IHSW and a Desperately Important Thing

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The new season of Daredevil dropped on Netflix on Friday, and we managed to slam through the whole thing over the weekend! I don't know if that helped or hindered my stitching...you would think that much TV time would have helped, but this show is very suspenseful and not great to stitch to! It's a fantastic series, but INCREDIBLY graphically violent, so be forewarned! I'm still not "caught up" on April from The Snowflower Diaries...

I thought I was going to be able to take the day off on Thursday, but I had too many meetings scheduled, so I'm taking off next Wednesday and Thursday instead. I had vacation days that carried over from last year, and if I don't use them by March 31st, I will "lose" them!!

And now for the Desperately Important Thing (not really). You all know about Easter Eggs, right? No, not colored chicken eggs, but the little hidden gems that are sometimes put in DVDs/BluRays/computer games/etc. I saw a great one pop up on Twitter that I had to share. Go to Vogue UK, wait until the page is done loading, then using your keyboard, enter the Konami code: Up arrow, Up arrow, Down arrow, Down arrow, Left arrow, Right arrow, Left arrow, Right arrow, b, a...then keep hitting a for as long as you are amused. =D This also works on Wired UK, although with less variety. Sadly, the sites on this side of the pond do not have the same embedded awesomeness!

JiffNotes
I came, I bit my nails, I stitched, I wasted a lot of time with velociraptors.

Results of IHSW January 2015

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My update is a little late because I had the day off on Monday! I got to spend the weekend at a friend's condo in Highlands, North Carolina, with my peeps. It's very pretty there, although we did not see much of it! We really did just hermit and did nothing but watch movies and stitch. Of course, we all brought way more to stitch on than we could possibly get through in the weekend. One of my friends had the brilliant idea to have a mini Sparkly Compote of Decree, so we took some red plastic cups and each had an American Party Cup of Revelation (or something). Every now and then, someone would yell, "SWITCH!" and we would draw slips from each other's cups.

The APCOR had a decidedly Christmas bent for me...I stitched on Victoria Sampler's Heirloom Christmas Sampler...

Quaker Christmas II (over one)...

and Dancer.

The final project I worked on was Spring Garden Gate.

I also have to share the "housewarming present" I gave to my gracious hostess. She and her husband were joking about having bear-related things in the condo since the bears in Highlands can be a nuisance with respect to the trash cans. I can't remember who texted this picture to whom, but when I saw it, I knew I had to make it part of the decor...

I don't know if her decorator will ever speak to her again.

JiffNotes
I came, I saw, I sat on the couch all weekend!

IHSW Results

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This past weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, and although I didn't *technically* hermit, I did get a good bit of stitching done.

Friends were in town, so the three of use doing a SAL on Spring Garden Gate got some work in...here's where mine stood at the end of the weekend.

It seems like things went so fast once those crazy faux bullions were done!

The same three of us (plus one more) are working on a Rosewood Manor seasonal Quakers...two of us are doing Summer, one is doing Spring, and one is doing Winter. I finished the first motif...

I'd normally start in the center, but the pattern "insisted" that we start in the top left corner. I did make a change so that the flowers were blue...they were supposed to be orange, but orange and I don't get along. I spent a lot of time stitching every other color in that motif, so that I'd be able to "stand" the orange once it was amid the other colors, when I finally realized no one was making me stitch this thing exactly as charted! I'm much happier. =)

I finally managed to track down the elusive Lady Scarlet's Journey!

I didn't actually DO anything to it, but it felt like a victory tracking down the piece, charts and fibers, which were in three separate places (none of which were located where I thought they'd be).

I did make a small start on my small for the month, but there's not much to see yet. (Small start...heh.)

I have to show off my Christmas present from DF Teresa (finishing provided by DF Jean):

Isn't this the coolest cuff?? There are a couple more peacocks on either end. I'm a lucky girl. =)

JiffNotes
We came, we stayed, we stitched.

The Geekend That Was, 3/17 (IHSW? Or just allergies?)

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Last time I checked in with Theme-a-licious progress, I said I didn't want to talk about the last project I'd picked out of the Sparkly Compote of Decree. This was the project....

 

It's a stumpwork sewing bird...pretty cool, right? Well, the first thing I had to do was rip out the detached buttonhole I had done (half of the large pincushion), because--fortunately, I suppose--my detached buttonhole has improved in fourteen years (GAH!), and what was there looked downright gnarly (and not in the excellent surfer way).

Once that was cut out, I did some nice relaxing satin stitch. And then came this cord:

 

It is supposed to be stitched on this 18-count raw linen (which is exactly like burlap, by the way) with HALF CROSS STITCHES. Take a look again at how thick it is. Yeah. Not working so well. Add that to the fact that in this kit, there is only about a yard of this stuff, and I am either going to substitute a Kreinik braid (#4!) or just couch this stuff down. I did some more painful ripping the next morning, and now I'm thinking I'm going to start the whole project over on a nicer linen. Something that's not burlap.

