A Little Yarn On The Side

Yesterday I received an email from my favorite online yarn store saying they were changing their business model and would be selling through Amazon now, and that any outstanding credits not used by November would be lost.  I have had a $50 credit there that I've been watching carefully.  Had I known that I was going to try for 2 years without buying yarn, I would have used it before starting, but I wasn't sure I could make it even a YEAR of stone-cold sheeping.  In all fairness, I could have waited until November 1 and hoped that something I wanted was left, but I didn't want to be buying yarn just to buy yarn (when did THAT happen?), and they are my source for the yarn for chemo caps, and they've been changing their yarn lines and I'm not sure that one will make the cut.  So yesterday morning I used my credit to resupply for chemo caps, and ended my not-buying -yarn streak at: 1 year, 10 months, and 14 days Oddly, I'm not as upset at missing the 2-year...

After much debate and hoping everyone else would think the same way, I decided that the yarn for Andy's sweater is actually overdue from my allotted purchases from January 1, 2009 and had already been "allowed" so it wouldn't be cheating.  So.......THERE IS YARN ON ITS WAY TO MY HOUSE!!!! Being no fool--or at least not one right at that moment, I was flying through Elann's ordering process before I could be seduced by any other yarns so quickly that I didn't double-check the address and had to email them after I placed the order to explain that the address they had on file was no longer correct.  (And having a post office box where yarn can be sent so your husband won't see is a bad, bad idea....that isn't why I had one, but it's a bad idea nonetheless) I did allow a set of blocking wires, but I had been looking for a set so that was a little less of an impulse buy than one might think.  AND THERE IS YARN ON ITS WAY TO MY HOUSE!!!! Since I am 4...

I've had three really good "back days" in a row, so yesterday I felt good enough to kick off Finishing Friday with a blanket repair job that I've been meaning to get to: The original satin edging had ripped across the top and formed a very strange string, so I had ripped it out one day while doing back stretches, and raided my stash to find a new satin binding for it.  Ivory would have looked better, but I didn't have that, and it's for the guest bedroom, which I assume no one checks for exact color matches.   It's always sort of a risk to start my day with a repair that I haven't done before, because if the repair goes badly, nothing else happens, but I did it on the first try, and was still feeling good enough to lay out the rest of the fabric for Andy's ensemble on the floor and finish getting it all cut out.  My back didn't last long enough to finish anything, but one of my Ravelry groups is having a virtual "sew-in" toda...

Washed, stretched (because it turns out that among its many other bizarre qualities is a tendency to pucker right after being washed), ironed, and de-furred, the finished bridesmaid's quilt: So far I have even managed to keep the cats off of it and only laid it out for pictures when I knew they were both snoozing in another room.   I'm thrilled to have finally finished the thing, and I love the colors.....and my friend is going to be totally and completely surprised when she receives it, being three and a half years later and everything....but I can't say that I'm overly pleased with it.  I made the border too large--even with the embroidery, the back is a different shade of blue than the front because I didn't write down what I bought in the first place and "looks like the same color" is not the same thing as "IS the same color," and the embroidery pattern looped a bit in the back even though the design is one I bought from the sewing machin...

....that lately a lot of my posts have been about knitting but not so much about MY knitting.  That would be because there has not so much been a lot of "my" knitting happening.  Granted, the dratted yoke pullover is finally done, and when we are back on speaking terms I will have Andy take a picture of us together in what I hope will be a new, warm, loving relationship.  Right now the best I can manage is to NOT give it a raspberry every time I pass it, but then again, I have never really been known for my maturity.... Having learned a few lessons (and a few new swear words) on the ribbed yoke pullover, I decided to do a little pinning and double-checking on the alpaca cardigan BEFORE sewing any seams and it's looking good, so when I get some knitting time, I'll be finishing up the second sleeve and MAYBE knocking off another WIP before the end of the month.  The first priority is Andy's pirate costume started two years ago and which my very patient husb...

I am a HUGE fan of New Year's Resolutions. Not the sort most people make--lose weight, eat healthy, quit smoking--but of realistic ones (trying a new recipe every week, a year without processed foods, making 6 new desserts, etc.). I'm running a bit late this year, but I finally have mine: 1. Read or listen to 100 books (tally on the main blog) 2. Use up 150 skeins of yarn 3. Use up 150 yards of fabric 4. Complete the 12 "Project of the Month" projects 5. The Year of No Processed Foods (see the main blog for that one) 6. Finish the bridesmaid's quilts (there's a long story) 7. Buy no new yarn or fabric 8. Have Christmas gifts completed by the end of October. (OK, only sort of realistic) The yarn and fabric goals are significantly higher than I accomplished last year, but since I'm taking some time off, I should be able to do more sewing & knitting--right? Provided full time kitty-tending comes to a stop in the near future. (Incidentally--Th...

With my right arm strained and a toe on my left foot broken, I'm a rather sorry state of affairs right now, and because I am a seriously impatient person, I have pushed until they both hurt quite a lot today.  So, having virtually guaranteed that almost every other activity in the world would hurt, I have spent today crafting.  And What do I have to show for it? Finished project number 1: (which really should have been finished in 2010 but I was being super lazy about the hand stitching stuff), finished project number 2: (which is EXACTLY like the last black chemo cap down to the button, but why mess with a good thing?)  and quite a bit of progress on the socks for a friend's birthday in February which look better than either photograph would lead you to believe.  I'm really just playing with designs here.  I have cables running up both sides and will split them to make the short row heel, which could look quite cool or be hardly noticeable.  We shal...

Last night my "helpers" and I finished two more striped ornaments, and kept an eye on all suspicious (meaning "dog") activity in the neighborhood.   (We try to do our bit for the community) It seems that we have had our "nice" summer weather, and have moved on to the "hot and horrible" phase.  For crafting, this means that the morning of Finishing Friday--like all mornings--will now be spent in trying to keep the garden alive.  The afternoons, which will now be mostly in the 90s or higher, will be spent somewhere with air conditioning.  I know temperatures are rising and everything, but I still wonder about people who lived here before air conditioning.  Did they just spend the summers naked? This afternoon's stay-in-the-airiconditioned-house project was: more ornament shapes!  I decided to try out some new shapes, and I thought cookie cutters might be a good source, and these are the ones I found.  We might have more, but I woul...