Still here, life is still busy, but hey! More Knitting!! (Also? Photobucket is being really annoying. May have to pull everything off there and find a new photo-storage site.)

Jumping Online for a Mo'...

Okay, life has been busy. Really, I'll start posting regularly soon... but here's a recap of what I managed to finish in September! Miss all y'all, hope you're doing well!

Let's Pretend!

Quilt progress:


Yes, this is a completely different quilt than the last one I showed you.

NO, I haven't finished the tumbling blocks quilt.

STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT, YOU KNOW I HAVE INCURABLE STARTITIS...

...you can pretend you've seen it before, right?

Houndstooth Hat (and, um, cousin?)

So, for each new bit of yarn or whatever I bring into the house, I have to try to use two things I already have. So, as the bedsocks for which my Navy and Orange Hometown USA yarn were intended kept Not Happpening, I turned it into two hats.

Two AWESOMELY WARM hats, which will be great. Next winter, of course, since it's starting to hit the 90s already this summer.

Anyway, I did the orange-on-blue first, and had thought I'd followed the houndstooth pattern, but as you can see, I didn't. On the second hat, though, I got it right:


The navy-on-orange (the proper houndstooth one) can be worn out of the house. The other, with the weird lightning bolt things that clearly aren't houndstooth, will do just fin as a winter sleep hat, since, as you can see, it nicely covers my eyes if I fold the brim all the way down.


Hooray!

More Neato Stuff

There's still more neat stuff in the world:

A knitted/cabled wedding cake:


This beautiful violin:


And these cool little 3D metal models from Star Wars. (Why yes, I am going to build these. They aren't kidding about Sharp Parts and Needing Needlenose Pliers, though.)

Almost a Mizzle!

The current shawl in the bag (well, one of several going, but this is the one I can currently find) is Patricia Clift Martin's "Mizzle" [Rav link]. I have a couple of balls of the fingering-weight Freia, as I love the it's-just-one-long-color-run of it. This particular pattern seemed to be a good fit for it (yay, Ravelry search for "shawls+I only have x yards of yarn to play with"!).


I've made it past the last eyelet ridge, and am on row 10 of an alleged 28 for the edging. I may or may not have quite enough yarn for all 28 rows, but stopping a few rows short will still give me a lovely shawl. And I should have a photo of it done and blocking before *too* long!

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival 2014

Okay, the MD Sheep and Wool festival happened! As usual, I took the Nature's Yarns bus up with mom, but this year, I had one thought firmly in mind:


So, I got through the day WITHOUT incurring further debt. Which meant (for a change) that everything fit in one small bag:


The Fiber Optic Yarns gradient (the big score, as they were getting low on stock by the time I got there - and if you click through to the website, it's ALL out of stock!) can be seen here. The Ribbon Yarn is from Tess' Designer Yarns. There's an album from Maggie Sansone that I didn't already own (much to my shock). I got a festival t-shirt and pin. I got a Footlights combo pack from Blue Ridge Yarns in Dragon's Breath (which is the colorway of my Clapotis).

I got Angora from Oasis Farm Fiber Mill - incredibly soft!


I got a kit from the Tsarina of Tsocks. (I really need to finish the kit from last year....)


The Vintage Rose Knitting Botique had the *coolest* little stitch marker sets. I got "Expecto Patronem", which has things that reference Harry Potter (including a little silver snake charm, which the darned Gryffie Lion is blocking in this photo).


I got a set of 40" size 8 (US) Signature needles (oh hai, 5% off everything sale online through this Sunday). I get one set each year; so far, size 4, 6, and 8, 10 next year, then 2...). I'm using the needles currently on the Fiber Optics shawl. In addition to a lovely tightening pad (free with purchase!), this little gem was included in the packet:


And of course, I got the new Sheep Incognito calendar.




There were also the mandatory lamb kebabs, ribbon fries smothered with everything, and dipped ice cream cones. Which was followed by the mandatory nap for the length of the bus ride home!

