One-Flower Wednesday

So, that whole finishing projects thing. Not doing so well with that. I slipped and started another quilt made of hexagon flowers.

This quilt-along was started by Karen of "Journey of a Quilter". Each Wednesday she posts  pictures of her completed flower blocks. You might notice that she doesn't work only on hexagon flowers--she has a number of other projects going too. She's obviously my kind of gal!

 Here are the guidelines. Mainly, just use hexagons and put your name and blog link on the list at least once a month. I think I can handle that. 

 Although it's called "One-Flower Wednesday", you may have noticed something.

I couldn't stop making the little boogers. I have a couple more cut out and fabrics lined up on the cutting table, waiting their turn. It's a terrific way for me to dive into the stash and work with all of those nineteenth-century reproductions I've been hoarding. Jo Morton and Judie Rothermel are my heroines--I love their repro fabric designs. This kind of quilt gives me a chance to put lots of different fabrics in one quilt, and I can do it without totally destroying my sewing room. That's always a good thing!

I'm changing the rules for the giveaway just a little bit. It actually gives you more chances to win. Just comment on any post (or all of them!) until June 30. Every time you leave a comment, I'll put your name in the hat for a chance to win that beautiful laceweight yarn I showed earlier.

Next time: Some thoughts on the 10,000-Hour Challenge. See you!

Under Construction

I've spent the better part of last week setting up this blog, deciding on a name, and creating the format. I'm sure there will be more changes, but I'm ready to get underway!

My old blog, The Big Finish, was supposedly focused on...well...finishing projects. Specifically, the dozens of knitting, spinning, quilting, cross-stitch, and needlework projects. The plan was that posting to the blog would keep me on track with finishing things instead of starting them. I was also determined to Stop Buying Stuff. Do I even need to tell you how well that worked? Here's a hint--this was the first list of projects I swore I would finish. As you can see, some of those things still remain unfinished. Yeah. That's a little embarrassing.

But, hey!! Sometimes projects you once loved just don't do it for you anymore. You fall out of love with the yarn or fiber or pattern. Or maybe the baby outgrows the planned project because you're so busy working on other things that you totally forget that you have supplies for a hat, two dresses, and a skirt for her. I'm not saying that happened to me. Oh, what the heck. Yes, that's exactly what happened to me.

What's really funny ironic stupid about this is that I was bribing myself with some really gorgeous butter-yellow Panda Silk sock yarn. I thought that surely I'd be so anxious to knit with it that I would whip right through my list and happily cast on pretty yellow socks, free from the pressure and angst of all those unfinished things piled around my chair. But no. The yarn languishes in the sock yarn drawer, sadly untouched.*

Obviously, I can't even bribe myself to finish something once I'm no longer feeling the love. So while I still have a list of UnFinished Objects in the notebook beside my chair, which, by the way, is up to something like 72 items, I'm just not going to pressure myself to finish everything before I start something new. There's really no point, and it actually is counter-productive for me. I need to spin up a few ounces of silk or merino or BFL now and then. Or I need to whip out a pair of mitts to give away. It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something and lets me go back to the acre of handquilting I've been plodding through with a new spring in my step. Or a new twinkle in my thimble. Or something like that.

Besides the spinning, knitting, needlework, etc. that I love, I'm also a writer and a wanna-be violinist. (I would call myself a just plain violinist, but somehow I can't square that with someone who's just starting Suzuki Book 4. Which is the book that you would be working on when you're about...oh...6 years old if you were a real violinist.) BUT--I am starting a 10,000 Hour Challenge, which gives me a pretty good goal to shoot for. A bit daunting, yes, but what do I have to lose?

To celebrate both the start of my new blog and my new goals, I'm doing a giveaway. Up for grabs is this gorgeous skein of 80/20 merino/silk laceweight yarn (1300 yards) in a soft denim blue from Fearless Fibers on Etsy.

You can enter by leaving a comment on this post by June 30, and on July 1 I'll do the drawing. Even if you're not into knitting lace, you can sell it or trade it or do whatever you want with it.

*Actually, I was going to make the yellow yarn the giveaway prize, until I discovered that I had sold it from my stash on Ravelry. I don't know what has more meaning--the fact that I sold it or the fact that I forgot I sold it.

New Blog

I've moved on from the original premise of this blog, so I'm in the process of building a new one. Not much content yet, but check back!

SpingirlSpins.com

Thanks!!

On Sale!!

Hey, yeah...so it's been a while...

