Go to Your Studio and Make Stuff

Kaleidescope Eyes

2012-02-12T18:02:00.000-08:00

This pattern is called Garden Walk. I pulled it from Egg Money Quilts by Eleanor Burns. The dark purple and green flowers are all, believe it or slurp it, from the same batik fabric. I didn't realize that it would be so variable when I chose it. I used up every last scrap of leftovers from the front to make the back.

When I started to assemble it at PQM (that's Prayer Quilt Ministry, not Pretty Quilty Maidens, although maybe I should suggest it...), Therese happened by and said, "You want me to do that?" (She's the Big Kahuna of Quilt Assembly--BKQA for short.) My eyes got real big and I said "YEAH!" So she took over and put the thing together lickety split. (I'll try and get a pic next week.)

Swanee River

2012-01-29T16:57:00.000-08:00

So I'm back to "Bird of Love." It's so much easier now that I've finished the white parts. The stitching was picky in those places. I couldn't do the quick down-up movement, you know, when you slip the needle into the fabric and right out the top again in one move. I had to actually pull the whole thread through the fabric down and through the fabric up. That was really slow. Also, the filet cross-stitch looks good with only a half-cross, so that's what I'm trying. You can see it in the swirly wave things at the bottom. If I like it, this little sweetheart will get done soon. We'll see.

Also, the Black Orchid socks have had some progress: one down, one left to go. So now I can say that I am knitting socks, not just a sock. Yay. I have 'em on size 0 needles (that's kinda like a long toothpick to the non-knitters out there). This way the socks should last a good long time. Tighter knit=thicker fabric=holes take longer to develop=less crying when I have to toss 'em.

Pictures or it's not Done

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

The Viper Pilot socks (Callsign Required) have jumped back into normal space. I remembered wrong and thought there was an error in my knitting. I must have spent an hour looking at the pattern and the socks trying to find the problem. I even tinked (that's k-n-i-t backwards) out three rows looking for the error. The error was there was no error. And the past me left no notes for the future (now present) me. (Actually now past, too.) I found my spot and got to work. The heel is now completed--although the pattern is a little vague on the heel flap--and I'm on to the foot. That means this project is 30% done.

10% cuff,

10% leg,

10% heel & gusset,

10% foot,

10% toe and weaving in ends.

Yeah, I know that's only 50%: there's a whole 'nuther sock to do. It was started in April of 2010 and seemed really hard. Now it's just paying attention.
These French Press slippers got done last year. I dove into my button stash to find a fun way to complete 'em. Yep, I know they don't match. I'm happy. I did the finishing touches back in November but POIND. (Pictures or it's not done.) Now it's done.
In a Garden got framed up and I'm very pleased with how it came out.

Now that it's framed it counts as done. I guess that's FOIND.

2011, All wrapped up

2012-01-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

I read once that setting unattainable goals help you to stretch your limits. Hence 2011: The Madness. Mostly, I've been working my hinder-ender off. This job takes most of the creative time. That's not a bad thing: I've used my calligraphy skills to fashion signs for the chess case, my sewing skills to repair and replace game components, and my knitting to, well, keep me warm. Here, now removed from the side-bar, is a recap of

2011: The Madness

Socks: Make 12 pairs (5 down) Not bad, in my opinion. The last pair got finished on Christmas day!

Baby Booties: Make 6 pairs (1 down) 'Nuff said.
Sweater: Make 1 for me. Yeah, that's still in the dream stage.
Gloves: Make 3 pairs (see above)
Hats: Make 1 (done!) VICTORY!
Charity: Make 2 projects (1 down) 1>0 (that's not an emoticon: it's a mathematical expression)
New Baby Coming: make something (sorry, kid)
Non-charity quilts: Complete 6 --zilch (sewing machine mostly used to convert ugly boy uniform shirts into pretty girl uniform shirts so I don't look like a shlub at work)
Charity tops: Make 12 (3 down--there may have been more)
Morsbags: Make 30 + Zipper bags: Make 30 (grouped here to make it look like less)
Bonus: 1 apron (WOOT!)
Cross-stitch projects: Complete 6 (2 down) Well, that's somethin'
"Involved" beadwork: Complete 1 + Earrings: Make 20 pairs for sale No beads, no how.
S&SF/Asimov mags: read 12 (6.5 down--halfway there!) .5 refers to the one I lost in Costco halfway through. Meh.
Non-fiction Books: read 4 (2 down) Really? Just 2? Just checked. Yup. 2.
Classic Literature: read 4 (done)
Other Books: read 12 (done! +2)

So if we break all this down into what's really been completed:

FIVE pairs of socks

ONE pair baby booties

ONE hat

ONE charity bear

THREE charity quilt tops, maybe more

TWO cross-stitch projects

26.5 books and magazines read

So really, all this AND a thirty-hour job AND a home AND a teenager getting ready to graduate from high school: not bad. I'd be willing to bet that none of my co-workers at the game store made five pairs of socks last year. So there.

Think this is a bad hand?

2011-07-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

Yep. I've hurt my paws. No blogging. No knitting. No quilting. Mostly exercise, ice, and whining. But let's pretend that I'm working as a supermodel in Rome and I just don't have time for those things.

I'll be back when this glamourous gig is over.

Santa's Back

2011-07-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

Ooh, does this look like some kinda creepy shadow to you? It does to me. But behind the darkness... Santa Claus! Or rather, Avignon Santa. I glued the black felt on by spreading tacky glue over the cross-stitching on the back and setting it right on the felt. I let it dry overnight then carefully cut around it. Yeah, that's gotta be the most complicated instructions ever....

Finished... Well, almost

2011-06-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

While going through my grandmother's possessions (some years back), I discovered a cross-stitch sampler I had sewn for her and given, unframed. There it was, exactly as I had given it to her, in a drawer. Not on the wall, like the pieces I had framed for her, not sewn into a pillow, just carefully put away. This was an important lesson to me. It's not finished until it's finished. A quilt top is just a piece of fabric. An ornament without a hanger is just a bobble looking for a place to be. With this in mind, I show you the latest progress on these pieces.For the longest time, the link to A Stitch in Time has gone to the "I got nothin'" page. Now I can show you. The embroidery is done and the photo has a minimum of fuzzy. It's tiny, so I intend to make this into a little Christmas tree ornament.Avignon Santa is nearly done. He's been cut out from the perforated paper he was stitched onto and just needs his felt backing. I plan to glue him to the felt, then carefully cut around it. A Bird of Love is holding my attention more than I thought. I purchased a pattern that claimed to be filet cross-stitch. I thought it was more complicated in the original pattern, but this one just said, stitch it normally but with only one thread. A little disappointing, that. But certainly do-able. Finally, In the Garden just needs to be framed. Looking at it just transports me! I very sneakily signed it inside the terracotta planter. If you look carefully, you may see "desi 11".
PS: I did frame the sampler from Grandma's house, and it's hanging in my studio.

A Green Swan

2011-06-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

It strikes me that I didn't show you the picture of the latest oopsy before I done fixed it. This is the danger of using the same symbol for different colors in the pattern. Twice in this pattern "x" is used, once for shell-grey, once for medium blue-green. I must assume that the original had it in blue for one of the colors. But I photocopied it in black and white. Dur.
Anyhoo, without careful reading, I stitched all, and I mean ALL, of the swan's detailing in green before I asked myself, "but what about the grey?" I had a choice then.

Toss the whole project

Pull out the green and sew it in the correct color.

Toss the fabric and start over with something new.

So I slept on it. My brain works better that way. I chose option #2. And I'm glad.

Really? A Green Swan? How... modern.

Pre-Think

2011-06-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

What do you do if you can't think? Use a plan already in place. Works for emergency workers, for the military, for teachers... For a crafter, that means kits, whether these kits are store-bought (or catalog-bought) or put together yourself out of the vague hope that you'll get to it someday. Well, turns out Someday is today. Yup. Not thinking. Or, shall I say, not thinking of the craft. (Such an erudite term, don't you think? The Craft. Unless you're thinking of the movie.Not erudite. Not at all. But vaguely empowering. In a really bad girl kinda way.)

So if you think I've been swanning around, having all kinds of fun at the expense of my Craft...you're kinda right. This is what I mean by Pre-Think: I put this kit together (xeroxed the pattern from a book I gave away years ago, got the floss and fabric from a store back in the olden days*: Willie's Needlework in Orange County, I think. The pattern is called "A Bird of Love" and google gave me nada about it. Also, it calls for "filet stitch"--something I can only guess at, as it's really a crochet term. Eh, I guess I can think a little.

And this is totally a kit that's been sitting in my bin: Avignon Santa Christmas ornament. Nice, huh? Came with everything but the scissors. You might notice that the beads are sewn on in two directions. I didn't originally start that way. But the red beads are 11/0 size and a litle wide around the belly for the perforated paper. So side by side they crowd each other, but stacking them hole-to-hole, they line up like French schoolgirls. (Like I'm the only one who read Madeline a hundred times.)I swear I took a picture of the unruly crowding, but it was blurry and I didn't want to burden you with that.

*Yes, 1989 is too olden days.

Great Galumphing Grasshoppers!

2011-05-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

I really don't like it when bloggers or podcasters apologize for "being gone so long." I rarely notice it myself unless they point it out. So I'm not pointing it out. And you're not noticing. Are we clear on that?
As I am a working woman (I'm afraid to say working girl these days--my duties are extensive, but not that extensive), my time and energies are more limited. I find myself working mostly on projects that are

well-directed and don't involve much modification. For instance, I finished my Smoke Flowers Socks. The chart--pattern is Hearts & Flowers" by Wendy D. Johnson--is very easy to read. Not to mention that I'd already started these socks before THE JOB and was well under way. I think they're so pretty!

automatic. These purple-on-black Vanilla socks are always with me. The perfect thing to knit in the dark. (Not to fix in the dark--I need a really bright light for that!)ooh, Purple Vanilla... or Violet Vanilla, or Black Vanilla... what do you think? I need a name for this project. I'll hold off calling it something until I get some input (That's your cue, Dude... Dudette... Dude-Being: click the respond button and tell me what you think I should call it.

with friends. This is my Knit-in-Public evidence. The project is Callsign Required socks.Even though I miss a lot of meetings these days. I'd like to schedule a different time of the week for an alternate knit meeting. If I can figure out a regular time...

Fun & easy. More about that later. If you're good.

And no, there aren't any grasshoppers in the blog. But feel free to make yourself one.

Frozen Grasshopper

Palm Leaf Grasshopper

Clothespin Grasshopper

Knittin Kitten

2011-02-28T21:25:00.000-08:00

So the only thing I've finished this month is really easy slippers. The pattern is Amy March Slippers: a freebie from Tiny Owl Knits. And they used up some of the stranger balls in my stash. I'm counting 'em as socks on my 2011: the Madness list. I know they don't have cuffs and some people would say they're not socks but I made the list. I make the rules. So there.

Comfy, cozy, smooshy, whooshy slippers! Yup, it's the perfect thing for a working woman to slip on at the end of the day. And who's that working woman? Yup. Me! I've actually had a paycheck. Seems unbelievable. I had kind of a ceremonial opening of the pay envelope. It was awesome. And my boss has used these words about me: wonderful

and

amazing.

He's been trying to figure me out: why I work so hard and I'm so cheerful. Dur. I'm happy!

I like working with the public.
I like games.
I like being appreciated.

How Many Socks Make a Pair?

2011-02-04T20:46:00.000-08:00

Guess who got a job! A real-life, paying job! With a pay check! And a schedule! And a boss! You got it right--Me! After being the lady of the manor for almost two decades, I've returned to the work place. (And loving it!)
Which is why I haven't been blogging that much or knitting that much or quilting that much or really, much of anything besides learning, absorbing, thinking, counting, redisplaying, cleaning and then when I get home: zombie. Not the brain-eating rotting-right-before-your-eyes kinda zombie, more the sit down and stare blankly kinda zombie.
But since you've been so patient and read so far, let me show you the Rockin' Pixie socks in progress. Notice anything strange? Does one look a little smaller than the other? Yeah, it turns out that when knitting, there's this thing called guage.

