Photo-OP

The Queen has arrived!! But still no Monarchs to be seen in the garden. But these beauties are close relatives and every bit as awesome to see. At one time I had 5 or 6 swarming on this Ageratum but this one was the only one who would stick around for some pictures and be famous. It is almost the end of the season for butterflies and I for one will miss them once the snow starts to fly.

My week in knitting was a productive one. I got my 2nd Jaywalker cast on and down almost to the ankle. I only got to knit on it 3 evenings but it has gone pretty fast. Hopefully at this speed I will be done in just 2 more weeks of evening knitting. And I was able to get quite a bit done on my Adult Tomten. I made it up to where I needed to put in the pockets in just a couple of days of hard knitting. I kind of followed EZ's pocket directions with just a slight CrazyAnn mod. I used a provisional cast-on, knit the pocket in stockinette until the last 5 rows which I did in garter to match the body. I undid the stockinette edge and put it on a dp needle. Then I matched it up with where I wanted in on the body. I did a 3 needle bind off binding off the pocket & sweater edge at once. Then I flipped up the pocket and slipped the stitches off the other needle onto the circular to take the place of the stitches I cast off. I made sure the stockinette went to the inside of the pocket to give a nice feel. I used an uneven # of rows so that there was a loose end of yarn at each pocket side and I used that to strengthen and neaten each pocket edge and then sew the pockets together on the inside. To finish off I very loosely connected the pocket to the body with the yarn still in the needle and wove it in to finish.

Another thing I discovered during this project was a great way to do short rows in garter stitch. First knit to where you are going to turn. Just turn and go back to the next turn. Turn and knit to the last stitch before the gap. Pull the stitch past the gap thru the last stitch before the gap and then knit them one at a time like usual. This is fairly easy to do and the only thing to watch is that when you knit the stitches to make sure you catch the entire strand both in that row and the next until the stitches are back to normal. This is almost invisible as the swapped stitches pull the gap shut and blend right into the garter stitch. I will try this with stockinette someday but I bet it works better in the garter stitch.

Now all I have to do for the next 2 weeks or so is mindless garter stitch until it is time to divide for the fronts and back. Boring but so worth it in the end. I can only hope all my other challenges with this project go as well as these first two have.

I have been spending alot of time on Ravelry but it has been such a good use of my time. I joined a group called Yarnographers whose main focus is learning to better use your camera for photographing yarn and knits. Several members there have a vast array of knowledge and are willingly and gladly passing it on to use amateurs. First thing I learned was how to rig up a quick light box situation and what lighting works the best. Then I learned alot more about F stops and depth of field. Lastly I learned how to manually set my white balance. This has allowed me to make my yarn and knitting "float" to really accentuate the fibers and stitches. So this week all my photos have this affect!! I do want to work with other surfaces but that will come with some more practice. So far the manual setting of white balance seems the most helpful and it is so easy to do. It makes me want to go out and buy the most beautiful fibers just to take great shots of it. And by the way, a foggy morning makes for the best fiber shots!! And that is why the neighbors got to see me in my PJ's dragging out white fabric, camera & tripod, yarn and my camera manual at 8 am the other morning!!

Time to Start the Tomten

Here it is the 1st of October and the temperatures are still 90!! And I have yet to see many Monarchs flying thru on their annual migration. Usually they stop over in my garden and they are easy to catch on camera. But today I spent quite a bit of time chasing one Common Swallowtail and never got a picture at all. Then I found the small weaver spider deep in my flower bed and she posed willingly. The sunset tonight was brilliant but not that colorful but still worthy of a shot.

