I Hope This Yarn is Worth It

Last summer, I saw and fell in love with the Arne and Carlos self-patterning yarn from Regia. The price was jut a bit out of my reach, especially with shipping added in. But earlier this month I found it advertised for 30% off. That was a do-able splurge. 

The yarn doesn't look too pretty in the skein, but just look what it's supposed to do when it's  knitted up!

I've been buying yarn and fabric online for more than fifteen years now and this was the most trouble I've ever had with an order. My usual assumption is that if I order yarn before a trip it will probably be waiting for me when we get home, or at least well on its way.

This time, when I got the "your order has shipped" email, it only listed two of the three yarns --- let's call those A and B. They'd billed me for all three and there was no explanation of what had happened with the yarn C. When I contacted the company to ask  about it, they said they'd investigate and reship the original order (which wasn't even supposed to have arrived yet.) I got a shipment notice telling me that they'd shipped yarn B and C, immediately followed by an email telling me that yarn C was no longer available and I wouldn't be receiving it.  Are you as confused as I am at this point?

After a couple of weeks of waiting and wondering, I did finally receive all of the yarn I'd ordered (along with duplicate skeins of yarn B.) After all of the stress, I'm wondering if I really wanted it badly enough to justify the stress.

Ever have a supply order that went so wrong it took all of the joy out of the project?

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 5 1/2 yards
Fabric added this week: 0 yards
Fabric added year to date: 13 1/4 yards (+2 sheets)
Net added for 2016: 7 3/4 yards

Yarn used this Week: 400 yards
Yarn used year to Date: 4450 yards
Yarn added this Week: 1840 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 7366 yards
Net added for 2016: 2916 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

The (Not) Haunted Light at Newport-by-the-Sea

For years, I've wanted to take my kids to the Newport Bay Lighthouse and tell them about the ghost story that was never supposed to be real.  I remember seeing the story, presented as true, while watching television at  a friend's house one afternoon. A few years later, my grandfather was volunteering at the actual "haunted" lighthouse and I found out that the story was a piece of fiction written in 1899 by Lischen Miller. You can read The Haunted Light at Newport-by-the-Sea over at Offbeat Oregon, along with an article about how the story became accepted as a true one.

I'd been putting off our visit because I had my lighthouses confused and thought that the Newport Bay lighthouse was the one you had to reserve tickets in person for. Turns out that that was the Newport Head lighthouse, which replaced the Newport Bay lighthouse after only a few years.

We visited that one too, and I'm awfully proud of myself for making it up to the  top with only one short break to catch my breath.

Back to the lighthouse I meant to visit...the pictures on display make it easy to understand why it deserves a scary story. I had a hard time convincing my youngest that it was a lighthouse, because the living quarters are part of the same building and it's so short that it really doesn't look much like a lighthouse.

The rooms have been restored and furnished with pieces donated by the local historical society. I was really intrigued by this quilt, but couldn't get a decent picture while staying on the right side of the rope. Those ostriches remind me of the Bird of Paradise quilt. I think I see a few other familiar blocks, too, but the angle is too weird for me to be sure.

I'm positive that I saw the lighthouse story on an episode of Zoom, but can't find anything about that episode online. I know it was at Jaqueline's house and she always insisted on watching that show after school, but I suppose it could have been another show on after that one. Is anyone else out there the right age to remember?

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {7/29/16}

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.

Little 2 1/2" Nine Patch Blocks

This is going together quickly and I thought I'd have the finished top to show you this morning, but life had other plans.

Sea Mist Socks

Sometimes I entertain myself by matching my sock yarn to where I'll be working on the socks. That's why I took another pair off the needles and cast on with Drops Fabel Sea Mist. I had the first sock done before we left town and was sure I'd have the second one done before we left the coast. 

In case you were wondering, it's hard to take pictures of socks on your own feet while sitting in a chair and holding them up high enough to get only tidepools and not lawn in the background. 

Next time, I think I'm packing the sock blockers. 

Ann asked if I like the Drops yarn. After knitting two pairs of socks with it, I think I do. The weather is too nice to wear socks, so I haven't used or washed them yet, but I enjoyed knitting with it. And the colors are absolutely gorgeous. 

Eleven years ago, I was on that same balcony knitting my Pinwheel Baby Blanket. Memory plays tricks. I was sure I'd started the baby blanket while I was pregnant with Quinn. Turns out I was already pregnant with Leif, but probably hadn't figured that out yet when the picture was taken.

Disclosure -- This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, Crazy Mom Quilts , Wrap up Friday  

My Sewing Room Chair

I don't think I've ever showed you the chair from my sewing room. It's probably appeared in the background of a few pictures over the years but it's intriguing enough to deserve a post of its own.  

