Unraveled Wednesday 03-27-19

Good Morning!

Another (very) bright sunny day here...chilly right now, but it is supposed to warm up by 20 or 25 degrees to 53 or so.  And each day through Saturday progressively warmer.  No daffodil blooms yet, but soon I think.  And very noisy birds singing their spring mating and nesting songs.  Finally!!

There was almost some unraveling last night, but I managed to *fix* my problem.  The Shell Cottage socks are just a PITA to knit.  Happily though, the first sock is able to fit on my foot/leg.

I knit a few more rows this morning and am finished the leg part - I'll (hopefully) start the heel flap at lunch today.  I will knit the foot plain, so it should go faster.  Second sock syndrome has never been a problem for me and actually I've always knit the second sock faster than the first.  I'm HOPING that is the case again with this pair.  I will be so very happy to have them completed!

Meanwhile, in the land of dreams, I am trying to figure out what else to cast on.  Much to my surprise I really liked working on 3 projects at once (sock, shawl and cowl).  I'm tempted to start another Hitchhiker (Mailing loved the one I just made, so I'm thinking of making one for her).  Fletch would like another pair of socks (since the last pair ended up being too small for either he or Colin and ended up in my sock drawer!!).  There are a couple of sweaters I'd like to make (but need yarn...Allentown Fiber Festival in just a couple of weeks!!).  There are also a few shawl patterns I'd like to explore for myself.  Hoping to dig into my stash this weekend and see what I can pull out.

Head on over to Kat's to see what others are up to on this gorgeous day.  Happy Hump Day!!

Teeny Needle Tuesday

Hello!

Today is pretty chilly (doors partially frozen on the car this morning, frost on the windows....) BUT...Saturday's forecast is to be in the 70's.  I'm ready.  Meanwhile, I am wearing my Hitchhiker today!!

It feels good on my neck.  Still not as soft as I had hoped for, but the added warmth is good this morning.

A little bit of progress has happened on Fox Forest:

A few trees, and the brown stuff at the top is the beginning of a Fox!!  I would have done a bit more last night, but discovered the little paw was one row off...and I had to rip that out.  Slowly but surely this will get finished.

I've got a bunch of calls to make today (personal stuff).  Yesterday I did cancel the premium package we had for our cable (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime).  I don't watch anything on those channels and Fletch mainly watches Bill Maher on Friday nights on HBO.  We were paying $40 per month for those channels!  Instead we'll go with HBO Now for $15/month.  One of my things to deal with today is our wireless bill....wish me luck.

The sun is out here and I hope it's shining wherever you are.  Have a great Tuesday!

Monday and a Finished Hitchhiker!!

Hello Everyone,

If your weekend was half as good as mine it was a great one!  Our weather was so nice and we did a lot of different things.  Saturday we mostly spent the day with Colin and Mailing.  After lunch I had plenty of time to knit and actually bound off the Hitchhiker!

That's a dark shot, but it is spread out on the sectional in their living room.  This shot shows the colors better.

I ended up with 39 teeth and 6 grams (or 0.2 oz) of yarn left.  I washed it Saturday night and it is still on the blocking mats.  It was dry as of this morning, but I didn't have time to fool with it.  It was a little stiff prior to washing, so I hope it has softened up some.  I love the colors in it (Rhubarb is the colorway).

I'm still working on the Shell Cottage sock, yet thinking I *need* another project - maybe some socks for Fletcher.

Sunday was taken up with chores and errands, but we managed to get some archery in during the afternoon.  Tyg was safely inside napping so we took advantage of that time to shoot.  I am definitely out of shape and it has obviously been quite some time since I shot an arrow...many of mine fell short of the target...but at least I didn't lose any in the woods this go-round.  And I did manage one hit pretty close to being a bulls eye!  Regardless, we had fun (and I can feel it across my back this morning).

Our Christmas Cactus is continuing to bloom and this morning I spotted yet another bud on it!

