ORDER AND REORDERING!

I have a request for 10 hats for men who are homeless. 

 I made two hats so far-both reversible.

The one on the left is red, white and navy 

and the other in teal, blue and turquoise.

Most of the day I spent cleaning and rearranging--Bill and I moved beds, rearranged and cleaned three bedrooms! 

 I am tired but in a good way!

  I am enjoying the January declutter bug!

 

NAILED IT!

After church today, I stopped at Home Depot 

and bought some Behr Marquee paint in the color I thought

 I had picked out back in March! 

 Since I had the paint and a friend to paint it,

 I just went with it at the time

 but I haven't been thrilled with missing out

 on the sage green I wanted. 

 Well, this is the color I wanted and it's perfect.  I painted all day and will have the sore muscles tomorrow

 to prove it but I LOVE IT!  

Then in the evening I knit on the second sock, turned the heel and knit the ankle.  I am ready now to begin the leg ribbing. 

 I head to help Mary put the binding on her quilt today 

and I will bring the sock to work on while she stitches on the quilt!

 

Alien?

Isn't this so pretty and yet unusual?!  

This is a sea urchin shell with an air plant glued to the bottom.  It is a birthday gift and just too perfect!

I have it hanging in the kitchen where it will get some humidity--I didn't want it to be hidden in the bathroom--maybe later on but I am enjoying it too much just now.

Bill has been doing a project almost every day--little things that need doing in the house;  here he is adding a timer to the hot water heater in my pantry.  

We will see if we save money by having the water heater turned off every night while we sleep.  I will let you know if our electrical bill goes down. 

See the contented kitty? 

I spent hours in the studio with her yesterday!  

I made hst's and trimmed and trimmed.....I prefer to trim after sewing it larger than needed to get accurate blocks instead of sized with a wing and a prayer!

so I could build some blocks for a table runner.

Soon I had two blocks sewn completely and the other four mostly pieced!  I will finish it today is the plan!

And I finished the other mitt--well, actually, I knit the other one again and made one to match--I used a smaller needle for a tighter fabric which works better.  Now I can send both pairs of mitts to youngest son and wife!

Damage Control

I hung all of my Christmas cactuses in the hanging pots in my arches-

they are so pretty!

Bill has the garland up on our gates now, too. 

 It looks festive but even better at night!

See what the frost does-wipes out whole sections of our bushes--

this is the Turk's Cap.

And good thing the butterflies are all gone because the Knotweed bush is knocked back to nothing-I pruned it back to several feet is all and it will take a few years to get this large again!

Into the sewing room first thing today!  I want to finish up the map panel quilt so I can load it up on the frame-as soon as I finish my holly leaves on the one on there now! lol

BTW, the knitting with a friend was a wonderful time!

Day Trip

 

 Here is part of the new dining set-we ran out of day to set the rest up!

 The man we bought it from, owns a pizza shop so, of course, we stopped by to check it out!

He had told us a bit about the building-he did this whole wall with stained glass,

 the next section of the building was all mosaic ....and on it went!

It was threatening rain so unfortunately we couldn't do a proper exploration!

The floor was all coins-covered in resin to keep them in place.

 And each of the tables on the inside were covered with mementos also secured under resin!

See the old doilies and pot holders?!

Amazing glimpses all -we really rubber necked on the way in to the take-out window!

And when I got home (hours later because we had a bit of an argument with the Garmin and went the wrong way!)  this package of yarn was in the mail!

Lion Brand Wool Ease worsted hand dyed yarn!

I can't wait to turn it into some hats!

Pretty Pinks

 What a powerful/beautiful sunset we enjoy out our front yard!

It put a rosy glow all around my home!

 The camellias are still going strong with blooms... 

....the ground is covered with their shed blooms.

And all three of my orchids are putting up their bloom spikes!  Yippee!

Friday Finishes

 Fresh from the production line-a new Water Oak bowl.  This one, too, is made from a burl.

It was very hard/dense wood at this spot!  I learned so much more on this one!

 I am finishing the bowl with Shellac to give it a hard seal to the wood.

It will be interesting to see what the grain looks like when it's dried!

 My bowl wasn't the only finish for this Friday!  

May I present a paved driveway!

I'm thrilled!  

(This is looking from my living room toward the road.)

