Getting Ready

 My niece is due to deliver soon and so I thought a baby hat and one for big sister was in order!

Machine knit on the LK150 with a picot edge this time!

 I pieced one quilt-I will have to trim the sides to make them straight and then load it up on the frame!

 This one will be pieced next....

...with this one up for third. 

 I will complete these three quilts and then if I still have time, 

I will make more!

Cranky!

 Not as in grouchy but for cranking out tons of these tumbling blocks 

for Christmas quilts for the hospital!

 I have pulled a pile of prints that will work for kids so I can make my 49 pieces for each one.

 I like two contrasting colors but might have to improvise for some of the piles 

when there isn't quite enough of one print.

This is a win, win endeavor;  I use up these piles of fabric 

and the quilts will cheer up an unfortunate child this holiday season!

Next up is the marathon of piecing which should go very quickly with these large

and easily pieced blocks!

No Eyesores!

 Off the frame and ready to be bound!

This is half of the blocks from the Summer Blooms kit from Connecting Threads.

 I used scraps from the fat quarters for a border.

 And at the end of yesterday, I was able to bind it!

I even remembered my little label!

I need to get to work and sew the blocks for the other half of blocks!

Monovision

 There was only 65 stitches left to bind off on the Le'Enveloppe I am making for my oldest

granddaughter so I worked through those bit by bit.

I have to do some more seaming up and then finish the edging when I can see better.

It is not as easy as you think to work with only one eye. 

 Try it for a few minutes and you will see what I mean. 

 A migraine does that to me-both eyes are impaired for the first 12 hours

 and the right eye only for another 18-20.

  It means I work by memory for a lot of things and slowly for all the rest.

This little hat was started by my granddaughter; 

 she will be learning to do machine knitting over our next few visits. 

 I'm hoping I will not have to wait another 6 months before I see her again!

Fresh Start?

 I had many false starts on the Plymouth Yarns pattern for myself;  

First I couldn't get the math right and then when I did and knit 1 1/2" of ribbing 

I noticed the dreaded twist!  

Both were my errors but both have been corrected now and it is clear sailing to the armpits!  (Remember I am turning the pattern upside down 

and making a bottom up sweater and not a top down one!)

And this is what I looked like when slammed with a migraine.

Today I am still wearing my dark glasses indoors.

I am glad it is a cloudy day outside, too.

So much for hitting my week with a ton of energy!

AfterMath Day

 Today is decompression day.....
all family have made it home safely.

I will knit to finish the LeEnveloppe for my oldest granddaughter....

......and I will work at the frame to finish quilting the Summer Blooms lap quilt.

When I am ready to do some sitting, I will work on the 10 half motifs for the Mystical Lanterns.

I am hitting the halfway mark on the fingerless mitts.

The Big Day

 After dinner, the ladies do a craft--old jewelry in a shadow box.  

We used treasured family costume jewelry that is too loved to throw out 

but ones we would never wear. 

 The fixings were removed and then the main piece is glued in place.

  We had a wonderful time picking through memories!

 Just a small glimpse of our group!

 And I learned that the cup  portion hanging down on those ghost fungi have a flower inside!

 See what I mean?!  It has a perfect star!

 Pretty amazing and intricate.

 And as more boat rides took place, they picked a water lily---did you know their stem goes all the way down to the bottom of the pond?!

 And here is a view we never get to see-the bottom of the water lily is beautiful-great inspiration for a sock yarn!

What a magnificent bloom!

A Day for Outside Time!

 Always something new when you take a walk....under the canopy of our LiveOakForest, 

we discovered a rather large area of these 'ghost indian pipe' fungi.

 They have a parasitic relationship with their hosts, the large trees, and feed from their roots!  

 Beautiful and  fascinating!

 And not to be overlooked, we saw this toadstool with a few nibbles taken from his top!

 Some critters love a good mushroom!

Adventure in the shallows...nice to have two strong gondeliers!

(the water is only 6" here which made it fun for the kids and tough for the big guys! lol)

Heartful

I have wonderful distractions here and later today I have two more coming!

Oh, yeah, their parents are here, too!  

And the weather is beautiful!

And a new sweater is on the needles!

(the same pattern as the purple sweater,

I'm just going to try it from the bottom up this time!)

A Clamshell

 After a big project like a sweater, 

it is time to pull out some 'almost but not quite finished' ideas and actually finish them!

No matter how you use this lap blanket-with points up or points....

down, it is a very warm and pretty clamshell blanket!

This is 30" x 40', knit with Vanna's Choice worsted yarn in 7 different colors.

If you search Ravelry with just the word clamshell, you will find a sweater, hat and shawl made from these motifs which are attached as you knit each one-no seaming.  

I used the pattern instructions from Cheryl Burnette over 30 stitches.

Grand Cable!

 The pullover is off the needles, the sleeves have been grafted on and it has been blocked and dried!

 It is now ready to be gifted to my daughter when she arrives for a Thanksgiving visit with family, 

late Sunday night!

The sweater is long and slender just like her!

The back is just the same as the front which is nice and makes the knitting very interesting!

I have purchased yarn to make this for me; now that I have knit this once, 

I know what to expect so I will change things up--I will knit the sweater bottom up this time 

(not top down!), 

I will knit the sleeves on the machine again but when I get to the yoke, 

I will be able to pick up the sleeve stitches and knit the top to the ribbed neck. 

 That's the plan;  

I will cast on today as I sit at a birthday party 

for one of Will's classmates so he can go and be a kid!

STATS;  Granville DK cotton/merino yarn from Webs
               #4 needles
               machine knit sleeves
               Pattern is by Plymouth Yarns, No. 3231

Warmth

Look at this view !

Early morning over Crescent Lake;

when it is a very chilly 44* and the water is still in the 70's!

And hot off the needles last night, one of the sunflower mitts...not blocked but still looking warm;

it might be the only one if I can't find more of the purple background color!

It Works!

One sleeve added and it worked like a charm to graft it to the stitches on waste yarn! 

 I had to seam the sleeve up first-all 144 rows of knitting!

Lena put her paws of approval on the job!

On to the second sleeve-already on the knitting machine and waiting for me to get going!

Splash!

 Another goal was reached when I added the multi-colored border to the Summer Blooms quilt.

Later in the day, I was able to load it on the frame and even work one row of the panto design. 

Birds and blooms matched the light whimsy of the quilt.

I did all the math to work the sleeves for the purple knit pullover;

I am now re-working every two rows for a k2, p2 rib. 

Since this knitting machine works stockinette with the purl side facing you,

I have to rip back a row of stitches and work them manually into knit stitches.

I am getting much more coordinated and speedy on this step with all the practice!

The interesting part of this is that I had to match the gauge 

to the rest of the sweater that I have knit by hand!

Then I have to attach it by grafting it to the live stitches on waste yarn--

the instructions call for picking up the stitches and knitting down to the cuff.

If you remember, that was not a lot of fun to do on the last sweater (brown cardigan, Invariance)

and I wanted to try this blending of hand knitting and machine knitting!!!

Here goes!

And this afternoon-the boys took which might be their last swim for a while!  

The boys say it can't be the last one!!!!