The thing came with the house and it's ridiculously heavy so the sewing room was where I found it and the sewing room is where it stayed until I dragged it outside to take some pictures where the light was better. 

Someone obviously made it and that someone obviously had the same "that's good enough" attitude that occasionally allows me to do things like lop off the corner of a quilt because the backing wasn't quite the right size.

The back is bolted in place and there were notches cut to fit the slats. It looks like this thing started with a plan and some idea of craftsmanship... I don't know what happened to make bending down nails with the hammer seem like the right thing to do.

And I don't know why that shelf underneath needed to be two boards thick. But it does make a nice place to stack quilting books.

Maybe, given the blood thinners, I should see if Hubby can remove the worse of the protruding nail ends. I've managed to go ten years without cutting myself on one, but these days tin foil makes me a danger to myself.

Orphan Bow Ties

I try hard not to wind up with extra blocks, but with some of these long term scrap projects it happens. Long after Cheddar Bow Ties was quilted and bound, I found another twenty-three little blocks. They're the ones that were missing when I put the quilt top together and the reason it's 3" shorter than originally planned. 

While I wish they were in the quilt, I'm glad I didn't wait two years for them to turn up. 

What am I supposed to do with these? They would have blended perfectly into the big quilt, but with two of each this little assortment doesn't play well together.

I do have the leftover cheddar fabric, so I could make more.... If I wanted to, which I'm pretty sure I don't.

Maybe they should be a zipper bag with nine on each side...or a border for a baby quilt...

Got any better ideas?

This post is linked to Patchwork Times. 

More Rows and a Bit of Drooling Over Tiny Things

I added five more rows to my collection this week. The biggest challenge might not be getting where the quilt shops are -- it's getting there while the quilt shops are open! Luckily the shop in Bandon was open on Sunday. Sadly, the one in Coos Bay wasn't. But that's okay. I got a pattern I didn't expect to get, and it's a pretty cute one. 

And I got to stop at the dollhouse shop in Lincoln City. Their inventory had changed a lot in the two years since my first visit, but I had fun browsing. See the second dollhouse from the right on the top shelf? That's the same kit as my dollhouse was made from. 

I'm absolutely fascinated by these itty-bitty dollhouse kits, but I know my fingers are too clumsy to tackle one. (And I know where a youtube tutorial for a much simpler one is so I can build my skills a bit for spending serious money on something I'm pretty sure I can't do.)

Weekly Stash Report

Three quilt shops and the dollhouse store with not a single thing added to my stash or collections. I was good this week!

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 5 1/2 yards
Fabric added this week: 0 yards
Fabric added year to date: 13 1/4 yards (+2 sheets)
Net added for 2016: 7 3/4 yards

Yarn used this Week: 0 yards
Yarn used year to Date: 4050 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 5526 yards
Net added for 2016: 1476 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Everybody Loves Ramen

We really like ramen noodles at our house. For Christmas a couple of years back, I visited three different Oriental markets and bought every brand I thought Teenage Daughter hadn't tried yet. I didn't realize that there are sites which rate the different brands, so I just picked the ones with intriguring labels. It was a combination Christmas present/new round in the ongoing game of Be Brave.

There's almost always ramen in my kitchen, except for the day I got my hands on a review copy of Everybody Loves Ramen by Eric Hites.  That was a shame, since some of these recipes look like they'd be fun to try. And I've got the ginger and soy sauce and veggies -- everything except for ramen packets!

The stories and fun facts promised by the cover are cute, but you're not going to really learn anything about ramen from this book, just get ideas for ways to prepare it. Some of the recipes are spectacularly strange. Like the one that calls for five packs of orange Pez. Or the one that has you mix cooked ramen with a can of chili. We'll be skipping those, but I definitely got some good ideas for future lunches.

Disclaimer -- The publisher provided me with a review copy.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {7/22/16}

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.

My Sons Made Me Snuggle a Possum

 For anyone who needs a reminder, Leif (on the right) is the one who wanted me to sew him a possum costume for Halloween a couple of years ago. Quinn (on the left) is the one who plans to become a wildlife rehabilitator so that he can work with possums and have one for his very own.

Last weekend we took the kids to West Coast Game Park Safari on the Oregon coast to see the animals. The baby snow leopard was the cutest thing ever. So was the baby bobcat.

But Quinn was most excited by the possum, especially since everyone got to pass it around. The instructions were to let it snuggle against your chest.

I had absolutely NO intention of holding the thing, but when Quinn passed it to Leif the hand-off was a little awkward and the poor possum looked stressed so I scooped it up to calm it down. (Odds are that you'll never hear me say that on this blog again!) None of my pictures show its tail. The face and claws might pass for cute, but that thick scaly tail was just too much for me.

