Color Challenged

Dick's on the last layer of texturizer (very stinky- the whole house reeks), so we're almost ready for the paint.I like lots of color on the walls. Our bedroom is teal (this is several years old - it's in line after the kitchen for remodeling. I already have the red wallpaper . . . ) and the kitchen wall I painted a long time ago is blue marble -

I hand-painted those veins with a feather. I love faux-finished walls.

I'm feeling a little color challenged this time; whatever I pick, we have to live with for awhile. Dick likes to remodel, but repainting when he just put the rollers away? Not going to happen.

I want something that goes with the slate on the fireplace and I'd love to bring out the orange/cranberry sections so . . . . I taped up some paint chips and we're seeing what jumps out at us. (I thought I was pretty clever . . . ) The armchairs are teal and the floor is tan/brown porcelain tile. In a pinch, I suppose we could go with teal paint but I'm trying to get away from greens; seems like every room we've painted recently is green.

I want big bold color, but I also don't want a dark cave. Decisions, decisions. Have to make up my mind soon . . .

ETA: Behr has a pick-your-color site that includes historical colors. Very cool.

Bah Flippin Humbug

My right arm and shoulder still hurt from the Christmas crochet marathon so I finally broke down and went to the doctor today.

Good news? I won't have to help paint the living room.

Bad news? No crochet - or anything else that hurts - for a minimum of two more weeks.

The doctor thinks I've pi***d off three of the six (eight?) muscles in my shoulder and rotator cuff. But if I behave and if I let it heal and if I haven't done too much damage . . . she thinks anti-inflammatory drugs will be all I need. If it still hurts after six weeks, we'll try a cortisone shot. I've gone that route before for elbow tendinitis; it worked, but boy, was that shot unpleasant.

So please cross your fingers and send healthy vibes my way. You may want to send good vibes - or alcohol - dear hubby's way too . . . I might be just a tad cranky at this point.

C-BAM

The next round of crochet block-a-month classes begin in February. This year, rather than teach 'pretty' squares (flowers and such), I want to concentrate on stitches and patterns that can be used in other projects - like cables and bobbles and shells (oh my!)

It's hard to see in these photos, but the first block is a honeycomb pattern using front and back-post cables. I think the second month will be this 4-point diagonal square, a variation of the stitch I learned in class at TNNA. Last up is a Celtic knot pattern. This one's tricky but so pretty I couldn't pass it up.
Tech specs: Yarn is Cascade 220 Heathers with an "H" hook.

I Met Bob!!

Dick went with me to Long Beach for day 2 of TNNA; he spent the afternoon with a friend from high school whilst I was in class, and then we all went to dinner at PF Changs (fabulous dinner - shrimp with candied walnuts and honeydew melon. Yum)

We got to Long Beach a little early so we stopped at Chili's for lunch. I sat down in the booth, looked up, and saw . . . . Ravelry's Jess and Casey! I recognized Casey instantly from his Ravatar and kinneared them before getting up the courage to go say 'hi'. They are super nice in person. When I got back to our table, I couldn't stop grinning. I felt like I'd just met my favorite movie stars. And look what Jess gave me . . . . my very own Bob pin! I still can't stop grinning.

My afternoon class was a diagonal beaded shawl with Sharon Silverman. Sharon's an excellent teacher - we picked up the technique pretty quickly and I completed about a third of the shawl by the end of class. This is Filatura de Crosa's Multicolor, a 60/40 blend of mohair and acrylic, with a "K" hook and size 6 silver beads. The yarn's a little bigger than the lace-weight Sharon recommended; when I make this again (yep, it's that good a pattern; I see several of these in my future) I think I'll move up a hook size or two.

I'm planning to wear this to Matt and Chris' wedding in March. Now I just need to find an outfit that matches it. Doesn't everyone plan their clothing around their shawls?

TNNA

Today was my first time at TNNA. The market isn't open until Friday, so I didn't get the full impact of craziness, but I did get to take one of the classes TNNA sponsors for retailers and others in the needlearts industry. And they do it up right, bringing in first class teachers like Lily Chin, Cat Bordhi, Melissa Leapman, Valentina Devine and more.

