The Big Finish

Regrouping Yet Again

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:15:00 +0000

I'm not even gonna go through all the apologies and excuses for not posting on the blog for almost 3 weeks now. Life's just funny sometimes, and I'm in one of my periodic regrouping modes.

First up, I can now tell you about the three Stealth Projects that I finished in the last couple of months. They were all gifts for the soon-to-be-born grandson (in two weeks, more or less!!!) I knitted him a pair of tiny socks and a pair of tinier mitts, and I finished a quilt I had started some time back. It was a sample for a class I taught when I worked at a quilt shop, and all I had to do was quilt and bind it. I want to make Baby X something just for him, so I feel a little conflicted about using the top I'd made all those years ago, but on the other hand it was kind of neat to use something that had a lot of memories in it. He won't care either way--I'm sure he'll be an equal opportunity poop-on-the-quilt baby whether it was created just for him or not. I also found a cute sock monkey that I put in the gift bag. I have a feeling that Daddy X wanted it for himself. He has a thing about monkeys.

Do I have pictures of these items? What do you think? (Big hint to Daddy X: Take pictures and email them to me!!)

I'm still behind on the "52 Projects" plan because, as I suspected would happen, I've burned through all my quickie UFOs and am now stuck with a lot of BSPs. That's ok, though, because I've put them into a rotation so I get to each BSP at least once a week or so. Maybe I should lower the goal and make it "26 Projects in 52 Weeks." Yeah, that's more like it. I'll give that a shot.

So, the regrouping thing. I'm doing a lot less on line these days. I've pretty much stopped posting on Plurk, and my Ravelry presence is way down as well. I want to make better use of my time now that I don't have to go out to work. It's been too easy to get on the computer and putz away a couple of hours. Those are hours I would prefer to spend in Real Life, doing things like playing the violin, reading, or actually doing something with a friend. That last thing is the hardest for me because I just don't get out and about a whole lot, and when I do I'm usually alone. I need to get out of my "hermit" rut, and I know that will be the hardest thing for me to do. I kinda like my hermit rut. But I know it's not necessarily good for me. Soooo...time to get out of the comfort zone a little. Not that I plan to turn into a social butterfly or anything. I'd really rather stay home and knit.

Trying to Catch Up

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:22:00 +0000

I really do not understand how the days slip by so quickly. I could have sworn I just did a post a couple of days ago, but it's been more than a week. I've gotta start keeping better track of time.

On that note, here's a catch-up post from our vacation mumblemumble weeks ago. We headed south on Saturday, October 17, and the first stop was in Dry Ridge, Kentucky at The Quilt Box.

It's located at the end of a winding dirt road, and the setting is just gorgeous.

I did what I do best, namely, shopping for fabric:

The shop cat kept me company:

Meanwhile, The Husband relaxed outside, where there's a bench conveniently located for relaxing and enjoying the view.

I took more pictures inside, including one of the three gracious ladies who kindly cut my fabric choices into fat quarters, but you know how my picture-taking skills are. FAIL.

It was a lovely way to start our vacation, and I left with a bag full of lovely quilt fabrics. No, there's no photographic record (I know, I'm sorry!!) but I can assure you it's worth a trip if you love quilting and shopping for fabric. They don't have a website, but here's a link to help you find them. I don't know what the hours are, so you may want to call first to make sure of the time they're open.

In other news, I'm still trying to finish projects, which is slow going, but I'm making a little headway. Next time I'll have some pictures, even if I have to bribe The Husband to take them for me.

Frustration Abounds

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:21:00 +0000

I've gotten some dyeing done recently, and need to get the pictures taken so I can upload them to Etsy. The Husband helped me find the right settings on the camera so I could do them myself, so today I got up determined to get the pics and update the shop. Epic FAIL.

Now, I think of myself as a pretty patient person. I just finished a 5-inch quilt block that contains 32 pieces, so you can imagine how small and fiddly each little piece was. No problem. I hand quilted and trapuntoed a queen-size quilt for my brother and sister-in-law a few years ago. Loved it. I've knitted lace shawls with super-cobweb weight yarn. What a blast. So in some areas of life, I hold my own against what would drive the normal person completely nuts.

Not so photography. I fussed and fiddled with the camera this morning, called The Husband to ask for help, fussed and fiddled some more, then realized I had better just put the camera down and leave it for him to do this evening. I hate to admit defeat, but as I was getting the strong urge to throw the darn thing as hard as I could, I figured walking away was the option TH would suggest.

So no Etsy pictures today, which really bugs me because the Phat Fiber boxes with my samples in them should be arriving at people's homes, and I don't have (in my opinion) enough stuff listed. Just thinking about my inability to figure out the stupid camera makes my blood boil and my teeth clench. I think I'll go piece some more 5-inch blocks. I'll feel better.

Thank you, Joshua Bell

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:10:00 +0000

Ok, so I know I've been away from the blog for too long. I still haven't shared any pictures or stories about the vacation and the trip to SAFF. They're coming--we finally got what we needed to be able to upload the pictures from the camera, so I'm partly there. I still need to get a few pics from the husband's computer, so I'll futz with that soon and have something about the fun stuff I did.

