Pictures or it's not Done

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.

Finished... Well, almost

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.

Still Loading...

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:

1. Started it during Comic Con (late July) for line-standing, because the beginning is a plain triangle.
2. 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.
3. The pattern is called Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante and can be found here. Mine looks kinda like the sample.
   
4. I had to restart it twice and used a lot of lifelines. (Used up a whole container of dental floss!)
5. Repeated chart A four times.
6. 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!

Evil Twin Fired

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

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.

News from Brooklyn

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!

Injured Pride

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?

Green is the New Blue

Hmmm... As this is the Year of No-Fear Knitting, I've decided to make a sweater. A cardi, in fact, but just a little one. And now, if your name is Marie and you're pregnant, just stop reading right now.
Now.
Is she gone? (sigh) Okay, here's a video for Marie: (the rest of us can just slip away and look at what's on the needles.)
Now, Teens, don't get jealous. Your little one got my very first booties. And a sampler.
Of course, they're probably neither one of them reading this. Have I babbled long enough?

Okay, here it is! I was going to post it in progress, but I just couldn't stop to take a picture. Cute, huh? I just love the little stars on the hat. (That got done in ONE DAY!)

And Teens told me all about baby leg warmers. Apparantly, it's the hottest new trend in baby apparel: you can keep their little legs warm, change their diapers, and not fight with putting tiny pants back on. Good idea. I also heard that, if they're long enough, you can cover their little feet with 'em. So, using the same yarn, I'm making leg warmers instead of booties.

In a Garden

Lest you think this has become a knitting exclusive blog, note below that the hanging flowers have grown stems, the birdhouse has begun(on right) and the lemon tree is making progress (on left).

Providence Smiled

What you non-knitters may not know is that typically we knitters love to knit but hate to do the finishing work on our pieces. Ask the knitters you know:

"Do you have any knitting UFOs that only need to have the ends woven in or the
sides seamed up?"

If they look away or blush, you have your answer.
So you'll understand that I have to get in the mood for finishing up. I was just ramping up to weave in the ends of the first Griffindor Arm Warmer when providence smiled. Knitpicks Podcast did a whole episode on weaving in ends! Four different people weighed in on their techniques. I chose a new one: Swiss Darning. It's a stitch I learned while working on the Fish Cozy, so I was just rarin' to give it a go! Here's a picture, but if I did it right, you won't be able to tell a thing! Okay, I know there's still loose yarn sticking out. I'm not done, okay. But you can also see my start on arm #2.
The mail came and brought with it some fresh excitement: the Pride and Prejudice yarn and sock pattern. Yes, it's colorwork--kind of a basketweave pattern.It also came with this weird chain thing. I'll have to ask the artist about it. It must be of some use to the pattern. Or it was something just sitting around her studio and she threw it into the box to get rid of it... nah! Nobody would do that, would they?Oh, the Fish Cozy: I'm doin' the top now. Isn't this cording looking thing interesting? That's actually attached! I'd like it on cuffs, I think.

I've written so much about knitting, you'd think that's all I do. I actually got some progress on In a Garden, but I was one stitch off (insert the theme from Psycho here!) so I had to frog a buncha stitches. (It wasn't the kind of thing you can fiddle with and it'll look okay--it would have messed with the structure.) Really no point in adding a picture of that...And here's Molly. She's been a little lonely, so I thought I'd do some quilting today. We'll see how it goes.

Some People Really Shouldn't Be Allowed Outside

Okey-dokey-pokey. What's up in the studio? Well, I've been a little--okay, not a little, super--obsessed. I've been working on In a Garden. See how the backstitch makes things so different? I think the details really shine.

And like everyone else, we've had to tighten our belts. Luckily I have a HUGE stash of stuff to sew, knit, weave, crochet, quilt, so the whole shopping thing isn't necessary, albeit way fun... But that does mean that the finished frameables (i.e. cross-stitch that I want well-protected) will have to wait until there's cash. Eh, so what? In the meantime, I can still make beautiful things. And pretty things. And, um, things.And speaking of things... the Griffindor Arms have had significant progress. I must say that the pattern was not as helpful as I'd hoped. In fact, it appears to be unfinished. The designer says to slip a number of "live stitches" (that means they're still knittable, and vulnerable to being dropped) onto a holder, but she never says what to do with 'em later. It's not like I'm going to hand my kid a project with a buncha stitches slipped onto a safety pin! I'm sure that doesn't count as finished. But the good thing is that it's giving me leeway for creativity. I've made a thumb hole and am just finishing up a few more rows.I'm taking advantage again of living in a beautiful place. Monday I took a little hike around Cabrillo National Monument. I saw a cottontail, two fishing boats, a paddle surfer, and plenty of lizards. I didn't take this picture, but this was definitely the view. And I touched those rocks!And today, I went to Balboa Park for a walk. I toured the prado, looked at the Niki de St. Phalle statues, and settled down in the Zoro Gardens (once a nudist colony for the 1935 Panama Exhibition and now a butterfly garden). Not sure how long I was there, but I think it was 5 rows of the arm warmers. Oh, and I sang. Nope. Not sure what I sang, but I know I was singin'. And the only person that came near me had an odd look on his face. Huh.

How Does My Garden Grow?

So, we're travellin'. It's been a long car ride and some quiet time in the rooms, so I've been able to make a little progress on "In a Garden." But I have to be extra careful as trail dust is common and my hands get stained from my riding gloves. As we're doing a cowboy trip, out here in Tuscon, I think I should have brought my American Indian piece, Dream Dancer. (pictured here--scroll down.) But that's okay. I'm getting some of the blah grey part done. It's not blah once it's in there, but working with five different greys? (sigh)

I kinda want to work from the inside out and, as the fountain is the focal point, that's where I'm working. But now and then, I have to use an actual color and I work on the bricks or the leaves.

To read more about our travels, go to Those Wacky Sniders, my travel blog.

We are Our Experiences

... and here's a few of mine. Things I started. Things I haven't finished. Intentions. Let's start with the oldest first.

This is one of the first patterns I pulled from a magazine. I have no idea where I found it, because I copied the pattern by hand, as you can see here. The threads aren't even marked. I'm guessing it's probably about twenty years old, maybe twenty-five. That's odd. I'm only twenty-two...
Next we have an attempt to fix a problem. I had started on a sampler for a friend's wedding. Then it vanished. Just vanished. Perhaps a new black hole appeared when Starbucks came to San Diego. Anyway, this was a second attempt to made a wedding sampler. However charming the replacement pattern is, though, it just didn't seem appropriate to this couple. I think I wound up giving them a CrockPot. Three years later, they're still going strong, so if the started project ever reappears...
And lastly, a truly beautiful one. The last of the bunch and certainly the one I will enjoy stitching on the most. It looks like a garden in Siena and a I'd like to just slip right into the picture.