I Did It!

My round two socks are done and I can't tell you how giddy I am to have these finished before the deadline. 

That beaded cast on was absolutely brutal and then, after I'd finished the cast on for the second sock and knew I could mange the legs and heels and toes, I got hit by a headache that would not go away. It would fade a bit and I'd knit a few rows and it'd flare back up. I lost days to the beaded cast on and days to the headache. Thank goodness they weren't the same days or I'd be ready to be fitted for a nice snug straitjacket.

The socks are done and they fit and yup, that's a spider. I didn't notice him until after I'd uploaded the pictures...and taken the socks inside and put them  on my feet for those pictures. I kind of hope he didn't come inside with me. I'm sure he would have been much happier outside and not in here crawling up the inside of my jeans.   shudder

Pattern: Rose and Thorn Socks by Ronni Smith
Yarn: Knitpicks Hawthorne Fingering, Belmont

Sixty-Some More Rows...

I should have been able to finish these socks yesterday or maybe the day before, but my head been throbbing for the past few days and I've only been able to manage a few rows at a time. The slots for round three are filling up fast and if my blood thinners (which keep me from taking the ibuprofen that I'm pretty sure would make me function again) keep me from moving on to round three, I'm going to be one ticked off knitter.

Halfway through the second foot, it's starting to look like I might make it.

It was the cover copy that made me pick up The Visitor by Amanda Stevens.  Here it is, from Amazon:

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm the Graveyard Queen.

Restoring lost and abandoned cemeteries is my profession, but I'm starting to believe that my true calling is deciphering the riddles of the dead. Legend has it that Kroll Cemetery is a puzzle no one has ever been able to solve. For over half a century, the answer has remained hidden within the strange headstone inscriptions and intricate engravings. Because uncovering the mystery of that tiny, remote graveyard may come at a terrible price.

Years after their mass death, Ezra Kroll's disciples lie unquiet, their tormented souls trapped within the walls of Kroll Cemetery, waiting to be released by someone strong and clever enough to solve the puzzle. For whatever reason, I'm being summoned to that graveyard by both the living and the dead. Every lead I follow, every clue I unravel brings me closer to an unlikely killer and to a destiny that will threaten my sanity and a future with my love, John Devlin.

I didn't realize at first that this is the fourth book in a series. Although I was obviously missing out on a lot of backstory, the book stood well on its own. The creepy atmosphere pulled me right in.

Disclosure - The publisher provided me with a review copy. 

In the Dark

In the wee hours of Friday morning, the fan in the bedroom stopped whirring. I don't know why it is that I'm always just awake enough to realize that the power has gone out. Once I know that there aren't any lights, I have an awful time getting back to sleep. I've got the battery operated lantern on the headboard and a big collection of oil lamps and candles, but  I can't stand not being able to flip switches and make the whole house bright.

I hate it when the power goes out. I can manage, but I sure don't like it! Over the ten years we've lived her I've gotten pretty good at making it for a few days without water and heat.  I know we've gone more than a week without power and I think our record might be closer to two weeks without power. (Did I mention that this happens a couple of times a year?)

I know, there are lots and lots of fabulous activities that don't require electricity. But when there's no heat or water or decent light, the last thing I feel like doing is playing social director and coming up with low tech activities that we can all do together while sitting in the dark. When the sun goes down, those electronic devices are coming out! I've also been known, weather permitting, to just drive a couple of towns over, feed the kids dinner, then wander aimlessly through different stores until everyone is ready for bed.

When the power went out yesterday, I realized that my phone, which is old and doesn't have a great battery life to begin with, needed to be charged and my Kindle was only at fifty percent. If the roads are icy or there's a wind storm predicted, I charge everything before bed just in case. But sometimes an idiot takes out two power poles and the weather isn't to blame.




