hand eye crafts

If you've ever been to a Stitches event, you know how much fun it is, and also, how much walking you have to do.  Therefore, come prepared: That would be yours truly on the left, Mooflower on the left.  In the Market on Day One.  The last time we saw each other was also in Atlanta, about four years ago.  She is truly awesome, and it was great to see her again.  And to meet her friend, Jane. Day One shopping filled one of my Chico bags .  I'd written down amounts of yarn I needed for specific projects, and stuck to buying those.  For the most part. How cute is that little guy?  Shame I can't crochet --- Briton's girlfriend loves otters. Treated myself to room service the first night, having taken a long nap that afternoon and missed dinnertime. Fruit and cheese basket.  Followed the next morning by my standard hotel/room service Eggs Benedict breakfast.  With tiny bottles of Tabasco again. Bought fewer things on Day ...

This is my second trip to Stitches South;  Hannah and I came a couple of years ago.  The hotel has redecorated its rooms, going from warm woods with real character to black and white modular which is plain tacky. The market, which is all I came for, remains the same.  Lots of women wearing lots of handknits.  Mostly shawls.  Don't know how many were wearing handmade socks, but shawls have definitely been the project of choice for, I'd say, 85% of the attendees. Met up with friend Mooflower  once I arrived.  She and her friend Jane have been delightful company these couple of days, despite our difference in style: The market did have a surprise or two: This booth was empty yesterday, but there were men sitting and knitting today.   There was also a handsome man in a kilt strolling around.  Wanted to take a picture of him, but that would have been just creepy. Got my standard room service breakfast this morning: Lov...

Following the lead of my twinster  and knitting a Color Affection shawl.  I'm always late to the game on stuff like this Hot-Pattern-of-the-Moment.  But elann.com  is selling yarn packs for Color Affection, and I thought I'd dive in.  I went with Night Flower , if you're interested. Heading off to Stitches South tomorrow.  Can't leave until after 4, which will most likely put me 1) in Atlanta 5 o'clock traffic and 2) driving into some strong thunderstorms.  But once I'm there, I'm there, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday stretch out before me. It's possible I won't spend that much time at the actual Stitches events.  I couldn't sign up for any classes --- too expensive.  So the only place for me to go, really, is the marketplace.  Not that I'm complaining. Hopefully, these few days away will help me mentally.  My therapist called my trip to Folly Beach last year (last YEAR?) "as good as ElectroShock."  I am in desperate...

By my fingernails.  Which are slowly breaking, one by one. Making this: out of this:

Riley is now at our vet, and will be until at least Friday.  She is showing signs of improvement: she's noticeably less jaundiced, has gained a couple of ounces, has less bilirubin in her urine.  They're still having to feed her with a syringe, but that is SO much better than a feeding tube.  We miss her, but would prefer she stay with them until she is completely stable. In addition to calling off all my travel plans for the rest of the year, I've also cancelled acupuncture for the time being.  I wasn't having the best luck with it anyway, but that's another weekly cost that     would have eaten away at the money I have. And I'm still looking high and low for a job.  Without any luck.  Wonder if I qualify for unemployment again? Just bought this bead from my friend Shannon.  Not so clear in the photo, but the "sky" is swirly purple, like a storm.  Just gorgeous, and so me.  The plan is to make it into a pendant. ...

Finn has the oddest habit of grabbing shoes when someone comes in the house.  Not when someone is leaving , and needs to put shoes on , but when they're coming in. When you adopt a rescued pet, you wonder (or at least I do) what kind of life they had before.  Finn was definitely trained to "stand up" and have his leash put on.  I wonder if this shoe thing was part of his training, too. Sort of a quiet weekend.  Hannah worked both days.  I got a good amount of knitting done.  Briton  came over last night to watch "The Walking Dead."  Obligatory Daryl photo now: I spent a whole lot of time looking up and printing out patterns.  I've got a sock and a scarf on the needles right now: the scarf courtesy of Roxanne .  A while back, she sent me two skeins of Chunky Mochi  (color 817), and one of the patterns I came across was a scarf pattern calling for --- you guessed it --- two skeins of Chunky Mochi. Got a follow-up appo...

