One Down...

Le Before and le after. I don't know why I always procrastinate so much over these home dec projects. It took exactly one afternoon to transform six metres of fabric (which had been aging and developing in the stash for oh, NINE YEARS) into this valance. And it looks good! And it was easy sewing, once I got off my keester, to (cliche alert) just do it.

The next trick is to complete the project. There are six dining room chairs with no seats, just air. That needs to be remedied in the next couple weeks. I called friends last night to issue the official Thanksgiving invite. So the pressure is on.

We spent the entire weekend laughing about this. There was an accompanying photo of the cat staring dourly at the camera, as cats do. "I'm in France and you're not." Of course he's at a freight depot of some sort, not sipping absinthe at a cafe in Montmartre, but I'm sure it's all the same to him. And how would the owners get the cat back? I'm afraid that if that were our cat, it would be a salute, a wave, and a wistful buh-bye. Much speculating around here on what it would take to entice Boris into a packing container headed for, maybe Poland?

Tweedy

Trekking XXL sock yarn bought in La Crosse. Very fun tweedy effects, but this is fine yarn and there will be a lot of knitting in this little project. Looking ahead, I'm anxious to get on with my Lorna's Laces handpainted yarn sock projects--I found a FREE pattern that will use the handpaint pattern to excellent effect.

But I'm getting ahead of myself in a major way. What really lies ahead for me today is laundry and making that damn valance for my dining room. And some cooking. I have a majority of the family here today and feel honor-bound to Put a Decent Meal on the Table.

Warm Welcomes

I spent a good chunk of this week in La Crosse, Wisconsin, at a library conference. I took knitting along, of course, figuring to have plenty of spare time moldering away in my hotel room in the evenings. And a good thing I brought SOMETHING to do—the TV was dying, sputtering out only a dim picture and an equally dim array of channels.

Sometimes the universe sends a gift: I was amazed at the harmonic convergence of knittery that made the last three days almost as much about fiber as about books. As the universe always says, “Who knew?”

I discovered downtown La Crosse is home to a shop called Follow Your Heart, devoted half to quilting and half to knitting. Walking distance! I checked it out during a conference break, and was thrilled to discover that Wednesday evening was to be Open Knitting Night. So, after Wednesday evening’s convention keynote address (CBS’s Martha Teichner. And was she great...), I schlepped myself and my project basket over to the shop and was warmly welcomed by Linda Sherony, and about a dozen other knitters. There were at least three other librarians there already, and at least three or four more stopped in throughout the evening.

Linda and her regulars made us visitors feel very welcome. And the regulars are quite a group: one is preparing to travel to Argentina and another was telling about her adventures appearing on a DIY network knitting show. Interesting people and good conversation. What more could a few bookish strangers hope for on a chilly October night in a strange town? Thanks guys!
Linda Sherony doles out the welcomes and the knitting advice.

La Crosse area knitters convene and converse.

The library conference held its knitty bits too. One workshop was all about organizing knitting groups in library settings. It was absolutely standing room only, with five or six very enthusiastic presenters talking about kids’ groups (Four year olds!), teen groups, and intergenerational groups. Knitters all. A good portion of the crowd knit through the entire program.

The Knitting Librarian Program Presenters. Amy Reed of Deerfield, WI, center above, came to the Open Knitting at Follow Your Heart, too.

I’m happy to say that I finished one pair of socks, began another, and got another inch or so into the Wallaby sweater.

Professional enrichment and personal fulfillment. It’s been a good week.

Heading Out

Off to a state library conference this week. Back Friday. Wonder if there are any good yarn shops in La Crosse...?

Tiny Steps

It seems that my time for creating has shrunk to nothing since I started working full-time this past June. It's so hard to cram everrything I want to accomplish into one 24-hour span. But I go on trying and every small victory is, well, a small victory.