Guage (n) the number of stitches per inch in a sample of knitting with one type
of yarn, a particular needle, and a particular knitter. Note that the knitter's
guage can change with experience, mood, temperature, chocolate, and massage. It
is recommended for almost any pattern that the knitter "get guage" before
beginning. But most of us just skip it.

Sideways socks do not respond well to "skipping it". Instead of just stretching a bit around the leg (if knit too small) or being slightly fluffy (if knit too big), the sock is just too long. And not, oh-I-can-fudge-it too long, like 2-3 inches too long.
So I'm having to make three socks. So the answer to our question is three. Three socks make a pair. sigh

Glue Diva with Sticky Fingers

2011-01-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

When Tiny came into the bathroom, this is what she saw. What can I say? Occasionally, mah jongg tiles need a good wash. Especially if you've played on a table in public use. It didn't take much, just a soak, once-over with the sponge, and drying. The real work came with glue and clothespins. Rubber bands, too. The inserts in my case had come a little loose. Not horrifying or anything, but the heat in the car probably cooked the glue a little more than needed.I'm kind of a glue diva. I have Krazy Glue, Elmer's Glue, hot glue, Gorilla Glue, School Glue, Paper Glue, Watch Cement, Epoxy--I've even made glue out of rice flour. So, when something gets broken, I go to town! Not a perfect record by any means, but sticky fingers are not uncommon around here.

I broke into Tiny's sock drawer and finally got pix of the Slayer Sox I finished, what? Four months ago? (She loves 'em, by the way, and wants more. Nice to be appreciated.)

I thought about putting this pic up for her socks, but her feet are just a little too big for booties now. The pattern is Elegant Snowballs Booties from the 2010 Knitting Pattern Calendar. (Hey, got another project down from my 2011: the Madness over on the right there.)Speaking of which, one charity project down: I'm calling the her the Sugar Plum Bear-ie. I'll be sending her off to The Mother Bear Project in February. It's a really cool organization and... CogKNITive and The Manic Purl are both randomly giving away prizes for Mother Bear Knitters! One entry per bear. Deadline: Feb 20. Look into it!

Oh, yeah, this bear is modeling on top of a new apron I made. Pretty basic apron, but the fabric is groovalicious, in my not-so-humble opinion.

Setting Cornerstones

2011-01-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

Q: What is a cornerstone?

A: Well, aside from architectural definitions--which won't be helpful since we're talking about a quilt, here--a cornerstone is that little blob of fabric that goes in borders and in sashing where two strips of fabric meet. Or don't really meet, because the cornerstone is there instead. Dur.

In this quilt, the cornerstone is the little square with the lightening bolt on it.

Q: Why do you use cornerstones?

A: 1. it looks cool, 2. sometimes fabric won't look nice butted up against itself, like the stripe in our example, 3. you don't have quite enough fabric (2" short is still 2" short).

Q: Enough with the Qs & As already. Show me how it's done!

Measure the width of your unfinished quilt. (We'll call it the medallion to cut down on confusion.) Measure the height. Cut your border fabric strips. Mine were 2.5". Cut the strips to the exact width and height of your medallion. Pin and sew the width strips to your medallion.
Cut 4 cornerstones, the same as the width of the border strips. (2.5" here.) Pin and sew them to the ends of your height border strips.
Pin and sew the height border strips to the medallion, being careful to match up the cornerstone seams to the seams between the width strip and the medallion.
Add another border if you like. Hey! You've got quilt!

Charge!

2011-01-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

Prayer quilt for Tim. I was working on the houglass components and ran into a little trouble.

Tip of the day: when trimming, BE CAREFUL. I'm really not sure how I managed this, but I think it wouldn't have happened if I had followed that advice. Probably.There was enough fabric to make up for my little gaff. The medallion is now completed and I've got the borders started. Tomrrow should see progress.

Any Guesses?

2011-01-13T12:44:00.000-08:00

What would you guess this project is? The yarn is fingering weight, and the needle size is 2. And yes, it looks this weird in person.
It's... socks. Okay, it's a sock. It's knitted not from the cuff down, not from the toe up, but sideways around the leg and foot. The pattern is called "Pixie" from The Enchanted Sole by Janel Laidman. As far as I can tell, the pattern is written perfectly. I haven't run into any problems yet. It's just... weird. Nice and all, but weird. Kinda like a blogger you might know...

2011, Here I Come!

2011-01-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

I was looking for a gadget that I could use to keep track of my progress on my 2011 goals. TickerFactory seemed great, but I could only get it to configure one ticker. Boo. So I guess I'll have to just do it by hand. (Until genius strikes... and that could be a while.) I'll just put the text into my sidebar. But first, I'll run it by you:

Knitting
Socks: Make 12 pairs (1 down as of yesterday!) That means there should be one pair/month. I can probably do that, seeing as I have four pairs already started.
Baby Booties: Make 6 pairs (They keep getting born!)
Sweater: Make 1 for me (I know, I should have made a sweater for myself long ago. Wipe that smug look off your face, you experienced sweater-knitters and send me some good mojo!)
Gloves: Make 3 pairs (I just want more gloves!)
Hats: Make 1 (I figure I will anyway, so if I put it in the list, it looks like I planned it.)
Charity: Make 2 projects (Bears, hats, whatever...)
New First Cousin, Once Removed, on the Way: make something. (Consult with first cousin)

Quilting
Non-charity quilts: Complete 6 (Somehow it's just easier to make them for someone else.)
Charity tops: Make 12 (Tops are what they want.)

Sewing
Morsbags: Make 30 (and give them out--Earth Day is April 22)
Zipper bags: Make 30 (sci-fi/fantasy theme will be fun!)

Hand-Sewing
Cross-stitch projects: Complete 6 (any size)

Beadwork
"Involved" projects: Complete 1
Earrings: Make 20 pairs for sale

Reading (Actual books, audio doesn't count.)
S&SF/Asimov mags: read 12 (That's only one/month and the backlog of unread 'zines is embarrassing.)
Non-fiction Books: read 4 (What? Only four? Yeah. Probably the ones on last year's book list.)
Classic Literature: read 4 (So here's the funny bit: the Bible is composed of 66 books. Some of them are really short. And they count as Classic Literature. Heh.)
Other Books: read 12 (That's right. Any old trash I want! Or if I decide to read 16 works of classic literature, they can count here. What? It could happen.)

Phew! So, you think I can do it? Of course, I'll probably wind up adding to the list...

Which is Which?

2011-01-10T21:40:00.001-08:00

The Wicked Traveler Socks are done! Hurrah! The weirdest part was finding the right buttons for 'em. But somehow in my stash of items there was a sample card from a button company. Look in the top left corner. See the date? Probably not. It's really small in the photo, Desi. Well, it says "July 1954." That means these buttons have been out of circulation for over 50 years! Well, welcome back. I'm not sure how you fell into my hot little hands, but my socks are the better for it. And nope. There's only one button of each style so they don't exactly match, but I think they're close enough. And durned purty, if I do say so myself! Can you guess which one's from the card and which one came out of my sewing box?

Wha Happa?

2011-01-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

That's "What happened?" as heard by most dentists. Go ahead. Open your mouth wide, stick at least four fingers in, and try to say it. If you can understand it, you're probably in the dental profession. (Free-Range, I'm talking to you!)

Anyway, my thoughts were that I would probably put down the knitting needles and pick up something else once I had completed the long, long shrug for Tiny. Nope! I yanked this ball of yummyness (That's a word. Look it up.) out of the stash and started on Wendy D. Johnson's Hearts and Flowers Toe-Up Sock. I could barely stop myself to eat. It's wonderful! Perhaps it's because I don't have to do it. There's no assignment, no deadline, nobody but me waiting for 'em. But that's not like me. I do well with assignments, deadlines, people waiting... Hmm, maybe I'm possessed. That'd be cool. Possessed by a ghost that knits socks. So I've been working on this for just three days and I've already completed the heel!

Or perhaps.... somebody else has been working on this for just three days and already completed the heel.... Ooooweeeooooohhhh...

What I Did for My Christmas Vacation

2011-01-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

This. Mostly. On Christmas Eve, I finally gave up and wrapped the unfinished project, needles and all. I think most people would be perplexed if they opened a gift with knitting needles still in it. But when Tiny opened it up, she totally got it. Her eyes lit up: she was excited! Now that kid is soooo knitworthy!
After Christmas, I went nuts getting ready for our annual New Year's Eve Game Night, cooking and cleaning. Mostly cleaning. Here's how I made it work: I made these lists based on each room and taped 'em down on my desk. Lists tend to get lost... especially if it's stuff I don't really enjoy. Tape keeps it findable.

It worked! The house was tidy by the time 2011 came roaring--and honking and shouting--in.

And New Year's Day saw that shrug finished:

A Shrug for Her Shoulders

2010-12-21T00:38:00.000-08:00

I have been monogamous to one knitting project--virtually one project alone for about two weeks. It's making me nuts! Not that I don't like it: I think it's lovely. But one project?

Of course, I couldn't stand it. I finally broke last night. I've had this package of charms sitting on my desk staring at me, daring me to do something. When I blinked first, I was forced to make them into stitch markers, using the first tool to hand, namely fingernails. Yup, I just slid my nail into the jump ring, slipped in the charm, nail out, worked the charm around, and voila! It's not my fault. And on to the monotonous--er, monogamous--knitting.

Sidhe (pronounced "she") Lace Shrug from Vampire Knits

It's for Tiny's Christmas gift. Foolishly, I imagined that I could make this little beauty from stashed yarn: a size large shrug from a single skein of sock yarn. 400 measly yards. Enough to make a pair of women's socks. One pair. A shrug is like two long socks (sleeves, actually) connected by a long flat bit to go across the back. So it's more like three long socks. That's a lot of yarn!

So, easy solution, right? Just go back to where I got that gorgeous yarn in the first place. sigh

No, this yarn was part of the Jane Austen Yarn Club from last year. It's the Northanger Abbey colorway. Even the dyer didn't have any left... and doesn't remember how she made it. I asked. I asked other members, but no luck. They'd either used it, lost it, or had plans for it.
So I did the next best thing: I went into Knitting in La Jolla with my project in hand and asked to see the sock yarn. I told her I knew she couldn't match it, but maybe we could find something that would look nice. I mean, I may be a doofus, but I'm not an idiot. Wait. That didn't sound good. But we had success: a nice plain purple sock yarn from Cascade. It's working in well, I think.

First I knit it every other row with the new yarn, then two rows on and two rows off. Then four-two, then six-two... then I ran out. So just Cascade for the rest.

This is how it currently stands. Ooh, I hope I can get it done by Christmas morning. The Yarn Harlot knit a whole sock in a day. Maybe I can borrow her helper monkeys...

No notes

2010-12-20T17:27:00.000-08:00

Bugs! I usually have a few sticky notes hanging around to tell me what to blog about--not orders, you understand, but suggestions. And all I can find is my TV watching list, a couple things I want to buy from Knit Picks, and a note about vitamins. Also something about emptying the shredder before it explodes. Eh. It could take a few more bank receipts.

Oh, I know. I'll check my photo uploads. December, December... ew, it's organized by days of the week. Sunday, nope. Monday, ahhhh!

Here's the Bleaf Lace Scarf on my sweet aunt as it's being stolen by her granddaughter. That kid's got good taste! I'm told she still wears the red sweater I made her last year.

