WIP Wednesday (Madness edition)

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For those of you not normally following along here, I'm currently embroiled in March Madness. Which means that each morning, the Sparkly Compote of Decree tells me what to do:

NO IT DOES NOT ACTUALLY TALK TO ME. I draw a slip of paper out of it each morning, and stitch or knit on whatever's written on the slip.

Sunday and Monday, those two projects were not only both knitting (as opposed to needlework or beading), they were also two WIPocalypse projects! The first was Jeanie.

It's a wrap with floating reversible cables, knit with Dream in Color Starry. I love this yarn! And this time when I picked it up, the pattern just "made sense." Before, I was glued to the chart, looking over at it every other stitch, like it was some kind of knitting teleprompter. This time, I (finally!) realized what the structure of the pattern actually was, and I rarely had to look over. Has that ever happened to you? Chart Epiphany? I got more done than I thought I would, making it to another dropped stitch row. Dropping stitches (on purpose)...WHEEEEE!!!

Monday, I drew Astrid out of the SCOD, and although I inwardly groaned at two yarny projects in a row, I was glad to get it out. Because I also love this yarn (Sublime Cashmerino). I love it so much I kind of hate chopping it up into all the little circles. I'm hoping I have enough left over to knit myself a wee cowl as well. Here's what I got done in one night of Doctor Who:

Astrid is shocked I actually worked on her.

And now for something completely different: We were able to book our tickets to Europe last night. We fly ATL-DC-Paris-Prague, then Venice-ATL home...ALL FIRST CLASS. I think the seats on the Air France portion actually turn into beds. Or are made of gold or something. I'm so excited!! We had to transfer SkyMiles from my account to Michael's, but even with that cost, including taxes and fees, the whole shebang set us back less than $400!!! =D

JiffNotes
For more WIP pictures, probably showing way more progress than I could make in one night, head over to Tami's Amis!

Botanical Gardens and the Camellia Show

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So the last post was all about the orchids. But I did take some other pictures as well. After all, I am still playing around with that new camera. Not too much was blooming outside...except the pansies, some daffodils and some hellebores, but I do love the "bones" of this part of the garden, with the sky line in the background.

 

As I was waiting for Michael to drink his, like, fourth cup of tea (the man can go through some tea), I played with the Shutter Priority setting on the camera. Only fair, since last time I played with the Aperture Priority mode (note: more orchid shots at that link, too ;).

So what can Shutter Speed do for you? Well, it can stop water in its tracks:

 

Or make it look like you're in the middle of a monsoon:

 

Or somewhere in between:

 

The first picture was with the shutter speed cranked all the way up (as fast as it would go), the second all the way down, and the third, as I said, was somewhere in the middle (slightly to the slow side).

But Heather! you say. I came here to see camellias; you promised camellias: WHERE ARE THE CAMELLIAS??!?

GEE WHIZ, OK!

 

Oh, what, you want closeups? ;) They're coming; I just had to show you how many camellias we were talking about. And this is only about one third of the tables!

I love the structure of these pink and white beauties (of course I could not be bothered to actually write down the variety name...I mean, really, does that sound like the kind of organized thing I do??). Their shape reminds me of a magnolia flower.

 

No wonder this one got a blue sticker; look at the simple perfection!

 

I've never seen these neat, crazy curled petals on a camellia "in the wild".

 

This table was very interesting because each entry was a triplet of blooms. I can't imagine getting one perfect bloom to happen at exactly the right time to enter it in the show, much less THREE!

 

I love the variation in this one.

 

I took a few more, but I was really anxious to get to the orchids!

On the way out, I played with the panorama mode on the camera. The giant glass windows are what you face as you walk in to the welcome center and are the way out to the gardens. The sculpture hanging from the ceiling is by Chihuly and was inspired by our collection of pitcher plants!

 

JiffNotes
I think I still like the orchids better for their range of colors, but the camellias are gorgeous, too!

The Geekend That Was, 3/4

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I really, really meant to get a post (or two) up this weekend about our trip to Asheville and Highlands. But I think we all know that didn't happen. Actually, I really, really meant to do a LOT of things this weekend that didn't get done! Saturday was taken up with Michael having to run sound again, a basketball game (which we actually WON!! =D) and eating out. After that I decided the day was too yucky to do anything else, so we went home to try and find a magic SkyMiles flight to Europe for our anniversary. It was an epic struggle, but we MAY have found a way to fly first class, both ways, and only spend $150 to up Michael's points a bit. We also watched Megamind, which I had never seen! I really enjoyed it, but of course the animation isn't quite up to par with Pixar movies.

