a finish

 I finished this pair of socks with the Wool and the Gang Yarn specially dyed so the splotches of color would clump together meant to be knit cuff down.  I knit them toe up and made some changes to be able to knit them toe up.  This is how they worked out, I was right on with the stitch gauge.  They are done.

Progress on reknitting pullover for hubby,  I got the extra yarn over the weekend.  Can you tell where the new yarn starts?  The color is ever so slightly different I was just glad they still had the same color.  He won't notice unless I point it out to him, which I won't.  The lumpy texture of the kinky previously knit yarn will disappear when its blocked.
We changed the routine over the weekend,  we went for a drive one afternoon to see how little snow was left and to see how wide the Big Sioux River is and getting wider.  Also drove up to the lake  still covered with ice.  We will go for a drive again in a few day.  Sunday night we played Bingo and a word game on out phones with nieces, daughter and friends. That was fun.  But my ears hurt because some people who talk on their cell phones a lot always talk really loud and rather than taking turns to be heard they talk louder.  I will stick ear plugs in the next time we play.  Hope you are staying home.  Its a good place to be.  --Ann--

Reading list #1

1. The Loving Cup by Winston Graham book 10 of the Poldark series 
2. The Twisted Sword by Winston Graham book 11
3. Bella Poldark by Winston Graham book 12 final episode 
4. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George for book club 
5. Back of Beyond by C.J. Box adventures of detective  Cody Hoyt in Yellowstone Park
6. Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell about reading people as in noticing the little cues and changes in behavior in an interrogation and finding the truth, effects of alcohol and trauma on memory.
7. The Emerald Horizon by Jean Grainger repetitious of her previous book The Shamrock and the Star. She has written other books that I enjoyed much more.
8. The Girl with No Name by Diney Costeloe book 1, re read because I started reading
9. The Married Girls also by Diney Costeloe and thought I needed a refresher since this book is the sequel.  First book is about children evacuated from Germany to England. The second book is after the war and settling into permanent life in England.
10. The Highway by C.J. Box every young woman should read this book about the importance of proper car maintenance pay attention to the red service engine light.  If she would have had her car serviced and added oil she and her sister wouldn't have been abducted.
11. Badlands by C.J. Box crime and the oil fields of North Dakota 
12. The Fortunate Ones by Ellen Umansky stolen art during WW2, Jewish child to England
13. Secrets of a Charmed Life  by Susan Meissner  for book club I read this book 3 years ago and like it just as well the second time. London blitz WW2  
14. Paradise Valley by C.J. Box the 4th Cody Hoyt / Cassie Dewell adventure 
15. The Blue by Nancy Bilyeau its about the development of cobalt blue and the porcelain industry in England and France spies, intrigue, and a love story.
16. Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts about the making of the movie the Wizard of Oz and life of Maud Gage Baum, daughter of the suffragette Matilda Gage, and wife of L. Frank Baum.
17. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher wonderful story about family, siblings, inheritance, art, WW2 to 1980’s.
18. Long Range by C. J. Box book #20 of Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.
19. Fever by Mary Beth Keane about the infamous Mary Mallon aka Typhoid Mary interesting story makes me think about covid19 and how it spreads. The story line was confusing the way it jumped from present to past events and was repetitious during her trial.
20. Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper for book club  a memoir of loving and leaving the Westboro Baptist Church

Its spring but treating these days of mostly staying home as snow days even though the snow is mostly gone,  but I do enjoy getting out for a walk in the fresh air.  Everything has been called off for who knows how long............--Ann--

ta da da done

 Hopscotch and Butterflies is what I named this quilt.  Hopscotch for the diagonal chains of 4 patches and butterflies for the matching light pairs of the half square triangles.  Free motion machine quilted with my meandering feathers and concentric teardrops.  The block is two 4 patches and 2 half square triangles with sashing and cornerstones.  --Ann--

toe up socks cast on

 I have had lots of comments from readers who prefer to knit cuff down socks because they think the toe up cast on is difficult.  There is a cast on that is like playing cat's craddle with two sticks, string and one hand,  And there is a super simple way that I always use.

Hold cable needles in left hand one on top of the other

slip a slip knot over the bottom needle



start winding the yarn around the needles back to front

 I wind it 12 times with sock yarn on size 0 needles then anchor the yarn between the needles
fewer times with heavier yarn and bigger needles

Do the same with the second yarn

slip knot on the bottom needle

 wind the yarn around 12 times

anchor yarn between the needles

admire your yarn tension and count the stitches again.

undo the anchored yarn and hold it with your left hand

 pull the bottom needle to the right so you can start knitting with that needle

start knitting

now the yarn on the needles looks exactly the same as the complicated cast on

 knit the second toe






pull and push your needles so you are ready to knit the other side

just knit
you can either let the slip knot end dangle or you can knit it into the row which is what I always do
that little bit of bulk is not even noticeable at the toe of the sock

then just continue knitting with an increase every other row.
It really is that easy!!!

I'm sure there is a name for this cast on but I have forgotten what it is and there is probably a video somewhere on the internet......which is actually how I learned how to knit toe up socks was from watching videos.