Dressing Up the Lace

2010-12-02T10:08:00.000-08:00

Here's the Bleaf Lace Scarf being dressed, one half pinned out. Yes, I know it's in two pieces. I made it that way. The pattern required me to make one half, then make another. That seemed dumb. So I made the two halves at the same time on the same needle. It set things up so that I'd do the lace row, then repeat it. Then I'd do the back, twice. Worked great! I know somebody who does both sleeves at once when making sweaters. That's probably where I got the idea. Or maybe from the two-at-a-time socks idea. Or maybe it came from outer space. Yeah. My alien implant from when I was working at the MIB branch. But I'm not supposed to talk about that. Oops. Would you please look carefully at this bright light while I erase your memory?
I can never figure out which way to point these silly things.... flash... What was I talking about?

Nothing to Worry About

2010-11-30T12:22:00.000-08:00

Last night the doctor called to check in on me and say the lab results came out fine. I didn't say I already thought I was fine. It's kinda like the pilot coming on the intercom of the airplane and saying, "There's nothing to worry about." Makes me feel like I missed out on all the anxiety.... I guess that's not a bad thing.

In the meantime, I've been working like a dog. A clever dog. With thumbs. I pulled out my jewelry-making apparatus and dusted off the skillz. (Just added the z there. They were only skills when I learned.)So I'll be showing at the CRB Christmas Bazaar this Saturday! Me!

I found a box where I had dropped in some beads I thought looked pretty together and left 'em there. Baroque (that means odd-shaped) blue glass pearls, Blue Austrian Crystals, and these pretty seed beads. Using every single crystal and pearl, I made this collection. I'm calling it The Blue Frost Collection. Sounds classy, huh?

I'm calling this one "Crystal Palace," and yes, those green stick-things are actually woven of tiny beads. At least, they're tiny now. I think they get smaller when you don't use them. And if you say anything about needing reading glasses, you should know I'm humming It's a Small World right now, so I can't hear it.

There's a Snake in Mah Boots!

2010-11-23T18:53:00.000-08:00

... and a hole in my bellybutton. I didn't want to bring it up to the beforehand and cause worldwide panic, but I just had a "procedure." That's what they call it when they knock you out, poke holes in you and take something out just so's they can look at it. I wonder if they ever dress you up in a feather boa and fake mustache while you're unconcious... I would.
Well, the upshot is I'm fine. But there's a hole in my bellybutton.

Meanwhile, here's a peek at a prayer quilt I've been working on. It's scrappy pink and dark green. I just behave as though the pink is all one color and the green is all the other. It's supposed to make a kind of star. We'll see. Looks kinda like strawberries to me.

And this is the Leaf Lace Scarf from Vogue Knitting Spr/Sum 2005. When I bought the mag, I could only attempt the very easy very Vogue stuff. Now I feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Also, I charted the pattern. That's new for me. I think. The drugs are making me a little woozy. Not like that's a bad thing...

Messages I'll Never Have #1

2010-11-15T11:20:00.000-08:00

We have a whole family answering machine*. That means Tiny gets her friends calling... or did, before the dominance of the text (but she still gets calls from her coaches and stuff), I get my cool friends calling to tell me about parties, and the Man of the Place gets business calls there. Now my friends are clever and fun and crazy messages are totally appropos. However, sports-minded individuals (coaches) and business-minded folk often aren't prepared for my ready wit. Or my recorded wit. So we have the boring-est message ever:

"Thanks for calling! Please leave us a message."

I mean, really. The outgoing message is a perfect opportunity for creativity. I have a friend whose message is that instrumental Boom-chicka-bow-wow, and that's it. I love it.

So, from time to time, I will reveal an outgoing message I'd love to have... but never will. Here's the first one:

You know what? We're not going to answer the phone. We're not. We're just not.
We may be screening, hovering over the machine, waiting to hear your voice. But
that's the thing. You don't know. (Pause) Bwa-hahahahaha! beep

Feel free to use it.

*Yes, we've heard of voice mail. We prefer to devote a portion of the kitchen counter to a machine that presides over our calls, blinking its little red eye at us.

Cinderella Redux

2010-11-14T19:42:00.000-08:00

Last Hallowe'en, Tiny waved her magic knife and created a lovely Cinderella pumpkin. (She really amazed me.) This year, she continued with the theme:Think I'm proud of my kid? Of course! Turns out she's a fairy godmother. That's right. Tiny can turn a pumpkin into a carriage!

Quick Quiz

2010-11-12T08:05:00.000-08:00

What is the difference between the upper pin (orange head) and the lower pin (yellow head)? And don't say one's orange and one's yellow.

Don't know? Look again.

Still don't know? Here's a hint: OUCH. That's right. The yellow pin can hurt you.

Tip for the day: tuck the end of your super-pointy pins back into the fabric.
It'll save you loads of time. (I was gonna make a joke about waiting to clot,
but that's just gross, right? We'll skip that for today.)

News! I've been crazed lately (Yeah, I know, how is that news?) Well, I've got a market for my bags: Two Sisters and Ewe in La Mesa, California. And they're ordering other stuff, too! DPN (That's Double Pointed Needles, to you and I) Cases and Circular Needle Cases (They're not really circular: it's two knitting needles connected by a cable so they can be any shape you want. You could even call 'em Pentagonal or straight-ish or Polyhedronal Needles, if you wanted to. Of course, nobody'd know what you were talking about.) But I digress. A lot.

Anyhoo, here's what they look like:

(in process. Gotcha.) I put batting in both styles to give it strength. It's like a little bitty quilt to hold your needles. (Wait. You gotta read "little bitty" in a squeaky voice. That's why it's all slanty.)

Here's the DPN Case open...

...and closed.

And the Circular Needlecase open...

...and closed. I wanted a closure on this case that would keep the needles inside really well, so I made a buttonhole and fabric loop closure. I couldn't find any ideas that I liked so I had to innovate. (And that's my Word of the Day.) Did you remember to read that in a squeaky voice?

Here's What I Can't Work On...

2010-11-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

... because it's Christmas run-up time! See, I got the beaded cable part all done on both socken (plural for sock.) And here's what I can work on... ... But I can't show you. On account of needing to practice my sneakiness. Guess you'll have to ask Spycat. So we'll call this project Spycat's Secretz. It's about 10% done, thanks to a day of hardly anything else. It helps when Tiny's sick and her care preempts going out stuff.

Tortured Lace Equals Happy Lace

2010-10-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

It occured to me that I haven't shared the done pics of my Travelling Heroine Shawl, despite the fact that I've been flaunting it up and down California. Currently it's got a Celtic wolf pin in it that I got during a vicarious trip to Edinburg. Vicarious in that I didn't go. Earth Mother did. And she told me all about it. And brought me a lovely souvenier. So I practically went.
This is my shawl, dressed.

Dress (verb) Take a piece of knitted lace, soak it in
water, stretch it until it screams, pin it in place, and leave until
bone-dry. While you and I would balk at such treatment, lace actually wants to be treated this way. Until it has been thus tortured, it will
refuse to do anything more than sit in a wad and scowl, looking more like used dental floss.

But look how pretty it is after the rack:
And my Elinore Gloves are all done. They took less than 25 grams of sock yarn so I used leftovers. I may have to repeat this little experiment!

The Good News...

2010-10-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

... is that I can upload photos at last. The bad news is that I can't get HP Image Zone working so I can edit them. So if I took the picture sideways... well, let's just say it was a gravity issue. Yeah. Gravity. Now that we've got that straight, or sideways, here's the news:

I'm just back from the CogKNITive Fiber Retreat. What a blast and a half! 53 knitters, spinners, crocheters, and a few of their unwitting family members got together in Tehachapi, CA... ... to eat, shop, laugh, drive, and manupulate various strings and string-like materials. It was a great time. I am so glad I went this year.

Great moments:

When Gemma pushed Nathan aside so she could hug me.

When Tika and I got into a Battlestar Galactica/Caprica smackdown. (She was wrong, by the way. Caprica rocks.)

When I realized that Chris didn't get annoyed by me, despite the fact she was my roomie.

Playing with Gigi's spindle. (No, a real spindle. Get your mind back on the sidewalk! What? That was just me. Oh. Sorry.)

Being told that I was in charge of choosing the restaurants next year because I did such a great job this year.

This time I planned to get there a full day early so I could settle in. Last year I was so excited I couldn't sleep and was shambling around zombie-style for much of the retreat.
Part of the festivities was a fund-raiser for the very worthy Mother Bear Project. While I didn't win a prize, I could drop off my bear.

I call it Bear 1999 because it's supposed to look like the uniforms in Space 1999. Yeah. I know.

And I have started a new pair of socks! Yay! The pattern's called the Traveler. It features cables, beads, and a little pocket in the cuff. The yarn is from the Mean Girls Yarn Club and is called "Totally Wicked." It came with the cute witch stitch marker in the photo, a bar of poison apple soap, and ruby slippers lollipop. I love my yarn clubs. Last year I was in the Jane Austen Yarn Club. Forrest Gump would like 'em, too, I think. You never know what you're gonna get.

Still Loading...

2010-09-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

My poor regular computer is having some trouble, so I'm using the irregular one. I'm not sure if I can get my camera to load up here. If you see pictures in this post, rejoice! It means I've succeeded, but at this moment the little spinny wheel is still going next to the words "Loading photos..."
I guess I can tell you about my progress, though. I've finished three helmet liners and started on a fourth!
And after much hard work and concentration, my Traveling Heroine shawl has been completed. It's beautiful and 10% cashmere, so you can imagine how it feels on my shoulders. It's the first standard sized triangular shawl I've made and it's so much nicer than a "shawlette." Update: I just realized I haven't said word one here about this project. Details:

Started it during Comic Con (late July) for line-standing, because the beginning is a plain triangle.
Yarn was a Christmas gift from Teens. I figure gift yarn should be used for personal projects. It's a variety of deep greens and yummy as can be.
The pattern is called Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante and can be found here. Mine looks kinda like the sample.
I had to restart it twice and used a lot of lifelines. (Used up a whole container of dental floss!)
Repeated chart A four times.
Learned (much too late--like the next-to-last row) that you're not supposed to slip the first stitch on a triangular shawl. Just knit it like normal. But I like it anyway.

In a Garden has even had some progress. The watering can and birds are completely done, backstitched and everything. The stepping stones and birdbath are stitched but not outlined. I'd have to say it's 90% done. That's a good feeling.
Oh! And Slayer Sox are unofficially done. Tiny doesn't know and I want to block 'em before I hand 'em off. Since she's back at school and taking all honors courses (Eep!), she's a little distracted. Mwah-ha-ha! I wonder what mischief I can get up to... I could sneak into her room and--uh, make the bed! Take out the trash! Open the windows and air it out!

Talent

2010-09-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not bragging. I just wanted to show you what's possible.

Amazing, no? And now that you've seen the impossible, now it's time for helping me choose the beauty shot for this lovely shawl. Please tell me which shot is best. If your choice is "none of the above" please give me a better idea. This is Palm Tree Straight On and this is Palm Tree Angled and this is Door.
Whatcha think?

Coasters for Toasters

2010-09-06T11:53:00.001-07:00

I have to preface this by saying that in Battlestar Galactica (yeah, I know, it's getting a bit thick with sci-fi references) the Cylons (robots) are referred to as "toasters". So this space battle fabrics kinda lends itself to the whole theme, if you know what I mean. But I'll give you a little photo tutorial to make up for the extreme geeky start.You'll need six 5" squares of fabric and one 5" square of batting. Fold and press four of the squares in half, right sides out. Make a sandwich by stacking one full square face down, batting, one full square face up.Layer the folded squares with raw edges lining up against the sides of the full squares. Do this with all four folded squares. Interlock them so you have four patches of fabric showing and pin. I pin like a madwoman because I can't be trusted. Follow your own star.Sew a quarter-inch seam around the edges. Trim the corners and flip inside out. I'd have a pic of that but it just looks like a big wad o' fabric. Lather, rinse, repeat until you have as many coasters as a toaster could want.

