Two Steps Forward and one leap back......

The weaving is going great!  It is such a joy to be able to weave and get the warping over with!!!!

This is a lace pattern and it is well, lacey!

Nyki jumped up here and tried to act nonchalant over and over!

I have a quilting project on the frame  for 6 weeks but I have been frozen over the decision of what design to quilt.  After such success on the loom, I thought, "Now, enough is enough! You can do it!"  I did!  I worked for half an hour and then when I rolled the quilt forward for the next section, I saw this.............wretched loops.  I forgot the cardinal rule when on a new project-do a little and check the back so you can make tension corrections. In my zeal, I didn't check the back.  I turned off the machine and walked away.  Back to the weaving and will rip out the stitching on another day.........

U N D O I N G is Progress, too!

If I could, I would post a video of me going backwards and you would have a good idea of what I have been up to!

I ripped out the orange shawl!  I had only 4 rows to go until completion but it was bugging me.  I didn't like the variegated stripe in the middle rows.  I ripped it all out and put the variegation in the beginning stockinette area and now am knitting the lacey rows with the plain orange.  I am much happier with it!  I also changed my needle size-went up from a 7 to a 10 1/2.  It is a much more open knit now and better for a shawl.  Bill thought I was crazy but I knew I wasn't pleased with the feel ( and look ) of the project so it just had to go.  The pattern is very interesting knitting so I didn't mind doing it again! 

Play out a similar scenario for my weaving!  I thought I could make some changes to the threading of the shawl on the loom but as soon as I began to weave, my beginnerness sure made its presence known!!!!  I had to unthread the whole thing and am slogging through the rethreading of 262 ends!  I think I will begin the actual weaving this afternoon!

Just Knitting Around, Mostly

                                             

I finished the handspun Finn wool socks.

I started a new triangle shawlette (Travelling Woman) now featured on Ravelry as a KAL.  I am using some Coopworth handspun and dyed yarn.  It is a fast knit after working with the laceweight yarns! 

The Beauty Bushes are looking, well, just beautiful!

The Pogoda plants are bringing forth rather humble pogoda blossoms after getting hit with the heavy frosts last winter!

The pineapple is small but ripening just the same!

A new project is on the warping board.  It is from the latest HandWoven magazine.  To the loom for warping next!

Another Moving Day

We drove to Lake City and enjoyed another moving day with Matthew and Caleb!  (This makes 6 in the 2 1/2 yrs we have been in Florida!!! but who is counting!)  They left Caleb's apartment and moved to a house.

 It is only 15 mins from the apartment so there was time for lots of trips!  (And the house is now 15 mins closer to us-which whittles the trip down to 1hr and 45 mins!)  Bill had fixed an old mower to bring as a house warming gift-good thing because it hadn't been mowed for a month! 

Smiles of triumph because this is what they did to Caleb....

What fun we had and it got even better when Marsel and the kids joined in the fun! 

She always misses the big moving events and wanted to join in on this one!  So glad she did!

Sure was nice to have another woman to share the cleaning jobs with! 

The laundry room was so big and cheery-we had to work asking forgiveness for the coveting it invoked!  (The wood on the washer/dryer was Bill's project-he broke the entertainment table and was trying to make amends!!!)

A time for snuggles and wrestling in the new, large, livingroom!

Abigail wanted to stake out her space in the spare bedroom!

After a pizza treat, Bill and I got home late last night-satisfied but exhausted!

I didn't get much done on my second sock but it is on the needles......

Nyki is glad to have me home and is sticking close this morn-this is how she sits with me in the computer chair!

Short and Sweet

A sock out of handspun Finn wool, number 2 needles and a new pattern from Wendy Johnson's book Socks from the Toe Up.  Fast knitting, pleasing knitting.  One down and one to go.......

Conclusions.....

I have finished the Pi shawl for my daughter!  It only took me 6 weeks this time.(My first pi shawl took a year!)  This one is a pattern from MMarioKnitsYahooGroup and my first of his patterns ; this one is called Queen of Heaven.  I used a skein of Skacel Merino Lace in grey, 1375 yds and I used most of it.  It looks good unblocked........

....better even while blocked.....

...and amazing when it is all finished!  (It blocked out to 58"across)

I did get a  little nervous while binding off when the skein was dwindling like this!  But I kept at it--lace knitting makes me courageous!

I bought some new webbing when we went to town yesterday so I could finish 3 more plastic bag totes.  These are a satisfying weave in every color I choose!

And because I needed the flannel backed tablecloth to block out the shawl, I finished up the disappearing 9 patch blocks that were nestled safely in its folds.  I pieced the blocks and added the borders.  Now I just need to clear off the quilt that is still sitting on the frame.  I have a bad case of quilter's block and now that I am on another roll of finishing up projects, will hopefully come up with a game plan and get it executed!  I do not have a deadline on the quilt on the frame (for a friend) so maybe I should set one myself and get it in gear!

