When?

February 2010
S M T W T F S
« Jan    
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28  

The Library

Button, Button. Who’s Got The…

Thing 2



photo.jpg

Originally uploaded by hordover


Nearly two years after the first surgery, here’s the boy’s “new” ear. More pics can be found at the Ear Extravaganza site (see link above).

Mini Blue Moon Skein



Mini Blue Moon Skein

Originally uploaded by hordover


Just a little spinning for a short night…color is all munched, though. Really much more purple and much less wine.

Go March Hare



photo.jpg

Originally uploaded by hordover


This is from Meg at The March Hare (etsy).
That green…that green looks like it’s going to smell like Spring. I love that green.

A Few Pickies

Yeeee heeeeeee.

Here’s the link to the site I used to help me join the afghan squares.

And here are some pictures of my work over the past 24 hours.
You’ll see why I’m so happpeeeeee!

Afghan

The afghan–done! Brown is not my fave color (it’s SO 1974 in my mind…just one of those things) but it works.

 

The Map o the World Afghan (the pattern is back at the Vogue site!!!)!
I just finished Ireland–go green!
Panel two.

I’m going to teach myself to knit backwards (fast) on this bad boy. That is the fire I’m lighting under my tuchus to keep me going.  I WILL finish (at least) this panel… before 2011.

And the cute little sock yarn hat: size 3 (US) needles, leftover Cherry Tree Hill yarn from forever ago, and this pattern.

Now, off to write for gainful employment.

Happy New Year!!!

Ah! The new year!

Last year I spent the First doing little more than spinning silk. This year I did that on the 31st.
Heaven.
Finished off a pile of Polworth from the last SOAR I went to. Light worsted. I have very little faith that I’ll be able to spin regularly this year either, but perhaps now that the wedding knitting is done…
I have learned that ANY fiber prep has to happen during the cooler months. I just can’t seem to touch loose fiber when it’s 100+’ out.

Yeasterday (the 1st) I spent working on repairing an afghan for my mom. I’d made this 17 years ago for my Grandmother. When she passed it went to my Grandfather. When he passed last Fall, mom handed it back to me. It’d been my first big crochet project and I didn’t really understand how to finish As a consequence, I’d tied off every end and cut it close.
Um.
So ALL of the joining sewing was unravelling. Some by very little. Some by very lot.
Therefore, I decided to take those FORTY squares of detailed, ecru crochet and rejoin. I consulted Dawn, my master crochet buddy, and she sent me towards some great joining stitches. I knew I didn’t want to just stitch the squares together again–mostly because there wasn’t a chance that I could match the yarn–but also because I thought it might make the whole thing look a little “newer”. Thing 2 helped me pick out a contrasting yarn (he’s my color consultant) and I’m now 15 squares from finished. Then the afghan goes to Mom for a late Christmas present (she knows it’s coming).

In food, I continue to learn to live gluten free. It’s not so bad, mostly because my mom gave me a breadmaker with a gluten-free setting this Christmas. I’ve been making crazy amounts of bread lately, and am currently finishing off a slice of GF cinnamon raisin toast for breakfast.
Heaven, pt 2.
I’ll start posting some of my fave recipes and sources here, too.

Weaving.
Sigh.
Thing 1 was “helping” me finish a double scarf and was doing a spectacular job.
Then I walked away.
Now I’m looking at *at least* four inches of mauled selvages to remove. So I’ve not started on that one.

And, being a new year, I’m back at my annual, “of COURSE this year I’ll finish that Map of the World afghan!” It’s just hard because it’s so not portable. And it’s quite warm on the lap. And it’s detailed (duh) so it requires attention and cool weather.
I have hope but little faith.

Does that sum up the start of the year?
Almost.

Lots of hope, though. And hoping you have a great new year/decade, too!

Have You Ever Had...

…six shots of some kind of steroid infused into your neck?

Yeah, until an hour ago, me neither. And yet, now I have.

Here’s how it feels: Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Here’s how they tell me it will feel tomorrow: Aaaaaah…

Knitting hurts. Turning my head hurts. Supporting my head hurts. Typing in a semi-prone position…oddly this doesn’t hurt. Could be the heating pad I’m lying on…

So instead of knitting, I’ll update you on my f.o. knitting–it’s been awhile, no?

For Christmas, I knit and distributed the following:

  • A Hot Lava Cardigan (for sister)
  • Moccasin Socks (Zimmerman’s pithy directions—Brother in Law)
  • standard socks, Welsh heel (Father in Law)
  • Baby Dottie 12×12 pillow (my take on a Mason Dixon pattern—Step Mom)
  • Fetching cabled fingerless mitts (BFF Sam)
  • Plug-n-Play shawl (Amy Singer class— in silk for Mom)
  • Bubbe the Fuzzy teddy bear (Thing 2, knit with worsted and matching fun fur, by request)
  • Harry Potter Gryffindor Scarf (Thing 1, by request, using Meg’s Scarlet Letter yarn and a friend’s knitting machine)
  • almost done with socks for Auntie (they were hers, but she got frustrated on the heel turn and handed needles and ball over to me. I was going to surprise her with the fo’s for Xmas, but…)
  • Craft portraits (my take on a project in Mixed Mania) of boys for DH

ALMOST finished two woven scarves. But all-in-all, I’m pretty impressed because I managed to finish the wedding shawl in plenty of time…and the rest of this in the middle.

