I don't believe in a lot of things, but I do believe in Duct Tape

Bruin Redemption: The Stanley Cup Returns to Boston – Alan Hahn
Liberation of Alice Love – Abby McDonald
Alice in Zombieland – Lewis Carroll & Nickolas Cook
Devil’s Cub – Georgette Heyer
The Walking Dead, Book 4 – Robert Kirkman

That AO3 hits meme is floating around again, and since it's been just over a year since I did it last let's take a look at what that year's brought.

I have a total of 19 fics posted, thank you Avengers fandom very much.

By hits:
Sunday, Monday, or Always, The Avengers, 1179 hits, posted 7/14/2012
Under the Sea, The Losers, 1093 hits, posted 11/20/2010
Section 6, Paragraph 4, Article J: fraternization, The Avengers, 898 hits, posted 7/13/2012
Inter-agency Relations, The Avengers/James Bond, 817 hits, posted 7/15/2012
Happy Little Trees, The Avengers, 652 hits, posted 7/13/2012
Welcome to the Jungle, The Losers, 618 hits, posted 10/26/2010
Beer Before Liquor, X-Men, 502 hits, posted 4/10/2011
Woobie, The Avengers, 460 hits, posted 8/4/2012
8:16 a.m., X-Men, 276 hits, posted 10/24/2010
And a tie for number 10
Never Give Up, Never Surrender, The Losers, 194 hits, posted 4/22/2012
Proud Member of the Emily Roberts Booster Club, The Losers, 194 hits, posted 5/6/2012

By kudos:
Sunday, Monday, or Always - The Avengers
Section 6, Paragraph 4, Article J: fraternization - The Avengers
Inter-agency Relations - The Avengers
Under the Sea - The Losers
Woobie - The Avengers
Happy Little Trees - The Avengers
Welcome to the Jungle - The Losers
Beer Before Liquor - X-Men
Never Give Up, Never Surrender - The Losers
Occasionally - X-Men

My one little Supernatural story doesn't have any kudos at all. Poor Dean.

World War Z - Max Brooks


Only one book this month. So sad. I really need to do more reading during the day. Instead of reading fanfic on the computer I should be reading actual books.

January - February
One Goal Achieved: The Inside Story of the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks
Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon - Craig Nelson

February
Holding the Cards - Joey W. Hill
Kinky - Justine Eloyt

I finished another holiday bunting! This one is for March and St. Patrick's Day. I followed this pattern, and used Caron Perfect Match in evergreen.

On Ravelry, here.

Or ( behind the cut )

After they were finished I steam blocked them to stop them from curling up, and it worked pretty well! They look really nice after blocking.

The annual year-end book poll is up over at my LJ - go here and see if we've read any of the same books!

I did half of the room, which is not bad at all I think. Actually, to be honest, I did the easy part first, lol. There is still a huge invisible corner that is desperately trying to get my attention, but that will have to wait a few more days.

BEFORE AND AFTERS!

Here is the TV side before. Not too bad really, but still enough to be bothersome.
( Before )

And here’s the after. Things put away, surfaces dusted, snowglobes windexed. The big box to the right of the TV is an ongoing crochet project, as is the green bin to the left of the TV.
( After )

Here is the before of my small (oh so small, pitifully small) bookcase and chair. Things start to get worse here, and it only gets horrible to the left of the chair. But we’re not talking about that, because that’s the invisible corner that doesn’t exist.
( Before )

And here’s the after. Books straightened, more dusting, things put away and/or tossed.
( After )

Then I vacuumed, not only the front room but also my bedroom and the hallway connecting them. Since I had the vacuum out I figured why not do it all?

Like I said, there is still the invisible corner and the couch to finish, but I think I’m done for the day. Those can wait few more days at least.

I have been seduced by tumblr and left my poor LJ and DW to rot. :(
So have all the projects that I've recently finished and posted over there, but not here. With links to Ravelry and patterns and lots of pictures.

So, first up - Christmas presents.

First is a throw that I made for one of the area managers at work, because when she found out that I crocheted she hinted not too subtley that she'd love to get something. Because I like her (and it was still, like, June) she got a blanket. I followed this pattern on the Red Heart website, and I absolutely recommend it. So simple and easy, yet different from your average ripple. 53in x 43in.

Ravelry or ( behind the cut )

And another throw that I made for another area manager at work, because he's such a nice guy and so laid back and working with hims is a real treat. I used this pattern which, while it looks great and is pretty simple, holy fuck leaves a shit ton of ends to weave in. And I only used three colors. 36in x 45.25in

Ravelry or ( behind the cut )

Then I made a mug cozy for the store admin, because she's so nice and has to put up with all kinds of bullshit. The pattern is super easy and quick, and looks great. I did make a few changes - I added one more row because when I tested it out on a mug it only came up about halfway, and then I chained more stitches for the loop because the fourteen in the pattern just wasn't going to work.

Ravelry or ( behind the cut )

And then, because I was making something for three people in the office, I had to go ahead and make something for the rest of them. So for the store manager and the other area managers I made beverage/coffee sleeves, because it's a super-duper easy pattern and I knew I could whip them up in an evening and use up a bit of my stash at the same time.

Ravelry of ( behind the cut )

For my niece, my sister picked out this pattern on the Lion Brand website. Again, I ended up changing it around a bit, mainly not doing a frog post and making the post a little shorter and narrower at the top. The best part is that I had all the yarn in my stash and didn't have to buy any! I did add one of those round plastic cross-stitch discs to bottom for a flatter base, and sewed a little pouch of poly pellets to add some weight to the base.

Ravelry or ( behind the cut )

That's it for gifts! Everyone loved them and I got a lot of compliments and gushing thank yous, which is always nice.

There are a few more projects for me, but I'll put those in another post.

Bought a tablet last night, and one of the first apps I downloaded was Angry Birds: Star Wars. I was up til almost one in the morning playing that shit! OMG take it away! I actually had to force myself not to pick it up again this morning so that I could get dressed.

I’m hoping I can use the tablet with my crocheting. Like, instead of having my laptop on and open for a pattern, I can just pull it up on the tablet instead. I also downloaded a couple of crochet books from a nice person on tumblr, and plan to upload them to the tablet.

OH! I can also pull up coupons probably and not have to worry about printing and forgetting them!

I finished part of my project for imadeathing.



Can you tell what they're supposed to be?

Now to get started on the next part!