Weekly Rec – I Can’t Resist New Patterns

I won’t live long enough to make everything I want to make. I don’t stitch fast enough and I keep getting distracted by other things like eating food, sleeping, and cleaning out the microwave. At the rate that I get things done, I have enough planned projects to keep me busy for the next 50 or 60 years.

I might get another 50 or 60 years on this earth. Maybe. If I’m very tough (only the tough can handle getting old), very lucky in traffic, and don’t meet up with any homicidal microbes, I could live that long. Maybe. I might even have enough wits and eyesight left at the bitter end to weave in my last yarn tail and wrap the final wool-y thing around my shoulders before scooting off to a condo in the sky. So if I stop looking at patterns right now, today, I have a razor-thin chance of finishing up everything I want to make.

But that won’t happen. I added four new things to my que just this month. I’ll probably add at least four more next month. Why? I can’t stop looking at patterns. I download them and read them like they were stories and if I like the story the pattern tells, I add it to the list of things I want to make.

Hemp – the Red-Headed Stepchild Of the Fiber World

A while back I took a peek into the history of rope and I did my very best to side-step the whole messy, controversial topic of hemp. I was feeling pretty clever about that. But a few of my readers called me out (more than a few actually) so I guess I wasn’t so clever after all.

So I guess we’re doing this. Let’s have some hemp history!

Spin To Win

So the other day I grabbed my spinning wheel, and some fiber, and drove over to my favorite locally owned coffee shop. Its called Quacks 43rd Street Bakery. I live in city that thinks it worth time and effort to maintain a never-ending public campaign to Keep Austin Weird. For the record, at Quacks they have no trouble keeping it weird.

These are the two colorways, both merino wool, that I have been spinning.

Quacks is halfway across town for me and I probably drive past 18 Starbucks to get there. But its worth it. They have a nice outdoor area where I can sit and spin (without being assaulted by air conditioning!) and they have the best chia I’ve ever tasted.

Summer of Shawls

Summers are my time. I love the heat and hate the cold. For me, summers are that magical time of year when heat is freely available and all I have to do is step outside into a powerful sunbeam and let the warm seep into my bones.

Ahhhhhh.

But sooner or later, life forces me to go inside. Inside there are air conditioners. Not just ordinary sit-in-the-window air conditioners. These are Texas sized air conditioners and they are being controlled by Texans. Texans cannot be trusted with air conditioning. They get completely out of control and will not listen to reason.

Sunday Stitch – How to Line a Bag When You Don’t Sew

I’m not sure this makes for a “real” Sunday Stitch but it is a Sunday, and this is what I’m working on. Also, I promised to show my cheater-cheater way to line a tote bag. So I’m shoehorning that into today’s post!

If you don’t sew, don’t sew well, or just like to cheat (who doesn’t?) then you may find this useful.

A (Mostly) Finished Rag Bag!

Today is Hooray Day for me because I’m (mostly) finished with my Rag Bag Crochet Tote.

I like the bag. The Feline Overlord likes the bag. Even Cowardly Boy Cat seems to like the bag. Best of all? I have plenty of pictures to show how I (mostly) finished it off, instead of a bunch of clever excuses like last time.

Weekly Rec – Let’s Talk Coffee

Did you know that one of the names I considered for this blog was “Runs On Coffee”? It was. (Another was “Covered in Cat Hair”, btw.)

My current coffee stash*. I’m set. With this much coffee I can stitch and write for months!

Crochet in the Round and Those Tricky Joins

When you crochet in the round, you have to join. Its an unfortunate fact of being a yarn-y hooker. You can follow the instructions as they are written in nearly every pattern, and live with a visible join. Or you can pick up a few tricks and hide it.

Err… I’m Not Done Yet

That Rag Bag Crochet project I was supposed to finish this weekend? Yeah, its not done.

I have really good reasons… justifications… excuses though.

Yarn Making on Steriods – The History of Rope

We take rope for granted and by we I mean modern Western-type people. We don’t need rope very often in our daily lives and when we do, we know right where to get it. Then we are often surprised at how expensive good rope can be.

Photo credit: Wikimedia

That’s because cheaply made rope is pretty much worthless. We, the yarn-obsessed crafters, should be able to understand that because rope is really just yarn. A twisted rope is big, industrial-grade, yarn. Knowing that, I have been able to justify browsing through the history of rope making instead of doing something productive (like some much needed housecleaning). So let’s talk rope and you can avoid doing productive things for a while as well.