A Little Yarn On The Side

Ta-da! They're done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And I haven't washed them just yet so I can double-check them when I'm a bit less giddy from the Finished Project fumes, but I really checked these over last night and couldn't find anything left to do.  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And it only took about 6 weeks (plus, of course, however many years elapsed between starting that first pillow case), which is even MORE amazing.  Suddenly the fact that I had TWO sets of these doesn't seem quite so insane.  Only partially.......... The most thrilling part of finishing the pillowcases was to get to check them off on my Projects to Make list.  For years I've kept various lists of projects that I have the material or yarn for and haven't yet made.  Sometimes it's worked better than others, and since we upgraded to the "smart" phones, I've been keeping it on there.  Of course, it's a relatively recent list, so the number of checked-off projects isn't t...

Ignoring for a moment that I should be at 50 finished projects by the end of this month, I am still pretty excited about finishing the trick or treat bag.  It still needs to be washed to remove the cat hair and chalk lines, and I had to come to terms with this because those lines connecting the bear's face aren't the usual "jump" threads that I can cut away--those are actually stitches that I just can't get at without injuring the design.  I think I can remove this sort of thing from a design using the embroidery software--we'll add that to the List of Things To Look Up When I Find The Manual.  It's becoming a very big list. The other side turned out fine as well, though there seems to be some damage to the writeable card I'm using to transfer designs, because it jumped between the "r" and "e" in "Treat" again, but knowing it was going to jump and when, I was able to slide the design back and finish it without t...

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........................