I was on call this last weekend and got to knit quite a bit. And buy yarn!! I decided to tear out the Tidal Wave socks using Jitterbug because they were just too bright. So I moved on to a beautiful Jawoll Color in soft heathered colors and decided to try the JayWalker socks once again. The first time I tried on 0's and they were just too small to go over my heel. So I cast on on 2's, knit the recommended amount of ribbing and started the patterning. Tuesday at work was kind of slow and I got alot of knitting in. Almost down to the ankle before I decided to try them on. And guess what-too big!! So I ripped them all out, recast on onto 0's for the ribbing. I did more ribbing this time to keep from having the patterning from pulling the top of the sock down into a funny edge. 20 rows were just enough but I could have done a couple more and made it an even 2". Even tho I ended up with Tuesday as a wasted knitting day I still finished up with the sock on Monday morning. I love this sock, the color, the design, the feel of the yarn, the tapered toes I decided to do. I will be starting sock #2 tomorrow night but I doubt it will get done as fast as the first one.

So now for the start of my Tomten Jacket. I am a bit nervous but I am going to jump in with both feet. I bought 10 skeins of Cascade 220 in the new handpaint version. A little more pricey but a very pretty yarn. Mine is deep shades of navy. A very subtle variegation that will appear solid from a distance. I also bought a skein of a deep green heather to edge mine in. I plan on using as much of Brooklyn Tweeds modifications as I can gleen from his blog. Although I am not sure I can tell some of the things he did so I may have to adapt as I go along. I swatched on size 8 circulars and got 4.5 stitches per inch but decided to go ahead and make this project on 7's instead. It will give me a little denser fabric and keep me warmer. So for this week there are no pictures but by next week I hope to have something to post. In fact I am in the middle of casting on as I am writing this post. So I will go and get the remaining 40 stitches cast on and get started with my labor of love.....

Beauty on the Wing

Well this week nature did cooperate. The other evening I just happened to glance out the back door and I saw a fluttering in the garden. At first I thought it would be a Monarch since it is very close to the migration season. But I was happily suprised to see a beautiful unblemished Swallowtail. This one even posed a little for some pictures even tho the light was low and the evening air was cool. I have been watching for him to stop back by but so far no luck. So at least I have these snaps to remind me of his glory.

I did finish up my Tidal Wave socks this week and they are as gorgeous as I hoped they would be. I washed and blocked them and they are so soft and cushy. I can't wait until cooler weather so I can slip them on and enjoy them for real. I started a 2nd pair using Colinette Jitterbug in the Popsicle colorway on Wednesday. I got the ribbing and 3 pattern repeats done easily by the end of the workweek. I knew they would be shockingly bright out of this yarn but I thought what the heck-if nothing else I can wear them to bed. But when I switched to smaller needles further down the leg I did not like how the colors pooled out so I did something I do way to often-frogged them. I will use the yarn for something else, probably for the DGD's who love bright colors.

In just a little while I am going to swatch some yarn I bought late this spring and try to make a final decision which project I will make from it. It is the Autunno yarn from de Ve' in a very nice rich tomato red. I am sure it will be a EZ pattern as I can not get away from her yummy organic designs. Hopefully by next week I will have some progress photos of what ever project it decides to be.

I did get productive in the sewing room. I whipped up a cute skirt out of the same pattern I bought at the Paducah quilt show. I made this one out of 2 contrasting fabrics, 1 for the body of the skirt and the other for the flounce. It turned out so well but it was a little hard to get a picture to show here so you will just have to imagine.

I finally got my invitation to Ravelry and have spent way to much time organizing my finished projects, stash and books. It is a lot of fun and does not replace blogging in any way. I love the way you can cross reference patterns, yarn, books, people, ect. How anyone could have imagined this web site, design it and execute it as well as they have, I can not fathom but thank goodness they have. Now that I have gotten most of my recently current projects in it will not eat up quite as much time as it did this weekend. From now on, any time I put into the website should be entertaining, not work.

I am on call this next weekend so hopefully I will get some real knitting done on whatever my project ends up being. I am also hoping to get in at least one really long walk if the weather cooperates. Also I hope to get to see my good friend Carol since we have not gotten together for some time now. I will not get to many more chances to see her since our move out of state is looming pretty close. So until next week, keep those needles clicking and the brains ticking...

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....

