WIP Wednesday and Yarn-Along

Busy week last week!  I figured out that from Friday the 31 (when I gave the exams) to Friday the 7 (Field Day, when I finished the final grading), I graded about 568 pages, less the pages that students tested out of.  Fortunately I have lots of smart students and I've developed ways of grading efficiently.  Then this week has been inservice, and taking Tertia to the orthodontist yesterday for the marathon session of braces installation.  Here she is posing with her bear.  I think it's sweet how the assistants at the orthodontist all ask about the different animals she brings in each time.  This one is apparently called "Susan" and helps Tertia be a brave princess.

So this morning, my first free day in just about forever, I was determined to finish the quilting on Orca Bay, and I did.  This is the stunning design of Bonnie K. Hunter that was her mystery quilt in 2011, and is now featured in String Fling.  I am excited to get it bound and spread it out for a full photo-op, but until then, here's the only quilting I've done this week!

During inservice and waiting at the orthodontist and dentist office (Daniel had his appointment yesterday too), I have finished turning the heels on Steve's socks!  Yay!  These are the going-on-three-months Farmer McGregor socks with KnitPicks stroll tonal in "Kindling."  I used reinforcement yarn on the first sock and ran out halfway through; then decided to use some leftover black fingering for the rest of the first heel and all of the second.  In the spirit of making do, you understand.  Clearly, I am not a perfectionist knitter.  I put the two socks on 2 different sets of needles after the heels because there are a few points in this complex, twisted stitch pattern where the twisting crosses over from instep to heel, and so two socks at a time on 2 circs is really not practical.  Of course, knitting socks by hand at all is not really practical, but that's beside the point.

Look at this lovely green yarn that I received as a teacher gift from one of my students, whose mother is also a knitter.  Isn't it gorgeous?  It is from The Twice Sheared Sheep, which specializes in reclaiming yarn from thrift store sweaters -- and it's 100% silk, 500 yards of very fine laceweight.

Trying my best to get a closeup to show the fine texture.  I will have to spend some time thinking of something ethereal and green to knit with this.  Thank you so much, Penny and young Mr. N!

Reading: I am still working on Suetonius -- talk about a summer potboiler -- those ancient Roman historians could dish the dirt!

Check out quilting WIPs here, and literary knitting here.

WIP Wednesday

Saturday I finally did it.  My UFO Feathered Star had been loaded onto the Megaquilter frame for a few weeks.  I never had the time or energy to get to it, and I was fearful of the freeform feathers that I was determined to machine quilt on there.  But I worked on it all day, off and on (it's only a wall quilt size) and I got all the feathers done, and I'm really, really happy with them!  Here you can see the feathery whirligig I quilted into the center octagon.

And here is a sample of the background squares and inner border with leaves and vines.  The quilt is being bound now and may even be a finish soon.  I'm so glad I ordered the replacement tracks for the Megaquilter; it's doing its thing very nicely now.  I'm going to try to get Jack's Chain loaded up on there soon.  Now that I can do freeform feathers, I won't be afraid of quilting anymore.  Or at least, I shouldn't.

For the yarn-along, this is my Citron shawl.  I'm starting the final repeat, and it's lots of comforting stockinette stitch.  It will be my 11th in the 12 shawls in 2012 challenge that I am insanely trying to complete.  I finished reading the Mark of Athena (latest in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series) and it was a lot of fun but to tell the truth, most of my reading lately has been grading and work related, or the news over at the Drudge Report.

WIP Wednesday and Yarn-Along

Considering the fact that this is the most stressful time of year for a teacher, and that I have a son graduating in just a few weeks (why yes, he was just named valedictorian yesterday, and yes, I'm just a little proud!), the WIPs have been rolling along rather nicely.  This is Jack's Chain, just past the halfway point.  It's all about a billion little set-in seams from this point on, so smooth sailing.

The Framed-In Quilt came off the machine yesterday.  It just needs a binding and label.  This was my UFO for the month of May.

My Traveling Companion shawl (made from estate sale fingering weight alpaca) is finished and blocking on the guestroom bed.  It will need its own post in a day or two, but I was excited to finish it!  Debating whether/when to start a Color Affection, or just continue with Lady MacBeth.

I started spinning more of my blue hand-dyed Wensleydale yesterday, and I made a discovery:  if you start spinning using the Scotch Tension set-up and realize partway in that you really wanted the double-drive set-up instead, you can't switch midway through the bobbin, because they wind on in different directions.  I've been spinning almost 10 years and didn't know that.  But then, I never claimed to be a technical spinner.

And I'm supposed to say what I'm reading, but right now it's mainly grading papers.  Boring!

I'm linking up to Freshly Pieced and Ginny's Yarn-Along today.  There's also this amazing collection of giveaways going on at Sew Mama Sew, (I was too busy to come up with something for that this time around, but that doesn't stop me from entering!) and there is the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side, in which I do have a quilt entered (#265, just in case you wanted to vote for it).