It Was Like a Fairy Tale

My daughters wedding was so beautiful! Everything went perfectly. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold to be on a ship. The wind was not too strong, so the trip was smooth. The ceremony was wonderful. Everything was perfect. The cake was delicious, the guests had loads of fun, and now I'm exhausted. I just wish I had the pics.

The wedding was held on the Mish-a-nock. A ship owned by the Coeur d'Alene Resort for weddings, dinner cruises, and whatnot. It sails on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Wow, what a beautiful place to have a wedding! Once everyone was on board the captain took the ship to a place that was not windy. He stopped, we had the ceremony on the upper deck, and then he took us all on a 2 hour cruise around the lake.

On the lower deck we had a buffet dinner and tables all set up. The food was stupendous. Macadamia nut encrusted fish, garlic mashed potatoes, mango salsa, steamed carrots, fresh fruit salad, green salad, and of course-wedding cake.

After eating, the bride and groom introduced the 'games' portion of the reception. They layed out a Twister Mat and started playing.

One of my jobs was to provide the prizes. Two weeks before I went to the Dollar store and bought a whole bunch of cheap but fun things (items such as bungee cords, duct tape, 8-piece screwdriver set, scented candles, pretty picture frames, kitchen doodads, car wash mitts, etc etc). They were on display, all individually wrapped, in a large basket. We had board games and card games. The guest played, and the winners got to pick a prize. It was the funnest thing I've ever done at a wedding. Everyone had a blast. In fact, we were having such a great time the captain consented to give us another 1 hour tour so it could continue.

As far as taking pics, I didn't get to take very many. In fact, there was quite a bit of time when I wasn't even in the vicinity of my camera. I don't know what made me think I would be. But there were lots of pictures taken by friends, family, and the professional photographer and when I get my share of them, I will share some of them with you. In the meantime, this will have to do. I took this right after helping Sarah get all decked up in her dress.


Have a nice evening.

Today Is The Day

Soon: Mr. and Mrs. Frank Mitchell

Wedding Mitts

Wedding Mitts for Sarah

Detail of stitch pattern with beads.

Pattern:

Presto Mitts by Robbyn Kenyon

Cast on:
June 15. 2009
Bound off:
June 26, 2009

Size:
One size fits most

Yarn:
Alpaca with a Twist by Fino in Champagne (#0098) knit with 2 strands held together.

Needles:
Addi Turbo Circular size 2.

Comments:
A very satisfying knit. Fairly easy, but not too easy to be boring. The pattern is very well written. I used size 8 beads instead of 6's (or E beads) because they fit better and look more elegant. 6's are too big for fingering weight yarn.

I am so glad I got these done in time for the wedding.

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The bachelorette party went very very well. The food turned out great, lots of ladies showed up, and much fun was had by all despite the lack of a Chippendale hopping out of a cake. My daughters friends are such a blast to be with. I did not take pics. Too busy being the hostess. However, there were lots of cameras there. I'm hoping to get some from them.

Today: Rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Not until this evening though. I intend to chill for the day. The weather is perfect! Couldn't ask for better.

Have a good day. I know I will.

What Is It About a Tux

that makes a man look so scrumptious?

Father of the bride trying on the tux.

Hmm..I see a hair cut in his future.

Chenille putting the official cat hairs on the pants.

I'm almost ready. I need to clean the trailer for the guests who are using it this weekend. And vacuum the living room and sun room. Veggies to wash and cut up, dip to make. Oh yes, the chicken salad wraps. I need to get that together. Should run to the store and get some cookies. I don't have time to make them. AAAAHHH....... meltdown alarm!

The bachelorette party is at my house tonight. I probably ought to send my daughter to Walmart to get some cushions for the chairs on the deck that don't have any.

My brain is firing in short random bursts. I am definitely getting anxious. I'd bead put I put it all away. Really away. No beading until after the party. Then I can drag everything back out and cover the dining room table with my mess to my hearts delight. I need to finish the fingerless glove anyway.

Sad about Michael Jackson. The music world has lost a genius.

Have a great day.

Lavender and Lime

I have finished my swappy project. I'm calling it Lavender and Lime.

The strappy part is twisted tubular herringbone. I used size 11 seed beads in a metallic light green, metallic medium purple, and a purple matte.


