So many hobbies!

Mendocino Shaped Shawl

I got tired of waiting for the yarn needed to finish the half circle shawl so I dug through the stash and found this handspun.  It's been a while but I think this is Merino/bamboo and just under 7 ounces of fiber.  The new project is the Mendocino Shaped Shawl.  I'm not sure I have enough yarn but since it's knitted top down, I'll just knit until I run out of yarn.

Decisions, decisions

This coming weekend, the girl's of my family are having a craft weekend.  We'll all meet at my parents' place and craft our brains out.  If the fabric I ordered arrives on time (it's coming from the west coast, Yen), then I'll be started my Christmas quilt.  I ordered these fat quarters for the greens.  I'll be doing a variation of the Log Cabin quilt.  Mostly green and white with red centers.  I'm hoping the fabric comes in at least by Thursday so I can start cutting.  It would be nice if I could have the cutting done and just start sewing when I get to my parents' place.  I'm still deciding on whether or not to use just plain white fabric or white fabric with white pattern.  I like the idea of white with a white print but I already have plenty of plain white fabric.  I have to weigh the look of the printed fabric over the cost of said fabric.  It's a toss up.

It's bigger

All I've done this week is work on the shawl.  I take it to work with me, knit before work and, of course, after work.  It's almost big enough to start the border.  If I'm lucky, I'll have the border well started by the end of the weekend.  Now the question is, what color should I use for the border?  I was going to use black but I'm starting to think that will be too much contrast.  I'm pretty sure I won't have enough of the yarn to use it for the border, too.  I'm open to suggestions.

Half-circle Shawl: version 2

Friday's version of the shawl got frogged back to nothing.  I started Version 2 Friday at lunch and worked on it all weekend.  The quilt has been cast aside until my obsession with the shawl subsides.

Next weekend is the Fiber Expo. I was planning on going but I really don't need anything and I certainly don't need to spend any money.  Still, it's a local fiber show and we should support our local fiber people.  Bah!  It's too early in the week to make weekend plans and I've been fighting a headache all day.  Going to bed early sounds really good right now.  Have a good week folks.

That Stinkin' Shawl

My sister just called to inform me that I'd managed to miss an entire row of yarnovers which meant my shawl had only three sections instead of the four it was supposed to have.  I have since frogged the entire thing and the shawl is in time out, at least until I can start again at lunch.  I haven't stopped laughing at what was a MAJOR mistake on my part, mostly because if I stop laughing, I'll have a temper tantrum and I haven't had one of those since I was four.

New shawl

Handspun I've had marinating in my stash for a couple of years.  I just hope there's enough for the whole shawl.  I'm entertaining other options should that prove not to be the case.

And the shawl so far.  This is supposed to be a half-circle shawl but it's looking more like a triangle.  I hope that point blocks out straight. 

Catastrophe averted

I’m in the mood to knit another shawl.  Last night I picked my yarn, then picked my pattern, then looked for my circular needles which are in two black binders.  They.  Were. Nowhere.  To.  Be.  Found!  I searched the bookcases in the living room, the bookcases in the bedroom, the shelves in the basement and then the bins in the basement.  No needles.  Then I searched the bookcases in the living room, the bookcases in the bedroom, the shelves in the basement and the bins in the basement.  Nope.  Nada.  Back up to the living room… I think you get the idea.  I could not find the damn things.  Back in the basement I checked the bins again since I was positive they weren’t in the living room or bedroom.  Nothing.  I called my mom and told her picking up and rearranging condos was stupid and I was convinced my sister had stolen them.  Mom laughed.  Then I called my sister and told her the same thing.  She laughed, too.  Still no needles.  Finally, I decided to sleep on it and hopefully I’d figure it out in my sleep.  Got up this morning and… nope, still didn’t know where they were.  Finally I went back into the basement and noticed a bin that had stuff in front of it and was supposed to be empty.  Desperate, I opened it up and, yes, there were the needles, put there by my sister in an attempt to organize my knitting things.   I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.  The needles came upstairs with me and will stay in the livingroom where they can be easily found.

Galen found a new bed

As for me, I spent too much time napping on the couch with the kids and not enough time quilting.  I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I did get a little quilting done but not really enough to post about.  Saturday I was at my Guild's monthly meeting.  I spent all day with my friends and didn't leave until 5:00.  We did a lot of talking and spinning.  It amazes me how conversations can flow from one subject to another.  We talked about everything from gay marriage to our ancestors.  My friends Eric and Terry went to New York and got married a few weeks ago.  Congratulations, guys! 

It's started

I haven't gotten very far 'cause I only started tonight.  What can I say; I got a novel from Amazon on Tuesday and went out to dinner with friends Wednesday.  Once I get the center pinwheel quilted, the rest should go pretty quickly.  I'm hopeful that the quilting will be done by the end of the weekend.  Then I have to decide on the fabric I'll use for the binding.  Should be fun!

The sandwich

The quilt sandwich is complete and the whole thing is pinned.  Now I need to figure out just how I'm going to quilt this thing.  Usually, I make/design a quilt that is easily quilted with a walking foot.  There are exceptions, of course, like the houses quilt, that really need special quilting that you can only get with free-motion quilting.  This time, I know what I'm going to do with the whilte background, but I'm unsure of how to quilt inside the blocks.  I'm leaning toward outlining the black borders in black and then just long lines in the color of each block.  I'm going to sleep on it tonight and see if something better occurs to me.  Suggestions are welcome.

I went with a friend to visit a new-to-me bulk food store that also specializes in emergency preparedness.  The owners were a husband and wife team.  As he was ringing up my purchases, I noticed that the husband was openly wearing a gun.  I had no idea you could do that in Michigan.  I told him the only people I'd ever seen wearing a gun were cops.  He then asked me if I had one, which I don't.  Guns scare the crap out of me.  He encouraged me to learn to shoot one and to visit a local gun range.  I admit, I'm curious.  Preparing for the zombie apocalypse is all well and good but all it takes is one person at your door with a gun and you're in trouble.  I'll think about it for a while but things in our country will have to get a lot worse before I go out and buy a gun.  I've already been warned that if I go out and buy a gun, my friends will stage an intervention to let me know that the preparations for an emergency have gone a bit too far.  Don't worry guys, I'm not there yet.