Coffee with a side of yarn. Although, I do like a little protein...just enough to keep me out of the fridge till lunch.
Yesterday, other Marcia and I took a road trip to the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival. It was a beautiful sunny day, but winter still lingers. Hats, scarves and mittens were in order....which is not necessarily a bad thing at a fiber festival. There was lots of wooly goodness on display.
I bought a skein of sock yarn, but with no intention of knitting socks. There are so many patterns now for beautiful scarves made from sock yarn, and the variegated skeins make some of the prettiest ones.
The mug was an impulse buy (well, maybe the yarn was too..heh..heh). I like to pay homage to sheep for the years of enjoyment they've given me.
Here in the Treehouse I'm working on a new clay witch.
The clay is now dry and I'll soon begin the painting, dressing and wigging process. Oh, and the hatting thing too. I'm confident she'll be ready for Halloween.
I also have a paper mache witch underway.
I started her over a year ago and then banished her to the time-out shelf. I did a poor job on her arms. They'll need to be amputated and reconstructed. I'd like to give her a jack-o-lantern to hold...big enough for a battery-operated tealight...so the new arms will need to be sturdy. And the hands....well, they're always a challenge. I have a long way to go to perfect sculpted hands. Can a witch wear mittens I wonder? It's so much easier to make a Santa...but only half the fun.
So now it's lunch time and that means I'm free to raid the fridge.
I've been knitting leg warmers for Big City Girl.
She tells me there's no hurry....now that the weather is Springy....which will be followed by Summery....and then the hot, steamy, unbearable east-coast weather that precedes Fall. And if next winter is anything like this last one, she'll need leg warmers for her leg warmers.
Here's a close-up of the stitch pattern. It looks difficult but it's not. The pattern is free from Ravelry (for all you knitters out there). It's called Spiral Rib Leg Warmers (by The Purl Bee) and I used Cascade 220 superwash yarn.
So Mr. Gadget and I took a walk in the park yesterday. As I've mentioned before, the park is a repository for some wonderful craft supplies. While we walked, my eyes were focused on the grounds around us so as not to miss any special treasures.
Along the way I noticed a big branch that had fallen from a tree. It definitely had possibilities, but it was much too big to carry and way too long to fit in the car. I decided to ask Mr. Gadget for his opinion.
"I've been thinking about what to use as a base for my needle-felted witches," I said. "Round wooden circle thingies would work great. Do you have a saw that would cut something like that?"
"What exactly do you mean by circle thingies? he asked. I should have known that a woodworking man wouldn't understand all of the terms used by a crafty woman.
"A slice," I said. "Could you slice a tree branch up like a cucumber?"
"Yes," he said. "I have a saw that will do that."
So I showed him the branch I'd zeroed in on and he walked into the woods to look it over. He stomped on it to see if he could break a piece off. No luck. "Next time we come here I'll bring my saw."
I thought it would be a good idea to check the list of prohibited items posted near the park entrance. Saws could very well be on it. They aren't something you'd bring to a picnic or a baseball game. Therefore, we'd have to be discreet. I might have to bring my really big knitting bag. I could visualize a scenario.
"No," I'd tell the officer with his menacing look and his hand on his gun. "We didn't mean any harm. My husband was just planning to cut me a few circle thingies. Honest."
Spring is here. It's starting to warm up. The birds are singing. The brown grass is turning into green grass. This can only mean one thing. I must start making witches.
This one seems to have a bee in her bonnet about something. I think she's annoyed at me for taking her picture. Or maybe it's because she just realized she's going to have to bide her time in the Treehouse till October.
So tomorrow Mr. Gadget is going to the NYC auto show with his friend Jack. I'm happy he has a traveling buddy so I don't have to go. I'm not a big car fan. I like a car that's dependable and has an easy-in for groceries. I have no other requirements.....although I am sort of fond of the bun warmer.
I like a house that's dependable too, and easy to operate. I could do without the programmable stuff, the remote controls, the beeps, and the 6 smoke alarms that chirp at different times and sometimes for no apparent reason. Since this is the house we have, I've impressed upon Mr. Gadget how imperative it is that he survive me.
Mr. Gadget likes all the stuff because, after all, he is Mr. Gadget, and he's always trying to sway me over to the ways of the modern world. It's quite possible, though, that I'll have the last laugh. After I'm gone he won't have a moment to think about dating. He'll be spending all of his time fixing things.
