Oct
31
All Hallows Eve
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This is how we spent the evening last night. We made a jack sandwich! (And I cut my finger) After we made a huge mess on the kitchen floor, we roasted the 10 lbs of seeds that Alexis meticulously picked out of the pumpkin guts. Yum!
I love Halloween, and not just because it’s my birthday. All Hallows Eve marks the beginning of “family season” to me. It’s tradition around here for Chris to make his non-award winning chili* right after the first “cold” snap. Then we invite everyone and their dogs, babies, kids, sisters, and grandmothers over to eat it. No matter how much he makes, it’s never enough.
I love the feeling that the holidays are coming. Not that I particularly like consumerized holidays, but there is something about ending one year and starting the next that is very satisfying. The time between Halloween and New Year’s Eve goes by so quickly these days. Turn around and it’s gone.
I love the weather this time of year. The leaves don’t change colors in Texas, they just sort of turn brown and fall off one day. It doesn’t really get cold, but I love the crispness of the air. It just smells different.
I love the decorations in grocery stores. Though, admittedly, they aren’t as good as when I was a kid, when the grocery stores would cover the Halloween aisle in black plastic and light it with black lights. It was like a mini haunted house. My brothers and I would run from one end to the other countless times while our parents tried to pretend we weren’t their kids. And by parents I mean my mom; My dad is a Halloween nut.
I look forward to lower energy bills, long sleeved tee shirts, warm soups and cold nights in front of a fire. I like sitting in my chair in the loft with a big blanket or quilt in progress on my lap while the new episodes of my favorite shows are playing (summertime TV sucks!).
What I don’t love, is getting another year older. But, I guess all the other stuff makes up for it. And presents don’t hurt either.
*And we mean that in the most Rudy’s-is-the-worst-bar-b-que-in-Texas kind of way.
Sep
8
Too damn early
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I’ve been up since 4:30. Chris had to leave (again) this morning, to go help with Hurricane Ike. Sigh. All I know, is if he isn’t back for vacation, heads will roll.
Anyway, we spent the weekend at my aunt’s house. My grandmother (and her twin, of course!) is turning ninety – YES.. 90! – this week, so there was a big family party over the weekend. It is always nice to see family that you often only see once per year. In fact, some of them (grandma’s twin sister) I haven’t seen in at least a couple of years. Anyway, what all of this means is that yesterday, while I was waiting for Chris to come pick us up after his drill weekend, I had lots of spare time to knit. You know, cuz I couldn’t do any housework, cuz I wasn’t at home, which means…
The Butterfly Dress is nearly off the needles. She’s beautiful, and I hope blocks up nicely. But this project has been a major pain in the butt! I think I ripped out everything after the hem about 4 times before I got a good start. And lace is a bitch to frog. How in the hell do you pick the stitches back up? So everything I had to frog after I finally got a good start had to be de-knitted and picked out one stitch at a time. Thankfully, the longest stretch I frogged was only about 9 rows. But it was worth it. There are not too many noticeable mistakes, which just shocks the hell outta me. Pictures coming soon…
Now I need to get a pattern for a slip dress, and material to make it. Right, in my spare time. I still need to finish a commission for a wool blanket from last spring, quilt the new baby quilt, finish the tee-shirts I’m making for vacation (more on those in another post), and finish printing a bunch of stuff for vacation. All of this while playing single parent, trying to get the A/C fixed, and finishing up a release at work. Yeah, I have lots of time on my hands. Would someone please call Mary Poppins for me?
Aug
11
Life gets in the way…
Filed Under Knitting, Quilting, Sewing | 2 Comments
It’s been too long. As busy as we’ve been, I’ve barely found time to breathe, much less write. But I missed it. So, imagine my surprise when I tried to post two weeks ago and found out that my software was busted. My poor friend Bryan, I bugged him for at least a week straight. In the end, I figured it out myself, and here we are… albeit with a few glitches. I’m still not sure my spam filter plug-in is working correctly. But enough geek stuff… I’m not a geek, remember?
So instead, onto the dork stuff. I’m still plugging away at the butterfly dress. I really need to take new pictures of it, I’m actually almost done with the decreases, which means I’m getting closer to the bust, but it’s looking pretty damn short. I’m sure it will stretch lengthwise when blocked, right? Don’t answer that. I don’t really want to know. Tell you what though, that pattern is horribly written. They fail to mention about how to keep the correct number of stitches on the needles. With all the increasing a decreasing, you’d think they’d mention something like that… but no, there’s a chart, and it doesn’t even start in the right place. Anyway, it’s going better now, and I hope to finish it in the next 48 days. Before our cruise. Ahhhhh.
In other news, I threw these blocks together this weekend. I love them. And I love my linen board thingy, too. Quilt blocks just stick to it like magic. No more worrying about the dog stepping on carefully arranged blocks. Hopefully it’ll be a full fledged quilt top by bedtime tonight. I really need to start quilting it.
I’m having trouble getting anything done. The Olympics are taking waaaay too much attention. And the gymnastics coach/karate instructor in me is being overly critical. But that’s another post.
For now, it’s just good to be back.
Jun
24
Butterfly Beginnings
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I’m not feeling particularly wordy these days, but I have been knitting! I’ve started the hems of the Rowan butterfly dress. Of course, I never do anything by the instructions so I’m planning on knitting it in the round instead of flat. Someone just shoot me. I should be shot, don’t you think?
Anyway, it is going very well. At some point during the first layer of hem, about 5 stitches FELL OFF my needle, and I had no idea how to pick them up. I was so frustrated I even yelled at Chris and Alexis. Bad mommy. But since then, it’s going much better. I have the 8 row sequence just about memorized, and I’m more than half way there. I’m really really ready for the dress part, though, I’m sure after 35 repeats of that I’ll be bored as well.
Jun
13
Done
Filed Under Crafting, Quilting, Storing | 4 Comments
Finally! Now you can see why the quilting took so long. But it came out well, and I really like it. Especially the “scrappy” binding. I love multicolor bindings.
