Other Progress....

 

Yep, I am working away on Susan's BD puzzle!  Some days I can't find a piece at all!  Other days I find quite a few and then I'm able to join together!  WOOHOO!

Funny how a little project can give you so much satisfaction!  HA  Thanks, Susan!!!

Not a very good picture of my sweater...but I'm making progress...I'll be putting sleeves on holders and then get to start on the body!  Finally!  

Just like the puzzle...I don't get to knit every day...30 min. here.. or 45 min. if I finish dishes early!  HA  I go in my sewing room and I don't come out until the evening news comes on with David Muir.  

I choose not to listen to the news all day long (as my hubby does!). Instead, I catch the local morning news and check in again before dinner. Of course, they always include national news—often depressing and disheartening.

This past week was a perfect example. Watching the exchange between Trump and Zelensky was sad, frustrating, and frankly, embarrassing. Moments like that remind me why I prefer to limit my exposure.

For now, I’ll keep my distance—until it’s time to research candidates and cast my vote. I don’t base my decision on party lines; I vote for the person, not the label. In the meantime, I’ll continue reading books and perspectives from both sides to stay informed. After all, the best I can do is educate myself and make my voice count at the ballot box.

Enough said...

Agave Finished!

 Well, I didn't make Mother's Day but I finished my top in time for Memorial Day/Labor Day!  HA Honestly, Yumiko's patterns are wonderful to knit.  This is my 2nd top pattern from her and I'm looking forward to knitting another one.

The lace work shows up so well with a white tank top under it.  What I like about this pattern and Yumiko's other patterns are you can wear with a tank top or a turtle neck!  

I tried on a blue/white type necklace but I think the white necklace above looks so much nicer.

Too bad I can't get a good color of the yarn.  It's a blue, called pacific tone, but so much prettier in person.  The yarn has some purple in it along with the blue so gives a pretty sheen to it.

Color is better here...you can see some of the lace sleeve...better pic below.

The front has an extra large lace pattern on the bottom to give a little design separation.

The back just has large lace patterns, which look so nice.  

This color isn't correct either but you get to see the lace pattern!

Hard to see but there are shades of purple along with blue in the yarn.  This is from Yumiko's web page.

So now to decide what pattern to do next...although, I have two projects to work out that are not knitting.  I'll be posting on them later this month.  

Final projects for 2022!

I'm not saying these are final/finished projects for 2022!  HA  Only saying what I am working on!  First off, I made 12 of the totes I posted on earlier in December!  What fun to cut up quilts! 

I made this one for our great grand daughter, Rilynn.  I up for Christmas some crayons and colored pencils.

I don't think I got a picture of all of the totes together....but you get the idea!

Yes, in between time, sometimes every 7 days!, I would knit!  I finally finished all the lace work so now I'm working on the body of the sweater.  This one will have 3/4 sleeves so maybe this will work for Easter this year! 

And great news!!!  Kayla & Nate are expecting their 2nd baby, a boy! in June!  Everyone is very excited and so I thought I'd better get busy on at least thinking about make another baby quilt.  This is the first great grand baby quilt I made for Rilynn, their first baby.

So I'm playing around with some designs to make for a baby boy!  I think the sail boats would be best but I don't want square blocks with the ship...of course not!  HA  Not exactly sure what I'll do but I have a few months to figure it out!  What else am I doing, right!  HA

I saw this dog quilt block but didn't use their measurements, of course not!  He's cute but I think the sail boats would be best...but...I'll keep looking and playing around with designs..in between knitting!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO MY READERS..I hope 2023 is a wonderful year for us all!

Fall is here!

One of our trees in the front yard...
yes, our leaves blow into our
neighbors yard (white van)..we do
try to rake as many as we can!  Have
to be neighborly, right!

