FO and TdF

That's crochet code for 'finished object'. In this case, it's a Tunisian scarf . . . 
  
that I'm teaching as a class in less than 2 weeks. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, eh? 

I love that this is reversible and pretty on both sides - knit stitch on the front 

and ribs on the back.

 

TdF, aka Tour de Fleece, update: The leftover Spinderella is spun, 

 

plied - I got another 171 yards to add to last year's 248 -

soaked, whacked and drying. 

 

Hope to have pretty finished yarn pictures soon.

Plus, the mystery Susie batt is 3/4 spun.

 

Bobbin one - the first half of the batt - is resting, 

 

waiting for bobbin two to be finished, probably in another 2 days or so. 

This taking my time, not rushing through spinning every little bit of roving or batt, is very nice. Maybe I should relax, goal-wise, more often.

Real Deal

Photos from the ballet recital.
  
Sorry for the crummy cellphone quality; we weren't supposed to take photos or video during the performance, so (almost) the only ones I have are from after. 
Leia did great! She loved being on stage, even helped one of the other girls remember where she was supposed to be during their dance. 
 
Leia's group was also in the grand finale. Being one of the youngest gets you a spot in the front row.
 
And - big surprise - Leia loved being the center of attention after the show. Mom gave her a purple flowered headband (top pic), Dad gave her long-stemmed roses, 
 
and Pegi, who runs Leia's daycare and who took Leia to practice every Wednesday morning, gave her a pink feather boa and a magic wand.
 
Remember the crying girl at dress rehearsal? She sailed through tonight's performance with nary a tear. Yay, Brooke!  

Dress Rehearsal

Friday was the dress rehearsal for Leia's ballet recital; live, on stage, in full dress and make-up. 
The make-up was definitely her favorite part. We have mascara, eyeliner (she doesn't like that), eyeshadow, blush and lipstick. We were going for an "enhanced natural look"; not bad, eh?
 
Rehearsal was on the big stage at the T.O. Civic Center. I was afraid Leia would panic, but she's a ham through and through. She loved being on stage and can't wait to do it again.
  
Unfortunately, one of the other girls, Leia's friend from preschool, did not enjoy the experience. (She's the one crying in the video.) I'm betting she won't be in the final show on Sunday, poor thing. 
We were allowed to take photos and video at the rehearsal but can't at the final performance. Really glad I took my camera. This video is just too sweet. Leia is second from the right; you can see this on YouTube here.
 
Leia has watched it at least a hundred times and I'm betting she'll do a hundred more before Show Time on Sunday.

 

Random Crafty

I've finished a bunch of crafty stuff recently, but most of it was for other people, so I needed to gift it before I posted it here. So, in no particular order . . . 

Little Girl Dresses - I finished the latest batch - 2 for Addy and 1 for Leia - and put the ones going to Colorado in the mail Friday. 
 
Yesterday I received this picture (sorry for the cell-phone quality) and a note that Addy is refusing to take it off. Ever. Made my day. 
 
It's hard to see but Leia's wearing her dress in the top photo. It's a Merida from "Brave" t-shirt with a colorful giraffe skirt; she chose the fabric and is thrilled with it.

Alaska Scarves - my SIL and BIL are going camping in Alaska for 3 months in a teardrop trailer and jeep. Yep, we think they are crazy too. 
 
Even though it's summer, I figured they'd need something to help keep warm around the campfire, so I hooked up a couple of scarves.
 
Both are made using waffle stitch, my current favorite. The girl version is Liberty Wool (love that stuff!!) and the boy one is two strands of alpaca held together. They are both soft, squishy and warm.

Tour de Fleece 2012 - I've doing the Tour for (I think) the 6th year in a row. I stressed so much last year over 'goals' that I burned out on spinning - this is the first time I've fired up my wheel since Tour de France 2011 ended. So I've come up with a more reasonable plan (hubby is shocked; 'reasonable' is not usually in my nature.) I plan to spin a minimum of 30 minutes each day, more if I feel like it. 

 

I missed Day 1 - the Prologue - but I've spun every day since, averaging 85 minutes each day. I'll also be stashbusting, using fiber that's been around for awhile.

First up was 56 grams of Spinderella 'Harvest' that I thought I finished spinning last year. Surprise! It took 3 days, but it's definitely done now.
 
Next is a 6.35 ounce/180 gram batt that a friend made for me. Love these colors so much. I've forgotten what all is in there, so I need to ask her, again. And write it down so I don't forget. Again.          

A Bowl's Journey

Want to see what hubby does for fun? He takes things like this -  
an elder tree in Rachel and John's front yard that was dying and had to come down,
  
and through a process that involves sharp knives and large lathes,
  
hours of rough cutting and turning,

  

shaping, sanding and polishing,
 
achieves something that looks like this -
(click any image to enlarge. It's worth it.)

The man's a d*mn genius with wood.

He removed most of the bark from this piece of burl, 
 
carved out the interior so it would hold a bowl, 
 
ground up turquoise and added it to several inclusions and cracks, 
 

while leaving the natural red from the tree sap and highlighting the natural grain of the wood.

 

And then he goes and gives it all away. So now you know what Travis' mommy got for her birthday. Happy b-day, Breanne! 

Visitors

Look who came for a visit today -

 

Mr. T, who's all of 6 months old now.

He brought his mom along too, something about celebrating her birthday. But we'll talk about that tomorrow. 

We went to lunch, where Travis promptly fell asleep on PopPop's shoulder. 
Can you tell that PopPop hated that? (not!) 
 
Then we came back home so my happy boy could practice his sit-ups, 
 
and push-ups,
 
and working his considerable wiles on the older ladies.
  
Leia and Travis adored each other. He wouldn't take his eyes off her when she was in the room. He tried to follow her around, but he hasn't quite got the crawling motions in the right order yet. You can tell it won't be long though.
  
Sure wish Travis and his parents lived closer, so the spoiling would be easier and more often!

Macro

One of my favorite things about my good camera is the macro lens; I love taking pictures of flowers and bugs and, especially, bees. 

While taking pix of Leanne yesterday, I snapped a few frames of bees on the flowers behind her. And look what I got! 

Some of the best close-ups I've ever achieved.

 
Whoohoo! So happy with how these turned out. 

Third of Three

Remember the twinsie dresses I made Addy and Leia for our Colorado trip?
  
The third, and final, one in the series is now done, modeled and gone home.
 

I finished it a couple of days ago but had to wait for Leanne to come for another visit to get pix.

 

It's a little large on her - she's 16 months and the dress is a 2/3 toddler - but you know she'll grow into it. Pretty fast, too.

 
I know I'm biased, but isn't she adorable?