Crabby

 

The Mister pulled off another of his annual family crab feasts. 

Before all that, Daughter's Grands came down early for a walk at the marina. We saw lots of good sized crabs walking around in the wetlands and saw the crab boats unloading the day's catch.

Eating isn't that important to this kid crew. They spent hours beating the heck out of each other with my couch pillows and exercise ball. 

Then it was downstairs to the craft room to make a mess that I'll spend a few days cleaning up. A good time was had by all and a few shirts were ruined. I'm sure they all slept well last night. I know I did.

As the Fur Flies

 

The Mister is holding his annual crab thing with the family today. I usually spend days cleaning and getting ready but he wanted to play golf with SIL on Tuesday. That could only happen if I went up with him and wrangled the Grands so Daughter, who is on vacation this week, could get some things done. The problem is that I put my back out of whack again that day so I'm back on the ice packs and heating pad. He had to step up and follow my directions to get things done which never goes well. The fur was flying and it wasn't all cat hair. 

He's always been of the opinion that you shouldn't have to clean anything when company is coming so it was a hard sell to get him going but he finally did. Every nook and cranny got a good going over. I paid him for all his hard work by ordering in Mexican. It would have been a good deal if the restaurant had remembered to include the tortillas for our fajitas. It meant a mad dash for him back to the place to pick them up in the middle of a terrific thunderstorm. What a day. For his sake, I hope today goes better. 

Better

 

Much better. The quiet colors in the top are better suited to this nondescript apricot fabric. The bright yellow won't go to waste. It'll be the backing for the Color Wash top. 

I don't think it would be possible to be too bright with this one. It's going to be crazy.

Friday Fluff: Vuelta Week 1

 

How it started.

How it ended. This was that snarly, compacted fiber that I had to abandon on the drop spindles during the TdF and finish on the wheel. I wanted to chain ply it to get a thicker yarn but it kept breaking so it's a 2 ply. What's to become of it, I have no idea. 

Up next is this Shaniko fiber I picked up at the MDSW. 

I don't seem to be able to find much time while the Vuelta is on in the morning to just sit and knit but I did get back into the blue again this week on the Unicorn Barf Pi Shawl. 

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I did finish the Wonky Thermal Mitts this week but haven't woven in the ends. I did run out of the first ball and was very happy that the second ball was as equally wonky. They may look crazy but they will be warm.

Puttering Around

 

The Mister went to play golf the other day so I spent the day catching up with things in the sewing room. I've had an assembly line going for the Color Wash Quilt but hadn't gotten too far.

I also started another coaster using the punch needle. I've gotten a lot of use out of the ones I've finished this summer. It seems like I'm always hauling around a sweaty glass of something.

My tiny punch needle project is nearing its finish. I think these little veggies are just darling. I honestly didn't think I'd enjoy working on something so small but I do because it's so darn cute. And finally after a devastating 24 hour news cycle....

Me. And you?

Wednesday WIPs

 

Chestnut's has a body! 

I added one more peerie from the chart that will be joined at the shoulders and then cut away for the neck. 

Now it's time to start the sleeves and I've got the big idea to knit them both at the same time like I do socks. I bought another 16 inch size 3 needle to be able to do this. Needles have gotten very expensive but I suppose everything has.

I also needed more wool for those sleeves and was HORRIFIED to learn that Knit Picks has discontinued some of the colors I needed.

Thankfully my yarn hoarding habit came to the rescue. Several of the very old kits I have stacked up in my stash closet include those colors. I'll be cannibalizing them soon. And always remember.....

Amen.

TNT: Loose Ends

 

I finished the kitty's blanket this week and should have finished putting the tassels on its cushion but I got sidetracked by a pin cushion. 

I finished the fourth block on the needlepoint project but I have to take it off the frame and stretch it out before I can do anymore. It's come loose which is making it hard to work on. 

This will be this week's block. I was shocked to find there are only two more to go after that. Then it's on to all the connecting doo dads which will take some time. 

To do that I'm going to need my smaller hoop which is now occupied with this small runner. I've been making an effort to get it finished but it's not nearly as much fun to work on as the Patchwork so it's been languishing in the sewing room for years.

Dear Jane is starting to look like something. I have to open the middle of the seams on the lattices to slide in the triangles and then sew the two layers back down. Fiddly but doable which is a surprise and a relief. 

Doing a Happy Dance

There's weaving on the loom. Finally. It's been a long time coming.

It's a refreshingly easy sequence of steps to achieve this lovely texture. Whew. I have high hopes. 

Speaking of texture, look at the lovely loaves Betty turned out this weekend. It's been a great summer for sourdough. I hope she's able to keep this up once it cools down.

Testing, Testing....

 

I had to get the ladder out and climb up to the top of my sewing room shelves yesterday so I could get down the testing pieces for the last soap making adventure. 

When I cut the loaves there's always one skinny end left and I use those for testing. They've all been sitting there curing for two months now so it's time to get started. 

Sadly, the Practical Magic inspired black soap did just what I feared it might. It bled gray onto a white washcloth from the overload of charcoal. I've been using it to wash my hair so it hasn't been a problem for me but I won't be gifting it. I'm hoping to re-home all the other bars when the weather takes a turn for the better. Watch this space. 

A False Start

 

The Mister went off to play golf so I thought I'd use my free time to sandwich up the Zig Zag. Didn't happen.

I got everything moved out of the dining area and moved everything I needed into the dining area. Measured, cut and sat down to pin when......I decided I hated the backing. It was too yellow. It's brighter than it looks here and there are no other similar yellows in the quilt so I pulled it all apart and put it all away.

But not before ordering more material. I'm trying the same fabric but in apricot this time. I've said it before but I'll say it again-I'm the worst at figuring out backing. This is when I really miss Joann's. I would take the top with me and figure it out there. It's not the same trying to do it online. 

Figs on Friday

 

We found figs at the Farmer's Market this week.

I used to have a giant fig tree and Back to School time always meant making fig jam. 

I put Betty to work making lots of bread and bagels this week so that little pot of jam won't last long.

Betty has also made some banana bread, a pineapple upside down cake and a strawberry shortcake in the past few weeks. There seems to be no end of things to do with her leftovers.

Hemmed In

 

Whew.....back to where I started and it all looks like it's going to work out this time.

Here is the back of the loom where I spent a great deal of time over the past few weeks straightening out and then threading each of the 300 plus strands of cotton. 

There was one scary moment where it looked like I made another threading error but it was just a twist in the strand and it was an easy fix. I was beyond relieved when the hem was finished. 

The first bit of weaving is just to get everything situated. It's cut away from the towel. The towel starts at the hem and I use this very fine thread so I can turn it under without a lot of bulk. It's always a big moment of truth.

That's all my heart could manage in one sitting. Stressed out is an under statement. Now I can get to the fun part. I have to decide on the order of colors and start winding bobbins so I can start the pattern. This is going to be one crazy looking towel.

Wednesday WIPs: Premier Fruits

 

The day I discovered that my newly finished kid socks were too small for the Grand we went online yarn shopping. He wanted these. 

They don't seem like "snow" socks to me and...gasp-they are acrylic but the heart wants what the heart wants and he wants these so here they are. I have to admit they are cute. Notice there are two balls in front of one of the pair because.....knots. Ugh.

While we continue to wilt from this terrible heat, all my other wool projects are in slow motion but I do pick up the Hummingbird socks every morning. I can't think of the last time I could open a window around here or felt a cool breeze.

I'm starting to feel like Sam and Frodo on Mount Doom. I would love to open the door and not have a blast furnace in my face.