House Guests

I try not to let so much time pass between blog posts.... I do remember last year around this time I had a craft-break, while I'm not letting that happen, something has to give when we have nice long days... and house guests.

I started a pair of socks just to try some techniques, not so much to fit someone... it might also be one sock instead of a pair... we'll see.


and finally, my wonderful prize from SSAL. I'm already working on the silk hankies and almost done with them.

I'm also trying to figure out what I want to do with the beautifully dyed purple and green merino...

We took our house guests to the quadrangle, where there are 4 museums (and a library). We got to see the bubble guy... very cool :)

...and since I do have company for a couple more days I must spend the time convincing them to buy wool producing animals for their land in missouri... blogging will be later, after that is accomplished.

I'm in!

I got my ravelry invite today, during my little craft night. Three others came over and I tried to teach two of them how to create a sock, and attempted to help the third woman with her crocheting. I went into the computer room to check something and saw a message in my inbox that was not related to MS3, instead it was my ravelry invite. :) If you are there already, let me know so I can check your info out. I'm on there as workbasket of course.


I still need to work on MS3 clue 3 (I was hoping to keep up, I'll just have to work a bit a make up some time before clue 5 comes out). I still need to work on the Melon Shawl edging. ...and on all my other projects. Today, however, I started one of the baby blankets I need to get done. There's no rush due to the weather, but I'd like to get it done before the next one sneaks up on me. Pictures soon, I promise... ...but first more knitting needs to happen so I have something to take pictures of (other than mail packages, which are interesting of course, but are SO not knitting)

What I did on my summer vacation (part 1)

While my husband had 4 days (vacation days + empty weekend) last week, we decided to paint our living room. This room hadn't been painted in the almost 4 years we've lived here, and it was definitely about time! My friend Allison (of the multiple talents) has helped us before with color combination decisions, and she came through again and took my and my husband's vague notions and desires for the room, and pulled it together.




The room before:


(packing up has begun)





The room during:

(we did multiple coats of primer and then color - and used http://www.hytechsales.com/insulating_paint_additives.html in most of the paint, hoping to help insulate the room a bit more)




And the room after:



I spent a good deal of yesterday making sure any paint that dripped on the floor was cleaned up, and our belongings were returned to the room (aside from anything hanging on the walls - those are still not up) We are very pleased with how the room came out - and hope to put up new curtains soon, and perhaps new furniture (or a slip cover, although either won't be any time soon) - as the couch is still lovely, but the drop cloth covering it had on went so much nicer in the room!

Although there is another vacation time in August (part 2 of summer vacation), I'm betting that during that time there will be a lot more relaxing and a lot less working and painting.

I have returned to knitting. I've done the first two pattern rows (4 total) of MS3 clue 3 - my tape arrived in the mail too for that!! I also turned the first corner of the Melon Shawl, and did a couple repeats on the short side. The only knitting that happened between Tuesday morning of last week, and Sunday evening of this week, was a row on the shawl edging, and a handful of rows on my current sock (still the yarn pirate one!). After taking those finished room pictures, and before cleaning and restoring all the items to the room, I sat and knit for about 45 min on the sock. Such a wonderful feeling :)

Next time - more old finished objects, and my prize from SSAL that came in the midst of the painting!

Sorry!

There have been no posts due to:
- a lack of knitting, spinning, and other fiber related crafts
- a lack of cooking, gardening, and other picture worthy hobbies

...I did however, receive in the mail my prize from SSAL. It's pretty, and is picture-worthy... unfortunately my camera is not where it belongs.*

Tuesday I purposefully did not knit a stitch. It was a crazy day (schedule-wise) and I had procrastinated cleaning for long enough, so I cleaning in the morning, and ran around crazy in the afternoon, and cooked, ate, and went to a movie in the evening - and then went to sleep. ...without knitting. ...without spinning. It felt really strange.

Wednesday I did knit, but not much. I'm still working on the edging for the Melon Shawl - I am about to do the first corner. ...but I got side tracked. My husband has a couple of days off of work, and we are painting. Pictures will follow (perhaps - if it comes out nicely). I'm about to go print off MS3 clue 3, and then eat breakfast and then begin priming. Knitting will resume as the paint dries, and as the many items(*) that belong in the living room... ummm... ..return from the boxes and piles to the living room. yeah.

Quilts (and no knitting)

I finished clue 2 for MS3, perhaps a picture tomorrow, but it's a bit hard to spread out enough to take a good one. I'm still working on the Melon Shawl Edging ...forever. I'm also about to start another baby blanket and bear, for a little boy who was born last week - I figure with the current weather (we turned on the ac today) there's not a huge rush, but I would like to make them and gift them soon. Other projects, current and planned, hover in the background, calling to me, but I need to keep to a small-ish number during MS3, so that I can work on that every week and not be buried by my current WIPs.


For this dose of old finished projects (I'm showing things that were made before my blog started) it's quilts.

This first one I made while I lived at home (middle or high school?) and is currently used as a nap blanket.



These next two were made out of some fat quarters and a bit of spare cloth. Each used two packs of fat quarters...

...pooh bear


...and princess


I then paired the squares with some I cut from a cloth that went with the quarters (the yellow and the green). Once the top was done I bought a king flat sheet and managed to get both backs out of one sheet. I just quilt them quickly on my sewing machine. These quilts fit nicely on the top of their twin beds, without hanging down. I had four squares left, so I sewed a them up with a big square of the sheet and made two little pillows to go along with the blankets. The girls use those pillows for their dolls.