Sunday after church I was determined to see the frog exhibit at the Aquarium, so despite the VERY WINDY conditions, we hiked over and I had a total blog fail and I forgot the camera. No biggie; the Aquarium was REALLY crowded. I'm pretty sure they must have been giving away free money, since it's rarely THAT crowded during the Winter, even on weekends. So, we didn't spend that long there. I'll go back later and get some good pictures; they have some really neat varieties and not just the teeny poison dart frogs like at the Gardens.

The rest of the day was taken up with Doctor Who, as season six has finally arrived on Netflix. We're almost halfway through (entirely too few episodes per season in UK shows!!) and I expect us to be more than halfway after tonight. ;)

To make up for my lack of pictures, here are a couple birthday presents I got. First, I'd been lusting after the Breville tea maker ever since I saw it on Melanie's blog after Christmas. See, I need tea to operate in the morning. But I am often incapable of making tea in the morning. Neither the hubby nor I function very well (i.e., "at all") in the morning. He is usually unconscious for the first 30-45 minutes after the alarm goes off, but if he does happen to be conscious (say, when we are on vacation), our morning "conversation" might go like this:

Michael says: Good morning, honey!

Heather "says": unintelligible mumble
Heather thinks: Why isn't he making tea?

Michael says: Oh, you are so cute!

Heather "says": incoherent high-pitched whine
Heather thinks: What's the hold up on the tea?

Michael says: Just look at you; you're like a sleeping angel!

Heather "says": incomprehensible growl
Heather thinks: If I were really an angel, you'd be making me tea.

Michael says: Is there anything I can do for?

Heather "says": inscrutable death stare
Heather thinks: The same thing you could do for me every morning, YOU CAN MAKE ME SOME DANG TEA!!!

etc., etc., etc.

If you are getting from this that my husband is the most fantastic man in the world and I am a real jerk, then I've written the "dialogue" right. =)

Anyway! Because he sure can take a hint when I pester him by asking every week, "Have you ordered that dang tea maker yet?" I got to open a nice, big box before we went away for my birthday!

 

Et voila! I no longer want to kill my husband every morning! See, folks, the magic is in the TIMER. I can set it to have tea ready by the time I stumble downstairs in the morning! There is no other tea maker I have found out there that actually starts brewing tea at a given time AND stops brewing tea after a certain length. It. Is. AWESOME.

The night before we left for the weekend, my stitch group had a little party for me (there was cake!!!). Even though DF Jean could not attend due to illness, she still managed to get my present to me (via another shining example of good husbanding). Check out the squirrel accoutrements!

 

I immediately grabbed my Silver Rose and stuck it in the project bag (which is awesome and has two interior pockets and a draw string that actually stays CLOSED). This fabric is adorable; it's a map of "buried treasure"--everywhere the nuts are hidden! My favorite part is the cat statue, which is marked "cat statue (not a real cat)". LOL! I can't wait to use the chart wallet. I have many ratty scraps of paper with knitting patterns on them! The little ort holder was made by another friend, Debbie, who brought one for everyone. I'd been lusting after these on people's blogs for a while!

Funny story about the bag and pattern wallet...I saw the wallet on someone's blog and OMIGOSH SQUIRRELS had to track it down on Etsy. The store was out, so I messaged the seller asking if that fabric would be available again. She replied that there was a thread started on Ravelry about it and linked me to her message on the thread where she asked people to post if they were interested. So I posted...theeeeen I scrolled to the top and saw that the thread was started by DF Jean, saying, "This would make the PERFECT birthday present for a friend of mine." OOOOPS!! I immediately deleted my reply, but about two seconds later I got a Rav message from Jean saying, "Stop looking for squirrel-related items so close to your birthday!" LOL!! Busted. But as I told her, at least she knew I'd love the gift. And BONUS: I'd totally forgotten about it by the time I opened it. Classic!

Wow, I sure can write a lot about a weekend where not much happened. I blame the early morning wake-up for the rambling. Brain no work if up before seven. I promise more pictures tomorrow!

JiffNotes
No tea, no talky. Yes...yes, I am a freak.

March Madness Begins

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My first three days of March Madness brought three projects I haven't seen in a while! I usually draw my slip in the morning so I can daydream about the project during work. ;) On March 1st, I tiptoed up to the bowl, eagerly wondering what stitching...or knitting?...project I would draw.

Well. I drew neither!

That's right, on the very first day of March Madness, I drew out my one-and-only crochet WIP!

