More catching up and a Panera review

Posted on January 6, 2014 by glenderella

Some more catching up in the New Year. Hopefully, I will get back to blogging more regularly, and these entries will be a little more coherent, rather than inspired by my pictures and what I can remember.

I actually finished a project this weekend, a hat for my niece. Will wait until she receives it to post pictures. I was developing a pattern from a picture, and it is not quite exact, but hopefully she (and her mom) will like it. If I make another one, I will have a better idea of how to do it.

Here are some cinnamon rolls I made this fall – it is strange for me to make cinnamon rolls because I grew up eating caramel rolls and calling them cinnamon rolls. But the DH prefers cinnamon rolls, so I usually make them. Using the Speedy Roll dough recipe.

I also ate at Panera bread this fall, specifically to try their seasonal menu items. Of course, then I neglected to get this posted while they were still available. But maybe they will bring these back. The Rigatoni San Marzano pasta – this was OK. The tomatoes in the sauce were nice, the peas were pretty pointless. The sausage in the sauce was good. Panera does a good job of cooking the pasta al dente, at least at the Panera shops I have been to. The turkey harvest wheatberry salad was also tasty, the wheat berries were a little soggy but I liked the vinaigrette.

Rigatoni San Marzano pasta – Panera Bread

Wheat berry salad, Panera

Quick dinner idea: roll up ham and cheese in crescent rolls and back. The DH will eat just about anything rolled up in a crescent roll. (Well, so will I.) Easy dinner for work nights, with a green salad or vegetable.

Ham and Cheese Crescent Roll-Ups

Tried a new place in Westminster, Goody’s Eatery, for breakfast. Two thumbs up! Nice decor, friendly staff, good food. I had the Huevos Garcia Hashbrowns, green peppers and onions, PKWY green chile, melted cheddar jack, two eggs over easy.

Goody’s Eatery – Huevos Farcia

Had a day off from work so ate at Taigun for lunch – on of my favorite places but not open for lunch on Saturdays. This was one of their lunch combinations, it was good. Not as good as on-the-coast sushi, but good. I really should stick to rolls in the middle of the country. /

Sushi Lunch, Taigun, Broomfield, Colo.

And this is the duck ramen at Uncle – finally got to go there with my friend E. We had the brussels sprouts for an appetizer, which were amazing. If I could figure out how to make those we would be having brussels sprouts once a week. Well, I would be having them, at least…..

Duck Ramen, Uncle, Denver

Tomorrow: Current projects!

Sewing for the Folsom Community Bazaar – 2013

Posted on January 3, 2014 by glenderella

Well, my oldest niece thinks that one of my New Year’s resolutions should be to blog more often, so here we go.

Back in October, I made my annual trek to Mom and Dad’s ranch near Hermosa, SD, for the annual Community Club Bazaar. Well, unfortunately, the Bazaar was derailed by the Atlas blizzard. Instead of a fun community get-together, we had rain, freezing rain, high winds, and then a true blizzard. Many, many neighbors lost cattle in this storm. At the ranch, we were without power for five days and phone for four days. But all that gets an entry of its own, later.

Here are the things that I made for the Bazaar! Some of them ended up being sold at the (postponed and modified) Bazaar, while some of them we donated to the Soup and Pie supper at my Mom’s church. I did forget to take a picture of the afghan – this was a crocheted afghan that someone else started, and then passed on to a knitting friend of mine who wasn’t really interested in finishing it, so she passed it on to me, and I finished it and donated it to the Bazaar, where it surprised us all by selling for $95! I didn’t really care for the yarn or the color, so that was a great surprise for me – I guess if we all had the same taste, the world would be a very boring place. I found a picture showing the afghan on my phone!

Lustrous yarn afghan

Counting by Fives Quilt for Folsom Community Bazaar

This quilt started out as something else entirely. I originally intended it to be similar to this “Field of Flowers” quilt – but then I decided that there was no way I was going to get it done in time for the Bazaar. So I hopped on Pinterest and found “Counting by Fives” – which seemed more possible.

