BAKER'S DOZEN

I will be turning in the baby hats today.  It has been a nice way to use up scraps and keep me from going crazy!

This was moonrise last night just as I was getting into bed.

 

A GOOD DAY!

I sleyed the rest of the reed and got to the best part of all of the work---weaving!!!  Doesn't this color combo work nicely together!?!

I did a bit of piecing on the top on the left and then decided they will both get attention today!  I also need to load another quilt onto the frame and get to work!

Bill and I went to lunch at Corky Bell's but it was storming out so we sat indoors but could still see the river!  It was so nice to stop and enjoy the feast together!

And yes, I am still cranking out hats!  I have a few skeins left to make before the box is full for the donation trip!

 

WE SPEAK YARN!

We've been making hats-Mom needed a refresher course to make them on her own.  

I've been making my usual dishcloths and was able to share several pairs with my Mom, sister and two nieces!

We are also making all of the parts for this lovely to hand out to the newest baby due any time!

 

A LITTLE OF THIS AND THAT

I finished the mug rugs;  6 of them in fact!  They are 5 x 5".  I am not a coffee or tea drinker but I do like hot chocolate~

I made another kid's hat with the yarn I bought during last week's shop Hop when we made a side trip to JoAnn Fabric's.

I needed a raddle for the WAL I have joined starting April 1st. 

 This helps keep all of the warp threads lined up so I can thread them in the heddles and reed before I can begin weaving!  It is a good thing I have a bin of wood scraps so that I could make it myself--not bad for an hour's work of cutting, sanding, staining, drilling and nailing to save $70!

I am drawing to a close on the quilt on the frame--another 1/2 hour and I will be done!  I just didn't have anymore standing time left in me yesterday! lol

And today is another Shop Hop excursion!  We are not travelling so far afield today but still have 4-5 stops to keep us busy!

 

HATS OFF TO YOU!

I was able to knit two hats from the new yarn;  it worked beautifully in the Addi knitting machine! The third hat (on the right) has different grey yarn for the inside to finish it.  Not bad to get almost three hats from the skein.

The color ways at JoAnns' were all limited to grey/grey or grey/blue and grey/red.  I will definitely try another skein of this for more donation hats.

This is what it looks like right off the knitting machine!  

100 rounds for a beanie to fit most!

 

TWO LITTLE BARLEY HATS

One in a newborn size and one in a toddler. 

 I used acrylic worsted weight yarn from the stash.  

Thanks to Tina for the inspiration to give this hat a try--it was fun to mix garter with stockinette!  

These two hats (and one more I can get out of this skein)

 will go in the donation box.

(No, I am not even up to 20% of my normal yet in this bout of Covid.  That is one of the hardest parts of having an auto-immune disease; there is nothing to fall back on when you get sick! )

 

SATURDAY IDEAS

I took a long time to get going yesterday; 

 I've had too many evenings out!  I did finally manage to put the binding on the rainbow quilt

It's labeled and ready to head to the washer/dryer

 and then to the donation pile!

I saw a cool YouTube video on making this hat with the Granny Square All in One yarn.  I made two hats, an earwarmer headband and have enough left for another headband.  It is made with what she calls the Moss stitch in crochet;  it is my favorite stitch for dishcloths so it was an easy stitch to make, albeit in the round this time!  She also recommended a larger hook (k) and the yarn was lofty enough to make it a very nice density for a hat!

This hat is following her pattern-almost. 

 I wanted the top to be less gathered and more tapered.

  It was better but too slouchy for my taste.

The second hat turned out even better!

  A very enjoyable adventure in crochet!

Bill has been working on making old boards usable for a platform for the lanai furniture-more on it later.

We will be nailing it together next week on location!

 

MORE HAT EXPERIMENTS

I worked on these hats while we were out and about yesterday.

I am trying to adjust the tension to make hats that are bigger to also fit men.  I have the right numbers on the red hat for the length and width but I do not like the *stripe!  I will have to work on the numbers to make the stripe narrower and closer to the brim!  There's always math when it comes to designing! 

 The cream hat is for a woman; 

 I have added a faux cable to echo the classic cabled beanie.

  It works for me! 

 I need to get my faux leather labels out

 and start adding them to the hats again for the finishing touch! 

I will be home today so I am going to be gathering quilt projects and UFO's to complete in the studio !

(*Yes, I will be ripping back the red hat so that it is arranged the way I think it should be!)