My class was Felting 5 Ways with Shannon Okey, blogger, author - Felt Frenzy, Spin to Knit, Alternation - and all-around crafty person.

(this is a terrible cellphone picture - sorry, Shannon!)

Shannon talked about - and demonstrated - knit/crochet to felt, needle felting, wet felting, recycling (felting old sweaters and repurposing them as mittens, scarves, etc.), and my favorite, nuno felt. We layered tufts of wool roving, pieces of yarn, silk gauze, and more wool between two pieces of bubble wrap, soaked it in warm water, then rubbed until the fiber felted. Very fun - and lots of possibilities for projects and future classes. (No picture of the finished project; it's too white and my camera refuses to focus on it. Bummer.)

Tomorrow . . . . crocheting a diagonal beaded shawl with Sharon Silverman. Can't wait!

Baby Heaven

Two year old Miles is a boy's boy - he much prefers dad and grandpa to us poor women-folk. He usually tolerates me if I'm around, but will fuss if I try to pick him up or give him a hug.

I met up with Matt and Chris today to taste-test wedding cakes (Bread Basket Cake Co - yum!) Miles was with them and when he saw me walking across the parking lot he got a huge smile on his face and held out his arms for me to pick him up. I was in heaven! He sat on my lap, snuggling with me before taking off to check out some birds. But he kept coming back, climbing into my lap, and giving me a hug before taking off again. This grandma gig is pretty cool!

Towers of Power, Redux

The original Towers of Power - and Ravelry's organizational tools - inspired me to reorganize my spinning stash as well as my yarn pile. I think this may be a system I can stick with. The old system was to shove it into big bins, stick a label on the outside, and basically forget about it.

Now I'm photographing everything, logging it on Ravelry (my spinning fiber is going in as 'handspun' so it will be separate from my yarns), and putting it in a labeled drawer. Ravelry lets me track which drawer a specific item is in so I can actually find it again.And this is different how, you ask? With the drawers, I can get to the fiber without having to unstack everything, dig through it, and then try to restack the bins. And with it on Ravelry, I can shop my stash through photos and searches, rather than taking the previously easier (and more expensive) route of shopping the innernets.

I've gotten most of the yarns done - including most of my cones of weaving yarn - but I still have a little bit to go on the spinning stuff . . . Just a little bit.

I'm Famous

Gary informed me a few weeks ago that I'm "famous" among his friends for this dish I created. I didn't think it was anything special, but Gary - my super picky eater - absolutely loves it. He'll eat it at every meal for days if we let him. Whenever I make a batch, I text him and he shows up with a friend or two in tow to polish it off.

It's good to be famous for something.*

My Famous Beefy Mac

1.5 pounds hamburger
1 jar Ragu spaghetti sauce (or sauce of your choice)
8 ounces elbow macaroni
Parmesan cheese
Garlic salt (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste

In oven-proof pan, cook macaroni according to package directions. Brown hamburger in a skillet, drain fat, and sprinkle meat lightly with garlic salt. Add spaghetti sauce, stir, and let simmer on low heat until macaroni is done. Drain macaroni and rinse with cold water. Return macaroni to oven-proof pan, add hamburger-sauce mix, and stir well. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

When I make this for Dick and me, I saute about a quarter cup diced onions with the hamburger and use Paul Newman's Cabernet sauce rather than Ragu. Yum!

* I've had this baking dish since Dick and I were married. I recently found one just like it in an antique store. Talk about depressing.

Projects

I'm not sure whether to bless or curse Ravelry. I've spent several hours over the past two days photographing stash, sorting it into bins, and uploading it onto Ravelry. It's great to have a list of everything, with photos and where I hid stored it - I can shop my stash when I want to start a new project. On the other hand, it's a lot of work - and it's embarrassing how much stash I have. One of my main goals this year is to use up or gift away a lot of my fiber treasures.

Still can't crochet; I really did a number on my shoulder and arm during the push to finish holiday presents. I'm taking muscle relaxants at night (and sleeping really, really well) and working on other project during the day, but I miss my hook.

