Getting Loads Done!

 Finally! I'm getting loads done!

I hemmed and gifted the placemats that were woven on Julia.

I've been wanting to try paisley baby blankets on my drawloom for so long! Go back to this page to see the prep.

These were So Much fun!!!

Vavstuga is offering a subscription to their Basics class with an online weaving school.

These runners are made with an 8/2 cotton warp and 22/2 cottolin weft.  I used a piece of grosgrain ribbon as a template for the stripes. It's an easy way to keep track, so that I don't have to count each weft throw.

I made two runners for me and a square (for Mom's little table).

Project #2 was cottolin warp and tow linen weft. I was nervous about using linen, but it wasn't nearly as difficult as I'd heard.
And by the way, both the towels and runners were stash busters!

The worsted weight yarn I ordered to make my younger son a hoodie didn't give me the cloth I expected, so I had to order some chunky. Instead of returning the worsted, I picked a pattern and knit it up just to keep my hands busy while waiting. Lucky for her, it fit Mom just right!

And then I made the requested hoodie. Finding a zipper online should be easy. It wasn't. I finally gave up and braved the big box fabric store (that shall not be named). Look how well the sweater came out! 

Some three years ago, I put this sweater in the naughty corner. It was done except that the front was curling underneath and I didn't want to deal with it. A couple weeks ago, I took the sweater out, planning to take it apart to reuse the yarn. My knitting, support group (Zoom) talked me down from that ledge.

I misted the front with some water and pinned it flat to dry. And during that same store excursion, I bought some decorative, grosgrain ribbon. In my button collection, I found these fun hooks and eyes (the label says: Istanbul Ant. Silver). It's a keeper!!

The knitted and felted clogs have been gifted. (I'm wearing mine right now!)

I made this 3mos size sweater for the soon to be here grandbaby.


And a reversible, double-knit cotton jacket.

Check out the different buttons on both sides!

And, of course, baby will need a collection of toys. Wooly Mammoth should do for a start.

And a mini me for baby's sibling.

I'm Still Here!

Hey, Everyone! I'm still here!

I haven't done any spinning or weaving for months. But since I'm finally feeling more myself, I've gone back under the loom.

I wove this towel months ago. The pattern and cone of bulky cotton chenille are from Halcyon Yarn. The 5/2 cotton is from my stash. I finally washed and hemmed the towel. 
Now, I've made many towels but, I've never been completely satisfied with their absorbency. Ever. This pattern called for the use of a product I'd never heard of, Soda Ash. It changed the towel from one that moves water from place to place to one that actually absorbs and dries!!

So, what have I been doing?

Well, I made this sweet koala, just because.

And, ta-da! I knit this sweater. The pattern is from the Wool Studio, The Norah Gaughan Collection magazine. I used Berroco's Ultra Wool Fine.

It's another style that I would never have thought was for me. And I adore it!

Now, on to my next knitting project. This is from Ann Budd's, Top Down Sweaters book.

It's California, so I can't exactly say I'm trying to get ahead of things for spring. Spring's about here.

For the first time in a couple of years, the wisteria is putting on a show!

No Theme

It's funny how purely by happenstance, there tends to be a theme to my posts. This time around, you're on your own. I can't find one.

I've been dawdling through a towel with Sophie. The pattern is simple (1,2,1,2,1,2,2,1,2,1,2, etc), but I kept losing count and weaving too many rows. So, I decided to go on a hunt for an abacus. This is so much easier for me to keep track of, throw the shuttle, slide a bead, repeat.

I made a tiger from Edward's Menagerie with some yarn I had left over.

This is my first successful round braiding! Isn't it pretty?!

Socks, always socks!

This pattern was in a "Vogue Knitting" magazine, early fall 2019. The sweater's not my usual style, but for some reason, I couldn't resist. Besides, it turns out, it matches my skirt!

Here's a better picture.

And the back (rather obvious, I know).

Edward's Menagerie strikes, again! My grandbaby was "the man in the yellow hat" for Halloween, so here's his Curious George.

And I'll finish with more diaper covers for someone else's end.

I had nothing to do, so...

I had nothing to do, so...

I bought some yarn I didn't need from Anzula's trunk show. The pattern's called a shrug, and hat (from Knitter's magazine, Summer 2009). To me, it seems like a tea cozy for people!

