Livin' La Needle Loca

 ...after a rainy week. This morning there were raindrops everywhere.  And the tangerines were reflected in the raindrops.

...and it's been another week of bouncing between projects. I've resurrected the shawl project that's been languishing in its project bag. I finished the first round of the pattern sections. I need to repeat them once more. I'm happy with the way it looks so far. This is Marionberry Shawl [ Ravelry ]: WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Marionberry Shawl [ Ravelry ] Finished the first round of pattern sections. Pure Comfort Cardigan (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Knit a little more of the shawl collar. I haven't measure it recently. Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Finished the arms. Working on the hair and upper body. Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) Finished the upper left section Works In Progress: By the Sea needle roll (cross stitch) Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting)  Illusion hexagons [ Ravelry ] Malachite (needlepoint) Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross sti...

 ...35 years married and 40 years together. We can't have the celebration that we wanted because COVID. But, we will have a celebration when we can, whether that's in weeks or not until next year.

...and a finished object. I love taking photos of raindrops on plants and trees after it's rained. Here's one hanging from the apricot tree: and in some nasturtium leaves - they look like pearls. :) I also liked the way this blue glass globe hanging from the apricot tree: I've been trying to finish spinning all of the Phat Fiber samplers that I've purchased over the years. I find them challenging because of the types of samples that are frequently included. I don't like spinning Cotswold locks (or any locks, for that matter), and the size of the premium samples included (like camel-silk) are far too small to spin on the wheel.  I haven't been happy with the way I store each of the spun samples. Mostly, I've been wrapping them around old business cards. This time, I think I've hit the right mechanism. I wrapped the business card around a pencil to make a tube, and then wrap the spun sample around that. They are much neater...

 ...and Inauguration Day.  I've made good progress on Tucson Twiligh: I'm also making good progress on the  Renaissance Mermaid: I've been watching the inauguration coverage since I woke up this morning. While I watched, I worked on the shawl collar for the Pure Comfort Cardigan [ Ravelry ]. I'll probably keep the CNN coverage playing as I move on through my day. I have hope again. 🕊 WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Pure Comfort Cardigan (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Knit more of the shawl collar - 8.5 inches completed Summer Solstice Phat Fiber Sampler Worked on another sample Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Working on the hair and arms. Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) Finished the large motifs and getting ready Works In Progress: By the Sea needle roll (cross stitch) Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting)  Illusion hexagons [ Ravelry ]  Malachite (needlepoint) Marionberr...

...same stuff, different day. I'm still taking photos of sunrises. I'm still working on the mermaid and the sweater. I'm interspersing them with the Tucson Twilight needlepoint project and a couple of smaller cross stitch projects. I'm fighting start-itits. I want to start a tapestry project. And a new quilt. And...

...another week has whipped by. Our garden doesn't have a lot blooming right now, other than the stray nasturtium or marigold. However, the sunrises bring beauty every day. Today, Cassia performed her latest magic trick - she got upstairs into the loft without moving any of the barriers. Of course, she couldn't figure out how to get down. She was crying piteously and trying to figure out if she could jump down into the living room. Thankfully, she didn't try as the drop is at least 9 feet!  We gave up and removed the baby gate and other barriers. It wouldn't take her very long to teach Canela how to bypass everything. We're better off letting them use the stairs to get up there. Sigh...they grow up too d=fats!

...first year of retirement! I read fewer books this year, but finished many more cross stitch projects. Finished: Christmas Baking, etc. Mexican Wedding Cookies Spritz cookies Grand Marnier biscotti Learned how to make sourdough bread and baked many loaves of bread Sourdough sandwich bread and rolls Knitting 1/2 Chain, Chain, Chain Scarf 1/19 Avocado Cozy 3 2/8 Toasty Slippers 4/30 Saratoga Calypso Shawl 10/14 Hooded Baby Cardigan Needlework 5/13 Bee Joyful scissor fob 5/30 Earth's Delight pincushion 6/3 Tiny Garden scissor fob 6/22 Tiny Garden needle roll 7/15 Ghosts Gather scissor fob 7/28 Tie-On October pillow sham 8/2 Have Ewe Any Wool pin cushion 8/20 Wee Seashore mini 8/23 Christmas Foursome pillow 8/30 Spooky Sheep mini 9/6 Pumpkin scissor fob 9/9 Sparrow scissor fob 9/14 Mermaid Sampler 9/17 Hunt mini pillow 9/22 Frightful Halloween pin cushion 9/26 Mary and Joseph Christmas ornament ...

...and a finished object. I found an old crewel project that I started when my daughter was a baby (1978-ish). It was one of three crewel kits that I bought to make and frame for her room. They all had inspiring sayings on them. In working on this project, I remembers why I transitioned from crewel to cross stitch: I don't enjoy working on this type of base fabric and using Persian wool in this application. Persian wool is great for needlepoint projects, though. This is Best Things: Specs: Started circa 1978 Finished 1/12/2021 Found this project buried in a box. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: By the Sea needle roll (cross stitch) Finished another rows of the sampler. Pure Comfort Cardigan (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Knit about two inches of the shawl collar Summer Solstice Phat Fiber Sampler Started 1/12/2021 Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Still working on the hair and torso. Tucson Twilight (need...

