I pulled out fabric for the new quilt this morning and while I've got more than enough pinks and blues, I'd really like a few more yellow prints. And maybe another green or two. I like the yellows I did come up with, I'm just not sure there's enough of them to balance out the blues and pinks. And I'm not willing to give up any of those.

sigh

I think I'm just ready to jump on any excuse to go fabric shopping.

Forget the five inch squares for now, because this pattern is screaming to me louder --



I know I've got the right fabrics up in the sewing room, but dh has the shop keys in the pants he wore to work, which means I've been locked away from my fabric all day. I could've spent those hours getting the house absolutely spotless so I'd have nothing to do tomorrow but sort through my stash for the perfect blue and pink and yellow and green prints, but that's not how my life works.

I did tackle the housework, but I also spent some time finishing this guy --



I desperately wanted to knit an alligator scarf, but was worried about those ridges down his back. How did they do that? I was picturing complex short rows or something equally stressful. And then there were those wonderful eyes. How could those possibly work?

The little ridges and eyes are easy. I had to redo the nostrils a couple of times, which was a problem with the knitter, not the pattern.

After my struggles with the shark hat, I need a couple of projects where I can just follow the pattern as written and not fight with it.

I can't go quilting at church without wanting to buy fabric on the way home. Today, it was a yard and a half of black cotton I suddenly had to have. But Joann's would have been a 60 mile detour and I forgot about the itty-bitty quilt shop between the church and the house so, although it was less about self control and more about not having the time to drive that far, I didn't actually buy any fabric.

After seeing someone else's finished quilt, I'm dying to make my own version of the scrap quilt the group is working on. It's a pattern I've seen before -- I think it's called "Exquisite," but I'm having no luck with a Google search to verify that. Too many people are using the word to describe their quilts. And while I'm sure they're all absolutely lovely, it's keeping me from finding what I want!

Now I'm going to go finish the dishes and start cutting five inch squares. Because if I have the squares done, I'll really need to go buy the black fabric.

The bead store didn't have lucite rings. I'm not convinced that the lady there even listened to my question, because she steered me toward jump rings and said that was the only thing they had. So I went to the craft store and found some little metal rings that I hoped would do the same job. Then I went home and got to work felting the bag and dying it with Black Cherry Kool Aid.



I love this little bag! It's the perfect size for my wallet, phone, and keys, and doesn't gape completely open to spill everything out. Keep in mind that I've been carrying diapers for most of the past 11 years and cute little purses are a totally unrealistic fantasy at this point in my life. But I do plan to knit another one as soon as I figure out what yarn to use.

StandsWSicks has one on Ravelry that's done in Knit One Crochet Too Paint Box. I've got some single balls of that in my stash...maybe I could stripe them?

And llamalady has made a "double dumpling" that's more of a shoulder bag. That would even hold diapers!



This shark hat has been driving me nuts. There's an error at the very beginning of the patter nthat brought me to a screeching halt about five minutes after casting on. I got that figured out, but once I got about halfway through the dorsal fin my shark's tail didn't look right so I ripped out the whole thing and started over. This time, I got almost to the teeth before deciding that the body is still too short and fat. He needs more plain rows between the tail increases and before the dorsal fin and between the last fin decreases and the ribbing...knitting this pattern as written definitely won't give you a shark shaped like the one in the pattern pictures.

I looked at the other shark hats on Ravelry -- should've done that before casting on! It's not just me. All of the shark hats there have modifications.

So do I start over a third time, or do I just move on to the teeth? Because I'm not sure how that part is going to work out, either.

Show and Tell Friday

It's been a long time since I've played Show and Tell Friday, but I'm so excited about today's new treasure that I've got to share.



Mom has this book that Great Grandma passed down to her. It's an absolutely massive thing, about a thousand pages divided into sections about medicine, and homemaking, and how to take care of the cows and chickens and the most obscure, fascinating stuff you could imagine, published in 1916. The spine was gone and the poor thing was falling apart until Mom took it and had it rebound.

I was always fascinated by that book but even though I could have looked carefully through it, it always felt too fragile to touch. So I didn't. I've never seen another book like it, not that I've been on a great quest for one. There could be dozens of them sitting on shelves in every antique store around.

I found this one at a garage sale today, sitting on someone's driveway beside a table of Danielle Steel paperbacks. As soon as I saw what it was, I scooped it up and started to figure out how much I could justify spending on it. I got it for a quarter. The sign said that books were twenty-five cents each, and that's what the lady charged me.



