Win a TeaTimesCreations Stand!

I’m very excited that this stand is the incentive for listeners of Craftlit that donate during the months of September and October. CraftLit: A Podcast for Crafters Who Love Books is an amazing podcast produced my Heather Ordover. If you took a listen to episode one of my podcast you probably know about Craftlit already. In Heather’s own words think “books on tape with benefits”. Heather is a knitter, writer, producer, author, super creative person that many years ago came up with the great idea of combining great literature with crafty talk. The show features audio books like “Little Women”, “Pride and Prejudice”, “Frankenstein”, “The Scarlet Letter”, and many other great classics of all times. The caveat is that she cleverly (and quite accessibly) dissects the story, giving us a master class in literature each show. There is plenty of feedback and discussion from the audience too. Like I always say it is a very intelligent show that attracts very intelligent listeners.

 She’ll be featuring next one of my most favorite books of all times “Dracula”, by Bram Stoker, so if you’re new to Craftlit this is a awesome way to start “test driving the concept. In her site you’ll also find an extensive library of past shows, conveniently indexed for your listening pleasure. Donate any amount to help offset the costs of producing the show between the months of September and October, and you’ll have a chance to win this (if I may say so myself) beautiful TTC stand.

 While you’re at it, and if you’re a knitter, take some time to learn about her latest venture, the book What Would Madame Defarge Knit?. Grab the book, some yarn and knitting needles, and set up a true English tea party with stands from the Etsy store!

Busy weekends…

Wow, the past couple of weekends where really crazy! I started to feel funky by Tuesday night, and by Wednesday I knew I had a cold. My son also had a stomach bug that prevented him from going to day care. So both of us stayed home Thursday and Friday. The main difference is that despite his diarrhea, he was his same old self, super energetic and non-stop busy-bee… mom on the other hand could barely stand up! My husband could not stay home either day, so I had to manage the best I could. The tough thing is that it’s been ridiculously cold in New England (I guess around the country), so I could not take him outside for him to burn energy. We could not go too far from the house because of his tummy issues, and I would not drive the way I was. AND the boy is the outdoorsy type, I mean he wants to be out and about all the time!

So by Saturday I was pretty beat up, but a bit better from the cold. We went grocery shopping in the morning, and early afternoon I had a meeting at my local quilt shop for a block of the month program called “The Queen and Her Court.” They are offering two colorways, floral and batik.

The session lasts about one and a half hours, we get to see new fabrics, news from the shop, show and tell, and a raffle. It was very nice, despite the fact that all I wanted was to lay down. I decided for the “floral” colorway, although I am extremely tempted to make the batik also. The program for the block itself it very reasonable (25 to join, then free if you complete the block and show up for the monthly meeting.) The quilt is pretty big too, 96″x108″. The finishing kits range from 133 to 145 dollars, and although reasonably priced for the amount of fabric I know that I will make the Civil War Tribute quilt, and I’m also enrolled on the “Buck-a-block” program… It’s very easy to get carried away with so many beautiful fabrics and designs waiting, but I do like finishing things, so I think I’ll stick to the plan. I also learned that they collect blocks for charity quilts, very easy nine patches the work out to be 12.5″ unfinished, so when I went home I manage to finish 3 of them. A lot more will come.

I spent the rest of the day doing  house chores, because I knew I would have to work on Sunday. You see, I have been crazy busy at work. My project is under construction, and it is at a very fast pace. I have been up to my eyeballs everyday just to keep my nose above the water. I had a ton of emails waiting for me, and the thought of having my Monday spent doing filing, and reading emails was depressing. Besides my little one woke up 6:30 that morning already asking to go out. The nail in the coffin was a beautiful Wheeler and Wilson model 8 waiting for me in Newburyport, a quaint coastal town about 50 minutes from Boston…

She was on the third floor on this house that has seen 4 generations of the family. The grandmother had just passed, and the daughters were doing inventory on the house. The machine is pretty dirty, but it is only dust (please disregard the mess in my kitchen.) One can see it was loved, and they told me she made a lot of quilts. The cabinet is also in good shape, although one drawer, and the drawer’s bottoms are missing. They also have some unfinished quilt tops, and they asked me if I could finish them!

