First Knitting Finish

I am so excited.  These are my first finish for the New Year.  They were started several months ago but got put on the back burner.  They really are "leftover" socks, using leftover yarn from two previous pair but look pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself.  As I was finishing them I was concerned that they were too big but, as you can see, they fit perfectly.

And here I am, back to working on the back of my cardigan.  I wasn't able to knit a stitch during the 5 days we puppy-sat with our daughter's 2 month old doxie puppy (see previous post).  Since taking this picture I have knit 6 rows of stockinet stitch.  I have 12 more rows to go and the back will be done.

Previously we put all our outside plants inside so they wouldn't die in the below freezing temps.  Yesterday we put them back outside (they are much happier there) and this one showed her appreciation by blooming.  There is another grouping on the other side and another set of buds ready to pop.  Blooms in January are so much appreciated.

We are expecting company this weekend, oldest son and daughter in law, so we know we will be having fun and lots of laughs.  I hope all who read this also have a great weekend, and not too much snow.   Gari

Remember the Plan

Remember the plan, making quilts and knitting sweaters?  Well, it is amazing that the smallest things can undo the plan, at least temporarily.

The little thing is Dallas, named for the Dallas Cowboys.  And this picture is really a lie as Dallas almost never looks like this.  Doesn't she look sweet?

This is more like it, constant movement.  I have even given up most of my computer time unless I go to the table or a desk to work.  I really had forgotten how much time and energy it takes to care for a puppy.

Dallas is very loving, attention seeking, and energetic.  She has begun to fit in with the 3 older doxies who live with us: they were highly annoyed when she didn't go home last Thursday.  And one really good thing is that she is used to being in a confined space all day while our daughter is at work so here she goes down for "naps" a couple times a day.

My studio does not have central heat so with the temps in the 20s I have not been over there all weekend.  While in the house I have been collecting easy quilt ideas and have been drawing on the fusible for some applique blocks I will be working on. 

Prior to the weekend I did set up fabric for my first project.  I have never made pillowcases but had thought I would try.  I had the main fabric and just before Dallas and the freezing weather, I pulled the additional fabrics, watched a video and printed the directions.  Now all of that is waiting for me in the very cold studio.  It is supposed to be going up into the 60s tomorrow and 70s later in the week so I should be learning how to make pillowcases soon.

As I write this I am on the couch with hubby and 4 dogs.  All is quiet because Dallas is "resting."  But soon chaos will reign again and we will be laughing all afternoon.  Baby's can be fun.  I hope you all have fun this week, too.   Gari 

New Project

 I have started a new project, a bolero sweater.  Mine is really in blue: I will try to get a better picture later.  I found the pattern while I was working on organization in my studio.  It seems I liked it when I first saw it but didn't know enough about knitting to even attempt it.

 This is the picture of how the back of the sweater is supposed to look.  I am at the waistline with quite a way to go.  This is the first time I have worked a pattern that had me using three different needle sizes.

And this is what the full sweater looks like and, yes, that is a lot of 2x2 rib. 

If anyone is interested, this is where I found the pattern.  Look how long it took me to learn enough about knitting to work this pattern.  And I am really enjoying finally getting started on it. 

One of my Christmas gifts was a Spiralizer attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer.  It was really fun to peel and core a bunch of apples to ready them for making applesauce in my Instant Pot.  I could hardly keep up with the Spiralizer: I had to cut the ends off of the apples before I put them on the Spiralizer.  And after I finished getting them ready I fed the peels to the chickens.  What a fun place I live in.

Well, except for last weekend.  It started raining Sunday afternoon and after 36 hours we had gotten 9" of rain.  I took this picture on Wednesday and it still looks like we have waterfront property.  I am not complaining: we love to have our trees well watered.

I am also still working on a pair of purple socks: they are about a year in the making, too.  I am almost finished with them and will post a finish picture next week.

We are babysitting our granddog this weekend (5 days).  She is a mini dachshund, about 2 months old.  She is quite a busy puppy and, of course, our 3 adult dachshunds are not quite sure what to make of her, or whether or not she should be allowed to be here.  We are going to have an exciting long weekend.