A Walk in the Park

Today I decided to go back to the walking park in town and try to get some pics of the Prarie Dogs and other wildlife. It was really gray outside and trying to rain so the colors are not so intense as usual but still beautiful. The prarie dogs were not as cooperative as I thought they would be after watching them on my walk last week. I guess they saw the camera and got shy!!

I had my first 3 day weekend in quite some time. I thought I could get so much done but as usual my list only has a few thing crossed off. Most of my time was spent buying, setting up and getting used to my new laptop!! It was a long over due purchase and will eventually make my life so much easier. But the learning curve is steep and getting every thing where it should be has been time consuming. There are several programs on Windows Vista that I am not sure I like. Picasa2 is a program that organizes pics and in some ways I like it but when it comes to using Blogger it is a pain. We will see what happens after I get a little more used to it. I need to reload my old photo editing software to see if it works on Vista. Either that or I will get Adobe Photoshop which will really have a steep learning curve!!


One of the things I got to this week was a new sock project. I have been wanting to start the Tidal Wave Sock pattern put out by Tofutsies by way of good knitting friend Carol. The pattern is free if you purchase some Tofutsies yarn but I have yet to do that. I wanted to use my new Claudia's handpainted Fingering weight yarn in the Blue Terracotta colorway. My first ball was only 44 grams, a bit short of the 50 I am supposed to get. I have found this to be very common with her yarn, more so than other handpainted brands. But once I started knitting I was in love with the project. I started the ribbing on 2's and continued for 2 repeats before being able to try them on my foot. They were plenty big enough so I switched to 1's to knit the remaining sock. This is such a easy pattern to knit and this yarn is so nice to knit with. I got alot done in a little time and should be able to finish sock #1 this week. I am so in love with this pattern I may immediately knit the same pattern in one of the Colinette Jitterbug yarns I have lying around. Once again I made the heel flap a little narrower and longer than usual and it fits my foot very well. My only hope is that I don't run out of yarn before finishing the sock.

The other project I worked on this weekend was the gift card book for DGD #2's birthday. When I asked her what she wanted she mentioned a remote control dinosaur that is on the shelf at Target. As soon as I saw it last weekend I knew it was "her" all the way. And grandma would have just bought it right there and then but it was huge! So I bought a gift card so she can go and pick it up herself and save the postage. But grandma could not just send a generic gift card in a store bought card. I had it in my head to decorate a box or something to stick the card in, something she could save for awhile. At Michael's I found a blank gift card book and all I had to do was decorate it. I bought some chip board accents awhile back intending it to be for her birthday card and I put those to use. I searched thru all my old pics and found one of her that showed her playful side-a clown nose and big glasses!!! Perfect for a birthday project. So here is my final product and I am pretty satisfied. It could always be better if I had access to unlimited scrapbooking supplies. But then again a simple birthday card can turn into a major expense that way quickly. More than a remote control dinosaur!!

Well that is about all my week brought to pass. Well except for the beautiful Hawk that landed on our back fence on Saturday. He was there to try and catch his dinner out of the honeysuckle. All the little sparrows that come to feed off my feeders hang out in the dense honeysuckle vines and the hawk just thought it was a smorgesborg all set up for him. But after I got in a couple of very quick shots he flew off without any supper-at least I think!! I was in awe at his sheer size and majesty even tho he would have snatched up any stray pets I might have had in the back yard. Well this week I am not going to promise any finished projects for next weekend and we will just see what comes to pass. As always-knit on friends.

Nature's Beauty Times 2

Just when I thought I would not have a great picture to start my blog for the week, nautre gives me a perfect subject. About 7p.m. tonight it was just barely misting and I was complaining we needed more rain. All at once my DH tells me that there is a beautiful double rainbow out and I grab my camera and the tripod and head outdoors. I did not have time to really get the settings on the camera right for the situation but I still think these are pretty impressive. The rainbows were both complete arcs but that would have taken a fish eye lens to capture in total. These were the best rainbows I can ever remember seeing and I have seen many in my day. It lasted for almost 20 minutes and had all the neighbors out oohing and aahing. Now if we could just get that rain I think we need!!

