Livin' La Needle Loca

...brought to you by Fremont High School, a neighbor's yard, and our yard. I finally finished processing the Easter photos I took at the high school. Besides tulips, they also have some lovely rose bushes. Here's a pink and apricot rose: a pink and yellow rose: and a pink rose: Prior to putting the house on the market, a neighbor redid the front landscaping. They planted these lovely flowers (Regal Pelargonium, I think): And our yard is bursting with flowers and greenery: Our artichokes are doing nicely: and the spiderwort is blooming: Have a great weekend! It's going to be warm here!

...because Wednesday escaped me! (I hate when that happens!) WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Easter photos Still processing, down to the last third Puget Sound handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Singles done; ready to ply. Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Working on a Rosewood sections; planning on the next novelty yarn section St. Charles (needlepoint) Working on section 5; skipped section 4 because I wasn't in the mood for French knots. Teal It To The Bees hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the hive part Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ]   Tiger Lily handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) 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 ...

...and the weekend report. I'm still processing photos from my Easter photo shoot at Fremont High School. I predict more tulip photos for Eye Candy Friday! To curb rampant startitis, I decided to start one spinning project. I spun the singles for Puget Sound handspun [ Ravelry ]. I love the colors in this merino-tencel top from Greenwood Fiberworks. I bought this at Stitches West 2016. I briefly worked on the St. Charles (needlepoint). I think I'm past being bored with this one, so I think I can wind this back into the rotation. I am making good progress on the Teal It To The Bees hat [ Ravelry ].  I wove a little on the Rosewood Wrap [ Ravelry ] I really need to decide if I'm done with the 4-shaft sampler [ Ravelry ]. I'd kind of like to dress the loom for a "real" project. I thought about working on the Mother of Dragons shawl [ Ravelry ]. My main problem is that the shawl requires some attention-units, and I didn't have many of those this weeke...

...blog and run. Here are some of the tulip photos from Easter Sunday. Pink tulip Red and gold tulip Pink and yellow tulip White and red tulip Orange tulip And that's all I have time for! .

...in which I discover a WIP that I actively worked on, but didn't list anywhere. Hmm... I finished spinning the singles for Tiger Lily [ Ravelry ] over the weekend. I started it the week before. I have no idea why I didn't remember to put it in yesterday's post or in the previous WIP-It Wednesday. Anyway, this is what the singles look like: And here's a first look at the Rosewood Wrap [ Ravelry ]: WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Teal It To The Bees hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Almost done with the ribbing. Tiger Lily handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Singles done; ready to ply. 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) UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint) C...

...in no particular order. The weather finally cooperated on Sunday so I could take photos of the tulips in front of the high school. It's at the end of the season for them, but there were still plenty of tulips to photograph. I managed to catch the window between overcast and raining. The lighting was pretty good, although I still had trouble with red flowers. Here's a preview of the shoot: I started a new hat last Thursday. I liked the Slouchy Beehive Hat pattern so much, I decided to knit another one using the original specs. The last one I did had a shorter cast-on and I had to modify the decrease section a bit to make it work.The yarn I picked is teal, so I'm calling the hat "Teal It To The Bees" [ Ravelry ]. I also spent some time on the Rosewood Wrap [ Ravelry ]. This project is a little fiddly with the extra novelty warps I'm adding as I weave. I use a pickup stick to correctly position the extra warp threads and create a big enough shed for...

...with some photos from a friend's yard. As I mentioned, our company party was last Saturday. Our hosts have a lovely home in Los Altos Hills. They have a great view of the area from their front deck. Their garden is filled with fruit trees and lots of flowers. They have camellias: Blue irises: yellow and blue irises: and orchids: They also have a great metal sculpture at the end of their driveway. Many call it Don Quixote. I've been calling him Guardian of the Garden because he looks like he'll ward off all unwanted critters from the garden. Up this weekend: I hope lots of crafts! The Husband and I are not much into Easter since our daughter outgrew Easter egg hunts. I think we'll just stay close to home. .

...now that I've finished the latest hat, I'm having trouble deciding what to do next. Mostly what I want to do is veg-out.  So here, have a picture of a kitty: This is Denali, Sombra's brother. He was the co-host at our company party on Saturday. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Taxes Almost done! Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ]   Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] St. Charles (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) 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 merma...

...and a finished object. I finished my latest hat for Halos of Hope. This is Shimmer and Shiny Hat [ Ravelry ]: Specs: Started 3/26/17 Finished 4/9/17 Pattern: Slouchy Beehive Hat by Flora Cheung Yarn: Soft & Shiny by Loops & Threads in Shimmer Originally, I was going to make another No-Noro Hat. However, I had just finished one and I wanted to do something different. After I finished the ribbing for the hat, I looked for free hat patterns that used a cast-on of 80. I found a few, but it wasn't until Halo of Hope posted a photo of the Wurm hat, that I decided to make something similar. I found the Slouchy Beehive hat and modified it for the shorter cast-on and I didn't make it slouchy. I like the way it turned out. Randomness... Our company party was on Saturday. The theme was cultural heritage, so I made some Mexican Wedding cookies. It is a family recipe that I've been making pretty much my whole life.  I also made a variation of the cookie usin...

...a little spinning, a little knitting, and fighting off startitis. Finished: 3/25 Victoria handspun [ Ravelry ] (spinning) Yak-Silk (4 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 171.2 yds., 15 WPI 3/26 Crocus handspun [ Ravelry ] (spinning) Camel-Silk (4 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 182.4yds., 14 WPI 3/26 Icelandic No-Noro Hat [ Ravelry ] (knitting) Books: The Practice House, Laura McNeal Stormfront, Skye Knizley The Unexpected Millionaire, Susan Mallery Twelve Days of Christmas, Debbie Macomber Silence Fallen, Patricia Briggs Summer Days, Susan Mallery Hisses and Honey, Shannon Mayer Just Desserts, Barbara Bretton The Turn, Kim Harrison Started: 3/4 Crocus handspun [ Ravelry ] (spinning) 3/11 Icelandic No-Noro Hat [ Ravelry ] (knitting) 3/18 Rosewood Wrap [ Ravelry ] (weaving) 3/26 Shimmer and Shiny hat [ Ravelry ] (knitting) Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knittin...

...and no progress on crafty things, mostly because it's April and I promised the Husband I would work on the taxes. Usually, we scramble for a few days while he figures out the business expenses for his consulting gig and we verify that we have entered every possible deduction. This year, it's not as critical, but I still need to do the data entry. I figure I'm about half done at this point, so I need to continue tonight. Once we have an idea of where we are, I can swap back over to crafts. WIPs Roll Call Worked on: Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Added 7 strands of supplemental warp to loom and started weaving again. Shimmer and Shiny hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the last section of "beehive" rolls 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 sti...

...and the weekend report. I seemed to have missed Eye Candy Friday on the blog; I managed to post on Facebook and Instagram...sigh. Here's a photo to hold you for a while. This is a pink ruffled tulip in our backyard: I'm almost back to normal. I still have a cough and my voice gets a little wonky if I talk too much. I spent Saturday doing laundry and running a couple of errands. The Husband and I went shopping for umbrellas for the courtyard and backyard. We found one for the courtyard, but haven't found one at a decent price for the backyard yet. He kindly took my to a sporting goods store so I could buy some fishing weights to use for a supplementary warp on my rigid heddle loom. While laundry was running, I worked on the rigid heddle project. It took a while to get the supplemental warp set up and weighted. Once I finally got it working, I was too tired to actually weave more that a couple of picks. Sunday, we drove to the Daughter's new house. She...