When hubby bought his new phone last year, they showed him the "accessory of the week", which was a Mophie Powerstation. As soon as I saw that thing, I knew I wanted one. It'll charge the phones, and the Kindles, and the cameras. They told me that a full charge on this thing will charge your devices up to eight times. I've never put that to the test, but I know I can get several charges before needing to plug it into the wall. Friday morning, I charged my phone and Kindle and still would have had some extra juice if the boys needed it for their devices.

I love this thing! When I took Teenage Son to the retro gaming expo, I carried it in my purse because I knew I'd be finding a place to sit and read while he did his thing and I fully expected to need more than a full charge on my Kindle.  It'll be great for keeping the cameras charged when we're camping. And, when we have that next long power outage, it'll be a huge help. Especially since I can recharge it with the car or while the generator is running.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {3/25/16}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

In Defense of the Princess

I'm so glad to be past that cast on and on to the lace and cables. Now maybe I can make up for lost time. 

I've missed out on most of the princess controversy. When Teenage Daughter was born, I didn't know that I was supposed to be obsessed with anti-princess paranoia.  By the time Cinderella Ate My Daughter was published, our girl was in her mid-teens and it was obvious that she was turning out just fine with none of those princess-caused problems that I keep hearing warnings about. We're Disney princess fans and when I saw In Defense of the Princess: How Plastic Tiaras and Fairytale Dreams Can Inspire Smart, Strong Women by Jerramy Fine, I was curious. The first half of the book was exactly what I'd hoped to find -- reasonable arguments about how the Disney princesses aren't as meek and helpless as we keep hearing they are. The second part of the book branches out into real life princesses and their often impressive credentials. I'd never realized that there were so many of them!   If I have any complaint about this book it's that the author seems to have a very specific idea of what success means for a real princess. I'm not sure that criteria applies to the rest of us commoners.

The publisher provided me with an ARC. This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, iknead2knit 

I Don't Want to and You Can't Make Me, But...

The second round of Sock Madness started on Sunday and I almost dropped out after reading the pattern. That cast on, which is Judy's Magic Cast On with beads thrown in, looked brutal.

If I was making these socks on my own I'd do something different. But for Sock Madness, we're required to knit the patterns as written. While knitting the first pair, I learned a new toe and a new heel and did a slip stitch pattern with two colors for the first time in years. They're not my favorite socks ever, but I enjoyed the challenge. I'd enjoy this pair too, if I could manage to get started!

After most of the day and lots of encouragement with my team mates, I'd managed this. I think it's right, but I won't know for sure until I knit another two dozen rows and join the part I've been knitting to the live stitches with the beads.

What do you do...Avoid patterns that are obviously over your head? Learn new things so that you can make projects exactly as the designer intended? Simplify it so that you can do the part that appeals to you?

Another Evening of Stitching

The embroidery has been slow lately, which is fine. I'm not in a big hurry and these pieces are interesting to stitch with all of those lines that go nowhere and the squiggles that aren't words.

It's the first time I've stitched on linen (except for cross-stitch which isn't the same thing) and the texture is making me happy. I'm using a single strand of floss to try to keep the lines delicate, also a first.

The hand is the last image I traced, so I'm going to have to pull out my light box soon.

I Didn't Buy Yarn or Fabric This Week

It's pretty easy to avoid buying yarn and fabric when there isn't any current temptation. But this week there's been some.

A lady posted on Facebook about the Tofutsies that she'd ordered for dirt cheap -- six bucks a skein instead of sixteen. It's still on sale as of Saturday afternoon, if you're interested.  I haven't ordered from this company myself, so I can't vouch for them.)

Knitpicks had their sock yarn on sale, and a code for 15% off everything, but I looked and thought about it and  decided that I can wait. Sooner or later, there will be new colors that I really really want and if I don't buy now I won't feel bad about splurging later.

I could end this post here, without telling you that on Friday I went to almost every craft store I know shopping for craft sticks and hot glue guns. In case you need a box of a thousand small ones or three hundred big ones, you can get them for $3.29 at Joann's if you use a coupon. That's way cheaper than the Dollar Tree.

