Accidental Art

oh, oh, oh

So many things, so little time!!!!!  While working on my mystery shawl, I was thinking about what I could do at the shop that would be fun and on-going like they do with block of the month quilts.  (I did stay up and finish clue 1 for the mystery shawl-I put pearl beads in it.  However, I haven't touched it since I printed out clue 2 on Friday morning.)  I looked through all the patterns in the pattern book on the counter and found a pattern from Knitting at Knoon designs called "All Wrapped Up".  It reminded me of the scarf in Interweave Press's  Scarf Style, and on further reading of the pattern, credit is given to this scarf as inspiration.  Well, it also reminded me of a Maggie Jackson shawl that I started with a group several years ago, and so, I thought that might be a good thing to break down for a monthly do.

In the pattern it was worked in self striping yarns.  I don't have any.  What to do?  Limit my palette and break things up.

Well, after two days, I'm this far and having a blast!  But don't forget the lace scarf:

I inadvertently changed the pattern as I forgot a yok2tog row, so I'll just have to forget it in the same place after the second pattern repeat. 

At the same time, I keep obsessing about the lace shawl on Jane Sowerby that I saw at Market.  She said size 3 needles, 2 balls of Jojoland yarn and knit.  XRX couldn't help me with a proof of the pattern so I could get a good start on it before the Fall issue of Knitter's came out (Jane's gonna have a lace series starting in that issue), so I stared at the fashion shots in the back of the current issue of Knitter's, and I think I've got it figured out.  I feel good enough about it that I started it.  Okay, I didn't get very far cause that's when the second clue came in on the mystery shawl, and I started futzing with this black and red wrap. 

But I went to NQA and got a start on Halloween and have been working on tiny blocks for a Halloween quilted wall hanging.  (Cause I have nothing else to do.)  I have been making some  progress on it.

No, these are not tiny appliques, they are colored with Crayola Crayons, ironed and outline embroidered.  It's pattern #56 from www.Bareroots.com .  What a hoot!  And waiting in the wings is the Christmas Advent Calendar I got, too.

Lest we forget "Dear Jane"  I have included my progress in that area, also.  This first block is totally hand pieced.  I was very pleased with the results.  On this one I used bleached muslin.  Wanting to have a well rounded experience (and shaking in my flip flops when I saw the pieces in the second block I picked) I used foundation piecing for the very center of the next block, and will hand piece the rest of it. 

For this one I used cream colored Kona Cotton and still can't decide what background fabric I want.  "It's your quilt Linda, it's up to you."  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I think I've made too many decisions this past week.  Maybe it needs to stew a bit.  I'll let you know.  On one of the lovely 90+ degree days, I'm working on the heavy wool project. Go figure.  Stay tuned.

another week, another 2, 3, no, 4 new projects...

Humphrey the elephant is done and so cheerfully plopped atop the counter at Knitty Bitty. He is so very cleverly shaped.  I just wish I could have sewn him together a little better-but he kept squirming around.  I probably would, too, if someone was braiding my tail! 

I started a deep red sweater in Briggs and Little this week.  Have torn most of it out at least once for a variety of specific reasons, all bundled under:  "dumb as a stump".  Did I tell you I also signed up for the Mystery Stole 3 on yahoo groups?  Well, I did.  No, I didn't do the sample swatch.  Yes, the first clue came out today and I'm not ready.  No, I don't have my beads yet--in fact I haven't decided if I'm even putting beads in it or not.  Next clue comes out next Friday, and this first one has 99 rows.  Hummmmm.

Thanks to Jane at Always in Stitches, I've actually started my "Dear Jane" quilt.  If you must know, just google "Dear Jane Quilt"  and you'll see what an idiot I am.  Or maybe I'm just over-confident about my energy and time availability.  Or maybe I'm just nuts..........  The squares of "DJ" finish at 4 1/2 ".  Yes, that's four and a half inches.  Yes, there are over 160 of them and they are all different.  Then there is the pieced border.  Picture of my first block (maybe-I'm still deciding on my background fabric) is half way together.  I've got to press before I can go any further. 

And finally, a shot of the lace scarf I started out of Knitscene magazine.  It's got teardrop beads on both ends, and I'm using Jojoland lace wt yarn and it's variegated.  Now, when I started this, I quickly looked at the pattern and saw 35 rows.  Now, my brain said "that's do able" without thinking about how skinny that would be, compared to how wide the scarf in the picture looked.  Well, that was 35, then repeat 2-34 twice then work 2-30.  Just a little bit more knitting than I had counted on.  But the colors are pretty and I don't have much else on my place right now.  Stay tuned.........

left hand doesn't know....

