Livin' La Needle Loca

...hooray for the weekend! As is typical this time of the year, there are tons of things blooming in the garden. We have Alkanet: irises: Lavender: Strawberries: and Scorpionweed: The berry bushes are getting ready to set blossoms, so you'll probably see photos of that soon. Up this weekend: There are the usual chores and errands on the docket. In addition, I need to start researching yoga classes again . Our yoga teacher decided to take a full-time job and can no longer teach our twice-a-week classes. Sigh. It's so hard to find the right type of yoga class in the early morning. There are plenty in the middle of the day. However, most yoga studios don't have showers...no one at work would appreciate a sweaty co-worker. The Mirabel handspun [ Ravelry ] should be plenty dry by now. I need to re-skein it and double check the yardage and WPI. Then it's photo time! At the same time, I take photos of the Phat Fiber box I just received. It...

...and it's the Husband's birthday! We'll probably do something over the weekend to celebrate. Celebrating a birthday in the middle of the week is hard because there's so much going on. At least he lets us celebrate it now. In the early years of our relationship, he preferred not to do anything about it.  We've been together for over 37 years and we've both mellowed a bit. Anyway, that's where my attention is today, so no new WIP photos. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Back on track. Knitting section 3 with contrasting color #2 Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Beading the midsection. Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Finishing work (Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornament.) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] St. Charles (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart's Del...

...how is it Tuesday?  The last week has been a blur. I had two doctor appointments last week and Spin-In on the weekend. That plus being motivated to finish spinning Mirabel meant that blogging just fell off the edge. Oops. Saturday morning I baked some mini pineapple upside-down cakes to take to Spin-In. Pineapple upside-down cake was my mother's go-to dessert when I was growing up. It's still one of my favorites. I like the mini version because it's easier to serve - cutting into an upside-down cake is always messy because of the pineapple rings. At Spin-In, I finished chain-plying Mirabel [ Ravelry ]. I transferred it off the bobbin and washed it on Sunday. It's taken a couple of days to dry, so no photos yet. Now that Mirabel is done, I can concentrate on the Mermaid again. I spent several hours on Sunday beading the middle portion of the design. I also got the Charred Teal shawl [ Ravelry ] back to a point where the stitch counts are correct. I'm still ...

...in which there are no new photos of WIPs. Instead, here's a photo of my Abundant Earth Fiber dye kit: I bought this after Stitches West, knowing that it was going to take some time to get it because they had to rebuild their stock. (This was the vendor that had all of their stuff stolen before SW.) It arrived earlier this month, a lot sooner than I expected. I can't wait to try this! WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Bead inventory Transferred all Mill Hill beads into new storage containers Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Ripping out rows to fix stitch count. Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Almost done beading the tail. Mirabel handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Started plying. Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Finishing work (Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornament.) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] St. Charles...

...and a weekend report from our kitties: Yup, that's what they looked like all weekend. They did mix up where they slept and whether they slept in the same place, but this sums up their weekend. My weekend, on the other hand, was very productive. The vacuum monster and I took care of the rugs on Saturday. That was one time that the cats weren't sleeping on the bed! I started plying Mirabel. This is going to take a long time! Usually, I can chain-ply a single in half a day, but this single is very thin. I've put about 5 hours into it, and it doesn't look like I've made much of a dent in it.  I'll need to step up the ace if I want to spin anything else this month! I put about the same amount of time into beading the mermaid and the progress is evident there. I had to stop beading the foam to go back to the beading on the mermaid's body. I was getting very tired of the white and crystal beads. The tail and fins use the red and green beads, so it...

...and I'm ready for a weekend! One of the few nice things about Daylight Savings Time is that I get to see some wonderful sunrises. Here's the one from Tuesday: Our sweet pea bush has had flowers all year round and is looking particularly lush right now: The double hibiscus are starting to bloom. They are in a container by our front door: and the watsonia are starting to come up: Up this weekend: Originally, I planned on finishing our taxes and getting them filed on Saturday. However, we finished them last night and everything's been accepted already. Score one for us! I want to start plying the Mirabel handspun. I also plan on doing more beading on the mermaid. There's always more finishing work to do. I'm expecting an Amazon order of two Elizabeth Ward Bead Storage containers : one 82-piece and one 45-piece. If they arrive on Saturday like they're supposed to, I'll start transferring some of my Mill Hill bead stash to them. I...

