Yelm and the Mountain

There is a very good chance that at the end of this job search, I will be packing up and moving. I’m not sure where but I’m almost definite it won’t be where I am now. Whenever I talk to a new company about a new city, I immediately turn to Google Earth. I am having so much fun thinking about the possibilities. There are so many beautiful places in this country and I’m ready to see another one.

I was on the phone with my brother last week and unknowingly, he fed right into my latest obsession. He said, “Man, every day I get up, I swear that dog-gone mountain is getting closer!”

Mountain, what mountain? I had no clue. He has just relocated to Yelm, Washington which I didn’t know existed until he was heading to an army base there. I consulted Google Earth and there it is, about an hour away. Mount Rainier in all its snow capped glory.

What a beautiful sight. I was excited to plan to visit him because of his proximity to Seattle and Portland, but now I have a new target when I go. I’m going to that mountain. Actually, I’m just going to the state park to get closer to the mountain. I’ll leave the mountain itself to the more adventurous people out there.

Oh the places we can go!

Frog or Finish Friday-Blue Waves Socks

These socks were cast on in August of 2008. Looking at them now, I have to say that I am not happy with them.

I do like the lacy wave pattern of the cuff but I am not a fan of the top of the sock. I wish I had done a regular ribbed start. Also, the cuff is too short in general. I have learned over through the years that if my cuff is not long enough, my socks will end up in my shoes about 10 minutes after I start walking. DRIVES ME CRAZY!

And I’m not a fan of the heel that I chose for this sock. My recent darning practice tells me it won’t be long before a hole sprouts at the back of my foot. A reinforced heel is a must.

All this to say, this sock has been frogged and its yarn is in wait to become something new. I think I will definitely make them into socks. I just need to choose an appropriate pattern and construction.

More Maya Inspired Reinventions

My

love with Maya’s book

continues. I was very happy that the author made visit to the blog and linked back to me from

this post

. She also set up a

flickr group

to showcase the projects that everyone is creating. The beauty of a book like this is that everyone is using different materials and really thinking differently about buying fabric when there are so many fabrics out there that could be reused.

For me, it is important that my current projects use fabric that is already in my stash. For a span of time, I really enjoyed visiting fabric shops for different materials or remnants that I could use. So many of these are still laying around in my stash and I am ready to get them in use.

First up, I pulled three cotton tea towels out of my stash and whipped up three of the Fold and Tie Cases. There are so many uses for these. Her book showcases the case as a packing aid. Since I am endlessly addicted to office supplies, that is the use I went for. Since I made three, I may rotate them around to see how handy they are. More than anything, I love that they are completely machine washable.

Last up is another summer bolster. This time I made it out of remnant decorator fabric. For the amount of fabric that I had, this was the perfect use for it. I took a photo of it in front of the first bolster that was made to show the size difference that comes from using different materials. Neither are made using the dimensions Maya calls for in the book. I adjusted the size based on how much fabric I had on hand and wanting to minimize unusable scraps. The first bolster snugly fits one comforter. I have two quilts rolled into the second bolster and there is still plenty of room to add another, if not two. I love having these for extra linen storage but also extra pillows. Again, fully washable so I have no qualms about throwing them around and lounging all over them.

More pictures of all of my reinvention projects are available in

my Flickr account

. So, what do you think? Any reinventions happening in your home?