All of my new stuff has made it home safe and sound! Yay! \o/

My Bodyline order and my Carousel jsk arrived last week, and both my Fairy in the Forest jsk and my shoes got here this morning. They're both even lovelier in person than they were in the pictures, and the shoes fit just perfectly! That's really exciting. It's rare for me to find shoes that really, truly fit.

I've resisted the urge to go get all dressed up, and I'm still lounging around in comfy clothes because it's just about lunch time (me + food + pretty clothes = bad) and I have some rather messy work I still need to do. I've got cookie pins to decorate and a secret special project I'm working on as well. I haven't worn my new pretties as much as I'd like 'cuz this keeps being an issue...

I did wear one of my new ensembles this weekend, though! Miss Kitty and I decided to go to the mall and see what sort of loliable goods we could find at Claire's. I wore my Tea Party OP, which turned out to be quite comfortable. Kitty wore her adorable Lip Service polka-dot skirt, and we both got all sorts of compliments, which was a pleasant surprise.

I'm working on a more detailed post for my blog with pictures and all. And I'll be posting pictures from the weekend to daily_lolita as soon as I get them edited.

In the meantime, I'm off to try and get some work done before lunch. Ciao!

I have packages coming from all over the world! Yesterday, I got my awesomely floofy new petticoat from Washington. And now I'm waiting on a jsk from California, pink shoes from Germany, and a bunch of stuff from Tokyo. XD

For the full list of what I bought and my big ramble about it all, see my blog: Tea and Cakes + Bows and Lace

Long story short, my lolita wardrobe has just, like, tripled. Heck, I can actually call it a wardrobe now and not feel like I'm fibbing. =P

In other news, I got a great response to my inquiry on the EGL comm about hard-to-accessorize prints, and now I have a bunch of really great ideas for jewelry and such. I just have to decide where to start... And where exactly I want to do my selling. I intend to post on the sales comm, of course, but I also want to have a more permanent shop set up somewhere. Etsy would be the obvious choice, as that's where I've done all of my selling thus far. But I think I may have to try out Zibbet. I've heard great things about it, and they don't charge any fees, which would be nice. I mean, Etsy's fees are perfectly reasonable and I don't mind paying them, but every penny counts, and it would be nice to keep a few more of them. ^__~

Gotta make stuff before I can sell, though. And I've got things to work on, so off I go! Toodles!

Long time no post, I know. This fall was kind of crazy, and lately I've been super busy with Etsy stuff (making stock, working on improvements, starting up a second shop, keeping up with my craft blogs, etc). My efforts to expand my loli wardrobe had to be put on the back burner for a while too, but now I'm finally getting back to that.

In fact, I am shopping as we speak. After some debate, I've decided I'm going to order a few things from Bodyline, and I'm now in the process of looking through the site and making my preliminary list (I'm a very systematic shopper ^__~). It'll probably be a few days yet before I actually put in my order, but I'm super=exited already. I've been wanting to buy my loli stuff for aaaaaages.

On a side note, I'm performing a bit of a deco experiment right now. If it turns out well, there will be photos soon. XD

And now I'm off in search of something to fix for dinner. Ciao! ♥

I don't usually pay much attention to these prompts, but I happened to see this one today and an answer sprang immediately to mind, so I thought I might as well post it.

I just saw Baby's new reserves the other day, and OMG.  So. Much. Love.  Seriously, both of the new prints are just gorgeous, and I would love to have anything in either of them.  But if I had the spare cash to actually purchase one of them, I think it would have to be the Princess Honey's Tea Salon Rose Ribbon JSK:

Isn't it gorgeous?  The only question remaining would be: ivory or pink?


Oddly enough, I think I really like the pink (this whole liking pink thing is quite new to me, and I'm still getting used to the idea that there might be a place for it in my wardrobe).

Quick!  Everyone one go buy stuff!  Obviously, I need money.  =P

ETA:  Dear LJ, Thanks for eating the first half of my post.  :|

This is just a quick post to say that, after a long absence, I am back on the Loli Wagon in a big, big way.  I've been window shopping again, trying to decide what my next purchase will be (definitely something from QutieLand, I think), flexing my creative muscle by loli-fying items from my closet, and plotting. 

