End of the Month Catch-up

My astute readers will have noticed that I did not have a knitting post last Friday.  That's because no knitting has been taking place.  I've been busy working at the shop, both behind the counter and teaching, and I actually got back in my sewing room and have been working on those boy bibs.  Fourteen of them are in progress.  

Dan has been making progress on the house and the entryway and hall are all painted.  Next up, some trim work and then we'll have to decide on carpet.  For those wondering, I have come up with no plan, yet, for those tall windows.  We're trying to decide what to go to next: our bedroom, which entails scraping and shooting the ceiling, new paint and carpet; or new flooring for the entryway, hall, kitchen, breakfast nook and dining room. Yikes!!!  Oh yes, and a new railing for the entryway.  

Meanwhile, this has been the most perfect summer weather-wise.  The days are warm but the nights are cool and lovely.  At eight tonight it was already down to 70. Amazing.  The fields are changing from green to gold and soon the combines will be running.  Tomorrow is August! Back to school is just around the corner, but not for this retired teacher.  Part of me misses that excitement, but the rest of me is so happy to be done.  I'll buy some fun school supplies to include in our shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child for Samaritan's Purse and that will give me my color crayon/pencil "fix."  

Day Camp with Papa

The phone rang this morning and it was Ann, asking if Keaton could come over while Cameron was at soccer camp and she took Daniel to the park to meet with other moms and toddlers.  Of course he could!  

Dan recently spent a day at the Boy Scout camp with Keaton and noted that Keat had a great time at the archery station.  The day we went to the family reunion, Dan stopped at a sporting goods store and got a bow, arrows and other necessary items.  He also bought a new BB gun for the boys (a Red Rider Special!) a few days later here in town.  They've been waiting in the closet in the boys' room here at the resort for the appropriate moment.  

When Keaton got here, Papa Dan sent him in to check out the closet.  Hooray!!  Out he came toting all the boxes, and he and Papa headed for the back yard to set up camp.  Soon, however, back they came.  The bow was a little too hard a pull for Keat, so off they went in search of another.  I waved back as they drove off in the pickup with a flurry of smiles and waves.  How big that boy looked in the front seat of that big ol' truck!   I thanked God for the blessings of all the time we get to spend with these boys.  

In a little while they were back with a dandy new bow. Keaton set to work getting it all ready (it has a cool attachment for the arrows) and then they headed down to the shade in the back yard.  

He said it was just like Day Camp!  And we even had chocolate.  :-)

It's Friday! (OTN)

There's not been a lot of knitting going on around here this week, but I have a little to show you.  I've baked, been to that celebration, worked at the shop, and actually done some sewing!  I guess you could say I diversified this week.  :-)

Not a lot going on with the socks, but I am getting close to shaping the toe.  Another inch or so.  If I put my mind to it, I could probably finish today.  We'll see.

Just for fun I started a new washcloth.  I love knitting these and I think I could do it in my sleep.  Actually, I probably have done it in my sleep, or at least in a stupor.  

Here's a couple of recent ones.  I love to put a stripe in the middle, but I experimented with scraps and came up with the cream colored one, too.  Doesn't look like a "leftover" does it?

I got the pattern from Homespun Living.  Click here to get the pattern for yourself.  Her blog is filled with beautiful pictures -- you'll love looking around if you haven't been there before.

It's a very dark and stormy day here at the resort. Thunder is echoing in the distance and we've had rain and wind.  It's very humid, which is unusual for our area. I feel like I'm in the tropics.  

In other news, I spent quite a bit of time in my sewing room yesterday and had fun.  My bib supply was down to only girl bibs so it was time to think boy.  I cut out a number of "blanks" in various blue flannel prints and began to stitch.  I recently saw a bib that had a cute expression so I made up my own in my software and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  

Pretty cute, huh?  The stacked ducks are from the Baby Breedlove collection by OESD (still available on line at a great price!)  When I finish up here I'm heading back down and to do some more stitching.  And hey, it's all done with a needle, so it fits right in with OTN Friday.

Happy weekend!  

July 16th???

Oh my goodness, how could it be July 16th already?? Memorial Day was just last week, wasn't it??  Yikes!  No wonder I'm getting perilously close to my next birthday which starts with a 6 and ends with a 3.  This weekend we attended an event which included several people with whom I graduated from high school.  They all looked great, but definitely not eighteen.  Hmmmm...

I totally forgot to take my camera to my friend Kathy's Century Farm picnic on Saturday.  It was a wonderful time and the farm is an absolutely beautiful place.  Her grandparents homesteaded there in 1896 and it has been in her family and continually farmed since that time. Spurred on by her husband, Kathy completed all the paperwork to qualify for Century Farm status and invited friends and family to be there for the award.  We had a lovely picnic under a huge maple tree, complete with a breeze which kept the temperature perfect.  Dan and I stopped at Mom and Dad's and took them along.  Kathy says that they are the last people she knows who still live where they're supposed to--in the house she remembers from her childhood.  

