Lots of Knitting: a Little Quilting

Hard to believe that I have now knit two pair of socks.  These are the ones that came from my sock class and before I could finish the second one I had to go back and ask for a review of the toe decreases. 

I had a fun email from DS#3 today.  We are going to be visiting him, DIL#3, and DGD#2 next week and they live north of us where the temps have been about 10-15 degrees colder than here.  As an inducement to stay a little longer he told me that they have wool socks I can wear.  Do you think he has been reading my blog lately?  Me neither. 





I did get all the fabric cut for the last of the blocks for Deck-Ade The Halls from The Fat Quarter Shop.  All of the very little pieces are labeled and ready to go but I haven’t gotten any of it sewn together.  I’m not in much of a hurry because I am planning to set them somewhat differently from the original and do not yet have everything I want to use.

When we get back from our short vacation I do have two new quilts I plan to start and, of course, the Weave quilt is still waiting on the HQ.  I think that now that I have 2 pair of socks under my belt, it will be easier to share my knitting and quilting time.  Now I just have to re-find some reading time. 




 I have mentioned the chickens who populate our yard almost every day (they live next door, I think).  As we were leaving for lunch yesterday we were greeted by this one.  She didn’t seem afraid of us but that could be because I do occasionally feed them with bread crusts and/or fruit.  I wonder if they will ever be tame enough to touch.




And lastly, we were one of those areas that had rain on Saturday.  This was what I saw on WeatherBug when I got up. 












 I dressed quickly and got the dogs ready to go out.  Opened the door to this.  Needless to say we all waited until that first bit passed, ran outside for what was needed to be done, and quickly got back in.  It was suggested that it looked like a good knitting day and that is how I got my green socks done.  We had a great weekend.




I will be linking up with Patchwork Times: please go there and see all the quilting creativity going on.

Gari

Merry September

I am so happy with myself.  I have been able to spend time in the studio and actually get things done.  Here are the Christmas trees for Deck-Ade the Halls.  Someone said they were easy, and they should be, but if you are anything like me, there are problems just around EVERY corner.













So once again a mistake was made.  This is supposed to be the bottom of the tree (look up to see what it really looks like) and would you believe I had cut the excess off before I saw what I had done.  And, yes, I was again chain piecing so did it to all three trees.  It is amazing that I finish anything.






But here I go again.  Here are the already cut pieces for the next block.











The next one is gifts and it doesn’t look difficult, does it?  And will I be chain piecing?  NO!!  Each gift will be pieced separately, I promise. 














I also prepped and put the Sept fish together.  He seems a little bland so I may have to jazz him up a little.











I did start a new sock: I love this yarn.  And I am having so much fun knitting socks.












In fact this morning found me on the deck knitting on the second of my class socks.  I am on the foot part with about 4” to go before I get to do another toe.





I have done all of this and it is only Wednesday.  One can only imagine what I will get up to the rest of the week.

        Gari

Taking A Class Worked

Would you believe that this is all I got done on the sewing front?  And, since the applique stitches are not even started, no machine was used in getting him this far.  I’m telling you now, don’t start knitting and for sure don’t buy yarn.








I did, however, have to buy fusible as all I had were the very small leftovers from other fish and/or chickens.  And look at how large the pieces are for this fish.  Only one dealer carries the brand I use and the company only sells wholesale.  My dealer never buys much and frequently there isn’t any.  So I called, made the lady go look on the shelf and then bought all they had.  This hobby is not easy.






I worked really hard getting that heel made and then the full foot but then I had to wait for the toe until Saturday’s class.
















And lookie, lookie, I have a sock.  It looks a little misshapen because it hasn’t been blocked but I can tell you that it fits fine.  The sad thing is that it took me from 10am until 4pm to get it done.  I made a mistake fairly early, had to pull everything I had done that morning and start on that toe again.  However, that is how we learn and the toe came out GREAT.   Now I need to finish the second of the pair: I am currently knitting the gusset.  Once that is done I will only have the foot, toe, and then the Kitchner stitched end.  I have to say that is a little tricky but I will get it done.







And to prove I can get something done, here are my tube socks, not only done but on my feet.  I wore them to Pizza Hut, where they keep the place freezing, Friday night and my little feet were toasty warm.  I had a close-up picture but really had to use the one where Abby had to butt in; she is almost as cute as my new socks.






And lest you think that my day at the yarn shop only included a lesson and knitting, here are the additions to my still small yarn stash.  I have plans for most of it but won’t start anything until I have finished the one or two I already have in process.







Lastly, I have to share my Norfolk Pine.  We bought this last Christmas because we didn’t have room for our regular tree.  It survived the winter, looking a little droopy, and then came out on the deck in the Spring and it has thrived.  Can you see the new growth?  I am so proud of it and have promised it that we will find a better place for it inside this winter.  I have never been able to keep one of these alive for a whole year so I am really excited about it.  And the Christmas cactus has grown a lot as well as the Poinsettia we have now had for 4 years.  None of them are going to be excited about returning to the house but we will wait until the last minute before subjecting them to dry, stale air.  I don’t blame them for wanting to stay outside all year.

