Livin' La Needle Loca

...can you believe it?!  This month has just flown! Time moves at different speeds depending on how busy I am at work. It zooms at warp speed when I have work deliverables to finish! My big project is done now and I have smaller projects to deal with. I didn't get as many chores done this weekend as I wanted, but I did manage to work on a few craft projects. On Saturday, the Husband asked me to go with him to the Italian-American Family Festa in San Jose. His Dad met us there. We looked at the craft booths, checked out the prices ($30.00 for a crocheted baby hat seemed a bit much. I bought a nice, wide-brimmed, woven hat for myself for $10.00!), and had some lunch. The Husband was having some back problems so we didn't stay very long. Still, it was nice to be out in the sunshine for a while. I wish I had brought my camera, though. There was an egret in the Guadalupe river and there were some interesting clouds in the sky. Oh, well... Craft-wise, I spent some time froggi...

...because I missed last Friday! Today's Eye Candy is brought to you by the letters D and M . D aisies... a baby one: a full-blown one: and a close up: M elon...a ripening one: and tendrils: Up this weekend: I want to sift through my paperback books and set aside a bunch to give away. I just have too many and they are starting to overrun the house!  We are having a Spin-In on Sunday, so I'll be able to get back to the wheel to finish the Ocean Merino-silk I started. Other than that, no big plans. A little cleaning, a little crafting...what more do I need?  

...well, I'm going to try, anyway! It's not like I don't have anything in progress! I've been suppressing my inner "Needle Loca" for a while. You've seen a lot of knitting, spinning, and weaving from me and very little in the way of sharp or tapestry needle crafts. I've been feeling the need to pick up a needle for a few weeks. Finishing the Flower Power quilt was one way I tried to feed that desire, but it wasn't quite right. A spinning friend suggested having a regular craft night where we could work on whatever craft we wanted. Perfect! I decided to use the craft night to work on needlepoint or cross stitch pieces to appease the needle monster. We had our first one last night and this is what I worked on: This is Turquoise Trail by Laura J. Perin Designs . I started it Sunday night (8/22). I love counted canvas work and Laura always uses some interesting fibers. This design uses a lot of Rainbow Gallery threads—metallics, silks, silk ribb...

...and the lack of readily available internet access! I could access my email on my iPhone, but there was no way I was going to try to do a regular blog post on it! I took my time driving to Morro Bay, stopping along the way to take a few pictures. I knew I couldn't check into my hotel until 3pm, so there was no rush. The open class reunion on Friday night was fun! It was great seeing people I knew from my years there. It was also cool meeting new people—people who had already graduated when I started HS, their spouses, and spouses of people I knew. Saturday, I went to see my mom. We mostly hung out and talked, although we did manage to go out to lunch. Her favorite place is Chef Rick's , so we went there for lunch.The food is always good there. Mom is in the process of going through our old slides and movies. She found some slides of my high school graduation and gave me the prints. When I get some time, I'll scan and upload them to Flickr. I'm so glad she f...

...because this week has gotten away from me!  Between the doctor's appointment on Monday and my day off tomorrow, I've had to cram a weeks worth of work in 3.5 days. Anyway here is the picture I promised: Thsi is a Merino-silk top from Redfish Dyeworks. It has a wonderful sheen and in general is a nice spin. I ran into a couple of problem areas, but the entire top is not like that. I'm going to wait until I spin the second bobbin to see whether it wants to be a 2-ply or 3-ply yarn. Up this weekend: An open class reunion for my high school tomorrow night. That should be fun! Then I'm going to visit Mom on Saturday.  I'll come back as early as I can on Sunday, to get the last few hours in with the Daughter. She's heading back to school on Monday. [sigh]

...mostly because Mondays have been a little busy. The weekend report: I finally finished Flower Power! Yay! Specs: Started: 2004 Top completed: May 2004 Finished: 8/14/2010 Pattern: Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Design Machine quilted; made a matching pillow cover (not shown) I'm still having problems taking pictures of quilts. The one place that I can hand them requires rearranging the furniture and the lighting isn't that great. I tried taking them outside, but I really don't have anyplace to hang the quilt. Oh, well! I also finished spinning bobbin #1 of a beautiful merino-silk top from Redfish Dyeworks. It's gorgeous stuff! Pictures tomorrow for WIP-it Wednesday. My friend, Loretta, and I went to Green Planet Yarn on Sunday. What a great store! There are lots of non-animal fiber yarns that are yummy, so I have some really good options if The Daughter wants me to knit or weave her something. They have a great selection of other yarns, too. The staf...

