I can hardly believe that after 3.5 years, I have finished my Lizard Ridge Afghan!!

I am pretty sure that I bought the yarn in January 2007, on sale at Woolwinders in MD.  I remember Bill helping me pick out the yarn.  I worked on the squares off and on, but when I came to California for Christmas 2008, I made major progress and finished knitting the squares in February 2009.

Then it sat.  Mostly because I wasn’t sure about seaming it all together.  It seemed daunting.  I had also seen some pictures of some where you could see the seams, which I didn’t like, and I just wasn’t sure what I was doing.  So it sat.  My new LYS, Green Planet Yarn, offers a class in seaming and weaving in ends.  I knew that I could teach myself, but I thought the class would be fun and since it is personalized to each person’s project, I would learn the best technique for the afghan.  It was exactly what I needed and I was able to seam it together in two nights.

And then there was the crocheted edge.  The only thing I know about crochet is how to make a chain.  So I took at class at Green Planet Yarn.  Again, it was something I could teach myself, but it’s more fun to be shown.  And it gets me out of the house and socializing with other people.  It was a nice class and taught me everything I needed to know to do the edging as well as how to make granny squares which is something else I want to do.  After a marathon crochet session last night, I did the edging.  I’m really happy with the edging.

Actually, I’m happy with the whole thing.  It took awhile, but I got her done!

I had to make an unexpected trip to Phoenix this past weekend. My Abuelita (grandmother) wasn’t feeling well earlier in the week and she spent the night in a hospital but was then released. Two days later, she was in intensive care.  My uncle thought that this was IT, and my mom, aunt and I flew out to Phoenix.  The photo above is the five of us, about 25 years ago.

Abuelita was moved out of intensive care on Friday and is showing very small signs of improvement.  She was alert and responsive and we were able to visit with her and she recognized all of us. But she is so weak.  Without going into all the details, she has one known problem that is being treated, but some other symptoms that indicate other unidentified problem(s).  A few days ago she was able to walk, and now it is hard to envision her getting out of bed.  This has made us all very sad, to say the least.

We spent a large portion of the weekend relieving some fun memories and sharing stories.  Thankfully there were lots of good times to remember.  Even at this difficult time, we were still able to make more memories.  The five of us were in her hospital room yesterday, and we didn’t have much to say.  We wanted to talk to her, but she’s not exactly in a condition to have a conversation.  My aunt and Mom and I serenaded her with the song, Mr. Sandman.  For some reason I had the song in my head, which I mentioned, and all of a sudden we were singing.  We weren’t too bad, and it brought a smile to Abuelita’s face.  My uncle was teetering on the edge of horrified and amused.  Did I mention that Abuelita’s room was right outside the nurses’ station?

I said goodbye and came home yesterday.  I’m so glad I got to see her and spend time with her.  But saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do.  If you could say a prayer or send positive thoughts to my Abuelita, I would appreciate it.

They are done.  Six cute little tippy turtles.  I am so relieved.  I stayed up late last night trying to finish, but they were taking longer than I anticipated.  After three more hours this afternoon, I have finished them.

Over, I’d give the project a B+.  High marks because of the end result.  The embellishment with the flower and leaves is a much needed finishing touch.  It takes the turtles from nice to really cute.  For construction, I’d have to give them a C, mainly because I found them a little tedious.  But I was making six of them.  The feet are pretty superflous; the turtles really sit on their bellies. Two of them are especially tippy, resting on their chins for balance.  I’d say that adds to the charm.  My feet also have little creases in them.  I couldn’t get them stuffed to avoid it, and I was almost ripping the seams trying when I overstuffed.  Again, I’m chalking it up to charm.

They are cute though, aren’t they?!

I’ve been working on a herd of Heather Bailey’s Henrietta turtle pincushions.  For three days.  These little guys are more time consuming than you might think.  They are one of my FOF projects.  I cut most of the fabric around April or May.  Then they sat until this past Tuesday when I started working on them again.  And here it is, Thursday, really Friday and I’m still. not. done.

