A Few Fall Projects

I've actually done several little home-decorating projects in the last few weeks, but I just haven't had time (or motivation, etc.) to post pictures of them. So, here goes:

1) Three-dollar throw pillow:

1 placemat on clearance at Target


plus one bag of stuffing, equals:



2) Part of my dining room, including the lovely crystal vase I received as a b-day present:



3) A fall wreath made for only 66 cents! (I found the leaves on sale for 15-cents a bunch at Walmart and I had plenty of wire hangers at home.)



3) And finally, pictures of my newly-painted bedroom

The before:



And the after-painting-but-not-yet-finished:



When I get the pictures and the curtains hung, I'll post actual "finished" pictures. : )

And, in addition to these projects, I've also baked my first pumpkin pie and started on my first pair of knitted socks! ; ) (one morepic--of the first sock--below)

Oh, the Horror! (see pic below)

Note: This post may not be appropriate for young children...or for Fun-Fur-yarn-lovers.


How I loathe thee, trendy Fun Fur!
Hideous, slippery plastic threads,
tangled mass of petroleum wasted
in a pompous novelty yarn of horror.

Like "slicker-binders" required in 5th grade,
with no inherent advantage, no noble goals,
except those of intrigue and slipperiness,
looking funky, and refusing to stay put.

A swift trap for needles and hooks alike
drawing innocent beginners
with artificial lushness, yelling colors,
and seeming luxury of shade and texture.

The one "fiber" in the basket
which refuses to stay wound
slinking out at night to play,
winding confusion around sleeping wools

The slick yarn beguiles trusty knitters
turning hours of work on well-designed patterns
into messy webs of fur and string
proclaiming themselves "modern."

A cold tangle of cheap knots
in flustered hands expecting more...
...more warmth, more agility, more comfort
than spun-plastic Fun Fur can bestow.

The Perfect Tote...and Pants

It is clear that el tote bag-o is not going to be finished this week. Which is ok with me. I have decided I'd rather make it perfect than to make it by Friday. And, in addition to my perfectionist tendencies, I also need to average about 11 hours of work each day this week (except for Friday, when I'll be catching a plane). Yesterday I got 11...today I got 10:15. But I had a book group to go to tonight, and reading to do before I went, so tomorrow I'll make up for it. (Yes, I'll be skipping Wed. night church, but the book group I went to tonight is a church thing, so I think it'll be ok with God.) ; )

Anywho, I feel very grown-up today because I left my house by 7:11 this morning, went to Walmart and filled up with gas (ok, i put $10 in) before I got to the office at 7:45am. I also (later in the morning) took my new black pants to the dry cleaners, was fitted, and left them to be hemmed. Now, before anyone goes jumping down my throat about how easy it is to do simple hemming on unlined pants, let me just say: (a) please note that I have no sewing machine, (b) I'm not even sure if you use a sewing machine to do a whole hem (i've only ever repaired parts of a hem...which i did by hand), and (c) please also note the 11 hours of work per day, with hopefully a couple hours of eating/sleeping in between. And I know, I'm bound to have a willing friend who could do it. But maybe I wanted to have them done. Maybe I just like the idea of paying only slightly more than 1 hr's wages to save me a load of worrying and frustration...or trying to make schedules work out, and trying not to pressure a friend but to encourage them to get them done for me in less 3 days, or being unhappy if they're not what I pictured. And it makes me feel grown-up. So there.

And now for that sleeping part....

Questions for my Knitting Friends:

Does anyone know where to get nice (affordable) handles for a tote bag (finished size 11x14 inches)? All I can find in stores are tiny little evening-bag-sized handles. The icords in the pattern are supposed to end up 22-25 inches long.

The pattern for this tote bag uses handles of i-cord. Problems:
(A) I'm a relatively new knitter, and I've heard i-cord is less than fun.
(B) I'd like to have this bag done in time to take it on a trip this coming Friday!
(C) Somewhere in my moving, I've LOST a ball of yarn! Therefore, I have a lighter celery-shade of green, which I'm using for the part of the bag with the novelty yarn...but I'm not sure if I'd have enough of the dark green for i-cord handles. I don't think the lighter color would work for handles--I think it would look awkward and forced.

