Saturday, October 29, 2011

Ode to Fall

Here in Minnesota we are lucky if we haven't started wearing long underwear by the end of October. This has been one of those mild pleasant years where we can't complain. The weather has been absolutely beautiful this month and rarely have I seen such bright colors in the leaves since I've lived in here.
Two weeks ago my daughter Teresa had her Baptism and that weekend I was also surprised to find out that my sister was in town. My brother flew her in from San Diego and he and my husband decided to keep it under wraps until the day arrived. We had such a blast! It was really great seeing her after such a long time. I made Teresa's dress from a pattern that I found in a small pack of several from the thrift store. How satisfying it was to end up with a gorgeous heirloom garment from an envelope marked with a .37₵ sticker.

Friday, October 21, 2011

To frog or not to frog... that is the question...

This year I have, with tremendous effort been attempting to keep track of all of the projects that I have started. From past and present I am getting them all together so that I can either finish them or recycle them. I started with my sewing projects and am now going through my knitting. I have already frogged a couple of projects...
Now I still have a few that I am contemplating the future of.
This is my knitting project bin. I love my bin. The yarn on top there is from Slovakia. My teta (husband's aunt) gave it to me with love. She is so cool and loves everything needlework like me. OOooo speaking of needlework, I finally made it over to Needleworks Unlimited in Minneapolis. It was really a cool shop but I have to say that I was surprised, I expected more non-knitting needlework stuff such as more embroidery  canvases and maybe some yarn and thread specific beading items. Also they could really have a bigger crochet section. And besides those things there really weren't any other needlework equipment goodies. For what it says in the name it was a disappointment. But as a yarn store it is pretty decent. I still like Borealis and The Yarnery better.

Okay. So who is going to help me decide? 

 First item up is a sweet soft cotton sweater that I started several YEARS ago! *hiding in shame* I forgot what the yarn is called, I think it is cotton tots or something like that. It's actually very soft and cute and bumpy. Despite the longevity of the projects formation I still have faith that it has potential and I started it sorta big to begin with so it will fit someone when it is done. Part of the problem however is that I wasn't using a pattern to create it and I ran out of steam in ingeniousness when I got to the front button area. Originally I would make some button holes and sew on some cute buttons but now I am thinking maybe it needs a trendy shawl collar or something?
 Yeah, I really don't like where it was going here. Most likely I will at least take off the right front that I already started and try something different. I could also use some ideas on the sleeves which I have yet to knit. It will look really cute still I think, and now I have one more girl to pass it down to someday.


This one I am thinking frog material. It was supposed to be a purse that eventually I would full in the washer. It still could happen but I'm not sure there is enough yarn to complete what I was trying to do. You are looking at it from the bottom. It was started like a toe-up sock and then given lots of fullness on the sides as I knit up and around. The yarn is Malibrigo so it may not recover well from frogging...
Hmm. For fear of creating a rediculously long post I will start a new one for some of the others. Cheerio!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Back to Blogging

Part of the problem with getting back to blogging when you have been absent for a while is trying to remember your login info. Sheesh. Ok so I am going to try reeeaaally hard this time to make frequent posts.
Hmm... how many times to post a month... or a week? Not sure exactly what my new commitment should be. I will see how things go I guess.
Meanwhile I will give a snapshot of some things that have been going on around here. Kind of a recap of the past two years.