Archive for June, 2009
I lost my Blackberry!
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
I’ve lost track of it before, but never for this long…about 4 days, I think. I’ve called it at Mom’s and at my house…and I can’t ever hear it. I think it must be gone. It still has batteries because it’s not just going straight to voicemail yet! ARG.
I’ll give it a few more days, I guess. My house IS pretty messy. And so is my car. It always turns up. Crossing fingers.
In my quest to reduce overtiredness and burnout, I’ve been trying not to be on it so much. I don’t need to check emails, facebook and twitter all the time, or to be available by phone all the time.
I almost think I lost it on semi-on-purpose.
But now I want it back!
Posted in just chit chat | 3 Comments »
Do you think I’ll have crazy dreams when I sleep under this?
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
The whole quilt top is made from the scraps that I hand dyed. (I blogged about that here.) I did use two half-yards of fabric that Tonya had given me one Christmas to outline the log cabin pieces, but they’re the same tone as the turquoise that I used. The entire rest of the quilt is from that dye experience.
I like it. These fabrics look like they might have been worn by people coming through Ellis Island. They’re so sepia and sort of plain, but really intricate if you look at them closely. All of the plaids are woven, not printed. Some of the fabrics have even been brushed to peachfuzz on one side. And I think the randomness of my design is very like a really old utilitarian quilt might look. Cobbled together from whatever pieces there were. (Which is just what I did!)
Initially, I thought I might sew all of the strips together, and then cut them to make diagonal stripes, so I made a lot of looooooong strips. I cut the plaids along one stripe in the fabric (since this is woven plaid, it was either with or perpindicular to the selvage.) I also just pieced the charms (squares) together as they were, didn’t do any flying geese or even triangles. I then stitched a few stripes and a few charm strips together to make aprox. 2-foot wide sections, and then arranged those together. Then, yesterday, I decided to try a few log cabins. I hadn’t ever done any, and they look so nice (in other peoples’ quilts) so I threw a few of those in, too. Finally, I laid all of the big sections out next to each other, cut the longer strips and used those to lengthen the shorter ones, and it came out to be almost a perfect rectangle, with very few scraps left over.
I’m going to use a big piece of Tina Givens fabric for the back. It’s a nice purple and turquoise that I think will really compliment the front. It needs a whimsical fabric on the back.
I’ll let you know when I get it quilted! I’ve got two quilts that are just waiting on binding and then I can cross them off the UFO list. I don’t want them to languish too long…we all know that the longer they go unfinished, the more used we are to having them unfinished!
This is going to be a bear to lay out and sandwich! It’s at least 8 feet tall. (I need to measure so I can buy my batting!) It’s too expensive to have every quilt professionally quilted, so I’m going to try to tackle this one on my home machine. Because of all the tiny pieces, I want to quilt this one pretty tight (lots of lines). I’m predicting at least a couple of months’ work. I’ll keep you posted.
ETA: It’s 8ft 4inches by 7 feet 4 inches! We sandwiched it on the patio the other night, and I rolled it up so I could start quilting. It’s HEAVY.
Posted in sewing | 4 Comments »
My sister was in town!
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Tonya was in town last week and graciously modelled a few things for me. She shows how stuff looks on skinny people, and I show how they look on … people with curves. Let’s just say that. lol. If you click on this picture, you’ll see more photos of both sweaters on each of us.
We had a good time catching up and playing with Mazie. We even hijacked my mom and went to Carlsbad Caverns on the weekend.
I don’t have many photos of that, because Mazie fell asleep on our way to the cave, and I had to carry sleeping Mazie down partway. Then, she woke up and wanted to walk. If you haven’t been there, it’s wet, steep, and has one guardrail at hip height. I was so freaked out! When she DID want to be carried, she wanted my mom to do it, so here’s my 60+ year old mom carrying 30-pounder Mazie down this wet steep incline. I about died. By the time we were done, I was frantic. I’m kind of queasy about heights, and it was just too much, worrying about those girls!
It was fun, but scary. We stayed the night at the Carlsbad KOA, in one of their Kamping Kabins. THAT was FUN. Mazie is a good camper!
One funny thing was that Mazie thought the whole cave was made out of poop. She kept pointing at the stalactites and other formations and saying, “poop. poop.”
Posted in just chit chat, Trips | No Comments »
New Pattern Booklet: FOUR reversible scarves
Saturday, June 13th, 2009
Until now, three of these patterns have only been available in my scarf kits on Etsy…and now I’m combining them with the Reclamation scarf pattern into a booklet of four completely reversible scarf patterns.
All of the scarves look good from both the front AND the back, so you never need to worry about the tails flipping over while you wear them, or which side is the “right” side when you put them on.
I’m calling it “Back and Forth” because whichever side (back or front) of these scarves show, and whatever yarn / gauge / drape you choose, they look great!
(The scarf that didn’t make the cover is this one:)
…the model just didn’t have much life! 
$4 
So anyway, that’s available now on Etsy, Ravelry, and in my own shop.
Posted in Patterns, etsy | No Comments »
Post-Burnout Bombardment?
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
I’m sort of bombarding you lately, with product reviews, books, my own new stuff…The last thing I want this to be is a “Selling Stuff Blog.”
I was thinking about this today, and it’s the result of coming out of this mental block I’ve been having.
I was able to find the root of the problem, I think…or at least one major part. Eliminating that has helped me so much! I’ve been feeling creative, energized, and just back to normal. It’s amazing how much one seemingly little thing can affect so many ares of one’s life.
