Livin' La Needle Loca

...and the garden is finally coming alive! We have yellow freesias Red freesias Apricot blossoms Nectarine blossoms For Christmas, my Aunt sent an amaryllis gift from Harry and David. The bulbs were barely peaking out of the soil when I received them. I've been babying them in the kitchen ever since. Anyone who really knows me understands that I don't do well with plants. The Husband is the gardener because I tend to kill everything. I managed to keep these bulbs alive and they finally bloomed this week! After keeping them in the kitchen for another couple of days, we moved the container to the backyard, where I can see them from the bedroom window.

 ...and I just today realized that I hadn't posted it. Oops! Finished: 1/3 To All a Good Night (cross stitch) 1/12 Primrose Path mini(cross stitch)  1/15 Cherub Garden mini (cross stitch)  1/16 Gladiolus Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Merino-bamboo-silk (4 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 200.5 yds. chain-ply, 13 WPI 1/21 Bring Us Good Cheer ornament (cross stitch)  1/31 Melt the ICE Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Books: Witch on Probation, Kim Richardson Veiled Justice, Heather G Harris Mystic Justice, Heather G Harris Starlight at Midnight, Katie Winters Magical Misconduct, Kim Richardson Arcane Justice, Heather G Harris Witch Under Fire, Kim Richardson Beach Cove Home, Nellie Brooks Beach Cove Inn, Nellie Brooks Beach Cove Sisters, Nellie Brooks Beach Cove Secrets, Nellie Brooks Tears of the Falls, Elle Gray Shadow Witch, Kim Richardson No One Knew, Kendra Elliot Son Shine, Hope Callaghan...

... and it's another slow week of progress on the studio. It's getting there, but not nearly as quickly as I'd like.. They finally installed my new exterior entrance door, which makes it possible to lock the area. Before the door, they were covering the opening with a screwed-on piece of plywood. We talked about the recessed lighting last week and today they started installing it.   In the meantime, I've been going down many research rabbit holes in Google while I look at potential storage pieces to replace some of my old furniture. We discovered that we need to put my worktable on casters so it can be moved out of the way when we have guests in the room. When we open the Murphy bed, it will be too tight to leave the table in place. This is what my worktable looks like now. We can't add casters to it yet because it's still in the POD. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Morgana (cross stitch) Finished replacing the Waterlilies Fir st...

 ...and I really enjoyed spinning while watching ice skating. This is Midnight Amethyst [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 2/12/2026 Finished 2/19/2026 Merino-silk (4.0 oz.) from Wonderland Dyeworks Ravellenics 2026, Event: Freestyle Spinning I wouldn't exactly call its color "amethyst" as I thinks that it should be more purple than it is. However, with handspun, I usually keep the name that the dyer called the fiber. So, Midnight Amethyst it is.  

 ...blog and run. The Husband bought some columbines to plant in the backyard: It's good because, while the garden looks lush from the bedroom, there's very little color right now.  I hope he buys more flowers because I'm really missing the color righ now.

 ...and sometimes it's been too cold and rainy to do much more than trying to stay warm. When the construction crew is working on my studio, I have to stay out of the living room because it's too noisy to try and work in there. I'm exiled to my bedroom, next to the sliding glass door. The slider really amplifies the cold even though it is a double-paned window.  Yesterday, I finished spinning the singles for Midnight Amethyst Handspun, bundled up in a blanket that I carefully wound around my legs so it wouldn't impede the spinning wheel. Brr! ☔ WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Morgana (cross stitch) Still working on replacing the Waterlilies Fir stitches.  Midnight Amethyst Handspun [ Ravelry ] Finished singles. No Work This Week: California Red Poppy Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  My Recipes (cooking)  Website (other)  Queued for Starting Moon Lets Sun Shine (or Luna y Sol) quilt (quilting) Ready for Finishing: Finis...

...yay! Spinning is the perfect thing to do while watching Olympic figure skating. I can easily shift my attention to the TV while my hands rely on muscle memory to continue spinning. This is Waterlily Handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 2/10/2026 Finished 2/1/2026 4.0 Merino-tencel (4.0 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 185.4 yds. chain ply; 13 WPI I started another handspun, but I'm not sure whether I'll enter it into Ravellenics.

...and I'm working away on my Ravellenics projects. Unlike Tour de Fleece, I usually participate in Ravellenics without a team. Not many of my spinning buddies participate, and the existing teams really don't match with my interests or group affiliations. Anyway, now that I've finished my WIP Dancing entries, I'm working on my Freestyle Spinning entries. I spun Meriadoc Handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 2/5/2026 Finished 2/9/2026 4.0 oz Polwarth-silk from Into The Whirled 162.5 yds. chain-ply; 11 WPI  I've started a second handspun, but it might be the last one for this event. I'd like to get back to the mermaid now that I've completely removed the Waterlilies silk stitches that looked muddy. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Morgana (cross stitch) Finished removing Waterlilies Fir stitches and restarted the stitching. Waterlilies Handspun [ Ravelry ] Started 2/10  No Work This We...

...cross stitch and knitting for Ravellenics 2026. I finished Collector's Heart 2026. I did not use the ribbon included in the chart pack and I changed the position of the year: Specs: Started 1/22/2026 Finished 2/6/2026 Collector’s Heart 2001 chart pack from Heart in Hand Needleart For Ravellenics 2026 in the WIP Dancing event, I finished two sets of Melt the ICE Badges - 3D [ Ravelry ] and the flat version [ Ravelry ]: Specs: Started 2/5/2026 Finished 2/8/2026 Pattern: Melt the ICE Badge - 3D and Melt the ICE badge 1.2, by Hasani Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Harvest Red 

...some progress, but getting tired of cross stitch. I can't wait until the Ravellenic Games start in a couple of days. I'm ready for some spinning. The construction guys working on the studio remodel have been doing a lot of noisy work, making it difficult to work in the living room. I can't hear the TV and I can see them working in my peripheral vision. It's very distracting, so I work in my bedroom. The set-up there is not ideal, but I do what I can. Because I need the lighted magnifier to work on the mermaid and it's a pain to move from room to room, I leave the mermaid in the living room. I work on small cross stitch projects and knitting when I'm in the bedroom. I finished knitting my first Melt the ICE hat [ Ravelry ]: Specs: Started 1/23/2026 Finished 1/31/2026 Pattern:  Paul S. Neary, Needle & Skein in Twin Cities, MN Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Harvest Red  This hat has been promised to a friend. I've s...