Today, though, I have pictures from an wonderful, thrilling, glorious, dazzling event I attended Saturday night. Joshua Bell (the virtuoso violinist, in case you don't know) played with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and I had a seat right smack in the center of the floor, about 6 rows from the stage (and the Hilbert Circle Theater has no orchestra pit, so the musicians are right there in front of you!)

That was beyond excellent--I was so close that I could hear JB breathe as he played. That's not as weird as it sounds. A good musician has to regulate his breathing as he plays, and JB plays passionately and athletically. He was dripping sweat when he was done.

And what he played--oh. my. goodness. First the ISO played some music by Hector Berlioz (and the ISO should get a big mention here because they are a tremendous group of musicians.) Then Joshua came on to play Maurice Ravel's Tzigane, which is a pull-out-all-the-stops piece of fiery virtuosity. That alone was worth the price of admission. But that wasn't all. After the Tzigane got everyone's heart pumping, he played Meditation by Jules Massenet, a gorgeous, haunting melody. He took a break while the Symphony played music by Richard Strauss, then after a short intermission came back for the headliner piece: Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor.

That's one of my favorite, if not the favorite of all the violin concertos I've heard. It has everything a big piece of music should have: power, lovely melody, technical fireworks, all in a harmonious and beautiful setting. Even if you're not a classical music fan, you should take the time to listen to it once or twice because it's gorgeous. (If you scroll to the bottom of the page, JB's album of Bruch, Mendelssohn, and Mozart is the first one listed on my Amazon.com widget. It's worth every penny.)

Not only was the music beautiful just because of what it was, JB played it flawlessly. I know that recordings made in a studio are probably "tweaked" a bit to take out wrong notes or other mistakes, but I'm telling you, he made no mistakes. I can't even come up with the words to describe how wonderful the whole experience was. Hearing it while seeing someone pour his entire being into the playing was...well...I have no words. Sigh. Give me a minute...

Ok, so then, after we all stood and whooped (politely--this was a classical music concert after all) and applauded until I thought my arms would fall off, he came out and performed an encore. It was his rendition of "Yankee Doodle" with just about every virtuoso violin technique you can throw in a piece. That really brought the house down.

AND THEN...he signed autographs after the concert. Sigh again.

It was really funny, because when I got out of the car I grabbed my Bruch CD and stuck it in my purse. I had already made up my mind that I was going to be brave and ask anyone and everyone who worked in the theater if there was any chance I could get him to sign my CD after the show. This guy is the reason I started taking violin lessons in the first place--basically he changed my life--so I was going to try everything I could to at least get to say hello. Once inside the theater, I saw that a CD sales table was already set up with a little note that Joshua would be signing CDs after the show. How cool is that?

And guess who didn't think to bring her camera. The husband squeezed off a couple of shots on my cell phone, so all is not lost:

No, they're not the best, but about as good as you can get when you're in a hurry and using a cell phone camera.

I was ecstatic. He was so nice and smiled and said hello to everyone. He didn't rush anyone through the line, and another lady who was watching told us that he spent a lot of time talking to all the young people who came through, encouraging them if they played an instrument and posing for pictures.

So what do you say when you finally get the chance to speak to someone you admire so much? (And, no, it's not just because he's so darn good-looking!) I can't even tell you what I said--I mumbled something, though I think I remembered to thank him for the autograph. I hope so. There wasn't time to say what I really wanted to say.

I didn't want to tell him how great his performance was--I'm sure he knew that already, based on the standing ovation and cheers at the end. And I'm sure nearly everyone who went through the line said that, and it's not like he can't tell when he's played well. There has to be a feeling of contentment for a job (extremely) well done, and I would think that after all these years, Joshua knows in himself when he's performed brilliantly.

What I really wanted to say was the most heartfelt "Thank you." Not for the autograph, because I think I did say thank you for that, or for that evening's performance, but for the whole gift of his talent. That cannot be an easy life, no matter how much passion you have for your art. It's not just the thousands and thousands of hours of practice, the sacrifice of other interests, the money spent in teachers and schooling, the years dedicated to trying, failing, trying again until you get it as perfect as you can and then maintaining that perfection. It's the responsibility that comes with signing contracts for recordings and performances, constant travel, and fulfilling the expectations of an adoring public whether you feel like it or not. Yes, he gets something out of it, or he wouldn't continue doing it. But what he gives is inestimably more--when he's playing for you, his whole life is in that performance. It's as if all those years of dedication and hard work were for you, the listener. How do you thank someone for a gift that great?

I'm not even able to express what I mean in this post, so I never would have been able to say it when I had the chance Saturday. I would have ended up sounding like some creepy stalker fan or something. I don't know--maybe I did seem like a creepy stalker fan. (Naw, a creepy stalker fan would have asked him to sign her butt or something, right? I definitely did NOT do that.)

So for what it's worth--thank you Joshua Bell. My life is happier because of what you do.

Congratulations to Ravelry!

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:48:00 +0000

About a minute and a half ago, the 500,000th person joined Ravelry. I was on a thread watching the countdown, bouncing back and forth between the stat page and the thread page. Casey & Jessica have created a wonderful resource (along with their minions!) and I hope they're celebrating right now. Somehow, I suspect they are, and that beer is involved...

