Livin' La Needle Loca

...between work, meetings, picking the Daughter up at the airport, and the cold that the Husband "shared" with me, today is kind of a lost cause.

Short hits:
Mailed the contest prizes on Saturday, as planned Yay!Finished weaving the Marine Silk shawl yesterday. I'll upload pictures when it's dry. [Ravelry] Finished spinning the first bobbin of Agate merino-silk yarn; halfway through the second bobbin. [Ravelry] Received my Rockin' Sock club installment for January. No pix yet.That's all I've got. Off to take more Airborne before leaving for the airport...

...hard to believe the month is almost gone! Today's eye candy is all about tulips.


dark pink...


light pink...


Up this weekend: My primary goal is to package up the prizes and get them mailed out tomorrow. I finally figured out how to wrap the stitch markers to protect them a little better than just bubble wrap. Contest winners: don't be surprised to receive a CD case in the mail. I hope the hard sides on the case combined with bubble wrap will protect the glass beads.  You'll have to let me know if it works!

Purlescence Yarns is having a yarn swap tomorrow. I have some yarn that I need to trade or donate, so this is a good opportunity.

Other than that,  it's been hard to concentrate on crafts this week. I hope to get back to it this weekend sometime.

I have one small favor to ask: Please send out your best thoughts, vibes, and/or prayers to the McCann and Ahlmann families. Today is Savannah's memorial and her burial is tomorrow (see my post from Monday). They could…

...yeah, I never did a weekend report and a few other things got put on hold. If you read my last two posts, you know why.

One of my goals was to sew the Knit2 bag for my Blogiversary winner. I'm happy to say that I finished that:


(We won't talk about my panic trips to Walgreens and CVS, trying to find the right shoelace length to use for this bag...36-inch white, round laces if you're interested.) Now I just need to find a box that won't crush it so I can mail it out.

Another thing was to make the little "extras" for the other prize winners. I finished those, too!


I made sets of stitch markers for 4 of the winners. Since I see Loretta at the gym, I delivered hers in person. For Jane, who doesn't knit a lot, I'm letting her decide whether she wants the markers or something else. For the other 3 winners, I'm worried about the crush-issue...we all know how careful the post office can be sometimes!  LOL!  I may just find a small box to send them in.

…

30 years ago today, the Husband and I were on our third date when we realized that something special was happening. Being a divorced mom of an almost-3-year-old meant that I couldn't afford to hire a baby sitter for the 3rd week in a row, so the Daughter went with us on our 3rd date.  This could have been a problem for many men, but the Husband is one of 7 children and was used to being around kids.

We took a picnic lunch to the Strybing Arboretum at Golden Gate Park. We had lunch, watched the Daughter run around the grassy area, and taught her not to pick the flowers. It was a sunny, January day, and it was perfect.

When we decided to get married 5 years later,  the day we chose happened to be the anniversary of that third date. It makes it easy for us to remember when we became a couple and when we got married. The running joke in our family: which anniversary is this, dear? The answer is a combination of the number of years married and the number of years together. 

Which anni…

...you leave behind a legacy of joy and love.  You will be sorely missed by your family, extended family, and friends.



Savannah was 8 years old when she passed on 1/22. She was the oldest child of Melanie, the Daughter's best friend since high school. Savannah and her Auntie Shauna shared a special bond, so this was just heart-wrenching. Savannah's loss is devastating for all who loved her.  Our hearts go out to Savannah's parents, two brothers,  grandparents, and the rest of her family.

...

Hold your loved ones close and tell them that you love them, every day.

...

...I have a lot of work to do and we did have that extra "contest winner" post yesterday!

Eye candy was a stretch this week. My old stand-by (sky pictures) failed me in that they were either too foggy or too clear to take interesting pictures.  Most of the garden is in winter mode, so aside from the roses I showed you last week, not a lot is blooming.

The strawberry plant, though, looked nice with morning dew coating its leaves. Some green leaves...


...and s red one.


Up this weekend: I have some prizes to make and get ready for mailing!  Aside from the normal weekend activities, I want to finish the top for the teal quilt and finish up the marine silk wrap that I have on the loom. That's enough to keep me busy!

Have a great weekend!

....well, everyone! Because we had less than 10 entrants. I decided that everyone gets a pattern!  So send me your email addresses and I'll get a copy out to you within the next day or so.

Now, five of you lucky people get something extra:
AnnaMichele (from Warren, ME...not my sister, Michelle) Tara Just JaneLorettaI don't know what that something is yet (still deciding what to make). Loretta and Jane, I know where to  find you, but I'll need mailing addresses for Anna, Michele, and Tara. Send me a PM through Ravelry (I'm needleloca there) or send me email (marie_novicki at yahoo dot com).

