This and That

I once told a friend that I'd call myself a "neat freak" except that I'm so insecure about my abilities in that area that I'd be afraid that people would think that was strange to call myself "neat" when my house in never that clean. There are several reasons for this fact, but the number one reason is that we have three animals who have the run of the house at all times. Our beagles may have short hair, but they shed constantly, which is why I sweep and mop our floors at least once a day, usually twice. Kitty contributes even more to my cleanliness angst since she likes to sleep on the couches and (horrors!) the kitchen table. I've given up on table cloths since she'll just walk across them and take a little nap, leaving black hair everywhere. But, today I decided that I'd get out her kitty bed to encourage her to stay away from the couches, at least. Yes, she's still on the table, but I feel better about her, at least, being in her little bed....and she is so cute and cozy in there.

Oh, and I didn't crop my last picture very close so that I could show off my little pumpkin salt and pepper shakers from Sturbridge Yankee Workshop that  I recently purchased.

 What wrong with the above picture? 

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the The Maricopa Quilt Company with a quilting friend of mine and bought a fabric pack, thinking that maybe I'd follow through with a little quilting project. I don't know much about quilting, but I do know the alternating bold fabrics with lighter fabrics rule. Somehow, I got my right band of fabric reversed so that I had lights with lights, so even though it's so much easier to unravel a knitting mistake, I ripped out my misplaced band and fixed it. Success! My seams all match. It's amazing what one can do if she is willing to rip and sew, rip and sew, rip and sew...I mean baste.

Now what do I do? I'm planning on hand quilting it, which I have no idea how to do. No worries. I have the internet. This isn't really even big enough to be a baby blanket, but I wanted to start really small. I'm thinking that I'll use it as a table topper once I'm finished.

Predictable Patterns

Well, I've found a nice "hold-me-over" until I feel like starting a more complex project. I'm knitting another  cuddle up cushion. I have about ten skeins of Jaeger merino extra-fine merino, which, unfortunately, is discontinued, that I bought three years ago in Santa Monica. I knit a baby sweater out of some of it last year. I think I'd planned to use it in a blanket originally, but I'm happy to use it for another cushion cover.

The back is just a mixture of seed stitch and straight stitch, which may not be exciting, but is very relaxing. I love having something I can just pick up and knit without having to think about it much.

Becalmed

becalmed   [bɪˈkɑːmd]    (Transport / Nautical Terms) (of a sailing boat or ship) motionless through lack of wind

I haven't been exactly motionless, but I have been a little stagnate for the last couple of weeks, creativity-wise. I'm actually surprised that I ever accomplish any knitting in September. I want to like September. I remember going back to college in Nebraska during September, and it was kind of warn for the first week or so, and then it turned into this wonderful month with nice, cool evenings and occasional rain storms. I really liked that about Nebraska. September in Central California is almost never like that. It's hot, and everyone is tired of being hot, and we all fool ourselves into thinking that it's going to cool down soon, when we all know that it has hit 100 degrees on the day before Halloween before. We also know that there's a chance, just a small one, that the hot temps will end by October, so we push September to just finish already. So, as much as I love knitting, September is by far the hardest month for me to get enthused about a project.

Usually a little trip to the beach, like Spooner Cover, for instance, where we enjoyed a Saturday last weekend hiking with Paige while Kai stayed home to watch some "important" football, will help me feel like knitting, but it just made me hungry this time.

So we took a little trip over to Morro Bay to eat at the Sunshine Health Foods and Shine Cafe, where we had  incredibly delicious portabella mushroom, avocado, cilantro pesto, and roasted red pepper sandwiches.

I did actually try knitting a mat on the way over to the beach and back, but I didn't have a patten and made a mess of it. I came home and started browsing through Ravelry, waiting to be inspired. I'm still waiting actually, but I did find a cute pattern for a mat, using  this pattern from  Tiny Owl Knits. I made them a little larger than her specifications and felted them, and they're kind of cute.

I'm going to have to resort to knitting a bunny if something doesn't come up pretty soon.  

My friend Julie commented a couple of days ago, teasing me that I hadn't posted a pic of my finished Pettine shawlette and opining that I probably hadn't blocked it yet since school was no doubt keeping me very busy.  I laughed out loud because she knows me very well...and because not only had I not blocked it, I hadn't even woven in the final strand of yarn!