Evil Twin Fired

2010-09-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

First off, my evil twin totally sucks. She said she'd take over the blog for a couple of weeks, but when I check in, nothing! She's really untrustworthy. Could be because she's evil.

So I guess I'll have to catch you up myself. I've been a busy little beaver! I've made even more--frankly surprising!--progress on In the Garden. Can you see the bird bath? I think it looks pretty great even without backstitching.I made another zipper pouch from fabric that CC passed on to me. (I love receiving fabric scraps! Even though it means my stash is overflowing.) This voluptuous floral just rocks my world.
And Operation Headcover continues. I've made two helmet liners so far and have another one on the needles. I have yarn enough for a total of five. (We'll see how that works out.)Tiny's Slayer Sox near the finish line. I'm loath to complete them, though. They are so good for bad times. We went to see a very good play, Song of Extinction, last night. It's about a heavy subject, so I needed knitting. I got about an inch of the foot done just sitting in the dark, trying not to cry. When I got 'em into the light, there was a whole new stripe of color!And then we come to Marine Comfort Quilt blocks. Well, Battlestar Galactica Fleet Power Battle group on Ravelry posted new missions this month. One was "Colonial Day": I was to make something patriotic. Some people are patriotic in the Battlestar Galactica universe or to a particular team or state. This is one of those charities that I occasionally help out in. I had three done and put away to ship off when I had more. So I dug 'em out and made ten more. I'll send 'em on Tuesday. Yay! I totally recommend this group if you're a quilter. If you have odd blocks sitting around, all you have to do is get 'em up to 12 1/2" square, sign 'em, and send 'em! When I have five, I send 'em. (Or thirteen, in this case.)

Elves. Ghosts. I am not Responsible for this

2010-08-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

(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!

2010-08-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

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

it's important to spend time with each other outside of the house.
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.

How Can You Tell If Your Teenager Loves You?

2010-07-30T23:06:00.001-07:00

Tiny's just finished her Murder Among the Mateys pirate party. I was the corpse. Yyyyup. I guess you can't have a murder without a corpse. It seems telling that she'd choose her mother to be the dead body. At least I was included.
At PQM, Uphill Both Ways got finished up. Here it is, all sewn together. And here's the back Cathy made.I've been working on more zipper pouches. This is the front of one.And this is what I originally was going to use for the back. Something just struck me as wrong, so I used that for lining and chose this for the back instead.It's in process. I'll show you the finished project soon.

What I did for my summer vacation...

2010-07-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Guess where I was this week? Some people say I was at San Diego Comic Con, but that's not true. I was actually at a knitting convention. First I went to Battlestar Galactica for some training. As you can see, the crew chief helped me with my Caribbean Sunday Market Shawl:
Then I met up with Captain Hammer and Doctor Horrible (Doctor Horrible's Sing-along Blog)--I gave him a few pointers and let him work on the shawl a little. And now it's almost done. I blocked it out yesterday and just need to weave the ends in.Then I went to a sock workshop. The teacher was Belle (Beauty and the Beast) and she showed me how to get my Slayer Sox to practically knit themselves. (I'm told she has moving furniture.)Here's a closeup of the progress made. It's slow work as it's on size 1 needles, but the ribbing is ideal for keeping my fingers busy while gazing into Nathan Fillian's dreamy eyes.... Oh, sure, there were 900 other people in the room and the lights were down but we made a connection.

No Proble---Oops.

2010-07-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

I am working on what must be the simplest knitting project that isn't garter stitch: The Sunday Market Shawl. The only weird thing is that you have NO IDEA how it's going to come out until the VERY LAST ROW! I'm not kidding. Click on the link if you want to see how it's supposed to come out. Look anything like what I'm doing? I think not... Oooh. I just realized I wasn't following the pattern. Ahem. I have to go.

But before I do, I inherited this. Anyone know what it is?

Not that I have Anything Against Frogs...

2010-07-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

...but when they turn into verbs, I can't stand 'em! See how far I'd gotten on my lovely Kaylee-nomah? I was actually even farther than the photo shows: three repeats into the ripple lace on the edge. Then (insert doom-presaging music here) I dropped a stitch!Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Yeah, just try and fix lace after you drop a stitch. If you succeed, let me know and I will throw a party for you in my head. Once I get over being horribly jealous. Well, I've got it back on the needles and am currently sorting it out. I'm hoping I won't have to rip-it back further. Or the whining will once again commence.

Kinda Like Sausage

2010-07-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

Every time I photograph this shawl-in-progress, it looks exactly the same. I remember a vaguely spooky story about a pioneer girl who had a similar problem and suspected magic. It just turned out her grandmother was unravelling it. Hm. I guess if my grandma was unravelling it, it would be spooky. Not that I would put it past her...

I got inspired and actually did a little work making yarn. On the spindle--that's that wood thing on the left--is some pretty green sample stuff, just in a single ply so far. On the right is 15 yards of two-ply yarn that I made. That's right, folks, I can make yarn! It's kinda like sausage: we think of it as coming from the store, but it really comes from an animal source and a person who puts it together. (But if I drop fiber on the floor, I don't have to worry about anyone seeing me before I pick it up and put it back into use.)

Dr. Joyce Brothers Would Know...

2010-07-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

I wanna know how come my hands hurt like the dickens today when I was doing stupid yucky annoying things like driving all over town (twice) and talking to the same saleslady (twice) and cleaning up someone else's mess... yet at improv practice tonight when I was catching butterflies in the wallpaper and exploring a Mayan pyramid my hands didn't hurt at all.I've been giving longing glances at my sewing machine, but Molly's on sabbatical until I have strong hands. Maybe Friday. But for now, she's got the TV.

PS: I knit a little today. It's part of Tour de Fleece, but--to extend the metaphor--I'm walking my bike.

No, Not Really

2010-07-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

People can't help but ask, How did you hurt your hands? Well, here's the mitigated, heavily varnished truth: I was training for Tour de Fleece*, feeling stronger by the day. I was pushing myself pretty hard when I hit a banana peel slick. Turns out that the local circus had lost containment on its monkeys at the same time a sensitive delivery of extra-slick experimental bananas were being delivered to a nearby biotech firm. Well, there must have been about a hundred peels right in front of me. Completely unavoidable. I spun out out and flew over the handlebars. All I can say is thank God for the raft of cream pies that cushioned my landing. Twenty clowns piled out of a tiny ambulance, but the best they could do is suggest I rest my hands, knit slowly, and avoid washing dishes.
Kaylee-nomah, made from Kaylee yarn in the Multnomah shawl pattern (pdf), which is slow-knit friendly. Beaded Slayer Sox--to be avoided until further notice. (Buffy Anklets pattern in Noro Kureyon Sock.) 1 mm crochet hook. I honestly had no idea these existed. That's what you use to get beads on Slayer Sox.

*a knitting and spinning event that parallels Tour de France and has actually nothing to do with bicycling. Or pie.

Love

2010-07-03T22:48:00.000-07:00

Finished the Gorgeous Butt(e) socks and I'm wearin' 'em right now. They are so pretty the picture can't show how much I like them. So trust me. I like them! (I'd say I LOVE them but I can't bring myself to love things. It's people I love. Okay, maybe the planet, but people mostly. And really good cheese.)

It has come to my (somewhat foggy) attention that I have SIX official followers. May I make a little announcement to all six? I adore you. And you. And you. And you. And you. And you. It may be the afterglow of a family party. Or the ice cream. Or that delightful glass of red wine... but really, I think it's you. You took a moment to push a few buttons and declare yourselves. Squee! (That's the--albeit short--musical accompaniment of the happy dance.)

And to those who are unoffical followers, I love you too. Just differently. Unofficially.

No, really. It was only one glass. Well, it was a big glass...

Ahem. Since I hurt my hands, I have had to step back a bit from, oh everything, but yesterday I couldn't help myself, I had to finish up some zipper pouches. I completed five. My hands ached from the ironing so I have taken myself off ironing duty for at least two days. That means no sewing, too. That means this pile of unironed laundry is actually a symbol of me taking care of myself. So there! (Hmm, think I could blow off cooking duty too?)So today I took all five pouches to my knitting group, sold three, and came home. Then I took pictures. Dur. That means I have... only... two to show you. Again I say, dur. But here they are. This one is the same front and back: And this one has a little variety. Front... ...and back.

I have two more pouches planned with these fairy tale panels--they're all pinned and everything but... no sewing for TWO DAYS! At least.

The Claw!

2010-06-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

So the Goth Girl quilt has gone to its new home... but this is all I can show you. The black and white is the back.I did get it completed and her mom was thrilled. So yay.

I'd say more but my hand hurts. Not sure why. Worn to a frazzle, I 'spect.

Like Snowflakes

2010-06-21T18:07:00.001-07:00

I've been spending a little time making up my zip pouches. I made and brought three to my knitting group on Saturday and they all got snapped right up... before I could even take pictures. One was gone before I got the camera out, even! Their new owners had already stuffed 'em so their PiPs (Projects in Progress) are in the shot.I got a wild hair and did a little machine embroidery--a special bonus. Don't ever expect that to happen again. It's... uh, a special edition. Yeah. I guess they all are, though. I mean, I make 'em from scraps so I just use up what's there. No two alike. Like snowflakes. 'Cept they don't melt when you catch 'em on your tongue.

I Can't Show You

2010-06-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a quilt for a friend... but I can't show you.
It's made up of photo blocks that show her daughter as she grew up... but I can't show you.
Every picture has her name and address and face... that's WHY I can't show you.
What I can show you is the fabric I'm using. Special note: she's Goth.

Goth (adjective) partial to anything a vampire would find trendy and fun, such as black velvet, grey satin, burgundy jewels, and sleeping in a coffin or coffin-like surroundings.

After really looking at the photos, which you can't do--I think I made that point already--I decided that using black fabric to frame the photos would wash 'em out, so I chose this grey. I think it falls into the goth sensibilities, even if it's a little on the perky side of goth. And I needed another color for contrast, so I chose a red-orange batik, with touches of green. The problem with this fabric is it's like a djinni--it doesn't show on film very well.* The color falls somewhere between what you can see in the corner of this picture... ... and this shot. It actually works quite well. It picks up a lot of the colors in the photos and makes me happy, which is really what matters, after all.

Oh, and Stashbuster Alert! This is made from stuff I've already got--woo-hoo!

*Remember the wedding episode of I Dream of Jeannie, where Jeannie couldn't be in the wedding because she wouldn't show up in the photos? No? Just me, huh. (sigh) Why am I the only one who was paying attention?

Winnah, Winnah!

2010-06-13T15:57:00.001-07:00

Battlestar Galactica Fleet Power Battle gave me another mission: to do a project using 900--or more--yards in a project. Some people are doing several projects that use the yardage that way, but I figured it's time for me to stretch my wings. I am making a lacey stole! The Urban Dictionary defines stole this way: "To punch someone in the face." ... That's not what this is. This is more of the rectangular shawl type of stole. It's called the Baltic Sea Wrap and can be purchased for download (It's a PDF--I want you to know before you click!) here. Ooh, wouldn't it be cool if somebody was knitting along with me? I'm about 25% done and I've figured out the groove.

And in contest news...

I used my random number generator to decide my winner (drumroll from the froggie band, please!) and Beth is the winner. Beth, please get in contact with me through Ravelry or the comments to claim your prize. I'd contact you, but you're blocked. Boo. But yay! If I don't hear from you by June 19, I'm rolling the random number generator for a new winnah.

From My Cold Dead Hands... to Yours

2010-06-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right, I'm actually digging something out of my closely held stash to give away. This is the first time it's ever happened and it may never happen again, so I recommend jumping on this possible one-time offer!

