Before I rip out again...

This is really fun, but it took me 3 solid tries to follow the pattern. I still make plenty of mistakes, but now I can see them and figure them out sooner. I'm in the 3rd repetition of the pattern now, so I think I'm safe. The yarn is Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud. Very soft and teeny tiny. Up until recently I've been knitting with bulky yarns almost all the time. Socks and lace are a big change. I really like my bamboo needles, too.

Retro fun & Internet Inspiration

Several occurrences aligned to lead to some crazy quilting experiments. First, GB sorted through many boxes of fabric stashed in the basement. It was a HUGE job, but led to many discoveries, including retro fabrics from 4 generations.

Fellow bloggers have been sharing CQ ideas. Rissa got me started and then I started browsing all the links she posted, and so on. Thanks, Rissa!

Then I got E. a new sewing machine for her birthday and she came home to play. It has fun stitches and even though I like to embroider, the machine is much faster. Erin made a retro scarf from Gr-grandma's fabric.
We tried a few stitches and then played quilting.
The pin cushion was fun. I found the directions while browsing around looking for ideas. It is obviously made of retro fabric and sports a retro button on each side. E. made the star block and I made the CQ squares. It was much fun, but a little more intense than I thought it would be. Perhaps I worry a little too much about which fabric should go where. I think the pin cushion is my favorite.

Mighty Mittens

I know I haven't been updating well, and there has been knitting...but today's post is a tribute to the royalty in the family. He may look like a docile, peace loving fellow:















But Mittens often stands watch, spending long minutes in his crow's nest perch, ready for action:




















This morning, the mighty (worship-your-king) Mittens, smug and quite proud of himself, presented me with A DEAD MOUSE! Ach! Right there in the middle of the house! And ew...ew...ew! The dog just spotted another one and it's alive. brb

Ugh. Ok, this may be problematic later, but I captured the second mouse (although it might actually be a mole or vole) by forcing it to run into an empty can. Then I covered the can with the piece of paper I used to tease him out of his hiding place, and then I threw the whole thing in the garbage can. That means that for the rest of the week, I'll have to shake and pound the can before I open it, and I'll have terrorizing mouse dreams. I sure hope that was the last of them.

Wow, GB is not going to enjoy this story at all.

I do want to add that we have never had any sign of mouseage here since we moved in 8 years ago. This better not be a trend.