Hawai'i

Well, I haven't gotten my sewing done and my latest knitting effort was a bust (having found a BIG mistake right at the end...) so I've been hard at it at the computer processing pictures and html.

Pictures from the Hawai'i trip, are finally done and posted to TheHudsons.

   

And Dogs

And while I was at it, I pulled two month's pictures of Jake and Mandy off the card, so the cuteness continues on TheHudsons.

   :

A lace obsession

I really have to stay off this computer and not go to bookstores. It started with Japanese knitting and now it's Japanese lace crochet.

We had some time to kill before going over to Flossie's house to plan Thanksgiving so we went to Uwajamiya which houses Kinokuniya. I came home with four books–three crochet and one knit. And now I'm obsessing about crocheted lace.

 
 
ISBN: 978-4529042246

 
 
ISBN: 978-4277171885


ISBN: 978-4529024129


ISBN: 978-4277113854

And on order from YesAsia
 
ISBNs: 978-4529044431 and 978-4529044349

Too early for Jake

Dogs on Thursday
Technically, it's not Thursday, and I'm still not in a picture processing mood, but Jake provides such a wealth of photo ops, some of which I take advantage of.

Here's how each early morning goes:
1. With the first light of day, Jake wakes up and must think "Oh - morning! Breakfasttime!!"
2. He come charging down the hall to the bonus room or into my office with a very happy puppy face and says "It's Breakfasttime!"
3. We have a moment when he looks like a little comma and I give him a hug till he wiggles out and says "It's Breakfasttime!"
4. I ask if he'd like breakfast and he wags his little tail and says "Yes! Yes! It's Breakfasttime!" and goes charging back down the hall and impatiently waits for me to move the gate so he can go downstairs.
5. I fix his breakfast while he follows me around the kitchen with his tail going a mile a minute.
6. He eats happily, all the time his tail is a-waggin'.
7. He goes out.
8. He goes back to bed.
And breakfast is forgotten till the next morning when the scene repeats itself.

When it's time to get Tom up, Jake is all about sleeping and most mornings it's just too early for him.

Blogging and Ravelry

Dianne (DiannePDX) just got her invitation to Ravelry and commented in a message to me, Suzie (knitnlisten) and Jean (no clue about Ravelry) that she thought the reason I haven't been posting much here is because I've been spending so much time on Ravelry. Not true. It may be worth noting I haven't posted much on Ravelry either.

Because to me, both are all about the pictures and my recent mantra has been "I'd rather be knitting and sewing than processing pictures"–that's exactly what I've been doing.

On my list (without pictures, in no particular order):
1. McCalls 5479
2. Vogue 8162
3. Vogue 7880
4. Vogue 8344
5. Simplicity 3890
6. Ene's Scarf (Scarf Style)

Since most are gifts, I won't give details and it's likely I won't post pictures of the projects till after the holidays. But eventually I will get to those Hawaii and Jake pictures.

BTW, it may come as no surprise that I'm Fiberlyone on Ravelry.

Focused on Finishing

I have to admit some frustration with the Mom capecho and with the body finished, and the collar to go, so I decided to set the project aside for awhile. I needed something that I could finish so I pulled out the Gold Nugget Shawl and finished it. I am always amazed at the transformation lace makes after it's been washed and blocked. As I knit the shawl and looked at the pattern, I thought, "This isn't going to be anything like Shui's beautiful shawl." But lo and behold through the magic of blocking it became something entirely different and lovely. It took exactly one ball, with a yard to spare, and it measures 48" wide and 24" long.

 





Next, I decided to try my hand at crocheting something. Since it was my first crochet project, instead of diving into one of the lovely patterns in the Japanese knitting books, I thought it would be good to start in English, and probably something not-too-complicated. To that end, I found the Off the Grid scarf on Knitting Daily, chose stash Crystal Palace Romance yarn in a mustardy color and crocheted away.




Since the Mom capecho is a bust for now, the Dressing Gown needed to be finished. I have contacted two knitters who finished the shorter Bed Jacket version to get a handle on interpreting the very poorly written collar instructions, since the publisher/author never responded. Both admitted to having a problem with the instructions, which tell you to start the collar before sewing up the shoulders, but they did manage to finish and told me the process; in theory it was straightforward. I started the collar as written. I can read and I understand knitting instructions, but as I read the collar instructions, the short rows would make a half collar. So in frustration, I gave up and decided to knit a lace collar, but I couldn't find a pattern.

Then I remembered the cover of the Fall 2006 Interweave Crochet I'd bought because it had combination knitting and crochet patterns. So I decided to throw caution to the wind and wing it with the Pineapple Lace. It took three tries to get the foundation pattern done right, but I did and even though I didn't count the stitches (it's a long way around the gown), it all worked out. I decided to stop at the eighth row in the pattern for fear of running out of yarn and the robe is pretty heavy as it is. For the cuffs I just did the first four pattern rows.

Next on the agenda involves much pointier needles—Christmas sewing.