skip to main |
skip to sidebar
We have to get down to the Farmer's Market at the beach when it opens at exactly 8:00 so The Mister can stock up on his oatmeal whoopie pies from the Amish stand. He's in a competition with another elderly gentleman to see who can get there first and clean the place out. It's hilarious. Pup and I go along, make our selections and then go sit under a shade tree while The Mister stands in the lines to pay. I didn't need to sit under a tree yesterday because believe it or not.....there was finally a cool breeze.
Exhibit A. Watching this guy try to control that sail was very entertaining. He was getting blown all over the water. That breeze plus the cloud cover made for a decent morning to be out and about. It wasn't quite window opening weather but it was a marked improvement.
The good thing about being at the Farmer's Market when they open is that I don't have to fight the crowds to get some photos. The gourd bin was very pretty but I never know what to do with them so I never buy them.
It's apple season so I brought home a small basket of them.
The multi-colored mums are back. I'm always tempted but know I would have a pot of dried sticks before fall even got here. It doesn't show up here anymore until Halloween or later.
It was a good year for corn. I've been making chowder at least once a week all summer.
Along with the corn and the apples, I bought another beautiful cauliflower that I roasted with garlic and a single zucchini and red pepper that became a dinner frittata. By afternoon the muggy, buggy weather had returned but it was good to get a glimpse of what's to come.
Woo hoo...my new drive band is here for the bobbin winder and I've been winding like crazy and putting more inches on the towel.
The gold wool also arrived this week and I've been cutting it up. I think this is my favorite part of the rug hooking process. There is something so satisfying about cutting up wool.
The color is off in this photo but I think that it's going to work well with the other colors I want to stripe it with. Thank goodness football is back on TV. I've got a lot to do and without The Mister always getting in the way, I just might get some of it done.
This was the last full week of the Vuelta d'Espana and I was surprised that I'd finished up that Shinook fiber it seemed that I had just started. I haven't decided how to ply it yet because this is so pretty that it has to BE something. It's going right from the skein to the needles.
Speaking of needles, the Unicorn Barf pi shawl is now on a 40 inch circular and I could still use some more length. This will probably be packed away until next summer since all the cycling is done for now. I'll work on it again during next year's Tour.
As soon as the weather cools down I'll be pulling this out to work on again in my spinning corner. My poor handspun Garter Squish has been sadly neglected since last winter. The last thing I remember is that I was ripping a lot of it back.
I also managed to fill up three drop spindles this week with one of the new Cormo minis. I never felt that I gave that much attention to the Vuelta this year but it seems I did accomplish quite a bit.
The Mister went to Annapolis on Monday to visit his ailing sister who is in the hospital. I had most of the day to myself so I cleared the dining room table and rolled out Zig Zag sandwich attempt #2. It went really well. I need to remind myself that when you take things in small steps it is usually a much nicer experience. I always try to do it all in one day and never enjoy the process. This time I had all the pieces measured and cut before hand.
Back in the sewing room I had a senior moment when I couldn't find the Juki. You can barely see it peeking out of this pile of sewing debris behind Dad's old Brother. I had to spend yesterday cleaning and sorting so I could pull it out and get it up and running again.
It needed a good cleaning and oiling. It's been so long since I've used it that I had to get the manual out to figure out how to thread it. I thought it would be a good idea NOT to practice on the Zig Zag. I made a bunch of little practice pieces so I can get this machine quilting thing back down again. It's never as easy as it looks so it may take a few days.
My hair stands on end whenever I read in the instructions that I have to increase while staying in pattern. I managed to avoid it completely with the sleeves on Bon Ami by just going up needle sizes but couldn't manage it with Chestnut. I've been tying my brain in knots all week but finally have something going using a very enlarged chart and a bright pink marker. I'm no fan of colorwork in a small circumference either. Just look at all those color changes hanging out the end. Ouf....it's been rough going.
When it's all too much I have the Doodle Cowl to fall back on. I finished the gray zig zag pattern this week and started on another small snowflake section.
Hue Shift is going green this week. After all the different reds and blues, I was surprised to discover that this is the only green in the whole thing. The next row is yellow.
Last week I was working on this corner block on the Patchwork quilt and noticed something was missing. The little square doo dads on the right.
I had no idea if I had kept any of the paper pieces after finishing the top but after a search of the sewing room I found the container I had been using and thankfully, I still had some of the leftover pieces in there.
It was a quick fix and I've now moved on to this block. Two more to go after this one but still a lot of border doo dads to quilt.
