Spazzmanda

Woah-oh, living on a prayer. Not a bad song to have stuck in your head at all. Especially because we’ve made some serious strides in finishing up operation apartment do-over.

That is half of a finished apartment. Windows painted, patches where painters tape pulled off the paint fixed, furniture moved back (and vacuumed), new curtains courtesy of Momma (thank you again P.S. and by the way) and art work hung. We stayed up late. I had a smidge too much wine, but it was all well worth it. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful living room that can actually be lived in. (This might actually get me out of bed.)

Now. As far as the other half of the apartment…. not so much… yet… but there really isn’t very much painting left. I’m feeling pretty good about all of this. We watched “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” last night (yes, again) because musicals and whores, what is better than that? (CONTENT DELETED SINCE I’VE GROWN UP A BIT.)

Oh, in other news, two of my college roommates delivered baby girls yesterday! Beth had her second- Sara Kate and Nicole had her fourth- Vivian Lauren. Way to go with the birthin’ ladies, the last two weeks have been all about the new humans coming into the world, I couldn’t be happier for all of you guys!

Have a great holiday weekend- I’m retreating to the mountains again, it should be fun… ish. We’ll see.

Layin’ low this weekend. Did laundry. Mopped. Finished the Hegie- I ended up stuffing him with polyfil and some stones- so he would be heavy. I needle felted his face on yesterday, very easy finishing after he dried.

This is him in the herb garden this morning before the storm rolled in. He will go to live with my mom (surprise mom!) after I get a chance to take him to a meeting to be photographed with the other hedgies.  This was a fun KAL.

Also working on a test knit for Pixie, here is a glimpse of another something cute she has up her sleeve:

That is all for now. Have a marvelous week.

There are some changes going on right now where I work that have me all… conflicted. A sad departure? A new opportunity? On many levels, I’m just so torn, between what there is to be done, the thing that needs to be done, the moral right thing to do and what is currently expected from me– and none of these things, mind you, are ever, ever, ever the SAME thing, the comfortable thing, or even the easy thing. Blah. I can’t even really communicate all that is going on, nor do I really want to… once again… right here… in my safe place.

I shall skip on to the knitting.

Super-secret-finished-object numero uno:

For more details, see Ravelry.

Also, I started this over the weekend:

For our “Hedge” A-long- where many of us are knitting a felted hedgehog at the same time. I made much progress on this little fucker before finishing the blanket o’death (pictured above.) All yarn from said hedgehog is a remnant from my stash (and Shari’s- thanks for the fun fur so I can make him all one color.)
This isn’t the “easiest” pattern to read, you are kind of have to be assumed to have half a brain, I really favor “moron-worded” patterns myself.

Yeah, he will be a cute little door-stopper for my mother once I come up with something heavy to stuff him with. Shari suggested rice, I asked her- “What about bugs?” She mused, but confirmed that rice would probably be better…

Wait for it.

It is funny… Maybe you had to be there.

Me and my knittas went to the Twisted Skeins in Clarkesville this weekend (gosh, I needed that outing. It healed my soul a little that day, thanks in great part to Shari for being… a perfect friend and destination-knitting-companion exactly when and where I needed her. Uncanny.)

In the immortal words of Forrest, Forrest Gump:

“That’s all I have to say about that.”

Task- to create new throw pillows to go with old bedspread/new sheets color palette:

But I don’t wanna cover up my circus toile (sniff, sniff)

Ok, it is a tad girly, technically it matches, but girrrrrrrrly. So now I have this:

My mother helped me select these two fabrics that contrasted each other nicely. I was wanting some sort of trim to finish these off – and we all know that trim can get expensive (right Auntie Kandie?) so she talked me through this neat trick, I took some cording I had at home and covered it with contrasting fabric then sewed it into the pillow just like trim.

And for the finished project:

This concludes our session of Adventures in Sewing. Next time, pillows the sequel- sofa throws.

Who knew that I was a capable seamstress? Based on the string of foul words that came out of my mouth the last time I attempted to sew something with a machine, I would have never dreamed it possible. Apparently, the right tools make all the difference in the world! I recently acquired a loverly NEW sewing machine from John Olin and Margaret (hi there folks!) and it looks something like this:

Singer Esteem say hello to the world. This thing is truly wunderbar. The first very important item of business was to fill out the warranty card, you know, just in case you monkey strength the thing and have to have something, er, replaced. (I didn’t do that by the way, but it has been known to happen to other appliances, like the Cuisnart.)

Then you can sew. Once I got through the basics I was ready to rock and roll, the Singer Esteem (don’t you just love that?) is a MUCH nicer machine than the one I inherited a few years ago, but in all fairness, it was a 50 year old dinosaur of a machine so it is like comparing apples to fossilized apples or something. my Esteem is light weight, easy to understand and it sews like buttah. I lined my rosebud bag and finished it last night! It took two tries, but I made lemons into lemonade. My first lining was much too small, so I made a second, better lining, and the first became a snazzy hidden side pocket see?

