Aprons Galore

So, I've hit the apron making insanity phase. I so love making aprons! They're fun, they're fast and you can learn all kinds of new techniques for sewing on something that is small and mostly inexpensive. I use a lot of fabric from Goodwill when I find stuff I like. I just got nearly 10 yards of unbleached muslin for $7.99 at Goodwill. THAT was a good find!

Here's my latest apron. The red is just plain cotton and the polka-dot material is left overs from Christmas projects. The patch is something I added on after I had already finished the apron. I embroidered the birds using four strands of embroidery floss and the tree with only three strands.

I also made one with some fabric from Goodwill. It's also the Mary Jane Butter's IdeaBook apron and I really like this one a lot.

I also made the Frenchy Shoulder Bag from Amy Butler and even used some fabric from her line. The inside lining is civil war rose print, but still matches well enough. The pattern is super easy and only took me an afternoon to cut it all out and an afternoon to sew it all together. I did get a little annoyed when I fell short of the exterior fabric by about 2 inches. I had to get another 1/8 of a yard so I could get the straps made. But otherwise, no complaints! I used the leftover scraps to create a wallet. I even put a zipper into the top flap so I would have a place to put loose change!

I've also done a bit of spinning, though I had to miss the January Spin-In at Ace's house. This is the merino that Janelle dyed for me at Christmas. I'm going to make Elizabeth Zimmerman's Mitered Mittens with it. I'm excited! The colors came out beautifully and the whole 8 oz spun up like butter. Next on my list of spinning is some 100% angora. I've never spun it, but I am going to try!

SHOPS!!!

So I finally found Small Meadow Press again. This site was a delight during my letter writing days and rediscovering it has prompted me to want to start this wonderful past time again. Lesley's creations are beautiful and functional. The Pigeon Holes make you want to get organized and the calling cards make you want to visit people you know won't be home just so you can leave them one. LOL! And when she sends the box with your lovely goodies, it is always wrapped so beautifully that you don't want to open it.

On a local note, The Dancing Ewe has a great web page that lists products and classes and will soon feature a newsletter. I have greatly enjoyed being able to hang out on Thursdays and during lunch hour with the local ladies and talk and knit. The owner, Kathy, has just brought in some great stuff, including a Schacht Ladybug spinning wheel and some sock yarn called Flatfeet, which is knitted on a knitting machine, then dyed, then you buy it still knitted up. You unravel one end and start knitting your socks straight from this. Clever, no?

If money were no issue...

Taking my cue from the lovely lady at Bits and Bobbins Blog, I have decided to post what I might own if money were no issue. I really had a hard time thinking of things since I love to shop at Goodwill and yard sales, so the thought of spending lots of money on something not big (like a car or a house) seems quite weird to me. Anyway, these are the things I decided for.

First thing I thought of was that I would want an Irish Wolfhound. They are such adorable, gentle animals and they are HUGE!!!! I totally adore them with their whiskers and eyebrows and long faces.

I saw this sweater at Victorian Trading Company and fell in love with it. It looks so cozy and comfy and cute! I'm not so keen on the color choice, but I still love it. It's $169. Which is probably what it would cost for the yarn if I knit it myself. Hmmm...Tempting...

This dress is also from Victorian Trading Company. I fell in love with it about two years ago and I still drool every time I see it. The color is rich and the material is divine. Another expensive bit of clothing.

This sofa is from the same place as the sweater and dress. It's so fluffy and I love the miss matched fabrics. It looks like something you'd want to curl up on with a wool blanket and some knitting. :) It's $2995.

This ring is from Tiffany & Co. and is 24k gold with diamonds. I've been eying this thing since I first saw it in 1998. It's $16,000. Yeah. I haven't even bought a car that cost that much! EEK! I can't imagine owning a piece of jewelry that is so extravagant. But it is beautiful. And it reminds me of Lord of the Rings...

And of course last, but not least, I would SO own this spinning wheel, the Habetrot, from Golding Rings Wheels. The price is somewhere around $4,500. But with the beautiful craftsmanship of the wheel, I think it's totally worth it. I would love to just spin on one and see how it worked. If it spins as wonderfully as it looks. I love my Schacht, but it isn't very pretty...