The focal point is strung with 6mm sterling silver beads, 4mm lavender glass pearls, 2 green czech glass beads, pewter bead caps, and 4 large faceted amethyst beads. The beaded bead is the Scaph I made several weeks ago.


All in all, I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. I hope my swap partner will feel the same way.


I have been busy busy busy getting wedding stuff ready. There is going to be a bachelorette party for Sarah on the weekend, at my house. I tried to find some other place to have it but had no luck. It will be fun but it added a ton onto the pile of things to get done before Friday evening.

Yesterday Ruth and I pulled weeds. We weeded every flower bed in the yard. Got it all done in one day. She has been such a HUGE help to me the past couple weeks.

I'm about halfway done with the second beaded fingerless glove. I should have it done in a day or two. Tonight I'm going to put together a couple necklaces for the brides attendants. I'm just going to string something simple. I should have it done in an hour or so. I'm going to use the same beads I used in the necklace I made for myself to wear to this event. Assuming I can find them, that is. ;-)

I received an email from Paramount Studios. They wanted my mailing address so they can send me replacements for the defective Star Trek discs. Hurray!

Right now I'm going to take a little nap before I have to start making dinner. I am exhausted from all the running around I did doing errands.

Have a nice evening.

Champagne Fir Cone Shawl

Champagne Fir Cone Triangular Shawl

Pattern:

Fir Cone Triangular Shawl by Fruitcake Knits

Size: 64 inches wide, 33 inches long at center.

Yarn:
Alpaca with a Twist by Fino in Champagne (#0098)

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular size 5.

Comments: I enjoyed knitting this shawl. The yarn is wonderful to work with and feels so soft and cuddly. It also drapes very nicely when blocked. The stitch pattern is easy to memorize and the project was incredibly portable. The whole thing fit in a tiny little purse that I took with me everywhere I went.

To get the size I have I knitted until there were 400 stitches on the needle. I decided not to knit the edging because it didn't make sense to me and I didn't want to be bothered with figuring it out (more on this in a bit). I made this for my daughters wedding, so time was of the essence!

There is a mistake in the pattern. I corrected it thusly:

Where it says

“Now for the main lace pattern that is repeated until either you are driven stark raving loony or until the shawl is finished; it’s up to you. Instructions in (parentheses) are knit once on the first repeat, three times on the second repeat, five times on the third, and so on until either you are driven stark raving loony or until the shawl is finished; sense a theme here?”

Three times should be 2 times. Five times should be 3 times. It increases one pattern repeat at a time, not two.

I frogged and reknit 3 times before I figured out I wasn’t doing something wrong, the pattern was.

Another thing that concerned me was binding off loose enough. When it comes to a shawl, lots of stretching is involved when blocking it. The bind off needs to be very loose. I did a bit of research and decided on this bind off-which worked out wonderfully.

Knit 1, *YO, pass knit stitch over the YO, Knit 1 st, pass the YO over the knit stitch. Repeat from * to end.

Now, to the edging problem I mentioned above. When I blocked my shawl I found myself quite frustrated because it would not stretch the way I thought it would.

The side edges just wouldn't stretch any more, but the top edge bunched cos it needed to be stretched more. I got 52 inches across and only 25 inches long. I was quite disappointed. It didn't drape correctly when I tried it on either. I was quite disappointed.

The next day (that would be yesterday) I was doing a bit of digging to decide on what shawl I want to make next. I came across another triangle shaped shawl that interested me. While I was reading over the pattern it suddenly occured to me that I had blocked the Fir cone wrong. I felt like such a stupid head! This is how I blocked it.

I've knit triangle shapes before and the bound off edge has always been the top edge. Not so with this one. Originally I had put the point where it should be straight, and straight where the point should be. Well, no wonder it was so weird! I have learned something new.

This is how it is supposed to be blocked. The bound off edge is the pointy part.


It's amazing how much better it looks, not to mention it's considerably larger. I got 64 inches wide and 33 inches long-like it's supposed to be. Will wonders never cease...... Oddly, when I realized I'd blocked it wrong the first time-suddenly the edging made sense to me.

You'd think after 41 years of knitting I'd stop making stupid mistakes!

A close up of the stitch pattern. It's so pretty.


Another blocked view.


Reclining in relief at being blocked properly.


All in all, I'm very very happy with this shawl.

