Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Covering Up Mistakes



Hello friends. Thank you for visiting. I procrastinate a lot anymore. I am also beginning to sound like someone who tells tall tales when I say the I am about sick of yarn, yet here I go again making another skull cap. It was made for no one in particular, just something to work on while watching some television in the evenings. I don't even remember how many I have made from this pattern. I should know it by heart. My favorite part is the straight knitting on the round with a circular needle. I hate ribbing, mainly because I hate the purl stitch. After casting on 90 stitches you commence with the purl 5, knit 4 for 33 rows. Far be it for me to have noticed what I did, and I didn't notice anything amiss until I was done and folding the ribbing up on the cap. That is where it now looks like you have knitted 5 and purled 4 because it is now turned up to show the right side of the work. Oh no, there it was, a mistake!!!!! 


I had knitted when I should have purled and it stuck out like a sore thumb. No way was I going to rip the entire hat apart because to fix that error I would have had to go all the way back to about the first 10 rows. I got a brain storm to cover it up with a pretty button. I dug around in one of my button jars and came up with this. I know no one would have known there was a mistake had I not written about it, but if this quick fix can be a help to someone else if they happen upon a similar problem then so be it.

Here lately I have just mellowed out and gone with the flow. Basically my life is hum drum and boring and for some odd reason I like it that way, uncomplicated. I don't thrive on being someone who has to be on the go all the time. I lead a quiet life and it is okay. I have never liked drama and can always find a zillion things to do right here at home. My next door neighbor told me a couple weeks ago that I have a beautiful home. I told him it is okay, but all I see when I look at it is work, work and more work. I thought about doing a post on all that I need to do around here but thought better of it. You would find it boring, I know I sure would....


Times like this finds me dabbling in all kinds of experiments and above is one of them. I am between projects that amount to anything and so I play with my yarn, mainly the scraps. I pick this up and then stick it back in the yarn tote. I decide to straighten up the smaller tote with small scraps of left overs and what do I do about a week later but set the tote on a surface only to bump it and as the lid flies off the container tips on its side and my neatly wrapped yarn balls topple to the floor and now a mess again. I just scoop them up and say, "To heck with this, why did I waste my time anyways." Then I look at this little WIP and think, yeah, yeah, yeah, why did I even start this, I do not feel like doing this. I have been burned out on yarn for weeks but to start sewing means I have to clean "the hoard" in the sewing room. I started cleaning and organizing the mess ages ago and got side tracked doing something else. In the meantime I have added to the stash of stuff. I am glad I can close the door on it and even though it is out of sight, it is never far from my mind. I feel so disorganized anymore.

Mother's Day was really nice. I did not get pictures but I got flowers from my both my girls. I was taken to dinner once again at Biaggi's in Perrysburg and got a pretty card. This last weekend I was invited to go to Port Clinton to Nagoya Chinese Steakhouse. Meals were great, but the company was even better. Love my children ♥

Forgive my crazy post. I am slowly trying to get back in the groove of blogging again. Hopefully things will improve on the home front and I will be a little bit more newsy as time goes on. As usual I hope all of you are doing well and thank you for sticking by me. Love you all ♥



Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Catching Up

 
Here I am again, only to find myself back tracking the happenings of the last 2 months. Being absent for too many days always takes it's toll, like anything in life, it becomes work to catch up. I have missed this, being here and chatting with all of you. I won't make excuses, just believe that I have been busy. 
I start off with saying that in a years time I have made 8 afghan/blankets. Last year, in memory of my late husband Roger, I made and donated a hexigon one to F.A.C.T, a charity in our county that gives financial assist to cancer patients. They sold raffle tickets and the drawing was May 1st. I made the above afghan/blanket as this years new raffle item. This particular pattern I made a total of 3 times. It is a favorite.


Then I made this ^. No particular reason, I just had plenty of the yarn handy and I wanted to start using it up. I have done this pattern a few time too. Another favorite.


Then I made a skull cap for Meghan. I figured I had made one for Holden, Rachael and Chris that I better not leave Meghan out. At first she said she didn't need another hat, but after trying it on she wanted it. Purple is her favorite color.



And, since I'm on the subject of Meghan I wanted to update you on what her newly remodeled kitchen is looking like now. She has been adding all of the accessories to give it a homey feel. 


The butcher block table her dad made, plus the wooden bowl on top of it and the potato/onion bin under the window. My husband was quite handy in his wood shop.


 Love that green Kitchen Aid mixer. The green canister set I gave her. I bought it 42 years ago. Unfortunately she broke the smaller one that completed the set.







 She has that beautiful new hardwood floor and there is no way that we could leave it looking bare now could we. So she gave me samples of her kitchen colors and I went to Joanne fabrics with them, picked out fabrics and went to work.



 I always pre-wash my fabrics, dry and then I started marking off 1-inch increments and proceeded with ripping strips.


I dug out one of the crocheted rag rugs that I made back when we built our house and kitchen.


Unfortunately mine are stored in a linen closet because my 2 dogs think they are fair game to use as a toilet source. They are very soft from several washings. I love them. I needed to use mine as a pattern since I just winged it back when I made them.


Here was the WIP. 
 

Here is the second rug started. I thought I had taken a pic of the first one completed and laying on her kitchen floor, but I couldn't find it, so next time I get over there I will get photos of the rugs. I just know she loves them and she said everyone who sees them thinks they are just perfect. I'm glad :)


Then I made anther mobis scarf in the seed stitch.... K1, P1 stitch, every row. Cast on an odd number of stitches, as many as you desire, make as long as you want. I knitted till I ran out of this yarn.



