A Little Yarn On The Side

I have just started working on the heel of the second monkey sock, and if I can finish the rest of the sock within 6 days, I will not only have my May project of the month done--I will be ahead for the year!!!!!!!! Now if I can just finish the sock before the Knitting Gods hear such bragging and blow up my sock or something.....

Last night--and I can't imagine why this seemed like a good idea even after a martini--I decided to watch an Alfred Hitchcock movie to "unwind" before bed.  Two hours later I was wide awake, shaking like our washer on "fast spin," and squealing "Eke!" at every noise in the house.  So, while there wasn't much sleep, there WAS a fair bit of frightened, neurotic knitting (which works best for lace because you later block the daylights out of it anyway), so.... I have finally finished that monstrous 600-yard skein of laceweight and am about 5 rows into the second.  Thank heaven & all the little knitting gods, this shawl will not take all 600 yards of this skein.  I don't think I have the strength.  I don't think Theo does either. The ham. And today's exciting news.....Andy finished the dowel & finials (little end things) for the tapestry, so we hung it in the guest room. I think it's the picture that is crooked and not the...

DRUM ROLL PLEASE................ Project 41 , which puts me on target for the year, is done: Did I mention project number 40? More napkins!  Becoming a bit like the coasters, isn't it? Technically, I think I might look like some sort of Pepto-Bismal mascot in the new ensemble, but it really is one of my best colors.  AND it used up 4 1/4 yards of material that has been in the stash for well over a year, so perhaps I just won't wear it around anyone suffering from a hangover or nausea....... There HAS been knitting, I swear!  The second monkey sock is progressing and it is my fondest wish that this is at least a teensy bit smaller than it was at the start of the week.  I have been knitting from it for the last two hours and I swear that it looks exactly the same, but I keep hoping...... Meanwhile, Theo is finding all his new fame a bit exhausting And Calisto, out of jealousy and a desperate need for attention, has started posing for skanky kitty cal...

Tonight Andy was out in the driveway and a neighbor driving past stopped to say how much everyone loves our cat. As if someone weren't hard enough to live with because of his blog popularity......

.....this "knitting blog" of mine has contained a great deal of sewing recently.  Partly, this is due to the fact that I--in some insane moment of optimism/daringness/inebriation--decided to finish 100 projects within 365 days, and it's much easier to crank out a finished project every 3.65 days when one can throw sewing into the mix.  Don't get me wrong--I love knitting with all the passion that I always have, but unless you usually do even slower hobbies such as cross stitch or painting the Sistine Chapel, knitting is not likely to be one's fastest hobby. A second reason for my new sewing dedication is that sewing can provide one with clothing.  Not to sneer at sweaters, by any means--I must personally own around 50 by now if not more--but I do firmly believe that knitted pants are wrong for anyone over the age of potty training.  It may be just prejudice on my part, but I do feel quite strongly on this point. The third reason:  a friend of mine recently d...

Late Sunday night I made these which you might be thinking are a desperate attempt to add to the project tally.  Nope--they are a desperate attempt to add to the FABRIC tally.  I have currently used up just over 28 1/2 yards of fabric this year, which puts me on target to use up just under 75 yards of fabric in 2010.  If I can make it to 100 yards for this year, I'd feel much better about the little clearance fabric incident I had last month.  And be able to see the floor again..... So today's big question is...... just how many napkins can we have before some sort of intervention is necessary?

It's finally spring here, and I felt the need for a new summer dress.  And, since the sewing room had many, many, MANY options, I was able to make this today without much bother.  I couldn't exactly estimate how much fabric I own, but let's just say that I've been in some small-town fabric stores with less selection......I'd be thrilled to use up 100 yards of fabric by the end of the year, but then again, I'd like to be taller.  :) I bought the material several months ago., and was a bit appalled to find two tears in the material--in the same location but not symmetrical, oddly enough.  If I had caught it in time, I could have put it on the front skirt of the dress & done some embroidery over the top of it, but as it is, both tears are on the back of the skirt, so this will be a wear-around-the-house dress, but since I spend most of my summer in crop pants & sun dresses anyway, it's fine.  AND.... one Monkey Sock is done!!!!!  I think I made th...