So that wasn't a very auspicious start to International Hermit and Stitch Weekend. Friday there was a lot of knitting on the sock, especially while we finally broke down and watched the second part of Breaking Dawn. It was much more pleasant to knit than look at that extremely weird CGI baby. SO. FREAKY LOOKING. I'm not a huge Twilight fan, but I did want to see how they ended the whole thing. I may have put down the knitting and sat gape-mouthed during the final battle scene.

Saturday we headed to the Gardens again, because I knew the bulbs would be in full bloom and this would be our last chance to see them.

 

Plus it was a gorgeous sunny day! I think the high was 75 (F)! Perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bees were out in full force, hanging out in the rosemary.

 

Of course, I could not resist taking a few more orchid pictures, especially since they put out some new ones. The yellow daffodil-like ones were replaced with these multi-colored beauties:

 

The shoes are actually starting to grow on me. And check out the tree...I didn't even notice last month that the branches are covered with lace!

 

More new orchids...

 

I think these were there before, actually, but I missed them while looking at others nearby.

 

That night we went to see Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club at the Georgia Ensemble Theater with Michael's parents. It was entertaining enough, although there was some confusing double-casting (is that the murderer? Or just an actor playing another role?) and THE WORST French accent I have ever heard. I leaned over to Michael and whispered, "She is from Nouvelle Zhersey." Before the show we ate at Swallow at the Hollow, a barbecue restaurant which is the only BBQ place I've ever been to where I liked all three sauces (sweet, mustard-based and vinegar). They also had slap-down amazing mac and cheese. Creeeeeamy.

After we got home, I gave some brief needle service to March Madness with the SCOD's command to work on this project:

 

Sunday the Georgia Marathoners ran/jogged/walked/limped past our window, and I can only assume that watching them was what drained us completely (certainly it wasn't the pretty flowers on the trees with their pollen-producing ways). We were going to go see the American Craft Council Show, but we were just exhausted. We managed a couple errands before an evening church service, and I only managed a little more sock knitting.

JiffNotes
It still counts as IHSW if I have some progress pictures, right? Even if the hermitting was nearly non-existent? Er...hey, look! Orchid pictures!

Latest IHSW Results, Ever

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Last weekend was so fun, I couldn't even stop to blog it.

Well, actually, since it was a long weekend, I didn't want to stop having fun to blog it on Monday, and then work kind of got in the way. I was even able to get an early start on Thursday night! So what did I do? Did I make lots of progress on a WIP? Did I make a good start on that new stumpwork class I'm supposed to be taking?

Heck no, I cast on a new shawl.

This is Juneberry by Jared Flood, in a Silky Wool that's not as bright as it looks in this picture. I cast it on like four times before I got it "right", and even then I'm pretty sure either I'm wrong or the instructions are wrong, since I have a weird yarn over three thing happening. Eh, I'll live with it. =)

DFs Teresa and Ann were in town, so Friday I drove out to have lunch with them. When I got back home, I settled in to make a start on my EGA chapter's project for the year (after playing some Spartan Ops *ahem*), Toccata I by Drawn Thread:

Of course, I changed half the colors. I still wasn't entirely happy with the peachy/rusty colors. So of course on Saturday, when I went back to meet the girls at the local needlepoint shop, I was unable to resist the giant rack of tantalizingly swaying skeins of Needlepoint Inc., Silk. With their help (the girls, not the skeins), I picked a nice dark berry and a mauvey pink.

Muuuch better. You probably can't see the difference in these pictures, but trust me, it will be so much more satisfying to stitch. These little square are so fun and addicting!

Unfortunately, I got a massive headache that afternoon, so I had to bow out of the evening festivities. The headache was still with me Sunday, so I didn't get too much done. I did rip out a Moebius Honey Cowl thing that was not happening. I've been trying to come up with a satisfying reversible Honey Cowl alternative for a while, but I finally gave it up and just cast on a regular Honey Cowl.

I did also make a little bit of progress on Chatelaine's Mystery II (Covvent Herbal Garden).

Welcome to those of you who've joined me from the Grow Your Blog Party! I'm still very behind on blog reading and commenting, but I'll get there some day!

JiffNotes
I think I'm going to try this 15-minute blogging thing that Mason Dixon Knitting are doing. Think I can manage it??

The Geekend That Was, 11/18 (Actual Random Hermitting)

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So, it looks like I'm fighting off yet another illness of some sort...this time with a fever, the usual on-and-off fatigue and sinus congestion. BOY THAT FLU SHOT SURE IS PAYING OFF BY KEEPING ME WELL, ISN'T IT??

*ahem* But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Saturday after a little Halo, I washed and pressed Random Thoughts. I was kind of obsessive about rinsing, so that's all that really happened that day on Random Thoughts.

Saturday night we went to see Skyfall (the new James Bond movie). I think it was a "normal" James Bond movie...great action sequences, visually stunning sets and costumes, and a ridiculous plot held together with duct tape. And don't forget the outrageous bad guy. Oh my gosh. We saw it in IMAX, which is VERY VERY LOUD. But not nearly as LOUD as the PRESHOW COMMERCIALS which were RIDICULOUSLY LOUD. I literally held my fingers in my ears the entire preshow (sic...is it really a "show" if it's commercials? To paraphrase Black Widow, "I don't see how that's a show.") Oh, how it made me wish I hadn't wasted my youth preserving my hearing and had instead subjected myself to constant earbuds and loud rock concerts as I looked around and saw I was the only one flinching through the whole thing.

