New year, New Project

I've been a bit absent lately. My husband was home for the holiday and, of course, there were the holidays. But, I'm baa-ack.

I've made no, well very little, progress on my skirt. I just kind of ran out of skirt steam. It's still hanging out about 2/3 done. I'll get back to it, maybe later this weekend. We'll see.

But first I want to show you my new project. When my husband was home we mentioned he wanted to take one of my quilts back with him to hang on his apartment wall. I gave him a choice of the blue floral or the "snake" quilt - and he declined both. So he then requested I make him a new one. I think he feels a little bad about the yard sale comment. Today was my Friday off, so after doing some work from home, doing some laundry, cleaning out the entire office files and going to the grocery store, I made it to JoAnn's for fabric. I want to make the Oh, Fransson! wonky 9 patch lattice. So I needed 9 "scrap" fabrics and a solid neutral. So, without further ado, here are my fabrics. They are laying on the brown neutral. I hope to get them cut and pieced tomorrow. I should have time since I did most of my busy stuff today.

One of the things we did while the husband unit was home, was go back to Ikea. I wanted another table for my sewing area. It was just too cramped and I didn't like shoving the serger and sewing machine around to use them. I have the room, so why not use it, right? Much better, don't you think? If you look closely you'll see that I took this picture while embroidering. This: Cute, isn't it. It was on a flour sack towel and in the end I turned it into an apron. Why not?

We also took a drive back down to Alexandria for dinner. It was cold! And windy. But I pause long enough for a couple of pictures of the wharf. Yes, that's ice in the foreground. And see the lights on the sailboat mast?

I hope you all had a nice holiday season and haven't broken your New Year's resolutions, yet.

Sock it to me.

While my son was in the hospital I finally finished the pair of socks I started when my husband was in the hospital. I must like to knit in hospitals. Anyway, I thought I'd share.

First up is the pair I started back in March. I'd finished one sock of a pair that was so boring I couldn't finish them. So I cast on for these. Yeah, there are a couple of errors in them, particularly the one on my left foot - it was the first of the pair. When I rejoined in the round I knit a row backwards and didn't know it until way later. Dang it. But I liked the yarn and I like the socks. I was disappointed in the (lack of) pooling or striping or any other color combinations. But the colors is pretty and they fit my smallish foot.

Then I cast on the next pair, after spending a god-awful time untangling my yarn in a hard plastic chair. I ended up with 2 balls for this pair after having to cut the yarn to remove the tangle. I know they look like the same color almost, but they aren't that similar in real life (light).
Both yarns are from Fibre Space in Old Town Alexandria. I got the bag by filling up my buyer's card. It's a Japanese cotton print and just the size for socks. It would be too small for a sweater. The yarn for both is from Blue Ridge Yarns, Bambie. I used Kate Atherley's Basic Ribbed sock pattern, but didn't put the ribbing in the second pair. I like her pattern, it's easy and very well written. A great starter pattern, IMHO.

I'm still not sure I'm in love with this knitting thing. I'm trying, but it really hasn't grabbed me. I do like buying yarn, though.....

I'm back, part two

First, thank you all for such a warm welcome. It made remember part of why I blog and how much comments make me smile.
And whoops, if you were fast enough you found this entry as one line when I hit the wrong computer key. Now, lets finish the post....
karent: you know you're right! It DOES need an iguana! I'm going to have to find one and applique it on the corner. If I'm going there, I may as well go all the way.
Wendy: I've taken peeks at your new apartment (remember, I said I was still cyberstalking youse guys - had to say it: you ARE in NJ). LOOOOOVE your view. Are you in Jersey City? I spent a couple of months there a few years ago. I liked it, it was an improving town and very vibrant. Our company built the light rail there and we still operate it (that's why I was there - auditing the jobs). I hope you're enjoying your new digs, I know I am.
And a word (or 2...) about our move. 3 years ago we put our house in Detroit on the market and rented a townhouse in NoVA. Thinking our house would sell we rented furniture (ick) and moved in sparsely. A year later the lease was up and the house was still ours. So we found a smaller apartment in Old Town, hoofed it to Ikea and The Room Store and set up housekeeping. While standing in line with 4 carts of build-it-yourself furniture my phone rang. It was my son, "MOM! I think we sold the house!" Timing is everything, is it not? So 2 years ago, in May, we closed on the sale, moved my son to an apartment in Detroit, packed up most of our house to storage and some to the apartment (are you still with me here?) And started looking for a house in NoVA. Then our office moved to Columbia, MD. So we started a torturous commute and house hunting in MD. Insert a few family disasters and a picky husband and coming to grips with housing prices in the DC area and another year goes by. We finally found a house that I love and he likes. We jumped through more hoops than circus poodle for the mortgage company and closed mid May. Moving day comes and hubby gets a call from the guys unloading the storage unit: "um, it looks like there was a water leak sometime, lots of mold..." Over all, not as bad as could be. Lost 2 living room chairs, the kitchen table, LOTS of books (including a few my son had that were special and signed by the author), some linens and Christmas decorations. We DIDN'T loose anybody, the family photos, most of our furniture, or even our sanity. But yesterday was spent in the garage fully assessing the damage and disposing of losses, washing some items and separating out the good, the bad and the ugly. It was a hard day.
Soooo, we had dinner in a tree house. Not really - it's a restaurant in Ellicott City built onto the side of the hill that climbs up and lots of trees. So you're outside overlooking the town in the trees. Feels like you're in a tree house. And you've had a butt workout getting there.
So now I'm off to plant a few flowers and haul stuff out of the garage and into the basement that has become a mess.
Sorry, no pics. When I find my camera cable, perhaps I'll entertain you with snap of moldy chairs and books. I know you're looking forward to it.

