A little bit of the past...

So lately, I've been going back to doing what makes me happy... spinning! Seems fitting, as my last real post here was for the Tour de Fleece, and I'm back again, doing the... tour de fleece. ;) I think it especially apropos that I started this three years ago... So i've already done four ounces of superwash merino, microwaved dyed with lemon, orange, and cherry kool-aid. i've finished spinning the singles, and they're resting right now... I'm also frog-hair spinning a mystery bump of wool that i got from someone who called it a "fibre tribble". :) I'm still trying to get it all done before the end of TdF, I know I'll get the second ply done for the sunset sock yarn, but I'm still wondering if I'll finish the frog hair in time!

Just giving the quick catch-up before getting back to things...

This post will be short and sweet (or not). The last few years have had some major upheavals for me. This includes having been pregnant 4 times, with three miscarriages and one beautiful baby girl. She's two years old now. To say that the preceding year was absolute hell is an understatement. Pregnancy apparently eats my crafting mojo. On top of that was the combination of grief and postpartum depression, and then actual pregnancy with the aforementioned mojo-eating, then the postpartum depression again, only this time I couldn't take anything for it because I was breastfeeding my daughter. It took a *really* long time to get my mojo back. However, I'll say this, I'm now *finally* getting myself back up to "fighting shape" on my crafting. In the next few posts you may see a few things like a new pattern for a Night Dragon, and a new pattern for a Tyrannasaurus Rex (both amigurumi), plus I'm getting back to the crafty with the current Tour De Fleece! So in the next few weeks, you may see me get back to doing what I always did... Only in this case, it's now being more daughter-centric. I'm trying to get back to some of the things that were truly important to me. It's time. So please bear with me as I get my own bearings back... I've been to hell and back in the last few years. I am hoping that getting back to this blog will also show me getting back to *me*. Thanks for your patience! :)

OMG, it's been MONTHS!!!

Yes, months. I am ashamed. I had a number of things that jumped in my way, and well... I haven't really been here.

This does not mean to say I haven't been doing all kinds of textile related things! Like for example, the recent Tour de Fleece on Ravelry!!!

To give you a small sampling of what the last 13 days have been like, I shall post my collage pix from the last two weeks:
















There's tons more for me to post, but husband is picking me up. :)

You are here:

So I'm now done with the heel on sock two, and am merrily working my way through the foot again, after the frogging all the way back to the ankle because of missing two stitches. *shakes head*

However, other projects are well on the way! I completed a new bodice for one of the bumblebees at faire (otherwise known as the Guild of St George, their livery is all gold and black), a bodice and skirt combination, plus I'm currently doing some hand work on my latest bodice.

Since January I've lost 28 pounds. While this is a wonderful thing, it means most of my garb just doesn't fit, and the renaissance festival begins this weekend! So I'm currently having to do a little work to get things done! I've put together a bodice for myself that's got a separate stomacher, and I'm hand-sewing the eyelets, so it's slow going... Stick the awl in, stitch around 8 times, stick it back in, stitch around another 8 times... It's stronger than using grommets and looks far more period, but that doesn't mean it isn't a bit annoying. :)

I've also got someone else's bodice begun. It's going to be made somewhat similar to a Moresca, in that I'll have side lacing as well as front/back lacing, so my friend can adjust it at will. *whew* :)

So while I have no pix (I've been bad this week), I've got a bunch of projects in UFO state... And next week, even more! I'll be handspinning flax at the festival, plus finishing off that sock, plus a touch of silk spinning, plus more garb, plus... Oh heck. I've got a lot of stuff. ;)

Two steps forward, two steps back...

So I was doing really well on that sock... I had gotten all the way through the heel, short-row garter stitch, and I was just starting on the instep when... I realized that I'd left two extra stitches on the instep, meaning I just had to frog the entire heel back. *headdesk*. Alas, I heard them going rip-it, rip-it, as I frogged back all the way to the ankle again. So I literally took two steps forward and two back, and we're now back to the point that I showed the other day. *sigh*

However, I've got another project I've been working on (as well as garb for the festival that I was a silly goober who forgot to take pictures of), and my living room looks so much better for it!



That, my friends, is new dressing for my day-bed/couch! My couch in my living room is actually a day-bed I've had since I was a teen. Like a goober, I once more forgot to take before pictures, but for those of you who have seen my living room before, it's a real change!

Oh wait. I *do* have a before picture, just not of the couch itself, but of an entrelac shawl I made last year. But you'll get the idea from looking at the couch behind me at the time:



So you can see, I've not only made the new futon cover itself, but also recovered all of the pillows! This is the same fabric I used for my curtains that I put up a few months ago... Or you could say that the curtains were used for this! Last year there was a store that discontinued this pattern of curtains, so I bought as many as I could at the time, and three curtains were sacrificed to the scissors for the purpose of covering my couch! :)

Well, the main red section matches my curtains. The gold lattice pattern is a decorator fabric that Jo-Anns had in the remnant section.

Quite frankly, my couch was back in the 80's and needed an update. So several pillows and a couch cover later, I've got a new look in my living room! :)

Seriously, I need to get back to taking more before and after pix. :)

I laugh in the face of progress...

Well, with how things have been at work (staying really late every night), progress has been slow and I've not gotten any pix lately.

However, I'm amused. I'm at the exact same spot I was when I took this picture:



So that's what you're getting today. :)

Not posted in too many days...

Okay, so I actually finished the sock last week and started on sock #2... But haven't had time to take many pix!

But for the first sock, I did a little pattern-munging. Instead of doing a smooth toe, I decided to continue the pattern all the way through the toe!





Yeah, this will not be a sock I go walking around with for long walks, as the pattern might cause my toe to go ape... But I love how it looks! :)

Sock number 2 is duly started... Although somewhere in here I need to work on my spinning for the "travel" theme... But Sock 2 is actually about double the length it is in the picture now:



However, I also need to put both the knitting and the spinning down for a little while at home... I can keep working on it at work, but at home I need to work on garb! I am performing at the Maryland Renaissance Festival in less than a month, and I've been so good at losing weight this year (26 pounds since January) that I'm falling into my garb! Renaissance Bodices are supposed to be able to support you without a bra, and I'm getting to the point where I'm going to need one! So that's something I've got to work on, along with a bodice for a friend of mine who's also at least going to be a patron, along with the garb I'm sewing for Hengrave Hall... Although at least i'm getting paid for that last one. :)

I'm sure I'll have some pictures of that last one in a few days, but in the meantime I also created not only garb but pillow covers over the weekend for the pillows in my living room. I need to re-vamp my living room with the new covers for the couch and pillows. At least two of the pillows were done over the weekend, but I've still got plenty to go! Regular pillowcases, shams, and the like! And then there's the papasan cover... :)

Okay, so I've got a lot to do! :)