Two Months of Work

I finally finished my Pretty as a Peacock shawl!  It took me 2 months and 2 days to finish.  I used 9 skeins of Louet Gems fingering weight yarn.  It is so pretty and I'm sooo very glad it's done.  After I finished the last row with peacock feathers I was tempted to bind off and be done, but it was worth it to do the extra 100 or so rows :-P  The second picture is a detail shot of the pattern.

My second finished project from this weekend is a baby blanket.  I actually got to go to Fiddlesticks Stitch n Bitch for the first time in awhile and finished it there.  I crocheted this using a pattern out of the Happy Hooker book.  It's just basic granny squares done in worsted weight yarn.  It calls for a bigger hook than normal and I really liked how that affected the drape of the squares.  With the stitches being so loose the fabric came out softer than usual.  I made this blanket to use up some of my stash yarn and tried to make it ok for either a boy or a girl.  Someone in my office is having a baby girl in the next few months, so it looks like they'll be getting a gift!

Jerry and I haven't been up to anything too exciting lately.  Last weekend we got to go take a tour of the Denver Mint with Linda and Karen.  I remember the tour being much more interesting when I was a kid.  On Saturday I got to go to Elitch with Karen, Jason and Linda.  I haven't been since Adele moved back to the UK so that was fun.  I am not as tough as I used to be, some of those rides that used to be so great now make my stomach a little unhappy.  The company made it all worth it though. 

Finished Quilt Top!

I finally finished the quilt top I've been working on!  I started it a looong time ago (more than a year) and kept putting off working on it.  It's a beautiful top, but I didn't do a very good job getting the rows lined up exactly so the bottom and top boarders had to be trimmed up a bit.  Now I just need a backing and to quilt it.  Mom gave me her quilting frame awhile back so I'm currently planning on hand quilting.  It's a queen size, so I may decide to switch to machine quilting.

The second pic is a picture of the border fabric close up.  The weird parenthesis looking thing is a string I didn't notice till posting the picture.  The border is actually a green fabric with the circles in a darker green.  My camera didn't capture the colors very well.  Now I just need to figure out if I want to keep, give away, give to charity, or sell it when finished.

Ravelympics are Finished & Rocky Horror

I participated in the Ravelympics this year.  It's an event on Ravelry.com that coincides with the Olympics (just in case the name didn't give it away).  You get a digital badge for each event you compete in.  Not much insintive but I did want to challenge myself to use up some of my stash, work on making my threadwork even, and finally make some Christmas ornaments.  So I give you my Christmas stars (please excuse the over-glittering.)

 

On the life front things are pretty much the same.  I went to my first theater showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show on Friday night with Linda.  I've wanted to do the audience participation showing of this since I was in Laramie and it was pretty fun.  Sadly, I was very tired by the time it was over (2 a.m.) so I must be getting old.  I did think it was fun, but I'm not sure if I'd do it again.  Maybe if I took a nap first :o)

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Jerry and I had repainted the kitchen.  We were hoping to go on a group trip to Vegas with our tax return but since no one else can make it we are now trying to decide between new counter-tops or a new couch.  Comfort or resale value, decisions, decisions.

Socks that fit!

I finished my first pair of socks that fit me!  Not only that but I modified my first knit pattern.  I modify crochet patterns all the time because I just get how it works much more than I do with knitting.  It was a pretty easy mod, I just made the lace pattern go down the top of the foot instead of ending at the ankle like the pattern called for.  Here they are:

I haven't worked on my quilt at all recently.  I'm not sure where that motivation went but it's gone.  I signed up for a swap on craftster for an art journal page.  I haven't started my page yet but have some ideas. 
I'm also working on making a bunch of crocheted star ornaments for the Ravelympics.  I meant to make them for Christmas and just ran out of time so I figured now was a good time.  I've done about 7 and I'm remembering how much of a pain thread work can be.  They look good though.  Haven't decided if I'm going to glitter them.
That's all for now.  I'm going to pajama jam at the Lamb Shoppe tonight so should get ready for that.  Hope everyone has a good weekend :)

