...but No Whining!

I've been invaded by a slime monster. It resides in my head so thinking has become a challenge. So I will write very little. But here's some pictures.

Arctic Anarchy close-ups.

Arctic Anarchy in full.

Cowboy Christmas top. Worked on it during the Superbowl.

Dream Dancer continues to improve. This shows the blue behind her head has grown. I've done more. Maybe the next post will show a ...ah, forget it. I'm going back to bed. The best part of being sick: not being expected to do anything!

Accountability--14 Letters of Expectation

I thought I'd better get another knitting project on the needles. I don't want to finish my socks and start a harder sock pattern without a nearly brainless knitting job. So here's the Albino Bat. It's really an eyeshade--here's the pdf for the free pattern. Keep in mind that you'll actually upload the pattern when you click the link... if I did it right. Too often the lights go on and off when I go to bed before the Man of the Place. This might work better than a bandana... or a banana, now that I come to think of it.

Getting it started and up to 8 rows during Battlestar Galactica has definitely lost me the title of World's Slowest Knitter. Ah, 2007 was my glory year. No one could knit as slowly as I did. Ah, well, time makes fools of us all...

Also, got a little progress on Dream Dancer. I decided to work specifically on the blue area behind her instead of that cape. Oh, my stars! That cape has got to be the biggest piece of chamois ever depicted in Western art. I had to not sew on it for a while.

And here's the big picture for those who like to get a better idea of what's going on:

Cuddles asked me how I ever get so much done. I suppose it's this blog and readers like her. I have some accountability. People know what I'm working on and ask about it. My mom or my Beloved Uncle Don will regularly drop me an email to ask about something. Or another blogger working on a similar project has a comment to make. Even without that, it's in my face with my Too Many Projects list at the right side of my blog. Accountability. Speaking of which, I've got to go tidy the kitchen.

A Wrinkle in Mine

The Polka Dot Garden has been finished--wa-hoo! The Man of the Place has been obsessed with watching the first season of Lost that a friend sent, so I've been able to sit by his side and sew down the binding first, and the label second. I even did a little embroidery on the label (no big deal, though).
Here's a close up of a block--you might be able to see a little of the quilting
And here's how the back turned out. You might noticed that I used up all the leftover scraps from the front--and that's how the Scrap Queen rolls!The only wrinkle was, um, a wrinkle. There was a long crease that got quilted into the back. And yes, I could have painstakingly pulled out the quilting and started over... if I was working for Martha Stewart or something... but I'm not. So.... wa-hoo! The Polka Dot Garden is finished!I also made a little progress on Sleep Baby Sleep. I still have no idea where it's going to wind up, seeing how the baby's room it was originally meant for is now (without changing tenants) home to a fourteen-year-old who prefers ninjas to bunnies.

Pink Orient

I showed Tiny these three fabrics and asked if she knew anyone who liked Asian prints, as she does, and pink. To my shock, she said that she did know someone: herself. I thought pink had fallen out of favor. But apparently it clawed its way back into her good graces. So I started work on it. For now I'm calling it Pink Orient. I'm just using a disappearing nine patch, as I'm so enamoured of making. Here's a link to my photo tutorial. (It's not as good as another one, but I couldn't find it tonight.)

Then I laid it out in the typical style and showed it to her, just to make sure it was really for her. "It's a little busy, don't you think, Mom?"

I looked at her from under my brows and gave the quick answer: "Have you ever seen the quilts I make?"

She grinned and nodded and that was the end of the exchange. But I gave it a little time and thought about it. I've decided I'll sash the blocks in black to help it settle down a little, like I did with the blue in Everything Groovy. That should do the trick.

Also on the quilting front, I've been working on the binding for Polka Dot Garden. It's moving along, but slowly. I like to hand-sew down the binding. It gives me a chance to fall in love with the quilt.

In knitting news:

I finished the embellishments and put in the interfacing for the Red Herring Purse. I've decided to add dowels into the handle for reinforcing, so I need to wait until I go to the lumber store. But at least it's moving forward. Glacially. Hey, glaciers move! They do. No, they really do. Like a foot. Every year. More with global warming...

