A Little Yarn On The Side

 With the last two mitten ornaments: I've reached 35 ornaments for the year.  I really thought I would end up higher with the embroidered ornaments, but I have been sidetracked the last few days by 1. Real life, 2. problems with pain medication, and 3. other projects.  I rather wish this yarn didn't have random dots of color in it, but I still like the sock so far, and it's rather exciting to be making a 2013 Christmas gift early.  The second sock is well underway even, so I think I'll have a finished project here soon.  I have been working on the latest sewing project, and last night managed to attach facings and the collar to the two shirt options: The white stitching on the left is where I basted down the facing, and now I'm supposed to top stitch right beside it.  The problem, of course, is that this never really works for me. Everything is where it should be, but I always find this puckers a bit. Last time I made this pattern I cheated a b...

My name is Toni.  I'm a yarnaholic, and it's been 90 days since my last yarn purchase. Borrowing from Alcoholics Anonymous, the Cold Sheepers in the Ravelry Stashdown group have badges.  The one-year badge is gold , and I am just lusting after that baby.  Hey, if a woman can have 64,000 yards of lace yarn, she can lust after a virtual badge featuring a sheep.  It's probably not even close to the oddest thing I've done, when you think about it..............

How a cat can tell from inside the house that it is substantially warmer OUTSIDE the house is a bit of a mystery, but this morning was our warmest morning in weeks, and Theo returned to the habit of waking Andy up at 5:00 AM to be let outside and actually went out.  Even more surprising, he caught a mouse.  Thanks to two nights of freezing rain and freezing temperatures, our backyard is covered with some solidly crusted snow, so I have no idea how Theo found the mouse, but as miserable as the temperatures have been outside lately, I strongly suspect the mouse was suicidal and simply gave himself up. Andy and I spent a good hour or more breaking ice off our driveway and sidewalk yesterday, so I was pleasantly surprised to be able to move at all today.  I'm sore, but was able to spend all day in the sewing room!!!!  Which is good as it took me almost half the day to get more lace ornaments laid out on the computer and transferred to my embroidery card.  Th...

Well, I got my wish.  It is warmer this morning--21 degrees when I got up, in fact, which is I think the high temperature for 2013 so far.  In fact, it's so warm that we got freezing rain last night and everything is covered in ice.   It's supposed to get all the way up to 35 today so we can get some serious snow, but they've been saying that for a couple days.  So, my planned errands for today will have to wait--possibly for spring.  Andy arrived home safely on Tuesday, which we were both really thrilled about as being away for more than a week gets very, very long.  I didn't get as much done in my crafting vacation as I had hoped, but I did finish it off with 3 new lace icicle ornaments which I think look nice in light blue.  White would, of course, be the most logical color, but I still have lots of other ornaments to try and some of them will need to be in white, so I'm trying to not go crazy on the icicles--as tempting as they are. ...

Dear Mother Nature: Please let it warm up at least above freezing before I get any wild ideas about knitting alpaca underwear or something equally crazy.  PLEASE!

As I have taken enough Valium to knock me silly and need to finish before it kicks in.  The good news is that the freak cold here is supposed to clear up by weekend, at least for a little while.  I'm doing better, but as soon as I get a little cold or a little sore, I tense up which makes me hurt a LOT which makes me tense up even more......and this little cycle just keeps going and I can't get it stopped without drugs.  The white chocolate martinis actually work a bit better, but I'm tired of them.  I never thought I'd say that, but I've never had them 3 nights in a row either.  I guess that makes them a pretty safe muscle relaxer, since if I can get tired of something that tastes THAT good, my risks of becoming an alcoholic are minimum.  Still, I'm ready for real life again.   I do see a lot of improvement in my back.  Today was really cold and I'd not slept very well, which led me to a day in bed last week, and today I was pretty mobile ...

My goal for my vacation week has been to sew every day.  Yesterday my back was very, very sore (thank you freezing weather), so it was "token" sewing: but it was enough to keep my streak going, it made another ornament, and it made someone VERY happy.  It is now traditional to never move my chair in the sewing room as there is almost always a cat body nearby.  I assume this will end as soon as it warms up and they're willing to go outside, but in the absence of backyard mouse-hunting, I am the best cat entertainment in the house.  Kind of makes me feel sorry for the cats, really...... I had started laying out the quilted ornaments, but got stuck after two rounds of pieces because I didn't have any markings to line up the next round, which is idiotic, really, as nothing ELSE I've ever done quilting-wise has lined up perfectly and is unlikely ever to do so.  So last night once the martini numbed the back pain and the idiocy,  I finished laying...