Snowmageddon, part deux

The saga continues. While my husband and I made it into the office on Monday and Tuesday, we didn't even make an attempt today. Apparently we were not alone in this. The building with the peaked roof is the Post Office as seen out of the bedroom window. Not much activity going on there. I wasn't having high hopes of receiving mail today. This was pretty much confirmed when I panned over to the employee parting lot (on the right under the leaning poles). See any cars there? Me neither. We also didn't get mail on Saturday, it was delivered on Monday. Monday's mail came on Tuesday. Not sure when we'll get Tuesday's mail. So much for that "neither rain, nor sleet" crap, eh? Actually, as bad as this looks, it was before it got bad out! About an hour later the winds picked up and so did the snow. And it's still falling off and on as the last bands of the storm come through. All kidding aside (and I'm not picking on Postal workers, they didn't need to be out and about any more than I did) this was one mother of a storm. Last count, we (in Alexandria) got about a foot. Now remember this is on top of the 2 feet that fell over the weekend. It was so bad for a while that the plow crews were called in. In Maryland, where our office is, you need to add an additional foot and a half (or so) to these totals. Bleck. But my dog still loves it. She won't walk on the shoveled sidewalk, she leaps through the drifts and piles. And squats there to pee until she, um, gets too cold and has to move and finish on the pavement. Stoopid dog.

We pause now for a big thank you to our snow removal workers. These guys (and girls, I' sure) have been at this since Friday. Mostly working 16 hour shifts, many haven't been home since they went to work on Friday. I heard that since this stuff started on Friday that crews have plowed their way around the Earth 7 times (or some such staggering number). I hear complaints all day about how "My road hasn't even been plowed yet". Well, suck it up and start shoveling if you want out. There's only so much equipment and so many hours and SO MUCH FREAKIN' SNOW! Thank you guys for all you do, enjoy your overtime money after you take a hot shower, have a nice meal with your family and sleep for 20 hours straight. In May.

Now, back to my bitching about this mess. It is official, this is the snowyest winter on record. That said, the record only goes back 111 years. Not long in the history of the world and not even long in the history of this town that was founded in 1748. But anyway you look at it, 55" is a boat load of snow. It's a snow of Buffalo proportions. Ah... Buffalo, now there's a city that know how to move snow.

So, since I had a snow day and only 2 conference calls to mess with. I sewed. I rescued my pants from a few weeks ago. Picked out the zipper and put it in correctly. My error was from step one (if anyone is counting). I sewed all the seams correctly, but started with the stoopid zipper facing the wrong way. Stoopid zipper. All fixed now, ready for a hook/eye at the waist band and hemming. So they're out of the time-out corner and ready to finish. 2 or 3 more weeks oughta take care of that.

Didn't work any on my exchange scarf today. I will tomorrow night while Survivor's on. We had a business dinner for tomorrow night, but it's been canceled. (Yea!) So I'm free to knit and watch stoopid reality TV. Gotta love it.

Over on SG there was a thread on felting wool. Got me to thinking and I decided to give it a shot with a couple of sweaters out of the donation bag. I had a men's all wool (I thought...) Fair Isle sweater that I thought to make into a knitting bag. Tossed it into my washer with regular Tide, all the dog's toys (for extra friction), and 4 pans of boiling water and let 'er rip. Well, after I grabbed one more sweater from the pile of an unfortunate color and just general ickyness. Didn't know if it would felt or not, but didn't care. Well. It did. In a big, well small, way. Here's the finished product laying on top of a similarly sized (and still unfortunate color) item. Can we have a big old 'WOW!' here, please? But what do I do with this felted turquoise stuff? Pot holders? There's enough for 2, seriously. I was shocked. Oh, and quite amused. My husband (who's been known to felt a few items in his day) was even surpised.

