And now, for a little dancing

My hair is askew, but I don't care. (that's a lie. I care a little). So, the besties and I went to SAFF this weekend and it was awesome. So. Much. Yarn. & Fiber. I came home with quite a bit, most of which will add to my spinning queue. I tended to focus mainly on fiber over yarn, but I brought home a little bit of yarn, too.

Mom kept Bu for the weekend and all reports are that they both had a fantastic time. The big one went to a friend's so that they could have too much candy and stay up too late. Poor Dear Husband was working, but other than that, most of us ended up doing the thing that made us the most happy and the weekend was a rousing success all around.

That's the majority of what I picked up, including the red/orange that was so dubbed "Flaming Bison" by me and approved by the gentleman at the booth. I loved the Brickless I finished back in June, I think, or else late May, one of those, and it had been done in a lovely blue bison yarn. The red/orange is of the same type, but a much more "call the police and the fireman" color.
Not pictured are two bumps of Huacaya alpaca, one in white and one in cream that are going to look awesome plied together in a subtle-paca sort of way.

My current active project is 8oz of Elizabeth (mixed light and dark BFL) by Rain's Obsessive Stitchery, four ounces in Delphi and four in Delos to be plied together. I am so compelled by the colors that they went to the front of the queue as soon as I got them.
They share some colors and were dyed as "siblings" meant to be together, but would be gorgeous on their own, too. Delphi and Delos are sacred to Artemis and Apollo and I wanted to make some yarn that represented their relationship.

Part of me gets the feeling that the reason Artemis never married is because she was the midwife to her brother and she was so awed by the beauty of him (which, if you've ever been in a delivery room - that feeling. You know that feeling) that no man, mortal or immortal, would ever be someone she could love that much.

So, yeah, yarn.



And these lovelies, another braid from Rain in her Edward base in the Cardiff colorway, are going to be knit up into Crackerjack for the 2016 Chicago Cubs season. I have some silk (white), some merino/yak/silk (grey), and some cashmere (red) that shall accompany it.
Next year looks good.

I'd be showing you a sweater, but I have to block it. My mother* told me to.

*And by "my mother," I mean the lady in the art store who saw it mere minutes after it was finished.

Now for a little dancing:

Happy Everything!

Happy October!
I'm having a busy month already and it's only the first. In fact, I'm a little late in posting today because I've been busy doing important parenting things, important household things, and important things that are not blogging. It's the start of Aegletia, and if you've never heard of it, no one will blame you. Apollo is going on vacation at the end of the month and there are a few of us who send him off over nine days with a candle-lighting ritual. We've only been calling it Aegletia since last year and I'm strongly considering some small, appropriate gifts and/or special Aegletia foods that may or may not include underwear and/or eggplant, respectively.

This is close on the heels of the Fall Equinox Annual Perennial Exchange Party (Happy Fall!), which was low-key and delightful. The darling eldest made some labels for the seed bar, which was kinda fun, and we traded flower bulbs, too. Some time when it's not raining, there's going to be a great planting of things and I may or may not plant the crocuses in random spots around the yard.

There have also been computer-related shenanigans and my nerd-based confidence was boosted this week when I took a useless paperweight of a netbook and turned it into a learning machine that both children want to use. It's still a little slow, but it's actually functional and has lots of great programs for anyone of any age who might want to learn things. Bu even learned how to use a track pad.
I may or may not be a little proud. maybe a little

There's also been a great deal of spinning going on. I finished all the singles for the fiber Koren gave me to spin up for her as one of her stashdown prizes and I've been working on it when I can during Cubs games.
It seems to help. I'll have to be sure to have the wheel out when they play the Pirates for the wildcard spot.

The plying on the copper is done now, so it just needs to be washed, measured, weighed, and given the stern pinky.

Two pairs of jeans need patches, too, so that and a couple rounds of sweater sleeve also got worked on today. The sleeve is less interesting. It looks like a sleeve.

Anyhow, the sashiko patches are holding up well. They seem to do better than other kinds of patching techniques I've tried.

This was going to be a nice photo of the nice things to eat at the Fall Annual Perennial, but some goofball photobombed. We had noshes. It was yummy.