So, now that that’s over…I’ve got the energy to process through all these ideas that have been percolating for so long.
I’ll get back to “daily life” posting, don’t worry…but for now I’m in Revved Up mode.
Posted in just chit chat | No Comments »
My risky behavior gets you a Soak promo code!
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
Well, in the spirit of Summer knitting, FOs, and making things that I really LOVE (instead of doing a bunch of stuff because I HAVE to) I overdyed my Clapotis.
What does that have to do with Summer knitting? It’s a silk - blend yarn, and perfect to take to the movies or wherever the A/C might be blasting this summer!
What does that have to do with FOs? It’s something that is currently an FO, and will be even MORE F once I get it to a color that I can actually wear.
What does that have to do with making things that I really LOVE (instead of doing a bunch of stuff because I HAVE to?) I’ve been fighting this burnout, trying to rid myself of toxic people, situations that make me feel uncomfortable, tasks that I don’t enjoy or that are just not fulfilling…and somehow turning this scarf that took SOoooooOOOooo long to knit into something that I will actually use and love is a part of that.
It started out as a pretty Salmon color. I love this color. But I don’t like it next to my face. It’s just one of those colors that looks great on the mannequin, but not next to my skin. It’s a little too pink and not orange enough for my hair color. I would see it and think that I *should* like it…I *should* wear it. But I don’t. I don’t wear this color.
In this picture, I’ve folded it in half lengthwise, rolled it up, and put it in a bowl. I poured Rust Orange dye in the center, and Jet Black around the edges.
When I took it out of the dye bath, I could tell that (because this is a blend and I used a dye for cotton…so the silk will dye well but the wool won’t) it was going to be much lighter than a pure black. It’s risky, just pouring on dye and hoping that I like it in the end…but what the heck.
After the dye bath, it went into the protective mesh undie-washing bag and into the washer with a couple squirts of Soak Wash.
Here it is fresh out of the washer and off the clothesline (I use the gentlest cycle, cold water wash and rinse, with a fast spin. Spinning it really helps to get the extra water out so that it drys fast on the line.)
(I’m not sure what’s going on with my camera today…Mazie prints on the lens? It’s acting very Moonlighting.)
The Soak did a great job of washing out all the dye and mordant…and it smells great!
Because Jacqueline (the owner of the Soak company) is so generous, if you decide to order soak ANY TIME FOR THE NEXT MONTH, enter the discount code Soak09 and you’ll save 15%.
Posted in just chit chat, tips and tricks | No Comments »
Crochet Dude’s Designs for Guys
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
Last winter (has it really been that long ago? I’m SO BEHIND!) I met Drew Emborsky at a party.
At that time, he had a few copies of his (then new) book and I got to see it before it had hit the shelves. I requested a review copy…he sent one…and I am JUST NOW reviewing it.
The Crochet Dude’s Designs for Guys: 30 Projects Men Will Love
I really really like it! I think these are my favorite patterns:
I’ve always liked this French Sailor style. It has a casual-but-dressy appeal, and really shows off broad shoulders!
I am also really impressed by this crochet Aran sweater!
I didn’t realize that crochet could do this! (I really need to learn.)
There are a LOT of really wearable sweaters and accessories in this book…if you crochet and have a man in your life who (unlike MY man, who claims that sweaters are too hot) will actually wear the things that you crochet…you need this book!
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
…Speaking of Knitting in the Sun
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
I’ve got a warm-weather FO to share!
This sweater has been spotted in the background of several photos, it’s been living on the mannequin in my living room for MONTHS.
It’s knit back and forth on circs, with the lapels picked up last. The yarn is Dali from Textiles a Mano. I blogged about the yarn here. That was a LONG time ago! Almost a year!
One thing that slowed me down is that the yarn is one of those that you really have to want to knit. It’s stiff, so you can’t really ZOOM with it…but it’s SO WORTH IT. The fabric is definitely holding its shape…it’s been on the mannequin for almost a year and hasn’t stretched out. The texture of the fibers is so perfect (see the post I linked to earlier for closeups) and the sheen is amazingly luminous! It shines like pearls.
Stay Tuned this week for another book review, a SOAK promo, and more Summer Knits!
Posted in yarn reviews, Patterns | No Comments »
New Reversible Scarf kits in my Etsy shop
Monday, June 8th, 2009
100% bamboo, dk weight.
I finally had a chance to photo these today. I’m in the process of getting them all listed on Etsy.
These came to me as undyed 200 - 250 gram hanks, and I tried to split each one up into two manageable skeins. So almost all of them have an exact match.
Some are “sisters” and are the same dye lot, but are so different that I listed them individually.
I priced them according to weight, so whatever they actually weigh is taken into account.
Each kit comes with FOUR scarf patterns.
Posted in etsy | No Comments »
Knitting in the Sun Blog Tour!
Monday, June 8th, 2009
I’m a little late for my scheduled stop on the
Knitting In the Sun: 32 Projects for Warm Weather
Here are the next couple of dates:
June 3 — Beth Casey — lornaslaces.blogspot.com
June 5 — Faina Goberstein — fainasknittingmode.blogspot.com
June 8 — Katherine Vaughn — knitwithkt.blogspot.com
I rarely do patterns in multiple-designer books any more, but when Kristi proposed this project to me, I was on board. The concept really hits home for me. I live in a place with 360 days of sun a year!
There are lots of cute warm-weather projects in this book, and they range from garments to wraps to even a knit chair!
If you have a chance to take a peek, do!
Here’s my garment, with Kristi herself as the model:
