Several of my knitting projects have taken the back seat to a request from our daughter's mother-in-law for 3 pairs of booties for a friend by May. I was actually able to shop the stash for the requested colors but did change my mind about one of the yarns halfway through one pair.
I'm working my way down #6 and then all that's left is to sew them up. Part way through these, I realized I should be making a pair of booties for my niece who's expecting in September. Thankfully, that's a ways off.
These two projects are waiting in the wings for me to get back to them. The first is the infamous Advent Scarf which I started in 2010. I stopped midway on Day 15 which may have been around the time I started having gall bladder issues. Anyhow, I picked it up again finally and am now on day 18 with 6 to go. I was stuck for a bit on one of the instructions for day 18 which read "knit the rightway und twist". It finally dawned on me that the designer must have meant "knit front and back" (kfb). If not, it worked, and I'm leaving it the way it is! I want to finish the sock (#2) before the end of the month, so it looks like the scarf is number 3 on my list, doesn't it? (I do have a couple of other projects waiting, too, but I'm sure you aren't surprised by that.)
Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this garden photo. These are some interesting daffodils that grow 3 to a stem; they're guarding the lone tulip from squirrels and rabbits. About 5 tulip blossoms were on the ground this morning on the other side of the driveway where the daffodils are almost done. Don't know what got them, but I can guess. Have a good weekend! Oh, and check out Patchwork Times to see what others are knitting!
April 14, Mundelein, Illinois
April 16, Cambridge, Minnesota
April 16, Bellevue, Washington
Our rain looks very, very good today!
Guess who's officially 8 months old? Happy Spring, however it looks!
This week I was inspired to work on two somewhat neglected projects. Now each one is half done. The sock was started for the Loopy Ewe Spring Challenge (I should know better!), using a pattern called 9 to 5. It was supposed to be done by March 31, I think. Oh well. The Mitt was a January Mystery pattern and is now called Epiphany Mitts. Now to do the other halves. But first I am going to tackle a really long time UFO, the 2010 Advent scarf! We'll see how that goes.
Stella is busy "reading" and getting ready to move.
Who me?
Oh, and we found a great hangar and place for the Sunbonnet Sue quilt!
Meanwhile, outside, signs of spring appear daily.
The flowering plum and forsythia are looking pretty good,
and this pink camellia, just outside the living room window, is filled with buds once again.
I'd forgotten all about this little guy. It's a pasque flower, I think, and disappeared without a trace when summer arrived. Don't you just love surprises like that? Now I have to go check out what that is that's sprouting in the lower left corner, and then get back to that Advent scarf. Have a great weekend!
Check out what others are knitting at Patchwork Times. You won't be sorry!
Have you ever had a fight with a pattern? I just did, and then in the midst of it, I ran out of yarn. My inherent stubborness plus the time I'd invested kept me going, and in the process I learned a few things. Just because a pattern costs money doesn't necessarily mean it's well written or that it's been proofread! I've had great luck though with most patterns, purchased or free, so I can't really complain. It was a good reminder however. Had I known about and used the feature on Ravelry that shows comments from other knitters about a particular project, I would have known that others found the directions difficult also. If you ever run out of yarn on a project and it hasn't been years since the yarn was purchased, get in touch with the yarn shop where you purchased the yarn. Chances are they may still have yarn of the same dye lot. (Better yet, buy an extra ball the first time!) I've lucked out twice thanks to keeping track on Ravelry where I buy my yarn. So what do these devilish booties look like? Ta Da!
Here they are thanks to the good service from the Black Sheep yarn shop in Encinitas, CA, which got the necessary yardage here in record time. They'll fit Stella some day. (Yep, the sizing seems off, too.)
I finally finished these socks this past week also. That yarn was fun! This is the Simple Skyp pattern minus the Skyp stitch which didn't show up well with this yarn. One of these days I'll finish socks with the whole pattern! Have a happy week!
Last week after reading "Get Your Daily Dose of Fiber" on Ravelry and then reading Mere's post about decorating her tree, I dug through our old photos to find pictures of "yarnbombing" in our area. Since I've not much in the way of stitching or knitting this week to show, here they are:
This was in downtown Seattle near Pioneer Square.
Suzanne Tidwell, a local fiber artist, beautified these abandoned stumps in Sammamish. This was the spring version.
These trees in a Kirkland park wore their "sweaters" for quite a while. I think these huge pieces were done on a knitting machine.
A yarnie side trip to Darn. Knit. Anyway. in Stillwater, MN, during a family reunion added to my yarnbombing collection. If you Google "yarnbombing," you'll see lots of other examples from other cities.
Meanwhile, back in Washinton, this was featured in a local shopping center and then, according to Tidwell's blog, moved to a museum.
We haven't seen any more lately but probably we haven't looked carefully. How about you? Have you seen evidence of "yarn bombing" in your town? Incidentally, I'm not crazy about that term, but I've also seen "yarn guerillas" which seems worse. I'd much prefer "yarn art"! I'll bet these projects, however they're done, made a serious dent in someone's stash! Check out Patchwork Times for other knitters' projects.
The pink lace is longer, the shawlette is dry, and I finished the Keppi hat, but that's about it for this week's stitching. Check out what others are knitting at Patchwork Times
We had a couple of nice days weatherwise which got me out in the yard to do a bit of work. Aren't these pretty? The sunshine encouraged them to bloom.
Then on Friday we headed to the Oregon Coast for a long weekend. We saw lots of signs of spring on the way there, but the weather didn't hold. It was windy and chilly most of the time, but we had fun anyway.
The resident goose was quite entertaining but
just a bit intimidating up close and quite different looking from other geese we've encountered.
Skunk cabbage was blooming among the grasses.
We love the view from our favorite unit at Little Creek Cove. ( Note the blue sky! It didn't stick around long.)
Of course the sun came out on the day we left after a rip-snorting storm during the night. You can see how wet the sand is, but someone was already enjoying the beach. We were amazed at how the winter winds and rains had flattened out the dunes that we'd walked on last September!
Here's what it looked like then. Quite a difference, eh? Well, back to work; there's lots of catching up to do.
Well, I bit the bullet and am finished with the Downton Abbey Shawlette. It looks so different from what I imagined and should be very warm as it's quite long.
This hat is finished, too. It's going to a friend who's having another chemo treatment tomorrow. I hope it cheers her up!
Some how this project hopped onto my needles. It's another shawlette and has a very interesting construction. The edging is knitted first and then the rest of the 271 stitches are picked up on the edge. We'll see how that goes, eh?
Mama Kingfisher is the star of block 7, and you'll be happy to know that block six is all done, too. If you wish to see what other folks are knitting, tune in at Patchwork Times; you won't be sorry! I'm off to fold laundry.