Yes, plotting.  I've begun working on a rough outline for a lolita book because, well, the world needs one.  It's all rather vague, at this point, but I have lots of ideas.  Also, in addition to my current Etsy shop, I am considering opening another just for lolita-related accessories.  I've got lots of ideas in that department too.  And finally, in the very near future, I plan to start a blog devoted to all things lolita, but focusing especially on dressing lolita on a budget.  Details on all of this later.

Aside from shopping and plotting, I've also been playing with Poupéegirl a lot.  So cute! ♥

I renewed these today:

I listed a new item yesterday! The first in my Spring Fever jewelry line.



I've got these coming in several other colors, and hopefully, I'll soon have a matching bracelet and necklace design. So keep your eyes peeled!

It's been ages since I posted an entry here, and I'll be back with an update later. But for now, I wanted to let anyone who may be reading know that I'm giving a way these earrings:



Enter to win here!

After years of happy crocheting interspersed with the occasional rant about how "knitters get all the good patterns >[" I finally broke down and decided that it was time to stop being stubborn and learn to knit. So I got myself one of those handy little "learn to knit" kits that came with a couple pairs of needles, stitch markers and other handy little odds and ins, and a book.

The book, of course, jumped right into knitting English style, throwing Continental style in there later as something of an afterthought. I took a good look at both methods and quickly concluded that the Continental method was not for me. I just looked silly. Why use one hand almost exclusively when you have two perfectly good ones? And your left hand, at that! Must be good for lefties...

So that was that. I learned the basics and went merrily along, throwing happily. Until I ran into a far different book than the one I started with. Domiknitrix was kind enough to let me in on a little sectret. The Continental method is faster and easier on one's wrists and hands. Really?! Well, that last bit's nice, but you had me at "faster."

I had already been lamenting my slowness, wishing there were some way to get things done faster. There were so many things I wanted to knit, and I only had one lifetime! Needless to say, I was sold. So I studied the book's Continental method tutorial, squinted at the pictures, muttered to myself a lot as I tried it out. I got the idea of it. But no matter how hard I tried then and over the next few days, I just couldn't get comfortable. It was awkward. Like trying to write with my left hand. These were things my left hand was just not meant to do.

So I gave up and went back to my slower and less efficient English style. I'd just have to cultivate patience (and probably a huge collection of UFOs...)

And that was precisely what I was trying to do until a few days ago, when I decided on a whim that I was going to start working on a hat I'd been planning. This was my first project in the round, so I grabbed one of my books to look at the method for joining and discovered after knitting my first row that my books were terribly remiss in this area. Something was missing. I was knitting a flat piece on a circular needle (which, I admit, did give me a certain sense of power; like putting a square peg in a round hole). Not what I was going for.

So I frowned at my knitting, frowned at my book, made a lot of thoughtful grumbly noises... and then it occurred to me. The answer was right in front of my face (quite literally, as the lapstop was sitting there playing pretty music for me). Youtube!

Sure enough, a quick search gave me a great video.



Well, that was easy. And it occurred to me then that there were probably also video tutorials for Continental style knitting. Another search, and sure enough I found a bunch. I just picked the first one on the list:



I hadn't even watched the whole video before I just had to pick up my needles and give it a go. It was still just a bit awkward, but no worse than learning to knit had been in the first place, and I fairly comfortable with it quite quickly. And then I did a happy little dance. I love learning new things! ^__^

I can't say it's all that much faster just yet, as I'm still getting the hang of it. But I can see the potential for it to be much faster. And while I haven't knit for any particularly long period of time with this method yet, I do think I could go for quite some time without any wrist/hand fatigue. And, for me, it's had the added bonus of improving my tension, which has always been just a bit tight. It seemed terribly loose and bothered me a bit at first, but after a few rounds I got used to it and realized it was really just right (See, Goldilocks just needed a new perspective =P).

So now I'm well on my way with the Stirling Cloche from One-Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn Shop Favorites. This will also be my first encounter with felting. What an adventure! XD I'll post some pictures soon. When it starts looking more like a hat... =P