Design wall

More *** astriks, splats, splotches, explosions, and fireworks! The black and white prints are so much more interesting than the solid black fabric I used on the first bunch from a week or so ago. What is interesting is some of the black and white prints are not strong enough to hold the astrik together, the color looks shattered, disjointed, discombobulated or like it exploded. Isn’t it fun! Darling daughter helped pick out sashing fabrics too. She is such an enabler when we shop. The white looks anemic, the multi color dot is fighting for attention, the solid black or the mini dot are the finalists. Still have half the blocks to sew.    --Ann--

New project

New project started and resolution to not buy more fabric flew out the window as I sailed down the interstate because darling daughter helped me pick out a bunch of black and white fabrics, they just complement my hand dyes fabrics so well. If I need more I can still get them. Don’t you just hate it when fabrics go extinct?!!  Ann

Footies

At last I found a pattern that is easy to knit and fits!!!!  

And after excercising my brain for a bit I figured out how to knit them 2 at a time. The number of rows are exactly the same as is the tension of the knitting.  Have you ever noticed that your frame of mind can affect the tension of the stitches? Stressed or angry tight stitches,  relaxed and happy relaxed stitches, glass or two of wine loosey goosey stitches.  The pastel are a cotton yarn and the trial pair, the fit is less than perfect. I have to slip my foot into my shoe as I slip into the sock and I needed pom poms to keep them up. Then I used wool and I followed the instructions much more carefully, like needle size using a size 1 or 1.5 for the foot and switching to size 0 for the ribbing and moving those 4 stitches from the top to the sole when the toe stitches are placed on a holder.  I decreased a few stitches in the ribbing so they are snug and stay on my feet without shoes. Last summer or the summer before I knit a pair with another pattern one fit and the other did not so I started over with this pattern.  Isn't that the great thing about yarn it can be ripped so easily and without stress.   Happy toes  --Ann--

Reading list #3

1. The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis New York 1929 and 1974 about an Art school, a painting, and the subway.
2. The Fiery Cross  by Diana Gabaldon book 5 of Outland series over 1000 pages and it took almost the full three weeks to read it and it left on a cliffhanger for the next book. I’m on the wait list.
3. The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes a love story and changing opportunities for women takes place in 1960’s and early 2000’s.
4. Virgin River by Robyn Carr a netflix series with the same name, kinda like Northern Exposure meets the hallmark channel. After watching season 1 I had to read the books. 
5. Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks short stories a type writer is mentioned in each story
6. The Lighthouse Keepers Daughter by Hazel Gaynor historical fiction 
7. Shelter Mountain by Robyn Carr Virgin River #2 the tv series layers the story and characters together slowly revealing the characters secrets. The books concentrate on a few characters and their story.
8. A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon book 6 of the Outlander series and almost another 1000 pages.  Flora McDonald is a guest of Aunt Jocasta in this book. Flora McDonald hid Bonny Prince Charles after the battle of Culloden in 1748. The photo is of her tombstone in Scotland.  Hubby and I have been watching the series.
9. Whispering Rock by Robyn Carr Virgin River #3 in the series and getting more and more like a soap opera. Everyone is either pregnant or trying to get pregnant or trying not to get pregnant, then there were pages and pages of labor and delivery. I skip read frequently because I didn’t need to read all those details. I might not read anymore of the series.
10. Time to read something more challenging.

—Ann—

Knee deep in June

Long about knee-deep in June 

Strawberries melt on the vine....

James Whitcombe Riley

Just picked—Ann—

blue sky

Those first couple days in June were perfect, the temperature, the breeze, the cloudless sky.............then we had an excess of heat, humidity, wind and clouds with thunderstorms. 
It was a perfect morning, the sky was blue the grass was green the sunlight seemed brighter,  I wanted to hang laundry on a clothesline.  I haven’t had a clothesline since five moves ago and I still don’t. It took me back to my childhood sitting there in the tire swing begging for a push while mom hung clothes on the line.  The colors of everything seemed more intense.  Is it my imagination or is it real? Fewer cars on the roads, fewer jets in the air could the air be a little cleaner and the sky brighter?

I tried to draw a tire swing from memory, not so good neither drawing nor memory,  then I tried to find a picture of a tire swing on the internet none were similar to the one I had as a child. Then an aha moment look in the photo books. I watched my dad make the tire swing for my kids. He cut an old tire (not the steel belted kind just a plain old tire)  with his pocket knife and he cut ears for the rope so the seat would stay in a chair position then he drilled a hole so rain water would drain. Not fun sitting in a puddle.  He used the anvil to turn it inside out making a very comfy seat. I spent hours in the tire swing as a child so did my kids.  Happy memories in a world that has come unglued  --Ann--

Off the needles

A finish over the weekend!  This t shirt was so quick to knit like less than 2 weeks.  The dolman sleeve part is garter stitch so knitting both directions very little purling then it is joined in the round so knitting round and round.  The yarn is a linen, viscose and cotton blend.  The pattern is Summer Square but I knit right past the square design in the front oops but I like it plain.  I'll be looking for another yarn for this pattern.  --Ann--

Design wall

New parts on the design wall  Butterfly Threads has a tutorial for this pattern.  I thought it would be a great way to use my stack of 100 or so fat quarters that I dyed 15 or 20 years ago.  I've used 10 in this.  Darling daughter will eventually get this because she loves the bright colors.  We thought it needed some sashing, she like the white background polka dot and I prefer the black.  Do you call polka dot fabric by the color of the polka dots or by the color of the background?  I have 2 yards of the white background but need to go on a shopping mission for a black background fabric. What do you think for sashing? This makes me think of an astrik but then the younger generation calls it a splat.  --Ann--