Category Archives: Fiber

Finished that one

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

I can’t post it yet, since it is a present for a birthday at the end of Sept.

Imagine that – something finished – ok, the main portion done, now just the final finishing to go – this far ahead of a birthday.

Taking deep breath, I took an hour out from stitching and sorted out two three bins of supplies so that I might actually be able to find something/anything when I needed. Dumped most of my fabric supplies a bag which was then added to the bin of those which come in those long, stupid wasteful plastic tubes. OTOH, that is probably no worse than the tendency of just about everyone to mail off supplies in plastic zip lock bags.

But I digress – not that you wanted to hear me rant about organizing or anything.

Then I went and counted stitched but not finished projects. Several are years old, some this year. There are an even dozen of them. Leading me to decide that tomorrow will be a multi-prong attack
1) finish part 1 of a Halloween stitch along before the next section drops on Monday. 1-2 hours
2) do a color-a-day on Blackwork SAL – which will get me caught up in about two weeks
3) finish the critters on this segment of the Weaver Band before Tues so that I am ready for the next segment to drop. 1 hr
4) finish the Aug section of Family & Friends SAL (also Tues, but it really is Monday in California since we are talking 17 hours time zone difference between the designer and me). 1 hr
4) sort out what I need to finish all those unfinished cross-stitches – and perhaps get the missing supplies (unknown time)
5) and then there is the family stuff, baseball and other insanity.

But small goals are do-able!

ok, there is the small issue of cat in the lap…

decided it was bed time…

which sort of stopped this evening..

simple but enduring

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As I dropped a “new” table cloth on our breakfast nook table this morning, I took a good look at the placemats. But first, the tablecloth was simple. Blue and white patterned, ocean themed upholstery fabric rescued from the bargain bin shelves at JoAnns. The bit left on the bolt, the two ends serged and it look just fine.

But now we come to the placemats. We have gone through a lot of placemats over the years. Picked up here and there. Not one set of the store bought ones have survived years, children, spills and multiple moves including transatlantics.

The two sets which have survived both date from the mid to late 1980s. (which means that they are older than 3 of 4 offspring. Handwoven – the first set was my first attempt at weaving placemats. The warp was perle cotton and the weft a cotton filler. I didn’t know much at the time with the result that I didn’t use as fine a dent reed as would have been sensible. They have become stained over the years as well as surviving multiple trips through the washer and dryer. But they still bring a smile to my face.

 

mid 80s

The second set is even more special. They were a gift from Carmen, woven on her rather large Gilmakra loom which took up a significant space in her Wheaton, Maryland home. There were at least eight in the set, maybe more. Since they are scattered around (table, tray, side table) I think I still have them all.

mid 80s

 

They graced the table this evening as four of us enjoyed Indian take-away. A visual reminder of enduring friendships and well made household items.

Coffee Compendium

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It may be late in the evening – but it is DONE!

Coffee Compendium

A not small sampler stitched on 18 ct Fiddler’s cloth with various shades of 12 ct Sulky, mostly blendables.

The pattern is courtesy of Tempting Tangles, originally issued in 16 parts as a stitch-a-long back in about 2011. It is more or less stitched as the pattern suggests, except for me inserting the creamer and sugar bowl instead of one phrase – “Chai Latte” which doesn’t have to do with coffee. Deborah, the wonderful designer, came up with a couple of other graphed alternatives. But the problem is that anything else would be out of alphabetical order. So, I faked out the creamer and sugar bowl – and “borrowed” the graphic on it from the Tea Sampler she has…

One drawer at a time

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I was thinking that tackling all the cleaning and organizing that needs to be done is overwhelming. I just look around, take a deep breath, and then go bury my head in stitching, sewing, knitting, audiobooks, webinars, or more than one of the above.

So I considered the old elephant story – how do you eat it (hello? Who in the world would want to eat an elephant anyway?) but the principle of “one bite at a time” would be most certainly applicable. 