To be fair, this was a very nice possum. My previous encounters with her species haven't gone nearly as well. Now that I know they help to control the tick population, I'm feeling kinder towards the possums in our yard. I'd just rather not see them.

It's a Doily, Not a Dishcloth!

That's the name of the pattern, which is a free Ravelry download designed by Becky Greene,  but it's totally a warshrag!

Three lace charts for a dishcloth. That part was fun The picot bindoff, on the other hand, took forever. Not quite as long as knitting the rest of the project, but by the end it felt like it had.

Professional organizer Maggie McDonald has her family's move all planned, at least until they pull into the driveway of their new home and discover that it's fallen into terrible disrepair. The bad situation quickly becomes worse -- the moving van which contains all of their possessions has been delayed, her husband's employer needs him to leave the country immediately, and the caretaker's body is discovered at the bottom of the basement steps.

Maggie is the kind of cozy mystery heroine I love to read about. She's competent and optimistic, even when camping out in the barn with her sons while waiting for the police to wrap up their investigation and her clothes and furniture to arrive. She seems to have a great relationship with her husband and kids. And her involvement with the mystery makes total sense.  Address To Die For is the first in a new series by by Mary Feliz  and I look forward to reading more about her and her new neighbors.

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copy by the publisher. All opinions are my own. This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, iknead2knit, Crazy Mom Quilts  

Vintage Coolers

Given the choice, I'd almost always rather have history than new and shiny. It's even better if the vintage stuff has been around longer than I have. 

That blue cooler on the bottom? I'm sure my parents had it before I was born. When I saw it in Grandma's garage a couple of years back, destined for a garage sale, it came straight home with me. I needed something to sit on and keep drinks and snacks cold when I take the kiddos down to the river and having a cooler that conjures up vivid images of my own childhood summers on the family boat is even better than an estate sale find with a good story.

I don't know where Hubby got the red one, but it's been around for ages. Every time we needed to use it, though, the drain plug had fallen out and we had to track it down again. Last time, it was nowhere to be found. Luckily, Bi-Mart sells replacement parts and now we've got a plug that's actually tethered to the cooler.

The new plug probably cost more than a complete cooler from the thrift store, but I was on a deadline.  What about you -- given the choice, would you go for a new cooler or an old one? (I've got a sneaking suspicion that the new ones might actually keep food colder, but I'm not relying on ours for actual food safety.)

Spools

It's been a long time since I counted spools. Without a permanent design wall, it's a hassle to make the space and time to lay out this many little blocks. To get this picture, I had to put my cardboard cutting mat on the bed and stand on a chair.

 The total is at 161, out of the 400 I need. Unless I've got another stack of spools hiding somewhere. That would be a happy surprise!

This post is linked to Patchwork Times and Jo's Country Junction. 

Weekly Stash Report

While we were in Sisters for the quilt show, Mom and I took a road trip and visited eight more shops to add to our collection of rows. I know you only need eight rows for a quilt, but we're treating it like a fun scavenger hunt and seeing how many shops we can make it to before the end. 

Of course you can't visit that many shops without falling in love with some of the quilts on the walls... Quite a few of those were from books that one or the other of us already owned, but I did have to bring home these. There's one other quilt I loved, but I talked myself out of it and now I don't remember its name or even have a clear picture of it in my head. (It was black and cream, with appliqued baskets and embroidered flowers and pieced setting blocks. Ring any bells for anyone?)

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 5 1/2 yards
Fabric added this week:  1/4 yard
Fabric added year  to date: 13 1/4 yards (+2 sheets)
Net added for 2016: 7 3/4 yards

Yarn used this Week: 100  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 4050 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 5526 yards
Net added for 2016: 1476 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Stitches From the Garden

It's no secret that I fall in love with embroidery patterns faster than I can  stitch  the actual projects. Last week, the nice folks at Martingale sent me a review copy of Stitches From the Garden by Kathy Schmitz. I don't want to make every single project from the book, but it's pretty close.

The author describes the book as an "embroiderer's sketchbook of garden stitches" and that's exactly what it is. Diagrams show which stitches to use where and how to make those stitches. The patterns are written for Gentle Arts floss, but the book provides DMC equivalents for those of us who want to use what we already have in our stashes.

I love all of the intricate details. The Blackbird Notion Nest has stitching on the front and back -- and on an interior pocket. Oak leaf shaped pages hide inside The Little Acorn Needle House.

The Bloom Bag has exterior pockets behind the embroidered panel. 