Then I had a color conundrum. I started this quilt before taking my color class. Now I realized I had some very high contrast strips in there, while most of the other strips were about the same value. So I posted on Facebook and got feedback from my friends, most of whom voted that I go with the more blended values. So that required some ripping out. I think it required some fabric purchases as well (I always MEAN to make scrappy quilts, but really, it takes A LOT of fabric to make a quilt.)

Too much contrast in some strips

Less contrast, looks better, I think

The only fabric I could find that worked with all the other fabrics as a background was lavender. This was going to be a decidedly girly, Easter-y quilt.

After getting the top sewn, I still had to quilt it. I do have a New Joy quilting frame, and a Juki TL98E machine, so, in theory, this should go quickly? Well, not if you have to rip out a full five rows because your tension on the back isn’t so good. Now I have “new needle” on the check list for each time I start quilting a quilt. I did make a great discovery, I love Aurofil thread, and will be using that to quilt my quilts unless I find something more miraculous. It worked really well. The only problem is that the quilt store that carries it in the Denver area is WAAAAAY down south.

And of course there were Barbie doll dresses. One of these got donated to the Soup and Pie supper rather than the Bazaar, since we weren’t sure the Bazaar would be re-scheduled.

Western-themed receiving blankets and burp cloths. Again, I think one of these went to the Soup and Pie supper.

Horse pillowcases and crocheted potholders. The pillowcases went to the Soup and Pie supper, I already have fabric to make new ones for the Bazaar next year. My second-oldest niece also got a set of these for her birthday.

That’s all for now, more catching up on sewing/crafting in a few days!

And a few more projects

Posted on May 16, 2013 by glenderella

It occurred to me to keep a running list on a sidebar of current projects but the very thought of that also kind of makes my head hurt. Because my favorite part of projects is starting a new one. We will see, maybe it would be a wake-up call for me and help me focus. HA HA HA HA! I think we all know better than that.

My niece prompted me to put up pictures of the horse pillowcases I made for her younger sister. I actually made four pillowcases, two for T. for her birthday, and then I thought as long as I was making two, might as well make four, so I made two for the Folsom Bazaar (October) as well. I used the method here at The Twiddletails Blog, it was the first time for me to use French seams, so I learned something as well. These were fun! If any more nieces and nephews want fun pillowcases, I am ready to go!

I am ALWAYS working on at least one pair of these potholders (method at Mielke’s Fiber Arts, LLC). Grandma Clarice used to make these, and they are great, thick potholders. I have used cotton yarn, acrylic, double thickness of acrylic, they all work, just create different textures and thicknesses. These are both cotton. I vary the size of the initial chain depending on the thickness of the yarn. I think I can say that almost everyone who has received a pair of these thinks they are great. They are very durable. Unless you melt them on a burner (don’t ask).

These are some I made for a Miss South Dakota fundraiser, in the school colors of South Dakota State University and University of Nebraska (OR University of South Dakota.)

Here is the second afghan in the works for baby niece L. This pattern is a free pattern from Bizzy Crochet: Faeries Sampler. It is beautiful, but lots of errata, and you should read her blog entry and the comments on it too to pick up some further errata. I still have several rows to go.

I swore I wasn’t going to do Camp Loopy again but my resistance is weak. I have noticed that I like to purchase knitting books, but I don’t actually knit patterns from them very often. So I have made myself a mental promise not to buy another book until I knit a pattern out of one of my existing books. So I am going to use Camp Loopy for that purpose. I am going to use this to knit the Lifted Stitch Scarf by Carol Scott from the Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders book, using this yarn, Desert Vista Dyeworks – Viso Self-Striping in the colorway Spumoni (right). Of course, this is going to have the result of making me want to eat Spumoni. I spend a lot of time in a car in June, going to various meetings, (not driving!), so I think this will be a good car project. I hope. And I will be on the Eastern Plains of Colorado, where Spumoni sources are few and far between, so perhaps that will be safe.