 I added the cut borders but didn't do any piecing yet..today will most likely see that done.

 Here is something else I am thrilled with--a new toddler hat!

The tassel gives it a perfect finishing touch!

 The back of the hat is seamed and the I-cord goes around the neck and ends as ties.

A really nice pattern called Tanager by Berroco.

 I enjoyed knitting it so much, I have already begin a new one!

And I cast on for the textured Irish Knit but more on that tomorrow!

Cleaning up; Post-Dorian

 The front porch has been reorganized, cleaned and thinned down--it is easy to get too many pots

along the long walk and it closes in on me!  

Tomorrow, I will begin to weed the garden in front of the porch--

I have to take advantage of the early morning because the temperatures are going to soar again.

 I did something for the sheer joy of it--I bought a fairy house with a few residents!

I put a little frog inside (figurine not real!) for a surprise.

I set this on the base of a big pot holding my Corn Plant.

 When I was completely exhausted, 

I cooled off in the pool and then came in to knit a pair of mittens!

That is too funny to me!  

I couldn't imagine needing to wear a pair of these any time soon!

I used an acrylic skein for these charity mittens-

 The mittens won't match but will be fun to wear, I think. 

 These will fit a 8-10 year old.

See what I mean!  

I want to see if I can get a pair of mittens and a matching hat from the one skein.

The mittens are style one from a machine knitting course I am doing right now.

It is good to learn something new each week or so!

What have you learned this week?!

Call Me Crazy

 What a long day Thursday was for us!  

It was early visit day which always adds busy to the schedule but this time, I had to stop for lab work, then pick the boys up and meet Bill to shop for a rug to match the new furniture.

It only took two stores but we found just the right one!

It's amazing how light and clean the 'new' room now looks!!!!

 The boys have zoomed their trucks across it-giving it their approval!

Not long after we moved all the furniture back into place, it was time for little guy to take a nap

 and for Boy Wonder and I to head to the doctor's 

so he could have his check-up so he can be ready for school to start! 

 (it's only a few weeks away here! )  

After we came home, we all piled back into the car to head to a 'deal' I found on Craig'sList ....

 ....for a fancy , schmancy knitting machine.  

It will take me a year to get proficient with all this model can do! 

 It knits in the round (hats, mittens, socks, etc!), it knits in Fair Isle, lace and rib to name a few!

It has all the accessories available with this model and plenty of YouTube support!

Stay tuned for more on this adventure!

The boys did great with the long car drive (so did Bill)

because we picked up the buy very south of us,

in fact, in Dee's old stomping ground!

We arrived home, emptied the car, put on pj's and stretched out on the new rug and couch for a good wind down and then headed for bed!

What a day....sweet, successful and satisfying in every way!

Not Sitting Around

 We are making a big change in the family room-out with the old dark brown couch and love seat

and in with the nice light colored furniture! 

 My brother and sister-in-law passed this down to us 

since they have some new furniture.  

We will purchase a new rug now to match; 

 I want a light turquoise tweed-ish one but will have to settle for what I can find, I know that!  Exciting to have an upgrade!

 So there wasn't much time for this but I did work through a few color changes of the roving!

And after I put the boys to sleep tonight, I worked on try #2.

I think I am trying a new attempt tomorrow...I have an idea!  

This is an hour's work.

  A small investment really when compared to knitting by hand.

Hard Labor!

 I have been working for days on this chimney.  

(and my sore throat is back with a vengeance!)

The front is finished and so am I!  

It was so labor intensive-I needed a spa;  if only....

 I put out my tall front door trees....the wreath is also hung there now. 

My Christmas cacti are all in bloom-a wonderful addition to my decor!

 I am really paring back on the decorations this year! 

 Not for reasons of being a Grinch but because of the work!

 Now these are my latest creations with rope-real cotton rope this time!  

(They are both about 10" across and 6' and 8" tall)

   

 After being inspired by Pintrest, I tried a few fancy 'holes' in my side walls.   

     I also experimented with securing the end of the rope when finishing. 

     This basket has grey in the top and bobbin thread for a shadowy grey tint to the basket.

I used only white in this one but played around with the holes. 

 I used only 50' for each basket.

I was thinking they would work for yarn bowls also-and big enough for a few yarn cakes, 

needles and pattern!  I much prefer this kind of 'work' any day!!!