Category Archive: Knitting
Knitting again
Knitting again: It’s not much, but here is my second cast on for these socks. I miscounted the first time. I now have a cast on and one row knitted. It’s a start and all I need is more time. I like this yarn as it goes through the wash and dryer with all the other clothes – no special care and yet it is 75% wool.Today we had a visit from a pair of visiting nurse with the
January Zigzangular socks done
Project for January: Zigzanular socks are finished. These socks are a Prairie Girl Design by Suzie White. I knit them with Knit Picks Felici. The colorway is Bubble. It is a nice variation to the striped socks.
The day also included more run around chores. This evening I spent too long looking for a program disc that I may have downloaded. So I need to check on that. However, I did turn up other things that had been missing or that I forgot that I had.
Pushing hard
No photos today. We had to go out this morning and take the tax information to our tax accountant, then other mini shopping stops. We did get home in time for lunch and then crashed. I think I’ve been pushing myself a bit too hard.
After the nap, I cleared the cutting table, took out the next pattern I plan to work and decided I don’t have enough energy to choose fabrics today – so it will wait until tomorrow. (I did choose some and they are in the dryer now). I cleared off a book shelf and now need to decide which books to give to which people or places.
The animals are fed. It’s cold out there! It is still pouring rain and my phone weather app promises the same for the next 10 days. So I’ll make supper and knit on my socks that didn’t get completed in January, which sounds like a nice way to spend an evening.
Late winter canning
The red potatoes aren’t holding as long as the while ones, so we either use them fast or we toss them. This is the use them fast method. My Bosch has a French fry cutter and I attach a bread bag on the shoot for ease of cleaning as well so it doesn’t shoot to far.
I add a teaspoon of salt to the bottom of the jar. Then from the bread bag, they go into the pouring container and into the jars. The lids are in water waiting.
They only have to process in the pressure canner for 40 minutes, but then it takes that long to heat up and again that long to cool down. That makes 21 quarts take longer than it seems it should. If I can round up another few jars, I’ll be canning some of the white potatoes that are thinking spring.
And of course, some potatoes had to become fries for lunch. Why is it that potatoes, which are great tasting by themselves, get so doctored up?
I had to blur out the pattern on these because the designer is not ready to distribute it. But I wanted you to see the colors. I have pulled all this out, because once again, the second skein was started at the wrong end. I thought I could live with it, but I can’t. So they are taken apart and when I have recovered from having to undo them, I’ll make another pair. All 4 skeins have now been checked and 2 were skeined reverse at the factory.
More Roses
12 More roses are now up on the board. I think I may be half done. I need to dive into my scraps and even whole pieces for more colors. But it is looking so much better.
I also had to get the emission checked to license my car. They told me it is old enough now that I don’t have to get another on this car which is nice. Now I just have to keep it running.
Then off to get a new battery for my watch which stopped. These kind of trips just seem like a waste of time, but necessary. Oh, yes, and then the grocery shopping. Please tell me why we women can get all this done inside a couple of hours and our DH think we have just scheduled an entire day.
It is still raining, and we are threatened with snow on Monday, but there is a bright light ahead. A week from Sunday, the sun is scheduled to shine.
And I did get a bit of knitting done. This particular stitch is a bit challenging, but I will press on. Who knows I may learn to get faster.
Have a Happy Sabbath and a great weekend
PS For readers who knew her, Alice Kirkman passed away this week.
Twisted madness sock
I think this really matches the day or maybe the month. Twisted Madness sock is the knitting chosen for a competition on Ravelry. The way I understand it is that you must knit as much as you can of this pattern in two weeks and then they group those that have finished at least half of it, into groups according to how fast you accomplished this. I am not a fast knitter. This is the qualifying round. There are 7 rounds after this, probably with each getting more difficult and less time. It looked like a fun thing to do with all my free time. Or maybe it was the 4 loads of laundry including the king size sheets that twisted my mind into thinking I should knit these. Whether or not I qualify, I will still be able to get the patterns for the other 7 rounds.
I thought this was interesting. This is from the two balls you see above. I would not have guessed there was that much blue in it. And perhaps that is how much of each color is in the ball. It will be interesting to see it develop.
