The Gap Fire, 8:30am, July 2, 2008
If I have to be evacuated I am going to be one pissed lady.
So far the evacuations are 2 miles from my house but that fire is a good distance up the hill. And since fire likes to take it’s time coming down a hill I am going out on a limb here and saying we won’t be evacuated any time soon.
The fire in that shot is a good 10 miles from here, at least that is what I keep telling myself ;o)
Right now on my needles, actively being worked on:
Goddess Mystery Shawl
Gift sweater (first sneak peek)
Taos Socks
Lady February Sweater
Julia Sweater~ I just have to sew the side seams
OFF THE NEEDLES
Sadly, it’s only been 2 things. With all the sewin, quilting, bike tinkering, etc, I haven’t had the time to finish much.
Mom’s set of placemats and a table topper for her birthday (which she loved, whew!)
And a baby Zeebee that I haven’t taken photos of yet ;o(
I have about a dozen sweaters just waiting in my queue for their turn. Be patient, my darlings, I will get to you too!
I love my stash.
So much so that some might consider it a sin ;o)
I know my yarns get lonely, wanting new friends to play with so I must appease them lest they have an uprising and take my whole family hostage!
Here are the newest additions to my yarn family:
Misti Alpaca Handpainted Sock yarn in Taos:
From Knit & Pearl Boutique
There was almost no time to actually get a photo of the hank. I wound it and cast on immediately!
Next up, an order from 100purewool.com:
Chocolate merino lace that is being used in the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl:
Lima merino lace (that was Tracy’s but we traded for a ball of a darker merino lace in green I had):
Capricious Fingering weight to be used for socks:
This is how it was space-dyed in the hank:
Knitpicks Cotlin (from Tracy’s stash, we’ve been doing a lot of swapping lately):
14 balls, that is plenty for any sweater I might fancy
RYC Cashcotton DK in color 626, 7 balls~ a pinkey, red color:
From WEBS online
And a whole afghan‘s worth of Vanna’s Choice,
instead of individual photos of each yarn how about a photo of the afghan instead?
So cute, yes?? I love it!
Ummm….I think that may be it. Can you tell I have some knitting/crochet plans?
I realize I am a week behind in posting about our World Wide Knit IN Public Day outing.
We had a decent turnout, there ended up being 7 knitters (Tracy, myself, Rowan, Spencer, Suzie, Abby and Betty), 1 husband, 5 kids, 1 puppy chihuahua. Not a bad turnout!
You can see the whole set of pictures on flickr.
We had a great time, knitting, chatting, getting some sun. We had fog for the first few hours and then the marine layer retreated to give us some well needed sunshine!
I hope next year is just as great!
Hehehe…
Yes, I do dabble in quilting. I haven’t truly sewn a quilt top in over 6 years but I thought it was time. I have been gathering books, patterns, fabrics for the last 6 months or so and it was time to sew something.
Last week I found a day to focus completely on getting a quilt top cut, pieced and sewn together.
Here it is!
(It is squared, I promise. The wind was just blowing the right side over ;o))
I used a Sweet Treat and their Walkin’ the Line pattern.
I am very, very pleased with how it turned out! Such a great, fun, easy, fast, beautiful quilt top!
The fabrics make me so happy!
I just have to put the 2 borders on, buy the backing & batting, quilt them together and do the binding. No prob, right? We’ll see just how long the rest takes me.
Here are the border fabrics.
THey are a little washed out in the photo, just believe me when I say that they match perfectly!!
I finally received the yarn from 100purewool that I ordered for the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl. Hand-dyed 100% merino wool~ laceweight
Chocolate brown
Clues 1&2 finished. Chart B for both.
This is unblocked but it’s the most true to color I could get at night.
I purchased 2 hanks of the merino, 950 yards each. The pattern only calls for 1200 yards so I will have plenty leftover for another project.
