Teeny Needle Tuesday

Good Morning!  Welcome to this week's edition of TNT.

Not a ton accomplished during the last week...but this dark fabric and 40 count is killing me!  I am determined to finish it though...it will just be slow.


Meanwhile we had some sleet and freezing rain overnight.  My office is on a 2 hour delay, but schools are closed and I think I will be making my own snow day!  I walked out onto the patio, and the freezing stuff is still coming down and the end of the patio is very slippery.  I know I don't have a lot to do at work today, so I'd rather stay home and be warm and safe.  By the afternoon it should all change to rain and getting to work tomorrow should be fine.  We are actually expecting a lot of rain this afternoon (so hopefully that won't just sit on the roads and then freeze).


So, today will find me doing some laundry, doing some knitting (hello Sunday Swing Socks), and putting the teeny needle to fabric a little later.


Have a great Tuesday.  If you are out and about in this Wintry weather - be safe!!

Weekending and a Bird Question

Good Morning!

It is a snowy a.m. here, but not much - only an inch or so.  I think tomorrow will be the dicey day as sleet and freezing rain are forecast for tonight.  Today, though, the snow is powdery and light and the roads are not bad.  We had/have a 2 hour delay at work, but I'm here already as I have conference calls at 9 and 10.

Howard, from our IT department, loves to bake - he finds it relaxing.  Most Mondays find some kind of treat in our main kitchen from Howard.  This morning there are sugar cookies in the shape of hearts.  Sweet!

The weekend was fun.  We celebrated the Chinese New Year at Mailing's parents on Saturday.  Here are dumplings in the making:

Everyone (even Colin!) makes beautiful dumplings, nicely pleated.  Mine are the ones in front that are a mess - lol.  But, they all tasted good.  And the table with the beginning of food being brought out:

Everything was delicious.  Something new that I had was Chinese cauliflower - delicious!

Just in time, I finished my Sockhead Cowl Saturday night.

The picture of the cowl on me shows the color of the yarn more accurately.  I cast on 160 stitches and knit 30 rows of ribbing, then 60 rows of stockinette and another 30 rows of ribbing.  It really is longer than necessary, but will keep me warm.  I did not wear it today since I was already dressed in a turtleneck and wool sweater.

The first KAL sock (Sunday Swing) is now at the point where I need to pick up the gusset stitches.  I brought the Hitchhiker to work in case I have time to knit at lunch.

Like so many of you, we enjoy watching the birds come to our feeders.  We have a thistle feeder, one for sunflower seeds, a peanut feeder and a suet feeder.  A good variety of birds find their way to our yard in the winter - Flickers, Downy Woodpeckers, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Cardinals, various Finches, Wrens, Doves, Blue Jays, Sparrows, Juncos (my Grandmother always called them snow birds), Starlings, etc.  This year missing from the action are Chickadees (one of my favorites - and my Dad used to talk of feeding Chickadees from his hand as a child) and Tufted Titmice.  In prior years there have been a ton of those two varieties.  I'm curious about why they are not here and wondering if they will show up (hoping they will).  Have any of  you noticed a change in what birds are around this Winter?

Well, time to get ready for my conference calls.  Hoping everyone's week is off to a great start!

Friday Happiness

Good Morning!

It is grey and damp here - actually raining at the moment.  And there seem to have been an abnormally large number of yellow prison-wagons (school buses) on the road this morning.  But, I'm at work and all is well.  I can smell bacon (the caterer is here and setting up breakfast for us in our main kitchen), I have a fresh cup of coffee, I've already sent out my financial reports this morning, and I'm just happy that it is Friday!

Tyg got me up a tad bit early today - too late to go back to bed before the alarm - so I ended up with some extra time to knit this morning.  And, being able to knit two days at work during lunch has paid off.  I'm on the final ribbing for the sockhead cowl!  This picture is from last night - 3 more rows were added this morning and I'm hoping to knit again at lunch.

I will be able to bury my entire head in this thing!  The shot does not show the true color - it is a definite red.

This was the only piece I worked on yesterday.  I am ready to start the heel flap and turn on the Sunday Swing socks (maybe tonight?).

Last night Colin was over and we watched The Old Man and the Gun and really enjoyed it (available for rent on Amazon).  Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek (whom I had not seen for years!!), Danny Glover and Tom Waits (I never would have guessed).  Supposedly this is Robert Redford's last film.  

I'm looking forward to the weekend.  Tomorrow night we are heading over to Mailing's parents to make dumplings (YUM) and celebrate the New Year (Year of the Boar - or Pig if you prefer).  Making dumplings is always fun and they are always delicious.  I guess we can also celebrate the house that Col & Mailing are buying (they close on 2/25).  Sunday, hopefully, will just be very relaxed and laid back with plenty of knitting and reading (and napping).

Whatever your plans, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hitchhiker!!

Good Morning,

Yup, Bonny (finally) convinced me to knit a Hitchhiker.  I'm only sorry it took me so long to jump on the bandwagon.  What a delightful knit!

As you can see, I only made a small start, but it is a very rhythmic knit and the pattern is easy to memorize.  I believe this particular skein of yarn is FINALLY happy to become a Hitchhiker.  I bought the yarn in Lancaster the other year.  It is kettle dyed; 75% superwash and 25% nylon.  The colorway is "Rhubarb."  I had attempted to make socks with it, but the pooling was very unattractive. 

Don't worry, all my other projects saw some love yesterday.  I knit on the sockhead cowl at lunch; knit on the Sunday Swing socks a little bit last night and even used my teeny needles to do a little stitching.  I'm going to be a busy person for sure!

Our temps are beginning to drop a bit and by the weekend we are supposed to be back to more seasonable weather.  I'm ok with the cold (bring on the WOOL), but I could do without the snow.

Happy mid-week!

Teeny Needle Tuesday (With a Bit of Yarn Thrown In)

The Spring temps are continuing for a little bit – 40 degrees this a.m. and will get into the 60’s today.  I drive past a very pretty horse farm on my way to work and this morning the horses were racing around the fields with their manes flying behind them.  Usually at this time of year they are standing huddled together wearing blankets.  Not this morning!  Tyg, to celebrate the warming trend, stayed out all night…but was waiting for me on the patio when I came down to have coffee this morning.

As you know, Dee has tempted me to get back to stitching and today is TNT (Teeny Needle Tuesday).  I decided to pick one of my unfinished smalls to start with in the hopes that I will soon have a finished product.  I chose Penny Pumpkin by The Scarlet House:

I was drawn to this one for the border – love it.  When I picked it up last week I had already finished the border and the black basket.  Here is where I am today.

It feels good to get back to some stitching, but I’ll tell you, this one is SLOW going.  The fabric is 40 count and the color is Woodsmoke.  I love the linen, but my eyes have some trouble with darker fabrics…and small count.  Once finished, I will make it into a small pillow (or pin cushion) and throw it in with the others I have in an old wooden dough bowl.

There has also been yarn and knitting along with the stitching.

Yesterday the mail brought a little stash enhancement to me!  I fell for this skein of yarn that Vicki dyed and it is even more beautiful than I had thought (plus – a bonus pin!!).  I need to think of something special to make with this.  If you have not already seen her yarns, please check out Make.Do - she has some lovely choices and they sell out FAST.

Last night I knit a couple of rows on the sockhead cowl and then switched over to the Sunday Swing Socks.  The pattern calls for 3 repeats of the pattern on the leg (16 rows to the pattern), but I think I will make that 4 repeats (I usually knit 65 rows for the leg on my socks).  The pattern is still not showing up really well in my pictures, but I think once the sock is on my leg it will be visible.  Meanwhile, this shot gives you a good sense of the colors in the yarn.

I’ve brought the sockhead cowl to work today and am hoping to add a few rows at lunch.  I’ll work a bit more on the KAL socks tonight.

On the reading front, I finished “As Bright as Heaven” by Susan Meissner.  It was a good read and I give it 4 stars.  What a horrible time in Philadelphia at the beginning of WWI and the outbreak of the Spanish Influenza.  Yikes!!  I am now about a quarter of the way through “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens.  So far it is ok – it reminds me a lot of another book (but I can’t remember the name of that one).

Hoping this finds you enjoying a lovely Tuesday morning!

Weekending

Good Morning!

Dare I say that it feels like Spring outside????  A week ago we were in the grips of some major cold...today it will get into the 50's and tomorrow in Philly it is supposed to hit 65.  Tyg has been acting like he has Spring Fever - running all over the place, jumping and playing and in and out of the house a hundred times in a day.  Also back on the patio roof several times - lol.

What a lovely weekend.  Dee and I met up on Saturday to start our KAL of Sunday Swing and here is where I was as of Saturday night.

Oh dear!  Not too far along.  That is 10 rows of ribbing.  I managed to do 5 rows while Dee and I were together and another 5 Saturday night.  Then I got distracted...However, I managed to get a bit more done yesterday - the ribbing is finished and I have the first 6 rows of the 16 row pattern complete (but failed to take a picture).  I don't think my yarn will show the pattern very well, but I'm enjoying knitting with it and will continue.  I *think* the yarn is from Miss Babs - the band is lost somewhere, but I sort of remember buying this yarn for Mick Jagged (which, of course, I never got around to making).

Naturally Dee and I had to hit a shop first thing.  Emma's Yarns was having a trunk show at Purls of Wisdom, so we headed over there.  Dee behaved herself.  I did not.  First up, this skein of Hedge Hog Fibers jumped into my hands.  Pine is the colorway and I just had to have it.

Love all the flecks of green in it.  And then, a few of the Emma's Yarns skeins were attractive, but nothing I HAD TO HAVE, until I saw these two large skeins:

They both are 600 yards of yarn and I thought they would make a beautiful shawl together (pattern yet to be determined - any suggestions, let me know).  The top, copper color is named "Wish You Were Beer" which cracked me up and the bottom one is named "Weather Vane."

Sunday the hours somehow got away from me.  We were busy with grocery shopping and laundry and we are also back on cat duty while Colin & Mailing are in Pittsburgh for a few days.  I can't wait for them to move into their house and be 20 minutes away from us instead of 45 minutes.  I did a little stitching and knit a few more rows on my sockhead cowl.  I did not manage to cast on for my Hitchhiker - maybe tonight?  I also conveniently did not start Fletcher's cowl and I need to do that.  It is so unlike me to have multiple projects going on - I'm curious to see how it all works out for me.

Hoping you all had a wonderful weekend.  Now (for me) it's back to work (which is really cramping my knitting and stitching time).

TGIF 02-01-19

Hello All,

Still chilly here in PA...but a bit warmer than yesterday...and...snowing again.  Geeze.  Fletcher's follow up appointment with the eye doctor went well and he doesn't go back for another week - and by then he will be driving himself!

My sockhead cowl is now at the halfway mark.  Thankfully I have not gotten bored with it.  But of course, tomorrow Dee and I are starting our KAL for the Sunday Swing socks.  And, I plan to cast on for my first ever Hitchhiker (thank you Bonny for convincing me I HAVE to make one).

Meanwhile, as I mentioned earlier in the week, Dee has prompted me to get back to stitching.  One day I pulled out some (there are more, trust me) of the pieces I have started but not finished.  Here are some of the larger projects:

I think if you click to enlarge, you can see them better - at least the names.  There is a bit of glare...sorry.  One of them is Dona Dorothea - a reproduction from The Scarlet Letter of a Mexican or Spanish sampler.  I fell in love with the checkered deer.  There is really not that much more to complete:

Sorry - I can't get that picture to turn around.  Here are some of the smaller pieces that I've started but not finished:

Yesterday afternoon after Fletch's follow-up appointment, I picked up my tiny needle and did some stitching.  It felt good to get back at it.

Any guesses as to which of these I have decided to work on?  The reveal will be next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, stay warm and enjoy the weekend