabled slippers that were so much fun?  Yeah, they turned out awesome.  Mom is always wearing them and that almost (almost) makes all the work worth it.  Mom opened them, and Katy fell in love and asked for a pair (I said no.)

See, they turned out cute!  Worth it?

What else have I been up to over the holidays?

That rust cabled sweater?  Yeah... it's nearing completion.  Less than one ball of yarn left to go and I'm just ribbing away (though, admittedly, the ribbing is BORING.)

There's a relatively new yarn store here in Calgary called "The Loop" so I wandered over there for the "mayan apocalypse sale" she who dies with the biggest stash wins... lol.  Oh, right... the point of that... yeah, so I bought this yarn.  It was majorly on sale (I got 8 balls for $24!) and I started a lovely cable knit lap-ghan with it (seriously, it's going to be small, not sure I have quite enough yarn, but we'll see).

I started a seed stitch cardigan for my younger sister Katy's birthday (which is in January, so she is aware that it is coming and she picked out the colour, but it is in no way going to be ready for her birthday).

Oh right, and more about "The Loop".  My lovely friend Jess gave me the most wonderful birthday / Christmas gift and that was a knitting class.  So we went off to the loop for single skein sunday and started work on a pretty easy (very easy) cowl.  It's made with malabrigo yarn, so I am feeling incredibly spoiled.  

I feel pretty!  Oh so pretty!

In fact, I have been just spoiled in general this holiday.  There is nothing like the wonderful people in your life being excessively nice to you (this confuses me some, you know, I don't *need* all these nice things, and no one *has* to do this for me - Dave keeps telling me it's not because they have to, but because they want to, and that it just means my friends / family loves me) to make you realize just how wonderful your friends are and just how blessed you are.  This has been my greatest take-away from this holiday season - an overwhelming sense of love - and really, who could ask for anything more.

Mittens!

I made mittens once (well twice) when I was very very new to knitting.  They have holes at the top of the thumbs, they were worked flat and then sewn up - thus have an ugly side seam, and they're kind of tight.  At the time, I was like - awesome!  I made mittens!  and then I gave them to my sisters.

Then I avoided mittens like the plague - as looking back - I could see how awful the initial ones were.

That was like 4-ish years ago - and I have not made mittens since!

RIDICULOUS!

Being a Canadian, mittens are a staple in our winter and the capability to make matching toque / scarf / mittens is important.  So, I signed up for a Craftsy class - which I must admit - I am LOVING!  The first pattern in the class is a 5-in-1 adventure - which really just means that the pattern covers 1. mittens 2. fingerless mittens 3. convertible fingerless mittens 4. fingerless gloves 5. gloves.  phew!  So, I decided I would make convertible fingerless mittens with a convertible thumb (yes, iPhone users!  You can use your phone and keep your hands warm at the same time!  Mind. Blown.)

I got one mitten done and posted a picture on Ravelry and was incredibly excited when I received a note asking if my picture could be used for the pattern page!  Well, yes, yes, you may!  *glee!*

This is the colour they really are!

Look how goofy the thumb looks.  Only downside.

Second mitten is fini!

While I was watching the video for this class, I noticed that the instructor had the most beautiful stitch markers that I have ever seen.  So I made some.  :)

And just because I'm on the page of things that TOTALLY aren't knitted.  Here's some random crafty stuff I've done lately.  :)

Ornament wreath
Can't lie.  Got the idea from Pinterest.

Another Pinterest idea.
Menu board.
Just have to make the
recipe cards!

More Slippers

I guess this slipper thing isn't going to stop any time soon.  It uses up so much of my stash so nicely.  There's also a charity drive for gifts for a seniors home going on at work at the moment and I'm thinking the slippers will go to that.

Anyhow, the ones for - I've decided - my mom (the insanity slippers with the cables and the fingering weight yarn) are coming along well.  I finally got one slipper all sewn up.  I just don't have that much motivation to work on them.  I'm sure I could finish them faster if there was a deadline or motivation - but for now - they're  ALMOST done!  WOO HOO!

you don't want me in your picture?

cute button!

cat-attack!

The "unsubstantial - holey slippers" well, those are the ones I'm making for the seniors home gifts.  I know that sounds really bad - but to be honest - I was so mad about the first pair that I used all my ends to snug up all the holes and now they look really good.  (still not terribly warm, but how warm does a house-slipper really need to be ?)  So, I started on a second pair, but I didn't want to have to snug up all the holes on pair number 2 - so my solution was to do the sc row around the slipper with the mc and work my scs through part of the 2nd st so that the holes would go away (and they did!) and then do a sl st round with the contrast colour.  I'm about halfway through slipper #2 of pair number 2 and they're looking STELLAR!  (woo!)

see how much LESS holey they are now?

finished!

And now for something completely different.