I will definitely be done later today but I can’t believe how much time these have taken.  Except for maybe two hours I spent on my embroidery, these have been the focus of my attention.  They are fun, but challenging.  My sixth one went better than the first. The first took me all of last night.  They are fiddly, and I’m not used to working on such small things.  The other problem with them is that they are almost too cute to use as pincushions.  All this trouble to make them and I can’t bring myself to stick a pin in it.

Sabrina’s passing really hit me hard.  My furballs are my kids, part of our family.  I keep expecting to see her around the house, taking part in our previously normal little rituals.  So I’ve been going through the motions.  I’ve been working on some of my FOF projects and making progress.  Life goes on.

I’ve treated myself to starting a new project.  I have a wall at home that I’ve filled with a bunch of my favorites.  Some things I’ve made myself, some have been gifts, one was a raffle I won at my old job and others are etsy acquisitions.  There’s two pictures that have extra special meaning.  There’s a kitty cat with swirling hearts that reminds me of other little kitty, Cheli, and another cross stitch that has a kitty with a bee on his noise that reminds me of Harrison.  The new project is an embroidery that is an homage to Sabrina.

I’ve wanted to try embroidery for awhile.  I found this cute little kitty that said “Sabrina” to me.  I modified it a little, traced it with the special heat transfer pencil, and ironed it on to some white cotton fabric.  So far, I’m really happy with how it’s turning out. And I’m finding it to be good therapy.  I still miss her, but I’ll always miss her.  It’s not hurting as much now.

I am so sad.  We put our little Sabrina to sleep this morning.  I know in my heart that we made the right decision, but it’s hard not to second guess.  We made the decision not knowing what was wrong with her.  The vet told us she was anemic, but they didn’t know why.  The recommended a blood transfusion, putting her in an oxygen chamber overnight and then an ultrasound.  But there was a large chance that we still wouldn’t know what was wrong with her.  I wanted her to feel loved and comfortable at home, and not alone and scared.  I know that I was secretly hoping we would wake up in the morning and she would be her same noisy self.  But she wasn’t.  She couldn’t take more than five steps.  She just laid there, staring at us with her big, beautiful eyes.  She was so weak and having trouble breathing, wouldn’t eat or drink, and couldn’t move.  We made the best decision we could.  I know that in my heart.

My heart is heavy.  She was such a good little companion.  I loved finding her in different places around the house, sleeping.  I loved hearing her bat balls of yarn around our bathroom.  I loved that she would snuggle up between me and Bill and night.  I loved that she used to steal my seat on the couch or our comfy chair.  I loved her pink belly and that she tolerated it when I pet that inviting belly.  I loved that she came out when we came home.  I loved that I could find where she was sleeping by listening for her snoring.  I love that she let us pick her up, even though she didn’t really like it.  I love that she could sleep in some of the strangest positions.  I loved watching her sleep.  I loved her.

We were lucky to have her for 13 years.  But I wasn’t ready for it to be over.  I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.  I pray that we made the right decision.  My heart says we did.  My mind keeps saying “what if.”  We didn’t want her to suffer.  Any other decision would have been selfish.  But it hurts.

Be at peace, little Bri Bri.  Know we love you.

Another one of my projects was to finish making curtains for my craft room.  Actually, I’m making a valance but they are still considered curtains, aren’t they?  I cut the fabric over a year ago. And then it sat. One of the reasons was because I couldn’t decide if I wanted to line them.  Then I got to thinking that it would take forever to cut the lining and do the ironing… Momentum lost.

Bill helped me out one evening by ironing the fabric panels. They had gotten a little wrinkled sitting in my fabric drawer.  The next night I ironed all the seams and the fold over for the rod pocket. That was an exciting evening.

