Complete!

From this:

To this:

It was dry from the blocking process this morning.

Never Enough Time

Well, last week proved to be a bust when it came to sewing.  Life intervened, and any REAL time in the sewing room just didn't happen.  Status of the jeans:  zipper is in, inseams have been sewn but not top stitched and they are draped over the ironing board.

Speaking of the ironing board, I'm in love with my "new" vintage iron.  It steams great.  When the steam button is set, it steams when you start pressing and the steam stops when you set it upright.  It stays hot since it doesn't know to tell itself to turn off.  I'm in love.  If you missed the iron post, it's just a few posts back if you want to read.  I'm thinking I may need to stalk Ebay for another "good deal" on a vintage iron just to "have on hand" if something happens with this one.

With no sewing going on, I have been able to crochet in spits and spirts.  It's a lacy pull over pattern top from Issue 5 of Crochet 1 2 3 magazine.  I've only started it at least 3 times; I had a terrible time wrapping my brain around some of the instructions.  I admit, it's been a while since I've crocheted, but I think I finally have it figured out.  In it's current state:

I try to complete a few rows each day.  I'm anxious to complete it even though I haven't been able to spend long periods of time with the hook.  Seems I have too many irons in the fire lately.  Seems to be story of my life.

Saturday Snip-its

**  I'm really trying to evaluate what I really need to sew, i.e. clothes that really fit my lifestyle; clothes that will really get worn instead of just hanging in the closet.  It seams many sewists/bloggers are trying to do the same.  Did we catch the same bug this year?

**  I'm making a real effort to curtail my fabric/pattern purchases.  BUT an order arrived yesterday from FabricMart; HOWEVER, it was only three pieces! (2 rayon knits and 1 RPL woven)

**  I did stop by Hancock's yesterday on the way home for an appointment.  Wanted to pick up the new Katherine Tilton dress pattern (butterick), but they had not received their new patterns yet.  bummer.  Oh well, another time will present itself.  I could order, but hate to pay postage if I'm passing Hancock's anyway (and they were on sale yesterday).

**  I've made 10 more pillowcases for the Ronald McDonald House.  (That counts as stash reduction from the bins of 100% cotton)  My guild will be visiting the House in Dallas later this year.  We'll be given a tour of the facility and we want to deliver "Lots" of pillowcases for the patients.

**  I've spent some time this week working on muslins--2 Peggy Sagers' patterns; one Burda.  Two look pretty good; one needs more work.

**  I've enabled comment moderation here on the blog for the time being as I've been getting some spam comments.  I'd rather enable moderation now than add the blinding word verification.  Perhaps I can take it off shortly.

**  Still dealing with cold/sinus symptoms. It's been a week now.  Not back up to full speed yet, and I hate that.

**  Still need to hem the Silhouette yoga pants.  I can't decide which shoes I'll wear most of the time, so that's been holding me up from hemming.  Such a dilemma.

**  Saw this top at Dress Barn recently and would love to make one, but that's a lot of crocheted layers.  Don't know that I want to try.  I'd buy it if it was my size, but they only have it in plus sizes.  Maybe I can come up with something.

**  Maybe if I go eat some lunch, I'll have some energy to pry myself off the couch and do something constructive this Saturday.............

Crocheted Cowl

I gathered these:

and crocheted this:

I found the pattern here at the Caron Notebook.  These yarns were what I had on  hand and could lay hands on quickly (no hunting through the stash).  This pattern is not "twisted" BUT somehow I managed to get mine twisted, BUT I actually like it very much and am going to try to figure out what I did so I can do it again!  This one will go to DGD.

I only had a size Q hook (original pattern called for a size U) so I chained an additional 10 stitches than the pattern indicated.  It took me around 1.5 hours to complete - just as indicated on the website.  So quick; so cute!

(Two posts in one day - wow)

Finding some enthusiasm

I finished this baby afghan this week.  I generally crochet rather than knit the baby blankets because the crochet goes so much faster.  I found this lovely pattern on the onelittlerayndrop blog which I found while looking through options at Crochet Pattern Central.  I used acrylic yarn (A Pound of Love yarn) because that's what I had on hand, but I plan to crochet the next one with cotton as the one shown on her blog.

This afghan came to be as I was knitting a summer shell for myself while waiting for my DH at his recent doctor's appointment.  One of the newer young nurses commented on how wonderful it was to be able to knit.  We had a short conversation and she ask if I did any work to sell.  I told her that selling was not really my thing.  More conversation, and I learned that she was pregnant with her 2nd child - a girl.  So.....I agreed to crochet a blanket and give her an option to purchase (yes, v.e.r.y. reasonably). If she doesn't like or want it, I always have several baby showers throughout the year, so it will definitely find a loving home whether she purchases or not.

On the "HOT" front.  Our consecutive triple digit 40-day wave was broken last Saturday.  Only reached an official 99 degrees and triple digits resumed Sunday and the heat  beat goes on.  100+ expected the rest of this week and into next............what can I say?  103 today and prediction of 106 tomorrow.

I was able to sew a little yesterday.  I'm working on Butterick 5646 (lower right hand corner - green version), and with a little luck, I just might finish it tomorrow.