I used up more stash yarn. This one in pic is Sensations Yarn (sold at Jo-Ann Stores, not sure they still sell it anymore), a mix of 22% wool, 50% acrylic, and 28% nylon. This yarn came in my possession from a friend. The color is called Green/Pink Stripes Angel Hair Yarn color, knitted up once again in seed stitch. Then I knitted up another gifted odd ball skein (sorry no pic). I have no clue as to this company but the label says www.brownsheep.com. I have not gone to the website. The yarn is 85% wool and 15% mohair. Sorry I have no photo of this last scarf but the color is Brown Heather. I doubt that I would have ever purchased these yarns for myself to use. Wool has always made me itchy, but was told that wool is scratchy depending on how the sheep farmer bedded down his flock. If it was in straw then the wool will turn out scratchy. Anyone else know about this?


During the time I was busy with the yarn we were still dealing with this ^. 


I bought one of these to cheer me up, I was so dang sick of winter.

I did take a day off from all the chores and work here at the house and went to my very first Yarn & Fiber Show in Bowling Green, Ohio. 


I am always a day late and a dollar short, but the StarGazer Alpaca farm that is about 20 minutes from here is now going out of business. The owners were in business for about 18 years. they sold all their animals and this was to be their last show.


WOW! I never realized Alpaca yarn was so soft and soooooo very expensive. She had reduced the price by offering it as buy 3 get the 4th skein free. Let me just say that whatever I make with the 4 skeins I bought will be mine and not made for anyone else....$25 a skein, heavens I have never in all my life spent so much money for yarn before. If my husband was still alive I would have had to hide this yarn in the trunk of the car for a year, lol. I treated myself, what more can I say.


These gals (mother and daughter) were nice enough to pose for me. They were not the StarGazer owners, but they had a booth selling yarn too and plenty of their homemade items. There was another daughter who had been spinning yarn on a spinning wheel but she stepped outside for a bit. Plenty of knitting going on here.


Across from them there was plenty to see, but what caught my eye was.......


the QUILT! Oh boy, was that ever pretty and it sure put me in the mood to go home and drag out my material and machine.



I just loved those colors. It was so hard to take my eyes off of it.


More homemade goodies made with Alpaca yarn.


Now to complete this post I will share with you my latest and last project. In fact I just completed these last evening. Are any of you like me, do you balk when it comes to trying something new, fearing to be a failure and having to scrap the whole darn thing? Seeing yourself as a failure even before you try is just wrong. Don't beat yourself up like I did for years over trying your hand at the unknown. You might just surprise yourself like I did. For years I have envied people who could make mittens. My mom was one of those people, she could knit anything and not even have a pattern. I would struggle and just give up. Well look at what I tried, bound and determined to do this sink or swim.


There is a story about this yarn which is over 35 years old. I had bought a ton of it and given it to my mom. She was suppose to make me a knitted cap with matching long, long, long knitted scarf plus a pair of mittens. As things turned out she and I had a falling out for many years. I did get the cap and scarf before all that but the mittens were never done and she kept all the yarn that was left.


About 3 years ago she gave me all of her crochet hooks, knitting needles and some yarn. She is no longer able to do yarn work anymore. She had lost interest. Guess what I found, yep, the yarn I had given her years ago for my mittens. I still have the cap, and scarf.
I went on Pinterest and pinned tons of knitting patterns which included plenty of mittens. I picked a pattern and got busy. Here they are folks, my first attempt at mittens.



I wanted to get a pic of me with them on but if I'm holding the camera with the mittens on then there is no way I can manage a pic. Believe me, they fit perfectly. I am pretty proud of myself, but I don't take the credit for anything I have been able to make. Only by the grace of God these were made. Any abilities I have I credit to Him. We are all blessed with talents.

Hope all of you are doing well. I will do some blog reading. Knowing how all of you are doing will be good for me to read. I have truly missed you all. Good people are hard to come by these days and I consider all of you my far away & caring friends. Hope you are all having good days filled with blessings. Until next time take care. I will try to not make it such a long time before I post again.
♥♥♥











Monday, May 4, 2015

WHY ARE MY POSTS NOT SHOWING UP!!!!!!!!!

IF I HAD A BOX OF NAILS I WOULD BE CHEWING THEM RIGHT NOW!

Where Does Time Go Anyways!

Oh Dear Friends, once again I have been so busy and can be counted as one of the slacker bloggers. I keep thinking of that song "Time In A Bottle". Truthfully I have been feeling so very guilty to not come here and post. I have so much to share with you and I am so far behind on reading about what all of you have been doing. It will take a day or two to catch up on everything I need to do on here. I want to be able to take my time and not miss anything. I have lots of photos of projects to share, so please bare with me and don't think badly of me. I hope to make time this week. Days have been full with a bridal shower, babysitting my grandson, running some errands for my mom and myself, knitting, crocheting, household chores, yard work. I'm lucky to find time between all that to do a few things for myself. This week I plan to meet a couple school chums for lunch, babysit, go out for dinner and a movie for Mother's Day with my youngest daughter. If it isn't raining on Fridays I spend a good 6 hours mowing. So hang on tight, I am still alive and kicking and promise to be back in a few days. Love you all, hope all is well with you ♥
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