Who's Almost Done?

 I did a little bit of piecing yesterday on the new flannel blocks 

but mostly focused on finishing the owl quilt!

(It was hard to stand that long but I wanted it done.

 When I laid it out I could see the owls themselves bubbled out a bit too much.

There was too much unquilted space;  after a bit of thinking, I needed to do some free-motion quilting on the domestic machine with invisible thread.

 I folded the quilt and got the settings  all correct and Lena came to do a different kind of settling!

The whole point of free-motion is to freely move the quilt under the needle--she was not making this possible.

 Once she was sleeping in a better place, 

I managed to do some well placed lines on each owl and found it was just what needed to happen.

I did a column of owls before my shoulders knotted up so I will finish that on another day;

I'm not happy with the delay but it will be worth it!

 And I loaded up my neighbor's owl quilt!

I will do it similar to mine but not exactly-her sashing is so pretty framing each block, 

I want to highlight this feature.

This guy came for a visit.

His loud knock sure made both Lena and myself jump with a start!

He doesn't come to see how I am doing on any given project

as much as let me know he is ready for his morning's cracked corn!

Around the World

Not a lot happened yesterday in the area of creativity.

I did reduce the pile of flannel squares

to this Around the World version for piecing soon.

Looking forward to a day of Studio Saturday Samplings!

Scraps

 I am going to keep the fingering weight yarn doubled for the blanket-

it makes progress faster.

I ripped it all out again and used #8 needles and I have a soft fabric without being limp.

 I have also been using up all the little balls of dish cotton yarns for the most basic dishcloths.

It's all I can muster in the evenings for a while.

Being a nurse requires some unusual hours.

And an inordinate amount of space and organization!

(Bill is doing better each day!  We are very grateful to God for this.)

NorthEasterly-Another Sock Yarn Blanket!

I bought this pattern in early December thinking to knit it with my Mom when she came for a visit.

Since that didn't work out,  I will be saving it to knit with her when I finally go to see her in the Fall.

But this is not to say I will not work all the bugs out of it first!

I am knitting this with fingering weight yarn held doubled on #6 needles (it is still a firm fabric and the recommended #5's were really firm)

I'm not sure I am happy with this needle either and will try it with #8's for a few rows and compare.

It is a very enjoyable knit for all the reasons that the reducing squares are great but this one has a very interesting structure and the columns can be knit simultaneously!  

I am even joining the ends with a square knot and letting the joins

 fall where it may--no ends for me!  Can't get simpler than this!

Check it out!

We could do a KAL for the rest of the year!

Sweet Azaleas

 Another baby sweater-are you tired of the yarn yet?!  

It sure works out nicely for all of my experiments, though.

This one is the 2 hour baby cardigan but it took me almost 2x that long!

Maybe on  my fifth one I will hit the two hour mark!

This is about a size 6-9 months and is knit from front to front all in one piece 

even with the raglan sleeves! 

Once I began to understand the instructions for the sleeve portions, 

I could then move right along!  

I even knit the front bands without a hitch-well, almost--the extra 4 rows on the front bands 

messed up the center of the sweater fronts--they are too wide just that little bit which makes a little centering problem. 

Sigh.

  Noted for the next project!

I blocked this and steamed the edges and then crocheted the edges around neck, 

hem and sleeve hems.  

I'm ready to buy a skein of this yarn for boys and keep up the practice roll!

Come on up my Azalea lined driveway for a visit!

It's the same colors as the yarn!

It's a Wrap!

 The Swedish Lines is off the needles and on the blocking board.

I blocked it out at 66" x 27";  pretty vigorous but it is garter and it needs it.

 I have a very light and airy summer cover.

 An asymmetrical shawl always induces a quandary for how to wear it...

The drape is wonderful but this is the last lace weight project I will be knitting. 

It just doesn't have the same pleasures as a sock weight yarn for a shawl!

KnitPicks lace weight yarn

#7 needles

Far Reaching

 I found a way to get the bamboo stalks to stay put in the ground so I could 'arch' them!

I pounded a piece of pvc pipe into the ground and then pulled it up so it left a channel for the bamboo stem to rest!

 I did have a bit of a blood-letting along the way--this was the first of four to be exact.

 But it was so worth it!  I have a very organic arch over my muscadine grape vine!

I used waxed twine to secure all of the places where the arches cross each other.

I used the two kind of bamboo to make the arch;

I did find that the old canes were not useable-they just didn't bend.

(hmmm?  There is a lesson there to stay bendable no matter how old I am....)

 As soon as the vine starts to get leaves and 'wake up', I will be binding them to the bamboo to help it climb the way it likes. 

