A New Yarn

 A silk sari 'yarn' to knit on large needles.

Not so easy on the hands but the color sure is a right and proper fix for me!

I don't know but what I will rip this out and start knitting from the bottom up and then I can go around and around until I run out of yarn instead of hoping I will have enough to do all the decreases!

This is the ball of silk all wound up and the instructions that came for this month's kit from the DarnGoodYarn Company. 

 It's nice to be pushed from your knitting comfort zone!

Chaos Rules....

 They clean up well!

 And we have a new house guest-they boy's have their cat with them again!

He has adjusted very well and there has been very little trouble with the others having him here!

 And at bedtime, he found his boy!!

Abigail and Grandpa went fishing together and she caught 5 Brim!  Happiness is!

Now my Georgia Peaches are on their way home and the dust will settle and routine (what's that?!)

will commence....along with court appearances and every child's agency you can imagine-no kidding here, I'm talking about KFF, DCF, CPS, CPT, GAL, CAG  and I expect the FBI any day now.....

Shed Transfer

 When you have a free shed....

and it sits here but you want it there...

 you place it on old telephone poles so they work like timber skids...

 and pull it with the tractor....

 a few hundred feet away and park it just so.

This is a guy plan-because the sill needs replacing and so does the soffet and the back wall

 and the inside is filled with junk

 but they tell me it will be cheaper than just building a new one;

but I doubt it!

(My Dad will have this rebuilt and painted in a week-

he used to have it done in a day or two

 but being in his eighties has slowed him down a tad!)

 So when I wasn't watching boys or sitting in waiting rooms-I was knitting!

Mindless,

 take you mind off where you are and what you are doing,

 knitting to be exact!

Just in time for the north wind to blow and send us to our woolens again!

All in Stride....

 I started the DarnGoodYarn kit from last month when I received the shipping notice that the new one is on its way!  I am doing the plant holder pattern that came with the yarn otherwise I will keep the skein and do nothing with it! So far , so good....I-cord is next!

 I am hearing the peck/knock, knock every morning when this pair comes up from the lake out back!

 Once he sees me, he backs up and moves out to the grass where I pour the cracked corn.

 They take turns eating and then move on.   I love that kind of early morning visitors!

 This is my daughter enjoying some morning play time with the boys!

And the other  day, the Fernandina Beach cousins came to play!  Littlest guy was down for a nap and missed the goodbye photo session!

Bowled Again!

 I wanted to replace my own bowl which was my first practice piece

 because it was made of polyester rope not cotton; 

 it was flimsy in comparison to the 'real' bowls I made my daughters for Christmas.

I enjoyed it even though it took several days of sewing to arrive here! 

 I used 75' to make this bowl.

To add the color, I used a variegated quilting thread for the top

 and white in the bobbin-I like the two toned look it achieves!  

There!  It is on the table and holds its shape much better now! 

 I will be making a yarn bowl size next! 

 I am hoping for a bit of a chance to show my daughter how to make a bowl while she is here!   

 This is what the freezing temperatures do to my front circle garden-

the agave plant survives and so does the jasmine (to the left of the agave) 

but all of the other flowers are knocked back to naught.

Most will come back from the root but it will postpone the early flowers we usually enjoy all winter!

 The knotweed and the turk's cap will be attracting butterflies but a bit later this year, too.

It is a lot more work to cut them all back and then take care of all the dead branches!

 We had more sunshine and outdoor play with the kids but not out in the pool area where we languished in the sunshine on Monday.  

Finally, the men came to replace the shredded screening!!!  The hurricane that ripped all the screening from the frame was back in September!  

 It will be so nice to have the area pest-free and leaf free again!

 One plant that has flourished during this cold spell is the Camellias!  Every bush (we have 7) is loaded with buds and blooms!

 The blooms are so thick and healthy.

We have several varieties and each one is such a welcome burst of color with the dead all around them!  If only they smelled like roses....

Fish

 Catfish for dinner tonight!

David broke the curse of catching nothing while fishing with Grandpa!

