Are you going to Scarborough Faire...

...Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

So, for my birthday, I headed off with my sister and almost brother-in-law to Scarborough Faire and spent a wonderful day wandering around and taking in all the sights, sounds, smells, textures, and even some tastes! Among other fun things we heard Tartanic--a rocken' bagpipes and drums group with the most enthusiastic drummer I've ever seen,

We watched the beautiful hawks, falcons, owls, eagles, and buzzard of Last Chance Forever,

Heard a carillon played, and almost lost our hearing!

Watched the hilariously staged and cheesey joust--really, balsa wood lances? A Knight's Tale was better!

And enjoyed the lovely landscaping at the faire.

Some favorite memories of the day are:

* Playing with the Music of the Spheres wind chimes and standing with my head under the bass ones--as Jordan said, "Ear candy!"

* Eating a pretzel from one of the wandering pretzel men with pretzel's on a stick

* Hanging out with my rock star sister!

* The journal shop where Mary and Jordan bought my birthday present--a lovely leather journal with handmade paper pages. Yes, there will be a picture in the near future!

* Watching all the people in garb go by--getting ideas, and sharing a day with people who love a good faire as much as I do.

* Getting to do a tinny bit of court dancing--not as much as I would have liked, but it was more than I've gotten to do for the last three years!

* All the pretties at the faire. Boy, I could totally drop a couple of thousand there if left to my own devices...

* Walking around in garb all day. The corset *mostly* behaved itself, the new fathingale worked well, and I didn't die of heat. Win!

Notice that I was all patriotic for Memorial Day!

A trip down memory lane, and a last bit of faire sewing!

I was doing some cleaning and sorting this week, and I found this:

Kirsten was one of my best friends as a child. I spent hours and hours treking across the backyard in a 'covered wagon' (our wagon, fun noodles, and yetengi) and sewing her cloths. Some of those early efforts were truely special. Like this one-such colors!

Or these pants made from the pant leg from an old pair of sweat pants-

What was I thinking?

Here's an early knitted vest attempt-proof that I had (and still have!) a lot to learn!

A few of my efforts got a bit better-

As awful as some of those cloths were, they brought back good memories of afternoons spent sewing and learning a few important principles of garment construction that I put to good use today. I'm so thankful that my mom put up with my sewing messes and gave me those scraps to turn into garments with some slightly skewed stitches and lots of imagination.

For some reason our cats have fallen in love with my farthingale--they flop on it and fight each other through it at every available opportunity. Not sure why it's the cat toy of the century... That Mal-mal...

In preparation for the faire on Monday, I've just about finished the corset!

While watching Thor last night I whipped down the top bias binding, and today I'm putting an extra I'm-really-paranoid-about-boning-escaping line of stitching in by hand. I can't wait to get my whole outfit together! Of course, there will be more parking lot dressing, but there are some things that are just worth it.

Parting shot--my bridesmaid shoes! I feel like such a poser in them, but there is a certian charm to wearing cool people shoes in a cool color!

More Faire sewing

So, as I will be heading to one last faire next week, I’ve been working on my farthingale. This weekend Mary helped me put the hoop wire in it, and I used some plastic tubing from Lowe’s to connect them. Here is the farthingale on me:

I noticed that there was some definite hoop showage through my skirt, so I thought and thought, and then went to the fabric store to buy some tulle. This is what I did with it:

The tulle overskirt by itself seemed to help quite a lot, and then the little ruffle (which I know was badly sown on!) also helped smooth out the line of the dress. Finally, I made this overskirt (which I have yet to hem; need some help on that) with a doubled layered front panel to wear either as a layer to keep the farthingale hoops from showing, or as an underskirt with an overdress.

The jury is still out as to whether I will wear my corset or the overdress—transportation issues do come into play here as the faire is much farther away from home that Four Winds Canterbury Faire. Also, finish-fiddling-with-the-corset issues are under consideration!

I finished the beading on my dress—I did bead down the panel down the front and really liked how it looked. It’s very subtle, but I think adds a nice touch! In other crafting news, I have been working on finishing that filet lace panel, and did some work on a pair of socks. I’m trying to stave off the itch to cast on three new projects at once…maybe just one will be okay?

This is a crazy house...

And I wouldn't have it any other way!

