Too Much To Do, So Little Time

The problem with being so craft minded- you think about crafts all day. You dream about crafts at night. There is so much you want to do but you can't find enough time to scratch the surface before your mind spirals off in a new direction. there is so much I want to try but between family, home and work, there just isn't enough time.

As I surf around the internet, it's amazing what ideas are out there. So many sewing ideas- it makes me want to go back to the fabric stores again... the yarns out there, makes me want to knit... the patterns out there, makes me want to knit... the wool out there, well you get the idea.

I guess I'm just restless for something new...I must have attention-span issues. I can start a thousand ( at least a few dozen) projects, but the key is just finishing one.....I can dream, right?

More Doily Madness

See I said I had finished...and I did. This is the eight-pointed Star doily I've been working on for the last 2 weeks - Not that it's been that hard to knit, but rather it's too easy sometimes to put it down ( something about bad eyes/bad lighting and very fine needles..).

This isn't really how I typically block doilies, this was mostly so I could see what I had when it was done (I knew the bamboo skewers would come in handy for something).

I like this doily, simple, uncomplicated. A little tedious on the longer outer edges.

** I did 2 rounds of crocheted loops to use a bit more of the string. I couldn't bring myself to throw away the few extra yards of string, but had no problem throwing away the few extra feet of string once I finished the second round. I think it looks nice with the 2.

Tough Tuesday

I know it'sTuesday, but it sure feels like Monday...of course a 3-day weekend only adds to the effect.

Not nearly as much "ME" time as I would have liked, but I guess that's to be expected. I got to do lots of laundry, some house work ,and some dishes (Oh Joy!). I need to get into my sewing room, and to finish some knitting projects, but this will have to wait for another time.

Finally, a picture taken. I've had this sitting on the wires for 2 weeks, while I try to get the picture before moving on to the next clue. I was kind of waiting for the longer needle that was being used for another sahwl too, but mostly waiting for the pix. This is the Galveston Shawl, started a few months ago, but progress has been up and down. I want to get this done off the needles.

I also finished the eight-pointed star, but DD1 ran away with it to give Bunny a cape. I have no way of knowing where it's at. I do want to find it and try blocking for photos, just so I can close the book on this. I guess it's time to go pick-up their room.

I've Got Nothing...

The Friday before Labor day weekend, happening to co-incide with month end closing...leaves my brain mush. I am pre-occuppied with knitting project and physical inventory( I have to check everything before posting to make sure I didn't miss something).

I am working on asmall stuffed lamb for DD2. I found a pattern somewhere as a guide line to start, but now that I have make the legs and have started into the body, I want to rip it our some and try one more time. It looks great ( I wish I had a photo to show, but I guess this is really a secret still until I have something a little more concrete), I am using some dk rose ( DARK) New Zealand wool I bought for felting purses, and I am combining it with some Eye-lash type novelty yarn I received from a friend ( a partial skein, I hope I have enough..). I was going to knit it up on big needles, then felt down, but this great w/o the felting, so I ripped out the one leg I had done and started again with smaller needles. This looks even better. Instead of knitting the 2 legs as seperate pieces that would be sewn to the side of the body, I knitted them up and just contiuned onto the body with no break. But now he looks a little fat in the hips ( and not in a good way). I will look at it some more before really deciding. I think what I will do is just stop where I'm at on the legs/body, and more on the arms and head. I am mostly worried about running out of the eye-lash yarn before getting these done.

Once this critter is done, I will try to make a little bunny for DD1 using the same base pattern (apparently my love for each child is measured by just how much effort I put into the toys for the kids). I have one more ball of the eye-lash yarn, this time in a tan taht I think will work real good.

Oh I am so looking forward to this weekend. Iknow, I know, it means lots of "Honey-Do" projects (clean the garge, get new phones, do laundry, do the yard, check the kids bicycles...) but the weather has been hot, the homelife caotic as we start the new school year, I just want a day or 2 to kind of unwind a little. Knitsome, maybe even get into my sewing room (ok the last is much more a wishful thought).

