Livin' La Needle Loca

...mostly because I missed Friday's post. :) We went to the Daughter's on Thursday. She had a minor surgery on Friday and was not allowed to drive herself home. So we went to spend the night with her and make sure she got home OK. Everything went well and we came home yesterday afternoon. By then I didn't feel like doing much of anything. While we waited for her, I knit a little over an inch on the Pure Comfort Cardigan [ Ravelry ]. I've knit a little more than 8 inches of the 11 inches called for in the pattern.   Blossoms are happening all over. I saw these almond blossoms in a neighbor's yard: In our yard, the blossoms started early in the month with the flowering plum tree: Now there are weeping Santa Rosa plum blossoms: And the Blenheim apricot tree started blooming: Today I'm taking a bread class with some friends. It should be fun! .

...in which mostly knitting happened. Worked on the Saratoga shawl during Stitches West. Worked on the cardigan on and off during the week. Finished repair #2 on the spinning wheel. I let the wheel sit upright for a couple of days after reconnecting it. Then I attached the regular flyer and let it sit for another couple of days to see if the additional weight would cause any issues. So far, the wheel is still upright. If I feel brave enough today, I'll test it out. I spent a good deal of yesterday finishing up my Macro Yubinuki class project. I pulled out what I had stitched during class and restarted it with brighter colors. I found it difficult to keep the stitches even at the edges. I resorted to a cross stitch technique to help the floss strands lay side-by-side: I separated the 6 strands, ran each through a thread conditioner, and recombined the strands before stitching. Here's the completed project: There are a few gaps on the edges and the stitching is not a...

...the short story is that I did not buy as much as previous years. I attended three of the four days, I skipped Sunday. I had a great time and met a lot of very nice people! Thursday: Picked up my registration; knitted and chatted with several new friends; met an old friend for drinks; and attended the market preview. One thing I wanted to do was talk to the people at the Calpaca booth. My brother-in-law and hie wife gifted me with two alpaca fleeces. Since I have no idea how to deal with raw alpaca fleece, I asked them lots of questions.  Both people n the booth have experience spinning raw alpaca fiber and made many great suggestions. I feel like I have a plan now. Friday: I did some shopping in the morning and spent a couple of hours knitting before my Macro Yubinuki class at 2pm. The class was very challenging and I really need to practice to get the hang of the technique. It was only a 3 hour class and I think a longer class might have been better. This is what I ma...

...and I'm getting ready for Stitches West tomorrow! I'm making good progress on the Pure Comfort Cardigan [ Ravelry ]: And I've finally gotten the lace edging finished on the Saratoga Calypso Shawl [ Ravelry ] The next few days will be all about Stitches West--I can't wait! WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the second sleeve. Earthdancer (cross stitch) Still working on the knee. Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Continuing to rearrange squares Pure Comfort Cardigan (knitting) [ Ravelry ] I've knit about 4 inches of the cardigan body Saratoga Calypso Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] I finished the lace edging--hooray! I'm now working on the shawl curve. Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing) Malachite (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Bear Paw pottery (ne...

...I didn't make it to the blog on Friday. I took photos of the garden Friday morning, but the photos did not turn out right. I have a new point-and-shoot camera and it doesn't react the same way as my previous camera. I pulled out the DSLR and took photos of the same flowers. These were much better shots. This is Borage: This is Alyogyne, an Australian flower: With Spring around the corner, I need to figure out this new point-and-shoot camera. There will be a lot more flowers soon! Saturday was Spin-In. but I didn't spin. My first wheel repair did not work. I am in the midst of repair #2 - I hope this one works! Instead of spinning, I worked on my knitting projects: Pure Comfort Cardigan [ Ravelry ] and Saratoga Calypso Shawl [ Ravelry ]. I'm happy to report that the shawl is working better this time. All it took was for me to rewrite the lace instructions in a way that I could understand. I was a technical writer in a previous life, specializing in ...

...and I've been bouncing between projects all week. Yesterday was a fix-it day. Spinning Wheel: After letting the glue dry on the connector for a day, I unfolded the wheel and screwed in the holding knob. I replaced the tension knob on the plying head, replacing the brake string at the same time. Sewing Machine: for the last couple of weeks, it's been displaying a replace battery message. Since I didn't even know it had batteries, I had to research where they were located and if I needed any special replacement batteries. The good news is that it just needed 2 AA batteries. The bad news was that one of the batteries leaked a little. I had to clean the battery compartment and cover to remove some dried battery gunk. Fortunately, it did not affect the battery contacts. After replacing the batteries, I used canned air and a brush to remove some lint from the machine. Alto's QuiltCut 1: On of the plastic holders broke a couple of months ago. I glued it back together ...