Snowmageddon

As you know, I hate to be left out of a trend. Soooo, without further adieu - (a dew?) here are MY photo's of the most recent snowstorm from hell. Starting with something you just don't see everyday. Namely snowshoing in downtown Alexandria, Virginia. These were both taken on the one and only time I set foot outside from Friday morning through Monday morning. We ended up with around 2' of the nasty, white stuff. At my office in Columbia, MD they had closer to 3' and my "s" word is a different one. The parking lot is full of icebergs. But my patio was just a drifted pile of white fluff. My dog, on the otherhand misses Michigan and doesn't mind the snow at all. She actually hurt her shoulder, yesterday, playing in snow. At 10 she's just not as agile as she used to be (I can relate to that....). It was pitiful, it must have hurt to lay down - she spent all day and night sitting and crying. She seemed better today. And I spent $12 on a bottle of doggy aspirin (yes, I would have bought the Wal-green kind if I could have negotiated the ice flows between me and their parking lot.
My son was in town, flew in Thursday and will leave EARLY in the morning after his flight this morning was cancelled (did I mention it snowed? A boatload?) He'll get out between storms, before we get another 10-20" tomorrow. Hell, I'm moving to Buffalo - it has better weather. But he did get to pick up his scarf: I used the Palindrome pattern I found on Ravelry , using Miss Bab's wool . We were both (son and I) happy with the result. I didn't attempt to block it both because it's a super-wash and unlikely to change much and it's for a 23 year old guy who could give a rat's ass about such things. It's really soft and quite stretchy - a good thing here. He can wrap it around his neck and it will spring back and keep out drafts without getting tight.
I'm also working on a scarf swap, but I goofed and contacted my scarfee directly and she could easily trace me to here since my blog is referenced on Ravelry. So that has to stay a surprise until it's received. Surfice to say I've frogged 3 times and changed my pattern twice.
Next up will be my finished quilt/wall hanging. I'm happy enough with it - it's just small. But I haven't photographed it yet. Maybe tomorrow, afterall, tomorrow is another (snow) day. Bleck.

Fibre Space

After a nasty Saturday, Sunday was pretty nice around here. Sunny and around 40, so I did take a walk down to my very Local Yarn Store. Fibre Space is about 3 blocks down and on the same street as my apartment. I walked on the sunny side of the street - it is December. It isn't a very large store, but most establishments in Old Town aren't. They're, well, old. Many in old homes or shops from 200 years ago (um, or so). Fibre Space is no exception. They had a really pretty selection of yarns. I'm pretty new at this knitting stuff so I don't know enough to compare it other LYS's (other than "that OTHER one" and Fibre Space is much smaller) but it was pretty. And yes, the people were way nicer. Not just the employees, but the other shoppers and hanging out in the bay window knitters. I bought a Miss Babs "Yowza - whatta skein" in a monochromatic very dark grey for my next scarf. I was fascinated when I saw that Miss Babs is from Mountain City, Tenn. I didn't know anyone from there ever got out alive. My mother was from the next "holler" over and I spent a whole lotta time there as a kid. But I digress... (as usual)... It's a hand dyed merino wool, very soft, not scratchy, nice weight. But back to the LYS. They set me up to wind my skein into a nice, dark cake. They're bagless: I could bring my own bag, buy a reusable bag or just carry my yarn home. I chose the carry method - it was only one (albeit large) skein. I got a class list and a frequent buyer card - fill it up and you get a T-shirt or project bag. And there's a nice write up in the Washington Business Journal this week. Click to read the article as long as the link lasts - eventually they get moved to archives or to subscription only domains. It's not a long article, but I enjoyed it. And it makes me glad I frequent a local small business. In short (ha! too late for that!) it was a nice experience and I will go back. I was welcomed, not ignored.
And, about the pattern for my Yowza scarf. Remember that cables are required. I started with the Karaoke pattern and worked it up a few rounds in some left over Lion Brand. I like the pattern, but it's a scarf and the "wrong" side will show. But I also found the Palindrome that doesn't have a wrong side, and has cables. I haven't had a chance to work out that one yet, but I'm leaning towards the Palindrome. (Note: both patterns are free on the Internet, links found by surfing Ravelry) Work was a long day and now it's bed time. I'm hoping to trial it tomorrow so I can cast off and start on Wednesday night - my husband has a business dinner so I'll have some "ME" time. And I so need some "ME" time.
Sorry, no photo's. Too tired to find the camera cable. But I did finally take some photo's of the fabric I bought in SF back in October. Soon, my pretties, soon.

