As I finally get back to this thing we call blogging, I took a look at what I accomplished on the fiberly front. I did so many more things in my head than I did for real, I still think I did pretty well.
Last Christmas I promised to make Tom at least one shirt each month. In part, the idea was to reduce the stash of dog fabric. Although I admit I did augment the stash, I think I did put a very small dent in it having made 26 shirts - 11 in August for our 25th Anniversary. I finished the last shirts of the year over the weekend.
Although I planned to sew for myself, most of the 15 sewn projects ended up being gifts, including a set of placemats for Dianne, a jacket, top and pants for my mom, and bag for Tom's aunt Flossie. Tom's Christmas present was a Simplicty 3890 jacket sewn from wool we picked up at the Pendleton Woolen Mills outlet in Milwaukie. And I made a jacket for one of Tom's nieces.
McCalls 5479; Fabric Mart wool blend fabric
Mostly I knit–20 projects, in total. I started (and finished) Michelle Rose Orne's capelet from Vogue Knitting Winter 2006, as a gift, but changed my mind about the giftee.
Instead, I put my newly learned crochet skills to the test and made the Chrysantemum lace shawl from Amazing Crochet Lace: New Fashions Inspired by Old-Fashioned Lace by Doris Chan from Muench Tahoe (stash) yarn.
Looking at the bigger picture of my fiberly pursuits, I guess I can't complain—but I still want to do more next year! To see all the sewing, knitting, and crochet projects - except shirts - plus a couple of other endeavors click here.
Oh yes and Happy New Year!Don't forget your black-eyed peas.
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.
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.
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.
That was the subject of the email we got from Jane, Petsitter Extraordinaire, when we were in Hawai'i. She was speaking of Jake, of course. And yesterday, since she was in the neighborhood, she decided to drop by to see him. Now that says something...Jake doesn't like cherry flavored ChapStick. He got it out of my purse (sneaky little devil).
I love the greeting whenever I return and someday expect to hear that Jake jumped the gate.
Jake did open the door to your office. I think he thought you were in there and kept jumping until he hit the handle just right. When I got upstairs to check what all the noise was, he was in your office looking for you--and trouble!!
Jake has been running outside protecting the borders from neighbors bbq-ing dinner and from dogs in their yards. Tough job that requires lots of downtime next to me getting lots of head and tummy rubs (dont stop or you get the nudge with the nose)
