Actual Sewing

I finished cutting out the pieces of the skirt. I've got two sparkly on black, three green and three plain black. I've started zigzag stitching around the outside of the pieces and then I'll (finally) start sewing them together.
On the knitting front, I added up how many pairs of socks I'd like to knit between now and Christmas and it came to something like 14 of which I have three done. That's in addition to sweaters, mittens and various other knitted things. There may have to be a serious culling of the list or the relegation of some projects for after Christmas. Buddhist monks don't particularly care if they get anything right at Christmas so there's a couple of things I can put off right there. Meanwhile, I keep thinking of more things I want to make! Where does it ever end?!

So Much of Sewing Isn't Actually Sewing!

So, I've started to machine sew, something I've said I'd never do. It started out with two things. One, a friend gave me a sewing machine and, two, one of the monks at the zen center asked me to mend a badly torn work coat of his (apparently if you knit, people assume you can sew). I was going to hand sew the monk's coat but the tears were so extensive that I decided to try out my new machine. And, what do you know? I liked it! I'd done some machine sewing before but always on my mother's sewing machine in her apartment which was awkward and inconvenient and I never really got into it. Meanwhile, eight months ago, I'd volunteered to sew a belly dancing skirt for Doria for a birthday gift. We got all the fabric and trim and there it sat. Then along comes this sewing machine! Having my own machine somehow makes all the difference. So now I'm sewing. Well, not actually sewing.

Today, I ironed. First the pattern,

then the fabric.Then I laid out the fabric,(isn't it pretty?)
laid out the pattern,found the straight of the grain (very important),pinned it up, and finally,cut it out.
Now I just have to repeat this process for the other seven sections of the skirt and then I'll be able to sit down at the sewing machine and actually sew!

Poor neglected blog

I know, I have been sadly neglecting my blog of late. I'm sorry. I got sucked in by Facebook, oh, so very sucked in. I joined Twitter as I blogged about earlier but I really don't like it as much as Facebook. You can't comment on people's posts in the same way and the Twitter people seem to speak this strange language that I can't seem to fathom. Anyway, if you want to friend me on Facebook, my username is (big stretch) Lucy Lee. If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm at (another big stretch), mindseyeyarns.
Meanwhile, I've added up all the stuff I want to knit between now and Christmas and I'm afraid, very afraid.

Stage One Complete

Here's what I got done yesterday. Today, I put the first coat of paint on the crown molding and the first coat of poly on the floor. I thought I would get more painting done today but the crown molding took forever. Notice how the lights are on? The radio is too. I did the floor and forgot to turn them off. Now i can't get to them. Also, the windows are wide open. I'm going to have to see if I can tiptoe in there tonight to turn them off and close the windows. Hopefully, it will be dry enough for that. At least it is a nice breezy day, great for drying!
Tomorrow, I paint the ceiling, get the first coat on the walls and the second coat of poly on the floor. If I have time, I'll do the second coat of paint on the ceiling and walls and then I'll have Tuesday free!

DIY-my favorite

I'm working on painting the front room of the shop today. Big Nephew helped me move everything out of there and now I'm spackling, scraping and priming. Tomorrow, I sand and put on the first coat of paint. Hopefully, it won't take me too long. I haven't really given myself much time to get this project done. I leave for Maine on Wednesday and I'm going to try to touch up the polyeurethane on the floor as well. And I'm going for a bike ride with Stef tomorrow afternoon. And I'm taking the dog to the vet on Monday morning. I may be living in a fantasy world thinking I can get this all done but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try!
I'll have some pictures tomorrow.

I have succumb

I'm now on Twitter.

This brings me back!

To my college theory class!

Your result for Which musical mode are you?...

You are Mixolydian Mode

Mixolydian Mode. The darkest of the Major Modes. Characterized by the lowered 7th scale degree.

Your general outlook on life is positive. You see the good in the world and in people, and you cling to the hope that in the end the good will prevail, whatever that means. You feel like in any given situation, the best answer is to just have a good time. You don't like people who take things too seriously. Despite your fun-loving demeanor, you have an introspective side. You have strong opinions but don't particularly like getting into arguments.