 I can see the arch from the house-it is a pleasing sight to finally have it;

just the way I envisioned it!

 The whole time I worked on the arch, I could smell the most wonderful orange blossoms' aroma!

It was a very enjoyable few hours!

Around My Neck

 I tried a bit of a lace tuck stitch on the knitting machine. 

It didn't really show up much on the black, sparkly yarn but it did make a 

light and airy scarf!

Do you see a bit of a zig zag pattern?!

Look hard!

But it drapes well and feels good around my neck.

It is one skein of Cascade Sunseeker cotton, glitter yarn.

On a different kind of machine, I started to work out what I am doing on the owl quilt!

It is tedious but it looks good and will crinkle delightfully, I am sure!

As soon as I finish mine, I will be doing it all over again for my neighbor's owl quilt, too!

A Bit of a Rip

 I struggled through more than half of this baby sweater

-learning how to knit a raglan from front to front.

I am ripping it back to the beginning and trying it again because now I think I can do it justice!

It is a good rip out;  I learned a lot and am looking to work through the second one much more easily!

 The spinning went very smoothly and I plied the two bobbins together today!

The interesting part-I ended up with almost exactly the same yardage as the first skein I spun.

The first skein has 330  yards and the second 331 yards!

I will wash it and hang it out to dry today so I can start knitting with it!

(And yes, I am still enjoying a bit of coloring each day;  

it is very relaxing and there has been a need for that!)

And Squeezed in the Middle of if All

 Bill has been ill this week so I have been picking up Will from school;

while I wait in line I have been spinning!

There is irony in that name you know--spinning is right, alright!

 I finished another ounce out of the 4 ounce bump I purchased

 to go with the 4 ounces of Polworth I already had.

There is a project I have in mind for it once it is yarn;

another KAL for the knitting machine group--a vest with zest!

  I am looking forward to the challenge.

And I have been working on my Swedish Lines shawl;

it is almost finished because the yarn is almost gone-a perfect way to know when to stop!

Bamboo Ideas

 This is just one copse of bamboo on our property.

 I used my new Japanese saw and cut down some 15' poles and trimmed off the small branches and leaves so I can make an arch over my Muscadine grapevines.

It's a beginning!

Stay tunes....

A Blush of Red

 Look what we were given--2 pots of Amaryllis!

 And they are variegated red--which makes me very happy!

They look nice next to the red begonia and red coleus!

Can you tell I like red flowers?!

Clouded

 The boys and I took an outing after school at the park.

The clouds rolled by giving a great mld temperature 

and a feeling of movement to match the highly energetic boys! 

 Ethan is over his flu  finally so he felt like playing 

and Will was running and yelling into the wind

to free all the 'quiet'  restraints of his day!

I finished the ridiculous garterlac dishcloth--ridiculous because I couldn't knit this at all!

I can't count the number of these I have made but I guess I have never done it in two colors

like I wanted because I was always on the wrong side to pick up stitches and had to try and pick them

up purlwise ....sometimes!  

Oh, it's only a dishcloth and stop overthinking it!

I am free-form knitting the next one--I like the little dots of white every few rows.

Sweet,Soft and Crafty!

  

 Summer Blooms II is officially finished and ready to comfort.

 See the crinkles?  This is also a good sense of the color.  I love it!

I also finished the second baby sweater that is part of my 'training' on the knitting machine!  

This one is  a size 3-6 months; I used Bernat Baby yarn. 

 I'm sending this one off to my newest grandniece! 

 I think I need to make a new sweater for big sister, too, 

so I will wait to send it out until I finish hers. 

 Not a burden to have to knit another sweater!

 Like Meredith, I had a late night scramble to make a tribute to Dr Seuss;

I have to have something amazing for every day this week!  

I drew this 'badge' and Will colored it in.

I taped the pin to the back to the cardboard back (the front is made of canvas fabric)

 using medical tape so it will stay put! 

 I only have four more badges to make!

  I'm glad I only had to make one today! 

 Now to brush up on the sketching skills!

A Few Stitches

 Proof that I did get the binding on the Summer Blooms lap quilt #2!  

I was a real cat owner and put the whole binding on while twirling Lena around 

so I could maneuver the binding for sewing! lol

 I even remembered to put my label on the first time!

It has yet to go into the washer-as soon as it is washed and dried, 

it will be officially finished!

 On a side note-I made these two little birds as an in-the-hoop design from UrbanThreads.

 It has a very easy zipper construction--all in the hoop , mind you!

I already gave them to the boys with coins included!  A cute little project for all the grands!