 

A FRESH BEGINNING!

Dishcloths and hats were made.

I finished the quilting at the frame for the gingerbread top.

I broke up some glass to put in the tumbler-

and this is some I started last  week!  

I put all of the Christmas decorations away except for these three 'winter' things on the table in the fireplace room. 

 Because it pleases me.  

The house is all cleaned, laundry done

 and today I will be making the NICU incubator blankies!

And doing some more spinning.

 

YARN PLAY

I am enjoying the hat experiments;  this one has a single layer rib for the brim.  I increased a stitch in each of the stitches from the knitting machine (46 stitches) so the brim has 92 stitches. 

 I made several hats today.  

I also wanted to try the 'drop stitch' scarf on the knitting machine.  You knit 100 rows and when you remove the stitches from the machine, you only pick up every other loop from the needles.  Then you gather the rest and secure as usual.  Then you begin to pull the tube to make the unsecured stitches 'run'. 

This lengthened the tube from 24 to 50" long!

   

I did a light steam blocking and it is a soft and airy scarf

but still warm around my neck! 

 (I used some hand spun wool/silk blend yarn from the stash)

 

MORE YARN WORKS

Hat haul, relaxation in every stitch!

I decided to separate each color repeat to satisfy my curiosity.  Another 15 blocks will be made in this skein.

  Now they are more portable and I don't have to worry about remembering a pair of scissors!

 

A CALM DAY

I had an idea when making some new hats on the knitting machine;  we don't need double layered hats here, (though we do need hats on occasion) so I just added some ribbing by hand after cranking 36-40 rounds which takes only minutes. 

 It worked beautifully and in no time, I had several hats made!

I had a very relaxing morning and afternoon and then it was time to head to friends for Christmas dinner.  

Yes, it is a new circular knitting machine. 

 I tend to make so many, I use up the cheaper ones!

  The bright yellow at the top of this hat is waste yarn which is  what I use to end the main yarn portion so the stitches are distinct for picking up onto my hand knitting stitches.

  It was a very pleasant day.

I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the calm of the day!

  The yard was filled with a flock of 20 turkeys! 

 They were in the field out back where Bill has cracked corn for the Sand Hill Cranes and he also provides the deer with corn here--the turkeys have discovered them both!

Oh, and they even made fast work of the cracked corn under the bird feeder!  We enjoyed their clucking and chipping in spite of their voracious appetites!  It's been quite a while since we saw this many turkeys here!

 

PITIFUL INDEED

I have made this hat again and again--as in make it, rip it out and make the same one again!  I have  added to the headache  a head cold--which impairs thinking to another whole degree!  

Isn't the construction cool--short rows in crochet is brilliantly used to shape this hat!

The first time I made it and smoothed it out I saw a row like this.  It is supposed to single crochet up and slip stitch down but I didn't remember which was I was going.  I thought to leave it until I turned the hat and there were two more rows that looked like this!!!  Three strikes you're out!  And  so I ripped it back to the halfway mark and made it again only to decide it was WAY TOO BIG!    There is way too much of a variation of yarn even though both skeins were labeled as #4 yarn.  Sigh.

\

I persevered and now have no mistakes and it is the right size!  

For your viewing pleasure-a miniature orange Thunbergia!  I haven't even made it outside the last few days but at the time of this photo, there were several more buds on the vines so I will look forward to many more flowers, at least!

A SECRET DRAWER!

When we bought this house, it was in rough shape and any items left in the house were transported to the dump.  Except for this table.  It was pretty and in good shape--I gave it a good dusting is all!  I am getting a new desk and shelf unit, so I have been cleaning out this corner.  While I was sitting  on the floor in front of the desk sorting, I noticed 'slots; at each end of the decorative area on the front of the desk.  Since there were no knobs, I pulled at the scallop at the bottom and to my surprise,

 it opened a drawer!!!!

It held no surprise treasures--not even a scrap of newspaper!  There was some musty dust is all! lol

It's since been cleaned out and now holds my diamond dotz project!  I also removed the drawer to wax the slides

 because they were sticky.

When I turned the drawer over, I could still read the label.  To my surprise, this library desk is valuable!  I think it will stay in the family for now, though.

I did finish the second crocheted hat in the smaller size-

it fits much better!  

 You can see how it forms 4 perfect seams at the back.  No bulk to this beanie--and it is stretchy yet fitted!  There will be more made, of  that you can be sure!