It's the Month of Cosplay, so I hope to have some costumes in progress very very soon. Happy Cosplay Month!

Wise Friendship, plus tiny socks

I finished a wee little pair of socks this week, Bu's Short Socks in some leftover Crystal Palace Maizy Print. They were only a wee squidge over a hundred yards and it's likely she'll grow out of them before the month is out, but she loves them in other capacities as well. Here she demonstrates that they make superb mittens, but they might also serve as a hat for a monkey. She's a happy customer and really, that's about all I can hope for.

Nothing sweeter than a little hugging a sock

I've shifted from sewing back to knitting, mostly because it's recital week and my afternoons are occupied with hauling kids around and practices and whatnot. That leaves precious little sewing time, but I'm hoping I can pick it up again when the recital is done. 

The Apollo test is still underway, but I have discovered that I'd been knitting a ruffle instead of a neat dodecagon. The increases were too rapid. I suppose it would help if I'd ever knit a circular shawl before, but I'm going to put the learning in my pocket to use later and then move along to the next stage of design: rip the darn thing and start over. It wasn't very big to start with and I already have more, new, better ideas about how to shape it, so it's not really a loss at all. It's part of the process.

I am not sorry about any of this

I've been spinning, too, and I've finished half the black alpaca singles, which is a good thing because the Middle TN Fiber festival was last weekend and I may have come home with a pound of polworth that I intend to dye and a couple other things as well. The best part, though, was hanging with my friends from near and far and discovering that they are awesomer in person than they are online. The whole weekend was delightful and I really wish the far friends weren't so far.

After the black alpaca gets spun up and plied, my next two spinning projects are this:

And this:

The first one is 100% silk from Rain's Obsessive Stitchery, which I've never spun before, but it's a gorgeous coppery color that doesn't quite come through in pictures. The batt is a lovely gradient from Lunabud Knits and I have two similar in purple, turquoise, and black. The above two beauties aren't even mine (honest!), but I am afforded the joy of spinning them for my very dear Koren, who won a "spin some fiber for me" prize during our last round of stashdown. She picked out the fiber this weekend and it came home with me and my polworth (&etc.). 

This is what it looks like when I run

I've also been running and I'm stuck on week 5 of couch to 5k, but I'm hoping to conquer it this week. It's only a matter of time. I shall wear week 5 down with persistence and determination and then proceed to give week 6 the hairy eyeball. I'm comin' for you, week 6. You're next.

I do love a good flow chart

I decided to make a skill tree so that I can figure out some specific things to do toward my Project Make goals, namely "Produce excellence" and "Become skilled." Those goals are pretty vague, but learning to warp a loom is a specific skill I can acquire and/or improve. I've since added to this particular chart and will probably need separate charts for each craft, but this has been a good exercise in turning vague goals into specific actions. I can't remember why I wrote "wise friendship," but I feel like I've had a lot of that going on this week and that it's not irrelevant to achieving my Project Make goals, so it's timely and appropriate. Good friends are certainly supportive of your crazy ideas in ways that help you be better. 

No techniques this week. There's been a lot of switching back and forth between current projects, which I hope results in some more FOs during Stash Dash. I'm participating in a completely unofficial capacity, but there's a spreadsheet nonetheless. Dress rehearsal is today (Thursday) and the recitals are Friday and Saturday, so I'm hoping I can get some FOs by blogtime next week when things have calmed down a bit. 

May Flowers

I can't even with how pretty she is.

This week has been pretty busy and intense as those of us at the House are leading into Thargelia and the end of the school year. Dance rehearsals are eating up much of our weekends right now and I've been working on Iris' dress for Spring Formal most of the week. It's finally finished and she's totally and completely in love with it. Even while I was mom-scowling at her to get her to take it off, I was secretly giggling with joy that she loves it so much.

Her Aunt Erin and Uncle Bob are planning to send drones to keep ne'er-do-wells away, and I would just about let them, but she's strong, opinionated, has no tolerance for BS, and can kick like a mule.