Yes, it's a pink elephant, Julie.  I should read my own blog, cause it's for sure I rarely remember what I said 5 minutes ago, let alone a whole day.  Want to see more?  Good.

I've got a few more parts and pieces done, but he still  needs legs and a tail, and to have allll the parts sewn on.  It'll be interesting. It was a very nicely shaped body piece, though.  I was concerned that the stuffing would lump and glom together, but I bought Fairfield Poly fil, which is "guaranteed not to bunch"--okay, probably not guaranteed, but strongly stated.  So far, so good.  He feels nicely plump, but not lumpy.  Oh, yeah, he's laying sideways.  the little lump on the left is really his head.  Nothing legs, ears and a trunk wouldn't make perfectly clear!  Stay tuned.

return to sock photo

Okay, you have to understand that I just tried to edit a post and lost it.  No, i"m still kinda sane.  I mean I lost the post!!!  So here we go again.

I want you to take another look at the Fair Isle socks that I posted the other day.  My wonderful friend, Julie Quinlan, kindly offered to make these for the shop.  I was thrilled to death, because had I done them, no one would have been able to get them on their feet.  Julie, however, is the wunderkind of sock knitters.  I know, I know, they look big.  Now, take a good look at your calf.  Now, stop thinking of all those skinny looking pantyhose and trouser sock legs and really look at your calf.  These really fit and stay up all by themselves and are warm.  Kudos to Julie, and thanks again!

I have one other picture I'd like to share tonite.  Unless you already know what it is, I dare you to guess right!  I'll post an update next time.  Now it's off to sew.  I've decided that Sunday afternoon/evening and Monday when I'm off, are my sewing days.  Hopefully that will keep me from getting cranky about not getting anything else done but stuff for the shop.  Stay tuned.

Brainless but excited!

    Yes, I forgot to take my camera in today to take a picture of my felted bag.  So, I'll give you another shot of Cozumel.
     So, why am I excited?  Well, yestereday the Knitting at Knoon designs came in (check out their web site:  www.knittingatknoon.com ) Then today, the gorgeous and relatively reasonably priced shawl pins I ordered at market came in, and the Jojoland lace weight yarn came in and it's GORGEOUS!  There's a shawl pattern that's gonna be in the Fall issue of Knitter's magazine and it uses Jojoland lace weight and I can't WAIT!  I know it's an awful lot of yelling in a small post, but I'm so excited!!  I have to go knit a pink elephant, so, stay tuned....

samples at last!

Well, wasn't the way everything laid out yesterday just lovely?  I asked Jen about it and she said you have to spend time to get it all laid out the way you want.  What I WANT is to knit, so tonite you'll just have to make the connections yourself. 
  The gray cardigan and the rust shawl are both done out of Peace Fleece sport weight.  Warm and lightweight.  The shawl is the Truly Tasha shawl from the Wooly West web site and only took 3 skeins.  The cardigan fits me, is a comfortable 50ish " and took 5 skeins.  The kids cardigan with the multi-colored collar has Kool Aid dyed colors in the collar to cut down on expenses.  They turned out rather well, I thought. 
     I just love the peace fleece pot holders!  Double strand on size 10 needles with 25 ish stitches.  And when you wash the spaghetti sauce off, it just felts up a little firmer! 
    The baby blanket has a stockinette fair isle border, and it took a good steaming to lay flat, but I was very pleased with it.  Great story about great friends--Frances volunteered to knit the blanket for me from a kit.  I told her to use the gauge as stated and we'd see how well provided the kit was.  Well, with this yarn it can fudge up and down a little.  She got gauge and ran out of one of the colors of yarn before the end of the center square.  I was gonna just add to it, but then I wondered what it would look like just a bit tighter.  You guessed it.  I ripped out the whole thing and re-knit it. And had some of all the colors left over.   Now, I also got gauge.  No, I can't explain it, but there it is.  And Frances is still speaking to me!!  And helped me upload stuff to the computer!  A true friend indeed.
   But what have you done lately, Linda?  Well, I finished the little squatty felted bag on Interweave Press's Knitting Daily. (I'd stick in a connection, but I'm really bad at that and could do it, but like I said, I want to knit)  So go there and see it.  www.interweavepress.com   then go to Knitting Daily and check out the free patterns.
    And, I'm working on a lace shawl out of the Victorian Lace Today, and needed a second ball.  I knew I had one, but it was in a safe place.  After 2 days of looking, I FOUND IT!  Yippy Skippy!
    And I made the mistake of reading the Mason Dixon blog, and found a link for the mystery shawl 3 knit along.  I signed up.  One way or another I'm gonna get a shawl done this summer!
   I'll post a photo of my felted bag next time (I hope) and give you an update on what else I've started.

