boogaj

My lame pincushion. . .

I finished my pincushion in the nick of time!  Acutally it was done on Sunday night and I just procrastinated taking the photo.  I ran into a snag -- thank you again Martha Stewart.  I used her online pattern and she says that you can get emery powder to go inside the pincushion at a hardware store.  Well, let me tell you -- I searched for the stuff!  I even had a run in with a sexist "helpful hardware man" at the local Ace who wanted to know if I was looking for it for my husbands "power tool" -- sheesh!  So my strawberry is filled with some sort of polyester fiberfill and that's just fine with me.

I've been working hard for a good portion of the day getting the gallery up -- Wow!  There were more participants than I thought there would be!  How cool is that?  I'll put up the gallery and reveal June's theme tomorrow over at the Pincushion Challenge website, so I hope you'll all stop by and have a look!

*** Update ***

I'm really not looking for compliments on my pincushion -- honest!  You can't tell from the photo, but the green felt on the top is terribly off center.  I just photographed it from it's "good" side.  It's my first attempt and I'm happy enough with how it turned out though.  And hey, tomorrow another challenge starts so I have another chance, right?

Wild Weekend (includes time spent in the ER)

Where do I start?  On Saturday I suppose, since that's where the weekend began.  My wrist was sore, so I did my podcast on Japanese craft books (this plays a part later surprisingly) and then tried to do some crafting anyway.  I started my quilt and nearly completed my backtack project.  That's a sneak peek up above.  Meanwhile, chef Pete when shopping and fixed a mixed veggie grill for dinner. 

Sunday I was kind of miserable because my wrist was really sore and I couldn't do any crafting.  Here I was hoping for a super crafty weekend too!  So Pete, having listened to my podcast (ah!  It all comes together. . .) suggested that we go out to Mitsuwa so I could check out the Japanese craft books and we could do a little shopping and eating. 

All was well, but on the way home Pete suddenly didn't feel well -- at all.  He was driving and I told him to pull off into the nearest parking lot.  There happened to be a Starbucks there and he ran in while I got Maddie out of the car.  I guess he nearly passed out and fell face first into a shelving unit at the back of the store, slicing open his chin.  But he has a *much* better story explaining how it happened (he's a writer, after all  :)

We drove all the way back to Joliet, went to the hospital, and a few hours later he was all stitched up and we were very tired and ready to go home. 

Needless to say, Monday was low-key.  It actually stormed here throughout the day and we just lazed around.  I actually finished my pincushion for the Pincushion Challenge!  Have you?  Remember to email me your pictures to the pincushion challenge email address by tomorrow!

Japanese Craft Book Podcast!

Episode 5 of Stitch-Cast is up! It's a short one this week. I just talk a little bit about Japanese craft books. (Now I really want to go to Mitsuwa today!)

I started reading. . .

Plainsong by Kent Haruf and it is beautiful in its simplicity of language.  I really could have stayed up all night reading it.  Pete wanted to sleep and I was quoting lines to him trying to show him how beautiful it was.  Really, you must go get a copy of this book and start reading it.  I don't even know exactly what the story will end up being like or what the ending will be.  Maybe the message will be awful (I doubt it), but it doesn't even matter because the writing is just lovely and a joy to read. 

Ah. . . I love a good book.

And I have recently finished two more good books which I have failed to write about.  One I finished only 2 days ago, so I'll start with that one:

Hearing that it was finally out in paperback (from Pete, who always knows these types of things), I had to pick up a copy of A Long Way Down -- the latest book by Nick Hornby.  Hornby is one of my favorites, nearly a sure thing.  If you haven't read something by him, you've probably seen a movie based on one of his books -- High Fidelity, About a Boy and Fever Pitch (Okay -- this was "based" on his book about soccer and the movie was a comedy about baseball -- I don't get that, but there's Hollywood for you.)

