The Noncrappy Parts of My Week in Pictures

Redyed all 900-ish yards of the "My Little Pony" yarn (after painstakingly reskeining the one I had already wound into a ball). It's a leeetle more mature and sassier now, so I've renamed it "Jem and the Holograms" yarn.





Watched a neighboring house get torn down in about 3 minutes flat. At 8 am on Tuesday. By 6 pm what was once a house, garage, shed, and overgrown yard full of fruit trees, was all bare dirt.



Finished HP7 and handed it off to the mister who never ever used to use any kind of bookmark (he was so hard on book spines) until he received this one (with an illustration of a vintage vacuum tube and a picture of Einstein on the back). I thought Deathly Hallows was a fine ending to the series and am looking forward to Jim Dale rereading it to me in the car.



Worked on the seemingly endless raglan increases on the Puff Sleeved Cardigan.



Won a bunch of my spendy shampoo in a drawing at the salon (those are salon sized bottles- I should have included a regular bottle for scale- I expect that I'm set for shampoo and conditioner for the next year).





Wrapped gifts for August birthdays and weddings. The salad servers go with the Heath salad bowls we picked up a couple of weeks ago.

Hm, this makes me feel okay about the past week, despite the general suckiness of it. Maybe I should do this more often.

Anything is Better

The week didn't get better. My general demeanor of late has been closer to that of the Anthropologie model below than to the Gap model. So, instead of dwelling on all the bad things, more on those weddings:

The first two weddings are in August. For wedding #1 in Milwaukee I picked this up on sale at Anthropologie (swoon):


I'll wear it with champagne-colored strappy heels and bring my capelet (how appropriate) just in case it's chilly (haha, Milwaukee in August).


For wedding #2 in Portland (must see/do suggestions for Portland?- we've never been), this from the Gap:


I'll take my brown pashmina just in case, but I'm so far shoeless for this one. I kind of like the red shoes the model is wearing, so maybe red. I'm also considering removing the sash and replacing it with something more colorful. So that I don't look like brown wrapped in brown.


So this weekend, I'll be off to find shoes, wrapping wedding gifts, redyeing yarn, and knitting on the Puff-sleeved Feminine Cardigan. Oh, and being a big dork and buying the new Harry Potter. In my Tonks costume. Just kidding.

Backwards is Better

It's shaping up to be a doozy of a week, so I'll just talk about the past weekend:

A trip to the Heath Ceramics Factory in Sausalito. Beautiful, beautiful stuff. First two wedding* gifts down.

Lunch by the marina at Fish. Chowder. Yum.

Eerie, foggy stroll in the Marin headlands:









Dyeing yarn. Almost 900 yards of yarn, in fact. Knitpicks worsted superwash to be knit into a clapotis for Mr. Beagle's grandma at Christmas. I was trying for this. I ended up with this:



And that's in yellowing artificial light. In better light it's a little My Little Pony for my taste. Coming soon: adventures in overdyeing. (Did I mention- 900 yards? Son of a nutcracker!)

*We have six (SIX!) weddings of close friends or relatives coming up in the next year.

Quilty Goodness

The Mystery Quilt of Chaos is done. I pulled an all-dayer yesterday and quilted and bound it.



Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I kind of wish I had the patience to do a better job of quilting it. I'm also not quite sure about how the clashing reds look on the back side. Mostly, though, I'm just really, really glad it's done. It has taken its place of honor on the back of the living room futon* . MQoC will make a much better summer blanket than the down throw that it has edged out.



Things I learned:
1. I like the patchwork part of quilting but not the actual quilting part.
2. Binding a quilt is not that bad, particularly if you do it all by machine.
3. A little bit of salt sprinkled on banana chips makes them extra nummy.
4. I do not want to undertake another quilt until I have some dedicated crafting space.
5. One can quilt without a walking foot... it's just not going to turn out all that good.

And hey, look what's on the needles:



Uh-huh. Nothing. It's driving me nuts. I'll be starting the Feminine Cardigan from Fitted Knits just as soon as my yarn arrives. Which is hopefully soon.

*It's kinda sad that I have to specify which futon the quilt is on. I'm very much looking forward to the day when we're settled enough to get some real furniture. Happily, that day is approaching...

Quilt 'n' Sweat

So hot here today. Supposed to be hotter tomorrow. I'm actually glad I'll be at my air-conditioned office.

I fought the urge to sit very still and not sweat today. Instead, I worked on the Mystery Quilt of Chaos. It now has a very, very big border:



It is now crib sized, or as we not-pregnant-despite-looking-it-in-all-things-empire-waisted gals say, throw sized. It is also sketchily safety pin basted and all ready to be quilted. I'm debating whether to bind it in red or aqua. Dunno.

The better part of a bottle of prosecco I drank is catching up with me. Off to sleep.

Done

Pattern: Rusted Root from Zephyr Style
Begun: 6/9/07
Finished: 6/29/07
Size: S, but knit at a bigger gage to obtain L measurements
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Cavern (and only 3 skeins!)
Needles: #5 and #3 circulars
Mods: Aforementioned gage nonconformance and a provisional cast-on at the neck... that's it.


I really, really like this sweater. And I promise I won't wear it with the pink tank top- which I swear I have on in the pic- that is not beagle flesh you see. The little poufy sleeves are so clever and sweet. I was a little worried after reading about other's problems with the sleeve puff, or lack thereof, but mine turned out just fine. The whole thing just zipped along, thanks in no small part to my inlaw's visit, during which I got lots of knitting done, as the houseguests didn't want to actually do anything.


Pros: Cute, puffy sleeves, fits.
Cons: Slightly wonky where neck meets lace panel, directions say to pick up stitches around neck when provisional cast-on makes so much more sense, my hips.



On the needles is a super simple bag with some stash yarn while I wait for the yarn to arrive for the Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan (more puffy sleeves, huzzah!) from Glampyre's Fitted Knits (yeah, raglan shaping). Perhaps I can overcome the cardigan curse (neither of the cardigans that I've knit are at all wearable, while all of my pullovers turn out okay).