With the yarn on the left, Lorna’s Laces – Shepherd Worsted, colorway River, I am going to make the Twisted Spiral Neckscarf by Judy Warde, from the book One-Skein Wonders, Yarn Shop Favorites. (Purchased both of these from Loopy Ewe, which is about 2 miles from my workplace, which is a dangerous thing.) So that will be another pattern from a book! That means I can buy two new books, correct? But wait, there’s more. I also bought this teal Kid Seta Noir (at Knit Knack), to make the Lace Spiral Scarf by Gail Owens, from Designer One-Skein Wonders.

This is NOT going to be a good car project, as there are yarn-overs, and then knitting into the yarn-overs with this tiny, tiny yarn, and somewhat larger needles to make it lacy, so I am anticipating this will be a challenge.

So I have three projects from three different books! That should mean I get to buy three more books, yes? Well, maybe I should stipulate that I should knit three patterns from books to buy a new book. Or two? Or five? It is hard when you are grown-up and have to make up your own rules. I have problems with how many popsicles I am allowed to have each day as well.

And here is a picture of a little cat, who looks so innocent, but went on, later in the night, to knock over the very nice flower arrangement that Ken got me, spilling water all over the table, narrowly missing the netbook computer. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

After a long hiatus….

Posted on May 15, 2013 by glenderella

Ok! I am back! Sorry it has been so long, life has been crazy. But I must remember that it is good therapy to write on the blog! What have I been up to, you may ask. Well, since the Las Vegas trip, I have been in San Francisco, Washington, DC, and Orlando for work as well as some in-state trips, and in South Dakota to be a God-parent to my newest nephew! There were some great restaurants on some of those trips, and I will share those with you over the next few days.

I have also been busy sewing/crocheting/knitting/crafting when I can. With two new nephews and one new niece in the last 5 months, I have been busy. I am glad to say that they each have a crocheted afghan, although I am working on another one for baby L., the youngest, in colors more suitable to her nursery. Then I will get started on the pieced quilts for each of them.

I have no pictures of Nephew O’s blanket from December. Asking his mother to send me some. Sometimes when I get in a tizzy to mail things, I forget to document properly. He also got some “Magic Slippers” baby booties, but again, no picture.

Nephew B received the “November” baby afghan from from the Leisure Arts booklet “A Year of Baby Afghans.” I did this one as a Camp Loopy project last summer, so you may recognize it. I love this afghan, it goes together very quickly, no seaming, and looks lovely.

He ALSO got Magic Slippers booties, with a slight modification and addition of the ribbing/sock top which apparently makes them stay on better. “Camo” colored yarn, which was a fortuitous donation from my friend Judy, when I was looking for sock yarn for this very purpose.

Baby L., born March 1, received the Heirloom Baby Blanket (Coats and Clark, free pattern) – this is the one that nearly drove me crazy. All kinds of errata, but none of it on the original pattern page. You have to dig around Ravelry to find it. Beautiful afghan, though. And she gets a one-of-a-kind because I am never doing THAT again. Plus, that one really isn’t in her nursery colors, so I am working on another one for her. That is the bonus she gets for being the only girl in the latest batch of babies!

She also got some booties (notice Auntie G. running out of yarn and winging it):

And…other than wrapping up baby afghans and mailing them off, what else have I been doing? I FINALLY finished the #359 Nancy One Skein Shrugigan by Lisa Limber, which I believe I started in June 2010. This was a good airplane knit, but then I ran out of yarn, and had to search for yarn in the same dye lot (after tearing my studio apart, of course, being certain I had purchased enough) (apparently I hadn’t). I made it a bit longer than the pattern suggested, and with a different yarn, so that was probably the problem. I LOVE how it turned out, I have worn it several times already, and get compliments on it.

And knitting and crocheting isn’t all there is to life, right?

So JoAnn Fabric had a small flannel sale. These are all destined to be made into Auntie G.’s famous receiving blankets. Some of this has already been made into receiving blankets. I was VERY excited to find the camouflage flannel, and then proceeded to buy a bolt of it at the next store (that was all that I could find within a reasonable radius….) And I was just looking for fish flannel this morning, and I see I have some right there. BONUS!