And the lucky winner of the Knit2 Bag made in the Knitmare on Elm Street fabric:


Michele from Warren, ME: The bag is yours! When you send me your mailing address, let me know which version of the bag you would like:
Basic Knit2 Bag - a drawstring bag with a divider to separate two balls of yarn and loops to feed the yarn to keep them from tangling together in the bagOn-the-Go Knit2 Bag…

...my 5th Blogiversary contest Midnight PST, tonight!  Comment on this post to enter. There will be 5 winners of my Knit2 Sock Bag Pattern and one of those 5 will also win a Knit2 Sock bag made out of the Knitmare on Elm Street fabric [Ravelry picture].


January seems to be the month I revisit some UFOs and make an effort to get them closer to done. Over the weekend, it was my teal quilt. Last night at Craft Night, it was spindle spinning the Wisteria angora-merino top (Tactile, a Fiber Arts Studio) that I started in 2009.


I remembered why I put this one aside...the angora component makes this fiber very soft, both in feel and to spin. It requires a little more twist to keep together. If I'm not paying attention, I spin too loosely and the spindle falls on the floor. I'm also spinning it on the thin side, so it's taking forever to spin this 4 ounces. I may move it to the wheel just so I can finish the darn thing!

In the WIP-to-be category, I received my Pro-Verbial…

The deadline to enter my 5th Blogiversary contest is midnight PST, 1/19/11, so enter soon! Comment on this post to enter. There will be 5 winners of my Knit2 Sock Bag Pattern and one of those 5 will also win a Knit2 Sock bag made out of the Knitmare on Elm Street fabric [Ravelry picture].

Enter soon!!

Weekend report:
It was mostly a quilting weekend, I spent a good deal of Saturday afternoon arranging and rearranging the quilt squares for my teal quilt. As a reminder, here's what it looked like when I finished the blocks:


This picture was taken before I replaced the diamond-patterned fabric with another fabric. The diamonds were just not working for me. Anyway, I finally declared the block arrangement "done" on Sunday and started sewing the blocks together. I'll probably look at the top when it's all done and not like some of the placement...oh, well!

I got 2.5 rows put together before I stopped for Sunday dinner (a big pot of chicken-barley-vegetable soup)…

...brought to you by the letters P, R, and S.

Paper white narcissus...


...and another view


Raindrops on roses...


...and another view.


Sunrise...

Up this weekend: I have a few Christmas stragglers to put away, a couple of errands to run, and a little housework. After that, it's craft time! I want to work on my weaving and see if I can get close to done on the marine-silk wrap. I also want to finalize the block layout for the teal quilt. And then there is my poor neglected knitting...someday I'll get my knitting mojo back!


Contest...Contest...Contest!!! The deadline to enter my 5th Blogiversary contest is midnight PST, 1/19/11, so enter soon! Comment on this post to enter. There will be 5 winners of my Knit2 Sock Bag Pattern and one of those 5 will also win a Knit2 Sock bag made out of the Knitmare on Elm Street fabric [Ravelry picture].

Good luck to all!

...I'm keeping this short, mostly because I finally got the recaps uploaded. # posts in one day kind of makes up for Monday, right?

Here's the spinning I started on Saturday:


This is Agate 1, a merino-silk blend from The Yarn Wench. I spinning it using the Faux-ro technique I learned in Janel Laidman's class. I've spun about half of the bump.

I'm back to working on Turquoise Trail I finished a section last night and started on a tent stitching area:


I have a couple of pairs of socks that I need to get back to and a shawl that's about 60% woven. I'd like to finish a couple of projects this month, just to get back in ghte swing of things!

Contest...Contest...Contest!!! Don't forget about my 5th Blogiversary contest! Comment on this post to enter. There will be 5 winners of my Knit2 Sock Bag Pattern and one of those 5 will also win a Knit2 Sock bag made out of the Knitmare on Elm Street fabric [Ravelry picture].

So far there are only 4 entries, so your…

Those not on Ravelry can see pictures of these items in my Flickr photostream and sets: Knitting, Spinning, Quilting/Sewing, Needlework, and Weaving.

Short: I finished some projects and retired some projects. I lost my craft mojo a few times during the year and didn't get as much done as I wanted. A major contributing factor was the iPad...way too much fun to read books on it!

Finished

Christmas Baking, etc.
439 biscotti; 635 cookies10 pounds of chocolate (truffles and chocolate bark)10.5 lbs of flavored nuts19 mini-fruitcakes; 9 pumpkin bread loaves; and 29 gingerbread mini-loaves
Knitting
Calorimetry #5 (knitting) [Ravelry]Twinkletoes slippers (knitting) [Ravelry]Angie's Cap (my own design) [Ravelry]Rusty Dahlia socks [Ravelry]  Reflection Shawl  [Ravelry]
Quilting/Sewing
Paint It Red QuiltFlower Power Quilt
Spinning
Sonnet and Lute yarn from Yarn Wench; 180.5 yards, Navajo-plied; 12 WPI [Ravelry] Simpatico yarn from Yarn Wench; 277.3 yards, Navajo-plied; 14 WPI [Ravelry]Ruby Silk …

...way late.

