I have some leeway in my evening schedule this week, thanks to it being Todd’s turn to cook. Wohoo! Still loving this arrangement we started back when we first moved in together, way back in 2009. I don’t have any projects due in the next week, which means I could actually work on something just for fun. Except for the very large project that is the Yarm Bomb due in November.

But November’s a long ways away, right?

Sure, but there are a lot of pieces going into this project and I need to knit hay while the sun shines. Or something to that effect… (I do have a portion that involves crocheting with hemp, though no hay will be knit for my submission.)

And suddenly I realize that I may not have mentioned this project at all, tumbleweeds on the blog as they were for a while.

So… Thomasville Center for the Arts is doing an Art in the Open competition this fall, to coincide with Plantation Wildlife Arts Festival, and the theme is Furry and Feathered. Teams of up to 3 fiber arts will be yarn bombing the crepe myrtles along W Jackson St with proper cash prizes on the line!

If you guessed that there might be monkeys on the tree I’m decorating you’d have guessed correctly. My original plan includes 3 monkeys, one parrot, several butterflies, some flowering vines, and a hellovalotta banana leaves. Some of the yarn is being provided by the local yarn shop, but it won’t be in for a few more weeks, and that’s what I plan to knit the banana leaves out of, so I’ve been working in the characters.

The parrot is more or less complete, though I feel like he needs a little something, maybe some plumage on top of his head? He’s mostly made of recycled sari silk that I’ve had in my yarn stash for ages. I had to order in the yarn for the monkeys, though, since I was going to need a bunch, and then had a merry time finding the last few skeins of eyelash/fun fur novelty yarn in some shade of dark brown to give the monkeys a bit more interest. Seriously, there’s a shortage of brown fun-fur yarn out there for some reason that I just cannot fathom. My supplier only had one skein to send me, the other supplier had none, the usual online suspects were no help, neither were JoAnn Fabrics or Michaels. Finally, on the bottom shelf at Hobby Lobby, I found three skeins of the stuff on Saturday.

Persistence pays off.

So now my monkeys can live up to their furry expectations.

Meanwhile, I also want to get caught up on the vlogs–I’ve got two weekends to edit and I want to do an August Favorites video, as well. I think that should just about fill up the week and weekend, then, when it’ll be time to start on my next design team project!

What projects do you have going on right now?