Audry II @ 500!!

I love Dutch Iris. Or as some call it, The Florist Iris. It grows from a bulb instead of a tuber, blooms only once each year and does much better in cut flower bouquets. The bulbs usually only make it a couple of years here in Oklahoma before needing to be replaced. I have not done that in the last few years so I am down to only a few blooming this year. But these beauties surprised me. I looked out one morning and saw them blooming out of the grass, where we had removed a flower bed last fall. I just had to run out and cut them all to bring into the house. At first they were all the gorgeous deep royal blue you see in the background with just the bright yellow just on the falls. The 2nd flower out of the buds a few days later looked completely different!! All the yellow tiger striping appeared out of nowhere!! I don't remember these doing this last year but then again I was working all the time and could have just missed it. I will absolutely be planting alot more of these mysterious Dutch Iris in the future and watching for the magical transformation to happen again.

This was another week with DH home again and stifling my creativity!! He is completely better after the surgery although he still can't completely rotate his neck fully yet. But he is going back to work tomorrow-Yippee!!!! Cartwheels!! Victory Dance!!! I would love to say I am going to get back to yarn dyeing, maximum knitting and lots of good long walks. But alas if we ever hope to get moved the packing must get done. And now we have a deadline to meet. We have a shipper coming on the 12th to take away almost all of the remaining stuff in the house. We will be left with just what we absolutely need to exist for however long it takes to sell the house. So for the next week I have to be a packing fool and the fun stuff will have to be done in wee amounts as I can steal the time during the day. As soon as the movers get the stuff out of here then I have to deal with all the floors in the house being replaced. I guess I just take my lonely wing chair and move it from spot to spot as they work and just stay out of their way!! The real estate agent that we plan on using gave us a list of things that need done to help sell the house. And a lot of it is cosmetic stuff that I also have to do cause DH swears he still can't lift a paint brush!! I have to strip the dining room wallpaper, pull all the ivy that is attached to the outside of the house off, trim the honeysuckle, rub scratch cover over all our woodwork(there is lots) and then use a varnish/sealer, and a few things I am probably forgetting. But does it sound like fun? NO Does it sound like I will get much knitting done? NO Does it sound like we will finally be actually moving? YES YES YES!!

Now for the little bit of knitting I did get done this week. I managed to get both shoulders knit on the aran cardigan but they are going to be ripped back out this week so I can tweak the very start of the saddle just a bit. It is just too wide across the saddle and the angle is too pointy. I spent one evening on each saddle so it is not a huge investment in time to get it right. I have had it on and the body fits amazing, so I want the rest to look as good as possible. I will also have to shorten the sleeves a bit but I have read several tutorials and am confident I can do it easily. Then just prepping the steaks, cutting them and knitting on the buttonband!!

I did start a pair of toe-up socks with some Plymouth "Happy Feet". It is a fuller yarn than I usually knit with so I can work with 60 stitches on size 2's and it is going pretty fast. No pics yet but maybe next week when I am past the first heel.

Now I did manage to keep up pretty well with Audry II. She has now passed the 500 mark. Which means I have used 1000grams of yarn or over 10 pairs of socks worth!!! Oh my-and I am just a tad over half way done!!! But she got to go out visiting again this weekend and got her 500 picture taken in several different locations. By the time she gets to 600 we ought to be in North Carolina, visiting the DGD's and she will get that picture taken there. Maybe at the beach, draped around the beautiful granddaughters, keeping them warm from the chilly ocean breezes!! And last but not least-I got my progressive round robin challenge blocks back. Oh my, they are just lovely. I may not have mentioned that the fabric I sent around was all Civil War repos but I gave everyone freedom to do whatever type of blocks they chose. And they all did choose very well indeed!! I love the way other people can look at your fabric and use it in a way you would have not thought of, or maybe were not brave enought to. There are several blocks where the maker used fabric for the background that I would not have imagined. But now it is going to make this project sing!! I am so sorry I do not have the time to put these blocks together until after we are moved but they are going to the top of my priority list. These pics are ones I have stolen from my DQF's blog. She got to go to the retreat where they officially unveiled everybody's projects and got these pictures there. I have been lazy and have not gotten my blocks back out to take a pic so hopefully she will not be mad that I slurped from her!!! I am pretty sure that I will not be getting back to blogging on a regular schedule any time soon. It is just to crazy with the move and I am not getting alot of anything done that you guys would be interested in. But I will try not to go too long so you all forget me!! Until next time-keep up the knitting. Remember-we must stimulate the economy by buying yarn!!