It's interesting how some of the blooms are double and some are not, but they are all beautiful and a welcome sight.

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend, and here's to a great week ahead.

Friday Felines

A Tisket a Tasket

A Kitty in a Basket

Sweet Marcel

Have a wonderful weekend!  I'm waiting for the rain to end...

Randomness on a Thursday

Good Morning!

I don't think I've done a "Three on Thursday" post previously, but today (having no pictures of knitting to show you), I have 3 random things to share.

Hallelujah!  My Kindle problems seem to be resolved.  Yesterday I pulled up the “manage your device” site and re-sent my latest books from Overdrive to my Kindle.  When I got home and turned my Kindle on they downloaded immediately.  I have no clue why that happened in the first place, but I’m happy to have the problem fixed.  Last night I started Tell the Wolves I'm Home and am really enjoying it.

  

March Madness has started over at MDK.  Are you voting?  I plan to and hope to not be tempted by too many patterns.  (Though truth be told, at first glance, I like the patterns but nothing really jumps out at me as it has in prior years.  Anyone else feel the same way?)

 It is a rainy day – we could get up to 2” and the rain is to continue into tomorrow.  In the spirit of looking on the positive side, I’m trying to remember and be thankful for 1) no snow!!  And 2), the rain will be great for all the flowers that will shortly be blooming.

Yesterday I did manage to knit another 8 rows on my Hitchhiker (so, another tooth) and am hoping to do the same today.  I also put another four rows on the Shell Cottage sock this morning over coffee and it is looking so much better than it had.  

It's Thursday and I seem to already be in weekend mode - lol.  

Unraveled Wednesday 03/20/19

Good Morning!

Happy SPRING!  Not only is it the first day of Spring, but it is my Mom's birthday and she would be 100 today!!  Gosh I miss her.  I miss playing tennis and Scrabble with her (and she always beat me at both), I miss her humor and her cooking and just everything.  It's been 15 years since she passed away and every day I think of her and so often I want to pick up the phone and call her.  Oh well, I know many of you are in the same boat as I am. 

Meanwhile...if you read my post on Monday you already know there was a BIG unravel going on over the weekend.  The Shell Cottage sock (it could have been called a tourniquet) was way too tight.  Happily I re-cast on Monday night and have managed to get a little bit done.  Taking Dee's advice, I'm only doing the knot pattern on the front of the sock.  The back will be plain stockinette.  First the front:

And the back:

Much better, much stretchier.  I looked at some of the finished socks for this pattern and a number of folks talked about ripping out 3-4 times, changing to bigger needles, etc. in order to get the sock to fit/go over their heel.  Hopefully knitting it this way will do the trick for me.

On the reading front, I finished The Library Book by Susan Orlean.  There have been mixed reviews about this book.  Yes, it got a bit wordy in places and I think there was a bit more detail (and sometimes repetition) than was necessary, but overall I really enjoyed it and give it 4 stars.  It is well written and there are some fabulous lines in it.

I had hoped to start another book on Overdrive last night, but the new ones are still not appearing on my Kindle (and the old ones/loans expired are not disappearing!!).  Airplane mode is not on and I am connected to wifi, so I'm not sure what the issue is.  Going to my library sites I can see the books are borrowed, but they are not on my device.  I'll have to look into this a little bit and see if I can figure it out.

Once again the blinds at the window by my desk are drawn due to sun glare...but I hope to open them soon and enjoy the sun...tomorrow's forecast calls for soaking rains.

Be sure to check out Kat's Blog to see what others are up to on this Unraveled Wednesday.

TNT 03/19/19

Good morning!

It is a beautiful (though somewhat chilly) SUNNY day out there.  So sunny, that I had to close the blinds by my desk due to the glare on my monitor. 

Last Friday when I got home early I went through my stitching stash and picked a new piece to work on.  Those WIP's were just not calling me (as I said before, there's a reason why they are WIP's - lol).  Rather than go with one of the HUGE samplers I had listed, I chose a smaller piece to get back into stitching.

