Ok, so this is neither quilty nor crafty, but when it’s NaBloPoMo and you’ve been sick, you take what you can get! Tuesday November 10, 2009 is Sesame Street’s 40th Birthday! (Andrew just pointed out that Brett Favre is one year older than Sesame Street – I guess that means he’s REALLY old!) I hear Michelle Obama is going to stop by and teach how to plant a garden. Set your TV recording devices if you have one…
Archive for November, 2009
Sesame Street Turns 40!
Sunday, November 8th, 2009Darn those Germs!
Thursday, November 5th, 2009My second sinus infection in three weeks has taken a toll on both my quilting activities and my NaBloPoMo postings. Sigh! But I am slowly starting to feel a little better and have had enough energy to try a few crochet stitches. (See my comment to Rebecca’s Post.) So far I’ve learned single crochet, slip stitch, and half double crochet. Hopefully in the next few days I’ll have enough energy to take some pictures of my first attempts and post them here.
New Books
Monday, November 2nd, 2009Over the weekend we went to visit Grandma Ann and Grandpa Lou. While the boys were happily playing with their grandma, Eric and I had some time to do some browsing at the bookstore. (Memo to Marty: This bookstore also has an enormous collection of beads – you will definitely want to check it out!) I got two new sewing and quilting-related books. The first one is At Home with Patrick Lose. What drew me to it was the plate and utensils placemat in the center of the first row of the cover and the Woven Rainbow quilt on the bottom left. He uses lots of bright colors, which I’m sure is part of what caught my eye. The second book I bought is Sew What! Fleece. It has some cool, simple projects, and of course, you can never have too many ideas for Crackpotty Projects, right?
A Little Something to Start NaBloPoMo
Sunday, November 1st, 2009I’ve finally gotten around to sewing the buttons on the sweater I’ve made for the baby my friends L and A are having. Today’s the first day he’d be considered to be born on time, so it’s appropriate to finish the sweater, but don’t start thinking “come out, baby” thoughts yet – he’s not allowed to be born until after L and A move to their new house in a week.
The pattern is the famous (at least in knitting circles) Baby Surprise Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmermann – it’s knit in one blobbish piece that magically folds into a cardigan – the only seams are at the shoulders. The yarn is soft superwash merino wool that I bought this summer during my annual yarn store pilgrimmage at All Together Week. The buttons may look familiar to those who’ve seen the sweater I was working on this summer – same style, just a slightly smaller size. Yes, I am in love with those buttons – but in my defense, I did spend a long time selecting them at the fabric store – almost went with some other ones, but they claimed not to be washable. (Hmmm… looks like I haven’t posted about my sweater yet – more NaBloPoMo fodder!).
And, Big Blankie update – all the pieces are done, and I’m working on the assembly process. I’ve got a bunch of sub-blankies sewn together, and all the pieces and subunits have been blocked. I started by washing a bunch of individual pieces and then sewing them together, but then switched to sewing the pieces into subunits before blocking – easier to pin out for blocking, and less likely that I’d get the pieces in the wrong places during assembly. Being done with the blocking means that my large scale blocking surface has been returned to its official purpose: guest room bed, and, when there are no guests present, where I sit while watching TV shows online.