So there's my list of things I might own if money were no issue. I'm sure there are other things, like cashmere yarn, and knitting needles in every size, and a Starbucks gift card that never ran out, but I figured I'd only list these. But since it is unlikely that any of these shall be mine, I am quite content with the beautiful things I find second hand.

Happy New Year!

Here it is January 2008 already! I feel like last year sped by far too fast. Besides having a wonderful Christmas with my family on the West side of the Cascades and a great New Year's Eve with my best pal, Mary T. and her family and friends from church, and a fabulous New Year's Day at the local yarn shop, The Dancing Ewe, with my other super cool friend, Janelle, I've gotten a lot of stuff done!

The trip to the west side was incredibly fun, if a little long. I took the airport shuttle because my car is on its last leg and I was very happy I did! The driver had to stop and chain up because the snow was so bad. And the cops were out making sure that those without chains got turned around and sent home! I've only had to put chains on once since I moved to Ellensburg and quite frankly I'd like to keep it that way! I spent a couple of days with my dad, Bill, and his wife, Doreen and enjoyed their company and their Direct TV. LOL! I got to go see my brother, Ben and his significant other, Sandy. It was the first time I've seen their apartment. It is a very awesome place! Then we went to my mom's, Marla's, and hung out with her for the evening. She also has a great apartment. We had a lot of fun just chatting and being together. Then on Christmas Eve I went to my Aunt Connie's and Uncle John's and got to visit my Grandmother Lorraine and my Uncle Jimmy. We had chicken enchiladas and spanish rice and refried beans. Not your traditional holiday meal, but it was very good! Connie had found my Grandma's diaries and a bunch of pictures from when she was a very little girl, so we spent some time just enjoying the pictures and letting Grandma reminisce on her life. Connie even found the pink silk bonnet that Grandma wore as a baby in one of the pictures! It was really cool. I got some fun gifts, but had more fun handing out the little journals that I made. That night I rode the airport shuttle home. We left at 11:30 pm which put me in Ellensburg at 1:30 in the morning. Mary's husband was gracious enough to come pick me up at the local Starbucks and I went home and crashed. The rest of the week I spent in bed with the flu. Oh well.

I managed to finish several projects that I've been wanting to get done. Mostly I met with success, though I had one rather disappointing failure.

I got out my sewing machine and made two aprons and a shirt. The first apron is the Sunday Apron from Vanilla House. The fabric came from the local fabric store, The Sewing Corral. It was very fun to make!

The other apron I made is the disappointment. Though it is incredibly cute and a bit more functional that the one above, it is a bit too small. The pattern is from Mary Jane's Farm Ideabook. Front

Back


Close up of button and fabric. The buttons came from the local fabric store. The fabric I found at Goodwill.

The shirt I made is a Simplicity pattern. The fabric is from Hancocks and the buttons are made of glass and were found at the Antique Mall.

As far as knitting goes, I've knit a scarf, two hats, a cardigan, and a pair of socks! I didn't realize how much I've done since Christmas until just now! WOW! I don't feel like such a slacker anymore! LOL!

The scarf is just a simple garter stitch that I knit to go with the hat I made from the Viking Patterns for Knitting book by Elsebeth Lavold. The pattern is Ragna and it's the second time I've knit this hat. I want to make the sweater also, but haven't had a chance yet. The yarn is Cascade's Jewel.
The other hat is Jared Flood's Koolhaas from the Holiday Gifts 2001 Interweave magazine. The yarn is Malabrigo Pure Merino Worsted in Marron Oscuro and is soooo incredibly soft and bouncy! And I think that until my hair grows back, I'll be wearing hats quite a bit more. I can't believe how cold it is without any hair!!!

The cardigan I knit is from the Lion's Brand website. I used my own handspun for this: some Romeldale that I picked up at the Puyallup Spring Fair last year. It was such a joy to spin, but it took me quite a while to find a pattern I liked that was simple and would show off the yarn.
The socks were another pair of the Bazaar Socks that I adapted from a pattern by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. These went into the Dancing Ewe and have been so loved that I will be teaching a class on Fair Isle for your Feet in February (the alliteration was unintentional, yet catchy!). I've never taught a knitting class before and I'm quite excited about it!

This week I'm working on the Barcelona Layered Skirt from Amy Butler and a hat for a friend of mine at work. I'll hopefully be starting a pair of socks from some handspun Merino that Mary T. dyed. I'll use some Suffolk for the heel and toe so they'll last longer. Yeah for wool!

Photos and Captions

I realized today that when I don't update this thing regularly, I end up with a ton of pictures to post! I can't believe how many pics I've taken since I bought my digital camera in October 2006. Now I want a serious upgrade. Something along the lines of the Canon Rebel digital something or other. Anyway, this post will mostly consist of photos and captions. Have fun!

These are some curtains that I just bought at St. Vinnies for $15 all together. They're actually green, not silver. But they're quite beautiful. The ornament came from Leavenworth, WA and my mom got it for me. I can't remember if it was last year or the year before! Oh well.

Some fabric I found online. It makes me smile. I'll not ever buy any, though. Not at $35 a yard!

Some mohair locks I got at the recent spin-in during the gift exchange. I can't wait to learn how to spin boucle with it!

More mohair locks that I got at the Spin-In.
This is what Mary T. got during the gift exchange. It's Potluck in Pumpkin Spice. It's gorgeous!

Mary T's scrumptious apple pie, made with Ace's delicious apples. I had quite a large piece.

I've had a slight obsession for fabric lately. This is a stash that I bought this week. I only needed less than 1/4 of a yard of each to make my Christmas gifts, but I got 1/2 yard of each and will make a patchwork tote bag out of the leftovers.

This is the gift I made for Mary T. this year and why I needed the fabrics. It's a portfolio based on the free pattern on Amy Butler's website. Mine doesn't look quite so professional, but a seamstress I am not! LOL!

Inside Mary's portfolio were four pretty journals made from paper from Bohemia and Fancy Pants. Mary loves to journal and keep track of things God tells her. I wish I would be so dedicated! I had several dreams this week that I'm certain were significant, but I was too lazy to get out of bed and write them down. Perhaps I should make one of these for me and keep it by my bed. Then I would have no excuse! Mary gave me a gift also, but my camera's battery died before I could get any pics of it. Parts of it are beautiful and parts are functional and some parts are both!

This is Janelle's box that is part of her Christmas present from me. The box is from the Dollar Tree and was embellished with leftover fabric and stamps. I had great fun making this and filling it with tea necessities and a handmade ornament. I also found a beautiful antique teacup and saucer for her as well. My pal, Wendy received a similar gift in different colors.

My sewing frenzy also resulted in me getting the above fabric, very loud, very retro, so I can make the pattern shown. I making shirt D and using some antique glass buttons I got at the local antique store.
Some very cute ornaments I found at Goodwill. It was $0.99 for a set of 12. I gave one set to Mary and am looking for happy homes for two of the other sets.

This is the roving that Janelle dyed for me for Christmas. It's dark and moody, which is so what I've been looking for and love! She also gave me a tin of Harney & Sons Holiday Tea. I didn't like it the first time I tried some, but now I've had three pots of it and am wondering if it's too late in the evening for maybe another cup. It is so yummy with sugar and cream! I think I was just having a bad day when I tried it the first time! LOL!

I got this prairie dress from the local antique store for $12 a couple of weeks ago. I was shocked that it fit and that it's incredibly comfortable. The dress is a very light green with little brown flowers on it. It's from Recollections and retails for about $199.00.

Geek Love

I have very little to report really in this post. It's been snowing for two days now. Mary's husband, Jon, has been riding his snowmobile around my yard. LOL!The snow is beautiful, though got a little slushy as it warmed up this afternoon. Still, I've had a blast shoveling my walkway and jumping around in it in the front yard. :) Gus, on the other hand, has not been impressed by it and he dug a hole under the house so he could get into the basement. I have a very silly cat!

So, here is what I've been working on. I just finished a pair of leg warmers that have cute little Space Invaders on them. After I finished these, I thought, "Hmmm... I should make a hat to go with these. And maybe a hat for Frogger and Pitfall, too! LOL! So those are bashing around my noggin'. Maybe after Christmas is over and I've gotten all my gifts done, I will try to do that.