This is Fox Forest by Work Basket.  I like foxes and, in fact, one ran across our yard just the other day.  I do NOT like hearing them "bark" in the night, but I do enjoy seeing them.  I thought this would be a cute piece for a child's room (NO, Mailing is NOT pregnant and they are not planning any kids in the near future...but I'll be ready should that occur - lol).  My very teeny start:

The linen was unmarked in my stash, but I believe it is 32 count and I am stitching over two - much easier than 40 count.

On the reading front, I am just about finished with The Library Book (still reading slowly, but enjoying very much).  Next up are two books from Overdrive:  Tell the Wolves I'm Home and Love and Ruin - I should be able to start one of them tonight or tomorrow.

Fletch and I started watching Trapped but that has turned out to be way too gruesome for me - bad dreams, etc.  So, we switched the other night to Reign and are enjoying that - good acting and new faces to us. 

After Valerie talked about all the greenery coming up in her yard I decided to take a look around - our lilac bush does have buds (leaf buds, not flower buds) and the wisteria has buds that are looking purplish.  The daffodil leaves are up and some tulip leaves and the crocus have begun to bloom.  Tomorrow is the first day of Spring!

Wishing you all a wonderful day.

A Finish, An Un-Finish and a Cute Picture

Hello All,

How was your weekend?  Mine was great!  Friday we had a St. Patrick's Day lunch at work and then our office closed at 3 p.m., so a bit of an earlier than normal start to the weekend.  It was also beautiful out and it hit 75 in Philadelphia!

Saturday dawned sunny but noticeably cooler.  I met up with Dee for coffee and that's where the Un-Finish took place - lol.  I brought my Shell Cottage sock and she agreed with me that it was very tight.  I was hoping that a good soak and blocking on a sock blocker would stretch it out enough, but when Dee said it looked like a child sized sock I knew there was only one thing to do:

That's where the sock is now.  Dee helped me unravel and re-wind which was great (the knot stitch was a bit tricky to un-do).  I have not re cast on yet to try again, but when I do, I am taking Dee's suggestion of doing the pattern only on the front of the sock.  The back will be plain stockinette and hopefully that will allow me to wear them.  We chatted and knit for a bit and then went across the street to Northbound for lunch.

The food was delicious.  Dee had a roasted beet salad and I had a smoked turkey BLT.

The finish in the title refers to Fletcher's cowl.  Finally!!

And here it is open so you can see the full thing:

Personally, I think the buttons are too heavy for it and flat ones would be better, but Fletch loves it and actually wore it yesterday when he was outside (very windy and chilly again).  Nice to have this one off the needles.  The yarn is from Ancient Arts and the color is Birch Leaves.  I have a full skein and part of one left, so I may need to make something warm and cozy for myself!

Hitchhiker was what I worked on over coffee with Dee and I did a bit more yesterday.  I'm now at 35 teeth and am weighing the yarn after every tooth.  If my calculations are correct, I can make another 3...possibly 4 teeth.  This is what it looks like as of this morning:

Fletch and I did spend some time yesterday over at Mailing's and Colin's.  Their house looks so cute with their furniture now and it is so fun to see how excited they are to be in a home rather than a rental.  After we left they went shopping for a few things (they still need curtains, etc.).  They picked up a new laundry basket and Colin texted this shot last evening:

Marcel wanted to be IN the basket. 

Well, I've got a busy day ahead of me, so I'd best just jump in.  Hope everyone has a great week!

Friday Felines

Good Morning!

Happy Weekend (well...almost there).  It was 60 this morning on our patio!!  And the crocus have started blooming along our driveway bed.  Of course, rain is coming in today and the temps will be cooler over the weekend, but NO SNOW in the forecast.

