Coming along nicely

Once I get started on a weaving project, it's like anything else I do. I get sort of OCD and obsessive about it. So I'm making progress! Here's a shot of the top and a very nice shot of the other side. Once this towel is done I'll switch the way the threads are raised, which will make a whole new pattern without having to fiddle with the heddles. I'll take photos.

NOW I remember

My weaving project has been hanging over my head for so long, filling me with dread, that I'd completely forgotten why I even took up weaving.

Well, this weekend I pushed through and conquered my arch-nemesis, tying on to the front beam. I hate this step. You have to make sure each section has the same tension as all the others, and by the time you're done tying on the last section, the first one has loosened, so you have to start all over again. This process can take for EVER, but I managed it in about half an hour.

And then I started weaving! First I had to weave a small section that will eventually be taken out and become fringe, and then I wove the first repeat on the towels. And suddenly I remembered why I love to weave. You probably need to click on the photo to really see the pattern.

In other news, I'm still making progress on the ripple and granny projects.

Happy birthday, Lilly Jean!

My niece Lilly turns five today, and in celebration I made her a flower scarf, the cover pattern from this book. The child is a devious little stinker and "accidentally" put the wrapped present within reach of her 2-year-old sister, and then blamed said sister for opening the present a day early. Hee.


Anyway, here are some of the flowers in progress:














And here's me laying them all out on the floor in preparation for the sewing-together process:




















And here I am modeling the finished product:




I hope you like your scarf, Lilly! Happy birthday!!

All hooks, no heddles

I have seriously neglected my weaving. I know this and I feel bad about it. I don't think I've woven anything in over a year. I've been making snail's-pace progress on a towel project (see photo), but with the ripple-along and the granny-along and the new thread tablecloth and the super secret project for my niece, I simply haven't had the time. I have another weaving project that I want to do after the towels, so I need to get my rear in gear on this project. It's hit several snags, but I'm hoping that the coast is now clear and that I'm close to actually weaving the towels. I hope to post progress on this project soon.

So many projects, so LITTLE time

All righty. I have a serious case of Claw Hand, but I've gotten pretty far with my projects in the last few days. Here's where I am with the ripple, and because I love granny squares and also because the ripple leaves me with tiny balls of yarn, I've also now joined the Granny-Along.

In other news, I have a Super Secret Project that can't be revealed until next week when certain short people I know turn five, but here's a sneak preview.

It's a sickness, it really is

This is what I've been up to for the last week or so.

It's official: I am insane

Someone on the Crochetville forum made this tablecloth, and I was instantly gripped with the desire to make it myself. So I bought some thread. I've made 4 motifs since Saturday. Only 176 to go.

The 4 motifs are sitting on the Whorehouse Afghan, which is done but which I'm not going to post until it's washed and blocked.

In other news, I've joined the No-End-In-Sight Ripple-Along, just because you can never have enough projects, and what a fantastic stash-buster this will be. I just wish I had a stash of cool colors like everyone else. I foresee a trip to the yarn store...

Color

So I'd been seeing this pattern as an ad in pretty much every crochet magazine I'd picked up in the last several months, and finally decided that it looked way too comfy not to be made. (Sadly, the puppy seems not to have come with the pattern.) However, because everything in my life is green these days, I thought it would be good to shake it up a bit. So I went for a red (claret) and a darker red (burgundy). This is what the yarn looked like in the store, and when I worked up the first square.


















However, in the cold light of the next day I was suddenly faced with lurid whorehouse pink and purple. Same squares, different light, utterly different look.


Suddenly I hated my afghan.

















I guess I'll only be able to bring the thing out in the gloom of the evening when it actually looks quite nice.

Baby blanket

Here's a baby blanket I made for my friend Raquel's sister Margaux, who recently had a gorgeous baby girl named Grace. I'd been wanting to make this pattern for a while, so I was glad that Raquel picked it out. It's classy!

