Project Funway

Next is the coffee table. It is black and sits on a dark rug. I took out the dark books from the shelf and made a still life of antique needles, sampler and balls of crochet thread instead.

Close-up of the still life arrangement. The Jane Austen sampler is a kit I purchased in London at Liberty (elegant fabric and furnishings store for the well-to-do) back in 1998 with sister Nancy. I have been sl-o-o-o-o-o-wly working on it ever since. Simone donated the ceramic face, and Patrick is the owner of the ceramic hand. The tea tin is from London in ’96 (holds pins now) and the ball and cup game was Jane Austen’s favorite game of skill. Not much to do in those days, huh? No Internet…

OK, this is genius. Yes, I do say so. These are two heirloom trunks. The bottom one is Patrick’s and it came around the Horn with his grandparents about 100 years ago. It has been lined inside with the tackiest 1960s wallpaper. Ick. The middle item is a dragon trunk carved in China; my great-Uncle Joe was there between the world wars, and brought this back as a souvenir. The top item is an oak wine rack I picked up in a thrift store in Tahoe, and, turned backward/upside down, it holds a variety of treasures, including an elaborate hand-carved jade ball-within-a-ball-within-a-ball that best man Mike Williams gave us as a wedding gift; a set of espresso cups I got in Paris ’05; silver baby mugs for Mia, Austin and me; some seashells, sea glass and a fossil rock I found as a child. Last week we were tripping over all three of these wooden pieces, so I stacked them and made furniture out of them. Ta da — genius. Did I not already say this? I meant it.

OK, here is the scrappy sweater. I have a bunch of acrylic yarns but not enoughof any one to make something. All rescued, btw. This is the back and the garter stitch ribbing for the two fronts. However one is “supposed” to make a sweater, this is how I’m making mine: all three pieces at once, to make them even in colors, sort of. I’ve got enough of this honey-gold for the sleeve ribbing and button panels. The rest of it will be a funky surprise. Close-up of yarns and a rather nice stockinette stitch, if I do say so, on vintage needles.

This is the Tahoe-inspired granny square afghan I’m working on. Mmmm, makes me want to go to the mountains right now. All rescued yarns.

Ring scarf — so called because thoughit is 6 inches wide, it is of a fine yarn and the whole thing will slip through a wedding ring. Pretty colors, twisted gold, green, yellow, red, salmon. Overall it looks salmon-ish in tone, but there are som many colors. Also, it has a nice hand-spun look to it — lots of slubs and threads. Yarn made in Italy, and rescued from an old lady’s attic to become a fashion item. This one will take one more hour. But that could be a decade away.

Ombre socks. Well, ombre sock. Heelless pattern from a how-to-knit booklet from the 1950s. (Heelless looks like it’s spelled so wrong! (wrongly?) 3 double letters? that’s almost as bad as bookkeeper. But I digress…) This is about 5 inches long so far. About a third done. Since they’ll have a seam down the backs, most likely for snuggling at home, not for wearing around (seams = blisters). I love how the ombre looks patterned like Fair Isle, almost– so different from how I’ve always used it in crochet and granny squares. In some knitting book or other I read a funny quip about how I must be easily amused, if watching the ombre pattern emerge is my idea of a good time. Sadly, it is.

Last but not least is my apple green-plum-aqua-light blue quilt with the kinda-sorta Courthouse Steps pattern. Not sure if the colors are done justice here — they are so rich and pretty in real life/better light. But it’s cloudy today and I fiddled with the flash. Bleah. Oh well. I need to do 2 more squares to make 12; trim to fit; add sashing and then backing and flip…then quilt it and go on gaily with the rest of my life. This may also be in the inbox for the next hundred years.

I can’t think of another thing to say about these, except that they are UFOs and I like looking at them and working on them, and maybe someday wearing them. Huzzah, what a day that will be!