Livin' La Needle Loca

...trying to keep the momentum going, at least as far as doing an actual post. When it comes to photos...not so much. At Craft Coffee last night, I worked on Cozy Red Hat 3 (knitting) [ Ravelry ] for the Cozy Caps Campaign . I need to swap over to scarves soon, which means pulling out the rigid heddle loom. Maybe this weekend. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Mermaid Happiness quilt (quilting) Started 10/6/19; added two borders to the panel Cozy Red Hat 3 (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finished the ribbing and started the main portion of the head. In the Queue Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: Ancient Egypt Phat Fiber Sampler (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing) Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Malachite (needlepoint) Saratoga Calypso Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Shimmering Points Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hi...

...lately, a never-ending battle. As I mentioned on Thursday, I was taking a trip to my Mom's for the weekend. I left at 6am on Friday to avoid the traffic that always slows to a crawl between Gilroy and Salinas. I had no problems there, but the State has finally decided to repave 101 (it needs it!) and there were several areas where the construction reduced the lanes to one each way. Reduced lanes and construction means reduced speed limits. I seem to be the only person who sort-of obeys the reduced limits (read: I go 58 in a 55, 63 in a 60, etc.). I had some truck riding my rear bumper for several miles. I was tempted to tap my brakes, but his truck was so much bigger than my Honda Fit and there was no way I wanted him in my back seat. It was a little harrowing. By the time I got to Mom's four hours later, I needed a little down time. Before going to Mom's house, I sent to the park and took a little walk. It was still early enough that there were very few people the...

...it's been hectic. I've run out of steam most days, and sometimes completely run out of "day." I'm leaving tomorrow for a quick visit to Mom's. I'm sure the Husband will be happy to have some time on his own. Not much has been going on craft-wise. I started something new on the wheel only because I attended Spin-In on Saturday. I have no official photo of it, but it is in this photo: It's called Ghost Rider [ Ravelry ], a limited edition merino-silk top from Greenwood Fiberworks. I mostly have my studio back in shape. As a result, I felt the need to do to a little sewing and started a simple quilt. It's a mermaid panel that I bought from equiter.com a few months ago. I managed to take a few photos of the studio over the last few days. In addition to the above photo, here's the view towards my sewing machine and bookcase. My new desktop is behind the chair. It will hold my laptops and monitor. This is my stitching and spinnin...

...blog and run. Our backyard: a Lucky Lantern Red Abutilon: and a tuberous begonia. .

...and things have stalled a little, craft-wise. The project that has received the most play this week is another hat for Cozy Caps Campaign. This is the current state of Cozy Hat #3: It's loosely based on the Slouchy Beehive hat pattern by Flora Cheung. The other project in play is another Phat Fiber sampler - this one from October 2014 called Ancient Egypt. This sampler is a mix of spinning fiber and yarn.  No photos yet. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Ancient Egypt Phat Fiber Sampler Started 10/5; spinning fiber samples Cozy Red Hat 3 (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finished the ribbing and started the main portion of the head. In the Queue Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing) Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Malachite (needlepoint) Saratoga Calypso Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Shimmering Points Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Valley of the Heart's Delight...

and on a Monday, too! I've been working on my photo set-up in the studio and took a bunch of photos to test it. One of my tests was the Arcade handspun [ Ravelry ] that I finished on Saturday. and the close-up: Specs: Started 9/13/19 Finished 10/5/19 Merino-Stellina (4.0 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 233.3 yds. chain-plied, 13 WPI Even though I made good progress on the reorganization effort, it still looks like something exploded in the studio. It would help if I vacuumed in there, but I hesitate to do that until I'm done shuffling yarn, fiber, and paper from place to place. I'll be very happy when I can get rid of the 2 bankers boxes full of cross stitch charts. They are taking up space that I could use for something else! .

...the garden is definitely winding down. The Husband is busy pulling out plants that are past their prime. He has been harvesting melons for a couple of weeks. I saw this watermelon growing in the yard a couple of weeks ago: He harvested it over the weekend and cut into it: Here is a closer look on the inside. Some of my birthday plants are blooming. Here is the Zinna we planted in the courtyard: Up this weekend: I was to finish (or get close to finished) the reorganization of my studio. We have so much Goodwill stuff now, it's time to do a run. However, I don't want to do that until I'm sure that I've gone through most of my studio. It's time for me to switch back to crafts. I have one handspun in process that I want to finish plying this weekend. And I need to get back to the weaving project. In 3 months, I'll have enough time to work on my projects...I can't wait!! .

...such as it is. BTW, the book count at the end of September was 130. Finished: 9/15 Cozy Red Hat 2 (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 9/8 Contempo handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Merino-Tencel (4.0 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 220.8 yds. chain-plied, 14 WPI Books The Perfect Couple, Elin Hilderbrand  Vendetta in Death, JD Robb  Bridged, Kendra Elliot  Drowning With Others, Linda Keir  Sapphire Flames, Ilona Andrews  Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan  Minions and Magic, Debra Dunbar  China Rich Girlfriend, Kevin Kwan  Save Your Breath, Melinda Leigh  Archangel’s War, Nalini Singh Started: 9/13 Arcade handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] 9/15 Cozy Red Hat 3 (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Queued Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Works In Progress: Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing) Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting)  Malachite (needlepoint) Saratoga Calypso Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Shimmering P...

...man, I am falling down on the blog-job! There are simply too many things going on at work and at home. Work is super-busy and I'm just trying to keep up. By the end of the day, I am zonked and have no great interest in working on crafts. I didn't work on anything over the weekend except my studio. The Husband and I went to Target on Friday and bought a new 9-cube unit to replace two old bookcase units. The units came out of my daughter's room eons ago and are like 10 years old. They didn't work any more. I was able to repurpose  a 2-cube unit for now, but eventually, it will have to go, too. After looking at all the desktop options out there, we decided to make our own from a piece of white melamine board the Husband bought at Home Depot. He cut the board to the right length and width and I painted the cut edge that shows. I now have a custom top that will work for my computers! Adding the desktop and the new cube unit meant that I had to rearrange and consol...