Take Which musical mode are you? at HelloQuizzy

For those who don't know, yes, I was a music major.

MS Ride

Friend and knitter Claudia of Claudia's Blog is riding the MS Ride again this year. For those who don't know, my brother has MS so I like to support her. She and her husband ride a tandem which is also near and dear to my heart. Last year, her husband broke his ankle right before the ride and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to go. Fortunately, another knitter/cyclist stepped in and rode captain for her on the only all knitter team in the ride! They also raised the most money of any team so got to wear number 1 for the ride. If you can, follow the link over and give her a couple bucks. We knitters have to stick together! (Oh, and she's giving away prizes!)

BTW, next year, I plan to ride the MS Ride myself!

New Toy

Somebody came down to show me his new toy!

He wanted to know if he could go snorkling in my bathtub.

First Day of the Sale

And it went well! Here we have our first empty shelf.
That's where the organic, naturally colored cotton used to live. Someone bought it all for an afghan. Thank you to everyone who came by! I hope to see many more of you this week. The sale goes on until the 7th! Check the shop site for more info.

Cool Project!

This is the last of the three posts I've been meaning to do so here goes!
A little while ago, my friend Melissa asked me if I could turn this sweater pattern into an afghan pattern. The pattern is either something to do with FDNY or her fiance's family pattern. Maybe she'll tell us which in the comments. Anyway, she wants to make two afghans, one for her dad and one for her soon-to-be inlaws.
It took me a little while to work out the motifs, but eventually, I think I got them.The braids were the easy but the two fancy cables took some time.

The raspberry stitch on the ends was the easiest. I just looked it up online! Then I knit this uber-swatch! I'm glad I did because I found a couple of mistakes in my graphs. Then I wrote up the pattern for Melissa. I usually like graphs for myself but Melissa prefers it written out line by line so that's how I wrote did. I have a new found respect for anyone who edits knitting patterns. Proof-reading that thing gave me a headache!

New Hampshire Sheep & Wool

Another fine time was had at NHS&W this year. Susan couldn't make it this year so I promised her some beautiful pictures of fiber.

Yummy fiber!That's the guy I usually buy fleece from. I never know what I'm going to find! This year's big score was a Dorset fleece. There seemed to be a lot of Dorsets around this year which is interesting because some years you just can't find them. I like it because it makes good socks and is not supposed to felt. That fleece and several others went back to Zeilinger in the trailer. We should see them back here sometime in early August.

By far the coolest thing that happened all day was when Ty and I went to see the alpacas. Now, alpacas have never had any use for me. Whenever I go look at them, they hide at the back of the pen. Not so with Ty. She started talking and suddenly they started humming to her! Look how they are looking at her! They just loved her voice! We went over to another pen and tried it again and that alpaca started humming to her too. I think she's the alpaca whisperer.

More Sock Club Yarn

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I have a bunch of posts in my head and I may just post them all in a big cluster rather than trying to do one a day. Frankly, I'm just not always in a posting mood so I should strike while the iron is hot.

Sooo....

Yesterday I dyed May's sock club yarn. It was another flower inspired yarn, iris this time. All the bearded irises look so great this time of year! I was inspired by the ones that are more blue than purple with that little touch of yellow inside.

Once more I started out dipping the two halves of the yarn. Then adding the highlights in different colors.

Something I didn't notice was that my gloves had a hole in one finger. This, unfortunately, gave me gangrene finger when I was done. I did manage to scrub most of it off. I just look like I've got a dirty finger nail now. Hey, what are you gonna do.

I need to find somewhere new to ride!

I have had it with the bike path! I almost got into a huge accident this morning involving a pack of about ten women runners who felt the need to take up the entire path and a ten-year-old boy on a bike who popped out from behind them trying to pass at the same time I was. I'm still not sure how I managed not to hit that kid!
One of my goals while riding is not to end up in a heap on the ground especially not after having crashed into someone's child. I actually felt safer after I got back onto Mass. Ave!