Speaking of doo dads, I had a lot of little doo dads to stitch on this thing this week. Spools of thread, scissors and the last of the tassels on the cushion. I started the lettering that goes around the center piece but didn't get far. That will be a job for this week.
The Mister helped me stretch out the canvas again so I could go to work on the end sections of the needlepoint project. This little flower block is so pretty. It was so nice not to have to switch colors so often. The baby blue background was fun to work on.
Dear Jane has all her pieces where they are supposed to be and now I have to pop out all the papers and do some appliqueing. I really like this block. I could see a whole quilt made out of this one. You did good, Jane.
I keep harping on how much I hate this hot, humid weather but I am going to miss waking up every morning and seeing Betty in full bloom. She's a regular barometer when it comes to predicting what the day will bring. When cooler weather comes she'll most likely go back into hibernation which is no fun. Maintaining a warm environment was no picnic last winter but she's not going to work her magic unless I do.
The Farmer's Market is in full fall mode but sadly the weather is not.
It's still too hot and humid. Blooms aren't going to last very long outside right now. Everything is showing the stress of this terrible summer.
We usually walk along the bay after doing the shopping but the sun on the water was making it too hot so we took Pup over to the shady wetlands park. Someone must have had a wedding there. Rose petals were strewn along the path and you could see the remains of a bouquet in the gazebo.
Some ducks were enjoying a dip to cool off.
I was looking for signs of fall among the trees.
And I found one. I do believe this is a black gum tree because the one I have out back is slowly turning red too.
Back at home I had to take care of some Fallish produce. I see a lot of roasting going on this week.
It all looks better than the poor pitiful tomatoes I had to pull off my own plant. These were the only three that grew from our regular sized tomato plant and as you can see, they split. It has rained here almost every day. Buckets of it which has been great for all the new trees but it was too much for the potted tomatoes. It was a tough summer all around and I'm hoping it's not lasting much longer. I'm in desperate need of a cool breeze.
The drive band on my little Ashford bobbin winder snapped the other day. I tried making do with some string but it didn't work. I've got a new band on the way but it won't get here until the middle of next week.
It hasn't been too much of a problem with this towel since I don't wind large amounts of any one color. All those different colors have made it very interesting to work on.
So much so that I dug out some fall colored cotton and then ordered two new colors to start warping another one. Now I just have to convince my back to let me get this done. I'm on the mend again and I hope to keep it this way this time. No bending, no lifting, no twisting. I need that tattooed on the back of my hand.
That Shinook fiber in the Sunset colorway has been very nice to work with. I usually hate fiber with lumpy bits but the colors are so pretty I can overlook them.
Some more new fiber showed up this week. They are 1 oz Cormo mini skeins in the Rose Verdant colorway from AJem Fiber Arts.
I needed something new for the drop spindles and I don't have the attention span for an entire 4 ounces of fiber anymore. I have to laugh at myself for hating on all those minis I saw at this year's MDSW. I should have bought a basket full.
I'm heading into the last week of watching the Vuelta with a finish that took 2 years. I worked on the hat last year and finished the matching mitts this year. We're still in a nasty heat wave so thinking about it being cold enough to wear such wonky, woolly wool seems like a long, long way off.
All that gray wool showed up and I set right out to get Spiral Chicken's background started.
I got one corner done and HATED IT. Rip, rip, rip.
The designers vision was a stripey background and I thought I'd take the easy way out and make it all one color. It looked terrible.
So now I've started over after ordering a bunch of colors I hope will work with the main design colors since I've run out of those. I'm pretty sure I'm keeping the rug hooking folks over on Etsy in business right about now. I seem to be ordering something every darn day.
I'm not sure why I didn't think of it before but all I needed to do was rip back the toes and add some length on those too small socks I just finished for the Grand. The width was just fine. I picked them up last week on my last visit and I've finished one already. The inside out toe is the original sock. I'm getting ready to rip that one back this week. Using that little darning egg has been a big help in finding those woven in ends.
The other socks I have going on are in various stages. I had hoped to finish those blue socks in August because I've got some Halloween-ish sock yarn I would like to cast on soon.
I've got one more square to finish in this row of the Hue Shift and I can finally see what's happening. I didn't realize the center decreases were going to shift. This latest section sits on top not next to the first section like I thought. Now it makes sense.
The Stroll Pi Shawl just hit another milestone. With this last increase round there are now 576 stitches. Yikes. This will keep me busy for a long while.
.jpg-large)