 And that means it's time to start bagging leaves again!  We only bagged 3 today...beautiful weather here in Michigan the past few days...temps from 60-75!  Yesterday, we were going to rake leaves but it was so windy I just cut back my hosta plants in the back yard.  I don't normally cut them back until spring but we have bunnies that like to visit our yard at night and the dogs go crazy!

I have been busy the past month helping with our Friends group prepare for our book sale, which was a great success!  We raised around $1000, which isn't bad at all!!  Our next sale won't be until spring so we'll have somewhat of a break!

In between time, I'm still knitting..although, I did go 6 days without touching my needles!  The pics below show some of the progress...I'm only on row 30 or 31 or 69 rows!  And the color isn't really showing up it's true color...This was my start.....

And this is a closeup of the funky SPIKELET stitch...those little bobbles!  

It has a similar ruffle neckline as my first lace top but not as tight.  My sister was on vacation (tour of Egypt!!) so we are both caught up and around the same row knitting.  Always fun to knit with her!!!

And check out my mandevilla vine!!!  I brought it inside when night time temps dropped to 55.  She's doing so well!!!  I am determined to not set her back like I did last year!  

She even has a flower budding!  

I made a purchase that is helping me keep her alive!!  Last year I either over watered or didn't water enough...and repotting and fertilizing this plant just about did her in!

I love this meter! Works so good!  Of course it's an Amazon purchase!  Go figure!

So now it's time for Lions football and knitting and maybe a glass of wine later!  I have my veggies all washed and marinating and my Parmesan Oven-Fried Chicken all ready to toss in the oven at half time so dinner will be ready when the game is over!  Works for me!

Lace Sweater #3

Yep!  My sister and I are back at it again with another Lace sweater!  This is the pattern we're working on.  It's called Sayuri and it's by the same designer we both like, Valentina Bogdanova.  Her patterns also include pictures of the unusual knitting stitches in her patterns, which I really like.  And, so far, her sizes work good for me....watch...this one won't!  HA  

I started on 9/9 but I had to stop and order another circular needle.  Mine was a 24 in and I really could just use a 14". I was stretching the stitches which I didn't like.  Some knitters use what's known as 'magic loop' but I've never mastered that technique so it was buy a new circular needle!  HA

Looks a little strange but this was working on the short rows for the back.  Makes your sweater lie better...

So now I'm starting on the 2nd chart and will be knitting 63 lace rows!  YIKES...along with a new stitch called spikelet!  Hmmmmmmmm

The color of this yarn is Dusty Coral...

 

This is the yarn/color my sister is knitting.  It's going to be for her daughter.  

wish us luck!

SO BUSY!

 Grass doesn't grow under my feet!  This past month we've been working on getting our local library set up for our book sale, which was last weekend!  And it was a great success....lots of work selling books for 3 days but we may look at doing that again in the fall.  

We are also very organized now...all books on the shelves around the room are alphabetized by author!  The fiction books on the tables were put in boxes designated by alpha character so it was easy to find favorites authors.  We had lots of compliments on the way the sale was set up and organized.  

This is our storage room for our boxes, which are just placed on the tables if we don't have room for the books on the fiction shelves.  We had to move over 115 banker boxes to this area, which are stacked in double rows.  Our room is now empty and ready for meetings and programs.

One of our volunteers, Amy (who is also a bigger U of M fan than my hubby!) is a great resource and our book sale leader!  She's done so many book sales and certainly knows what works...she and I are both a little 'obsessed' about having things organized so we work well together!  

I'm also working on another knitting project.  It's a lace shawl from a book called Curls 2.  The author, Hunter Hammersen, has many books and her patterns are really quite pretty!  Should only take me the rest of the year to complete this one!  HA

So by next winter, I should have a shawl that looks like this!  HA  Fingers crossed!

And I'm still doing the daily art project.  We're up to 76 days as I write this post and so far I'm doing something.  Although, I did cheat a few days posting on the book sale prep and my new car!  This is a picture from an ad for Buick.  My car is also white and so good looking!