You know that shrug that I made for my sister for Christmas a couple years ago?  Well, it was too big (like she couldn't keep it on her shoulders too big).  It makes me sad that something I made is loved, but cannot be worn because it is so obviously the wrong size.  So we spent a few minutes pinning things up and figuring out how big it needs to be and then I frogged the whole darn thing.  Then I had to rewrite the pattern due to the size it required being was 30 sts less than the original!  (omg!) I've been determined to get through this so that her sweater comes back to her as soon as possible - so I've been knitting stockinette stitch on the train a lot (yes, I am *that* girl).  AND!  I finally finished!  I am so excited!  I just have to bind-off and then tuck ends and sew seams (I know, that is where everything gets stalled - but must. finish.)

Slippers

Okay - so who has a really great pattern for slippers?

What I'm looking for is something cute, relatively unconventional, easy-ish, and quick to make.  I'm not asking for much, right?

Anyhow, so after starting my god-forsaken slippers for my family for Christmas I decided that those were TOO much work - but cute!  So I moved on to these incredibly easy crochet slippers.  They're cute too, but I kind of hate them.  There's really not much to them and there are incredibly large holes in them.  So let's do a pros and cons list

Crochet Slippers
Pros:
Took me two days to make a pair of slippers
I got to use scrap yarn - used less than a ball of yarn for the pair
they're really actually quite cute

Cons:
BIG freaking holes in them.
Really rather insubstantial
They don't look like something I would give away as a gift.

Cute - yet holey!

Ballet Flat Slippers
Pros:
These are gorgeous (hopefully they will remain gorgeous when they are sewn up)
They are more substantial as they have a doubled sole
They do look like something I'd be willing to give as a gift

Cons:
Took a ball of sock yarn
Took about a month
There's 6000 ends to weave (well, more like 16... but still!)
Haven't finished them yet

Super pretty - yet so much work!

I'm not sure we have a clear winner.  In fact, I'm fairly certain that neither of these patterns win.  So, I beg my initial question again.  Who's got a really great pattern for slippers??  Please help me out!

Halloween Colours - sort of.

Well, coincidentally, 2 of three projects I'm working on at the moment (well, 4 projects if you count seaming those #%&$ slippers!) are in Halloween colours.

I'm very pleased to report that my husband LOVES his socks.  He put them on last night the second he got home (I might have been a factor in that).  They were brand spanking new and just finished - so on his feet they went.  However, they are apparently "house socks" that will not be going outside of the house due to his fear of wrecking them.  (This means he loves them, right?)  Also, they're black!  GO GO HALLOWEEN!

black socks they never get dirty

the longer you wear them the stronger they get

I'm making huge strides in my Rust cabled shrug - LOVE this.  I am so excited to get finished it.  Currently I've finished the left arm and the back, and am just starting to go down the right arm!  It's actually a really simple "build" - knit the arm, back, arm in one piece, sew up arms, pick up stitches around the rest and make a nice little ribbed "cuff" not really sure how to describe it aside from "cuff" but that's not really what it is... Anyhow, once you've finished the "cuff" bit, you're done.  The majority of the "hard" stuff is the cables in the big long piece you make (arms / back), so I'm thinking I'm about half-way done?  Also, rust is approximately orange, so Halloween, right?

Starting the right arm!

And then there's this cowl.  You know, the one that wanted to grow up to be the cowl it always dreamed of being?  God, do I love this thing.  I am beyond excited about the progress I've made on it in the past couple weeks.  It's currently blocking on my ironing board.  It will require some grafting after that, but really, it's pretty much done.  LOVE!

blocking!

The second it was sewn up, I wore it to work. 

See, Halloween and lots of love.  This is a great post.  :)  I'm assuming the next one will focus on these god-forsaken slippers (so, it will be less full of love and more full of frustration / rage).  I have this funny feeling that I'm not going to make 3 pairs of these.  Maybe just one.  We will have to see how these ones come out because if they're really THAT gorgeous and I can figure out how to sew them together properly, I MAY make more.  However, they're a TON of work and I could make so many other more amazing things that don't take NEARLY this kind of effort.  GAH!

Cabled Ballet Flat Slippers

Okey (sorry, I've been reading a lot of Raymond Chandler novels lately - so okey is definitely the way it is spelled at the moment)

Well, that was a total aside, so let's just start fresh.

Okey... I got it in my head that I was going to make Christmas gifts for my sisters and mom - sort of.  Not their whole gift - just a little something to go with what I am getting them for Christmas (but I don't know what that is yet... lol).  Then I had this really adorable Cabled Ballet Flat Slipper Pattern in my queue on Ravelry.  My head thought that these two sentences were made for each other and I got excited, bought some yarn, and cast on.  Nice going genius.

So, now that I'm just about done pair number one (of three! good god) I have some questions.

Question #1 - who makes slippers out of fingering weight yarn?  Are they masochistic?
Question #2 - who makes CABLED SLIPPERS out of FINGERING WEIGHT YARN?
Question #3 - who makes cabled slippers out of fingering weight yarn that are in 4 different pieces that you have to sew together????
Question #4 - why did I think this was a good idea??????????

Okey, now that I'm done questioning everything.  They're super super cute!  But I've been at it for about a month (a month with a lot of travel involved - so plenty of time to work on them) and I am JUST finishing my first pair.  Good grief!

