Bird's Nest Knits

Digging myself out of a hole

My poor blog has suffered of late.  Cast aside in the face of endless hours of work, much shaking of fist at Microsoft over the whole Daylight Savings Time change and the havoc that it wreaks, wrecks?  I've been completely drowned in work, and only today has there been even a hint of an end.   I haven't even had a chance to barely do any knitting, and my mood has suffered for it.  I even missed out on meeting up with the usual suspects at Rebecca's last weekend,  But finally, finally, sweet Jesus Mary and Juan Valdez.. FINALLY - it's time to relax and unwind at last. 

Last night I managed to pick up Mariah - the only big project that I'm working on, and will work on until I'm done with her (socks do not count, and lace might not count either - I haven't decided yet).  I'd forgotten how much I love the cabling, and discovered that armed with my Knitpicks Pattern Holder (love this thing - you must get one) I can actually knit pretty challenging cable while watching TV. 

I am about 2/3 of the way done with the sleeves, all sorts of modifications to the body brewing in my head.  Lengthening, adding short rows at the boobal area, no hood, maybe a button front instead of a zipper, or even a pullover instead of cardigan, maybe a collar - oh the possibilities.    It's going to go to my sister I think, unless I decide that I want to keep it for myself.  Considering I'm significantly more.. um.. ample than she is - I'd better decide soon.

Not content with just knitting - I've taken a stab at sewing as well.  Here is an even more neglected dress - which will probably remain neglected till closer to summer.  It just needs to be seamed up the sides - which is what - 10 minutes?  If even that.  But no - I revel in my slackmaster like abilities.

I think it's going to be darn cute, and the boobages will be flirtily on display.  And you can't underestimate the value of flirty boobs.

As if I didn't have enough junk laying around related to various hobbies, I've also tried my hand at wire jewelry.  This is pretty darn fun.  Note for the day:  The higher the number "gauge"  the thinner the wire.  These earrings were super easy to whip up but the wire I used was a little too delicate so if you yank on them they will definitely bend out of shape.  Purty though - gifts for a few teenage girls I know.

On a more personal note, I found out that my parents were sick when they went to Vietnam.  No it wasnt birdflu.  They both got chest x-rays and the doctor there found a mass in my dad's left lung.  The big C word was whispered about, and my sister and I freaked out quietly.  When he got home he went to his regular doctor, got scanned again.  No cancer - it was pneumonia.

My dad's a crusty old sort - and it's much too soon for him to go anywhere.

I missed you blogland - glad to be back.

Speaking of holes in the head...

In the excitment of being nearly birdpancake, I forgot to mention that I've picked up another hobby, Sewing! because you know.. I need holes in my head.  And because I don't spend enough time and money on knitting, and I dont have enough space taken up by supplies.  *grins*  But in my defense this is a very useful skill to have and think of all the money I'll be saving by hemming my own pants and sewing the occaisional cute summer top.  We won't speak of the cost of a sewing machine, notions, rotary cutting mat, fabric.. you get my drift.  Those will be filed under the heading of "supplies".  And over time - if you use them enough they pay for themselves.   

Heidi being the fantastic enabler that she is, told me about sewing classes through San Diego's Continuing Education program and best yet - they are FREE.  I convinced my sister to sign up with me and Yoly from work and occasional SD knitter in public also is taking the class.  After getting the supply list for the class my sister and I went to Walmart to arm ourselves with the needful.

My sewing machine is  Brother 2600i which I love, and have named Roxanne - cause she is eaaaaaaaaaaaaaasy.  We started out with the least expensive model from Walmart which was a 10 stitch Brother LS-2125i and ended up returning it because it didnt have an overlock stitch.   It was nice to have had a chance to sew on the lower end model first because we both appreciated the little design changes in the 2600i that the cheaper one didnt have.  It has a built in thread cutter, a built in machine needle threader, drop in lower bobbin, and you dont even have to bring the lower thread up before starting to sew.  Just drop it in, thread the needle and go!  The foot pedal is also more sensitive and easier to control the speed of the stitches. 

Roxanne with Orangina looking on

We've installed Roxanne into the craft room with an extra folding table that has the cutting board, and an ironing board for pressing seams and such.  We've renamed the room the Vietnamese sweat shop, and when my sister comes over with her machine to sew, it really earns it name lemme tell ya.  A floor fan helps to keep us from passing out from the heat.

The Sewing class is two Sundays from 9am -2pm and the basic focus of the class is to learn how to read a pattern and construct the pieces.  One thing I need to work no now is cleaner finishing.  My seams pucker a little, and I'm learning not to fear taking something apart to adjust the fit. 

Classroom action shots and Mary mugging for the camera.

No matter how much you try pinning the paper pieces - you can never tell the fit until you try it on.  I made a little summer top, and learned a heck of a lot in the process.  It didnt come out perfect but for my first piece, I think it is really cute.  Kind of like that first fuzzy fun fur scarf you knit when you first learn how to knit.  Ignore the completely inappropriate bra, uh and the excess boobages.  I'm going to put a little lace insert there to keep things PG.

Now back to working on Orangina...

Close calls and holes in the head...

Sometimes - you can just have too much excitment.  Those are the days that you long for blissful boredom with absolutely nothing happening except the grass growing on the lawn and the hair growing on your legs.  Unfortunately that doesnt always work out like that - and tonight was one of those nights.

Everything started out great - met up with Crissy and Heidi for some dinner at the South Park Bar & Grill - I highly recommend the spicy fried tofu appetizer and Heidi's portabello sandwich looked really good too.  Crissy had a crab cake sandwich which also looked yummy.  Now happily sated we walked back to Rebecca's Coffee Shop in a beautifully balming evening, and sit down at one of the outside tables to enjoy the cooling temperatures.  The sounds of live music floated out from the inside of the coffee shop and we worked on various knitting projects.

Suddenly a screech of tires and the grinding of metal on metal echos out and a Ford F-150 comes barreling towards us.  Heidi sees the lights and darts out of her chair (we chalk this up to pre-mommy lightening reflexes) and out of the way while Crissy and I just stared at the truck coming at us.  Thankfully it hit a tree and stopped about 8 feet away from where Heidi was sitting at our table.  If the tree hadnt been there we would have been seriously hurt.  We sat there for a few minutes trying to cope with the adrenaline rush and I did what any self respecting blogger would do - took pictures!

Needless to say - there was no knitting after that