Magic Loop, EZ's almanac, and various other mundane tidbits....

Magic Loop & other fun and mundane things….

This week I’ve gotten my September EZ almanac project cast-on. I decided to try the Magic Loop method for this project since I had heard so many great comments about it from the EZ Year yahoo group. Well, I think I love it! It is so nice to only have to keep up with one set of needles and the order of knitting. The cast-on was a little confusing but once that was figured out, I was ready to knit! So my leggings for Miss O are coming along very nicely at this point.

EBay is addicting! I start watching and shopping for an item and the Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde syndrome occurs in my mind. I find what I want whether it is a new Pixar Car for my grandson, a dollhouse piece, spindle or yarn, as long as it isn’t a “buy it now”, and the bid war is on. Sometimes, I take it very personally if my item happens to be desired by someone else. How dare they bid against me? Don’t they know I NEED that item? I love selling on EBay as much as buying. It is so exciting to see folks watching and bidding on items I have to sell! Go check out all my stuff! My eBay store link is: http://stores.ebay.com/Patchwork-Parrot

I’ve mentioned several times the ongoing major organization project in my house. Well, I cleaned out the laundry storage baskets and found quite a treasure! My older son used to store his shoes in very nice flannel drawstring shoebags. I found four of them in one of the storage baskets. Apparently, I had washed them a while back and then stuck them in the basket thinking Rick would retrieve them later; however he didn’t. Well, one man’s trash is now his mom’s treasure! These bags are just the perfect size for small knitting or stitching To-go projects. I can toss the plastic Ziploc bags now! My to-go projects will now look a little classier when they travel.

Well, as of Monday, I’m going back to Flylady. It is time to focus on decluttering and getting the house ready for the holidays. Our annual trip to Florida is looming in the horizon and all major cleaning, decluttering and holiday decorating must be done before we leave. I have eight weeks to get it in gear….. Time to roll! Decluttering will be my focus the next four weeks with a zone a week being worked. I also have some major work to do in my aviary. It is time to winterize but I have some re-arranging in the aviary to do so that everything is more efficient for me as well as the bird-sitter while we are in Florida. I spent about an hour this morning reviewing Fly lady’s plan of action and printing off a calendar for the next several weeks. I got my work plan on the calendar for the next few weeks so I’m hyped up to get my house, aviary and garden in order!

Today, Saturday, October 13, 2007, is my day to work in the guestroom that will be doubling as my studio and office space. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post some pictures to show how organized I am in the house by Christmas.

Fall has begun. I know it is October but we have had such a long hot summer that the cool mornings are like a sigh of relief. The temperature is still climbing into the high 80s up to the low 90s but the mornings and the late evenings are very pleasant.

Since we married, I’ve baked in the summer and done spring cleaning in the fall. Well, this year, we didn’t “do peaches” so I’ve not had the daily bread baking or jelly making for the peachstand. I had hoped to start in august but somehow august slipped past me very quickly and quietly.
My plan was to begin on Monday; however, it was Monday. I honestly have no idea why Mondays are they way they are but if a day in the week is going to fall to pieces, it will be a Monday. If there is a problem with an order, it is going to happen on the weekend so Monday is “fix-it day.” Monday is also the day to start over on all the cleaning around the house and aviary.

My long-term goal for the house and aviary is to be organized and cleaned by the time we leave on our annual Disney trip. When I make my TUIT list (to-do list) every week, there are always at least 30 tasks on it. According to my daughter I should only be doing three a day on my work plan; however I only have seven days in my week. This means I can only get 21 tasks complete each week if I complete all three tasks every day. Every week I end up with nine tasks left over! This is 3 days worth of work every week that doesn’t get done. In two weeks, I’m a week behind again! This translates to two steps forward, one step back twice a month.
It has been like Christmas with new books and magazines arriving in the mailbox this week. Never Knit Your Man a Sweater* (*unless you’ve got the ring!), Knit Fix, and Interweave Knits Fall 2007 are here! I’ve had a ball going through the house finding a quiet spot to read through each one!

