Miles of Piping

Hello:

On Thursdays, I have Sewing Lab at Lake Washington Institute of Technology.  Basically, I use the machines, tables, great iron, etc, at the college for sewing.  The teacher, Jackie, is there to answer questions, and help as people need. 

I have decided that I am not really using this class correctly.  I have been working on some project bags using the Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam.  I am making a purse like bag she calls the Piping Hot Hobo Bag.  I have forgotten my camera the last 2 weeks, so I have no photos yet.  But, anyway, if I had brought the camera today, I would have just taken photos of piping.  I spent 3 hours cutting bias strips, sewing them together into a long, continuous strip, then using a piping foot (my favorite toy in the lab so far), to sew a cord into the strip.

Yes, 3 hours of that.

However, I have a ton of red red red piping, and if I ever get the bag put together, I am ready to go.  I know I could just buy piping, and bias tape for that matter.  But there is something so finished looking about making my own.  I just wish that I had more time for sewing.  I wish that every day were 48 hours long, so I could do all of the crafting I want to do.

Of course, work (my tutoring job) is cutting into my crafting time a bit.  I picked up my 5th student today.  We will start next week.  He asked how he would know me when we met the first time.  I said, "It will be easy, I will be the 53 year old woman in the Student Success Center."  He laughed and said that I would know him because he will be the 53 year old man.  I can't wait to meet him.

Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with miles of piping.

Baby Bumps

Hello:

Tonight, as usual, Eastside Stitchers met at Crossroads in Bellevue for quite a bit of stitching fun.  I say Stitching, though since Ellyol hasn't joined us in a while, I provided  the crochet part of the evening.

We are all missing our good friend, Redbird1, who is recuperating on the other East Side.  She is keeping busy, however, working on a Lintilla by Martina  Behm, and some mystery projects with yarn she got at Webs.

Skeinherder is busy double dipping for SKA's cable month challenge and SolidSocks Beach Themed color month.  She is knitting Slingback by Yarnissima in yarn by Periwinkle Sheep in the perfect beach themed color of "Memories of Sun."

MsWiz was knitting cables, too.  In her case, she is knitting Julissa, by Vanessa Smith.

Wajio was swatching, or experimenting, or beginning a secret project.  I have a feeling there will be many secret projects in the coming weeks.

 Can you say, "Potato Chips?"  CathieC is almost finished with her scarf.

Hrvdmnky is knitting Rivel, by Miriam L. Felton. 

Tara1682 has made huge progress on her Cloisters.

VanessaPolo is knitting a beautiful Holden Shawelette by Mindy Wilkes.

GwenS finished an Aviatrix hat for a friend's baby (as though knitting for her baby is not enough.

Chocklet has begun a new shawl.  She is making the Sundry by Jennifer Dassau.

Oh dear!  Ms Wiz discovered an error in her beautiful Rivel.  Invoking Redird1, she frogged the entire thing.

That's all for tonight,  other than comparing the sizes of the various baby  bumps on display at the Crossroads. 


We will be discussing our plan for Eastside stithers, soon, I hope.

Good night everyone,
Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with stitch buddies.

Spring Term has Begun

Hello!

So far this spring, my cats have killed a giant rat (left it on my bedroom floor), a small bird (yes I felt guilty about that because I have 2 feeders), and this morning, a small mole?

My cats are usually the type of hunters who either bring home pine cones and think they are small animals, or bring home live animals and let them go in our bedroom.  This has happened twice with baby rabbits.  Yes, we have found live baby rabbits in our bathroom that had to be let out, while we kept in the cats, and hoped they found their way back home.

The weather has been very very hot, in the 80's F.  I have never seen it this hot in May.  Usually, it doesn't get above 70 F here until August.

In fact, after 2 days of above 80 F, our snow pack

 is very melted.

So sad.

But the temperatures were almost back to normal today, and it was much more comfortable.

The HPKCHC (Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup) Spring Term has begun.  I am still in Gryffindor.  Last term, we came in 2nd for the over all cup, and in first in Quidditch.   I am weirdly excited for the competition.  Not so weirdly, I am happy for the push to craft that this game gives me.  I need to finish up the 1st Anniversary Afghan that I am hooking by June.  I need to make a ton of baby gifts for the newest expected Eastside Stitchers.  I want to somehow stay in SM for at least one more round.  Crafting for the class prompts somehow helps me to keep focused and crafting like a mad woman.