Once again, the question was whether or not to line the valances. Reasons why not to line: 1.  they are just for my craft room and 2. why make a simple project hard.  Reason why to line:  1.  if I’m going to do something, do it right, 2.  I have curtaining lining out the wazoo, 3.  it’s good practice and 4. they should last longer because they won’t fade as fast.  It was important to me that they last because we do plan on moving at some point (though not in the near future) and panels could be used again on a different size window.

Yesterday, I cut the lining and did the sewing.  It went pretty quickly because I had already ironed the seams.  And by quickly I mean it took me the entire afternoon.

Here’s the end result.  It is perhaps a little too cutesy, but I’m keeping them.  They are also a tad bit too long because they just brush the top of Bill’s head when he goes in and out.  The rod was already there and since we’re renting, we’re not going to move it.  All in all, they are cheerful and it’s nice to not see the bare rod and brackets.  Looking at them hang, I’m kinda impressed with my cutting job.  All the flowers line up and the curtains are even along the bottom.  I’m also very happy with my decision to line them.  It definitely gives them a more professional look and it wasn’t as much work as I thought it was going to be.

Last week I started making some fabric boxes for my entertainment unit, as blogged about here.  I was very pleased with the result, but upon further review, there was one thing that was bothering me.  And it kept bothering me.  Actually, it started bothering me more and more.  There just seemed to be a lot of excess fabric and it made the end result look less nice.

I decided to go to Joann’s and get some heavy duty interfacing to use to make the boxes stiff instead of manilla folders.  I found one that happened to be fusible, though I didn’t see myself fusing it.

The only other change I made was to cut the lining fabric 1/4 inch shorter on the height.  I made no adjustments to the length and the width.  I followed the same steps as last time, including sewing about a half inch in the seams to create a pocket for my interfacing.  On impulse, I took an iron and fused the interfacing to the canvas and it actually created a very nice, crisp final product.  I fused the bottom as well, putting the fabric box over another firm box and ironing on that.

The outside doesn’t look that different from version 1.0, but the inside looks A LOT better.

And here they are in their final spot on my entertainment unit.  I decided to only do 4 boxes instead of 6.  They are easier to get out and I think it looks better than having a wall of fabric boxes.  Now I’m doing another happy dance!!

I hope that everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend.  I had a fabulous weekend.  Bill worked from home on Thursday and took me to my allergy shot and out to lunch.  Then he was home on Friday for a vacation day, and the rest of the weekend.  It was a nice change of pace to have company during the day.  We did lots of relaxing, watching tennis and baseball, and working on projects.  Bill did a couple of things around the house, and I’ve been working on my focus on finishing.

As of Day 7, I have completed eight projects total, five more projects since my last update.

I finished these baby booties (rav link), which I started about two weeks ago and then put down.  They were simple enough, but a little bit of a weird construction.  They are knit flat and then sewn up.  If I were to make them again, I would try and modify the pattern to knit them in the round.  The botties needed some blocking so I gave them a bath and stuffed them with saran wrap so they would keep their shape.  These are going to be a gift for a pregnant friend.

My next completed project was cotton tawashi (rav details here and here).  Tawashi is a traditional Japanese scrubbing brush, or sponge.  I had some cotton in my stash, and I started knitting these in September of 2009.  They were easy enough, though boring.  I’m curious to see how they hold up.

I was on a roll on Sunday night and I finished these coasters. The patchwork had been completed, they just needed to be stuffed with batting and quilted.  The quilting was easy enough, but I challenged myself on one set and practiced my free motion skills. The free motion skills needed some work, but I’m happy with the result. Not sure what I’m going to do with the top two sets, but the bottom set is for my living room.