I managed to finish several knitting projects this week. The first would be my Scottish Wave socks. Unfortunately the end result was dissappointing. All during knitting of the 2nd leg I kept checking to see if the stripes were lining up the same and they seemed to be just perfect. But then the foot of the 2nd sock was not looking at all like the 1st. When I was finally done I took the socks outside to photograph and I realized the socks really didn't match at all. The greens were quite different and the amount of purple in each was vastly different. I took the socks into the shop I bought the yarn at and they said they got alot of complaints about the dyelots not being true. The owner gave me a 25% discount on my purchase that day and I managed to bring home some nice Claudia's Handpaint Fingering weight for a new pair of socks. I plan on making the Tofutsies "Tidal Wave" socks after seeing my GF's. They are very pretty socks and I think they will look good in the colorway I picked. Hopefully by next week I will have pic to show of the new socks. I am not sure I will ever post a pic of my finished Scottish Wave socks but beleive me I will still wear them even if it is only around the house and to bed.

The 2nd project I finished up over the week was the 2nd Baby Suprise Jacket. I did this one in the same Colinette Cadenza in a grey colorway with reds, blues and greens mixed in. I made the stripes out of some Jaeger "Matchmaker" which has been discontinued to my dismay. I am quite happy with the final product although I still have some room for improvement in my next attemp. I made some notes on my copy of the pattern of things I liked and things I want to rethink next time out. This BSJ is for my new neighbor in my apartment. I need to get some more yarn and get started on a 3rd BSJ soon but first I really need to get some of my stash knitted up into something maybe for me me me....

I really didn't get any sewing done this week since I was up in the city for work for the entire week and weekend. I got to the quilt store early in the week since I felt the weekend might be a washout due to being called in and I was right. I got called in twice on Saturday so I didn't get much of any shopping done over the weekend. I found some more fabric to go with the Progressive Round Robin and a few more random FQ's for quilt seeds. I did get every thing washed, ironed, folded and put away but that is about all. I was searching for some decent dinosaur fabric for birthday PJ's for DGD#2 but I guess dinosaurs are out right now and I could not find anything to suite me. Oh well-I always have that kind of luck being way behind the fashion trend!!

I am so ready for a easy week. Work has been a bear all September but now that all my co-workers will be at work it should ease up. Maybe next week I can get some more projects posted and actually post to the Zimmermaniac blog that I found. I can not beleive I did not know about the blog specifically made for Elizabeth Zimmerman's fans and their projects. I spent many a moment checking that out this week and I hope to be a contributor soon.....

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....

In the Eye of the Hurricane!!

This is my nature picture for the week!! All week long the weather forcasters were calling for about a 10-20% chance of rain over the weekend. Driving home Friday night we got a nice 1/4" and I figured that was all we were going to get. Then they started saying we would probably get a little more, maybe an inch on Saturday. Well....it started raining in the evening Saturday and kept getting more and more severe. The winds blew, the rain pounded, the lightening flashed. It went on all night. When we awoke Sunday morning we found some areas in Oklahoma had over 10". We probably had 4-6" locally depending on where you measured. The weathermen said that this storm had an "eye" just like a hurricane and the barometric pressure was lower than it had been when it came in off the coast. But now it is back to hot and humid, just like August in Oklahoma is known to be!!

On to my projects for the week. I got a lot of knitting time in this week and completely finished the 1st of my Scottish Wave socks. And I got the ribbing almost done on the 2nd sock. I managed to knit up a quick hat for the Jitterbug sweater that I am gifting this week to Dr Allen's unborn little boy. I still have the buttons to sew on that one tonight but I will get it done and given this week.

