Dabbling in Projects

 Saturday brought the boom truck bright and early to cut down a tree that had died and posed a health risk for residents at the train house!

 After it was brought down, Bill and Dad made short work of it!

 Then, they ripped out another wall in the bedroom and got that insulated and sheet rock up.  On to wall number three!

 I am still a bit under the weather, so I did a bit of spinning-more of my level of activity right now!
I accomplished 278 yards of Romeldale. This fiber is a cross of Romney and Rambouillet and a very soft, cushy yarn results!  Another first fiber for me and it was a great spun - I give it a four star rating!

 Mom brought her completed quilt top over and we loaded it up on the frame so I can quilt the layers together!  Isn't it pretty!?  Now to decide what pattern to work on it!

Sidetracked!

 Bill and my Dad are working in the train house (where my parents stay for the winter, just down the road from us!)  This room was paneled way back in the day and it has dry rotted and crumbled so they are replacing all the paneling with insulation and sheet rock; one wall at a time so as to not disrupt the living quarters too much!  They have one wall finished now!

 Mom has been busy with her piecing and has the main portion of the quilt top assembled and we cut out the borders so she has those to put on now.

 Dad and Mom found this book shelf at a flea market and now their winter book selection has a proper home1

 Will had a wonderful time exploring the train house-Mom and I had a workout following after him!
(He and his mom have been visiting for a few days-I am on another course of meds and feeling a grand improvement-his mom arrived with another round of sickness and we sent her to the doctors which is why we had Will duty!)

 I finished the cowl out of the left over skein of superwash I had spun.

It is blocked and drying and ready to be worn!

Needles and Yarn

Our sandhill crane couple come up to the house every morning to ask for corn and lately the male has been banging on the sliding glass door -it is very loud banging, make you jump in your chair banging!   He is competing with his reflection-getting all bothered about a problem that is just in his head.   I think it is a good lesson for us to make sure that the things that we might rail against all day is really an adversary and not just a reflection of one!

 I have been down with this sinus headache and bronchitis again!  I am on a new course of antibiotics and steroids so the third time will be the charm!  I am getting knitting done at least!   Here is a cowl I am knitting, the one on the cover of the book.   It is a delightful knit.

 I have the second pair of socks done-I sure got a lot of mileage out of this skein of Chroma yarn!

The pattern is written for handspun yarn;  I love the directions, repeat this chart until you run out of yarn!   A perfect way to use up those orphan skeins!  This cowl will match the fingerless mitts I made last month.   The cold temperatures we have been waking up to each morning make the cowl and mitts acceptable wear here lately!

Touching Base

 We picked out some fabric for Mom's latest project, a queen size quilt for her bed down here.

 We got it cut out and started putting the blocks together!

 I finished two Brioche stitch dish cloths!  I want to make a  hat from this now!   I certainly have enough wool!

 Bill found a hassock at a thrift store and I covered it with some left over curtain shade fabric so it plays in the family room better than the green and red plaid!

 Cranking along on the second pair of Chroma socks.

We are using this every morning to take out the chill-we are continuing to play with the 33F mornings!  The fire is a good place to start the day.......

Mom's Shadow

 Mom finished one shadow dish cloth.  Looks like pretty stripes...

and then the moon appears!  We are working away on the rest of our dish cloth skeins to make the two color Brioche stitch for our next dish cloths.  So far, so good!

Knitting Under the Radar

 When a blog friend asks you to knit something for her because she has this idea...I was thrilled to be in on the adventure!  Benita is writing a series of patterns based on the inspiration of geography or travel.

  This is the inside of the sock when I was finished with knitting.  The 'weaving in the ends' thing is a very relaxing part of the process;  the wool holds on to itself and makes a very neat looking inside.

 I put them in to soak, and then laid them out to block!

 The little ends go outside for the birds!

 I placed these on my sock blockers and let them dry. She has the pattern available on her website and on Ravelry as pattern or a kit.  Ramp up your sock skills with this Trip up the Nile sock!!

This is the view from the front.

 Thank you , Benita, for letting me be a part of this adventure!  Where do we go next?!

