Guess what I've spent 3 days working on??? One collar.







It is the first collar I've made with a neckband and it is a camp shirt with waist darts, McCalls 3541. I'm pretty sure monkeys wrote this pattern. Finally after 7 tries and re-cutting an entirely new neckband, a talented woman from Pattern Review gave me some excellent advice. She even has her collar advice online HERE. The shirt fits well and I plan to make more with fabric I like a lot more.

I'm almost finished with the first sock. I was initially thinking of knitting a pattern on the foot similar this sock from the first little Vogue Knitting sock book that I also knit with worsted weight yarn.



Instead I went with a Fair Isle design chart.I should have these done soon - I still haven't decided if I'm going to finish the Unst lace socks.

I still haven't finished the Unst socks and may quit because they're a bit tight. I did start on some socks that I'm designing as I go in Wool of the Andes. I plan to put a more complicated design on the foot.

I'm finally getting used to the much lower energy output I have in the hot weather. I did manage to make one fancy meal - crepes with whole wheat pastry flour. I used some asparagus and mushrooms from the organic farm for the filling.

I just found out Nava Atlas, the veg. cookbook author, has a blog. I do believe I have every one of her books in my cookbook collection. I finally catalogues all my mostly-vegetarian cookbooks at Library Thing - check it out HERE.

This weekend we were driving through Madrid on what is called the Turquoise Trail to get to Santa Fe for errands. Madrid is this tiny artsy, hippie town with zany local characters and lots of old dogs sleeping in the middle of the road. One writer called Madrid a place "where old carnies go to die."

Anyway, Madrid (pronounced MAD-rid) had completely changed. First of all the port-a-potties and local characters and dogs were missing. Then there were these banners saying "Madrid Chile Festival" all over. I was surprised as I had never heard of such a festival. An antique gas pump magically appeared in front of one of the galleries and someone had put a gazebo and (gasp) grass and tables and chairs near the general store. We couldn't figure out what on earth was going on - there were no signs of an actual festival. Then we saw about 30 identical RVs parked at the school near a huge tent and about 10 semi-trucks parked at the ballfield .

On our way back through Madrid we finally figured out they must be shooting a movie. Sure enough - we checked the "Madrid Chile Festival" banners and they said Madrid County. There is no such place. I got home and did an online search and they're shooting a Disney movie called Wild Hogs with John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen. The movie brings 75 jobs to the area which is probably about 1/4 the population of Madrid.

Here are some photos of sleepy Madrid before it became famous.

Poor Blogger has been sick the last two days so I hope things are better now and I can post.

Lately I've had the strongest urge to knit a sweater - not a lacy summer sweater but some big Fair Isle or Norwegian monstrosity with lots of colors in heavy wool. I am trying to ignore the urge because a) I never wear the sweaters I already have and b) knitting such a project in the heat would be insane.

The socks are coming along but they are turning out tiny. I may have to give them away.

In other news, someone has discovered the joy of watermelon on a hot summer day. I try to avoid giving her fruit but I swear she can smell watermelon from the next room. She immediately shows up and starts begging shamelessly.

I'm glad I'm done with most of my summer sewing because my machine is in the hottest part of the house. It is about 100 degrees F here so I mainly take naps and watch movies with DH sitting in front of a fan.

I'm enjoying working on the Unst socks. I'm using Kroy sock yarn and stretched the sock out on my hand to show the lace pattern up close.

Here are some of my sewing FOs. I made a few more summer shirts for DH. These are also from the Kwik Sew 2935 pattern. I add a lot of topstitching to make them look more store-bought. The wrinkled turquoise one has palm trees on it and the brown one is trees in a forest.



Here are some shirts for me. I'm a tough fit for shirts with vastly uneven shoulders and a large chest. Any pattern I buy will need modifications and I chose Kwik Sew 3200. This pattern has bust darts and optional waist and back darts. I used a fitting book to increase the bust dart.

My first attempt was the inexpensive gingham one on the bottom with only the bust darts. It really needs the waist darts. The second was the one on the left in a lightweight stretch cotton with all the darts. I then decided I don't really like the bottom hem. My 3rd attempt was my favorite so far - the green one on the top although I only did the bust and back darts. The shirt with the collar on the right is a camp shirt, Kwik Sew pattern 2952. I realized I don't really look great in camp shirts but I can wear it over a camisole.



I enjoy sewing shirts the most and some day hope to acquire enough skills to make us both some dress shirts. I bought David Page Coffin's excellent book Shirtmaking and am slowly working my way through it.

Gallup was pretty fun - we were on a cattle ranch about 15 miles south of town. Here's my latest FO very loosely based on the socks in Andean Folk Knits. Ignore the green thread in the scan - I've been so busy sewing that threads seem to be everywhere.



I have decided that June is Nancy Bush lace sock month and I've started the Unst socks from Knitting on the Road. Unfortunately I made a mistake while drinking wine and watching the Spelling Bee and have to rip back. Oh well - I'm glad a girl speller finally won at least.