Off to Houston

We are having the most beautiful fall weather ever. The last 3 days(days off for me) have been in the lower 70's with the slightest of breezes and not a cloud in the sky. I have enjoyed getting a little yard work done even if I know it may some of the last I ever do on this particular yard. Hopefully this time next year we will be enjoying a beautiful fall on our own few acres in Tennessee. There was not a lot to take pictures of this week. But at the last minute this lovely Praying Mantis popped out of the impatients I was watering. He didn't much enjoy the unexpected bath and just kept trying to get away from me and my camera. The monarchs that were so plentiful disappeared for the year when it was a lot colder last week. This week the butterfly activity was mostly Sulphers and a few stray skippers here and there.

I am still plodding away on the Adult Tomten. I finished sleeve 1 and picked up the stitches around the armhole for sleeve 2. I quickly decided I was not completely happy with sleeve 1 so I made some changes to sleeve 2. Sleeve 1 was just too loose from the elbow down so on sleeve 2 I continued the decreases a little further. Now that I am at the elbow I will slow the decreases down by doing more rows in between. Once I am done with sleeve 2 I will take sleeve 1 back out and redo it to match. The body now fits perfectly. It was quite loose when trying it on with no sleeves, then with 1 but now with 2 it fits like a glove. I hope the hood and/or buttonband does not change it any further but I don't think they will. Sometimes I feel like I am slogging along with all the garter stitch but then I stand back and see how far I have come and how little I actually have to go and I feel so motivated to get it done and ready to wear.

My 2nd attempt with making argyle socks is going down as a failure. I went with the traditional flat construction technique and I actually did a decent job of working with the bobbins and working the intarsia but when I was at the 4" mark I looked at the work and just said "BLAH" So it will be lying there waiting for me to return from Houston and it will be ripped and the yarn reassigned. At least I tried. So I grabbed a ball of self striping yarn and a sized 0 circular and will do some generic magic loop socks while I am on the road.

I did get 2 blocks done for my progressive round robin. This is the project of my best friend Carol and I want it to be extra special. Trouble is I am 3rd to get this project and I expected the 2 ladies before me to hand on their work for inspiration. No...all I got was Carol's original fabric although she gave a very well thought out set of instructions, color chips from the paint store(ingenious idea by the way) and some fabric we had the option to use. She mentioned flowers as a theme although she did not say we had to do that. But without the others work I had to start fresh and go in my own direction. And I saw Butterflies in the fabric and colors provided. Now doing applique for Carol is like taking "coals to Newcastle" or "selling ice to an eskimo" but I did my best. I chose simple shapes and let the fabric do the work. I did it by needle turn which is quite a challenge for this old soul but I perservered and these 2 blocks are the result. I did some small peiced blocks to forfill the size requirement of the exchange but I am not happy with them and will probably do some more once I get back from the quilt show. I am hoping something will strike me there and I will know exactly what blocks to do.



I am so excited about this trip to Houston. I need this vacation in so many ways. It will be the last trip I make with friends from this part of the country. Not all my best friends could go this time but the ladies that are coming are a fun bunch and we all seem like we need to let our hair down while we are there. Marilyn said she would need a designated driver just to get to dinner. Now who will that be because I guarantee it should not be me. I am also going on at least one side trip. I hope to get to Galveston and one day in Houston I would like to get to one yarn shop and maybe to Ikea. All that and see the show too. At least next week I should have some good pics, some great tales and not a whole lot of knitting or quilting done. And I hope to come back rested and ready to tackle those last 2 months of work before the big quitting day January 4th 2008!! Till next week crafty ones....keep on creating.