Side Quest

The Basketweave stitch is super easy and very satisfying.  The slant will not block out.  Ask me how I know :P

I am stalling on the socks because I feel like they're going to be too big, and also they're going to be very long, and I think the intended recipient doesn't like long socks?  So maybe I need to choose a new pattern for the yarn.  That might be the appropriate solution.  These are my February socks, so you get an idea of how well I'm doing with my plan.  Alas.

Last week I told Jeff about a new yarn shop near us and he was insistent that we go check it out.  He is The Best.  While there, clearly I had to buy some yarn!  In looking at the yarn, it occurred to me that I could make a super cute, tiny baby sweater instead of trying to make a second annoying quilt, so I picked up this yarn to make this sweater.

I've had a couple of issues due to not paying attention, or just mechanical problems (sticky needle cable problems) so I'm in the body now, past dividing for the sleeves.  I had dreams of getting it finished this weekend, but we were just super busy.  I have 26 rows left in the body (I've done 42), and then the sleeves and it will be done!  I bet I can finish it this week, because there will be bus time!

Picture 1 is from Saturday, I started on Friday night.  Picture 2 is this morning.  I need to find some cute buttons!

                

After I finish this, I'm going to start on your sweater and work it into rotation with the blanket/shawl thing and whatever the future holds for the sock.  

We're going to DC to see Smallest dance again - Jeff is coming with me this time! - so that will be some good plane knitting time.  Jeff hasn't been to DC with me yet, so this will be fun.

Dance Gossip - you know how there were some dancers who were all put in that specific group in Swan Lake?  For the Four Seasons piece they're doing in May, all of those dancers have been put only in Fall.  One of the dancers (a roommate of Smallest) has figured this out, and is _not_ happy that she's in Fall.
Also, I think Smallest was going to go to more auditions in NY this weekend, but I didn't hear about it.  I'm wondering if that happened?

Here is a silly picture for you.  Did you see the Paris-Roubaix results?  

Lion in wait

I am slowly slowly making progress on the lion! I have discovered that it is a handy thing to do during meetings where I just have to listen, and also keeps me from speaking up when it would be better to stay quiet. I took it to a choir meeting last weekend that went on for THREE HOURS and I was very well behaved having my stitches to work on.

Sounds like I better learn the basket weave, because my canvas is starting to get a bit lopsided. I was hoping it's like knitting where you just block it at the end, but maybe not? Humph. 

Aside from the green forest, I still have to finish face, mane, a bit of the butterfly, two buds, and I think I will give the bird a different color eye (it's currently light green, totally invisible). I'm also still considering whether I should give him a row or two of mane around the top of his very bald head. It's so weird!!

Thanks for being willing to absorb my yarn! I will do an assessment with Evil Twin and see what should be sent off to the land of knitting. :)

I love the yellow socks. I'm sure if you want to knit 12 pairs this year, you can do it. :D

Renovations are also done, hooray! So I have regained access to my room and sewing machine. Good timing, too - the two pencil cases I didn't finish in time for Christmas presents for my team need to be made before I go see one of them in person in ~a week. 

- Catherine

No Lion Around!

I hope that work on the lion is progressing!  Do you know about Basketweave stitch?  It keeps your canvas from warping from the pull of the stitches.  He is a very handsome lion.  You should definitely put on new tape, or sew some fabric around the edges of the canvas.

I like the hat joke too.

Leave all the yarn out and I will bring home as much as you're willing to part with!  I will make things and send them back to you.

The canoe bicycle is pretty awesome.

What's happening here...

The storm was a nothing-burger in Houston.  It did, however, really mess up The Boy's travel.  Instead of going early, we sent him back two days late because there was no way to get him from Boston to school on Saturday.  The school shuttle shifted to Tuesday, so we did too.  The Boy forgot to change his flight though, so we had to buy a new ticket for Tuesday.  Grump.  Anyhow, he got there and all is well.  It's midterms for him now, and he'll come back Saturday for Spring Break.

I finished the socks for Middle and sent them off.  I gave them a bath before sending them off and didn't realize just how much the yarn relaxes.  I'm worried the socks are too big now.  I'll have to get some input about that.  Middle went to India for almost two weeks to visit a college friend in Delhi and had a fabulous time.  I'm looking forward to hearing about the trip!

I came to see you all just a couple of weeks ago, and that was fun.  I didn't knit as much as I was planning to because I felt so icky, but I have recovered and am making progress on things.  Last night I finished the back of the vest for Smallest, so now I need to block it, sew up the seams and put on the armhole and neck ribbing.  It would be great if I could finish that up before we see her next week!  Hopefully it won't take too much time.

With Tina at Winter Park

I got pressured into knitting something for church, and that's clearly going to take a while, so that will be my thing to work on when I'm not working on your sweater (which I will start after the vest is done).  I like the pattern, but I don't think I'm going to be able to memorize it like I have others.  

This will be a shawl/blanket thing.

