Annette's Acre

I finished my scarf last weekend:

Ended up about 54″ long.  I’m pretty sure the recipient will love it. 

I also started the second Fresh Flowers sock:

I’m in the middle of turning the heel here. 

I’m using one long circular needle (Knitpicks Harmony – #2) and I like it!  I love not having an extra needle to worry about (a la DPNs) or having too many ends hanging out (two circulars).

I haven’t touched a smaller needle since the last post…   Maybe when I finish the sock!

I spent a few hours yesterday with a new project.  Click to biggify as always.

It’s the Pagoda pincushion from the last Gift of Stitching.   I’m using DMC 3834 and Needle Necessities 1781 (Alpine Meadows) on white 32-ct evenweave.

Here’s the top a bit closer:

I’m planning to use either gold beads or see what I have in the purple/green range.

My scarf is now 24″ long.  I’m not quite halfway thru the yarn (which is from Dinky Dyes, yes.  I picked it up in Louisville last year, I think) so I should make a good 50″ in length.  Perfect.

Zachary is off on vacation as of today.  I got up way too early (5:30am) to take him to the airport.  He’s off to spend two weeks with the in-laws in northern Georgia.  This was his first solo flight, but he did fine (at least per the call from MIL when she picked him up).  The kid had fully charged PSP and NintendoDS along with two books.  I could handle a significantly longer flight with those!

He started packing a week ago when I told him he was going.  What was the first thing he started packing?  Books.  He expressed concern that he didn’t have enough reading material for the trip (both flight and time there).  He only had a couple books in his room unread.

Yeah, he’s definitely my son.

Saturday we went to Barnes & Noble to stock him up (I did not want to risk library books) and to celebrate the imminent completion of my 25 Book Challenge   (I’m 3/4 thru Book #25). 

The $100 Rebate card from my recent phone purchase financed it all.  Woot!

For him:

• The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson #3) by Rick Riordan
• The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson #4) by Rick Riordan
• The Monsters of Otherness (Erec Rex #2) by Kaza Kingsley
• The Time Thief (Gideon Trilogy #2) by Linda Buckley Archer

For me (though I’ll read all of the above as well):

• Dead End Dating by Kimberly Raye
• Psych: Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin
• Marked (House of Night #1) by P C Cast
• Betrayed (House of Night #2) by P C Cast

And to round out the Rebate card… a Kindle item:

• Kiss of Crimson by Lara Adrian

And two Pre-Orders:

• Heat Wave by Richard Castle  (TV Show tie-in)
• Shadowlight by Lynn Viehl (new Kyndred series)

With this splurge, I will officially kick off a new 25 Book Challenge

Here are the rules/exceptions for this round:

• Rules: No book purchases (outside of exceptions below) until 25 books have been read from my current library.
• Effective start date: Today
• Exceptions: Any existing pre-orders (five at Amazon thru December).
• Sherrilyn Kenyon’s new League series and Bad Moon Rising and JR Ward’s Covet (I want Kindle versions which are not available for pre-order)
• No new pre-orders can be submitted.
• Library borrowing is acceptable.  So is “Mom” borrowing.
• “Free” Kindle books may be acquired and count toward the 25.
• “Sample Chapters” may be downloaded, but do not count toward the 25.

I started a scarf for a friend this week.

This shows the stitch definition a little better.

The pattern is the Yarn Harlot’s One Row Handspun Scarf.   The yarn is fingering weight rather than the worsted called out.  I’m still using 5mm (8) needles to give it a more lacey appearance.  It’s soft and lovely and I think my friend will love it

Christine is using the same pattern with worsted yarn.  Amazing how different it looks!   I might have to do a worsted version after this one.

And because it was in the camera…..

It’s Ms. K eyeing me……

This year continues to just fly by, doesn’t it?

Friday was Mom’s birthday, so I can now show off the results of my sewing day whilst on vacation:

(Click to biggify)

These are lined project bags.  The “Shoe Bag” on the left is about 6″ x 7″ with purple zipper and orange lining (matches color of the purses in the print).  The larger bag is a heavier embroidered satin-y fabric.  Lining is tan and it’s about 9″ x 10″.  For her birthday the large bag holds two charts and the smaller the needed floss for them.