Cleaning, New friends and March goals
Cleaning
Some days are just not meant to happen the way I had them planned. When I was getting ready for the knitting adventure this morning, I looked at my phone and found that the service people were coming to service my embroidery machine and my knitting machine at 9. That put me in fast action as it was 8:15 and I needed to tidy up some before they came. At least knitting wasn’t until 10. So that is exactly what I did.
Now I have these papers and books that were laying all over in two nice neat boxes and I can actually find them as they are standing up.
Then I went to a new knitting/crocheting group which started this morning and meets once a month. We started out with 5 of us and ended with 10. So that is a good start. The room is small and I think after 15 they may have to move to another room
March Goals
The projects I am planning to work on this month:
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Frosty’s alter eg0 (WA state)
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Under Construction (Judy)
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make enough rose blocks and get quilt to the flimsy state Linking up to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal March Linkup)
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McKenna Ryan “It’s Fishy” which will be on going for several months
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Learn to digitize some embroidery
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Embroider Dish towels using HIA designs
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Make screens to keep hummingbirds from suicide as they get up into the outside skylights and can’t get out.
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Make one pair of socks
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Clean out greenhouse
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plant seeds for peas and greens
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That should keep me out of trouble for the month of March and maybe even April.
Do you have some goals for March?
First pair of socks finished in 2017!
We had about 1/2″ of snow when I awoke this morning. So no rush in getting around. I finished these Br0nwynn’s Mock Cable socks. They were made with Paton’s Fireside 5 ply 100% wool, which is why the nylon reinforced heel and toe and on size 3 needles which made them go faster. That means I
actually finished February socks in February! I did find the free pattern in Ravelry. It won’t let me copy and paste the page address so just look for Bronwynn’s Mock Cable Socks by Shawn Morris. . I didn’t realize the name was not the name of the creator. So any of you interested can get it there.
Then I finished setting up Quicken for all our accounts. I used to keep it up to date, but DH took over paying the bills and doesn’t like to bother. So the compromise is I take care of Quicken and he pays the bills. It makes it so much easier when you have to pull numbers together for a project or for taxes.
Sock progress 2/16/17
Today I made good progress on “Bronwynn’s Mock Cable Socks”. I printed this pattern off the internet in 2005 and the site no longer is working. They were very easy to knit and the heel turn did not take much thinking.
I used this yarn which I purchased in Australia about 10 years ago. So both socks and yarn have had time to age. However, this is 100% wool yarn which is not as good for socks as if it has some nylon in it. Because this is a heavier yarn, I used #3 needles with 48 stitches.
This is made by several companies specifically to strengthen heels and toes. I used this darker color as it was what I had on hand. So if you look at the heel on these socks, you will see that I carried this yarn along for strength. Mending is not my favorite option and the bit of color difference won’t matter, since they are either worn at home or with shoes.
Donation quilts, fencing, new socks
Donation quilts:
I finally put together a pile of quilts for those with fewer resources than we have and took them to the church. It’s cold out there. The secretary said they have men sleeping in the doorways at night now. I need to make some simple, but warm quilts as she said at this point, anything helps them.
Then it was lunch time. I like a simple tostada with a shell, beans, and lettuce, and of course guacamole throughout. I found that if I order it as a side, I get a bit more.
Fencing:
Remember the fencing, I spent an hour repairing yesterday with baling wire? Since the sheep have nothing better to do than to eat and then figure out how to dismantle things, they achieved the dismantle by pushing the 2 x 4s down. So today I dragged a cattle panel to the pen. It completely fit that area, so we tied it up and hope that it will last until Sunday and we can get it put up more securely. But one never really knows. These sheep are small as they are Shetlands, but they are mighty when they decide they want to be somewhere else.
Knitting:
That was enough fun for this crazy day. So I spent some time knitting a new pair of socks. These are on a size 3 needle and 100% wool, so I will add nylon to the heel and toes to reinforce those areas. I put the socks on hold that were needing more attention. These are going fast because I don’t have to think much and it is a larger yarn. As you can see from my note on the page, I’m only working on 48 stitches. Maybe, I’ll get these done before the month is over and can go back and work on January’s socks.
Hang on tight and enjoy life’s crazy roller coaster ride.