Never Knit Your Man a Sweater* by Judith Durant has 22 projects inside. While the coasters don’t excite me, the laptop cover, the socks, mittens, vests and sweaters just inspire me to no end! I’ve never knitted mittens or gloves so I can see a pair on my needles very soon. The argyle socks are based on a 1950 Bucilla Yarn pattern. Since I love argyle, I can really foresee knitting a pair of them. Wouldn’t it be pretty to have matching socks and sweater?

Knit Fix by Lisa Kartus has already become a resource book on my bookshelf. I love the spiral binding this book sports. I wish all my fiber books had this type of binding. The book lies very flat and the pages flip so easily. The chapters are clearly titled. Pictures in each fix are just wonderful. Lisa has used both photos and very clearly drawn diagrams for each step of the fix. She has colored the working thread and the mistake in the drawn diagrams so they are very easy to see in the black & white drawing.

This is my very first issue of Knits Fall 2007 magazine and it is just packed with eye-candy and inspiration for me! There are hats, sweaters, stockings, vests, and socks packed into this one magazine. There are gorgeous cabled patterns, articles of color work and texture. Since I’m starting to think of Christmas gifts, this issue is certainly a keeper for me. There is an Aran sweater that I can mentally see me wearing. It has a nice small cowl neck and some lovely cables that don’t go past the bustline in the front. This will be very flattering and won’t accent a thicker waist. The concentric vest is more like a sleeveless shrug that I think will be just darling on my daughter-in-law. It has been worked with larger needles so should work up fairly quickly, even though it has to be seamed at the shoulders and sides. The Cobblestone pullover has my DH’s name all over it! He will be very handsome in this style sweater in some luscious orange or bright colored wool.
I finished a couple of projects this week! I’m so pleased and I have made some major progress on a couple more. Just off my needles are the kimono baby jacket from Mason-Dixon Knitting and my felted ipod case from Knit Picks.

I need to stitch the buttonhole and button for the jacket and my ipod case needs another round of felting, I think. But I should be listening to my ipod in style by the weekend! i'll post a pic of the ipod case when i have finished it.

Miss Olivia is going to look darling in her kimono jacket and Elizabeth Zimmerman leggings. The EZ leggings are actually my September project with the Elizabeth’s Year yahoo group. As usual, I’m about a month behind. I edged the jacket in the same yarn I am going to make the EZ leggings, Swish DK Petal, from Knit Picks. I think I’ll be making at least one more ipod case since the pattern is for an ipod mini and my ipod is a nano. I need to make some size adjustments so the case will be a nice fit.

My Pi Shawl is slow but sure. I’m so glad I decided to add the lace stitching to the 288 stitch rounds as opposed to making all 24 rounds be just plain. There are definite errors in the pattern because I don’t seem to count very well, but all in all, I’m enjoying the EZ Pi shawl pattern. Knitting lace has been quite an adventure for me. As I said before I tend to be at least a month behind on my KAL with the EZ year yahoo group. The Pi Shawl was our July project. Oh, well, at least I’m knitting.

My two quilts are waiting patiently for me to get back to them. Brenton’s quilt needs a major piecing day and Sam’s quilt is almost ready for sandwiching, basting and quilting. I‘m planning to do some major quilting this weekend. My guest suite which will be doing double duty as my fiber studio is still in disarray. (This is a polite way of saying it is a wreck!) I’m planning to spend some time sorting through and cleaning out the closets this weekend so I can put things away in an organized fashion.

This weekend is also the Cotton Pickin’ Fall Craft Festival in Gay, GA. This quaint little town is only about a 15 minute drive for us. Since this is our anniversary weekend, dh and I are going to browse the booths tomorrow morning, then have a date night out at one of our favorite restaurants.