May 2022

 I have some sewing! Well, after a fashion. I had these pieces of fleece; so I did a rolled hem using my serger and Voila! six blankets for Project Linus. The smallest is about 42x54 and the largest is about 54x68.

I have another Project Linus finish -- a premie blanket. This measures quite small at 24"x28". I used one cake of Lion Brand's Cupcake yarn in Robin Egg colorway.

The husband and I don't like to travel on holiday weekends so we did a Memorial Day camp at Carter Lake (in Colorado) for the last several days. It's wonderful to get away and just listen to the hummingbirds. The first day rain forced us indoors. The second day was glorious if a bit windy. 

April 2022

 What can I say about this month other that it has been very very windy. And super dry. This is the driest April in over 100 years. Last Friday there were 15 reported wildfires. I wish people would be fire aware and stop doing stupid things during fire alerts. Okay, rant over.

I've been quilting but there is nothing to show yet. 

OTOH, I do have two shawl/wraps to share. They both use a 100% wool yarn that was given to me and I'm delighted to say that ALL of that yarn is used up. 

This shawl is call the Best Loved Garter Stitch Shawl. It is a super easy triangular shawl. I used the aforementioned wool yarn held together with a lace mohair yarn. This is just so warm and cozy!

This is the November Wrap and is a rectangular shawl. I is knit from side to side in stockinette stitch and the ribbed ruffle is knitted on. It, too, is warm.

July 2018

One would think that it is too hot to knit or quilt, but I have a finished object in both categories.

My grandson is three months old and I finally got his quilt finished. I had a bit of fun with this quilt. The pattern had the bubbles as applique, but I have always wanted to try piecing circles so I did! It is easy peasy lemony squeezy. I also played a bit with the quilting. I quilted bubbles in the bubbles, sand at the bottom of the quilt hides a starfish and a snail. There is also a bit of kelp.

 My best friend knitted the little boy Knubbelchen but couldn't finish the girl because of a pinched nerve. Since these were for my grandson, I finished the knitting. Aren't they adorable? This is a Ravelry patter, BTW.

Warm Winter Hat

I made myself a very warm winter hat from some leftover chunky yarn. It's a bit big, but it's warm. The yarn is leftover from a poncho that I knitted for the grand-daughter.

Sunday Morning Shawl

I was commissioned to make a shawl for someone's mother. This pattern lends itself wonderfully to a yarn that self-stripes. The pattern was written for leftover sock yarn but I used a different yarn and needle size. Don't you love the ruffle?

Pattern: Sunday Morning Shawl
Yarn: Lion Brand Landscapes; colorway - Mountain Range
Needle: US #10

Cabled socks

This is a cross between easy and hard. I didn't want some plain Jane stockinette socks because the yarn is a solid color. A cable runs up both sides of each sock which made these more masculine, don't you think?

Pattern: cabled socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Solid
Needles: US #2

June 1 already!

June is bustin' out all over! The skies have been cloudy and rainy for much of the month of May, but we are having a bit of a warm and dry stretch right now. I hope it lasts more than a couple of days.

I've been finishing up some knitted projects before the really hot weather hits. Even though we have AC, I don't like to knit in the summer. I don't knit with cotton yarn because it really makes my hands ache -- no give in the yarn.

Summer, for me, is a time to work in the yarden and to read in the shade of a tree. Camping is always a big one for my family and now that there is a grandchild I will be spending a lot of time at places like the zoo and children's art museums.

Do you want to see the last knitted finishes before hot weather? Here you go:

This is Lael. It is a beautiful cowl made with a beautiful yarn. This yarn is Silky Flammé by Elsebeth Lavold and is a combination wool/alpaca/silk. Once I learned the pattern repeat, it was an easy knit.

I finished up a pair of socks, too. I hated working on these. Plain knitting with a plain Oatmeal colored yarn. The man receiving these is happy with them and I suppose that is what counts.

These mitts are for me to wear next fall in that very cold and drafty building I work in. Don't you love the mirror imaged cables?

Hat Burnout

I am so burned out on knitting hats! This will probably be the last one for a while. And, guess what? I'm keeping this one for me! I'll have a new hat for next fall.

