Monday, March 24, 2008

Quilting oops

I finally got around to resuming the mystery quilt, Carolina Crossroads, that I started last year. I have all the sub-units done, so now I'm just putting it together. I ran into a hitch with the 16 setting triangles. They're supposed to look like this:

15 of mine looked like this:

and one of them looks like this:

In my defense, the directions I was following did have a picture with the incorrect assembly. There was also a picture of the RIGHT way, but I managed to follow the wrong one. Sigh.

Meanwhile, Kidd the terrier continues to make himself right at home.

And Callie has colonized the plastic box I keep by my sewing machine for scraps.

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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Quilt FO





I've confirmed that this quilt arrived at its destination, so I can post it in public now. It was a gift to my friend Miss Print for the arrival of her new baby, Penelope. It's based on Karla Alexander's pattern "Catch a Falling Star" in New Cuts for New Quilts. I took a few liberties with the color scheme and the borders. The border quilting was all improvised using my Bernina Stitch Regulator. The center was done with a walking foot.

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Sunday, March 16, 2008

Annual knitting retreat

I spent the weekend in Portland (well, Troutdale, really) for my annual knitting retreat. I'm in an internet-based group that's been together for almost 6 years. We try to get together in person once a year, and this time we met up at the McMenamins Edgefield. It was, as ever, delightful. I totally forgot to pack a camera (as ever). We spent most the weekend camped out in one of the public areas of the Edgefield, the library. As groups of people walked by, we'd often hear a whispered "Knitters!", as if they'd just spotted a rare species in the wild.

I meant to diligently work on projects. My chosen big project was this sweater, which has been in cold storage for about a year and a half:


The back and 1.6 of the fronts are done. I made some good progress on that second front this weekend, until we all went out shopping on Saturday. We hit Knit/Purl in downtown Portland. Nice store, really nice staff. I was seduced by some blue yarn. Blue, people - not red or pink. Be amazed. There was only one skein of the blue I really loved, so I bought it a couple of coordinating little friends. Anyway, despite my good intentions to work on the sweater, I ended up casting on the blue.

I'm making a stole knit lengthwise in feather and fan. I quickly discovered that it's a really easy stitch pattern to screw up, and now there are markers between every one of the 20 pattern repeats.

In my absence, Kidd the terrier scaled the gate to come upstairs and get closer to his kitty friends. He also managed to wiggle under the bed in an effort to make friends with Callie. She was not amused.

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Monday, March 10, 2008

Retinas beware

The eye-searing pink shawl is finally off the needles, and loose in the wild.

(No dogs were harmed while taking these pictures.)

I haven't blocked it yet, because I don't know where the hell I'm going to do that.

Real pattern name: Spider's Web Shawl fromVictorian Lace Today. This is the full hexagon, knit out of Karabella lace weight mohair, a gift from my lovely friend Lori. It's brighter in person, if you can believe it. I wish I had been able to knit more of the floofy border before I bound off, but I was scared of running out of yarn. I also wish I had the warm glow of finishing satisfaction, but with blocking still ahead...

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Saturday, March 08, 2008

If everyone jumped off a cliff...

I've joined Ravelry. I'm mkmorrow. I've barely added anything yet. I can tell that it's going to be an enormous time suck.

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Thursday, March 06, 2008

Life as adjunct faculty

funny pictures

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Monday, March 03, 2008

I survived

But it was a close call. The schedule for Sew Expo sucked exactly as much as I thought it would. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the carpool left at 6:30 (instead of 6) so I got a whopping 1/2 hour of extra sleep, but we also got home later on all of those nights. I did reasonably well for myself there, and spread the Bernina love to new people. Sunday night, we had to tear down the booth and load up all the stuff. I got home sometime around 8:30 or 8:45, then I graded until 11:30, fell into bed, got back up at 6, and finished grading at 11, an hour late. Overcooked pasta looks lively in comparison to me at this point.

For your entertainment, I started taking a series of self-portraits on Friday morning. I present: Melinda at 6:00 AM. (I think the Sunday hair looks pretty good, but dude, check out those dark circles.)




Meanwhile, back at the dog ranch
Kidd isn't going anywhere. He's sweet, he's a calming influence on Stella, and he and Trent are in loooooove.


So now we have 3 dogs, and nowhere to sit.

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