Goodbye August

 It's been a long, hot miserable month. I am glad to see it go. I did get one goal finished before September takes over tomorrow. That's the end of the line on the loom. You can't go farther than this. That shuttle is stuck. I am out of warp.

 Snip, snip.

Unrolled and slid off the bars.

 Then a quick zig zag to secure the edges so the two pieces can be cut apart.

 I'm pretty bad at hemming but the job gets done.

Ta da. It will look better after a few washings. Other than a missed floating selvage or two I can't find any major boo boos. I'm not looking very hard at the moment though. I am just glad to be on the other side of it.

UnKnitting-Again

 I finished the colorwork part of the sleeve and now I am faced with miles I plain old knit. It gave me the itch for more colorwork.

 I went digging through patterns and my giant basket of palette.

 I even thought about this kit I have.

 Then I remembered I already had this in progress. Duh.

I knit a few rows and then realized I had made a big boo boo so I had to rip back all the rows I had just knit and then some. I just ripped this thing back to the armpits so I was not exactly having a good time. It's back in the 90's here with high humidity so nothing is really making me happy. I need a cool breeze and another gin and tonic. Won't this summer ever end?

Oh, Boy...

Remember how excited I was to find a skating penguin for Daughter's expectant friends's baby shower invitations?

 Well, the gender reveal was Saturday and....it's a boy. The skating penguin got nixed as being too girly but since the baby is due in January she still wants a winter themed card so I've been playing with what I have in the stash and have more on the way.

What really gets me is that I wanted a stamp that said this so I ordered one I found in an Etsy shop in Canada which cost me a small fortune only to find out I already had that sentiment in another stamp set. Serves me right for not stash diving before I go internet surfing for ideas.

 Now I am going to rant a bit about gender reveals. Daughter, who attended, said that her poor friend was disappointed it was a boy. She had hoped for a girl. It got me thinking about how hard it must be to be disappointed for so many more months. I have to confess I was disappointed when Son #1 was a boy-for about 10 seconds. As soon as they handed him to me I didn't care what he was. He was the love of my life.

 Ditto for Son #2. I had hoped for a girl but by now I knew I would love whatever it was.

How could you not? It must be so hard for first time moms to go through all that reveal nonsense. I am sure there must be benefits but I'm not seeing them from here today.

A Ha....

 Yesterday was the day I wanted to get this finished and off the loom.

 The towel is finished and safely rolled up on the bar. Right now I am just using up the leftover warp by making a little napkin sized thingy.

 I've only got a little bit left. That's the end bar inching it's way up. Soon I'll be out of room to weave. It's funny that it took me to this point to figure out how to weave this draft. When I weave I usually say the foot treadle numbers out loud to keep my place. Yesterday I discovered if I just number the sequence and call out their number I can weave faster and without losing my place. Duh. Who knew? I know this won't make any sense to anyone but weavers but there you are.

And in another a ha moment I also learned that if I move the warping board into the kitchen and put it on a lower cabinet door I can see the top when I count it off and even better-I can actually sit down while I am winding it on. Now that's a game changer.

Moving Right Along

 I surprised myself this weekend and got some "chores" done.  I say chores because they were projects I really didn't have the desire to pick up. I was not loving working on this stitching project because it's so darn small but with a good light and a good book to listen to I actually had so much fun with it that I almost got that apple tree knocked out.

 Then there was poor Spiral Chicken. She's been gathering dust all summer. Literally. Now she's got her first flower to keep her company. Again, I had to force myself to pick her up but when I did I had a jolly old time.

Finally, yesterday  morning I pulled a comfy chair up to my Echo and listened to podcasts while I turned the heel on all these socks. Not bad for a lazy weekend.

Piece by Piece

 The 30's Dresden has turned into a major piecing project.

 I've decided on a pieced sashing and border.  This is my kind of piecing. Nice and simple.

 I also just finished the last two blocks on Row B of the Dear Jane. They were mercifully simple.

 I've got 23 blocks now. I can't believe I've come this far.

Now to sort out Row C. This is always the part where I think to myself that I must have been crazy to take this on. Just look at all those little pieces.

Instant Gratification

 I didn't buy the August card kit and I didn't like the September one either so I used the money to splurge on some more pricey paints.

I saw someone raving about them on You Tube so I had to have them, of course.

What's so cool about them is that they are very "reactive". That means when you touch them in water they just explode into big splotches of color. That's my new brush. It's a #10 Escoda Rigger.

 The paints mix beautifully too and this High Chroma set is very bright. For lazy painters like me who want the paint to do all the work they are just what I need. I spent a happy afternoon putting them through their paces.

 What I liked best though was the palette when I was finished. This is the way my painting should look with all those pretty colors and interesting brushstrokes.

So I pulled some prints off of it. Now this has possibilities.

I also bought some really cheapo Jerry Q watercolors because Amazon told me to. Amazon has got my number and is now offering me watercolor deals every where I look and I can't resist. These come in a really nice plastic box and that's about the nicest thing you can say about them. If you like transparent these are for you. It took four layers just to get some color to show on my pitiful swatch.

S S&S Syndrome

 That's Second Sock and Sleeve Syndrome in case you were wondering.

 I think it's amusing that I am on the second sleeve for two sweaters and the second sock of two pairs.

 The first Watermelon sock is done and I am at the heel of the second.

 The first Mermaid sock is done and I am also at the heel of the second.

I am heading to the heel on these man socks and I thought I'd be there but you know man socks take forever.

I also want to thank Cheryl for the sweet note (I love that card) and the cute kitty shawl pin she sent my way. I have never seen a shawl pin like that and I have just the job for it as soon as it gets cool. I have to say we did have the windows open today.  I could use just a tad less humidity but it's an improvement so I'll take it.

A Can of Worms

I finished the Saltwater table runner and  mini quilt  and now they are where they are supposed to be until summer's last gasp which I hope is not too far away now.

I don't have a piecing project in the works now so I went stash diving. All those boxes are projects to-be from when Daddio and I had the quilting factory going.

 I keep telling Cindy at Delighted Hands how much I love the quilt she's working on now. Now I know why. Daddio and I bought it ages ago. I took a look at the directions and put it back on the shelf. Yowza. I'm not ready for this one.

 I also found this one. This one might be a maybe but......

 Then I found these. I forgot all about this pile of unfinished Dresedens in Daddio's stash. He was a Dresden making machine once upon a time.

We also had a big box of 30's reproduction fabric to finish it off.

 Hmmmm......I do recall hating those red centers.

 We had run out of the yellow and green and had made do with the red.

  I found some fairly close yellow and green so it was a pretty quick fix once I reminded myself how I had done it in the first place. Now I have to figure out how to put them all together.

And then there is this. It's never ending. Like I said, Daddio was a Dresden making machine. There is not enough hours in the day.......