Apparently I did need two boxes of craft sticks and a couple hundred glue sticks. At this rate, I may be looking for more coupons and making another trip next week.

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 4 3/4 yards
Fabric added this week:  0
Fabric added year  to date: 1 yard (+2 sheets)
Net used for 2016: 3 3/4 yards

Yarn used this Week: 0  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 2350 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net used for 2016: 2350 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {3/18/16}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

What Should I Bake?

Take a look at what moved into my house on Tuesday....

I haven't posted much about the sad ongoing saga of my kitchen. For a while I was cooking for a family of six with two working burners, a crock pot, a rice cooker, and a toaster. Then the crock pot broke and the well went dry.  The situation has improved dramatically since then, but I haven't had a real oven for almost a year.

We could have replaced it sooner, but shopping for appliances makes me miserable and we kept finding excuses to put it off. We'd go out and look at appliances and put off the decisions until later. Our experiences over the past few years have been nothing but bad. (Remember the washing machine?)  Hubby finally picked this one out. My one request was for five burners. If I could've had an appliance without any computerized bells and whistles, I would have been happy as a clam.

Why does my stove need to have Bluetooth capability?  Apparently, it's so it can talk to the microwave and the clocks will sync so we don't have to set them both. We won't be buying a new microwave that speaks the same language as the stove. Just in case you were wondering.

So, now that I've forgotten all of the things I used to make in the oven, what should I bake for my family? Any tips for a first time gas oven owner?

Reading and Knitting and Waiting...

This might not be the best project  for a knitter who hates seaming and weaving in ends as much as I do, but it's using up a ton of very old acrylic and I think the boys will be happy with the results. It's also easy and I'm telling myself that I should rest my hands and nerves a bit before plunging into Sock Madness round two. 

The Skeleton Garden by Marty Wingate is full of everything I love about the Potting Shed  mystery series. Pru is working at a nineteenth century estate with her newly-discovered brother. The two of them don't always agree on gardening techniques, but she's glad for the opportunity to build a relationship with Simon. Working together to dig a pit and find out what it was about the soil that kept a tree from thriving, they discover the buried remains of a World War II German fighter plane...and a human skeleton. The seventy-year-old murder combines with current day events to make a mystery that kept me guessing. The chemistry between Pru and her new husband is wonderful. I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out this summer.

Disclosure - The publisher provided me with an ARC. 

I've Got What I Need

There's not much to say in these stash reports lately. I'm using yarn at a respectable pace. I'm staying off of craigslist and mostly out of the craft stores.,,,not because I'm working hard at it, but because life is just working out that way. Two and a half months with no yarn buying and almost no fabric buying (and how much does a yard from the Goodwill bins really count anyway?) and I'm not even feeling the pain. I've got fabric and batting and thread. And yarn. For the moment, I'm good.

The supply list for Sock Madness mentions beads. Those aren't something I've got in my stash and I don't know when (or maybe if) I'll need them. If that pattern is released a day after our weekly errand run, I was going to be in trouble. The nearest town is fifteen miles away and I don't think I can buy beads there....unless maybe Walmart sells them and I've never noticed. So I  stopped at Joann's and picked up a couple of tubes of colors that I think will work with yarns I've got in my stash. I only need forty beads total, but I don't have the slightest clue what the socks will look like or which yarn I'll be using. I figure it was a very small investment to preserve my peace of mind.

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 4 3/4 yards
Fabric added this week:  0
Fabric added year  to date: 1 yard (+2 sheets)
Net used for 2016: 3 3/4 yards

Yarn used this Week: 400  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 2350 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net used for 2016: 2350 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

In Love With Another New Project

This is one evening's worth of embroidery and I'm thoroughly hooked on this project. Isn't it amazing what you can do with a favorite thrift shop skirt that's got holes after too many wearings? And to make it better, I'm sure that even after doing the rest of the quilt I'll have enough linen left over for the tote bag I was originally planning.  

