Livin' La Needle Loca

...and it's raining! Finally!! Everything around here is looking pretty parched. Todays eye candy is some of the few flowers I found blooming today. These are all in the containers byt our front door: Up this weekend: Now that the Olympics are here, we plan on watching some of the events. I'm also participating in the Ravellenic Winter Games on Ravelry, so I'll be knitting or spinning while I watch. I've entered the WIPs Dancing, Flying Camel Spin, and Charity Curling events. Tomorrow is Spin-In and its time for my monthly "Ack! What am I going to take?!" attack. I guess I'll figure it out when I go to the store after work. I'll start my first entry in the Flying Camel Spin events at Spin-In.  While I watch the opening ceremony tonight, I'll work on my  WIPs Dancing entry, a hat I have in progress for Halos of Hope. When I finish that hat, I hope to knit at least one more for Charity Curling. It should be a busy craft weekend! ...

..I finished another WIP. But first, here's my Ravelympics count: WIPs Wrestling : 3 entered; 2 done Handspun Heptathlon : 6 (+1 alternate) entered; 1 in progress; 1 done Shawl Relay : 1 (+1 alternate) entered; 0 started (oops!) I finished the Wisterious Bootees that I started back in April. Here's the picture: Specs : Finished : 8/12/08 Pattern : Saartje's Bootees by Saartje de Bruijn Yarn : Dream in Color Smooshy in Wisterious Needle : size 5 Size : large (cast on 35) I'm happy I finished the second one, but I probably won't being knitting this pattern again for a while. It's an easy knit and the pattern is very easy to follow,. I simply didn't enjoy knitting the straps and I don't like how they turned out. Why knit something if you don't enjoy it? After work, I'm meeting up with a fellow Raveler to help her with her Ravelry profile and show her some of the cool stuff you can do. After that I'll go home and watch the Olympics and spin aw...

...yeah, I can't believe it either! Summer is not nearly long enough anymore... Today's Eye Candy Friday is a mix of pictures. In the category of "we just need a cat picture once in a while", here is Miss Sombra in a typical pose: She's always whining about something... Some flower pictures from the garden. Dianthus... Gnome Purple... and Ageratum. I went stash diving last night looking for more spinning candidates for Ravelympics [ Ravelry link]. Look what yumminess I found! This is Kilkenny 2, a Merino-Silk top... Andromeda 2, another Merino-Silk top... Plumcopper 2, also Merino Silk... and one of my favorite color combinations, Deep Night 2, a Falkland top. These are all from Yarn Wench ; I adore her colors! I don't know which to choose...they are all wonderful! Decisions, decisions! Up this weekend: finish the Midsummer Paradise socks. I have finally finished knitting the feet and am ready to do the toes! I am also going to look at my soap supplies and s...

...I'm tired, my feet hurt, and my wallet is empty. But I met lots of nice people, learned new techniques in my classes, and had a great time! Some of the highlights: The Ravelry meet-up and meeting fellow Ravelers. Getting my Ravelry passport stamped. There were several new-to-me vendors that I got to see that I probably would have bypassed except that they were in the passport. Fondling lots of hand-dyed fibers. Seeing the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Raven colors in person. Great classes I'm off to rest a bit and then take pictures of my new treasures. I'll be back with a stash post tomorrow.

... now I understand what everyone has been saying! It's not just the fact that you can load your info, look up patterns and yarns, and find people with like interests—it's one fabulous piece of software! It's very well thought-out. Yes, it is still evolving, but it is quite impressive. As a result, my lunch-time crafting has taken a backseat to Ravelry project loading and just plain wandering around in it. Since I haven't made any progress on the WIPs, I'll show you some old needlework projects instead. If you've been following along, I've been working on this seahorses needlepoint project (latest picture in this post ). I've mentioned that the canvas was printed wonky and that I much preferred counted canvas work. My favorite designer for counted canvas work is Susan Portra. I have done three of her smaller pieces and have a bunch of her designs in my stash. Her designs can be difficult to find, but I was smart enough to buy as many as I could find i...