Livin' La Needle Loca

...and a finished object! This is Afternoon of the Faun [ Ravelry ]: and a close up: Specs: Started 8/27/16; Finished 9/17/2016; Vervain Merino-Bamboo-Silk top from Mosaic Moon in "Pan"; 268 yds. chain-ply, 15 WPI I'm making slow progress on the Mother of Dragons shawl [ Ravelry ]: And I finally got an OK photo of the St. Charles needlepoint project. I have no idea why I can't seem to get a really good image of this project! *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting)  [ Ravelry ] Knit a few more rows No-Noro Hat (9/18) Working on the ribbing St. Charles (needlepoint) Working on the second part of the tramé stitches IDJ (It's Dead, Jim) Spiral Striped Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Works In Progress, did not work on: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint) Finishing work Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for M...

...and the weekend report. I cleaned up a few things in the studio, but not nearly as much as I wanted. I did not do any significant house-cleaning...looks like this coming weekend is going to be busy! I did find a couple of small cross stitch projects to take with me on vacation--a couple of scissor fobs and a needleroll. I need to press the fabric and make sure I have all of the fibers they need. They are small enough that they fit in my purse and don't need Q-snaps or a hoop. I can stitch these on the plane without worrying about cutting the threads. However, I plan to put a dental floss container in my bag so I can cut any really long ends. After looking at the Spiral Striped Hat again, I frogged it. It is officially IDJ (It's dead, Jim). I looked through my yarn stash and found two skeins of Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn. I cast on for another No-Noro Hat. This will be my car project for vacation. Because hats work up very fast, I'll pack another skein of...

...and I have nothing new to photograph. I found a couple of images that I haven't displayed on the blog. Here are some marigolds: ...and some pansies. Up this weekend: Getting ready for vacation is high on my list. I need to get things ready for the house-sitter. We still have a couple of weeks, but if I get rolling on it now, there won't be as much to do at the last minute. Since the house is still relatively clean, I just need to clean up the few things that are out of place. I figure I'll do another deep vacuum before we go. Craft-wise, I need to get my act together. I want to identify a couple of small cross stitch projects to take on the trip and get another hat started. Hopefully, I'll finally rewarp the loom so I can work on that again. We'll see how far I get! .

...lots of WIPs, but very little progress. I attribute the lack of process to lack of attention span caused by lack of sleep...a lot of lacks!  *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Afternoon of the Faun handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Singles are finished. Plying is in progress. Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting)  [ Ravelry ] Knit a few rows without the 2-steps-forward-2steps-back dance. Spiral Striped Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the striped section. Considering making it IDJ (It's Dead, Jim) St. Charles (needlepoint) Finished the second section placement. Working on some padded stitches Works In Progress, did not work on: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint) Finishing work Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Pea...

...and the weekend report. I can sum the weekend up in in three words: Clean house managed. I dusted. I vacuumed. I cleaned the bathrooms. I mopped. The studio still needs some attention, but that can wait for next weekend. All of this was necessary because we had a visitor on Sunday. Everything had to be done by 4pm. I managed to get most of it done on Saturday. I did the last trailing things on Sunday Needless to say, I was a little pooped by the end of Saturday. Not as much as the Husband who did some maintenance work for his parents all day Saturday. As a result, I missed Spin-In on Saturday. So I spun on my own while I did the laundry. I finished the singles for Afternoon of the Faun handspun [ Ravelry ] on Saturday and started chain-plying it on Sunday. I also worked on the St. Charles needlepoint and the Spiral Striped Hat [ Ravelry ]. I am about to give up on the hat. The yarn is very soft (Cotton-Silk), but it's not very stretchy. Given that this is a hat for Halo...

...yeah, I totally missed posting on Wednesday. These short work weeks tend to get away from me. Today's eye candy is brought to you by Birthday Bouquets! Both my mother and the Daughter gave me flowers for my birthday. Mom's bouquet had a couple of the standards. Pink roses: Alstroemeria: and the no-so-standard green chrysanthemum: The Daughter's bouquet had large pink and white lilies: Pink-edged yellow roses: Gayfeather: and irises: Up this weekend: My mission is to get the house in order. There are still way too many leftover bits from the kitchen mini-remodel. We have a ton of Goodwill stuff to catalog so we can get it out of the house. I'll work in some crafts when I get a chance, but the house is the number 1 priority. .

...and the weekend report. It's always a treat having a 3-day weekend. But when it's your birthday weekend, it's so much better! Mom sent birthday flowers that arrived on Friday. This was a great time to receive them because they had all opened up by Sunday. Saturday was a normal day, filled with some clean-up and laundry. I worked on the Afternoon of the Faun handspun [ Ravelry ], worked on St. Charles (needlepoint), and did a couple of rows on the Spiral Striped Hat [ Ravelry ]. Sunday was a perfect day. The husband made me Eggs Benedict (my favorite!) for breakfast. Since we planned on going out to dinner, he let me do whatever I wanted in between breakfast and dinner. I finished reading a book and worked on the spinning project. We drove to Oakland to meet The Daughter and went to dinner at Picán. We enjoyed several appetizers and I had their incredible fried chicken for my entrée. Of course, by the time we got to the entrée I was pretty full. The leftovers mad...

...and it was a Ravellenic Games month. I didn't get as much done as I wanted due to family drama, but I did finish something! Finished: 8/8 Pine Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 8/14 Bad Wolf (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Merino-Bamboo-Silk top (4.0 oz) from Mosaic Moon 186.1 yds. 2-ply, 12 WPI 8/21 Gradient Violet  (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Falkland top (4.1 oz) from Yarn Wench 113.5 yds. chain-plied, 10 WPI  Books: Aspen, Skye Knizley Rylee, Shannon Mayer Last Woman Standing, Thelma Adams Windburn, Shannon Mayer The Sight,Chloe Neill Private Paris, James Patterson Everything We Keep, Kerry Lonsdale Started: 8/5 Pine Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 8/6 Bad Wolf (spinning) [ Ravelry ] 8/11 Spiral Striped Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 8/20 Gradient Violet (spinning) [ Ravelry ] 8/27 Afternoon of the Faun handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting)  [ Ra...

...and it's a 3-day weekend! Let's take one final look at August. Here are the evening clouds as they looked on Monday the 29th: The Husband bought some new flowers for the garden and replenished some of the coreposis and marigolds that were dying out. This is Moonshine yarrow: Ageratum: Lady in Black aster: and the hummingbirds really love this Parrot's Beak (Lotus "Red Embers"): Up this weekend: It's my birthday weekend and we're going out to dinner with the Daughter to celebrate. I need to make another run to Michael's and get the last ball of cotton yarn that I need for the weaving project. Some time during the weekend, the vacuum monster needs to make an appearance in both the living room and the studio. Speaking of the studio, it is long overdue for a tidying. I have bids and pieces of various projects all over and it's driving me a little nuts. Time to take a couple of hours and put things in their proper p...