Just because I'm burnt out on knitting hats doesn't mean that I'm not knitting at all. I made this adorable Seamless (?) Baby Hoodie for my grand. I question the seamless because the shoulders are seamed together, the sleeves are seamed onto the body and the hood was seamed onto the sweater. If I were to make this again, I might be tempted to rewrite the pattern. But I made the largest size in the pattern and don't want to do the maths to enlarge or make it truly seamless. Nevertheless, isn't it cute?

Leftover Yarn Post #2

I have more hats. I'm starting to feel a bit like the mad hatter. But to ease your mind, currently, I only have yarn for two more hats. That is until I start knitting sweaters and shawls and then the bits and bobs will add up again.

Okay, I just scavenged in the yarn bins and found more acrylic yarn. WHERE does this stuff come from? I have enough of it for (gulp) 10 more hats.

Leftover yarn

I am so lacking in content lately. Nothing has really been going on around here so I'm going to blame it on the time of year. January and February seems to be the time to hunker down and hide, don't you think?

I have been knitting. A lot. Does that surprise you? After knitting the vests, I had a lot of leftover superwash yarn. Superwash means the item can be washed in the washing machine, but dried flat.

And so, here is the post of the leftovers.

And I am still knitting up leftovers! You know how it goes if you knit, there is always that little ball of yarn leftover that is too big to throw away. I have found that striped hats are a wonderful way to use up those scraps. Scrap knitting at it's finest!

More knitting

Can you stand to see a couple of more hats?

I'm still using up leftover bits of yarn.

Vests

It dawned on me that I haven't ever shown the vests and one jacket that I've worked up.

It started with the purchase of a lot of discontinued Lion Brand Amazing yarn during a shopping trip to Tuesday Morning. Since this yarn has a very long variegation, I started looking for patterns that were worked from wrist to wrist so the stripes would be vertical.

First up was the Cuff-to-Cuff short sleeved sweater. I believe I even found the free pattern on the Lion Brand website, but don't hold me to that information. I love this sweater and wear it a lot.

And then I crocheted this jacket. I have had this pattern for decades, yes you read that correctly. I loved the fullness of it and cut the pattern from the magazine. Women's Day or Family Circle I think. I have given this jacket to my BFF in another (cold) state.

Not truly vertical stripes, but I wanted to try the mitering on this one. You start with a triangle and then pick up stitches to make a square on one side and keep going in this manner. This was a fun knit. I added a zipper because it turned out a bit big and needed to be contained.

Ah. Prudence Crowley, the vest. Love this! Knit in two simple pieces and then seamed together. I love the way this one fits and it is definitely flattering.

I kept three out of the four and I DO wear them!
Linking to JudyL

Cosy Toes

I have a finish! I made a pair of red socks for my sister as a Christmas gift and I liked them a lot, so I knitted a pair for myself. Her's were more lacy and mine are just a 3x1 rib but both pairs are cosy. And of course I have already cast on another pair.

Hey! do you see the yarn there in the basket? That is a discontinued Lion Brand Amazing colorway called Constellations. I found this wonderful pattern called The Prudence Crowley Vest that I know will look wonderful in this yarn. The gauge in the pattern is the same gauge that I get with this yarn, although they are two different yarns using different size needles. I know this will work. Pretty cool vest, huh?

I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

Mainly On the Needles December 4, 2015

The last time I posted it was a knitted post also. I really am sewing, but it is hush hush so I can't show anything until after the items have been gifted.

What you see here are three different things. The top layer is one half of a sock in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock and the color is Icebox.

I needed a hat for a little girl out of acrylic yarn and all I had were boring browns and tans and such. After a dash to the craft store I cast on the hat. It is a nice pattern called Spiral Hat. The link is to the Ravelry page. The only problem I had was that it was for a baby and I needed a larger hat for a child. I added more stitches to the cast on and I hope it fits.

The bottom layer is a mitered square vest. It is awaiting a zipper that is on order because I could not get one in a color that would work. Oh, and of course, all the yarn tails need to be woven in.

