UFO Attacked

I sometimes "wonder" why I start certain projects, but usually I have a "I want to try this" objective.  This was the case with a Christmas Tree skirt I started in 2010.  I wanted to get rid of/use up Christmas fabrics I wasn't particularly fond of anymore and I wanted to try a strip pieced Christmas tree.  I did both and completed the top of the skirt and started work on the backing.  The project stalled because it was too big.  I had no use for a tree skirt that big and lost interest in completing it.

So, I attacked it and ripped it apart and, as I looked at it in pieces, thought it could be redesigned into tablerunners that might be presentable after all.  I like to anchor my ripping/unsewing under the machines presser foot and then it goes much faster.

Found enough "junk" fabric to make a lot of binding.

The Last of the 1930's Quilts

I love the 30's fabrics and bought some fat quarters intending to make one small quilt.  I kept cutting and one turned into four!  As mentioned before, I regret not making at least one of them with 1930's block patterns and I think that is why it took me so long to finish them.

Anyway, here is the last one.  I regretted right away cutting and sewing the disappearing nine patch blocks and then even more regretted putting sashing between them.  Oh, I did not like this quilt at all and it sat and sat.

I found, on sale, some kite fabric that I liked for the back and thought it I used it it might rescue the whole quilt.  After I quilted a kite with a cloud design in the blocks, I appliqued three yellow kites with rickrack tails, applied binding and it was finished.  No, I still don't like it, but am happy it is finished.

Four quilts and I wasn't happy with any of them.  Some day I may buy more 30's fabrics, which I love, and try again.

If you look closely, you can see the free motion quilting of a kite.

One Hard Puzzle

 Occasionally we do a puzzle.  I enjoy doing them and Miss M. is getting better.  She usually received some new ones for Christmas.

Miss M. received this puzzle for Christmas so we set out to do it two days later.  She helped with the border and did a good job; but then left it-never to return.  I finished it the next day and, even though it was only 300 pieces, it was not easy.

Christmas 2011

Tree with presents under it

Christmas Eve the presents arrive!  (They can't be out before that on account of dogs...

Baked French Toast and Ham Brunch after church 

       
Wonderful late breakfast!  Beth made french toast in the oven and served it with ham and fruit.

Dogs with their presents.  They loved the doggie doughnuts.

and ate them right up1

Dickens finished his and has to watch Dugan eat, much to his disappointment.

My last dishcloth for a while....

I found this nice and easy leaf lace pattern on Jessica Tromp's web site.  I did think I would use it in my afghan, but changed my mind.  I decided no leaves or flowers this time.  I think I was pretty tired of trying to design around "nature" theme.  I chose another lace from her site and a simple, super simple cable.  Now, I'm knitting it and it will probably be the last afghan I ever knit.

Medication

I began taking medication the first part of December and it has really laid me low.  I totally lack energy and motivation.  I just do what I have to do, which is get Miss M. to and from school and walk the dogs.  Nothing else has been touched, so my ufo list is not diminishing.  Hope to feel better soon.

Miss M.'s gymnastic award ceremony

Here she is!  I need to get better with this I-Phone.  Afterwards she showed me how to zoom in, but it was too late.  Maybe I will remember for the end of the next session.

After the award.  She is proud of it, but threw it down somewhere when she got home and didn't give it another thought.

A Finished Project

Finally finished my green wool sweater!  The little bit of knitting is done, the sewing of the sleeves, neck and buttons is done and the soaking and blocking is done.











 And, best of all, it fits!  I still am not totally happy with the color, but that is what happens when yarn is ordered on the internet-otherwise, the pattern and fit are satisfactory.  I especially like the sleeve length as it is not too long.  All my purchased sweaters have sleeves that are very long on me.

I am ready to plan another one in Sweater Wizard.  It really works!

I completed a swatch and for the first time, I soaked it and blocked it before getting my gauge.  That must have contributed to the great fit.  For sure, I will do that next time also.

Wedding and Sisters

 Beth, Miss M. and I went up to Mequon for Beth Bliese's wedding, December 3, 2011.
It was an overcast day but not cold.  The wedding, chapel setting and music were all very nice.

Here are three of the six Stevenson girls:  Betty, the bride's grandmother, Grace and me, her grandaunts.
Grace and Richard didn't arrive early as I hoped so we could have a little chat time, but it was nice seeing them all.

I should have taken more pictures.  I still am not used to having a camera in my phone.

Neckwarmer, bandana cowl from the Purl Bee

 Found this free patten on the internet and thought it would be just right for walking the dogs, as there is not a lot of bulk in the back and enough coverage in the front to pull it up over my face when the cold wind blows.

I located two yarns that knitted together would give me the bulky requirement of the pattern, measured over the 100 yards the pattern required and started to knit it.  Once I understood how to complete the short rows it was very simple to complete.  I ran out of yarn however, so it is shorter than the pattern by one inch.  Of course, I found more yarn a week later when I wasn't looking for it.

It hasn't been cold enough to use yet, but I am planning on making another for sure and maybe two, if I can find a suitable chunky/bulky yarn.

One More Dishcloth then, hopefully, just one more...

 I found this lace pattern on Jessica Tromp's marvelous knitting site, page 21.  I had no difficulty knitting it and think it will work as one of the panels in my Cream Afghan.

I will be knitting one more dishcloth to finalize plans for the other panel and then to the spreadsheet for figuring out my total stitch numbers.  I am so anxious to have this search behind me and to start again to knit that afghan.



I want to finish it so I can knit something else-isn't that the way it always is.


By the way, this design had no name and I haven't looked for it in any of my stitch books.

UFO completed? No....but

Okay, I have not been working on my UFO's this week.  But I have been working.  Here are some completed items.

