Livin' La Needle Loca

 ...who knew that I'd still be doing this 20 years later? I joined Blogger in 2006 as a trial: In the beginning, I blogged about 10 times a month. As I got the hang of it, I blogged more frequently, usually 3 or 4 times a week. I did a name change after one year to more closely reflect my love of crafting with needles and fiber. I started doing month-end and year-end recaps that first year, but recap posts didn't evolve into their current format until the following year.  Books started appearing in the September 2010 recap, the month I got my first iPad and started reading digital books. I started posting for Eye Candy Friday in August of 2006. WIP-it Wednesdays started in 2008. Life interfered a lot the last 6 years and my blogging has become sporadic. I still try to post on WIP-it Wednesdays and when I complete a project. My posts for Eye Candy Friday are not as consistent anymore. So, 2,789 posts (counting this one) later, here we are: still Livin' La Needle Loca!

...it's number 19. Wow. When I started this blog, I didn't have any idea whether it would last or how long. A lot of my friends who used to blog have all but abandoned their own blogs. I think I've kept up with mine for so long because it is a project journal. It's easier for me to type a quick post about my projects than it is to write something down. The last couple of years have been challenging, affecting many aspects of my life, including blogging. I've tried to post when I could, but many days I just wasn't feeling it. Dealing with my mother and my mother's estate has just drained me. Now that the majority of the estate has been handled, I no longer have to travel to Santa Maria every 5 to 6 weeks.I'm hoping to get back to some sense of normal and that includes more frequent blocking. Keeping my fingers crossed. Sunrise 1/1/2025

 Wow, 17 years blogging! It’s been hard blogging regularly for the past couple of years. I’m hoping that 2024 lets me get back to some of my normal routines.  I finished the Hip to be Square quilt - my first finish of the year. Specs: Started 8/28/2023 Finished 01/04/2024 No pattern Fabrics: Grunge Basics, Grunge Hits the Spot, and Grunge Seeing Stars fabrics by Moda

 …trying to blog regularly since 2006! This is a short post, but I wanted to acknowledge the anniversary of the blog.  No contests this time, I’m just happy I remembered to post. 😀  And I’ve managed to blog a few times this week. So far, so good!  

 ...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...

...14 years ago, I wrote my first post. It was kind of lame and short. 2,091 posts later - and a name change - and it's a little less lame. :) It's my online journal, project tracker, and a place to post some of my photographs. I have posted Top-of-the-Waves Tuesday, WIP-it Wednesday, Eye Candy Friday, and recaps. Over the next year as I settle into my retirement, the days I that I post might vary, but I'll try to keep Eye Candy Friday going. I'll have to see what makes sense. I don't want to spend extended periods of time on the computer, so shorter posts might make sense. To start off my new Blog year, here are a couple of finished objects. This is Chain, Chain, Chain Scarf [ Ravelry ] as modeled by Teddy: Specs: Started 12/23/2019 Finished 1/2/2020 Pattern: Chain Stitch Scarf, Bernat Design Studio Yarn: Bernat Bamboo Natural Blends in Wicker This is Holly Berries Handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 12/1/2019 Finish...

...the first time since I started the blog in 2006. The blog's 13th birthday was January 5th. To be fair, that was a Saturday and I don't blog on the weekends. However, the date did escape me until last night. Oops. I posted about the same number of times in 2018 as I did in 2017. That's good, but I missed several Eye Candy Friday posts - some because I ran out of time and some because I didn't have any photos to post. I like posting about my projects and posting photos. I have no plans of stopping the blog any time soon. 2018 was a rough year for our family and extended family. Because it's personal, I don't always blog about it. And some things are still on-going. So if I disappear for a few days, it's because we're dealing with some family issue. Thanks for reading!