Considering its age and the fact that apparently no-one wanted it, it's in great shape. I can't wait to curl up with it and read how to treat hydrophobia and properly store fresh eggs!

The garage sales were good today. I found a huge bunch of black floral fabric (hopefully enough to finish and back the kitty cat quilt), an old blue Nancy Drew book I don't think I already have, and some decent yarn.

If I had two 3 centimeter Lucite rings and a packet of cherry Kool Aid, I'd finish my Dumpling Bag tonight. But we live in the middle of nowhere, so I have to wait until I'm up in town tomorrow to buy the little rings and the grocery store near the house is out of red drink mix. I really want to get this thing assembled and felted and dyed a different color!



When I cast on the night before last, I didn't expect to have it knit up before I left the house again, but it's a fast project. I'm using the same mystery wool I used for the Firefighter Hat, since it felted so well and came out such a nice shade of red.

These little projects are piling up quickly. I finished two more dishcloths, got the I-cord for the little froggy bag's mouth done and in place (he wasn't feeling photogenic today, so you'll have to imagine how he came out), and made a hat for Alex with yarn and a pattern that have been drifting around my sewing corner for at least a month now.





The Knit Dishcloth Dress is a pattern I'd printed out and completely forgotten about. I used short rows to shape the neckline in an effort to avoid rejoining yarn and weaving in extra ends.

The Pinwheel Dishcloth was easier than it first looked, if I don't admit that I couldn't figure out how to knit the fourth triangle to the first one. Mine is seamed.



Alex saw a picture of Pretty in Pink Ribbons over my shoulder when I found the pattern on Ravelry and liked it. She's up with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days and hasn't seen it yet -- hopefully she'll agree that it came out cute!

My hand is feeling a lot better. It seems like knitting (as long as it's not seed stitch with dishcloth cotton) loosens it up, and I can go for longer stretches each day. So I'm a much happier knitter this week!

There's a radio ad playing lately that says something about making lemonade with free lemon slices and sugar packets. In my case, I'm using leftover bits of acrylic and suddenly feeling better about my knitting than I've felt in weeks. These little fiddly projects are distracting me from the fact that I can't knit for long stretches. So now I'm going through my Ravelry queue and looking for more of them.

The Sideways Short Row Watch Cap has been hovering near the top of my Ravelry queue for a couple of months. I thought it would be a good way to use up the leftover Bernat Camouflage from Heath's ugly raglan, but never got quite motivated enough to cast on.



Quinn promptly decided it was for him and insisted on wearing it to the grocery store because if he didn't, the wind would get in his hair. It was a fun little project and left me with a couple of ideas I want to try on my next short row hat.



I'd printed out a pattern for a Frog Bag ages ago because it's so silly and cute and I've got little kids to knit for. One of those projects I thought I might knit someday but wasn't actually planning to start because of those fiddly little arms and legs and eyes.

I love those little froggie legs and the way that a couple of "knit 3 togethers" make them bend just right!

My camera is having fits today and this is the only picture I could manage, but it proves I managed something last night --


(edited to add a better picture)

Pattern: Miniature Kniting Bag Ornaments

I used some Vanna's Choice left over from Leif's cabled sweater, and made the skeins with some old needlepoint wool that I had in my stash. It was quick and fun and left me feeling a lot better about my knitting.

I've got too much yarn to quit knitting, but I may have to learn a new way to hold my fingers around the needle. It still hurts when I bend my fingers. Not nearly as badly as it hurt the last time I posted, but I still can't knit for any decent length of time without feeling it.

Which probably explains why I'm getting so antsy in the evenings. I don't know what to do with myself if I can't knit!

I've managed a few more rounds on the Noviembre socks and got to within an hour or so of finishing Alex's new tank top before trying it on her and realizing that it's just a little too tight and a little too short. I was tempted to finish it just for the sake of finally finishing SOMETHING other than the fluffy red scarf, but I ripped the whole thing out this afternoon.

It was cute. I liked the texture of the yarn and the shaping and I had a whole skein of the yarn left over, more than enough to reknit it with a couple more inches of ease and make it longer.

I'd feel better about this if I was going to be able to actually get the knitting done anytime soon.

Maybe if I cast on something little and fiddly, I won't notice that I have to put it down and rest my hand every few minutes. I just went through my Ravelry queue and found some possibilities. The Miniature Knitting Bag Ornament pattern looks pretty cute!

The break will be good for my hands -- that's what I tell myself when life keeps me from knitting for a while.

