Sunday, July 21, 2019

So Far Behind and IN No Hurry........

I wrote about the Japanese pattern scarf we were
knitting--well, I'm trying to knit--I'm so far behind but I'm in no hurry--

Add a bead--usually no problem when I have my
handy dandy little crochet hooks--couldn't find them--
must be in another bag that's hiding for the time being.

So-----how do you add a bead without a hook?
Always have dental floss on hand--
take a long piece of floss, 
place bead, pull one end of floss through the knit loop

double back though the bead and pop that little
sucker right on the stitch!
I can't find my cable needle either--darn--now what?
wait, I have toothpicks--not so smooth but can
always find toothpicks!
onward we go..................


Friday, July 19, 2019

Jelly Rolls................................

-- "A bear walks into a bar and says to the bartender, "I'll have a pint of beer and a ......................packet of peanuts."
The bartender asks, "Why the big Pause?"    I'll wait while you get the punchline!

Here's another one:  A nose walks into a bar and asks for a drink.  The bartender says,
"sorry, I can't serve you.  You're already off your face." HA! HA!

Why did the Jelly Roll? because he saw the apple turnover!!!

Now, to the point of this post--I sometimes have these jelly rolls--no, not the kind you eat, but fabric rolls--and they are called Jelly Rolls!  
Here is a jelly roll--which is 2.5" strips cut the width of the fabric--
you will get 45-2.5" strips in each roll--
I've never had much luck in using these rolls--I usually end up
cutting them up into small pieces for blocks.

Then I found this 
in my stash--batik strips--looks like I began something and walked away--
another one of those UFOs--

Several of the strips are sewn together--and look there is
the pattern
I know I said no more quilts--in my defense, this one
is already started (sort of!).
Today while I wait on a repairman--I'll tackle this--
looks easy--not much attention is needed to iron strips
and cut into 4.5" lengths--
see you soon with a completed top---
I hope!!
Here it is on my design board--looks good so far.




Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Christmas in July.......

Aren't you ready to cool down during these hot summer days?  Wait no more--it's time for Christmas in July events--of course, you must do your sewing, knitting, weaving, spinning, stitching while you watch one of the Hallmark Christmas movies

and do you need a Christmas in July project?  Here are a few that might peek your interest:


Yes!  12 days of Christmas--check out the projects here!  Something for everyone!

A Christmas Stitch along from Days Filled With Joy
And Gingerbread Village Block of the Month

Something for the kids--Crafts!

We All Sew has a long list of sewing projects.

July is always a good time to begin knitting for those holiday celebrations:
July Christmas gives you a free pattern each week--
both knit and crochet

Cute little spaceman for first week.

There is really no excuse for idle hands during Christmas in July.


Monday, July 15, 2019

One Stitch At A Time

I was so excited when January 2019 rolled around--there was going
to be Knit Along with a Japanese pattern!  I loved doing the first one
I knitted.  Every other month a pattern would be released--which was
designed by Toni Lorenz 
I have my handspun fiber ready to take to the needles--
Then the first pattern was released--didn't look too difficult
I can do this--it was a ruffle!  I wrote about my ruffle in a previous
post--I didn't set the twist in my yarn so the ruffles leaned one way!
oh bother--take the yarn to set the twist so that put me back from
knitting.
Okay, yarn is set and I'm ready--got the ruffle knitted--looks great! 
Onward to knit the ruffle--then whoa!  I looked through the rest of
the pattern and thought....

There are several charts--A-B-C--gee whiz!  can I do this?!!
Tried to read the charts from the printed papers--that didn't work--
I couldn't see those small bits!  Even tried to enlarge them on the
printer--that didn't work either--

Put off knitting for a while--can we say five months--
yep--put it off till I finally found a knit companion on my tablet
that would enlarge the charts--now, I could see the symbols--
doesn't mean I could keep my mind straight about what this and
that symbol meant--
But--
We're knitting!!
One stitch at a time!  
If you see a mistake--I'm sure there are some--just
overlook them please!

Saturday, July 13, 2019

Group Project

I'm following through on our Expatchers group project.
It was suggested at one of our gatherings we should
try to do something together--
decision--make Pat Sloan's Out of the World
monthly quilt blocks.
Couple of the gals are using patriotic fabrics,
Judy is using sheep prints--I decided I needed
a summer quilt for decoration--
hence--sunflowers!
This is the first block

There are four of these blocks which will be the corners of
the setting
I needed more sunflowers in the corners so I cut out some
iron on ones--might add extras to the block later

Another block--you'd think you could find lots of
sunflower fabrics, but alot of these are pulled from
my stash

I like adding blue--nothing as refreshing as a
blue/yellow quilt

And why not add some green too--
This is July's block--I've not thought about the setting yet--
some of the gals are working on theirs as they make their monthly
blocks


Thursday, July 11, 2019

Pedal to the Treadle..............

Today is the sixth day into Tour de Fleece--
I have made some progress--not as much as I would like--
taking time to spin can sometimes be a 'chore'--
It should be a pleasure instead-to sit down at the
wheel and make fibers appear into yarn; have my
favorite glass of lemonade, a bit of music of 
a good movie; pull up the wheel and go to town.

I found this fiber in my stash--it's cashmere, weighing
in at 4.7 ounces--I know who I bought it from and when,
definitely well aged!  It has been processed into a pencil
roving--easy to spin that's for sure!

I spun one bobbin and quit--dull, boring, lacking
color--my spinning sense went out the window!
looked for some color to brighten my hands and
wheel

Found this bag of BFF (Blue Faced Leicester) that I
bought at Spin-in one year from Carol at River's Edge--
let's have a go with this colorful bundle--

I stripped it lengthwise and found I was getting muddy mixture--
I pulled out large sections of green--will spin those at later time.
Then I just took out one section of color at a time--
--like that better.
Then I read this article  from Knitty about spinning
combination and combo--interesting!!

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

July Agatha Read

The Murder on the Links--

I actually have this book!  It was the second one she wrote--I
ordered several of her first books thinking I would read them in order-
that flew out the window in a hurry!!
Doesn't matter if I have the print book--I'll look for a video or audio that
I can knit to as I watch!

When I looked for patterns pertaining to links, golf, etc.
ones that popped up were mostly golf club covers--
hubby already has his special covers--so
I won't waste my time.

Then, if you read further in this book--you find that Poirot is
in France--ooh laa!  I can knit something French related
I found this darling baby cap--so quick to knit and so
useful for a baby gift
"French Braid" from Sarah Lou Knits--isn't it darling?! 

It's Time--

 It’s time to think about greeting cards I’ll send out this year.  Most years, if I’m not feeling pressed, I’ll create my own cards.  One ye...