Livin' La Needle Loca

...blog and run. Catching up with some photos from the summer that still need processing. These are all from my neighborhood. Dusty miller: Pink roses: Red chard veins: and society garlic: .

...because that week just whipped by! I some finished items and a new list of WIPs to display. Here's a look at the 4-shaft Weaving Sampler [ Ravelry ] that I finished weaving at the beginning of the month: Specs: Originally started 5/1/16 Restarted with new warp 9/20/16 Finished 9/7/18 Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet thread (Size 3) in Maize and Blue, plus leftover yarn from other projects It's not the prettiest thing ever, but I learned lots about my loom and twill! I spent a lot of time picking and planning my next weaving project. While I was doing the thinking part of the planning, I did some more spinning. This is Bountiful [ Ravelry ], a Sparkle roving from Greenwood Fiberarts: and the close up: Specs: Started 9/14/18 Finished 9/16/18 Merino-Stellina top (4.0 oz) from Greenwood Fiberarts 184.3 yds, 2-ply; 11 WPI I also finished knitting the Stormy Weather hat [ Ravelry ]: Specs: Started 9/8/2018 Finished 9/21/2018 Pattern: Classic K...

...some crafting is taking place, but not nearly enough. It's that time of the year when the days are getting shorted and my need to sleep is getting longer. Or should I say, earlier. Last night, I fell asleep in my chair at 8:30pm. Falling asleep early means that I am not getting much done at night. Sigh. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Sewed the last two squares of feature fabric. Still struggling with the cross stitch square. I just can't get the chart to look correct. Maybe I need to rethink this square. Instead of cross stitch, maybe it should be appliqué...something to consider! Stormy Weather Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the body of the hat; nearly ready to start the decreases. Queued Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Mounted the fabric on the stretcher bars Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finishing work (Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornament.)...

...and the weekend report. With so many different things happening in our lives, I felt the need for a little calm and a lot of zen. Spinning is the best way for me to do that. I grabbed a braid of Greenwood Fiberworks sparkle roving. I started spinning Bountiful [ Ravelry ]  on Friday and finished plying it on Sunday. Yeah, I needed a lot of zen.   I have a routine phone call to my mother on Saturdays. Usually, we talk for about 20 minutes. This week we talked for an hour. Part of it was catching up with family stuff, but the other part was to tell her about the Ancestry.com DNA results I received for her. She's very interested to find out where her ancestors came from. It was fun going over the results with her. I can't wait to see what her 23andme results show.   I'm still cleaning up little dribs and drabs of things that Tica left behind. I found a few more of her paw prints on the arm of the sofa that I needed to clean up. Sigh. We miss her fuzzy face.   I ...

...blog and run. This morning's sunrise: The hydrangeas are becoming speckled: And the habañeros are going strong. Here's the Carnival handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the  close-up: Specs: Started 9/1/2018 Finished 9/8/18 Camel-Silk (4 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks Have a good weekend! .

....things are a zoo right now, both for work and at home. Here's a quick catch-up post for the WIPs. My Stormy Weather Hat [ Ravelry ] in progress: WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Started contrast color #5 in section 3 Stormy Weather Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the ribbing. Queued Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Mounted the fabric on the stretcher bars Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: Finishing work (Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornament.)  Look Through My Window quilt for me (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) Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch) Tucson Twilight (needlepoint)

...and the weekend report. I picked up Tica's ashes on Friday on my way home from work. They were placed in a lovely carved box and came with a tile that had impressions of her front paws. Aww! I wasn't expecting the tile because we didn't get one with any of our other kitties. It was a nice surprise. We will place the tile out in the courtyard in one of Tica's favorite spots.   Somewhere along the way, I caught a cold that started on Friday and got progressively worse as I moved through the weekend. It's a head cold, thank goodness, so nothing is involved below my throat. The coughing is a PITA, but I've had worse colds.   I was able to go to Spin-In without a problem. I had a baking fail with the brownies I made, but there were enough good ones that I had something to take. We got our State Fair spinning entries back. We also got to see the judge's comments and see our ribbon in person! Unfortunately, I was a little spacey and didn't take a photo o...

...Hooray for the weekend! Our garden is at that in between stage - not-quite summer and not-quite fall - and there is not much to photograph. However, I did receive two bouquets for my birthday, so you get photos of them. One thing that is blooming is this Cotyledon succulent in our courtyard: In the bouquet from the Daughter, there were yellow roses: And gomphrena: My sister and her husband sent a wonderful bouquet with tulips. The colors are very calming. Up this weekend: Spin-In tomorrow! I need to figure out a munchie to take. Spinning-wise, I'll take the Carnival camel-silk that is ready to ply. My last two feature fabrics arrived yesterday, so I'll make those squares sometime during the weekend. I need to get serious about cross stitching the last square. Chores and errands will round out the weekend. I still can't believe it's September. .

...nothing started or finished, but a lot of work on the WIPs. Finished: Nothing crafty Books: Whisper Me This, Kerry Anne King Invasion, KF Breene A Flicker of Steel, Steve McHugh The King Tides, James Swain Aimless Witch, Shannon Mayer Wild Hunger, Chloe Neill A Killer's Mind, Mike Omer Siege, KF Breene How to Dance an Undead Waltz, Hailey Edwards Captured by Magic, Linsey Hall Started: Nothing Queued Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Finishing work (Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornament) Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) 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 ] Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cr...

...and a finished object! Here are a couple of photos of the completed Rosewood Wrap ( Ravelry ). The entire wrap: and the detail shot: Specs: Started 3/18/17 Project reset 8/11/18 Finished 9/3/2018 Warp and weft: Blue Heron rayon-metallic yarn in Rosewood Weft accent: Muench Yarns Cleo yarn in 38152M colorway 10 dpi; epi TDB I need to measure it for width, length, and epi to finish its documentation. While I had the camera out, I took a photo of the finished singles for the Carnival handspun [ Ravelry ]. It feels good to make progress on my WIPs! WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Ready to start contrast color #5 in section 3 Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Still working on the cross-stitched square; waiting for the last 2 feature fabrics 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Finished the last bobbin of blue and decided to keep weaving on it for a bit to get more practice before starting another project ...

...and happy birthday to me! I'm working a half-day today to give me a little extra time in the studio. Even though I was in the studio a good deal over the long weekend, I never get enough! Here's a recap of what I accomplished during the 3.5 days of my weekend. As I'd planned, I got the kitchen floor mopped and got rid of the last few Tica paw prints. :( I ran both kitchen rugs through the wash and it's looking much better. Also as planned, I vacuumed the bedroom carpet. I didn't get to the living and dining rugs as Sombra was so upset about the vacuum monster, I didn't have the heart to keep running, The Husband had done those rugs not long ago, so they can hold for a few more days. I finished weaving the Rosewood Wrap ( Ravelry . I wanted to do twisted fringe, but after doing a few, I didn't like how it looked. I ended up with a simple fringe - knot at the top and then everything loose. I need to take photos.  I folded up the rigid heddle loom for...