...Happy birthday to the blog! It's 12 years old today! Blogging had been a bit more sporadic in the last year. The reducing my work hours even further (down to 34 hours per week) has made it even harder to carve out the time to write the posts. It's especially hard on Fridays because I only work 4 hours. Once I get home, all I want to do it work in my studio. The thought of working more on the computer is not as appealing! Anyway, I still plan to keep this up. It's my online journal, if nothing else. And there's always the eye candy. Here's this morning's sunrise: Up this weekend: I hope to finish the Christmas quilt so I can check it off my To Do list. I need to take some photos of the finished spinning object and more current photos of the WIPs. Mostly, I want to pack in as much craft time as possible. I really missed it in December! .

The blog is 11 years old today! I'm still enjoying the process. As an online journal, I think it's been very successful. It is very cool to be able to look back to see the progression of projects, the issues I encountered, and how well they turned out. Blogging on a regular basis for the last 6+ months has been a struggle, mostly due to a lack of time. it became particularly difficult when I cut back my work hours in November, followed by the madness that is the holidays. I hope with the new year, I can get back into a regular blogging schedule. I'm going to try to blog 3 days a week...they just might not be the same 3 days every week! So, keep checking back periodically. I'll continue to write about my trips and projects, and post photos of things that catch my eye, like this morning's sky: .

I extended the entry deadline by a day because I forgot to send out a reminder. You have until midnight tonight, 1/19/16 to enter the contest. To enter, comment on my 1/5/16 post by Midnight PST, Monday 1/18/16. The prize is 1 skein of BMFA Socks That Rock Lightweight in Wavelength. I'll draw and post the winner tomorrow, 1/20/16. Good luck!  . .

...blog and run. This is pink knotweed, a ground cover growing in our courtyard. Don't forget to enter my contest! To enter, comment on my 1/5/16 post by Midnight PST, Monday 1/18/16. The prize is 1 skein of BMFA Socks That Rock Lightweight in Wavelength. I'll do the random number thing and post the winner on Wednesday, 1/20/16. Good luck! Up this weekend: Spin-In tomorrow...yay! That is all... .

...can you believe it? I started this blog January 5, 2006 as a way to track my projects. I also wanted to share my projects with friends and anyone else who might be interested. Getting large numbers of followers was never my goal. The blog is a great way to gauge how a particular project is progressing, and it's fun to finally show a completed project. It's also my journal of how things are going with me and mine, at least in a general way. In the last year, I've thought about moving the blog to my website ( http://solarbrations.com/ ) and started to research how to do that. Obviously, I didn't get very far. For now, I'm leaving it here. I might move it later. So, how about a contest for my 10th Blogiversary? Leave a comment on this post by Midnight PST, Monday 1/18/16. (No, multiple comments will not give you multiple entries!) I'll do the random number thing and post the winner on Wednesday, 1/20/16. The prize is 1 skein of BMFA Socks Th...

...a little late for a first post of the year and I totally missed the first Eye Candy Friday. Obviously, I'm still not in the swing of things. Now that I'm back to work, there's a small chance that things will get back to normal! To make up for missing Eye Candy Friday, here is a photo of the Australian finger limes that we are growing on the back yard: The inside of the limes have caviar-like vesicles: If you put them in carbonated water, they look really cool floating up and down. The holidays were busy and I really had trouble getting motivated after Christmas. I never did get my Christmas letter written, much less mail out any Christmas cards. Maybe I'll get some New year cards out... I hope to post the December recap, followed by the 2015 year-end recap some time this week, depending on how much I need to catch up on from being out 2 weeks. And tomorrow is my Blogiversary! I started blogging in 2006...10 years ago! Can you believe it? So I'm ...

...today the blog is 9 years old. Wow! This is the longest I've ever kept a project (or any other kind of) journal. My blogging in 2014 was even more inconsistent than the previous year. I still documented my project progress, but just not as much. I'll have to check when I finish my year-end recap, but I think that I didn't have very many large projects this year, which means that my attention was scattered among little projects. If I have too many things to choose from, none of them get enough cycles, including the blog. I decided not to run a Blogiversary Contest this year because there were so few entries the last two years. If you were looking for one, sorry! Anyway, I'm happy to hit this milestone. I hope to get re-energized this year and blog a bit more consistently. I didn't work on my quilt over the weekend as I just wasn't feeling well enough. I managed to rally a bit yesterday and started deconstructing Christmas. I got quite a bit of the decora...