I Have a Plan

I have been thinking, a very dangerous thing to do.  But 17 months ago I was diagnosed with cancer and told that it was incurable because it had spread throughout my whole skeletal system.  The cancer was found because my arm had spontaneously broken and was in such poor condition that it had to be surgically put together with a permanent splint.  At that time I was also told that my left hip was also in extremely poor condition and that I needed a partial hip replacement.  And while doing the preadmission tests for that operation my heart rate was found to be only 29 beats per minute and I was rushed into surgery for a pacemaker.  (This is just a preamble to what I really want to say)  It should be noted that up until that July I had never had surgery and was known to be extremely healthy so all of this was quite a shock to my system and psyche.  Although I never asked, the oncologist told the cardiologist that I probably had 9 - 12 months to live.  And, as you can see,  I am still going.  I, however, now suffer from back pain that has severely limited my moving around and participating in the things I love doing.  So this month I will be fitted with a device that may (read will) reduce my pain and allow me to stand and walk normally and to return to quilt making, a task I really do love.

So, here is my plan: I have a LOT of fabric that is folded neatly (?) on shelves where I can see it.  But I have not been able to stand long enough to cut it and make quilt blocks with it.  Also, there is the question "what will happen to all that fabric when I die?"  So my plan for 2017 is to make quilts out of as much of that fabric as I can.  I plan on making easy quilts to give away (charity, families in need, hospital patients, etc. )  and to have at least one special (applique, fancy blocks, fancy settings, etc.) quilt going at all times to stimulate my brain.  I really want to use up so much fabric that I HAVE to buy more to complete a current project.

I know I will still get tired when standing so I will continue to knit.  I really love knitting and it is so very relaxing.  I usually have at least two projects going, one in the studio and one in the house, so my hands can stay busy when I am off of the computer.

I don't know how much time I have but I really want to use it wisely and that my husband and/or family to only have to deal with the machines and other tools of my trade when I am gone.

I am very lucky.  When I came home from the hospital my husband took over ALL of the household chores.  And when I began to get stronger and no longer needed home health he told me that he would continue to do those chores and my job was to spend as much time in my studio as I wanted, to rest and read, and not worry about getting anything done. This has been such a gift.  Of course I  had to deal with feeling guilty but I have worked that out.  I did it all for over 50 years so 50 years from now I will take some of the chores back.  😇

The truth is that I need to feel a sense of accomplishment and with this plan I hope to feel it several times this year.  Wish me luck.

Gari

A Little Knitting

 What can I say, I just couldn't stop knitting these slippers.  All in all I think I made 9 pair before I hid the yarn and made myself  turn to other projects.  I can knit them in my sleep and probably did.  But they are fun and, depending on the needle size, could be knit in any size. 

 Slippers even fit with mug rugs. 

 And if one set is good, two sets are perfect.  Hot coffee, tea, or hot chocolate and warm feet.  What could be better?

 In an effort to find something new to do, and not work on knitting UFO's, I decided on a waffle knit dishcloth.  This is fun to knit and is very easy.  I have knit two and will continue until I have used up this cone of cotton yarn.  I'm going to try to get back to  project knitting after the first of the year.

And one more thing that is not knitting, this throw I made for our great grandson for his 2nd birthday.  It has Star Wars on one side and Air Force on the other.  He has lived close to us for the last couple of years and a couple of weeks ago his dad moved him to Colorado.  His mom, who is completing her stint in the Air Force, had to remain behind for a couple of months so we will be spending Christmas with her.  I hope we will also be seeing her several times before she follows her little family to the cold country.

Merry Christmas to one and all.  I hope you all have wonderful, fun, and safe holidays,  Gari

Linking to Patchwork Times

Christmas & Chickens

This is the second year we have had our ladder Christmas tree with our Christmas Village pieces.  And once again I am thrilled with how it looks and the joy it brings us.  Last year I painted the ladder and Eric placed all of the pieces.  This year Eric did it all and did a wonderful job.  It was fun seeing how the pieces got moved and moved again until he was satisfied.

 And this week I finally felt good enough to put another quilt on the frame.  This one was, again, started over two years ago and fell by the wayside when I was sidelined by illness.  Because I now have a lot of back pain it takes me longer to get things done.  So I got the quilt loaded one day and quilted two rows the next day.  I would be over there quilting now but I had a doctor's appointment this morning and after sitting in the waiting room chairs my back is really acting up so I will get back to it tomorrow.

