It's Been A While

These flowers are part of what I've been up to lately. When the weather started getting warmer, I decided my patio needed some flowers. So, when my Mom asked me to go to the hardware store with her, it was the perfect opportunity to pick up what I needed. Now, in case you don't know me, I have a black-ish thumb. I can never seem to keep plants alive for very long. They don't die immediately, it's more of a slow decline.

I was super excited to pick out the planters I thought would work well on my patio and my Mom help me pick the soil I needed. She also directed me toward the hardy plants which would require less maintenance and therefore be easier to keep alive. I went home, and after hauling all of it upstairs, spent the rest of the afternoon planting all of my little flowers.

I'm proud to report that not only are my plants still alive, they are thriving! They've grown so big and colorful (even bigger than the above picture). They make me happy every time I come home and see them.



I've also been doing some spinning. The fiber I used is Montana Moon from CJ Kopec Creations, a wonderful merino batt. I've only spun about 1oz of the 4oz I purchased, but I love it so far.

I was wandering around my groups on Ravelry and read about a monthly spin-a-long (SAL) contest she was starting. Every month she posts two different colorways. If you want to participate, all you have to do it post how much of what fiber you want. When it's all ready, she lists your fiber on etsy and mails it out after you pay. After you've finished spinning a reasonable amount of fiber, you post a picture in the finished yarn thread for everyone to admire. The best part is after the deadline, we all get to vote on which yarn we like best. The winners even get a prize!

I didn't even come close to winning this first SAL. I was just happy to see one person voted for my yarn :)

Learning to Stitch

A couple months ago, a member of the Marin Golden Threads asked for volunteers to help teach stitching to some Brownies and Girl Scouts. My Mom and I signed up to help the Brownies, ages 6-8, and today was the day. There were six adult volunteers and we all had a lot of fun.

There were around eighteen or nineteen of the little girls there, all chatting and giggling. The older girl scout teaching the class taught them the cross stitch first and then the backstitch. At first, it was just a challenge to make sure every girl was able to thread her needle :)

But, slowly and surely, the girls started picking it up and everyone was making little X's on their practice plastic canvas. Actually, a few of the girls had already taken a sewing class and were flying ahead of the teacher. They even learned how to do a satin stitch and Smyrna cross by the end.














Watching them learn how to stitch made me think of when I was little, my Great-Grandmother teaching me how to crochet chains that would stretch across her living room. I still have the first cross stitch design I ever made in a box in my spare bedroom. It was a small picture of a jar of berry jam with beads sewn on for the berries. I gave it to my Great-Grandmother one year for her birthday (or Christmas?). I like to think that she would be proud of all the things I've learned since then.

Takin' it Back

Every once in a while I see a project that I love, but seems totally over my head. I saw the Rain Forest Afghan pattern a couple of years ago and it stuck in my head. The bright colors drew me in and I'm a sucker for cute little animals.

Then one day, I decided I had to make this. I must have been feeling good that day to think I could tackle a project this large. All of my projects seem to take forever to finish. Don't get me wrong, when I actually finish a project, it feels great, like I can do anything! And that feeling is probably why I got involved in this project in the first place.

I found out that the pattern was out of print so the search began. I looked on eBay for a couple of weeks and I finally got lucky. My pattern and fabric arrived and then reality set it. The pattern calls for as much as eleven skeins of embroidery floss for each color!

I decided the best thing was to jump in so I got started. And this is my progress so far. Look at those piddly little stitches in the corner of the first square! What have I done to myself?

A Spindle Christmas

Since I was such a good girl last year, Santa brought me not one, not two, but three spindles for Christmas! A month before I'd been looking at all the new fiber I'd bought and moaning about how I only had one spindle. I wanted to have multiple spinning WIP's just like I have multiple knitting projects (and numerous stitching projects, and crochet projects, etc.). Sometimes I just have a short attention span.

Then on Christmas day all my spinning dreams came true. One of the spindles I received was a Butterfly Girl Designs millefiori polymer clay high whorl spindle. It's a 0.8 oz beauty that spins like a champ. I love watching the design spin round and round. Since I was leaving town to visit my fiance's parents that evening, I swooped up some hand dyed merino roving from Squoosh and started spinning it the day after Christmas. The roving is called Ice Princess and is the softest wool I've spun so far. Although I've been working on it since then, I've only finished spinning about 0.5 oz, leaving 3.5 oz to go. I'm a very slow spinner.