...Friday just couldn't get here fast enough for me! From the garden, pineapple tomatillos: and a couple of ripe ones: These are tiny, around the size of a grape! The Husband thought they were going to be like regular tomatillos and thought they weren't doing very well. From all I've read about them online, they are supposed to be this small and different from a green or purple tomatillo. I haven't tasted one, so I can't report on that yet. Up this weekend: The Husband is off to the Jazz Festival on Saturday, so I'm going to take the opportunity to clean house. If we can arrange our schedules, a friend and I will make a field trip to Green Planet Yarn on Sunday.  I want to finish the Flower Power quilt and then work on whatever catches my fancy. Early warning: I might miss a post on Monday because of a doctor's appointment and the fact that I will have to play catch-up the rest of the day. So don't be surprised if it's late or missing!

...my brain is not quite with the program and I'm ready for the week to be done! I totally missed WIP-it Wednesday yesterday and didn't realize it until this morning. Maybe I just need to reboot my brain... Not a lot to report, but here are some random bits: Finished burying all the threads for the Flower Power quilt. Because it's now a usable quilt, I could declare it "done" now. However, it doesn't have a label yet and I haven't finished its cover, so it's technically still a WIP. Finished the first lace pattern repeat for the Mochaberry Brambles socks. Each pattern repeat is 22 rows and I have 1.5 left to do. It's an easy pattern, but I have to be careful that I start with the correct stitch when I work the stitches on the second circular.  I've messed up a couple of time, but thankfully caught it quickly so I didn't have to frog very many stitches. Rockin' Sock Club socks are waiting for their turn. I'll get back t...

...Monday just kind of whizzed by. I had a work project due yesterday and that required all of my concentration to get it done.  But it's out for review now and I can breathe a little. My weekend report: It was mostly quilting with a little knitting thrown in. I finished machine quilting Flower Power and added the binding. I am now burying all of the loose threads.  I discovered that taking care of the  loose threads as I go along really slowed down the process. Since I only do simple grid quilting on the Yellow Brick Road quilts, it's much faster for me to leave the tails dangling a bit and finish the machine quilting. I pull the top thread to the back of the quilt, trim both threads to 4 or 5 inches, and move on to the next part to quilt. I manage not to quilt over the loose thread about 95% of the time, so it works for me!  I need to add the ties to the quilt cover and find a quilt scrap to use for the label. Once the label is sewn on, I can declare it done. O...

...brought to you by our garden (big surprise!) The husband continues to surprise me by adding odd flowers and plants to the garden. I never know what I'm going to find when I go out there!  This time, I found this flower in one of the hanging pots: This is called a Bat-face Cuphea (Cuphea llavea). It really does look like a bat! Odd flowers, but wonderful colors. And I finally got a picture of the blocked Reflection Shawl: It's on its way to audition for a new owner tonight. If it doesn't find a new home, it's off to the dye bath! Up this weekend: Catch up on some sleep. I haven't been sleeping well and I'm a little zonked. I'll continue working on the two pairs of socks when I can.  If it's not too hot, I think I'll hit the sewing machine and finish up the Flower Power quilt. It's about 50% quilted, so it's doable. A little reading, a little quilting, a little knitting...yeah, I think that will work for me. (Not sure if it will ...

...hooray!  And Spoiler alert! I have a picture of my Rockin' Sock Club socks for July later in the post. You have been warned! So, I cast-on for two pairs of socks on the last day of July. (I know...don't say it!) But I have been wanting to knit the Blackberry Brambles socks by Irishgirlieknits [ Ravelry ] for a while and the Mochaberry Socks That Rock yarn was calling my name. I love this pattern! Here's where I am so far: Then the Rockin' Sock Club installment came with a cool pattern by Anne Hanson and I had to cast that on, too! However, I made myself do the ribbing for both patterns so they would be at the same stage before I allowed myself to start the patterning. I am alternating between the two socks and am pretty pleased that they are both on track. They both look very cool! Here's the Sock Club sock: I still have a merino-silk in progress on my wheel and I should get back to that very soon. Hmmmm, and there are two quilts waiting, too. So...

Finished: 7/4 Blue Hosta yarn (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Merino Bamboo Tussah top (4oz) from Miss Babs; 138 yards, two ply; WPI TBD (worsted, I think)  7/12 Seascape yarn (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Merino-Tencel top (4oz) from Abstract Fibers 236.4 yards, Navajo ply; 14 WPI 7/15 Purple Merino-silk yarn (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Angora Cottage (4oz); 362.9 yards, Navajo-ply; 16 WPI 7/20 Beach Foam yarn (spinning) [ Ravelry ] 3 batts from Liza Souza (3.2 oz ) 228.9 yards, Navajo-plied; 15 WPI 7/21 Reflection Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 7/25 Lake Tahoe yarn (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Corriedale top (4oz) from Judy's Novelty Wool; 130+ yards, Navajo-plied; WPI TDB, somewhere between worsted and bulky Started: 7/3 Hexagon socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  7/4 Seascape Merino-Tencel (spinning) 7/15 Beach Foam batts (spinning)  7/24 Lake Tahoe Corriedale (spinning) 7/31 My Heart Beets 4U socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 7/31 Mochaberry Brambles (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Worked...