...and a couple of photo updates. Here is the bobbin full of Mirabel [ Ravelry ] singles: And the current state of Mermaid of the Pearls. Beading is complete on the lower half of the design (except for the Mill Hill Treasures). I've returned the Charred Teal shawl [ Ravelry ] to the rotation list. I'm in section 3, which gives the instructions and stitch counts for Contrasting Color (CC) #1. The next instruction says to repeat those rows with the remaining 5 contrasting colors, with no stitch counts. Every time I pick up this project, I can't figure out where I left off (even with notes) - there is always something off. If I had stitch counts, I could easily figure it out.  Aside from being very bad at reading my knitting (and obviously not taking good notes), it doesn't help that I don't work on it for several weeks. So after pulling out the last section of CC#2 for the nth time, I sat down and figured out the stitch counts for each of the 5 remaining...

...and I'm happy with the progress that I made over the weekend. I finished the Christmas 9-Patch pillow as planned. Specs: Started 9/24/17 Finished 4/8/18 Pillow kit by Pine Mountain Designs I've made several of these 9-patch pillows from Pine Mountain. Each kit contains only two charms for the 3 plain squares in the design.  I have yet to understand the thinking behind leaving one patch essentially blank (the green square). The finished pillow always looks like there's something missing. I finished spinning the singles for Mirabel handspun [ Ravelry ]. Then I transferred the singles to a bobbin in preparation for plying. (Photo tomorrow.) I spent a few hours beading the mermaid. I have finally come up with a better way to hold the beads closer to my stitching area. It's a combination of the top of a mini sliding-top tin, two craft magnets, and a small square of a sticky bead mat. It's kludgy, but it works! .

...such as it is. Being sick severely limited my craft time, but I got a lot of reading done! Finished: 3/3 Finishing work: Seaside Pin Poke 3/18 Finishing work: 2 Pine Mountain pillow tops and 7 needlepoint flats Books: Origin of Magic Magic, Linsey Hall Enemy of Magic, Linsey Hall Forged in Magic, Linsey Hall Undercover Magic, Linsey Hall Academy of Magic, Linsey Hall Pursuit of Magic, Linsey Hall Attack by Magic, Linsey Hall  Master of Magic, Linsey Hall The Fire Queen, Emily King A Glimmer of Hope, Steve McHugh The Rogue Queen. Emily King  Sweet Vengeance, Fern Michaels Started: Nothing Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Finishing work (Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornament) Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Mirabel handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelr...

...and it's raining again. Don't get me wrong. I'd rather have the rain than a drought. I'll happily put up with people who don't know how to drive in the rain and wet clothes and shoes if we don't have to go through water rationing. I took a few photos this morning when the rain lightened up. Our neighbor's orange roses are going nuts: This is the Spanish lavender in our front yard: This is our Schwarzkopf Black Rose plant with lots of raindrops: And our woodland hyacinth is blooming: Up this weekend: I'm feeling closer to normal, so I think it's time to catch up on a few chores. I want to finish spinning the singles for Mirabel handspun [ Ravelry ]. Then I can transfer all of the singles to a bobbin and let it rest before plying.  The other thing I'd like to finish is the Christmas 9-patch Pillow...I'm so close! My beads arrived today, so I can get right back to where I left off on the mermaid. Yay! .

...I completely missed WIP-it Wednesday! I'll be glad when I can get back to a normal schedule, including a regular blogging schedule. This second cold has been a bear and has done a number on my brain. Plus I never realized the impact that going to the gym had on my general attitude. Moving my body and burning calories also burns out some of the stress. I haven't been to the gym in 2 weeks and I missed 3 yoga classes during that time.Now that the horrible cough is subsiding, I hope to get back to the gym next week. Speaking of the blog, I was getting tired of the blog template. I backed it up and I'm auditioning some alternatives. I sort of like the current one, but the image on the featured post is too blurry because the template's image size is larger than the original. And the picture-less posts look a bit forlorn in the block layout. So here's an obligatory photo so this post doesn't look forlorn (wisteria in our backyard). I'll be playing arou...

...I'm still on the mend, but I'm very tired of this whole cold-thing. To keep this from being a picture-less post, here is another flower that is blooming in our garden. This is a Bill Wallis geranium: The weekend was uneventful. We really don't celebrate Easter, and the Daughter was otherwise occupied. The Husband visited his parents in the morning and I went to the grocery store. I decided that we needed a real meal - protein, starch, vegetable, and dessert - which hasn't happened the last two weeks.  As far as the weekend's crafts, I did OK. I still have about half an ounce to spin on Mirabel [ Ravelry ]. And I'm working on the last square of the Christmas 9-patch cross stitch piece. As for the mermaid, I finished all of the seed beads on the bottom half of the chart. I won't place the treasures on this half until I'm closer to the end. The treasures are too bulky and will distort the fabric when I roll it on the stretcher bars. I hit...