I had planned to knit a pair of socks every month this year as well, but alas, I have already missed February.  I have flight time coming up next week, so maybe I can start then.  The blogger I follow who does this knits ten rounds a day (on each sock) to finish in a month.  I can catch up, and then try to maintain the pace?  We'll have to see.  I haven't been riding the bus since the crazy weather 

Smallest was telling me about costumes for Swan Lake.  She had asked for one size and the manager decided she should have a smaller size.  Here is the smaller size.  Smallest has thoughts about this.

Is Round Two of renovations nearing completion?  Are you happy with things?  

That's about it for me.  I will see you in 8 sleeps!  We will have All The Fun!

Margie

Lion in stitches

The yarn for the lion has arrived, and I have already determined that I ordered way too much of the gold and green - I'm almost halfway done with the body (those stitches without obstacles just fly by) and I'm not even halfway through the first skein. I'll have to think up something else to do with the leftovers. :)

When I first picked up the lion, there was masking tape all around the outside. However, it was many eons old, and fell off pretty quickly. So I am discovering the edge of the fabric is quite pokey! Rude. I may have to find some more masking tape and redo it.

No progress on things that require a sewing machine, but the renovations are making good progress and I'm hoping to reclaim the space in less than two weeks. Fingers crossed!!

Until next time, here is a silly joke for you: 

    What time is it when a lion takes your hat?

    Time to get a new hat!

- Catherine

I like needlepoint and I'm not lion!

Between arts & crafts time with Mom, hanging out while our brother finished a puzzle at my house, and weekend hexagon cutting, I have made some decent progress this week. 

First, here is the lion, now with ~half of his mane done, a tufty tail, and more of the butterfly border done (compare to when I first picked this up). Even more important, perhaps, I have gone online to try to track down the missing yarn for the remainder of the piece - three colors are ordered and on the way! I got 6 skeins of the yarn for the background - hope it's enough. I picked 'Forest green' from the few colors of this brand available - the pattern calls for "blue/green" but all of the other blues and greens I saw looked too similar to the flowers and birds already there.

I was also looking online for cross-stitch kits that might be fun for a beginner (a friend's daughter wants to learn) and ended up finding three patterns that were sooooo cute to order, and unearthing another kit in my closet that is also so cute. And I unearthed the mitosis fabric/pajama pattern. I have so many things to work on! Also while looking around the closet I realized I have SO MUCH YARN. I need to either come up with a real plan to use it or just send it off to you.

Second, here are 171 more hexagons! I finished cutting the fabric that was part of the papasan cover, and now I need to rewash the final piece of fabric because the cat has been lying on it (does he know that the recipient is allergic to cats? Probably - look at that evil expression). 

Finally, this has nothing to do with sewing, but I thought I should record it for posterity. I was out doing some errands this weekend, and got to witness some kind of bike protest go by. One person apparently didn't have a bicycle at hand, so rode by in this fabulous contraption:

Huzzah!

- Catherine 

So many sides!

I'm about halfway through with the hexagons! 300 already. I discovered that what I thought was two pieces of fabric was actually 4, but then accidentally burned a huge chunk of one of them by ripping out strips of 2" rather than 2.5". Sigh! 

I have another big chunk of the cream fabric (which used to be the bottom of a papasan cover I made in grad school), and then one more white; we'll see how close that gets.

We are also two days into the bathroom renovations, and hopefully mostly through with the initial VERY NOISY phase. It's especially noisy for me since the bathroom being renovated is directly through one of the walls in my office/sewing room. We'll see what happens when meetings and banging intersect. :P

It is so satisfying to make the hexagons, but I have a long to-do list for the weekend, so I've stopped myself for now. More soon, I hope!

I like your socks. :D Please don't freeze.

- Catherine

Will We Freeze?

 Happy hexagoning!  That's a lot of hexagons to cut.  So many sides!

Will it really take 6-8 weeks to do the work?  That seems like a lot, but then I guess there's a lot to do.  It's a good thing we're not competing anymore, since you'll be without stuff for a bit.

We had our front stairs replaced this summer.  They told us it would take a week or two.  They started in July and finished in December.  That was NOT two weeks.  We were not amused.  I hope your guys are better.

Yesterday was a bus riding day, and then we watched a new-to-us comedian so I got lots done on the second sock for Middle!  I have also included pictures of sock #1 so you can see how cute the pattern is.  The name is Effervescent, after the Fizzy Lifting Drink in Willy Wonka, so the holes are supposed to look like bubbles.  Very fun.

We are sending The Boy back to Vermont a day early, because of the potential mess with weather here in Texas.  There's also supposed to be a lot of snow in VT (9-11 inches), but I figure if he's in Boston on Sunday, the school shuttle will figure out how to get the kids back. 

I am hoping that we don't lose power, but I wouldn't be sad if everything was closed on Monday.  Reminds me that we should do some grocery shopping tonight or tomorrow. 

I will check in and let you know how the storm goes!

Margie