Sunday I woke up feeling bad again (fatigued). I did make it to church this time, but I was done after that. (Well, until choir.) Bad for the chore list, but great for the hermitting!

The first thing I had to do to prepare Random Thoughts for the hemstitching was score the fabric (run a tapestry needle in a line on the reverse side) for folding and cutting. A little nerve-racking, since it was a lot of counting and I had to get it all right...because next was cutting.

 

Terrifying!! Then folding the corner and MORE CUTTING.

 

EVEN MORE TERRIFYING. Only about a dozen diagonal threads from the stitching!!!

Next comes mitering the corners and pinning things in place...

 

...so you can baste the sides. Here's the whole thing pinned...

 

...and basted. You can probably tell by the light that it took me all day.

 

Now I "just" have to do the hemstitching. I had emailed the designer about what to hemstitch with...Cynthia emailed me back and said she does her hemstitching with sewing thread! Gutterman's buttonhole twist...I don't have any of that...I just have some Dual Duty XP...do you think it's close enough??

JiffNotes
It seems like the closer I get, the slower I go....

International Hermit and...Darn It

It's International Hermit and Stitch Weekend this weekend! I was thinking earlier this week that it might be possible for me to actually finish Random Thoughts this weekend. In fact, today (along with a little Halo =) I managed to finish stitching the bottom border (including frogging and restitching). I even frogged and restitched the Jessica stitches on the sunflowers. I'd been thinking of doing this since I took the Les Ruban class with Tony Minieri last year and learned the "right" way to do a Jessica stitch (basically, your final legs need to go under the first stitch rather than over...this makes the stitch look like it has no beginning or end =).

HOWEVER!

I have gone over the instructions with a fine-toothed comb and I cannot find anywhere what I should be hemstitching with. The best I can find searching online is that it's supposed to be #12 pearl cotton, so I guess I'll go with that!

So any bets on whether I'll succeed or not??

The Geekend That Was, 10/21 (IHSW Edition! Finally!)

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This weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, and for once, I actually got some stitching done!

I needed to make a start on the class I'm taking (a stumpwork class through the Shining Needle Society). Even though I'm a major world-class pro at wasting time and doing nothing, I did manage to at least mount the fabric on Friday. First I had to mount the muslin, which is the backing fabric.

 

Giant tacks are giant. This is the finest muslin I've ever seen. I hope I can track more down in the future. I was supposed to use a light box to trace the design on the Dupioni silk, but I don't have one. So I just used the window. It was there, plus it gave me an added bonus of the pressure of a deadline...SUN SETTING! MUST FINISH NOW!!

Next, I mounted the Dupioni silk over top of the muslin. It was kind of tricky to stretch.

 

It's not quite straight, but it will do to be going on. I did trace the design twice so I can play around with different stitches and techniques a bit. And yes, I did use a meat tenderizer to pound in the tacks. And an oven rack puller to measure. What?

I stitched the branches, but I didn't get a final picture. Here's most of them done.

 

Unfortunately, my assignment was to finish the branches AND leaves. Oh well... Oh! And in case you can't tell, this is going to be a bird sitting on a branch. =)

I also finished the other side of the pincushion for Ye Shall Prosper.

 

Now I "just" have to do the chain stitch all the way around both pieces. *yawn!*

Sunday after church we went to a "family concert" at the Symphony Hall. Many of the orchestra members were in costume:

 

The program was "Halloween at Hogwarts," so of course we dressed like wizards...

 

...wizards who were about to go play Quidditch! =)

I have to say I probably won't go to another "family concert". The problem was not the many children in attendance! There were other problems...

• The conductor was, perhaps, the WORST public speaker I have ever heard. He should have had a writer and a teleprompter.
• The brass section had a couple solo pieces, and they were pretty sloppy. This was especially shocking to me since our symphony orchestra is excellent!
• There was dancing during some of the pieces. I could write an entire post about the "quality" of the staging, "costumes" and movement...but I will spare you.
• The final piece was the finale from "The Firebird"...and they used it as a CURTAIN CALL for the dancers (and the magician...did I mention there was a "magician", too?) The conductor was speaking over the entire thing, and the audience was clapping. Over the music. Of THE FIREBIRD.

*ahem* I'll stop there. =)

Afterwards we went to Ye Olde Trendy Burger Place (Flip Burger Boutique). Exhibit 1: Chorizo burger (spiced pork with hashbrowns, manchego, paprika, almond romesco and smoked mayonaise, topped with a fried egg). Actually, that sounds kind of disgusting all together, but it was DELICIOUS!

 

Served with ginger bacon Brussels sprouts!!

Exhibit 2: Pumpkin pie shake with caramel and graham cracker crumbs.

 

Made with liquid nitrogen. Not as a component, as a freezing agent.

While we were there I was shocked to look up and see our mayor at the next table...just with his wife, no entourage or anything. I never thought I'd be eating a French fry's throw from the mayor of Atlanta!

JiffNotes
Actual stitching!! And bacon!