Back Home Again

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:03:00 +0000

I didn't mean to let the blog lapse so long, but coming home was a total shock to all my systems. We got home Sunday evening, to a nice welcome and a great dinner fixed by our housesitters (our daughter, son-in-law, and the Rugrat.) We even got a giant welcome-home cookie!! Too funny.

The vacation was wonderful and so relaxing, but being home again was...well...kind of depressing. I had made all kinds of plans for things I wanted to do once I got home: stripping wallpaper, painting, making curtains, etc. But all that lovely planning went by the wayside once the daily routine started again. I think I was just overwhelmed for most of last week, but I'm feeling a little more in control now. I'm not ready to start painting or anything, especially since I've injured my neck and have to take it easy for a few days--doctor's orders--but I'm able to step back and breathe and not feel like I'm thrashing around under a pile of to-do lists.

What I have been doing is finishing projects! That's the good news. The bad news is that several of them are Stealth Projects, otherwise known as gifts, so I can't post pictures. Not that I could anyway, because I still need The Husband to help me figure out how to upload pictures off the new camera. I hate being a digital doofus, but I'm clearly lacking the part of the brain that can cope with electronic/computer stuff. ANYWAY, I've finished four projects in the last week, which is good because I'm way behind on my 52 Week goals. And one of those projects was a Big Stinkin' Project, so that makes me especially happy to have it done. I've put them in the list at the bottom of the page, and I'll update with descriptions and pictures as soon as I can.

On Vacation...

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:30:00 +0000

...with no internet access. Can you believe it? Well, right at this moment we have internet access because we're in a Krystals restaurant using their free wifi connection. It's better than nothing, and after the hassle we've gone through trying to find a connection, we're happy. Unfortunately, the lodge we're staying in has no wifi, but we're not complaining too much because the lodge is owned by the hubby's employer, so we're staying for free. Free is good. More money for fabric and yarn.

It's a perfect autumn day. The sky is crystal clear, it's about 65 degrees, and I can look to my left and see the mountains in sparkling detail. We're hoping to get into the Smoky Mountain National Park sometime this week, but traffic is a little heavy, so we'll have to try to figure out some back roads.

We went into Gatlinburg on the trolley yesterday and walked around for a bit. We went to a craft show at the convention center, and I found my way to the Smoky Mountain Spinnery. It's a beautiful shop absolutely crammed with fiber, wheels, and yarn. I managed to escape with only a few ounces of black alpaca/silk fiber, but it was extremely tempting. In fact, I would have spent a lot more cash there, but I was restraining myself because of the upcoming trip to SAFF.

This will be a short entry, because we can't spend all day inside a fast-food place. I will have plenty of pictures to post next week, but we forgot the cord for the camera so I can't upload anything. Let's see, have I forgotten anything? Oh, yeah--we're having a lovely time. Wish you were here!

PS--Melissa, stay out of my yarn room. And my fabric room!!

Vacation

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:20:00 +0000

The blog will be on hiatus for about a week (so what else is new, you ask.) We're leaving for Gatlinburg this morning, and won't be home until next Sunday. I might be able to pop in and post something during the week, but it depends on whether we can get an internet connection. That's the husband's task--I know nothing about it.

And next Friday I'll be at SAFF and at the meet-up in the airport Holiday Inn, so if you're going, maybe we'll get to meet!

Off to finish packing! TTYL.

Where Did the Time Go?

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:01:00 +0000

Well, so much for blogging every day for Blogtober. I thought I was doing pretty well there, but the days have a way of slipping by before I realize it. I'm trying a new schedule (again!) and this time I hope I can squeeze in most of the things I want to do.

"Yarn Tails" was the winner of the fiber from my last giveaway, so I'll be getting that out to her ASAP. Thanks to everyone who left comments on that post.

This week promises to be crazy busy because we are getting ready to go to Gatlinburg for a week. I'm looking forward to it so much, and I hope it's not crowded. I have a feeling that it will be, though. I suspect that it stays crowded all through October.

Besides the lure of the Smoky Mountains and a spinning shop, Gatlinburg is also hosting an arts & crafts fair throughout the month. I suspect and hope it's the same one that we went to a few years ago. The entire convention center was filled with all kinds of terrific craftspeople and musicians. One day was really not enough to take it all in.

AND, on top of that, we're planning to go to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in Asheville, NC! I'm REALLY looking forward to that, especially as there is a Ravelry meet-up on Friday night, the 23rd, at the Airport Holiday Inn (I believe this is very near the entrance to SAFF.) Oh, yeah--and on the way down there this Saturday, I plan to force my husband to take me to the Quilt Box, a terrific quilt shop in Dry Ridge, KY. I haven't been there for years, and I think I'm as excited about that almost as much as the rest of the trip!

So lots of stuff to plan for, and plenty of time, I hope, to do some serious knitting. I'm glad I don't get carsick anymore. Almost six hours each way of blissful knitting time--it doesn't get better than that!

