It's in There!

A new cross body purse is off the sewing table! 

I've added some piping to the back open pocket.

It is getting pretty streamlined now to put it together!

Next, I will be making two little girl ones and send this off to Tacoma!

Oh, what's in there?

Lots of love!

The Joke's on Me

This wasn't supposed to be a lesson on gauge but it is!

The sock on the left and the black one on the right are both knit on 60 stitches.

I was sure I could 'feel' the right needle and in my haste to cast on the new Christmasy sock, I just knit away and loved the speed with which it grew!   

I plugged away on the black sock and disliked the pattern up the side-boring and it slowed down the rhythm of the colored sock.  It also felt tight and uncomfortable to do the knitting.

Under a bright light and with my analytical genes on high alert, I began to search out the disparity. 

I knit the black sock on a size 2.00 needle.

The colored sock was knit with a 2.75 needle.

There was a single stitch per inch difference but that was very evident.

The fabric of each sock was also very unlike even though they were both out of the same yarn,  Hawthorne fingering weight by KnitPicks.

I will have you know that I ripped out both socks and have them both on my favorite needle, a 2.5mm that has been determined not by my own handling but by measuring!

Imagine that!

I have both socks knit almost to this point already and they are working out the same and now will actually fit and be comfortable!

Oh, Yeah!

It is such a great knit!  I love color, especially Christmas colors!!!!

I will pick up the other black socks soon.....really!

Art Class Day!

I am learning how much time it takes to do a watercolor!

There are so many layers and patience required so it is a good exercise for me!

I also have to work in different directions-the background before the forefront, the lightest color is achieved by leaving areas blank....

I'm loving every minute of this.

No, this is NOT finished, it is just layer number 3 on the bird.  There will be at least 4 more layers!

This is a crow in case there is any doubt!

I like finding my own style along the way!  

Yesterday, I worked on the backing for this quilt.

I had to add a bit to make it wide enough for the top.

There are more than 6 yards here-quite a bit more than the small lap quilts I have been working on lately!

I pieced the hexagon block and stitched it to interfacing and turned it right side out so I could apply it to the back, then I stitched it in place with invisible thread.

I also signed Mom's name, the date and place so it will work as a label also. 

(I don't know why the points look pink-they aren't, they are very white like the front!)

  

I finished the binding so it will be ready to apply at the quilt's completion. .

This is a lot of quilt.

I will wait a few days until the inspiration for the quilting designs arrives!

 (This is the hexagon quilt Mom made while here last winter!  I will have it done before she comes back in January!)

And Bill loaded up his trailer for the large community yard sale in town today!

He has saved junk  treasures all year for this event.

This year he hopes to make enough to buy a used 12 string guitar he has his eye on!

Sunshine, no Snowflakes!

                             

I pulled out the dyeing equipment to get a bit ahead for the Christmas season!

I pulled the bare skein out to dye it in Fall colors and thought.....I missed the timing on that;  I wanted something that would be timed so the socks could be worn when I was done! 

After soaking the yarn, I squeeze most of the water out by hand.  Then I lay it down and carefully

add the color, turning the skein by hand often to make sure it doesn't miss some areas of the section I wanted to saturate.

I like to do this all stretched out like this so that the excess dyes doesn't muddy the skein like it can when you leave it in the container .  I give it a squeeze over the covered counter and then lay it down for the microwave time. 

See?  It isn't laying in a lake that would turn the bottom of the skein a very unwanted mud color!

I microwaved it and then let it cool on the counter.

I rinsed it by section and the green had absorbed all its dye but the red was still bleeding so it went back into the microwave for another 2 minutes.

This time when it cooled, there was no red in the rinse water!

I laid it out in the sun to dry! 

What do you think?

It is just what I was hoping for! 

You can see an interesting section in the green transition area...the blue showed up for a bit of interest;  I use blue and yellow to make my greens so they can break when you apply them.  It is just a bit of serendipity that makes dyeing fun!

(I wanted to try a bit of speckle between the colors for the transition area;  now I can't wait to get it on the needles to see how it works up!)

Black 'n Beauty

I am on cast on number two...the hermione I thought would look good, doesn't.  I complete waste of time.

I am doing my favorite stripe up the outside of the foot-the funky looking area on the viewer's left in an open lattice.

It looks lacey when you put it on.

Knitting happy now. 

The Candlestick Cassia

is doing its thing....just beautiful to see it out back!

(It's also medicinal, so let me know if you have ringworm!)

Duets

There are so many Roselle blooms -all in dusty peachey and rosey colors. 

And then we get one plant with YELLOW!

Now that's a first!  Pretty in its own right. 

I put the lighthouses/bridges quilt all together and even added all the borders!

I will need to purchase the backing and batting for it before it can go to the frame line! 

I filled the crockpot with some Bare sock yarn in Hawthorne.

I have a drawer full of socks but none in black.

It turned out nicely with just enough variation to look kettle dyed and not commercially so.

Not the most fun color to knit but I will pick a pattern stitch and enjoy it during the day!  

