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Monday, February 17, 2014

Big Island Quilt Shop Hop 2014



This was a whirlwind shop hop with Melody and JoAnn.  What fun!  We flew out Tuesday morning, picked up our car and visit all nine shops to get our quilt blocks and shop. 

1.  Quilt Passions, Kona
2.  Fabric and Quilting Delights, Kona
3.  H.Kimura, Kealakekua
4.  Topstitch, Waimea
5.  Fabric Impressions. Hilo
6.  Kilauea Kreations II, Hilo
7.  Fabric Workshop, Hilo
8.  Pahala Quilting, Pahala
9.  Kilauea Kreations, Volcano

Each shop had it's own charm, sales and supplies.  We were met with Aloha spirit and had fun sharing ideas with lovely, crafty quilters.    We all got our quilt blocks and some ideas on how to put them together.  Our names were entered into the drawing...one can dream... 

Kona was socked in with vog when we arrived, and I couldn't even see Mauna Kea.  By the time we got to Waimea it started to clear out and we were treated to the cherry blossoms blooming.  We had wonderful weather in Hilo, Pahala and Volcano.   Outside our hotel room we were serenaded at dawn and dusk by the mynah birds nesting in the banyan trees and at night by the coqui frogs which have invaded Hilo.   We did the Hilo Farmer's Market and and ran in to an old friend. After a great lunch at Hilo Bay Cafe, which has moved to a new location, we checked out of the hotel and went on to Pahala and Volcano.  We flew back to Honolulu with our treasures.  I would go back in a heartbeat!

I made some pillow cases from my sale fabric.  Christmas fabric but who cares:)  I used the Missouri Quil Company video again, only I cut the cuff 12 inches instead of 9 since the handout the shop lady gave us used 12 inches.  Nine would have been enough, but oh well.  I still love them.




Sunday, February 09, 2014

Scrappy Blue Something, Weaving project number 3

This is project number 3 on my 15 inch Cricket Loom, following the Craftsy Class by Angela Tong.  I used up more of my cotton stash in blues, white and off-white.  The marled yarn really made the sections interesting.  I love the way the mercerized, double-stranded DK weight Bernat Cassino created the illusion of crosses.  I went for random lengths of weft and warped half the loom with white and half with Cascade Sierra Quattro.
I wanted to make placemats, but the final width was only 10.5 inches so for now it's yardage.  It's a little wide for a scarf, imo. 
I made a small dent in the stash.  My weave is more uniform, and the selveges are okay, but the ends with the fat yarn really showed up with the contrast. 

I signed up for Ravellenics, Team Aloha Knitters, but my project, Aidez with Cascade 128 had a little stall.  I took the chart with me to work on my Nook, and misread it.  Darn this old eyes!!  It's started again on dpns.  I'm going with a sleeve and plan to knit this in the round.

I'm enjoying this season's Downton Abbey  (spoiler alert)..
 What is that sneaky butler up to, and I still hate that horrid visiting butler for what he did to Anna.  I hope Anna gets some justice but not at the expense of Bates.  I'm not sure I like Rose.  Lady Edith needs a break, waah.  It seems inevitable that Tom Branson is not renewing his contract, sigh.  Drama drama....I love this series!

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Just Like Sisyphus

The more I clean, the messier my house looks...a never ending tale.

I live in a giant craft box. It's a constant battle to organize and tidy up the stuff.  I'm just not ready to give up the stuff...there are more spinning, sewing, weaving and knitting projects to do!  

The perennial cleaning organizing project has resulted in finding a few treasures, but also lead to Internet time finding new ways to declutter and organize.  Let's not talk about buttons, because I have yet to find a good way to organize those.  Yes I have tackle boxes and such, but the collection has outgrown them all.  I can't see myself sewing all the buttons on a card.  I envy those who can. 

I previously researched different ways to keep the thread from coming off the bobbins and none really worked real well.  I finally found some of those fat tiny hair ties and they seem the best so far.  However, the number of bobbins I have has been multiplying.  Yeeks!   My MIL used to unwind the thread and put it back on the spool. I just buy more bobbins.  My bobbins will take over the world!

I've been obsessing on ink pad storage.  Every brand is a different shape and size.  There ought to be a law... and it should include cell phone cables which should all be interchangeable! But then, I digress. There were some nice storage ideas, like the the foam board shelf.  These are also sold on Etsy in foam board or up-cycled wood.  Very nice!  After obsessing about cost AND shipping to Hawaii which can be a real expense, I talked the Landcaster into making me one from the redwood in the garage and got some mini-sorters from Off'dePot.  I'll have to make labels for the colors and get me a couple more sorters. Now to just keep that ink pad stash from growing!! (there are more in a drawer, yet)

 



I had fun making these hats.  There are both the same yarn but photographed in different light. 
Pattern:  Goblin Hat, free pattern by Elizabeth Murphy from Rhythm of the Home !!!
Yarn:  Darker brown, Vanna's choice, Barley.  I used the entire skein and ran out on the second one.  Lighter beige is Plymouth Encore, colorway 240
Needles:  Size 6 and 8
Mods:  I knit the top one in size Adult, but miscounted and had 4 extra stitches when I started the decreases.  I added one stripe as notes on Rav suggested the hat would be too short to button.  The second one is the child size.  I ran out of yarn so finished the hat with the lighter color except for the last few rows and i-cord. 
Comments:  Very fun pattern and a good way to use a very special button!  And did I mention free?  Thank you Elizabeth Murphy.


Tuesday, February 04, 2014