A Little Yarn On The Side

Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement.  It is amazing what a destructive force alcohol can be at times--I had a long-standing friendship finally end a couple years ago because of my friend's drinking, and while I miss how the friendship once was, it has never been anything but a relief to be away from her behavior while drinking.  And that's a really sad thing to realize.  After all the party prepping over the last couple weeks, I have been unwinding this week, and doing a LOT of exercising.  After 70 minutes of walking yesterday, I've been a bit sore today so postponed my trip to the gym until tomorrow.  There has, however, been a new bowl, which I intended to be oval.  The odd thing about making bowls this way is that it is actually a bit difficult to achieve anything except round.  Isn't that amazing?  I couldn't draw a circle if my life depended on it, in spite of all my attempts otherwise my pizzas are almost always square-ish...

How did that happen????????? I finished May with a rather dismal tally: Yards of fabric used: 5.5 Yards of yarn used: 702 Balls of yarn used: 1.5 Projects finished:  6 leaving me with some catching up to do.  However, I do have to show you the party decorations.  These are the last thing I made:  and I spent much of last week getting the summer decorations up and getting ready: I thought the decorations turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.  I was disappointed in the party itself, however.  The games went well and I think everyone had a good time, but one of the problems I've had through the years with parties is there always has to be that one person who can't drink appropriately.  When you're in your twenties, I think everyone has their moments of drinking too much, but when you're over 40 and STILL can't attend a party without getting drunk, there is something seriously wrong.  It's not even like anyone else finds ...

Originally, we had planned to have no one over at all during the weekend and just rest/relax/work on hobbies.  I had been exercising quite a bit last week and my back was fairly sore, so it was a good plan--though, of course, like all good plans, it didn't really work out.  The friend we play music with the most was in town, so we ended up having him over for dinner and music Saturday, which meant much of Saturday was spent cleaning.  The house needed it, but a far cry from the original plan. We had a marvelous time, but it pushed my back over-the-edge, and the planned sewing became crafts-one-can-do-while-laying-on-a-heating pad.  So, I finished the latest color work ornament, and even got it stuffed and I think it is one of my favorites so far.  I think I've been over-stuffing these, so I tried a little less stuffing in this one and after a little poking and prodding, it's more of an actual sphere than most.  This is project 31 for the year, whic...

The mohair shawl is done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's done!!!!!!!  And running through the house waving a big knitted shawl over my head doesn't, oddly enough, hurt my hip.....

Er...the edging.  For now, at least. It's still a peach fuzzy blob looking spectacularly like it did in this picture, but tonight I completed the very last repeat EVERRRRRRR and am now onto the 18 rows of edging.  I'm on row 3 and we're just not thinking about the upcoming grafting of mohair episode coming up........................

I am down to the last repeat on the mohair shawl, and it's possible I could even be on the border by now, but I just can't take any more fuzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Setting aside the wonderful idea of a big, 1100-yard monster lace project being finished, I just could face the mohair today.  So, in my moments available for crafting, I worked on the pillowcases, which, while sporting a wee bit of cat hair by now, are really mostly fuzz-free.  Because I found these in a bag a few years ago and don't actually remember when I bought them (two sets of them, by the way), there's a great feeling of satisfaction in working on these.  Stash is something one has and doesn't use, but when one does make things one has, one has just planned ahead.  Way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead..... In two weeks we are hosting a game night, and since we have been on SUCH a party-hosting hiatus, I decided to do a bit of decorating for this one, and today braved the glue gun for ...

Only 59 more rows--and a mohair grafting episode that is just NOT going to be pretty--and the peachy mohair abyss Lace Dream shawl will be done!!!!!!  In just under 2 years.  Hope no one has been scorched by the burning crafting speed over here..................