And the second Soy Toy sock has turned the heel. Well, it's not automatic, like it knits itself or anything. I actually turned the heel. Wow, that would be cool if it just knit itself right along and I would find it in the morning all done. Like the Tailor of Gloucester in Beatrix Potter's book. Oh, wait, that turned out to be mice that did the work. Never mind.

On Monday, I went to see Kate Jacobs, author of The Friday Night Knitting Club. I really liked the novel and look forward to reading the sequel, Knit Two. She's very articulate and friendly and even acquiesced to my ridiculous request that she pose with my knitting. (I promise, I did try to remove the red-eye effect, but it looked creepy that way, so I just put 'em back to red.)

Good Things Come in Small Packages

Well, I finally got the last border on it and now I present... Blue Mountain Rhapsody! I'm going to hand it off this week for somebody else to make the border. I'm really pleased at how well it turned out. It's probably the most complicated top I've ever made, uh, make that completed. Moreover, Stashbuster Alert! I used 132"--that's almost 4 yards--from my stash!

And in the mail yesterday arrived a nice little package.

I looked at the return address (Mary Jane's Cross and Stitch) and had to zoom to my studio to open it. I thought you'd like to come along for the ride.

Hmm, packaging material...

Looks intriguing...

Ooh! Yes! It's my first installment in the Over-the-Top Series from Just Nan! Cute, huh? I can hardly wait to start. I just need to get past this finishitis first....

Speaking of which...

I couldn't sleep last night so I got up and knitted the i-cord (kind of a square strap for you non-knitters) for my iPod carrier while reading more of Sense and Sensibility. Then I took advantage of the fact I was using cotton yarn. Cotton yarn is plied loosely. I was able to separate 1 of the 4 plies and use it as a thread to sew up the sides of MiPod. It worked like a nice strong button thread. Now I don't need pockets to listen to a podcast! Hoop-de-do!

Finishitis Strikes Again!

So I finally finished The Red Thread. I wasn't able to obtain the "finishing kit" that Bent Creek put together, so I went through my supplies and found snaps and heart-shaped buttons. I think it came out pretty cute! I think that if you click the photo, you'll get a larger version of it.

I've started reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Okay, it's part of a larger scheme. I joined the Jane Austen Yarn Club. It goes for a year and every two months a new reading suggestion, hand-dyed yarn, and original knitting pattern arrives. I know, it's a total indulgence, so I paid for it out of my own money, not the household expenses... Besides, anything that encourages me to get reading these days is a good thing. I used to read a great deal. In fact, my parents used to claim that I was born six days early because I didn't have anything to read in there!

... and They Asked for Seconds!

Tonight's dinner featured something that went over very well... and shouldn't have! So I thought I'd share the recipe. Even if you're not into cooking, I think it makes good reading.

Twice-Baked Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal 1 cup white flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 can of corn
scavenged leftover pumpkin (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt, preferably left on the top shelf of the refrigerator to partially freeze
1/4 cup vegetable oil, more as needed
2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


2. Drain the corn and reserve the liquid for use in a soup. (worked great in a roasted veg soup tonight!)


3. Get the cornmeal out to discover it's almost all gone. Substitute husband's prize stone ground polenta and hide the evidence.


4. Mix "cornmeal" with flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.


5. Scrape yogurt into measuring cup, approximating because of the ice crystals. Add pumpkin and oil. Stir.


6. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients with corn. Mix until appears like a thick batter. (or mooshed-up macaroni and cheese, as the Man of the Place commented.)


7. Scoop into prepared muffin tin. There will be some leftover. Ignore it. You have plenty to do.


8. Set timer for 15 minutes and work on soup.


9. After 12 minutes, discover eggs still sitting on work area. Squawk.


10. Remove muffin tin from oven and glare at it. Think. Look at the eggs.


11. Shrug. Crack eggs into leftover batter and mix thoroughly.


12. Scoop mostly cooked batter out of muffin tin and into mixture. Mix really thoroughly, being sure to break up all the cooked bits.


