More Progress

Where's the kitty?
As you can see everyone loves FH's new hat. Confetti thinks it's nice and warm.

But you came for crafting updates, so here we go:

Yesterday I made this scarf for my mother-in-law for Yule. I have three more to make in different colors. I used Lion Brand's Homespun yarn and a pattern from their website. It took me about one and a half football games to get it finished. I don't think I'll ever use an acrylic crochet hook again. Ugh.
Here's a picture of the Frank Lloyd Wright cross stitch sampler. I'm trying to work on it in the evenings and leave the daytime for crochet and minis.
I did get Beau's vest started. The back and left front pieces are finished. I'm working on the right front currently.

I'm hoping to get at least halfway through the hood by tomorrow evening. I would like to get this one finished and the yarn purchased for the third one on Friday.

I can't show any minis right now. But I can say I've been coming up with ideas that meet the requirements of Rosana's swap challenge.

Time to get back to the grind. I want to get as much done on the right front portion of Beau's vest before dinner. Then it's back to the sampler.

More Mixed Media

The Cthulhu toque for FH is finished.I will have to do at least one more. I have a feeling the "where's mine?"'s will start soon. I've got supplies for a second that's already spoken for, but I can get more easily.

The zippers I ordered are here with one caveat. Somehow I measured wrong and none that I purchased are long enough. As you can see, I need another 1 to 2 inches for this vest. I checked the website where I ordered the other ones and they have the longer zippers, just none in the correct color. Currently I'm waiting on an email back from the company with an answer about the color and size I want. Worst can scenario is I order a bunch of even longer ones and cut them to size. It's not difficult, but it is annoying.

The stitcher's guild ornament is currently in the dryer on my drying rack (love that feature!) getting to a damp dry so I can iron it. I'm going to rummage through my stash and find some fabric to back it with.

I'll be doing that, some stitching on the sampler for my dad, and starting Beau's vest tonight.

Multiple Projects in Different Media, Me? Never! ;-)

Stitching and hooking. That's what I'm doing currently.

First is a piece that will become an ornament for my stitching guild's ornament exchange.
I have some buttons to sew on in a few places. Then I can turn it into an ornament.

Next is the first of two hats I have to make. One for FH and one for his best friend. Anything that can be considered geeky I have to make two of. It's about like giving gifts to children. This hat pattern is based on H.P.Lovecraft's Cthulhu. I bought the pattern from this nice lady on Ravelry.
I'm about 60% of the way through it. I needed something to keep me occupied while I was waiting for the yarn shop to be open so I could buy:

The colors I needed for Baby Beau's vest. I will hopefully be starting on that either tonight or tomorrow.

I've started another stitching project that I do not have a picture for yet since there are only 120 stitches in place. It's base on stained glass window designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I'm working it up for my dad.

To sooth the lack of picture for that project, have a look at a piece that's in hibernation (pardon the soon-to-be obvious pun). I started it last summer (2008) for FH and got about this far before the kit ran out of the dark grey and black I needed to finish filling in the bear.

Luckily I figured out which DMC color I needed for the grey. Now If I can just get done with all the other stitching and such. It's easier to rotate between one stitching project and minis. It's harder when there's lots of non-mini projects. Not to mention that I will eventually have to get back to the period clothing. I was all too happy to put most of it away when my parents came for a visit in September and I've gleefully not drug it back out. ;-)

That's it for today. I've got to get back to it.

Amnesia Lane

It never ceases to amaze me how a random sensation can take one back in time. This morning I was driving back from dropping FH at work. "Machine Head" by Bush came on the radio and I had a flood of memories from another life...

One where I was a high school gear head dreaming about becoming a mechanic on the Indy 500. I was quite good at turning a wrench back then. As long as I could fit under something I could work on it. My favorite vehicle to work on was my mother's truck by the simple virtue of it being tall enough for me to slide under without needing to lift it. Back then I discovered very quickly that it was possible to become stuck under shorter cars when one's decolletage refused to squish down enough to get back out. That got annoying very quickly. I'd been spathic* since the 5th grade, which made being a tomboy a bit difficult. Of course this was before I knew that it wasn't normal to have as much back pain as I did. But back then I didn't care. It was fun.

I changed an alternator in the parking lot of a gas station. Once we had to rig a shift linkage with a zip tie, peanut butter, and bubble gum just so we could get to the parts store to purchase a new linkage. I helped replace a broken axle on somebody's mother's car in February and after it got dark the only source of light and heat we had was a living room lamp, sans shade that was strung out from the house on two long extension cords. Rebuilding small and large engines was a given at that point. Simple things like oil changes could be done in my sleep.