 

In fact, this was a learning piece that Teresa picked out to teach me and a couple others how to crochet. Um...it didn't stick too well; I picked up the hook and stared at it for a while before hitting Google to find a graphic to help me out. Yes, I am that crochet-impaired that I couldn't even remember how to do a single crochet. I was doing slip stitches, but at least I wasn't so daft that I failed to realize how wildly different they looked from what I'd already done, thereby prompting the Googling. (Gee whiz, did anyone understand that last sentence?)

On with the madness!

On the second I drew "Snow Catchers," by Fanci That. I should have more to show, but I decided that I didn't like the Oatmeal I was using for the snowmen...it looked too "dirty" so I ripped what I'd done and substituted white.

 

Muuuuch better. I also discovered the button pack I bought for this design has the wrong color heart! Instead of that lovely dark blue-teal, I got orange. =( I'll have to track that down...you know, someday in like 10 years when I finally finish. ;)

Saturday brought a very old class project, which I'm pretty sure I have not touched since the class! The technique is a double herringbone hem. In class we had mitered one corner of the cloth and started the decorative hemstitching. I managed to finish withdrawing and reweaving all the rest of the threads (16 of them!) and mitering the remaining three corners. Then I put in a few hemstitches for good measure. I still need to sew the corners, but I was too lazy to get up and get matching sewing thread. ;)

What will this week bring??

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Three down, twenty-eight to go! =)

Theme-a-licious Fangirl February Wrap-Up

Sorry I'm a little later than I wanted to be with this post...we just got back from my birthday weekend away. =)

This month wasn't as productive as I'd have liked, but it's a short month, so let's give it a pass. ;) My plans for my favorite designers were

• Teresa Wentzler: Peacock Tapestry
• Moss Creek Designs: Blackwork Band Sampler...or maybe Ye Shall Prosper.
• Mirabilia: I should be good and work on Autumn Queen (in progress AND on the WIPocalypse list). But what I really want to do is start Dancer, since Dasher needs company. And since it's my birthday this month, that's probably what I'm going to do. =)
• Cookie A: Bex

I didn't get anything more done on Peacock Tapestry since IHSW, except for a little backstitching, but here's a reminder:

 

For Moss Creek, I decided to work on Blackwork Band Sampler. I was able to finish the bottom most motif and start on the double satin stitch border that surrounds the WHOLE THING.

I was hoping to put in some of the vine and flowers that twine around it, but that didn't happen.

As anyone who's been paying attention at all should have been able to predict, for Mirabilia, I did not act like a responsible person and work on Autumn Queen...I started Dancer.

(Pardon the terrible picture.) Careful viewers may note that this blob is approximately the same size, though a different shape, than it was last time. That's because, unfortunately, I was not a very careful stitcher and had to frog an entire deer leg. =(

I did get a whopping two rounds done on Bex in the car on the way to my birthday getaway. I didn't take a new picture, because the socks still look pretty much like they did last year:

 

Next up is...
March Madness

Stitch or knit on something different every day...it's madness...of the funnest possible kind.

Now a quick word about March Madness...I realize that not everyone can do what I do, which is utter madness. If you don't want to try that (AND I DON'T BLAME YOU), think about what might shake up your stitching routine a little. If you've got a lot of WIPs, why not pick a random one each weekend day? If you're a committed one-at-a-timer, why not start an ornament each week? Or let a friend pick your next project? Whatever seems like "madness" to you, that's what you should do. =)

Here's the vessel of my Madness:

Behold, the Sparkly Compote of Decree!

I have a slip of paper with each of my WIPs on it (and a few blanks, which are "wildcards" and let me stitch whatever I'd like during the day...which usually translates into starting something I've been wanting to start ;). In the morning I draw a slip from the SCOD. If for some reason I don't want to stitch what's on the slip (for example, I pull my most complicated project on a night I'm going to stitch group) I can pick another slip, but I HAVE to stitch that project, and I have to work on the first one I drew the next night. I am allowed to work on something I've already worked on during the month as long as I ALSO work on a project from the SCOD. Even when I'm being random, I gotta have SOME rules. ;)

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So how did your Fangirl February go? Please add your link below (to your wrap-up post). We're going to use the links WITH the thumbnails again, but if we want to keep those, I need to get a silver membership. I think they're cool, but if you guys are ambivalent, I'll probably go back to the plain old links. So let me know in the comments what you prefer!

Our next post will be on the 15th, when we'll see how the Madness is going! And don't worry if you haven't posted before...just jump in whenever.