A Little Yarn On The Side

....but very little crafting going on here lately.  I did finally get a picture of the new ornaments,  but as there haven't been any more since then, I'm farther behind than I was.  Darn tomatoes. The last crafting time I had wasn't even spent on ornaments: I made a bowl from some of the rope Andy gave me for my birthday.  I love it, and since it was part of a gift, I'm keeping the bowl.  It's new purpose is to hold my embroidery threads that I'm actually using.  I don't think one can really keep thread organized while it's in use, but the baggies and bowl should help.  The free-standing lace ornaments have to have matching thread in the bobbin, but one would be very sorry to sew with such lightweight thread under any other circumstances, so the baggies keep spools and bobbins together.  It's not pretty, but it really helps.  I had a little spare time this morning, and went into the sewing room determined to try a new ornament, ...

I'm on Pinterest, and aside from the occasional friend trying to market his or her business through it, I really like it.  Shockingly, I've even made a few of the recipes and craft projects I've pinned.  Not all, or even half, but some.  Sometimes I see something that is really, really cool but that I know I am never, ever EVER going to do, and I think I need a board for that.  I've even found the first thing to pin: http://www.embroideryonline.com/c-127-christmas-village.aspx A freestanding lace Christmas village.  It's an unbelievably cool idea, and one that I love as a crafting theory, and I could truly spend an hour admiring this is someone else's home, it's never going to happen in my life.  If anyone else decides to make this Christmas village, please send me photos when you're finished.  I assume that might be in 5 to 10 years, but I can wait.

Today is our seventh wedding anniversary, so provided I don't do anything to bring back my cold OR hurt my back/hip today, we're going out to dinner tonight.  We exchange perfume/cologne for our anniversaries, but we decided to wait a bit on that to make sure I've regained my sense of smell completely. It was a busy weekend--some friends had us over yesterday for a delightful brunch on their patio, last night I picked and peeled tons of tomatoes, and Friday and Saturday I canned.  I have managed a few ornaments (pictures to come), so I'm now up to 264.  101 left to go!!!!!!

So the thing about deciding to do 365 of anything in one year is that it's quite easy to figure out where one stands at any given time.........like today, which is the 263rd day of the year.  Not being at 263 ornaments , I would now be behind.  And it's early in canning season, and the holidays are coming, so time is not on my side.  Today didn't actually help.  Finishing Friday fell prey to desperation canning and the cold.  We refer to it as "desperation" as I've been freezing tomatoes as I pick them, then taking them out to work with when I'm ready, and the freezers are about ready to burst--obviously one of us is not keeping up very well.  So today was Basil Simmer Sauce, and tomorrow--if I can keep the cold at bay--will be a triple batch of our favorite salsa.  Then picking more tomatoes--it's a vicious cycle. So we'll be eating well this year--and we're certainly covered on our lycopene for the foreseeable future--and I WILL be caught u...

From September 1 until November 30, it’s time to fall back in love with the things you already have. New yarn cannot compete with a long-term love.  Complete as many of the following as you choose. As always, please feel free to involve other hobbies or crafts as well: Love at First Sight - pick a yarn in your stash that was truly an impulse buy--a yarn you just fell in love with. Find a pattern that will do it justice- DONE.  Actually, I picked out FOUR possible patterns for it--how's that for thorough? Soul Mates - make a pair of socks, slippers, booties, or stockings from stash yarn--the deeper the better Glass Slipper - Match a pattern you already have with a yarn you already have and put them into a project bag to surprise yourself with in 2014 - DONE  This is set aside for Christmas of 2014.  I might even remember it by then........ ‘Til Death Us Do Part - complete FIVE rows on a WIP that is at least one year old, or your oldest if t...

Sunday was (hopefully) our last day of temperatures in the 90s.  On Monday, I caught a cold.  Not even slightly funny. I did manage to finish the third rope bowl from the 3/8-inch bowl, and I think I'm ready to move on to some smaller rope projects. The dressmaker's dummy (still in need of a name) had her first assignment, and made the facing a breeze!  This is the third jacket I've made from this pattern, and on the first two jackets I had to stitch the facing many, many times to get it right.  It has to be basted, then top-stitched.  I hand-basted the yoke area, did massive pinning, and it got it right the very first try!  That was worth the price right there.  I'm down to just a few buttonholes, and can count another finished WIP.  I'm aiming for 15 WIPs in a row, but the knitting ones are taking so long that I am going to incorporate sewing WIPs.  I've been working diligently on the peach stole, which is about to finish o...

Yesterday was my birthday, and aside from being incredibly sore from a NEW spot getting therapeutic massage on Thursday at physical therapy, it was great fun.  We had intended to go to a concert at the botanical gardens on Thursday night, but between rain and not being able to sit down again, we postponed that for and a heating pad.  :) Yesterday Andy started my day off with breakfast in bed,  and I can't really think of a nicer way to start a day.   We originally had other plans, but my hip was so tender that any clothes but pajamas hurt, so I spent most of the day sewing.  I finished up the thread bowl experiment, and will try soaking and shaping it later today. I also finally found a solution to the rope-bowl finishing problem:  Elmer's glue!  It stiffens the fibers enough to not fray, but it's not visible once I rub it in and let it dry, so I finished the first bowl!   Obviously in most circumstances, this ...

Over a week later, we have:  One finished project--a rare thing around here these days, a bit of progress on the thread bowl, which I think might be ready to wash and shape, one not-quite-finished bell ornament, three more lace icicle ornaments, a double batch of fresh vegetable salsa, a double batch of roasted tomatillo-chipotle salsa 4 pints of pickles, roasted garlic pasta sauce, and 4 batches of poblano-cilantro sauce, which are frozen but still count anyway.  Or at least count in the "why I am now only ONE ornament ahead for the year" category.  I'm beginning to see a flaw in the plan...........

Originally, I had planned to can tomato salsa yesterday, but then I thought, "Hey, it's a HOLIDAY weekend.  This is not what normal people do with holidays."  So I'm doing it today instead--still a holiday, but a Monday, which sort of evens things out.  Besides, I think I sat too much yesterday.  And that would be because... I was on a crafting marathon yesterday!  First I stitched another bag, this one for a friend of ours who just purchased a new ukelele and has a birthday this week, then three more white lace ornaments.  Now that I only have 2 months left before I can buy more thread, I'm less concerned about running out of white thread and more concerned about having white lace icicle ornaments.  I just love these!  And 3 ornaments in one day during canning season isn't a bad thing--114 left to go!!! Then I did some stabilizing on the thread bowl by adding a grid: and while I've heard several theories as to why my machines hate Coat...

From September 1 until November 30, it’s time to fall back in love with the things you already have. New yarn cannot compete with a long-term love. Complete as many of the following as you choose. As always, please feel free to involve other hobbies or crafts as well: Love at First Sight - pick a yarn in your stash that was truly an impulse buy--a yarn you just fell in love with. Find a pattern that will do it justice. Soul Mates - make a pair of socks, slippers, booties, or stockings from stash yarn--the deeper the better Glass Slipper - Match a pattern you already have with a yarn you already have and put them into a project bag to surprise yourself with in 2014 ‘Til Death Us Do Part - complete FIVE rows on a WIP that is at least one year old, or your oldest if they’re all more recent “Are You Lonesome Tonight? - Complete TEN rows on a second WIP “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling” - Complete SEVEN rows on a third WIP “Killing Me Softly” - complete SIX rows on ...