Those are the only quilts I've made for the girls I think, I made them last year. I have a couple more larger (adult) ones, and one that is in the planning stages (material bought, and pattern chosen, nothing cut yet).

Hopefully I'll finish some knitting soon....

Shawl and Stole

The Melon Shawl is progressing. I finished the center section and started the edge. The colors didn't look great together as I started, and I questioned it again.... but I think I like it now - and more importantly, my daughter likes it.



After working on it a bit, I think I'm picking up approximately the right number of stitches (it's not straight forward because I didn't do the same number of pattern repeats in the center). The numbers are close to being right, and this is after I dropped down a couple of needle sizes so the YO sections would look the same with the new yarn. The truth will come after I do a couple corners, and then really when I block it, but I think it's good.



I'm about half done with one side, after working on it during tv watching for the past couple of nights... 18 repeats done - I'm estimating about 100 around, not counting corners. It is really starting to look nice though, as the edging pulls the lace out just a bit, making it so it doesn't curl at least.




On to the Mystery Stole 3...

This was after completing clue 1 (charts A and B). I wanted to get it done before the next clue came out, but I kept delaying, and then couldn't focus, and then was busy, and then delayed some more. Thursday I sat down and did chart B (chart A was finished last friday night at the cast on party).



Today I printed out clue 2, and started chart C. I'm just a handful of rows in (about to start row 116 - clue 2 has rows 101-150).



...and the center section, so you can see how the beads shine when they catch the light (otherwise they just blend in).


Pretty? The group for the MS3 (6547 members at the moment) closes to new members tonight at midnight. After that you'll have to wait until it's a published pattern in order to get it (and miss out on the Knit-A-Long)

...back to knitting (or putting the girls to bed or something)

Happy 4th

Today is the 4th of July - Independence Day in the US. My husband was off work, we put up our flag for a bit, and then went to a friend's house for a BBQ and to let all the kids play. Yummy food, lots of running for the girls, and a couple of games of Fluxx for the adults. Fun all around. I haven't been knitting much - as I had a mild head cold the past couple of days... But I did manage to finish the center section for the Melon Shawl - I even started the edging tonight (while girls watched Harry Potter again). Pictures of that, and the MS3 (clue 1) that I am planning to finish up tomorrow. The prizes from my 100 post contest are packaged and will be mailed off tomorrow hopefully.

Today's daily dose of finished objects are some of my more impressive ones (I think). Here are 3 lopi sweaters I made - 2 for me and 1 for my sweet husband. I'm guessing they were made in fall 2003.




...hope you all had a good 4th, whether it was a holiday for you or not!

Chart A and a Bit of Wire

My purchases for beading purposes:

from the local bead store...




...and from AC Moore.





The group at Creative Fibers on Friday night.

Some of us around the table (with chocolate goodies)...





...and everyone (everyone but Ellen I think) with their current MS3.





I finished chart A that night, and haven't worked on it since - I plan to tonight or tomorrow night - after all, after I finish chart B there's no more until Friday



Sunday night, I broke out the wire, and the extra beads I had purchased and tried some wire knitting. The pattern was supposed to be a bracelet - but I don't like how it came out (at least not on my arm) so I will try again another day. I did salvage the finished knitting though, I gather up the cast on edge, and made a little bowl.




It's a little hard to see (pretty hard to photograph shiny things), but it is a cute little bowl :)



The daily dose of older finished stuff:

I figured I should do these next since I mentioned I had used tigger scraps for the sweater yesterday...

...and yes M, the socks from a couple of posts ago are Tofutsies 'Sweep you off your feet' I believe!

More from Long Long Ago

Friday I went to a local bead store (that's been less than a mile from my house for the past two years and I didn't know about it) and got some more MS3 supplies. I also printed up the chart, and went to a cast-on party Friday night. I also (at the bead store) got some stuff to do some wire knitting. Pictures of those purchases and projects (and MS3 progress update) later tomorrow.

I'm still working on the Melon Shawl - getting many repeats done, almost ready to start the edging (I hope!). I was hoping to finish a couple more projects before starting a new one, but there are some baby gifts needing to be made, and those don't wait... while I decide what and when to start something new you can enjoy these pictures....

Last time I showed you some of my really early sweaters - some that I don't wear so much and some that I'm proud of, but would do differently now - for today's dose of old Finished Objects, you get to see some of the knits for my daughters that I just love (kindof unclear, I love how these projects turned out, and yes I also love my daughters).

A scrap poncho - I really should write this one up, as it was SO easy to make, and ended up with a simple, but pretty, shape.

I had a bag of scraps, I had a shape in mind, and I had a daughter who was walking around in need of just a bit of warmth. I made this ummm... I'd guess 2003 for my older daughter, when she was younger :)


Around the same time, I had a little red dress that I loved to put on my daughter, but, as children do, she was outgrowing it. It was made of a knit material and I thought, hey, I can copy this.... so I did.


...and then of course, I played around with a pattern and made a matching sweater.

The fact that the dress is too short (for my taste) for the child once the sweater fits, is a nice bit of irony - the sizes didn't overlap so well, I think it was worn once (or maybe twice) together.



Last year, I had made a number of things for my younger daughter, and it was time to make something for my older daughter. I used some scraps from tigger (who you'll see soon) and a couple of other scraps, to make this.


I wanted to try something new on this project, and I realized I hadn't done any intarsia. A book was purchased, a pattern was chosen, and the pocket was made (along with the rest of the sweater of course).


Next time, either more crafty-toys, or some grown up sweaters, and more current knitting (of course!)