Of course being female, there were boys involved. Boys that thought it was both cool and intimidating that a girl worked on cars alongside them. Silly boys.

There were four of us from school who had a plan. We wanted to get into the competitive program at Lincoln Technical in Indiana together. That way we'd have friends on campus already. Sadly half of our quartet dropped out of school. The remaining boy and I weren't as close without the other two around. He went one direction and I went another. He did become a mechanic though. In fact, so did one of the dropouts.... but that's a different story.

By next year that old truck will be ours and once again I will be able to work on a vehicle that isn't computer controlled and is tall enough for me to get underneath. The question is will I want to? ;-)

*Spathic- geological term for possessing good cleavage

Waiting on Parts

The crocheting is finished but I'm waiting on a zipper I ordered to get here. (Actually I'm waiting on several zippers to get here. I got a deal on them and decided having extras for future projects wouldn't be a bad thing.)


One down. Two more to go.

Giveaway at Marigold Manor

Happy November, everyone! Just a quick post to let everyone know that Teresa at Marigold Manor is having a surprise giveaway for her birthday.

"Here's what you need to do; leave a comment on this post telling me what your two favorite colors are . . . that's it! Of course, if you'd like more than one chance to enter you'd be kind to post about my give-away on your blog or sidebar, and if you're a follower I'll enter your name again (please be sure to tell me if you're posting and if you're a follower).

You have until November 12th to enter and again, I'll make the winning announcement on Saturday, November 14th!"

There you have it. Please visit her blog for more details and to sign up.

Happy early birthday, Teresa!

Happy Halloween!

Vest Progress

Here's what I have so far on the first of three hooded vests. This one is Levi's.




It still needs the trim and the two drawstrings. Hopefully I will get them started tomorrow. More pics to follow.

It's Halloween in Singapore

So I'm going to show this off. :-)

The first successful study and sculpt of anything resembling a face. And I made it especially for San's palace!

I was working off of these images:
I have to admit I was nervous about sending this mini clear to the other side of the globe. Add that to the hope that San would like it and you get a frazzled Kat. ;-)

Rosana's Christmas Swap

Just to let folks know, dearest Rosana is playing hostess to a Christmas-themed miniature swap.

She writes: "Why don't we do a Christmas swap on our own?

A circle swap would be easier and each one of us would only do one piece.

I think it should be Christmas related and mailed at the beginning of December to let the Mail Service to do its job."

I've already signed up. If you are interested, here is the original blog post.

Lighthouse

It's done and framed. :-)

Now to get it wrapped and giving to it's recipient.

Best Treasure Ever!

Here is my long awaited post about the lovely treasure made by Jodi Creager for Ara's "Up From the Basement" swap.

I am in absolute love with her!Isn't she the most lovely dearly-departed you've ever seen?

She is intended to become mistress of my haunted San Fran when I get it back from storage and start work on it again. Until then I think she will have to be Ezzie's house guest in the witch's house. Of course this means I have to get Ezzie's house started and Ezzie made. Oh darn. ;-)

Thank you again, Jodi for such a beautiful doll.

Give and Take

FH gave me whatever viral nastiness he came down with last week. I am typing with tired hands and bleary eyes right now. He has run off to play in the woods with a compound bow and arrows tipped with broadhead points. Hopefully he gets something; the freezer is getting bare.

The washing machine drama is not yet over. It was supposed to come with the new dryer on Thursday. Somehow the washer ended up being marked for dock pick up at a store two and a half hours from our house whilst the dryer showed up on time. They tried bringing us the washer today but the wrong one was on the truck. I'm about ready to start spitting nails, but I fear the loss of iron would make me feel even worse.

Five days ago my nephew and his wife welcomed their third child into this world. Baby Beau joins big sister, Sadie, and big brother, Levi. For those of you wondering about generational mathematics, this particular nephew and niece-in-law are the same age as me. That's what happens when you have brothers and sisters old enough to be your parents.

I finished the layette. It still needs to be washed and blocked but here are pictures of the jacket:I made the 6 month size, so it will not fit our friend's daughter until Easter. But I think it will look great over an Easter dress. :-)

Jumping back to the family news, I decided it would be fun to make matching sweaters for Sadie, Levi, and Beau. I found a pattern for a vest with a hood in one of my crochet books. Each one will be a different color and size, but otherwise they will match. I thought them posing together in their sweaters would be a fun picture opportunity for their parents.

I've started on Levi's already. I'm actually further along than these pictures suggest. The back is finished and I've almost gotten one of the front pieces finished. I really just don't feel like playing with the camera right now.Here's a closer look at the texture.I'm using a DK yarn by Sirdar for all three of them. Levi's is called "blue twist."

