Expected delivery date: Oct 3-17

Mightiest Market Yet

Apparently there will also be quality knitted goods courtesy of Karolyn Lawson, mother of Shola! I have one of her cowls and wear it CONSTANTLY. Come kick it with us and check out the newest wares. I'm stoked to offer a few summer surprise pieces...

This be custom sheeyat, yo

Puzzle pieces to the most recently completed custom order...

This be custom sheeyat, yo.

When you hear me say "I'm working on a custom order right now," this is what I mean. This is where it starts. Number crunching and line drawing...

Let's start with what's not going so well...

Today started out terrible and sloppy. I mean, feeling UPSET before anything had even happened. From there, it was just sloshing around until Blazer time. I was feeling various shades of down for all sorts of reasons and hit a low after coming home from the game. Then I remembered what my mom does with kids who are having a bad day and are sent to the principal's office. She makes a T-chart with them to show them EVERYTHING doesn't suck. Just some things. And there are upsides, so I made one. AND IT WORKS! HAHAHAHAHA!

The book of faces

WHEE! You can finally find my dresses on Facebook! It's a great place to browse my work if you are not yet an Etsy champion, AND you can be a fan! This means you'll get an update in your news feed every time new dresses appear (which we all know is...not that often at the moment, so it will be exciting! Can't....WAIT...to...FINISH...TEACHIIIING). I plan to post new stuff to the page before it hits the shop so it should be a great place to get a heads up/stalk. Check it out, fan it, join the creeper club...

Riot Siren and the Quiet Collector on Facebook

The few, the proud...

About half of us Rosebuds had the privilege of touring Fort Lewis and other military bases in the immediate area last weekend. It was really kind of my ideal trip; getting out of town, learning new things, hearing crazy (and really sad) stories, and developing a new perspective about something I'd previously only seen in movies or read about in books.

We visited a lot of people and did a lot of things but this was hands-down my favorite. The obstacle course with the Marines. Even though they flew through these things and we sort of flailed and slithered, I still felt like a total badass. Since it was damp and rainy, only four of the ten of us volunteered to grapple about on wet logs and bars, but I think we all did a pretty good job! My arms and chest were sore for days afterward and I couldn't stop talking about it.

They demonstrated the whole deal before we tested our strength. "So you can college-boy it" says Marine closest to the camera as he inverts and flips gracefully over the bar...

"Or you can chicken-wing it," he follows up, which we are demonstrating here. (I'm the hooded creeper farthest from the camera)...grab the bar, walk your feet up the pole and awkwardly flip around like you're a carcass on a rotisserie spit.

"You can make it!" or "What the crap are you doing?" I was so pumped up and trying to do a good job that I don't even remember him there. The first time I tried to make it over this wall it was tough going, but after we were all done I tried again when no one was looking and popped up there no prob. Okay...either way I didn't look as suave as my boyfriend Sgt. Blondie there to the left, but that's why they're Marines and we're dancers.

Regardless of what weak little slugs we looked like compared to these lithe jarheads, we still felt pretty proud of ourselves for making it through. I didn't even regret the damp van ride home.

Here's the whole thing in live action too!

Oh yeah, and they even let us hold their guns! They were so nice to us. Having one on one interaction with some of these guys and hearing their crazy stories really changed my perspective about the military. It blew my mind to think the guy who's standing to my left or is kindly ensuring we don't smash our heads open on a rainy obstacle course has seen friends blown up in front of him, or seen someone who was trying to end his life stabbed to death inches from his own body. And is being told to go BACK to do it all over again. May the force be with you friends, and may this country choose it's battles wisely...

Let's all start the week out on a good note, shall we?

How to Write a Decent Essay:

A not entirely comprehensive yet terribly informative guide
by Caitlin

First, consider your topic. I tend to free write first to dump all of the other garbage out of my brain and onto paper to allow myself a decent chance at distillation. Try to stay on topic, but more importantly, write. Just let the pen loop and twirl and scraggle across the paper until you’re exhausted. Now take a break.



Come back to what you’ve written a little later and give it a once over. What is your subconscious telling you? Generally, you will be able to determine your key points during this reading. If you are lucky and/or advanced, your thesis statement will become apparent too. If not, list your most important ideas concisely and look for the common thread. Start organizing.



To arrange your musings in a clear, logical manner easily digested by other human beings, create an outline. The hardest parts for me are a clever introduction and a solid conclusion, so I save those as a potential flesh suit waiting as an undetermined form in imagination land. As soon as the bones are there, you’ll know what type of trappings to design. Now that you’re not freaking out about an ingenious way to start your paper, organize everything else. Start with your thesis and block off a paragraph or two for each supporting statement necessary to illustrate it. As you mentally cut and paste bits of your brain dump into a coherent structure, you will also find it easy to clarify those bits. More pertinent supporting statements might even form! Don’t worry if you wonder “what am I actually trying to say here?” or “Is my thesis even true?” No big deal! You can modify your thesis statement at any time.



When your outline is more or less complete, you are relatively invincible. Now it’s time to write again! Pound it out on the computer. Necessary changes in sequence will reveal themselves as you support your points. Beware! Two hands working together as you type are a different connection to your brain than one hand with a pen, but don’t be afraid. Surprises might occur. They might be awesome! As soon as you have a satisfactory rough draft, make few notes about intros and conclusions, than print that biznass. You better get that thing proofread, yo! I suggest doing it yourself first, revising, and afterward enlisting the help of another.



Discuss your rough draft with an intelligent human being you trust to have good diction and sentence structure. Also keep in mind that this person should not be overly judgmental or a jerk. Why would you know anyone like that anyway? Whatever. Is your essay logical? Do they understand the point you are trying to make? Can they help you clarify or rearrange anything for a better fit? Did you vary your sentence structure and choose your words wisely? If you misspelled anything or made grammatical errors, now is the time to find out.



After your thorough proofread, you are ready to clean up your essay bones and let your genius shine. Get witty wit it. Use puns, shock factors, or anecdotes. Make your introduction and conclusion the stem and the dot of the exclamation point that should follow your thesis statement. Print that biz-nasty one more time and look it up and down. Repeat buddy proofread if desired. Golden? 

Turn that bad boy/girl in. And make sure your name is on it.