Obama stencil shirt

Many thanks to thankyoulocust for sharing the freezer paper stencil technique (and for the image I swiped to make my stencil). It was a lot of fun and I have a feeling I'll be making a lot of shirts this way.

The Running of the Biden

Obama/Biden '08

It's good to take a moment before you go in front of the crowds

Daisy likes to take a moment to compose herself before a big rally.

Darla and Daisy on the campaign trail

Four years ago, Daisy hit the campaign trail with Kerry and Edwards, and stopped for many photo ops along the way. Now, Daisy's dog Darla has joined her. Since this is Darla's first campaign, she gets the first photo op of the year with her favorite candidate, in honor of Tuesday's NC primary.

Microscope hat - the chart

I've had a couple of requests for this chart on Ravelry, but I could never figure out how to post it. I still don't know how to do a downloadable file, but I was finally able to make it into a jpg (the original was an Excel file). So, here you go!

Here is the finished hat....

And here is the chart (you might have to tweak it a little bit...I think I tweaked it some myself when I knit my hat):

Obligatory legal stuff: this pattern is copyrighted by me. Please do not sell this pattern or sell anything made from this pattern. Enjoy!

bellydance scarf

One thing I love about bellydancing is the costumes and costume-making opportunities! I haven't crocheted anything since I was a kid, but I re-learned how to do it in order to make this hip scarf. It's crocheted out of a thin ribbon yarn and the fringe is stitched on. It might become more ornate over time (I have these perfect beads....) but for now, it's wearable. Shimmy shimmy!

Next up in the bellydance department...jewelry. This week I acquired some old middle eastern coins that are destined to become a necklace and coin belt. We'll see when I get around to that.

Lady Eleanor is eyeing me dolefully, for she has been horribly neglected lately. She's making me feel guilty.

Lady Eleanor, pt. 2 - work in progress

This would be going a lot faster if I weren't working on three projects. Damn you, never-ending sheep puppet!

Those chairs need a facelift.

In my last post, you may have noticed the ugly ass cushions on our dining room chairs. We got our table and chairs about a year ago, and I intended to reupholster them immediately. I'm not sure where the past year went, but we have lived with this lovely fabric for too long.

Yeah, it looks like a Vera Bradley knockoff threw up on my chairs. So, since I'm on vacation this week, there is no more excuse for procrastination. I went to my new favorite discount fabric store, Fabric World, and got some upholstery fabric, and now we have new chairs! It's amazing what you can do with a yard and a half of fabric and a staple gun.

Lady Eleanor, pt. 1

Now that we're all moved into our new house - and yes, we did just move a year ago - I finally have time for knitting! After acquiring Scarf Style at Interweave's Hurt Book Sale, I have decided to make the Lady Eleanor shawl. Lady Eleanor requires a lot of yarn, and after looking high and low for economical choices in nice colorways and fibers, I gave up and decided to dye my own. I'm using a Henry's Attic 50/50 alpaca/wool blend. But, in order to get the color variations I wanted, I needed to make a long skein and dye three hanks together. This turned into a bit of a PITA.



First, the winding of the skeins. I connected three (big) skeins together, thinking that if I dyed them as one big skein this would make for more successful color transitions when I actually knit the shawl. However, I did not plan to spend 4 hours just winding the damn thing. But once you start, there's no turning back.



That was when I wished I had bought that automatic ball winder when Joann Fabrics had it for 50% off. I'm sure that winder would have just laughed at my skein though. And then it would have thrown itself out a top floor window. So, I was on my own. Many hours later, I had myself this completely ridiculous, non-portable ball of yarn.

If only my swift were this flattering

I found this in an old Vogue magazine from 1951.