Test Stitching

Last year, Debi from Temari Train... of Thought asked for someone to test her instructions for a couple of temari patterns she was working on. I jumped at the chance, and she sent the instructions for this pattern. It was so much fun to stitch!

The biggest problem is that I was asked not to share it until the pattern had been published. For a while it was going to be in a book, but plans have changed, and Debi is publishing these on her blog. Today she talked about this one, so now I can finally show mine. (This picture was taken in July last year.)

This makes me feel like picking up my temari needle and getting to work, but I have Christmas stitching to work on. Hopefully the feeling will not have left by the time I get done with my projects.

Knitting progress

I taught myself to knit entrelac from a book I got out of the library. I made this little kerchief in entrelac, so I didn't have to do any triangles until the final edge. I like how the colors worked on this, and I have enough yarn to make another one like this.

I have a tub o' flowers, getting ready for the hydrangea purse.



The worst thing about the flowers is that when you get done knitting, you have 8 (!) tails to sew in. The knitting is fun, but threading your needle 8 times in a row for each flower gets a little tedious.

I have 28 flowers done, only 17 to go!

Double Knitting

I finished my double knit scarf, and I am very happy with it. I was thinking I was going to give it to someone for a Christmas present, but I put it on over my coat to check the length, that that was it. I fell in love with it, and decided it was not going to go anywhere.

The end (on the right) is finished with the kitchener stitch. It is supposed to mimic stockinette stitch by sewing. Mine did not turn out quite right, it looks like garter stitch, but I think I know what I did wrong. No one will notice, though, from farther than 3 feet away.

I don't have enough yarn left over to make the bubble scarf, but I did find something nice to do with it... stay tuned!

Completed Project--bathrobes

Who wouldn't love to sew for these two sweeties? I bought the peace sign fleece for C several months ago. When I bought it, the clerk mentioned that it would make a mountain of flooshies (lint) when I cut it; I kept thinking about that, and putting off starting on the project. Once I cut into it, it only took a couple of hours to finish the whole thing; her's was done before Thanksgiving. The plain tan fabric on P's robe is what I bought to line the bass cover. I had so much left over I thought I could get his whole bathrobe out of what I had left; but it was in too many odd shaped pieces, so I picked up the puppy paw-print fleece so I could cut out the bigger pieces I needed. I still have a pile of both types of fabric... I may have to make a couple of floor pillows. (They had to put off leaving for home for a few minutes on Sunday so I could finish the belt on P's robe.)

I had made bathrobes for the whole family when P was about 4 years old... P's and daddy's were Da Bears; and momma's was pink. C was too small for a bathrobe, so that is why her's was a priority. P grew out of his some time ago, but momma still wears hers.

C lost a tooth on Saturday night, and the Tooth Fairy came... inflation sure has hit hard since I was loosing teeth!

We took them home yesterday after a stay of 5 days. The house sure does seem quiet!

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving day was wonderful!

Our menu was:

Turkey

gravy

Stuffing,

pecan pie

rutabegas (and this ended my responsibility)

Mac and cheese

green bean casserole

cranberry bread pudding

biscuits

candied sweet potatoes

black-eyed peas

2 pumpkin pies, (one with and one without added sugar)

corn casserole (C's homework found out this was the favorite)

Mashed potatoes with and without horseradish

deviled eggs

eggnog (also known as "snowman juice")

I was going to take pictures of the food, but the turkey took an extra hour to cook and we couldn't wait to dig in. I cannot seem to get that right. This year it was an hour late, last year was an hour early, and the year before that it was late too... and the gravy was lumpy. But P summed it up best:

It may not be perfect, but it is Awesome!

Here is the cook "C" and DD1 modeling her new hat:

(I knit that scarf several years ago.)

Thank you J & C for the most relaxing Thanksgiving day I have had in years. As I said last night C, you can come and cook any time you want to! You are one of the things I am thankful for.

Cute Christmas ornaments

In my Homewood Guild we had a snowflake ornament workshop in October, and I finished 3 ornaments yesterday. I like how they turned out.

The first one is stitched with needlepoint wool. I like the soft look of it. The center one was stitched with Pearl #5, and it looks very chunky. The right hand one was stitched with "Goldrush" metallic. It was a little thick for this use as well.

Here are the reverse sides, with 3 different designs. I just made them up as I went along.

We had a lot of fun during the meeting with these ornaments.

I am excited that Sharon Boggins from Pintangle is going to be running "Take A Stitch Tuesday" (TAST) again next year. Each Tuesday she will post an embroidery stitch and instructions on her blog, and then everyone participating can work on that stitch and variations, and post their results to share. She did it several years ago, and I did not have the time to participate then. Now, since I do have the time, I think I am going to join in. I am tentatively planning on a band sampler.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I am so grateful for family, and for my grandkids (and my home, and good food, and DH... ). The family is all going to be here tomorrow, so it should be a lot of fun. I hope I remember to take pictures.

Knitting

Here is the second one of my Hydrangea blossom. I was pleased with how it felted, until I compared it with the first flower. They are different brands of yarn, so the pink is quite a bit fuzzier, and is still not as small as the first one. It should be felted again, and will turn out fine.

It is going to be a little confusing to keep track of all the flowers for this project. There are 3 different sizes of flowers, and 5 different colors. The pattern calls for 5, 2, 2, 2, and 2 flowers from the different colors, in the different sizes. That gives a total of 39 flowers, with 15 of them being the same color. I am thinking of doing 3 in each color, in each size. That gives 45 flowers in all. They go very quick... less than an hour per flower for the knitting. Then of course you have to sew in all the ends. Here you can see the whole process. The center top is a finished flower after the ends are sewn in, before it is felted, and to the right you see two finished flowers, before the ends are stitched in. Here also you can see 3 of the 5 colors.

I have a knitting dilemma. I have knit a complete repeat of the color in my variegated yarn for my paintbox scarf. The pattern calls for 30 boxes; I have 26. (It is 57 inches long.) I keep hoping someone will tell me "Oh, 57 inches is plenty long enough for a scarf!" I was hoping to get 2 scarves out of these yarns: I have another double-knit pattern called bubbles that calls for the same yarn. If I keep going with my paintbox pattern I don't think I will have enough yarn to do the second scarf. I can make the second scarf a little narrower, so I might not need quite as much yardage to get a good length. So that is the only reason the paintbox scarf is not done.

I am getting closer and closer to finishing my lacy shawl. The biggest challenge for that is finding a big enough place to do the blocking once I bind off. I think I have been working on this for at least 5 months. I think I am going to miss it when it is done. I do have a plan for that time slot as soon as it is finished.