That would mean one drawer at a time. Once the drawers are done, I can tackle the closets. And bins. And piles of stuff. And stacks of puzzles and books. Let me count – there are 10 drawers in my small living room cabinet. Six drawers that I claim between our two dressers plus a night stand drawer. Do I count the hanging clothes compartment divider in the closet as drawers? How about the bins in my cabinets in the sewing/craft/disaster room? Two sets of three under the one table, three in the sewing cabinet, three in each of the two small rolling white cabinets. 12 in one sorter and six in another (all of these are tiny) plus six in the tall storage cabinet in the corner. I don’t have to count the three drawers in the cabinet that I gave to Miriam. Oh, yes, there are also two drawers in the corner built-in. 

That is somewhere upwards of 60, which now seems like an insurmountable task. I have been avoiding dealing with the bedroom because I know that there are things that I need to donate, but the charity shops are still pretty much closed. 

And we are still not speaking about the garage. 

I would much rather be stitching or sewing or reading….

I think if I kept at is solid for a month, I could probably embroider all the towel and clothing blanks that I have which would free up a couple of bins which would let me get better organized. Of course, the reasons that I haven’t gotten things organized are not knowing where to start and having the challenge of decreased ability to function in disorganization. 

Argh!

Anyway –

at least I have made progress on Coffee Compendium

2 Aug 2020 – start

which shows complete through page six plus some portions of 9&10 also complete

end 2 Aug 2020

As of last night, completed through p 7 and all but the word “Turner” on page 8. And, in case you (just like me) have no clue what “Mary Turner” has to do with coffee – turns out (ouch) it is a beauty product with coffee and blueberries. 

I am thinking it is a waste of both….

It just isn’t the same

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Yes, I am more than comfortable, sitting in our back bedroom/guest room/TV room with baseball on the television, but it just is not the same. Not like sitting the ball park. Not being surrounded by fellow noisy (and noise making fans) and most certainly not bothering to wear As logo gear.

Admittedly, I don’t miss the PITA of riding BART to and from the game.  Nor cmoming home late. But I miss my game day friends, cheap food & souvenirs, and the pleasure of driving the occasional  opposing side right fielder out of the game. 

But all of that is not stopping me from watching the As play. without yelling, cheering, or cowbell it is just too quiet. I am also keeping an eye on the Twins as a back up team to support. Angel informs me that the Mets have to figure out their bullpen before they have a chance – the absence of a closer is costing them.

So that is the update.

Game stitching is the Linen & Threads 2020 Mystery SAL

August Clue

Which, as you will see over the next week – is not a clock.

Otherwise I am making relatively good progress on my Tempting Tangles Coffee Sampler. Originally released in 16 parts, I have parts 1-4 completed (except for a small blank spot) as well as 5 & 8. Now to finish up parts 6&7 to claim 50% completed…

Coffee Compendium.

But Chai is not coffee…

Holly Doyne Posted on by  
Back last winter, I found this lovely coffee sampler at Tempting Tangles. Deb, the designer, does a lot of SALs (stitch-a-longs). This particular one was originally released in a 16 part series back in 2011.

After getting through the challenges of figuring out how I was going to manage the fact that the fabric I really liked and had wasn’t big enough for decent margins (stitch on what you have and add binding later) and closing colors to shift over to Sulky from the original Dinky Dyes or DMC I was ready to go.

Pages 1 & 2 were fine,

Pages 1 & 2

 

but then I hit page three…. and there it was – Chai Latte …

Page three – with blank space

 

So I worked around it and shot off an email to the designer.

Latte refers to the milk, not the coffee. A Chai Latte that includes coffee is an Espresso Chai Latte.  This leaves me with a challenge: I can’t see my way to include a tea in the coffee sampler. The list is alphabetical… and there is no where enough room to add Chai Espresso.

So, we shall see, and have to think…

Completed

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Farewell to Anger

Considering 76k+ stitches, I am rather pleased.