Today is cool and cloudy.  Dan is out working on our sprinkler system and I'm still waking up.  Yes, I know it's around 10:30, but I've never been, and probably never will be, a morning person.  When I get done here I'll go make the bed and start to function.  I have run through the shower, however, so I'm all clean.  :-)

Happy Monday!  

OTN Friday

Yup, it's Friday, time to see what's happening on my knitting needles.  I'm thinking they look rather Christmasy with the red and green.  

As you can see, I'm using Patons Kroy Socks for the yarn and the color is grey ragg stripes.  When I ordered it, I thought I was getting a grey and black stripe, so when it arrived I was rather disappointed.  I still wasn't crazy about it when I was just a few inches down, but now I really like how it looks.  (Well, maybe that funny little grey-spotted heel doesn't make me smile, but it won't show.)

I was knitting away the other night and I said to Dan, "There something just so, so..." and I couldn't think of the word, "about knitting socks."  He said, "Right."   And I said, "Yes, that's it!  Knitting socks is just so right!" And it is.

As always, you can check out more knitting over at Judy's.  

Paintin' and Piecin'

I'm happy to report that there's been substantial progress being made here at the resort in the last few days.  Following the texturing of the ceilings and entryway walls, Dan has been busy priming.  It's looking more and more like a finished project!

Pardon the shadows, but he had a big light on the floor to help him see.  Nothing like white on white to drive you crazy trying to figure out where you've been.  Until it dries!  (Which is why I pretty much gave up painting about twenty-five years ago when I dissolved in tears because I couldn't figure out what I'd painted and what I hadn't.)  Anyhow, it's coming along.

And, I am more than pleased to announce that I've finally finished the top of the appliqued flower quilt!!  If you'll recall, I was making it for the shop.  I took the blocks in, arranged them on the shop's design wall, and ended up having four ladies who wanted a class.  Mission accomplished!  But I still had to sew those blocks together, so I finally brought it home and went to work. I was too lazy to bring it upstairs and lay it out on the floor, so here's a view of it spread out on my quilting machine.

You can only see half of it as the quilt has six rows of five twelve-inch blocks.  I was so pleased with how well it all went together because those points all had to meet. Using the Clearly Perfect Angles was absolutely the way to go.  I'm still in awe of how well it all worked out.   

And so, as you can see, things are progressing.  And we're glad!  :-)

House Update!

Yes, people, we are still working on the house.  Dan has been very busy with his consulting work, so projects have been on hold, but this week he was determined to get some work done.  The next thing up was texturing the scraped breakfast nook, hall and entryway ceilings and the new sheet rock in the entryway.  Any way you look at it, texturing is no fun: there is a ton of prep work, the actual doing makes a mess, and the desire to have it come out perfectly creates stress.  And then there's the cleanup.

I do believe the prep work takes way longer than the actual doing.  I didn't take any pictures of the spraying because I didn't want either the camera or myself to be covered with fine mud, and of course pictures of the texture itself would be pointless--a square foot of "orange peel" wall.  :-)  But trust me, it all looks great!! Next up:  paint!! 

Meanwhile, Dan is off to Missoula to spend the weekend with some old buddies from his just-out-of-high-school days so I'm holding down the fort and planning to stitch, knit, and just loaf.  It's a tough job but someone has to do it!   I will water the planters and bring in the garbage can.  :-)

On and Off the Needles

First, apologies to those who are bored spitless by my knitting escapades.  I will do two posts today and cover other "stuff."  

BUT, my scarf is done!!  I actually had both sections completed a few days ago, but joining them together needed all my faculties so I waited until I could give it my full concentration.  There were two recommendations for joining and I decided one wouldn't work at all; the other (the Kitchener stitch) I can do, but each time I've done it, I've been frustrated.  Then I remembered that a knitting magazine I picked up a couple of years ago had a feature on the Kitchener stitch, so I hauled it out and read and reread.  I'm visual, so it takes me a while when dealing with print, but finally several key features sank into my brain.  For those interested in the article, here's a picture of the front cover (visual, you know) of the Spring 2010 Interweave KNITS:

My joining went well--as a matter of fact, I finally caught on to the "rhythm" of the steps and I think I've made it over the hump with this process to which I say, "Hallelujah!"  In the next picture, you can see the joined section because of the diamond shapes where the two tops of each section come together:

A little blocking and I'm all set for winter!  I can't wait to make another.

And for what's on my needles now?  A new pair of socks, of course.  I love knitting round and round.

For other knitting projects around the country (world?), check in over at Judy's for some inspiration.

P.S.  Here's a quote from the magazine about the Kitchener stitch:  "British Army general Lord Kitchener was concerned that sock seams maimed the toes of this soldiers.  A smooth grafting technique solved the problem.  Today, Kitchener stitch (also called "weaving" and "grafting") has risen far above its utilitarian sock-toe origins to become a star technique of mainstream knitting."