A Few Favorite Things

This photo is from a few days ago, taken to record my progress on my Kimono Style Sweater for my Ravelry notebook. I keep looking at all the things in this photo, and have realized how many of my favorite things are in it or around it.

The favorites involved:

1. Knitting, of course, is a favorite hobby lately.
   
2. Ravelry, for which the photo was really taken, is one of my favorite knitting sites. I'm sure you've heard me talk about it, or seen a link to it from here before. For those of you who don't have an account (most non-knitters), you can only see the homepage. Ravelry is a fantastic knitting 'social network' of sorts. Trust me, it's great.
   
3. The photo was taken at Urban Coffee Lounge - the independent coffee shop we love to frequent (also the site of the Wednesday night knitting group I go to.
   
4. Tea - this cup happens to be chamomile, which I am amazed that I can stand to drink! But there's something about a cup of tea...
5. Might-O Donuts - this one is a full size Cinnamon & Sugar, which leads to the next one...
6. Half priced pastries at the end of the day!
7. See the bit of blue with a white design in the upper right corner? That's my favorite other half drinking his favorite drink - a chai tea latte - and wearing one of his favorite shirts.
   

The Other Previously Secret Project

My sister received her birthday gift just a day or two after I posted last, but by then I was off for a bit of vacation. More on that later.

Here's the project I made for her... And she likes it!

It's an Amy Butler Frenchy Bag, made with Midwest Modern Trailing Cherry, Martini, and lined/strapped with matching gray.

Up Close...

And inside...

This is, I believe, by far the most complex thing I've ever sewn (yeah, ok...I maybe should try sewing more ;-) ). I think, added together, it probably took me about 10 hrs to do. But, that takes into account all the setting up, ironing, cutting, etc, on top of the fact that the last thing I sewed was a pair of pj shorts probably 5 yrs ago. I was trying to pay attention & do it right. I even (mostly) followed the pattern! The mostly - I couldn't get all the pieces arranged on the fabric I bought as shown on their layout guides, so the straps aren't technically the correct fabric, and they are a bit shorter than supposed to be. Oh well, I like it!

The actual sewing part was a lot of fun also! I have a fantastic (well, ok, probably will make some people snicker...) sewing machine - an old Singer Graduate Model 935 - which came out of my mother in law's school's throw away pile several years ago. Major score for me! It has worked perfectly each time I've used it. The only problem - I have no manual, so I have to mess around to figure out how to do stuff.

Two Big Projects Finished!!!

Here's a 'group' photo of my 2 most recent finished projects!

The sweater is my Delphine (ravlink) and the puzzle is the Ravensburger World Map, 1665, which happens to have 3000 pieces! The sweater has been a project since April, the puzzle since, oh, early December 2008. BOY will it be nice to have our dining room table back!!! (or rather...to be able to take the extra leaf out of it and have the living room back!)

Check this one out for scale...

Here I am modeling the Delphine

In other news...It just started RAINING!!! Hm. Seems that here in the Pacific NW we've had less than 1in of rain since MAY. Um, yeah, guess it's about time... But I've definitely gotten a good dose of Vitamin D this summer.

I've been looking at a lot of photos today. Seems that 2 years ago I purchased 400 prepaid prints from Shutterfly. 380 of them are set to expire on Aug. 15th. Um...apparently my photo ordering came to a screeching hault around the first of the year, 2008. Oops. I think I'll try to figure out how to make a collage of some of my favorites. They definitely aren't all up here...

More photos soon...as soon as my other finished project for last week is received by #1 Sister!