This weekend I managed to get all my gear put away from the Wildcat retreat, which was in mid-September, for godsakes. Sewing machine back in its cabinet, tools and devices stashed back where they belong, and two--count 'em--TWO project boxes cleared out. It's ridiculous, but I actually felt like I had accomplished something.

I tend to procrastinate on home dec projects. We repainted the dining room this past summer and a valance needs to be made. (Thanksgiving is coming...) I actually got the panels cut out for it last night. The valance will be made from fabric I bought in Paris nine years ago--a sprightly polished cotton in a Quimper-like print. Rocket science it ain't--just a short valance. But the way I have put off this job... You would think it was some huge and complicated monster of drapery. With luck, this project will be completed next weekend.

This week upcoming, I'll be gone for three days to a library conference in LaCrosse. Figures. Just when I get rolling in the studio, life takes me away from it all.

Retail Therapy

Retail therapy Saturday at Mayfair with Jane. Girly stuff. We browsed through the new Crate and Barrel, spent time at JJill, oohed and ahhed at Sephora, hit Field's and the bookstore, stopping to restore ourselves with Chinese food along the way. Just what the doctor ordered.

Today is rainy and it seems like a good day for Getting Things Done. And boy, do I have a list. The Wallaby sweater is about three inches in, and I have a pair of socks within shouting distance of being done. But the studio is calling me today--I haven't put away my sewing machine and all the other accoutrements since returning from Wildcat, what is it now--a MONTH ago? That's weighing down on me. And there's other household stuff. And there will be a round trip to Milwaukee as Will needs a ride--his car is sick.

Time to get going on it all.

Midweek Doldrums

Kind of frenzied workdays this week. We're getting down to the last few days of the Polaris server, and it's a mad dash to extract and preserve as much information as possible before lovely Polaris is no more. How much will I miss it? Let me count the ways.

But I can see that eyes are beginning to glaze over. So we'll leave the topic of Polaris for the time being and get on to the scintillating topic of genealogy.

Last night, one of the nice ladies from the French Canadian Genealogical group, who has taken me under her protection, met me over at the LDS family Research center and showed me the ropes. What a treasure trove of inforamtion and possibilities for the genealogically-minded! As it was, she guided me to some successes as I begin to dig into a whole nother family.

That's a snoozer for anyone not into research. I know.

Fiber Content
None. And I'll be lucky to even get a look at a knitting needle tonight too. But the weekend is coming.

Library Book Sale!

All sorts of goodies to be had dirt cheap. Here's my haul so far. Note my Librarian Action Figure looking down approvingly.

And we also have items like this. A nice empowering read to share with a favorite little girl.

Friends Forever

We shared a very tumultuous job environment a decade ago, and the ensuing years have taken us in directions that sometimes intersect and sometimes diverge. It's great when we can grab an hour or two to get together, catch up on the families, share project ideas, talk about goals and philosophies, and laugh a lot.

Cutting Your Losses

Life Content
My daughter began law school studies in Washington, D.C. this past August. We were almost totally unfamiliar with the city and the thought of finding her a place to live seemed a daunting task. But she is a thorough researcher and did a lot of preliminary scoping on the Internet. And so, she and I set out in late May, laptop and print-outs in hand, for a whirlwind Washington, D.C. weekend of apartment hunting and nailing-down. (The belly-dancing convention at our hotel added an extra dimension to the trip...)

Her reasoning was that things might be cheaper out a bit from the central city. We found an apartment in a leafy and intriguingly ethnically diverse suburb--this was important to her. Everything looked good. We shelled out a large sum of money, and she signed on the dotted line. She moved out there in mid-July.

Once school started, she discovered that the commute from apartment to school, which had been represented to her as "about 45 minutes", actually averaged an hour and a half. On bad days it was two hours.

Two hours each way.

We've been talking. She says, "I'm not sure I can go on with this commute--it's sucking my life out of me." We put a pencil to it, realizing that her present rent, plus commuting costs, equal average rental rates in the city, in places waaaaay closer to school.

I said, "Go find out what it will take to get you out of that lease."