Oh, but first you must admire the baby blanket I finally finished! I started it in January and here it is June, all done. Oh, didn't I mention I started in January of 2008? Um, yeah. To distract you from that distressing amount of time, I chose a very charming model: Tiny's stuffed Mononucleosis. No, really. She got it as a gift. I suppose most people get it that way...Okay, you've been waiting patiently, so let's get the most exciting portion of this blog underway! I accidentally wound up with a second copy of the Yarn Harlot's Page-a-Day calendar. I just adore my copy--some days are funny, some are informative, some inspirational--but how many of the same calendar does a girl really need? So I figured I should give it to someone who really wants it. As it's already June, I wanna get this baby to you before even more of the year disappears.I'm also adding in three balls of Knit Picks Risata--that's a fingering weight cotton/wool/polyamide/elastic yarn, perfect for summertime knitting! I must confess I was probably seduced by the name of the colorway: Fairy Tale. They could have named it anything, really. Well, not green. Now this is open to anyone with a mailing address in the US or Canada. I know that's not fair, but I can't get Jane Brockett's giveaway acuz she's in the UK. No whining.

How to get in on the fun:

Have a mailing address in the US or Canada.
Leave a comment on THIS bog entry and tell me what you would call this yarn colorway. Disqualification for just saying purple. I mean, come on!
Deadline to enter: June 12, midnight PST
Then I'll contact the rapturous winner for their address and all will be joy. (PS: if I can't get ahold of you by June 19, I'm pulling another name. So there.)

And extra points to anybody who can tell me what this mysterious plant is that has invaded my front yard.

Squiangle

2010-05-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

The UnBrangelina Hat is running out of yarn. I've knit all the knitting, but the bind-off will take some creativity. I'm going to try the No-Yarn Bind-Off, as detailed by the Yarn Harlot. It's going to be extra challenging, as I intend to keep my fingers crossed. Wish me luck.Let me introduce one of my favorite tools. It's called the Triangle Square Up Ruler and it rocks. I don't use it enough, but when I do, it produces near-perfect half-square triangles. (I don't know why they call 'em that: it's really a square made of two triangles, but it's not like they had me on speed dial when they made up the term. I think I would have suggested a squiangle.) Here's how I use it.

First you gotta make a half square triangle. (There are 20 tutorials online for doing this. Pick one you like.) But be smart and make it too big. That'll give you room to fix it. Then put the TSU Ruler on top. It's got lines for whatever size block you want from 1" to 6.5". Find that line and scoot it over your block until it matches with your diagonal seam. My block is 4.5". (Sorry for blurry.)
Hold down the ruler and cut off whatever sticks out. In this case it's the dark blue edges.
Flip around your square and replace the TSU Ruler with the same line on the diagonal seam.
Cut off whatever sticks out--now it's the cream fabric.
Admire your near-perfect half square triangle, or squiangle, if you prefer.
Make 674 more and assemble into a lovely king-size quilt. Ice your hand.

Socks, Socks, Socks!

2010-05-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

Baby Peeps are done. I am making no comment as to whether they were knitted in the place where they were photographed. Gasp of Spring is finished, at long last. I decided to do the second toe plain instead of lacey. The lace will cause bumps inside a shoe and leave weak spots for potential holes. (At least, that's what I'm telling people.) "Wishing for Spring" was the second Iron Knitter pattern. It was supposed to be done in a week. These were done in two months. I wonder if there will be an Aluminum Knitter competition?
And Gorgeous Butt(e) is one down. I could make a very cheeky jest about now, but that would be beneath me, don't you think?

Bask in My Imperfection

2010-05-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

That's a phrase my Thursday night improv group has embraced. It usually involves kneeling before the person and basking like a flower in the sun. This is where my imperfection shows up well today. Therese gave me this lovely top out of the kindness of her heart: all I had to do was make it into a quilt. So I got to it. Then I looked at the job I did. (Insert appropriate expletive here.) Not only is the color of the thread just wrong, the quilting itself has all kinds of little jogs and blobs. The above is just one example of my wondrous capacity for imperfection. Basking yet?
So I have to frog. (Rip-it! Rip-it!)

Brangelina Break-Up!

2010-05-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

No, it's not what you think. I ran out of yarn for the Brangelina hat, so I had to frog it. I began another hat pattern that said it only needed 70 yards. I knew I had more than 70 yards of this lucious merino-silk-alpaca blend, so... Yeah. I ran out again. I called my local yarn stores. No, they don't have it. So I went to Ravelry. The only person with the same color wanted to sell 20 balls for $85. Not that it's not a bad price--it's a great price. But that's way more yarn than I need to make one little hat. So I had to go with something contrasting. I found MamaJ who sold me one skein of Sand color out of her stash. Yeah. One. That's really all I need. I hope. Sorry it's a little blurry. Musta been the anxiety.

News from Brooklyn

2010-05-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

A little cross-stitching in case you were wondering...Started work on a hat that's been in my queue. It's called the Brangelina Hat and it's at Crazy Aunt Purl's site. I was given the yarn from leftovers, so I've no idea if there will be enough. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Some people say, "Oh, this hat took me just a couple of hours." Hah! I can beat that. I've already spent a couple of hours and I'm still in the ribbing. I'm such an overacheiver.Yeah, knitting mostly these days. I've been wanting to start new things. I finally got into the patterned part of the Viper Pilot socks. (To keep in the spirit of Battlestar Galactica fighter jocks, my project is called "Callsign Required".) Not that the ribbing was slowing me down. It was the chart. It clearly wanted to be printed on a color printer and that was not a reality that I could be in sync with. So I had to sit down with the black and white printout and the computer and fill in the minor details that were getting lost--like lines in the chart! While I was at it, I scrounged up some highlighters and color-coded the cables. (Cables are those criss-crossy things in fancy sweaters--people tend to get 'em crossed backwards and funny twists and stuff.) In her Brass Needles podcast, dear Miss Kalendar mentioned that Jasmin had done that with a pattern she was borrowing and it made all the difference in her knitting the Tangled Yoke Sweater.

Good news!

I just called the Brooklyn General Store and it seems that Stashy the Squirrel has made the trip without incident. Here's the note I sent along with him:

My name is Stashy. My name comes from the fact that I was made entirely from my creator's stashed materials.
I understand a yarn tree grew in Brooklyn. As a knitter myself, I would like to examine it and perhaps spend some time there. Please don't feel uncomfortable because I am a dude. Many very masculine guys, such as myself, knit and pursue all kinds of endeavors. I am considered quite the chef--my dill and acorn stew is very popular in San Diego--and I write a mean sonnet. I enjoy long romps through cashmere and the company of females. But I'm still enjoying my bachelor status; I'm not looking to settle down just yet.
Following this little jaunt, please return me in my box. Desi has assured me she will include the appropriate shipping and I am looking forward to a day trip to Balboa Park, where I am assured there are some rockin' trees!

He's apparantly already got a new admirer--the girl who answered the phone said he was cute!

Ears? Sounds... Delicious.

2010-05-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

Today I made my very first hamentashen. They're triangular cookies with filling, in this case apricot preserves. They're supposed to look like this bad guy--Haman's--hat or his ear. Yeah, you'd think there would be two different cookies.I won't say they're the ugliest cookies ever, but they might be the ugliest made in kitchens today. However, all the ingredients are nice: whole wheat flour, butter, sugar, egg, baking powder, vanilla... ooh, maybe there should have been salt. Huh. Too late now. The recipe itself had a typo: they never said when to add the vanilla and baking powder. Luckily, I've made cookies before, so I didn't wait until after the cookies were baked to add it in.
Tiny says they're delish. What do you think?

Recent Acquisitions

2010-05-08T15:19:00.000-07:00

Got about a month ago: can't remember the name and can't even google it. Phooey.Got in the mail this week. Knitting bag and fancy sock yarn (whee.) Gasp of Spring socks in progress after our estrangement and subsequent reunion. And a duck.

Stashy the Squirrel

2010-05-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

Something's happening at Brooklyn General Store. Seems they've knitted a tree, but it's empty. They want squirrels. The squirrels will be in a contest and the winners will receive gift certificates for their creators. Let's examine this.

Make something silly.
Be part of a game.
Have a time element--deadline May 15.
Chance of prize. (Not saying a huge chance--I once got a third place award in a contest for which I had the only entry. True story.)

Yeah, I'm in! Stashy will be hitting the road tomorrow morning on his way across the country. (I guess he'll be a flying squirrel!) Photo of Stashy helping with the tail part of the knitting, while he still had temporary eyes. That's right, he's got skilz! I'm calling him Stashy 'cause he's made entirely from stuff I already had... except the pipecleaner I boosted from church. Yeah, real illicit. I had three members of the staff poking through cupboards for me. Seems nobody wanted to see Stashy with a limp tail.

How I Wind Yarn

2010-05-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, there are some fancy tools out there for winding your yarn from a skein into a ball. (And even fancier ones for reversing the process. No, it's real.) The most popular set-up is a swift and a ball winder. A swift looks like a half-open umbrella on a carousel and a ball winder looks like those old-fashioned manual pencil sharpeners. To buy this stuff new costs about $100 and don't even think about buying a used swift as they break if you breathe funny. Do you know how much yarn you can buy with $100? Admittedly, not that much if it's cashmere, but still...

Now, I wouldn't spit on a swift and ball winder should someone gift me a set but I would way rather spend my money on yarn so I use a manual ball winder. Super manual.

Manual (adj) of or relating to the hands

Here's my manual ball winding technique.

Drape your yarn around an open drawer. Yep, those are my scrap bins. Ignore them.

Butterfly-wrap a few times back and forth between two fingers.

Slip it off those fingers.

Fold one "wing" of the butterfly over the other.

Wrap a few wraps around the middle. This is the core of your ball.

Wind, sloppily. Stick a finger in there and let it get wrapped over. One of the biggest mistakes newbies make is winding the yarn too tight and stretching it. Just be a little sloppy. It's okay. You have permission. Like you need it.

Begin your project!

This is a pattern called Rocky Butte. It's by Miss Violet and the yarn is TVYarn, the colorway is The French Lieutenant's Woman. Combining rocky buttes and France makes me think of the Grand Canyon of France, Les Gorges du Verdun. Beautiful! So I think I'll name these socks Gorgeous Butt(e). Pronounce it in a way that makes you smile.

Low(er) Carb Nut Loaf

2010-04-29T13:36:00.001-07:00

Okay, I made four of these, so it's gonna look like a lot in the bowl.
2-3 eggs
1-1/4 cups ground nuts (a salad shooter is amazing for this)
1 cup cheese (again, good in the salad shooter)
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
3/4 cup minced onion
1/2 tsp salt (adjust based on how salty your nuts are)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/8 tsp smoked paprika (hardly neccessary, I just like the stuff)
1/2 c bread crumbs (mine was part canned, part wheat germ, and part bread run through the salad shooter)
Remove rings and moosh up good between fingers. Add anything you like in meatloaf. Subract the stuff you don't like. Shape into loafy-ness. Cook at 375 about 45 minutes. Clean underneath your nails. Replace rings.

Ooh, I'd so like to relearn knitting backwards. I figured it out probably twenty years ago. I'll bet there's an online vid for it. Just a sec. Found it!

Doncha just lurv the interwebs?!

Paper or Plastic?

2010-04-28T21:48:00.000-07:00

Guess what this is? Now it's finished. Now it's in use. Yes, it's a furry grocery bag. I was given a length of this cheetah fur (fake, of course) and... well, what would YOU do with it? I didn't wanna stuff it in the stash and forget about it. And can you just imagine handing THAT over to the clerk?

"Paper or plastic?"

"Fur, please."

Here's instructions for making your own. Well, really, they're for making bags to use AND give away. As I've made a grand total of one, I think I'll use mine.

Just a few people that make my computer/world a better place

A knitter/blogger/everythinger that inspires me: Jane Brocket

A knitter that just makes me laugh: Yarn Harlot

A crafter that's making something cool that I'm buying: Black Belt Knitter. If you want the possible bonus, jump on it soon!