Now I’m finishing the Auntie socks (plain vanilla with Welsh heel), waiting for more of the Scarlet Letter yarn, and writing online curriculum…oh, and prepping for Spring classes.

Then there’s that novel I’m still writing.

Golly…that sounds like too much, even for me. Herm.

The other good news is that our holidays were heavenly. This was the first year that I truly had to gift entirely from my stash. No new yarn was bought. There was no money with which to buy new yarn. I was, quite frankly, very nervous giving only handmade…which I know, sounds ridiculous coming from me, but there’s something about being able to buy gifts for your family that is…oh, I don’t know…adult. And this year wasn’t a very adult year when it came to contributing financially to our family unit. Not by choice. Just by the economy.

You know.

So it was weird heading into it and I was more upset, nervous, and stressed than anyone should be after successfully officiating her sister’s wedding. The stress was for naught.

But as my husband said, it was one of the nicest Christmases ever. Low key, happy kids, whole family was here (would have liked Bro-in-Law to be there with my fab new Sister-in-Law, but they were on the road), and everyone was happy. Sister’s wedding had been a success, as had the honeymoon, (which included sleeping in a Hogon–17° outside, 47° inside…hellooooo fire!) so everyone was very relaxed. Kids did stockings when they woke up (at, you know…prehistoric hours) then when DH and I were up they opened Santa gifts. Then we waited.

When everyone else arrived we sat down to a rolling breakfast–people just ate when they came, then got up and relaxed.

Did the kids complain?

Nope.

Then present opening was the way I like it: go around in a circle, taking the time to see what everyone got. That way I could explain the knitting (it always has a story) and, I guess I also like it because it’s not a free-for-all of consumption. We actually care about what we give each other–maybe more this year than usual–and that’s nice. Really nice.

Then hikes, naps, games, and eventually reconvene for dinner.

Pictures of all v. soon.

Now heading towards New Year’s. Last year I spent the day spinning yarn. Gosh I’d like to do that again…right now…but I don’t think my shoulders will let me.

12:02am Do You Know Where Your Xmas Knitting Is?

This is all that’s left. Waiting for more scarlet yarn from Meg at The March Hare (Etsy) to finish Thing 1’s Gryffindor Scarf and about to finish Bubby (Knitty) for Thing 2–he asked for a fuzzy brown bear?!. Thing 1 shouldn’t mind the wait…he’s awful good that way. Phew!

Safari!!!! I’ll get you for this!!!!

So a few days ago I spent over an hour writing and refining a new post–it’s been so long since I wrote rather than just uploaded pictures.

I went to click “Publish” and Safari (I’m thinkin’) had a little argument with Wordpress and…my ENTIRE database was erased.

It took a couple of days to figure out what to do and how to fix it.

So…a short post for now to make sure I don’t destroy everything again.

Then more.

Tra la la…

What? No Picture?

I think the vast majority of my blogging for the last few months has been via picture and picture only. It’s been a hectic few months–school, teaching new classes, working on my sister’s wedding shawl, and shawl pin,

writing her wedding ceremony, writing two book proposals, a sequel to my novel, a load of queries, and then, you know…having a family and all.

Things 1 and 2 are doing very well. Thing 1’s Lego Robotics team made it to State
(which was huge for a fourth grade team), he’s in advanced band at a new school and loving it, and he’s read all of the Harry Potter books in under six months.

We’d had long discussions, the husband and I, on whether he should be allowed to read one a year for awhile or all at once. We spent a considerable amount of time reading with him in the beginning, then reading with him only on the scariest part (Goblet of Fire–the graveyard–brrrrr), then he pretty much would finish a book and come to us and ask, “So…can I get the next?”

How can you say no to a kid reading voraciously…especially when it took him so long to LEARN to read.

Thing 2 is dancing up a storm. He’s been invited to come to special Nutcracker classes as he’s one of the only boys. He’s also pretty darn good. He was going to sing at my sister’s wedding too (“Moon River”) but chickened out. Instead, he asked my sister if he could dance while a signing cowboy sang. She said yes and he did a lovely interpretive dance which won him raves.

So that’s the gang. Now we’re gearing up to a crafty Christmas (we’re in the midst of the Happy Hanukkah) since I have no income to speak of these days. Lots of stash knitting and painting happening in our corner of the Old Pueblo this year. Hope everyone doesn’t mind…because there really aren’t any other options.

Newsy Bit for Craftlit: If you are a new designer (any craft, really) and would like to get your name out there, I now have an iPhone/iTouch app for CraftLit. Every week I send out “extras” along with the episode–a pdf with the shownotes, pics, and–as often as possible–a pattern.

So I’m in the market for patterns.

When I post the next episode, I also post the pdf from the previous show, so everyone has access, ultimately.

If you’re interested in getting a pattern out there, step on up and email me with your idea or pictures.

We’ll tawk.

Off to knit!