Well, this last break was not good for my hands. On the second day of dh's vacation, I was doing dishes and the big glass mixing bowl slipped out of my hands. I closed my fingers around it at the same time as it hit the edge of the sink, with the exact result you'd expect from grabbing at a big shard of broken glass.

The doctor says I didn't cut anything vital and that any bits of glass still in there are so tiny they'll work themselves out. I was due for a tetanus booster anyway.

Another person who shall remain nameless (the who can expose a vein in his finger and still finish gutting a deer in the driveway before doing anything about it) tells me I'm a sniveler and that my little cut wasn't nearly bad enough to require medical attention, but it hurt a lot more than it seemed like it should, the throbbing was getting steadily worse, and we were were up in town and I was becoming more convinced by the second that I'd done real damage to my hand. I can handle natural childbirth. I can handle migraines. I cannot handle icky squeamish stuff.

When I did finally pick up my knitting a week later, it was bad. I could manage two eleven stitch rows before my stupid finger (which isn't even doing anything, it's just bending along with the rest of my fingers) forced me to stop. It's gotten better, but I don't know when I'm going to be able to knit normally again. And my arm is still throbbing where they gave me the tetanus shot, although that might be from sleeping on it wrong or hauling around toddlers or one of the other stupid things that frequently make me hurt.

Did I mention how not happy I am about this whole thing?

I am happy that the Alligator Scarf from Morehouse Merino is available as a pattern now. I think I waited a whole three minutes between finding that out and placing my order.

Alex has a new treasure and I've got a new challenge.



We went to an estate sale this afternoon and while I was trying to figure out why anyone would have boxes and boxes of Young Miss from 1983, Alex came running up to tell me "Daddy said to tell you there's fabric back there!" I got distracted by a box with knitting magazines in it and she dashed back to beat me to whatever good fabric there might be.

By that time, I'd found two old copies of Burda and a couple of Japanese knitting magazines for a dime each and wasn't thinking about fabric.

I probably wouldn't have picked up Alex's find because I don't look for finished knitting at estate sales. I want to knit my things myself. She came running up with a round shawl, totally in love and wanting to know if she could buy it.

I know a hand knit shawl is worth a whole lot more than $3.50. But I wasn't paying attention to the shawl itself, Alex didn't have that much money, and my first impression was that it had big holes in it. I told her she could ask if they'd take less money since it was damaged and she bought it for fifty cents.

She wants me to fix it. And, now that I've taken a good look, I realize it's worth fixing, if I can pull it off. I'm sure I can at least stabilize it and keep the holes from getting any bigger, but I'd like to do a better job than that.

Someone had odd taste in magazines and incredible lace knitting skills.

This afternoon, I got my second batch of quilted postcards for the Quilters Knitting Group over on Ravelry done and drove them down to the post office. Now my fingers are crossed that they get safely where they're supposed to go.



I'm seriously loving these quilted postcard swaps!

They cost next to nothing -- the only thing I've spent money on for these two swaps is stamps. It looks like I'll need to buy fabric to do what I've got in mind for the Fall swap, but that's only because I want the exact right colors.

Making the cards doesn't take a whole lot of time. I haven't actually timed myself and done the math, but it's taken less (a lot less) than an hour to finish each card. And the couple of evenings I did spend were divided between a bunch of different people, so even though I didn't get cards from a couple of the quilters I sent to last time, I don't feel like I got cheated. Maybe their cards got eaten by the post office, or maybe they were never sent. Since I didn't hear from either after letting them know I didn't get their cards, I've got my suspicions, but life happens.

And the cards that I did receive are fantastic.

I sunburned the backs of my knees today. How the heck did I manage that?! I burn easily. But I don't think I've managed that particular trick before.

The kids don't have sunburns. Which makes me feel better about my own.

We spent most of the day roaming the Sisters Quilt Show with my mom and a couple of friends. It didn't seem as hot as last year. There were a lot less people than usual. And there didn't seem to be as many quilts.

I did get a bunch of new ideas, but I'm too tired to remember any of them right now...

Casablanca

I feel like a bit of an imposter being so excited about this KAL, since I've never seen the movie. It's on the DVR, though, waiting for me to have some time. I wasn't sure about the first two clues, but the third one hooked me and now I'm dying to see what comes next.

Fancy Fulness

Yup, I'm still giddy about my pink lace. I absolutely love this shawl! The pattern, the yarn, the needles -- it all worked together just right.



The pattern was relatively easy to keep track of. With the wide edging and whatever that pretty pattern in the middle is (at first I thought the chart looked like hearts, but now I don't see those at all), it was quickly obvious if my stitches weren't lining up the way they should.