Aspirations

2010-04-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

When asked if I can draw, well, duh. Of course I can draw! I could draw when I was in kindergarten. I can at least draw at that level. Sometimes better. Same goes for dancing. And playing the piano. Especially playing the piano. Sorry, Mom.
I don't like the idea of hanging back because I don't think my skill level isn't there. I can do most things. It's... other considerations.

Materials If I want to make a big beautiful sweater coat straight out of Vogue, it's gonna take a lot of yarn. Even if I was as tiny as Hottie, it'd still take a lot. And it would be expected to match. Well, at least the washing instructions would have to be compatible.
Attention Span Those sweater coats and bedspreads that take an average knitter six months of knitting would be long forgotten because, in case you haven't noticed, I like to work on more than one project at once. Short attention span is good for forgetting grudges, not so good for afghans.
Portability Possibly the most important aspect of knitting for me. I think of knitting as a purse project and it's kinda hard to just drop a sweater into my purse. Unless it's a really big purse... But a big knitted purse would be a big project too...

So I guess I aspire to having knitted a sweater coat, but not to the actual knitting.

Ooh! I figured out something to aspire to: using up everything. That's right. Every inch of yarn, every scrap of fabric, every spool of thread. What do you mean, it's impossible? That's what aspirations are for!

Okay, okay. As this is a crafting blog, I can hear you asking, "Where are the pictures?"Right here, Sweetie.

Here is a simple quilt. Sometimes I just like grabbing the box of batiks and throwing a few very large squares together. These are cut 9.5". This is for border numero uno...and border numero due. (That's Italian for dos.) This is on my "Goals by Friday" list. Wish me luck.

History Best When Edited

2010-04-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a series of questions answered by various bloggers this week. Today asks me to evaluate the origins of my own knitting. Seems to me this would work best as a list.

Girl meets boy.

Girl meets boy's mom.

Boy's mom teaches girl to knit. (Also gives her giant bag of romance novels. In hindsight, maybe boy's mom was hoping girl would be making booties.)

Girl begins long narrow strip of knitting, ostensibly a headband.

Romance ends.

Girl continues knitting, making the world's longest headband, as she does not know how to bind off.

Girl meets new boy, resumes knitting, and begins scarf for new boy.

Romance ends.

Girl meets new new boy. Finishes scarf and gives it to new new boy.

Romance ends.

Girl meets man.

Girl marries man and has baby.

Girl is charmed by amazing fibers and makes scarf for self.

Repeat step 12 until need for scarf is exceeded by a factor of ten.

Girl knits sompin' else.

Repeat step 15. A lot.

Important information: when knitting booties in three colors, you will have six ends per bootie to weave in. I'm just sayin'.

Gooey/ Groovy

2010-04-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

The poison oak medicine is gooey. Scary gooey. So much so that I'm afraid to cross-stitch. Quilts I can wash, socks I can definitely wash, cross-stitch not so much. So I may occasionally stitch when the medicine has been washed off and not reapplied, but... Well, let's just say that the attention to stitching is mostly limited to longing gazes. (Very Romeo & Juliet: it could end in tragedy.)

So on to quilting! Today at PQM, I finished the Have a Nice Frog top. I used more of the groovalicious tie-dye style fabric and I really like the result. (Click on the pic for a closer-up view) It's one of those things that look so different when you step away from it. I'm happy with how it came out. Oh, and today Transporter Malfunction got designated, so send up a prayer for Anita if you're so inclined.

Azkaban Reopened

2010-04-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

What do you mean, I haven't written lately? Neither has Shakespeare. Um. Yeah. So there.

First order of business: I've finished Sheherezade. Now it is off my plate, the agenda, and the sidebar! Looking at it, I think it could have had another border, but... feh! It's done. And I like it.

Second in line: the Peeps Bedsocks are finished! Knitting on it was like eating popcorn: a few stitches and--before you know it--the bowl is empty! Aren't they cute? Slightly goofy, I know, but sweet in their special way. As always, there was some yarn left over so I decided to make mirror booties with what's left. I've read about, heard about, and thought about a new technique: knitting two socks at a time on one circular needle. So I gave it a shot. I like it. This way, the socks have a chance to be nearly identical.

Lastly, Playtime at Azkaban has returned. I wasn't completely satisfied with 'em. They kept falling down--not really desirable in a pair of socks. I determined that the cuff was done in a twisted rib and that's not very stretchy, albeit pretty. That needed to be re-knit. But--and it's a big BUT--you can't just unknit ribbing from the top if it was knit top-down. It requires... surgery. That's right. Cutting. Warning: The following pictures may be too explicit for some knitters. To prep, I used Jasmin's advice: slip a smaller guage needle into all the stitches in a row.Then take a deep breath and (I know it's scary) CUT a stitch. Just one. From that stitch, pull out the following stitches all around that row. The needles in place should keep your beautiful work from unravelling. Now that you've got your work stable, you can work on your project peacefully. (And I am!)

Full Bloom

2010-04-18T01:04:00.000-07:00

Spring has officially sprung! The cowbirds are scouring the parking lots, the surfers are shucking their wetsuits, the poison oak is budding, the skies are clear, and... wait, what was that last one? The skies are clear. No, further back. That crack about poison oak? Yup, that's the one. Let's just say that spring is in full bloom and... so am I.
You know what an itchy rash is good for? Projects! It gives me something to focus on besides NOT SCRATCHING. I mean, come on. If we're told to not do something, isn't that the only thing we want to do? Instead, put a lace pattern in front of me and knitting supplies and say, "Go!" Then my focus is much better channelled. I've been mostly knitting. Riding in the car with The Man of the Place, standing in line at Soup Plantation in between scooping gobs of broccoli onto my tray, waiting for a pan of mushrooms to cook... whenever I need something to do. For a heavy duty attention grabbing project, I've been working on my lacey Gasp of Spring socks. (It's actually a much darker, richer purple but the camera wanted to show it to you in a less intimidating color.) For sheer fun, we have these silly bedsocks. The pattern is Emma Bedsocks, from the Jane Austen Yarn Club, but I call 'em Peep Socks because they look just like that Easter marshmallow candy. Well, at least the yellow and purple look Peep-ish. Because they are knitted with DK weight and size 4 needles, they are fairly flying off the needles.

Then there's another pair of my own design I won't show you right now because I'm hoping to sell that pattern to a knitting publication. Right now that's only in plain stockinette, so it's perfect for zombie knitting. (Just knit and knit and knit.) And I've finished a pair of blue baby booties for a friend who's preggers with a little blue one.

Have a Nice Frog!

2010-04-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here's what I came up with for this groov-a-licious combo! I thought I'd have a whole top to show you today, complete with borders, but... okay, here's the story. Friday is quilting group. Here's my routine:

pack up my portable machine and my current project in a rolling bag
set it outside the back door
put my other stuff in the car
walk around the house to the back door
put rolling bag in car
drive

Well, I went straight from step 3 to step 6 yesterday. It was more like this:

pack up my portable machine and my current project in a rolling bag
set it outside the back door
put my other stuff in the car
drive
get out of car
realize that I am one rolling bag short
call home and ask the man of the place to put my stuff away.

So it was time to find out what opportunity I was in line for. We do have an extra machine and plenty of supplies. I yanked out the blue, purple, and green scrap bins. I started finding fabrics that might want to go together. Then I noticed a bunch of 3.5" width-of-fabric strips in the blue bin, all the same blue funky floral. To me, that just screamed, "Border!" Already cut and ready to go. I used it as the inspiration fabric for the quilt and pulled in some pinks and oranges for sparkle. I cut the fabrics into 4.5" width strips, not worrying about their lengths. I also cut a few 6" squares and folded 'em into prairie points. Then I made long strips and laid them side-by-side. I scattered in the prairie points and assembled the whole thing. I still needed an outer border, so I grabbed the fushia bin. No dice. The dark green. Ew. Purple? No way. Yellow really wanted to play so... Here is the final product. I'm calling it "Transporter Malfunction." Get it?

Heh-heh-heh...

2010-04-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

If you were given this: and this: and this: ...what would you make? I'll post my answer tomorrow.

Mayday! Mayday!

2010-04-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, Kids, I'm stuck. I started this post:

SABLE that's ... Stash Aquired Beyond Life Expectancy. I think I may be SABLE at
this point. I have so many creative supplies, I could open a store. So, why not? I'm not going to use it all. But it's hard. I bought this stuff because I like it and I believed I'd use it. I've got to say, this is a hard bullet to bite. I'm... opening an etsy store. I'll preview the stuff here, and a few days later it'll pop up in my (gulp) online store. I am starting with the cross-stitch tub. I have some gorgeousness just languishing away in there. Then perhaps I'll move on to the acid-free papers.

And then I got stuck. Yup. I took pictures and wrote a description or two. And then nothin'. I like my stuff. Even the stuff I don't like as much as the other stuff. So I don't know what I'm going to do. Any suggestions? How do you manage your oversupplies?

Injured Pride

2010-03-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

My office chair broke just now! And you gotta know that when your chair breaks, it doesn't just fall over when you're out of the room: no, it dumps you out and suddenly you're not sitting where you thought you were sitting. No worries, though. I'm not hurt. I'm just applying a little ice to my... pride. And we have no lack of chairs in this house. But that was the only purple one. Phooey.I've been doing an online team workout program. It's called Blue and You. My team is Lime & Violet. With it, you check in each day you work out. With every day's worth of exercise, you are moved to another place in the USA, as though you are walking really fast. Today I'm in Beachwood, Ohio, near Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Color me well-travelled.Dream Dancer was getting a little monotonous so I pulled out In a Garden again. (I really don't understand those people who can work on just one project at a time.) I finished up the lemon tree, complete with backstitching to pick out the details. I like backstitching as I go. I get to appreciate the picture more. And if I really get moving, I can get Sheherezade done today. We'll see. And if wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak. Anybody know what show I'm quoting there?

2010-03-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

This was started right after our trip to New Zealand, possibly on the plane home. That was five yea--cough-cough!--some time ago. I pulled it out and stitched for, oh, probably half an hour. Then sewed down the ends on the sewing machine: less than ten minutes. And there was the blocking--wetting, ironing, pinning, and leaving it to dry--maybe five minutes. So, a maximum of 45 minutes and I can kick a project off the Way Too Many Projects sidebar. (This is where you cheer. That's okay. I'll wait.)
So I'll look at that list again and ask, "Is anybody else a quick finish?" Well, the Nine Batik Stars should be done in a few hours. I'm just sewing down the binding--I've done three corners already--and will have to make a label. The label always has my name, the city, the year, and the name of the quilt. It's art; it needs a name.
And I've finally found the name for this one. I was thinking desert (because of the sand color), jewels (because of the tones of the blocks), and night (because of the stars). This took me to the middle east, then to Arabia, then 1001 Arabian Nights. I thought about the stories of Sinbad, djinn, mysterious caves, harems, surprise twists and then I thought about the woman who told all these stories: Sheherezade. And that was it. That's the name. Sheherezade. Cool, huh? I'll change it in the sidebar.

While Tiny's away, we cleaned the carpets. That's right, we did. We didn't call a company. We didn't figet and fuss that someone wasn't rinsing it enough. We actually went to the store and picked up a Rug Doctor and did the work ourselves*. And rinsed it three times. Yeah, that means we didn't do the whole house, but still it's very nice. If soggy.

*By ourselves, I mean the Man of the Place ran the machine. I just moved furniture, mixed the solution, and poured it in. It makes too much noise for my tender little shell-like ears.

The Camera Doesn't Lie

2010-03-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

Oh, sure it does! When you look at these pictures, you can't tell if the room is a mess or straight out of Better Homes and Gardens. In fact, you can't tell if my home is really in a hollow tree or an alien ship orbiting Earth and looking for signs of intelligent craftwork. But wait. That also applies to you. I don't know if you're even human or possibly some exotic mix of gorilla and butterfly. A gorillerfly. Butterilla? I gotta get my mind back.

I pinned these two quilts in preparation for actually quilting them.