Cool Things

Some cool things out in the world: first up, possibly the coolest illusion iPhone cover I've seen so far:


And some amazing fruit art. I can't begin to guess how long it takes to do something like this - probably only slightly less than similar carvings in wood - and it's gone once the ravening hordes descend!

If at first....

Sheep and Wool happened, and I managed to score one of Fiber Optic's gradient boxes:



>
I started a geometric shawl (I think I could do those in my sleep) on my new Signature needles - and got this far:


At which point I realized the loose fabric wasn't going to allow the ends to weave in neatly, so, starting at the bright end of the box, I'm slowly splicing all the skeins into one giant ball, and will start again (for the fifth time).

SIGH.

I didn't craft for over a WEEK.

Well, the end of April imploded (not in a really bad way, thankfully) such that I actually DID NOT CRAFT for over a week! (I flat out cannot remember the last time this happened - probably because I had pneumonia and was amazingly out of it.) So I have absolutely nothing to report on the crafting front!! Thankfully, that changed a bit this week; I knit three rows on a shawl, and started a crochet shawl (not much to see there). Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is happening now, so at least *next* week I'll have some photos and stash and things to share! And possibly enough crocheted shawl to actually show off!

This is how my WIP numbers soar over 100... or 200

In a fit of I'm-not-sure-what, I started a set of Margaret Sherry kitty coasters that I bought over a decade ago and just found again. I'll be following the pattern on four of them (and then doing heaven only knows what for the other two coasters).

Starting to Quilt Again

Last month, I discovered a new quilt store in Fairfax: The Quilter's Studio on Main Street. I went a few times, just to look at the pretty, then fell prey to a Moda charm pack, "April Showers":


I managed to lose all my templates in my house (naturally), so I made a 60-degree diamond. Hooray for protractors! More yay that I was actually able to find my protractor!



So, I had a template, so I cut out all the pieces. (All of them.)


Then I started piecing by hand. As I have a hate/hate relationship with my sewing machine, I tend to hand piece and hand quilt unless forced to do otherwise. (Yes, that happens.) I was able to eyeball my seams darned well, thankyouverymuch.



And then the ironing.


Now it's a case of assembling all the blocks into one giant thing. And then figuring out how to attach the batting and backing to something with really weird edges. And then I get to quilt it all...

... or stuff it in the bin with my other two finished quilt tops and hope they somehow transform into quilts on their own.

Yeah, that last option is probably closer to what will actually happen. But maybe not, we'll see!

Still Knitting

Still knitting. This


is in the process of becoming an Ink Heart Shawl. More on this later...

(Yeah, I know, it's being one of Those Weeks. Really, there will be more. Just, you know, later.)

Okay, fine, I bought more.

Okay, fine, there were actually TWO trips to In Stitches. Since my two bffs couldn't go to the Woodlawn Needlework Show on the same day, I went twice. (Well, fine, thrice, I also went with my mom.) So, perforated paper, three canvases... and this stuff.




That was the first trip. The second trip, I was relatively well behaved (for me) and just got JBW Design's French Country Owl sampler (and some floss and fabric). That, I started right away one evening last week at around 2:30 a.m.:


There was a lot more done, but I had to rip it out because it was either incorrect placement... or... well, pretty much, I had the entire word "Whooooooo" at the bottom in a very, very wrong place. So it's in time out this week.

But they were On Sale!

Along with the perforated paper from In Stitches, I also got three little canvases.

They were on sale, OK?


They go with my "Boo" and "Eeek" that I've already done. (I've lost them somewhere in my house, but they're done.)


My actual finished canvas!

I'll be using the same fibers as before, with the bonus Ooomph of using Very Velvet in black for the background. I really like the totally matte finish it gives - and it really makes the shiny threads pop! I'll be using pearl cotton instead of the white Very Velvet this time, though - the white picks up every other fiber if you breathe on it wrong!


More on these when I actually start them....

Maybe I'll stick to cross stitch.

I tried to make an Art Deco-ish bracelet/cuff.

I failed.


