Yarnification

I finished up the comfort pack last night. I heated it up to try it out as soon as I finished it, and my neck was a very happy camper indeed.

The buttons really don’t look quite that wonky in person. If there were a Worst Photography Ever award, I’d definitely be in the running for it.

And now it’s back to the afghan. Last night was the first too hot for the comforter/not warm enough for just a sheet night, and since we opted for just the sheet I woke up early this morning and drove Don crazy for an hour or so trying to crowd him and steal body heat before I finally gave up and got the comforter.

Here’s the floral arrangement that Don made for the foyer here at work. (See, I knew he’d be good at it!)

The metal thing in the background used to be part of a daybed. It’s hung on the wall out there at the entryway to the store, and Don’s been dressing it up for whatever season/holiday it is. Then we came to this part of the year where there starts to be not much going on in the way of holidays, and it looked awfully empty sitting there by itself, hence the floral arrangement. We’ve also put a few smaller, pre-made ones in hanging baskets out there, and there are enough supplies left for another basket, too. Brightens things up a lot.

In other news, I’m somewhere between a third and halfway done with the comfort pack cover, and I made the inner pack last night. I hadn’t gotten out the sewing machine in some time, so I was very proud of myself when I was able to thread the machine without bursting into tears. Honestly the thing I’d forgotten more than how to thread the machine was that it weighs approximately three tons. It’s a mid-70′s (I think) Singer Fashion Mate—runs great but very, very heavy. I did need to look at the manual, but I got it right the first time and didn’t spend half an hour wrestling with the bobbin thread. My seams are not perfect, but I made a serviceable pack of flax seeds that looks okay and smells all lavendery. I’m hoping to finish the cover today or tomorrow and then get back to work on the afghan.

And I only had to fish one flax seed out of the innards of the sewing machine!

I’ve got 24 (and a half) out of the 36 squares done for the wine & roses afghan, though I haven’t redone any of the edging/joining yet. Mostly I’ve been toting a skein of yarn and a hook around with me and making squares wherever I go. Yesterday I got about four or five done while riding around in the car and then while waiting for the dance performance that Sara was in this weekend to start.

Yesterday Don and I had to go to Parkersburg to get some supplies for the business. I’m not supposed to tell because he’s a bit embarrassed to be arranging flowers (and I promised not to tell but I think that only covered people who know him—and I know you all won’t make fun, right?) but we were getting supplies to make a silk flower arrangement for the foyer here at work. He’s going to be making it because I don’t really have much of an eye for that sort of thing; he’s much better at it than I am. He’s nervous about it, though, because we just dropped about $50 on supplies (and it would’ve been a lot more if we’d gone to Joann’s or Michael’s; that Crafts 2000 has really good prices on that stuff) and he’s never done flowers before. But he has a really good eye for design, and I’m sure it’ll come out great.

While we were in Parkersburg we found a great natural foods store, Mother Earth Natural Foods. From the outside it looked pretty small, but inside it was a lot bigger than I expected and they have tons of stuff, including the flax seeds I was looking for. I heart this store. They have all kinds of bulk foods and herbs, kinda like Wild Oats does but without the big grocery store part, and the woman who was running the store yesterday was so friendly and nice.

I also bought some more valerian for the kitties. They were all over me when I walked into the house with that bag, so I had to give them some right away. They still weren’t satisfied with what I gave them until I hid the bag of valerian in the tin where I store it. Until it was put away they ignored their little piles and kept accosting me. “Mrrrp! Meep! Hand over the valerian and nobody gets hurt!” Then after it was put away they rolled around in the little piles I’d made for them.

Anyway, the reason I needed flax seeds was to make the comfort pack that Donna designed for the new issue of Crochet Me. I already had everything to make it except flax seeds, so I was keeping an eye out for anyplace that might sell them. At the time I was thinking I’d add some essential oils to the flax seeds for scent, but then while I was wandering around their bulk herbs section I decided to pick up some lavendar lavender since they had it for a good price and it smells wonderful. (My spellchecker insists it’s spelled lavender, but it looks completely wrong to me. I always thought it was lavendar.)

I was thrilled to see this pattern. I’ve tried making homemade ones before, but the only thing I’d ever heard of to fill them with was rice, and the last thing I want when I’m already in pain (and therefore probably foul-tempered) is to smell like I just slathered a bowl of rice on myself, and that’s exactly what it smells like when you heat up a pack made out of rice. I have a store-bought one shaped like a longer tube that was given to me a while back, but I’m not entirely sure what’s in it. Buckwheat, maybe, but I’ve never found any to try to replicate it, and I could really use a second one. (Ever had cramps and a vicious backache and had to keep shifting the heat pack from one spot to the other? Also I’m allergic to ibuprofen and all its cousins, so heat is about the only effective thing I can use for cramps…) I was so glad to find an alternative to rice, and this pattern is so adorable.

I’ve got about a quarter of the cover crocheted, and tonight I’m going to try to get the time to break out the sewing machine and make the inner pack. From the look of things, it sounds like the actual sewing will take much less time than lugging the machine over to the kitchen table, fending off the cats, and remembering how to thread the machine. It’s been a year or two since I’ve sewn anything, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten how to do it and will have to fumble with it for a while before I get it right.

I’m doing the cover with some leftover Sugar ’n’ Cream (in some sort of light yellow, don’t know the color name) that I have in my stash and the inside pack with some cream-and-beige fabric that I’ve had for a while. (I think it’s a leftover from something else; I can’t remember what I might’ve made out of it, but I also can’t think of any reason offhand why I would’ve bought just one yard of fabric.)

I’m hoping like crazy that I have enough of this yarn to do the entire cover. The pattern calls for two balls, and I had one and most of another one. The second one looked and felt like there was almost but not quite a full ball. I do have a little more of that color somewhere besides these two balls, but I don’t think the dye lot matches. I also have some Peaches ’n’ Cream in a different color yellow, so if I run just a little short I could always make the buttons out of it for some contrast, or if I had to I could make the buttonhole rounds out of that color and then make the buttons out of the Sugar ’n’ Cream. I can’t decide if that would look peculiar or not, though…