So back to my point. . . I was pretty sure I would like this book and I did.  It's about 4 people who meet when they go up on a roof to jump off and kill themselves, but surprisingly it's not depressing.  I'm not going to say that you'll come away with any deep insights, although you might (Maureen's story seems to have something in common with the theme of Waiting by Ha Jin.  A book I loved and reviewed a while back.)

So, I would declare this a good summer read!  Pack it in your beach bag or throw it in your travel case.

Right before that I read:

Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson was a strange an interesting read.  It's about a homeless girl living in the forest who starts having visions of Mary.  It was a good book and kept my interest and I liked his style well enough that I'll definitely be on the look out for Snow Falling on Cedars which I've actually been wanting to read for a while now and which I understand is even better than this book. 

Well, I think that catches up my reading list.  I got a bit lazy there in doing book updates.  I have to remember to do this because otherwise I forget and end up checking books out form the library that I've already read!  (I've tried a written book journal, but they last for 2-3 books and then I forget to update them.  I have no idea why, but this seems to work for me so for now I'll keep doing it!)

Back-tack 3 package arrives!

My back-tack 3 package arrived all the way from Belgium!  My wonderful partner was Didine (aka Sandrine) of Le Grenier de Didine and she did an amazing job making my softie!  Not only did she make me the most wonderful wee bunny, but she also made a matching bag and included some lovely notecards!  Thanks, Didine!! 

Now I had better get to work on my package, don't you think?

Pete gets a flat

Want to hear what Pete sounds like? All is revealed on today's Quirky Nomads. (I think you'll like the tale he tells -- he's a writer. Really, he's much better than me at this stuff.)

Sunday Afternoon

Before:

After:

Not only did the windowboxes get filled, the front planters got planted:

Want to know my secret for getting beautiful full planters like that?  Buy a pre-made hanging basket.  Pop it out of the plastic container and into your planter, fill in around the edges with potting soil and you're all done!  Super quick and you end up paying about the same once you add up everything you would have bought individually.

I'm trying something new this year too.  A vegetable garden!  In a size that won't freak me out:

We bought two big pots and I planted two tomato plants and two basil plants in each.  I am trying two different locations to see which does better.  We have lots of trees, which means lots of shade, so I'm not sure how this will go, but I thought it would be fun to try.

Now I'm all worn out!  Time to go lie around on the couch and eat some of that homemade peanut butter ice cream I made last night!  Yummy!  (I used the recipe from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book and it was a winner!  I bought a copy of this in a used bookstore ages ago and use it every summer -- one of the most used cookbooks I own.)

Progress on the goals!

Well, it's been 3 days and I've made some progress on the goals.  As you can see I finished up the Entrelac bag -- my next Black Sheep Bags pattern and the first one to be released since last summer!  Hard to believe, but time flies!  And while I did finish the knitting on the bag and I even did the next to last draft of the pattern (yeah!), I didn't finish this. . .

The pesky handle!  So until I finish that, I can't felt it.  And until it's felted and all goes as planned, I can't declare it a success.  Fingers crossed!

I also tidied up the office a bit.  The top of the desk, some of the bulging files in the bottom drawer and I even cleared off the top of the armoire behind the desk.  The office still needs quite a bit of work though.  Small steps.

Several hours were put into the Knitting Blogs Web Ring too.  I added 30 sites and did some massive maintenance on the existing ring  (over 900 sites!)  which took a good part of one day.  Glad to have that behind me.  Whew!

Oh!  I also purchased my back-tack fabric and washed it.  And I washed all my quilt fabric -- SIX loads!  Up and down two long flights of stairs *many* times.  I was sore the next day, believe it or not.  None of it is ironed, but I figure I'll iron as I go.

So, not bad for three days.  And now I have the weekend ahead of me!  Maybe I can finally get that quilt binding sewn down. . .

Pincushion Challenge #1 Ends Soon!

The first Pincushion Challenge in ending in less than two weeks!  Have you finished you pincushion yet?  I know I haven't, but I have big plans I tell ya! 

I've already received more than a dozen entries -- yeah!!  I'll be putting up the gallery at the end of the month, but if you need a sneak peek you can find one here and here and here.  (That's all for now, I don't want to spoil all the surprises!)

