I haven't fallen off the planet.... Really, I haven't.

I know it's been a long time since my last "real" blog. So, here's what's been going on. The economy tanked (I know everyone knows that) but it has had somewhat of an impact on my business and that of my friend's. It does look like things are slowly starting to turn around though.

Last month was the Midwest Civil War Civilian Conference in Springfield, IL. It went really well. I think we had more people there than at any of the other ones. I hope that we keep up the momentum! We had great speakers & topics! I hope everyone who attended had a great time and I look forward to seeing everyone again next year.

Last night the Olympics started, unfortunately, on a very sad note. My prayers are with the family of Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili, who died during a training run yesterday.

On a lighter note, in the last couple of months I've rediscovered Tunisian Crochet and have been working with a friend to translate 1860s knitting and crocheting patterns from German to English. I'm in the process of making them into sizes that modern people can wear. Along with that I've also become active on Ravelry.com again. I've joined Team BAU (Criminal Minds fans) for the Ravelympics (http://www.ravelry.com/). I've decided to enter 7 wips (works in progress), 1 shawl, 1 sweater, & 1 lace. Here's the progress so far. I started this this morning and already have the vest & belt done. (Did I say I love Tunisian Crochet - I find it's faster than knitting!) My goal is to have this one & the other two that are wips finished by tomorrow evening. My new needles came in the mail today so now I can get started on the lace piece for the games.

Along with the knitting & crocheting I'm still doing Civil War costuming. My focus has shifted some though from period riding habits to boys' clothing (ages 8 & up).

Hopefully, I will do better at updating my blog from now on! That's all for now!

Go Team USA!