Tofubear

I ran across Tofubear in a crochet magazine, and thought that since my nieces are vegetarian, bordering on vegan, he would be a good Christmas present. So I made the hat from the pattern in that crochet mag, and came up with a simple little scarf to go with it, and voila!

Final post of 2006

How in the world did this year go by so quickly??

Here's one final thing that I made this year: a little red mouse who has slightly less of the zombie about him than the blue one or the albino one did.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year celebration. I plan to spend New Year's Eve weekend at our cabin in West Virginia, reading, putting together a jigsaw puzzle, generally sitting on my ass, and drinking some beers with the lesbians up the hill. Should be fun!

Purple octopus

This photo doesn't really convey the cuteness of the purple octopus, or his incredible HUGENESS. Unlike most Roxycraft patterns, this guy isn't three inches tall. He's at least 10 inches tall and maybe a foot wide. My good friend "She" can verify (or possibly dispute) this. It's been a couple of months since I made him. No one expected him to be so huge. She could barely get him on the plane home to Alaska.

Update: I just received a new photo of the Giant Purple Octopus. As you can see, he towers over the Diet Coke can.

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...

...only hippopotamus will do.

My mother's favorite Christmas song (followed closely by Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer).

In the spirit of Christmas, then, here are two hippos, using the same yarn and the same pattern. Amazing what a difference tension can make.

Mooo!

In keeping with my husband's demand that I make one of everything for him, here are two cows. This photo doesn't quite get the extreme cuteness of these cows across, but I guess it'll do.

Lemur!

In addition to the lion I made for my 2-year-old niece, I made a lemur for my 4-year-old niece, after being informed that she is way into Zoboomafoo. He was quite a hit, and was taken to bed with said niece most nights of my Thanksgiving visit. The lemur is weathering the shorty beat-down better than the lion, who lost the fuzz at the end of his tail within an hour.

I'm baaaaack!

After a ridiculously long hiatus, filled with shoulder surgery, recovery, a new job, a profound lack of motivation, and the death of a camera, I now have some new things to share. I'll parcel them out over the next few weeks. Wouldn't want anyone to go into shock or anything.

So first up -- a pride of lions! I made a lion for my niece (from a Roxycraft pattern -- what would I do without her patterns), and then my husband informed me that he absolutely had to have one, and then just for good measure I made one for a friend whose sister is having a baby. I think they're pretty cute, despite the fact that my embroidery skills leave a lot to be desired.

I don't know what to do with myself now

I can't believe I actually finished this beast. It turned out really well, and it's got some serious heft. The last time I posted about this was in October, when I was about halfway done.

I really don't know how I'm going to occupy my time now...


Update: somebody at Crochetville asked how long I thought it took me to make this thing. Here are my calculations.

Each piece takes an hour to do, so that's 410 hours. There are 21 rows, and it took me half an hour to wash and block each row before sewing it together, so that's 10.5 hours. Sewing each row together and weaving in all the blasted ends took about 2 hours, so that's 42 hours, and sewing each new row on took around 3 hours, so that's 63 hours. For a grand total of ... 525.5 hours, or 21.89 days.

Week three

Not sure how long I'll keep posting photos of my extreme hideousness...maybe until it's not so hideous anymore.

I started PT in earnest, and it is NOT PLEASANT. Those people are experts in the art of torture. The good news, if there is any, is that I'm starting to use my arm a little more and am now totally out of the vile sling.


The doctor tells me that the lovely ridge in the scar tissue is actually the sutures, and as soon as they dissolve the scar will flatten out. I'm very much looking forward to that day.

I'm so pretty

I am here to testify that rotator cuff surgery is no piece of cake. Although the drugs were really good. So not only do I no longer have the use of my left arm, but my left ear is also completely numb. Not exactly what I was expecting, I have to say. The doctor says it's because you're sitting up during surgery, and you have your head encased in some kind of industrial-strength vise grip thingy, and it pinched a nerve or something.

