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!

Finished Skirt, An Aging Shnoodle, and Cats at Peace

Yesterday I turned 29. Patrick took me out to a lovely dinner in Olympia, where we had some killer Thai food.


Also, this is the skirt I made! I wore it out to dinner - excuse my goofy squint-eye. It fits well and I'm looking forward to making more. Patrick also made me a delicious birthday cake and sat through the worst pirate movie ever made - Cutthroat Island - just to humor me on Talk Like A Pirate Day. What a guy!


It was quite the respectable haul this year! I got two knitting books I'd been hankering after, some excellent DVDs (if you haven't heard of The IT Crowd, I highly recommend it!), and some other exciting gifts. My in-laws sent me a plethora of gift cards, and I'm looking forward to doing some shopping.


In other news, the cats are starting to get along better. This was taken Sunday, and since then Maggie's collar has come off. Her leg is looking much less disgusting, and no one has chased anyone else through the house making devil noises. Peace at last!

This Post Brought To You By The Dulcet Tones of Aimee Mann

No sleep. One cat yowling from his (perceived unjust) confinement. One cat clumsily scraping into everything, robbed of her depth perception and frantic for contact. Long night.


No sleep for me that is. After a long night and eight hours of her own confinement, Maggie could be found in blissful repose on my March quilt. Poor thing is having a very hard time getting comfortable with that foolish thing on her head, so I didn't have the heart to move her. The Pickle might be taking a field trip this weekend. A couple of days without anyone locked up should help our collective peace of mind immensely.


Oh, and quilts. I finished the remaining leaves and strew them about the vine border (strew is SO a word, I looked it up). A little applique glue, and Bob's your uncle, this baby's ready to go through the machine. I won't be doing any of this by hand because of my thumb issues. Still, that is a ton of sewing to do, even by machine.

Hey - I have one leaf left - where should I put it?

The Winter of Maggie's Discontent

Today was a bad day.


It started last night, when I noticed that in the last 24 hours, Maggie had licked a hole the size of a quarter through the fur in her right front leg. This morning I called the vet, who later injected her with antibiotics and gave her this stylish lampshade to wear for the next week.

In addition, she has surmised that this obsessive over-grooming is stress-related, most likely due to the fact that Maggie has been getting the snot kicked out of her by one over-rowdy The Pickle. As a result, he has been confined to a bedroom without the company of his favorite punching bag.


So for those of you who were wondering, this is what my stress-related obsessions look like. Patrick is still gone, and it is no picnic wrangling one cat into a bedroom against his will and wrangling another cat into a "buster collar" that needs to be tied in a knot to close. Tough to do with one hand. Cranky Lindsay ensues. Nancy Pearl had to come and show you the lovely pile of leaves I've been working on. She says, "Shhh." Thank you, Ms. Pearl, I find that very soothing.


I don't know if you noticed, but the knot I tied in Maggie's collar ends in a bow, which gravity and wiggly feline have maneuvered to the front. She looks like a prairie settler! There's my silver lining...

My Flowers Are A-Bloomin'!

So let me just remark on how disturbingly fast two days worth of work gets distributed over the border of a quilt!


Also, I need way more leaves. I'm also thinking of at least one more set of circles - down at the bottom by the orange tulip. I am in need of suggestions - hit me in the comments, Invisible Quilters!

Applique Progress, Et Cetera

I've been working more on my Charm Star applique today.


Here is a sum total of additions - some of the four-petal blossoms, all the circles, the white flowers, and that teetering stack of leaves.


Yes, it's been slow-going, but I'm amassing a large stack of leaves. These aren't even all of them; I've still got more waiting to be turned under on the ironing board. So - today yielded a bunch of prepared applique and...some shopping.

I have been looking for a clock for my sewing room for a while. I had a piddly alarm clock in there, but it takes up an outlet and has an ugly red display. I wanted something that would work well with the colors of the room, but still reflect a certain me-ness.


And oh my god, is this ever it. My BS in Computer Science was riddled with math, and I was very surprised to learn that I'm good at it! I failed geometry in high school, for heaven's sake. Sharon of Indigo Threads posted about the Geek Gear Etsy store, and I snapped this Math Equation Clock up, although I would have considered the Binary Number Clock if it weren't red.

**Edited to add: Sweet dancing Jehovah, I almost forgot that next Saturday is International Talk Like A Pirate Day! It is the day before my birthday every year, and the lust for presents frequently blots it from my mind. But oh, how I love to talk like a pirate. Plans to celebrate appropriately are now unfolding...**

Moral of the story: I love Etsy! And Pirates! And leaves!

