Thursday, March 13, 2008

Another UFO finished


In my quest to pack stuff up instead of making a bigger mess in the loft, I decided to finish up my UFO's and I have quite a few. Yesterday's UFO was an embroidered throw that I started at Christmas. Unfortunately the machine messed up, jumped around and totally ruined the design I was doing. I tossed it aside and grabbed another throw because it was a Christmas present for my BIL. Yesterday I sat and picked out as many stitches as I could from the thing. I actually ended up with a couple little holes and some very thin fabric in places but I was pretty sure that the proper embroidery design could hide the flaws and correct the mistake so I proceeded. After getting out as much thread as I could I hooped it up, making sure the old remains were centered in the hoop. I figured, even if I didn't succeed, I could cut the corner off the throw and somehow make lemonaid out of the lemon. I'm thrilled with the results. You can see a bit of the old design (blue) between the girls' legs but if you look close at it, it looks like flowers. WHEW! Throw saved!!! and I get my own Hummel design on one of the great throws I bought at Tuesday Morning last year. I think I was the only one who didn't get one in my effort to make everyone a present. Hummm, I wonder if they still have those throws? Never mind...everyone I know has one now, including me. I extremely glad that it was one of those nice green throws, its my favorite color.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

2 Evenings work, I'm almost done






Here it is, I'm almost finished with the 2nd pot in my Felted Foursome, I will probably sit down today and finish that one and start the 3rd tonight.


Meanwhile, during the day I refinished my bay window that my dogs sat in every day as they watched the world go by. They scratched the wood up quite a bit so I decided to sand it and give it a couple coats of satin poly. I think it looks spectacular.



The more I fix things in this house the more I think if it doesn't sell....I don't care !



BTW, the huge plant in the window is my Aechmea, a bromelaide. These plants have a beautiful flower when you buy them, the flower stays for quite a long while and then finally dies. But the coolest thing about a bromelaide is that they put out "Pups"...Suckers that grow up from the base of the plants that can be detached and inserted in small pots to grow into a brand new plant. There's all sorts of varieties of these plants and my sister-in-law and I have been nuts about them now for a few years. Both of us haven't had any luck with our Pups but this one is VERY hopeful.

Today I'm going up to the loft to start emptying the cupboards "under the eaves" on the far side. I did the first side a couple days ago and sent Natalie 50 lbs of yarn that I found under there. I should also say that 2 big huge bags of yarn went to the garbage bin because it was dusty and dirty and very old. Natalie is getting the best of the best and I have told her to store what she doesn't want in her basement so I can retrieve it. Included are 2 cones of Denys Brunton Magicolor. I hope she doesn't want it because it makes fantastic socks and of course, we all know how great it is when fair isle'd. (is that a word?)


Monday, March 10, 2008

Continuing 2/17's Project, the Felted Foursome

I have not forgotten the Cat Bordhi Felted Foursome. In spite of the fact that I'm still trying to pack extra yarn and stuff for the impending move I have been knitting in the evening and I took the Felted Foursome with me to the Mill where we demo knitting or spinning or weaving or whatever our current project is. I had my handle done and proceeded to knit 4 separate parts which I wasn't sure about. When I got home I tossed it in the knitting basket and forgot about it for a week. That was a mistake. Yesterday I picked it up again and couldn't figure out where I was on the pattern. I ended up taking out waste yarn and then having to rewind the whole thing and start over. Let me warn you, rewinding isn't all that easy with this project.

In the beginning of this pattern Cat says: "You may find yourself a little disoriented until you've gone far enough to see what you're making, but fear not; keep knitting and soon you shall have your very own Felted Foursome" She's right, I now know what's happening and I'm anxious to finish this magical thing. Yup---I said Magical Thing...it truly is as Magical as she says it is. Hats off to Cat Bordhi for making hand knitting so much fun!!!


Look at the picture. Can you see the 4 separate parts that will soon be 4 pots? And of course, the MCO (mobius cast on) handle in the middle. AWESOME!!!! I can't wait to finish it.