In fact, he wants it recorded, he caught the biggest two fish!

 Younger grandsons were duly impressed with the catch, too.

My daughter always brought me the first daffodil from our field at the farm

 when she was growing up; 

 she brought me daffodils this visit-what a wonderful memory sparker!

Can you see my granddaughter between the daffodils? 

 It was a happenstance photo bombing!

No Fog!

 The temperatures have been all over the place but today will be warm out-high 70's finally.

We will all enjoy it and thaw out!  

I am not in a fog over my knitting-the left front is finished 

and I am well on my way through the right-

I think this thing will be off the needles and on my back by the end of the week! 

knitt I hope I will be overdressed!

Equipment

Tools of the grandmother/nurse.

A Savor Saturday!

  

I cleaned and laundered and vacuumed and swept and took care of piles and played and at nap time...

I played at arranging the LeMoyne Star rainbow blocks!

I had some rules-outside had to stay in order (you can only see three sides here)

but the middle blocks I slid into their neighbors spaces so it wasn't vertical stripes!

Now throughout the week-weeks-I can stitch the blocks togther!

And in between Legos and watching Lil Bear on YouTube, 

I worked on a cotton rope basket for me.

A thoroughly wonderful day!

I Give Up

 Here's my vest front.......again.  I ripped it out. 

 I admit it;  sometimes your bright idea is just a bust.

 I thought I had worked out the problem of the sides not matching from this self-striping yarn,

 if I made the two fronts separately.   

Knitting them together had it's own problems. 

 It got worse when I had to split for the v-neck 

and still use two balls of yarn to knit the two top parts of the front.

I gave up and knit it as the pattern designer calls for-two individual fronts. 

 The stripes won't match at the side

 but I promise myself not to look at the side seams in a mirror!

At least the fronts are knitting up faster on half as many stitches!

And I am still using the short rows on the garter tabs 

so they don't make them draw in so I can say I've learned a lot from my mistakes 

and I still like the colors 

so I just might get through this pattern without having a bonfire!

Tonight is the first time that Nyki (on the right)

has allowed Lena to join us.

Usually it is 'whoever got on my bed first' got to stay there

and the second-comer had to jump back down.

I just might be feeling better about things.....

It Looks Like This

 This is what 25*F looks like outside

and this is what it looks like inside!

Mitts 'n Strokes

 Another pair of the Tough & Toasty mitts off the needles

-these use such a small amount of sock yarn,

 that they fit the scrap sock yarn category for projects! lol

 While the boys tore around enjoying the bit of sunshine warmth the afternoon brought us,

I put the foreground sea oats into my painting.

 I had taken this picture while squatting down in front of the dunes before the beach. and knew someday I was going to paint it!

That day has come!

(Just in time, too, because my art teacher wants me to put this one in the gallery show this Friday.

It's up to me to list it for sale or not-that was an easy call for the watercolor paintings,

 except for a few of them, in particular , the architectural ones.

I could always do a series and paint this one again, right?

But my first painting?!!!!

That might be tough to part with.)

No Shirring!

I'm clipping right along on the second time around front

for the vest.

The garter center band lays nice and flat now;

it is even with the stockinette neighbors of both sides of the garment.

I think it's what our country needs right now-

just the right amount of regular short rows!

Uninvited Guest

 Jack Frost needs a new home!  His visits here are no longer welcome!

 The vest front drew in too much along the garter front 'band' and so I ripped it all out.

When a friend saw the knitting, she said she loved the shirring along the middle. 

It's not supposed to be shirring, said I.  Well, maybe it will block out?

No, it's acrylic-it will look just as it does now....

RIPPIT!

It is a nice knit and now I can do it all again!

Art Class Delights!

 This is my first foray into acrylic....it was a wonderful time at class with my daughter-in-law!

I painted this from a photo I took 3 years ago.  I have the grasses and sea oats to paint in the foreground but I wanted to practice those thin strokes on paper first!

Cassandra painted this amazing scene in class and did just a few adjustments when she got home!

I loved the new medium and will look forward to lots of art time this year!!!!