A LITTLE OF THIS AND THAT

I do still work on the rocks but it is only for a few minutes each week as I change the grit and water out for the next weeks spin!  The large green rock at the top is green jasper from Washington State and the rocks at the bottom of the pan are from

 the left-over pieces that line the bottom of my shower! 

 Mostly jasper and quarts with a few pieces of basalt!

It is fun to work with the rocks still!

I have the family of gingerbread men all stitched-I will go after church and buy some candy canes so they are ready

 to hand out/mail out to my grands!

Look at this guy!  I will make a few to give to the four grands

 that will be here for Thanksgiving! 

 The slot will have some mini-candies tucked it!

 

SLIPPERS!

Another idea for slippers;  single crochet a square, seam up the heel, divide the other end in thirds and gather 2/3 and fold the other 1/3 up at an angle and stitch in place.  The pom-poms are not only decorative but also help close up the top of the slippers!   I wear a size 8 shoe and through trial and error, I figured out I needed only 32 stitches for length and 32 rows to wrap around my foot to give you a starting place. 

 I used a #4 Worsted weight yarn and an H hook.  

Bill managed to do the cement!!!! 

 It poured again until mid-day but he caught a few hours of dry-ish weather and got it done!  In a few days, it will be dry enough for me to paint it.  Once I get the two coats on and dried, we can put down the patio rug (which matches the other side with the sectional) and arrange the table on this side of the lanai!

  Now all we need is some sunshine to enjoy it all again!  

 

A FABRIC FINISH!

Look at this!  A real finished object in the studio! I put the binding on yesterday and even washed/dried it, too!

It has beautiful texture from the Baptist Fan pantograph pattern I which I used to quilt it. 

And then I managed to sew the borders onto this top. 

 I do not have a backing for it so it is stalled for a bit.

Bill did work on this area-he dug out the soil and stones but I didn't sit and watch him because it rained every half hour but I waved every once in a while! lol

The rain collected and dripped through the pool screen all day.  At least we didn't get battered with the high winds that the coast received a few hours south of us.  

And Nyki has been so helpful as I crochet the gingerbread ornaments!  I feel the same way about a skein of yarn! 

ONE STITCH AT A TIME!

 The doctor appointment went well and we are hoping to have the headache on the run.  How many of you know where your trigeminal nerve is?  It's a funny thing about nerves--you want them to do their thing without letting you know they are there, right??!   I did have a good amount of time to do some knitting;  I finished one half of the main body from sleeve to center back and have begun on the other half.  It is going smoothly which is a very good thing!

If the rain lets up for long enough, I will be sitting and watching Bill work his magic with filling the other 'garden' area with cement.  We will see!

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY...

Isn't it interesting that there is a variety between the first two dishcloths and this skein for the third one?

 It does look good in the current favorite pattern. 

Yesterday morning , not only did I lock myself out of the house which was an adventure all its own , I opened the bottom cupboard instead of the top one (where I wanted to get the eyeglass cleaner) and when I did, some china fell out right into the cat's dry food which exploded out to cover a ten foot area! 

So not only did I clean up the mess, I organized the dishes so they wouldn't be a booby trap again any time soon! 

BEING UP AND ABOUT

I  have decided that the headache is with me for the now so I have to be up and start to be active again no matter what. It is hard to be up because I have no stamina but I need to be up to build up stamina.  It's hard no matter what! So I tackled the studio and finished quilting this one which was already on the frame.  I even cut 7 strips to make the binding.

I dug out this old project (Elmgrove) that I finished  at the beginning of this year and it ended up being way too big!  It's been in the naughty bucket and so when I needed to sit down, 

I began deconstructing it!

It took about an hour;  the yarn was a bit 'sticky' to unravel 

but I persevered!

And I even cast on a new sweater!  I am making  a side to side sweater that I have made before, Nera, 

and it will drape nicely in this yarn.  The last sweater was in cotton yarn and it a quite a bit thicker.

 

AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE

I made it past the halfway point in making the gingerbread men.

  I will get out this week to buy the candy canes!

I made the top two dishcloths and then used up the leftovers to make the bottom one and even tried some single crochet around the outside for  a change.  I'm out of cotton yarn again so will have to wait for some more!

 

SOCKS ON SUNDAY

 

I can't remember a pair of socks taking me so long to knit!

  First, I would say the new needles (addi) were too small

 (a size 1 instead of a size 2)

and so took too long to knit the plain socks.  

Secondly, I enjoyed the rabbit hole of amigurumi and quick little projects.  

Thirdly, I enjoyed the sweater project more than the tiny sock needles. 