...OK, one day late! I started this blog January 5, 2006 as a way to track my projects and share them with friends and anyone else who was interested. I would have never guessed that I would still be at it 8 years later. My blogging has been a bit more sporadic in the last year and a half due to life and work getting in the way. But I'm going to keep at it because it is the best way to gauge how well or how poorly a particular project is progressing. It's interesting to go back and see where the problems were and how much I have progressed since then. In honor of my Blogiversary, how about a little Contest ? Leave a comment on this post by Midnight PST, Monday 1/20/14. I'll do the random number thing and post the winner on Tuesday, 1/21/14. The prize: 1 skein of Socks That Rock Lightweight in Fleur de couleur: This was the club yarn for the May 2013 installment of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club. (The mini-skein is not included.) Good Luck!...

....and the winner is (drum roll...): Congrats, ScienceJock!! You have won a project bag and a set of stitch markers. Please email your bag selection—abstract (on the left) or birds (on the right)—and your snail-mail name and address to: marie_novicki@yahoo.com    I'll send your prize to you ASAP. Thanks to everyone who entered! FYI: things are a little scattered today. If things settle out, I'll do a regular Eye Candy Friday post. If not, have a good weekend! .

...because Wednesday got away from me! As promised, here is the current state of Violet Needleroll (by Shepherd's Bush), one of my cross stitch WIPs: I'm having a heck of a time getting into this WIP, or any WIP for that matter. When it's cold, all I want to do is curl up in several blankets and watch TV. No way am I putting my hands out in the cold air! It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't I freeze all day in my office. All I want to do when I get home is get warm! There's a reason I live in California...I don't do cold. Here are the top 10 WIPs that I should be working on instead of watching TV: Violet Needle Roll (cross stitch) - Started February 2007 (see picture above). Midnight Rose Mitts [ Ravelry ](knitting) - I’m debating whether to complete this project. Originally I started it to use up the yarn leftover from the Midnight Botanical Cowl that I made for a friend. Now that Christmas is over, I can’t seem to get back into knitting them. ...

Leave a comment on my 1/7/13 post by midnight TONIGHT 1/16 to enter the contest. The winner will be announced on Friday, 1/18. The prize: One of these project bags and the set of 5 stitch markers. Good luck! .

...it was a somewhat productive weekend.  So here we go in no particular order. I baked Mexican Chocolate Brownies to take to Spin-In on Saturday and for a get-together on Sunday. They turned out very well and I'll be making them again sometime. I finished the 10 project bags that I started a week ago. I shared some of them with the spinners at Spin-In, which was my original intention. (Another hide-in-plain-sight project!) Here are the 10 bags I finished: I worked on a cross stitch project that has been hibernating since 2007. I'll post a progress picture tomorrow. I made the stitch markers for the Blogiversary prize (see below). I started spinning Navajo Turquoise, a merino top from the Yarn Wench .  I just realized that I don't have it logged into Ravelry yet. (oops!)  You can see it on her etsy site here . It's a lovely combination of turquoise, brown, and a bit or rose. ***7th Blogiversary Contest Reminder*** Leave a comment on my 1/7/13 post...

...at least for us. It's 43°F outside, way too cold for me; There's frost on all the plants and cars, and many plats are dead or dying. The only plant that seems to be happy are the paperwhite narcissus. They are still blooming away. This picture is from a couple of days ago: I like how the dew drops are highlighted at this angle. Up this weekend: Spin-In tomorrow! I need to survey my left-over Christmas baking supplies and make something to take. Also, I need to go through my 2012 fiber-y accomplishments and select some items for show-and-tell. I'm taking the project bags to Spin-In and have my fellow spinners select which bag to offer as the Blogiversary prize. I love all of the bags and can't make up my mind! I'm not quite finished with the project bags, but they will be close enough to done by tomorrow. I'm in the top-stitching phase and am really enjoying how they are all coming together. I love fast and easy projects! Yes, I'm ignoring my ...