 For some reason I have become obsessed with cooking appliances.  I really have always enjoyed walking through cooking stores but recently I have wanted to have several of the things I have been seeing.  One of these things has been good cutting boards.  I don't use the stove very often so I bought this one that fits over the top of the glass cooktop.  It is removable when the top is needed and has legs, that we haven't put on yet, so it does not sit directly on the top.  I figured it would protect the glass and keep all the crud from building up on the surface.  Since I took this picture I have begun oiling it and it looks beautiful.

Our neighbor has chickens.  But he is currently living about 100 miles away, taking care of a family member.  His son has been coming daily to care for the chickens but recently they decided to let the chickens out of their pen.  And to our delight they found their way to our yard.  We used to have his chickens visit daily but it has been a while.  As soon as we saw them we ran out to buy chicken feed: enticing them to return as often as they like.  Aren't they beautiful?

I am currently pursuing a pain management implant for my back pain (see this post).  There are several hoops I have to jump through and so far I have done three.  It is the wait between hoops that I really hate.  Why can't these medical professionals communicate with each other more rapidly?

Linking with Patchwork Times.

Birthday Week

Yes, I am still knitting.  And I seem to be fixated on these slippers so here is another completed pair.  And would you believe that I have three more pair in the works.  This is primarily because I haven't found a sweater pattern I want to knit so slippers it is, for now.

And I did find time to spend time with my sewing machine.  This is a fleece throw.  I love the size, 1 yard x the width of the yardage.  It is amazing how large this makes these throws.  And they are so easy to make.  I am hoping that I can find a couple more interesting fleece pieces to make a couple more throws.

Once again, this is Birthday Month.  I have been very good and haven't expected a gift a day, like I got last year.  But there have been a couple of gifts along the way and apparently we are ending the month with a BANG.  What we are seeing here is a ceramic measuring set sent to me by my sister, I think.  It seems that Amazon sends packages but there is nothing in the box to say who sent it to you.  Anyway, I thanked her for them so I'm sure she will take credit for them no matter what.

I do appreciate that they are marked for size so they are usable as well as decorative.

My daughter gave us an Initial Banner to hang outside.  She actually gave us 2 but the other one, a Christmas decoration, is already planted outside and I am too lazy to get up and go outside to get a picture.  Maybe later.

Our SIL found this tumbler and made sure that it came home to me.  I think these little owls are so cute and will be fun to drink with.

DH is so sweet and he knew that I wanted some Gnomes. Why?, you may ask.  Well a few weeks ago I had several trees cut down because they were crowing the house.  What we were left with was several short tree stumps; not enough money to have them ground down.  DH said he was going to paint them so he could see them when mowing around them.  I suggested we glue Gnomes on them to have something fun to look at.   

And I got more than the one, I have six.  They are marked for being outdoors and then there are a lot of precautions about bring them in for different weather situations.  Well, that's not going to happen.  So the plan is to poly them with a couple coats to protect them and then they will be on their own until next year.  I think it is going to look so cute.

This was quite unexpected.  Yes, I showed DH this and told him what others had said about this appliance, but I did not suggest we get one.  So imagine my surprise when I saw the box.  I think we will try French fries to see if it works as well as advertised.

And this was a BIG surprise.  I saw this cart advertised and showed DH because I now am having difficulty bringing groceries in from the car: too heavy and too much.  He poo-pooed me and we dropped the idea.  Well, I guess he had second thoughts.  It came in a really flat box but was completely assembled and DH got to use it first.    Those six wheels make steps so easy and it just glides over our rough ground.  I think we will need to affix a basket on it but even just this way it is it works.

Even Mother Nature has gifted me with this beautiful display.  The buds just popped the day after we brought them inside (brief 30s at night).  They really make me smile.

And that's it for me.  I have another doctor appointment tomorrow, seeking some pain management that does not include drugs.  I had to fill out several pages of admission paperwork, most of which dealt with drugs, past or future.  By the time I was done I had already formed a negative impression of the group of doctors which is not going to help me tomorrow.  Tonight I am going to have to pray for a change of attitude ....... darn.   Gari