LEISURE

 Several slow walks.  Packing up more freeze-blankets.

  Talking and laughing, napping and knitting.

This visit has been unlike any that has happened in a very long time-21 years, in fact.  Granted, my daughter has been sick while here, but she hasn't had to take care of anyone but herself these last few days.  Relationships grow and deepen and strengthen within the changes of life; namely, her children have grown up!  They are my first grandchildren (one in college and one finished with college and in the work force) so I have savored these days with my daugher one on one.  We've done very little housework except for the minimum things and just enjoyed being in each other's company. It has been a gift.

HATS OFF TO YOU!

The pile of men hats grows!  I knock one or two out a day.

Marsel has made the blue one for herself and then the two reds.  We are having fun when she is upright for a bit each day.  

The weather has warmed up again and so all of the blankets are put away and the rearranging of the plants has happened.  I for one and very happy to welcome the 70's by day and the high 50's for night!
 

WHAT'S NEW IN THE INFIRMARY

So my daughter arrived late on Saturday-feeling rather peaked.  I told her I didn't mind her condition, I would welcome her here--she has the heavy head cold that I already had!  Sunday was pretty rough for her but she was up and aobut for a little bit yesterday.  We managed to knock off a few hats-she has a new knitting machine, too!  We had a good time despite the interruptions along the way! lol 

She also cheered me on as I learned how to use my new camera drone!  There is a learning curve to steering these things-no kidding!  I practiced it within the pool area confines so that I could improve without losing the drone; 

 these things fly very high and very fast!

Here is my first controlled flight with a landing!  

EBB AND FLOW

I have just under an inch to knit on the body 

and then I will be adding the 6 stitch I-cord bind off. (new to me!)  Add some short sleeves and voila--I can taste the finish!

  I already have sweater #2 set out and waiting for me. I will not be making it striped--the yarn above is worsted weight which I will be using.  The sleeves will be slightly longer and the body length slightly shorter so the yarn amount should balance out right! lol 

 I have never worn grey but since I have been letting my hair grow naturally, it is getting to be an interesting shade that this sweater will compliment; well, that's the plan!  Better pictures to come when I actually start the knitting!  

 

HATS AND WEATHER!

We are having below freezing temps again this weekend!  Bill finished a new way to close in the plants to protect them --I will have to get a pic tomorrow because by the time he had finished it was too dark for photos~  But this is Sissy--she has learned how to keep warm-find a bit of sunshine and just stretch out!

I made two more hats.  I did another few passes at the quilt frame, sewed another hippo quillt row and then tried to work at the lathe but broke the worm screw which held the bowl in place so have to come up with a Plan B.  I didn't have the brain power to figure it out so will save the ingenious solution for another day as soon as I think of one!

 

ORDER AND REORDERING!

I have a request for 10 hats for men who are homeless. 

 I made two hats so far-both reversible.

The one on the left is red, white and navy 

and the other in teal, blue and turquoise.

Most of the day I spent cleaning and rearranging--Bill and I moved beds, rearranged and cleaned three bedrooms! 

 I am tired but in a good way!

  I am enjoying the January declutter bug!

 

KEEPING WARM

Look at what I get to play with!!!  I will be making this for QOV-it was donated to our local group and I get to make it!!!!  I am thrilled to begin...I will show you the fabrics when I begin cutting it up!

I spent a good chunk of yesterday at my friend, Mary's, to help her navigate a new quilt.  We had a great time sorting out the 50          pieces for each block! (there are 8 llamas in the quilt!)             The quilt is called Llama by SewFreshQuilts.

And a lot of this happened for the rest of the day!   

Today, the hippos quilt is callling!

(and one year ago today, I broke my wrist!)

 

HIPPOS IN THE HOUSE!

All of the tumbing blocks pieces are cut for the cute hippo quilt!  

I even managed to stitch one row to make sure it is just what I want!  It is.

Inside, there are 14 blooms on my orchid! 

 I left all the buds on the stalks and they all opened!

 It is such a piece of beauty in my bedroom window!

They are a deep salmon/rose color-just so rich!