Next up with a pair of Chevron Love Mittens (rav link).  This was actually the first pair of these mittens that I started.  They were about 90% complete when I realized that I was knitting very tightly.  These were my first attempt at colorwork and I was also doing something funky with the yarn on the inside, twisting it. The kit comes with a generous amount of yarn so I started new gloves and left these to sit.  All that needed to be finished was the top decrease section and the thumbs.  And weaving in the gajillion ends.  I also had some drama where I ran out of one of the pinks for the thumb (short by about 20 inches).  I gathered up all my scraps and used a felted join to put them together.  What a pain!  And it added about an extra hour of work while I tried to figure out what to do.  Once I finished knitting and joining and weaving, I gave them a bath and stretched them out a tiny bit before I laid them flat to dry.  They look better and aren’t quite so small so I’m happy.

Last up is CJ’s bed.  I had this large piece of green foam sitting in my craft room for over a year.  I had no good place to store the foam so it’s been getting in the way and annoying up like you would not believe.  I had the cream canvas/duck cloth in my stash and the side is done with Heather Bailey’s Pop Garden fabric, also from my stash.  The dog bed is for my living room, and I have the same Pop Garden fabric as my window treatments, but in a different colorway.  I think I did a pretty good job on the bed. I put in a zipper, though I’m hoping I don’t have to wash this much because it’s still a pain to get on.  The cover is also a really good fit, so that means I measured well and sewed accurate seam allowances.  I also finished the edges on the inside which you can’t see, but trust me it looks good.  Bill wasn’t sure CJ would know what to do with it, but my girl hopped right on it and made me happy.

I’ve been working on a couple of other projects, seaming my lizard ridge afghan.  I also had to frog some of my cocktail capelet because I saw a pretty obvious mistake, but I’m back to where I was pre-frogging.

Believe it or not, I’ve also had some time to read.  I finished Sense and Sensibility and am now 25% through The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Today was a lovely day in the South Bay.  Bill and I had originally planned to go to the beach, but we slept in and were off to a late start.  Instead, we stayed home and relaxed.  We bought a kiddie pool early in the season so that we could cool off on those hot Cali afternoons.  Today, we opened it up and took advantage.  It was perfect.  We sat out there and read, ate the picnic lunch we had prepared for the beach, and read some more. Very relaxing and just what Bill needed to recharge his batteries.

Later in the afternoon, I came in and started working on some projects.  It is Day 3 of my Focus on Finishing and I have already finished three projects!

First to be finished was my Whippoorwill Shawl (rav link).  I was able to finish this beauty in eight days.  It was a pleasure to knit, though a little tedious at the end.  Top down shawls tend to be that was as you start with 5 stitches and end up with hundreds, in this case almost 500.  But the pattern was fantastic and I am already contemplating at least two more.  One a gray with navy accents and another a gold with slightly golder accents.  I knit up the medium size in DK weight and it is a generous medium.  It might actually be a large if I were to take the measurements.  I’m loving the yarn, purchased from A Good Yarn, and it’s a colorway unique to their store.  They ship, in case you were wondering.  Anyway, I think this was a great pattern for the yarn, and love the results!

My second completed project is the Misty Garden Scarf from Scarf Style.  I started this in October 2008 and finished it on September 1, 2010.  I probably finished knitting this in 2008, but it has taken me until now to weave in the ends, all two of them, and give it a bath.  I didn’t give it a heavy duty blocking, but enough to smooth it out.  I originally intended this to be a fall/spring scarf for myself, but I have so many scarves and shawls.  It’s pretty so I’m sure it will find a home.

Yesterday, I pulled out this pair of pajama bottoms.  All they needed were the elastic and to be hemmed.  They are mid-calf length pajama bottoms, for me, in a Christmas flannel.  I started them last November or December, but must have gotten caught up with getting gifts done that I never finished these.  Well, now they are ready for Christmas 2010.

After our relaxing day in the “pool”, I have been working on my tawashi (Japanese term for kitchen scrubbies) and my Brilliantly Bold Chevron Love mittens.  Hopefully I get one of those projects finished tonight.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend, either relaxing or productive or both!