So grab a needle or some wool and whatever else you have laying around and see what you can come up with!  It can be as simple or as elaborate as you like.  And remember!  The theme this month is. . .

I'm on Quirky Nomads!

Okay, I really love Quirky Nomads and listen pretty much every day if I can. But the questions? Well, I didn't really think I would ever have anything that was interesting to say in response to any of the questions. Then she asked. . . "Tell us about a job you’ve loved, a job you hated, a job where something strange happened. You could have been babysitting at fifteen, or running a multinational corporation. As long as it was a job, it counts." And I instantly picked up the mic and started talking.

Want to hear what I had to say? Pop on over to QN and give it a listen!

Booga Bag Day

So yesterday I didn't do very well on my goal list but I got *a lot* done!  One of my stops was this little quilt shop I just discovered.  I had to pick up this:

Yes, I'm starting to stash fabric for my back-tack project, so I guess that is progress on one of the goals in an indirect way. 

Anyway, I need to explain the title of the post.  While I was there I got to chatting with the woman cutting my fabric and we were talking about knitting and I mentioned I'm a knitting designer.  She said she just got into knitting after a long hiatus.  Turns out she's knitting a felted bag -- well, what a coincidence!  I design felted bags!  We chat a bit more.  I mention something about having a website and she looks at me funny and asks the name of my "pattern".  Well, I have 9 patterns so far, but my most popular is the Booga Bag, I tell her.  She, of course, is knitting the Booga Bag!  She had no idea that I was from the area and was all excited, saying that she was going to have to tell her friend that she met me and everything.  (heh!)

So we move on with the rest of our errands -- hours of errands.  I come home and later in the evening check email.  There is a comment on the blog from Greta saying that she just picked up a quilting magazine and "there was the booga bag in a glorious color spread".  HUH?  I knew nothing at all about this.  Well, I had to see it for myself!  It turns out it is the Spring/Summer issue of Quilt Sampler (Better Homes and Gardens quilt mag that is on *every* grocery store checkout!!) and there it was on page 63:

How cool is that?  They were doing a piece on one of my retailers -- The Threaded Bear Fabrics in Vancouver -- and took this picture in their shop!

So lots of Booga Bag weirdness all in one day!    

Goals (again)

Time to set some goals again.  It worked really well last time, so I thought I'd give it a try again.  But first, here's something I picked up the last day of MS&W:

It's some hand-dyed 100% wool felt in very pretty colors which are difficult to photograph in our *still* cloudy weather.  (I think I bought it from this vendor, but they gave me nothing with their business name on it -- not even the receipt had their name on it!)

Okay, so yesterday was cleaning and washing day and today I need to go grocery shopping in a very bad way.  Here are some other things I want to get done this week:

• Do some work on the Knitting Blogs Web Ring-- maintenance on the existing members and adding 10 sites a day Tu-Fr.
• Clean out my desk and desk organizer.  Okay, to keep me honest, a before shot. . .

• Finish the binding on my first quilt -- seriously!  This was on my last list of goals and I didn't have a thimble so it never got done, but I have purchased one and now have no excuse.
• Wash my fabrics for my next quilt.
• Finish the entrelac bag.
• Write up the final pattern for the entrelac bag.
• Get to work on my Pincushion Challenge pincushion.
• Get to work on my back-tack project.

Okay, I'm probably already over the limit on what is physically possible to complete, but I did a lot yesterday, so I'm feeling good about my outlook for the week.  I got pretty much caught up on work -- cut out all the pictures I had printed for patterns and made up some patterns.  I even got packages packed up and ready to ship.  It was a productive work day. 

In other news, I switched to libsyn for hosting my Stitch-Cast mp3's, starting with my latest episode.  So if you have had trouble downloading or listening to them in the past, please give it another try!  I'm hoping that this will solve all the problems and judging from the number of downloads I had yesterday, it's doing a good job!  Thanks everyone for listening!  I really appreciate it!