Outside, the caliandra bush, at 10' tall, took a hit from the December bout of freezes but several of the lower branches still bloomed!  I was so happy to see them because it is a long wait for the bush to recover.  Since it is supposed to freeze this weekend , too, they will be gone soon!

 

OLD BECOMES NEW!

In my recent cleaning and organizing, 

I discovered this fabric which I fussy-cut into two piles of hippos to join with some grey, blue and red fabric for a  child's quilt! 

 This will be a good first pieceing for the year.

I also uncovered these two Jelly Rolls and will use the one with a newly bought pattern (tba) and the other to be cut up into 2 1/2' squares ala Sarah's direction for the first photo!

I fell in love with this indigo/beige combo a few years ago

 and will put it into a lap quilt soon, too!

Finally, I have a plan for quilting fun!

(this is late to post because I fell asleep too early last night...I just haven't bounced back completely yet! lol)

 

TIME TO SEPARATE!

The count stayed perfect all through the increases

 and when it was long enough, it was time to put the sleeves

 on stitch holders (yarn) while I power on down the body! 

 It's nice to have this sweater working right!

 

CLAM SHELL TOP

The colorful scrappy clamshells are bordered 

and completed-as a top.

 ( I still have to finish the QOV on the fram before I can quilt it!)  It is 40" xx 50".

I sewed the top of the clamshells onto interfacing to turn the tops into a smooth curved top and then trimmed the excess facing off. I then pressed them to the bright green fabric. Once I had appliqued the edge down, I trimmed the ecess fabric away so the layers didn't add bulk to this area.

I repeated the process on the bottom row of clams, also.  

After that, I sewed the borders on and pressed the whole top!  This is a huge weight off my mind--

I didn't 'enjoy' piecing this at all! 

 Some things are like that. 

 Now my design wall is empty and I need to get cracking 

to cut up fabric and get piecing 

because that is my favorite part of making quilts!

 

THE MAGIC OF MITTENS

Almost another hat set!  I think this yarn just glows!

  This set I wlll be keeping for myself ! 

(I might be going north next month!  Shhhh!)

On the 48 needle Sentro, I knit 16-18 rows of the cuff after a few rows of waste yarn.  Then I changed color to the hand color, 37 rows.  I cast off this end after the 37 rows!

 The top of the hand is gathered like for the top of a hat, using the long tail for seaming in a minute.The bottom of the cuff is cast off with the crochet method-you pull one stitch through the next so that you have 24 stitches all slip stitched and pull the tail end through for the bind off.  The project is now folded in half and ready for seaming.

The mitten is seamed using the mattress stitch from the top down for 20 stitches and then working form the cuff up, the stitches are seamed the same way leaving 11 stitches open for the thumb to be attached.  

The thumbs will be stitched and sewn tomorrow!  

 That's how it's done--easy way to get a double-thickness pair

 of mittens in no time on the Sentro machines!

JANUARY MADNESS

I'm serious when I say that I like to clean out and organize in January.  When I walked through my studio in the morning, 

I thought, I hate the way that table blocks my fabric

 and looks crowded.

The table holds my flat knitting machines.  Since I broke my wrist (last Jan.) I haven't touched the kntiting machines.  I have decided to sell the double bed machine and just packed up the LK150 which I will keep but will put it away for a while.  I'm enjoying the Sentro knitting machine and will stick with that for now.

Two garbage bags later,  I was down to the essentials

 and got them boxed up and out of the way.

Ta-Da!  Doesn't it look open and inviting?!  I am thrilled with the results but sure was tired when I finished!  The table is folded and waiting for me to clean out another room to use it there!  

I even reorganized the painting supplies-acrylic

 and paint pouring supplies.  

I removed one organizer and like the access

 I now have to everything!

When I had to put my legs in rest-mode, I finished the thumbs and attached them by grafting.  Isn't this a fun set?! 

 (I Love This Yarn in Bloomtique and Sea Blue)

This looks like a pretty sunset but actuallly, it is the moon rising while the sun was reflecting its colors for the moon to rise through the pinks!  It only lasted for 20 minutes so I was glad I was outside watering plants so I was able to see it!

