Coming Up out of the Darkness, Post by the Drama Queen

Nothing makes me fall into bitter despair more then a virus.  Somehow that internal waging of war takes a lot out of me and leads to weird, paranoid dreams, feelings of worthlessness and general whining.  To compound matters, my creative efforts were total busts!

No pattern Bubble Skirt for Marietta.

I had no elastic, so tried using fold over elastic and beading elastic. I gathered the bottom too much and the top not enough.  I will try this again, because it is darn cute!

Tutu
Just not enough layers and too see through.  I will definitely try again, as Marietta has the shoes and the tights!  Perhaps I'll even try a leotard if I can find the right stretchy fabric.  There is a tutorial that makes it seem so easy!

I found a nice recipe for Ginger Tea which helped my sorethroat.  It wasn't bad with a shot of bourbon either!  It helped me sleep! 

My only accomplishment was to read a whole book.  This may be a small miracle.  I rarely read any more unless it's a craft book or pattern.  Gone are the days when read 6 books a month.  The book was Bundori, by Laura Joh Rowland.  It is a murder mystery that takes place during the Tokugawa era.  It's actually the second book in the series, so now I'm reading number 1, Shinju.

About day 5, my energy and sense of hope returned.  My sleep cycle returned to normal.  I'm resolved to move on!

I finished spinning my white Giant Angora. These really cute bunnies are raised by Dr. Albert Mina, a vet on the Big Island.  I am tempted to get a bunny, but the amount of grooming they require, not to mention the mounds of poo they produce...oh my, lol.  I wish I could find that funny blog post I read once about a lady who didn't spin, got the rabbit first and never did learn to spin.  She basically said everyone and everything in the house was covered with angora. 

I ended up with 46yds, 26 grams of 2 ply.  I decided to try spinning this without combing since it was so clean.  My last two spinning adventures and watching DVDS blogless Sandy loaned me, hit home regarding fiber prep.  Don't be lazy!  Get those short cuts. noils and VM out  before spinning, and the resulting yarn is much nicer.  I have to give up holding on to as much fiber as possible and throw out the stuff that is not good.

Marietta would like a circular shrug out this angora.  I am reading up on the anatomy of a circular shrug and it sort of makes my head feel like it's going to explode.

So on to something cute and mindless!  The Infamous Hanging Basket!

Yarn: 

Landscapes (new Aran), by Lion Brand Aran / 10 ply

100% Acrylic 

Hook:

Size K

This used just a little over half a ball and came out rather tiny.  I'm going to make another with Super Bulky  and size N hook as the pattern suggests.  

 I won this yarn at Stitches Midwest and it was not fun to knit.  However it took to being crocheted quite nicely and I think,  the best that acrylic has to offer (lasting an eternity and being totally color-fast) will work well in a bag.   I envision a larger one to hold spare toilet tissue rolls and replacing my well worn, faded bag ladies.  Perhaps bag ladies will be obsolete when Oahu bans the plastic bag. 

Another successful project was replacing the button on my gear shift which had cracked off.  There are youtubes for everything!



My car still locks in park, but  the handy dandy screwdriver trick should get me through to next weeks appointment.  That can be a more complicated problem unless it's just a fuse.



Add:  One other successful project for Marietta finished before the dread plague set in.  The Hunters Cowl, somewhat like Katniss Everdeen, only knit.

I didn't not write the pattern down and 14 inches of i-cord times two, was so boring!  Also the Wool-ease was quite splitty to work with.

Of course, now she wants the bow and the leather jacket.