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!