Shadow Knitting Part II

My trip up to the birthday party included two hours of knitting time.  See how the dishcloth just looks striped?

Until you change your angle of viewing and the secondary design pops out!

I finished the opposite color combination, too.   It is a pretty straight forward knitting and purling design, though it needs a firm knit so use needles 1 size smaller than you normally would for your yarn  (I used a  6 needle instead of my usual 7 for dish cloths).   I have a pair of socks now to tackle with this type of knitting now that I feel comfortable with this concept!

(I will post Mom's FO's when I see her later on........)

Beach and Babies Visit

 We were supposed to have a combined grand babies birthday party in December but with everyone getting sick, we postponed it.  Well today was the day!

The ocean reflected the morning storm.   It was beautiful for us right after lunch and we had a wonderful beach hour.

Ella plops down and plays with the sand-she is content.

 Will on the other hand had to explore.   The water was suspicious......

 ...the birds wouldn't let him catch them either!

 One nice perk of the postponed celebration is that my parents were able to attend!

The kids were fully into the gifts and weren't bothered by all our laughing and encouraging instructions!  The rain moved in as it was time to leave-we had a wonderful time together again!

Shadow Knitting Part I

Let the knitting begin!  Mom and I have our first knitting project on the needles.  This is called shadow or illusion knitting because while it looks like stripes, when you look across it instead of straight on it reveals a hidden pattern.  Very fun in just the right size-a dish cloth!

We are taking this with us for a knitting project in the car while we drive up to visit grand babies!

Refresher Course

 I love trying new stitches out for a dish cloth-it's a great size to learn on and you have something useful when you are finished!  These are done in the Brioche stitch.   I worked on this last year but I did two color in moving stitches and didn't know how to do it with just one yarn.   It was a good refresher especially as I am still so lumpy after the flu-it sure drained me of my usual gumption!

The stitch might look like ribbing but it is ribbing on steroids!  The ridges and valleys are higher/deeper and the thickness is double what k1p1 ribbing would be.   A very good stitch to have in your repertoire!  I have the yarn and a pattern for a single color Brioche hat soon.

BRRRRR!!!

 I made a woolen table runner with the only kind of snowflakes I hope to see!  It is 18" wide and 56" long ( the width of the fabric).

 I applied the snowflakes by needle felting the layers together and then used matching wool for the blanket stitch to finish the edge.

I used this to do the needle felting-much faster than trying it by hand!  I used the Accuquilt Go! cutter to easily cut out the snow flakes........yup, I say it often, having the right tools makes a job much easier!

 This is the left over sock yarn on the needles for another pair of socks-I split the yarn so I will knit until I run out!

 We did get a freeze last night-Bill runs the sprinklers so that the ice gives some protection to the plants out front;  since the air temp went to 27F, this does offer a bit of extra protection.

 The potted plants on the front porch get bundled under this tarp and we turn on a lamp in there for them!

The more delicate ones come into the garage for a sleep over!  One more frost tonight and then we will bounce back to temperatures that are much milder.  I do love Florida!

Starting to Get in Motion!

 The Polwarth is a delightful fiber that comes from New Zealand;  a cross breeding of Merino and Lincoln.   I can't wait to knit this into my swatch and see how it lays!  This yarn is next-to-the-skin soft!  I ordered it from DyedintheWool.biz and it is naturally this chocolate brown color!  This breed comes in a full range of browns and even white.  I highly recommend adding this fiber to your spinning repertoire!

 I have 306 yards from the 4 ounces I purchased.

 More than enough to get two pairs of fingerless mitts after my binder swatch!

 A very soft skein of fingering weight yarn.........

 I finished my two socks from another Christmas gift-this is Patons Droy Socks FX in the clover colors.   I knit each sock straight from the skein-I didn't try to match because I wanted to use every inch of the yarn and I did!  I interrupted the k2p2 ribbing of the leg with a bit of lace pattern that uses k2p2 also so it was just fun to knit for me as it won't show too much up my pant leg! lol

We are preparing for freezing temps the next two mornings-the chimney is cleaned, the fire started and the cats are congregating!  Smart kitties!