  

I am so happy...this was a quick replacement but I love, love my new car!  I traded in my Envision, which I loved!  This is also an Envision but the Avenir model!  It does everything!!, and I mean everything, except make my coffee!  It will parallel or back in parking on its own!  So many safety features, which is really nice for us old folks driving!  HA  Seriously, the safety features are so good for any age.  I don't see using the parallel parking or backing in feature but hubby and I will test drive this just for the fun of it!

So that's it for a quick update!  I'm still here...still busy...still enjoying life!!

Knitting Time (again!)

 I showed a knitted cuff I made a few weeks ago from some old, leftover yarn.  It wasn't the best work due to the yarn fraying when adding the beads but I've worn it a few times.  I started another one but got sidetracked!  Go figure!  I have a few balls of Cascade 220 Superwash wool left from my poncho I finished last month...so figured since I don't have a decent cap to wear  in the fall/winter on our walks, I'd make one!  Let's face it...hats are very easy to make and you can even watch a movie on your laptop while a football game is on the TV!  Yes, I do multi task!  HA

But this next project I'll only be knitting when it's quiet and I haven't had a glass or wine - or maybe I'll need a glass of wine!  HA  

My sister and I both saw this on Facebook so we are both going to make it together!   It's always fun to have us both work on a pattern so if one of us runs into trouble or one knows a stitch, we can help each other out.  

 The pattern is called Reina de Picas (on Ravelry) and I am so impressed with the instructions.  Yes, it's lace and you can either knit according to the chart or the written instructions (which I prefer).  I've used some charts for knitting but they have to be simple...I get lost easily!  

I actually had sent away for another pattern before I saw the lace top above.  This jacket is a 10+ year old pattern from Europe and a company (now defunct) called SMC Select.  

I found the pattern on Ebay and almost had a panic attack when I opened up the booklet!  It was written in German or Swedish!  But I kept flipping through the pages and English appeared!  WHEW!!!

I would make the length closer to my waist vs as high as it is here in the picture.

The yarn used in this pattern is no longer being produced.  I was at our local knit shop last week trying to find a substitute and decided to try and use my 220 Superwash leftover.  I started to knit up a swatch to see how it would work and I was quite happy with the gauge.  Ignore the bottom knitting part as I was just playing around before I decided to try to actual pattern.  I like the feel of the piece and think it will make a nice lightweight jacket.  But, I do want to tackle the lace top first.  It may take me until next spring/summer to finish!  I can always make the jacket later!

Just to show why I've been lax in updating my blog....we're having our first book sale in almost two years this coming weekend at our little library in town.  I put together this video of our upcoming sale.  With the exception of most books on the shelves around the room, books have all been donated by patrons or our library (they weed out so they can replace with newer books).  It's taken us about two weeks of volunteer workers categorizing books, moving tables, organizing books, DVD's, etc.  It's a ton of work but we're hoping for a good turnout! Yes, I'm having fun playing around with making videos!!  

Beaded Isle Cuff

 

I purchased the Bead Isle Cuff pattern about a month ago from Laura Nelkin (you can see her pattern on Ravelry here).  I love cuffs of any kind and this being a small project I thought, why not make one.  I ran into a few issues, like finding the smallest needles I had in my stash and then, what yarn to use?  You don't need much but I didn't want to buy any (you only need around 43 yards of fingering weight yarn).  This was, afterall, just a practice piece.  So into my stash I went and I found some leftover yarn from a shawl I made (pattern, again, by Laura).  And ditto with the beads...actually, I didn't have enough size 8 Delica's and had to use some other beads...but it worked out ok.

check out those little hairs on my arm!  HA

You use a slide clasp to close the cuff.  The ends wrap around your wrist and then lay under the center medallion. So you don't even see the closure.  Fortunately, I had three slide clasps in my stash!  Don't you just love having a stash of items!!