Into the Hood

Well here I am again. And this week nothing in nature was picture worthy so you get to see one of my favorite quilts that was in the Houston Quilt show. This was by a Japanese quiltmaker and it was phenomenal to look at. This is the kind of quilt maker I want to be when I grow up.

So now you get to see my efforts in the quilting arena. I just finished up with the blocks that go with DQF's Progressive Round Robin project. I am pretty happy with all my efforts. My applique is passable, the little flower blocks are cute and the brown in the 9 patches helps with the colors of the quilt. The flower blocks were made with partial seaming and when your blocks are as small as these that is quite a feat. Then I paper peiced the stem/leaves blocks. I had to draw these out, each one is different so that makes them kind of cool. Then the 9 patches are only 3" finished size so you have to be very careful with your peicing to be accurate. I am sure she will like them and hopefully everything else that the other girls do will go with them for an interesting and beautiful finished quilt.

I also got a decent amount of knitting done over the week. Work was not to crazy and I got to knit on my "really boring sock" not only at lunch but during breaks also. Which meant I was able to get sock #1 done. And I was also able to cast on for sock 2. I will be so ready to knit on something more exciting when these are done. I am thinking-Skull hat for Katie for Christmas and then on to something for Maddie.

So now on to the Tomten. I finished the 2nd sleeve to match the 1st. I messed up somewhere in the counting and the sleeves do not match to the letter but it is not noticable to me when I put it on. It is now time to start the hood. This is where the guidance from above falls short. EZ did hers so much different and Brooklyn Tweed only gives some general information. So here I go, jumping in to the deepend without my floaties!!

So now I must go and try to make a decision on picking up the hood stitches. Hopefully I will get the hood done by the end of next weekend. I have to wait until my new 60" size 6 circular needle gets here before I can work on the buttonband anyway. I also ordered another skein of the green trim Cascade 220 because I was afraid what I have might not be quite enough-CHICKEN!! But I can always use extra Cascade 220 up so no harm done if it ends up not being needed for the Tomten. But for now my fingers are itching to get started and when I am done I have 2 episodes of Dexter to catch up on. See ya'll next week

Quiet Week on the Prarie

Usually I like to start my weekly blog with a nature shot. But this week nature did not cooperate. Several times the birds were playing joyfully in the sprinkler and the bird bath but even if I snuck out the front door and quietly tried to get pics, the birds scattered as soon as I got even a little close. There were not a lot of butterfly sightings or anything else interesting. The cat wouldn't put on a show and the flowers are tired and saggy. So maybe next week I can get a decent shot of something to show you.

This week was a decent one for my knitting. I managed to get the 1st Tidal Wave sock done with just a few inches of yarn left over. I had to peice together every last bit of yarn I had to make it to the end but they fit and that is all that matters. Loose ends can always be woven in no matter how many there are!! I also got the 2nd sock done just about to the same point that sock 1 was at last week so I am not going to bore you with another picture. By this time next week I should easily have sock 2 done and then I will show you a picture of them together maybe on my feet. I am going to immediately start a new pair in the same pattern, I just have to decide which colorway of Jitterbug I am going to use. 1 colorway is very bright and bold and the other is kind of pink and girly. Decisions, decisions, decisions!!

