Butterflies

A butterfly was reported seen in Helen's home ten days ago. That day I sat by her side, sewing on my butterflies on nine-patches and telling her secrets. Shortly after we left, she floated away. She was 97 years old and had adventures! During the depression, she knitted herself dresses. She rented a typewriter and taught herself to type so she could get a job. She worked for the government during WWII. She was a world traveller--I have a picture of her on a camel!--and she was in charge of her own destiny.

We've been clearing out her home and during the hour and a half drives, I've gotten a fair way on that Butterfly piece. I think I'll choose it a a grief catcher. I have done the same with other projects.

Changing of the Seasons

"Butterflies on Nine-Patches" jumped out of the cross-stitch box and said, "Sew on me!" So I did. Sew. I. Did. Get it?
It's a fun stitch: challenging when I want challenge (butterflies and sky); easy when I want something predictable (the quilt blocks). It's in a smaller scale than I've been working with: 18 squares per inch, so that makes it interesting, too.
Yesterday I worked on it at my mother-in-law's home, during Star Trek, and while watching black smoke billow across the I-5 freeway. That's right, it's fire season again in SoCal! People from other parts of the country often are under the impression that we don't have seasons here. Not true! Our seasons are just different from what you're used to.

Seasons in Southern California

Fire

Flood

Earthquake

Drought

Double-yay!

Playtime at Azkaban has certainly charmed me. The Bellatrix pattern is moving quite fast--it's all those dropped yo's. And that whole wavy thing is cool. It certainly wouldn't show up with an all-over single color. Good thing I'm using IceHouse! And here's something weird: my hands are changing. They're harder, somehow. Perhaps the muscles I'm using are tightening up. Too bad I can't work up a good sweat and call it exercise, huh?

And I got to work on Warm Water Wash: it's finito! Yay! I love the feeling I get when finishing something. My breathing changes. I'm more relaxed. Yay! Ooh, that's a double-yay!

Book-wise: I just finished reading Beyond Stitch and Bitch. It's about finding peace, inner and outer, through your knitting. A very quick read. I had accidentally picked it up from Paperback Swap because I want all the Stitch and Bitch books. They're modern, upbeat, and full of interesting patterns.

Knit Happens

First I have to tell you about Saturday morning. My knitting friend, Sherry, and I met at Liberty Station, as we usually do. Sometimes the group is much larger, but this week it was just the two of us.
Now and then we are joined by a new friend who finds us through Ravelry or Yahoo groups.
Well, there we were, chattering on, knitting our little brains out, when who should show up but Daryl Hannah. You know, the actress who knits those lovely garter stitch scarves? She sat down and we taught her how to purl. Okay, Sherry taught her. I got distracted when Debra Messing showed up with a sumptuous sequined silk/rayon DK weight that she's working into a shrug. The whole morning kinda fell apart, though, when our new members got into a tussle about the right way to knit: picking or throwing. Heavens! That was just when Lawrence Fishburn appeared with an amazing grey cashmere and... well, you'll just have to imagine the rest because I'm done. The only part about these celebs that is true is that they all knit.

Now a little update with my cross-stitch projects: I completed Snowy Evening... at least the stitch-y part. I think I'll finish it the same way I did Liberty Bears.
And here's the October portion of The Red Thread. I sewed most of it in a breezeway between two coffeeshops near Tiny's school. I call that spot "my happy place."
Also, I pulled "Warm Water Wash" out of the closet and got some more work done on it. Frankly, I think it could be finished pretty quickly at this point. All that's left is a bit at the bottom. I completed the sand castle today while I was watching "Persuasion." You can see theblue bucket is about half done. All that's left is the picnic basket, the right pole, and sewing on the buttons.

Knit-Wit

Check out this cool sock. The pattern is called "Bellatrix," named for the evil psychotic witch in the Harry Potter series. (Okay, one of the evil psychotic witches.) I love that the designer choses "twisted rib" for the the cuff--how appropriate. And the dropped stitch pattern that looks like a bajillion mistakes. It looks like a psycho designed it: marvelously, madly evil! I'm calling the project "Playtime at Azkaban." That's the name of bedlam/prison that she escaped from.I've been on a major knitting jag. I think part of the deal is that it's portable: much more so than my super sewing machine, Molly. It's been so hot lately that being in a home without A/C is... a thing to be avoided. So I go out. Starbucks is nice. But less computer time that way.

Some cross-stitch is happening, but mostly knitting. I want to finish Tiny's knitted Christmas pressie, but ...Azkaban is calling...

Okay, who put the curse on my car? I mean it. Thursday, the engine light went on: $500 later, I managed a reasonable weekend, um, knitting. Then Monday morning, that blasted light went on again: this time it signaled a $1000 repair, which we'll skip for now. And now, the Man of the Place was driving it and got backed into by a kid in a parking lot! Add this to the two not-my-fault minor accidents earlier this year and I'm beginning to think this is deliberate. (Of course, it could be coordianated action by the Coalition to Get Desi Out of Her Old Car And into a Hybrid. Yeah, that's what it is. The boys from CGDOHOCAH.)

Oh, and my birthday's Friday! Yep. Twenty-two.... What? Zip it and wish me a happy birthday already!

Shake Your Bootie!

You don't need a good memory if you've got talent. --Chris, whom I met today

I'm just going to keep telling myself that.

So you can see that the Baby Needs New Shoes project is done. The skateboard shop owner was very surprised when I asked if I could use one of their boards to photograph a pair of booties!

And, um, they didn't catch me at the grocery store... So, tada! Sleeves Without a Sweater! One is actually done and the other is a few inches in.*

And I got a little progress on the Scrap Trick prayer quilt. (yay!) I will go through the scraps and cut up 3.5" pieces for a second border.

* Yes, I know I ended that sentence with a preposition. It's a stupid rule and only meant for the romance languages and the guy that proposed that it be applied to English took it back, so there!