LATEST SOCKS

The newest sock on the needle is a fun jacquard yarn from Premier;  it is a 75% superwashwool/25% polymide. 

 It has a nice halo on the wool. 

 I  had grabbed some #3 needles in error,

 I usually use #1's but since it was all I had with me in the car,

 I knitted away and then I reallly liked the fabric. 

 Just right for a pair of in-the-house socks for a guy!

 

USING UP YARN!

 Another hat--a slightlly different number of rows

 and added a tag to shake it up!  

Made from worsted acryic.

Look what I have been picking each day--a Satsuma orange which was named for the area just 10 minutes north of me where they were legendary until the big frosts of the mid-1900's and again in the 1980's which did the groves in.  

You can still buy them for your yard--and even though we only planted this one last year only last year, it produced a bumper crop for me to eat!  They peel like a tangerine, taste deliciously sweet and juicy like an orange and have hardly any seeds! 

 I'll be glad to eat one for you today!

QOV FINISH!

The mystery QAL from QuiltyGirl concluded recently 

and I finally managed a finish myself!

I made so many mistakes, I almost despaired of ever completing this one but I took a lot of deep breaths and ripped out and then sewed it back together too many times to mention!

  But when I put those borders on, 

I was thrilled!

I will get this loaded on the frame later this week!

 

SOCKS ON SUNDAY

Signs of December are showing up in the yard; 

 I will include one a day all week! 

 This is a poinsettia we have managed to keep alive

 since last year!  

The red is just beginning to emerge as a 'flower'!

And the watermelon socks are completed! 

 These were a very enjoyable knit--I have new socks on the needles already, I am glad to say!

 

AND JUST WALK AWAY

I wanted to spend time in the studio first thing in the morning yesterday but I kept making mistakes!  I sewed all of the sashings together without any problems but I sewed one strip on upside down and then after ripping it all out, I sewed the wrong row to next and had to rip that out!  I decided it was better to walk away and start fresh tomorrow!  

I did manage to finish this block--it reminds me of Celtic knots!  But if you look closely to the top garter rows you will see they are a bit off on the color.  Yup, the two skeins that I ordered were of diffeerent dye lots and I have no more.  I might just knit another block in the full skein now but I couldln't think about it last night.  My start and finish were a bit rough! lol

Here's to a new day and better adventures!

 

THANKSGIVING

Our day yesterday went off without a hitch-

very relaxing and filled with laughter and love.

(proof that I can bake-pies are a once a year event! lol)

And here is the nonsense of trying to fit us in a selfie!

Leftovers and quiet for today's agenda!

 

THANKFUL DAY!

All the baking is finished and the meal prep is done so that tomorrow can be stream-lined to give us the most time to enjoy the get-together part of a big meal!  I even had time to sit and do some knitting on the newest block .  This one was a tough one;  it has a 40 row repeat and is not intuitive but that just made we want to stick with it so that I could get results like this!  What a good knit!

Have a wonderful day today whether your Thanksgiving crowd is large or small.  I am thankful for each one of you who read and respond and interact on this blog!  

 

THE WRONG TURKEY

We have a different kind of turkey visiting us today!  I've never seen them inspecting the dropped seeds under the bird feeders!  It made me think of  Araignee's friendly vulture!

I did a lot of cleaning (floors mostly because living on sand, there is a lot carried in by man and beast!) and resting in turn yesterday so I was ready to do the kitchen duty baking today. 

 I did make these small bowl Koozies to give my guests on Thanksgiving.  I like them for holding my ice cream dish 

so I don't get cold hands while eating

 and I thought others would like these, too!

They are a nice size for small bowls!

I hope you are having a good time preparing for tomorrow's feasting with friends and family.

EVEN WHEN i'M DOWN...i'M KNITTING!

When my schedule gets too busy...my body rebels. (MS) 

 If I don't listen, I get dropped like a rock!  Usually a few days of staying in bed is what is required.  I no longer fight it because that only prolongs the down time!  Anyway, I have been in bed but I sure am glad I can knit!  I have a sock ready to begin the gusset, a sweater almost to the bottom ribbing, a little mitt done and its mate is soon to join it!  And most of all, I like whipping off a hat and then enjoying the finishing work with hands on quiet work.  This one now has a faux cable braid with a variation.

I ran down a stitch on the top layer like I have been doing but this time, I ran one down the inside to match stopping at the 'brim' line.  Then I crochet three strands together of the top layer and slip stitch up three strands from the bottom layer to alternate the color.

The hat looks like this on the inside.  Still neat and unosbructed.

 The inside and brim are different colors because I am still using up all of the colors I can in my stash

--I have used up so many skeins! 

 It's a great way to rest and still create!

As of today, Tuesday, I hope to be up enough to get some baking done and set up a cooking-game-plan for Thanksgiving.

  I'm having family here, just a smaller number than last year!  

Which will be just what my body ordered!

QUILT, KNIT, REPEAT

I managed to stitch all of the star blocks together and even added borders!  When looking for the borders, I found a large enough chunk of fabric to use for the backing--that doesn't happen too often anymore because I have used up the larger pieces !

And look, another cable braided hat is off the Sentro.

I  used only half of the skien for this hat so another one in a different contrast color will happen.  And I have one more skein of the worsted Muse yarn to use for 2 more hats. Nice to know that the variety of yarns work well with this machine! 

SOCKS ON SUNDAY

The watermelon fruits socks are half done!  What a good knit!  None of the drama from the last pair I knit-- this one made me glad to knit socks again!

And then I knit another braided cable hat on the Sentro 

and sewed on the label tabs.  I am so enjoying making these! 

 I played yarn chicken on the pink Muse but it worked out to my favor by 5"! lol  I have purple set aside for the next  one!

