CRANKY

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm cranky. I've been cranky for a few weeks.. Hmmm.... I think it started about the time my daughter told me she was getting married in a few weeks. I'm not terribly happy about it on many levels. Let's just go with the girl that has never been away from home, went to college locally so she has never been out on her own, will marry a man that I just don't think she knows well enough, and I don't know at all and will go to Alaska with him as an Army wife. Okay.. I've said it. So now hopefully you will understand why I went off on a country loving rant on Independence Day. I deleted it, not because anyone said anything to me negative to me, not because I didn't believe every word I wrote (actually I thought I was pretty restrained considering how I feel on the subject), but I promised that I wouldn't get political on my blog, and I did. I've just been a little on edge lately, and I apologize.

On the upside of all of this, my poor knee will get a break from my basement studio, because as soon as my daughter leaves, her room will be my new studio with windows. I have measured everything and am planning out how I want it. I have had 5 surgeries on my knee since I was a teen, 2 of them being knee replacements. It has been bothering me lately, and is a chore to drag myself up the stairs. It will be nice to be on the main floor.

Although I have an IPOD, I bought this little Mp3 player with hopes of being able to download some books from the library. Hopefully, I will be able to figure out how to put some of my books on CD on it. None of this stuff works with my IPOD, and I am not paying for an audio book when I don't have any sort of hard copy.
It is really hard to take a photo of this color, but this is the bodice of a dress that I am making for one of my daughters. Luckily I made some versions just in muslin first so that I could fit it properly. This is actually the second red bodice I made. This is the outer layer and the center layer. I serged the seams on the first bodice fairly narrow, and they just seemed to stand up. So with the second attempt, I finished the edges of the seams and pressed them flat. It looks much better now. Now I have to put in stays and the lining.. Of course there is the skirt and the zipper. It has been a long time since I have sewn a garment.
This is a pattern called Rivendell from the book THE ECLECTIC SOLE I love this pattern, and although I could have paid seven or eight dollars to download just that pattern, I decided to spend a little more and get the whole book. It is filled with several unusual sock patterns. I pulled this Sokotta yarn out of my stash. It is a Cotton/Wool/Nylon blend. It is the only thing that I have that is close to what I envision the greens of Rivendell, the home of the elves in Lord of the Rings.
This is what I have been working on. It is the center section of my Swallowtail Shawl . This is an album with pictures, but I found the pattern free from the designer somewhere. I just couldn't find the link to put here. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do at this point. I am going to have to go read some people's blogs so I can get some ideas. The directions just don't make a lot of sense to me. I'm sure it is me though. I haven't done a lot of lace shawl knitting. Each time is a learning experience for me.

I hope that you all are having a good weekend. It has been very nice here. Not too hot and very sunny.