On the Needles or Done and Undone

About six weeks ago I joined the Trapeze Mystery KAL.  Today was the last clue, and I am only just about done with Clue 3.  What happened?  Life, I guess.  We will soon be visiting our grandkids, and what started out as one hat ended  up as four.  You can't make a hat for one and not the other right?  And then there's the new baby we will see and the grandson who lives here.  So four hats and a pair of booties later is why I'm lagging behind on my shawl.  It's pretty though, and I'll finish it sooner or... later.  And yes, you're right, the holidays are coming up.  How do I know?  Well, grandson #3 has a new Halloween costume, and our quilt group just got the Christmas Stocking Assignment......

Hat number three.  Do you recognize the yarns?

Hat number 4. Can you believe it's really purple?

I still want to add some pink ribbons to these Booties.

And in the midst of all this knitting, I realized that this month's Sunbonnet Sue block was supposed to be done by tomorrow.  This week's TAST stitch was the knotted buttonhole which I used on the edge of her hat.  Yep, that shawl will get done.....someday!

On and Under the Needles

This Anemone hat pattern by Cat Bhordi is really fun!  I think it will be very popular with a little miss we'll soon be visiting.

My other project this week was to figure out where to use the drizzle stitch on thins month's Sunbonnet Sue block.  The grass won!  The stitch is rather like casting on a knitting needle....

The rest of my week involved lots and lots of peaches, 2 batches of freezer jam and 2 jars of peaches and orange juice, as well as a fun afternoon with Becca of Patina Moon. Check out her blog for some great photos of Seattle's houseboats.

Stunts in the Air

Yesterday while almost everyone in the neighborhood was either inside staying cool or watching the Olympics, we trekked up our hill in the mid-day heat (it was a record-breaking 93!) to watch the Blue Angels perform their stunts high above Lake Washington.  They were in town for Seafair.

A family with two little bored boys was right beside us. The oldest, maybe 5, was whining impressively until the accomdating Angels flew right over our heads.

and headed off, I think, right over our house. All the dishes seemed to be in place when we got home though.  Gold worthy flying, don't you agree?

Ever since January 2012 I've been working on my own goal: to incorporate the weekly TAST (link on sidebar) stitches onto a block per month of these SunBonnet Sue designs. Number seven is done. Hurrah!

Look who has his own new stunt!!!  Thanks for the photo, Catherine.

A Productive Week!

This was a good week for finishes for some unknown reason. The details for the knitting projects are on Ravely with the link on the sidebar.

We'll be seeing our niece soon. Guess what she's expecting in September?

Our neighbor girl is graduating from high school on June 19th. She won't be wearing this hat over the summer, but it may be handy when she becomes an Idaho Vandal.

My "recovery" from SSS (second sock syndrome) is coming along slowly but surely. I won't confess when these socks were started though.

This is May's Sunbonnet Sue block for the TAST challenge. There's lots of eye candy at the Tuesday Stitchers blog if you like crazy quilting.

We finally made it over to Anderson Park in Redmond last weekend to see the latest yarnbombing. (It was supposed to be removed yesterday.) Altogether I counted 49 trees in "sweaters"!!!

It was a bit of a relief to read that the artist uses a knitting machine!

That's it on the creativity front. We also had a fun week with company, but I'll post about that later. Enjoy the weekend!

In Search of Cranes and Sunshine

Becca of Patina Moon has some lovely photos of the greenery of Washington state that's quite in keeping with its nickname as the Evergreen State. Our state has another side, however, one that we recently explored. In the spring sandhill cranes stop in Eastern Washington enroute to their summer breeding grounds much further north. One recent sunny day, we headed over Snoqualmie Pass to see if we could find some of these big birds. This is what we found instead, something even larger!

Lots and lots of wind turbines. Did you know those blades are 121 feet long and weigh just under 6 TONS? And this particular windfarm consists of 149 turbines, working hard to create energy.

Perhaps you can enlarge this photo and read all about it yourself? Many people think that the weather in Washington state is mostly rainy; and yes, here in Western Washington we do have our share of cloudy days and sometimes lots of rain (7" in March here in Seattle!), but in the eastern part of the state where the apples, cherries and wheat grow, the farmers actually have to irrigate their fields, and the landscape looks like this.