...this was a quick one. These are what I'm calling Toasty Slippers [ Ravelry ]: Specs: Started 2/1/2020 Finished 2/8/2020 Pattern:  Ballet-style Slippers by Kathy North Yarn: Patons Classic Wool in Plum Heather The color is a little more red that this photo. I think the second slipper is better than the first. For one thing instead of using only DPNs, I knitted the second one on DPNs and circulars. I used DPNs on the toe and heel ends and circulars on the sides. This made it much easier to deal with the long sides vs. the short ends and I was much more consistent with the decreases on the ends. If I made this pattern again, I'd use a smaller needle size for the ribbing. I spent some time yesterday replacing the hinge on my spinning wheel and re-seating the connector that holds the wheel open. I'm giving the glue on the connector ample time to dry. Hopefully, it will all hold together when I try it out tomorrow! .

...month 1 of retirement! Finished: 1/2 Chain, Chain, Chain Scarf (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 1/3 Holly Berries handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Merino-Silk (4.0 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 283.3 yds. chain-plied, 15 WPI 1/9 Mermaid Happiness Quilt (quilting) 1/19 Avocado Cozy 3 (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 1/23 Shimmering Points Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] 1/25 Turquoise handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Camel-silk (4.0 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 193.2 yds. chain-ply, 15 WPI 1/31 Valentine's Day (spinning) [ Ravelry] Merino-silk (4.0 oz) from Miss Babs in Jello Shooters Single plied with Madeira metallic thread in red and Plymouth Yarn Eros II yarn in color 3003 122.8 yds., bulky weight Books Pieces of Home, Tammy L Grac Christmas Bride, Susan Mallery Meant to Be Yours, Susan Mallery Last Day, Luanne Rice Silver Boat, Luanne Rice Little Night, Luanne Rice Little Woman, Louisa May Alcott Little Men, Louise May Alcott Jo's Boys, Louisa May Alcott Seabreeze Inn, ...

...that week went fast! This morning's sunrise was cloudless, but still beautiful. Things are starting to bloom in the backyard. Usually the first to bloom are the plum trees: I've been trying to get photos of this salvia for a few weeks. This is the first decent one I've taken: The Bracteantha is finally opening: I've spent the last few days knitting on the cardigan. I am a little obsessed with this project, to the point that I have to make my self stop to give my shoulders a rest. I haven't knit this much in a long time! I took a break from the cardigan to work on the slippers. I finished one slipper and it fits! I need to do the second one to complete the pair. However, between this project and the cardigan, my body is complaining quite a bit. I think it's time to work on one of my other - non-knitting - projects! .

...and I'm still focused on knitting. The Pure Comfort Cardigan [ Ravelry ] is still getting the most play. I worked on it at Craft Coffee last night. Here's what it looks like this morning: I spent a little time yesterday working on Earthdancer. While I love the piece, it has a lot of ecru, which is the equivalent to white in my world. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate working on white. I'm trying to take in in small doses so I don't get burned out on it. Another project that captured my interest was knitting a pair of slippers for myself. I tried one pattern using some stash yarn - I used the largest size in the pattern. I got almost to the end of the first slipper and it became obvious that it was going to be too small. Rats! I looked through Ravelry for another pattern that I could use the with the same yarn and found Ballet-style Slippers by Kathy North. I frogged the old slipper and started knitting the first ballet slipper. So far, I'm much h...

...and my wheel is in need of repair. When the wheel fell apart, the tension knob broke. I managed to put it in place and get the tension set-up temporarily. I unfolded the wheel and tightened it into place.  The wheel held together long enough for me to finish the art yarn. This is Valentine's Day: and a close up: Specs: Started 1/30/2020 Finished 1/31/2020 Merino-silk (4.0 oz) from Miss Babs in Jello Shooters Single plied with Madeira metallic thread in red and Plymouth Yarn Eros II yarn in color 3003 122.8 yds., bulky weight When I was done spinning, I folded the wheel and removed the connector, which was halfway out already. I removed small pieces of wood from the opening that I had used on the previous repair. I glued in new wood pieces. I planned on replacing the hinge since I had the wheel folded and I could access the area. However, I didn't know that the hinge screws required a special screw driver. Since I needed a new tension knob for the ply...