I warped the big loom with this cotton shawl back in December. I finally started weaving today. It's the most complex project I've worked on to date. I'm using 2 shuttles, each with a different color of fiber, and alternating them in the weft pattern. It's very slow going - I'm trying to not make mistakes since unweaving this yarn is a nightmare. And no, I didn't kill my little helper - but Oreo now has a much better understanding of what "NO!" means.

Dick works every morning on the dining room remodel. Plywood and drywall are in place - and tomorrow he should start framing in the back side for the dart board and cue racks. Then the dining room carpet will come out, tile will go down, a little new paint on the walls, and he's on to the kitchen.

New Projects

One of my new year's resolutions is to finish up some of the projects I have lying around. Rather than always pick up a crochet hook when I have free time, I want to work on other techniques - knitting, spinning, weaving, lockerhooking. So tonight I pulled out two bobbins of spun singles and plied them together. This is brown Romedale wool with Tussah silk slubs that I bought - and started spinning - in August 2006. It's approx. 234 yards of lace-weight yarn that's fairly balanced. I tried to over-ply it, hoping to counteract the effects of it sitting around for so long. I took this shot before I set the twist; we'll see once it's dry if it's usable or if I'll need to add more twist.

Dick is back on home-improvement watch. First thing this morning, he knocked out very carefully removed the windows between the dining room and pool table room. He's going to drywall the openings, creating solid walls on the dining room side, and on the opposite side there will be niches for pool cues and a dart board. He's also building a storage cabinet under the stairs. We'll use it to store Christmas decorations and other seasonal stuff; no more climbing into the hot, dusty attic every year. It amuses me that he's very carefully drawing out his plan on the floor. I'm pretty sure his mama taught him better than that.

Happy New Year!

'Twas the night before New Year and all through the house, the only creatures who're stirring are about to get in big trouble -

Snickers loves hiding in the tree and chewing on the wires;
she knows she's not supposed to be in there . . .

who me??

and the grandpa was snuggled asleep on his couch -

before the clock even struck 10 p.m.

While visions of zucchini bread - freshly baked - danced in his head.

Happy New Year to all and to all a Good Night.

Christmas Gift

This is the Christmas ornament Matt and Chris gave us this year. Isn't it cute?


*Aug. 19, 2008

Woven FO

Remember this from a few weeks ago? I'd warped the rented knitter's loom to make a scarf but with Christmas deadlines looming (sorry) I didn't get much further.

I got the bug to finish it last night and spent about three hours weaving, tying the fringe, and getting it off the loom. A quick soak and block, and it was ready for close-ups this afternoon. I used two strands of sock-weight yarn - Fearless Fibers superwash Merino in Deepest Forest - for the warp (the long-wise threads) and one strand in the weft (the side-to-side part). The scarf is really soft and drapes beautifully. The colorway is gorgeous, as always with Deb's yarns, and I love how the colors interact. The thin yarn took longer to weave than my first two projects, but the results were well worth the time.
This was my first experience using a fringe twister. I'm not sure I like the look; maybe I should have twisted fewer strands together? It will be something to play with next time.

John's Present

Dick was busy in his workshop this holiday season but I couldn't show what he was working on until now. He and Rachel conspired to make Rachel's hubby, John, a box to hold his collection of watches. It took Dick a bit of time (and some swearing) to get the cuts just so, the wood sanded to the proper finish, and the leather glued into place. He also had to cut the class to shape and custom craft a system to hold it in place. I wish I'd gotten a photo of the packaging job Dick did on this before he shipped it off to Colorado. He layered egg-crate foam under the glass, with thick cardboard on top; then a layer of wood and at least 6" of hard plastic foam all around, all of it held in place with bright red duct tape. He was determined that it would arrive intact. Rachel said it took her over 20 minutes free the box from its wrappings.

The majority of the box (the lighter wood) is cherry and the sides are Brazilian walnut; there's full-grain leather under the swirl glass top and a sliding shelf in the top drawer to hold rings. Doesn't he do nice work?