Knitting with Beads 90/365

In a valiant effort to combine the using up of knitting materials and beads I am having a go at knitting a Civil War Era type purse. if it doesn't drive me insane it should come out quite fetching.

It's not as hard as it first appeared to be, just tedious. I am using size 1 needles because I didn't have 000s and cotton crochet thread because I don't have silk and five colors of beads because I don't have enough of any one color. Other than that...LOL!

Garden of the Gods Unexpectedly 89/365

I got invited to go to the Garden of the Gods today, an unexpected diversion and oh so fun!. We took the guided nature walk and I learned a lot of things I didn't know like.... why some rock formations are white (bleached by natural gas and oil when they were still horizontal in the ground)...How magpies need a nest with two hole to exit and enter (their tails are too long to turn around)...and why the garden was sacred to the Native Americans (a white buffalo rock formation). Too much fun even though the wind was howling beyond belief.

Mimi, Erin and Saki dog

Rocks on left bleached of iron oxide.

White Buffalo (top of rock)

Celton and Meagan on a Rock Week field trip.

Plugging Along on Pink Black and White Blocks 88/365

Tuesday night is my night to watch TV. I like Chopped and What Not to Wear among other things. I worked on these blocks and a pair of socks for myself.

AnomalyCon You Should Been There!!! 87/365

All my hard work payed off. I had a blast and my skirt was admired by many. Time travelling is exhausting though. I'll write more later.

I need a corset. maybe next time, eh?

The New To-Do List 86/365

I got a lot of that other list knocked off didn't I? This calls for a new list.

1. CLEAN THIS DISGUSTING STUDIO!!!!
2. Get those few old projects done...turtle back shrug for Pam and hat for Matt, Mindy's socks
3. Hat for Sue
4. Garden out front
5. Baby socks from last year's Knitting Traditions
6. Make dish gardens with succulents
7. Plan trip to Illinois/Indiana
8. Garden out back
9. Walk to MacKenzie Place to swim more often

OK I think that's plenty for now.

Waste Not Want Not Steampunk Bags 85/365

I still have CQ fabric left over ...working it down slowly. A project bag to carry my knitting and supplies and a jewelry bag.

As this posts I will be in Denver recovering from a long day of Victorian Sci-Fi fun. Lots of pictures to come!

The Crazy Rebecca Steampunk Hat 84/365

Had to modify my hat to match my skirt and clutch.

Steampunk Clutch CQ Style 83/365

The Steampunk adventure marches on! Today I made a clutch to carry my business cards and knitting needles to Anomaly Con Saturday. I'm working for Erin in the booth she has for her Sherlock Holmes Sock of the Month Club, in case I didn't mention that before.

I am seriously thinking I should make some of these to put it my etsy shop!

Fighting with The Dreaded Kick Pleat 82 /365

Today I finished the last of the CQ fabric for my skirt and assembled it. I did OK until I got to the Kick pleat. The instructions are vague to say the least and frantic phone calls and emails to Leslie didn't prove fruitful.

The kick pleat fought a noble fight but I won.

This is  how the main part (front, front sides and back sides) and the part with that damn pleat looked before they got married.

Altoid Tin no.3 81/365

I have this thing where if I don't fall asleep within a certain amount of time after I go to bed, I get up and do something. Good thing I did too, because #1 I forgot Jack's iTouch was charging and #2 I forgot to post here...DUH!

Here is my # 3 altered altoid tin. The guts aren't finished yet.

I worked long and hard on my skirt today. My mind was working as fast as my hands and foot (running the sewing machine pedal). I am going to try to do some cuffs and square on the back of my vest and something for my hat and oh I need a bag for my business cards I'll hopefully be handing out.... 3 more days to execute all this.... yikes!

Part 1 of Steampunk Skirt Part II (confused yet?) 80/365

Anomaly Con is this coming weekend. Must have new skirt done!!!

How do you make a new skirt? You think about it, gather supplies and jump in.

Colors, browns, golds, blacks, some burgundy, a wee bit of red.

Piece a whole bunch of CQ blocks and hope for the best.

These were machine embroidered over the seams with 1 strand sulky sliver metallic in dark gold and one strand sulky rayon in reddish brown. I even remembered to put in a new needle like I learned at quilt guild last week.

Dig out the fabric Darla gave you and add it to the black Kick Pleat.

Lay out some squares to estimate how many you need and how to sew them to make the fabric .

To be continued.......

Dale is a GENIUS!!! 79/365

Dale has begged for a skully hat for quite some time. Her turn finally came up and she asked for one with gray,black and white to match a shawl she made.....hmmmmmmmmm...I only use two colors. How will this work?

Turns out it worked very very well! I now declare Dale...the GENIUS of RANKIN!

Steampunk Scrapbook Page 78/365

My cousin, Belinda, made me a scrapbook page using my Steampunk pics off Facebook

How cool is this?!?

Funny story about Belinda. Growing up my last name was Tutwiler....Since this was not in the South where Tutwiler is in fact a GRAND OLD NAME...imagine going through life being called Buttwiler, Titwiler and Tutwater. Belinda is from my mom's side of the family and she married a cousin of mine from my dad's side of the family and guess what? Now she's the Tutwiler . I just find this hilarious for some reason.

Mentioned on Noah's Blog 77/365

I got a mention on Noah's Skull a Day Blog...uhhhmmmm dude you forgot to tweet me that this happened!

http://skulladay.blogspot.com/2011/03/bonus-gift-of-skulls-pirate-booty.html

Nice to know my booty is in good hands.

Downsizing the Yarn Box and Dreaming of Spring 76/365

I got tired of moving the massive box of yarn around in my studio so I picked some colors I needed and put the rest away in a big suitcase Dakota emptied and left sitting in the living room when the demon child, Dalton, moved in. Now I can maneuver slightly.

Oh it's soooooooooo nice out! I watered and cut down some dead stuff and cleaned up some leaves. I saw a little green here and there. I hope my columbines come back and the clematis and the new rose bush. I meant to water more but I kept believing the weatherman when he said we'd get the snow. I think our total for this winter has been a whopping 16 flakes.

Here's a reminder of some of the flowers out front last summer

Baby Alpaca Shawlette 75/365

I love love love baby alpaca yarn. When I can buy yarn again I am going to definitely buy me a bunch. This little mini shawl, or shawlette if you will, is so soft! The pattern is called 197 Yards of Heaven and is free on Ravelry.com

Recovery 74/365

Is slow.

First time I have been sick like this in years.

Hope to feel better tomorrow.

Pink 73/365

Pepto-Bismol provides relief for upset stomach and other symptoms including, nausea, heartburn, diarrhea, and indigestion.You wouldn't want to be today. Nuff said.

My Next Few Projects 72/365

I'm in Denver for the weekend so this is an auto post.

Here is a short list of what I need to do in the next few weeks.

1. Mail out these hats for Holt to Canada and a beret and neck gator set to Missouri
2. Finish the turtle back shrug for Pam
3. Baby blue and black skully hat for Matt aka _______CAIN_____
4. Grey black and white skully for Dale back in Rankin
5. Embellish some felted wool for a laptop case for Jessie
6. Hot iron holder for my sister
7. CRAZY QUILT STEAM PUNK SKIRT!!!! This should be nearer the top.
8. Leslie swears the quilt show is back on so I should work on that CQ too.

Beads 71/365

Some fairly OK shots of PART of my bead stash. I need to think on a way to use these up in massive quantities.