Notice the stripes in the pocket and in the bag go opposite ways, let us pretend I did that on purpose (I like the effect though) I also used my zigzag feature because that is how I roll. And here is the finished bag on the outside:

All in all, not a bad project. The actual knitting was done in a flash, then add about 2 hours to sew on all the roses, leaves and insert the handles and another 2 hours (give or take) to do a lining. I am very pleased with my new summer bag!  Hey, thanks Jenny for the pattern suggestion, and again to John and Margaret for the snazzy new machine and of course, I’d like to thank the academy…

In the spirit of knitting for me, me, me, me right now because I can and I’m tired of deadline knitting for the moment and because it is my Birthday week- I have brought the Stormwater Shawl out of hibernation. This is the shawl knit with not one but TWO strands of simultaneous sea silk, probably one of the most decadent fibers ever produced. I think my colorway is “Paris” purple, green and blue, I can’t really recall at the moment.

I’m happy, it is a challenging project (a 16 row repeat for EVER) but I like a bit of a challenge and as far as lace goes, I could do worse. I have no photos yet (it isn’t very long yet). Also, in my endeavour to find out how to SSP (slip, slip, purl) I found out that all these years I’ve been doing SSK (slip, slip, knit) incorrectly. Is it worth frogging the first 32 rows of the shawl? Nah, but now I know and knowing is good. If I keep working on it I may actually be able to wear it at the beach! (realistically, the shawl isn’t much for ‘warmth’ rather than it is to be pretty and silky and slippery, I can’t wait for it to be finished!)

I’ve also fixed the handle on my knitted sari silk bag so I like carrying it again AND I made a pretty neato felted tote called Rosebud (you can buy the pattern here) which is drying as we speak so I might have it finished up this week. I can’t decide if I am going to line it or not, I think I have some nice scrap fabric that is all stripey in the same shades of green and pink that might make for a neat lining, so maybe it will be finished by next week. it is a good size and wouldn’t make a bad knitting bag.

Yay for selfish knitting!

I’ve had a nasty, nasty bug. I’m working today, but faking it as it seems I have a nearly endless supply of mucus. All I can think about is those mucinex commercials with the dancing boogers. ew.

Ok, one more time and I’ll quit, I promise.

The finished project (International Fiber Collaborative) and I can STILL spot my square a mile away. I’m not crazy, just very good at finding something I stared at for approximately four months.

One more shot just for yucks.

Ok, I’m done. (Oh, and again, both photos courtesy of www.internationalfibercollaborative.com)

Have a dancing booger-free day!

Anyone recall that I participated in the International Fiber Collaborative project last year, well, early this year when I finished? No? I posted about it here and even here.

Let me sum up. Artist Jennifer Marsh came up with the brilliant idea to essentially upholster an abandoned, unused gas station as social commentary on our country’s dependance on oil products (I hope I got that right- forgive me if I am not completely with it, I’m too excited.)

So, I sent my square. (You can see it here if you are so inclined.) Well, I got notice she had received it, but I checked and checked on the pages where you can view the squares on her site and alas, mine was not there. I was sad. Then I got an email about the installation of the project (it looks pretty freakin’ awesome in the completed state) and I found this:

Look closely, verrrrry closely. THAT square on the front right corner is all MINE baby. (Well I did have some help, thanks to the Northeast Georgia Yarnsters) but see that mitered square- that was me for rizzle dizzle. I’d recognize that bulgy hunk of crap anywhere. I’m so very pleased. I aided in an important work of art, a large-scale politically-minded cozy.

Gosh, I love making stuffed animals. There is something so satisfying in having an FO you can actually hug when you are through.

This one is for my preggers friend Megan- or actually it is more specifically for Cletus the Fetus.

Garter Stitch Elephant and soft, purple stash yarn. This free pattern I found on Ravelry (oh Ravelry, how do I love thee).

Happy Monday!

I stayed up late and finished it, I couldn’t help myself. This unbelievably cute pattern “Which Came First” was printed in the current issue of Craft Magazine. (The pattern is by Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi, you may find the link on Ravelry HERE.) The instructions are for a 100% wool, slightly felted bird and egg- I just used some stashed Red Heart acrylic that I had on hand from some other toys I’ve made rather than rushing around to buy wool. I’m really happy with the outcome.

Man is this cute. Here is the emerging from the shell shot:

And the inside out reversible chicken, fully out of his shell

Cute and squishy. Minor modifications as follows: I used buttons for eyes instead of embroidery and I didn’t put eyes on the exterior shell, it seemed a tad… weird, so I omitted this. Someone on Ravelry made the shell like an easter egg, using some fancy fairisle and bravo to them! Mine, naturally, is plain.

I must say that I’m very pleased with the results. I find him to be a little “buff,” I don’t know how that happened, maybe I unconsciously styled him after Henry the Chicken Hawk (you know, the Looney Tunes character? Trys to catch and eat Foghorn Leghorn in spite of his miniscule size? No? Just me then?)

I know I always say this, but I do think that this is my favorite stuffed animal yet. Maybe even more fun than Sheldon, or even Baby Bobbi Bear… I know, blasphemy.