So far, I have turned in 2 classes.  While I like how this game encourages me to make some stuff I would not have thought of making, I mostly need to get stuff done.  So, I usually make the stuff I need/want to make, like afghan squares or socks, then try to find class prompts that fit.

The prompt for Care of Magical Creatures was about werewolves.  You could craft something that reflected their dual nature, or craft something that would "soothe the werewolf so he can keep his human sanity."  This type of prompt can be ANYTHING.  Especially, the soothe the werewolf part. 

I made the 2013BAMCAL 6 in square for May, Puff Flower by Heather Johnson.  The softness of the puffs is sure to soothe a werewolf.  Don't you agree?

The History of Magic prompt is about Sir Cadogan.  You can craft something that shows how brave you are, something huge, tiny or intricate and complex.  You can craft something using second hand materials, since Sir Cadogan's pony was his second choice, or you can craft something as a second try - something you failed at and are now trying again. 

Well, I thought of making a square with tons of color changes for something intricate.  Then I looked at the April squares for 2013BAMCAL (I am behind because of all the sock knitting).  One of the squares is Waldo's Puzzle by Chris Simon.  Actually, this pattern was not difficult.  Chris Simon writes very clear instructions for some very clever patterns.  But, the square looks interesting and difficult.

I proposed my OWL (a project that should take 2 - 3 months to complete, which was approved today.  I won't be able to write much about the OWL, as it is for the expected babies.  I hope to take notes, and write about it after the Baby Shower in August.

I feel a bit like I am off to a slow start.  The cleaning of the craft room and my job are taking time.  I know this is silly, but I will try to crank out 2 more projects before the 10th even though we don't have the Crazy Train this term.  That way, I will be more than half way finished with classes.

Peace.
f1bercat
shaping the planet with 2 finished classes.

Quidditch Cleaning

Hello:

It has been in the 80's F here the last 2 days.  Yes, you read that right.  So insane for the Pacific Northwest. 

The Spring Term has started for HPKCHC, and I am going crazy with busy busy busy.  I am tutoring 2 - 3 hours a day Mon - Thurs, now, so I feel incredibly behind. 

I am getting into the swing of the Spring Term Classes, but I wanted to quickly post about Quidditch.  The first Quidditch game/challenge this term is a great one for me.  It is a "training" exercise, and the prompts ask us to clean up or organize.  So, you can organize Ravelry, as in log in stash, clean out your queue, and so on, but I  wanted to really clean some real life space.  When I am in the craze of finishing, I tend to just sprawl my crafting stuff all over.  I clean up the livingroom where I often work by picking stuff up and just dumping it in the spare  bedroom.  Yes, I am admitting this. 

Then, since I have been sewing, too, and I am too lazy/busy to bring the sewing stuff upstairs/downstairs every time I use it, I have been just storing it in Himes's room while he is away at college.

So, for Quidditch, on Sunday, I cleaned up and organized these spaces:

Thank you, HPKCHC, for pushing me to clean up!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with organized space.

Vanesa Vanesa Vanesa is back!

Hello:

It's so nice that I have helpers when I am trying to hook an afghan square.

The Friday Fiber sub-group from Eastside Stitchers met for some morning stitching at Crossroads.  The weather has gotten quite lovely again, and since we are past the Spring Equinox and getting close to the Summer Solstice, the sun rises very early now, and we had great light through the skylight at the center of the Mall.

I arrived first.  I have started a part-time job as a tutor at Bellevue College, and though I really don't want to work on Fridays (Hello!  I have knitting on Friday mornings), I agreed to meet one of my ESL (English as a Second Language) students for an hour.  Since I knew that I had to leave early, I wanted to get to stitching as early as possible to make up for it.

I am sure I have said this many times, but Crossroads is not much of a mall.  It is really a giant food court with lots of tables, a stage that is often used by local schools for performances, and a few stores (thank goodness a Jo-Ann's, a Starbucks, and a Half-Price Books).  You can take a table for 4 - 6 hours and not feel like you need to eat and move on.  Because of this, there are lots of crafting groups who use the space. 

Today, while I waited for stitch buddies to join me, I saw a man tatting,

and a small group of women stitching a knit/crochet squares afghan to a quilt fabric backing for a friend who is sick.

The Eastside Stitchers soon began arriving.

