Livin' La Needle Loca

...for your Halloween reading. For the most part, I had a normal childhood. We kids went to school, our dad worked, and our mom stayed home. We ate dinner together every night and got together with our relatives for major events. Nothing too remarkable, except that major movies, and get a relative to take our little brother or take him with her (one kid was easier to handle than three). Now this was the early 60s: you could leave kids at the movies then. And anyone could sit through a bunch of matinée movies without getting kicked out of the theater. That's when I fell in love with horror movies; I couldn't get enough of them! Maybe it was being exposed to death and funerals at an early age, but I found them only a little scary, but wonderfully entertaining. (And, no, I didn't have nightmares after them...) We saw a "Brides of Dracula" and "The Leech Woman" double feature; and repeats of the Creature from the Black Lagoon movies and "Bride of Fr...

...lately it's been all about knitting and spinning. My quilting (and other crafts) have been neglected. Occasionally, I'll pick up a cross stitch piece, but it no longer has the allure that it once did. My quilting mojo was jump-started by Pacific international Quilt Festival. I had all that wonderful Christmas fabric calling my name and I succumbed on Saturday. I had a pretty good Idea what I wanted to do with it. (Pattern? I don't need no stinkin' pattern!) This is what I accomplished on Saturday afternoon: I want to add one more border to make this wall hanging just a little bigger. However, I did not have enough of the color I want to use. So, that meant a quick trip to Eddie's Quilting Bee on Sunday. While it was nice to visit their new store, they didn't have much n the way of Christmas fabrics. Rats! Guess I'll have to make a midweek trip to The Granary (that will break my heart...LOL!) If they don't have what I want, then it's on-line shop...

...can you believe that November starts next Thursday?! Neither can I! Rounding out our guava experience of the week, here are yellow cherry guavas: And for you flower lovers, alstroemeria from a purchased bouquet. I bought the bouquet to decorate our dinner table last night. We had a wonderful visit with my high school friend Jane and her husband Gordon. They've never been here before, so we gave them a tour of the house and the garden. And of course, I had to show her some of my stash and my spinning wheel, Sirena. I demonstrated spinning on the wheel and showed off my handspun yarn. Jane brought her daughter's wedding album to share—they had a stellar photographer and the album was gorgeous (as was the bride!). We spent some time going through a few of my old pictures, talked about where we used to live, and (of course) our daughters. For dinner, we got take-out from the Country Gourmet so we could enjoy our conversation. (I love Country Gourmet, but it's always really ...

. ..since I have no visible progress on my current projects. Oh, I've made progress; it's just that things don't look drastically different from the last pictures I posted. Instead, here is a small part of our feijoa (pineapple guava) harvest...on the tree: and a closer look: Tomorrow, my friend Jane will be here for a short visit, so I have to get ready for that. But, I'll be back for Eye Candy Friday!

...I had my whole weekend mapped out. First I was going to get my house cleaned, organize my craft room and then do some spinning. Saturday, I woke up at 5:30am feeling a bit stuffed up. This was not a big deal, it just meant I was uncomfortable lying down. I did a little reading and it was OK. Since I needed to come up with better storage for my growing fiber stash, I went to the Container store and bought a few zippered fabric container. The longer I staying in the store, the worse I felt. After I bought my containers, I went to Borders to look for something to read...I started feeling achy and my stomach was upset. I headed home and had some soup, and some Airborne. I spent the rest of the day on the couch eating crackers and drinking carbonated stuff to try and settle my stomach. I was able to get some knitting done in the afternoon, but most of my Saturday plans went out the window. Sunday I felt somewhat better. The Husband left for a long bike ride and I knew this would be my ...

...because showing you pictures of my knitting is kind of boring at this point! Instead you get to see flowers and fruit. Freesias from our front yard: Purple salvia in our back yard: Remember the Pomegranate blossoms I showed you in June ? Here are pictures of the fruit: Our little pomegranate tree did itself proud this year! As for my knitting, I am making progress. I started the heels for the Poppy socks and my Blue Moon project is coming along. They just don't look significantly different than the last pictures I posted! Anyway, my plan this weekend is to clean my house and do a big of organization in my craft room. I'm getting overrun with spinning fiber and need to figure out a better way to store it. Once that's done, I want to spin a bit more of the Merino-Bombyx roving and get started on one of my quilting projects. All I need is about another 8 hours in the day...then I might have enough time to work on my projects!

...you'd be right! I'm still working on the cuffs for the Poppy socks . Very sloooowwww progress! I'm trying to work on my Blue Moon experiment project, too. (Not much progress there either.} I've also been editing and adding photos to my vacation set on Flickr. Here's one that I added today: This is the Husband taking one of the Cosmic Galaxy Egg pictures at the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM). (Yes, we did visit other places, but the AVAM pictures are the most intriguing!) That's all I've got right now...at least this isn't a picture-less post! I wish there were more hours in a day; I need more time so I can finish something!