Fletch picked up new hay bales for our target shooting.  It's been so long since I picked up my bow, I'm anxious to do so.  Meanwhile, someone was enjoying a different view:

He sat there for quite some time.  Maybe looking for mice?  (There was yet another dead one in the yard last night).  The target will be up on one of the bales and the extra bale in the back is to catch the arrows that I shoot over the target - lol (which happens a lot).

We had a nice dinner and Fletch had picked up a blueberry pie for Pi Day, but none of us could eat dessert!  Too full from dinner.  Maybe tonight.

Then...we had out first fire of the year last night!

It ended up being pretty windy and it was difficult to get out of the line of smoke - you know...no matter what direction you move, the wind changes and the smoke follows you.  It was wonderful though to be outside at night!

The weekend is looking good!  I'm meeting up with Dee tomorrow morning for some much needed therapy of knitting, coffee, and chatting; Sunday we are going over to Colin & Mailing's for lunch.  Can't wait to see their home with furniture in place and the cats in residence!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I've got to get cranking - two conference calls coming right up.

PI(e) Day!!

Hello!

Our sunrise this morning was glorious!  The picture doesn't capture the intensity or deepness of the color I saw as I was leaving my house for work (but it's still a pretty picture).

And, Happy Pi(e) Day!  I'm hoping for pie tonight - lol.  I did not bake one, but Fletch is running to the store for some mushrooms and peppers for grilling tonight and I'm hoping he picks one up from the bakery.  Any kind will do.

Still working on the Kindle mystery.  Am able to access my book.  In fact I can access books where my Overdrive loan expired and I had deleted them.  But new books that I got through Overdrive have not shown up.  Hmmmmm.....not sure what's up and it's not a critical fix at this point.

Yesterday ended up being busy with no errands being run and no knitting at work either!  I hope to remedy the knitting part today.  I did work a little on the Shell Cottage sock last night - turned the heel, picked up the gusset stitches and have started down the foot.  Meanwhile, I'm still undecided what to stitch next and I woke up dreaming about BIG samplers.  I mean really big.  For example:

SDW Sampler

And All Was For An Appil   (I love Adam & Eve Samplers)

Red Deer

Charlotte Clayton

It's weird that I'm drawn to stitching large pieces.  I almost never frame them as we already have a ton of stuff on our walls (and Fletch doesn't want a house filled with needlework - I don't either).  Really I should try to complete one of my unfinished projects, but I'm just not all that interested in them right now (which explains why they are unfinished).  I have all the charts (and so many more - lol), plenty of fabric and also the threads, so we'll see what I end up pulling out.

The sun is out, it is warming up (65 forecast for today!!), Colin is coming for dinner and we are planning to have a fire in the pit tonight!  Guess that means no knitting or stitching tonight, but that's ok.  It will be wonderful to be sitting outside!

Enjoy your day - the weekend is almost here!

Unraveled Wednesday 3-13-19

Good Morning!

It is yet another sunny day here in Eastern PA!!!  Chilly, but sunny and it is supposed to warm up a bunch.

Last night I had a bit of help as I was knitting on the Shell Cottage sock:

Love those crossed paws.  I managed to get part-way through the heel flap last evening.

This morning I lingered over my coffee and finished the flap, so tonight I will turn the heel (I love that part - it's like magic to me).  But, I think Nancy may have been correct - the knot stitch is making these pretty tight (a la compression stockings I'm thinking - lol).  I hope I can stretch them some with blocking...if not I'll need to find someone with extra skinny legs.

My Kindle seems to be working again.  Whew!  As of last night I was unable to access any book on it - even those I had purchased.  I ended up restarting it and then syncing it and that seemed to do the trick.  However, when I try to turn the screen off (to save battery power), it restarts again.  I'm afraid it might just be getting old and tired (I can't remember when Fletch gave it to me - he thought 3-4 years ago, but I think it was more like 5-6.