Started 1 Jan 2020 (on Gold Coast NZ time) and finished 30 June 2020 – PDT. Artist is Leonid Afremov, design executed by Heaven and Earth Designs. Stitched on 16ct gridded Aida with ~ 90 colors. 

and the consensus seems to be

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that if I am feeling stuffy, or pretentious, I can always put more initials after my name.  Or just for the heck of it.

I am not really sure who, if anyone, I might need to impress – but there you are – MD, MPH, MSL, MFTM (RCPS-Glasgow). Said string could also include COL USA (ret) if I would want.

In a more sensible vein – Noah and I put in a small bit of time in the garage. Excess boxes and the plethora of books are the low hanging fruit at the moment.

And then there is stitching

Farewell to Anger at 85% complete

and new puzzles from Nautilus

Whatever in 2009

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I looked back at 2009. Eleven years ago. The blog is mostly about the sweater I was knitting at the time – the infamous Phoenix –

prior to blocking

 

and dashing to the train. nothing about Passover, little about work or the family. A bit of remembrance of heading to Bosnia. A time of restricted movements, being stuck inside the fence with care about where I went, when I went and with whom

Gee, little has changed.

Oooh, new toy!

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This came in the mail yesterday –

the Box

Shipped from Calgary.

But let me back track first.

Like many people with various hobbies, I am a tool and toy junkies. Not a total and complete hoarder of same, you have to understand. I have divested myself of various bits and bobs (some of them significantly large) over the years. After all, I live with other people and they just would not understand if I took over the house for a weaving and fiber studio. So, I no longer have my Glimakra, AVL, or Harrisville looms. Sewing machines have been upgraded over the years and I haven’t kept all of the old one.

I will admit to probably having a few too many spinning wheels. In fact, when I stop and think about it, I haven’t done much in the way of spinning or knitting since the move to California. Since wool is my fiber of preference, that might make a small bit of sense. It is not all that cold here. But I “might” want them in the future. I am not counting the two that I “re-homed” before leaving Germany or the one that I gifted (along with the Harrisville and several dozen cones of yarn) after settling here.

Since moving here, I have been doing more sewing, machine embroidery, and cross-stitch. Like any other crafter, I have been accumulating supplies (aka Stash) against a future want, the apocalypse, or an acute shortage of whatever I might fancy at the moment. I don’t spend beyond my means. And I haven’t quite run out of storage space.

Anyway – for the couple of years, I have been searching for the perfect cross-stitch stand. Functional is important – and so, frankly is esthetics. I had three various stands (System-4, Lacis, and ???) which do work, for some projects, but ran into the challenge of trying to sit comfortably while stitching so that I don’t get a sore back. There is also the challenge of width of the project. The System-4 stand can adjust to quite a wide width – but it has a three point braced foot that makes it impossible to use with any kind of a lounge chair or foot stool. The Lacis stand is lovely, adjustable, and a max of 50cm wide. The ??? which I think might be a Charles Craft has split rail rods, and goes to 60 cm, but doesn’t work well with a chair/footstool combination.

All of this lead me to Hearthside Craftworks – which is a home based Calgary couple. After thinking about it from January on – I ordered a Mark 2 stand near the beginning of March. My stand went in the mail on the 20th of March, checked into the Calgary post office. And then it seemed to sit there on the tracking display for day after day after day. Suddenly on 29 March my stand showed as now being in Richmond, BC which is an area (town/suburb/whatever of Vancouver). Apparently Canada Post only logs packages in, and doesn’t log them out – so in transit can mean anywhere from the originating post office to the door of the next. On the 30th it was marked at being at customs.

And it arrived yesterday.

Unpacking –

all these lovely red oak pieces

 

which rapidly turned into this –

completely set up and current project transferred.

I am more than a happy bunny

Tuesday, again

Holly Doyne Posted on by 3
And this is day 8.

And if there is any question or not in your mind as to whether or not staying home, shutting down everything and social distancing makes a difference – look at a comparison as to where New York is as apposed to California. Our cases are rising, but not at the same rate. Not that there is not fear, some panic, and increased burden on the health care system. CA population ~ 39M+, NY ~ 19M+. NYC is dense, so is LA and the Bay Area.