I was also lucky enough to receive another Butterfly Girl Designs Spindle. The second was a murano foil glass flower spindle that weighs in at 1.3 oz. It's blue with golden flakes and sparkles when the light hits it. The bottom portion of the shaft is carved and very elegant looking. I haven't started spinning anything on this spindle yet. I guess I'm waiting until just the right fiber speaks to me.


And that brings us to the third and final spindle. It's a 1.6 oz. resin spindle called chickadee memory from Dragoncraft. It has the cutest little birds on it and they're snuggling close together. The spindle even came with some mystery fiber to play with. I was planning on using this spindle to ply the merino ice princess singles when I finish them.

All of this spinning is definitely taking time away from the knitting and other projects. Although, I am almost finished knitting Wicked up to the arm holes :)

The New Year

It's that time of year again when people all over make their New Year's resolutions. Lists of things that need to get done, things to learn in the upcoming year, goals on weight loss, and the things we think will make us a better person. My list is pretty short this year, especially since there's a small wedding thrown in there too. Here are some of mine:

1. De-clutter my house, especially the spare bedroom which is just a little bit embarrassing now

2. Regularly back up my computer hard drive

3. Keep up with the blog, at least once per week

4. Learn to knit socks

5. Spin one pound of fiber on my drop spindle

6. Finish at least three UFO's

Now with those in mind, here is my latest project. After finishing my Christmas knitting (the last of which I should be able to show everyone next week), I decided to start a new sweater for myself. This is the beginnings of Wicked in Lana Grossa Soffice, colorway 012. The yarn is a mixture of merino wool, cashmere, and acrylic which is very soft. It should make for a very cozy sweater. Unfortunately, the yarn is discontinued. I just happened to purchase ten balls of it at a warehouse sale last summer.

I'm still resting up after the holidays and preparing to go back to work on Monday. I did get some fiber related Christmas presents from my fiance, three gorgeous spindles to keep my hands busy.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and Happy New Year!!

Up next ....... spindles galore :)

As the Spindle Turns

I finally finished a project! Well actually, I've finished two projects in the past couple of weeks. One was a Christmas present for Mom and the other was the natural BFL fiber I was spinning that I started back in September. Who knew 4oz of roving could take so long? :)

After all of the natural wool, I decided to try some color. I chose a hand-dyed roving that I ordered from Maine Woods Yarn. It's 4oz of 100% corriedale roving in the birch trees colorway. This is the first time I've ever spun dyed roving and I'm loving watching how the colors spin up. All of the natural color is blending in with the greens and browns to make gorgeous color transitions. I really like the look of the singles so far. Now, I just can't wait to see the finished yarn.

I hope everyone out there had a very happy Thanksgiving. After all of the festivities (and a serious car issue that we're still dealing with), I must say that I'm exhausted. Enjoy your turkey leftovers!

Mushrooms and Pumpkins

Last Friday night my boyfriend held a gathering at our house. It was declared "Gamin' Night" and a few of his friends game over to play video games until the wee hours of the morning. There was hockey, football, and even some game with a microphone, guitars and drum pads. The old school Nintendo games were broken out on a smaller television. There was gamin' for all.

The menu consisted of pizza, beer, chips and dip, candy and a mushroom cake. Yes, a mushroom cake. I couldn't resist when my boyfriend asked me to make a cake in the shape of the 1-Up Mushroom from Mario Brothers. It was actually easier to make than I thought and I think he turned out pretty cute :) Of course, he was hacked to pieces by the time I woke up in the morning.

The next day I went to the monthly Marin Golden Threads meeting. We had a speaker from the Royal School of Needlework who was amazing. She brought many of her projects and explained how the program worked. There was also a gentleman with her who was at one time head of the education department in the Royal School of Needlework. He had the most exquisite piece of needlework I have seen in a while. It was a 3D knot garden with flowers and moving gates.

After the meeting, I met in friend in San Rafael at a glass pumpkin festival. It seemed like thousands of glass pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, and colors were on display and for purchase. They were beautifully laid out on the grass and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Up next, hopefully a finished project!