In process

While I was collecting all of these pictures, I was thinking how much I'd gotten done, until I realized it's been three months since my last post and only two of the photos show a completed project.

My son's hoodie is almost done. It just needs to be sewn together, the hood knitted and the zipper attached. But, it's 95 out. No hurry.

My sweater is also in the slow lane. This is the second sleeve. Then, there's the neck edge to knit and the buttons to sew on.

I'm guessing I knitted this sweater for my nephew about 18 years ago. He handed it down to another nephew. It'll move on to my grandchild now that I've changed the letter.

I've been wanting to weave some lightweight baby blankets. The design I chose is another Pinterest find, printed onto graph paper and transferred by hand to a different size/scale graph paper.

Each square on the grid has to be either a dot, or not. Filling the squares in now, with the entire pattern in front of me, let's me see how best to make what will be straight lines look curved.

The last step before weaving is to highlight and outline alternate columns. This makes it easier to know where I am on the pattern and on the loom.

Tada!

And here's my happy ending with me and my daughter in these simple and fun to crochet hats.

Finished!

Look what I finished!

These baby blankets are the ones I was weaving on my drawloom.  This first one is the only one going into my drawer for later.

Two of my friends are becoming first time grandmothers, so this one  went across town.

And this one flew off to Texas.

My mother taught me how to knit. She also knit for me. I didn't have a store bought sweater until I was 16. A few months ago, Mom said she needed a summer weight cardigan. The yarn is Zooey. I started with the pattern, Winterfell, and made a few changes following Ann Budd's book. The biggest change was to go from raglan to a set-in sleeve. What an incredible gift it is for me to be able to knit for my Mom!

Months

Considering that, like most everyone else, I've been staying home, I'd think I would have gotten more done in the four months since I last posted.

  Many months ago, many moons ago <he he!>, a friend sent me a "how cute is this" with a link to this pattern.

This turtle doesn't have to stay home. His shell can be put on and off, like a sweater.

And for my home, I finished the towels I'd started months ago on Julia.

Years ago (that's a change), I made most of a sweater with this Cool Wool yarn. Then, I decided that I didn't like the look, and put it away in the naughty corner.

The new pattern is called, Cable Yoke Cardigan. I found the making of it fascinating! Most sweaters I knit are made in separate pieces and then, sewn together. This one started with a long strip of cable knitting, for the yoke. Then, I picked up some stitches along the edge for the right front. When that was done, I picked up stitches to make the right sleeve. And so, it went.

Unfortunately, I left it too long in the wash, and it felted some. Fortunately, I was able to re-home it with my niece!

Again, months ago, I was so pleased to have set up my Sophie to make some more baby blankets. Then, I got stuck. I just didn't want to weave. I never got beyond this point. I ended up deciding that I didn't like the look and unwove it all.

Then, Sophie sat for a couple more months until I pushed myself to find a pattern I liked. I also changed to a different weft. Now, I'm making progress.

I finally finished spinning up this silk/baby camel from RedFish. I don't know what I'm going to do with the finished yarn, so I've left it as singles.

I didn't realize how similar the colors of these fibers are. This cotton is my next project. Because I'm spinning it so fine, it'll take a while to finish...probably, you guessed it...months.

Two by two

This arch was practically buried under our wisteria when the tree trimmers got here. I moved it across our yard from near the sidewalk, closer to the house. 

Then, I dug up and replanted two rose bushes that were struggling, underneath that wisteria. The climbing rose on the right reaches just past the curve of the arch. It looks a little feeble compared to it's partner on the left, which wasn't supposed to be a climber at all. Just look at those canes!

Here's the finished whatchamacallit (see previous post).  Look closely. The two loops are connected like links of a chain. 

I had enough Rowan Felted Tweed Aran yarn left for two hats. For the one on the left, I played with color and patterning. For the striped one on the right, I was over it. I didn't feel like designing with bits of yarn, so I used Helix knitting. It's like each yarn makes an upward spiral at the same time as the others. I just kept going until I ran out!

My grandchild, who's already learning to be a monster and tromp around the house, requires appropriate gear. So, I knitted and felted a pair of Bigfoot/Yeti slippers. The pattern is an e-book, Cryptozoology, from Knit Picks. 