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend.

More of the Madness

Here's my (one of many) current project(s). This is another one of those "only at work" projects. I am currently on row 43, and hope to finish this soon (only 61 rows total in the pattern). They had quite a few doily patterns here but I didn't see any pictures, so I decided to start working them slowly, one-by-one.

This scarf is a little something I am working on for me. Last year I realized that I (Me), someone who has knitted for years...had no scarf for the colder winter months. This is kind of funny considering just how much knitting I do... only most of it is for other people. I saw the unspun fiber on ebay, and thought it wuld be very pretty to make a scarf with. When I received the box in the mail, I was a little dismayed to see it wasn't as red as the picture I saw on ebay ( I know colors can vary from monitor-to-monitor, but still I was hoping). I spun it up into a simple 2 ply fingerweight piece. It's a blend of Alpaca/Silk/Wool. Pretty stuff. I was wanting to make a simple moebius, so I wrote up a simple pattern, knowing whatever design I use will have to be reversible. I already used up the first ball of the yarn, now need to dig out the rest of it from my stash to finish this up. I'll need this for September 10th - San Francisco 49ers home opener. I know it's only September, but I think Mark Twain said it best "The coldest winter I ever saw was Summer in San Francisco.." or something like that. It can be very cold at some of those home games ( this is an eveing game on Monady Night Football. I'm excited just typing about the game ( don't ask me who they're playing - don't know/don't care. It'll be a fun game!).

Doily Madness

Isn't this pretty? I finished this long ago, but finding the space and the time to block is so difficult. I found this pattern in a Anna Mag from Germany. As I recall it was simple to knit. Blocking was a little difficult, as I couldn't seem to pull the doily out far enough to get rid of the lettuce edge. Finally managed to get it looking pretty good.

These last 3 photos are of all the same doilies, but I was trying to get a good picture that would show the detail a little. The 2 smaller light pink doilies was just using up scrap string left over from some other project...this was some string I received from my Mom last year. She works at a daycare center and they were throwing this and sveral other away. I had already used some on other small projects, but still have quite a bit to go. I am trying to build up my stock of doilies again. the girls love to give these as small gifts for their teachers, and with school resuming, I better jump on it for the holidays.

The middle sized one ( the dk pink one) really needs to be re-blocked. I ran out of pins, But I think I will re-block as a octogon on blocking wires. looking at the picture, you can kind of see what it would look like that way. This doily was knit on 00 or 000 needles, and the string was size 30, so it's pretty fine and hard to see. It really needs to be stretched better to open it up.

Now if only I could find time and space for the shawls I finished and haven't blocked.

Who knew...?

Who knew Cotati was so big on accordian music? This was quite to hotbed of the accordian world!

This was a fun little festival. Lots of Sun, some great food, and lots and lots of accordians (with and without players). It was a little over priced for what you had, but it was labeled as a fundraiser for the youth groupd in the area....and the music was unbelieveable. This is not the drinking the blues sort of music. This is celebration music. You couldn't help but tap your feet and hum along.

And then there's Sunday at the S.F. Rene Faire in Golden Gate Park.


This is DD1 ( with Bunny), after a day of running around the faire. She got her face painted when we first got there, and she managed to not mess it up too much. She had a great time. The other DD....#2- well we'll just say it wasn't exactly her day.


Here I am with her after a meltdown. Big sister was trying to comfort her, but I'm not sure it helped. DD2 wanted some prize at the games booth, then cried when she didn't get it. To her defense, the Lady running the games booth wasn't very helpful either. She was more intereded in something she was trying to do then taking our money or showing the girls how to do it (DD2 is only 4yrs., she hadn't been around much to understand how the game was played). Then as we were leaving she decided she had to get her face painted ( when she was very addiment earlier not to have it done). It didn't help taht we had bought lots of school supplies for Big Sister, but she didn't get school supplies.