Show #4!!!!

I just put up Episode 4 -- Spinning Wheels & Spindles at Stitch-Cast.  I blathered on for 38 minutes, so if you are interested in buying a wheel or hearing what it's like to spin on a Golding spinning wheel, or want to know where to get started when you want to purchase your very first spindle, I hope you'll check it out! 

I actually feel like a "real" podcaster now -- I know, 4 shows doesn't seem like much, but I've been doing this for about 2 months now and I'm really enjoying it!  I was kind of excited to do this show and couldn't wait to find time to sit down and turn on the mic.  My editing skills need some work (I simply don't have time to take out all the um's and and's), but I almost feel like I know what I'm doing now.  Yeah!

So please go have a listen and tell me what you think. . .

*** Update ***  Ah, much better.  I was using my iTunes graphic which was too huge and scared me whenever I looked at my blog!  I also made a Stitch-Cast button while I was messing around in Photoshop Elements:

Brooks Farm Scarf

Ya know when they have the good chocolate at the check out at Target and you buy a bar even though you had resisted it even when you were in the candy aisle?  Well . . . I didn't really plan to buy any yarn at the Brooks Farm booth, but this followed me home.  They had these scarves hanging all around the booth and I couldn't resist.  I got up to the register and asked if they had the pattern and she whipped out this little half sheet of paper -- I was hooked. 

The yarn is called "Four Play" (and the scarf pattern is aptly called the "Four Play Scarf") and it's a 50/50 blend of fine wool and silk.  Really lovely stuff, I tell ya!  The colors are so pretty and my photos do it no justice at all because we are on day number two of cold, rainy, dark, dreary weather.  (No, I'm not bitter about this at all -- brrrrrrrr. . . .)

Oh yeah, I had to start knitting this scarf immediately and believe it or not, it requires two -- I said two! -- different needle sizes.  So I walked on over to see Toni (of The Fold) and bought the needles.  Yep, the needles ended up being about as expensive as the yarn.  But I was caught up in the moment!  I couldn't help myself!  (Why did I talk myself out of throwing the Denise Needle set into the suitcase?)

*** Update ***  I just went and checked and the pattern for this scarf is actually available as a pdf via the Brooks Farm website.

Toy #2 -- The Lucet

Okay, my love for all things Golding almost led me to lose my mind and precious $$ to a Golding Lucet.  And while I do agree that they are absolutely gorgeous, my German Applewood lucet from The Lucet Lady is quite fetching, don't you think?  (And it was less than half the price of the Golding -- I love you Mr. Golding, but I have to save my pennies so I can buy one of your looms someday!)   

I messed around with it a bit on the plane and my cord was quite uneven, but the blue cord on the right is my second attempt and already I'm starting to get a better handle on the tension.  I tried some Noro Kureyon just for kicks and I actually couldn't pull it very tight for fear of having it break, so I ended up with a very loose cord -- kind of like a really skinny (2 stitch, I suppose) i-cord. 

When you pull nice and tightly you get a cool 4 sided cord that is quite strong.  Here's a close up of the little blue cord pictured on the right in the top picture:

Hopefully that gives you a better idea of what the cord looks like.  It really is sqaure, which is quite nice looking!

My lucet came with written instructions without any pictures or diagrams, but to tell you the truth it was so easy to use that none were needed.  In addition, there are quite a few websites where you can get additional instrucion if you do run into trouble.  I found info here & here and instructions for something called a double lucet here.

Tomorrow I may have to show you the Brooks Farm scarf that I've been knitting away on!

Toy #1 -- the Weavette!

I was very happy to find a Weavette at MS&W this year.  Several years ago I had somehow stumbled upon the website for the company that had revived these little looms and fell in love, but for some reason never purchased one.  Then recently they popped up in MSL and then Spin off -- the desire grew.  Next Amy got one and I almost caved.  (She bought hers from here and got free shipping!.)  So, it was fate when I saw them stacked up in the Haltwhistle Fibres booth.  (She makes great dolls and super cool fish.  Theresa has had the good fortune to take a class from her, as she is up from where Theresa's Mom lives.)

