"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

9/29/16

It's Important!





That is all.

Live long and prosper. \\//

9/21/16

Sierra's Turn

I haven't been giving Sierra the attention she needs of late. She's been lonely and neglected, so I got her a new outfit, and when I took the Star Trek pics, I took pics of her too.

Sierra loves purple. I found this adorable purple suit outfit on Etsy in the LynneCraft shop.



She has purple sneakers too. I had to try the purple wig, of course.



I don't really like it that much on Sierra, but I love how it looks on Amber.



I switched to Sierra's brown wig. It's my favorite on her.



Such a sweet face!



And finally, a group shot. Everybody is great friends.



Sierra feels much better now.

Live long and prosper. \\//

9/20/16

A Fairisle Hat

Last Wednesday we lost our internet connection. I tried everything to get it to connect, but it wouldn't work. I finally called our service provider and they sent out a repairman. Unfortunately, though, he couldn't come out until yesterday. I went almost a whole week having to use my smart phone for internet access and NO Netflix. Not fun. My eyes are suffering some pretty nasty eye strain now from checking my email, Facebook, and Ravelry. The screen of a phone is too tiny for the amount of time I spend on the internet. I need to change some habits. And I don't really spend all that much time on it. Urg.

I got some knitting done. I whipped up a Fairisle hat. It's a model for the Fairisle class I've scheduled to teach. Yes! It's teaching season again. I'm going to be doing two beginning knitting classes per month, on Tuesday mornings, and Saturday mornings, plus a sock class in October and Fairisle in November. I wish I had time to do more.



Pattern: Basic Norwegian Star Hat by Cara Jo Miller
Size: Adult

Yarn: Knitpicks Brava
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Eggplant

Yarn: Knitpicks Brava
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Canary

Needles: Circular size 6

Started: September 14, 2016
Finished: September 18, 2016

Comments: I think this is going to make a good teaching pattern. It's easy to understand the instructions, and the pattern chart is good, except I wish she'd numbered the rows in it, but I can fix that by having the students do it the old fashioned way-with a pencil.



I used Brava from a sample pack I ordered a few months ago during one of Knitpicks sample sales. It's very reasonably priced. It's a very soft yarn and my hands liked that. But it wants to split and fray pretty easily. It's almost too soft. I'm worried it will pill like crazy. A lot of times, when it comes to price, you get what you pay for. We'll see how it stands up to being handled a lot.



The pattern actually calls for 3 colors to be used. It's a good pattern for using up bits of leftover colors. I think I'll make another one doing that, for Knitwits.



Garage update: Insulation installer showed up yesterday. Yay! He got all the walls pinkified. Today he's working on the ceiling.



We had some rain over the weekend. It rained very hard for a few hours. Water started dripping on the floor in the kitchen near the skylight. The kitchen lights are on either side of the skylight. Water got into them and caused the circuit breaker to shut the power off in the kitchen. Sigh. We need to get the roof replaced. Sweet Hubby repairs, and the repair comes undone. We need to get the thing fixed properly once and for all. I see what we'll be doing come spring.

Oh, the photo contest. I got my photo entered. I used my phone to do it. The competition is pretty stiff. It will be a couple weeks before I know if I've won or not. I won't be posting the photo here until then.

Sweet Hubby is flying home today. He had a wonderful time riding with our daughter. I got lots of pictures texted to me. I was a little jealous of their fun while I wrestled with the problems around here. I'm glad they enjoyed it though.

Live long and prosper. \\//

9/13/16

Fun With Star Trek

I have finished all my Star Trek doll uniforms.

This is Captain Penn.



I can not believe how well this little sweater fits him. I loosely based it on a pattern for another doll, and adjusted it while I was knitting it (I wrote it all down so I can do it again.). I fully expected the sleeves to be either too long or too short, and they were perfect. Damn, I'm starting to get good at this knitting thing.

The sweater is made with Berroco Folio, which is an Alpaca/Rayon blend. I really love working with this yarn. It's so soft to the touch. The black neck band is a bit of Wool Gatto from Lana Gatto yarns that I found in my stash. It's a superwash wool that's been in the stash a long time. I carried it in my shop. It's no longer being made. That's sad cuz it's a wonderful yarn. I used size 1 needles for this project.

For the insignia, I embroidered it on a piece of stiff interfacing. I even went to the trouble to put the proper symbol on the insignia, though they're so tiny it's hard to see it.



Then I cut it out. I ran a black permanent marker around the edges because the edge of the white interfacing was visible. Then I glued it on the uniform shirt with some Aleenes Tacky glue.