I know I still need to get the promised pictures of my treasure from Jodi up here. Maybe if I can find some energy I can fight my way through the jumble of furniture (everything is still out of place from the attempts at large appliance delivery) to where I stashed her away from the cats. I think I will go ponder the situation and see what happens.

More On the Layette

FH was home sick today. While waiting at the doctor's office I was able to get quite a bit done on the layette. The bonnet is completely finished. The bow was extremely simple but dull. No other way to describe 60 rows of single crochet. ;-)

Found that all the leaf appliqués are complete but the only large flower I had originally made has a visible mistake when compared to one I worked this morning. Worked a second new one for the hat. Need three more for the jacket.

I successfully reworked, trimmed, and attached the flowers to the booties. I still need to get some ribbon to lace them.
Now I just need to trim the jacket, make three more big flowers, find some small buttons, and attach everything.

I missed the Quilter's meeting this morning so I could get FH checked out by a doctor. I may miss the Knitter/Crocheter meeting on Thursday, depending on when the new washer and dryer will be delivered.

Tomorrow FH goes back to work and I will probably work on the lighthouse since it needs to be finished sooner rahter than later. If I make it to the meeting Thursday morning I can play with the jacket trims then.

I have some pictures to take of my newest treasure, but I missed my chance during daylight to get them today. Here's hoping tomorrow is as gorgeous as today was.

Where've I Been?

Ara knows I've been spending the last few weeks chained to the kitchen table while I worked on the swap item for Sans. I had to stay away from the blog to prevent any temptation of blogging about the project. Unfortunately mum is still the word until the big unveiling on Halloween.

On top of that our washing machine decided to die the day before my birthday. We went and looked at some and ended up getting one I wasn't overly fond of in favor of the high energy efficiency idea. In short, the new machine sucks rotten eggs. I hate it. The only thing good about it is it looks cool. We have since gone back to the store and told them they are going to take it back from whence it came and trade it in on a new washer dryer set that is more like what I wanted in the first place. Not sure when this drama will officially be over, but I believe it will be sometime after the hE washer is gone and the new set is delivered and installed. Here is what my hallway looks like right now and it will only get worse as the days pass.
Even Confetti is afraid to go down there. The piles of laundry are scary!

My workroom (glorified craft closet) is also terrifying.
But I have no intentions of dealing with it for at least a few weeks.

I also have been stealing time to work on the lighthouse cross stitch. Luckily one of the special interest groups for our Stitcher's Guild is "Counted Threads" so I was able to stitch at our meeting last week. As of this moment I just need to finish the rock at the bottom with one color and complete the remaining back-stitching. I have to have this finished, blocked, and framed by Friday.
Somehow I found the time to work on more of the layette I showed you all a few weeks ago. Here's the bonnet. I still need to make the ties, do the trim, and do the decorative motifs. The recipient was born Thursday morning, but this won't fit her until Easter so I don't have to rush.

Yesterday was the Annual Spin In for the Bishop Hill Fiber Guild. It was an extremely productive day. I met other people on Ravelry, did the work on the bonnet, learned how to use my spinning wheel, bought a fleece, picked up a nice skein of Merino, played with Angora bunnies, and took a class in microwave dying.This fleece is from a sweet little ewe lamb named Beyonce. If you click here you can hop to the website with her picture. She is a Romney crossed with a Border Leicester-Wensleydale cross.I am going to enjoy this once the new washer gets here.

The dying class was a lot of fun. We learned how to use acid dyes, Kool Aid, and Wilton Cake dyes for fibers. These two pictures show fiber I dyed with acid dyes.This one shows fiber I painted with Wilton Cake dye.
Once the color is on, you wrap the fiber in saran wrap and put it in the microwave. I took these pictures after the fiber was cooled and rinsed. I plan in spinning the actual roving at some point. I'm not sure what I will do with the mixed yarns from the first photo.

Tuesday our Guild's quilters are meeting to discuss what types of techniques we want to learn and see who wants to teach them. If I can get to it, I may take the purple and blue quilt to get basted...maybe.

I do have some minis that need to be made before Christmas. And an ornament for the Stitcher's Guild ornament exchange... and gifts for family, etc to be working on for the next several weeks.

That's pretty much everything worth mentioning. Here's hoping the washer issue gets resolved quickly so I can quit making phone calls and dealing with it. I know I have some new followers to welcome and a couple of awards to accept. I will try to get to that Monday. There's just so much to do and so much to catch up on.