Some of My Pretties

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:32:00 +0000

As I've been hopping from craft to craft lately, I've not only rediscovered quilting and cross-stitching, but spinning as well. Specifically, spinning with a drop spindle. A couple of new spindles have found their way home (goodness, I just don't know how that happens!) This little beauty came to me via Etsy, from Butterfly Girl Designs:

It's a laceweight spindle, with a millefiori whorl, and I absolutely love it.

This one followed me home from the Wool Gathering a couple of weekends ago:

It's a "Mjolinor" from Greensleeves Spindles--again a lightweight, made of yellowheart and bird's eye maple. (Neither photo is very good, but you can click on them to see them a little closer.)

Both of these are lying on the table next to the bed, loaded with merino/silk blends in blues and purples. I usually take a few moments before bed to spin a little. I don't expect to finish a huge quantity of yarn in the near future, but this is one time when it's all about quality, not quantity! If I count the takhli support spindle I'm spinning cotton on, I have five spindles and two wheels going right now. Like I said before, I'm never bored!!

As promised, I have a giveaway! No particular reason, except I had this little leftover bit of top after a day of dyeing. It's about an ounce of merino/bamboo 50/50 blend, and it goes to a randomly chosen commenter. Just leave your thought before midnight ET on Thursday, October 8, and you go in the drawing.

A Little Cheat

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:06:00 +0000

Well, it technically counts as a post. Not much of one, but give me a break, okay? Coming up with a decent post every day is not easy.

Here's a terrific giveaway for stitchers. Pop over there and check it out.

And to make up for the lameness of this post, I'll be doing a giveaway for spinners tomorrow, so check back!

Facebook Fail

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:10:00 +0000

You may remember that I tried Twitter, since it's all the rage, but decamped quickly back to Plurk. It's much more conversational. Why, then, did I join Facebook? I really have no idea, except for a rather nebulous idea that it might be good for my Etsy shop.

So I have a page with my name on it, and I have some "friends". I have not posted my picture, nor have I posted to anyone's "wall". Not even my own. I haven't even logged on in days. Clearly, I'm not grasping the near-universal appeal of Facebook, and I haven't quite figured out how this is supposed to be benefiting my business.

I hate to think the problem is that I'm too old, but it's a distinct possibility. While I can cope with email, the blog, Plurk, my iPod, and a few other newfangled things, I can't seem to get on board with certain concepts. Like texting. I just don't get it. Yeah, I'm sure it's convenient, but really--for every essential text message sent, I'm positive there are about a thousand sent that say nothing more important than, "OMG that guy is 2 hawt!!" or "wat r u doing?"

Yep, those last few sentences confirm it. I've become an old fart. My kids will agree, I'm sure. They're probably posting on their walls at this very moment: "OMG, my mom is soooo lame!!" I would go look, but I have to go take my teeth out and clean them.

Wondering...

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:07:00 +0000

The past few days have seen me pulling out old projects to work on, and rediscovering my love of quilting and cross-stitching (as I've already mentioned.) I have no trouble understanding why I love needlework and most fiberarts (except felting--no sparks for that.) I don't even wonder why I love them, I just do. Kinda like why most men love football and most women love shoes. It it what it is.

What stumps me, though, is why I feel the need to make every darn thing I admire. Why can't I oooh and ahhh over a beautiful quilt or two (or twenty) without wanting to make it or them? Even if I were wealthy, I can't imagine buying a quilt that I loved and being satisfied with that. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'd be buying antique quilts by the dozens, but I'd be spending an equal amount of money on fabric to reproduce them all. Why must I buy yarn to weave dishtowels when (yeah, you know what's coming) I can buy them for a buck at Walmart? Or take those gorgeous Navajo rugs I saw in a trading post in Arizona a few years back. The proprietor kindly let me take pictures, since I didn't have the $10,000 readily available to buy one of them, but it's not enough to look at the photos and sigh over their beauty. I want to make one. Or two, or a dozen.

The same thing is true of music. It's not enough to listen to Itzhak Perlman's recording of the Bach Violin Partitas & Sonatas. I want to play them. In fact, I bought the music for them just a month or two after beginning violin lessons--an exercise in complete and total self-delusion, because those pieces are the summit of virtuoso violin playing. Let me say now that I know in my heart that I will never in my natural lifetime be able to play any of them, but that doesn't keep me from dreaming about it. And I've taken only a few months of piano lessons, but I still long to learn to play Debussy's "Claire de Lune." Or what about the fabulous virtuoso guitar riffs of Stevie Ray Vaughn in "Little Wing." Listening is just not enough.

I guess I shouldn't complain, and I'm not. I'll never be bored, just mildly frustrated. What I'm really wondering, though, is why I don't have that same longing to cook fantastic meals after I've eaten one in a nice restaurant. But then again, I don't really love shoes either.

Lust, Serious Lust

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:59:00 +0000

Heh. Got your attention? It's not what you think, trust me.

If anyone were paying attention to my blog list, they might have noticed an increase in non-knitting blogs. I seem to have come full circle and am back to my original love, quilting--with a bit of cross-stitch thrown in. This is dangerous, because it means that not only am I reading about gorgeous quilts that I yearn to make, I'm also seeing lots and lots of fabric that I suddenly must have. Because, you know, just like my yarn stash, my quilt fabric stash is low. (Excuse me a moment while I pause to laugh hysterically.)