...came much too fast this week! I finally made a decision on how to ply October Sky: I made a two-ply yarn. Here it is before its bath: And the dime shot: Specs: Yarn Wench Falkland Wool roving (4.1oz) Color : October Sky Spun and plied on Lendrum Folding wheel 2-ply yarn Yield : 330.6 yards Weight : 13 WPI, Between Sport and Medium (Worsted) weight Just for comparison, here's a picture of the October sky this morning: I spent some time Saturday deciding on what handmade Christmas gifts I will make this year and who will receive them. Then, of course, I had to got shopping for the materials! First, I went to The Granary to check out the Christmas fabric and discovered that Pacific International Quilt Festival was going on. I had totally spaced on the dates, so I'm glad I went fabric shopping! I bought a Christmas panel and a couple of fabrics that matched. I needed more fabric, but decided to see what I could find at the festival before going to any other quilt shops. Next, I...

This picture was taken at the Cylburn Arboretum in Baltimore, MD. This gazing ball sits on top of a metal arch at one end of the formal garden. There are more photos on Flickr—click a picture in the badge on the right. I'm continuing to add pictures and write descriptions. Be patient...it will take a while! Up this weekend: SPINNING! YAY! Have a good one!

...we made it back, but we're both very tired! The Husband is fighting a cold he picked up along the way, and I have a scratchy throat. Regardless, it feels good to be back in familiar surroundings. The cats are a little jumpy--they're not quite sure what to make of us. They've had the run of the house for a week and we've invaded their territory! I've caught up with the mail and laundry. I'm getting my stuff together to go back to work tomorrow. [sigh] As promised, here are pictures of the socks I worked on during vacation. First up, the completed Summer of Love Lace socks from the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club: And a close-up: Here's an in-progress picture of the Petals Collection Poppy socks: The picture doesn't do justice to the rich color of this yarn, but you get an idea of what they look like. I have 3 more pattern repeats before I can start the heel. So that's pretty good...two entries for Socktoberfest! That's it for now. ...

...boy, that week went fast! Some short knitting hits: Finished the Summer of Love Lace socks...Yay! Still working on the Poppy socks from the Petals Collection Started a pair of Peek-a-boo mittens for the Daughter I'll post pictures of knitting progress when I get home. The lighting in our room isn't that great and given some of the interesting residents in this neighborhood, I'm not taking pictures of these outside! If I'd planned better, I could have taken pictures of the finished socks when we went to the arboretum. No souvenir yarn either. Today was the only day I had some extra time, and the two stores I wanted to go to are closed on Mondays. Rats! I leave you with a picture from today's trip to the Cylburn Arboretum: More pictures to follow when I get back to the real world.

...OK, so it's not morning in Baltimore right now, but I couldn't pass that up! (and I apologize if you now have that song going through your mind!) So, here's some Baltimore Eye Candy Friday--a mirrored egg that is outside of the American Visionary Art Museum. We didn't actually go in because part of the museum is closed for renovation. We've been on the go since we got here. Yesterday we went to the aquarium and walked around Federal Hill. Today we drove to Annapolis and checked things out there. We have, of course, seen the Daughter's home and have had dinner with her both nights. Some knitting has occurred, but I haven't finished anything yet. Also haven't found any yarn stores yet, but I have until Tuesday! I leave you with a collage of Baltimore pictures...I'll post again if I get a chance.

...don't know when I'll be back again. I might be able to get a blog entry or two in while on vacation. We'll see. I'm partially packed, with a few stacks of clothes nearly ready to go in the suitcases. I decided to take the computer after all and just need to decide which computer bag to use. It looks like a small tornado landed in the room where I'm packing... And just to keep things interesting, I joined Socktoberfest this morning! I figured as long as I was knitting socks this month, I might as well post pictures of them! Here's the first one: Well, that's it for now. See you on the other side!

...and in two days, we'll be on our way to Baltimore to visit the Daughter! It will be a busy trip, but it will be good to see where she's been living for the past year. This weekend was full of errands and some house cleaning. I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but getting the remaining cat supplies and things for the trip were more important. I only got about 15 minutes of spinning done and that was with the spindle. I've pretty much decided not to take a spindle because I don't think I'll have the time and I don't want anything to happen to my lovely spindles. I did manage to cast on for the purple Poppy socks and get those ready to travel. I also prepped a couple of small cross stitch projects to take in case I got bored with knitting. (It happens...) While we watched the season premiere of Dexter last night, I worked on the foot of the Summer of Love Lace socks. I won't finish these before we leave, but I'll take them with me to finish o...