These are from the Anatomy design pack by Urban Threads.  I was sure my next pattern purchase would  be one of their nursery rhyme patterns, then I went to order it and saw this one. There are eight different old-timey medical illustrations and I think I've got the perfect plan for a wall hanging.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {3/11/16}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

SlipStripeSpiral

Pattern: SlipStripeSpiral
Yarn: Paton's Kroy (Summer Moss Jaquard) and Knitpicks Stroll (Forest Heather)

I love the way the stitch pattern creates a plaid look. What I don't love is the color combination. After seeing the pretty socks that other Sock Madness competitors were knitting, I could think of half a dozen other yarn choices from my own stash that would have been better. But by then I was halfway up the fist foot and  not about to start over.

It's not obvious from the pictures, but these socks have proper toes. I'd tried a similar technique before and just couldn't get it to work, but these were a lot easier than I expected. I'll be using that cast on again. The heels are a short row technique I'd never used, the Sweet Tomato Heel. I'm a lot less enthusiastic about that one.

These socks were knit in seven days. Not a personal record I don't think -- I've made faster progress on long road trips -- but for learning new techniques and working with more than one color, I was pretty impressed with myself.

I took a picture each night before bed to keep track of my progress:

I'd hoped that Sock Madness would help get me out of this rut I've fallen into. It worked, but now I'm not sure what to do with myself until round two starts next week.

I've Been Reading...

After her best friend, Adele, tries to trick her into buying the local Paranormal Museum by asking for a dollar and then handing her a bill of sale, Maddie Kosloski finds herself temporarily running the place while she continues her search for a more appropriate job. Adele is opening a tea house in the building and one of the conditions of her lease is that the museum remain open. But both businesses might be in jeopardy when a woman is killed in the museum and her body falls through the plastic sheeting into what will soon be the tea house - and Adele is arrested for the crime. Maddie finds herself selling tickets to the museum, supervising the renovations to the tea house, trying to solve the murder, and dreaming up ways to make the museum a viable business. The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum by Kirsten Weiss is an enjoyable read and I'll be watching for the next book in the series.

I picked up The Overnight by Ramsey Campbell after seeing it mentioned in some of the review for Horrorstor. It's about a haunted bookstore and the group of employees who wind up spending the night to get things in order for a corporate inspection and hopefully stop the ongoing vandalism. I've got mixed feelings about this one. Parts were entertaining and a bit spooky, especially the bit with the damaged video tapes. But apparently ghosts make things grimy and dusty and every single employee had to notice the dirt repeatedly. (I'd always assumed that my kids were to blame for icky doorknobs and remote controls. Maybe my house is haunted?)  It felt like the plot was getting slower and slower, and then I'm not sure if someone moved my bookmark or I missed an important plot twist, because by the end I'd completely lost track of what was going on.

Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with a review copy of The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum. I picked up The Overnight at the library. 

Apron Pockets

I've made one of these apron pockets before, but the last time the cross was appliqued and this time she wanted it pieced. How is it that she can do this without any pattern at all, but can't piece her own pockets? One is a sixteen-patch and one is a nine-patch with a border, which would have made it a pain to write instructions for.  I used 1 1/2" strips for both and then just slapped on whatever border size I needed to bring the cross block up to the same size as the other block instead of actually doing the math. Compared to those ruffles and darts and everything else, these are about as easy as it gets.

What Madness Looks Like

Sock Madness is in full swing over on Ravelry. I've never done this before and I'm still not quite sure what I've gotten myself into, but I'm making fast progress on my first pair of socks and taking a picture each night before bed. 

Here's what I had done as of Friday morning...

The pattern calls for two fifty gram skeins of yarn, so I pulled out one of those single skeins I didn't know what to do with now that my little boys have big feet and and cast on with a solid green yarn that didn't look like it would clash too badly.  Hubby was scheduled to work a lot of overtime this week and I wanted to knit while the knitting was good. The self-striping yarn would be pretty on its own, but the dark green contrast color was a poor choice. I've got ugly Christmas sweater socks going here.