I did manage to get the Progressive round robin blocks finished!! I already had 2 pinwheel blocks done last week. It was a block I made years ago in a 5" size and I remember it being quite easy. Trouble is I needed it to be a 6" block and that was not so easy. But I finally found a solution that wasted a little fabric but it worked perfectly and I whipped up another 2. Then I was stumped on what else to do. I still had a requirement to do one more 12" block worth. I cruised the website Quilters Cache and found a paper peiced Chicken block. The description of the block size was "around 8"!! I am not used to that kind of description and did not know what to expect. But I printed out the patterns and got started. It had been awhile since I paper peiced and it took some re-learning needed to be done. But finally I managed to get the block peiced and indeed the block was an odd size. Mine turned out 7.75" X 8.25 Now that is not an easy size to do anything with. I was already to start another one and adjust the size as I went. But I finally decided to put some wide borders on and make it a 12.5" block. So each side ended up a different fabric/color and then I trimmed it down slightly assymetrically on purpose. When I put all the blocks up (mine and Colleen's) they seemed less busy than I expected-Thank goodness!! Hopefully the other people in my rotation can look at all the blocks and come up with something even more to bring them all together even more.

I think I will cut it short tonight and get some last minute housework done. I am not even going to try to predict what I am going to get done this week. That way I will not disappoint myself when I fall slightly short. Sometimes I need to focus on what I do get done instead of what I didn't!! See you all next week....

On Top of Old Smoky

These pics are from my DGD's back packing trip into the Smokies. Their Dad took them on a 5 day back country hiking trip and they all did great. Notice DGD #1 is wearing her Wonderful Wallaby sweater that I made for her last Christmas-yeah Maddy!!

This week was particularly busy at work. So I did not get alot of knitting done. I was able to get the 2nd Scottish Wave sock done down to the start of the heel flap. I got the buttons on the Baby Suprize Jacket and will be gifting it very soon to the next door neighbor's daughter who is having a girl. I also found out that my new next door neighbor at my apartment is pregnant. She is such a sweet girl although fairly young. I told her I knit and she was very interested in re-learning to knit herself. I have already started a BSJ for her in a neutral colorway so it can be for either a boy or girl. They have not found out yet what they are having. Again I am using the Colinette Cadenza and the main color is grey of shades from medium to dark. There are short shots of all kinds of great colors including red, blue, green and a mustard yellow. I am also going to intersperse some strips of a matching red solid since the 2 balls of Cadenza are not quite enough for the sweater. I will be working on different decreases & increases than the original to see if there is any I like better. I am doing a simple knit 3 together right now and I think it is working out to look nice. For the double increases I will do a lifted bar increase by knitting into the front and the back of the bar.. It will leave a very small hole that should line up and be a nice design element. I will be working on improving my single row buttonhole technique that EZ talks about in Knitters Almanac. I also got the Jitterbug sweater to it's recipient's momma and she seemed to be quite impressed and promised to bring the baby by wearing the set.

On the quilting front I worked on packing up my sewing room some more. I got another 3 boxes of fabric boxed up and lots of other fabric found its way into the appropriate boxs. I am also cutting quilt seeds as I put stuff away. Quilt seeds are just 2 1/2" squares for a future undecided quilting project. So far I have over 1000 cut in over 200 different fabrics. I do have several ideas of what I might do with this but will not start anytime soon. But when I do I will not have to cut anything!! Well here are the squares that have been made so far on this round of the Progressive RR that I now have to work on. The fabric is from Marcy and Colleen made these blocks. I am stumped at the moment on what to do with this next. I did buy some fabric this week but still don't have a clue where to go with it. I know I have to get these blocks separated out by some thing less busy but so far my muse is keeping quiet. I sure hope my next round is easier!!

Well I leave for work tomorrow morning and do not get to come home for over a week. I will get 3 days off over the Labor Day weekend but I will be stuck in my apartment and that gets old quick. I will take all my knitting projects with me but that only goes so far. And I have to watch how much I knit before my neck goes into spasms. I probably should take my kid's PJ pattern with me as I have a pair of birthday PJ's to make. DGD #1 suggested I make DGD #2 dinosaur pajama's for her upcoming birthday. Now why did I not think of that? Of course that means a trip to Oklahoma Quiltworks for fabric which is such a hardship!!!! I also need to buy fabric for a charms exchange I am doing with my WW quilting friends. You would think with over 20 boxes of fabric packed that I would not need any more for many years but it seems like I never have exactly what I want when I want it. Sounds like an addiction..one I don't want to find a cure for. Well till next week, probably Tuesday by the looks of it....