Ruched

coincidence

Not much progress on the crafty front in the last few days.  I cut strips to start piecing for the wool/silk scarf - I especially like the narrow stripe of indigo - and got this far piecing them together when a friend called with details about her new baby.  It was so, so nice to talk to her, and in the background I could hear little newborn nursing sounds.  Ack!  Once a mom, always a softie.

That was yesterday.  Today I'd started knitting when another friend called, this time with a request to write a recommendation for their adoption application.  I almost cried.  We don't see them nearly enough, but they're the sort of friends that would show up in a moment if you called to say you needed them.

All this plus joining Facebook (I finally caved) and I'm so glad I did, I found several friends that I'd lost contact with for various reasons.  All special people that I'm thrilled to be in touch with again.  I have good taste in friends, and it's nice to feel surrounded by them :)

Whoops, almost forgot, I started a sweater knitting class on Thursday nights.  I'm not sure if I'll go back again, the space is small and one of the other students is annoying.  She has a loud laugh, loud opinions, and a teacup dog she brought along in a bag.  Like Paris Hilton, but knitting sweaters. 

It feels wrong to bail on a class, but if I don't like it, why should I stick around?  I don't believe that nonsense about unhappiness improving your character.  My knitting is supposed to be joyful. 

Have a good weekend everyone!

sick day

Nothing serious, just bleh.  More tomorrow.

I have an idea for a scarf

I was thinking about making a scarf for a friend, and I had just seen BettyNinja's version of a Cross quilt, and it all pulled together.  I don't know that he would like this, but he was the inspiration.  That's ok though, I really want to keep this for myself, because it's cold here (kidding), and I need a scarf.

Cottons in colors pulled from the silk

BettyNinja's quilt.  Hot pink and white, awesome.  The link is to her tutorial.

I bought this at G Street Fabrics when I was in college, and it was a million dollars a yard, all I could afford was 1/4 yard and even then it was a splurge.  It's been kicking around for quite a few years now, I need to put it to good use.

The second one up is "Tasmanian Traveler".  I've had these suiting samples for ages as well, and I always intended to make a scarf with them.  I can't even describe how nice they are.  The "tropical weight" is the thinnest wool I've ever seen.  It's smooth and fine without being sheer, hard to believe it's wool, really.  I wish it was more widely available. 

hand made purse

As Merrick and I were heading to the car after his swimming class I spotted a woman with a beautiful purse.  When I saw the lining I knew she had made it herself, so I asked her about it, and I had my phone and could have taken a photo and totally forgot.  So here's a reconstruction.

It was a tropical floral in this colorway, though with flowers with elongated petals, and she had echo quilted with dark thread in a way that reminded me of sashiko.  Long but very even stitches.  Most of the quilting was on the white background, so it was subtle line but visible at a distance.

The lining was this Dick & Jane alphabet fabric, with straps from a purse kit.

oh those

If you're waiting for an xmas card from us, oops, um, sorry.  Still working on that.  They're dated and have Merrick's photo on them too, so I have to use them this year.

Two projects that caught my eye today, that have similar color schemes:

A reproduction quilt by Decaf, please.  The original was made by a 1895 Mennonite woman living on a farm in Pennsylvania. 

Here it looks like a Trip Around the World, but it's actually Philadelphia Pavement.  At first I was disappointed that it wasn't a Trip, now the pattern is growing on me.  The colors are just *mwah*.

A child's hat done with self-striping yarn from Twisted Knitter.  It's also a free download on her blog.  I'm a little obsessed with self-striping yarn, I need to get some and make something.

frost

We had a hard frost last night and the news this morning was full of warnings to bundle children and keep pets inside.  By mid morning the frost had melted in the sun, but it was beautiful while it lasted and we were left with a brilliant blue sky day.

Still knitting, 1.5 balls to go.

Whatever was going on with the photo uploading is fixed now, yay.

I spotted this contrail while I was taking photos of the frost.  It reminded me of the icy edge on the leaves.

finagle

I decided to forgo progress shots of the Finagle scarf, it looks the same, just longer.  The avocado in the top photo is from a neighbors tree, the squirrels chew them partially and then dump them in our yard.  The dogs love carrying them around, and Merrick shouts "egg!" every time he sees one.

Typepad, why so slow?

Typepad has been really, really slow this past week when uploading photos.  I guess I need to look into it because it's really cramping my style.

progress

So, progress on the very long scarf.  I had to put it down for a few days, I kept making mistakes in the pattern, despite it's simplicity.  That was a big bah humbug.  Now things are going ok, and I'm getting a sense of the weight and drape, and they're so nice.  I also figured out that my aching hand has something to do with the size of the needle plus the weight of the work, so now that it's long enough to bunch up a bit I keep the weight centered and resting in my lap.

3 balls down and 7 to go, with the yarn doubled

Happy New Year