College #72, movie news, and a teeny tiny giveaway

Hello!

So first, College. I feel like I'm in the home stretch! My stitching bug is working in full force and I'm so excited. Every stitch feels like the last! So close! I mean, not really - I still have the entire row to stitch, but it just feels so close!

Before:

After:

Crazy, right? Those are the beginnings of the very last row! I'm confident that College will be finished this year, particularly if I'm resolute in working on it - which I am! Every day a little bit closer!

Next up, the much promised movie news. I'm sorry to say that I can't divulge much, but I can divulge that my part of filming has ended. It was absolutely the best time of my working life and I will likely seek out more projects in the future, particularly while steady full-time work evades me. The film is as of yet untitled, but IMDB refers to it as "Steve Jobs" and the cast includes Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, and Seth Rogen. That's pretty much all I can say about it. Not sure when the release date will be, but I will keep you all posted on it and once a trailer gets released I'll link that. It really was an absolutely incredible experience. I got to talk to some amazing people I never thought I'd get to meet. And Michael Fassbender is one of my absolute favorite actors (along with Cumberbatch and Hiddleston) so it was an honor to be working alongside him, as well as such an accomplished and amazing woman as Kate Winslet. She is truly inspiring. So that's my brief "acting" career. It's not much, but it's a start!

Finally, I have a teeny tiny giveaway for my knitting friends. I'm working on downgrading my stash. When I was learning to knit I bought some yarn that I have since found no use for. So, instead of taking up space in my things, I've decided to throw it up here as a giveaway!

They are both mystery sock yarns. The dark one on the left is 49 grams and the light one on the right is 47 grams. I'll leave this tiny giveaway open until 11:59pm PST March 31. Just leave a comment stating which one you'd like (dark, light, both) and your e-mail address. If more than one person wants a certain one then I'll draw a name randomly. Also, if you have a friend you think might be interested in free sock yarn, let them know! I'm not trying to get more followers, I'm just trying to get rid of stash and clean up a little bit. Spring cleaning I guess. And yes, I WILL ship international.

Also, in the future, once I finish a knitting project if I have a decent amount of yarn left over and I have no plan for it, I will likely do this again. Spread the yarn, right?

In completely other unrelated to anything news, I am trying to learn German. Right now I am fairly elementary ("Ich bin eine Frau" & "Eine Biene" being my most impressive sentences) but once I get a little bit better I will probably be asking for a German pen pal! Yes, that's right! Someone I can write ridiculous letters to in German who is willing to not only mail a corrected version back to me but also write me back in German to see if I can decipher and understand the letter and respond appropriately. Probably a dumb idea but there you go. I'm nowhere near there yet.

So, with that, happy stitching everyone!

WIPocalypse, the twelfth coming

Looks like I'm not going to finish any of my pieces before the end of the world. Oh well! I guess that's what's called the stitcher's dilemma or some such thing. I got a little progress though, so here goes.

Riding the Wave before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse:

Now:

And the only reason I got anything else done was because the Middle Earf SAL happens every month.

Before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse:

Now:

I'm pretty happy with the progress I'm not going to lie, especially since it's the last week of school right now so everything is due. I did complete one of three classes today, so just two left! Turned in the final project for one and just have a presentation and final exam left in that one, and a group project, small assignment, and case study post for another and that's it! Freedom for a month and a half to video game until my brain leaks out my ears and stitch until I can't see straight.

Speaking of stitching, you won't see much more here until after Christmas (BOOOOO) because I'm doing secret stitching for Handsome Helpful Boyfriend who is also a Hero because he has let me do my secret stitching while in the same room as he is so I can watch him play Skyrim and he hasn't peeked one bit. Nope, not one bit. I am also told to let you all know that you're more than welcome to send him plenty of Christmas presents this year since he's so Handsome and Helpful and such a good Boyfriend.