I also made one for me:

Lined:

They were very easy to do.  I did use a bit of interfacing on the Shoe bag as both outer and lining where cotton fabrics.  I didn’t interface the other two as the heavy satin-y fabric didn’t seem to need any help.  I will say, both of those fabrics ravelled horribly….yikes.  Directions I used can be found here.  I’ve got enough of both the black and tan fabrics to make another bag of the same size and K has requested the black with red lining.  Each takes about 45 minutes start to finish, so one of these weekends I’ll churn out several more.  Just need to buy some zippers…..heaven knows I’ve got plenty of fabric!

Book Challenge:

I’m at 20 of 25 on the Book Challenge.  I finished four this week!

• Finger Lickin’ Fifteen (Stephanie Plum Novels) – Very quick read and just too funny.  I’ve ordered one of these
• Stay the Night: A Novel of the Darkyn – My favorite in the series.  Bad news: it’s the last of this series.  Good news: there’s a new series in the same world coming later this year.
• Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs (Jane Jameson, Book 1) (Kindle) -Light and fun.
• Kiss of Midnight (The Midnight Breed, Book 1) (Kindle) – Very similar to JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, but still worth readin, IMO.

And did you see the price drop on the Kindle?  I love love love mine.  If you are a reader and buyer of books…you need this!!

I’m off to enjoy the Sunday.  I’ve got a baby cloth to finish!

As you may have guessed, things have been rather distracting here at The Acre.   I’ve been busy with work, had some health issues to address and spent more evening time with the kids which put the Blog down on the priority list.  I have managed to send Twitter and Facebook updates, so not totally cut off from all

When we last spoke, I was in the midst of my “Every Day in May” plans.  I did manage to knit a bit for most of the days in May.  I think I missed three days in total.  Not bad!  It had the unforseen consequence of taking the largest chunk of my stitching time, though.  Not much progress on anything other than a few small knitting projects.

June was interesting.

[health discussion]

I spent a few hours in the hospital on June 5th as I had a bit of food stuck in my throat.  That started a series of appointments and diet changes due to food allergies (who knew?) and esophagitis.  I’d been having issues with choking/hiccups for a few years and learned that a swollen esophagus was the culprit.  Based on Dr recommendations, I’ve eliminated all caffeine, chocolate and citrus (that’s right, no more Coke for me) and can happily report no further incidents.  I also had allergy testing done and will be avoiding a few more items.  I tested positive for 17 (out of 80 possible), but most likely only a handful cause issues for me.  I’ve removed them all for the last week and plan to continue for another week (this includes things like: lettuce, wheat, peanuts, onions, garlic, rice…it’s an eclectic list) before adding thing back in verrry slowly.  The good news is that I can already see some changes  so I *should* be able to identify the items that are causing issues.    It’s also having the positive side effect of weight loss (about 15 lbs already) which means I must be doing something right.

[/health discussion]

For the last weeks, I’ve been reading.  I’m done with 16 of my 25 book challenge   You can click on the Goodreads boxes on the lower left there to see the recent “read” list.  I’ve been making good use of the “Send Sample Chapter” option and my Amazon Wish List to keep track of what I’m considering when I complete my challenge.

June saw some stitching/knitting time.  I’ve also been on vacation this past week, and finished off two stitched pieces.  Here’s the rundown (click to biggify):

Mermaids by Country Cottage Needleworks.  I did remove the word “Mermaids” at the bottom.  I finished this today (July 5th).  If anyone would like the chart, please add a comment.  I’ll pick a name randomly and send it out early next week

Sweet Pea (Pixie Couture) by Mirabilia for Missy Ann‘s RR:

I also finished off Missy Ann’s Winter Neighborhood RR, but failed to take a pic before it went home….

I did the frames for my own Mirabilia RR:

I “boxed” my Liberty finish.  I took enough pictures to post a “how-to” eventually…

A pair of booties for a coworker’s new addition:

A bib and burp cloth for my brother’s baby (expected in December) and one of Cat’s Whiskers’ cupcake pieces (my May finishes)

And here’s the finished cupcake along with two bottlecap pincushions.  My LNS has asked if I’ll teach a class on the pincushions

I did a little bit of sewing, but can’t show the results quite yet…. shhhh   That puts me at 13 or 14 on my 25 project challenge.  Not bad

You are now caught up.  I will endeavor to post a bit more often (at least some stitching pics) as distractions permit