Beta-Blogger beware!

I am so annoyed , I fell for the blogger upgrade ploy that would let me change things on my blog so much easier without html etc. The posts are published immediately but so far that is the only benefit I have seen. Now i can't leave comments on other peoples blogs if they havn't upgraded to beta-blogger or some thing. Someone told me today that they were unable to leave a comment on my blog because of this upgrade. They really should have worked out the kinks before they offered this upgrade. And the really bad part is you can't switch your blog back! Argh!

Virtual Quilt

I have combined my cellular quiltlets into a virtual quilt to be in Artella Magazine issue 10 BODY OF ART: Passion and Projects of Universal Creation. This issues theme is about the Body, tying in with themes of Soul, Creation, and Creativity. My artwork is going to be paired with a poem by Nita Penfold called The Cells in My Body Dance.

This is a virtual quilt because all the pieces are still seperate in reality and probably would not go together quite as nicely. I played around with sizing things up and down and did some cropping to make a pleasing layout.

Progress

This is the quilting so far. Not terribly exciting, but I thought the lines running linear with the leaves would help give clarity to the agave image defining the shapes of the leaves.

New Sweater

I have started a new sweater. This time it is a hoodie from Patons made in Knitpicks Merino Style wool. It is nice and soft.











I was not so thrilled with the cable design used in the pattern so i have decided to try my own. This has been a lot of trial and error. First i wanted to use Vogue knittings embossed twining leaf pattern up the front but i found that i could not do this pattern no matter how many times i tried. I was convinced there was a type-o in the instructions. After i did a quick online search of the pattern name i found plenty of blogs with lovely knitted samples and no one mentioned a problem knitting it, so i guess it is just me.

Then i decided to use a celtic cable pattern. i found a lovely celtic cable here.
The directions for this pattern are on a chart. That was new for me, the graphed charts always look so daunting. but I have to say this one was not bad. After one time knitting the whole pattern through I found that I could read the symbols without referencing the key. When I started the second repeat i did not like the way it looked so i ripped it out and decided to connect the celtic knots into a continuous pattern. Following the chart you can work up to the 22nd row and then start again on the 7th row and it will make a continuous design. I like this much better.

Want to knit gorgeous socks?

Then you must go to Emily Parson's Etsy shop to buy her hand dyed sock yarn. Who can resist yarn like this?

Abby's new fall sweater

Fall is coming fast in Chicago and I thought Abby should have a new turtle neck cable sweater. She is a stylish city dog after all.

The basic dog sweater pattern can be found here. This is a great pattern to create a sweater in any size to fit your dog and it is simple to customize the design to your own choosing. I have knit about 7 dog sweaters from this pattern to fit 3 different dogs.
I always knit in a small hole, like a button hole at the back of the neck so I can easily hook the leash onto her collar.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I knit my first cable sweater. This is Patons "Must have Cardigan" in Knitpicks Shine Worsted cotton.

When I was at my mother in laws house I laid it out on her lovely patio to block. It dried in minutes in that hot Los Angeles sun.

Attracting a baby lizard.

It's really soft.

Fauna rejected from IQA after all

I got the news from IQA that they think the wires on the cactus are too sharp and they can not accept it into the show. So it looks like IQA is truly a quilt show in the end even though there seems to be a greater and greater emphasis on art quilts, the quilts still need to conform to more traditional materials.

Home from California...finally

I could have flown to Australia in the time it took me to get home from Los Angeles. I booked the shortest flight I could find considering I would be traveling with 3 kids and a small dog (carry on). I had a non-stop flight on United, 4 hours total.

We got to the airport just before 12. We sat down at the terminal and watched the departure time move from 2:00 to 3:00 because of weather in Chicago. I took Abby to the ladies room for a quick pee on a potty pad, thank god she is trained for that, and boarded the plane only to sit on it for 2 1/2 hours, delayed again first by weather, then by a maintenance problem. Once that was fixed we finally rolled out to the end of the runway a second time and sat for 10 minutes in queue when the captain says, I am sorry to inform you that two crew members have exceeded their time according to aviation regulations and we have to go back to the gate. We then all got off the plane (a big one). There were supposed to be 4 agents to help us get onto new flights. An hour later I finally reached the front of the line, only 1 or 2 agents were assisting some very cranky customers. Now we have been at the airport more than six hours. At this point I said screw the discreet doggie rule and Ty ran Abby up and down the terminal waiting area. Where at one point she pooped on the floor, giving the angry customers a bit of comic relief. I think it expressed perfectly what everyone was feeling. The best United could do was put us on the red eye.

We finally made it home at 6 in the morning, Chicago time. Total hours traveling 16.

Scenes from Northern California

Bodega Bay

Tide pool creatures

Fruit trees on a friends property in Sonoma County

Lichen only grows where the air is clean.

Boating with friends on Folsom Lake

Cactus fruit