Have a great day.

Corsages and Boutonnieres

I made beaded bouts for the groom and groomsmen. I used size 15 beads for Franks Snapdragon so it wouldn't be huge. It turned out so cute!



I made these with silk flowers for the parents and whatnot .


Posting this because I can.


Now, I think I'm done. But I'm not sure. Sarah called last night and said something about flowers on her head instead of a veil. I'll get more info later.

Last Sunday, while I was preparing dinner, a thunderstorm blew over us. I was chopping onion and glanced out the kitchen window just as a bolt of lightening came down and hit a tree near the house. It sounded like a bomb had gone off. Kaboom!!!! The house just shook. It scared the bejeebers out of all of us.

Yesterday Ruth and I took a stroll in the back yard to investigate the unlucky tree. As you can see, the bark was split in a spiral pattern around the tree. It goes from the top all the way to the ground. There's pieces of bark lying all over that exploded off it.

Click on pic to embiggen


This is what it looks like at the base.

The air was thick with the smell of fresh cut wood. The tree is dead. It's needles will slowly turn brown over the next few weeks. It's a shame. It was an old one.

I have blocked the shawl. I will post about it tomorrow.

Have a good day.

2 Rows Left

That is how many I have left on the shawl. Hurray!

No pics this post. Don't have time. I finished Frank's Snapdragon for his boutonniere last night. Two more flowers to bead-both carnations-and I'm done with that part. Then it's just a matter of assembling the bouts and corsages. I am so excited to have these two projects almost done.

I wanted to remind folks about World Wide Knit in Public Day. There is a list of info on places having KIP day on the web site. If you have one local, please attend. It will be fun. When has a bunch of knitters getting together ever not been fun?

Locally we are having one in Coeur d'Alene. I hope to see you there!

Have a great weekend.

~~~~~~~~~~

I'm on a Roll

All of a sudden things are coming together, really fast. I've finished the bouquets for the brides two attendants-maid of honor and bridesmaid respectively.


Then I put together a silk bouquet for Sarah to throw.



The beaded one weighs 1 lb 2 oz (509 grams) and we don't want any possible concussions happening. The silk one weighs 6 oz (165 grams). I couldn't find any silk snapdragons in appropriate colors so I substituted with something that has a similar shape and style.

Ruth is home from her geology field trip so I drafted her into helping me. Yesterday she made over 40 tulle fluffies for me. That's what I decided to use for filler rather than baby's breath or something like that. SIL Diane gave me a huge role of tulle she found in her craft stash. So it's been a very economic element. Besides, it gives the bouquets a sort of fantasy fairyish sort of look.

I need to make the boutonnieres for the groom and his guys next. I started Franks Snapdragon yesterday. It's about half done. I'm using tiny little size 15 beads so it won't be this huge honkin' thing standing on his shoulder. I need to make 2 beaded carnations for the grooms men. Then everything else will be silk. I need to pop into Michaels today and pick up 2 more stems of the blue flowers. Then I will be done buying floral stuff. Whew!

This project has been a real challenge, but I'm having a LOT of fun doing it.

I have CDA Yarnies this morning. Ruth is going with me. Woot!

Have a great day.

~~~~~~~~~~~

TAA DAA!

IT'S DONE!!!!!!!!

Click on pic to embiggen

And it turned out way better than I'd hoped. The bride loves it. All is right with the world.


Have a fantastic weekend.

~~~~~~~~~~

Orchid #1

I learned how to make an orchid yesterday.



I think it's awesome, but I'm biased. The pattern is free on the internet here: Growing a Beaded Orchid. I have to make about half a dozen more, but they don't take long. Not like the Snapdragons.

It's hot today. Temps in the upper 80's. I'm so glad I have an umbrella to sit under in the shade on the deck.

Have a wonderful day.

~~~~~~~~~~

Starting to Take Shape

For the most part, I haven't really been as excited about making this wedding bouquet as I should have been. Mostly I've been nervous, apprehensive, maybe a little bit scared? I have never made a bridal bouquet before, let alone one made with beaded flowers-which I've also made myself. My confidence has been wavering. What if I make something and it's god-awful ugly?

I finished the last of the larger snapdragons last night. Then I put some of the flowers together to see if this is gonna work.