Ahhhh, Home

I drove back to DC yesterday through the first snow storm of the season. It started snowing exactly at the Pennsylvania border and snowed all the way home. Road conditions and snow amounts varied greatly from spitting flurries, to slush, to 6 inches on the ground to wet roads and so on. Only a couple of accidents seen in the highlands of PA and they were just slide off the roads. It did add about an hour to my drive with slower speeds. I wonder if this was a first, though. It snowed in Virginia before it snowed in Detroit. Colder there, though.

In order to be able to come back home "to live" we got our son a new car. The HHR worked really well for him so I just did it again. My husband said I couldn't do it in a week, but I closed the deal on Friday, Mobility Works will put in the hand controls next week and he should be rolling again by Thursday or Friday. He will finish his classes in a couple of weeks and will graduate. He's going to take a couple more classes over the winter.

We went to dinner in Old Town last night, but DH is sick today, so I'll probably go to the grocery store and then I think I'm going to walk down to the LYN: Fibre Space and see if it's friendlier than Skeins on Main . I'm done with my classes there. rather disappointing, as I have said, though I did learn some useful skills. I learned to cables last Wednesday night. And my son said he would LET me make him a scarf now that I can cable. How lucky am I? I'm sure Fibre Space can help me find some yarn for this privileged project. They're just down the street and I can walk. After yesterday's storm it's sunny and mid 40's today. I love the south.

I want to rework my bargello placemats, too. I need some more flannel to do this, JoAnn's has some "gingham" checks that make it easy to line up. A suggestion I had was to cut all my strips wider and then sew them to the desired width. So I wouldn't be struggling with trying to get straight seams on tiny, little 3/4" wide strips. That was my downfall. And right now the work I did is being used as a dust cover for my machine. Ah well.

Flash Back

I spent this weekend in DC, the first weekend I've been home since September. After a vicious Nor'easter pounded us during the week, today was 70 and sunny. Much like the weekend a couple of months ago when we hit the Farmer's Market in Old Town with my camera. Harvesting was at it's peak and there were the prettiest veggies to be found.

Let's start with picking a peck of pickled peppers. Or at least some really pretty pretty peppers. Then we'll follow up with my favorite color, purple. Aren't these the prettiest eggplants ever? They had all kinds, shapes, sizes and shades of purple. These were my favorite, with the stripes.This was a sampling of apples and pears. I thought the colors of the fruits on the blue plates was eye-popping. And the pear's weren't bad, either. I didn't get to eat but a couple before I left and they were gone before I hit town again. But the picture's still pretty!And anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a bean fan. My husband is obsessed with them and will even eat Lima beans (double bleck!) but there's no denying these are some pretty pods. I used to know their name but didn't get it down on "paper" fast enough and now it's gone. But aren't they cool?

And on our way home we walked by this house with their front garden in full bloom. Spilling onto the sidewalk and crawling up the house.It still hasn't frosted in Northern Virginia, yet, and there are flowers still out there, but there's also this - the leaves of fall.

I'm headed back to Detroit mid-week. My son will graduate in December and hopefully we can move on some then. We've been house hunting. Maybe found something, but it's a short-sale so it won't be speedy. I'm ready to move back home. But since I'm forced from home and my sewing machine I had to have something to do. So, I'm working on a new hobby. I'll fill you in on the next post, when I can offer some photo's of the new works of art (snort!).

Thanks for tuning in and sharing my fall walk with me. Sorry there's no sewing, but I did offer some pretty, pretty pictures. And the post that used the word "pretty" a record number of times. Or pretty close, anyway.

On your mark, get set, Bargello...

Or, how I spent my Sunday.

After an extremely busy week I finally made it to JoAnn's on Friday to get my batting for the Bargello quilt. I'd originally figured I could use the stuff I had on hand. But the instructions recommended very thin batting, i.e. flannel. In fact, either striped or checked flannel. No big deal, but it did involve a shopping trip I had no time for.

So here is my progress so far:

Starting with 4 sets of panels, sew them together into a tube - this photo is on the sofa I wanted to coordinate with. Then cut them in the widths as required. I used a pattern out of a book, so they told me how many of what width to cut. I did that last weekend and labeled them in the same order as they are listed in my directions. And yes, I know that 4 does not come before 3. Even in quilting. So when I started piecing I could look at my chart and see that strip #12 (the center and first strip used) is a number 2 from my group (next time I will letter these, rather than number, as the strips are numbered and it would be simpler to work with).