Gore Place Went Well

Gore Place went very well this year, though it was as hot as I've ever experienced it.

As you can see, I ended up bringing just about everything I could.

Annie and Regina showed up at 6:50pm on Friday and stayed to help pack. They turned what was going to be about a two hour job into one that took about half an hour.

Then they showed up at 8am with their friend Eamon who is 6'4" and able to sling shelves full of yarn around like tinker toys.

Consequently, the booth was set up in record time and the shopping began!We even got an impromptu Morris Dance performance from some guys visiting the booth across the way.

I did actually get out of the booth more than any other year but, thanks to the heat, didn't end up going far. Our booth really was the best place to be.
Thanks to Annie, Regina and Eamon, the booth was broken down, moved back here and the shop put back together by 6pm that night! You guys are the best!!

Off to Gore Place

I'm sitting here waiting for the shop to close so that I can start packing for Gore Place. I can't decide what to take and not take. I just want to bring it all!

Festival Season Begins!

Saturday is the Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival. This is one of my favorites and is the only one I ever take a booth at. The festival is a great time and the thing that makes me the most happy is that you can get there on the #70 bus from Central Square, Cambridge. I love me some public transportation! If you'd like more info on the festival check here.

Anyway, because of this, I dyed 28 pounds of yarn on Monday. This is about twice as much as I dye in a day and eight pounds more than I have ever dyed in a single day by myself.

Here's some of it on the couch waiting to be wound and labelled.

Here's the rest as it is getting put on the shelf. I filled the regular shelf with it and am starting on another.I dyed 22 lbs of sock yarn and 6 lbs of the merino superwash. I had quite a good time and have cooked up several new colorways for everyone's enjoyment.
In other news, I finished the wrap sweater from Big Girl Knits and it is officially my new favorite sweater!

The strap that goes around my back is about three and a half feet long and I have to be really careful not to drag it all over the floor when the sweater is untied!This is my first wrap sweater and though the finish work is fiddly in the extreme, the result is really worth it.

Hope to see everyone at Gore Place. I've got Annie working with me for the whole day and I'm look forward to actually getting out of my booth and seeing more of the festival than the port-o-potties and the Fudge Guy.

Spring has Sprung!

Okay, I'm finally over the tax thing. It took me couple of days, though.
Today, however, I had just about the best bike ride I can ever remember having! I went up the bike path to Bedford and back (about 20 miles). As I was howling down the path at 23 mph on my way back, I just kept thinking "Who's legs are these?!" Sending all my money to the IRS aside, I'm having a wonderful spring. I feel healthy and energetic for the first time in a long time and I'm really, really enjoying it!
Back to knitting content in my next post. Promise.

Ugh.

I just sent aaalll my money to the IRS and am now resisting the urge to spend the rest of the day on the couch with a cold towel on my head.

Things are going slow

on the blue sweater. This is partly because the finish work in this thing is a pain in the ass. I have to knit the edging then sew it on. Seriously, why didn't I just knit it begin with, pick up and shortrow? I'll never know.
That isn't the main problem, though. The big problem here is that I've gotten sucked into reading the Twilight series and I Can't. Put. It. Down.
I know. I've crossed over to the dark side. But I just can't stop! It's like eating candy without getting fat!

Doesn't Look Like Much Now

but it's my next sweater. This is the other sweater I've been meaning to get done. It looks kind of purple here but is really very blue. I was originally going to make myself an Eris sweater but after I made my sister's sweater, I decided that once through that pattern was enough. This is another one from Big Girl Knits called Lift and Seperate. It is my first time making myself a wrap sweater. I'll be interested to see how I like it.

In other news, I dyed the Sock Club March yarn yesterday and had a lot of fun doing it. I've gotten more and more into painting my yarns lately. I feel like it gives me a lot more control of where the dye goes and the yarn isn't so wet afterwards. The inspiration was yellow tulips and blue sky.

I used two shades of yellow and two shades of green as well as the blue of the sky and the dark brown at the base of the tulip.It was a lot of fun and I'm very pleased with the results. I'm looking forward to knitting some of it up!