We have pillows! I'm quite pleased with these. I love the sparse, graphicness of them. I'm thinking of making another set with the body of the pillows in felt as well.
I don't know what my obsession of late has sprung from, but when I piled up all the pillows I've either made or bought in the last 6 months, I had quite a pile indeed. At least a dozen. They're certainly not all going on my couch!

Luckily, at least one is going to my contest winner. (I'll leave it for you You-Know-Where on Saturday, Karen.) I have another contest brewing since I got harassed by Veronique for not making the last one very hard. You just wait, Veronique, you just wait! (Insert wickedly mischievous laughter here.)

Oh, and I'm making quite a dent in my list, no? My goal was to have everything done before fall, when I would start a new list. In my mind, Fall begins after Labor Day. In which case, I'll never finish in time. But technically, it doesn't begin until mid-September. What's the consensus on that one?

inspiration + inspiration = dinner

Is there such a thing as Mohair Disorder? A Mohair Disease? A strange malady that makes you buy unnecessary amounts of mohair yarn?

I have the same obsession with mohair yarn that I do with suede shoes - I love them! They are both so pretty and both so unpractical! For some people it's sparkly things, for me it's fuzzy things. Go figure.

Still, I managed to take all of this yarn home last Saturday, without realizing the shocking fact that it was all mohair, until I pulled it out to gaze fondly at it. *Sigh*

I did use the orange (and it is Orange, with a capitol "O") Kid silk Haze to start the Kiri shawl on Sunday. It's my first lace project and I am really scared of it, but completely encouraged, at the same time, by the result of completing the first chart.

The green and the navy are destined to become two more cardigans. I'm only knitting cardigans from now on. Oh, and I have been knitting! I nearly finished a lady's version of The Ivory Buffalo sweater - I just have to finish seaming and knit the collar and button band - and I am half-way through a secret project. It will be revealed later. I promise you pictures, soon.

We're going to be famous

honey bear
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc.

This little number will be in Good Housekeeping's November issue on winter-izing your home.

I was trying to show the scale and this guy was just the perfect size!

You may not want to believe it, but this time, I am the culprit. I put this table in my hallway. It's been there for almost a week and nobody wants it. Could it be that it's such a nice table, that no one can believe that it's sitting out there for free, for someone to take?

I doubt it. (Yes, Jill R., this is the table that we found in our apartment when we moved into it. Two years ago.)

You will be interested to know that it has been replaced by this. We're grown ups now. You will also be interested to know that I got a major deal and did not pay nearly anything close to what they're saying this cost. Yay, me!

Am I the last person in NYC to have gone to Momofuku? My goodness, that place is amazing! Master P and I went for a very early dinner with Big S, a blogless friend whom I haven't seen in a very long time. It was just perfect. Definitely go, but go early if you don't want to wait on the sidewalk for a long time.

I had a very busy weekend that didn't involve much crafting. I did a little work on Karen's prize, did some knitting on a secret project, but that's it.

What I did do was go to brunch, see the exhibit on Paul Poiret at the Met and hang out in Central Park. Very busy weekend indeed!

What? What's that? I can't change the list mid-project? Says who? Just who is making the rules here? Me! That's who! I've abandoned the wrap dress for this luscious silk jersey I bought a while back at Mood. It was a snap to sew.

This is the only decent picture of me wearing the dress at Master P's birthday party and it's with my friend, Kevin! He looks adorable and I'm making my best "I'm Not Looking At The Camera" face. But alas, the picture is in black and white, so you can't see the gorgeous color of the silk jersey.

So here you are. The mustard-y, marigold-y yellow color that I am just enamoured with. Oh, and the necklace! How much do I love this necklace? I made it with my own, two little hands! The green is jade that I bought almost a year ago and the little ones are topaz and I don't know what the yellow ones are, but, oh, that color!

Whoa! I guess I didn't make that too hard. But cudos to you for deciphering my crappy handwriting.

The winner is the Eagle-Eyed Karen! Thanks for playing guys! Karen send me an e-mail to discuss possible arrival date and other details of your prize, ok?

I'm still a busy little bee over here, but I suspect things will quiet down next week. Then maybe I'll be home to take pictures during daylight hours and show you everything I've been working on.

Cheers for now!

assembly line

felt!
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc.

I spent all night, one week ago Monday, watching my DVR'd shows (Big Love, Flight of the Conchords) and cutting out these beauties.

Can anyone figure out what they're going to be? There was a hint hidden in a previous post.

If you can guess correctly, you'll get a prize! What? Well, whatever they become of course!

damn

missed
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc.

what?

hack
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc.

Can this be real? Not really a name that instills confidence.

What's that? Another item on my list crossed off! And this time it's for real. Check it out.


I finished the last batch of apron smocks. If you remember, the last batch went off to some crafty homes. This time around, I think they are going to etsy.com. I had a store up there for a while and then took everything down. If I have time this weekend, I'll post the apron smocks and then the store will be open for business!

