Livin' La Needle Loca

...another WIP bites the dust! Here is Tiffany: the close-up: and some singles: Specs: Started 3/17/12; Finished 10/24/12; Tiffany Wild Card Bling Batts (5.5oz) from the Yarn Wench; 147.0 yds chain-ply, 11 WPI; 26 yds single ply, 16 WPI These batts contain merino wool,  hand-dyed Firestar nylon,  Romney lamb locks, and Cotswold locks. There were are matching Cotswold locks placed on the surface. I started spinning this fiber as singles using all of the components and discovered that I really didn't like spinning the locks and how they looked. I stopped spinning at 26 yards and wound off the singles. I started spinning the rest of the batts without the loose locks and much of the Romney locks. I liked the resulting singles much better! I have cycled the Pomatomus Socks out of the rotation because I keep falling asleep in the middle of a row. Bored much? Ha! Up this weekend: Some necessary housework...vacuuming is at the top of the list, followed by du...

...as I've spent most of the day getting my glasses instead of working. First I went to Kaiser for my post-cataract-surgery optometrist visit. I'm happy to report that my eye has recovered nicely from surgery and I've been cleared for contact lenses. However, the optometrist thinks that I might want to do surgery on my left eye within a few months as it's not good. Since Kaiser could not make my glasses today, it was off to Lenscrafters. I hadn't planned on going back to them, but they are one of the few places around here that can make glasses quickly.  Quick is relative, however. It takes so long to get through their process and their computer system is very slow. And I had to convince them that I didn't want their super-duper lenses that work great, but can't be done in less than 5 days.   I haven't been able to see well for too long...I wanted the new glasses today! My new glasses are awesome! I can read street signs again and I don't feel...

...I have rugs!  Home Depot turned out to be a winner. I found a rug I liked, they had all 3 sizes that I wanted in stock, and together they cost the same as the one 5'x8' I found online. Score! The only thing left for me to do is hang some pictures. Here are a few photos. There are more in my Flickr group . My studio chair and the new rugs: My work table: The sewing area: It's almost ready for company! .

...this week seemed to have dragged! Maybe it's because I'm counting down the days until I can get a new prescription for my glasses. Or because every time I turn around there's something new I discover that I need to update.  At any rate, TGIF! Today's eye candy comes from Pacific International Quilt Festival. I concentrated on detail pictures rather than whole quilt pictures. One reason was that it was hard to get whole quilt pictures with so many people milling about. Another reason is that I need a bit more practice! First up, a quilt made by a friend and former co-worker, Radial Sonnet by Randa Mulford: a medallion close up: and detail of one of the corner circles. I loved this mermaid quilt, Mermaid Magic by Donna Blum: and face detail: I was intrigued by this quilt, The Dead Sea by Gisha Wogier from Israel: and a water detail: There were many more that I won't include here. Go to my Flickr Set, PIQF to see more from thi...

...as promised, here is a picture of the Jungle Songs quilt in progress: I love the fabric, but I'm not wild about the quilt pattern. Some of the sashing is too narrow. The border fabrics have wavy lines making the sashing look crooked when it's not. The corner squares have no sashes at all and really need it. Because this was a kit, I was limited to the amount of fabric it contained. Had I started the quilt when the fabric was still available as yardage, I probably could have modified it, but, of course, this kit had marinated in my stash for a while. LOL! At any rate, I just want to finish it and move on to the next WIP. I'm also working on the Peacock Pomatomus socks . Now that I have them on separate sets of needles, things are going well. I did find an error on one cuff that I'm trying to decide whether to fix. Since the socks are for me, I'll probably leave it, but it offends my need to be perfect. HA! Progress...it's a good thing! .

...I'm on a roll! On Saturday, I finished all of the cushions for the storage benches in my studio.  These benches flank my quilt wall. Left bench: Right bench: I started with four 24x24x2-inch foam from Jo-Ann. My bench seats are 48x15, so I cut the foam down to 24x14x2. Then I glued them together to make two 48x14x2 cushions. I covered each cushion with two layers of batting and then made the cushion covers to fit. They have a Velcro closure so I can easily remove the covered to be cleaned. I had these four leftover pieces of foam and I had leftover fabric, so I turned them into cushion backs for the benches. Because I was running out of fabric, I did not cover them in batting before making the covers, nor did I use Velcro closures. I just whip stitched them together. I had to piece the covers for two of the benches with another color of the fabric. You can't see it in the pictures, but two of the cushions have a lighter panel on the back. After finishing t...

...I have another Finished Object and not much eye candy. The garden has very few flowers this time of the year. Many of the plants and trees are getting ready for winter, so things are looking a little scruffy out there. We do have these succulents thriving in one corner: I finally finished plying the Schoppel-Wolle singles. This is Plum Sauce: and the close up: Specs: Started ?? Finished 10/11/12 Plum Sauce top and pencil roving from Schoppel-Wolle (150g) 308.9 yds, 2-ply, 13WPI The singles continued to break through the rest of the plying. I was quite relieved to be done with this yarn last night! When I get home today, it is going to the bottom of my storage bench for a time out! I received two sock club installments this week. From the Cookie A Sock Club, I received a specially spun sock yarn by Green Mountain Spinnery. It's totally not my colors, so I'm not sure what I'll do with it: I also received the Rockin' Sock Club installment ...

