Around the House

The hurricane season hasn't brought any storms but it has brought a cooling of our 3 digit temps so that in the morning and evening we can open the window for these guys.  Nyki is instructing PuffDaddy about the sounds they are hearing.........

I finished the center portion of the jelly roll strip quilt.  I need to go to the fabric store for the borders and backing now!

My cardinal climber is blooming!  It is so delicate and pretty!  Thanks , Marsel, for the seeds!

I am knitting away on the Haruni shawl.....only one more repeat of this chart and I will be moving to the border.  The cats still highly favor the yarn and will nap on it the minute it is out of my hands. ( No stitches were lost in the filming of this picture!)

I saw a new pinwheel  dishcloth pattern on a friend's blog and she sent me this link.  It is a quick and easy variation of the one I do and I couldn't wait to give it a go.  I was using a half skein and ran out before the pattern was finished!  I ripped it out and reknit it with less stitches than the pattern called for but this time I had enough! I only cast on 15 stitches instead of 20, it is about 8" across.  This was a fun knit-thanks WoollyBits!

Doesn't this give a whole new meaning to the phrase, " Hanging out at the BBQ"?!  The cats appreciate the cooler temps, too, but mid-eighties and no humidity gives a perfect outdoor temperature to my way of thinking!

Southern Bound

I have stuffed my suitcase with all the essentials!  Yarn , fiber, quilting and books!  Oh, yes, a few articles of clothing , too!  This is proof of a great week in NY!  Thank you, Mom and Dad!  See you in Florida in a few months..... (My aunt was given a pile of mohair yarn and thought of me-she thought right!  I managed to fit all 28 skeins of brown and 12 skeins of a variety of other colors-talk about a mother lode! And I received two yarn kits from my Mom's neighbor and friend and managed to fit them in along with the new fiber from the alpaca farm-I am motivated if nothing else, and made it just under the 50lb weight limit!

Field Trip

My sister works with a woman whose Mom owns an Alpaca farm and knit shop; so what a treat for a girls day out! 

 My sister, sister-in-law,  Mom and nieces had a wonderful day together!

We picked out yarn and fiber.

We had this little girl give us the tour........she made me miss you know who!

We tried to convince them to come to us but they would get close and then skip away! 

We loved this guy's smile!  Family and fiber..........it doesn't get any better than this!  Thanks, Con!

I am a Duo

Mom and I do our quilting thing apart for most of the year but it is wonderful to be able to share it in the same room!  I didn't bring my own sewing equipment because of flying this year, but my sister loaned me her machine and Mom and I are sharing the rest of the tools.  It works just fine.

Jelly rolling a quilt top-this one is mine (fabric from ConnectingThreads)

and Mom's(fabric from JoAnnFabrics)

We went to her knitting group Saturday morning and enjoyed the like-mindedness of other knitters! They are making baby hats, preparing for the cold ahead so we each made several to add to the collection.

Today, we worked on a new purse for Mom.  I got to spend a lot of time with my nieces, too, which is glorious!  Here one is getting a refresher course in knitting!

It is good to work as part of a duo for a change!

Fiber Pursuits

We went to Matthew's  the other day so the guys could do a golf game in his neck of the woods.  I spun some more of my ivory corriedale cross roving.

And spun up this little skein from a sample of wool Marsel got from the sheep to shawl demo they attended a while back.  I blended the wool with a bit of the white fluffy alpaca and it turned out very nicely.  It will knit up into a sweet pair of wrist warmers.

I knit up one of these lacey dishcloths and

...made half of this kind.  The fancier yarn works up to make a plain jane look fancier than she is!

Packing and Dyeing

I thought of a last minute project to take with me on my travels........I never worry I won't have the right clothes but not having enough yarn does give me pause!

I dyed some of the white sock weight yarn I have spun previously and am bringing it along to knit up a shawl from a free pattern on KnitPicks called Haruni. 

 Lace projects are good for travel in that you get a lot of project for a small amount of yarn.  The only drawback can be the counting needed for patterning but hopefully I will keep it under control! (The counting NOT the talking!)

Flying, Flying........

We will be visiting family in central NY.  Next post will be from there..........Lord willing!

Colors of August

For a tour of the colors all across the world, go here and enjoy .  I haven't played along for several months and didn't want to miss again!

 Hibiscus-about 8" across...

Paddle cactus, 14"....

 crepe myrtle,

rose cactus with anole, 

bottle brush bloom, 

this color has been a big hit this month! 

the humble marigold, 

ground orchid, 

mexican heather, 

sago palm and new growth in the middle that is really cool! 

plumbago, 

fancy coleus, 

morning glories... 

caladium, 

podacarpus in berry, 

mexican petunias.

We are color rich this month........

Simple Pleasure

I sewed a paper-pieced pot holder today, because I could, because it has been around waiting for completion for a     l o n g    time!  And now it is ready to be useful.   (8" square)

Teaching and Learning

Most of the time the older teaches the younger........what to do with a dragonfly, for example.

But sometimes, the younger teaches the older.......on the finer points of  'shrimpin'.

Form is everything!

Pretty good first throw!  You have to have a good teacher to amount to anything, you know!

Our pond doesn't contain any shrimp but it does have some catfish!

Matthew caught this on his throw......we released it.

I see some shrimpin' in our near future!

Spinning Yarn

I finished the first skeins on the new Joy sliding hook flyer!  Can you see how much more the bobbins hold! 

I have 457 yards in these two skeins.  This is about 7 ounces of corriedale cross,  spun into fingering weight yarn.

 I still have lots more roving to spin! Yippee!

I had gone to bed last night, forgot something and headed back to the kitchen and found this going on in  my absence.........he reached up and grabbed the leader yarn;

and laid down and moved the treadles........I can't wait to see if there is a pile of spun gold in the morning!    (There wasn't...!)        

I finished knitting the Bronte's Mitts, washed and blocked them. 

Oh, I wish I could describe how soft and silky the alpaca yarn makes these!  Just luxurious!