It's not enough that I live within walking distance of one of the state's biggest quilt fabric shops, either. Oh no. Now that we have internet shopping, the world is our oyster. Ok, not oyster. I hate oysters. The world is our, um, oh heck. I don't know what metaphor to use, but you get the idea.

This is what I'm lusting after:

That is Moda's French General fabric, and I waaaaaaannnnntttt it! Unfortunately I cannot afford it, so it will have to go on my wish list. I don't need it. I have shelves and shelves of quilt fabric that I've been collecting since 1982. I used to work in a quilt shop, and as you can imagine I made the most of the employee discount. And I have at least a dozen or so quilt tops waiting to be quilted, as well as tops that I've begun hand-piecing, machine-piecing, and appliqueing. But that doesn't keep me from looking and lusting. What's worse is that I'm just showing you one of my objects of desire. There are also the madder red fabrics, and the shirting fabrics, and the William Morris fabrics...

The only antidote is to go upstairs and fall in love all over again with the old familiar fabric that I so carefully and passionately acquired over the past quarter-century. It's been a while since I pulled the dust covers off the fabric shelves, so I'm going to spend some time getting reacquainted with my old loves. It promises to be fun!

Call Me Crazy (If You Haven't Already)

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:17:00 +0000

I just signed up for Blogtoberfest. That means I'm supposed to post every day in October, which will be a real incentive to post more than my usual once-a-week (and that's only if I really force myself!) It's kind of odd, because I do love to write. I guess part of the problem is making the time to sit down and write something coherent and relatively interesting. Another part is that I have so much trouble doing pictures, and I know that blogs are more enjoyable when there are good pictures to go with coherent posts. So I have two things to work on!

I finished the BSP yesterday--only one day later than I was trying for, so I'm pleased with that. I restrained myself from starting a whole new BSP, and instead pulled out the baby quilt BSP for the Incubating Grandson. (Jess & Jessica, if you're reading this, put your hands over your eyes and say, "Lalalalalalala" so you don't see the rest.) It's supposed to be a Stealth Project, but since I need blog fodder I'll talk about it. I'll wait to show pictures until after I've surprised-cough cough-my sweet daughter-in-law with it. (Slick, huh? Promise of blog fodder while having a good excuse to escape pesky pictures for at least another day.)

As I mentioned a post or two back, I'm amazed at how quickly these BSPs are moving now that I'm focusing on them. It also helps to have audio books loaded on my iPod. I've listened to almost 7 hours of "Emma" while quilting today, and I didn't even notice the time passing! Not every day can be like that--I've had a horrible headache today that's prevented me from doing much besides sitting still in my chair, therefore the major quilting time. Never mind that the house is a wreck.

So that's the post for Day 2. Just in time, too--it's 11:37 PM. Nothing like waiting until almost the last minute!

What to Do, What to Do??

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:08:00 +0000

I almost have the cross-stitch BSP finished. The parts left to stitch are small areas--a lot of "make three stitches, change floss color, make three more stitches." It takes longer than big areas because of all the stopping and starting. It feels really good to be very close to the end of a project that seemed like it would never be done. And honestly, it didn't take that long once I sat down and focused on that project alone. I need to do more of that.

So now I have the happy prospect of deciding what to work on next. It's complicated by a couple of facts: I have a granddaughter who will be too big for the knitting projects I have planned for her if I don't get busy and make them soon, and we're expecting a grandson in late December or early January. I have a knitting project started for him and would like to make a quilt for him as well. Oh yeah, and I have the fabric for a quilt for the granddaughter that I haven't started yet. You see where this is going. That's at least four BSPs that need to be done immediately. And I just remembered that I joined a fingerless mitt KAL (knit along) on Ravelry, and that's supposed to be done by the end of October. Oh, dear.

Add to that another fact: I need to keep dyeing and posting things to the Etsy shop. (BTW, I did a big update last Saturday--fiber, sock yarn, and laceweight yarn.) I want to have a really big selection by the time the Phat Fiber boxes with my samples in them ship sometime around mid-October. I have a over pound of silk caps to seperate and dye, merino and silk to dye and blend for batts, and laceweight yarn that needs to be wound off the cone and dyed also. Hoo boy.

I'm off to make lists and start checking items off one by one. It's the only way to stay sane!

A Finish and a BSP

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:56:00 +0000

As of yesterday I should have had 17 projects done to be on track with my "52 Projects in 52 Weeks" plan. Unfortunately, I've only finished 11, but that's still not bad, considering how many UFOs I have stashed around the house. First up, the socks:

These are the "Gansey Socks" from Socks From the Toe Up by Wendy D. Johnson. You can see it at the bottom of the page in my Amazon linky thing. It's a great book, and if I could only recommend one sock book, this would be the one. She shows several different methods for casting on, heels, and casting off, so if toe-up socks are your thing, this is the book to get. I hate to cast on 64 stitches on DPNs and I hate to graft toes, so I can't imagine why anyone would want to do "cuff-down" socks, but to each her own, right? Even if you do like "cuff-down" socks, the patterns in Wendy's book would be easy to adapt to read the other way.