CLASSy

The last week in January was a busy one for me.  I went to New Jersey to be trained in the Toddler CLASS.  It's a measure that will be used in our AIAN Head Start Research Center data collection, and is currently being used in the Baby FACES program.  Anyone who is involved in Head Start or Early Head Start has heard of FACES.  The rest of you are probably already board :o)  The training was in Plainsboro which is close to Princeton.  I unfortunately didn't get to see much of Princeton.  The night we went out for a group dinner I got a headache and had to go back to the hotel instead of exploring.  The worst part of the trip - I didn't have anything crafty to do.  I couldn't find my crochet hook before I left so just took books.  Jerry found the hook after I left in a very obvious place.  Seems normal for my life. :o)
On Saturday we helped DJ move.  It took awhile, but we got to eat at Roma's for a reward.  I'm not sure that Jerry liked it as much as I do, but I was happy.  Whoever came up with putting cream cheese in your carrolli/on your pizza was a genius.  I was exhausted when we got home, but we did manage to get up enough energy to go to Trent & Theresa's to play poker.  One round and I was done.  Actually not even one round.  I knew it was time for me to be done when I couldn't figure out how to break down my 500 chip to 100s after putting in my bet.  Simple math isn't so simple when you're tired.
On the crafty front I finished Kevin's hat before I left.  I like how it turned out, and hope he did too. 

Last night I finished Fran's gloves/mittens.  Since her hat was already finished I can take those over to her soon.

  

This week I'm hoping to work on the quilt some.  I only have 5 rows left to sew on (and then the boarder, and then quilting, and then binding) but only 5 rows left on the main part.  Friday we're having poker at our house.  I'm hoping for a good turnout, already looks promising.

A lesson in crafty terms

This week I got to use some terms that you may not all be familiar with.

First up we have frogging.  This is when you realize that the project you are working on has something wrong with it and you have to rip it out.  Rip-it sounding like ribbit, leads to frogging.  Like when you realize that you've put to many rows on a cuff for a crocheted pair of mittens.  No big deal you just frog back to where you  need to be.  Crochet is worked one loop on a hook at a time so much easier to frog back to certain point sense you don't need to worry about dropping stitches.  Or you can frog when you realize that the hat you are knitting is way too big and you have to frog the whole thing when you are 3/4 of the way done.  This sucks.  A lot.  Knitting takes me longer than crochet so there were hours of work that I just had to rip out.  Which leads to swearing, lots and lots of swearing.

The second word we are learning this week is tinking.  To tink is to knit backwards.  This happens when your brain freezes and you realize that you have worked row 10 of a chart on the restarted hat twice instead of continuing to row 11.  If mistakes are caught quickly tinking is not that bad.  If mistakes are found when doing lacework tinking is an evil spawn of the devil.

The final word for this week is gauge.  This is where you make a test swatch of fabric using your hook or needles and selected yarn for a project.  I did not bother to gauge the hat I am making because it is the third time I have made this hat.  It worked fine with size 8 needles in the past so I thought it'd be fine.  I had forgotten that until very recently I was always knitting through the back of every stitch causing my stitches to be twisted.  That meant that all my projects where much tighter than they would be done the correct way for the pattern (through the front of the stitch.)  I had to go down two needle sizes.  My friend Shelia is the tightest knitter in the world and usually has to go up needle sizes.  Now it appears that I am the loosest knitter I know.  Maybe we could figure out how to combine and be on gauge with the pattern requirements?

Muddy Wednesday

This last week has been a busy one.  I finished my mom's shawl and Jerry got a light installed over the sink in the kitchen. We now have light and can get the dishes clean on the first washing!  We need to get the wall retextured and painted where Jerry had to cut through the drywall.
Monday I got to go to dinner with Linda and Karen.  We had a nice time and got to eat some yummy unhealthy food at Cafe Jordano.
At work the University has set up a program (it started around the holidays) that donates four hours of time for employees to do volunteer work.  Matt at work set up a day for working at Habitat for Humanity for those that were interested.  So Wednesday that's what I did.  It was fun but also hard work.  We spent a lot of the time hammering nails into the flooring of the second floor.  A nail every four to six inches on the joists adds up to a lot of hammering.  Too bad they didn't have nail guns to use, would have gone a lot faster, and my hand and arm wouldn't have hurt so much :o)  It was also a muddy day, as you can see.

I actually got work done on the quilt this week, two more rows added and hopefully some more today after cleaning.  I started plum blossom mittens, and am almost done with them.  The first mitten has too big of a thumb and the finger part is a bit short.  I already grafted the top closed so since they're for me I'll make it work without undoing all my stitches.  I'm also working on a hat and some mittens with a flip top for my mother-in-law Fran.  The hat is almost done.  I'm hoping to finish the mittens and the hat at least tomorrow at Pajama Jam.