But I'm using up a single skein that wouldn't have used otherwise and learning a new toe and heel, so I'm not complaining.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {3/4/16}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

{Throwback Thursday} Double Irish Chain -- the First One

It always surprises me how little my taste in quilts has changed over the past decade. The kinds of quilts that make my heart go pitty-pat haven't changed all that much.

Which is nice, because it means that I still love most of my early projects.

I finished the top for this quilt back in 2009. pin basted it a year later, then procrastinated for another two years before I worked up the nerve to quilt it. It was, and still is, one of my absolute favorite quilts and I was afraid of ruining it with my beginning attempts at free-motion quilting.

In hindsight, it's probably a good thing that I waited.

There are at least twenty different brown prints here, most of them purchased just for this project. I did a lot of shopping and searching for just the right colors, which may make it one of the more expensive quilts I've made to date. I don't plan many quilts like that these days. If I can't pull most of it from my scrap bags, it probably isn't going to happen.

Can You See the Faces?

I love these little faces, enough to tackle a pair of top down socks to get the effect of wide open mouths. The heels are something different, increasing for the gusset stitches while knitting the heel flap instead of picking them up later. I still don't claim to understand how that works.

I was having too much fun knitting little screaming faces to worry about it. It's a fun device for horror movies, but it's also a real thing. The phenomena of seeing faces where there aren't any is called pareidolia. This article has an interesting quote from Leonardo da Vinci about seeing images in walls that are "spotted with various stains or with a mixture of different kinds of stones."  I know I've seen faces in the bedroom wallpaper when the room is bright enough to make out the flowers but it's earlier than I can convince myself to get out of bed.

Pattern: Faces in the Wallpaper Socks
Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss Fingering, Velveteen

I've Been Reading

It took me a long time to get through The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Stephen King's new(ish) collection of short stories and novellas. I ordered the book for my Kindle as soon as it came out, read the first half and then got busy with other things. I was annoyed to realize that I'd splurged on a book that contained stories I'd already paid to read. (As much as I enjoyed Mile 81, I'm not happy that I bought it twice.) Some of the later stories made up for my disappointment, but then there was the last one, which left me with an awful feeling. I really wish I hadn't read that.

 Salvage by Duncan Ralston reminded me of an early Stephen King novel. The homes and church of a flooded town sit lost below the surface of Chapel Lake. The local preacher and most of his congregation haven't been seen since the waters rose to allow construction of a hydroelectric dam. Owen Saddler has always hated the water, but after his sister's death he finds himself retracing her steps, determined to find out what happened to her. It's got plenty of creepy imagery and mild scares which make it a great read if you're looking for an entertaining ghost story without lots of gore.

Skinny Dipping With Murder is the first in a new series by Auralee Wallace. Erica Bloom has come home to Otter Lake to help her mother deal with some problems at her women's retreat. It's the first time she's been back to her childhood home in years and she's not happy to be there, especially after she finds herself face to face with the guys who humiliated her at the Raspberry Social years earlier. I've got to admit that I was more curious about how Erica got the nickname "Boobsie" than I was about who was killing off the ones who gave it to her. With its quirky cast of characters, this is a fun cozy that I think fans of the Cherry Tucker books will enjoy.

Ghostwriter Anonymous is the first book in the Jake O'Hara mystery series by Noreen Wald. Someone is killing ghostwriters and Jake is trying to find out who it is before she becomes the next victim. It doesn't help that her fellow ghostwriters are required to keep their work confidential and no one knows who has done work for who. The New York City setting and Jake's interesting career made this one different than any of the other cozies I've read.

Disclosure - The publisher of Salvage, Skinny Dipping With Murder, and Ghostwriter Anonymous provided me with review copies.