A very belated birthday present, and even more belated photos

My friend Rie's birthday is in October. I finally gave this to her when I went back to visit in March.



Yes, it's a Hangover Helper! It's mostly leftover yarn from what I was sent to make the Beermeister bottle for the SnB book, which is Lion Suede and Lion Wool-Ease (even though the book says to use Vanna's Choice, mine were originally Wool-Ease). The dark gray is left over from my Gryffindor sweater (which I finished a while ago, but I don't like how full the sleeves are so I never took pictures).

Fun fact: when I initially submitted the idea, I considered using Asahi for the beer bottle model instead of Budweiser, but I ultimately decided that Bud would probably be more popular. The Asahi label was infinitely easier to design, though.

I'm just a big ball of excuses.

I've been back from Japan almost two weeks, and I still haven't made good on my promise to post fun stuff. Here's the deal: my pictures are being held captive on my laptop and my camera.

The power cord appears to have died on my laptop, so I can't turn it on; and I can't find the battery charger for my camera, so I can't turn it on. I hope to rectify these problems over the weekend.

What I had planned to post pictures of: a new Hangover Helper. Using my pattern and leftover yarn from the one I made for the book, I knit a bottle of Asahi as a (very extremely super-duper) belated birthday present for a friend and finally gave it to her when I visited.

*Insert excited squealing here*

SOMEONE KNIT MY PATTERN!

Nerfernie on Craftster made a beer pillow! This is the first completed Hangover Helper I've seen that isn't mine.

Speaking of which, I was reunited with my whiskey bottle when I caught Debbie Stoller on her book tour, it's one of the projects she brought along. She also told me that the beer bottle went to Europe with her.

Among the photos I uploaded this weekend were pics of the prototype whiskey bottle and some shots I took of the book pillows before I mailed them back. At some point (hopefully soon) I plan to post those along with the whole Hangover Helper story.

Ok, here's the Plan

I am a terrible updater. I'm sure my regular readers are all aware of this. That is, if I even *have* any regular readers. I'm sure anyone who might have attempted it has given up by now, considering I haven't even posted in over a month.

However, in light of Son of Stitch 'n Bitch being released and my blog address being in there and all (I submitted the Hangover Helpers), I figure I should probably attempt to update a bit more regularly.

Seriously, I have FOs dating back to this summer when I was still in Japan that have yet to be posted. I have FOs that I've started and finished since moving back to Chicago. I have eighty gajillion WIPs. There's probably enough material to write about to keep me occupied through March, even without the inevitable adding on that will occur!

So here's the plan: my office is closed from Dec. 24 - Jan 2. During that time I plan to give my blog an overhaul. Updates. Links. Some semblance of organization. Hmm, this has "New Year's Resolution" written all over it....