Going to an acupuncturist in the morning.  (Why isn't that spelled "ac c upuncture"?  Seems more acc urate.)  Decided to try some other possible remedies for my anxiety/stress/depression and  my headaches.  I've no fear of needles, so that isn't a problem.  I do  wonder, though, what the feeling will be like as the energy begins to move around.  There's a whole lot of bad stuff stored up in this body, and I just wonder what it's going to feel like when someone tries to take it out. I just have to do something.  Spinning in place has gotten old.  And Briton is convinced I'm suicidal again.  All I want to do is stay in bed and sleep, which has always been, as I'm sure I've said dozens of times here already, my Worrisome Sign. So, we'll give that a whirl tomorrow.  'Til then, Rifftrax and Noro silk:

My arm muscle, whichever it is, is damn serious about keeping me from knitting.  At knitting group last night, I got about 12 rows done before having to stop.  And the pain has continued through today. This is not going to end well.  I'll either lose my sanity from lack of having something to do, or my arm will be shot from overuse.   Hey, maybe they can come up with some sort of radical new surgery to deal with knitting-related injuries.  I could be the Tommy John of the fiber world!

My self-promise to take myself on a trip each month has begun a scant 20 minutes from Athens, at a Bed and Breakfast. Only for two nights, but away, and comfortable, and, perhaps most indulgently: a noise machine that can make it sound like I'm by the ocean.  ABSOLUTE HEAVEN. This is the room I'm in: However, I'm the only guest in the house, so I've wandered around and looked at all the rooms.  Already picked out the one I want when/if I come back. The bed is so, so comfortable --- I've knit in the parlor and read on one of the porches --- I've taken as much advantage of being alone while meeting my three goals: napping, knitting, reading.  It's been a good couple of days.

I never, ever buy the yarn that a pattern I like is made in.  It's usually too expensive, and there is already so much yarn in this house, odds are there will be something  that can be used to make just as lovely a garment. Seldom, though, do I ever have precise matches.  The pattern I like calls for more yarn than what I have on hand. or the pattern calls for considerably less, which leads to the problem of leftovers and what to do with them. A couple of days ago, I found Perfection.  Pattern I love, yarn I'd just bought with exactly the amount needed for the project.  I foresaw a garment in a new color, easily knit and put together, and I cast on with a smile.  A fancy rib back, just a rectangle, and two sleeves that are variations on feather-and-fan.  Couldn't be simpler. I have started that freakin' back THREE times.  And have always messed up the stitch count.  So I decided to try a sleeve first.   Yeah. So ...

. . .  Every Bag I Saw at TJMaxx That Would Have Made a Great Knitting Bag: Why were you all $129.99?  I mean, every single one  of you. . . . Little Knits :  Even though I don't have a cool new bag to put any of it in, thank you for all the great yarn in my latest shipment.  I'm already working with the organic wool: . . . Stitches South , I made my reservation for you today.  My plan for this year is to take myself on a little "vacation" each month.  Stitches fits that bill for April.  AND I get to see some friends! . . .   Hugh Laurie, I still love you.  This was a wonderful book, and it looks like you've helped make it a wonderful movie. . . .  Girls who were in Barnes and Noble studying for a French test: the terms are not "bone-a-partay" and "coop duh tatt."  Neither of you, I suspect, has a prayer on the exam.  And I would love to know who asked whom to help her study.

The stomach crud will not let me go yet.  If I'm on Briton's timetable, tomorrow should be a much better day. When I can stay awake long enough, and sit upright long enough, I'm knitting with some great yarn I bought at knit in Charleston.  It's thick-and-thin, which is a huge favorite, and a bamboo/wool/acrylic blend that has a delightful hand.  It's called "Bamboo Bloom Handpaints" from Universal Yarn.  I'm using Reflecting Pool.

New favorite book.   Wish I weren't working on two things already. A couple more Christmas pictures: The traditional top-of-the-stairs-before-opening-presents photo. Hannah wasn't having any luck explaining Christmas to Klunk, so she turned the job over to the big brothers.  (Note Klunk's Fair Isle turtleneck.) GET IT? Finn's favorite toy.  He has scarcely let go of it, save for an adventure or two with the "baked potato" on the left.

Yes, casting on before Christmas.  Actually, none of my gifts this year were handmade.  Mostly because most of my gifts were bought for Briton and Hannah, and they look on handknits the same way most people look on a beautifully wrapped boxed that turns out to contain underwear. I am using knits in my 26 Acts  campaign.  So far, I've been leaving things on people's cars in parking lots, so that it will be both a true surprise and a real mystery.  I haven't made an etsy sale this year, so I've got plenty of items from which to choose.  The other day, when I had my car serviced, I left a cat I had made in the children's waiting room, with a note attached that said he could be taken home. It's a cold, rainy Christmas Eve here, which makes huddling up inside with some knitting and "Mystery Science Theater 3000" just perfect.  Hannah is working today --- when she's done, we're going to IHOP to eat, then our annual visit to a live Nativity...

