Monday, July 23, 2007

What's Happenin'?

Well, Sunday was a party day. I know, I know, you thought that two parties on Saturday should be enough for one weekend. Well, obviously not. Sunday was a birthday party for our favorite LA restaurant critic/blog queen/crochet maven/vintage-estate sale-thrift shop-lover. As part of the entertainment, she provided us with yummy food, TWO birthday cakes, and this amazing stack o' yarn. If you check on her post today, you can see the amazing Tower o' Squares that resulted. Although there were cries of surprise at Yours Truly holding a crochet hook, and actually CROCHETING a square, I have to say that I have done many many MANY miles of crochet in my crafty career. I was even able to do a granny square from memory. (OK, don't look too closely at that center--but hey, it's done!) Mmm, those chocolates didn't last very long, either. They were the reason I needed to go for a loooooonnnnggg walk last night!
I didn't take very good pictures of the gift opening--had my camera on the wrong setting, and everything came out blurred--so I am just going to share this one with you:

A gorgeous crocheted vintage tablecloth/shawl. Absolutely mind-boggling!

Gratuitous kitty picture courtesy of Mr. Highland who obligingly posed on the diner quilt.

Mondays are for knitting in Montrose, twice a month. Today was the dreaded Unraveling of the CPH sleeves--the caps had somehow gotten rather misshapen. Sigh. So I persuaded the Knit Devil to haul hers along and we had an Encouragement Day. While she attempted to pick up almost 400 stitches onto a 24" needle, I did some math. Recounted and did more math. Ripped. Recounted. Ripped some more. With a lot more encouragement from KD and Coffee Patty, I finally got the count right. Sleeves now have armpit bindoffs, and are ready to start the cap decreases. Hopefully this time they won't look like arrow points! Oh, and those picked up stitches? With a couple of extra Options cords, KD managed to get them picked up. Many thanks to MJ for helping us, too. Also to the staff of Coffee Bean for providing the arctic blasts necessary to work on this much wool in July! (Yeah, I'm one to complain; mine is in the Durango Yarns Colorado and considerably lighter in poundage than KD's Black Water Abbey. Hey, mine is 1/4 dryer lint, hers is all wool!)

Progress photo of the Rose Garden Shawl, which now contains one entire skein of Silk Rhapsody:



And another gratuitous kitty photo. Yes, I think my "baby" is gorgeous. When I woke up this morning, he was sleeping curled up around my copy of HP7 with one paw draped fetchingly over the book. Since I don't keep the camera in the bedroom, there was no way to get a picture for you, so you'll just have to imagine the fluffy cuteness, ok?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The knits, the crochet, and the cat are all gorgeous. What lovely images to savor!

Ellen Bloom said...

That's the best photo of me I've ever seen!!! Thanks for the compliments, Marie. And THANKS for all the spectacular gifties!!! Your granny square is perfect.

Madge said...

Don't you love being a social butterfly? Gadding about doing all these fun things....heavenly.

*sigh* I had to rip and redo my buttonless button band last night. I'm using my 60" Options cord (!). The day we finish these sweaters, we're having champagne, mon amie. And Sees chocolates. And strawberries. Good luck with your sleeves!

mary said...

Hurray for Encouragement Day and encouraging friends! When you're done with your CPHs and we have the party, I'll bring the See's chocolates - my favorites!

Anonymous said...

Your Garden Shawl is spectacular. Write me and tell me where to find that pattern. And the yarn is breath taking.

It was my birthday too. Odd, how many of us Cancer signs knit!

Love you
junie

catsmum said...

Ms Sophie and Caramel Cat are not talking to each other but both are of the opinion that he's a mighty fine looking pusscat.