Under the Rainbow

I'm still in a knitting mood and have pulled out the striped Noro scarf I started just about a year ago. It's been languishing because I wasn't in love with the colors as they were configuring themselves.


Only I could spend an hour studying shades of Noro Kureyon at the LYS, dithering and dithering, get it all figured out, make my choice, plunk down the money, get home, start the scarf, and....loathe it. With all that cogitating, I still managed to purchase the one colorway of Kureyon that I thoroughly dislike. What was I thinking???



I guess I was thinking that the darker colorway--172--would mellow the jangly sideshow tones of 154. And maybe it has. As the scarf gets longer--it's just past midway here--I'm liking it better, but it's still WAY more rainbow-y than I wanted.



I fell in love with the idea of this scarf after seeing this one (pattern given there) and this one.
Once THIS one is done, I'm planning to try another to see if I can hit a color combination that's a bit more subtle.

:: :: :: ::

No time with quilty friends since early December--I've been feeling like I'm all alone in the world. But this week--an embarrassment of riches: Seams on Wednesday night, and Thursday, I'll be heading to DeSoto, Wisconsin for a weekend with friends AND sewing machines.

I'm a bit betwixt and between projects. The Four Letter Words quilt has seen no action whatsoever since New Years while I pushed to finish the taupe lace shawl. Now I'm confronted with a weekend retreat--lots of sewing time! The Words quilt will go with me and maybe the top will get completed.

But I'm thinking New Project. We'll be having a wedding in the family late this coming summer, and a wedding quilt really needs to happen. I'm still riding high on the scrap bandwagon but I've been thinking of something with more color-coordinated scraps. Also I'm thinking REAL simple--I've been playing with Double Ninepatches in EQ.

Stay tuned.

Yes, I'm a Book Geek

Last weekend, I got really lucky at Half Price Books--I scored a really inexpensive copy of The Little Colonel at Boarding School in very, very nice condition.


When I was a kid, a friend of my mother's gave me several of the books she had as a child. Several Little Colonel books were among them. They're hopelessly saccharine and dated of course, partly written in dialect, and worse yet, they are cringe-inducingly racist in tone. But just the fact that I owned a couple of them has always been incentive to keep my eyes peeled for more books in the series.



Speaking of my mother's friend and the books she gave me, this is the real treasure:


Not a first edition, but it LOOKS like one (it's a 'fourth impression'), and still has the original gift card inside. "To Julia from Redmond." And check out that crazy Roman numeral for 1908!



This book introduced me to Anne of Green Gables, and she's been with me, in one medium or another, ever since.

In real-world reading, I have finally made it to the end of World Without End by Ken Follett, all 1002 pages of it. So I've been immersed in the middle ages since before Christmas! I liked this book every bit as much as Pillars of the Earth, and as with that book, it was hard to let go of the town and its characters at the end. Highly recommended! You don't really need to read Pillars first, although there are some references back to it in World Without End.

Next up: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which I've been anxious to leap into since I first heard about it last fall.

...And in Conclusion

The dead-of-winter torpor has continued. It took me a week after the shawl was blocked to get around to weaving in the ends, and then another several days to get some photos taken. But here the results!




This is the Large Rectangle with Center Diamond Pattern shawl from Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby. The yarn is Blackberry Ridge Silk Blend Lace Weight. This yarn has some heft to it, but it's not too woolly. Meaning that the shawl shouldn't be consigned to only winter wear. The color is Natural Gray, but to my eyes at least, it's more of a taupe. It's a beautiful neutral, and I hope it sees a lot of use in the prospective owner's wardrobe.


I want to encourage any knitters who are thinking about trying a lace project, but are hanging back in fear. Yes, there is a bit of fear and loathing involved--scowling, some swearing, and some teeth-gritted ripping out of stitches. But wow--it IS worth it in the end.



It's been a glorious week. Hallelujah! I'm one of the people who feels that I got my country back on Tuesday. And I'm coveting those olive green gloves that Michelle Obama wore...

D.O.N.E.

It's been a quiet week, blogwise, around here. We were hit with numbingly cold weather-- -15 F one morning--and that seemed to call for coming home from work, snuggling into sweats, and knitting in front of the TV. Kind of decadent behavior, except for the knitting part. I have progress to announce.

The taupe lace shawl is done! More precisely, it is the Large Rectangle with Center Diamond Pattern, from Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today. I learned just how fast that border can go when one is determined. The corners worked out well, and the pattern ended just exactly where it should have, with only a small bit of fudging. Hooray!

The yarn is Blackberrry Ridge wool/silk laceweight--75% wool, 25% silk.

Right off the needles, the knitting looked pretty dense and wooly.


But as it's stretched for blocking, it all has taken on a lacier look.



More or less energetic blocking would make a piece like this have a completely different character, as the knitter wants. I'm learning lessons all the time...