So, Ann Curry began a "movement" on twitter: 26 Acts , where you are encouraged to do 26 random acts of kindness in honor of the 26 victims of the Newtown murders.  I got to it sort of late, but am really enjoying coming up with ways to randomly surprise people.  And I'm going to try to get to 27, as the shooter's mother was as much a victim as anyone at the school. Things are proceeding well here for Christmas.  For as long as I can remember, I've liked to wrap one present a day leading up to Christmas.  It extends the spirit, and it's fun to watch the stack of gifts grow every day. Hannah's new kitten is doing well.  He was "in quarantine" for a week, so yesterday was the first day he was allowed to walk around in the house.  He's very interested in Riley (the feeling isn't mutual), and is of great interest to Finn.  Unfortunately, it's hard to get a clear picture of the little guy --- he's surprisingly fleet afoot.  So her...

Current project: in terrific green tweed Nashua Isabella yarn: while watching "Rifftrax Life: 'Reefer Madness'." Ongoing project: My babies.

One of the members of my knitting group has offered to teach me to crochet.  Specifically, to crochet Granny Squares, as I'd like to make an afghan that is one huge square.  But then, today on facebook, one of my friends posted this photo: Isn't that pretty?  If I get the hang of the Granny Square thing, I just may have to make one of these, too. The group met last night, and I passed out donated worsted to everyone, asking them to make 6" squares that we could put together for an afghan or lap blanket.  And it was decided that, at our next meeting, everyone will cast on socks.  I was flabbergasted to find out that hardly any of them have ever made socks before.  My experience with knitters has always been that socks are a regular go-to project.  Everyone but me will be knitting them in the round, unless I brush the rust off my two circulars skills. The people are at Mama and Daddy's house, preparing for the estate sale.  It still loo...

Several weeks ago, I ordered some of Kollage Yarn 's square knitting needles.  I've used them a couple of times since getting them, and there truly is  a difference in how my hands feel (as advertised.)  Never good with physics, or kinesiology,  the explanation for that eludes me, but it is true nonetheless.  When I can, I plan on getting some Cubics to see how they handle. Yesterday, and so far today, lots of my time is being spent on Patternfish .  As if I need more patterns.  With all the free ones available, no one should ever have to pay for a pattern.  But there are a couple there that I just might have to give in to.  Like this one: Now, I am nowhere near  as top heavy as our model here;  hope that won't be a problem. There are tons of gorgeous, intricate lace shawl patterns on the site.  For some reason, I've never been inclined to knit lace.  Don't know why, exactly, unless it's that most lace patterns ar...

Upon completing Until Tuesday  this morning, I am now exactly halfway through my Authors' Alphabet. The book was touching and funny, as expected, but also rankling, as the author described the treatment of troops by the Bush White House both during and after their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.   My next book may be a sort of cheat, as there are two authors.  But, the lead writer's last name begins with "N," so I'm forging ahead with Abraham Lincoln: The Observations of John Nicolay and John Hay. Knitting continues apace.  The third Wingspan was much, much shorter than I wanted, and anticipated: It is also decidedly none  of the colors shown in this photo, save the gold.  It is a deep, rich plum and a velvety maroon and an emerald green.  So much for natural light. . .  Also made this top-down shrug out of some pale pink tweed worsted: Too small for me, I'm afraid.  Suppose it will go up on etsy. Still awfully, ...

Fewer and fewer gardenias now --- they're getting scorched in the heat. Speaking of which --- over  100 degrees here the next several days, and Briton has no air conditioning in his apartment, and the upstairs unit here has stopped blowing cold air.  Doubt there's any chance of getting a technician out here tomorrow --- I would imagine they're slammed right now.  Hannah may have to move herself downstairs for a while. Last Friday, she and I went to The Mall of Georgia, and I bought myself something I've been wanting for years --- cowboy rainboots.  Found them on deep clearance at Charming Charlie .  So blasted happy with them! The picture of me knitting in public was taken at MoG, as I rested while Hannah shopped and shopped. I've finished the Wingspan since: Love, love this pattern!