The End of the Georgia Saga

Marsel finished her first pair of socks!  This is dk cotton/acrylic blend on 2.75 needles. 

She enjoyed knitting the socks so much, she cast on a new pair!

The basement wiring and sheet rock are finished! 

We put everything back in order.  It was quite a project! 

Marsel even managed to finish the maiden quilt and we took it off the frame!  It turned out so pretty. 

By evening, we had the ping pong table set up and play was in action! 

Quite a few years ago now,  I taught Abigail to knit.  We cast on her favorite-at-the-time colored yarn and she knit away and away....

So this visit, we cast off and sewed the ends together to make a cowl.  Done!  She was thrilled.

And we cast on again to make a headband...she is so much quicker now, she amazed herself even!

Yes, a good movie and knitting together is just what we like to do together!

Bill got to move outside once his basement project was over! 

Doing the bushes in the front of their house is a rite of the Spring visit!  

The morning of departure arrived, we left and it just goes to show that no matter how long the visit it just isn't ever long enough....... This is where we stopped to eat our bag lunch.  We used to stop to eat here but the conditions are so dirty we won't set foot inside but it is still fun to eat by the cow!

When we got home, the first greeter was waiting for us.... 

It is nice to be in my home that I love. 

The desert rose is in full bloom...she is a beauty. 

Wow, huh?! 

My on the way home knitting....progress is evident!

Hops and Skips

Friends stopped by on Monday and we had an impromptu picnic.                               

Abigail's cast is removed here at home so she has just about 24 hours without it before the next cast is placed on again.  This keeps atrophy at bay! 

Today, we left bright and early for a mold to be taken of her leg by the orthopaedic orthotics guy.

Then we went to her new casting appointment.  As you see, Abigail is pretty cool about the whole medical scene! 

On the way home, we stopped at Best Buy to buy a case for my laptop.  The price was enough to make me pause.  We came home and made one and even made a pouch for the charger. 

As experienced as I am at sewing, might I mention that this case almost beat me.  I couldn't figure out how to make this lined envelope;  I kept getting a place mat and once I even got a mobius place mat!  lol  We persevered and now I have tons of happy memories associated with this case and it was from Marsel's stash!

Volley Ball and Knitting on the Sideline!

I finished my version of the Angular Velocity socks! 

   

The pattern is great but the knitter had a few glitches!  Yes, I can still mess up an increase or two! lol

I knit this from KnitPicks Stroll Tonal sock yarn and the pattern is found on Knitty.com  . 

  

After church, a picnic and a game of volley ball was on the schedule!  Even Bill joined in the game-he will be sore tomorrow but he enjoyed the break from the construction project!  My daughter is in the green shirt in the foreground and my husband is in the lime green on the other team!  I am rooting for both, needless to say!

I am doing some extreme knitting on the peanut gallery...I have to finish this entrelac blanket before my grand daughter is born in a few weeks!  The pressure is on!  Time to flex the knitting muscles;  good thing they are good form!

Jelly Rolling

The wiring is almost done!  It is always interesting to add wiring to an existing house but Bill is up to the challenge! 

David does a man's work, too.  He adds the sheet rock screws after helping Bruce to carry it in!

The guys are hard at work in the basement so Marsel and I took some play time in the UFO pile! 

This Civil War reproduction quilt has been out for our project before but we found our notes and figured out what we were doing! So we got to work making the organized random blocks! 

It was hard to dig through the box so we pulled out some bars we found in the basement and set out our fabric palette! 

We weren't the only ones who thought this was a good idea!

Rainbow and Sky

We had a break in the basement project and dyed some Bare Superwash Roving from KnitPicks.  We used Jacquard dyes. 

Two different rovings and two different colorways.  The first a rainbow series and the second, the sky in gradated blues. 

After a bake in the oven to exhaust the dye, we let it cool and used the salad spinner to well, spin out the water from the roving! 

Both of the rovings fully exhausted!  Hooray! 

We set them on the deck railing and let the sun dry them for us! 

Oh, so pretty! 

While we waited for them to dry, Marsel bent my arm to get to work on this project that I keep putting off.  It is from Eli's car seat that I recovered back in January!  It was fiddly and frankly I lost my mojo for it but it needed finishing.  All of my words to 'tackle such monster projects head on' that I have given to my daughter came bouncing right back to me full force;  she rather enjoyed blasting them my way!   I did it. And it turned out great! 

She knew I could do it and how wonderful it would be to have it done an ready to use!  

 And the rovings....well, they make your heart sing!

Rainbow and sky both.  Now to keep the cats off them...they love them for quite another reason!

Painting and Waiting

We began the day painting in the dungeon basement with primer which was applied to both of the outer walls which are concrete.  Then we had to wait 4 hours before adding the color coat. 

While we had to wait, Marsel did administrative work for her HOA while I got to play with the kids!  We picked out our fabrics and got to work. 

We did it!  The little pouch is finished in just a little bit of time! 

The zipper installation is a breeze;  even a kid could do it!

David enjoys a very good sew, too.  He says he is going to keep stones for his sling shot in his! 

Yup, it turned out great!  

The pattern is  here.

There is a ton of potential for this pattern and you will see it in my future!  

It sure was wonderful to play with the kids!

Here is a glimpse of the basement....

Just wait for the final unveiling....soon now!

Working Hard

In between the real work in the basement, there are still the regular chores to household running to be done-the cats add pleasure to each task!  She helped me each step even while putting them away! 

The guys have to help with the big stuff-lifting such weight is beyond our capabilities, though we do push the limits to get the job done! 

Mindy helps with the boxes of sorting and throwing away....a few treasures are staying like this book.

(I like the old lady who knits!) 

After a bit of basement work, we had to head to Abigail's casting appointment.  She has to have these series of casts for 3-4 weeks in the Spring and Fall to correct the affects of CP  to straighten her foot.

She is a trooper at all the medical appointments she has in her life!

Here is her fashionista walking boot to go over the cast.  One week of this cast then her mom removes it for a 24 hour rest and then back to the dr to get the next one for another week.  They pull her foot and straighten it a bit more each casting.  It is working great;  they have done this several times over the last 18 months and we see grand progress.

Here she is giving me the 'but Grandma' look when I said I wanted a pic of her, too, not just her foot!  She likes being behind the camera and not in front of it like me.

In the midst of all the comings and goings, we celebrated Bruce's birthday and then took off for church!  Never slow around here! 

I am making progress on sock #2....I did have  a bit of a setback and had to rip back " after the toe because I lost my place in the pattern and couldn't make it work no matter what.  Back to the drawing board was a good decision.  I only have another night's knitting and I will be done!