My Sewing Bug had been a bit neglected lately. My Knitting Bug has only been around for a couple of years, making it much younger, but somehow it has nearly taken over. I think it may be the portability of knitting and the way it can almost always be done sitting on the couch watching a movie. It’s easier to stop and start a knitting project - there is less equipment involved.
 
I still love sewing but I’ve been finding that my sewing projects tend to be large and involved or for other people. I haven’t been doing so many simple little project and they are the ones that I find really feed creativity - knitting is full of these and that is probably part of its appeal. I needed something very simple and pretty to wake up my Sewing Bug and make it a little hungrier.
 
This has got to be one of the simplest projects out there. I followed the Very Easy Pincushions instructions from the Purl Bee to make myself a new pincushion (my old one tends to roll around the table). There isn’t any machine sewing involved so I was able to do most of it while chatting with Rob and I got to use some of my own home-made felt for the top. It will be a perfect assistant at my sewing table.

I got needles in the mail today.  Some, such as the ones pictured above, are for our sweaters, and the others are for my Lace Tank. The needles above are 12 and 8 mm Surina needles that I ordered from Dream Weaver Yarns. They feel just as beautiful as they look and I’m excited about finally swatching for our sweaters.
 
While I’ve got you here ... this is what we’re eating for dinner tonight:
 
Peanut’s Summer Salad
 
1/2 English cucumber cut into small wedges
2 Roma tomatoes cut into small wedges
2 cups cold cooked whole wheat macaroni
 
Sauce:
3/4 - 1 cup of whole fat plain yogurt
juice and zest of half a lemon (or to taste)
1 tsp dried dill weed (or to taste)
 
Put vegetables and pasta in a large bowl. Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl and stir until smooth.  Pour sauce over salad and toss to coat. Serves at least two.
 
I invented it this evening to use up some of the stuff in our fridge. It’s really nice and tangy. Fresh dill would be nicer than dried but I didn’t have any. I think it would be good with shell pasta - they pick up more sauce. Dried soy beans or other salad crunchies might be nice too.
 
Off to swatching.

Katy, Liette and I are doing a Booga Bag Knit-A-Long - yesterday we met in the pub for some knitting and dessert. This has been a long awaited project - Katy had to come back from school, I had to get married, Liette had to find her needles - and now that we’re started we are just whippingalong. After just one evening of knitting (and a few minutes after we finished winding all of Katy and Liette’s new yarn on Monday) all three of us are finished the bottom of the bag and starting to work our way up the sides. The yarn is Noro Kurayon (or Silk Garden in Liette’s case) and the long colour changes make knitting it up really fun. We’re planning to meet again next Wednesday to knit some more - we might be half way finished by then!

 

 

(Did you notice how their faces are mostly still for the photo but their hands kept moving?)