[cross-stitching] Bookmark

For Christmas I received a gallon zip-lock bag of embroidery floss. It was a jumble of colors but all already neatly wound onto bobbins. I selected tonal pairs of colors for a bookmark:

Using a Shakespeare book to display it, to make me appear smarter than I am.

No pattern, per se. I used a small motif from an out-of-print cross-stitch book that I picked up last summer at the Five-Colleges Book Sale.

To make the bookmark less floppy (and hide the messy wrong side!), I added a felt back:

To do this, once I was all done with the colored design, I simply put both the felt fabric and Aida cloth onto my Q-snap frame and stitched the thin dark brown border through both pieces, to tack them both together. 

Then I cut a rather generous border around and pulled away one row of the Aida cloth around to make a frilly edge. I imagine more will fall away over time, as it's used more. This was a good project to use some of the long, skinny strips of leftover Aida that I cut away from larger cross-stitch projects.

[embroidering] Dragon Hankie

Finished a new handkerchief for Dollar:

Was able to try out new stitches here and there around the dragon. It's a fairly big design- I think I'll go back to smaller, more discreet designs to add to hankies. They're faster to make, anyway ;)

Pattern is from Sublime Stitching.

[knitting] Totally Biased

My handmade Christmas gift for my sister:

Patten: Totally Biased (rav link)

I love my sequined Tiara-lly Biased so much, I wanted to make another. 

Yarn: DyakCraft (formerly Grafton Fibers) batts:

Handspun yarn:

I really like this mix of colors- brick red, autumn orange, teal. 

Here's my sister modeling the cowl:

And doubled-up:

Good pattern for handspun yarn. I think I'll need to made another. For me.

[misc] Murderface Monday

Murderface warming his toes in the weekend sun:

Penny is tired from her nap. Probably needs another nap.

Santana is smiling.

[crochet] Rising Sun Doily

A Christmas gift that I didn't finish on time but will given next year:

Pattern: Doily Number 7274. Not sure when it was renamed but it's called "Rising Sun Doily #7274" on Ravelry. Pattern is originally from 1944!

Yarn: Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet (Size 3), 1.5 balls

Ended up quite large because of the heavier crochet cotton that I used.

Too big for the round nightstand that I currently have it on.

[cross-stitching] Li'l Loki

Made this for a swap partner on Ravelry:

She likes Loki from the Thor series, so I Googled a bit for a small cross-stitch project. I had the cloth, thread and frame already, so this was a no-cost project. Apart from the pattern, which I think was only $1.99.

Was easy and fun to make but the gold thread was terrible to work with. Terrible. The payoff is that it is quite glittery and reflective in direct sunlight. It was worth it.

Working on a cross-stitched biscornu at the moment but not really feeling any love for it. I'd rather make a little rug for my iPhone. I hate the rattling/buzzing noise when I have it on a desk or coffee table and I get a text message. I want to make a soft coaster for the phone to rest on to muffle the noise.

[music] Trans-Siberian Orchestra

The weekend before Christmas, Dollar's father took us to see a show in Boston. I heard about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra only a couple years ago and missed getting tickets in time to see them this year. When Dollar's dad called us to say that he had tickets, I was like, "No. Way."

It was the best live music show I've ever seen. Every singer and every musician was amazing. The light show and projected images were precision perfect. This is the type of show that will blow your mind- and it's good for any age. The TD Garden in Boston was packed but every single person was captivated for the entire 2.5 hour show.

Some pictures from the colorful show:

Oh yeah, there was fire, too.

A platform at the other end of the arena that raised up:

Pyrotechnics and arms that swung the musician out over the crowd:

It was awesome. Highly, highly recommend. Borderline insist. It was a great, entertaining show.

[misc] Murderface Monday

Back to work, back to work. Weather is currently rainy, slushy, icy, crashy. I subscribe to the VT State Police blog and it's just report after report of crashes. High temperature today is going to be 45. Low this past weekend was -25. High tomorrow is going to be 10. What's up with that? My car slid sideways down my ice luge driveway this morning bit I was able crawl to work safely.

Had to get a new car battery installed this weekend. It's been so cold that my car was almost not turning over. I don't believe the battery had ever been replaced, so it was definitely time. Also got a (drastic) haircut. Had a nice dinner out.

Now I can start daydreaming about my next vacation.

[misc] Post-holiday fugue state

I hope everyone had a Happy Christmas and Merry New Year. I'm only just coming out of my vacation  stupor and still trying to figure out what day it is. My stay-cataion at home was awesome. It's all kind of a blur now but totally relaxing.

The last of the Christmas pictures:

I think we put the tree up the first weekend in December and by the time we had family over on Christmas eve, so many needles were falling off. Two days after Christmas I decided to take it down- taking off all the ornaments and lights left half of the needles on the floor. This was my first year getting balsam fir and while it made the house smell really nice the first few days, I think I'll go back to Frasier firs- they just hold their needles on better. 

