I've Finished the FreeRange Vest

Well, I finished the vest. Instead of frogging the tops of the fronts, I frogged the bottoms. This lined up the fronts and the back more proportionately, and released enough yarn to do the sides. It's a little shorter than I first planned, but definitely wearable.

Tucson Sunset FreeRange Vest

Pneumonia is the Pits!

A lot has happened since I last posted, the most significant of which is that, instead of going back home to see friends and family and celebrate my brother's 70th birthday, I ended up in the hospital with a serious case of pneumonia, possibly accompanied by Valley Fever. 

I've always heard that it takes a long time to completely recover from pneumonia; that the fatigue that goes with it is endless. Added to that, the side effects from the anti-fungal medication I'm still on for the Valley Fever make me a little shaky at times. 

So I've been spending the last month or so recuperating, and taking it one day at a time. On the plus side, my husband has been doing the cooking and shopping, and more or less waiting on me hand and foot, which is nice, but after a while, even that gets old. But another plus is that all I can do is read, knit, and nap. At first I couldn't knit for very long, and kept making mistakes, but I'm doing better now.

When last I wrote, I had started my Monet Kimono. It's now almost finished,

  except for the pesky little problem of running out of one of the yarns used at the very bottom. I don't know if it's worth trying to find more of it, or just improvise and use another yarn. I'm still working on that. 

Another project that I've been working on is a FreeRange vest, part of a KAL with the Jane Thornley group. I also ran out of yarn on this one, the main yarn, just before finishing the body of the vest. It's a very unusual color, and I haven't been able to match it. I managed to finish both fronts so they line up evenly, but now the search is on for yarn to finish the sides.

Since I wrote this, I've come to the conclusion that the top part of the fronts of this vest are too long, so I'm going to frog and redo them.  Perhaps that will result in enough yarn to finish. More on that as I proceed.

Long Time, No See

I don't know when I've gone this long without posting. I've gotten a lot done, both fiber and glass, and some wire work, too.

The first thing I finished was my Tapestry Wrap:

 And to go with it, I created this Shawl Pin:

 I couldn't come up with anything in my glass work that was right for this wrap, so instead I did a little wire work.

Along with that one, I made another, still in progress.

 Another project I've been working on is one I started a couple of years ago. I took a weaving class, and after making a scarf I really liked, decided to add weaving to my repertoire. I bought the loom and a loom stand, and actually warped the loom in readiness to make a table runner for my Dining Room.

But of course, Life got in the way, and the loom got put in a closet; the stand never came out of its box. A few weeks ago, somehow, my husband suggested putting the stand together so the loom would have a permanent place. That, of course, led to my deciding to proceed with making the table runner. Of course, it was so long since I'd warped it that I couldn't quite remember the next step. It took a little time and research, but I finally got it going, and have been working at it in bits and drabs.  It's standing in the Dining Room, where there's good light, so whenever I pass by I stop and make a few passes with the shuttle, usually at least 4 - 6, about an inch or so. My only concern is that I won't have enough yarn to finish.  The main yarn has been discontinued, I think, so I'd better start looking around to see if anyone has any. Keep your fingers crossed.

 The last thing I've been working on is really a labor of love. Jane Thornley came up with the brilliant idea of knitting Monet's Lily Ponds, and it absolutely grabbed me. I immediately researched the myriad paintings Monet did of Lily Ponds, and found 1 couldn't resist. I would post a picture of it, but it appears to fall under copyright problems, so just take my word for it that it's gorgeous.

 This is the result so far:

 Actually, I've gotten a little further since this photo was taken, I'm about 1/2 done with both fronts. BTW, Jane's pattern that I'm basing this on is Leaf Lights Spring Kimono, and you can check my progress on my Project Page.

 

Vested Interests/Ruanna Wanna Be

I started a project back in November of 2009 that I thought was going to be a quick knit. Boy, was I wrong! When I came to what I thought would be the end of the main body of the piece, I discovered that it was way too long to be used as it was intended. I considered a number of options, but they all involved more of my lead yarn than I had. And because it was a hand dyed yarn that I had bought quite a while earlier, the chances of my getting more were slim to zero. I actually went so far as to take a chance and order some more to be dyed up in that colorway; but of course, too much time had passed and they were unable to match it. The replacement was beautiful, but unusable for this project. So I put it away to hibernate, and went on to other things. Many other things.


But after I finished my Rushing River Wrap, and the knitting on my 1st Gift Bag, 

I was looking for a project that wouldn't be long and complicated. So I took out Vested Interests and decided to make the best of what I had, added a capelike back to it, and Voila! the Ruanna Wanna Be was born.

I'm glad I waited to finish this; I'm very happy with the results. It has a wonderful, soft hand, and drapes beautifully. I can see myself wearing this often.

It's finished!

Well I did finish the Rushing River Wrap, just in time for deadline. I cobbled together the missing yarn, which was a mohair, with some lengths of mohair culled from a self striping skein. It came out beautifully, although a little long, and slightly askew. But overall, it looks great, and wears well.

For now, I'm taking a break from KALs and CALs, and concentrating on my glass work. I've made a lot of new beads, and need to photograph them and start listing them in my ArtFire shop.

Hope to see you there.