WOOT! It is. IT IS!!!!! I am so excited now I can hardly stand it. This is gonna be awesome! Of course, I'm biased.

Have a great day.

~~~~~~~~~~~

No, My Car Isn't Yellow. Why Do You Ask?

The pines are in bloom.



My eyes are filled with goo, my eyelids feel like sand paper, my throat is sore, I'm coughing up all kinds of phlegm, and my nose won't stop running.


Just think what it would be like without my meds.


Actually, considering that I spent most of the weekend in the out-of-doors, I'm doing fairly well.


Thankfully, it only lasts a week.

Not much beading happened. We had to catch up on some things. On Saturday Sweet Hubby and I went seeking a tux to rent for him because of the impending wedding and all.

We also popped into Home Depot and purchased many potted annuals, which I then spent the rest of the day planting as well as other yard work. My flower boxes on the deck are stuffed with plants. I decided I'm taking my chances with the moose and said "Heck No!" to Marigolds. I bought Pansies, and Snapdragons, and Lobelia, and Dianthus, and white Sweet Alyssum, and Geraniums, and Zinnias, and oh my goodness I think I got carried away with all the lovely colors! I haven't planted the bulbs-Gladiolas and Dahlias-yet. Yes, I'm gonna try growing the Dahlias again. I shall keep trying until I get it right!

Oh, and I planted the tomatoes in pots on the deck because we are just too busy to get that garden started. This wedding is more important. Anyway, my deck is going to look fantastic in a few weeks.

On Sunday the bride and I met my niece Stacy and her daughter Kaitlyn at the Spokane Valley Davids Bridal to purchase Kaitlyn a bridesmaid dress. We managed to find quite a deal. Kaitlyn's dress was on sale, clearance, because it was missing it's little belt. 40 bucks for a $129 dress. The purchase of a bow for $10 fixed the belt problem.

The sales clerk who 'worked' with us was floored by the solution the bride came up with. She said she never would have thought of it. Kaitlyn is one of those very tall very thin kind of people (her mother is just like her-can eat all they want and never gain an ounce-sigh). Sarah spotted a bow/belt sort of thingy that usually is used on the flower girl dresses. Well, Kaitlyn being super thin and all, it fit her just fine and really added glam to the dress. I'm going to do a bit of alteration to the bow (move a snap) so it's a little looser on her.

While I waited and watched all the trying on of dresses, I sat on a couch and worked on my shawl. I managed to get 2 more rows done. 8 left to go.

After that Sarah and I went to the Spokane Valley Mall and shopped. Just shopped, for nothing in particular. Just spending fun time together. Sarah has been so tense over the wedding. She needed to unwind. We had a blast. We tried stuff on, and I actually found a couple things to buy.

In Macy's we found a bright orange broomstick skirt. I mean bright orange-construction worker orange-HUNTER orange. I spotted a ruffled top all orange purple and turquoise. She decided to try this on because, well, Sarah likes orange.

When she stepped out of the dressing room my first thought was "Wow! She looks great in that color!" Then reality hit. "Ouch!" Too much orange! I mean waaaaaaay too much orange. It actually started to hurt my eyes. The sales clerk walked up just as we were both agreeing that we might need sunglasses if she were to wear that outfit in public. The sales clerk said "So which part of the outfit do you like the most?" My lovely daughter looked down, paused, and said "My socks." I nearly peed my pants I laughed so hard.

Today it's back to beaded snapdragons. I've got 27 days to get these flowers done. Times awasting!

Have a great day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silver in Periwinkle

Okay, I had to take a break from the snapdragons. Just a short break. Here is what I made.


Yes, another Octahedral Cluster. This time in periwinkle blue and sterling silver.


So, what is that background my beady bead is sitting upon?


The fir cone shawl. I'm down to 12 rows before I can start the edging. That is, if I decide to do the edging. I can't make up my mind. It's taking almost an hour to do one row now.


And lest you think I've abandoned the snapdragons oh ye of little faith.


I made all of the pinky parts for s-dragon 3 yesterday. I had an extremely productive day-out on the deck. It was a wonderful 81 degrees F with a nice cool breeze coming from the south-right past my blooming lilac bush so I got to drink in it's lovely scent the whole time I was working. The hummingbirds were entertaining too as they fought over who got to drink of the red elixer first. Silly birds.

Today my sis-in-law Diane is coming over and we're gonna s-dragon together. We were supposed to get together Tuesday but, well, Murphy's law and all.

Have a wonderful day.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Then There Were Two

After 3 days of dedicated beading, I now have 2 Snapdragons.


I took today off to do laundry, clean the kitchen, mop floors, etc. All those things I didn't do over the weekend cos I was beading.

Speaking of beads, these arrived in the mailbox today. They are 20mm wooden beads in white and black.


I had a hard time finding them. Well, I couldn't find any around here. Thanks to Joan, one of my Yahoo group bead buddies, who pointed me to the MacrameSuperstore I ordered some online. I would recommend these folks if you need wooden beads (or macrame supplies for that matter). Their service is wonderful.

This is my new best friend.


I have had it for a few months now. I bought it at Bed Bath and Beyond. It goes here.


It's an oven liner. It's made of some sort of fabric that is coated with a non-stick plasticy sort of coating. If something spills over on it (like the 1 peach and 2 strawberry pies I baked over the weekend) you can just wipe the spill up with a sponge even when it's cool. My pies tend to bubble over every time because I like my fruit pies to have LOTS and LOTS of filling. No skimpy pies in this house, no siree. It works very well at keeping my oven easy to clean. The stuff just wipes right up. I love it madly.

Oh, one more thing. My Mother of the Bride outfit arrived in the mail last Saturday. Since it was backordered until June 1st, it was a HUGE surprise. What's even better? IT FITS!!!!

Doin' the Happy Dance

Have a great day.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Snapdragon

I am in beaded flower mode now. So I probably won't be posting as often as I would like. I've gotta get these flowers done.

Here is the first successful Snapdragon.


I am happy with it. Most importantly, the bride is happy with it.


For each Snapdragon I must make 80 separate beaded pieces. Then assemble them all together. I need to go to Joann's and get more floral tape. Poor Frank. He looks like he's had a hard day.

(And yes, there is something on the lens. Well, there was. It isn't there now.)

My fingers are sore. I keep hoping I'll get calluses on the tips, but so far-just blisters. Fun fun. I decided to make good use of my many different little plyers that Sweet Hubby bought me a few years ago. It's helping.

I have been knitting. I've got 26 rows left on my lace shawl. Hurray! I am taking it everywhere I go and working on it every spare moment-between beaded flowers that is. I've got just over 350 sts on the needles. When I get to 400 I will be done.

It's a 3 day weekend. The weather is perfect. I can't remember the last time we had a sunny Memorial Day Weekend. I'm spending it on the deck with the beads. The rest of the family is gathering up at the cabin on Twin Lakes to paint said cabin. It's needed it for a long time. I am providing home made from scratch Strawberry Pie for the workers. Mmmm...strawberry pie. The plan for today is to work on the flowers for a few hours, then I'm heading up to the lake.

Have a good day!