My days mainly consisted of getting up whenever Santana decides she can't wait any longer for breakfast and begins howling in earnest. Then I'd do crafty stuff. Then give the cats some catnip and arrange cage-fighting matches between them. Bakes some bread. Watched a ton of movies. 

The cats were happy to have us home so much (if only for all the extra snacks and treats they were given throughout the days). Here's Dollar with two on him:

Now that I'm done with all my frantic holiday gift-making, it's nice to work on whatever I feel like. I just need to figure out what it is that I feel like making...

[cross-stitching] Baby Blanket

Stitched a baby blanket for Dollar's nephew, whose name we drew for Secret Santa.

Quick and easy. Used an alphabet from the book 2001 Cross-Stitch Designs and some tonal thread. I added some small yellow diamonds across the rest of the blanket, so it wasn't completely bare. 

[misc] Penny Wednesday

If I leave a papertowel or any kind of paper out, Penny finds it and shreds it. With all the Christmas wrapping I've been doing, I've tossed some heavy tissue paper to the floor for her enjoyment-

Penny, you don't look very excited. Maybe if we try to wrap you up in it:

Well that didn't work. 

Murderface came over to inspect the paper and a wrestling match ensued. Here's how 99% of the wrestling matches between MF and Penny end:

MF is a pacifist.

Looks like Penny gets to keep all the paper. Her crazy-face keeps everyone else away:

[crochet] Snowflake Ornaments

Finished all the snowflake ornaments:

SO. CUTE. Used leftover commercial angora for most- so soft and fuzzy. Also made a couple with handspun angora.

[misc] Murderface Monday

Um... where are the rest of my gifts?

[misc] Santana Friday

Finally, a decent amount a snow is forecast for the weekend. Good. 

Santana, what do you think?

Meh. If it's not going to snow food, she doesn't care.

[knitting] Aran Cap #2

A finished gift:

The pattern is from an out-of-print leaflet by Candide Yarn. I made an identical hat 2 years ago for Dollar's father. It's a smidge too short, so I made this one a bit longer.

Christmas presents are starting to arrive in the mail. I'll start wrapping things and putting them under the tree (for the cats to rip apart in the middle of the night). 

"Who? Me? Rip apart presents? I promise I won't this year..."

[crochet] Snowflake Ornaments

Working on ornaments to give as gifts this year:

The pattern is Snowflake Ring Ornaments. Last year I made wreath ornaments by the same designer. She has many other similar Christmas themed ornaments on Ravelry- I'm already planning to do stars for next year!

Oh wait, I have to finish a bunch more snowflakes for this year. Good thing they are SO easy. I made one in 15 minutes and showed Dollar. He said, "Wow, looks intricate." But it's not- it's only three rounds to do and the first two are just single crochets. 

Using up some white DK and light-worsted weight scraps from my stash. I've made a couple angora snowflakes that should only get softer and prettier over time.

[misc] Oh Christmas Tree

Got a Christmas tree at one of Nichol's lots (at I-89 Exit 18). It's an 8 foot tall Balsam Fir. I usually get a Frasier Fir because the branches are so much stronger and the needles stay on better, but the balsam smells so much more Christmas-y. 

Murderface is already waiting for presents under the tree.

[misc] Murderface Friday

Brought Murderface to the vet. Santana scratched/punched him in the eye. He was squinty in his left over after and hid under the bed. The visit to the vet was fine- she put dye in his eye and used a black light to see if his cornea was scratched. It wasn't, so he didn't need any ointment or medicine. 

[knitting] Plain Socks

I rarely knit socks but I started a plain ribbed pair, for something portable and mindless to work on:

I've spent much time recently in the auto mechanic's waiting in room, waiting for scheduled maintenance and winter tires. 

The yarn is dyed by me, during a class at one of the early Green Mountain Fiber Festivals:

Of course, I can't work on these "filler" socks now since I'm busy CRAFTING ALL THE THINGS for Christmas. Last night I finished knitting a gift hat and immediately started cross-stitching a project... But after one letter, I moved on to a knew knitting gift... But I need to make sure to embroider a new handkerchief for Dollar... And crochet a doily... And make some Christmas cards... 

Then I just go hide in bed and play iPad games and cuddle with the cats.

[knitting] Dabbling in Double

After taking the "Dabble in Double" class by Lucy Neatby, I was highly motivated to finally start tackling some double-knit potholders. I started with this elephant one:

I cast-on in brown and worked a couple rounds in brown before introducing the green contrast color. 

The opposite side:

A bit of the circle border design is lost on this side because I was working brown on both sides. In the future, I'd like to do a tubular cast-on for two colors (I think there is such a thing) and immediately start working the two colors on either side.

Next, because I've had this idea and wanted to do it for a while, I charted out a USACE castle logo and double-knit that:

I like it but need to revise the chart a bit. Also, I'm not so sure why my stitches are so zig-zaggy. That didn't happen with my elephant potholder and I wrapped all the stitches the same way. Huh. Hm. 

The inverse side:

I like making these potholders- they are small and quick projects. Once I feel more comfortable, I'll move on to larger double-knit projects.