I decided to do some further color work, and make some mug rugs, foundation strip-piecing. I like how the red/orange one turned out (not quilted yet, though.) I call this one Mango Salsa.

I am also making a brown/white/green one which is supposed to be called “Chocolate Mint,” and already I don’t like it as much as this one. Still in progress, no picture yet.

Andddddd…. last but not least, I always have a pair of crochet potholders going. I was working on one when we went to see the Lady Jackrabbits play in the Division I Tournament in Boulder. The chicken purse approves.

Let me tell you, you could smuggle things into places in the chicken purse, because the chicken purse flummoxes the security guys. They were pretty much stunned.

Quilting, Knitting, Crabs and Owls

Posted on November 21, 2012 by glenderella

Look at this marvelous octopus my friend K. crocheted for me! I love him! I put him on the TV stand, right in front of the cable box, so he had to get moved a little bit. I think he makes a lovely centerpiece.

When I saw my friend E. had a pink solar crab, I immediately had to have one. I am pretty sure this is the website I ordered from. It had to come all the way from China. I did order three, so I gave two away to my nieces as birthday gifts. Everyone needs a happy, solar waving crab. His arms wave and his eye stalks go up and down.

So when I saw the happy head-turning owl, I had to have him too. I found him at Zandbroz in Sioux Falls.

His head turns when it is light. But only sporadically in the room light. I am trying to decide which of these to affix to my dashboard. Both seems like it might be a little too much.

Besides my other projects, I am allowing myself to be randomly distracted by making pink and white quilt blocks. For what? I have no idea. But now I have purchased more pink fabric. Kind of defeats the purpose of being scrappy.

This is the new fabric, from The Quilt Store. Luscious, isn’t it?

The top for my one niece’s pieced baby quilt is done! Look at that fancy border! Look at all of those little pieces! Looks nifty, but NEVER AGAIN! She is getting a one-of-a-kind.

I made this quilt entirely from a pattern in a book, which is kind of unusual for me. Usually I wing it in one way or another, adding or subtracting.

This is my mom’s sock – all repaired. After I re-knit the heel incorrectly about 3 times. Apparently I need to knit more socks so I know what I am doing. It had a giant hole in the heel, so I ripped out the whole heel and leg (just a shorty, so no big deal) and re-knit. It would have been done in a jiffy if I hadn’t tried to knit a top-down heel on it instead of a toe-up heel. No wonder it wouldn’t work. Then I knit a couple of different toe-up heels, trying to figure out the correct one. OF COURSE it wasn’t one from the book that the pattern was from. That would be WAAAAAY to obvious.

You can’t even really tell in the picture where the old yarn starts and the new begins. You can tell in person, but it will be less noticeable after a few washes.

I am going to make some more denim potholders, for my Mom this time. She likes owls and mushrooms. It is quite a quest right now to find realistic looking owls and mushrooms, there are a lot of cutesy, cartoony ones, which is not what I wanted. I think this will work.

And that is a brief summary of SOME of the projects I am working on right now. Some of them are presents, so they are SECRET. Tune in later to see them. Maybe after Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving, I will be back on Tuesday if not sooner!

Friday! And food and crafting stuff

Posted on November 16, 2012 by glenderella

I am continuing to clean up by writing about the photos hanging around on my phone and hard drive – hmmm, lots of them are of food, go figure.

You might think these look like wonderful delightful fried dumplings, but you would be wrong. They were some of the worst dumplings I have ever had. Sad day. I will be avoiding China Wok on Harmony in Fort Collins in the future.

Same thing for the “Special” wonton soup, unfortunately.

I make a crocheted baby afghan, a pieced quilt, and an embroidered quilt for each of my nieces and nephews when they are born (or, hopefully, shortly thereafter, although there is a five-year old who will be getting her embroidered quilt for Christmas this year….). I also offer repair service on these items if they are repairable. This is the latest from my nephew C., age 7.

