Plans and Unwinds...

 I'm knitting some toddler socks with the left over Pairfect sock yarn 

while I do some math and chart writing! 

 I'm not happy with this little guy since he has decided that 5:20 am is a good wake up time.  

 And then he is tired and grumpy most of the morning!  

I will knit him socks and remember I love him.....

 The Hap for Harriet is no more-I ran out of steam for this one .

So I ripped it out and caked it up!  

Who knows, it might just be another new Leaves Shawl when I get the chart done!!!!

I 💗 FALL KAL SHAWL

 The Silver Leaves Shawlette is off the needles and onto the blocking board!

I knew all along that there wouldn't be enough of the Autumn dyed hand spun wool so that is why this bottom up shawl is a good pattern for this project. 

  I knit up with the colored wool until I ran out 

and then switched to the commercial yarn.

 (Webs Stockbridge in Kiwi, 1 1/2 skeins)  

See the beautiful leaves all along the edge?  

Blocked, this shawl measures 70 "x 14"  Size 8 needles on DK yarn

Meet Autumn Leaves Crescent Shawl!

I am going to knit this shawl again with some major modifications-even more than I did on this first one.   

In the pattern photos, it is knit with some major rookie wrap and turns in the body of the shawl leaving large holes.   

I improved the method of short row stitches for this area of the pattern.  

The designer also decreased too many stitches in the lace section before transitioning to the body of the shawl-

 I left out most of the decreases on this shawl 

and on the next shawl, 

I will not decrease at all.  

I also want the leaf to point down and not up-

a little bit of pattern modification on some graph paper 

and I should be good to go! 

 More to come!

Components

I have had this project on the sewing machine for days! 

 Each wedge that needed to be embroidered required 45 minutes and a LOT of thread.  The instructions said to fill the bobbin with the same thread as the top-

I wish I had just matched it with the same color sewing thread

 because I ran out of the rayon thread 

and had to make some of the wedges with a darker color.  Sigh.

The little leaves are cute.

Everything needed to be trimmed

 and then soaked to remove the water soluble stabilizer.  

(A funny side note; 

 BoyWonder spilled his OJ in the sewing room 

and instead of telling me, he tried to clean it up on his own. 

 He grabbed some of the cut stabilizer and wiped it up

 and then was freaked out when the 'paper towel' began to turn to glop!  

He threw it down on the rug and left it.  

When I came in, I panicked because it looked like one of the cats 

had thrown up her intestines on the rug!

Upon cleaning up, I figured out what happened 

and Will confessed to using one of my paper towels!  

Never boring!)

The first set of gluing went well and I was excited about putting it together!

Unfortunately, the top section was a nightmare!  

I couldn't get the top circles to stay put because the curving of the wedges pulled it away.

I finally got it secured with clothes pins again

but when it dried,  I could see gaps.

It is pretty and it is going to be a  lone pumpkin because this project gets the

"There, I tried that!" award!

10 hours of work to learn a lot.

Another Pumpkin for the Patch!

I do like a quick project and this one flew off the needles! 

Just a little knitting after the stuffing and the I-cord stem finishes him off!

Another little pumpkin for the I 💗 FALL KAL!

That's a Wrap!

 The leg warmer was off the needles......all the ends were woven in and I turned it over and matched it to its mate. 

 Uh, oh.

 I 'remembered' the cast on number of stitches in error. 

 It showed! 

 I cut off the cuff to at least save me the work of knitting one end again and it was the wrong end. 

  I cut off the other, picked up the stitches and began again. 

This happens to knitters;  it's how we handle it 

that separates the novice from the expert.

24 hours later, I have the completed set of mittens and leg warmers

 to go with the hat I already mailed my great-niece 

who just turned 5 months old

 and live up north where they are needing woolens already. 

 Knit with love and in the mail today!

Manly Socks

 The Pairfect Socks are not fool-proof! 

 I realized after I was ready to turn the heel 

that the yellow portion I so 'smart alecky' used instead of wasting 

that they are not the same length 

so one foot has a larger area of yellow on the toe.

 So now my dear son-in-law can tell right from left as he chooses!

The yarn was nice to work with and the patterning is very interesting.

I used 2.50 needles over 72 stitches.

I have this left over which will be just right for a pair of socks for youngest grand.

