Winning No Sewing Awards

Well, there won't be many close-ups of my newly made iPad bag. I used this pattern, but made a few poor material choices. I had some black jeans material left from another project, which ended up making all the layers very thick. The color is also somewhat boring and lackluster. In addition, the cushioning and interfacing inner layers were also the thickest and most stiff available. My sewing machine was seriously groaning, not to mention that it was difficult achieve a straight seam on the finishing round. I ended up breaking three sewing machine needles.. ouch...

I added some pockets to store items that might scratch the screen. Represented are my school's colors: black and gold. Unfortunately you can't see the colors peek out because the bag is so stiff. An appliqué on the outside might make the whole thing more interesting.

All looted up. This project took me 8+ hours to finish... My initial hope was 3 hours. The time spent is worth the organization though, so no regrets.

Ready for business with my projector remote, voice amplifier, power cord, and iPad pen. I'll probably add some other classroom items for easy access.

On the whole, the bag is working out very well, and I feel a lot safer using the iPad now that I have a safe storage compartment at my hip. After all, the school district was nice enough to supply it, so I may as well take care of it-without dropping it or stepping on it any more... (oooops, don't tell!)

The goldenrods are so pretty right now, and I am amazed by the diverse bug life in the blooms. Hope you are enjoying the wonderful Fall weather. Till next time!

9/11 Blues, Improved

Usually I consciously avoid media and thinking about events associated with 9/11 in the weeks approaching the anniversary. The sadness that the memories of that day bring up are baggage that I don't want to bring with me to school. For some absurd reason I thought that the ten year anniversary last year was the magic eraser and that I would no longer have to deal with the emotions. But of course there were stories on the radio this morning. Military veterans had set up their flags on the overpasses. My reflection was interrupted as the Alpaca Farmer called me on the phone. He was on his way down to the barn, wanting information on another local news item. There was a lot of humming down there... And then there were maybe more animals than normal...

Sure enough, SIX animals in the barn at Shady Grove Alpacas - the new cria had been born in the night and was already dry, wandering about, taking a dust bath, etc! How can your mood not lift with this wonderful image in your head! It's a BOY, by the way! And he weighs 17.7 pounds.

What to name him? All animals born here at Shady Grove get named after songs by the Grateful Dead. We had thrown around names like Jack Straw, China Doll, Stella Blue, but those did not seem fitting for the day or the animal. We started thinking of commemorating the day, and other titles like "US Blues" (sometimes referred to as Wave the Flag) and "Chimes of Freedom" started sounding like better options. "Chimes" was written and performed by Bob Dylan with the Grateful Dead, but the Dead never covered it on their own. Coincidentally, Bob Dylan's 35th album came out today as well, so it would have been another nice connection to the day. In the end, calling the cria by one or the other word in the title did not have the right feel to it for us. And there happens to be another song named "The Eleven." The eleventh of September. The eleventh anniversary. Perfect. We will be calling the little man 'Leven for short. (The music geek in me is thrilled that the song is written in 11/4 time!)

The little animal is very red, but we suspect that it is the usual amniotic fluid stain on the fiber, and that the little guy will be a dark brown or black like his mom by the time the fleece grows out.

'Leven has a funny crimp in his tail. Curls? A weak bone?

Playing on the lawn with Cassidy. Cassidy is the slightly bigger cria on the left. The grown-ups are munching some grass. Go figure.

'Greta is the BEST mom ever. She is humming almost non-stop and looking after the 'Leven in all ways possible.

Off on a first adventure into the corner of the pen. Greta is following right behind. Later folks, there is some exploring to do!

Pasture-ized

We recently acquired some moveable fencing, allowing for a small pasture area. The alpacas were super happy, frolicking around and eating grass as quickly as possible. It is also helping restore some of the luster in Darkstar's fiber. Recent rains have restored the grass to "edible" status. It will be a happy Fall for the animals!

Garden Journal #5: Transitioning

Summer is reluctantly winding down. The days are still hot, but many plants are at the end of their days. The beans got cleared today and several pepper and tomato plants have already dried up. They will be replaced by some greens to be planted tomorrow. Beets and chard are coming up already. I had to reseed the spinach. Unfortunately I think that little roly poly bugs are eating certain seedlings as they sprout. Of course, the zucchini plants are still thriving!!

See what everyone else is growing in the garden over at Ginny's today: http://www.gsheller.com/2012/09/saturday-garden-journal-12.html

Happy Birthday Darkstar!

A year ago today, I had the honor of witnessing this guy's amazing birth. It's hard to believe how quickly the year passed us by. Darkstar is turning into a very handsome young man who we hope to show this Fall. Happy Birthday to you and many happy returns!