This was pretty easy to fix.

This one, I am not sure about. It is actually HALF of an afghan I made him (he got two, because he was allergic to one of the yarns in the first one, but he is over that now) – this aghan kept growing each time it got washed, so I cut it in half and finished the edges so he could have two. This one half is having a problem. I am working on unraveling the tangle right now. Considering I don’t even remember which pattern I used to make this one, I may not be able to have it repaired by Christmas.

This is the new pumpkin pie bagel from Panera. Apparently this is a seasonal thing.

Their website describes it as: Pumpkin Pie Bagel NEW! Freshly baked bagel featuring pumpkin and spice with a crumb topping and cinnamon sugar mixture, sprinkled with powdered sugar

I thought I might like it because I love the Cinnamon Crunch bagel (which is the highest in calories of all of their bagels, oy vey). Also – what is the point of Cheesecake flavored cream cheese? I tried it because it was also new, but HUH??? It has some brown bits in it that are supposed to be cinnamony-graham cracker crust flavor, I believe. I will stick with my honey walnut from now on. It was not bad, but not better than the Cinnamon Crunch.

It took me forever to remember where I ate the food in this next photo. It is a good thing that my phone puts a date automatically in the photo properties.

This is a crab omelet (or maybe lobster?) with brie cheese and avocado at the Le Peep near my house. I should learn my lesson, I like over-easy eggs or breakfast. But every now and then I get a wild hair and try something else. This was fine, better with the Hollandaise sauce for dipping. The toast was really QUITE well-done enough for me, I really prefer undercooked toast, I might have to start specifying that.

This was the morning I was to leave for a trip to Houston, and the fact that I had TIME to go out for breakfast bodes well for where my head was when I was packing, but that is another entry……

Crafty Friday

Posted on August 10, 2012 by glenderella

Well, to give you some relief from the food pictures this week, and the food pictures yet to come….

The last block of the bunny quilt. Now to get it assembled and quilted, hopefully by niece’s birthday in October.

The first block of the Vortex Afghan. This is supposed to measure 17 inches, and mine measures 24 inches. Apparently I should be using a smaller hook. Oh well, not turning back now. This might be a 4-block baby blanket, not a 6 block one. These colors also look pretty scary in this picture, they are not that bad, really.

And two lazy cats, sleeping on the afghan, when I have perfectly lovely rugs/blankets/etc. on the arms of the couch for them. Yes, they do apparently know they look picturesque.

This is my list of things I am interested in, for the IA State Fair. I am not saying I am going to eat all of these things, I am saying I am interested in them….

German chocolate funnel cake, and carrot and blue sapphire funnel cakes, Chocolate Lava Cake, Deep-Fried Ho-Ho, Deep-Fried Cupcake, Mini Donuts, Apple slush, Fried Butter, FriedPineapple, Fried candy bars, pickles, twinkies, and oreos Chocolate-Covered Frozen S’more, Deep Fried Cheesecake Covered in Chocolate

Lamb sandwich, Beef Sundae, Breakfast Lamb Sausage (bratwurst), Jennie grinder, Gizmo italian beef, Cheese Curds, Crescenti, Bacon Wrapped Eggs, egg cooked in a muffin tin wrapped in bacon and covered with cheese,Turkey Tenderloin Sandwich

On A Stick: Double Bacon Corn Dogs, Deep-fried Pickle Dawg – A quarter slice kosher dill, covered in cream cheese, wrapped in ham or pastrami, dipped in batter and deep fried, Dutch Letter, Fried Pineapple on a stick (Fresh pineapple dipped in funnel cake batter and deep fried), Hot bologna on a stick, Cornbrat (bratwurst dipped in corndog batter), Meatless corn dog/fried veggies, Veggie table, Cheese On A Stick, Pastries – Dutch Letters

Spokane Day 1 – A Crochet Emergency

Posted on July 6, 2012 by glenderella

As I started writing this, I was flying along merrily in the airplane, with no crocheting to do. Hoping against hope there would be a knitting store near the hotel where I could obtain a size H crochet hook. Apparently I was not meant to get anything done on this trip after all. Except write up some advance blog entries, so I guess that is OK.

