Livin' La Needle Loca

...for a short week, it's taken way too long to get to Friday! Today's Eye Candy is brought to you by the Nimitz Neighborhood. My Sunday exercise is to walk around the neighborhood. Sometimes I walk at top speed and just get my 2 miles in as fast as possible. Other times I take my camera and walk at a slower pace so I can enjoy the flowers along the way. The elementary school has lots of lovely rose bushes: Some of our neighbors have beautiful roses, too. There are several of these rose bushes along this neighbor's front fence. This yard has salvia growing between some trees: Up this weekend: I need to get the living room back in order. Over the long weekend, the Husband decided to paint a wall that really needed it. It had been behind out tall bookshelves that we moved several years ago and we'd just never refreshed the wall. We had to empty the buffet so we could move it out of the way and take down all of the hanging pictures. He patched and pain...

...while it's still not an actual WIP yet, here is a look at the next mermaid. This is Mermaid of the Pearls by Mirabilia: In the picture, you can see the materials--Star Sapphire linen (32 count), DMC floss, Kreinik metallics, Mill Hill Beads, beads--that I need to start it. The next step is to press the folds out of the fabric and put it on the stretcher bars. Then take a deep breath and just start. With two more finishes last weekend, it's time to re-do the WIPs list.   WIPs in Rotation: Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) I have the floss, the beads, the treasures, and the fabric, I just need to start! Stealth project (knitting) It's a secret project for a friend Stormy Affection (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 8 pattern repeats (in the first section) done WIPs waiting for rotation: Love scissor fob by Shepherd's Bush (cross stitch) Queued: Wall hanging (weaving) using the natural color handspun I did last summer I've wound the warp yarn. Need to t...

...I was very productive over the long weekend! I finished the cross stitch piece called Hive: Specs: Started 11/16/13; Finished 5/26/14 Hive Monthly Musing by Shepherd's Bush I finished spinning Monarch [ Ravelry ], a merino-silk top from the Yarn Wench : and the close up: Specs:   Started 5/10/14; Finished 5/26/14; Merino-silk top (4.1 oz) from the Yarn Wench; 214.3 yds chain-ply; 11 WPI I also worked on a stealth knitting project. No details or pictures until it has been delivered to the recipient! It was wonderful having an extra day to craft and just hand out with the kitties. They have decided that my spinning wheel cover is the best thing ever and used it for nap time: Love those little fuzz balls! .

...and I'm so ready for an extra day off! First, the eye candy. The clouds last night were very interesting: We have dahlias blooming in the backyard: New flower to our yard are black petunias that look purple or red in the sunlight: and this Calandrinia spectabilis: Up this weekend: Three lovely days of crafting!  I'm not sure exactly what I'll craft, but it will be fun! Enjoy your weekend! .

...and I'm making progress on my Color Affection (Stormy Affection) shawl [ Ravelry ]. I've finished 8 of the first 13 pattern repeats. I'm having trouble getting a decent WIP picture at the moment (the gray appears to have a green tinge...), but here's a look at the yarn that I'm using: This is Cascade 220 fingering. So far, I like the pattern and it's still small enough to be a good take-along project. WIPs in Rotation: Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) I have the floss, the beads, the treasures, and the fabric, I just need to start! Monarch (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Spun about 1.3 of 4.1 ounces Stormy Affection (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 8 pattern repeats (in the first section) done WIPs waiting for rotation: Hive by Shepherd's Bush (cross stitch) Love scissor fob by Shepherd's Bush (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Going Snow Global quilt (quilting) Halloween Phat Fiber samples (spinning) [ Ra...

...it was a productive weekend. The vacuum monster and I took care of the rugs on Saturday. After a Target run for new sheets and towels, I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and organizing my DMC floss stash. I was really supposed to be pulling the floss for the next mermaid, but that required going through everything. This time I used zip locks to organize the skeins by number group so it will be easier to look for colors next time. I really need to stop buying duplicate colors! I already have way too many skeins of certain colors (do I really need 6 skeins of Christmas red?). As it turned out, I only needed to buy 3 additional skeins for the mermaid, meaning that I had 25 of the required 28 skeins in my stash. Cool! On Sunday, I finished plying Bloomfield Blues. Here it is: and the close up: Specs: Started 4/26/14; Finished 5/18/14; Bloomfield Blues Alpaca-Silk top (4 oz) from Royal Hare; 437.4 yds 2-ply, 20 WPI It's quite soft and just slightly ener...

...thank goodness the weather is going back to normal for the weekend. It's been way too hot the last few days! I have more flowers for today's eye candy. The following are recent additions to our garden. Purple verbena: Walker's Low: Naughty Nineties poppy: and borage: I have a few others, but I'll save them for next week. :) Up this weekend: Nothing specific planned. I have several household chores to do that I've been putting off, and my normal weekly chores (laundry...). I'm 24 rows into my Color Affection shawl [ Ravelry ] (named "Stormy Affection"). I'll continue knitting this project while I decide whether to start another mermaid or work on the other stitching projects in the WIP pile. I should also ply the Bloomfield Blues singles. And it would be good to spin more of the Monarch merino-silk that I started last Saturday. The loom and the sewing machine are calling me, too. Not sure what's going to w...