These socks were done in superwash yarn I bought from Knitting Notions a couple of years ago. The pattern was super-easy, but Wendy is correct in saying that the pattern will show up better in light-colored yarn. I was dying to use this yarn, though, so I ignored Wendy's advice and made them anyway. They still have a nice texture and feel wonderful on my feet, so I'm happy with them. I'm sure I'll make them again, only in the light color as directed.

This is one of my BSPs (or Big Stinkin' Project. I have a lot of those stashed away around here.)

This is The Weeping Tree Sampler designed by "The City Stitcher", Janet Miller. (It's the fifth one down on this page.) I started this in March of 2001. (See, I told you I had some really old UFOs, and that's not even the oldest!) This piece has given me fits, mainly because once again I didn't follow directions and chose to use a different color of linen than what's stated in the pattern, meaning that some of the floss colors should have been adapted. Did I adapt? What do you think?

Soooo, as I was stitching along a little tiny voice in my head kept saying, "That's not going to show up on this fabric. That's not going to show up on this fabric." Now, I have no idea why I thought that voice is going to turn out to be wrong just because I insisted on continuing to stitch with the wrong darn color of floss (another question would be why I would suddenly feel compelled to stitch with the exact color listed in the floss table, especially since I clearly have no problem with switching out the linen color, but that's a whole 'nother post.) It wasn't until I was three-quarters of the way through the border that I decided to start listening to that tiny little voice. Probably that would be because the tiny little voice was beginning to get a little abusive, with words like "idiot" and "moron" getting tossed around.

Not only did I have to rip out the whole border, but I also had started the outer border, which is totally satin-stitched and was also totally wrong. As were the eighteen letters of the alphabet that I had also already stitched. So a-ripping I did go, and a-restitching I began. I had the border half done again when I discovered that I was off by a couple of stitches. More ripping and restitching ensued. And again I was off far enough that it couldn't be fixed and had to be ripped again. Long story short: I've stitched the inner border on this stupid thing THREE TIMES!!!

But I'm beginning to feel hope that it will be done soon. I'm aiming for the last day of September, which means I have about 55 hours left. I'd better get busy. And I'd better learn to count.

Blogging by Proxy

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:02:00 +0000

Ok, I'm totally overwhelmed with yarn, fiber, and business stuff on top of my everyday stuff. I wanted to share a finished project (socks!), a couple of WIPs, and a new purchase, but I'm too busy to stop and take pictures. My nemesis, photos. So I'm going to direct you here. It's my daughter's blog, and since she's the one that totes a camera just about everywhere, you have much better chances of seeing pictures on her blog. You can see me there sniffing wool fumes and wheeling and dealing with fiber vendors.

It's kind of a shame she didn't have the camera in the car yesterday. We were tootling along together in my car, with Rugrat in her car seat in the back. Suddenly we heard the most dreaded sound in the world--that awful "cough-splash" followed immediately by the most dreaded odor in the world. Yep, somebody in the back seat fwowed up. We got to a bathroom and wiped her off as best we could. I had some clothes destined for Goodwill in the trunk, so we wrapped her up in an old dress shirt of Pappy's, put more shirts over the soggy car seat cover, buckled her back in, and raced for home. We almost made it. Missy looked back at Rugrat and said, "Oh, she is sick--she's looking worse by the--" "cough-splash cough-splash cough-splash" "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

It's a miracle I didn't get a ticket for speeding. And it's a shame we have no photographic record. And, as God is my witness, I'll never drink chocolate milk again.

Two Exciting Things

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:54:00 +0000

I had two new Etsy "conversations" waiting for me this morning. One was a notification that I was included in Sheepshape's Treasury. That's a collection of items with a common theme; hers is "Spinner's Paradise." Depending on how many people view the Treasury (as well as some other parameters I'm not sure about) it can be chosen for the "front page," which is what comes up when you go to etsy.com. I'm not entirely clear on all the details, but I do know that it's a desireable thing, according to Missy, who is the local Etsy expert, and publicity is good!

The other message was an invitation to submit samples for the Phat Fiber box. I managed to get one of the first ones that was put together some months back, and they have become a small phenomenon. It's a box of about 20 samples of fiber, stitch markers, patterns, yarn, and other assorted goodies. (My box had candied pecans in it, and although I'm not sure what that had to do with fiber, I wasn't complaining!) There's a mad rush to buy the boxes when they're released, and there's even a Phat Fiber group on Ravelry. When you get your own Rav group, you know you've arrived!

That means I really have to get cracking on the dyeing and photography. I ordered merino/bamboo yarn and roving a couple of days ago, and I'm looking forward to working with those because the blend takes the dye in a different way and comes out of the steamer in stunning shades. So I'm off to drink my bucket 'o coffee, then to dye!

Too Much to Do, Too Little Time

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:04:00 +0000

Now that would be my life's story! I'm constantly struggling to balance what I need and want to do, while trying to find the energy to do it. I have discovered something interesting, though. A couple of weeks ago I went to a new primary care physician. She took about a ~~gallon~~ ~~quart~~ pint of blood for numerous tests to see if we could find a reason for my never-ending fatigue. The tests came back last week. Everything is normal, except that my vitamin D level is way low. Hmmmm...never had that tested before. So I googled and found this article. Fatigue and chronic pain? Oh, yeah, I have those!