1.  When it's really cold, a white chocolate martini relaxes sore back muscles more than Valium. 2.  Always update the blog before the white chocolate martini............

Okay, I had really believed I could finish one sewing project a day this week, so I think we can tell that either the pain pills are having a lasting effect OR it's been too long since I did much sewing.  But, now on my 5th sewing vacation day, we have: finished pajamas!  I do need to tack down the facing just a bit, but want to let it hang for a couple hours before I do that.  BUT, they are done, I have used up 5 yards of fabric from the stash, and I am wearing these babies tonight because while we're maybe going to get a high of 17 degrees today, it's dropping to 2 degrees tonight.  I am beginning to hate winter.  So is Theo, whose life got even worse with the finishing of the pajamas: so I took pity on him and have the next fabric laid out for pinning,  which has cheered the Cabin Fever Kitties immensely.  Theo has barely been off of it since I laid it down.  Poor little guy--I didn't realize how much he was missing sewing. ...

Today was a sore-back day, so my goal to sew every day might fall apart today, but there HAS been knitting.  There are even pictures of the knitting.  Now if only I could remember where I put the camera, I would be showing them to you..... It's hard to say who is enjoying the cold less--myself or the cats.  Usually, they like to go out in the backyard for a bit first thing every morning.  When Andy is home, Theo believes this should be at 5:00 AM.  However, since Andy's been gone, Theo has decided sleeping in is a fine and dandy program and FAR superior to going outside with single-digit temperatures.  We're pretty unanimous in this feeling, actually.  For the first couple mornings, Theo at least wanted the option to go out when I went downstairs to make coffee, but I think he's decided that the open doors make things just too chilly, so now he doesn't even ask for the option.  Even though he's now 6, this is the first real winter he's seen with...

It's right here where I should be showing you a finished project.  And you'll notice there isn't one.  Last night I hosted knitting night at my house, and did spend a fair bit of time tidying downstairs, and since it's been extremely cold here and everyone is just recovering from the holidays, there was a lot more wine and general fun than actual knitting last night.  Killer night--but not much knitting. Yesterday I decided to kick off my sewing adventures with a scarf project I'd seen online somewhere, using some scrap yarn I have: but it looked a little too kid-craft for me.  So I ripped it out and will send the unknown yarn to my youngest niece, who has learned to finger-knit and who will probably find something to do with it.  Nice way to kill an hour of my time, but not what I had hoped for.  Oh well. I did manage to get some pajamas cut out in spite of my "help," Theo hasn't been terribly excited about the sewing room since the shelvi...

In the morning, I'll be running Andy to the airport for a work trip, and since we're having an abnormally cold snap (currently 8 degrees and sinking), nor am I to lift or do anything I would normally do, I am going to sew (if I can sit) and knit (if I can't) like a maniac while he's gone.  I'm not sure what the first project will be, but if this single-digit-temperature nonsense continues, I'm thinking something involving flannel, fleece, or wool............

Aside from buttons, there is a finished sewing project! And not just ANY sewing project:  This was my oldest sewing WIP. That's right--this dress has been AT LEAST 7 years in the making--potentially 8.  I had learned to sew in sewing 4-H as a kid and hated it, so I didn't do any sewing until I bought my first house.  Then there are all sorts of expensive-to-buy-but-easy-to-make things one needs, like curtains and that sort of thing.  I also ended a 5-year relationship, and decided I needed to do something new to take my mind off things, so I bought a cheap little sewing machine from Costco.  AND LOVED IT.  Of course, I'd forgotten almost everything I'd learned, so this dress was maybe the second or third dress I attempted, and it was just too hard for me at that time.  But it's made from a nice pin-wale corduroy (I think), and it has survived 2 moves, 2 shelving projects, and 7 years in a WIPs bin pretty nicely.  I think these are the butt...