Pumpking

 KnitPicks had a free pattern for this pumpkin dishcloth. 

 It was a bit fiddly at the bottom but stitch by stitch the pumpkin grew! 

 It doesn't lay flat right now but I have high hopes after it is washed and dried.

Even the back has the purl indents

 that makes this almost reversible on the off side.

It was a good I 💗 FALL KAL !

Oh,My, Yes!

 Uh, huh, now we're talking!

 This is so pleasurable to knit the lace pattern from the bottom of this shawl!  

 It takes a long time to go across a row (355sts) 

but it is easy to remember the 22 st repeat even when it is repeated 18 times!

 Saturday morning is slow and has cartoons!

 I cut out enough pieces to make the 9 blocks

 for the next LeMoyne Star row in pinks this time!

And...another watercolor.

This one is an ode to my Nyki who is going to be 10 years old.

When you are a rookie artist, 

it is good to try all kinds of styles of painting 

so you can find what your own style is.

This is not my usual subject or technique

 but it makes me happy to see her on the wall!

Elevator Down!

 I was not at all enamored of the shawl, Elevations. 

 It progressed too slowly and I was bored; 

 I have so little knitting time that as it is, I am not going to waste it!

 It was a bit of effort to rip it out because of all the yarn twisting along the edge to carry the off color but it wasn't too bad.

 Silver Leaves Shawlette is on the needles 

and though off at a bit of  snag since I read the first chart row wrong

 and had to tink back all 355 stitches,

 I at least zipped through the re-do row the second time. 

 The hardest part so far is finding enough stitch markers to go around all the pattern repeats!

 Here's a box of love-I don't know about you, but these Maple Sugar candies are the best!  

Daughter sent these to me and it is pure love!

  Hmmmmm!

 We've been having great sunsets lately; 

 this is facing east but the sun made these clouds just glow with orange, pink and purple!  Fascinating.

Lena is trying to play with the reigning queen, Nyki, but it is still a bit one-sided after 10 months.  There's hope though-you can see it in her eyes!

Just a Bit

 I managed to finish the quilting on Millie's Shop Hop Quilt of Bridges and Light houses.

 I went with an all over meander-I wish I had done this on mine! 

 It just ties all the prints together.

  I will walk it over to her today!

And look what Boy Wonder discovered--LEGOS!  

As long as we can keep them away from younger brother, we're all set!

Better Than One

 A pair of pumpkins is better than one!

And I think I will be making several more before I am done!

These are done on #6 needles with worsted weight yarn.

 While the little guy throws 'big sticks' into the pond, 

I sit on the golf cart and knit and give verbal acclamation!

I was able to finish one sock of the Regia Pairfect yarn. 

 This is a men's size 10 1/2 with fingering on a #1 needle.

In the Pumpkin Patch-I 💗 FALL

Sometimes it's so good to see a day end.

Today was one of those days....

In a year from now, 

when I pull this knitted pumpkin out of a box

and set it back out on a window sill or shelf, 

will I remember that today was hard and long?

I hope not.

This pattern is available on Ravelry.

You can knit it in any weight yarn.

It's easy and nice to work on when you need something positive

 to show for the space you take up.

Dig out some orange yarn and get to knitting!

Beach Overnighter!

 We took a trip to Fernandina Beach!

  The boys are not the happiest travelers but we made the two hour trip mostly intact!  A visit to the beach calmed all of us!

                           The bigger cousins ran and played in the surf...

                     ...while the youngest kept a good patrol of the beach!

 The grown-ups were on the hunt for sharks' teeth!!!!  

The top of the photo are bits of petrified wood. 

 The bottom row , second in from the left is my first find of a 'palate' of the puffer fish!  

  

 It doesn't look like much in this photo 

but it is shiny like ebony

 and has very specific markings to identify it as such.

 Thank you for the lovely visit beach.....see you at low tide tomorrow!

 We saw this on the walk over the boardwalk.....a gopher tortoise.

 The older kids all climbed up to see him digging...

...... little guy took the easy peek!

 After dinner, the sky looked like this as we prepared for a  campfire.

It looked like a wildfire but it was only the brilliance of a sunset to the west.

Marshmallows over the campfire was the perfect ending to our day!

The best thought as we dozed off.....we are going  back to the beach!