There's a time to grit your teeth, dig in, and tough it out, and there's a time to admit a mistake, extricate yourself, and move on. This is one of those times of the latter variety. It will cost a bit of money (fortunately not an insurmountable amount), but we decided to go for it.

Last night she called. She has given notice at the present place, found a new apartment walking distance from school, and the move will be all accomplished by the time she comes home for the holidays. That's my girl!

Fiber Art Content
As it is with life, so it is with art. I intended to get a new sweater started this weekend. I'm planning to do The Wonderful Wallaby using a heathery shade called Bracken from Black Water Abbey Yarns. Got it cast on on Friday night, right on schedule, and got about an inch and a half of ribbing done. Then I started having second thoughts. I think I'd prefer a more tunic-type bottom than the ribbed one in the pattern. So, I think I'm going to pull it all out and re-start, casting on the number of stitches in the actual body of the sweater, after the post-rib increases specified in the pattern. And I think I'll do the first inch and a half or so in garter stitch, to complement the garter stitch trim later on in the sweater. That's the plan.

Saturday in the City

At the Spice Market

Produce at The Asian Mart. I'm seeing a quilt here...

Not for the indecisive: olive overload at Glorioso's

A brilliant fall day spent in the city with a friend hopping from one ethnic grocery to another. The Spice Market is our first downfall. The lame joke applies: It's like shopping in a bead store. You go in, figuring you don't need anything at all. By the time you're done--large amount spent, very small bag, yada, yada.

We don't have to lug those tiny bags of spices very far. Next up is the Asian Mart, just a block or so down the street. We buy biryani spice mix and tandoori rub. The proprietor, Carmelino, always a sunny and courtly guide through the intricacies of Asian groceries, assures me that I have chosen the very best green tea. And, oh, the produce department, with all its colors and scents!

Then we hit my favorite Italian grocery, where I load up on Italian canned plum tomatoes, chunk Parmesan cheese, two kinds of olive oil, cheese-stuffed red peppers, stuffed olives, plain olives, and antipasto. That should keep the kitchen gods at my house happy and sated for some time.

After this orgy of food shopping comes the best part of the day. We pick up our twenty-three year old sons, who have been friends since they were fourteen, and have lunch at a new-to-us Thai place, lingering there nearly half the afternoon, enjoying them, the Pad Thai, the eggrolls, and the day. It doesn't get much better than that.

Sean's Winding Ways

There's nothing like a gift and its recipient, together at last. The quilt is a batik Winding Ways, and the happy fellow is Sean, just about seven weeks old. The quilt has been completed for all of the seven weeks and the family lives all of ten minutes up the road. Do you think I might have gotten my lazy self up to their house any sooner? Apparently not.

I'm happy with this little quilt. The pastels aren't my usual palette but I thoroughly enjoyed working with these colors. And the whole thing, including those curved seams, came together with a minimum of fuss and angst. Which is good because I have enough extra pieces cut to make another entire quilt.

I started assembling the leftover pieces into blocks a few weeks ago at Wildcat. Then I got the notion of getting a little artsier with it all. It's not enough that I could make another quilt basically for free... Oh no. I have to find a way to make it cost me more. What did I do? I went shopping and bought another $75 or so of batiks in dark tones. So now it's yet another UFO stewing in the abyss of the studio.

Tree's Up!

Turning to the Tree's Up quilt. One more side of binding to tack down, then tack down the sleeve, slap on a label, and one more UFO will be a Finished Object.

This has been an evening spent mainly on the phone. But I'm determined to make some progress on this quilt which is so close to being done.

Kiri Lives

So I finished weaving in the ends on this lace shawl tonight. Not a big deal, you say? Only the blood, sweat, tears, rage, and total focus of the last two months, that's all. And maybe just the tiniest bit of teeth-grinding and cursing thrown in along the way.

Despite all that, it looks pretty darn good to me.

The process of creating is good and satisfying, but successful completion can't be beat.

frost

Mystic Header