 ...so many things in progress! I'm trying to pull together my year end recap. I'm having a little trouble settling on the best tool to use to combine 12 recaps into one big post. I think I used FrameMaker last year, which means firing up my Windows laptop. Guess I'll have to do that since my old version of Word isn't doing the job on my Mac Mini. I've managed to kick-start my rotation. So far this week, I've worked on the mermaid, the sweater, my needlepoint project, an old crewel project, and the By The Sea cross stitch sampler. One long-standing home project is fixing a broken drawer in my dresser. I finally fixed it this week. After fixing it, I went through everything stored in that dresser and got rid of items I no longer need. The cats continue to be challenging - their curiosity and relentlessness are amazing! They've been kicked out of my studio several times because they...

 ... Finished: 12/31 Citrus-Seaweed Salt Scrub (spa products) 12/31 Eucalyptus-Peppermint shower melts (spa products) 12/30 I Saw 2013 Christmas ornament (cross stitch) 12/22 Do You Hear 2012 Christmas ornament (cross stitch) 12/11 Christmas ABCs 2011 Christmas ornament (cross stitch) 12/10 Finishing work for cross stitch projects (sewing) 12/7 Beaded Sheep ornament (sewing) 12/5 Finishing work for bead ornaments (sewing) 12/2 Earth's Delight 2010 Christmas ornament (cross stitch) Books Archangel”s Sun, Nalini Singh The Friendship List, Susan Mallery Stealing Home, Sherryl Woods Proof of Life, Hailey Edwards NYPD Red 6, James Patterson Heart of Malice, Lisa Edmonds Heart of Fire, Lisa Edmonds Started: 12/31 Citrus-Seaweed Salt Scrub (spa products) 12/31 Eucalyptus-Peppermint shower melts (spa products) 12/29 I Saw 2013 Christmas ornament (cross stitch) 12/19 Do You ...

 ...first finish of the year. This is Arizona-Seafoam [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 1/2/2021 Finished 1/7/2021 BFL (4.0 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 79.2 yds. chain-plied, 8 WPI Our kittens are almost completely grown. This is Canela: and Cassia: They are still trying to get into everything! I'll be so glad when they've grow out of this phase!

...and day 300 of Shelter in Place. I've been working on the first spin of the year a little haphazardly. I have about one ounce left to spin. This is Arizona-Seafoam handspun [ Ravelry ]: I'm trying to re-establish a project rotation routine. We'll see whether I can keep it up! WIPs Roll Call Worked On: By the Sea needle roll (cross stitch) Finished 3 rows of the sampler. Back on track! Pure Comfort Cardigan (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finished picking up stitches for shawl collar. I had a cable fail on the circular I was using - the end puled off! Fortunately, I was able to pick up the approx. 20 stitches that had been dropped. Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Still working on the hair. Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) Started working on the square stitches in Caron Wildflowers. Works In Progress: Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting)  Illusion hexagons [ Ravelry ]...

 ...and I'm still posting regularly (mostly). I've just finished my first year of retirement. Looking back over the last year, I've managed to keep posting twice a week. My goal of not spending a lot of time on the computer fell by the wayside as the pandemic happened. I spend probably 3 hours on my desktop paying bills, blogging, and processing photos. Within a few days of our first stay-at-home order in March, I started photographing the sunrise and posting the photos on Facebook. If the sunrise was particularly beautiful, I took several shots. Photo-processing takes the most computer time each day. I thought I'd be spending computer time keeping my blog, Ravelry, Instagram, website, and database updated. In reality, the database and website have been mostly neglected, with Instagram also suffering.  The last three months have been mentally exhausting and I've let several things go. I've experienced some project ennui and have...

...after the holidays. We took our tree down this morning and took it to our storage unit. We did a quick rearrange of the furniture. We'll go with this arrangement for now just to get back into a something close to normal. I still need to wrap up the ornaments and other decorations. I'll work on them tonight while I watch TV. I finally gave into the urge to start something new. I began spinning Arizona-Seafoam, a BFL-Heathered top from Greenwood Fiberworks. It felt good to get back to spinning. I was happy to see a wonderful sunrise this morning before the rain started. Looking forward to more rain - we really need it!

 ...I have a great deal of hope for better times ahead. We have very few things blooming right now, other than marigold and nasturtiums that are growing like weeds. These zinnias popped up under the cherry tree. I decided that my final projects of the year would be a couple of spa products. I wake up every morning completely congested. My sinuses eventually drain and I'm fine for the rest of the day. I decided that I would help things along by making some eucalyptus shower melts. I combined eucalyptus and peppermint to make these Eucalyptus-Peppermint Shower Melts.   I tried them out this morning and determined that I needed more eucalyptus. I'd put in a good quantity when I made them, but I need extra because my shower is open - I have no door or curtain to close to keep the steam in. Right before I use the next melts, I'll add a few more drops of essential oil. With all of the handwashing this last year, my hands are completely...