Latest Inventory

Wow! It's been four months since I last inventoried my projects. This is not a bad showing!

For this adorable sweater, I followed a pattern from a Sandra magazine dated 2/92.

Little sweaters are so much fun. Don't miss a peek at the buttons!

This triangle-shaped shawl is knit up from my handspun. The lace design is only done on one of the shorter edges. The pattern is "Closer to the Edge" and the fiber is Redfish silk/camel.

Here is another, smaller, knit shawl from my handspun. The fiber is Redfish, silk/yak. 

I swore off socks, but this yarn was in my stash. These socks are knit from the toe up. I taught myself a different technique for the heel, called "short row". It's easy to knit and fits well, too.

And I went back to kindergarten, patterning. Think A B C A B C A... I learned that if I start both socks at color "C", for example, the striping will match! These were made with Berrocco Sox, self-striping yarn!

Somebody liked the hat I made with what was left!!

What to do with leftover sock yarn? These were a variegated and a yellow pair. Now, they're headed (hahaha!) for my drawer of unclaimed items.

I don't often repeat a pattern, but I had more of my very first handspun left and this sheep pillow is so cute! How could I not?

I've made this doggy pattern before, too. 

I found the pattern, 'Mr. Crabby', in a book called Crocheted Softies by Stacey Trock. 'Siegfried, the monkey' is another pattern from Edward's Menagerie. 

Currently, I'm knitting a garment, 'Fyvie', from Rowan Knitting and Crochet Magazine Number 68. The photo on the left was taken just before I ripped out about 40 rows. (That's 224 stitches per row.) The one on the right is Take Two. I can see the difference, and it mattered to me.

I decided to play with my new to me, antique Singer sewing machine. A few months ago, I drove all the way over the hill to a Not big box fabric store to buy cloth for a denim skirt. I took this picture during a break between cutting and tantrum-ing. The cloth was sun damaged and crooked (the warp and weft weren't square). 

What does one do when they're alone (I didn't think I could ask the nurses), without a swift and ball-winder and the yarn hasn't been skeined, yet? Knees!

Here's my current spinning Zen. This is another Redfish fiber from my stash, silk/baby camel.

Someone posted that she was selling 19 pounds of yarn at less than half price. I couldn't talk me out of it. 

Now, Julia and I are making some towels. We will probably continue to make towels for the forseeable future!

Each time I've used Sophie's full width and the drawloom, some of the edge threads repeatedly get stuck in the up position. On the left side of the picture, you can see the vertical threads all scrunched together. I spoke with Joanne Hall. She recommended I move them to the other side of the bars before my next project. 

Here's the same problem from a different view. Do you see the vertical black threads pushed up against the right side of the wooden bar? It took a couple of hours, but I got them moved to it's other side without taking everything totally apart.

And while we're at it, do you see black and white, left-leaning threads at the bottom of the picture? Just behind them are pastel threads tied to white ones. The pastels are the new warp, the white ones were the warp from my previous project. I tied 550 knots to make that happen. Believe it or not (hehe), that was a time saver!

And now, Sophie and I are much happier! We'll be using her full-width to make some more baby blankets! 

Drawer

Is it still de-stashing if it's no longer fiber? Happily, I didn't need to buy any yarn to make these. And now, there's less fiber in my closet stash and on the yarn tree. My drawer of finished objects is getting full, though. Ummm. A different kind of stash?

This cute sweater is a 4T. I made it because I had the yarn, a pattern and some time. Drawer.

With some amazing help from Ravelry (typed messages and suggestions and one woman in PA actually spent over an hour on the videophone with me), I was able to learn how to adjust my drawloom properly. I completed the following baby blankets in record time! The designs I found on Pinterest. I've tweaked all of them, some more than others. None of them had the designer's names attached.

I chain plyed the yarn before I could use it for this weft. This blanket is actually going to our friends' daughter. She and her conductor husband just had a baby! 

There should be a story here. Until someone thinks of one or there's need for the blanket, it's off to the drawer, for now.

I think it's So fun that the bunny has run off the edge!
Hmmm. Maybe I should find someplace other than the drawer, so the bunny doesn't escape. Besides, the drawer is getting FULL!