Applique Prep - Charm Star

Today I started in on my next UFO - the Charm Star quilt - last touched in December of last year! The center is a Lone Star pattern with no fabric repeated; hence it is a Charm Star.


I put a vine around the border with the intent of adding applique, and that's what I started work on today.


These patterns are traced from Quilts in Bloom, an inspiring book given to me by my mother-in-law. I'll trace out more eventually, but this was a good first batch to work with.


Next I sorted scraps to use as leaves and flowers. This adds to the scrappy aesthetic of the quilt and busts some of my massive scrap stash to boot. The Pickle came to investigate, naturally. He can smell productivity anywhere in the house, and immediately rushes to participate. Unfortunately, he is usually more of a hindrance. I can't tell you how many times Patrick or I have been doing homework and had The Pickle lay down across our books. In this photo it is important to note that the remaining half of the seat is what has been left for my use; he didn't get up once I'd sat down.


And this is the sum total of my efforts for the day. The four-petal blossoms and the thistle-like flowers eventually became fusible applique instead of freezer paper applique because of the narrow void between their petals. Still, everything else is turned, starched and prepped for addition to the quilt. More tomorrow, I hope.

One More UFO - Count It!

I set out this Labor Day Weekend with the ardent goal of getting a few more projects socked away.


Well, we had such gorgeous weather that it was pretty difficult to keep my focus!


Luckily, I had a little help from my fourt-footed friends. I was kept under constant furry surveillance, monitored for signs of wavering from my goal (and they weren't always this subtle).


But it's done! Six months after the fact, the March quilt has crossed the finish line. It's quilted and bound, but no label as of yet.


From the back you can clearly see my the quilting. Unfortunately also evident in this photo is the bearding problem I'm having with the batting. It's Kyoto Bamboo, and while it was very easy to baste and quilt, it's pilling through the fabric more than I'd like.


In other news, I took advantage of JoAnn's holiday sale to pick up a couple skirt patterns and some fabric. Above is the silk paisley stripe I'm working with at the moment, on View B of Simplicity's New Look 6300 pattern. I also bought 4881 with the intent to sew View C.

This Long Weekend Is Shaping Up Nicely...

What a perfect day.

I slept in, had two eggs fried to perfection and an extra cup of coffee, and looked forward to a whole day to quilt and knit and cook. The weather was ideal September - overcast with occasional rain squalls.


I've been working on my March quilt. I started this back in it's eponymous month with the goal of having it done by the show & tell in April, but I was struck down with De Quervain's Tenosynovitis. It took me months to get out of that wrist brace, and I'm still using the therapeutic putty to strengthen my hand. Anywho, this was the next UFO on my list.


I'm doing echo and in the ditch quilting for the blocks, and a simple motif in the sashing. I puttered through the quilting all day, watching Mrs. Henderson Presents, Yes Man, and of course the ever-present Venture Bros., and taking occasional breaks to knit.

My knitting project requires a little bit of defense. I'm claiming it as an exception in the goal to not start any new project, only finish UFOs. Technically, it's an addendum project - a cabled hat to go with my Irish Hiking Scarf. I had quite a bit of the leftover yarn - it's just Red Heart, but I hate to waste it. I'm using a free pattern off Head Huggers, and I'm thinking about incorporating some colorwork. No pictures yet, but this lovely long weekend is young!

Another Finish!

And the crowd goes wiiiiiiiild!


I have finished my Irish Hiking Scarf! A day and a half of bedrest was all it took, and it's done just in time to participate in my Autumn wardrobe.

My back is also much better. On my mother's suggestion, I switched from Ibuprofen to Aleve. I also went and got that massage I had needed so badly, so here's hoping I'm truly on the mend.

Will You Be My Online Guild Meeting?

Hi guys! I was supposed to go to my quilt guild meeting tonight and show off my recent UFO finish, but yesterday I tweaked a muscle in my lower back, so I'm doing tonight's Show & Tell from home:


For those of you following along, I started this bad boy back in '04, which it makes it much older than my house, and even predates my marriage. I'm still not thrilled with it, but I'm really glad it's finished.


This is what I'm working on whilst flat on my back - I started this scarf in April 2008 as a way to learn cables. After a brief oversight, it's being added to my UFO list on the right. But the Baltimore Album is gone!