I've been working on a new project. The One Block Wonder Quilt.  I first saw this quilt made by a friend & I couldn't stop thinking about it. I am not a quilter or seamstress. In fact sewing generally makes me very nervous. But, I was hooked.

I bought the fabric in a quickie shopping trip to Hobby Lobby in April while in Schertz at an advanced dance. It is called Tropical Fish.I think it's gorgeous fabric.

It took me awhile to get up the courage to actually cut the fabric. Here are a few progress pictures.

Close up on some of the hexagons pinned together.

Some hexagons laid out on the bed.

Early layout version.

Final layout on project wall.

July 2015

I haven't picked up the needles since May 27, 2015. My tennis elbow in the left elbow got so bad that I couldn't even dress myself and had trouble washing my hair & even sleeping. So, I thought I would post about our Yellowstone national Park trip.

We flew from Austin to Salt Lake City, Utah & rented a car. We spent the night in SLC & then drove to West Yellowstone, MT on Thursday June 25-about 320 miles. Here are a few pics.

View from rest stop in Idaho

Proof that I've been to Idaho.

More Idaho.

Friday June 26-
    We saw lots of geysers and waterfalls. We got a fairly early start and were in the park by 8:30. Traffic wasn't nearly as bad as we expected.  We drove from the West Entrance to Madison Junction & then to the Museum of the National Park Ranger. Which was disappointing. One highlight was Gibbon Falls.

Then on to the Norris Geyser Basin which was phenomenal!

After that we drove from Norris Basin around the North Loop to Mammoth Hot Springs just to get the lay of the land. We took a side loop road to Virginia Cascade that was really pretty.

Here is Virginia Cascades.

From Mammoth back down to Norris there was road construction.

We got back to our motel about 6 pm thoroughly exhausted!

Saturday June 27-
      Today was a day for wildlife watching. We were up at 5:30 and in the park by 6:30. We drove to Hayden Valley on the advice of our motel owner. We weren't disappointed. We saw a huge herd of elk bugling and playing. And roughly 500 bison! These were all in the distance. But later we saw a bison right by the side of the road. And later saw 3 bison in the field at a geyser! I mean we walk 5 feet from them! But they were laying down and ignoring us. By the end of the hike they were up walking around and the bull was snorting and acting angry. We stayed a safe distance from them. We were back in the room by 2 pm exhausted again. Only about 8000 steps today. Tomorrow is the day for Old Faithful and more geysers.

The weather has been wonderful! 40's at night and 70's during the day.

Angry bison.

Old Faithful.

Brrr!

This post will be pretty heavy with photos but I have a lot of updating to do.

First off...the Oasis Wrap went from this plus the back-

To this. There were issues. I had bought a different dye lot & used it for the back. Then I decided I didn't want a hood & needed to rip back about 2/3 of the fronts. Then I realized I had knitted the fronts with 5's and the back with 4's. UGH!

Ok...On to happier news. I finished the Mirbeau Baby Blanket & it's super cute & soft. I want to make a matching sweater using this pattern.

I finished Hitchhiker 2 using luscious Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Sherbet colorway. Love love love it!!

I started a third Hitchhiker using some stash sock yarn that is going to be so bright & springy, I think. The yarn is Indulgence by Knitting Fever color 102.

Vitamin D is in sleeve hell. I'm about 3/4 of the way done with them.

Cuddle Me hasn't seen any action in awhile. That sounds kind of odd. You know what I mean.

Our lake bed is a sea of bluebonnets this year.

January 2015

I scored some awesome yarn, books & needles this week!!

Here's the yarn:
5 hanks Fleece Artist Blue Faced Leicester DK weight-colorway brown sugar
2 hanks Fearless Fibers Merino laceweight-colorway mad love purple
4 hanks Quince & Co. Tern fingering weight-colorway Stonington
2 hanks Windspun Farm BF Leicester Romney X worsted weight-colorway 4-37-BFLR G
2 hanks Malabrigo Rios worsted weight-colorway 870 Candombe

Current value of this yarn is approx $238 & I paid $40!

In addition to the yarn I got Volume's 1-3 of Barbara G Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns & Mary Thomas' Book of Knitting Patterns. Retail value approx $90. I paid $20.

Just have to share what I made for dinner last night. It was so delish!! I wish I had taken a picture. The idea came from this recipe which I heavily modified. ( Decided that "heavily" was a bit pretentious!)

yay...I took a pic of the leftovers. Sorry for the poor quality but at least it's a pic!

Quinoa Salad with Green Beans, Cranberries & Orange

Salad:

cooking spray

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups water

1/2 tsp salt

1 small can drained mardarin oranges

1/4 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup dried cranberries 

2 cups fresh green beans, cooked & cooled & cut into 1 inch pieces

Dressing:

1 tbl fresh lemon juice

1 tbl olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Optional: Fresh grated Parmesan Cheese.

1. Salad: saute onion in cooking spray. Add quinoa, saute' 5 mins or so. Add water & salt to pan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover & simmer 15 mins. Remove from heat & let stand another 15 mins to absorb water. Transfer to a large bowl & add remaining salad ingredients.

2. Dressing: combine dressing ingredients & pour over salad. Serve at room temp.

Top with parm if desired. Yield approx 8 3/4 cup servings.

I plated up the salad then I sauteed about a dozen shrimp & tossed them on top of the quinoa with grated parm. OMG! Oh...a dozen shrimp was for 2 people. I didn't eat them all. But, I could have.

I have a couple of FO's to show off:

I started & finished this Cowl Neck Poncho in about a week. It is almost entirely made from stash! The only yarn I bought was the aran colored.  And it is just awesome! I wore it to Austin on Friday & got compliments from three strangers! I love it so much that I want to make another one. But, I probably won't because really....how many ponchos does one need?

I finished this cowl last month but I am very disappointed in it because it rolls really badly. I tried adding ribbing but that didn't stop it! I was so mad that I wanted to email the designer & tell her the picture on the website lied!

I still have the Oasis Wrap otn & the Mirbeau Slip Stitch Baby Blanket. I really want to finish the wrap this month!! It will be perfect for spring. I have both fronts finished to the neck & the back is about halfway. I'm planning to leave the hood off so I have some thinking to do when I get to that point.

That's it for now!