Oops, not a Mountain Bluebird after all

An avid birder took a look at our photos and says what we have isn't a Mountain Bluebird - it's an Indigo Bunting. After looking at photos on the web, I have to agree. The bird in our yard has the black coloring around his eyes that's characteristic of the Indigo Bunting. He's still gorgeous, though!

And here's a new photo of our other, more permanent pal - Max, the Devil Dog - after she's been to the groomer. When she's groomed, they always put a bandana on her. After awhile, when it gets ratty looking, I take it off and Max always wants to play with it. So if you wonder what the blob of pink fabric is, it's her bandana. The white blob at her feet is the tip of her sock toy.

This is a good picture of Max. She's hard to photograph. Her black eyes (now filled with silver cataracts) almost always look either bright red (thus the nickname "Devil Dog") or they reflect like mirrors.

A New Garden Friend

Much to our surprise, this Mountain Bluebird has taken up residence near us and is visiting our garden bird feeder regularly. How he ever got this far east is anyone's guess, but he's certainly brightening our view. He's the most gorgeous shades of blue! (Photos were taken through four panes of dirty glass.)

Ravelry Rocks!

If you knit or crochet and you don't know about Ravelry yet, you should! Ravelry is an online community for yarn-lovin' folks like me. It has so many cool features, it's hard to know where to start to tell you about them. First off, you have your own Notebook in which you can record details about projects you've finished, queue up projects you want to make in the future, keep a record of your library of books, magazines, and patterns, and even keep a record of your yarn stash. There are groups you can join to interact with others who have like interests. And there's a huge pattern library you can search using key words, designers' names, magazine issues, etc.

Besides being just plain fun, I've found the website to be useful in a number of ways. Take the project queue, for example. So many times I'll be looking through a magazine and see something I want to make. When I actually go looking for a new project, do you think I'm going to remember that one, or if I do, find it? Not often! Now I just add the project to my queue. I can even link to a particular yarn I want to use for the project, and add notes and a targeted completion date. Then when I get ready to make the project, I can search to see who else has used the pattern. They might have useful notes about the design, yarn amounts listed, shaping, or cool alternatives - things I want to know before I get started.

Getting my Ravelry notebook organized has also prompted me to finish some UFOs, and to take pictures of finished projects. Over in the sidebar of this blog, under "Off the Needles," you'll now find pictures of Craig's sweater, which uses an interesting stitch pattern (at right) in a super-soft baby alpaca; my Summer Openwork Sweater, which uses a drop-stitch Snowshoe pattern (below) in a cool summer-weight cotton; and my Blueberry Wrapper.


Now if someone would just develop a website like this for quilters, I'd really be organized. Of course, it would take me months to create that notebook!

"Blue" - A Postcard

Here's the second of the eight postcards I'll be making for members of my quilting small group. I called this one just "Blue." Then today, I got an e-mail from Virginia Spiegel that she has a piece in an upcoming exhibit at Translations Gallery in Denver, called -- what else -- "Blue." Seems the gallery and I share a talent for stating the obvious. (heh heh)
Sorry the picture's not better -- I forgot to photograph the card and had to borrow a friend's cell phone to get a pic.

Knitting for Babies is Fun!

I'm hooked on knitting baby clothes. Things get finished so quickly! I had a three day weekend two weeks ago, and made this darling little hoodie for a friend's new baby. I finished the entire sweater (0-3 mos. size), from casting on to stitching up, over the weekend. If it was adult size, it would take me forever!

I had planned to photograph the sweater on a teddy bear, but one of my bears is too big and the other too small. The closest thing I had to a newborn size was my Felicity doll, one of the American Girl dolls. This is probably how the sweater will fit a newborn - they'll be rolling up those sleeves for awhile.

Pattern: Hooded Sweater from "Special Knits" by Debbie Bliss, which contains 22 adorable patterns for babies and toddlers. I've already picked out a little sundress I want to knit for my grandniece.
Yarn: Cascade 220 (80% cotton, 20% wool).
Needles: US8

Emily's Sweater

I made this cute little sweater for my grandniece, Emily. The pattern was adapted from the "Cuff to Cuff Infant Sweater" by Rae Creedle. The pattern only gives the infant size. I enlarged it to make a 9-12 month size. Yarn - Cotton Chenille by Crystal Palace, on size 6 needles. Hand-dyed buttons are by Primrose Gradations (now discontinued).

Winter Warmers

Hell officially froze over in Iowa during January. About a week ago, the actual temperature (not the wind chill) was -22 during my morning drive to work. To keep us warm and comfortable, I've spent the last few weeks knitting scarves. I've made lots of scarves in the past but never remembered to take photos before I gave them away. This time, I did better.

First, I made myself a really looooong scarf. I can wrap it around twice and still have nice long ends to loop through each other or let hang. It's just a quick garter stitch scarf on size 18 needles. Next, I made a scarf for Craig. It's based on the "Architect Scarf" in Greetings from Knit Cafe , but I used different colors. Encore washable wool and size 11 needles. My son Larry just came for a visit, and was here on his birthday. I knew he was completely unprepared for these temperatures. (He lives on the coast of Georgia where people are "cold" when it's in the 40s.) So I made him a scarf too. It's a k2p2 rib in rich brown, with random stripes of seven different colors. Same yarn and needles as Craig's scarf. And a bonus photo -- here's the very first thing I ever made after attending a knitting class in the summer of 2006. It took one two-hour class for me to become hooked on knitting.
Today I'm finishing up a little sweater for my six-month-old grandniece. Photo soon!

Ahoy, Matey!

In my small group of nine quilters, the Material Girls, we always do something for the person hosting the meeting each month. One year it was fat quarters, one year it was blocks in a design of the person's choosing, etc. This year, we're making each other postcards. The person hosting tonight's meeting has a sailboat. I made her a card form a photo she took of a rope ("line") coiled on the deck of the boat. I haven't made a postcard in a couple of years and had forgotten a few tricks, but overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. I don't think there's much chance she'll see this before tonight's meeting, so here's a pic of the postcard.

Who Made the Cards?

Oops, I totally forgot to attribute the makers of the fabulous postcards on my display. Here they are. Back row, left to right: Liz Berg, Karen Stiehl-Osborn, Susan Fischer Parker, Diane Rusin Doran, Barbara Leaheey, Cathy Otelle (? - hard to read). Front row, left to right: Peggy Schroder, Joan (last name unknown), Jane Dávila.

Fiber Postcard Display

I've found a new way to enjoy my collection of fiber art postcards. Until now, I've had the whole stack of them in a fabric bowl in my studio. I had one of those "lightbulb" moments and have now loaded nine of them into a photo display stand I had at my office. Now I can rotate the cards from time to time, and really get to enjoy them.

I also want to share a picture of a box I received today from
Novica. I love shopping their website, which has handmade items from all over the world. Novica was purchased a few years ago by National Geographic, giving the site a greater presence on the web. Purchases benefit cottage industries and individual artists from all over. Everything I've ever purchased from Novica has come beautifully wrapped, with a postcard from the item's maker. This lovely box houses a pretty garnet-silver-&-gold bracelet I bought with a Christmas check from my precious mother-in-law.