Does it take more yarn to knit icord than to do regular knitting? Could I regular-knit handles? Could I crochet them?

Patterns, patterns, everywhere

I think you know you've been doing too much crocheting/knitting in the last 36 hrs or so when...

...in browsing a mass-market clothing brand's website, your breath catches to see a category titled "Patterns." But you feel sadly disappointed (and slightly Laura-Ingalls-come-to-town) when you realize that they only mean *patterned* sweaters, not *patterns for* their pretty sweaters.

I promise a longer post perhaps tomorrow...or later today, really...

Felted Tote Bag Update

"Hi. My name is Bethany, and I'm a perfectionist." I admire those people who are comfortable with posting pictures of WIP (work in progress) projects (for examples, see: Betty's great series on designing knit patterns or Jen's many lovely socks). I hate letting people see the not-yet-finished project. I also feel like I work very slowly since I'm still learning, which only adds to the frustration. No one wants to see pictures of a 58 row project on row 8, row 12, row 30, row 42, row 50 and row 58. So I'm never sure when to post pictures and when to wait until I've gone "just a little further."

But here goes...

This is the progress I've made on my felted tote bag so far:

And here's a close-up of the pre-felted WIP (I'm really loving this color!):

The next step will be to add this yarn to the two strands of wool, so that it gets felted in by the wool and forms a band near the top of the bag:

Warning

Just a quick reminder that you should be careful in the hurry to catalogue all your yarn on Ravelry. Remember that SPIDERS LIKE YARN! Even yarn you've touched less than 2 weeks ago. Even yarn stored in an open, fabric-lined basket in your living room next to your favorite chair. Since the scary s-word above has been plural lately, the exterminators are coming today.

Exciting Things About Which I Haven't Had Time to Blog

1) My dear car broke down on me--a first in my life. I've decided that it's not because she's a bad car, it's just that she's young and still a little on the silly/irresponsible side. Turns out there was really nothing wrong except the battery died and so the rest of the car freaked out. So I've decided to name her Anabelle, after a 2-yr old horse I once knew with a similar disposition. : )

2) I finally got my eyes checked. Turns out, I have 20-50 nearsightedness, and astigmatism in both eyes. So I got contacts on Friday, and I am AMAZED at what (apparently) everyone else can see! It's incredible--I can see shadows of blades of grass while driving down the road! I can see individual stitches on the wall hanging that's across the hall from my office from my desk! However, the carpet in my office makes me dizzy b/c I can now see the pattern in it, rather than just a blur, and it's millions of tiny brown squares, and it makes my stomach feel queasy if I look at it while I walk. But the rest is all good.

3) I put my name on an apartment--number 2007 (which seems appropriate this year). It doesn't have a fireplace : (...but, it will have vaulted ceilings (read: no being awakened at 4:30 each morning by the ppl above me), and more windows, and a place for my washer and dryer, and a big balcony that does NOT face the parking lot. : ) I'm getting excited already! Now, to choose what to paint, and what colors...

4) Last week, from Sunday to Wednesday, I helped out at my church's Vacation Bible School. VBS has been one of my favorite parts of summer since I was 3 (really!), and I was SO excited about it! I got to work in "The Marketplace," which means I dressed in a biblical-times-type costume, and ran a craft booth for the kids. I helped kids from 4-years old to 5th grade make fish windsocks out of colored 6x9 envelopes and crepe-paper streamers. It was SO much fun! It was also fun to get to hang out w/ the other workers (many from my lifegroup/singles class) and to get to know some new friends better.

5) I got an email this morning from an old friend of mine, whom I haven't talked to (until this morning) in about 3 years! He is a Canadian, who has recently married an American, and is going to be living in the states for a while. He was a grad student when I knew him in college, and he persuaded me to take the Beginner's Biblical Greek class that he was teaching. Three years later, I graduated with 12 hours of Koine (Biblical) Greek, and 6 hours of Classical Greek. And I am SO grateful that he got me started on it! I am also grateful to find that, even after 3 years of not communicating, a good friend/hero/intellectual crush can still make me feel all happy inside!