Sunday, just as I was getting ready to cut fabric for the Deck-Ade The Halls, DH came to tell me he wasn’t feeling good and he would feel better if I was in the house where I could check on him.  I spent part of the day playing games on the computer but then decided it was time to print some patterns, both quilting and knitting.  Once he is feeling better I am going to get back in the groove: I need to see things being accomplished ………. besides socks. 

Have a great week.  Gari

Bits and Pieces

Well, what do you know, I have a very colorful design wall today.  These are two BOMs that I am getting caught up on.  The funny thing was that when I made my new fish I found that I had now made it twice.  And I still have two more to do before I am up to date.  I have added the 3 wreaths to the Christmas BOM and, again, have two more installments to complete before I am caught up. 





Those wreaths are made up of lots of pieces which I cut up on one day and then put them together on another day.









And sometimes I don’t do it right.  In fact I made this same mistake on all three wreaths.  No wonder I don’t like chain piecing!














Saturday I attended my second sock knitting class where I went to learn how to complete a heel and gusset.  Can you see it?  Isn’t it beautiful?  I am now on the foot part, easy knitting, and next Saturday we will be learning the toe and the Kitchener stitch, a skill I was not able to learn when I was machine knitting.  I am really looking forward to attempting it, again. 






On Saturday afternoon/evening we took a break from all this creativity to attend the Auburn football game.  We had great seats and, of course, it was a great game.  I love being at the games, we only go to one a year, because there is so much going on besides the game.  Also, there is something really exciting when the cheering starts and gets so loud it rocks the stadium. 

Now, it is time to get back to work.  I will be linking with Patchwork Times and What A Hoot.

Happy stitching everyone!    Gari

On the Needles

Here is class sock #1 with the heel started.  The heel wasn’t part of the homework for the week but I went asked if I could have the directions for starting it so I would be ready to have her help me with the gusset, the part I got stopped on when I was doing it by myself.  And, because I got this part done, I started on the second sock, too.  I am hoping that I will be able to have both of these socks done by the end of the lessons, in 1 week.





Additionally, I am getting very close to having my second tube sock done.  I only have about 2” to do on the tube and then the toe, which was very easy on the first sock.  These are a little heavier and will be great when it starts to get cooler (I wear sandals all year).  I have some of this yarn left so am thinking of combining it with a heavier white/cream yarn for a hat. 

I have also had some success at working on quilting projects and will show them off on Monday.

Have a grate weekend, everybody!  Gari

*Knit 2 Pearl 2* repeat * - *

I know, it isn’t possible that I have started another sock, but I have.  But I have a really good reason.  I started the heel and then ran into the “gusset” and again didn’t know how to do what the pattern told me.  So I humbled myself and signed up for a “sock class” that started on Saturday.  Of course she told me I was holding the needles wrong so I struggled to knit what I already knew how to do while changing what was in my hands.  I think I may be too old to learn new stuff.  Anyway, when I got home I pulled my purse out of the knitting bag and pulled all the stitches out.  So I spent all of Sunday redoing what I had done on Saturday (the ribbing) and then started on the leg.  That’s all I have to do before the next class comes on Saturday.






I also spent some time on my second tube sock and am about half way through.  The excitement part is that for sure I will have at least one pair of hand knit socks by the time it starts to get cool in our part of the world.







With no sewing since the beginning of the week, I decided the least I could do was to pick out fabric to back the Weave quilt.  This piece is now quite enough so I will probably put a brown stripe down the middle to make up the difference.








But this is really the accomplishment of the week.  We have this VERY HEAVY hide-a-bed that resides in my studio.  I have thought about moving it out but I know that we can’t move it anymore and there is no place to put it anyway.  So DH suggested we get a board and put it on the arm rests so I could have a very large shelf.  So we went to Lowes and asked to have a sheet of MDF cut 30” x 7’.  We did that last weekend and then, without a thought in our heads, we had the guy cut the 30” piece in half.  So this weekend we returned to Lowes to get a sheet cut again.  We drove 60 miles to Lowes only to find that they were out of MDF.  So we drove 30 more miles to another Lowes only to find that their cutting machine was broken.  So off to Home Depot where everything came together and we came home with just the right sized piece.  I think I am going to use this storage area for yarn and other knitting stuff so I can keep it all in one place. 

And now I need to get back to sewing.  I miss it but for some reason when I go to the studio I find myself sitting down to knit.  This has got to stop as my machines are starting to look jealous.  So I am going to schedule my knitting time so I get my “homework” done but still get some sewing done, too.

Have a great week everyone, see ya,  Gari