Many Things

 I will start this blog post out with a picture of our really cute great granddaughter, Scarlett, who turned 1 year old today.  She is so much fun to show as she loves the camera as much as the camera loves her.

 I have been knitting.  Here you can see the two front pieces of the cardigan I am currently working on.  And I hope you can see where I have started the increases on both sides of the slip stitch.  These increases will be the beginning of the wide collar.  I have to say I am really impressed with my ability to knit both fronts with the opposing increases.  On the other hand it has been pretty easy and I again will credit having learned to knit two socks at the same time.
                                                                                                               

And speaking of socks, here are my leftover socks.  I have completed one heel and half of the other.  I hope to be done with these this week as I really want to wear these very colorful socks. 

I think I will be making more of these, they are really fun to do. 

I have done a little sewing.  

~

These are some simple blocks

I am making for some easy sewing, trying to get back to it.  I have several applique blocks I need to be working on but I need to get my cutting table cleared off before I can work on them.

The centers of these blocks are these

charm squares that I have had for

quite some time and didn't come up

with an idea for them.  They are being

sewn onto some 2 1/2" strips.  I am

trying to make them as different from

each other as possible.

This is my design wall.  The interesting thing about it is that it hasn't changed since Spring.  Well, that's not quite true.  Some of the blocks that were on it have fallen off and I haven't yet been able to pick them up off the floor and put them back.  However, I am feeling so much better that I am hoping that I will soon be more productive in my quilting again.  I did take the bobbin out of my Handi Quilter and start to  see if I could figure out why the thread is being cut while I was quilting.  And then I will begin to work on the quilts that became UFOs when I became sick.  And then I will have something new on my design wall, I hope.

But for now I will leave you with this terrific picture of Abby, the sweetheart who sleeps under the covers of my bed.  She has to have her nose outside the covers and I think she thinks she can't be seen.  But on this morning she could be seen twice, on the bed and in the mirror.  I had a pretty good laugh before I could get up and start my day.

Please forgive the mess this post appears to have.  Blogger is making it very difficult to write my post and I have been unable to upload a post from Live Writer.  But despite this: have a great week, I plan to.  Gari

                                                            

On My Needles 1/1/16

 I have started a new knitting project.  It is a cardigan sweater.  The pattern is called a Milo Cardigan and it can be found here.  And it is a free pattern which is even better.  This picture is of the back which I finished this week: it is not blocked yet.  I was a little concerned that it will roll at the bottom since there is no ribbing but that is a problem I will deal with later.

And here is the start of the front.  I am doing both fronts at the same time, just like I make socks.

The only problem is than this sweater has an unusual, for me, band, collar and facing, and each side is done in reverse of the other.  I did read the directions over and over several times before I decided I could figure out how to do them at the same time.  The are worked from the bottom up so for 14" all I have to do is repeat the same two rows over and over.  After that I will be working on that inverted cone shape and things may get a little tricky. We'll see how I do, won't we?

 I am still working on my "leftover" socks and I really like how they look.  I got stopped however when I got to the heel as I always have to watch the video to remember how to do the heel I currently like.  I think I will have to print out the pictures so I can keep going.  This is my studio knitting project and I haven't been out there (no central heat) for the last few days and probably won't much this week or until it warms up a little more.

But this is another reason I am working in the house.  I bought these acrylic needles just before Christmas and I really like them.  I got them because they looked pretty and now I find that they work very nicely.  They have a pretty sharp point and are slippery enough that the yarn moves but still have enough tooth to keep it from slipping off.  I see that they come in double points, too, but I don't really like much working with DPNs so probably won't get them.  Interestingly Staci of Very Pink just introduced this set and spoke very highly of them so I must know what I am talking about.  ;-)

I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's Eve and are well on their way to a Happy New Year.  Our daughter and son-in-law will be coming over this evening and are bringing a traditional southern new years dinner: fried chicken, black eyed peas, and greens.  So we should be having good luck in 2016: not taking any chances.

Happy New Year,   Gari

Off and On My Needles

I am always happy when I can report that I have completed a knitted item.  I am a very slow knitter.  It doesn’t bother me until feel I should have something done and I don’t.  These socks were started in March but I became sick around April/May and finally wound up in the hospital for half of July and again for a week in August.  Then it took me another few weeks to get back to knitting.  Since these socks were planned as a gift I focused on them and had them ready to gift on time.  I was almost as excited by them as my daughter was.
















Meanwhile I had started on these.  I call them my “leftover” socks using the leftovers from earlier socks.  There is no rhyme or reason as to the order of the yarns but next time I may plan first.  I am putting two rows of the black/white between each new yarn.  This has been so fun, especially since all I am doing is knitting a plain stitch over and over.  I think I am about 2 1/2” away from starting the heels. 

I am sharing on Patchwork Times, come check us out.

Hope to see you all next week,  Gari