I used blocking wires, which are long, thin metal bars. I threaded them in the knitting, along each edge, and pinned them in place to the carpet. Those blocking wires make for a nice straight edge in knitting as flimsy as this and are well worth the time they take to use. IMHO.

Totally finished pictures coming in a couple days.

Yet Again

Friday brought us half a snow day--our director decided to close the library at 1:00 p.m. I had had a doctor appointment in the morning and the roads were truly horrendous--about 20 miles of drifted, icy, limited-visibility driving between home and Waukesha, where my appointment had been.

My workday ended up being about two hours long. And that was OK. I was happy to get home, light a fire, and put my feet up.


I'm in the final push to complete the Large Rectangle with Center Diamond, from Victorian Lace Today. This is to be a gift, but it was important that it not be a Christmas gift. Now that the holidays are over, it's time to put this baby to bed and get on with something new.

But of course, I'm not sitting down for long when the animals decide to horn in for some quality time. And they really like to get as close as possible and lie right on the shawl.



We can only hope the recipient is not allergic.

Taking Stock

A bit late, but here comes the obligatory taking-stock blog post.

2008 was a good quilting year. I finished eight quilts.









Decent productivity considering I'm chained to my desk at the library 40 hours a week! I want to continue with that productivity, and play more with non-traditional and improvisational piecing. And I hope to make another strictly scrap quilt. That Log Cabin was fun!

I was way too busy monopolizing the curry/chutney cheese ball at my daughter's place on New Year's Eve to give much thought to New Year's resolutions. If I HAD made any resolutions, one would surely have been to make a truly serious effort in 2009 to get to Milwaukee Art Quilt group meetings. It's a great group of artists, show and tell is always so stimulating, and this month's meeting promised to have discussion about working in three dimensional fiber art--something I've never done.

As it is, I've blown it already. Last night, there I was, stuck at my library in the boondocks until nearly 6:30 p.m. No way could I make a 7:00 meeting in the city.

Oh well. Sigh. maybe next month.

:: :: ::

This will be a big year in our family, capped off with the wedding of our daughter. One resolution is not to look matronly in my role of mother-of-the-bride. There has been some creepage in the weight department, due to the holidays and about 6 weeks of icy weather, which hasn't been good for walking. I do pay monthly for a membership at the local gym, so that last's not an entirely valid excuse.

And of course, the wedding isn't entirely about me. LOL! I will be making my daughter's wedding dress and here's hoping that project will be as straightforward as it appears.

I know--famous last words. You all might want to hang around to watch that idea unravel as I eat my words. Lots more to come on that bridal gown topic in the coming months.

It was a good knitting year too. Not huge output, but I'm really pleased to have worked with my terror of knitting lace.



Rather than make full-blown resolutions for the year, one blogger is thinking a bit smaller. I'm liking this approach:

1. Ninety days
Choose something that you would like to accomplish or change within the next 90 days.
It's a more manageable length of time than a year and then you can do it again.

2. What to subtract
What is in your life that you would be willing to commit to not being there 90 days from
now?

3. What to add
What is currently not in your life that you would be willing to commit to having in your
life 90 days from now?

4. Choose one
Whether it is something to remove from or add to you life, pick just one thing to focus
on.

5. Write it down
There is power in writing things down because it reminds you of where you want to go.

Washington Trip

I'm overwhelmed by all the very complimentary comments on my Four Letter Words quilt. Thanks to all. Now, to figure out how to finish it.

The trip to Washington, DC was a great holiday interlude. It was almost spring-like there, with sunny days and the miracle (to my eyes) of street plantings of blooming pansies everywhere. After the severely restrained palette of a Wisconsin winter, the flowers and greenness of Washington were a treat for the eyeballs. In addition, official Washington appears to be gearing up for some sort of major event.



We managed to evade the Capitol Police on a sunny walk around the area, visiting a few "quiet" monuments. I was really moved by this statue at The National Japanese American Memorial To Patriotism During World War II.


Two cranes are attempting to break free from winding strands of barbed wire. Very lyrical and evocative.

And my daughter and I happened upon on this in Georgetown, the long stone staircase made famous in The Exorcist:


If Satan were chasing me in the middle of the night, I think I'd avoid that area.

One task accomplished in Washington was the purchase of a sewing machine for my daughter. She is not a quilter (yet...) but is looking at some home dec projects. We settled on a Janome Jem Platinum 630--a nice machine, with great features and portability. It may be a while before she uses it very much--her work schedule is extremely demanding. But she's got it.

Speaking of my daughter, long-time readers may recall the purchase of a lot of silk charmeuse for her wedding gown. That was nearly a year and a half ago! The wedding is now on track for September, 2009. I can procrastinate just a bit longer, and then will swing into action on that project.