Good luck with this super simple cast on.   --Ann--

just another weekend

I did machine quilting over the weekend and made long distance phone calls to family and friends because I could.  We had a nice chat, sometimes I just listened.  I watched several episodes of Longmire with hubby on one of those movie subscriptions and a fire stick,  he learned how to use that remote.  We went for a walk after it warmed up and the wind went down, I wore my new stocking cap.  I was going to go on a second walk because I could but it was raining so I didn't.  In the early days of this staying home thing I ripped apart a cardigan sweater that I knit for him when we both weighed a whole lot more than we do now and re started a pullover for him.  I'm knitting it on smaller needles so I'm running out of yarn.  I ordered more just like that. It's charcoal gray so it really didn't look like much in a photo.  I worked on some socks and put away the mess on the sewing table.  I started reading my book for book club but we won't be meeting,  I've fallen asleep twice while reading it so I won't feel too guilty if I don't finish it.
What have you been doing to keep busy at home???  --Ann--

What day is it

What day is it?  Does anyone else have that problem?  One day is pretty much like the last with no activities going on. Everyday felt like Saturday when hubby retired but I finally got used to that but now...................  Anyway 2 quilts basted I didn't baste the bright pinwheel quilt top that I just finished because I didn't have the right fabric for the back and there is no rush on that one.  There is no rush on these either.  Just spending peacefull time in the sewing room.  Quarantine Quilting.  --Ann--

spring Ha

Ha! The first day of spring is one thing and the first spring day  is another.  The distance between the two is sometimes as great as a month.  Henry Van Dyke
We didn't get much snow barely a dusting but its cold here 13 F.  Burrrrrrrrr  but the sun is shining!!
just daffodils from the store.   --Ann--

stocking cap

 

I finished this stocking cap just in time for the last snow of winter.  The yarn is Cascade Heritage Wave held double. In the skein the yarn looked very yellow but knitting with two yarns held together it turned gray.
I knit a cap for DD from the same yarn in orange with a bright orange pompom and forgot to take a picture of it.  I liked the yarn so much I knit myself one and I wanted an alpaca pompom.  It is so incredibly soft and what a deal that you attach with a snap so the cap can be easily washed.  I finished it last night and snow is in our forecast I thought it was coming yesterday but...... later this afternoon then a polar vortex is supposed to come through with single digit temps.  I'll get to wear my cap when I go for my walk.  Warm woolens make the exended winter tolerable.
Maybe next week will be spring.
--Ann--

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Wishing you a rainbow for the sunlight after showers
Miles and miles of Irish smiles for golden happy hours
Shamrocks at your doorway for luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through.
An Irish Blessing
--Ann--

Design Wall

 This past week has been one step at a time getting these blocks together.  I'm not thrilled with the squiggly black line on the white fabric for the background but I had a couple yards of it to use.  The little dots with the diagonal line for the corner triangles brightens it up at lot.  I see two blocks where I turned the 4 patch the wrong way.  I don't think I'll fix it.  I need a humility block to check me back to reality especially when everything is falling into place to easily.  Hope you are staying safe as we social distance ourselves from everyone and everything.  --Ann--

more enchanted yarn or maybe its the bigger needles

 I saw this yarn over a year ago, the pattern is written for cuff down socks which I do not do.  I am strictly a toe up two at a time sock knitter but the yarn had the magic  sticker  SALE. So I thought for that price if the colors don't line up in dots thats ok I tried.  The directions explain how to get the right gauge so the colors in the yarn stack up to make spots.  Use needles 2.0-2.75mm  I started with 2.0 on the toes and used some of the yellow waste yarn because I will be knitting a gusset and might need the extra yarn.  The pink, turquoise, pink, and blue rows are to get the gauge right so I pulled out yarn to those colors and knit with 2.0 mm needles too tight so I changed to 2.5mm needles. Pretty close, the next size larger needle will leave a gap.  Each color should be 1 row.  That little stripe segment should be at the cuff. But then there is going to be a bright blue section for the gusset and maybe a yellow heel.  Then the turquoise and spots for the leg.  And they are turning out to be more spot than dot. They are knitting really fast on 2.5mm needles.
So much for enchanted yarn.......I goofed so had to rip.  They were too short in the foot, these are for DD who has slightly larger feet than I do and they were short on my foot.  I ripped half way back in the gusset then re knit with 2 rows between increase rows.   So far so good and when I am done with the second heel I should be able to get them back on the cable needle and knit 2 at a time again.  The snow is almost gone.  --Ann--

OTN

 Off the needles  blocked and dry!  A little soak, then the conditioner, a spin to remove the excess water, and lay flat to dry.  Selfies with the timer---none of them were in clear focus.  I like the way this pattern fits if I do it again I will do something more interesting on the sleeves than the seed stitch.  The yarn is KeNZie by HiKoo and is a blend of merino wool, nylon, alpaca, silk and angora not a super wash which is why I could use the conditioner on it oh so soft now.  --Ann--

Design wall

Another bright quilt much like an earlier quilt.  Some days when the sky is grey I just have to work on some sunny bright colors.  The snow is even looking tired of winter.  --Ann--

Socks

A couple finishes, these have only been on the needles since over a year ago.  I went for a walk outside because the sky was blue and the sun was shining, it felt soooooo good.  I heard a cardinal singing but I couldn't spot him, I could hear the snow melt dripping off the roofs,  I even saw a mourning dove,  I hope that means spring is on her way.  --Ann--