P.S. There's so much pie-lovin' out there! Thanks for not making me feel like a total lame-o.

breakfast?

breakfast?
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc.

Oh dear. I've been so busy!

You know that kind of busy where you don't go grocery shopping for two weeks and run out of food and then wind up at work where there's a big piece of rhubarb pie staring at you and you think, "Oh good. Breakfast."

That kind of busy.

Oooh! Look! Something crossed off my list! Oh, but wait. It's a trick. I didn't really finish that Evening Jacket made from the gorgeous Blue Heron Metallic Rayon. Yes, I'm afraid it's not true.

This next part is a little delicate. If you have a weak heart or sensitive stomach, you may want to avert your eyes at this next image. It may be too much for some of you to see.


Yes, I just up and ripped it apart. I had finished it. I mean, really, really finished it. Knit the sleeves, the body, bound off all the stitches. Then I decided that I would never, ever wear this jacket. Not out to dinner, not out for drinks, not to work. Never. So I took it apart. End of story. It may be reincarnated as a lace wrap or something. Anyone have any ideas for 1,000 yards of sport weight, hand dyed rayon?

beat the heat

house dress
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc.

Hey everyone! I found the cure for the 100 degree weather we're expecting for the next couple of days. It's called a "house dress".

Don't laugh. It's very comfortable and cool. I'm just one step away from hanging out my window and yelling at the no-good, neighborhood kids to keep it down.

Now I just need some curlers in my hair and a paper fan. I'll be good to go.

Meet Josie. Josie is cheerful and optimistic and starts each day with a smile.

Josie is also the first one of my designs that I can mark as a success. I have a multicolor v-neck pullover that is languishing in a drawer. Also, a bulky-knit sweater vest (sweater vest?) that will never see the light of day. I think Josie is going to a Go To kind of gal. My photographer is out of town, so I'm not able to give you a full length picture - I can't seem to get on that I like.

Josie was made from 6 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Angora. The color is closer to this last picture. It's more raspberry than salmon. This yarn is really very nice. It's super soft, but not fuzzy due to a 20% wool and 20% nylon. I knit this from the top down (I *heart* Barbara Walker!) on size 6 addi turbo needles. The rest, as they say, is history. I have 15 skeins of this same yarn in a dusky purple color. I never thought 6 skeins would get me a cardigan, so I have no clue what I'm going to do with the 15! OK, I do have kind of a clue. Of course I do. Who am I kidding?

There are few things that say "Summer!" to me like a new comfy skirt. Summertime at The Works will most likely find me trying to sew as many as possible. This pattern may just be my new favorite!

I purchased this "It's a Wrap!" pattern from Indygo Junction and the fabric (they're both by Denyse Schmidt) at Purl Patchwork. I made a nearly frantic run there almost two weeks ago. Something in the air was whispering to me, "Must. Make. Skirt!" After I finally got around to washing the fabric, the skirt only took an hour to make - about 15 minutes to cut out and 45 minutes to sew. The pattern didn't call for it, but I bought contrasting fabric and made the skirt reversible.

I finished it on Monday morning before going to meet Jill for an afternoon of crafty shopping. We went to Daytona Trimmings (where I bought buttons for my pink sweater) and Mood (where I bought still more fabric.) Sadly there are no pictures. I think we were both too addled by the heat to have the forethought to document our day.

pillow cases
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc.

The last time I was home, I went rummaging through my grandmother's stash of hand embroidered goods. She has, literally, a stash. She has so much, that all of it is just secreted away in the drawers of dressers in rooms that nobody uses anymore.
My mom told me that she was afraid that no one would want them. No one? What about me? I want them! I snatched up as many as I could carry and humbly asked if I could take them home.
There they are - the black and orange ones. They're pillow covers and they just happen to match my silly couch from Ikea, which has orange flowers all over. Let me tell you, it's not easy to find pillows to match a couch that has orange flowers all over it.
The green ones are from a Jonathan Adler warehouse sale. I rushed over there on the last day praying that there would be something left, when I saw those gorgeous apple green needlepoint pillow covers. They were mine! At 80% off!
How perfectly they compliment my grandmother's pillow cases! I love the combination of old and new. It makes me so happy! (What's old is new again.)

Oh man, this really is a nice sweater. Is that an eyelit pattern in the ribbing?

Oooh, this is so-ft. Aw, man. This is really, really soft.

No, I don't think I will get up so that you can take a picture of youself in it. Sorry.

It's that time of year again. They're showing movies in Bryant Park. What, with having to get there at 4:30pm to secure a spot and the movie not starting until sundown, there's a lot of knitting to be done!

That pink blob in the foreground there is the project I started nearly a month ago. I was on the last stretch yesterday when the heat and the chilled rose got the best of me. It's almost finished, though, and I can't wait to share it with you!

I also made a little pilgrimage to Purl Patchwork last Friday, hot on the heels of Ravi, Jen and Ruth! I'll share my purchases there very soon!

(P.S. My apologies to the girl bending over in front of me while I was taking my picture. How unfortunate!)