Back by Popular Demand: Garden Journal #4

A dear friend hinted the other day that not much gardening has been posted. In fact, the last time was at the end of March... So much for staying accountable for all the individual acts of planting and growing with Ginny this year. Let's have a little review of the Spring and Summer then. Of course, everything was unseasonably warm ridiculously early and I should have planted seeds even earlier than I did. But those frost dates do give me pause. Here is May 12. In my former winter garden we have bean seeds ready to sprout. Behind, an entire bed devoted to cherry and grape tomatoes that came up in a friend's garden.

Fast forward to June 10. The grass is already crunchy. It hasn't rained in two weeks, won't rain for another three. This was the day that I left for Europe. I went away for 24 days... Hence, no garden update.

I had a wonderful garden waterer, however. My next door neighbor, who is 18 and always looking for spending money, has excellent watering skills and brought the garden to the next level. (Picture below still from June 10!)

The garden lives, but the grass is dead... We are now looking at last week. Recent rains are making the lawn look better again, but the back area was hit hard. What are we looking at here? The front right bed is overflowing with the grape and cherry tomatoes. I made the mistake of throwing my Rottweiler one while I was picking... He instantly figured out how to pick and eat great quantities by himself... To the left we have beans under netting (to keep the bunnies out), 4 pepper plants, and 6 tomato plants that my mother raised for me from seeds.

The winter garden, left, is filled with green beans. The green bean plants have been flowering like crazy, but producing very few beans. I think they won't grow in temperatures above 90F. As it cooled a little, I have been able to pick more, but I have to admit that I am underwhelmed by the amount of green beans a 4x8 foot bed produces. Maybe it was the seeds. They did not come up in the numbers that I planted... To the right I have a giant zucchini plant, a very small cucumber plant, and a watermelon plant. The zucchini is producing well (6 of them in my refrigerator as of last night), 3 cucumbers, and several watermelons are working on growing. The edge of the most right bed shows some of the 6 remaining tomato plants. The memory of 2006 and eating a giant tomato salad daily for 2 solid months is making my mouth water... Fingers crossed, though the drought has made most of the tomatoes develop very tough skins. The flesh is very tasty!

Amana Orange tomatoes that I ate Thursday and Friday!

Delightful peppers, harvested last night.

Veggies harvested in the dark on August 3rd.

One of the zucchinis disappeared into this divine lunch today... Hello new comfort food! Another will disappear into this tomorrow morning. Check out other links on that page. My zucchini will be enjoyed with great variety - hooray!

How about another flashback to May 12? My lovely pea plants. In between the rows was a lettuce mix that we enjoyed just about every night for a month. The peas eventually grew as tall as me and produced delicious pods. After they were finished, I pulled them out and replanted with two types of carrots. Only two plants came up... Drought? Bad seeds? Anyway, I plan on starting some fall veggies here tomorrow: spinach, chard and beets.

Till next time, my dear Sweet Peas!

"YELLOW!"

"Yellow!" was the first word that my niece #3 enthusiastically exclaimed when she opened her early birthday present from me last Thursday. I knew that yellow was her favorite color after my visit with her during Spring Break. I brought her a coloring book and she delighted in saying "yellow" over and over again, demanding a yellow crayon, marker, or pencil in turns. So when I was shopping for souvenir yarn in Innsbruck, Austria, in June, my eye drifted to this luscious pale yellow yarn, and I knew this would turn into a perfect little sweater for her. The yarn is Lana Grossa's Linea Pura Latte. What a mouthful! It is a cotton/milkfiber blend, which was a little more comfortable to knit than regular cotton. I used size 5 and 7 needles using three out of four skeins of yarn.

The next step was looking for a pattern. I searched Ravelry under "child, sweater, worsted" and this lovely short-sleeved pattern named "Lucia" popped up. Someone else had also knit it in pale yellow, so it was not difficult to imagine my own finished product. I also thought it was perfect with short sleeves for summer and easy to layer a long sleeve T-shirt underneath for cooler times of the year.

Project started on July 18 and finished July 25. Very easy knit, though the yarn was splitty. I really enjoyed the easy lace pattern.

Photo above shown with long sleeve T-shirt layered under sweater as well as fun plaid shorts. T-shirt and shorts are a birthday present, compliments of a loving grandmother!

As you can see, it was NO PROBLEM getting the child into the sweater. She insisted on putting it on right away! (I love that!!) These pictures are a more true representation of the light yellow color.

Silly face!

I am joining up with Ginny today. The book I am reading is "Where Are You Wearing," by Kelsey Timmerman, which is the Freshman required reading book at the local university this year. It is a very eye-opening commentary on where our clothes come from and by whom they are made. I'm sure a knitter's group would have a lively discussion about this book! I highly recommend it.