Still chugging along!!

So I guess today is the wrap up of our Single Girl Quilt-along. My big confession: This is about as far as I've gotten. One big finished block and lots of pieced arches, some of them ready to have the curves  sewn. I certainly was crazy (blame pregnancy hormones, yes, Katy!) enough at the start of this quilt-along to think I'd be able to keep up pace, but as soon as that misleading beginning-of-the-second-trimester-energy-spurt petered out, it quickly became apparent there was no way on earth I'd have this all finished up by today. So, all of you other Single Girl laggers, don't worry. Katy, Nova and I will all still be around and active here and in the Flickr group. I have a deadline to finish this one up by June for a special gift, so I had better pony up my giant belly to the old sewing machine and get going. Because at this rate, I'll need every second! Oh, and who wants to baste and quilt it for me???

A big huge thank you to all of you who joined in all the fun for this quilt-along. Never in a million years while we were hatching this plan did we ever think over 250 Single Girl-ers would pop up! And thanks so much to my partners in crime, Katy and Nova, not only for holding me up and dealing with my slackness on this project, but for your incredible quilt-y genius!

So while I have been decidedly NOT sewing, I have still been doing lots and lots of knitting, and even more yarn ordering. An embarrassing amount, I fear. My latest thrill is the beautiful hand-dyed skeins of Rohrspatz & Wollmeise. These beauties are very difficult to get your hands on and now that I have some of my own, I know why. The color saturation is so incredibly vibrant! I can't wait to cast on. I think the blue is going first, to be knit up as a pair of socks my father-in-law requested for his birthday.

And in other news, I must take a moment to once again lovingly brag about my very talented husband. That's him, Mr. Winemaker of the Year! Our local Seattle Magazine (it's the same publisher that I believe most of the bigger cities have) just hit the stands and we couldn't be more thrilled with this honor. It's a publication that keeps big tabs on the Washington wine industry and holds it to very high standards. Mark works so hard and I'm so proud of him for earning this honor.

Happy Monday all. If anyone needs me, I'll be sitting on my bed drinking tea, knitting and reading book two of the Hunger Games. And thinking about working on my Single Girl:)

My husband is gonna hate this hat....

But ask me if I care. I don't. I'm so proud of myself! This is my first ever hat-for-me and my first cable pattern. Cables have scared me off for a really long time but these were beyond simple and this was actually a very relaxing knit. I totally recommend it for anyone who has wanted to try cables but didn't know where to begin. If you can knit in the round, you can do this.

And to show you the fit, here is me playing self portrait model again, this time in the bathroom. I had to take a lot of these to even get one OK shot - and without the toilet in the background. I almost left in my beloved Heather Ross VW vans bathrobe that hangs on the wall, but I decided it was so cute it would distract from the hat.

Yep, Mark has already called this a Rastafarian hat. I had to take back some new jeans I bought recently because he said they looked like "swabbies", and who wants jeans to look unflattering to their guy? But the hat is staying. And you know the best part? It's loose so I can wear it all over on cold days but still not have total hat head.

Oh yeah, the pattern is free on Ravelry - Star Crossed Slouchy Beret - and mine is knit with a scrummy squishy Mirasol Miski baby llama yarn.

More on this next post - a new baby quilt from Oliver & S's new City Weekend line. The binding is only half on and I really don't count a quilt as finished until it's all washed and crinkly, but the sun was shining today and I'd like to get all the outside pictures of quilts while I still can. We never trust the weatherman in Seattle when he says tomorrow will be sunny too!

And I found a new method for taping down backing! Wine labels work beautifully! I'm always running out of tape when I decide to baste, so I was happy to find this roll in the garage. Don't worry, this vintage has already been bottled so these are just some leftovers who needed a job.

I might not be back until Monday but check in then for another giveaway! There's a hint in this post as to what it will be - and it's a good one!

More Hubby love!

My wonderful husband Mark has seemed to have started a tradition of hitting a quilt shop when he goes away on business and bringing me back a surprise package of fabrics he picked out all on his own, with a little help from the sales gals. Isn't that about the sweetest thing you've ever heard? I used to complain that he didn't bring me flowers as often as I'd like him to, but this thoughtful gesture is so much more romantic than flowers if you ask me! Just imagine my giant six-foot-five, bearded man walking into a fabric store and telling them his wife loves Heather Ross and Japanese fabrics - could they help him find something I would like?

When I heard he had to go to NYC without me :( I was hoping he would be able to get over to Purl in the Soho district. He knows I am collecting honeycomb dots (I guess he is observant after all!) and got two colorways of the Cake Rock Beach dots, as well as a couple of adorable Japanese prints and three from the organic Cloud Nine line. The birds are so cute!

I think he did pretty well this time! I'm not sure if it softened the blow of not being able to go to The Spotted Pig and Babbo, though, well maybe just a little bit.