Today we’re celebrating Mary’s birthday, so I made a flourless chocolate cake (as she is gluten free) which will later be decked with mocha icing. This cake had to go in the freezer for a bit, so Mary obligingly helped me bring it down. To my surprise, this is what I saw when I put the cake down:

Apparently my brother froze water in one of my dad’s gloves, and now it’s stuck in there. Creepy, but sort of awesome at the same time!

One project that I have been spending a lot of time on lately has been doing some beading on my bridesmaid dress. Here is the finished sleeve—I’m on the second row of beads on the first sleeve.

I plan to do some more around the neck and maybe even down the front—we shall see how long my patience for tiny beads lasts. I do think it adds a lot to the dress though, and beading is a nice break from knitting. What am I knitting you ask?

I was doing some diving into the remnants of my stash that is still hidden in nooks of boxes over here (stop snickering people who know me—I have knit A LOT from my stash in the last 3 ½ years, and we’ve lost a lot of yarn weight!), and I found one of those atrocities that Castle so sagely labeled “deep fried twinkies.” You know it’s aweful for you, but you just can’t help indulging a few times a year. Yes, I still have some fun fur.

I am knitting it into a narrow scarf (5 stitches in fact) which I will then use for embellishing purposes. I love and hate it at the same time…rather like I love and hate myself… ; )

Random cuteness

I'm heading to Tennessee for a day and a bit, and I'm hoping to have some cool pictures of that to share when I get back, but till then here are some random fun things.

Anything is cute when its in miniature, and that goes for food as well! Mini hamburger cookies I made a few weeks back and have just got around to sharing. It's nice having the things on hand to make them!

You need to go check this out--an usual Edwardian sampler that never was finished, but makes you wonder what awesome mother set this up for her daughter! The best explanation for it that I've heard is that the Doctor visited her.

Lastly, I found my mom's complete series of the obscure BBC comedy Mulberry, and have been enjoying it again. The premise is a little out there--Mulberry is sent to carry Miss Farnaby into death, but instead makes it his task to rekindle her joy in life. Though truthful described as a "cantankerous old trout," Miss Farnaby's character is a lot of fun to watch as she yields to Mulberry's zany antics. I wish they had made another season of this! We all can use a reminder to celebrate and enjoy life sometimes...

I have my travel knitting--the socks that I'm not so in love with now but I need something to knit at my future brother in law's graduation, and my trust kindle Lewis to see me through. Yay for road trips! Too bad there won't be time for a yarn store visit...

Moving a brother

This Sunday most of us headed over to Dallas to help my brother move from one two story apartment to another two story apartment in the next complex down the road. While we made a quick stop, I managed to find a few bluebonnets blooming on my side of the highway. I'm so glad that I'm here in time to enjoy the end of their season!

The day involved a lot of shoving Flynn's unpacking things into whatever we could find, and going up and down steps. After all the big stuff and most of the little stuff was moved over, Flynn, Jasper and I took a walk down the road a bit to take pictures of this:

No kidding, I have a street! The lighting was terrible so the pictures of me with the sign are not worth posting, but maybe one of these days I'll be there at the right time to get some better pictures!

For supper, we had our traditional 'first night in a new house' meal of hot dogs, and as a concession to Cinco de Mayo we added some chili. Good times! Hanging out with my big lil' brother is always cool--even when I'm carrying his furniture and stuff around!

Lake Visit and an unusual (for me) project

This week we made a very cold, windy trip to the lake. Jasper, Spencer and I took a long walk along the shore of the lake and I had fun looking at the 'pretties' as well as the motley collection of human flotsam and jetsam that washed ashore. Here are a few pictures.

Of course, to make any outing more interesting, bring little brothers along! One of them being in possession of a sharp knife only adds to the excitment.

My mother has a few Jane Austin Knits magazines that I've been reading and creating from, and in addition to making this mob cap inspired hat,

I've started work on a fillet crochet panel that will be used for a garment (not totally sure what yet--I had an idea, but then I've had a few more since then!).

I'm really enjoying this project--crochet is usually not my cup of tea, but I'm enjoying the process of learning a new skill and making something pretty for myself.

I've also been looking into some knitting patterns for summer sweaters that I could layer over a tank top. Not only a faster project, but one that would make sense for both of my homes! If only I had an unlimited yarn budget...