This was the yarn I had leftover from making a shawl.   You can see that project here.

I really liked the purple Delica beads.  

You can see where the blue beads look a tad smaller than the purple ones.  Laura used three different color beads in her cuff, which looks really nice.  Again, I just used what I had!

You  add the beads as you knit the pattern.  Laura has a you tube on using Beadle Needles to place beads on your your stitches.   Of course I had to order them via Prime.  And she also has another youtube showing how to use a crochet hook (.8mm) or superfloss dental floss!  The only problem I had using the Beadle Needle was the yarn threads, which are very thin to start with, kept getting caught on the point of the needle.  Sometimes, it worked great and other times I was just shredding my yarn.  I use the SuperFloss often, which I'm used to but I think the Beadle Needle would be efficient once I got used to it.    Again, this is just a practice piece, right!   I think it's fun to wear, which I did today!  HA  Now to purchase some yarn and beads to make another one.  What fun to choose more beads and yarn, right!

Knitting & Stitching!

 Well, I finished the lace poncho I've been working on and it's not even fall yet!  WooHoo!  I believe I started this in March!  And with all the other projects I work on at the same time, I'm happy I finished before the snow falls!  HA

I have this same yarn in a beige color but thought the peach would be something different.  It's really a nice color in person.

Lace pattern is very easy to do.  You can purchase the Lattice Lace Poncho on Ravelry here.  

It folds up nicely for putting on the shelf with my other shawls.  Yes, I love shawls and poncho's!

No, this isn't a great picture of either myself or the poncho, but you get the idea on what the poncho looks like on my body.  I think it will go well with black pants and a black turtle neck.  Bob said "I always see you in black and white".  I said I was "living on the edge" by wearing something peach with black!  HA  I do wear more spring colors in addition to black!  HA  Could wear a turtle neck with it or not.  

Now to get back to stitching on my 'string art' piece!  Lots of stitching!!  Whew

I'm still here!

We're having Florida weather this past week and suppose to continue into this coming week!  What fun...guess I'll just stay inside like I do in the winter, right!  Not a problem for me.  At least we've been having a good breeze blowing constantly...not good for Bob to fly his RC planes but at least it helps with the hot/humid weather.  

It hasn't stopped me from knitting but only later in the afternoon if out on the deck for happy hour!  HA 

12" x 12" paper collage

I also finished stitching this collage piece.  Nancy (check out her blog), one of my buds from Florida, mentioned about lengthening my stitching.  Because I was free motion quilting and I'm such a stuck in the mud, I couldn't make my stitching look decent.  The stitches were way too big.  But it was a good suggestion, Nancy!  I ended up setting my top tension down to '1'!  That seemed to take care of most of the stitching problem.

Yep, up close, you can see some of the holes where I removed the stitches.  Other than doing some hand embroidery to fill in the holes, I elected to leave well enough alone.  I have my other hand embroidery and bead project(s) to work on so I'll save my fingers for those projects! 

It's not that bad and it will end up hanging in my sewing room.  I'm not sure if I'll wrap around a canvas or just do some type of edging on the collage.

I love my Instant Pot the girls got me for Christmas a few years ago.  I ordered Jeffrey Eisner's Lighter Step By Step Instant Pot cookbook.  So many good recipes in it...I made this past dish for us last night and it was SO good!!!!  

You can take a peak at the book from your local library or go to his YouTube channel or his Facebook page!  He really has some great recipes.   Or just go and purchase one of his books.   I made his pulled pork sandwiches a few weeks ago, which was awesome!  Tasted just like smoked pork!

I have to say I'm enjoying trying all the new recipes and I don't mind not going out to eat!  Saving those big bucks too!  So I can buy more cookbooks!  Works for me!

Of course, I have to brag, again, on my grandson, Nick!  He was awarded Offensive Player of the year 2021 at the Lacrosse Awards dinner this past week.

Just more memories for his 21st BD book!  HA