QUILTS, PETS, SNOW

Another UFO quilt finished this past week. This half square triangle quilt was a bear to machine quilt. I had debated if it needed borders to square up the quilt, decided against it.... much to my dismay while machine quilting this monster. Half square triangles are cut on bias (something that should of been glaringly obvious to me) and anything sewn on bias MOVES, a lot. Lordy, quilting this quilt was like trying to herd cats to stay in a straight line. I could only quilt a couple of rows then remove the quilt , re-stretch and pin, repeat and repeat for two-three days. Finally ready for the binding....first few stitches and the machine broke big time. Took over an hour to release fabric that was jammed between needle and bobbin case. Next day machine went to the Chet, my machine fix it man! Binding was put on using one of my Bernina machines. All done and quilt is beautiful draped over the back of a couch.

We have been cold and getting snow as of late and loving it. Well, maybe not Sadie, our mini doxie. She does not enjoy any kind of cold weather. Presently she is under a quilt on the couch snoring away where she will be the remainder of the day.

It's been a rough week here. My daughter's beloved's dog will be put down Saturday morning, he has CA and nothing is to be done for Wendell. 

This is the part about having animals, (dogs), that I hate!!! We have had to put down 3 well loved pets and it is always so painful.  Now, to watch the pain my children are experiencing putting down their beloved animals is almost too much ;-[

 

KNITTING

I had spun this red merino/alpaca yarn last week and just love the color, but what to do with it since I only have about 5.5oz, (sport weight). After spending far too much time going down the Raverly rabbit hole , I chose Corners Edges Strip Shawl. This shawl will have 4 colors in it, (it's a BIG shawl) and I have LOTS of stash yarn to choose colors from, including a merino/silk blend. I am in no hurry to finish this project, just so it's done by the fall. Will we still be in a pandemic and in the house? I will say again, I have gotten done lots of projects in my year at pandemic home! 

Hot Pink or some might say Magenta...yarn for a Little Oaks sweater picked out by little B(gd). She does like her colors! This is a Cloudborn DK weight yarn and surprisingly it knits a beautiful fabric and very soft to the touch. Little Oaks is a bottom up sweater and I am currently on sleeve island of the second sleeve. Sweater knitting for my littles went much faster when they were babies, soon they will be in full size adult sweaters....better buy more yarn;-]

'Almost' over the finish line is a machine quilted, half square triangle quilt. As I was sewing on the binding my machine jammed and jammed good. Took me an hour to release the fabric from under the needle that was caught in the feed dogs. After getting everything freed up, the needle kept hitting the bobbin case and in a very bad way. Above my pay grade, so off to the sewing machine man! Ugg.

Reading is very slow on this end, just can't find much to keep my interest. I guess this would be called a 'dry spell.'

I went upstairs to get some water and carried my knitting with me, why I don't know. E noticed this and asked if I was carrying my knitting around with me so I could report at my soon to be physical that I was doing weight bearing exercise now. Hah, at first I was offended, then thought, that's great, yes, I will tell them about my (yarn) weight bearing exercise routines so I don't have to listen to any blah blah blah. 

It has been cold here, like really cold and SNOW! Expecting more snow tonight and tomorrow--

Happy Dancing.

Get on over to 

Unravel Wednesday with Kat

ALL THINGS SPINNING

100% Merino 

50% Merino 50% Alpaca

(on the wheel now)

Merino and Silk

 I am slightly obsessed with spinning at the moment. Every spare moment is spent at my wheel trying to perfect the consistency of the yarn I am trying to produce (spin.) It is a wonderful thing that I have so much fiber to practice on, mostly natural white merino. Any skeins that I like after spinning up the merino, I will dye, (another favorite 'thing' I love to do, but dying takes place in the summer.)

Spinning, I forgot, is meditative! Doing the same hand/feet movement over and over again is calming to my mind. Sometimes I spin in silence and other times I may watch a spinning class on Craftsy or a knitting podcast on You Tube, anything but news/TV. Life doesn't feel so out of control and angry at my wheel! 

The reading front in my life is....rather dry! I'm sure it's just a phase and hoping it passes soon. In the mean time, I'll be at the wheel!

Join me over at Kat's Unraveled Wednesday

DEAD OF WINTER---NOPE, NOT HERE

Altheda Sweater is coming along so well that I put it aside for the week. This is a wonderful knit, but I'm questioning the yarn choice. I bought this as a kit from Woolly Thistle and their yarn choice is Plotulopi,

a lovely and interesting yarn to work with but oh so WARM and our winter is more acutely described as 

Little Summer! I've decided this will be knitted with short sleeves, more like a vest and then I 'll wear one of those little fans around my neck as a necklace.

Deciding if I should put a border on thisHalf SquareTriangle quilt to 'square' it up. 

HST quilt was pieced together several years ago and this is my year to finish 12 UFO quilts. HST is the 3rd quilt, (quilts 1 and 2 here.) to be finished in 2021. I am finishing the easier least time consuming quilts first, over the summer I will (hopefully) be able to finish a few of the hand piecing quilts. Sure hope we will be able to camp this summer, I get a lot of quilting done on camping trips.

Antarktis Shawl, this will be the 5th  time I have knitted the Antarktis Shawl. I must admit that I now knit this shawl not as the pattern is written word for word. I have no idea the name of the yarn, I frogged it from a shawl I was knitting about 12 years ago. 

Saturday afternoon a little spinning group has formed, and I am over the moon with this group! So much to learn - not to mention bringing out my wheel after a LONG hiatus. I wasn't aware that the way I draft has a name, I'm a 'back drafter.' Thought that was important for you to know.

First skein completely done! Im really smitten with this skein of red merino.

Of course now I want to know all things spinning. I am watching every spinning class on Craftsy,

who knew, so much to learn and so fun! When I bought my wheel 35 years ago I was left to my own devices, with the exception of one friend who was a spinner and she learned from ONE friend. Not really a broad base of info! Plus, their wasn't a lot of info out there, you know the internet and all. Now I can't believe all the info I can get my hands on....almost overwhelming, though exciting.

Wish I had put that border on this HST quilt. Started machine quilting and I already have to re-pin the dang thing. Of course it needed a border to square up---2" inch squares cut on the bias means: 

MOVEMENT/STRETCH/PULL MY HAIR OUT

I can quilt this------ I'll just take more blood pressure meds and spin when I can't take it any longer!

 Please visit Kat today, lots of good stuff over there.