Zipped & Marked

Hi Knitters,

I'm an early bird this morning. I got up to finish a pattern that is due at Blue Sky Alpacas on Thursday and it's Tuesday so I had no time to waste. I finished the pattern writing and gave myself a big pat on the back. I had the project done and knitted and the pattern plotted and handwritten out in my sketch book for some time now. It was just a matter of putting in the correct words and numbers in the computer in pattern form. 

I'll never know why but I can't seem to type in my patterns as I knit a design. I have to scratch out notes in pencil in a sketch book. Why? It would make my life easier in the end. Maybe I will keep trying to be able to do that.

To treat myself after I finished I pulled out a bowl of brand new colored pencils with super sharp points and I cut a strip of card stock just the right size for a bookmark.
On one side I drew a stripe pattern and on the other side I drew multi-colored dots.
I wanted to add a little something to the edge so I found a short green zipper on my studio shelf. It seemed to be just the ticket.

Those are the knobs that were pulled off my kitchen cabinets which are now in a dumpster on my driveway. The glass balls look like candy and the beach glass knobs were purchased at the Madison Art Fair on the Square many years ago from an artist out of Florida. The sandy glass squares and orange fish (looks like a Swedish Fish to me) are my favorite knobs. I will find a new place for them on a dresser or something. I had the funkiest little handmade kitchen and now it is going to be more like a normal serene kitchen. That's going to be weird for me. I am feeling slightly torn about it but we need the space, no question. A wall is being removed to give us the added space. 

I took some before, during and will take some after shots to share at some point. You might get a kick out of that.
Anyway, back to the bookmark, I fired up my sewing machine and sewed on the green zipper edging to one side of the hand-colored bookmark. I cut the end to fit and stitched right across the bottom to hold it in place.
Pretty slick if I do say so myself. I'd love to see that zipper sticking out of my current craft book or novel. It's pretty darn cute.
I made this for a friend and since I will be mailing off my project design later I will pop this right in an envelope to mail off as well. 

The book underneath the bookmark is this. It is fantastic and patchwork-y and clever and simple all at the same time. Joelle is cool and I will support anything she does. I am pretty much obsessed with patchwork and this book is a good fix. Now maybe I'll find a moment to finish up my quilt. Probably not until next week due to an enormous all-city swim meet that will take up 3 days at the end of this week. Oh well, it gives me something fun to look forward to. I told The Collector that maybe I could sew up her skirt today. She liked that.

One last thing today, I did an interview that came up yesterday on the Ready, Set, Knit! podcast by Kathy and Steve Elkins who own this fabulous yarn shop. I do a lot of ordering from them and they have excellent and fast customer service. It is show #138 and you can listen on the link I provided or you can go to Itunes to find it among other places to upload or whatever you'd like. Ready, Set, Knit! is a weekly podcast that is informative and entertaining and packed full of interesting guests. I am a devoted listener and haven't missed a single episode. Kathy is very talented and leads an intelligent and thoughtful interview. I am impressed at how skillfully she leads the conversation every time interjecting and listening at just the right spots. Please take a listen if you are interested.

By the way, the construction at my house was insanely loud the day of the interview, it was unbelievable inside and out and they cut enormous holes in the side of my house for windows and cut down four gigantic trees. I had to go sit at my sister's house up on her third floor for some peace and quiet. She wasn't home but she is so sweet to me. She had a fan blowing near a table where she thought I should sit for the interview. She had three bottled waters and a selection of my favorite Crystal Light To Go packets to add some flavor. (I am obsessed with Crystal Light To Go packets, tried every flavor, love them to death. Oh, and I always recycle.) She has always taken care of me since I was little and she still takes care of me today. I am so lucky to have her for my sister. Lucky and fortunate.

I hope you all have entered in the giveaway I'm hosting over here. It will close when I get up on Thursday morning so you still have time to leave a comment.

Have a great Tuesday, Knitters. I hope you all get to sneak some time to make something today.

best, susie