Definition

Quilting, if you don't know, is the action of attaching a quilt top, fluffy stuff in the middle, and back together. Usually a sewing machine is used for this, but hand-quilting is highly respected. Also, there's something called a tied quilt. In this case the quilting is done with small bits of yarn, cording, thread, or very flexible pasta* that simply goes through the quilt and back up and is then tied. Many quilters will actually pay to have their quilt machine-quilted. This is referred to as credit card quilting. I have credit card quilted my three largest quilts as Molly, talented as she is, simply isn't big enough for some things.
Miss Running Water, my Dream Dancer, has made some progress. I believe that everything except her skirt and feet and some little background do-hickeys (that's a technical term) has been cross-stitched. Backstitching is still needed for almost the whole picture.
*Quilting with pasta is not recommended for quilts that you expect to ever wash as it is biodegradable and will disintegrate. Cooking with pasta, on the other hand, can go over quite well.

A Finish and a Review

2010-03-20T04:46:00.000-07:00

I did it! I kept my focus on this little darlin' and The Secret Life of Limes is finished, top and back! This one is ready for Red's deft hand. I don't usually make backs, but I was inspired. And--Stashbuster Alert!-- I used up this 2-yard piece of chartreuse, not to mention all the scraps that went into the cross! I also used a little cross-stitch piece I made when teaching a class. Applecheeks really likes it when I throw in some cross-stitch.

Movie Review, from a Knitter's POV

We rented The Hurt Locker. If you need a film that will move knitting fingers fast, this is a good one. The action just keeps moving and the sock practically knit itself. There was one point that I needed to leave the room to escape from a particularly gruesome scene, but otherwise I found it a good film. If your project is low in patterning detail, like my Joyleaf Cable Socks, The Hurt Locker can be a great film. However, for a project that requires more attention, you'll be better served with The Reader. This is a film that my regularly looking away did not cause me to lose the thread of the plot and may have, in fact, enhanced the movie-watching experience.

Preview

2010-03-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

Tiny's off to Greece today. She flew out of LAX last night and has landed in Zurich. Greece soon! I'm so excited for her (and a little jealous.)Consider this a preview. I'm working on this quilt today. I hope to have the top done by 3 pm. I think I'll call it "The Secret Life of Limes."

Hoard No More

2010-03-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

Have you ever watched that show, Hoarders? It's about people who have allowed stuff to rule their lives. They have so much stuff that it affects their ability to live normally. Police and psychologists are called in--it's really extreme. Do you know why we watch shows like that? To make us get rid of stuff. I watched an episode just the other day and it worked. I looked at the overabundance of fabric scraps I had and immediately posted on Freecycle. OFFERED: Grocery Bag of Quilt Scraps. Yup. Before I even went through my stash. Then I started in on it. I wound up with not one, but FOUR bags of scraps. I sent 'em off with four different responders to my ad. Oh, I still have plenty of scraps. Don't get me wrong. But now they FIT in the boxes.

Gretel Dropped Bread Crumbs

2010-03-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

You know how a paper that you handle often gets worn out at the folds? Like a pattern? Like a cross-stitch pattern that takes a long time? Yeah, that. What do you do to avoid losing those stitch symbols right in the crease? Here's what I do (when the brain is operating well): I stitch the creased areas first! The column of stitches down Miss Running Water's skirt is right where the fold occurs. And it goes right down her left boot. You know what this means? That's right! It's gonna look weird.Since her last time in front of the camera, I have completed:

the white parts of the shield
the shield points
the blue line at the bottom of the cape
the portion of the skirt in the column

I was having a devil of a time trying to stitch that skirt. The usual way I stitch is to thread my needle with one color and do all of that within reason, mapping it out ahead of myself, until I run out of thread (or get bored). But that wasn't working here. However, I have learned various ways of managing my stitchery. You might notice the faint green threads running through the stitching: those show where the bold lines are in the pattern, every ten stitches. It makes a complicated pattern much easier to follow: it's like marking the major intersections on a map. Then all I have to do is fill in the blocks. Even so, the bold lines on this pattern are easy to lose. So, I went further. If I'm going to fill in the block, I don't want to have to search it out every time I look up. I made a little frame, ten squares across and ten squares down. I place it around one of those blocks frames on my fabric in green. I keep it in place with a cut-up post-it. (This is where I waggle my eyebrows to insinuate how clever I am.)

Lost in Translation

2010-03-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Autumn Incarnate Bottle is done--oh, my. You have no idea how much I love that word.

Done.

Too bad it's not more beautiful-sounding. The French always do it right though: Finis! Of course, you could say "The yak has torn up your lawn" and it would sound lovely and musical. Hmm.. now I want to translate that--let me check Babelfish. "Le yak a déchiré votre pelouse." Yup. What did I tell you?

Crescent Dreams Haiku

2010-03-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

Finally, it's done

Beads and crystal all in place

I misspelled William

(but I fixed it.)

Bead Archaeology

2010-03-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of finishing things, I thought I'd do a little personal archaeology. I used to do a LOT of beadwork, and when I say a LOT, I mean it! I took classes, taught classes, and wrote articles. I was in a Master Class that went over a year. I'm trying not to be all braggy--I just want you to get where I'm coming from.

Now, you know I have plenty of unfinished projects if you've ever looked at the "Way Too Many Projects" sidebar. This has only included one bead project to date. That doesn't mean I don't have any others in the works. Hardly. If you look at the sidebar sometime after today's entry, you'll see it bloom with beadwork projects.

Inspired by my Goofy Bear Button Bracelet finish, I dug into the small portion of beads I keep in my studio (my bead stash is overwhelming, which is why I moved it offsite) and unearthed several UnFinished Objects (UFOs).Blue Skies This bracelet is made from 15/0 beads, bugles, and actual antique beads--probably Victorian era. It only needs a loop closure and to weave in the ends. I think I got hung up because the beads are so delicate that I was afraid none of the beads I used would hold up to closure duty. Fair enough. I'll use larger beads for the loop and a lot of thread. Better that it be, oh, what's that word? Done, yeah. That's the word.White Lotus Neckpouch I probably started this ten (eep!) years ago. It's inspired by ancient Egypt and made from Japanese cylinder beads. The color came out weird, but the background is actually snowy white.To continue the theme, I charted out the all-seeing eye of Ra for the back. Yeah, I know it's slightly creepy, but it's the back. And it hangs over the heart, so Ra is symbolically looking into your heart. Okay, that just made it creepier. Never mind. Just trust me, it's gonna be cool. If it ever gets done.Celebration of Spring Necklace These beaded beads are the start of a necklace designed by NanC Meinhart. The pattern is Deneen's Necklace. It, too, is made of Japanese cylinder beads. I've made several and sold 'em. It's a fun little guy. I could easily pick this one back up.

Autumn Incarnate Bottle And then we have this little guy. When it jumped out of the project box yesterday, it only had a few rows of beads around the neck. Yet somehow, when I went to take its picture this morning, it had grown a net of Japanese 15/0 beads across it's belly and bottom, Austrian crystal margaritas (those flower things), and Czech glass leaves. All it wants is a necklace to finish it up. The pattern is Itty Bitty Beaded Bottle, and I wrote it. (Yes, I can make it available.)

A Day of Finishes

2010-03-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

So, I really got going on that Goofy Bear Button Bracelet and finished it up. I thought I'd put an edging on it, but I found that I really like the borderless modern look for this one. At one point, I had a pink picot edge. It looked like lace and seemed very little-girl-ish. Not that that's a bad thing, but I wanted a more adult, if silly, look for the thing. So just the button and loop closure and voila!After a very nice comment from Free Range Chick, I was inspired to finish Uphill Both Ways. I cut the final border in 2-1/2" strips from this fabric. I set aside the rest for use on the back. Then I framed the quilt with its final border--ta-dah!I was amazed to see how little fabric I had left from the strips I had cut:
Now, what'll I finish next? Hmm, maybe the laundry.

Up From the Murky Depths

2010-03-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

Last night the knitting was bad. Bad sock! No biscuit! So I put it in time out.
But this caused a small conundrum. I was going to knitting group this morning. Well, they're an adventurous, non-judgmental group. I don't have to knit. I could bring my stitchery. Yeah! Oh, white fabric and coffee and lots of arms moving in all directions. Maybe not. So I opened the bead cabinet and look what fell out! Last time I worked on this sweetheart, there were only two bears on it. Today moved it into the total of five! Yay. It's not got far to go, so maybe it'll get finished. Some day.

How This Scrap Quilter Thinks

2010-03-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

My final medal was awarded this morning:

And this is the new scrappy prayer quilt I've been working on. I'm calling it Uphill Both Ways--a nod to those ridiculous stories our parents told us about how hard it was for them. "I didn't have it easy like you young'uns. When I was a kid, we had to walk to school five miles in the snow. And it was uphill both ways." As a scrap quilter, I have to work with what I've got and not go out and buy more fabric. This can be a real pain in the b--ahem--challenge, it can be a real challenge sometimes. You see, I had a bunch of this fabric that had been seamed in strips together. I used the bulk of it for another quilt, just framing the strips like in this picture here--but I had leftovers. So I cut the leftovers into 35 5" squares--that was as big as would work--and cut them on the diagonal. I planned to frame half of them in turquoise and half in purple, kinda like this.

But it turned out that I didn't have enough turquoise fabric. So I stepped back and thought a bit. Now we wander, willy-nilly into my thought process. Okay, I'll just make half a frame. But I still have more turquoise strips.... and here's a bit of dark turquoise. How much dark do I have? With half-frames, I have just enough for 12 blocks. And I've still got enough of the light to half-frame all the rest. Hmm, this'll probably work. I'll just scatter the dark in among the light. That usually works. (a minute later) Wait! Slanty blocks, slanty quilt. Just do the corners dark! Love it. Now all I need is borders. (steps back and looks) Huh, that's weird. Looks like there's half a border already. I gotta do something about that. (picks up framing scraps) Nope, not enough for even half a border. What about (snatches up quarter yard of swirly turquoise) this? Yes, there's enough!Now to regular borders. Purple! Ooh, not too much or it'll look like a purple quilt. So a skinny purple border. And I still have some leftovers from the strip quilt: I'd hate to waste 'em. Maybe I can use 'em for the border. Yay! I'm still gonna need a final border to stabilize all those diagonal scraps. But I'm out of time. I'll have to do it later.

Squeeked in...

2010-02-28T19:06:00.000-08:00

... just under the wire!

Two of my medals have been awarded, so I'm sharing!

This athlete--the shrug pictured above--still has one more medal coming. The final medal will be awarded for Single Skein Speed Skate. The volunteers at Ravelry are typing their little fingers to the bone to get us lasties our medals. I'm so pleased!

Under Pressure

2010-02-25T21:47:00.000-08:00

So I decided to try and make this little shrug for Tiny before the end of Ravelympics. It's about half done now. The pattern is here, the designer calls it a Ribbed Lace Bolero. It's in three events: Lace Luge, Short Track Shawl, and Single Skein Speed Skate. We'll see. It's Thursday now and the project needs to be completed by midnight PST Sunday. Just a little pressure. The good news is I feel like crap and probably will hardly leave the house. Yeah, that's the good news. It means I'll knit, right?

Blocking

2010-02-22T10:17:00.000-08:00

Great news! I finished my Torture for Fun lace scarf and received my medal today. And here's the medal:

The dog is Bob, the Ravelry mascot. Here's a close-up of the scarf:

I blocked it last night. What is blocking? Glad you asked. This time last year, I was googling the word myself. What it comes down to is this: wetting a piece of fabric (whether knitted, crocheted, woven, or stitched), squaring it up, and letting it dry that way. Some items, like sweaters, you just kinda hand shape and lay out. Others you pin into place. And then there's lace: stretch it like crazy and pin in place. In this case, I used blocking wires to keep the lines reasonably straight and pinned the wires themselves. I'm told you can make your own, using wire from the hardware store, or buy 'em from an online store, like I did.