As far as working on the next podcast, I am back to writing a lot of material. Recording time has really been the issue, not to mention that because of my cold I have no voice now… Last weekend was taken by the cake I made for my niece’s third birthday. I love baking, and cake decorating, and a few years ago I taught myself how to use (and make) fondant. It took me 9 hours to complete, and on Sunday we spend the day with her in Boston.

 It’s made with 3 layers of yellow cake, and one layer of coconut ganache, and one layer of passion fruit mousse (my own recipe!). I’ve made all 3 cakes she had in life so far, and the bear you see beside the cake was the topper of her first cake that my sister-in-law kept frozen all this time!  I keep a little “gallery” in my Webshots if you want to check them out.

In the middle of all this I manage to start a scarf to use the beautiful hand-spun yarn from Under the Plum that I won from Craftlit months ago. The lace pattern is from the “Woodland Shawl“, a free pattern I saw on Ravelry, and generously provided by Nikol Lohr, AKA Thrifty Knitter.

I’ve only knit for a couple of hours, but this thing is so quick I am almost done. The lace is beautiful, but very easy and I had it memorized in the 3rd repeat. Like all lacework it’s going to need some mighty blocking, but I’m very pleased with the way it’s turning out!

So I’ve kept busy the past couple of weeks, and I have several posts on pattern review on the way, and I will be launching podcast 3 soon. I can feel my mojo coming back! YAY!

I also won…

Oh my! That was weird (in a very good way). Back in February I made a donation to Craftlit. By now it’s clear to every one how much I love this show. I also like to let the episodes accumulate, so that I don’t have to wait to know what’s going to happen. If I get too anxious about a story I end up going to Librivox, then the narrator is not good, and I get  frustrated.

Well, I finally decided to listen to the Scarlet Letter. I think I was listening to episode 2 or 3 when Heather started to talk about the incentive from February, and how long it took to pick the winner, and how she was going to butcher the name, and it was “Marceli from Massachusetts”. Well, she said my name perfectly, and I don’t know that many Marceli’s, let alone from Massachusetts. Actually I don’t know any Marceli at all in person, only online. The incentive was a skein of hand spun, hand dyed, 50/50 merino wool and silk! I was screaming inside (I was listening at work), because when I donated was the month that I moved, so Paypal had the wrong address. After much back and forth I get in the mail a package with one of the most beautiful skeins I’ve ever seen:

 

I “cuddled” with it for a long while… The artist behind this beautiful creation is Debbi Marr, and you can find her amazing skeins (and anything fiber) at her Esty shop Under the Plum (even her store has a yummy name). Now I just have to find the perfect pattern to turn this baby into something stunning!

Laminaria is blocked!

Since I got my blog yesterday I felt like doing something special, so I finally took the courage to block Laminaria. I finished knitting this piece many months ago, but despite the fact that I did not have a surface big enough to block it I was a bit apprehensive since this is my first big lace project.

 

The knitting itself was actually very uneventful, the pattern is really well written, and I made sure to use markers whenever I could. Since I mostly knit while commuting I thought it would be very difficult following a lace pattern, but it turns out that once I’m “in the zone” I can knit anywhere. I took some time to find the yarn, but the Evila was worth the time (and money). Interestingly that the shipping was about the same price of the yarn…

 

I was able to get a big foam core board from my job, and I wrapped it with two towels. The photo of the blocked piece looks funny because of the red towel.  I am not happy with the final pictures, but since I wanted to put the project on my Ravelry and on the blog today the ones I have will do for now. I only have to finish the two pieces of yarn from the cast on and the cast off. The way the weather in New England has been I will be able to wear it this week! Overall I love how it turned out and think I might knit another one.