Livin' La Needle Loca

...it was a blast! Thursday: The opening day Spotlight talk by Franklin Habit was even better that I thought it would be. He is an engaging and humorous speaker.  The Teacher a la Carte luncheon was fun and the meal was very good. (Any meal that ends with flan for dessert is a winner as far as I'm concerned!)  One of my former neighbors sat at our table and we were able to catch up a bit. We see each other once a year at Stitches, so it's something to look forward to. Market Preview was a whirlwind. First, I turned in 5 hats to Halos of Hope,then it was shopping! I didn't have a specific project in mind, so I just visited the booths that I knew would have stuff I liked (Hello, Greenwood Fiberworks !). I had a few tools on my list, like the Sock Ruler., that I wanted to check out. Friday: The Dye Your Own Yarn class was very interesting. We learned about different methods to apply the yarn and how that affects the knitting. Playing with the dye was both intimidati...

... and tomorrow is Stitches West!! Yay!! While I still don't want to post a photo of the finished baby quilt, I think it's OK for me to post a photo of the Baby Camo Hat [ Ravelry ]. It's so cute! Specs: Started 2/12/17 Finished 2/18/17 Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Camouflage Pattern: 1-2-3 Baby Beanie by Lisa Seifert Tonight, I will gather the things I need to take to a full day at Stitches West. First up is the Opening Day Spotlight followed by the Teachers Luncheon. Then I'll spend the afternoon knitting until it's time to line up for the Market Preview (YAY). On Friday, I have the Dye Your Own Yarn class at 8:30am, followed by more time in the Market. I can't wait!! WIPs Roll Call Worked on: Camo Baby Sweater (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the ribbing. Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting)  [ Ravelry ] Macaw Hat (knitting) ...

...and looking forward to Stitches West! I glued my wheel together Friday afternoon and crossed my fingers that it would work for Saturday. I used a gel epoxy that supposedly dried in 6 minutes. After gluing, I left it alone for several hours. Then I unfolded the wheel and set it in its upright position for overnight. It was still upright in the morning, so that was good. Spin-In on Saturday was fun. My wheel managed to keep it together although it felt a little wobbly. It stayed together all the way home. I attempted to unfold it and the connector started pulling out from the wood. Sigh. I screwed it back into the wood and left the wheel upright. It was still holding on Monday. I'll see what happens when I try to spin on it next time. Finished the Baby Camo Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ]. I still had plenty of yarn in the skein plus another skein of the same color. I decided to attempt a Camo Baby Sweater [ Ravelry ]. Photographed the baby quilt, but did not make it to the post o...

...in which I made hats! Finished: 1/7 Pussyhat #1 [ Ravelry ] (knitting) 1/15 Pussyhat # 2 [ Ravelry ] (knitting) 1/15 Pussyhat #3 [ Ravelry ] (knitting) 1/28 Sarah's Hat [ Ravelry ] (knitting) 1/28 Sunset Hat [ Ravelry ] (knitting) Books: Famine's Feast, Debra Dunbar Fangs and Fennel, Shannon Mayer In the Shadow of Lakecrest, Elizabeth Blackwell Sweet Tomorrows, Debbie Macomber Wolf at the Door, Hailey Edwards Wedding Cake Murder, Joanne Fluke Started: 1/4 Pussyhat #1 [ Ravelry ] (knitting) 1/8 Pussyhat #3 [ Ravelry ] (knitting) 1/9 Pussyhat # 2 [ Ravelry ] (knitting) 1/18 Sarah's Hat [ Ravelry ] (knitting) 1/28 Sunset Hat [ Ravelry ] (knitting) Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting)  [ Ravelry ] Macaw Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] St. Charles (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) Victoria handspun (spinn...

...and it's a 3-day weekend! For Valentine's Day, the Husband bought me some new plants. These are Sun Stars: This is Armeria in Ballerina Red: and this viola is called Tiger Eyes: Up this weekend: Tomorrow is Spin-In. I hope I can get my wheel fixed for this. If not, I'll just take some knitting. I also need to photograph the baby quilt. I want to mail it and the baby hat over the weekend. However, that means I need to finish the hat! Given that I had to frog most of it last night, it might take me a while to finish it. It's will be so nice to have an extra day to get my Stitches West stuff together. It's 6 days away...I can't wait! .

...and still no photos of the stuff in progress! And I just realized that my recap for January is overdue. [Sigh] WIPs Roll Call Worked on: Camo Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the ribbing. Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting)  [ Ravelry ] Macaw Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] St. Charles (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) Victoria handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint) Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finishing work Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch) Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) WIPs To Be: A peacock or mermaid quilt for me.

...and the weekend report. I finished the baby quilt. No photos until I take them and until the recipient receives it. I started a baby hat using Red Heart Super Saver in Camouflage. My nephew is a hunter and a camo hat for his new son is a perfect gift. I started gathering my Stitches West stuff.  Emptied the canvas bag that I use for shopping Reviewed the vendor list and marked up a map copy. Noe that I know which vendors I want to visit, I'll mark up the PDF version of the map. Need to find my badge holder. I think it's time to buy a new one, but I'm not sure if they're selling them this year. I'm trying to work up the courage to repair my wheel. Spin In is this weekend and I'd really like to finish the Victoria handspun [ Ravelry ] what I started in November. Because of Stitches, I only work Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Yay!

...I think Friday posts are going to be more of the blog-and-run style so I can get them done. For your viewing pleasure, Monarch crocuses:  A primrose: Waves at Asilomar State Beach: and a daffodil with raindrops: Up this weekend: I need to finish the quilt for my nephew's baby because baby boy arrived last night! So it's time to finish this up so I can mail it! .

...in which not a lot has been accomplished since the weekend. I've been caught up in a couple of books and have been reading more than anything. I did manage to finish editing the Monterey photos. Now I need Flickr to cooperate so I can upload them. One thing I didn't mention in the last post was that I started a new hat for Halos of Hope. After I frogged the brown and blue hat, I pulled out a different color of Red Heart Super Saver yarn in blues. The color is called Macaw, and now so is the hat (Macaw Hat [ Ravelry ]). WIPs Roll Call Worked on: Macaw Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the ribbing. Sea of Dreams baby quilt (quilting) Machine quilting in process, estimate 60% complete. Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting)  [ Ravelry ] St. Charles (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) Victoria handspun (spinning) [ ...

...and the weekend report. I consciously did not post on Friday because the day was pretty hectic. We were going out to an early dinner with the Daughter and her aunt and uncle in Oakland. On a weekend day, that's an hour's drive. On a Friday afternoon, it's more like 2 hours. We left early because we wanted to make a couple of stops. The first place we wanted to go was Oaktown Spice Shop . It's owned by friends of the Daughter and she's given us several gifts of amazing spice from there. When you first step into the shop, you are enveloped in the scents of multiple spices. The aroma is heavenly. I bought some Hungarian sweet paprika and noted a few other things I wanted to try, like the honey powder. We tried to find a bar that was recommended by my nephew, but were unsuccessful. We went to the address listed on the map, but didn't see. It was so busy in downtown Oakland that we decided to try on another trip. We met up with the Daughter and had a won...

...and happy February! I've pretty much decided to give up on brown-blue hat I started on Sunday. I disliked the pooling so much that I didn't even make a project page for it in Ravelry. I'll hit the stash to find another yarn for the next hat. WIPs Roll Call Worked on: Monterey photos I've gone though them all and now I just need to process them Sea of Dreams baby quilt (quilting) Machine quilting in process, estimate 40% complete. Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting)  [ Ravelry ] St. Charles (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) Victoria handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint) Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finishing work Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacock ...