Knitting Thursday: Finished Purple Socks!

First up, an update on my February Lady sweater:


This is the front, or rather, what is left of the front. Last Thursday, I had to tear out about 4" of lace due to various mistakes. The heartbreak! I've had to take a short break from working on it - we were not on speaking terms. The yarn came out darker in this picture.


This is a more accurate representation of the yarn color.


This is the project I've been working on while the February Lady sweater and I were fighting. And as of tonight it's done! The first endless purple sock finally has a brother. These just need to be blocked and they'll be ready to wear.

Tuesday DJ: G-7, Indianapolis

Since abandoning the project in May, I have not made a single block on my Dear Jane. I'm going to try for one a week, because at least that's forward motion. So to launch back into it, I picked the one smack in the middle! This is G-7, Indianapolis.


There are 21 pieces in this block. I can't really do hand-applique anymore because of my tendonitis, so I turned the edges over on these quarter-circles and machine-appliqued them to the four white squares. I paper pieced the strips running through the middle, then squared up the whole she-bang and I was done! I'm thrilled to be back in the game.

For the perfectionists and Dear Jane purists among you, this block is not true to pattern. The small red rectangles outside the circle should have a curved edge, and I just straight pieced it. Why? Because that piece is about a 1/2" wide, and a wise woman named Brenda Papadakis said that FINISHED IS BETTER THAN PERFECT. So there.

Here's the tally:
31 blocks
2 triangles
0 kites
537 pieces

A Walk In The Woods

Today started out very foggy, but ended up a gorgeous day in the Great Northwest. Mid-50's, sunny, and crisp. I took a break from chores and craftiness to walk down to the water this afternoon. These pictures are not the greatest quality, but I took them with my phone.





I hope you all had a fantastic weekend and remembered to "fall back!"

Wicked Frickin' Martha: Halloween Edition

Hi guys! I'd wish you a Happy Halloween, but I wouldn't mean it, so let's not make a farce of this. The thing is, I really hate Halloween.

I'm too old to party like I did in my youth, I don't have kids to take trick-or-treating, and I live in a neighborhood populated entirely with scantily-clad, apparently motherless teenagers who have the audacity to try and score free candy from me. Between the fact that they are old enough to get jobs and BUY their own candy, and that they are so inappropriately dressed for both their age and the weather, the idea of rewarding these behaviors with candy makes me feel like my head will explode!

OK, tirade over. This post is supposed to be about the little in Halloween that I can appreciate - food & decorations!


My friends, Michelle & Erin, took me out for a belated birthday brunch last weekend, and we went to our local pottery painting place, The Painted Plate in Olympia, WA. They generously treated me to the cakestand I painted. If you can't tell, they're supposed to be Autumn leaves.


I had these miniature gourds arranged differently before, but I was excited to start using my cakestand as a centerpiece and transferred them. I love the dots at the base.


I also made some pumpkin-y goodies (to cheer me up while I'm hiding in the back bedroom with all the lights off so kids don't ring my doorbell). On the left are Pumpkin Spice muffins - just a small can of pumpkin and a spice cake mix. I got the wrong mix, so these are 4 points (Weight Watchers), but made correctly, this recipe is only 1 point each! On the right, mini pumpkin tarts! I couldn't find a small can of pumpkin, so I had to decide what to do with the rest of the giant one I bought, and these mini graham cracker crusts were just staring at me. I made some substitutions in the filling recipe and these only come out to 3 points! I can't wait to try one - I like my pie cold, so it'll be a little while.


And of course, I couldn't make a Halloween post without my resident spooky cat, The Pickle. He has been a snuggly one all week, but that's par for the course when Patrick is away.

This post has been very cheering to write. Maybe Halloween isn't that bad. So, I guess (if I must) Happy Halloween!

{Hiatus}

Between the new job and the fact that most of what's in my sewing room right now are Christmas presents for people who read this blog, I've been quiet for a little bit. That may or may not continue for a while.

The Endless Purple Sock

This sock took so long to knit that it's actually not done yet. I'm still knitting it in the present, but future me came back to show me pictures of encouragement.


Not that the slow progress is due to my feline helpers at all...


After all, they're yarn lovers themselves. They love the way it tastes.


Oh, this darn sock. I started it for a bit of no-brainer knitting in front of the television. And then there was laddering. And then there were dropped stitches. And then there was Magic Loop (which is a kind of knitting where you only use one big circular needle).


I'm told that my snail's pace at Magic Loop can be solved with practice. Which is good news, because I have another whole sock to make!

In other news, I started my new job last week and it rocks! Also, I finally, finally made it back to a quilt guild meeting tonight. I think it's been since around March or April! Tonight was show & tell, and I showed my finished Miniature Baltimore Album and my (laughably named) March Quilt. Now to get some more UFOs finished for next month!

KnitPicks Options Needles - Now With The Power To Heal The Lame

Today I got another birthday package in the mail, sent by my Mom. She got me Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac (yeah!), The Knitter's Book of Yarn (double yeah!), and KnitPicks Options needles (holy mother of gawd!)! When the package came, I had been reading on the couch while wearing my wrist brace.


And I am not kidding you in the slightest to say that this picture was taken 6 hours later. The discarded paper can be seen in the upper left corner; the discarded wrist brace in the lower right corner. I have not moved from the couch - my elation over these needles was such that I could not be parted from their company.


I put the 5's to work on this Loch Ness pattern out of the Amigurumi Knits book.


It doesn't look like much at this stage, but this is almost the entire top half!

Nessie! Exclamation Points!

P.S. For you worrywarts, my wrist no longer hurts, it is (like the rest of me) too filled with excitement!