I'm not totally surprised, seeing as I do NOT go out in the sun. I hate being hot and I burn very easily, so I pretty much stay indoors all summer. And this summer I've done almost nothing in the yard, so I really was getting no sun at all. I'm still not comfortable with spending a lot of time in the sun, but I guess I'll have to get at least a few minutes in, along with taking supplements. I never even thought of a vitamin deficiency--or if I had thought of it, I suspected a low B-vitamin level--but apparently you can't always get enough Vitamin D from your diet. Who knew?

On to other important things. Nan was the winner of the Addi needles from the last post's giveaway, and those will be going in the mail to her just as soon as I get done with this post. I appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions, and I have plenty of ideas for the next dyeing session.

I made my first Etsy sale over the weekend, so I'm anxious to get more dyed and listed. I spent a while this morning making ads for Ravelry, so I hope those are approved and put in circulation soon. That was not a fun experience at all. I'm a complete digital doofus, and trying to get the ads the right size, then saved and uploaded to Ravelry had me shrieking in frustration. I never imagined what a steep learning curve there would be to doing all this!

I do have two new finished projects to show you. I finished my Fan-Stitch Half-Circle shawl a couple of weeks ago but hadn't had the chance to post the picture until now.

It's so hard to show details of such fine yarn, but you get an idea of how it turned out. I'm extremely happy with this shawl, though I thought the knitted-on border would never end. I had to add an extra increase row and about 40 extra pattern rows to make it big enough, and that's what made the border so long--probably about 1200 rows.

I didn't pin-block this, but steamed it with the iron as I stretched it on my padded sewing table. Pin-blocking would have made the border open up more, but I didn't have enough patience (or pins!) to do that, so iron-blocking was my best option. I doubt anyone will look at it and say, "Gee, it's okay, but you really should have pinned that border out and steamed it better." If they do they'll get a well-deserved poke in the eye!

I'll save the other finished project for a later post. Oh, okay. I'll admit it. I don't have pictures of it yet. Add that to the never-ending "To Do" list!

Whew! A Lotta Work!

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:37:00 +0000

The etsy shop is up and running! Finally! I'm hoping I didn't leave any details out, but I'm bound to find out if I did sooner or later. There's one tiny problem, though. I don't want to let these go:

The sock yarn is a slightly heavier weight than normal sock yarn, and it has a wonderful pearled look and soft, squishy feel. I reeeeaaaallly want to keep it, but it has to go to a new home. Same with the Pink Sunrise merino top. Sigh. It's not as if I don't have a bunch of sock yarn and roving already. But it's hard to part with what you've made all by your little self!

Now that the worst is over of getting the shop going, it should be easier every time I have to update. So the next thing on the agenda is more dyeing!! And to celebrate the grand opening, I'm giving away a 24-inch size 3 (3.25) Addi lace circular needle. I love the cable and the tips on this needle, but they're plated with something that makes my teeth itch when I hear them rub against each other. It's the fingernails-on-chalkboard effect.

So leave a comment with a suggestion of a color or fiber you'd like to see in the shop, and I'll pick a random number for that commenter to get the needle. I'll keep this open until midnight Eastern time on ~~Tuesday~~. (EDIT: I forgot what day it was because of the holiday. The giveaway will stay open until midnight Wednesday.)

Finally, Something Accomplished!

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:58:00 +0000

This is my Fan-Stitch Half-Circle shawl from Martha Waterman's book. It's not difficult, but I had to add an extra increase section to make it as long as I wanted. That meant that the 4-row edging took absolutely for-stinkin'-ever!!

But, today I finished the edging. I could weep with joy. So all that remains is crocheting across the top edge to stabilize it, and then I have to block it. I must say that I'm not looking forward to blocking this, and I'm really not sure quite how I'm going to do it. I would have to buy a boatload of T-pins to be able to pin out each little point on the edging, so I suspect it will have to be done in sections. I'll play my Scarlett O'Hara card here: I'll think about it tomorrow.

Because of the s-l-o-w progress on the shawl, I'm way behind on my 52 in 52 plan. I did cast on a new pair of pretty socks, so maybe I can get those done fairly quickly and try to make up for lost time. I'm running into a little issue here though. I really need to make a couple of little girl items that are in the queue. If I don't get started soon, the Rugrat will be too big for what I'm planning to make her.

And that reminds me of a tidbit that I don't believe I've shared yet. We expect a grandson in January. How cool is that?? One of each. I couldn't be happier! Let's hope for a safe and easy arrival (and my son is hoping for a late December arrival. Tax break, you know.)

I'm still adjusting to being more-or-less unemployed. I say more-or-less because dyeing for the Etsy shop is going strong. I had to postpone the opening date from September 1st to the 8th because I simply couldn't get all the little details nailed down in time. Little details like PHOTOGRAPHS. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that the photos are what drag me down. I hate to blog without any photos at all, and obviously the Etsy thing won't happen without pictures. So I either have to nag the husband to get them done soon or I'll have to tackle it myself. I probably had better learn sometime.