Finished:
Baking
Biscotti (6 kinds): 439Cookies (10 kinds): 635Pumpkin bread: 9 mini-loavesGingerbread loaves: 29 miniFruitcakes: 19 miniChocolate peppermint bark: 1.5 lbsWhite chocolate peppermint bark: 1.5 lbsRocky Road bark: 1.75 lbsPistachio-cranberry bark: 2 lbsMacadamia Lime Fudge: 1.5 lbsChile-Chocolate Truffles: 2 dozen (about 1 pound)Amaretto Nuts: 6 lbsGrand Marnier Nuts: 3 lbsChile-Lime Nuts: 1.5 lbsBooks:
The Other Side, JD Robb and others
Buttons and Bones, Monica Ferris
Crown of Destiny, Bertrice Small
Started:
 Nothing!

Worked on:
Red Marine Silk Wrap (weaving) [Ravelry]Mochaberry Brambles (knitting) [Ravelry]Tealing Groovy quilt Turquoise Trail by Laura J Perin (needlepoint)
Works In Progress, did not work on:
Happy Pumpkin Scissor Fob by Shepherd's Bush (cross stitch)Hexagon socks (knitting) [Ravelry] Jungle Songs quilt, pieced backingNatural Dyes batts from Yarn Wench (spinning)  [Ravelry]The Beets Go On (renamed, was My Heart Beets 4U) socks (knitting) [Rav…

...taking on more responsibilities at work is playing havoc with the various things I want to do during the day. The first casualty always seems to be the blog! [sigh]

It doesn't help that it's been so cold (for here, anyway) that all I want to do is crawl under a blanket and get warm. This is what the sky looked like when I left for work this morning just before 9AM:



The rain arrived this afternoon, so now it's cold and wet out there.

I had fun at Spin In on Saturday. It felt really good to get back to spinning...heck, just getting back to any craft feels good! I'll try to post a picture of the yarn in progress tomorrow. (Note that I did say "try"...who knows what tomorrow will bring!)

I spent Saturday evening taking ornaments off the tree. Sunday was pretty much just grocery shopping, taking the ornaments off of the Star Trek tree, packing up the Christmas decorations. The Husband and I got the tree out of the house and I put the living room back in order.

…

...and I almost didn't have anythign to show! The garden is in it's full winter state...all the leaves are gone, no flowers, and it looks pretty bleak. My projects are all still WIPs, so nothing finished to show you.

I asked the Husband if we had anything to photograph and he said that there were a couple of things still alive in the garden.

First is an ornamental cabbage. We've had these in the garden before, but, hey, they're purple and it beats taking pictures of dead leaves!

and a close up:


The second spot of color is a Moon Cactus, which apparently is a red cactus grafted onto a green cactus.


and from above:


There's something about winter that shuts down my picture-taking need...could it be the cold?? LOL! I'll try to be better about taking pictures during the week so I'm not scrambling on Friday morning to find something picture-worthy.

Up this weekend: Spin In!! Yay! Time to get back into the spinning groove.  I need to get my wheel cleaned up and f…

Yeah, who knew I'd still be doing this five years later?

There have been a few changes since my first post.
I'm no longer just a stitcher and quilter. I've added knitter, spinner, and weaver to the list. I also dabble in macro photographyI changed the name of the blog to be more "me."I changed the layout. I have more than one reader. (Don't burst my bubble, please. LOL!)I've settled into a MWF schedule of posting, except when life and work get in the way. I still find the blog a useful journal of the projects I have in process and my mindset at the time I'm working on them. A little personal stuff gets thrown in from time to time. So, for now, blogging is still working for me.

If you've been reading all along...thanks for joining me on this little journey! I plan on continuing as long as it is still useful for me.

OK, on to the contest:

Leave a comment on this post by Midnight PST, Wednesday 1/19/11.

(No, multiple comments will not give you multiple…

I'm sure your New Year's celebration was better than mine...I got food poisoning or something like it the afternoon of the 31st and was miserable by the time midnight rolled around. The Husband and I said "Happy New Year" but that was about it. I had planned a dinner of munchies and champagne, which for obvious reasons didn't happen.  I got better yesterday, but am still not 100%. I'm back to work today, though as there's simply too much to do.

Saturday was pretty much a waste...I slept until about 1pm and was pretty much a slug on the couch for the rest of the day. On Sunday, I managed some grocery shopping and spent the rest of the day weaving my marine silk shawl (Ravelry). Weaving was a good choice because the back-and-forth action was soothing and it didn't take a lot of brain power.

Tonight, I'll start deconstructing the Christmas decorations, which is something I usually start on New Year's Day.

I hope to get back to some semblance of n…