And for the record-we started our first fire in the fireplace yesterday!  We have had several mornings in the 40's and it looks to be cloudy and cooler all week.  The fires just takes the chill out of the house!

 

FOLK-STYLE BEANIE

I watched a YouTube to add a bit of pizz-zazz to the dropped stitch cable (adding another color with a single stitch to secure each loop-group) and then I thought it would look good if I added a chain stitch at the line of the color change! 

 I think it is a very sweet look.

 The inside of the hat is the brim color-the rest of the skein of yarn from yesterday's hat.  I thought it was 'I Love This Yarn' but it was a skein of Vanna's Choice in Silver Heather.  

The pink is another skein of Muse and this time, I used only half so I can make another one similar to this!

YARN PURCHASE

I finished the last two blocks this top needed

and now I just need to stitch them together!

This is Muse yarn from KnitPicks, I finally tried it on the Sentro knitting machine and it worked beautifully!  I lined the hat with grey in I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby.

I had bought the Muse on sale thinking it was sock yarn-three different skeins of it!  I ordered it in the evening-note to self to pay better attention but it is worked out okay; 

the yarn is gorgeous and so is the hat!

FOUND WOOD EXCITEMENT!

Bill and I noticed a pile of wood chunks that someone had left after removing this tree from in the road after the last Hurricane.  Since it was a tree we didn't recognize and the color of the inside wood was light colored--Bill knew what I was thinking and offered to stop and put some in the truck for me!

I mean, look at this wood!  It is fresh wood-not rotten or dried from laying down for a long time!

Some of the chunks were large 

but some he stocked in the truck were smaller, too.

If you recognize the bark or the wood, let me know!

I saw a new way to make a scrubby from nylon netting;  This is two sided and extra nylon is stuffed between the laters to add some oomph!  I will try a smaller hook and make several more to perfect my technique but I like the idea of beefing up the single layer scrubby!

 

SOCKS ON TINY NEEDLES!

 The only tiny needle work I've done recently has been this pair of socks!  There is a very fun array of yarn 'prints' in the Fruits category of the Premier yarns.  It is acrylic but feels very much like the weight and texture of woolen yarn.  A great choice for those who don't like to wear wool.  I love knitting the repeat-a nice way to make going round and round even more fun!

WONDERFUL WOOD!

My son called to say he had trimmed a branch off of his Birch tree and did I want it?  Well, I hate to turn wood down so he brought it saying it wasn't large.  No problem to me--there are so many projects from a 4' branch even--like a vase!  In no time, the green wood which cut so easily, became a vase.  It is about 8" tall and has a diameter of 3 1/2".  I hollowed it out about 1 1/2" wide so it makes the neck nice and thinly wooded.  The best part of this wood-it didn't split when I left it until the next day to finish!

I thoroughly enjoyed this lathe work--see the branch in the back ground?  I have plans for the crotch of wood section and then each of the straight sections will become a box, another vase and even a candlestick holder--in which I have fond memories of Christmas decorations made from this tree.  (Note, this is not a white Birch tree which grows in the North--this is called a River Birch that has beige bark that peels and curls but a bit differently than the White Birch.  The inside is still gorgeous!)

 

HARVESTING

I didn't pick these gourds, but I did make them! 

 I made these on the knitting machine using dropped stitches to make the chain cables.  The smaller one is about 4 1/2" and from the 40 needle machine and the larger one from the 48 Sentro is 6" tall. 

 I want to make a bunch more in grey now!

Aren't these guys sweet? 

 The are 2 1/2" tall--little octupi, in case you wondered!

The loufa is ready for picking, skinning and using! 

 I didn't have to wade into the wet area to pick it 

but I did step in an ant's nest and did a bit of a frantic

 jig to get rid of the millions (well, maybe 100) ants!

  Gratefully, I had sneakers on 

and wasn't in flip flops for a change!!!!

Bill did have to wade out a bit to pick this bunch of bananas! 

It is a very large bunch 

which he will take to church today to share with others!

A GOLF CART RIDE

First thing we had a drive to church-me to help decorate for our church anniversary celebration on Sunday--37 years!  After a good pizza lunch and a few errands, we were home and took a ride on the golf cart to see how the back of the property fared.  This is the cassia in bloom.  A bit flattened but still blooming!

I think this view would make a good puzzle!  

If you look dead center, you will see the egret which has moved in!

We also found this lady quite a ways from the pond to lay eggs....she is a Painted Turtle. About 15" across her shell.

There's still quite a bit of yard pick-up happening but again we are thankful not have been in the cross hairs of that hurricane!

 

BUSY IN A HURRICANE (NICOLE)

We woke up to wild and crazy weather--winds 30-40mph but only 3" of rain.  It sounded like more rain but it was blowing horizontally so it didn't measure! lol  We had no major damage and having Bill here made the stress level near zero!  I played in the morning machine knitting some hats and even some Pokemon Pokes.

How's this for a good idea for the furry pom-poms which have elastic to attach them--add a button for it to hang onto and this way you can still  take it off for washing!  They sell fancy buttons, too, and I am thinking it would be a good idea because they have instructions to detach the pom for laundering.

A bit later in the day, I played with some resin jewelry.  A real shark's tooth is now encased in resin and a watch face that belonged to my Mom ages ago-

and even the back with all of the gears is visible! 

 The SteamPunk in me loves it!!!!

This is a new shark's tooth in the mold.  It has to sit for 12 hours before I can remove it and trim the edge so it isn't sharp;  I use my dremel with a sanding wheel on it.  This is a high quality resin that stays clear--I was so disappointed with the resin I used years ago--it turned dull and opaque instead of staying clear.

Brilliant Windows has great tutorials and products!

I even finished the conversion of these real stamps into pendants!  A nice day to celebrate some wild weather!