I got some good organizing time in my sewing room and packed up a bunch more boxes. But most of all I got alot of quilt "seeds" cut. What does that mean you say? Well it means that I just started cutting 2 1/2" squares out of scraps in my scrap basket. I also cut some out of larger peices of fabric as I was organizing them and putting them in the boxes. But mostly this was intended to cut down on the scraps that have sit there for years. I cut over 700 squares and so far I can not tell there is even a dent in the quantity sitting in the basket. I knew they were in there reproducing and as soon as I tried to cut down their numbers they would reproduce even faster!! It was fun to try to remember when and where I bought the fabric and how it was used in the past. Sometimes my memory failed me completely tho or perhaps I never used the fabric? That could not possibly be, could it? Anyway I was feeling pretty smug until I figured out that what I cut was just the equivelent of about 15 fat quarters. But I do kind of have a plan for a cute quilt made with just the squares and muslin background but for now it is just cutting for me.

I also received the 2nd round of my progressive round robin. The owner of this round is Marcy Cale and Coleen Adair is the only person so far to work on her blocks. I have them hanging up to get some feel for where I want to go with it. It tried to get pics but it just did not work out so maybe next weekend I can get some. Meanwhile I have some fabric pinned up around it to audition them and I have at least one idea to work on with it. I am jealous because those ladies who could make it to scrappy's Thursday nights got to see everybodies work so far including the work on their own blocks. I on the other hand will have to wait until the end of the project unless I am lucky and have a Thursday night off for once.

I had planned on getting some new PJ's cut for the DGD's but it probably won't happen any more this weekend. This coming work week I hope to get alot done on the 2nd Scottish Wave sock. Then next weekend I would like to get those jammies cut out and partially sewn together. I will need to be starting another knitting project but that won't be a problem as there is plenty of yarn just sitting around waiting for me to grab and go......

Elizabeth Zimmerman-I love YOU!

These are the feet of my beloved daughter, SIL & granddaughters!! I wanted them to take pictures of sandy feet and this is the result. Trouble is it makes me yearn for them and the awesome beach this was taken at. Oh well-next year after we move!!

You may wonder why I am extoling the virtues of Elizabeth Zimmerman. I was already knitting her Baby Suprise Jacket and was only waiting for more yarn to arrive to finish. It is such a wonder of geometry, almost poetry in motion. When I was ordering the extra yarn I decided to have them throw in her "Knitter's Almanac" thinking it had the pattern for the Baby Suprise Jacket also. But it did not have it among the 12 patterns included. What it did have was the directions for a single row buttonhole. Her telling of how she came up with the process is pretty funny as are all the other tidbit stories she includes in the book. This buttonhole is awesome although I am going to change one very small thing next time I make it. When you have to add the backward loop stitches back on the needle I plan on adding one less than necessary. When I knit them in the next row there should be enough slack to make one more backwards loop in between the ones I added in the row before. Because there is a lot of slack in the backward stitch cast on sometimes it looks loose in the garment and this also happened with these buttonholes. I hope I remember this fix to try next time. And I already have more yarn to try again that is how much I love this pattern.

The next thing I worked on this week was my new pair of socks. Last week I was well along on the SS KAL for this session called "I Love Gansey" Well I did not!! Well at least in my yarn and gauge. So I frogged it and started a sock with a pattern out of an old pattern dictionary. There is not a name for the stitch pattern but particular yarn it looks Scottish to me so hence the name "Scottish Waves" It is a incredibly easy stitch pattern to memorize and knit and is going fast since I had to knit them on size 2's to get over my heel. The foot may be done back on 1's tho to make them more fitted. I still will knit the SSKAL sock someday but I will alter the hearts to look like hearts or change them altogether.

I gifted my Victorian Lace socks to my current Radiology resident, Dr Anne Munson. I could not have given them to a more grateful person and it did my heart good to see she would love them well. I made her model them on her feet tho and I took the picture in the dark reading room that she had been stuck in all day. The other gift that was well received was the "Sweet Pea" baby sweater I made for my on-line friend, Amina and her soon to be little one. She promised me a photo of the recipient wearing the set as soon as was possible( we still have a couple of month' wait!!)

