Catching Up!

Hi, guys!

I have had a busy week or two, culminating in my (much-dreaded)( presentation on Friday at the annual Minnesota Real Estate Law Institute, where I gave an hour-long continuing legal education class on condominiums and townhomes.  I ended up having meetings at Nathan's school, as well as some unexpected stuff come up at work, which meant that I didn't get to practice my speech nearly as much as I meant to.  Luckily, I didn't have to speak until 2:45, so I  got up at 4 AM to finish my speaking notes (in size 18 font, as I'm blind as a bat), and then I spent part of the AM shivering in my car and talking to myself as I ran through the powerpoint slides a few times. 

And then, I realized at 2:20 that the IT department hadn't actually loaded the powerpoint onto my loaner laptop (!), and there was no Wi-Fi at the center (!!)>  Luckily, there were some wonderful young tech-savvy people running the program who had me all set up in no time at all.  And rushing around those last few minutes proved to be a wonderful distraction from being nervous, because I just got up there and started talking and joking around, and it all came out just fine.  I actually enjoyed it!  (Why do I torture myself so much in advance of these events?  I just have to get more used to it, and to realize that I actually like to speak...)

The feedback from the audience was quite positive, and the chairman for the event asked me to come back and speak next year (!), so I was really pleased.  But mostly, I was relieved (phew!) and sleepy!  Thank goodness for that extra hour this weekend!

Silverlotus?  Where are you?

I haven't heard from one of last month's book winners, Silverlotus - I need your address so I can mail your book!  Just drop me an email at maryp55124 "at" yahoo "dot" com and I'll get that going in the mail!

Halloween....

My son, Nathan (who is gearing up finally to guest-blog one of these days) asked me to help him make a Pikmin costume for Halloween.  What is a Pikmin, you ask?

That little guy in the red, above!  Pikmin is the name of a classic Nintendo game from maybe a decade ago.  That little fella (Nathan calls him Steve) is a Pikmin.  They come in various colors, and have unique abilities based on their hue.    The fellow behind him, Olimar, crash-lands on a planet where Pikmin grow, and he enlists their aid in recovering the missing pieces of his broken spaceship and fighting the unusual bug-like monsters that are guarding them.   I miss those days of Nathan's playing adorable games like this, with creatures who make sweet and funny sounds.  I like that much more fun than the car-crashing or war games.  

So, to make the Pikmin costume, first I ordered a large red hoodie and sweatpants on the Internet, and then I went to buy some fleece, interfacing and felt, and got to work:

Here are the ingredients:  ping-pong balls cut in half for eyes; some plastic wands I pulled off bubble-making wands to make the stem stiff (I melted them a bit in boiling water, and stuck a ballpoint pen in the join to make it strong), and leaf shapes  cut out of fleece, with puffy interfacing cut a bit smaller.

Then I sort of quilted the edges of the leaf, and some leaf veins in the middle, and a little sleeve for the top of the wand-stem to fit into, and stitched a red felt stem.

Then I stitched a felt sleeve for the stem along the back of the hoodie's hood...

Sewed on a red felt nose, and the ping-pong ball eyes...

Et voila!  A 6' 3" Pikmin!  Nathan (whom I shall henceforth think of as "Nathan the Fearless" not only wore this walking around the Mall of America, where we had dinner before attending a Lego Halloween party; he also wore it to school on Halloween Monday.  As a freshman in high school.  All day.  You have to give him points for originality.   Unfortunately, Pikmin is an older game, so only a minority of the kids knew what he was.

Something Cool...

I just took a picture of this table at a local Caribou Coffee, because I thought it was so clever...

Something (someone!) Adorable...

This is my friend Katie's baby, enjoying a romp on her beautiful quilt made by my talented friend, Renay (you might remember seeing this a few knitting nights ago...)  As Katie's email said, here's that quilt "in action!")

Something Kinda Sweet...

This is my niece Amanda's dog, Kenzie, snuggled up under an afghan I made her years and years ago, from a pattern that was on the cover of Women's Day magazine (remember those days, when womens magazines had knitting patterns?  I miss that.)  I love that Kenzie likes it, even though it is covered in kitties!

