WIP Wednesday - 11/18

The first of the furry scarves is growing... and due to an extraordinary twist of fate, the 2nd is not far behind. While cleaning out a closet I found a box that I had stashed a work-in-progress. It just so happens last year I had begun a sapphire scarf -- it was a popular color and I could have a scarf in reserve if anyone else should want one. I didn't finish it, but it is one of the colors I needed for this year's orders. Serendipity! Luckily I also had 2 pairs of that needle size, so I have 2 of the scarves about two-thirds done. Ta-da!

Soon, perhaps on the Thanksgiving holiday weekend when I'm not busy eating, sleeping or shopping, I am going to clear out my sewing room and organize my creative space. Boxes and bags are taking up the center of the room thanks to Geoff's garage cleaning effort. Some of my older stuff that I'll never use up because my tastes have changed will be looking for new homes.

Speaking of shopping, is anyone venturing out on Black Friday? I'm going to hit a few stores early Friday morning, just to see what it's like. I haven't done the early morning madness before so I can't wait to witness the craziness. Assuming I can wake up that early of course. I don't plan on spending hours waiting for stores to open, since I'm not after any big electronic deals, but I will be there in the opening hours. I might make more of an effort if I were after a good price on a new t.v. or something... but not this year.

Knitting again

Several years ago, I knit my MIL a fun fur scarf. Not only did she love it, every year when it gets cool enough for her to wear it to work, several people in her office request I make them one as well, either as Christmas gifts or for themselves. This year I'm making 4 (so far), which will enhance my Christmas shopping money nicely. So this weekend I went yarn shopping:

Let the knitting begin!

My Little Ballerina

What a great weekend! Emily had her ballet recital on Saturday. She's so cute - she can't dance without sticking out her tongue a little bit to concentrate.



Of course, we couldn't use the flash on our camera so most of the pictures I took were completely blurry.

For Mother's Day, we went out to brunch at our favorite special occasion place, Freda's, who has the best seafood buffet with tons of crab legs. They cringe when they see us coming. Emily gave me a lovely card to thank me for all the "carits, cookese, and candy" I give her and for taking care of her and "now it's time for me to take of you". I can't wait - lol!

Meanwhile, my mom was wearing a fantastic sweater at the recital on Saturday and I have to see if I can find one in my size!

April Fool

Do you ever have those days (weeks? months?) where hooking the camera up to the computer is just too much hassle?? I have been knitting, but the last picture I have of my project is of the 1st three inches (see my Ravelry project page here).

It's a cardigan, and so far I've completed one sleeve, both fronts and I'm chugging along on the ribbing to the back. I decided to wait on the 2nd sleeve because it seemed really long for what is supposed to be 3/4 length. I think I'll seam up the body and add the 1st sleeve to make sure the length is right before finishing the 2nd sleeve. Also, I had to fudge the numbers on the back piece to make the ribbing come out right. We'll see how it turns out.

On another note, Geoff has been cleaning out the garage and rediscovering all my quilt books that have been in storage. So I have to get busy in my sewing room to organize all my stuff. He's reclaiming the garage for a woodworking studio.

I was flipping through my Sally Collins book Art of Machine Piecing yesterday. I took her class a while back and her methods for achieving precision in piecing are very cool! Not that I really need any help feeding my OCD sewing habits, but I would like to work on my accuracy. If I could manage a consistent and accurate 1/4" seam allowance, I would be very happy.

So that's what's going on in my world... I hope I work myself out of this funk soon; I'm starting to get on my own nerves!

Ravelry is Coming!

I haven't been to the Knitting Nest in South Austin yet since it's on the other side of town from us, but this weekend is definitely a good time to check it out. Saturday is their "Texas Loves Ravelry" party and Ravelry founders Jessica and Casey Formes will be visiting. So Saturday morning we'll be heading down to see what it's all about.

My dad originally told me about this party (yes, he's a knitter!) and then started cooking up a lunch together with some friends afterwards for my mom's birthday. She and Geoff will be dragged along and hopefully won't be too bored with all the yarn talk. Geoff's planning on taking his laptop along.

I'd like to look around for some laceweight yarn and maybe something for a sweater. Geoff is of the opinion that I already have too much yarn, but I'm quite certain he's mistaken. ;)

Welcome 2009!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year’s Eve and Day. We didn't have any big plans - just relaxed around the house and watched movies. Geoff and Emily shot off a few fireworks and then we toasted the new year with a bottle of bubbly (just the grown-ups).

I’m really looking forward to being more creative in 2009. Last year I got really burned out with the whole creative process. That probably had something to do with the quilt show that took entirely too much of my time and energy, which were at very low levels during the latter half of the year. Some unresolved health issues played a major part of that, but things are looking up now.

Gearing up for Christmas, I felt the creative stirrings begin. I didn’t have any plans for making any gifts for people this year, but I did get a commission for a knit scarf and promptly began another when it was done. It didn’t get gifted for Christmas (in fact, it’s still not finished), but it was nice to have something mindless to work on during the last few slow days at work.

I also got a new sewing machine a few weeks before Christmas. It’s way more machine than I’m used to and I’m still playing with it and trying to get comfortable with it. I started sewing a quilt which was presented as a mystery quilt online with clues coming out all day Christmas. I didn’t get going on it til after all the festivities were concluded and am still working on it. I haven’t decided on the borders yet.

And this weekend I’m taking a class! Our guild is offering a class with Norah McMeeking - a quilt from her book, Bella Bella Quilts. I can’t wait!!

Post-Thanksgiving Wrap-up

Happy Thanksgiving and Day After...

Hopefully everyone celebrated the holiday in the manner they chose and got a chance to eat way too many pieces of pie. We gathered at my in-laws and proceeded to stuff ourselves silly and tell embarrassing stories about each other.

I took a pie, and I was told by several attendees not to lose the recipe. In the off chance I have no idea what they're talking about when they ask me to bring it next year, I'm linking to the recipe here. Hopefully I'll remember to check the blog when that day comes.

Anyone who tries to make this recipe, it's marvelous and your family will praise your kitchen skills, but be careful when whipping the cream. If you pour the caramel in too quickly it will deflate the cream and if you whip the cream further to try to salvage it, it will become butter. I knew that before I did it and still it happened.

Everyone I told that story said "Mmm. Caramel butter." No one realized as I did that as tasty as it might have been, it looked quite a bit like cat vomit. The second batch worked out much better.

We did go out and do a little bit of shopping this afternoon (no we were not even tempted to brave the 4 a.m. crowds... did you hear about the guy that got trampled in Walmart? Crazy people.) When we went it looked like everything was pretty much back to normal.

Have a great weekend! I'm going to attempt to create a little bit of order in my sewing room. Wish me luck! If you haven't heard back from me in three days, send a search party....