~~~~~~~~~~

Beading Away

It was a gorgeous day yesterday. In fact, it was downright hot. I had to get out some shorts, it was that hot. The breeze was warm and sweet with the scent of new leaves and flowers. Violas are growing all over the place in the back flower beds. Volunteers that have sprouted on their own. I love the colors in this one.



After a quick run into Coeur d'Alene to pick up some necessities, I settled down on the deck to do some beading. Sweet Hubby took this picture of me, hard at work.


The results-18 more Snapdragon pieces.


Saturday I made this beaded bead. There's a bit of just about everything in it.


I started with Right Angle Weave, then did some Ndebele, and finished up with some peyote. I embellished with netting. A nice satisfying project.

I love the colors. They remind me of the ocean beaches in Mexico. I apologize for the dark bead used as the base. I have no light colored 20mm beads in my stash. I am going to fix that problem asap.

Earlier this week I made use of that Octahedral Cluster kit.


I love this bead design.

It has some interesting geometric lines in it.


After making the kit I felt sufficiently confident to strike out on my own.

The kit uses 6mm round beads. I used some 4mm glass pearls.

Yes indeed, I am liking the beaded beads.

Well, I'm off to see Star Trek 11 again with my friend, Andrea. She's single, no kids (unless you count the 4 pugs that live with her), and wants to see it. I offered to go with her so she wouldn't have to go alone. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. I can hardly wait. I love that movie.

Have a great day.

~~~~~~~~~~