Butterfly Lace Dishcloth

 Why this work on dishcloths?  Well, I have been using so much time trying to decide how to knit my cream afghan that I thought I might as well accomplish something instead of swatches.  And my ten skeins of encore is a UFO so this is what I did.  I searched dishcloths on Ravelry and found some interesting designs and stitches.  This first one was a challenge to chart and apply my Moss Stitch variation.  It is done, but I don't think I will use it.  If it doesn't interest me while knitting a dishcloth I don't think my interest will be maintained over an afghan.


This shows the Moss Stitch detail.  

Moss Stitch instead of Reverse Stockinette

This red one uses a stitch pattern from Barbara Walkers Treasury and I think it will make it into the afghan.  It is a simple pattern with a little texture and will combine nicely with a Gull Stitch-whatever I decide on-in the other panel

Three dishcloths completed

This one is also from Ravelry; it is called Lake Ariel and is a nice design.  I enjoyed knitting it, but I don't think it will make it into the afghan.  

Another View

These pictures will go into my projects on Ravelry.
I think I need to designate one day a week to work on finishing something.  My goal today was to get the afghan planned for sure for knitting on Wednesday.

More UFO's completed

I started this blog with a list of unfinished projects I had around here and, of course, I WONDERed if I would ever get around to finishing them at this point in my life.  I was retired this year when the company I worked for was sold.  So sad-no party-no work-no extra money-but still lots to do right here.  That was in February and most of the UFO's are still here, but I am making progress.  I am making more projects to finish, but I have to in order to use yarn and fabric.  Is this win-win or lose-lose.  Anyone know for sure?


I finished these three BSJ's for charity.  Do young mothers put these on their babies?  The question of the day.  I would make more if I knew the answer was "yes".

The multicolored one helped me to not WONDER if I should start another one to use up yarn leftovers-all those ENDS to sew in.

I like the white one, yes, I do.  I would repeat making this one and it is one I would have enjoyed putting on one of my babies.  I will knit more of these-Oh, no, I forgot those UFO's again-change that to read: I hope to knit more of these to go with the baby quilts I make.  Sure wonder if they would sell so I could buy more yarn and fabric.




I also worked on the Green Sweater.  I stupidly-optimistically?-thought it would take a day to finish.  It will!!!  One day to redo twice and finish the neck edge.  One day to sew in half a sleeve and research how to do it correctly on YouTube.  One day to sew in one sleeve correctly.  Still not finished at this time.  Will need more one days.

Adult Surprise Jacket

I really WONDER why I do these things.  I have all this yarn in my stash but not enough to make any one item out of one color, if you get what I mean.  And it's all wool.  I like wool.  I like to knit with wool.  But I am probably the only person in the world who actually wears it and is not afraid to wash it and let it dry.  So I can't knit it up in items for charity as they all need to be made with acrylic.  So, what to do?  I have made some Baby Surprise Jackets in junk yarn I had around and after reworking the first one twice I have a pretty good handle on knitting them.

So, I got the Adult Surprise Jacket pattern to use up my wools of various colors.  Because of my previous experience with the BSJ, I knew better than to just start this project.  I pulled out a like scrap skein and started to follow the directions with the intent to size them down to doll size.  So this is what I did today.  Yeah, it took me all day after church and walking the dogs. Oh, that wasn't all I did.  I spent hours researching ASJ's on the web.  I saw pictures of many I liked and read notes by the knitters on Ravelry.  I do WONDER why I spend so much time there, but it is helpful in so many ways-what to try and what not to try.

It was only partially successful; the front neck edge was much longer than the back and if you follow her percentage system that shouldn't happen.   The experiment will need to be repeated for a bigger doll with more attention paid to the neck directions.

EZ's directions are very unclear and here is an example: "Slip all first stitches and, paragraphs later, increase in the first stitch". Can't do both, sorry.

Miss M. loved the little jacket so I will finish it up for her doll.  She especially like the variegated stripe.

But, I didn't do any sewing on the green sweater.  I don't think I like sewing knitted sections together.  Will try again tomorrow.

UFO out of the closet

My Green Sweater

I don't know why I stalled so long before completing the knitting on the sweater.  I can only guess that reading that it should be blocked before sewing together halted my progress.  I've always blocked afterwards, not in the process.  Also, I didn't think the color was all that great.  But like most projects, it looked better after it hasn't seen the light of day for a while.

The only knitting left was the back neck band.  I wasn't sure how to do this, but I did it today and hope to sew it tomorrow as well as sew in the sleeves.

The bottom of the sweater.  The stitch pattern I choose after swatching many was Arrow from Barbara Walkers 2nd Treasury.  It was knit with NatureSpun, 100% wool from the Brown Sheep Co.  I love knitting with wool.

Here is the cuff.  I took a portion of the Arrow pattern to add some interest to this portion of the sweater. I like how the sleeves fit and am glad it worked out with Sweater Wizard.

Halloween and the Old Lady

Miss M. chose to be an old lady for Halloween this year.  We have no clue where this idea came from, but she didn't change her mind and ever consider something else.  Her Mom got her a wig that fit wonderfully, a cane that wasn't too long for her and some "old lady" shoes and glasses.  I knit her an "old lady" shawl that fit her perfectly and she was ready to go.  Here are some pictures.

Halloween will soon be upon us

I thought I would post pictures of our tasteful Halloween decor.

Miss M. made this cheesecloth ghost in 1st group.  It's really cute!

These sit on the dining room windowsill.
 I like the spider candleholders.

Outside by the front door

The basket gets filled with candy and it's always gone by 9:00 pm.

Beth makes the Jack o' Lantern from a design Miss M. chooses on the Web.

Here's a scary one!