13. Look at the clock. Note that you have to leave in five minutes to pick up your kid from soccer practice and there will be no way to make two batches of muffins.


14. Yank out a square 8 x 8 glass dish. Spray it and dump in the new mixture. Pat it out evenly.


15. Place in oven and set cook-timer to turn itself off in 25 minutes.
    
16. Dump the muffin tin in the sink and hope for the best.

MiPod has Cables

Whoa! It's been a week since my last post! How did that happen? It must have been that crazy trip with Joaquin Phoenix to Malaysia... Oh, no, I dreamed that. Ah, well.

Okay, I haven't been jet-setting, but I have kept busy. I finished the stippling on the Polka Dot Garden...

...and the chartreuse thread rocked it!

And I got the medallion done on Ben's quilt. I worked about 8 hours on it on Friday. Whew!All that's left for the top is a border. I still don't have a good name for it, though.

One of my favorite things to do while creating pretty things is to listen to podcasts and music on my iPod, Ruby. Ruby also keeps me company while I exercise and do housework. The only problem is that I am a female. Hence, most of my clothes are pocket-free. So, I looked up iPod knitting patterns and found this one! So soon I will have my iPod caddy all ready to go!

Notice the cables? That's right, this girl can do cables. (Woot-woot!) And I only had to change needles three times and yarn once.

Last night I went to one of those Murder Mystery Parties. It was such fun! I was the tarty character (how come I got pegged as the tart?) and the Man of the Place was a gangster. Surprisingly, we were both innocent. It turned out to be the guy who, in real life, is a pastor! Go figure...

To Thine Own Self Be True

Well, I seem to be settling into 2009 just fine. And learning from past mistakes. If you've been reading my blog for a month or more, you may recall that I had to repin and iron a quilt (Cielo) because I pinned it and stored it before getting around to quilting it, making cause for quite a bit of whining. Well, yesterday I took my quilt to my quilt therapy group and pinned it. Then I took it home--carefully!--and laid it out so it would be ready to go. And it worked out just fine. Yay.
On the way home, I picked up the thread I wanted to use for quilting. I like it. Of course, chartreuse is a little wild, but come on, it's me we're talking about...
Next thing: I know that if I quilt this thing and then have to make up the binding, I will most like have a ginormous (that's a word now!) break between quilting and binding because I'll run out of steam, so I made up a roll o' binding, using the continuous binding technique, and put it away. That way, as soon as I finish quilting my Polka Dot Garden, I can just keep right on truckin'.
I needed some actual handwork today, so I pulled out what I've been calling "Baby Boy on Moon." Turns out the actual name is "Crescent Dreams." Now I wonder why I never finished it. It's not very complex. And the colors are pretty. I sewed on it while I watched the Chargers game with the Man of the Place. They won! Go Bolts!

Welcome to 2009!

You know what I love to hear? When a party hopper says, "I was having so much fun I stayed longer than I meant to." That's a very good sign. I like to run New Year's like an open house so party hoppers can come and go, regulars can stay all night, and those who barely made it out of the house at 11 pm are still comfortable to arrive late and stay late. Tiny has an annual sleepover to extend the party and that makes for buckets more fun.

We had a great crowd. Not too many and not too few. But there was still room for you.

Many games got a good airing out: I played Imaginiff (a Christmas present), Apples to Apples (Santa's surprise gift), and Trivial Pursuit 20th Anniversary--it was so hard we wound up helping each other to get the answers! That made for a very congenial group. And noisy.

And this morning, with God's help, I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to watch to Rose Parade. Meanwhile, I cut out the fabric for Ben's quilt. I think the colors are toned-down enough for a fellah and I know he has a special affinity for dragonflies. Say a little prayer for Him will ya? He needs help getting a new start in a new place.This is the pattern I'm working on... from this book:I took a class from this teacher in the summer and she made this sooo do-able.

Oh, and Stashbuster Alert! I'm making it from fabrics in the stash! Can I hear a woot-woot?!