How I Spent My Saturday Morning

By Phoebe A. Harrell, Age 39

Oh, those things are bad.  I totally see a quilt in my future.

So this is how I've spent the last three hours.  On my sofa, in pjs, with coffee and puppies and needle and thread and four - yes four - episodes of the Gilmore Girls on DVD.  I just finished the first season.  It's corny but it makes me happy.  (I think I have a little girl crush on Lauren Graham.  I'm going to blame it on Parenthood.)

Mean old boy is making me rustle my bones off of the couch now and go to the gym.  And my sweet friend Tamie pointed out that I was spending lots of times with those little hexies when I should be knitting.  Hats.  Six of them.  So maybe I'll knit when I get home.  I'm looking forward to a long wonderful day of making things.  Bliss.

Hope you're having a Saturday doing exactly what you'd like too.

xoxoxox

Ok. I get it.

Those two little baby balls were me dipping my toes into the hexagon craze. I enjoyed doing them and thought that the results were super cute. Then I saw a bag in the new Stitch magazine. (I'd link to it because I've had the magazine for a few weeks but they're still showing the last issue on their website. STEP IT UP PEOPLE.) And I became obsessed. So I did these 72 hexagons this week. Now I have to sew these together to make my bag. And if I don't hate that whole process, my mind has started spinning on a king sized hexagon quilt. Big hexagons. Not like this crazy person. (Don't get me wrong. I admire the perseverance of a person to make a king sized quilt out of 1/4" hexagons, but I'd like to finish a project in this lifetime. I'm not sure I'd have it in me to make even a pillow cover with 1/4" hexagons.)

I finished the baby blanket I was knitting. Still need to weave in the ends but I'm so uninspired by the finished project that I've been ignoring it. Maybe I'll make myself do it tonight if I can stay awake long enough. Getting up at 4.30am to watch the royal wedding is starting to take its toll. . . .

Good luck Wills & Kate.  You're beautiful and I'm rooting for you!

Happy weekend my peeps!
xoxoxoxox  

Busy bee

Here's project #1.  These are sweet little balls going to two babies - one on the way and one that has been here a few weeks.  A woman in one of my quilting groups makes these with scraps that she has left over from making a baby quilt and gives them with the quilt to the new baby.  (I feel like I typed "quilt" and "baby" too much in that last sentence. . .)  The pink ball will go with this quilt that I finished last month.  The blue one will go to new baby Perry in North Carolina along with these burp cloths -

This hat is vexing me. This is the third start. It's going to be super cute if I can pay attention enough not to lose a stitch somewhere along the way.

And here is what I've been working on non-stop since last week. I've changed the pattern slightly in my head from what was suggested on the PurlBee website. You'll see when it's all done, which at the rate I'm going shouldn't be too much longer.

Because of all of the crazy nonstop knitting, I only made one block of 35 for the quilt top that has been rolling around in my brain. Not even a dent really. And I have a new obsession - hexagons.  I'm thinking about a quilt.

Oh no. Save me.

xoxoxo

Moving right along

Here's the progress on the blanket I started last week.  I dragged it to a tennis tournament this weekend where I'm sure everyone around me thought I was crazy.  I'd be much further along but the pattern is kind of vague and it basically tells you how many they cast on but you can do whatever you want.  I'm all for tweaking a pattern to fit but sometimes the first attempt gets scrapped.  And then it's been a while since I picked up stitches on the side of bound off work and the instructions that I found to do that weren't quite right either so the red patch wasn't playing nicely with her neighbours.  More ripping out.  Fortunately, this is just rows and rows and rows of garter stitch so it doesn't break your knitting spirit to rip out and start again.  Pretty pleased with it so far.  It's exactly the kind of totally addicting thing of which I can see myself making many more.  After I finish hats.  And the sweater.

And this.  I must get to work on this -

I need an assistant.
xoxoxoxox

It's a sickness

Seriously.  Is there a twelve step program for knitting?  There needs to be.  I saw this project online just a few days ago and it started an itching in my brain.  I do so love log cabin anything.  Knit it.  Quilt it.  I don't care.  I love them.  I was going to keep it a secret and maybe make it as a gift but I told my two best knitter friends today and I think we might all do this blanket together.  Not this particular one, but all knit blankets at the same time.  (Go Margeaux!  Second project - blanket!)  So here I go.  Please try to forget about the fact that I just started my first sweater.  Or that I still need to knit five or six hats for the trip.  Or another hat for a sort-of-cousin.  Or any of the many sewing/quilting things that I need to be doing.  Sigh. I really need one more day every week.  At least.

One other thing I'm super loving today - dog snuggles.  I'm cheap.  I'll take them from anywhere.  Here is how I spent about half an hour this morning whilst doing some party planning for a soon-to-be four year old -

I love you, Miss Stella.
xoxoxoxo

Happy happy!

Today was a first birthday party for a very special little girl. Yesterday in my early morning, half asleep, trying-not-to-move-so-I-don't-alert-Olive-and-maybe-I-can-lay-here-for-a-few-more-minutes, planning my day state, I thought of a brilliant plan to make this sweet girl a little birthday banner. It's a bit hard to see some of the letters in the picture but I was pleased with the way that it turned out. And another mother at the party was shocked that I had made it all myself. (Really???) Anyway, nice to think of something and get it done all in one day. But it was a long one. That little baby took longer than I thought. And at the end when I thought I was just about done, I hit a few snags that just made the process longer. Oh well. I'm happy with the result.

But it was long day for all of us. Here's another shot of Olive in her "sleeping bag" (pillowcase). Sorry for the quality of the picture but all I had handy was my iPad.

xoxoxox

Today

I'm feeling super productive. I got up early this morning. (A special thanks to the Cooper River Bridge Run for setting up less than a mile from our house and having booming bass music playing at 7.45. GRRRRRRR.) But it made me drag my sorry self out of bed earlier than I wanted. I had breakfast, cleaned out my bulging email inbox, swept the house and did this -



It's a scarf I've been working on for my friend Diane. She's coming to town tomorrow so I'm glad to have it off the needles and on my blocking boards.

I have more on my creative plate (and my running errands plate) so I'm going to wish you all a happy Saturday and get back to it!

xoxoxoxo