Ten Things You Didn't Know--a Meme

Tag, you're it! Annette got me, so here's my list...
1. I've actually been to the place* in the picture.
2. This designer* is one of my favorites, and I've done a needlepoint piece of one of his designs.
3. It is almost impossible to find yarn in this city* although I certainly tried!
4. My first (and so far only) publication in a national magazine was a crossword puzzle in the Disney mag when I was 14.
5. English is not my first language--it's my second. I had to learn to speak it when I started school, and I hated it! (French is my first, Spanish the third.)
6. I went to bilingual schools for 12 years.
7. I learned to crochet when I was 7. I learned to knit when I was 8.
8. My first sweater was hot pink, cabled. I didn't know cables were "too hard."
9. I learned to sew on an industrial machine--my mother made doll clothes at home for a major manufacturer, back when home work was not regulated. My job was cutting the threads to separate the pieces.
10. I think that's probably why I took to "production" methods for piecing quilts, and it's certainly why I was able to make 4, 5, or more of the same little dresses at a time!

There. That wasn't too painful, was it?? Now let's see yours!


*It's the Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow, Scotland, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Some pretties...and some bye-byes

First, the pretties: yes, that's Sea Silk, in the Woodland colorway, sitting in a basket on my nice new deck: This is what's under the SS in the previous picture: Cascade 220 in Green Apple, Summer Berry, and Coral, and some Araucania Nature Wool in a jade green vari-shaded and some dark blue ditto. The shading on the blue doesn't show up very well, but it's there--just more subtle.
Now for the not-so-pretties: some bags of things that are going bye-bye.



These two pics are bags of magazines that are being re-homed, hopefully onward to bring some joy and good cheer. It's a pretty eclectic collection, most of the Victoria magazines, some Threads, some AD, VF, Home, Country Living, Country Home, tons of New Yorkers, and so on. The other stack ? Well, that's currently residing in a couple of trash cans at the curb. Yes, even the basket. I have stubbed toes on that sucker way too many times, and as soon as it was freed (it had made itself quite a nest in the carpet pile) out it went!

Did you know that you can only fill a trash can 1/3 full of magazines before it's too heavy to move? Yes, I--me, the lover of the printed word, who never met a book or magazine she didn't instantly bond with--I tossed out several years' worth of old Time, Newsweek, and filled-in puzzle magazines. Not even I could think of a decent use for them.

You'd think that with all this gone, the room would be emptier. Oh, yeah, all this came out of one room--well, one room and its adjacent bathroom. There's a lot more downstairs. I'm keeping some things--how can I part with my Knitters and Interweave Knits, my Australian Patchwork, my Old House Interiors and MS Weddings? And there are a few more stacks left. However, I'm offering up photographic proof that I meant what I said a few dozen posts back about cleaning up my living space.

Projects and Finishing Too!

I know that I refer to stamping and scrapbooking among my interests, and here are some Halloween projects that I did this past weekend. Because they were sitting in a hot car, the adhesive on the card on the upper right came loose--it needs to be reattached, and then it will be nice and straight. That card has a raffia bow and several layers--it's very cute. My favorite, though, is the black on on the bottom--I just love that spooky-tree effect! And of course Witchie-Poo flying away on her broomstick--hmm, wonder if that's one of the Ramtops witches?

Then there is this lovely item. In real life it's a deep navy blue--for some reason, the strong sunlight really washed out the color! Anyway, it's done and ready to go on to its new home, hopefully tomorrow. (I always have big plans for "tomorrow" don't you know.) This was a tryout of the pattern, which will now be done in my lovely Silk Rhapsody--assuming, of course, that I can a) find it and b) find a way to get it wound. Minor details. This is really a nice pattern, and I'm glad I did it in this Wool-Ease version first.

Next up, a rather poor picture of a finished Pea Pod! All he needs now is buttons--I have (somewhere) little green ball buttons that will look just like green peas, and they will be the perfect touch! And yes, that color (at least on my monitor) is pretty accurate--this is one BRIGHT sweater! The yarn is Dale of Norway Falk, in neon green, and the yarn came from Marji's in Granby CT. Pattern is from Interweave Knits and is available as a free pdf download if you don't have that issue of the magazine.

Not only that, but Lady Eleanor is cast on and I'm almost through with the first row of triangles! I think that I will be going ahead with the current version, but if I get ambitious I will try casting on another ball of yarn with slightly smaller needles to see if I like it.