OTOH – it perhaps could be just an artifact of inadequate testing. Grossly inadequate testing. And not sure why that can’t be solved. But that doesn’t explain the difference in death rates. The NYT is putting in a lot of coverage. As are all the other newspapers as well as TV and radio. No matter what your political affiliation – listen to the medical experts – and stay home as much as you can. If you are an essential person – take care of yourself. This whole mess is going to get much worse before it gets better.

And next week is NOT a time to back off on restrictions.

Cal is on spring break, so I have no lectures around which to structure my day

Otherwise – it sit, stare out the window. Wash and repeat.

I now have an extremely hard deadline for my paper. It is not the end of April. it is 3 April. The 4th is when my free access to MS Word (the mandatory software) provided by UCHastings is going to want money out of me. I am a MAC person. I otherwise want Word why?

Valentines Day is long over – but I started this small cross stitch on a bit of 14ct white Aida with a Threadworx #12 Perle cotton.

Because – of course, I need another WIP….

Shelter in Place – Day 2

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To sum up this day –

Corona Virus-

The Chinese are now seeing more imported cases than local transmission… which means vigilance but not hysteria.
The Germans & French are having increasing numbers of cases (exactly as one would predict based on transmission curves. The numbers, I think, also accurately reflect an extensive amount of testing.
The Italians are in a world of hurt. Not only are they out of hospital beds, intensive care facilities, but illness is now breaking out in health care workers. The two main tracking sites –

Worldmeter site – by country breakdown

and Johns Hopkins University – if you really like maps rather than tables

no longer have updates from Italy.

The world total will be over 230k by the time you read this. The US is now over 10k in cases. This is probably a gross underestimate – you can get tested if 1) you know someone 2) you are a celebrity 3) you are “important” politically. Believe it or not – there have been challenges for ill health care worker getting tested.

The same idiots are proposing to activate the USNS Mercy and the USNS Comfort. No surprise, it would be at least a month; non-active ships are non-active ships. Secondly – exactly where are those health care workers coming from? The answer, of course is Navy military facilities in DC, VA, CA which are currently supporting active duty, families, and some limited numbers of retirees. It is not like the local community is going to have any capacity to absorb these patient populations.

[edited to correct ship names on 20 March, thanks to Steve, my upstate NY navy buddy who also notes that “Mercy was in the midst of an overhaul, and I think Comfort is too.  They are owned by the Navy, staffed with Civilians, and a combo of medical personal.”]

Ignore any SPAM you get which promises a cure, a medication, or supplements, vitamins or any other “sure fire way” to cure your ills. Snake oil is snake oil.

The same way – all the surfaces tests have documented that viral PARTICLES can be found for hours afterwards. Infectivity hasn’t been proven. If we test any surface, we can find virus and bacteria. So be smart, take your shoes off at the door, wear sensible clothing, keep your fingers out of your month. But don’t wash your books, hug strangers or cough on people.

Family & Friends

Thank you to everyone who has checked in. It is good to know that people are ok, keeping themselves entertained (all of us old folks are hunkered down, while the younger generation is busy taking care. of themselves, their families and the community around them). So far I have heard from France, Germany, the UK, Canada, Australia, with further reassurance about family members in far flung regions (Korea, Indonesia, Central and South America). We are a small world, thanks to electronic communications.

UCBerkeley has moved all courses on-line that it can. Some courses (science labs, theater, art, music) just don’t lend themselves as well.  We are still waiting to hear what UCSan Diego is going to do at the quarter start. Since Noah has both physics and engineering classes – completely on-line just isn’t a possibility.

For those of you who enjoy classical music – this data base covers a wide range of free streaming options from chamber orchestra to opera to full up symphony.

I wrote a whole page on my paper – then spent the rest of the day on various cross stitch projects. I am now 20k/76K completed on Farewell to Anger

20k stitches complete – 18 March 2020

the several Stitch A Longs (aka SALs) are caught up and I should not start anything new….