I left the house in plenty of time to go to one of my favorite greasy spoons and have breakfast. At breakfast I realized I didn’t pack any knitting or crocheting for the plane, and I really needed to work on my Camp Loopy crochet baby blanket, so I went home and got it. And I am sure I got the hook, but somewhere along the line, it slipped out one of the holes at the top of the bag. I was sure there was still a possibility it was in my carry-on somewhere, I tore it apart to the best of my ability but a thorough search is not as possible in an airplane seat. So I was writing instead. If I just read my books, I would be done with both of them before we landed in Spokane and then I would have to buy a new one for the trip home.

I arrived at the hotel, tore my carry-on apart, and no crochet hook. So I got on Google and found a really nice yarn store not too far away (1.6 miles according to mapquest) and asked my friend and board member S. if she wanted to take a walk. I did warn her how far it was. It was relatively cool here in Spokane compared to how hot it has been in Colorado, so off we went. Well, we had to divert a little because one of the bridges Mapquest had us crossing was cars only, but it wasn’t too bad. It seemed a lot longer than 1.6 miles however. Eventually, though, we arrived at Paradise Fibers. I had called them to make sure they were open. They had apparently had a run on size H crochet hooks, however, and we kind of had to scour the store – all of the typical ones were depleted. They were very helpful in the search. Finally, we found one that was usually used for Tunisian crochet, but I thought it looked a little big, so I also picked up a size G. Right before I was ready to check out, though, S. found a “Reflections Crochet Gift Set” which contained a H hook, so I decided to get that. As well as a lovely lavender Lantern Moon project bag, and a nice skein of red violet and green Frolicking Feet by Done Roving Yarns “Berry Bush” which I will use to make the Wingspan Shawl as soon as I have a few other projects done. So I guess I have my Spokane souvenirs.

This store is staffed almost entirely by young, good-looking men. Kind of encourages you to come in and visit rather than shop on the internet.

So this is where it gets really crazy. We asked one of the guys how we should get back to the falls on the river – he said he would get us a map, and then he came back and said, “You know what, it is a long way, why don’t I just give you a ride?” First he took us upstairs to the break room and let us have a glass of water, which was welcomed, and then he drove us to the riverside park. What kind of amazing customer service is that? His name was Travis and he is one of the owners of the store. I will be a loyal customer from now on, I can tell you that.

Now if my nieces are reading this: NEVER ACCEPT RIDES FROM STRANGERS. But if you are my age, accepting a ride from a yarn store owner is probably pretty safe.

More next time about our adventures at the park (shaved ice! Tram!) and our dinner that night.

Happy 4th of July

Posted on July 4, 2012 by glenderella

My office took Monday the 2nd off so we would have a long weekend, so we are actually working today. I expect it to be a very quiet day with minimal phone calls and emails, so perhaps I can get MUCH done!

More catching up?

Oh, what did I do with the rest of my life in June?

I forgot a few little incident/anecdotes from early in the month. I went back and checked through my Facebook page, that helps.

From early in the month: Ken said, “By the way, nice drawing this morning.” I had drawn him an arrow on a paper towel to point out the cat barf on the kitchen rug. The barf kind of matched the rug so I barely saw it in time and didn’t want him to step in it. It is not every morning that I am coherent enough to draw an arrow. I wasn’t going to clean up the cat barf, but I didn’t want him to step in it.

Also:

The TSA lady at the Bozeman airport needed to pat down my collarbone area because of sequins on my shirt the security scan found alarming. She asked me if I had any bruises around my neck (presumably so she wouldn’t hurt me.) I said, “Nope, no recent vampire bites either.” Someday I am going to get into big trouble at an airport, I just know it.

