A Little Yarn On The Side

You can blame today's complete lack of knitting on some spring weather (OK,with a high of 46 degrees, it wasn't really "spring" weather, but we did have sunshine, which is close enough in February). Theo and I spent several hours outside enjoying the sun. This time I was prepared and had a book in my pocket, gloves, and a travel mug full of coffee. If I could just knit with gloves on, Theo and I would both be happy with these outings. The private lives of cats is an interesting thing to observe. Their days seem to involve a lot of sniffing and rubbing, often over & over in the same spot. Some smells warrant growling, a few some hissing and tail bushing, but all must be explored daily. Then there's a little grass chewing, lots of licking, and lots of short naps. I realize he probably thinks my playing with sticks and strings gets a bit monotonous--especially since I won't let him chew on the yarn--but we'll both be relieved when he gets a bit mor...

So I'm still slogging my way through the pink blanket and while I'm going to finish it in plenty of time for the early March birthday, I've started dreaming in pink. That wouldn't be so bad, except that they tend to be Pepto-Bismal in nature...Oh well, it will be finished soon, and in the meantime, my subconscious has a coated, soothed, and relieved stomach. And the big news of the day.... I found another copy of this pattern! I have instructions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It turns out that I was getting things figured out fairly well, but I hadn't yet reached the whole front-gathering thing, or the strap thing, or anything that was actually complicated. What I had managed to do was to figure out the combination of pieces called "front," "side front," "back," and "side back." So, I might get to finish this up tomorrow while Theo naps. Whew! Good thing to--it's supposed to be a whopping 48 degrees tomorrow. Heat Wave!!!!!!!!

Theo has been recovering quite nicely, though I think the physical therapist would be simply appalled if they could see what Theo gets up to even with constant supervision. Yesterday, Andy had him out in the backyard for some quality time and while nothing ever seemed to happen, Theo was definitely limping far more than he has in a week or more. We have no idea what happened--in fact, I thought it was one of his better days as far as not tearing around like a maniac--but all the same, he was back to kitty confinement yesterday--which is good pet-owner bonding time, but not much for knitting time. Today he's doing better, and this morning he and I spent a long time out in the back yard. The sun was out, but one of us didn't enjoy it too much. Let's face it, if you're going to sit outside in Idaho in early February, it probably does help to have a furry butt. My fingers (and other parts) were so numb I couldn't have knit even had I thought to bring something out ...

So it's time for the next Project of the Month bag. Technically, I'm cheating a little as I actually knew which bag I was pulling out. A few years ago I decided to try stamped cross stitch (and counted cross stitch, but we don't talk about that). I actually really enjoyed the stamped cross stitch, and finished the first pillow case in a reasonable amount of time. The problem? Yep, this would be the SECOND pillow case. To be fair, it's almost done, but it's been "almost done" for about 2 years. This morning I have already outlined three leaves, finished a little flower, and gotten a great big thread snarl. I also put this in the bag: which technically is a second project, but since this is all I have done on it, it can use all the help it can get. I picked this bag on purpose because lately I have really been in the mood to do some needlework--probably because I have a deadline to meet with that pink blanket and nothing turns me into a hobby-flake like...

Today is the last day of the month, and yesterday I finished the second skein of yarn for the pink blanket, so I've now knit 1645 yards of yarn for the month. Not on target, but not as far behind. Now I only have 23,355 yards to go.....

Ok, as anyone who is remotely good with numbers can tell you: 1. In order to reach my goals for the year, I need to knit 2,083 yards of yarn and sew 12.5 yards of fabric each month 2. I am not even CLOSE to that right now. So....did I work on the quilt today? Nope. Not one stitch. Instead, anyone remember this: In July of 2008 I cut out a dress and a skirt from this wonderful cotton fabric. I finished the skirt sometime after the weather made it totally impractical (I'm thinking November, but that's just a guess). Today I decided to finish the dress. It's from McCalls 4444: and I'm making the green option. Now the problem with setting aside a sewing project is that one doesn't really "set it aside." One just doesn't get back to it. If one did "set it aside," one might be able to find the dang second page of instructions.... Out of sheer frustration, I did get much of it figured out--and was quite pleased with myself to figure out th...

OK, so there hasn't been blogging in a couple days, but there has been knitting, sewing, and quilting. I know--how shocking is that? I haven't been that productive in quite some time, but if you look at the side tab you might notice that the goals are pretty high but the actual accomplishment is fairly low, so I thought I needed to pick up the pace a little. So, I finished the edging on another fleece blanket, assembled the Christmas quilt top which is actually pretty small--30 by 36 inches. I do have strips cut out that could make the quilt larger, but if I use this size I can actually make two quilts instead of one, which would give me two gifts for Christmas instead of one. So, I'm thinking of doing a larger border, maybe a narrow strip of green which I can do some sort of decorative stitching in gold on, then a wider red stripe What do you think? If I did about 5 inches on each side, the quilt would be 40 by 46 inches, which is still a small lap quilt, but not AS ...