Are you a list maker? I love making lists and crossing things off lists. (I’ve been known to add just completed items to a list just for the sake of crossing them off). I also love paper and pens. Every year I agonize about getting a calendar/planner because most of the time, I end up not using it. I’ve finally realized that what I really like is a big book to make lists in–with a calendar in it for convenience.

My favorite planner until now is the Quo Vadis TextAgenda. It’s a small paperback book sized planner with a full page per day. It has a durable faux leather cover. It also has lots of useful little details, and it hasn’t changed since I first discovered it when I was studying abroad a million years ago in college. (They also make blank books and I carry one around as my sketchbbook). Unfortunately, I don’t make notes every day, and I find with the page a day format, I’m wasting a lot of pages.

This year, I decided to do something different. I found a notebook I liked, and then in the beginning of the book, I added calendar pages. There’s a little software program called DynamicTemplates that allows you to print out calendar pages just for this purpose in all different sizes. I used some leafy paper I had stashed, and I’m using a binder clip to make it easy to flip from the calendar section to my listmaking section.

I like how the notebook is spiral bound so there’s a place to put the pen. This particular notebook also has graph paper and a little pocket in the back.

I know there are lots of much more creative handmade planners out there (You can see a bunch on flickr, but I was able to put this together in an hour or so, and now I’m actually using it, lots.) Alright, time to go cross blogging off of today’s list.

“The Three Musketeers” is what Dotty, who owns The Net Loft and taught this class called us when she sent me this picture. My friends Becca and Pam and I got together on Friday morning to learn how to create patterns in lace and texture on the rigid heddle loom. We ended up spending all day working on our little tweed plaid bags. We got the weaving done, but I still need to line mine and make a strap and sew it all together. I’ll post finished photos when I’m done. I really like the rigid heddle loom because it’s small enough to put away when it’s not in use and Dotty taught us a warping method that’s relatively fast and easy.

UPDATE: Here’s a picture of Becca beginning to warp-it’s a bit of a dance, but it does simplify the process quite a bit.

James bought me one for my birthday which I still need to oil and assemble, but it’s just like the looms we were using here in the class, from Ashford. We used Jo Sharp Tweed yarns-the colors are great and the yarns are very soft, and soften considerably with washing.

What I didn’t notice before seeing this picture is that all of our yarns matched what we were wearing that day!

Selma started fourth grade today.

Of course, she chose her own first-day-of-school outfit, including the jacket which was my mom’s in college. Yeah, my mom is pretty tiny. I love school supplies, clean crisp notebooks, backpacks, new pencils. Since I don’t get to go back to school, but I do need a new date book/organizer right about now, I’ve treated myself to a new notebook and I’m going to try making a little diy date book. I’ll show pictures if it turns out photo-worthy.

I finished a little project this week using Organik from The Fibre Company. It’s a squishy single ply that’s 70% organic merino, 15% Alpaca and 15% silk. I can only show you a little sneek peak because it’s for an upcoming book. (Oh yes, it’s knitting).

This morning I took a cross stitch class at The Net Loft. The event was billed as a tea and stitching time to celebrate the first day of school. Dotty has been having some great classes this summer, and I love doing things at the shop that I wouldn’t ordinarily do at home. We started and finished a tiny cross-stitched forget-me-not and inserted it into this sweet little English ceramic box.

Here’s the pattern Dotty created for the class. I love how organized she is-look how the threads each have a little place right on the pattern card.

There’s enough thread and fabric to make another flower, so I think Selma’s going to give it a try.

I’m off to watch the new season of Project Runway!

I tried to think of some witty post title about felting, but they all seemed too cheesy.  At any rate, Selma and I taught needle felting last week at The Net Loft. Students made little needle felted portraits on craft felt and then framed them. Selma and I had made little portraits as class samples. Mine is a bit of fireweed:

Selma’s is an Alaskan black bear:

So, after we got our students going we worked on other projects.

Selma made this wee chick, nest and eggs:

(I’m particularly fond of the feet).

I made a little needle-felted pendant:

Yesterday I met a knitting/crafter blogger mom who’s visiting Cordova. Her blog is called Gypsy Forest, and shows the many beautiful things she makes. I’m looking forward to following her as she gets to know her new surroundings in Lousisiana where her family has just moved.

Tomorrow night we’re having a “yarn tasting” at The Net Loft. I’ve never been to a yarn tasting. Should I have dinner first? I’ll take pictures and report back.

My friend Becca (rav link), who grew up in Valdez, Alaska, and who modeled these socks for me helped me pick the name. Landlocked Bay is just around the corner from Cordova, and it used to have a big coal mine, so the beaches are black. Becca said that when she was a kid there was a huge anchor on the beach there.

Crocheted from the toe-up, these socks offer durability with a single-crocheted toe and heel as well as softness and stretch by crocheting in the back-loop for the body of the sock. The arch increases are placed within the anchor design on the front of the foot, and the sock offers lots of opportunities to customize the fit.

One of the fun things about this sock is that even though the heel is what is traditionally called an “afterthought” heel, it is actually worked before the ankle of the sock. That way, if you were unsure of how much yarn you had, you could make the feet of both socks and then just use up as much yarn is left on the ankles making them as tall as you needed to.

This pattern is going to be available as part of a small booklet that I’m working on with Marliana Bird that will be distributed by Bijou Basin Ranch to yarn stores and on their web site. It’s also available as a PDF download now. And, if you’re in Portland for Sock Summit, you can find it at the Bijou Basin Ranch booth.

$5.50

Downloadable PDF

This pattern is available as a downloadable file in PDF format. To read this file, you will need appropriate software such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free here.

By purchasing this pattern, you are granted a limited license to download the pdf file to a single personal computer and to print out a hard copy of the pattern, solely for personal non-commercial use. Any other use, including commercial reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission or republication, without prior written permission from Amy O’Neill Houck is strictly prohibited, and is a violation of intellectual property rights. Garments created from this pattern are not to be produced for commercial purposes, nor are they to be made into items for sale.