I decided to embroider the Captains rank stripes on the sleeves too. I strive for accuracy.



I got lucky on having a communicator. My Spock doll has that and a tricorder that came with it. Both items fit my Wilde dolls perfectly.

Science Officer T'Amber.



Yes, she's a Vulcan. Can't have Star Trek TOS without a Vulcan on board. This dress is made with Briggs New Boy, which is a yarn my daughter Sarah gave me. She bought it while she and her husband were on their honeymoon in Norway. It's a superwash wool, and a very nice one. I wish I had more of this. Again, I used the Wool Gatto for the neckline. Size 0 and 1 needles. Doesn't that tricorder look perfect with her? Penn thinks so too. Good luck with that, Penn.



Engineering officer Ellowyne.



Who says girls don't like engines? Ellowyne loves tinkering with them. She's very good at it too. Only the best get to serve on the Enterprise.

I knit this dress with a fingering weight yarn my daughter gave me that she bought in Norway. It has no label, and it's rougher than a brillo pad. Actually hurt my hands to work with it. I soaked the dress in hair conditioner for a bit to soften it up some, not that Ellie will mind it. She has no nerve endings. I have a skein of this in a lovely shade of blue too. I don't see myself using it.

Here are the girls together.



And now, with the handsome Captain Penn.



I spent about 2 hours outside yesterday setting up for my contest photo entry. It came out fantastic! It's all ready to enter, as well as the poem that goes with it. I'm ready for this contest! And very excited!

Live long and prosper. \\//

9/8/16

Bicycle Dreams

That's what I call this outfit I got for Luna.



Of all the outfits I have for her, this is, by far, my favorite.



I found it on Etsy, and I'm looking forward to seeing what this talented seamstress will come up with in the future.



Nobody showed up to install the insulation in the shop yesterday. I expect they meant NEXT Tuesday.

The weather around here suddenly, and I mean suddenly, went from summer to fall. It was 91F degrees one day, and the next-BOOM. it was 64F degrees and raining. All of nature says and smells like fall. The leaves are turning. One thing about north Idaho. It doesn't monkey around when changing from one season to the next.

By the way. Today is the 50th anniversary of the first day the first episode of Star Trek was aired.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAR TREK!!!



Live long and prosper. \\//

9/7/16

The Opening Show

I have so many things to blog about. Today I'm going to repeat an opening show I did in the Facebook Wilde Imagination group. It's called an opening show because boxes that have arrived in the mail are being opened. Yes, I bought doll stuff.

SQUEE! Look what the mailman brought!



Ooooooo...



Pretty boxes!



Start the stripper music!



Boom chuka



boom chuka



BOOM! Someone get a blanket!



Yeah. Okay. Not as funny as I thought. In the boxes, right is Penn Braced for Mist (who isn't braced for anything at the moment) which I found on Ebay for an incredibly nice price. On the left is a top and skirt I got in the recent Tonner sale. In the middle is a doll from the Tonner Evengeline Ghastly line that I also found on Ebay for an incredible price. Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Angelique de la Nuit.



She's 18 inches tall and I adore her. I've ordered a dress made by my sister of Jodiecreations.com which will be here in a couple days. I'm looking forward to knitting for her too.

I have been knitting, madly, trying to get some doll things done for a photo contest that is coming up quick. The dresses are almost done, needing sewing up and snaps in the back openings.



This is Captain Penn's sweater which, since I took this yesterday morning, I've finished the knitting. So it's no longer an accurate representation.



I need to sew the seams and put the snaps in the back opening. My daughter Ruth came home for the Labor Day weekend and brought a couple of dragons she has for me to borrow for my photograph. I am so excited about this whole project. Having a great deal of fun with it.

Garage update: So much has happened. The siding was installed, the electrical, and the garage doors. Here's how it looks now.



The inspector came this morning and it did not pass. We need to install a light over one of the man doors, and enclose the inside walls of the second floor so the electrical wires don't show. That will probably mean finishing them with sheet rock, which we weren't planning to do yet, but oh well. It will have to wait a couple weeks though. Sweet Hubby is flying back east for a week long bike ride with our daughter Sarah. Can't do anything until he gets back.

I was told the insulation installers were coming at 8 a.m. this morning. They are 2 hours late as of this writing, and still waiting.

I've got KnitWits this afternoon. I get to take all those layette sets in. I'm excited about that. I actually have 9 sets. The 4 I made plus 3 my daughter Ruth made, and 2 my friend Phyllis made. I also have 2 pairs of adult slippers made by Phyllis. Between that and the bag of fair entries, I'm gonna be fully loaded walking in the door after I get there.

Live long and prosper. \\//