knitting heels

Back to summer here!! Short pants and short socks!!  I like these footies so much I knit more.  The designer is brilliant and takes most of the counting out of the slip stitch heel by simply adding a marker at the center of the heel when you begin the short rows.  Knit 8 past the marker, kfb, k1, w&t.  I simplified even more so the purl row rather than p 19, I purled 8 past the marker, pfb, p1, w&t.  The next 2 rows were 6 past the marker then 4, then 2.  Easy as can be!  Just count from the center marker!!  I used her method on my next 2 pairs of socks.  I had to adjust my numbers a little because this is heavier yarn knit on larger needles and fewer stitches.  There will definatly be more slip stitched heels in socks in the future.  --Ann--  Savoring these warmer days.

what have you been watching?

1. Longmire   modern day western
2. Jack Ryan  based on Tom Clancy character
3. Outlander  
4. Anne with an E  threads of the original Anne of Green Gables books this series discusses lots of social and economic issues of the period. Well done.
5. Virgin River  Hallmark meets Northern Exposure 
6. The Marvelous Mrs. Maizel her clothes.. sigh.. fashions from the 50's and 60's.
7. The Land Girls British short series what the women were doing for the war effort.  Beautiful hand knit sweaters sigh.
8. Broadchurch British mystery 3 seasons after the 3rd episode I'm thinking why haven't they solved this...........a more real time approach to solving a mystery and I was drawn into it. Very Good
9. The Tudors about Henry the 8th and his 6 wives. We can only watch a couple episodes a week, they were not very tolerant of a lot of things. I look at hubby and say well nobody was beheaded in that episode. 
10. Sweet Magnolias like a 10 episode hallmark movie only it ended on a cliffhanger and all the budding romances fell apart. I hope they make the second season.  Might have to find the books.
11. Hamilton amazing!!! original cast

Lots of time has been spent in front of the tv these past several months and it seems it will continue but baseball and golf have replaced some of our viewing pleasures recently. Anyway lots of time with the knitting needles. --Ann--

Coffee and Kahlua kind of day

It was a coffee and kahlua kind of day.  A cold, cold front moved in, not the kind that pushes the humidity out and brings a crystal blue sky.  This was the kind that dumps snow in the Black Hills and drops the temperature two seasons overnight.  The cicadas packed up their instruments to await another gig, kind of cold. Turn on the fireplace if I had, one kind of cold. Put on the wool socks and wool sweater kind of cold. That improved my attitude.  Homemade tomato soup kind of cold. Put on a stocking cap because I got a haircut and it is short, kind of cold. Curl up with a good book and a quilt, kind of cold. This is three days running now for the cold. Maybe today I will have a coffee and Bailey's.  --Ann--

Indigo tessellating star

 

I had a lovely weekend and hope you did too.  Darling daughter came home, she wanted to go to our local kitchen shop, they didn't have what she was looking for but I found a couple little things.  Shop Local!! what fun to get out and do something.  We got burgers at the local burger joint, they were delicious. Then we came home and watched Hamilton.  There are so many words in that musical you have to watch or listen to it a few dozen times.

Another ta da da done. I quilted the white pinwheels with white thread and the indigo pinwheels with navy thread because I wanted to show off the piecing and the indigo fabrics.   The center fabrics are schweschwe prints from South Africa and the border is a Dutch wax print from the Netherlands.  I kept the border  simple because the quilting would be lost in the prints of the border. 

Appreciating the little things--Ann--

Reading list #4

1. They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell short book about an ordinary family and the Spanish influenza.
2. The Lake House by Kate Morton about a 70 year old cold case of a missing child. Lots of twist to the story, best I have read in a long time.
3. Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson 1900 hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas 
4. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton my new favorite author another decades old mystery, England, Australia and back to England.
5. Sisters of the Southern Cross by Jean Grainger nuns in Australia 1930’s.
6. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear post WWI England woman detective/ psychologist.
7. Birds of a Feather ( Maisie Dobbs) Book 2 by Jacqueline Winspear
8. That Month in Tuscany by Inglath Cooper a young married couple have plans to go to Italy for their 10th anniversary, he backs out too much work at the firm, she goes without him. Good for her!
9. The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton another complicated mystery takes place in England in 1860’s, 1920’s, 1940’s, and present day, a sketch, a photo, a model, a murder, a diamond, an old house, an artist and an archivist plus a few twists. I read the book twice the second time I mapped out the sequence of events and artifacts who had what and when........Wonderful story.
10. Pardonable Lies (Maisie Dobbs) Book 3 by Jacqueline Winspear 
11. The Lilac Bus by Maeve Binchy about 7 people who take a bus from Dublin to their hometown in western Ireland every weekend. Each chapter is about one of the riders and then it just ends. The second half of the book is 4 short stories that take place in Dublin. Disappointing.
12. Kayla’s Trick by Jean Grainger book 6 of the Tour series just for fun.

The days are finally cooler here. I was sitting outside reading and a very small fly landed on my kindle, first it highlighted a word then it started walking and highlighted a  passage.  I was astounded that the fly was that interested in reading and had probably been reading over my shoulder the whole time.  Now I wish I could find that passaage because I'm sure it was profound. It was probably the 19th century artist telling his model in The Clockmaker's Daughter that by not educating women they were missing out on half the brain power of the world.  Or maybe it was one of Maisie Dobbs suitors.  Looking back sometimes I get my stories mixed up. Looking forward to a cooler autumn. --Ann--