 

WRAP IT UP!

I love to clear my slate in January-you know, get a project you started weeks ago off of your sewing table so you can do some sewing!  I had hit the creative block of how to get the shark's teeth to stay put on the mandala design and make the painted wooden background look 'finished'!  It finally came to me to use resin to take care of both of these criteria.  Unfortunately, I ran out of a good chunk of time in December but I got to it finally!

I ended up mixing up 3-4 oz of resin working in just a small area at a time.  This resin gave me plenty of time to work each area, one right next to other to build it seamlessly.  This resin is self-leveling so I did have to work to keep the board level.  I tried to use a pair of tweezers since my pointer/thumb combo on each hand is impaired  but it was impossible since the tooth shot right out of its grip over and over again!  I became resigned that I was going to drop them, that I was going to get sticky and that if I kept my hand over the board, there was no harm done!

I tried to get the sheen in the photo for you to see how the resin brings depth to this piece!  I am so happy with the results!   

What will I find to work on next....? 

 

KNITTING WOES AND WINS

I had to abandon this t-shirt sweater knit!  When I tried it on, the neckline was too high which is very unncecessary for my climate.  But mainly it was the pattern itself!  It was one of those that said "increase the body stitches every two rows four times and then every third row twentytwo times WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, increase the sleeve stitches every other row for twelve times and then every fourth until ten inches!  I couldn't handle it.  Since I am not a fan of spreadsheets, I tried my own idea and that got complicated and I had had enough when I tried it on and didn't like the neckline its fate was sealed!

Was I discouraged?  Not at all. 

 I searched out more specifically what I wanted and found just the pattern.  (The other one was free, this one was $5) 

 The instructions are very clear and even the sizing was explained very well with the pattern ease included! 

 I just kept knitting until I had used all of the ripped out yarn; 

tried it on and it fits just right! 

 Well, so far! lol

 

WATERCOLOR WEDNESDAY

When I say this tutorial on YouTube, I knew I was going to have to try it!  It is just a clear, soft gel cell phone case with your own watercolor piece trimmed to fit between it and the phone.

I did a simple coloring of the background,

and when it was dry, I cut it out to fit the cover.

And then I had a little bit of a dyslexic moment because I drew the cutout for the camera area (piece on right)and then painted and so when I went to put it inside, it was all WRONG!  The painting didn't show!  So I tried it again using a better grade of watercolor paper (left piece). 

 All went well ....except the paper was so thick,

 the phone wouldn't stay put within the lip of the cover!!!!! 

 Third time was indeed the charm but I used new colors since I was tired of doing the same one again! lol  

I can't wait to make a bunch of these

 to fit my mood or frame of mind!    

 

A NEW SWEATER!

A new sweater is on the needles!  I am using some Lion Brand yarn I discovered in the recent clean-out that took place on the shelves!  It will be perfect for a short sleeved Tee. 

What about the coral cardigan I had recently finished?! 

 It is in the NAUGHTY BUCKET!!!!! 

 I will eventually rip it out and try again to make a cardigan

 but this one ended up being big enough for a giant.

Sigh.

FROM A SINGLE TO A SET

The tutorial on Koala Knits and Knacks was very straightforward to follow and soon I had the mittens built to fit!  I am very pleased with the results because the mittens are double-layered just like the hat so they are very cushiony to wear.

 The only change I made to her instructions was to make the thumb hole 1" above the cuff line to more accurately reflect the way our wrists/hands are shaped!

I was wondering if I should put labels on them, 

the way I add them to the hats?!

 

OFF TO A GOOD START!

 Let's start off the year with a hat!  I'm making a new pile for donations, since I doubt all of  our cold nights have been used up!  I hope to make a pair of mittens to match this one!  I haven't tried mittens yet on the Sentro machine but I've watched YouTube so I'm practically an expert, right?!  

This yarn is the I Love This Yarn line from Hobby Lobby in

Marled Mocha and Brown.

I hope to try something new-to-me each month in 2023!!

(psst-I've finally started to feel better!)