It's snowing.

We really need rain or snow around here.  Otherwise it's drought time.  Still, I'm glad I"m hanging out at home today.

New project bags:

I can't get enough of sewing these adorable guys.  They are such fun to do.  I love how the lining peeps out when you cinch the bag closed.

And what's in them?

A scarf for Hiz Hubz.  That's the top pic.  Almost done, which is good, since I'm so bored with it.  He likes them long and skinny.

A pair of socks for elder DD, who decided (finally) that she likes my woolly socks.

Both are knitted from a new yarn I'm checking out.  It's a merino/Donegal tweed yarn that is so soft.  Looks rough and tough, and feels like a baby's bottom.  That soft and pretty.  Very nice to work with, too.  I was also concerned that those nubs would aggravate me, but you don't even feel them as you knit.

This week's yarns.

Lookie here: http://fritzl.etsy.com

Some pretty new yarns for this week. These were dyed some time ago and I forgot about them. They are so much prettier in real life.

 Cherry Blossoms

I love this colorway. I saved this one for me and then realized that I had one already. It's so pretty and feminine.

Spring Dreams


One of my favorite colorways.  I adore blues, greens, lavenders, etc all together.  I find this most soothing.

 

Sunset

This is a glorious colorway. It would make the loveliest shawl.

I sewed 2 more project bags this week.  One I already gave away, and I have to photograph the other one, but it's too dark.  Tomorrow if the light is good.

Mom and me

I don't ordinarily post pics of me or my family, but this one I just couldn't resist. Here is a pic of my mom and me taken this past Sunday. Notice that we both have white hair.

Yippee!

The dyeing mojo is back!  There was a long spell of me not dyeing much except for specific groups and projects, but all of a sudden, I just want to dye up neat colorways for the fun of it.  All are individually dyed and one of a kind.  This latest bunch is not pastel!  Shocking, I know!  But vivid and colorful, and delightful to look at and knit with.

Cool Jazz! 

Hey, There!

Promise!

Are they not pretty?  You can find them in my Etsy shop:  http://fritzl.etsy.com

Pattern recommendations (all available on Ravelry):
Escalator
Slip-Zig
Diamonds Modular Scarf
Taos Scarf

Would You Believe?

Two posts in two days?   Well, it's kind of hard to post without pictures. 

New bag, yet again:  This one is the next size up from yesterday's little project bag, and it's perfect for holding my lace shawls WIPs.  Can't show you the shawl, of course, 'cause it's yet another mystery shawl.  But you can see its bag.

Here's the lining fabric, which is the same as the ties.  I used the back of this really ugly fabric, and it looks so nice on the wrong side.

Here's the top part of the bag.  I love how you can use 3 different fabrics and get something really cute.

I love making these.  Takes me a couple of hours because I walk down to the dyeing dungeon to press, and that's 2 floors below.  Yep, I do it on purpose.  The sewing becomes a little bit of an aerobic activity.  My knees don't like it, but too bad.  It's good for them to get used.

Here is a pair of socks I made Miss P.  This was out of some ancient Bambi yarn that I had hidden away, and the socks are so cozy and snuggly.  I think she'll like them.

And, if that is not enough, here is Arachne's Delight, now up for sale.

Arachne's Delight was the Oct selection for the Light and Dark Lace Club, and it's been 4 months, and she's ready for the rest of the world.

An intermediate pattern with an adorable Never-Ending Border.

A new project bag!

Finally, after a bunch of attempts to make a sock project bag, I actually succeeded!  With no mistakes!  OK, I did sew the wrong sides of the first 2 pieces together, but I fixed that.  So, that counts as a perfect bag.  Moi.  Perfect Bag.  I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it!

Here's the URL for ordering the entire pattern:  http://meylah.com/incolororder

The pattern is from a charming blog called In Color Order.  And the directions were easy for me to follow, and I really can't follow directions at all.  So, you know this was not hard at all.

