So many hobbies!

Sorry I've been gone

I'm sorry, I've been dealing with some things and I haven't been in a posting mood.  I took a break from life for the weekend, though, and had some fun.  Friday night I hung out with friends and Saturday I spun almost all day.  It's been cold in the mornings here.  Not cold enough for my down jacket that has a hood but too cold for for the fall jacket that has no hood.  Which has been making me really want a hooded scarf.  A year or so ago, I bought some 75% Cormo/25% Bombyx Silk roving from Foxfire Fiber & Designs.

The pin drafted roving was processed so well, I didn't need to look at my hands while spinning.  I watched several movies while spinning up 8 beautiful ounces of the stuff.  I've got two full bobbins.  I'm going for a 2-ply yarn ('cause you know I love plying) with the Cormo/silk for one ply and some 50/50 Polwarth/angora (that's been hanging around for more than a year, too) for the other.  I haven't started the Polwarth/angora yet.  This is the hooded scarf pattern I've picked.  (It's a Ravelry link so my apologies to those of you who aren't on Ravelry yet.)  I'm not too fond of white so the dye pot will eventually come out.

I picked up more fabric for future spindle boxes:

 

I'll get to making more of those later this week.  I'll try and post more often but I can't make any promises. 
 

Six more quarts

Today was a beautiful day for picking.  Not too warm, no humidity... it was great.  It's much more fun to go with a friend.  Alice and I was talking so much, it didn't feel like we were out there for three hours.  The bushes were vicious, however, and both Alice and I have scratches all over our arms.

The plan was to work on the quilt but it didn't happen.  Between napping, working on more boxes, a party at a friends and raspberries, there wasn't time for quilting.  I've got two boxes about halfway done but I need more elastic before I can complete them.  This is the third box from last week:

Sorry I've been away

I haven't been doing much besides sewing spindle boxes.  My only break was Sunday morning when I picked 6 quarts of raspberries.  I've also been dealing with the damn funk that keeps creeping back and when that happens, I never feel like I have anything interesting to say.  Of course, all I've been doing lately is sewing boxes, boxes, boxes, which doesn't make for interesting blog fodder anyway.  I managed to finish 3 boxes over the weekend except for sewing on the bottons.  Two are now completed and up in my Etsy shop but the third had one of the button loops come out and needs to be resewn.  These are the two completed boxes:

 

 

I've promised myself that time will be spent working on the quilt this weekend.  All work and no play if you know what I mean.  And there might be more raspberry picking.

Nothing too exciting

I'm sorry to say I haven't been doing anything terribly interesting.  I've been sewing spindle boxes and cutting out the components for more.  Much I'd like to, I haven't started on my next quilt.  I finished two spindle boxes last night and I've just put them up in my Etsy store.

 

This one was commissioned by Pat.

 

And this one is for anyone who wants it.  More will be coming.

The new girl

 

Here she is.  We had a fun evening sewing spindle boxes.  The sewing store people fixed my problems.  Turns out I didn't have the bobbin threaded quite right and I needed a stronger needle for the many layers I was sewing through.  Actually, I'll be using three different needles when sewing the spindle boxes, each one stronger than the previous one.  You can see one of them laying next to the front right corner of the machine.

I'm itching to start another quilt top.  I've been collecting orange fabric from the Fabric Shack and my local quilt store.  I'm going with more of a creamsicle instead of pumpkin.  Anyone got any scraps to share?  I'll be cutting 4.5" squares.  I may or may not have ordered a quilting book, I'm not saying one way or another since it will only prove that I'm completely nuts for taking on yet another hobby. 

Did I tell you that I've rented a booth at the Fiber Expo in October?  Between now and then, I have to make a whole bunch of spindle boxes and dye up as much roving as I can.  I'm saving the roving for cooler weather so I don't roast in my own house.  Any suggestions or requests for colorways?

I'm in mourning

My beloved Singer sewing machine has given up the ghost.  It was acting up so I took it in for a tune-up.  The technician said I've worn it out.  Things wiggle that shouldn't and the feed dogs that should be sharp are worn down.  I love that machine!  I feel like I've lost a friend!  I've made valances with that machine, quilts, clothes, spindle boxes and even a doll (who still remains naked so don't expect any pictures).  They don't make Singers like they used to so I have to buy something else.  I need a heavy duty machine that'll sew through lots of layers and still hold up to lots of use.  The first thing they showed me was a Bernina that they happily said was only $799 on sale.  <choke! gasp!>  I told them an $800 machine was out of the question even though it would last me as long as my Singer.   They showed me the next one down, which was a Viking, that was much, much less.  It'll only last half as long as the Bernina but I'll somehow find a way to live with the $500 savings.  <Sheesh!>  I'll be picking it up Thursday after work. 

This weekend it's peaches!  On the agenda besides freezing are Peach Salsa and Peach BBQ Sauce.  Both recipes are new and I love trying new recipes. 

 

Seli decided hanging out on the rug by the front door was a good idea.  Personally, I thought the couch was more comfortable.

I saw my first parade in years on Saturday.  Naturally, I didn't have my camera with me.  Apparently, it's tradition for the people in the parade to toss candy to the kids.  Let me tell you, those kids were vicious!  I felt a strong need to keep my limbs close to my body at all times.  The coolest part of the parade were the antique bicycles.  They had a number of bikes where the front wheel is huge and the back wheel very small, like this one. 