So, it's no surprise that this is the first of my Maryland finds that I wanted to mess around with.  I had to work all night Monday, but Tuesday I closed up shop at 7pm and after dinner I started weaving.  I had some leftover sock yarn (thicker sock yarn -- more like a heavy sport weight) in the drawer of partial skeins and I decided to see how it would work.  Here's my first Weavette 6 in. sqaure:

I just used the little booklet that came with the loom.  It was easy to follow and had enough diagrams to get you through any tricky bits.  I also bought the book too, but haven't had a chance to play around with texture yet.

Want to see what it looks like up close?  Here, ya go. . .

I declare this purchase a total success!  It was fun, easy to use and I love my first little square.  Why did I wait so long to try it out?  I'm not sure, but maybe the timing was how it was supposed to be.  This little bit of weaving may be all it takes to get me into the spare bedroom, make me pull the Dorothy down off the dresser and get it warped up.  (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. . . )

Back from Maryland

It's very rare to find a friend who shares your passion for fiber and who will also put up with all of your quirks for a long weekend.  Theresa and I travel well together and I had a great time this past weekend -- first overnight in Chicago and then on to Maryland for the big festival!

It was so lucky that KIP happened to fall on the Thursday before we were leaving and I got to stop in and see a bunch of the Chicago knitters I hadn't seen in a while and to meet quite a few new people too!  I really want to try to get up the KIP in the future.  It was a really fun group!

Friday morning it was off to O'Hare and on to Maryland!  Once again I got to meet up with a great group of people, there were Claudia, Silvia & Norma (whom I had first met at last year's festival) and Jen, Laurie, Cassie, Cassandra (of the purpleheart Canadian reproduction spinning wheel -- do you have a blog?), and Rachel (the wood worker -- definitely blogless) -- whew!  I know there were others that I met throughout the day too, including one blogger who gave me a super cool "Knit" button.  (I love it!)

So. . . how does one approach a festival such as this?  Well, here's the low-down.  The vendors seem to stay in the same place each year, so you can plan your attack in advance -- very important if there is something you really want!  The good stuff sells out kind of early (STR was gone in about an hour) and you want to make sure you have the best selection, right?  Theresa & I hit the Cromo booth first, Brooks Farm next.  Here's my "loot" from day 1:

I'll talk a bit more about each find in the coming days, but I will say that it was the year of the fiber tool for me.  I got a lucet, weavette and a pot holder loom for Maddie -- fun stuff!  I also tried a bunch of spinning wheels and will be doing a podcast on spinning wheels in the next week!

I will leave you for now with this cute cuddling sheep picture -- I had to snap this photo.  How could I resist?

Leaving on a jet plane. . .

The count down has begun!  In a couple hours I leave for Chicago where I will stop in at KIP at Letizia's.  (Little known fact -- the first KIP was Bonne Marie, Theresa, Pete, Maddie & me!  I haven't made it to one since, but I was there at the start!)  The next morning Theresa & I fly out to Maryland! 

So, if you are going to MS&W and you see me stumbling around in a fiber induced haze, say hi!

Swamped

I've been working long hours trying to get caught up on wholesale pattern orders for BSB before I leave for MS&W on Thursday, so blogging has kind of fallen by the wayside.  I did a mini review of the new issues of MagKnits & The AntiCraft over at whip up yesterday, but that's about it. 

I did want to tell you that while working I have been listening to some new (to me) podcasts.  Here they are:

• Geek.Farm.Life -- Love this one so much that I've been listening to all the old episodes!
• craftypod -- dual interview with CraftSanity was very good!
• Quirky Nomads -- Okay, I'm probably the last person to start listening to this podcast.  You all already listen to Sage, right??

Time to go stock up on provisions (read frozen dinners) for Pete & Maddie and do 100 other errands!  Really, I do craft -- maybe I'll even start that quilt one of these days.