It's nice to have a big project done, though. This is a discontinued Simplicity pattern from ages ago, #9484, the one with the very cranky-looking model in maroon on the left. The pattern was sewn more or less as written with some alterations for size and a few deviations in technique. Rather than attempting to pull the entire bustier through a small hole in a lining seam to turn it right side out, I stitched the top, bottom, and one side seam and then turned it right side out through the other side seam.The final seam is hidden when the back is buttoned, but since the other seams are top-stitched, it really doesn't look all that different from the others.

Shawl designing continues apace and occasionally takes up more couch than I do. So far, I'm liking what's happening with the first little test knit, though I'm going to have to get some appropriately-sized circular needles if I'm going to go any further on the actual knitting.

So far, I'm liking the denser fabric that's coming off of the 2's and it's showing off some of the texture a little better than larger needles would do. I'm not sure what it's going to do with some of the lace elements, but I think it's going to be alright.

So far, so good!

With any luck, I'll have a pattern at least ready to be tested at the end of Project Make. Even though the learning curve is kinda high here, I'm enthusiastically taking it on because it's all about learning how to do something to the best of your ability. I don't know what my ability is in shawl design and writing a pattern, but it's going to be interesting to find out.

Brickless and Leto have gotten a fair bit of attention during morning coffee time and some occasional nocturnal knitting has garnered me some progress on my legwarmers, too. There are some things that have necessarily been put on the back burner because of time constraints and projects that have deadlines, but I have been very productive this week. On top of all this, I'm maintaining my exercise schedule, laundry is getting done and I even tidied up in my room, vacuumed, and made dinner every night. This may not last, but I'm going to enjoy it while it does.

This week's technique is all about boning. There are several types, but I used Rigilene boning in the bustier above, which can be sewn directly to the garment and doesn't require a casing. The video below shows what I used at 3:57, but it's worth it to watch the whole 15min.

There's a lot blooming, both figuratively and literally, here at the House and it's exhausting, but beautiful, but exhausting, and awesome.

Project bags and Bu shirts are up next in the queue. Have a happy Thargelia!

Something old, something new, and something cool on the other side of fear

Every time I go outside, I walk around my yard to look for flowers and it always seems to me as though there are never enough. It really is a whole lot greener out here, but what I really want is more purple, more yellow, more blue, more red, more everything. So every year, I plant more. Some things make it, some don't, some just kind of barely hang on to dear life until they either throw in the towel or until I figure out that they need more sun or better soil or something of that nature. Where am I going with this? I don't know. Flowers are pretty. There should be more.

And I have a thing about irises. These buttery yellow ones came from Bekah and the ones that came from Mom are about to bloom.

There are also muffins-- lots and lots of muffins. I found a basic recipe that uses a tablespoon of baking powder, which is really great if you're trying to get rid of baking powder. It's almost Thargelia and I think one more pass through the cabinets and the freezer and I can get rid of most everything that's more than a month old. I never can get quite everything, but I do seem to get a little closer each year.

This is the perfect time to cultivate new things growing and to transform old things into new things. That's where I am in Project Make as well. 

The project bags I'd started are still sitting draped over my sewing machine, waiting to be stitched, mainly because I've started on the eldest's Spring Formal dress. It feels like I'm training for prom because the dress, which is really a top and a skirt, is meant to be beautiful and elegant. The color is perfect for her and she will be the most beautiful princess at the ball.

My only concern is that it's sleeveless and to be held up by gravity, friction, prayers, and a little boning. It's not so much that I'm not sure I'm up to the task as far as technical skill, but really more that my baby is thirteen and I simultaneously have the urge to purchase a firearm and feel a little like a bad parent for making a bustier for her. 

Of course, that said, she's a confident young woman and I'm looking forward to the challenge of this particular design. The pattern is an old one from my pattern stash and I'm glad she found one from there that she liked. I'm looking forward to watching this transform as I work. 

And I have new yarn. I saved my spending cash for quite a few weeks and managed to go to Stitches South with about three times my normal budget. This is the entirety of what I came out with, aside from a pear-scented Lo-lo bar from The Barmaids. The best part of the trip was hanging out with my besties, meeting the most delightful people that I'd only previously known online, and watching yarn vendors flirt with Bu. The yellow yarn on the far left was from such a vendor, A Hundred Ravens, and happens to be in a colorway named Apollo. 