And Progress on the Latest KOTOTW Project!

I finished knitting the Florentine Shrug, and am now working on embroidering the elaborate pattern of leaves, vines and grapes onto the sleeves.  I thought that this would be a bit tedious, but find I am actually really, really enjoying doing this!  It is kind of like doing cross-stitch or needlepoint.  I've stayed up late a few nights just wanting to see the pattern develop.  I had to add an inch or so to the sleeves, so I moved the bottom set of leaves down a bit. Here's what it looks like so far:

Preeetttty!  (The safety pins mark every tenth column of stitches and help me make sure I'm aligning the pattern just like on the graph in the book.)  This one is going to take some time to complete, and it is definitely NOT commuting knitting! 

So, I started the next project, the...

Spanish Rose Trellis Scarf

I got this started last weekend (here it is keeping Libby cozy):

... and here is how far I am this weekend (this time, Maddie is enjoying its cozy warmth):

The trellis pattern is really fun to knit, incorporating double-wrapped long stitches that you drop and pick up periodically, as well as wrapped stitches, kind of like on the Roman Holiday Shrug.  I've got about half the roses done as well. 

BUT, this is also not very good commuting knitting, because I get dizzy when I have to look too closely at what I knit.  So I also started the Damascus Dream Dress, but that isn't far enough along to show you, yet. 

Hopefully, by my next post, I will have finished at least the scarf; those of you familiar with Nicky's designs might recognize this scarf as similar to Nicky's famous Felted Rose Bag.  I took a look at that pattern just to see if it was the same trellis stitch pattern and thought, well, since I'm doing the scarf, I might as well make the bag, too!  It uses really bulky yarn, so it should knit up pretty quickly.  I have a bag that my sister Susan sent me out to felt, so I should be all set to have a regular felting party one of these upcoming weekends...

It is cold, and the puppies are barking that they want to go outside, so I think I'll leave it at that, and wish you all a wonderful week.

XOXOXO, Mar.

 

 

Comments

[Cynthia]

I knew you would do well with your presentation. You got what it takes!
The costume for Nathan is fabulous!
I like that clever table, but what happens if someone tries to read one of those books holding it up?
The baby seams ready for some response from that monkey. What a cutie! I love the quilt. I grew up with a quilting mom and grandma. So I have a great fondness for quilts!
I don't think I remember when women's magazines had knitting patterns, simply because I haven't been knitting that long. That looks like a fun afghan to make.
You make the duplicate stitch look easy. I have done some of it, but I get lost with it easily. So I don't do it often. I'll remember the pins next time.
I had to look up Nicky's Felted Rose Bag. It's really cool! I love to make bags, so I had to save that pattern!
Hope you have a wonderful week too!

[Silverlotus]

Wow, great job on the costume. And way to go Nathan for wearing it all day in high school. He really is fearless!

I'm really sorry about not contacting you sooner. Somehow I totally missed my name. I've emailed you now.

[Patty]

Beautiful work on the Shrug and Scarf. I don't know how you have time to do all you do. Truly inspirational.

[Linda Chan]

That costume you made Nathan is great. I can't say I really remember Pikmin (I kind of remember the name). I can't believe he wore that to school as a high school Freshman. He is a brave man.

Nicky's Spanish Rose Trellis Scarf is so pretty. I really should knit it for myself. I will have to go and gather the yarn.

Your duplicate stitches are so neat. That shrug is coming along so well. I can't wait to see the finished product.

[Barb]

I love Nathan's costume - and kudos to you for figuring out how to make it! I would have been completely stumped on that one! He looks great in it, too!!

A HUGE congratulations to you on your successful talk. What a great compliment to be invited back again next year. Public speaking seems to be so hard for all of us (yet, don't we all love to 'talk' otherwise :)?)

Thanks for the KOTOTW updates, too. Your talent never ceases to amaze me - just beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing this project with us!

Have a happy week!!

[ksquared]

Great idea about using safety pins to mark the way. I dislike duplicate stitch because I have to pay close attention in order that it does not suddenly veer off course.