Space Invaders Leg Warmers
YARN: Jaeger Super Fine Merino
NEEDLES: Size 5, 16" circulars
PATTERN: Adapted from the BMP pattern on Knitty.com

I cast on 80 stitches, hoping they'd be only slightly baggy. Unfortunately they are quite a bit baggy and much shorter than I wanted them to be. I wore them today for church anyway and they kept my ankles quite warm, which is the point of them after all.

I'm also working on a hat that I've adapted from a scarf pattern on Knitty.com. It's black with green binary code. A guy I recently met on Firestream said I should "be uber geeky, learn binary and have it spell out a message." I am giving the hat to my brother... (I don't think he's ever read this blog, so I'm sure it's safe he won't find out about this) who works at Microsoft. I was thinking of putting "Microsoft Sucks!" or "My other computer is an Apple" But after much research for an easy way to convert such slogans to binary, I have settled for a random selection of ones and zeros and hope that if anyone sets about reading it, it doesn't say something like, "My foot wall chicken is." Anyway, here's a pic of the progress of said hat.

Other things I've been doing is enjoying my Christmas tree and seeking out fun decorations. Below is a pic of my tree as I spun my camera around while snapping it. I thought it looked pretty cool and tried moving my camera in different ways to get different light effects. Then, I was at St. Vincent de Paul's to seek out some fun Christmasy things and found these adorably ugly dolls. I'm thinking they're from the fifties or sixties. I totally love them, despite how hideous they are. I've always been against that super giant headed little children image, like precious moments. They always make me wonder if they got stung by a bee and they're having an allergic reaction... Hehehe... The last picture is of the snow falling in my front yard. There's an image just right of the tree that I'm not sure how it got there or even what it is. Might just be glare coming from the porchlight. Or it may be an angel. Who knows? But I like it.




One last note: My dear friend Ace stumbled across a terrific site called, Antiblog by fallingblox. The site takes knitting into geekdom and makes it even funner and cooler than it already is! His disclaimer and description of an antiblog is hilarious and worth the time to read. Double knitting is something I've always avoided because it involves a tremendous amount of thought. After seeing his Crow II scarf and Dragon Hat, I think I will have to try my hand at it.

Totaling the Turkey

Another super busy weekend that started with the joy of what my coworker calls, "Totaling the Turkey." Mary T. cooked and boy was it tasty! We had turkey, ham, three kinds of stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, stuffed celery sticks, and grandma rolls. Mmmmm.... Mary's mother brought some delicious jello molded goodness. And there was pumpkin pie, apple pie, and chocolate mousse pie. And real homemade whipped cream. Delicious. I took my knitting with me in hopes that I would get something done, but Mary's mom brought a Charles Wysocki puzzle and I spent the entire evening working on this 1000 piece insanity. But I finished it! YES!I also decorated my tree (which I bought on Wednesday) and decorated the rest of the house. This is a little tree I made after seeing a similar one at Starbucks.

I also put decorations up outside, which I had never done before. It was very fun, but very very cold. It's been regularly in the teens here and not getting up much past the mid-20s during the day. Brrrr....

Yesterday I did what I always avoid doing. I went shopping on Black Friday. Yes. What struck me was how totally dead it was. Fred Meyer wasn't crowded. Goodwill was a little on the crowded side, but not too bad. It was strange. Mary's husband was even sent home early from Costco because there weren't any customers! Anyway, I made a killing at Goodwill and bought some clothes, a pair of Doc Martens, Christmas ornaments, a purse, a necklace and pin, and some other decorations for less than $25. I was happy.

Also this weekend I finally made it to Moments to Remember and The Streets of Bethlehem. I have tried every year since I moved here to go and I always forget about it! LOL! Despite the super cold, I had a great and wonderful time. It started with the tree lighting at Safeway, where they were giving out free cider and cookies. Then the standing in line for the Streets of Bethlehem. This is a living nativity that takes place down one of the alleys downtown. Centurions guard the alley entrance and beyond is a host of angels singing. Gabriel stands on a tall podium and gives comfort to a frightened Mary. Then the three wise men tell of the star and how they have been following it for so long. Further on is a market with fish sellers and goats and rugs. An innkeeper turns away a weary Joseph, but offers him and his wife some shelter in his stable. More angels sing as the wise men finally find the end of their search in a manger. The baby Jesus is quiet and content to listen to the voices singing.