Back to it!

I have been doing a lot of knitting since my last post to this blog. I plan to post some photos of completed projects soon.

Also, in addition to knitting, I have been exploring weaving, particularly backstrap weaving. So far, I have been collecting the tools and setting aside some yarns to use for weaving. I have lots of leftover mercerized cotton which will be great for warp-faced weaving. Inkle weaving, similar in weave structure to backstrap weaving, is another area of weaving that I hope to try out. More on this later.

For now, I'm just trying to get back into posting to this blog.

Knitting right along!

I have been knitting throughout the spring and into the summer. Here are a few projects I have completed.


Warning, this is a photo intensive post!
Buzzy Bee Baby Blanket in Berroco Weekend


Oriental Top in Sinfonia by Omega


Heartbeat Sweater by Jill Vossburg in Berroco Linsey


Tanzanite by Norah Gaughan in WEBS Valley Yarns Longmeadow

Hot! Hot! Hot! and may I add dry!

Here in Texas, we have been plagued all spring with wildfires. In west and northwest Texas, we have had little or no rain for about nine months. Combine no rain with triple digit temperatures every day for weeks, and high winds, and there is great potential for disaster. And, believe me, we are well acquainted with disaster this year. Every day in Lubbock County, there are reports of one or more homes that have burned. Grass fires break out almost every day burning structures, fences, crops, and forage for wildlife and livestock. We watch and pray for rain, and not a drop falls. Farmers planted their seeds knowing that unless we received rain, the only reason they were planting was to be able to qualify for a settlement on their crop insurance.

We desperately need rain!

Got to be a better way!

Warning -- this is a rant!

I have been shredding old financial records. I do this every summer when I am the only person in the office. It is a nasty job, uses lots of time, and the shredded material takes up way more space than the documents did in their original form. Yes, I understand that for security reasons, old financial records need to be destroyed, but there has to be a better way. A small pile of mostly biodegradable paper is shredded and placed into trash bags which not only take up way more space than the unshredded documents, but it goes to the landfill preserved in plastic trash bags which last an infinitely long time. Isn't there some other secure way to destroy sensitive documents?

Finally Faith and More

I have not been idle, sitting around eating bonbons, and watching TV. I have plenty of project photos to share what I have been knitting.

Faith is finished and I have worn it many times. Love it!



And then, there are the sweaters for the grandchildren ...

Turtle Crossing Sweater for oldest grandson, Joshua (age 6) -- I made up the pattern and used elements from the afghan square designed by Celeste Pinearo published in The Great American Afghan and the turtle from Barbara Walker's third Treasury.



Fast and Faster Pullover for second grandson, Szachary (age 4) -- I designed the sweater.



Owlet Sweater for youngest grandson, Benjamin (age 2) -- I designed the sweater except for the owl cable.



Baby Katrina Ballerina Lace Layering Cardigan (downsized version of Carrol Feller's design) for granddaughter, Karalyn (age 9 mos.)



And finally, a little cardigan I made for the expected granddaughter of a coworker. The design is original but the stitch patterns are from stitch dictionaries. I call it the "Sweatpea Cardigan."

Lots of Knitting, but no Photos

I have been knitting with abandon for what seems like months, but I have no pictures to post.

My sweater was judged Best in Show for the knitting, crochet, tatting and weaving division of the Panhandle South Plains Fair last month. I was quite pleased. It was a design that I made up as I went. I started with a hemmed border, knitted a bi-color slipped stitch pattern throughout the body and sleeves to the underarms, then starting from the top, using Carol Sunday's Acorn Cardigan yoke modified to suit my yarn and gauge, I knitted a round yoke and joined the yoke to the body and sleeves using a 3-needle bindoff. Nothing was left but to add the ribbing to the neckline. I like it, and apparently, so did the fair judges. I also entered a pair of socks that received a second place ribbon.

My faithless Faith cardigan is finished except for assembling and the neck trim. I think it is quite lovely.

Currently on my needles is a baby sweater for my granddaughter. It is frustrating to knit because the pattern is very poorly written. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in Punky Fuchsia. It is not at all the kind of color one thinks of in baby clothes, but I cannot picture my granddaughter in pastels. She is going to look great in strong, saturated colors. She has to be a bold, assertive little girl with three older brothers.

Faithless "Faith"

Well, that reverse stockinette stitch in Faith was bugging me so much that I have frogged Faith. I did not frog the cuffs and peplum because I really like them and the sweater I will knit from the yarn will still incorporate those pieces. I just want to change the pattern stitches on the main body of the garment. Faith will never make it to the fair -- at least not this year.

On a totally different subject -- on Saturday, I did a household task that should never be attempted in the heat of summer. I decided it was time to run the self-cleaning cycle on my oven. The cycle takes five hours to complete and heats up the kitchen something awful. I'm sure it is not a process that should be started during peak electrical usage hours. I will probably have to ransom my first-born child to pay my electric bill for August.

Faith knitting

Faith is going really well. I am above the armpits on the back. I think the sleeves will be different from the sleeves designed for the sweater. In my opinion, those balloon sleeves just don't seem to fit with the rest of the sweater design. I will start the sleeves in the same way as the peplum and make them close fitting from cuff to shoulder. I think I will be more pleased. The yarn seems to be working well for this design.

I think I want to make another Faith-like sweater from a different yarn. I like the sweater shape very well, but I don't think that reverse stockinette as the main stitch for the body is the best choice. I think I will make one for my sister (who wants a black sweater) with a higher neckline, using stockinette stitch as the main stitch on the bodice and sleeves and using a delicate cable stitch that I like very much instead of the rows of eyelets on the front, sleeves and back. The cable stitch seems most like the gull stitch cable in the Barbara Walker books, but it was called the "lobster stitch" in an old Vogue Knitting when I first encountered it in about 1980. The fabric and style modifications will make a more modest garment and a lovely difference in stitch patterns. -- at least these are my thoughts at this time --