I really should look into getting some sort of how-to book for this stuff. Winging it will just get me so far...

At least I can finally finish my second Halloween beaded pin, as I managed to get some perforated paper at In Stitches!



I swear I've already done the black cat pin - but the perforated paper isn't in the kit, but all the threads and beads are. Just one of those mysteries that manage to attach itself to kits/projects I've had around for more than a decade, I guess!

Please pretend this post happened yesterday.

Okay, Monday, take two.

Sunday before last, I went to the Homespun Yarn Party up in Savage Mill, Maryland. IT WAS AWESOME. I wanted to do this whole thing with "here's what it looked like; here's a booth... and look, I bought THAT skein of yarn!" but I got so "omg, I have to edit & mark all these pictures and make sure I credit them properly and stuff"... and I totally missed my Monday post deadline. (Which, in case you were wondering, is 6am or so.)

So, instead, a non-fancy bunch of photos I took!

First, getting to Savage Mill was a snap; getting parking was NOT. My husband eventually dropped me near the front gate and took off for Parts Unknown. I went inside... and OMG PEOPLE. There was a line that went the entire length of the building!!


Seriously, couldn't even see the DOOR to the greatroom from where I came in. OTOH, there was a great jazz band in the open restaraunt, so at least there was good music for the wait. And wait we did - even though the line was moving quickly, it took about half an hour to get down the hallway. Luckily, the end was soon in sight:


Much to my delight and surprise, there were House Cuppers (HPKCHC) all over the place, so I got to see people about six weeks before I'd expected to do so at MDSW. Then - HUGE CROWDED ROOM FULL OF PEOPLE AND YARN!! Eeeeeeeee! So exciting, really it was. The energy was great! My first stop (as planned) was Natasha, aka Unplanned Peacock Studio.


I got a skein of Tabby, but in a different weight than I had for my hat and cowl before (see this post). You can see the skein I got in the photo... it's in the middle cube on the right, on the left side of the cube but one column to the right... um... two down from the top there's a kinda orangey-black skein poking out? That's Mine!!

I then hit Snallygaster Fibers and got two Monster Skeins of ACTUAL FLOURESCENT YARN. This will turn into the most eyeblinding Nordic sweater EVER. I'm debating whether to offset the flourescents with black, which would make it easier to look at... but I probably won't.

I also got a rainbow skein from Wandering Wool:


See the rainbow one in the back row, second from left, with the red on the outside? Also Mine!!

I also picked up some pins (because PINS), and added them to my Cup Cozy of Pins:


And then, on the way out, there was a giant chair.


Really, really, giant chair. I added the ball of North Country Sock from Wandering Wool for scale:


That wee little ball on that there chair is my new shawl, seen here on LAST Monday.

Anyway, it was really cool, and I'm sorry you didn't get the really cool adventure in yarn I had planned in my head, but here are the photos, and you kinda get the idea that Hey, There Was Yarn And It Was Cool.

OWLfail

In a nutshell: Stayed up insanely late Monday Night/Tuesday Morning trying to finish my Detention OWL. Did not do so, but managed to squirrel my sleep cycle badly, which has carried into today. Today, I'm attempting to do little things that don't require thought as I attempt to shift back to a day schedule. So far, it's not going well - ie, it's bad enough that I don't dare knit or cross stitch or crochet, as if I mess up I will likely not notice, and have to rip and do everything all over again. I am actually working on stuff (when not about to keel over), pics next week, I promise!

Celtic Knotwork Lace

Took the week off blogging last week, as there were Deadlines and Family Events and Other Things that made actually getting on line tricky. However, as I wasn't online much, I got a LOT of crafting done.

For example, here is what I did for most of last week when all the other things weren't going on. It's a modified version of Keltische Verknotung (Celtic Knots)by Utlinde; the yarn is Wandering Wool's North Country Sock in Rainbow.

Sunday	Tuesday	Wednesday
Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Saturday II		Sunday

Wheee! More about where I got that amazing yarn on Wednesday!