Sissy , who is usually the garage cat, has decided to be CLOSE to me every time I work at the sewing table.  It wouldn't be so bad except she wants me to pet her continually so she butts me with her head and that makes for some dicey measurements!

She lays on the fabric, bites it and generally wants to be very involved. 

My patience for help is diminished in the studio;  I have tons of patience when they hog my lap but in here I am more business.

I don't mind working around a sleeping cat but.......

Note the ears flatten and the evil eye? 

She goes from purr to yowl in a split second when Nyki walks into the room. 

These two fight all the time and I am often prime territory to WWIII over!

Oh, it can be pretty exciting in the land of feline!

Studio Saturday

First thing to catch my attention was the  cross body bag I designed-it went without a hitch for the most part.  I lost my head a few times but no major detours!

This is the last of the flamingo fat quarter;  I sure got my miles out of it! 

The back also gets a pocket now and I added my little label!

Very cool, if I do say so myself!

Next, I finished my latest homework for my art class.

This is a peek at Crescent Lake which we had to draw and paint.

I labored long and hard with the sky and water and loved what I could do. 

But I have learned a fatal lesson for this picture-when you mat it, you lose 2" around and I didn't factor that in.....you see how I lose my sky-my little bit of blue is cut out when I put the practice mat against the picture?!

I'm not sure what to do.

So I will wait and turn it in next Saturday and figure it out with the teacher. 

On to other more successful endeavors-I put the binding on the butterfly quilt and through it into the washer. 

I am enjoying the freedom I am experiencing at the frame.

It makes it so much more pleasurable! 

I went right to work on the rainbow quilt and have the binding all cut and on in no time. 

This sure gives your brain a color boost!

Wow!

Washed, dried and in the donation pile they go!

Vested Interests

I have started a new vest pattern.  It was written up as a top down pattern.  Piece of cake thought I but it instructed me to knit the back down to the armpit, then picking up the shoulder stitches on one side and knit it down the same point and then the other side.  THEN the whole thing was joined and it will continue to knit down.  It was a bit strange for a while but it is working fine now.  I hope to crank this out pretty quickly-I don't want this one to languish like the last one!

I am using my handspun Jacob wool for this.  It is not as soft as the commercial yarn of the last vest but it will be fine over my t-shirts as planned.

Cables down the front but no other texture so it will move along very quickly-the only other changes will be keeping count of the cable and occasional shaping for the waist.

It's Autumn Bliss

See, we have Fall all around us.  The grass changes color and the fields have another harvest of hay. 

I made a fabric pumpkin.

It is a nice size at about 10" across and 5" high. 

I used a real grapevine stalk to use for the stem.  It was a good hunt out back to find just the right one!

I used some artificial leaves to decorate the top.

It was nice to make something for the season.

Color Joys

The Roselle Tea plants are covered with blooms and buds.

They are in the Hibiscus family-the flower is large, about 5" across.  There is no aroma but the edible flower is stunning!  The leaves, buds and blooms can be picked and dried for a very aromatic tea! 

The rainbow quilt is off the frame and ready for binding. 

If I have a stay home day, I will get it finished!

Work and Rest

It was  beautiful sunset tonight and my ph camera did little to do it justice! 

This afternoon, Bill and I dug up a Fall harvest of sand burrs.

Not edible and extremely painful to come in contact with! 

They grow to large, low plants that hide all year among your grass until the Fall when they send out their burrs and even green, they pierce your skin in a most painful way!  Each of their little arms have a hook at the end that do a great job off attaching.

While it is an interesting study in science on the ability of the plant to disperse its seeds by 

 epizoochory, or sticking to animals and people, it is not so great to experience it!

First you have to run a shovel under the plant to loosen the roots and then you can pull them up mostly intact.  You still get regular pricks while working! 

You stack up piles along the way and then pick them up and fill the tractor bucket with them.

Bill dumps them on the fire pile because that is the only way to destroy these seeds! 

I will tell you I wore this vest all day!

I dressed in Florida style;  cropped pants and flip flops with a t-shirt with this  over the shirt.

It was comfortable all day and I can't wait to make another vest!

Successful Surgery, Doctor!

Inspired by the 'pull out old projects' and give them triage priority status', I found this vest my Mom and I worked on last winter!  We had each knit a front or back and then I sewed them together and....put it in a basket and forgot about it!  Until this weekend when I added the ribbing to the armholes and neck!  This morning I blocked it and now it looks and fits beautifully!

I am glad it was resurrected from the languishing pile !

This is the yarn I used, the pattern is one from Classic Elite Yarns called Cheri.

I did a lot of changes, chiefly using stockinette instead of garter for the body of the vest which the pattern calls a tank because it was supposed to be made for Summer with a nice cotton yarn!  I also added ribbing instead of an I-cord edging.

The changes worked and as soon as we get some cooler weather, I will be wearing it over a t-shirt! 

And to be sure there is something on the needles because empty is bad, I pulled two shades of blue lace yarn from the stash and cast on another Close to Me shawl!

(I know it doesn't look like two blue shades but you will have to trust me until you get to see it in another post!)