The first assembly step is to lay out the batting (flannel) on the backing. Backing face down, batting face up making sure to be as straight as possible. Pin at regular intervals.

Next, lay your first - center - strip down on the batting face up. This is where the checks or stripes come in handy. You need to be very accurate with this strip. It's like hanging wallpaper - get the first one right or the whole room will slope down hill.

Pin the second strip to the first, right sides together, like any seam. Then you sew these together and onto the batting/backing at the same time. Your result is a quilted back but smoothly pieced front. This is the halfway point. So from the center to the end at the right side. This will later be cut into 3 pieces for 3 place mats and bound. And done, as the quilting is already complete. Cool, eh?

I also got a little work done on the vest. The outside is together and tried on for fitting. Good with that. The lining has the markings done and the back darts and center back seam sewn, with the gap left for turning. And may I say that silk sure is slippery stuff to work with. Like trying to sew water. We'll see how this turns out.

We walked downtown this morning for breakfast at a "European Cafe", then strolled through the art fair in progress this weekend. Apparently the new rage in art is digital painting - enhancing (Photoshopping) a digital photograph and then printing it on canvas. I'm not convinced this is high level art, but the results are pretty cool, non-the-less. It did inspire me to play around with Photoshop a bit. All the pics in the entry are Photoshopped. Usually I just use Microsoft photo or whatever came with the computer. I'm wondering if there is a real difference at this level of use. It sure takes longer with PS, probably 3 times as long. Is it worth it?

And we house hunted Friday afternoon and Saturday. Finally, on Saturday, we saw some real possibilities. All four were acceptable for the most part. One had a garage too small for our cars, one had a nasty hot tub that would be a pain to remove and no exit from the basement, and one had no rough-in for plumbing in the basement. That leaves one on the short list. It's brand new - never lived in. A short sale that could be a PITA, but a pretty good deal on the home.

And Tennessee lost. Going out on a limb here and say we need a new quarterback. Period.

Burda II

I have no photos to post, but I'm going to update my Burda progress on what I'm calling my Hanna pants, as I sewed while Hanna rained. I cut out "the real thing", really more of a muslin II, as I left out all the pockets. And the more I work with my fabric, the less I like it. I think it's a wool/poly blend. It came from the $2.97/yard rack at GStreet. It's black with grey and white stripes. Not ugly, but I don't really like the way it feels. And they're LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG! I didn't even add the extra pattern piece to the bottom and they're still about 8" too long. That's one healthy hem! Did I mention they were really long? And they seem bigger than my muslin was. **sigh** Today was a long day and I'm too tired to mess with them. Maybe tomorrow.
On a better note, I got my shipment from Fabric Mart. Some really pretty "silks". They're listed as silk charmeuse, but I'm uncertain. They don't smell like silk. I need to do a burn test, I suppose. And take some pics to post. They're pretty. I like pretty. I also bought 4 lambskin oval patches, LOL. For $1/pair. NO idea what to do with those things, but it will come to me someday. Maybe piece them together for a purse or belt. They're dark brown suede. Fun, anyway. And if worried about what I'm going to with everything I bought, my shelves would be dead empty. And that just isn't the case. Not at all.
Also, not photo'd is my finished M5523, view B. Made from a "skirt length" navy pinstripe from GStreet. Wool/Lycra blend. Turned out very nice, though a tad big. I'll add a belt and see.

And my iron bit it over the weekend. The "push to steam" button doesn't. Nothing. No resistance, no steam. And the dial won't turn. It turns "off" easily, but "on" is very hard. It makes my fingers sore. SOO, I'm now the owner of a Rowenta Focus. I really love it EXCEPT the auto shut off. Hate that. But they all do that now. Again, **sigh**

We made it thru Hanna. I was underwhelmed, LOL. LOT'S of rain. Old Town got about 6", mostly between around 9am to noon. Not a lot of wind, some. And a little flooding on King Street, but it didn't look like it got even to the first stores. They were ready - sandbagged. And the wooden indian in front of the Cigar store was wearing it's life vest. Wish I'd taken my camera.
If the Burda's turn out, more pants will be on deck. If not, likely back to the pencil skirt. BOR-ING! And not really where I want to go.
And since I have no sewing photo's, I'll just leave you with this neat picture. I don't remember where it came from, but I didn't take it. Sorry to whomever I got it from, and thank you! If it's you, let me know.