Happy Birthday Times Three

 

August was a big month for birthdays when we had a house full of kids. This was from 1987. We have two birthdays on the 8th and one on the 9th. Look at all those cakes. 

First up was Middle Son. The Little Girl in the first photo is The Mister's oldest from his first marriage. They share the same day. 

This is Daughter on her first birthday. Her big day is tomorrow. All of my kids are floating around in their mid or late 40's now. Ouf. 

You can tell how much I really got into these things back then. I miss all those kids. I miss all that cake.

Friday Fluff: Vive les Femmes

 

Unlike the men's Tour that starts at dawn, the women's Tour doesn't start until 9:45 every morning. It's been nice being able to get the chores done before I sit down in front of the wheel and watch. This week I got the purple finished so my pastel minis are done. I have no idea what to do with them at the moment but I'm sure something will come to me.

The remainder of the fiber I was spinning on the drop spindles during the men's Tour is now on the wheel. I gave up using the spindles because the fiber was very snarly. It wasn't drafting very well and I was over fighting with it.

The shorter broadcast of the ladies event doesn't give me much time so I spend most of it knitting with handspun instead of making more. That's the second Wonky Thermal Mitt being worked on and another pi shawl made from some Polwarth I spun in 2015. I had dyed it myself and called it Unicorn Barf. It's certainly an eye full but it's been fun to work with. 

Stranded

 

I know it was just a few days ago when I said I was going to weave this towel no matter what but I should have known better. Look at this mess. 

Once again I am re-threading all those heddles in hopes of getting it right this time. 

I had started weaving my last try when I noticed THREE issues that had to be dealt with but this time I think I finally figured out what I've been doing wrong. These are heddles. They are on four metal bars. They are all squished together in one corner and what I've been doing is mixing up the second and third bar. It's easy to do especially in dim light. Now I'm making visual confirmation of which bar the heddle came from before I move on to the next.

Only other weavers will understand this but I had already removed the lease sticks meaning it's a free for all in the back. I have to pick up one color at a time, put it in the order the way it comes off the back beam and then clip it with this Ikea bag clip to hold all the strands in place while I run around to the front and thread it. Whew. It's slow. It's fiddly but so far I'm not minding. It's too hot to be doing anything else and all that bending over and running around has got to be good exercise. 

Wednesday WIPs: A Uneek FO

 

The Uneek socks are finished. The colors are gorgeous but the yarn itself is weirdly plied. It reminds me of string in that it has a core rather than a true twist. These won't be going in the gift box. These pretties are all mine, mine, mine in spite of having so many socks I can't fit anymore in the drawer. 

Chestnut's body is almost finished. I won't worry about the 3 needle bind off or the arm steeks until I get the sleeves done. I've started the August panel on the Doodle Cowl. Both of these projects are a nasty lap full of wool on a hot day so I'm not spending much time with either of them at the moment.

I am enjoying picking up the Stroll Pi Shawl. It's been getting me through some tense TV time. House of Dragons...I'm looking at you. 

 

TNT: Building a Cat

 

It doesn't look like much at this point but I made a lot of progress putting that Calico together this week. I had started on the blanket it's laying next to but realized a few of my stitches were off so I figured it would be easier to fudge the blanket than the cat so I started putting it together instead. 

I wanted to switch out some blended colors on the needlepoint project so I cannibalized Funky Flower's leftovers and ordered some more colors online. 

I'm starting this block on the Patchwork quilt this week. The weather has been miserable so I should have plenty of stitching time to get it done. It's number 8 in the countdown. 

In my "stuck in the house" boredom yesterday I even got started on block E7 of Dear Jane. She really has it in for me this time around but I'm going to cut some corners again to save my sanity. 

Tying One On

 

The weekend was spent hiding inside from the terrible weather. It was like a steam bath out there. So hot, So humid. It did give me time to get some of those loose ends tied up. All that fiddly threading is over and I'm ready to start weaving. I've decided that even if I find boo boos this time I'm going on with it. This towel is about the process. I need to see it all through to get my confidence back no matter the outcome. 

In the midst of all the misery Mother Nature is throwing at us, we took a very quick walk with the dog early yesterday morning and noticed the coffee shop, aptly named The Novel Bakery, has unveiled its new mural. While the owner is waiting for his permits, he's opened up his food truck in the parking lot and has set up lots of chairs and tables of books to encourage folks to hang out. He had quite a crowd in line for coffee and scones so I'm guessing he's going to do a great business once he's up and running. 

Zigging and Zagging

 

I've only got one more row to add to the Zig Zag quilt before the borders but that one last row has been a hair raising adventure. 

They were really skimpy with that lighter material and I ran out. Luckily, I saved all those dark blue and yellow HSTs that I ripped out because I've had to carefully pick out all those seams to make 10 more blocks to finish the whole thing off. I've also been in short supply of the charm squares so making sure I didn't back myself into a color corner was also a priority. For something that was supposed to be an easy summer project, it's been anything but. All my fault of course. Trying to make improvements over the designer's original plans never works out for me but I never seem to stop trying.