Fiber Babble: July 2011

Brief Bookmark Disquiet

July 22, 2011

Abandoned book "Lost City" by Clive Cussler ♦♦♦◊◊

It's late at night and I've just set aside my cross-stitching. I prefer to do this kind of thing early in the day (and not 'wee hours' early), but Mr. W. decided that he needed me to accompany him on a trip into town earlier today and then there was the obligatory nap and well, you know how it is, right?

So, I've just set the stitching aside. I'm in the midst of the sixth of nine bookmarks; so far everything's on one big piece of fabric (sorry, no pictures, it's late and it's dark).

And then I had a thought. A concern, if you will. I've spent hours on these little stitcheries and haven't actually put one together yet.

What if my math is wrong? What if this really clever idea of mine has some sort of unforeseen design flaw?

Well, crud. I think tomorrow I'll sacrifice a rectangle of Aida cloth to actually make a prototype. Flippin' brilliant, that's what I am.

I had some help reading the pattern tonight.

Stinkin' adorable.

By the way, Mr. W. & I passed by a Humane Society event at the mall today. We looked through the window at the kittens. He insisted that we keep moving... and then said, "Oh, isn't that one gorgeous!". Then he said "We have to go. NOW."

Hmmm. Do you think MoonPie might get a playmate? My birthday's in a couple of days (have I mentioned that already? heh) - should I not shake the birthday present too vigorously?

Probably not. But there's a glimmer of - what? Hope? - possibility, at least, right?

And tangentially related: We were at the mall to go to our itty bitty Borders store. It was really sad; the liquidator was in there, talking about what to do tomorrow (later today, now). We're sad because that's our only non-recycled bookstore in the county and just sad at the demise of the chain. Yes, we bought some books and didn't wait to come back tomorrow/today to get them on sale.

Labels: babble

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WOW: A Departure

July 20, 2011

"You bet," I told her, "and who has the trophy coffee mug to prove it." "Birds of Prey" by J.A. Jance ♦♦♦♦◊

So, first off, I actually have sewn something quilt-ish. But it's at the shop and I just keep forgetting to take a picture of it. Right now, though, I'm all about the yarn-y things and stitching for bookmarks.

Here's the latest bookmark stitchery I finished. It's for someone whose name starts with "L" (clever, eh?) and she likes hummingbirds. I even got a little bit fancy with my generic few skeins of embroidery floss and paired a blue with a green to get a little bit of interest there in the 8 or so stitches in the body.

I believe that I have 9 little stitcheries to make and I've done 4. Tomorrow starts an almost full week off work for me so I'll hopefully be able to finish the stitching and turn these into actual bookmarks before my next WIP on Wednesday post (and I'm having a birthday in there, too!).

Oh, and here's the departure: With at most a couple of hours' work left to do on The Socks That Had Surgery, I decided to make a camera cozy. Because when I carry my camera in my purse my keys and cellphone jangle around it. And I don't remember if I ever had a 'real' camera case.

So it's cast on some stitches and knit a garter-stitch edging around a 'body' of moss stitch until it seems to be big enough to sew up into a pocket to put my camera in.

I love the texture on this.

I'm also using this as an excuse to practice my Portuguese-style knitting (YouTube link), where the yarn is actually wrapped around the back of my neck while I'm working with it. This method takes a lot of strain off of my left hand, though I haven't taught myself to switch hands like I do when I knit 'regular' (a variation of Continental style, for those who can translate that) so I can give my right hand a rest, too.

That's about as exciting as it gets this week, I think. I have a couple of things that I really want to show and tell, just need to get my ducks in a row to get pictures and stuff.

Labels: knitting, stitchery

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WOW: Bookmarks. And FOOD.

July 13, 2011

It may seem a frail defence against the horrors of the world but we must hold fast and believe in it, for it is all that we have. "The Private Patient" by P.D. James ♦♦♦♦◊

No more to show on the Socks That Had Surgery. I've worked on them a bit, but they're not to a noticeably different point than last we met.