6) Friday night I went with my friend Dana to an AWESOME American Artisan Festival! It was in a park downtown, and there were rows and rows of booths, brimming with handmade crafts. While a few were homemade-looking, the vast majority were simply beautiful! I saw every type of craft: from leather-works, to wooden inlay, to pottery, to glass blowing/etching, to hand-painted silk, to photography, to painting, to sculpture, to these fun purses and other sewing creations by Beth Howard (see also pic below, stolen from her blog)...

Beth Howard's booth at the festival

...and even these lovely paper-decoupage tables by Lara Moore.

I am seriously IN LOVE with these tables!!! I have decided that if I ever finally own my independent coffee-shop/bookstore, I will definitely be calling Lara and her people to provide the decor! These two were my favorite artisans, along with a wonderful potter who had no website but made beautiful bowls and vases.

7) Finally, I have to admit that I love hearing about adolescent dramas (as long as they're not mine). We have a recent high school grad (a boy) working in our office this summer, who is the son of one of our office staff, and who used to be almost-sorta-not-quite-dating a girl who worked here last summer. (Are you still with me?) Well, as it happens, this girl is doing an internship elsewhere (out of state) this summer, but...she has a twin! The girl also got a new boyfriend, with which--we think--she hoped to force the boy into some sort of jealous declaration of his love. However, instead, the boy has started spending suspicious quantities of his time w/ her twin!!! Today, the boy, his mother, and both twins (the one is in town just for the weekend) went to lunch together. Upon returning, the mother has confided to me that she can only conclude that the 3 of them should all move to Utah together and practice polygamy! The whole situation is way more entertaining than your average sitcom!

8) I finally got my invitation to join Ravelry!!! I have now done so, so please befriend me if you're on there. My Ravelry name is WordThreader (as my blog name won't fit, and all other names that I thought of (or that friends thought of) were already taken). I have already located (and friended) Betty and Jen, but I'm not sure who else is on there so far. I am SO excited about it, and I cannot wait to get home and start cataloging my stash! : ) I have always loved organizing, so Ravelry will be the perfect site for me!

A Few Definitions...

...for Knitting Between the Lines

• As a new knitter (though long-time crocheter), I sometimes feel like a little kid, trying desperately to color (or knit) within the lines...but still lacking the practice needed to make my pictures (or projects) look like "everyone else's."



• As an avid reader (and former English major), you could say that my knitting often takes a backseat to my reading habits (though with the lovely invention of audiobooks on ipod, I can sometimes do both!). Therefore, my knitting is "between the lines."



• As a girl who loved to play "secret clubs" and "spies," I also appreciate the history of knitting secret codes of stitch patterns during the French revolution...such as in Dickens's Tale of Two Cities. Some knitting projects can actually hold clandestine meanings--if read between the lines.



• As a Christian (and former psychology minor), I appreciate the traditional definition of "reading between the lines"--to see what isn't there in black and white. Hopefully, my knitting/blogging experiences will help me pause more often for contemplation of these truths, and to grow in unseen directions myself.

Good News/ Bad News

The good news is that I finished the ipod nano cover I was making for my friend Elizabeth's 13th birthday in less than a week! I gave her the cover, and also helped her load songs onto her new ipod, the night before she left for her big school trip to Washington, D.C. It looked great, if I do say so myself! It was pink, to match her ipod, and it was made from this yarn, which has natural antibacterial properties...just right for a 13-yr-old's ipod cover.

However, the bad news is that I committed that irreversible sin in homemade gift-giving...I completely forgot to take a picture of the completed project before I happily gave it away!!! So I have nothing to show for my work...unless I happen to sneakily take a pic of it one day when I'm over there. But, I do plan to make one for myself (since I have LOTS of extra yarn, and it did look really good on my silver ipod nano), so I guess I'll just take pictures of the second try. I hope it doesn't go the way of many of my project ideas--supplies purchased, I then find something else I'd rather do, and the supplies end up buried in my stacks of yarn, lonely and forgotten...

Perhaps I'll confess my intentions to crochet another to the Threaded Bliss group tonight. Maybe they can nag me about it until I get it done. Tonight I'm going to work some more on a lovely felted tote bag knitted in a beautiful shade of heathered dark green Cascade yarn.