I have to go back to work a day early as so this will be shorter than usual. OK, OK maybe not!! No one ever accused me of not having enough to say. My knitting goals for the week will be to make progress on my socks, get buttons for the BSJ & get them sewn on. Once I am home next weekend I need to make the hat for the Jitterbug baby sweater that needs to be gifted soon. By then I will have passed on my current Progressive Quilt Challenge blocks and have new ones to look at and plan for so that will be on the sewing list. I will end with pictures of the cutest kittens in the world. They are not mine, per se, but they visit me almost every time I am outside at my apartment. The owner does not care for them well so I feed them and this week I will treat them for the horrible fleas they have. Two out of the 3 were willing to pose for the camera but Cali was being standoffish. She is usually right up there with her brothers but not with the camera in her face......

What a Difference a Day Makes

Now usually I have a 3 day weekend from work. Since I work out of town this is how I manage my life. 4 days at work and 3 days at home with hubby. But once a month I am on call and I get to be home about a day and a half with 2 nights next to hubby. But this week because of co-workers vacations I only get about 22 hours at home. And I have to do it again next weekend. But I figured out you can still get a lot done in 22 hrs. I managed to grocery shop on the way back into town, 4 loads of laundry, watered the yard, finished sewing a top for DGD#1 and cooked dinner. And of course there is what comes later tonight when I get to share the bed with DH for just the one night!!!

Last weekend I started my very first Baby Suprise Jacket. I am working off the pattern from Elizabeth Zimmerman's book "The Opinionated Knitter" I am using a Colinette superwash DK weight yarn called "Cadenza" I forget what the colorway is because the ball band is in the city at the moment. It called for 3oz of baby wool that can be knitted at 6 stitches per inch but I ran out just shy of being done and I had a little more than 3 oz so I had to order a whole new skein and I have to wait for it to arrive to finish. I started it on size 7 straights but I will never do that again. I kept having trouble with my long size 7's hitting the wicker on my knitting chair and pulling the needle out of the stitches!! SO this weekend I went and bought a new size 7 Addi Turbo circular to make any further BSJ's I may want to make.. And I am sure I will be making many more. I love this design. I still want to mess around with the double decreases & increases and to figure out where to put contrasting stripes in. But otherwise it is an interesting sweater to knit despite the fact that every stitch is knit, no purling ever. To me this sweater is proof that EZ was a genius pure and simple. Read the book and discover how she came up with this pattern. It basically evolved from a mistake making a hat...yes a hat!! All my mistakes ever get me is frogging!!!

This is the new top I made for my eldest granddaughter. I am very happy with the end result. I only wish the picture could portray how cute it turned out. I always hope her mommy will take pictures of her wearing it but it rarely happens but I know she loves getting stuff I have made her. My youngest granddaughter is not girly enough to care for this pattern so I plan on going to Old Navy and finding her some T-shirts to send. She also loves what grandma makes her but I am realistic and don't want to waste the time making something she just doesn't care for. I still have some more fabric to make them PJ's and maybe I can get them started soon-after everybody gets back from vacation.

I did get some new socks started this weekend. They are the new pattern from my KAL called "I love Gansey" I am making them in a new yarn from a company called "JoJoLand" They yarn is called Melody and it is a superwash Merino that seems quite soft. It is very delicately self striping in a heathery green, fading to purple, fading to blue.. I am not completely happy with the stitch definition on these but they will be soft and warm and I can always reknit this pattern in a crisper yarn down the road. Again they did not photograph well but I will put the pic up anyway just so you can see how the colors blend into each other. I am past 1/2 way on the first leg in just one day although I sure got sick of knitting yesterday evening!!

I am sure I will get alot of knitting in this week and it is possible I can get the sock I am working on completely done and start the 2nd one. It is supposed to be horribly hot this week so I won't be doing any marathon walking and I am only working 8 hr days so I will have extra time each evening. I sure wish my rush order of yarn had come to finish the BSJ but oh-well. That can be next weekend for sure. I have no quilting or sewing on tap until we do our first progressive RR switch which is coming up fairly soon. Other than that it is just work, work, work and knit, knit,knit.......till next time