March 5, 2013

Another lady in the park, Cathy, joined Wendy and I for The Needlers. She was working on quilt pieces. She was making yo-yos and adding them to each piece. Then she will sew the pieces together for the quilt top. Wendy is embroidering and I cut out the batting strips for the purses. I also added the elastic to the Sasha skirt. Now I will wash, dry, wet and shape it.

Completed Sasha Skirt
(before washing, drying, and shaping)

Since I have the Sasha skirt done, I must decide what the next project(s) will be. I am still working on the tank top but I will continue it now only at home. Because I am still designing it and keeping all my notes in one place, I don't want to carry it anywhere. I think I will begin preparing for this next winter when all the snow birds return after summer. I would like to teach knitting and crocheting. To do that I will use the block(s) system. Each block will involve learning new stitches and techniques. Then when all the blocks are completed, they can be combined to make an afghan, a vest, a skirt, or whatever. I need to get the blocks done now so I can use them for display and demonstration later.

I changed my mind! I went through my stash yarn and couldn't settle on any I really wanted to use for the demonstration afghans. This would mean that buying more yarn would be necessary. Well I don't want to do that right now. So I went through my pending projects and decided to start the vest that is knit with 1/2-inch fabric strips. I cut one non-selvaged edge every 1/2-inch and then tore the fabric for the six-yards making long strips. Then I stitched each strip together overlapping the ends. I rolled the strips into two balls - 1/2 for knitting the front and the other for the back. Now I'm ready to begin.

Fabric before making strips

1/2-inch fabric strips rolled into a ball for knitting a vest.

Well, I just took the Sasha skirt out of the dryer. It is VERY soft and drapes beautifully. BUT I don't like it now. I loved knitting the skirt and am kinda disappointed that I don't like it. It really looks good for a younger person, but on me, it doesn't. So I guess one of the granddaughters will receive it now. Sigh!

No regrets, however. The joy of knitting is the experience, first and foremost. The wearing is just "icing on the cake".

Drove to Kingman, AZ today and sat with the "Wednesday Purls" at the knitting shop The Spinster. There were about 2-dozen ladies sitting around in a circle knitting and crocheting. I was welcomed warmly and everyone was interested in seeing my fabric-strips project. The woman sitting next to me on my right is named Happy. She was learning to knit. There were two sisters sitting next to me on my left. The one closest to me is a children's book author. She has written a book about a cat. She and her sister were knitting tiny mouse bookmarks to sell with her books. They were very cute. The little mice, I mean! The sisters were cute too. Ha!! The rest of the ladies were a mixed set, from young (one with her baby) to old. I was very pleased with the meeting and I think I will give it my best to attend each week. I asked about the group that Robin, the owner, had previously shared with me who meet weekly in Bullhead City. But she still didn't know any names and the other ladies didn't either. It takes almost 45-minutes to drive there from here but for right now it is the best and closest weekly meeting to me.

I just watched a video excerpt on Facebook about Beyonce's demonic possession and the name of that demon is Sasha. Surprise! That is also the name of the skirt pattern I just finished. Yuck!!! I may throw away the skirt just for that reason alone. I don't want ANYTHING associated with demonic forces in my life.