Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving  --Ann--

mini birds

I have a collection of miniature figures for all seasons but I don't change them as often as I used to.  I'd rather do ther things than decorate my house for every occasion.  Funny how that changes when your kids get big.  Here are some of my favorites for fall and Thanksgiving.  We have had some gloriously warm days for November ( no wind and temps in the 40's) so I have gone for long walks instead of  the usual creative stuff.  Sometimes I just need to feel the sun on my face.                  --Ann--

finished and blocked

I finished my sweater then promptly gave it a good soak then into the washer on spin cycle in a mesh bag, then blocked on the boards.  The sleeves grew by about 5 inches.  I liked that length in the torso but the sleeves............argh.
I could rip the sleeves and make them shorter. argh don't really want to do that.  Its knit with super wash wool, I remember reading an atricle on super wash wool a few years ago. Spend a couple hours on the internet looking for that article or something similar, find a couple patterns to knit next and some yarn.  Back to the problem at hand.......  Stretching is a charcteristic of superwashwool but drying in the dryer is also a characteristic of super wash.  The little scales on the fibers have been removed so the yarn doesn't felt it stretches instead. Another trip to the spa for the sweater, soak,  and into the mesh bag for a quick spin, then the dryer on extra low. Check the sweater every 5 minutes or so, restart the dryer, check again turn the dryer up to low, check again try sweater on, a cool damp sweater does not feel good.  Back in the dryer and turn the heat up to medium another 5 - 10 minutes and its perfect.  A warm wool sweater fresh from the dryer now that's cozy! That was a whole lot easier than ripping the sleeves.  

Thank you to the designer Jennifer Wood of Woodhouse Knits for answering all my questions about Ellington.  I will be knitting more of her patterns.
Its a good day to wear wool here on the plains. --Ann--

P.S.  I used 6 ball of Berroco Ultra Wool 219 yards per ball and I have 4 yards of yarn left!!  I'm glad I didn't make a larger swatch.

knitting progress

Its cold here as it is from the plains to the coast.  There is just enough snow on the ground to make it look and feel colder, the wind doesn't help either.  I remembered a paragagraph in a James Herriot book I used to read to my kids it was titled Moses the Kitten the story was wonderful and the pictures were even better "the Dales looked their coldest not when they were covered with snow, but as now, when the first sprinkling streaked the bare flanks of the fells in bars of black and white like the ribs of a crouching beast" The snow is caught in every rut and divot, leaves are still falling from trees, the wind cuts to the bone, its cold here.  Wool does help, wool socks, wool sweaters, wool scarves, wool hats, wool mittens and gloves.  A couple more evenings not watching tv and I should be done. Its only November I'm going to need a lot more sweaters.  Happy knitting --Ann--

knitting cables

Hubby went hunting for the weekend plus a couple days so it was a long weekend of knitting for me.  First I listened to the sound track of Hamilton again.  What did I miss was going through my head while trying to figure out the instruction for  Ellington  by Jennifer Wood, the raglan sleeve is constructed different than other raglan sleeves I have knit,  but after a couple emails to the designer which were promptly answered I was on the right on track. Then it was no one else was in the room where it happened. How about the row where it happened place a new marker, increase here increase there.....  It is progressing marvelously. There are lots of markers for the stitch patterns and the sleeve and body increases, I added the chain marker for the rows between the cable twists and a double marker for the beginning of the row, and how many times did I check that half way around??? if the red is on the needle its an increase row and if the brass is on the needle its a knit in pattern row, no increases.  It didn't take long to memorize the pattern just like the designer said and it is knitting fast. Then my brain would switch to auto knit as I was watching yet another Christmas movie and the next time around I would notice that I missed a knit through the back loop because I did a p1, k1, p1 instead then it was time to switch to knitting socks where I really was knitting ribbing.

Second pair of Christmas socks for the Christmas socks are done and continuing on the pair that I have been working on all summer in the sunroom which seems like a very long time ago. Plain old stockinette stitch for the next time my brain goes into auto knit.

The ribbing pattern seemed rather random until I got to the stitch patterns and I saw how the ribbing flows into the pattern and is absolutely brilliant.  Don't know what happened to the color of the last pic, the yarn is a burgandy red.  If I keep this pace up I'll be wearing it for Thanksgiving, the plan was for Christmas.  Grey days, chilly temps and wind and a few snowflakes, its a good day to knit some more.  --Ann--

quilt top

Quilt top finished and all the fabrics were in my stash.  --Ann--