On another note, I want to do a small giveaway - especially for those of you who have made it this far. To be honest I don't even know what will be included in it yet so here are the rules:

1. Comment on this post with the following information:
2. Your favorite song or piece of music. HHB and I like all sorts of music, particularly classical (in my case) and jazz (in his case) and we're always looking for more stuff to listen to;
3. What kind of stitchy stuff is your favorite stuff to stash. Is it fabric? Threads? Silks? Beads? Dreaded metallics? Embellishments? This will most definitely influence the contents of the giveaway; and
4. INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. Sometimes people pose questions to me in the comments section and I can't respond via email because there's a "noreply" address in the field. SAD FACE.

Enter by December 14th and I will ship international so have fun.

Last time I got a question about my gridding thread - do I like the fishing line or not. I like it. I don't have a problem with it leaving marks, mostly because of my stitching style. I use a LOT of tension when I stitch and I think that keeps the line from making the holes bigger, for some reason. Also, the way I run my needle under the fabric has something to do with it, too. I think.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen (are there any gentlemen?). Hope you've enjoyed and hope you have a great night.

Giveaway Winners, Greek Mandala Update, and IHSW

First things first, Boyfriend is reading over my shoulder again. "Be sure to write about me and how helpful I am! And handsome!" Yes. Boyfriend is helpful.  And handsome. Moving on.

But to give credit where credit is due, Boyfriend did pick the names of the giveaway winners!

The box in which the names were housed:

Boyfriend picking the first name:

And.... THE WINNERS!

SO! lesli, sharine, and TheCraftyPrincess - I will be emailing you shortly - if you could send me your mailing addresses I will have some goodies along your way soon! (With Boyfriend's help.)

Next, Greek Mandala.

Before:

After:

Next I will be working on Tiny Rose Garden Mandala during IHSW! Go ahead and zip over to Joyce's Blog and sign up for a weekend of stitching - or click on the little hermit crab on the right.

Today, Boyfriend and I went to the gym. It was pretty good - excellent workout, and towards the end while Boyfriend was at the squat rack and I was doing my lat pulldown - some guy sat across from me and started chatting me up. It was kind of uncomfortable for me since I don't like being approached, so I look over at Boyfriend and what does my Knight in Shining Armor do? Defend my honor! You may think. No. He was laughing. At least he didn't go into some sort of jealous rage.... He did wink and blow me a kiss, though.

Have a great stitchy IHSW, everyone!

A Blogoversary? (mini giveaway?!)

That's right! My blogoversary is March 12! An entire year of blogging! When I started I was this far on Mario:

Now this far:

This far on College:

Now this far:

And I was working on Dark Queen, which I have since scrapped to do a restart since I HATED working 2 over 1 on 25 count:

I didn't have any other projects in the works and no Boyfriend, either! I was living on my own and working as a paralegal in a family law firm. Now I have an amazing Boyfriend, a million (ok, 7) projects on-the-go, am unemployed and living with my parents and *drumroll* SERIOUSLY considering applying for a master's program! Crazy how much can change in a year.

As such, I will be holding my VERY FIRST GIVEAWAY.

Don't get too excited, it's nothing special. I will be sending 3 (THREE!) winners a home-made baked good. Lame, I know. But I'M super excited about it so just pretend you are, too.

All you have to do is comment on this post (if you want to comment on this post and NOT be entered just mention that in the comment and I won't enter you). Please please PLEASE let me know if you have any sort of food preference or food allergy. I don't want to send anyone allergic to chocolate chocolate chip cookies or any vegans things with animal products (and yes, I DO bake vegan things). The last rule is I can only send things within the United States. The reasons for this (I'm not trying to discriminate against anyone outside the U.S.) are that I don't want to break any international food laws and I also don't want anything to go back or stale because of length of time it takes to ship - and food poisoning, my dear friends, is NOT fun.

I hope at least someone out there is as excited about this as I am. I will have Boyfriend draw names at 9pm, PST on Friday, March 16th.

Thanks for a year of reading and commenting, everyone! I've had a blast and look forward to another year of bloggy happiness!

EDIT: If you're International - I'll think of something else (don't yet know what) to send you :) It'll be small, but it'll be from the heart!