 

 

Day 2 – Liberty

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As like many cruising itineraries, the first full day after leaving dock is a day spent at sea. With three ports and three sea days, at least the Cruise Director doesn’t have to jam all of the sea day activities onto one day. Tonight has been designated Formal Night (not bothering), a reception around lunch time (might go – tasty snacks), and various scheduled entertainments (now why would I be interested in karaoke or a belly flop contest).

I left my cabin early and headed up to one of the lounges. Last night I scouted out both key card lounges and picked a nice location to work. Out of traffic and right next to both 110 & 220 outlets. Did I mention the presence of the coffee machine? Essential for keeping sanity while working my way through I don’t know how many pages of notes.

This particular ship carries way too many passengers for my comfort. One of the larger ships, but not the largest, she carries over 4k worth of passengers including way too many children and a lot of adults in flip-flops and beer in hand. I am sure that noise cancelling headphones are going to be a serious help.

For those who care about such things, there are 22 Pineapples (Pinnacles) on this cruise, most of whom seem to be local to the area and have earned their status by cruising around and around and around the same routes out of Galveston, Boring,….

And back to my paper, interspersed with detours into cross-stitch and pattern design on MacStitch.

Unpicking

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(in which I typed out this whole post which then refused to save….) –

As I started back at the cross-stitch this morning – this one section just didn’t look right. Specifically, the purple just didn’t look like it fit in

see that bit of dark purple next to the pink?

I finished later last night than normal; it was dark except for the light around my chair. And purple is purple? As it turns out – no – it isn’t. As it turns out, 3838 and 3835 are both in the purple family, and it in the same bin in my stitch bow roll. But 3838 tends toward the blue end of the spectrum and is several shades more saturated than 3835 which is definitely more closely aligned with reds. And this particular area has more than a few pinks.

So, I spent 15 minutes unpicking 12 stitches in a careful manner so as to not disturb the stitches around them. The only time previously I had managed to insert the wrong color, it was five stitches and it was fairly easy just to stitch over them. Not an option in this case.

So this is the new end result.

Now with the right color

Unlike in knitting where you can tink or frog (knit spelled backwards for taking out one stitch at a time or rip-it, rip-it for tearing out a whole section) I can’t find a special word in the cross-stitch community for this careful removal of a few stitches.

So it is place a few stitches here and there in between running an errand or five…

Drunken Diagonal

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Yes, I can stitch along the diagonal – see!

Being what I accomplished in my New Years start

This is a 20 stitch wide diagonal with the first two completed. The fabric is 16 ct white Aida easy-count (translated to – it comes pre-gridded in 10s) Total pattern is 341 x 225 and is a full-coverage design.

But what I was going to say is that my discipline went a bit off the rails as I ran into just a few too many places where, rather than parking the thread, I went ahead and stitched another one or two stitches so that the particular color would be finished. And my nice, even edge turned into this –

which is 5250/76,725 completed stitches

It is cheerful, the colors are bright. but neat? rather not….

Completed

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The Case of the Empty Cookie Jar

Started 12 Nov. Finished 20 Dec. 66 stitches by 369 rows. Stitched on 16 count pre-gridded Aida. I still have to wash her and block her, but am rather pleased.

Virtual Cruise Ship Lounge

Holly Doyne Posted on by 2
Back a few years ago now, I met the aforementioned New Zealand woman (and long term Australian resident) in the upper deck lounge on the Mariner of the Seas. The ship itself was being repositioned from Galveston to the Far East with the first leg ending in Europe, the second in Dubai and the last, I believe in ending in Singapore. Jill was working on the most amazing cross-stitch called Fish City (link here) which is an amazing Stewart Moskowitz design. Each one of those fish has character, each unique. I was in awe.

The downside was that I decided that I might just want to start cross-stitching again. It was a craft I had done when Shana was in elementary school and had really fallen by the wayside. Admittedly, I still had supplies on hand; moved from Germany to the US to Germany to the UK (with more than one stop in the Middle East) back to Germany. But it looked like something I was interested in starting up again. And, there is a real limit to how many knitted hats shawls, scarves and sweaters one needs. Especially when a relocation to the US loomed in our future. With that relocation to a much warmer area was going to take a way the need for most of my wooly lovelies.