 I think that is all the excuses I can come up with honestly! lol

I ended up finishing the leg of this sock with my old favorite needles and stuck it out! 

 (I only made a few dishcloths every so often 

to keep me from going cross-eyed!)

To prove I still like making socks, I cast with fun yarn

 (a Jacquard sock yarn)

 and lovely needles and have this much done already! 

  I also tried a new style of toe, a round toe which had to be one for toe-up socks which is what I do. 

It was fun and easy to make and they fit well!

STARTING TO COME THROUGH THE FOG

Two more linen-stitch dishcloths were made.  

And use your imagination and picture candy canes

 instead of crochet hooks

 for some fun Christmas gingerbread men ornaments! 

 I am going to put a hanger on top

 and give these to each of my grands this Christmas!  

I found the instructions here.

 

STILL HERE, SORT OF...

I created a sea turtle--the legs become fins 

and I added a bit of design on his shell.

Another mini-jellyfish.

A new stitch called linen stitch which is a misery in knitting 

but is a delight in crochet! 

 It makes a pretty woven-looking fabric!

Best of all, it works up very quickly and no counting!

 

PITIFUL INDEED

I have made this hat again and again--as in make it, rip it out and make the same one again!  I have  added to the headache  a head cold--which impairs thinking to another whole degree!  

Isn't the construction cool--short rows in crochet is brilliantly used to shape this hat!

The first time I made it and smoothed it out I saw a row like this.  It is supposed to single crochet up and slip stitch down but I didn't remember which was I was going.  I thought to leave it until I turned the hat and there were two more rows that looked like this!!!  Three strikes you're out!  And  so I ripped it back to the halfway mark and made it again only to decide it was WAY TOO BIG!    There is way too much of a variation of yarn even though both skeins were labeled as #4 yarn.  Sigh.

\

I persevered and now have no mistakes and it is the right size!  

For your viewing pleasure-a miniature orange Thunbergia!  I haven't even made it outside the last few days but at the time of this photo, there were several more buds on the vines so I will look forward to many more flowers, at least!

ONE HAT, TWO JELLYFISH

It was a very low-key day, I puttered doing some cleaning but mostly had a down day.  I did make the  tentacles for both jellyfish and enjoyed making some differently.    I then used the rest of the jellyfish skein to start another PerfectCrownCrochetHat!  

 

AN OUTING

I did something I haven't done in a month....

I drove myself to the lab in town (35 mins away) 

and then went to have my nails done!  

This is the only crafting I did yesterday;  two jellyfish bodies!  Today, I will make their tentacles!

I hope you have a very good day!

 

FLOWERS ON FRIDAY

I have missed every single one of the Cereus cactus blooms this year--over 2 dozen of them!  I set my alarm to send me outside at 10:30 last night because they only bloom at night!  And it wasn't open!!!  This morning when I went out to fill the bird feeders-I couldn't believe it!  Not only one but two were open fully 

and still smelling so beautifully fragrant!!!

This is what they usually look like by morning! 

   Today's bloom stayed open until afternoon

 and began to drop then. I enjoyed it almost all day!!!!

It is even incredible from the back view!!!!  

As I walked around the rest of the yard, 

I found several other plants that are in full bloom, too.

  This is the southern version of a 'bleeding heart'. 

 It is a vine but also in a bush shape and loaded with flowers.

And I was so surprised to see the morning glories blooming!  I through the seeds in at the base of the tree months ago!

  They are happy to have the cooler temperatures, too!

And this is how I know it is Fall;  the Camellia bush-

the white one only- is blooming!

Remember these?  Hacky Sacks! 

 I filled the cotton yarn balls with black beans!  I made the first one too big but the other four are just right!

And I took the head off this guy and made a smaller one--

now it looks better to me!

 

CUSHION FASHION

I ordered enough fabric to cover all the cushions

 on the table and lounge chairs.

Two done!

Two to go!

Two chairs done and four to go!  I have all the measuring down, so it is a simple task to sew down one end and the side, turn right side out, stuff the old cushion in the tube

 and then stitch up the other end!!!! 

 (Though it is a bit like stuffing spaghetti uphill 

to get the old cushion in the tube! lol)

And just to prove I do spend some time in the kitchen-here is some French bread I made

to go with the fresh stuffed peppers! 

 I have found a way to work with the headache--I am down for an hour and can be up for an hour, off and on all day with longer down time and shorter up time as the day goes on!

  At least I'm up for a lot more time than last week!!!

 

CROPPED SWEATER BEGINS

I am not a fan of chunky yarn but it was a free pattern, 

I had the yarn in the stash and so it is started!

(my internet keeps going out, then I couldn't upload a picture, then the picture loaded upside down only.....! lol)