When I started Project Make, I thought I might be tweaking my sewing skills a little, learning some more about weaving, or maybe trying a new heel or two on socks. I didn't think I'd be taking on something as daunting as planning a circular shawl. I've never done it before and have a great fear that it'll suck as a design, but I'm poking along anyway because there might be something cool on the other side of that fear. 

This week's technique is the cast on I'm using to start the shawl. If it has a name, please do tell. I just kind of made this up as I went. Because I wanted to work it from the center out, I started with just a few stitches and increased from there. The intended shape is twelve-sided, but you could make any number of increases with this method. For the dodecagon:

CO 3 sts

1. As though knitting I-cord, kfb in all three stitches (6 sts)

2. Continue as though you were knitting I-cord and knit all 6 sts

3. kfb in each stitch, transferring stitches to three DPNs as you go (12 sts: 4sts/needle)

4. And all even rounds Knit around

5. (k, yo, k) into each stitch (36 sts)

7. *k 1, (k, yo, k) into one st, k1* repeat around (60 sts) (If desired, transfer to four DPNs: 15sts/needle)

9. *k2, (k, yo, k) into one st, k2* repeat around (84 sts)

11. *k3, (k, yo, k) into one st, k3* repeat around (108 sts)

And so on, adding one to the number of stitches on each side of the increases.

I'm also working on transforming myself. Week 4 of couch to 5k hasn't killed me yet, so I'm going to keep on truckin'. I can't wait to see what blooms next.

Soon.

Clear sight and green rage monsters

So, it turns out I have gestational diabetes. This comes as no surprise at all, given not only my family history, but that offspring #1 was whatchacall a big baby. It's been a very frustrating several weeks because my relationship to food has had to change drastically and far more quickly than I'm really comfortable with. I don't have enough time to slowly develop good habits over months, not that I don't already have good habits, but rather that I don't have optimal habits for a diabetic. Even so, I'm making a concerted effort for good health and that means wrestling with dieticians and counting carbs and testing when I should.

I love food so much. There's so much sensory information in a meal and, if you're doing it right, the experience can be one of the most pleasurable things in life. But counting carbs is frustrating and leaves me feeling deprived. Giving up my morning marshmallow cereal wasn't that big of a deal and we're already getting past ice cream season, but my big hangups are fruit and pasta. That's my kryptonite.

Gratuitous shot of a butterfly from our garden
that has nothing to do with this post. It's just pretty.

My two best friends had a conversation with each other about which of us would be what Avenger and they both decided in my absence that I'd be Dr. Bruce Banner. Of course there's the science thing, but really it's because I have the tendency to turn into a giant green rage monster (figuratively speaking) and even though I really try as hard as I can not to, I don't always have a handle on it. They didn't put it that way or even think about it in quite that way, but the correlation is not inaccurate.

Getting your spiritual act together is all about awareness and that's one of the biggest lessons I had to learn as I became a priestess. But it's not the kind of lesson you can learn just the once and get on with your new, enlightened life. It's work to keep developing the skill of self-awareness and applying the knowledge you've gained from it. One of the blessings of Apollo is that of clear sight: the ability to see things as they actually are without your preconceived ideas and emotions clouding everything. The emotions and ideas are still there, you can just see them for what they are and how, exactly, they obscure what's actually going on.

I made the mistake of letting my frustration get in the way of working toward better health. I hulked out without realizing what I was doing until after it was over and good, calm, logical, mild-mannered Bruce came back, feeling a little ashamed at letting the other guy get the better of him. It wasn't like I leveled a city block or literally smashed anything; I just got a little frustrated and let it get in the way of seeing what was really going on. All you can do at that point, even if you have leveled a city block or something, is take a deep, cleansing breath, try to figure out what happened, learn from it, and move on. So that's what I've decided to do: learn and move on, do better next time. I hope for the blessings of Apollo, not only for good health, but also so that I can see clearly what I can do to get there. 

At this point, I've got things more or less under control and it was my reasoned self that was able to do that rather than my emotional, reactive self. Reactivity is hardly ever helpful or useful and I have something to say about that in regards to how one responds to something that's offensive to one's religious beliefs, but perhaps for another post, eh?