They're a little unwieldy*, but I think they're totally worth it.

*Unwieldy is today's word of the day.

Ravelympics Begin!

2010-02-19T21:12:00.000-08:00

The proper date for this entry should be Tuesday February 16, because that's when I went to the beach at La Jolla Shores. It was a nice, warm day. In fact, I got myself a nice little sunburn! (Just on my shoulder where my blouse didn't cover.) But, as you can see, folks were playing in the sand and frolicking in the water. I took this little travel bug with me to enjoy the ocean air. She's called Blazena and she's from the Czech Republic. I found her in town and will probably place her near the airport so someone can take her travelling. Her mission was to travel the US and Japan before returning home. The Olympics have begun, as have the Ravelympics. That means the participants on their various teams are knitting for medals. My team is Battlestar Kickasstica. I am working on this scarf (again), chasing a WIPs Dancing medal. (WIP: Work In Progress) It's kinda like Ice Dancing, but you don't have a partner. If I finish my project by the time the torch is extinguished, I win! I'm also working on this blankie for another WIPs Dance. (Not sure if it'll make it to the finish line, though.)

McCartney Attacked by Giant Socks!

2010-02-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

Yes, at long last, my Big Dippers are done. Look at the swoops and lines created by this crazy pattern. I really like how they came out.

Iron Knitter, round 2, has eaten my brain. It's a very complicated lacey pattern and I'm thinking that I won't finish by the deadline of 5 pm Friday. Nope. Lincoln's birthday will probably come and go without a new pair of socks. Fine.

I've been spending so much time knitting that I've hardly done any other craft. Sewing, stitching, quilting, beading... not to mention tidying up the house... Oh, wait, I wasn't going to mention that.

A Voice from Beyond

2010-01-29T09:44:00.000-08:00

News from the Sock War front: Out of 203 original warriors, only 122 remain. And, horrors! My new assassin's assassin is dead. Killed by a beautiful pair of verdigris green socks. That means Mel is free and clear to kill me. And, I'm still waiting for the socks in progress to arrive. Oh, the fear of the mail...

Later that day: Gah! Look what came in the post. There was nothing coy about this attack--simply open and gotcha! (But there was chocolate to soften the blow.) So, you know what that means: this is being typed by a ghost.

Boo!

Banshee Braids Complete

2010-01-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

News from the Sock War Front: Less than 140 knitters left alive. I'm distressed to discover that my warrior name, Mistress Spanksalot, was already in existence well before Sock Wars began. And guess what? She's a tramp! Huh. Who would have guessed?
Iron Knitter Update: I have finished my first pair and qualified for round 2. We don't know exactly when that will occur. It depends on how long it takes 90% of the players to knit 'em. I finished in a week. That puts me in the bottom half... but the top 90%!

And soon the Ravelympics will begin! I was recruited for Team Battlestar Kickasstica some months ago. There's really only minor prizes--it's more about challenging yourself. In a moment of solidarity, I agreed to change my ravatar (RAVelry AVATAR) to match the rest of the team, so here I am until the end of February. Oh, and "Spankrobber?" That's my call sign. Pilots are given them by their peers.
Yeah.

Chausette

2010-01-26T15:53:00.000-08:00

Isn't that a beautiful word? Something a princess would be named in a fairy tale.

Princess Chausette and the Ten Dancing Piggies

This is why I love the French language. The most mundane things become desireable and lovely simply by letting them roll off the tongue. Much like knitting, I think. What seems rather drab and everyday can become beautiful through the application of pattern or luscious fiber or simply attention to each stitch.

Which brings me to show off my Christmas yarn! No, it's not red and green. I asked for sock yarn for Christmas, and Boy! Did my family come through!
From left to right the new cast members are:

Serendipity from Stricken Smitten
T.C.O. from Sugarbee Studios
The French Lieutenant's Woman from White Oak Studios
Kaylee from Christina Marie Potter
Wood Elves from Enchanted Knoll Farm

News from the Sock War Front: I'm still alive and waiting for socks in progress. There's an icky person posting on the bulletin board there, so we have been taught about the "Ignore User" button. (Just one of those folks who likes to stir up trouble.) There are about 155 still alive.

Oh, and Princess Chausette? In English, that would be Princess Sock. I'll still to French and go knit my chausettes.

News from the Sock War Front

2010-01-23T05:04:00.000-08:00

We started with 203 international knitters. We are now at 183 still knitting.
As luck is with me, my target received her fuzzy death yesterday. Her target (who should be my new target) is already dead. But she had already fired her weapons... hmmm, I see a blank look on your face. Let's try a visual breakdown: The little red arrows show you who is knitting for whom. In this diagram, I'm knitting for Maisy. She's got her socks, so she's out. She also knocked out her target, Tanya. Sam becomes my new target and I can finish the socks already started by Tanya. Meanwhile, Rabble has been knitting for me. However, before she could finish, her assassin took her out of the game. Now the circle looks like this: Glyn is gunning for me and I'm going after Sam. Not only that, in order to take out our new targets, we have to finish the socks already in process. So we have to wait for the mail. This is where luck comes into play.

But, it's not like I'm just gonna sit on the porch, waiting for the post. Hardly! A creative gal's gotta create, right? I've been making more zipper pouches:

front

back

front

back

front (back is just plain)

Not only that, I've been making more progress on my Iron Knitter socks, Banshee Braids. I expect to finish Sock #1 today and begin Sock #2.

Oh, and the Man of the Place has a neat-looking spider bite. I just went to check on him: "My thumb is still fat, but that's about it." We think it was a black widow. Turns out it's not as bad as we thought when we were kids.

Bombs Away!

2010-01-21T12:53:00.001-08:00

Yes, indeedy, I have completed the Flaming Purple Death Socks and sent them to my target. Now, I just have to wait. And wait. Ooh, hold on--I can check the tracking number.... feh, in transit. Of course, the scariest part is checking the mailbox. I don't know if my assassin--we'll call her X--has finished and mailed my death socks or is just casting on. That's really the scenario I'm hoping for. Or maybe she just got a promotion and is so busy all she can do when she gets home is eat a Lean Cuisine and hit the sheets.
In the meantime the Iron Knitter competition has begun. From the same evil geniuses who brought you Sock Wars comes Iron Knitter! This one involves solving puzzles and knitting what? More socks. The pattern's called Soxual Persuasion. (Tee-hee!) It's a good combo of intense patterning and plain knitting. I'm using a yarn called Banshee and I think it's looking like braids, so I'm calling this project Banshee Braids socks.I'm about halfway down the leg. When I finish the pair and post it to Ravelry, I get the next set of clues. I'm such a sucker for games.

It Begins

2010-01-17T20:34:00.000-08:00

Sock Wars has come. This is its fifth year and I'm competing. Here's an article from the Wall Street Journal to give you a little more info. I'd tell you myself but I'm still in the trenches. Gotta go... knit for my very life!

The Big Tidy-Up

2010-01-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

When I was a girl, my mom bought me a book. I'm not sure if she thought it was funny or just a very strong message. It's called The Big Tidy Up. It's about a little girl with a very very very messy room. I vaguely remember something about a lollipop stuck to her bathrobe. Ennywho, things get worse and worse until she finally decides to tidy up. Guess where all this is leading? Yup! A big tidy-up of my own. Yes, the studio has gotten out of control so I took matters into my own hands (as though somebody else has been sneaking in messing up the room!). No, it's not particularly dirty--although there was some dust--but no lollipops stuck to my sewing machine. Just piles and piles of piles and piles. I took it all out and into the living room. (Sorry, Honey.) There I organized it. One section of the room for the yarn, one for the fabric, and a long table for everything else. Once I got the fabric and yarn out of the mix, everything else fell into place. Books went on a shelf (go figure!), receipts went into a designated sorting box, patterns got filed, and stuff got put away! It feels great. I'm still not totally done: gotta sort out the yarn still and put away the fabric but even some of that has happened.

...and in creative news
Check out my Mumy Bear. It's another bear for the Mother Bear Project. I made it to look like Bill Mumy who played Will Robinson in the classic sci-fi series, Lost in Space. (You know, "Danger, Will Robinson!")
And a small disclaimer: I know there's a smudge on the picture. My lens is scratched. The good news is that the carpet I used for my background is clean.

Babylon and On

2010-01-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

Hello, my friend! It's 2010, if the calendar makers are to be believed. I am grateful for another January 1st. We rang in the New Year, or maybe ran off the old, with family and friends. A little champagne to celebrate and some black-eyed peas for good luck. There's a tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's that goes all the way back to ancient Babylon. It's supposed to bring prosperity and, in this climate, my Hoppin' John didn't go begging. Still, there were leftovers so I had some for breakfast. I think that put me in the way to have a great day. That, and the fact that my Prayer Quilt Ministry was resuming today. Here's what it's like: we use a large downstairs room in the church. Tables and chairs are set out for us. We open the closet and get out

extension cords
ginormous ironing boards
2 irons
4 cutting mats
a selection of rulers and cutters
whatever fabric we need
notions boxes (thread, needles, blades, extra tools)

It goes about six hours and the ladies show up as their schedules allow. Many of us want to be there for the whole time. Applecheeks, our glorious leader, usually gets there a little early to set up. And then there's the food. Oh, there's always some kind of candy-nut mix, and somebody usually brings in fruit, sometimes a lunchie kinda thing like sandwiches or casserole, cheese, chips, and often an experimental something gooey somebody was trying out the recipe for. We talk about anything and everything, keeping it away from gossip but all other subjects are available for discussion. Sometimes a little venting and commiseration is important, but a lot of stories and advice and laughter happens. We pray for each other. And eat. Oh, yeah, and we work on prayer quilts, too. If there's time.

Throughout this post you may have noticed some pictures. These are zipper pouches I am now making and selling. These two were custom-made for a local customer. But I've got more!

Christmas Gift Revealed!

2009-12-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

I couldn't blog about this because Tiny is just too darn smart. She may not read this blog often, but she would if I posted her gift. From the TV series, Firefly, comes this Jayne hat. Tiny admired mine, and kept walking away with it, so I knew just what to make for her Christmas gift. She and I both discovered the show this year, and we've reached fangirl status, I think. And yes, the hat looks kind of unfashionable and goofy. Now picture it on the toughest tough you can imagine. After receiving it in a box from his mother, he wears it through much of the series. You gotta love a man who appreciates his mama. Quotable line: "A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything."

and in other news...

Dr. Gemma, host of the Cogknitive Podcast, has started a KAL (that's Knit-A-Long, and yes, there's also a crochet version). It's about the Mother Bear Project. To quote their site:

The Mother Bear Project is dedicated to providing comfort and hope to children
affected by HIV/AIDS in emerging nations, by giving them a gift of love in the
form of a hand-knit or crocheted bear. The simple gift of a hand-knit bear
with a tag signed by the knitter has touched children with the message that they
are unconditionally loved.

So, the goal is to knit one or more of these bears for this terrif charity. Each bear made and sent gets you an entry in a drawing. Cool, huh? If you'd like to join, here's the Ravelry link.

I finished this little girl at Panera this morning. I'm calling her Caprica Bear because she's kind of a tribute to an iconic sci-fi character.

We're having our annual New Year's Eve Game Night. I've got to get cooking and cleaning. Stop by if you're in the area!

Hurry Up and Wait

2009-12-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

I dunno if I told you that I was involved in a speed knitting game about a month ago. I was waiting with bated breath when the pattern was released, yarn in hand. I knitted like a demon until I...

ran out of yarn
got beat out by my competitor.

So I put it aside until I had time to find more yarn (hence the black thumbs) and knit on it. Time was found to finish 'em today. I think that puts me dead last in the whole speed knitting thing. Meh.

and thanks to Katie, my very willing hand model today at SD Central Knitters. What delicate little hands, huh?