Because I need another hobby ...

I spent part of this weekend teaching myself to crochet, mostly because I wanted to make this little cape, called forget-me-not. Because I just wear capes soo often. But it has ruffles, so I couldn't resist.



I had sort of taught myself some crochet stitches a few months ago, but I never started a project. I mostly forgot what little I had learned before, but this project has been pretty easy to start and make progress on with very little teeth gnashing.

I didn't really have any problems making the foundation for the ruffles, but when it came time to add those, I was having trouble figuring out where exactly they were supposed to go. I had an entire row put on before I started questioning whether I had been adding them to the correct side or not. Ugh! So I ripped out all the ruffles and flipped the thing over and started again. I still don't know if I'm putting them in the correct spot. I was hoping to at least get that row finished before I went to bed tonight. I am so excited to get this project finished!

The forget-me-not has been quite a fun project so far (other than the backtracking), since it is so simple and quick. It's been relaxing because it's easy to keep track of the pattern and it's really a treat to not have to stop to check the pattern every few stitches. Now I want to add ruffles to everything!



While working on this tonight I watched two discs of Planet Earth, which I've been getting through Netflix. It's fascinating stuff and gorgeous imagery, but I should know better than to watch nature documentaries. I always end up crying when an animal gets hurt or dies. I know, I know, the whole circle of life thing, yada yada, but I still get upset.

Oh, and I also just finished the book "The Hunger Games" over the weekend. It was so, so good! It is so not like anything I would normally read, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Now I am so excited about reading book 2 soon.

Backblogged. And Ugh.

I've been sick this week. And not my normal kind of nerve pain sick, but more of the sipping water and Sprite and trying not to throw up before I make it to the bathroom kind of sick. It's been awful. I'm not sure what caused it - either a virus or food poisoning - but I'm annoyed that shortly before the vomiting commenced, I was eating pizza that I had ordered in. So trying not to tempt fate, there goes a big waste of money. No way in hell am I eating any more of it.

Anyway, I've been home sick. Tuesday was awful. Between bouts of sickness I slept all day, not even having the urge to get online (you can tell I'm feeling miserable when that happens). Today I've been slightly better and have been able to keep liquids down. I just ate my first solid food - a bagel - so I'm hoping I don't get sick again tonight. Today has been filled with lots more sleeping, and I still feel so exhausted. It's been sucky.

One of the bad aspects of being sick is my lack of energy and brain power to work on any projects. Here's a look at something I made earlier this month as a birthday present for my friend, Natalie. It was a lot of fun to put together. It is made out of felt, stuffing, a button shaped like a flower, and embroidery floss.



Ugh. I don't think the bagel was a good idea. My stomach is hurting again. :(

Old school

Did I ever mention that the first two quilts I made - both around queen size - were done entirely by hand? My mom and I worked on the first one together, a Grandmother's Flower Garden, but the second one, a Seven Sisters pattern, was all me. It took FOREVER.

Anyway, I was a die-hard hand-piecer and hand-quilter. After a while, I finally got a sewing machine and started working with it. It was so hard to get used to! I finally did get acclimated, and now do a majority of my piecing and quilting on a sewing machine. I still have a few projects that I decide to hand quilt, but I hadn't hand pieced anything for a long time.

Until tonight. I'm not quite sure where the urge came from, but I was so in the mood to do some hand sewing. I busted out my template plastic, pencil, straight pins, needle and thread.

And here's the result:


I'm not sure if this will be a singular block (potholder, maybe?) or a small quilt or a big quilt, but it was nice to do things the old-fashioned way for a change.

Confession

I've been cheating.

On quilting.

I've been on a knitting/dyeing/spinning/crocheting bender. I'm starting to find more pieces of wool than pieces of thread stuck to my clothes. I never thought this would happen.

Can I admit though that I've been enjoying it? Who knew that dyeing yarn, knitting, crocheting and spinning would be so fun? I previously didn't think it could hold a candle to quilting. Taking pieces of fabric, cutting them up and then sewing them back together in glorious patterns and color schemes. And let's not forget the joy of shopping for fabric.

Of course, this was when I only knew how to knit items in squares and rectangles. In the past 12 months I've learned to knit in the round. To make hats, socks, blankets, etc. Now I've even crossed a line I thought I'd never take, and that was to try spinning my own yarn. Now that I think of it, knitting has sort of the same fascination, which is taking something simple and making it into something beautiful. Especially when I can dye my own wool. And again, I'm enjoying the shopping for yarn/fibers. (That seems to be a common thread here.)

I have a TON of photos from the things I've been working on the past few months; this even includes a little quilting. But until I stop feeling so guilty (I just accidentally typed in quilty) and start posting again, I'm going to show off my recent accomplishment: My first handspun yarns! I love, love, love them.

From this (my first attempt):



To this:



From this (second attempt):



To this:





And this is my next bunch of fiber. So pretty! I hope to get it started this weekend.