I've brought my trusty Hitchhiker to work for lunchtime knitting, but I do have a couple of errands I need to run, so I'm not sure I will do anything on that today.  As the rows steadily increase it takes longer and longer to make a tooth.  I think I'm up to 32 teeth now.

And the important things:  today is soft pretzel day at work.  Woo-Hoo!  And don't forget that tomorrow is Pi(e) Day!!

Teeny Needle Tuesday

Hello!

Welcome to another edition of TNT...this time with a finished piece!  Woo-Hoo!

I'm not crazy about the pieces/motifs floating out in space, but I'm not going to rip them out.  They are all over 2...I did not bother doing any of the over 1 designs - the fabric is just too tight for that.  I do love the border, the pumpkin and the bittersweet.  At some point I will pick out some backing fabric and make this into a little pin cushion.  I have a dough bowl from Fletcher's grandmother that is filled with little cushions - some made by me, some by friends.

This was finished Friday night and I started to work on another unfinished piece Saturday, but I'm not loving it (which may be why it is unfinished).  I'll poke through my unlimited stash and come up with something to work on - either a WIP or a brand new piece.  It will be nice to work on lighter fabric for sure.  This dark (the color of the fabric is Wood Smoke) and high count (40) linen just about did in my eyes - lol.

Last night I did manage a few more rows on the Shell Cottage sock - only a few more and I will be at the heel turn.  And my Hitchhiker had a few more rows added at lunch yesterday - hopefully more today.

The other night I was reading in bed and fell asleep (with Kindle in my hands and glasses on - lol).  I woke up about 30 minutes later and turned off my Kindle.  Last night I opened it up and tried to get into my book and the message I got was that it had been removed.  I'm trying to figure this out, because my Kindle has been in Airplane mode (and still is) which means that the book could not have gone back to the library (plus I don't think it is due yet).

Meanwhile, I'm at work and need to get busy.  hope you all have a wonderful day!

A Surprise!!

Good Morning!

Are you surviving/doing ok with the time change?  I seem to be coping (but yawning a lot - lol).  Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day - warm and sunny.  Then Sunday came and it was extremely foggy all day.  We had a lot of rain overnight and it just looked like Sleepy Hollow outside - even in the middle of the afternoon.

We had friends over on Sunday and made BBQ shrimp and salad for dinner.  I baked Cuban bread in the morning to go with it - crusty on the outside and chewy inside - perfect for sopping up the butter/bacon/garlic/Old Bay "stuff" in the shrimp pan.

And look what our friends brought for dessert - Black Forest Cake!!

Truly decadent and delicious! 

The surprise from my blog post title is this:

I have had this Christmas Cactus for years!  It started from a cutting of the plant my Grandmother had.  Her's was HUGE - an enormous pot that took up an entire side table in her living room.  It always bloomed several times a year and was always covered in blossoms.  Mine bloomed faithfully for a number of years, but it has to be at least 5 or 6 years since it last had a blossom.  I had been thinking it was time to trash it and just replace it with a new one from the garden center.  Saturday morning I spotted this bloom (it's a double!!) and there are three more buds showing color.  I'm so glad I didn't trash this!

There was a bit of knitting over the weekend.  Progress is being made on the first Shell Cottage sock:

I'm still finding this yarn a bit splitty, but I'm loving the colors and the way it is striping.  I also seem to be getting better at the Knot stitch - as long as I remember to keep my stitches fairly loose, I'm able to lift the third stitch over two and off the needle (without losing the first two - ha!).

That's a wrap on my weekend.  How was yours?

Friday Felines

Tyg says don't forget to turn your clocks ahead tomorrow night...you can sleep in and sometimes it helps to put your head between the mattress and headboard!

Have a great weekend!

Unraveled Wednesday

Good Morning!

I had completely forgotten that yesterday was Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras, but Fletch had not forgotten.  I wish I had remembered because I would have made red beans for dinner…but we had salmon instead.  We still had our masks though!

LOL  And my red face…after my doctor’s appointment yesterday I have some new prescriptions to use but still no make up until it clears up.  Unfortunately it’s a type of dermatitis that can come and go at a whim.  For some it is triggered by hot and humid weather; for me it may be the dry cold weather that brings it on.  Stress is another trigger for a lot of people.  Oh well, things could be so much worse and I’m trying to consider myself lucky.

I managed to knit another tooth on my Hitchhiker last night – I’m now up to 27 teeth and I have 56 or 57 grams left in my 100 gram skein.  The pattern calls for 41 or 42 teeth, so I’m hoping I can get there.  There are now 114 stitches on the needles.  I’ll probably take the time to do a little math and see where I might end up.

On the reading front, my slump may have been cured.  I’m about a third of the way through The Library Book and really enjoying it.  I keep wanting to write down lines or quotes   One of my favorites:

“In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone died is to say his or her library has burned. When I first heard the phrase, I didn’t understand it, but over time I came to realize it was perfect. Our minds and souls contain volumes inscribed by our experiences and emotions; each individual’s consciousness is a collection of memories we’ve cataloged and stored inside us, a private library of a life lived.” 

― Susan Orlean, The Library Book

Head on over to Kat’s to see what others are up to reading-wise and knitting-wise.

Tuesday Updates

Well Hello There!

Winter is still  here.  We had snow Friday night (unexpected) and then more (6" or so) Sunday afternoon/evening.  Work was on a 2 hour delay yesterday and ended up being a busy day once I got to the office.

The weekend was lovely.  Lots of knitting and chatting with Dee on Saturday and then I headed over to Colin & Mailing's new house.  This was the first time I got to see it inside.  Of course, not much is there - a couple of dining chairs, some poufs (like bean bags, but softer) and blankets, and supplies for painting, etc. I did not take any pictures inside or out (it was a pretty grey day when I arrived in the late afternoon).  Colin got the awful indoor/outdoor carpeting ripped up from the sun room and now is working on getting all the adhesive up.  Meanwhile, Mailing painted the office room and guest room.  Progress is being made.  They are hoping to move most of their stuff themselves next weekend and then will engage movers for the piano, and their larger items that won't easily fit in an SUV.  The sellers gave them a beautiful orchid plant, a bottle of wine and a gift card to Lowes.  So sweet. 

Well, this is Teeny Needle Tuesday and I've got nothing to show you - lol.  No progress was made since a week ago.  Some stitching was done, but promptly ripped out.  There are a number of motifs on the background fabric that are to be stitched over one.  That means 40 stitches to the inch on 40 count fabric.  I started one and honestly it looked like crap and I ripped it out (which took some doing!).  I will do some motifs over 2 and call it a day.

The Hitchhiker is what got my love over the weekend.  Here it is as of early this morning:

There are (I think) now 26 teeth.  This is such a relaxing piece to work on - I can definitely see making more of these.

Sunday Fletch and I went to the grocery store.  We weren't even thinking!  The store was filled with panicked folks picking up 4 loaves of bread, 3 gallons of milk and 4 dozen eggs in case they couldn't get to the store for 2 days due to the forecast storm.  Oy vey!  Actually the shopping wasn't too bad, but the check-out lines were at least 6 people deep with FULL carts.  Anyway, we picked up some ingredients so I could make ratatouille for dinner:

So good - roasted tomatoes, an entire head of garlic, peppers, eggplant, onions...the house smelled amazing.  I used yellow/summer squash instead of zucchini because 1) the store had exactly 4 zucchini which looked pathetic, and 2) Fletch is adamantly opposed to zucchini (which tastes the same as yellow squash in my opinion...and he loves that...).  Anyhoo - -served over penne pasta, it was delicious and there was enough to freeze for later and some in the frig for leftovers.

That brings you all up to date on my life.  I'd best get to work as I need to leave by 12:30 today for a doctor's appointment.  Hope everyone is having a great week!