So. Day one, I slept and was pitiful. Day two, I slept and threw up and was pitiful. Day three, I slept and was pitiful and managed to eat a cracker or two. Day four, off came the bandages and the sling, and my arm flopped down, utterly out of control, and I. Was. Pitiful. I didn't even feel the slightest twinge of cabin fever until day 6. Also? Sleeping with your arm strapped to your body sucks. Even now I wake up every time I try to roll over, so I haven't slept more than an hour or two in a row in two weeks.

It's now been two weeks and two days. I have a tiny bit of control over my left arm -- I can dress myself, at last, but I'm still washing my hair one-handed. Physical therapy started yesterday. For the first couple of weeks it'll be "passive stretching," meaning that I don't need to exert any effort or try to exhibit any strength. Which is good, because I don't have any. But even though it's passive, it still hurts like a mutha.

Herewith are a few choice photos:

Here we are before the bandages and sling came off.
















And here we are five minutes after removing all the bandages and surgical tape. I couldn't believe how huge the scar is, so of course had to document it. The spot in front is where the doctor tried at first to do the whole thing orthoscopically. Unfortunately, the tear was just too big.

















One week after surgery.
















And two weeks after surgery, two days ago.

















Oh, and just to insert a tiny bit of relevance to this blog, I am able to crochet with a minimum of pain. Weaving is not in the foreseeable future.

Betrayed again by my aging body

My sporadic posting may become even more haphazard. I found out on Monday that all the physical therapy I've been getting (for the last seven or so weeks) has done no good whatsoever. An MRI has revealed not one but TWO tears in my rotator cuff. No wonder I haven't been able to sleep on my left side for three months! No wonder my shoulder throbs so much it's making me crazy! No wonder I nearly killed myself trying to get the top off a highlighter the other day!

So anyway. I'm pretty sure this means no weaving any time soon. I might be able to do some crocheting. I sure hope so, because I might become even crazier than I already am if I can't do anything more than watch daytime tv.

Ideas? Suggestions?

I bought this unbelievably gorgeous alpaca yarn two or three years ago at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, and it's been taunting me ever since. I haven't been able to bring myself to make something out of it, for fear that I won't like the results. But really, it's time to bite the bullet and just make something.

I need suggestions though. I could see myself either weaving or crocheting something with this. I'd originally thought of weaving a poncho, but I don't want to use the yarn for the warp (at least I don't think I do) and I can't think of what would look good as a warp. I also have never come across a pattern that knocked my socks off.

So. Any brilliant ideas? I have a 26" wide, 8-harness Baby Wolf loom, and a 4-harness Glimakra table loom that might be a tiny bit wider, as well as crochet hooks in every size. I have 8 oz. each of the light and dark grey and 16 oz. of the black.

Help me find this yarn's true purpose in life!

Quilty goodness

I did not make this, my mother-in-law did. But it's so lovely that I thought it deserved to be seen by more than the two people who sleep in my bedroom.

Bees!

My crazy husband has decided that he wants to be a beekeeper. He's currently taking a class, and he's even purchased a full bee suit, which makes him look like some kind of insanely happy alien.



















However, lest you think this post has nothing to do with crochet:



















And here's a closeup of the little Secret Bee I made him while he was sleeping:


















Not my best work, but still fairly cute...

Opinions, please

Ok, I'm feeling done with the muff, but the husband seems to think that every square inch of space needs to be filled in. I'm thinking that when there's a liner stuffed in there, it'll make the spaces less obvious. Opinions? Should I stuff it full of roses until there's no more room whatsoever?

The roses, they are multiplying

A quick update on the Muff of Many Roses. It gets pretty boring making those damn things, so it's going slowly.



And I will also say this: when finished, this thing will be heavy. But beautiful!!

Parade 'o' Roses

The muff continues its progress toward rosy loveliness. Here is the base of it, finished.
















And here is a rose, in its many colors and steps (again, sorry for the sub-quality):











And here's where we are as of this weekend!