I'm working on my never-leave-the-house-without-it kit that hopefully will assure that I am never without a camera again.  I'm buying this camera which is supposed to take very good pictures while at the same time being very compact.  Everything will go into this messenger bag (the black one) that will hang on a hook by the front door so I can grab it on my way out.  So far, the contents of the bag are as follows:  camera, journal, an assortment of pens, double-stick tape, yearly calendar, thumb drive, either a knitting or spinning project, iPod, earbuds, and my wallet.  That's all I've come up with so far but I'm sure that list will be edited at some point.  I've been thinking for a while that I needed a bag like this with a standard kit.  Too many times I've been out and about and ticked off that I didn't have my camera or my journal or my thumb drive.  I'm hoping this will help me be more creative, too, since I'll be able to jot down any ideas that come to me.

 

I picked these up while on my vacation.  The town near our cottage has a very nice quilt store and these 1/2 yard cuts of fabric will become spindle boxes.  I should be able to get two boxes out of each cut.  My favorite is the one on the right.

Cherries are next on the calender for picking and that'll happen next weekend:  sour cherries for canning and sweet cherries for freezing.  My grandma used to can sour cherries and they were divine either blended into ice cream for cherry shakes or just poured over the top for a sundae.  Yummy!

Novels: the ultimate time suck

I found a new author I like:  Sherrilyn Kenyon.  Her books are found in the romance section at the bookstore but they're far more action than romance.  Yes, there's a smooch or two but there's actual plot (shocker) and lots of good action.  I picked up the novel "Acheron" Friday and I can't seem to put it down.  In spite of way too much reading, I still managed to cross a couple of things off my To-do list.

I was commissioned to make a spindle box:

 

She liked purple and green so I put the purple on the outside and the green on the inside:

 

I was hoping to start a beaded necklace this weekend to go with one of my new shirts but between the book and the box, I haven't even started picking out beads.  Oh, hey, I finally got my garden in.  I'm a bit late in planting but the weather's been so cold here in Michigan the last couple of weeks it probably won't make a difference.  In addition to the tomatoes, zucchini, green beans and basil, I also bought thyme and rosemary.  The rosemary will have to come inside during the winter (it's not a winter-hardy perennial this far north) but I'm hoping the thyme will make it through the winter in its pot.  I'd show you the pots but they're not very exciting right now; mostly just dirt or dirt with tiny seedlings.  They'll be more exciting in a few weeks.

If it warms up, I'll be picking strawberries and rhubarb next weekend and making jam.  The season's been delayed because of the cold.  It'll give me something to look forward to next weekend.

Happy New Year!

I feel like I should say something deep and inspiring about the new year but frankly, I got nothing.  My New Year's post last year was full of all that I'd learned since learning to spin but that learning curve was steep and I can't think of the new stuff from 2008.  What I did do in 2008 was join Spinner's Flock, my spinning guild, start going to Monday Spin Night and Wednesday Knit Night, and make a lot of new friends.  To me, that's much better than listing new knowledge from the old year.  I'm so much happier now that I have local friends to hang out and laugh with.  I still have a bit of a row to hoe in the happiness department but I think I know the way. 

I don't know why the new year makes you want to start with a clean slate but I've been finishing up some WIPs.  The couch quilt was completed a couple of days ago, I finished some roving at the spin-in yesterday (pictures after I've plied it) and today I finished a baby quilt that I started so long ago, I don't remember working on it.  I found it in my basement closet.  Like the couch quilt, it was already tied but needed to be bound.  We found out just before Christmas that one of my co-workers is pregnant - if she has a girl, I'm all set.

 

Today was also Dye Day.  I did two batches:

 

 

I'm eager to see how they turned out but I've just realized how terribly late it is and I'd better get my butt in bed. 

Oh, hey, I learned how to knit cables last year.  Cabling rocks!

Finishing and starting

 

A full cop and heavy enough that it's time to start a new one.  I've been working on it off and on for over a month.  It's been what I've been spinning on Monday Spin Nights.  Owen may be much easier to cart around than my Ashford Traditional but drop spindles are even easier.  Besides, for a couple of months now, all I've wanted to spin on is the drop spindle.  It's a phase, I'm sure.  I've been invited to a spin-in tomorrow and I'll be bringing both Owen and the drop spindle so we'll see which is more alluring.

     

The couch quilt I started nearly a year ago is finally finished.  I know, I'm slow.  The quilt was already tied but still needed the edging made and sewn on.  BTW, a couch quilt (my invention) is 3 feet wide and 6 feet long, perfect for stretching out on the couch without having your quilt dragging on the floor.  The outside is quilt fabric and the inside is nice, soft flannel - my personal favorite for quilts.

I started skeining up sock yarn blanks this afternoon to play with dyeing.  I got to use my yarn skeiner, after some doctoring to make it work better, and my new yardage counter.  The dyeing will probably be my fun on New Year's day.  I know, I'm a swinger.  I'll probably be in bed by 11:00 New Year's Eve, too.  No one lives a more exciting life than me!