I am very please so far with how the colors are working up in the pattern. It’s doing a stripey spiral with no pooling really. That makes me happy!
The next clue comes out on Friday and I am hoping to just work on it all weekend & get it done ;o)
I DID IT
I DID IT
I DID IT
Finally the Picnic Blanket is finished!!!
You can see all the details on my project page on Ravelry.
It will sit all 6 of us for eating but if we want to spread out it’s not quite big enough.
Finished size: 62″x 68″
Yarn: 100% cotton worsted weight, various brands, 27 colors
Hook size: G
Method of joining: single crocheted together
Finished weight: 10 pounds (give or take)
I freakin’ love it!
I am in the process of sewing a carry bag for it. Soon, it will be complete!
It will make it’s world debut on WWKIPDay at East Beach!
I think I have mentioned before how much I love Elizabeth Zimmermann.
Well let me tell you again….I LOVE EZ!!
Her design, or undesign, is perfect in form. Simple and clean.
One of my favorite patterns of hers is the February sweater from The Knitter’s Almanac.
For the past year or so I have been talking about the idea of just upping the size to a women’s size for myself. Well, if you wait long enough it happens without you having to lift a finger!
Behold, the February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne.
Here is my start.
And a closeup of the buttons,
It’s a tortoise shell button with an inlay of mother of pearl. Very pretty, indeed!
It makes me very, very happy.
I am still plugging along on the gift sweater that I am not talking about ;o)
And, big surprise, the Picnic Blanket is finished!
A whole post all of it’s own is in order for that one!
If you haven’t noticed, I have a ‘thing’ with cameras. I save up, buy one & it (it’s usually my fault by no fault of my own, really) breaks down in some way.
Here’s the newest addition to the collection
HP Photosmart R847 8MP
Those photos were taken with my oldest digital camera, pictured below
Photos taken by my newest lovely, pictured above
Isn’t it so sad that my old camera gets all the good pictures taken of it?
Needless to say, I am very pleased! Even better, it only cost me $100!!
And, QVC had it on 3 easy-payments.
Woohoo!!!
Now I have something to take decent photos with until I get the dslr fixed.
(Yes, I know I could have used that $100 towards getting the minolta fixed but darnit, I wanted this cute li’l guy!)
Since so many people liked my simple little bag I thought I would do a little tutorial.
Materials Needed: 2 fat quarters of coordinating fabric (or not, your choice ;o))
2.5 yards 3/8″ or 1/2″ ribbon, cut in 2 pieces 1.25 yards each
Finished size: 7.5″ tall, 13″ wide and 6″ deep
Take one fat quarter and fold it in half, right sides together, so it measures 10.5″ x 19.5″. Square off sides for a more precise sewing edge if you wish.
Sew 2 seams, one down each side.
Turn the top edge down and sew with 3/8″ seam allowance (one side should be the selvedge edge and that is the side I start with for a beginning clean edge).
Next I fold the fat quarter into a diamond shape to make the corners for the square bottom.
Measure up each side of the triangle corner 4″, using a straight edge mark a line across for sewing. Sew a straight line across, do not cut off the excess fabric triangle, it adds stability to the bottom of the bag. Repeat on both corners.
Now you are ready to do the same thing to the second fat quarter.
Once you have both fat quarters done you are going to fit one inside the other, wrong sides together and corner triangles of fabric to the bottom of the bag, matching the corner triangle seams inside.
You will see that the inside layer is sitting higher than the outside layer,
fold that over for your ribbon band.
Sew down using 5/8″ seam allowance, leaving 1/2″ openings at each side seam for you to pull your ribbons through. You may have to fold over a little pleat to take away the excess fold-over fabric.
Note: If you are going to use a larger ribbon you will need to fold down more for the ribbon to be able to fit through.
Starting at one side, draw ribbon through, all the way around coming out the side where you started.
Repeat through the other side. Tie ends and you are done!
You now have a drawstring, reversible project bag!!