I bought the pattern set, because I wanted other sizes, and am way too lazy to try to figure out measurements.  And now I want to make a larger project bag for my shawls.  Such excitement!

So, me being me, I now have pulled lots of fabrics to make lots of bags.  And then I'll have to fill all those bags with new projects, and here we go again.

Hi, again.

I've been gone sooooo long.  I guess I just wasn't in the mood for blogging.

What's new here?  A most wonderful knitting project that is, of course, a mystery.  Suffice it to say that I'm loving this so much.  And I can't even show you a picture.  I will tell you that the yarn is Carrie Lace yarn, 1300 yards of 80/20 merino/silk, and soft and drapey and delicious.  This one is for the Light and Dark Lace club's April-ish edition.

Socks are back in my hands again.  Nothing terribly interesting to photograph.  I just want soothing, mindless sock knitting, but not in stockinette.  That's boring beyond belief, so some ribbing, some lace, etc.  Two pairs went to eldest Grandkid; turns out that he loves my cosy socks.  And 2 prs to Miss P, who also has fallen in love with Gram's socks.  When she was here last April, we went to the Statue of Liberty one soggy day, and came home soaking wet.  To warm her up, I lent her a pair of my woolly socks, and it was love at first wear.  She absconded with a bunch of them.  The child grew, and her foot is now an adult size 8, and my size 6 socks are a bit too small for her.  So, I've been pressed into sock mania.  And then, His Hubbo needed a new pair of sleeping socks, so that's what I'm working on at the moment.

I'd show you pics, but it turns out that the patterns I unvented for the lace socks turned out so nice, that I'm incorporating them in the Mystery Shawl.  So, no pics here either.  Sigh.

Here's what I can show you:  a doll outfit, a doll quilt in progress, and the first block that I'm making for Dear Jane, also in progress.

Miss P has been pestering me for a kimono, so I bought Joan Hind's kimono pattern and just finished it today.

Isn't it adorable? Lots of mistakes, but I hope she won't notice.  If she wants another one, I'll be happy to do it. I haven't sewn doll clothing in a few months, and got somewhat rusty, but did enjoy this a lot.

I have always wanted to make a log cabin quilt, even as far back as high school.  So, I finally got brave and made 8 little blocks, and sewed 4 of them together for a doll quilt.  I'll do the same with the leftover ones.  One to Miss P and one to Miss R.  You'll notice some blue lines; that's where I'm doing some fake quilting.  It'll all wash out with cold water when I'm done.

I'm going to take a class in hand quilting at The City Quilter early in Feb.  I don't know if my hands can handle it, but I'll give it a try.  I'm pretty sure I'll never become Wonder Quilter, but it would be nice to know how to actually do it properly, and I always like learning new things.

Speaking of new things, I am taking a Dear Jane class also at TCQ.  Help!  Teensy, weensy little bits of fabric.  Hand stitched.  Turning me into a crazy lady.  These little guys will finish up to around 4.5 inches.  Here's the first one I'm doing.  This is block A-13, and it has 21 pieces in it.  It's so tiny that I am using a magnifying lamp to see where I am.  Even the little needle is hard to thread, and I can still thread the sewing machine needle without difficulty.  This is some learning experience.  Take a look at the Dear Jane website to get an idea of the complexity of this project.  No, I don't plan on doing the entire thing; it'll take me years and years to finish it.  But I thought that some little wall hangings would be fun, or even a doll quilt.  Maybe no on the doll quilt; I'd be hysterical if one of the blocks fell apart in play.  Anyhow, this is what I have done since last Fri's class.  It's taken me hours to work this, although today's stitching went faster and better than the previous work.

It looks huge in the picture.  Nope, it's not.  I have a class once a month for the next 3 months, and each time we'll learn a new technique.  I'd like to go next time with 4 blocks done.  I'm going to look for the easiest ones.  BTW, there are no instructions, just a drawing of the block and a picture of Jane's block.  What a learning experience.