Cute!  Slipper Top

Blocking the bits

Of course, being who I am, I've been making slight edits to the pattern as I go.  I hate seaming and there was a seam at the back of the upper part of the slipper that I thought was stupid since I could just pick up the stitches and work from there.  Well, I "forgot" that the pattern is not written to be worked in the round, mostly because up until the point I am at, it hasn't mattered.  I haven't BEEN working in the round - but now I'm picking up stitches around the foot opening and making the edges all pretty like.  So, I just worked it like the pattern said to.  oops.  Oh well, it said to knit, so I was supposed to have a nice garter edge but I have a stockinette edge.  I just don't care that much to go back and fix it.  I did however, start casting-off and find that my beautiful edge started rolling and that I did care about so now I'm casting off knitwise in the round on the WS.  lol... this is awesome.

I am hoping these slippers turn out amazingly because they have been a lot of work.

Excuses and Catch-up: cue the project dump

Woops!

So, I think I may have been trying to squeeze every last bit of enjoyment out of the summer this year.  I'm going to blame that for my languishing blog.  Another good reason?  Well, I've been doing a lot of travelling.  I had a family reunion to go to that was promptly followed by a week at the lake and lately I've been recruiting for the company I work for.  Thankfully all of those are short trips and most involve airplane time where I can knit to my heart's content.  I've been getting a lot done - like - A LOT a lot.  Not that I have a ton to show for it.  I'm "In progress" in most things.

ANYHOW... projects!

I finished the socks I was working on.  I think I started them while I was doing the mystery crochet along.  Dunno.  Socks are awesome, but I just don't have the patience to be dedicated to them as my main project, so they take me a while...

Still not terribly impressed that they dyelots
don't match - but otherwise, cute!

yay for pretty socks!

Actually - on that note... I'm almost finished the socks I'm working on for my lovely husband - who really doesn't want or need socks.  He's just having a pair made for him.  If he wears them once, it will be a victory!

Bryce's bear is done.  He turned out creepy-stick-neck-y, so I made him a scarf.  The sewing up was really not as bad as I thought it would be - even if I did do the neck wrong.

So, my mom is a teacher - er... WAS a teacher.  She retired this year, and along with bringing home all of her lovely classroom stuff she brought me home two very very full grocery bags of yarn.  Not the best quality yarn, but they will make a nice afghan.  One of the balls is the ugliest variegated yarn I have seen in my entire life.  I decided that I was going to make this insane little afghan that takes 618 motifs (I KNOW!!!) and everything in it was going to go well with the ugliest yarn on the planet.  Thus, it is going to be an insane and ugly (hopefully in a good way) scrap-ghan.  I made a lot of progress on this one at the lake and then realized I needed more scrap yarn (my mom's mostly didn't go with the yarn.  I have a couple projects that I could work on in my stash that would create appropriate scrap yarn.)

see the crazy variegated yarn!  CRAZY!

I'm on a bit of a baby craze too right now - and not really because anyone's having babies.  I'm stocking my drawer.  Though I'm thinking of depleting the stock in my drawer for my cousin who is having a baby girl this time, so it's not such a bad thing to be stocking up.

I made this adorable baby-hoodie because I loved the pattern, but I wanted it to be uni-sex, so I didn't add any of the ribbons yet and I nixed the ruffled bit at the bottom.  Definitely not a 1 skein pattern as it says, but I had been doing my homework on ravelry and there was a lot of "not one skein" going on, so I thankfully, had two.

love this!

Goldie- my baby sized model thinks that she needs an undershirt!  *gasp*

And then, a girlfriend of mine is learning to knit and LOOOOOOOOOOOVES these booties (as does everyone else on the planet).  However, she's scared of starting them and it being too hard for her, so I gave it a test run with some scrap yarn.  OMG.  THE ENDS! THE HORROR!  But they are seriously adorable! Since I made these, I have found some lovely person's post regarding how to do these in the round (I kiss the ground at your feet!) and will probably make another pair - later.

They match that frou-frou vintage baby dress I made a while ago.

Oh right... and WIPs...

SO... Here I come Mary Maxim projects!  (so excited and LOVING this.  VERY VERY MUCH.  Hopefully I will love it just as much when it's done.)  My cabled shrug.  OM NOM NOM.  Loving the weight of it (definitely a winter weight) and the colour and the pattern and HECK even *my* part of the whole job.  That never happens.  My stitches are even and it's working out really well so far.  (Wait... does that mean I might *finally* be getting the hang of this knitting thing.  NAH!  That's too good to be true.)

Pretty cables!

And my WIP - sort of.

I made a Chalice Lace Tank.  Oh so pretty, because I had leftover yarn (yes, the reason for all these incredibly random projects *is* a stash-purge, bet you hadn't guessed yet.)  This one is "sort of" in progress because I finished it and found it was too large.  I also have a plethora of edits I'd like to make to the pattern, so I might have torn the darn thing all the way out for the second time.  Ya know, maybe.  Still love it.  Less inclined to work on it at the moment.

HUGE!

Yeah, so I guess that's everything I've been up to... not much for a month, eh?  lol

OH... and in other news - I got the YARMA app for my iPhone which means all my FOs are going directly onto ravelry with no "camera" step in between.  That might have something to do with the lack of posting on the blog.  umm... tee hee?