 I'm going to have to stitch faster, or spend less time playing Clockmaker on Facebook.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {7/15/16}

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.

Not Crying Over Spilled Rice

Ever since ibuprofen became a once a month thing, I've been thinking I should make a new heating pad. Maybe it will work for my sore neck and shoulder. Or it'll be as useful as my old one and I'll prop my Kindle against it when I'm reading at night. (There wasn't much else to do with it during the year without a microwave.) 

Someone spilled a whole lot of rice on the kitchen floor last week. It suddenly wasn't good rice anymore and using it for a heating pad seemed a lot less sad then throwing it out ... Which left me with another decision. Should I use pretty fabric from my stash, or be practical and use a hunk of ugly stuff?

The pretty fabric won. I figure that I've still got enough to use for a wide border on a miniature quilt, so it was okay to take a square  for this project.

Bright New Socks

This is Drops Fabel in Blue Lagoon, something I wouldn't know if I hadn't just gone through and written the names on all of the skeins. I learned the hard way that trying to figure out color names ten years after buying the yarn isn't easy, even with Ravelry.

Not long after I took the top picture, I started to think that I wanted something with more exciting stripes. I love that nearly solid blue, but I'll love it more if I use it for something with a bit of lace or cables. So I pulled my needles free which, at least in theory,  leaves the option of picking up the stitches where I left off.

And now I'm making these, in Drops Fabel Sea Mist.

This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, iknead2knit 

{I've Been Reading} Lots of New Thrillers

I wasn't intending to start The Last One by Alexandra Oliva quite yet, but as I was loading review copies onto my Kindle and checking to make sure that they opened properly I read the first couple of lines. Two or three sentences had me hooked.

Alone in the wilderness, one of the contestants on "a reality experience of unprecedented scale" has reached her limit but refuses to give up. She hasn't seen another human being in weeks, but knows that hidden cameras and drones still track her every move, that the vacant gas stations and grizzly props she comes across were placed there to manipulate and torment her.

Family obligations meant that I could only read in chunks of stolen time, which was probably the best possible way to read this book. Between the interruptions of my life and the way the plot unfolds, it was just like binge watching a favorite reality series -- except this story is way better than any of the television shows I've watched!



Elka was seven years old and alone in the wilderness when a trapper took her in and taught her how to survive. Under his care, she's learned the ways of the wild but forgotten the name she was given at birth and the more civilized lessons her Nana once taught her. What she doesn't forget is the letter her parents wrote her before travelling north in search of the yellow metal that would bring them riches. That fragile bit of paper is long gone, but the words will always be a part of her. When Elka sees Trapper's face on a wanted poster and begins to realize that his hunting hasn't been limited to the animals of the forest, she makes her own way north hoping that her parents will welcome what shes' become. The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis is a dark journey through what's left of the world after The Big Stupid destroyed civilization. If you like dark, dystopian futures, you'll enjoy this one.



In contrast, I started Baby Doll by Hollie Overton way ridiculously one morning, which was perfect because I was able to finish the entire book before the rest of the family was out of bed. I loved this one and can't recommend it enough. Lily has been held prisoner and tortured in a single room for eight years...then one day her captor leaves without locking the door. This is the story of what happens after her escape and return to her real life. The cover copy reveals very few details and don't want to spoil it, which makes it extra hard to write a review. The things that I want to talk about most are the exact things I feel like I shouldn't reveal. If you liked Room or Still Missing or  Method 15/33, I  think this will appeal to you. I almost read Baby Doll because I was afraid that it would be too gruesome, but the author leaves the worst horrors of Lily's captivity behind her.



All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker is the complete opposite of Baby Doll. After a teenager is brutally raped at a party she is medicated to block her memories of the attack. While Jenny was spared the details what happened to her, the reader of the book is subjected to more than one graphic description of that night's events. The story is told by a narrator and the main focus is on the victim's parents and their reactions to the tragedy. Jenny herself seemed to be a prop, necessary for the story's other events to unfold.  It's an interesting book with a unique plot, but I was a bit turned off by the narrator and the way he speaks directly to the reader and interjects with his opinions on free range parenting and society in general.



The Wicked Boy - The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale has all of the elements of an interesting piece of historical non-fiction. A boy murders his mother, then covers up her death while spending all of the household funds and pawning her belongings. Penny Dreadfuls, the sensational fiction that Robert loved to read, are blamed for corrupting the child's mind and he's sentenced to Broadmoor, a lunatic asylum. The description on the cover was intriguing, but the book itself was kind of dry. It wasn't until I read the author's note at the end that I started to feel her enthusiasm for the subject.

Disclosure -- I was provided with advance review copies by the publishers. All opinions are my own.