...I'm making some progress, but not as much as I'd like. I'm nearly done plying the singles for some Schoppel-Wolle top that I bought at least a year ago (maybe 2010?). Some of it was pencil roving, which I usually like spinning because there is a lot less drafting. I don't know whether it was because I let it sit so long between spins or what, but I did not enjoy spinning this yarn. The pencil roving portion wasn't too bad, but the regular top fought me every step of the way. Now that I'm plying, the regular top keeps breaking on me.  It's pretty, but it may end up at the bottom of a cabinet when I'm done so I don't have to look at it anymore! I am making slow progress on the Pine Mountain "Recipe for Summer" cross stitch.  I just need to keep plowing through this one. I was very motivated when I started it at the beginning of summer. Now that it's autumn, I'm not nearly as motivated.  I'd rather be stitching somethin...

...AKA random Tuesday. I finally took pictures of Blueberry Thrill shawl that I finished on the 30th: Finished spinning Chocolate Covered Raspberries on Sunday: and the close up: Specs: Started 2/22/09 Finished skein #2 10/7/12 Seawool top by Creatively Dyed 217.75 yd, 13 WPI chain-plied Finished spinning Isonzo on Sunday: and the close up: Specs: Started 6/4/11 Finished 10/7/12 Wool/Bamboo/Seacell top from Creatively Dyed Chain-plied #1 180.5 yds, 13 WPI #2 178.7 yds, 14 WPI I joined Janice's Workin' Down the WIPs group on Ravelry to help prod me into finishing more WIPs. I have so many across all my crafts that I really should complete or declare IDJ (It's Dead, Jim). It feels so good to finish things...it just need to control my craft attention-span (lack thereof) and start-itis problems! .

...a little sparse today. I was hoping to show a picture of the finished Blueberry Thrill Shawl, but I didn't get a chance to take a picture. A co-worker gave me a bouquet that contained a protea: I love protea because they are so primeval-looking. The bouquet also has some eucalyptus in it, which I also love. Up this weekend: Spin-In tomorrow!! I'm really looking forward to it. I'll bake some peanut butter cookies in the morning as my contribution. I haven't decided yet what to spin. I have the Isonzo [ Ravelry ] singles ready to ply and the Chocolate-Covered Raspberries [ Ravelry ] ready to ply. I also have a couple of tops that need the singles finished...Pilgrim [ Ravelry ], Natural Dyes [ Ravelry ], and Tiffany [ Ravelry ] come to mind WIPs. I haz them. :) .

...in which there are actually WIP pictures! Now that my eye is doing it's healing thing, I'm ready to attack a few projects that have fallen by the wayside. The Recipe for Summer went into hibernation when I couldn't see well enough to stitch. I started working on it again at Craft Night last night. Yeah, I know it's not summer anymore. However, this is a good project to get my hand back into stitching. When I've finished it, I can resurrect Anasazi (Susan Portra needlepoint) and seriously work on the Mediterranean Mermaid cross stitch by Mirabilia. I'm looking forward to knitting again. Although I have to admit, none of my current WIPs are calling my name. Instead, I started a new shawl. LOL! This is Calaeno by Romi. I bought the pattern and yarn from A Verb For Keeping Warm at Stitches West this year. This project will cycle in and out of rotation as I work on some other WIPs. I have a few spinning WIPs to finish up. No pictures of these yet...

...it was a big reading month. That and spinning were pretty much the only things I could do this month. Finished: 9/23 Lupines and Poppies (spinning) { Ravelry ] 100% Merino top, approx, 2.2 oz  from the Yarn Wench 128.42 yds chain-ply, 12 WPI 9/23 Black Alpaca-Silk (spinning) [ Ravelry ] 80% Alpaca/20% Silk (4oz) by Ashland Bay; 113.5 yards chain-ply, 12 WPI  9/23 Peacock (spinning) { Ravelry ] 100% Corriedale (4oz) by Spunky Eclectic; 308.94 yds chain-ply, 17 WPI  9/30 Blueberry Thrill shawl (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Sorry, no final picture yet Books: Have Stakes Will Travel, Faith Hunter My Mother Was Nuts, Penny Marshall The Perfect Christmas, Debbie Macomber Biting Cold, Chloe Neill Drink Deep, Chloe Neill Hard Bitten, Chloe Neill Twice Bitten, Chloe Neill Delusion in Death, JD Robb Archangel's Storm, Nalini Singh Last to Die, Tess Gerritsen Widow's Web, Jennifer Estep Started: 9/17 Lupines and Poppies (spinning) { Ravelry ] (Second sk...