Then, I had nothing to do so I bought some yarn for a shawl. I didn't realize that I'd made this pattern before, from Victorian Lace Today. It's beautiful, but the corners make me crazy.

My classic "nothing to do" project is always socks (cotton this time). And I learned to do a new kind of heel shaping. With this easy heel, I can start knitting at the toe and work my way up (instead of top down). That way, I can keep knitting until there's no yarn left!

The last time I posted, I had just finished spinning up the BFL on the left of this picture. I plied it with the fiber I got from Redfish for that purpose.

And here, it's finished up. Now, what to do with it?

A sweater's always better than a swatch (a small sample) for selling yarn. My LYS needed a sweater to show off some Debbie Bliss, Falkland Aran (that's this yarn), so they gave it to me! And since I still had nothing to do, I gave them my time (one month) and labor and made this sweater. It'll be mine at the end of the season. But now that it's finished, I have nothing to do.! 

Some Old Projects

I'm pleased to say, I've been getting to some old projects. Two of my UFO's (unfinished objects) have been completed. It's such a relief to get things off of my To Do list.

This is Habu 24. It's another of the silk yarns with the stainless steel core. I decided to leave off the pattern's collar. It's a lot of fun to knit. I like the Japanese style pattern. I do not like how easily it snags.        I also went back and re-did the band on the red sweater, for the third time. I just didn't like the way it hung on me before.

And here is my next big project. This is the master bathroom's shower floor after it's been scrubbed clean. Besides the extreme wear, the shower pan is shot.

We have a settling problem, too. And, the floor should have 18 inches between wood beams. It has four feet.

The sink is cracked.

And the floor is in need of floor. I'm so excited to finally have it all done! Stay tuned!

Remember my backyard project? It's progressing nicely. Most of it is without my assistance. Even with the drought, it's been growing like crazy! There's only a little weeding to do. And I'm working on the new path.

There's a little frost damage that I need to see to and some weed type grass that needs to be dug out, again.

I love that there's always something blooming.

I've been making the time to play with dough, again. We found a new supplier for flour called Grist and Toll. This loaf is from a recipe I'd called bland when I made it with store bought flour. It's all whole wheat. It's incredible now. And it tastes as good as it looks!

Zero to 60 in...

Well, it seems like I've gone from zero to sixty. Being ill this summer brought my activity to a screeching halt. As soon as I had a little energy, I started back on my needlepoint seen here. It's already about two thirds done. But I had to slow down, because my hands were starting to hurt from too many hours working on it. I did get to work on a few other projects:

I finally finished weaving those !#@$% mohair scarves and took them off of Sophia. I'm not at all impressed. The light blue is not as washed out as it looks here, but they're still "eh". I sent them to my daughter and suggested she either claim them, find a friend in need or donate them to the first homeless person she comes across. 

 

I finished spinning up two ounces of this supima cotton from Chasing Rainbows that I bought at my favorite candy store, Village Spinning and Weaving. The colorway is called Morning Glory. As usual for me, I didn't quite get an accurate picture of the colors. The pinks and purples get all the way to almost an orange. Exquisite! I'm spinning it on the stylus on my Susie Professional and getting a nice fine yarn. I'd love to be able to use this as singles on the loom, but I'm not brave enough. I have another two ounces that I'll spin up next to ply with this. 

A couple three years ago, I gifted a chenille scarf to a friend. I had it back to repair some of the twisted fringe that was coming undone.

Since I was lucky enough to have it in my possession, I took the opportunity to photograph it.

No, it's not your eyes. The picture's blurry. This is one of the sweaters I knitted that I actually finished. It's from a denim cotton. I got the pattern from a book, but I can't remember where I put the book after I copied the pattern into my Kindle. If I find it, or someone really wants to know, I'll go looking. The other sweater is just a shell. No pictures until I finish the edges. I'll get there.

And then there's Big Foot or Yeti. I bought the pattern as an e-book, Cryptozoology, from KnitPicks. Because I do Nothing the easy way, I knit up one and a half slippers before I decided to do a test swatch and wash it to make sure it would shrink and felt enough. ...Um. No. ...Sigh. I had to go to the yarn store and buy another yarn that Would felt. I made two pair of these to gift to both my daughter and her sweetie. They are under orders to photograph the feet once they are nicely shrunken.