And, I am glad to report that we only had BBQ beef on a bun ONCE during all of the meetings out in the fields. That was partially due to some planning on my part, but part luck. We did have various other kinds of barbecue, such as brisket, and pulled pork sandwiches (but sliced, not sauced) but those were an excellent and a welcome variation. The last meal of the trip was a Mexican buffet which was quite good, excellent green chile. And I thought it was hot while we were out there (these meetings were all outside) but it got much hotter after that week – so I am grateful it was only in the 80s and 90s that week, not the 100s like the following week. It was, however, very windy, and each night I left a significant of Colorado dust in the bathtub, especially since I was rigorous about re-coating myself with sunscreen, so the dust had something to stick to.

I went out shopping yesterday for setting fabric for the bunny rabbit embroidered quilt. Was all set to get purple and pink, because I know pink is one of the niece’s favorite colors. Then I happened upon some carrot fabric – how perfect is that for a bunny quilt? So I hope she likes it. This quilt was meant to be done when she was a baby, and she is going to get it when she turns 5 in October, so I am making it into more of a twin size quilt. That is what I get for picking a quilt with 12 blocks, the next one will have six blocks, which is what I typically do. The Sewing Circle, a quilting store in Fort Collins, was having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free special, so by buying two yards of each of the bunny fabrics, then I got 2 yards of strawberry fabric for free. Not sure what I am going to do with it yet, but I am building quite a collection of strawberry fabric.

My poor garden is about fried. It did not need record setting heat in June. My little pumpkin plants have flowers on them, but the plants are so tiny, I doubt they are going to do anything. Only about 3 little lettuce plants came up. I am tempted to turn the top part of the garden into just peonies, bleeding hearts, and herbs. Trying to get more herbs that will re-seed themselves or just come back from the roots. Thyme and mint doing pretty well at it. Cilantro re-seeds itself and then bolts almost immediately. Haven’t been able to get dill started. Tried to move the horseradish and chives, and they just died instead.

I Return from Sabbatical

Posted on July 2, 2012 by glenderella

I have decided that every month of June shapes up like this one, I will pretty much declare myself to be on sabbatical and just post occasionally when I can. I was on travel so much, and pretty much frazzled when I WAS at home or in the office.

So: catching up on things, mostly my self-imposed or self-caused deadlines. I am done with the November bunny block, and have started on the December one. I had hoped to have that one done by tonight but other things got in the way. Plus I prefer that there be something interesting on TV to listen to while I embroider. Could have maybe finished it if we had stayed home to watch the golf tournament, but we went to the movies to see Men in Black Three instead, which was very good, way better than the 2nd one and almost as good as the 1st one.

Here is the November one. It is kind of disturbing that a herbivore is cooking up another herbivore for Thanksgiving dinner, but I guess these aren’t realistic blocks, after all the rabbit IS wearing an apron.

I also got my Color Affection Shawl done in time for the Camp Loopy (online summer knitting camp, yes I know I am nuts) deadline, and got it posted. It still needs blocking, and I have some loops that got pulled and need to be worked back in evenly, but it is done. I am not completely happy with the shape right now, but I think blocking will help that.

For my next project, I am going to crochet a baby blanket. I am going to use my “default” pattern that I use when I need a baby blanked quickly for a gift. That is not the case this time, but I do need a project that I can get done in a month and still stay sane. And we recently learned that we are going to have a new niece or nephew in late December or early January, so this will be something I can have done in advance. If I get it done in time I will enter it in the Boulder County Fair as well.

I also got in some work this weekend on the pieced quilt for the niece that just turned one. Would like to get that one done and quilted and entered in the fair, and then sent to her. I need to catch up on the baby quilts if there is going to be another baby!

My office decided to take Monday off instead of the actual 4th, so we have a three-day weekend. I am going to spend the day 1) Getting Leo the cat shaved for the summer, 2) getting the piano tuned, and 3) running errands and hopefully getting some sewing/embroidery/knitting done.

Will report on the garden and other projects later this week. Also, expect pictures of an angry but short-haired cat.

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glenderella

Knitting, crocheting and burning down the kitchen.

Category Archives: Crafting