Elves. Ghosts. I am not Responsible for this

Baltic Sea on New Earth Stole

I finished knitting, I wove in the ends. Now, I've been told that plant fiber--in this case, sugar--doesn't require blocking. However, as I one day expect to wash the thing, I figured I'd better get it wet before chopping off the endsie bits. So, I soaked it about fifteen minutes and put it outside on towels. I only stretched it a bit. I'll find out when it's dry if I should have been more rigorous. But as it was so pliant as I was working on it--and again that thing about plant fiber!--I'm guessing pinning won't do much good.

In the Garden

You know how sometimes on TV a lawyer in a drama will say, "She felt compelled to..." whatever? Well, I felt compelled to stitch on this thing. As though I was being pushed to cross-stitch. By the Ghost of Cross-Stitch Future. Anyway, I got a lot more done.

Therese's Leftovers

And on the quilting front, I'm ripping out a really bad job of quilting I did. Wrong thread color, irregular work... it was just... uh... it wasn't me. It was elves. Unskilled elf labor that infiltrated my studio while I was out partyin... uh, feeding homeless dogs. Yeah.

Bask in my Imperfection

I wanted to show you that I finished the Caribbean Sunday Market Shawl. Notice anything strange? No? You must be lying on your side, then. That's right, I forgot to turn the photo around. The good thing about this pattern is: I used the entire skein. No leftovers. The bad thing: it squinched right up after I blocked it and is really scarf--not shawl--sized.... so it's a Market Scarf. Yeah. I meant to do that.And this is my Pouchy Pouch-Pouch. I started it during Comic Con as a mindless project, but finished it as a challenge. The idea was to use up the entire skein of raffia (Yes, raffia! I have no idea why I bought it.) yarn. So I added the tassels on the ends of the drawstring, I made a strap, and I got one of my crocheting pals to talk me through a pretty edging. And if you say it looks like it's lying on a scrunched-up feather boa.......I have no idea what you're talking about.

And I'm changing the subject. Nice weather we're having, huh? Yeah, I know. I talked about that last time. Small talk has never been my strong suit.

Pouches Galore!

I have pics of zipper pouches to show off. So I'll show 'em in twos: backs and fronts. Or fronts and backs--depends on how you look at 'em. I know! So very very many pouches! I just couldn't stop myself. And I came up with a fun idea: I put the name of the quilt that it came from on the tag. I may be the only one who cares, but it pleaseth me. There are sixteen pictured here, front and back, so there's 32 pictures. Yeah, I said 32.It's been so odd here. I keep hearing about how hot it is elsewhere. We're getting the coldest temperatures on record for July and August. This is SoCal: I should be sweating and complaining. Instead, I'm wearing sweaters to go out for a walk and flannel pajamas.No, not the pajamas to go for a walk... unless I've been sleepwalking... note to self: set up videocamera tonight. And no complaining or even whining!

Okay, 31 photos. This last one looks exactly the same on both sides. I thought we could leave that one out.

Whakahekeheke

(pronounced, as far as I can recall, FA-kuh-HEE-key-HEE-key)
It means surfing in Maori. This quilt reminds me of New Zealand and has lots of surfboards and beach-ie motifs so Whakahekeheke to you. That's the secret name. Keep it between us, okay. I'm going to turn it in and call it Surftones. Yeah, Whakahekeheke is way cooler but it'll freak out the ladies who have to read it. You should'a heard 'em when I named a quilt Holaku.
You might guess I used up tons of scraps for this baby. You'd be right. We have boxes of 2-1/2 x 2-1/2", 4-1/2 x 2-1/2", and 6-1/2 x 2-1/2" precut scraps. I dug through and put these together. The only thing I had to cut was the inner border --that wasn't even half a yard. I was trying to figure out the outer border when I realized I still had plenty of 6-1/2" scraps. So I had to use 'em, toss 'em, or put 'em away. Ethically, tossing 'em seems just wrong. And I really don't like to put things away. (Enough from the peanut gallery!) So I made a "piano key border." It involves sewing strips long sides together. Any length will do, but I had these. Not too complicated, it just takes time. The only trick is to backstitch the beginning and end of each seam so it doesn't unravel when you put the whole quilt together.For those who make clothes, but not quilts, backstitching is almost entirely unused by quilters. I know you like to do it. Even if you're inclined to make a quilt. Fine. Go ahead. Don't let me stop you.

Paula Poundstone Touched My Knitting!

Okay, I know you can't see my knitting, but see those two little sticks in her hands? Those are the tiny size #1 needles attached to the Slayer Sox. If you look below, you can pretend these images are continuous. See, her hands... and the sock. You say the sock is as big as Paula's torso? Um... Tiny's got really big feet. Yeah.

The story is we had tickets to Paula's show on Saturday. Irresponsible parents that we are, the Man of the Place and I thought Tiny would still be away at camp that night. Oops. AND, she called us to pick her up early because she was sick. She's gotta be REALLY sick to miss out on the bus ride. Double oops. So we drove up to Julian, picked her up, and had drinks at the coffee place (no, it was her idea!). That's where I took out my beautiful Kaylee-nomah shawlette and draped it artistically on a vine. Here's the detail shot.

Once we got home, we did what we could for our feverish child and took off for our evening of fun. Small feeling of guilt? Yes, but

1. it's important to spend time with each other outside of the house.
2. she prefers to be left ALONE (her caps, not mine) upon returning from camp. Teenagers.

Poor baby.

And Paula? She was so funny! I think she's gotta be my favorite comedienne. Especially since she has two teenagers herself.