So – cross-stitching. I started and finished a few things over the last 3-4 years. And have a few things left to finish. Stitched a number of fractals, stitched a couple of small scenes on request for one daughter’s wall. Collected more than a few patterns and a lot of supplies which more or less sat while I spent a lot of the last couple of years with machine embroidery and grad school.

But then Jill, once again, suckered me in. She sent me a picture of a Randal Spangler pattern that she was stitching. I fell in love with with silly little dragonling who was attacking a keyboard. Yes – dragons and computers and total insanity. The patterns were produced from the original artwork by Heaven and Earth Designs. And they were having a sale. Need I say more? I bought a set of four patterns and am working on the first one.

But the virtual lounge?

Turns out that both Jill and I are on Apple products. FaceTime is a great way to connect. There are a few time zone considerations – what is 1600 on Wednesday for me is 1000 on Thursday for her. But we can stitch over FaceTime and chat with each other. I do miss the lounge, and her husband Graham who very kindly make the coffee and water runs so that we didn’t have to risk someone else moving into our chairs. But this works wonderfully. It is easy to see each other’s progress. She can see my chair and bookshelf (oh, whoop) and I get the occasional glimpse out her balcony onto a Gold Coast beach and a portion of the Pacific.

Ok, I can see the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay, and by extension the Pacific Ocean from my living room window. But you get the idea. But it makes stitching a bit more fun, keeps me on track. It is almost obvious, I know people who use FaceTime, WhatsApp, and other modes to talk to family on a daily basis regardless of where else they are in the world. But stitching together, an obvious extension of this, just took that extra jump of imagination. The same idea would work for knitters, model train builders, just about any craft where you know someone else in another location. Seeing + talking makes communication just so much easier.

Two down, one to go

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Yes! I have turned in 2/3 papers that having been hanging over my head since last spring semester.  It wasn’t that I couldn’t do them. Rather it was more a matter of getting some unbroken blocks of time in which to sit down, concentrate, think about what I was trying to accomplish, then generating words in document that met the format of what was required.

I can’t say that it was difficult. Tedious? Unquestionably. Boring? Not really, other than the fact that I obviously have no love for precise US grammar, punctuation, US spellings, or all of that other nonsense that is required when producing documents for official grading. That–and I absolutely LOATH Word (yes, the Microsoft Program). I can deal with Paper (Mac), Open Office, and grew up on Word Perfect. But Word? Nothing intuitive about that program. And trying to permanently get rid of all the tracked changes? Gocod luck with that as they seem to magically re-appear.

I rewarded myself with cross-stitch time since the nice long walk I had planned had to be put on hold due to all of George’s conference calls. By the time he was finally off the phone, it was dark. Since we don’t have enough reflective vests to go around – walking around our area which is lacking in sufficient street lighting is not a really great idea.

19 Nov 2019. 538 today. 4924/24354

Monday update

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It would have been the usual drive into UCSF had not someone decided (planned or otherwise) to have a major accident along our route to the Bay Bridge. Traffic had been at a crawl for more than two hours when, rather than enter the freeway through the car pool entrance from University Avenue I decided to buzz along the frontage road on the bay side. It was better until the entrance at Powell street which was still a crawl.

Once actually  in the HOV access road in the maze approach, everything picked up and we sailed along till the Civic Center exit (where our ride-share passengers wanted to exit to Harrison Street). I didn’t see anything around there, but George says that it is now a good location for new tech start-ups.

The UCSF visit went well! Lab is all good. His platelets continue to creep up and his red cell count is stable (since RBC’s turn over ~ every 120 days, it means that he is making his own). We are due back on Friday, then Monday and perhaps then weekly.

I really should have gotten back at those papers, but instead spent the afternoon stitching.

Yes, I am finding it almost meditative!

18 Nov 2019 – 641 today. 4336/24354