Off to crochet and plan the blocking strategy!

Why We Don't Eat at the Table

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:46:00 +0000

That would be because it usually looks something like this:

I can pretty much explain why each thing is there, instead of its proper home, except for the Dora the Explorer panties. I guess they fell out of the bag the Rugrat brought when she came to visit last night. She's potty-trained, but has the occasional accident (I suspect because she gets to busy doing something and ignores the signals that she needs to GO NOW!)

Anyway, I'll get it all put away today, or almost all of it. The husband's tools may have to go in a box for him to sort out later. I have these spells of being determined to keep the dining room table clear, but stuff always seems to creep back on before I notice. Partly that's because it's by the back entrance, so everything gets dropped there when we come in the house. But really, I'd like to at least give the impression of being civilized occasionally!

As you can see, I've been dyeing!! Woo-hoo! This is part of what I've gotten done. Here are close-ups of a couple of things:

My first hand-dyed projects! I was so thrilled when I took them out of the plastic wrap after they'd been steamed! The skeins are a super-super-fine single-ply merino. There are 600 yards per skein, so you can imagine how fine it really is, but it still has incredible tensile strength. I've done a little knitting with it on size 0 needles, and it's not as difficult as you might think. That could be because it's single-ply, therefore no splitting like you get with some two-ply laceweight yarns.

So these go in the Etsy shop that's opening Monday. I still have a billion things to do before then--more dyeing, and better pictures. I have to leave the pictures to the husband, because he has the natural instinct for doing good pics, while I just point, shoot, and hope for the best!

Idle Hands...

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:57:00 +0000

...lead one to join social networking sites, apparently. I joined Twitter. I'm not entirely sure why, seeing as how I'm already on Plurk and don't keep up with that very well. I suspect that the people who use mobile phones for their tweeting and/or plurking and/or facebooking are the ones who can keep up with it. But we'll see how it goes. I think I like Plurk better than Twitter, because each post has a drop-down box so you can reply directly. It's much less fragmented, and you can see all the replies to a particular Plurk. I like the timeline format too. I don't know why Twitter is more popular than Plurk--I guess it's just the way fads happen sometimes.

Truth be told, I joined Twitter because I set up a new etsy.com shop today. (I have nothing in it yet, so don't trample each other in the rush to get over there and look at it.) I'm going to do some hand-dyeing of fiber and yarn, but I won't list anything for a couple more weeks. I do have some really terrific cones of super-super-super fine merino yarn (thread, actually) and I look forward to seeing how it comes out of the dyepot. The Twitter account seems to be required marketing, from some of the information I've read. Then again, one must actually "tweet" for it to do you any good!

So since today is technically my first day of being unemployed (had to finish up some loose ends yesterday), I've been making lists and gathering supplies for the dyeing start-up. The down side is that it will put me in competition with some friends who already do fiber dyeing. On the other hand, I think we each will have our own style and that there's such a wide variety of fibers and yarns to work with that I won't be stepping on anyone's toes with what I'm doing. On the third hand, I haven't actually gotten anything dyed yet, so I'm getting ahead of myself anyway. I think Thursday will be "dye day" so I'll be sure to get pics up when I get something done.

Not Entirely Unexpected, But Still...

spingirl1961@woh.rr.com (Lisa) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:02:00 +0000

I lost my job a couple of hours ago. I'm not totally surprised, as mentioned in the post title, but I was hoping we could hang on there for a little longer. I don't want to give too many details, but I worked from home taking care of client invoices. It has been very nearly the perfect job for me, because the hours ~~are~~ were so flexible. I had certain days to drop the invoices off to the clients, and other than that, I could do the work pretty much whenever I chose. Trust me, when you're coping with fibromyalgia, flexible hours are a blessing. But we lost a client last week, and one today, so the whole thing's folding. Tomorrow is my last day, but I'll have very little to do other than close the post office box and set up mail forwarding.

This comes on the heels of DH's job overtime being cut back, which comes out to around $100 less per paycheck. So I'm not sure what we'll do now. With what's left of his paycheck after expenses we can manage--if we have no emergencies, and you know there are always emergencies!

I could look for a part-time job, but besides the difficulty I would have with set hours (which I would just have to find a way to manage) there are other considerations. I would need new clothes since I only have one pair of good jeans, one pair of grubby jeans, and a few nice tops. (Wasn't it Thoreau who said to beware of any enterprise that requires new clothes?) If I get another job, I will most likely have to drive quite a ways to get to it, and there will be no mileage reimbursement like I get now. I mean, like I did get (haven't gotten used to the idea of being unemployed yet!) Those things aren't small considerations. If I don't get a job, we could sell one car, and I'd be without one during the day. That's not as horrible as it sounds, because I really haven't been going much of anywhere during the day unless it's been work-related. So I could do any errands in the evening. If I had to do something during the day, like a doctor's appointment (not that I'll be able to afford that now!) Missy lives close by, and I know she'd let me use her car. She's kinda nice like that.

Well, anyway. I'm thinking on computer right now, just trying to adapt to the situation. Things will be fine, I'm sure. Now I really do have to knit from the stash! There won't be much yarn-buying going on here!