Skeinherder brought her There and Back Again socks . She has finished the first sock, and was working on the toe of the 2nd.

Later in the morning, she progressed to some very soft fingerless gloves, Ghislaine Gloves  by Sara Varty.

Mary brought an almost finished baby dress.  She had a bit of seaming to do, and lots and lots of weaving in.

WireKnitter is a few inches further on her beautiful Pebble sweater by Laura Aylor.

This started a discussion of what types of projects are good to bring to Crossroads, and what happens when a project gets so big that it is no longer easily portable.  You want to keep working on it, as you are getting closer to the end, but when it is tough to fit in a project bag, or just too heavy to lug around, you tend to leave it home and work on other things.

CathyC arrived with her Potato Chip scarf.  She has made some real progress.  Again, this is an easy pattern, but it does require counting.  That can be a problem when you are chatting and laughing with your friends.

And then,

VanesaPolo arrived!  She has been gone for the last few weeks on vacation in Spain.  It was so much fun to have her back. 

She brought some show and tell,

and her Potato Chip Scarf #2.

I brought an afghan square for the First Anniversary Afghan I am making for my nephew and his bride. This is Waldo's Puzzle by Chris Simon.  Great clear pattern with some round photos included in the pdf to help out.

Tomorrow, Skeinherder and I will be hitting 10 stores in one day on the South Sound LYS Crawl.  You can expect photos of pastries and alpaca, since one of the shops is near a great bakery, and another is an alpaca farm!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a puzzle.

Ice Cream, Tri'Coterie, and Knitting

Hello:

Eastside Stitchers met at Crossroads tonight for some ... healthy... ice cream treats, and yummy yarn.

We had a nice size group, partly because we are just awesome, but partly because we had some guests.  Maylin, of the gorgeous Tri'Coterie Designs (including the beautiful wingspan) and beautiful yarns was in town for a Cat Bordhi retreat.  Maylin and our own Hrvdmnky attended the retreat, and then local members of the Tri'Coterie Group on Ravelry stopped by our knitting group to say hi to Maylin, and get a chance to see some of the yarn up close.  Hrvdmnky often knits with Tri'Coterie Yarns, and designs for the label.

GwenS finished the Aviatrix (except for weaving in) she is making for a friend's baby shower this weekend.  The color is really purple, the yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino.  What a luxurious hat.

Hrvdmnky was almost finished with a new sock, "Grape Sock."

Skeinherder has finished (all but weaving in) her Footsies.

She also brought her finished Rasta Bag.  She still needs to put in the lining, she brought 2 choices, but the knitting is finished.  Another Malabrigo March project finished.

Colleen is making great progress through her donated stash of fun fur with this very pretty pink fur scarf.

I asked Colleen how her baby sweater is going.  She closed her eyes, and just shook her head, no.  I dropped the topic.

Chockelet brought a new incarnation of her attempt at a Charlotte's Web Shawl.  You might remember that she did a spectacular frog last week of her first attempt because the yarns were just not doing it for her.   This one is with two colors of Madelinetosh Tosh Marino Light, French Grey and Pop Rocks (guess which yarn in the photo is which), and a skein of Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock in Boheme.

She also brought a new shawl, Sundry, also being knit in Madelinetosh Tosh Marino Light (is it Mad May? I think so).  The colors for this shawl are not pink, but rather Red (Tart), and Gray (Tern).

WireKnitter  brought a beautiful sweater, Pebble, by Laura Aylor, in "Logwood," also a Madelinetosh yarn, this one Tosh Pashmina.

I don't know how well you can see the stitches in this photo, but the "wrong side" or inside of the sweater is really beautiful.  WireKnitter thinks the sweater will be reversible, and I agree.

Our Celebrated Guest, Maylin, was working on a mobius cowl (what else would you  be inspired to make at a Cat Bordhi retreat?) in her own gorgeous yarn.  The colors are Iron Throne and Frost.

Congratulations are due to Hrvdmnky who announced that she is expecting GIRLS!  I expect to see quite a bit of pink around the tables at Crossroads soon.

I won't say who was eating the ice cream.  Just that they used the excuse of needing calcium.

We missed all our members who couldn't make it tonight, and hope to see you next week.  Remember, we need to discuss the North Sound LYS Tour.  And we missed our East Coast member.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with some ice cream envy.