No matter where you are though, east or west, if you know where to look and the sun is out, you can see "The Mountain" (Mount Rainier~can you see it?) or  these mountains too.

When we weren't busy chasing the sunshine, I've been working in the yard, knitting, and stitching on a new Sunbonnet Sue, my TAST project for May and of course, playing with Max.

Another Busy Week~~~

While trying to finish up this Sunbonnet Sue block, I was also working on this project.

Max just got home from his first family vacation and is trying to tell you all about it. He's happy with his new sweater, too, since Seattle isn't nearly as warm as Hawaii!

His feet haven't outgrown these.....yet.

Thanks to encouragement from Debra , I've been experimenting a bit with the embroidery features of my sewing machine. That was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Now though, the sun is out and the garden is calling.....LOUDLY!

PS Thanks again to Brian Walter, Carl's diving friend, we have this Diving Video. I couldn't figure out how to embed it, but it's a fun one to watch.  Enjoy!

Waiting for Spring!

When we left Chicago last week, the temperatures were rising. Little did we know that we'd be waking up to dustings of snow almost daily back home! The gloomy cold weather has made it easy to stay inside and knit or stitch.

As a result, I finished this pair of socks~

And this scarf. (Details for both are on Ravelry~link on sidebar)


I also finished my third Sunbonnet Sue block for TAST. This month there were two completely new stitches to me: the whipped wheel and the barred chain stitch. It was a challenge to use them on the block, but I did. Can you find them?


Here's Mocha inspecting my practice piece. I wonder what she's thinking?


PS The sun's out today, so I'm going OUTSIDE!

Lucky Me!

The other day, after all the snow stopped and the mail person finally made it up our hill, I got a wonderful package from Sue B , who was my partner in the Dragon Swap hosted by Kathy B. Not only did she find some lovely Sleeping Dragon yarn, she included not one but three dragon-themed patterns. (Now I have to decide which one to do first......) She somehow figured out that I like cats and mysteries and found a new-to-me mystery writer. (Gotta be good and finish my bookclub book first though before delving in.) And there was a very tasty dark chocolate bar plus some wonderful smelling soap. Thank you so much, Sue! (And thank you, Kathy, for hosting a very fun swap.)

Meanwhile, after practicing the Cretan stitch, I found a place for it on my SBS block, her shoes! With a bit more stitching, I finished up block #1 and am all ready to move on to the next one. 1 down, 11 to go!

We spent a lovely afternoon, playing with Max....even took a walk in the chilly sunshine!

Buttonhole Stitching and Baby Cuddling

This week flew by with a bit of stitching, a bit of knitting, our usual volunteering, and a bit of time with Baby Max.


This week's TAST stitch was the buttonhole stitch, which after a bit of doodling, seemed just right for the birdbath. Debra challenged us to make one of her flower-creations, and a little one just popped up next to the birdbath. I also had fun stitching in person with Tahlia and some other CQers at a nearby mall!

Then yesterday, we spent much of the day cuddling Max and learning how much fun it is to have a grandchild closeby.
Mommy looks pretty happy, doesn't she?
Bliss!

TAST #1 Fly Stitch

To practice each week's stitch, I found a piece of evenweave fabric in my stash and created a sampler or "doodle cloth" as Debra would say. This verse seemed like an appropriate reminder and can be found at about.com as part of a free band sampler pattern by Connie G. Barwick. As I was stitching it, I noticed Dick had stuck a post-it onto the pattern before the word "and" with "temper" written on it. He knows me too well! I'm trying to sort my colors by the ROYGBIV instructions for the TAST Beginners but am perplexed as to where purplely red and brown/tan would fit in. Any suggestions? Also, I am wondering whether anyone has suggestions on how to keep a detached chain stitch/lazy daisy stitch open; mine invariably collapse as you can maybe see where I tried to nail down the fly stitch with a detached chain. To me, the counted fabric is a bit inhibiting, and you can see where my stitching rebeled and started downhill. (These old eyeballs ain't what they used to be, that's for sure!) If you're curious to see how I used the fly stitch on my "real" TAST project, check out the Tuesday Stitchers' blog. You'll find lots of pretty stitching there.
Meanwhile, life goes on. Max is settling in at home and keeping Mom and Dad on their toes, and Ginger is hoping we won't return these car seats.


And this Oma's just plain happy everything went well.