Bookz…. August 19, 2008

So I read a lot, I like virtually everything I read, even if I dislike it I read it anyway….

Normally I don’t crow too much about it, but I just finished The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry and people, this book rocked.  I loved everything about this book, everything. I really want to hear from you if you read it, mostly I want to run it over with someone…this will be one I buy just to have – I loved it that much.

Lyda: you especially, I know from your posting we have pretty similar taste in the bookz, if you read this I totally want to know what you think…..it is pretty emotional and deeper than the book jacket makes it sound, I read the whole thing in one day, I just simply couldn’t put it down……

Toe-may-toes… August 15, 2008

About a week ago I was in despair. Utter and complete despair. There were moments where I could feel my taste-buds dying a slow death, deprived of their last wish… desperate to soothe them I would head to the garden only to see:

Notice how the color is all wrong… my garden was FULL of these, and since we live in Colorado I was afraid that tomato season would come and go without a hint of red. Finally on Monday night, I found this:
Which was shortly followed up by this:

If that weren’t enough, there was this:
And these:

Plus the abundance of peppers, in two different varieties, carrots, beans, peas, radishes….I think that hubby and I may finally be figuring out gardening in Colorado.

And if… by some chance you had tomatoes weeks ago, I don’t want to know about it.

If you are having a baby…. August 14, 2008

It is probably best not to tell me.

I love freezer paper stenciling 🙂

Team Red Heart…. August 11, 2008

Mwahahahahaha… did y’all knitters just CRINGE when you saw that?

To make a long story short, I stayed stuck in washclothville for some time. I am back now with something of a little bit more interest. That would be my insanity…. my newest afghan project. Some time ago I became infatuated with this….. At the time, the only place you could find this out of print pattern was through e-bay, and we all know what extremes the fiber arts community will go to to get that specific pattern. Yeah. EXTREME. Every time I saw a $60-$70 price on an Annie’s Attic pattern I went ballistic and emailed them to republish. Finally one day they emailed back and said they would be republishing it. A YEAR FROM THAT TIME!! A FRICKIN’ YEAR???? I had already been mad about it for a year, now I get to wait another year? Anyway, rumors of republishing didn’t bring the price down..finally one day I got an Annie’s Attic email, and front and center was the brand spankin new republished cathedral rose. I ordered on the spot. But once I had the pattern I ended up setting it aside, as I could not figure out how to pick the colors I wanted. The gemstones are spectacular, but they have no place in my fall inspired (ha inspired…LOL) living room. I did however make this….

Yeah, I have AutoCad and apparently too much time on my hands as well…. Anyhoo I also have photoshop, which led to this…

The color version is made from clipping actual photos of yarns and pasting them into the pattern…. For all intensive purposes this thing has to be washable, as I intend on using it. This thing also has a finished diameter of 81″. That is almost 7 feet people. This baby is HUGE. The yarn requirements should be given in POUNDS. If you have ever bought 12 skeins of red heart supersaver for a project, you know what overwhelming is.  That would be equal to 4000 yards, or 18 skeins of Cascade 220.  After some comparison in price, Red Heart was the ONLY way to go.

Still here? Darn, hoped you had left before I said this…..

I committed to doing this thing for the Ravelympics. Yeah. I put myself on a deadline. A ridiculous deadline. That said here is the progress from opening ceremonies until I ceased work for the evening last night….

I wanted a full on shot, but since I spent all weekend doing nothing but crocheting, there is no where suitable to put it for pictures except the back of the sofa.  So far I am happy, and I think I made a lot of progress, but I am still concerned about how large these rounds are getting and about the two full bags of yarn still left to go into this monster…..

Anyway, if I am not here for a couple of weeks, don’t be concerned….