Stay tuned....

oh, my goodness!

Well, in the time since I last posted, I seriously injured 2, not 1, but 2, computers.  It wasn't my fault.  The worms crawled in and all around, my D drive stopped working and everything was horridly slow.  My wonderful nephew, Kevin, made it all better, but then I had to down load all the software for all the hardware I keep adding.  I think I'm good to go, but ya never know for sure. 
In any event, I went on vacation to Cozumel, and got the shop open.  First, Cozumel.  It was gorgeous.   But what they don't tell you before you get there is that Hurricane Wilma sat over the island for 3 days, 2 years ago, and they're still recovering.  Most of the downtown is okay, but parts of the island are just loaded with shells of what used to be stores and houses.  The ocean bottom is still covered with a lot of silt, too.  And what isn't ruined looks pretty desolate.  Would you believe 5 foot palm trees all over the place?
There were also some Mayan ruins.  We think.  Let me show you.
This picture in the shadows is supposed to be a really old ruin.  It's connected to the picture that looks really churchy.  Go figure.
All in all, we had a really lovely time, and are really grateful my daughter's in-laws invited us along. 
So,then it was back to reality.  Getting the shop open kept getting closer and closer.  And the need to wash and block the samples (what d'ya mean, finish the samples?) and get things uploaded to the shop computer and get all the merchandise priced.  Merchandise?  Oh, yea, almost forgot.  Before we could get open, we had to go to Market!! And we ordered things from Knitting at Knoon Designs, Shi Bui yarns, Jojoland yarn, and Briggs and Little.  Annnddd, we had to re sign up to add Knitters and Interweave Knits and Spin-off to the shop.  And just a couple of basic (and not so basic) books.  And Interweave Knits has a special felt magazine coming out this summer.  And I put a few of their new ones on order so I should get them as soon as they come out!!!
In case you haven't had a chance to get into the shop, I took some pictures (surprise). 
This is what Knitty Bitty looks like inside Always in Stitches:
I'm rather pleased.  And Mary, the owner of Always in Stitches, has been so gracious.  She keeps trying to come up with ways to make my sitting space more welcoming.  So, even if you were down early, it may look different when you come in again.  Tomorrow I'll bore you with pictures of the samples we have on display.  Stay tuned!

"long time gone.."

Yes, yes, it's been a while.  Starting a new business takes time.  And thanks to bureaucracy, it takes even more time (like you didn't know this!). And so the saga begins:

I wanted to pay for my name registration with the Sec. of State's office and my vendor's license with the county with company checks.  I went to the bank to deposit a check and open a business checking account.  "What is you tax ID number?" " I don't have it yet," she meekly said.  "Do  you have your registration with the Sec. of State?"  "Not yet," she answered, "because I wanted to pay the fees for both of them with a business check."  "Well, we can't open a business account until you have those things."   (Catch 22)
    So, I tried to do them on line to show what a modern business person I am, and to save time.  Yeah, right.  I couldn't figure out what to classify my business as on the vendors license form, because there are lots of specific retail options, but no yarn shop.  And I couldn't figure out what form I needed to register with the state because you have to know the number of the form you need, in order to pull it up.  So, I got on the phone with the Sec of State's office, and got that form in the mail  (no, I didn't pay an extra $100 to expedite it), and went downtown to get my vendor's license.  The guy at the counter was very helpful and nice, and we agreed we'd put down the number for a fabric/drygoods store. 
  I was anxious to start setting up accounts (for which you need a vendor's number---surprise), and I made a few calls and sent many emails, just for the heck of it, I went on line to see if my name registration went through(hot da..! it did!), went to the bank, opened up the checking account, couldn't order checks yet, cause I needed my new call phone number (they were out of the free phone, so am going today, as they came in), placed an order for organic cotton and patterns, started a size 4 kids sweater sample, just have to sew the sleeves and side and arm seams on a dk weight cardigan and it's done, took a kimono sewing class last nite (1 of 2) and here I am after getting stuck in horrible hail storm last night driving home.  Phew!
   The kimono class.  The class is great.  We're making an unlined jacket out of fat quarters, and it's really cool.  Unfortunately, I'm not.  We needed 8-10 fat quarters.  I bought 8.  I don't need the little size, I need a bigger size, and if little people need 6 fat quarters, I should have 10.  So, the next time I went to the quilt store, I was gonna pick up a couple more, but alas, the fat quarters that I'd already bought that I thought were in the car, were, in fact, on a dining room chair.  So, 3 days later I'm driving back to the quilt store with the fat quarters, to see what fabric will go with them.  I get a couple more, and my mouth is working, and my mind isn't, and I get home to wash the fabric for the class the next night, and .....I'd left the original 8 quarters at the quilt shop!  Typical.  So yesterday morning I drive BACK to the quilt store, pick up the fabric, and come home and wash my fabric.  My lovely friend, Frances is with me, she's pressing her fabric (cause she's taking the class, too),and she offers to press mine while I pack up my machine.  A little bit later I'm looking at the fabric and one seems to be missing.  I go upstairs and, yes, it's still in the washer.  Okay, so I dried it, got it pressed, packed a small bag with all the essential sewing equipment I need.  We get to the class, and yes, you guessed it, the bag with all the essential sewing equipment is sitting on the sewing machine table.
   One of these days I'll get a brain.  Can't be soon enough.
   Well, I've bored you long enough.  Should have a picture of the cardigan any day now, and a progress picture on a couple of shawls.  Stay tuned.
linda

busy, busy, busy

I shop.  Thanks to my daughter, I now shop on "etsy".  It's a wonderful shopping place for all kinds of handmade stuff by artists.  And there's something for everyone.  Check it out here :  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=93256&order=&section_id=&page=2   I got the pug markers, cause I am a pug grammy.  They are so cute, and petite.  My concern was that they might be too big, but they're PERFECT! 
Then, I shopped to try out the new Addi lace needles.  They're brass with a red cord, great tips:  and a terrific connector.  When you first get them, there feels like there's a funky finish on them, and it does grab the yarn and there's no slide off, but after a while, you either forget about it or it wears off, but the yarn doesn't slip off like on their turbos.  I like 'em fine!  And yes, that's the Swallow Tail shawl from Interweave Knits Fall '06 on the needles.  I know, it's hard to tell what it really is, but that's lace before ya block it! 
I haven't just been playing with lace.  I swatched some organic cotton   and just loved it, and I've been working on a Peace Fleece sport weight cardigan  and actually making loads of progress.  I've started the second front, and feel like I can see daylight.  Nothing fancy, but then I don't usually wear a lot of fancy.  Then, my thoughts turned to thoughts of spring.  If you didn't know it, I am a BAG SLUT.  Yes, if there's a purse out there and it costs under $400, I've probably looked at it.  I'm in constant search of the perfect purse and wallet.  I found a purse I like a good deal at The Container Store, of all places.  It has lots of pockets (a must) and it STAYS ON MY SHOULDER, yes, my rounded shoulder, and that's VERY good.  It's also very black.  Not springy at all.  So, I decided to get creative, changed a few pockets, changed the handles, and VOILA , a lovely Spring purse.  I know, I know, it's kind of sweet for me.  It's what I had in my stash.  I'm on the lookout for a really cool pillow ticking type fabric in a good color, and I'll probably have one more go at it.  I want to live with this one for a bit to see if there are any other changes I want to make.  I also want to get some  Scotchguard  to spray on it cause I'm not the cleanest purse user in town. 
So, that's what I've been up to.  We go see the accountant this afternoon, and I have a goodly number of questions, so I better write them down, cause my mind is like a good steel sieve. 
later.

teasing

Okay, so somehow I got a knitting category today.  Go figure.  It was nothing I did, I assure you. 
I promised you some pictures.  Bear in mind I don't have the most up to date digital camera, and trying to view these through the large viewer window  outside was next to impossible, and the view finder-well, let's just say we have issues.  But I needed to do it so you could see all the pretty little colors in the yarn.  Be sure you blow these pictures up so they show up!

AND the Addi lace needles I ordered so I could try them out came today.  Yippee skippee.  Tonight's gonna be fun.  And just so ya know that I really did enjoy the weather yesterday: