Friday, March 8, 2024

On the needles


 Just a new stocking cap on the needles. I found the pattern Churchill Avenue at the lys by a local knitter and is available on ravelry. I’m using an alpaca yarn called Tinkerbelle named for a pretty white alpaca.  The producer names all of her yarns after the animal who grew the fleece. Alpaca yarn is soft and silky, no itchy ears under this stocking cap when it is finished. The blue and yellow yarn is by Yarn Love from Simply Sock yarn company I bought 2 skeins one for the cowl and the second because it was blue and yellow and I can never stash enough blue and yellow yarn. My math skills were not such that I could get the colors to pool on a stocking cap so I’m knitting this stocking cap and should have enough yarn for mittens too. The snow comes and goes the cold wind blows.  Ann


Monday, March 4, 2024

Reading list #1 2024



  1. After Anne by Logan Steiner about Lucy Maud Montgomery writing Ann of Green Gables interesting, she had some problems with depression and her husband also suffered from depression.
  2. Open Carry by Marc Cameron similar to C.J. Box and William Kent Krueger books. US Marshall in Alaska parts of the story were pretty far fetched and a lot of current pop culture influences like reality television set in Alaska and “Grumpy’s” rules too similar to Gibb’s rules in NCIS. Don’t know if I will read any more of the series.
  3. Tricksters Point by William Kent Krueger #12 in the series more twists more turns more surprises.
  4. The Art Collector’s Daughter by Derville Murphy WW 2 France and Ireland the young daughter of an art gallery owner is sent to Ireland to live with a school chum. As an adult she is finally given a framed sketch sent by her father, it contained a hidden letter saying he sent his favorite painting to her…..what happened to the paintings? Murder, mystery, betrayal, plot twists and more.
  5. Tamarack County William Kent Krueger book #13 another exciting story. I started it Sunday afternoon and was going to try to finish it before I went to bed but I kept nodding off and would jerk awake as the book slipped from my hands then start the page again. I convinced myself to give up and go to bed because I wouldn’t remember the ending the next day.
  6. Ann of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery 
  7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  8. The Flight of the Falcon a lesser known work by Daphne DuMaurier
  9. Freydis by Gunhild Haugnes takes place in Greenland 1000 years ago real characters of Eirik the Red, father or Leif Eirikson, and Eirik’s daughter Freydis. Norse paganism, family struggles, coming to terms with the past.
  10. Mockingbird Summer by Lynda Rutledge small town in Texas 1964. Turmoil of 1964 through the eyes of a 13 year old girl. Very good.
  11. The Beekeeper’s War by Deborah Carr England WWI and WW2 secrets and friendship.
  12. The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal for book club family conflict, overcoming problems, seizing opportunities, and brewing beer.
  13. Windigo Island by William Kent Krueger #14 of the series trafficking young Native American girls in Duluth harbor and oil fields of North Dakota 
  14. Remme A Dog, Her Boy and Their Girls by me.  Last summer when I was finishing my son’s photo books I had the crazy idea to write a children’s book about him and his dog. I gave it to him for his birthday in February.
Time to start a new list. March is here the snow is gone again. I feel like it’s still a long way to spring. I guess I’ll start a new book………Ann

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Corner stars


I thought you might like to see how I added the corner triangles to make the stars.
I cut the triangles using the "tri rec" ruler on 2 1/2 inch strips all facing up otherwise I would have had a right and a left triangle and my stars would have been turning both directions or have points going in odd directions.  I'm a creature of habit and need repetition and order so everything fits together in the end.
I cut a paper triangle to help me place the fabric triangle at the correct angle so when I flip it over the square corner matches the square corner of the background.








Sew a quarter inch seam

One is horizontal the other is vertical sorta!

Flip and press then sew the blocks together

I did more than a couple practice blocks to get the triangle the right size and angle then  aha!! I thought use the Tri Rec ruler  Perfect!

And after I trimmed the log cabin blocks with the triangles to 7 1/2 inches not all those little triangles are the same size.  Imagine that. 
Some star points are shorter and some are longer and it doesn't bother me.

Happy sewing --Ann--




Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Log cabin



I could see a cardinal in the trees when I was drinking my morning coffee— a sign that I should get to work on these blocks. Later in the afternoon I could see the cardinal in the neighbors tree as I pressed the triangles  urging me to keep working on this quilt. Maybe it cast a spell as it all came together so fast when I sat at the sewing machine.  It needed a border but I didn’t have much in the stash to choose from and very limited yardage. But it’s a scrap quilt just about anything goes.  I had a Santa print and some Christmasy birds. I had to fussy cut the 4 1/4 x 7 1/2 strips for the borders because I didn’t want to cut the heads off the birds. Some are horizontal and some are vertical and I grouped them together so the borders have better unity. Random placement just looked messy. There is one border block that doesn’t have a bird…..it flew away or maybe it was the one outside my window. —Ann—



 

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Spa day


 A finish Sunday evening!! It was a celebration after knitting each sleeve twice, one was too big start over and do it right. The second sleeve was too narrow just enough I could feel the difference on my arms, start over, re count my stitches in both sleeves at least a dozen times, keep knitting count stitches again and again, finally got it right at least they feel the same on my arms. Then to knit the ribbing on the neck three times I adjusted the stitches in the ribbing to extend the legs of the cables. Sometimes I like things to be symmetrical and it’s done!!

Stitch in the ends and give it a soak and rinse with hair conditioner a spin through the washer then lounge in the sun. I lounged with it and read in shirt sleeves, I hope I didn’t get sunburned.

The yarn is Tahki Donegal tweed wool homespun it was a bit stiff to knit but when I blocked my swatches it became soft and “bloomed” I had never experienced a yarn blooming like this yarn did.  When the fibers are spun into yarn they are stretched tight so the yarn felt hard almost for lack of a better way to describe it. When I soaked the swatch and sweater in shampoo the fibers relaxed as they soaked up the water and puffed up.  It feels totally different than what I knit. The hair conditioner softened it even more. You can see how the yarns changed on the left yarn off the ball the yarn on the right after the spa treatment.

Oh my how the weather changed from yesterday from 62 to 22 F with a strong northwest wind. My sweater is cozy warm and I did not get a sunburn.

The pattern is “Brookings” designed by Marie Green I knit short rows on the back before I started the ribbing to make the back a little longer. I have knit this pattern a couple times with different cable patterns. I like the way the pattern fits, I will probably knit it again someday.
Winter is not over, stay warm in wool —Ann— there are snowflakes in the air

Monday, February 26, 2024

Friendship Stars


We did some serious sewing the other day and got the blocks sewn together. It still needs borders but those will wait until she is back from visiting her daughter. The baby came early everyone is doing good.  I love the bright colors and the black and whites the baby will have lots to look at during tummy time.  —Ann—
 

Friday, February 23, 2024

Off the needles



It seems I’ve been working on these socks forever but when I only work on them with my morning coffee it takes awhile. I did the seed stitch every time I came to the red stretch of color and plain stockinette on the purple and navy. In the beginning there were about 20 stitches for each color strip by the time I get to the ribbing there were 10-12 stitches in each color. It was fun to see the colors pool and move from slanting to the left then to the right as the color segments became shorter. The yarn is from Schoppel wolle and I bought it several years ago so probably no longer available.  —Ann—