I have, however, finished knitting itty bitty sox for my bookmark swap. Of course, now that I have the pattern just the way I like it, I'm done - at least done knitting for the swap.

Yesterday I picked up some 1/8" grosgrain ribbon and some sort of jewelry findings to turn the itty socks into bookmarks.

And just because I just love that these socks did not take any shortcuts, I give you turned & gusseted heels and grafted toes.

I wanted to do some cross-stitch bookmarks, too, because I found a really cool idea online somewhere (I'll find the link & give proper credit when they're closer to being finished). Of course, I couldn't make socks for part of my swap group and cross-stitch for the other part, so it looks like almost everyone's getting two.

These motifs are about 15 squares, uh, square. Or about 1 1/16th" inch square.

I COOKED yesterday. In addition to making strawberry-rhubarb-raspberry jam and grating a big ol' block of cheese and gathering the ingredients for Knock You Naked Brownies, I made chicken burritos!

Recipe courtesy of the wonderful Sharon at Craizee Corners. I will definitely be doing this again. It was easy and tasty...

BUT

Next time I'll NOT use the 'hot' flavor of salsa. It was a bit overwhelming. I'm told (now) that flavors sometimes get stronger when you use a slow cooker. Using the 'hot' was not a recipe recommendation - I take full responsibility!

Oh! The cat!

MoonPie's new favorite place to sleep - for hours - is the recliner between Mr. W's legs. Perfect place for a big warm cat to spend her time in the heat of the summer, don't you think?

Last but not least (though maybe least interesting), Amanda sent me an invite to Google+. I'm there as (surprise!) Fiber Babble. I'm just getting my feet wet and this might turn into yet another hour a day at the puter, but I'll give it a try. I am so anti-Facebook (I have not fully explored my reasoning for being so) and Google+ feels a little like I expect Facebook to be, but for some reason I'm okay with it - if it's not Facebook.

Labels: knitting, stitchery

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Sock Survivor

July 04, 2011

Abandoned book "The Sanctuary" by Raymond Khoury ♦♦◊◊◊

Soooooo, it was successful.

It wasn't fast by any means, but it was successful. I'm knitting to the toe on one of the socks now. I could have knit a longer tube & not have had to knit so much to get to the toe, but I must've had a good reason for what I did. Or I got bored.

The whole point of making a tube o'sock and then cutting & adding toes and heels later is so that I have the flexibility to add toes and heels when (and where) I want them. But I have to admit it would have been easier to do that snippy thing if I'd had lifelines where the needles needed to go. I'm not perfect (surprise!) at getting all the stitches in a row, especially since I had to navigate a cable or two along the way.

It worked out, of course, but I had to do some fiddling because I'd picked up most stitches from one row and a few from a neighboring row above or below.

It occurs to me as I write this that I need to be doing the same thing on sock #2 as I am on sock #1, so I should be working on them both at once.

Wow, I am just sharp as a marble, aren't I?

I guess I'll be getting sock #2 caught up before going farther on sock #1.

Bright side: I am learning SO much from this experiment!

In other news, I did finish two other pairs of socks this weekend.

I am swapping bookmarks with my peeps over at Quilter's Last Resort so these are going to get a ribbon or cord tied to them to help my friends mark their places and then they'll be sent off around the world. I was going to stop at 4 socks, but I think that everyone needs to have the same thing so no one feels left out (that's the parent in me speaking).

Details: Jo-Ann Sensations Bamboo and Ewe (I really like this stuff), size US #1 needles, Pattern is Sockology Bookmark I by Jackie Ghio.

BUT there's another bookmark that I want to try that is NOT yarn-y. Maybe I'll send everyone TWO bookmarks! Because I have all the spare time in the world!

Oh,and for the record? All of the pictures on this page are of socks made of the same yarn. According to my monitor, the top picture is closest to the actual color and brilliance.

Labels: knitting

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