Nyki likes the quilt right where it is!  (She does not like it when I get the camera out and usually gives me the flat ear look!)

****(I do not call Nyki to come when I am taking pictures........she just feels it is her responsiblity to appreciate each 'ta-da' I lay out!)

PS to Uninvited Guest

This is one of the stray cats that visit........very sweet, very shy.

This picture is of a racoon!  A large, bold racoon not a cat!

(I could see by the comments that I gave the wrong impression!)

Uninvited Guest

If you look closely, you can see that feeding our cat outside, as he prefers, has its pitfalls.  We noticed several stray cats that have adopted our house because we had a bowl of dry food on the porch for Bling.  We had a bag of dry food that neither of the cats liked so we put it out front for a treat for all of them and to get rid of it.  Our motion detector put the spotlight on this guy!  The picture is a bit primatic because I took it through the front door's fancy window-Bling is just out of view watching this big guy eat away.  So much for a 'good' idea.

I have a new warp on the loom.............ahhhh, plastic bag totes in some new colors.  This one is more greys/silvers but it does have a bit of blue highlights and the camera really picked those up!  Browns and pinks go on next.

Dishtowels, Etc.

I finished washing, drying and hemming the dishtowels.  I even made two dishcloths to match.  Now that they are washed, the pattern that I didn't see when I wove according to the instructions, is very visible.  I do like the part I free-wove without using the white cotton for tabby; it is more color saturated.( I used one main color and used a contrast color for the tabby and then on the next colorblock I moved the contrast color to the main color and added a different color for tabby.  I worked out well)

 One is in the drawer and the other towel is hanging on my stove waiting to be of service. 

My HalcyonYarns order came with more 8/2 cotton.  (Two colors were on backorder but I have it to look forward to!)

I will attempt to make some more towels after I make some more of my plastic bag totes on the loom. 

My husband surprised me with a 'bouquet' of blue bags he had found on the side of the road when on an errand!  They were clean and unused and he knew it would thrill me (it did) because blue has been a hard color to find!  I will be using the orange with this blue to make some 'Gator (Gainsville University) fan bags!

I am making progress on the lace shawl-on the outher diamonds......I will be repeating these last 10 rows to make the shawl a bit wider for my tall daughter.  I am so glad to have this to savor-it has gone very quickly compared to my first pi shawl-if you remember, that one took me a year to finish because I got bogged down.  I have hit my stride with this one!  (In fact, I am looking forward to my next one!)

Pouting....

I have never liked being a rookie at things. If I can't be good at it, I tend not to give it much more of my time. (I can thank my Dad for this philosophy!) So I am good at some things and I do them often. I can see it in my head and make it happen. When I see it in my head and can't make it happen, I admit it, I pout; and then work harder to try again. It started with an ad from CottonClouds. A beautiful set of towels. I finally sent in the order (I was miserable about the the price I paid for a pair of kitchen towels......)

BUT, these are the colors when the kit came.........nice but not the blues/browns I expected. I goofed while threading, I goofed when winding the colors on the bobbins and to say I goofed while weaving would be an understatement. I did what I usually do when something beats me-I pour my rotten attitude into manual labor! (I can thank my Mom for this philosophy!)

I clean, organize and SCRUB! I have been tackling the stucco smeared windows of the house and making them shine!

Yesterday I finally had a better outlook on the weaving. I pretended I was my own student and gave myself lots of freedom to explore color (even different ones than expected) and how they look on the warp. I changed the order of the treadlings and just had fun. I didn't worry about wasting money, or thread or time. I wove. Boy, did I have a better time in the weaving chair than I have in a week! No instructions, no expectatioins-just a good attitude and a 'what if' kind of curiousity. Who would think you could learn so much from a pile of threads!

I didn't buy a pair of kitchen towels, I bought a lesson, an experience, a thrill! Who knew....

A Visit

Caleb came for a visit.......he is always fun to have around! He and his Dad went to the music store together when our planned boat ride got rained out. His guitar has needed some fine tuning and repair since before we moved and they got it done!

Nyki thought the case was more fun! She wasn't at all sure of the sounds Caleb produced on the guitar but did like watching him.

It was only a bath........

One souveniour from taking our cats up North , was Bling,the outdoor cat, giving Nyki, the indoors cat, an infestation of fleas! All the snuggling together, and riding in the car both on my lap all day produced more than just some bonding time. Nyki has been under the weather all week and so I thought if they both got a bath, it would reduce the flea problem. I usually have to do this to Bling every Fall, which is the worse time for fleas. He doesn't like it but he is so mellow he tolerates it well. I haven't ever given a bath to Nyki and wasn't sure how she would take it. Well, much to my surprise, she did well. Not a sound out of her and she didn't hold a grudge after we were done!

Bling on the other hand, turned into a screaming demon and ripped up both of my hands and forearms! I was shocked! At least the tub was filled with dead fleas and Nyki had an appetite for the first time in days. (Bling holed up in the garage until he was his usual fluffy self and did forgive me later in the day!)