The wide border is gorgeous and I have a feeling I may use it again on something else.



Knitpicks Shadow is my absolute favorite lace weight yarn. I'm sure I spent more on the diet Coke I drank while knitting this than on the yarn. It took just a couple of yards from the second skein to finish the last rows.

I definitely need more Harmony circulars.

I checked this book out from the elementary school library over and over and over. It was full of fascinating things I just knew I could never try -- projects involving plaster and sharp knives and dead fish!



Out of the blue, I thought about it the other day, just a passing wisp of memory that couldn't go anywhere because I didn't know any actual details about the book, just that it had instructions for making prints with paint and dead fish and punching holes in empty tin cans to make lanterns.

I wasn't looking for it this afternoon. I was trying to hurry the kids out of the library so we could go meet Grandma across town and Alex needed a book with directions for braiding hemp bracelets and I was out of patience and bypassed the computers and helpful librarians to see if something would jump off the shelves at us. I wasn't even looking at the shelf this book was on, but the familiar spine jumped out at me.

While Alex was in karate, I flipped through it. The text is all handwritten, and I remember struggling to read it. I don't remember actually trying to make any of the projects, although I'm sure I would've tried some of the little paper ones.

Now that I'm all grown up and can buy plaster and risk my own fingers playing with tin cans, there are other things to be inspired and intimidated by. Like a whole stack of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazines that I got off of Freecycle this morning.

I've been seduced by that magazine since I first saw it at the grocery store, but $8 an issue is a lot and there were always a couple of quilting or knitting magazines that I wanted more. I actually know how to quilt and knit. There's the possibility that I'll do more than drool over those.

I'm seriously loving Freecycle. It even found a happy home for our old love seat and chair, which weren't quite ready for the landfill yet.

Can I just stay home and knit?

Our new furniture was delivered four days ago and I'm still a bit giddy -- and also terrified that the kids are going to do something destructive to it. I could just sit here and knit forever. Especially in the recliner. I'd rather look at the pretty flowered couches, but I'd rather knit in the recliner.



I'm on clue six of Fancy Fulness and had to cheat just a bit to fix a mistake I couldn't find -- but I think everything is okay now.



After a couple of days of sorting and cutting, I can't decide whether I like the new scrap quilt or hate it. I love the picture in the magazine and mine has potential. But I don't know if I should tear apart the blocks I've got done and replace the bright fabrics that are nagging at me, or have faith that it'll all work out and use more of those colors.

Today has been gorgeous. The kids ran wild outside for hours and I spent time in the sewing room sorting fabric to find the right colors for two new quilts I'd like to start soon. And for the three scrap quilts I'm already working on. Then the mountain of fabric got overwhelming and I sat and flipped through old quilting magazines and found another five or six projects to fall in love with.

I will work my way through these scraps!

Now that the binding for the shaded nine-patch is mostly on, I'm feeling motivated to finish more quilt tops. Binding had intimidated me, to the point that I thought I'd probably never manage to do it right. I was just going to make a bunch of unfinished quilt tops to hand down to my future grandchildren.

Turns out that binding isn't like seaming sweaters. You cut it and iron it and sew it on and although my hand sewing leaves a lot to be desired, it's on the back. And these aren't heirlooms.

Pink Lace!

Things have finally settled down enough for me to pull out Fancy Fulness and finish clues three and four. I'm not sure why I'm so excited about knitting pink lace, but it seems like the neatest thing ever and once I get going I have a hard time putting it back down.

When I first downloaded the chart, I had a strong feeling that my Fancy Fulness should be be pink. I didn't have any, so the pattern sat for a while until I remembered the reddish pink lace weight Bill bought me for my birthday last year. Maybe I'd been thinking of that yarn the whole time and that was where the odd pink urge came from.

Turns out I absolutely hate that yarn. Then I remembered some pink fingering weight that was given to me a while back and was all set to cast on with that when I saw the new Shadows colors.

This is the right pink.

The Tribbles are multiplying quickly. I finished #5 in the drive thru while waiting for my dinner. When did tomatoes become a source of terror? And why can't I have cilantro or onions on my burrito either? I don't want the tomatoes if they're going to kill me, but the other trimmings would have been nice.

I might be getting a bit crabby. It's not helping that I've been going to bed hours earlier than usual and feeling just as exhausted as I do when I stay up knitting until 2am. So why have I been sacrificing my best knitting time?

Probably because I'm too tired to do anything but tribbles.

What I want to do is figure out Noviembre. I almost knew a little Spanish once.