This is a quick post to say that I've decided to close my Etsy shop for a while. I've marked everything down by at least 15%, so take a look at the remaining yarns and fibers.


The shop is officially closed. Thanks, everyone!

More later. Really.

Morning Has Broken...Me

Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a morning person. I've tried, really I have. I've been told that you can get used to getting up early if you do it long enough, but I figure at this stage of life, it ain't gonna happen. I mean, there were twelve years of getting up early for school, then a couple of years of getting up early for a job, then a brief moment (about 15 months) after marriage when I could indulge my sluggy self and sleep as late as I wanted, followed by infant/toddler/preschooler times two (which meant not sleeping a whole night through PLUS early mornings for a few years), then getting up early to get them off to school, then seven years driving a school bus. Trust me--if becoming a morning person depended only on getting up early long enough, I'd beat even the early bird to the worm. But the truth is that the last day of getting up at 5:30 to drive the bus was every bit as horrible as the first day. After I left that job, I scored a job with extremely flexible hours and immediately slumped back into slug mode.

But recently, I've been getting up early (for me, anyway) for the temp job with the Census Bureau. And, ya know, it wasn't that bad. Sure, that hideous noise of the cell phone alarm going off in my ear was totally obnoxious, but I changed the sound to a "perkier" one that doesn't make me want to hurl the phone against the wall (fortunately, my fast-twitch muscles take even longer to wake up than the rest of me. If I even have fast-twitch muscles, that is.) If I got up right away instead of mashing the snooze button, I discovered that I was relatively alert and not totally dying. I can't imagine why things would have changed. Maybe it has something to do with getting older, or maybe it's just that 7:30 feels almost like midday after seven years of 5:30 wake-ups. Whatever, I decided that I would try getting up at 7:30 every day, at least for this week, and see how it went.

Well. It's now about 3:30. I have done the dishes, washed sheets, blocked the Swallowtail Shawl that I finished last night (yes! A finish! Actually one of two!!), planted marigolds, beans, watermelons, and rosemary, potted up the basil and oregano, washed and blocked a sweater front, done some Bible study, combed some of the Border Leicester fleece I bought a couple of months ago, and made yogurt. Oh, yeah, and I've knitted a little too.

This is astounding. Of course, I'm very tired right now and will probably need to take a little nappy-poo shortly, but I'm feeling mighty virtuous at the moment. Think of all the projects I may be able to get done! I do hope this lasts.

I'm a Little Embarrassed

Yeah, two months since the last post. You might think that I've been insanely busy and that's why I haven't posted, but it's not really true. I have been working a temp job with the Census Bureau, but even though the part-time hours do make me tired (stoopid fibromyalgia) that's not my excuse for not writing. I actually have none--it's been laziness and nothing more.

I have been knitting and quilting, though! I am winding up a Big Stinkin' Project, so I'm tickled pink about that. I put the binding on a quilt yesterday and started stitching it down by hand, so a couple more hours and it will be DONE! Now guess how long it's been a WIP. Go on, take a guess...dum dee dum dee dum...ready? I started this quilt in 1994. Yeah. That's pretty bad, huh? Wanna know something worse? It's not my oldest WIP.

But I have (sort of) redeemed myself with the sweater that I'm finishing. It's a Central Park Hoodie (yeah, I'm a lemming. Shut up.) There are almost 3500 of these sweaters listed on the project pages of Ravelry. Who knows how many more are being made by knitters like myself who are too lazy busy to post pictures.

Some people refuse to knit something that's being made or has been made by everybody and her sister, but there's usually a reason why a pattern becomes insanely popular. Now that I've made one (ok, almost made one) I see the appeal. It's cute. It's easy. It fits well. It doesn't take an insane amount of yarn, and you can easily change it up by leaving the hood off and knitting a collar instead. It's easy. It went fast. Did I mention that it's easy? If I should decide that I want to make one for somebody, like for an anniversary gift or something, it won't take forever. Not that I'm thinking about anniversary gifts or anything.  Just sayin'.

Anyway, all that's left is the side seams and crocheting button loops. I might even leave the button loops off, but I'll decide that when I get the sides sewn up.

So check back in a few days. I may actually have finished project pictures!! Astounding!

It's Gonna Be One of Those Weeks

1. I found out last night that my driver's license expired 12 days ago.
2. I had to buy a pair of jeans and a top yesterday because nothing I own fits me anymore.
3. I turned over in bed last night and my neck locked up. Again. Which means no knitting, spinning, or pretty much anything else.
4. It also means a trip to the Evil Massage Therapist.
5. Hot flashes.