What's on your needles?

Linking to Patchwork Times On the Needles post.

On and Off The Needles.

Do you remember this scarf from several weeks ago? It's a Christmas present and the person I want to give it to isn't really into wearing the color pink.

So I dyed it.

I had to dye it before grafting the ends together because it needed to be blocked flat. So the sequence was: dye, block, graft. Got that?

It now looks like this. Love this soft gray. I used ProChem FastWash Acid dye in black. I knew I wasn't going to get a true black and was just hoping the color would be nice. I approve.

On the needles. October 9, 2015

Another Friday is here and I have two, count them, two things.

I've been working on a cowl called Lava Flow, the link goes to the free download Ravelry page. My yarn is a soft pale pink 100% merino wool. Unfortunately, I don't think the intended recipient likes to wear this color. But it's all good because I have some acid dye for wool. I only have one color, but I think she likes black/gray so I'm going to try it and hope for the best.

This scarf is knitted flat in a 2x2 rib with a 12 stitch cable. After blocking the ends are grafted together. I am going to put it through the dye bath and then block it. There are live stitches at one end, see that neon yarn peeking through, and a provisional cast on at the other end so it will be easy to pick up the stitches for grafting. I just looked up a YouTube video on how to do grafting for ribbing and I'm glad I did because there is just a slight bit of difference between doing it on ribbing vs. stocknette.

In the meantime, I started another sweater called Crayon Stripes from the "Knitting Cuff to Cuff" book, link to Ravelry page. If I am going to wear stripes, I prefer that the stripes are vertical rather than horizontal and this sweater pattern will work. The pattern calls for Noro Kureyon, but I'm using Lionbrand Amazing in the colorway 'Violets' from my stash yarn. This will interesting because I normally do not wear purple.

What's on your needles? Linking up to JudyL's On The Needles. 

On the needles 10/3/215

It seems I've been knitting this circle scarf forever.It's called Lava Flow and is a simple 2x2 rib with some ribbed cables thrown in for interest. I had two balls of this pale pink merino wool in a DK weight that I thought would work for this scarf. Interestingly, the scarf is actually knitted flat, but with a provisional cast on. After blocking it is then joined with a twist in the scarf to make it mobius.

I joined a knitting take and replace swap. The box came this past week and it was so hard to decide what I wanted to take. Here are the goodies I decided to keep. No, I am not getting into lace knitting, but I know someone who does do it and that purple lace yarn is her favorite color! The tea is so very welcome to my poor abused throat: I've been sick for most of September and it is down to a nagging cough.

What's on your needles?
Judy's linky party.

August 2015 Finishes

The colors look strange in these photos, too saturated, so I reset my camera to factory defaults. I'm not going to reshoot these so you will have to live with it.

These are the Spiral Eyelet socks from the last post. I can't believe it took me all month to make these. According to my Ravelry account, I started these on August 3 and finished on August 24. This is a pattern that you definitely have to pay attention to when knitting.

I found a panel at one of my local quilt stores called "Buttons and Blooms" so I bought two of them. The original panel can be seen at the bottom of the quilt. I cut the other one to make a mirror image, added a coordinating fabric and Boom! a child's quilt resulted.

I was on a role with some preprinted quilty type fabrics. This one is log cabins. I backed it with fleece and then quilted it. Another child's quilt!

Here's the back.

For the last several years, I have made a quilt for an annual September auction held by the local hot rod club with all the proceeds going to breast cancer research. Except for last year because I didn't have anything ready. Way back in the dark ages (1980s I think) I bought a lot, and I mean a huge amount, of Harley Davidson bandannas. Not too strange, considering that there was a Harley parked in the garage. I started making quilts with them resulting in a quilt made with brand-new vintage bandannas. I believe that this is Harley quilt number 8. And yes, there are still more of these bandannas.

On the needles August 21 2015

A pair of red socks!

This is a free pattern called Spiral Eyelet Socks. The right sock has the eyelets spiraling around the sock to the right and the left sock has the eyelets spiral to the left. If you make these socks you need to pay attention!

One Down & One to Go