What happened to our front yard?

Part I
This is a really bad picture of what the landscaping looked like in 2000. The big bushes were Rhododendrons, and were not the same color. They died and needed to go. A landscaper was working next door and agreed to do the job.

Oh, by the way, I can clean out this... and this...and this... We agreed and ended up with... a naked yard!

I went shopping at the garden center and came home with a car full of plants, discovered that the bushes I bought will never grow up to be very big, but I love them. Back to the garden center for more bushes that will be bigger.

Yes, the dog on the porch is cute. She's 35# of Australian Cattle Dog. Dog walks are my daily exercise and thinking time.

Part II
The bushes were planted and 2 day lily plants on the tree lawn. We used to have loads of big orange day lilies, but it was too much really. The rest of the plants went into our garage because of frost warnings.

This plant is one of a pair. It will have yellow flowers and stay fairly small. We will move 2 clumps of the big orange type of day lily from our back yard to the front. I may get more day lilies of different colors if I can find them. This is where the yard stands at the moment. More things should be planted later today, with luck.

Guild Toy
Every spring, our knitting guild has a toy competition. The toys are then donated for distribution to children in need. This year's toy is from Fiona McTague's Knitted Toys book. The yarns used are a combination of Caron simply Soft and Lion Brand Wool Ease, all from stash.

More socks
The socks I call Secret Sparkles are finished. This was a Knitty pattern by Cookie A. called Clandestine. The yarn is Dream in Color Starry, because it has silver sparkles in it. The pattern is very dense and the chart needs to be consulted for every row. There are 3 repeats of the pattern on the leg. The foot pattern is mirrored.

One of the Ram club selections, Intersector Socks, is next up in the pipeline. The yarn is from the Unique Sheep and is 4 variations of a gradient color, getting gradually darker down the sock. There was a problem with the pattern as it switched from rib to cable pattern. I figured it out and contacted the designer. She has fixed it in the latest version of the pattern. I'm going to make another change in the pattern, because I see that there are no decreases from the heavy cables to the heel or the toe. The sock looks too big in the pattern photo. DH has big feet, but needs a foot narrower than this pattern.

Sock Knitter Anonymous has a 2 part challenge as usual. Cabled socks, see above, and a mystery sock by Cookie A, We have 2 clues now, but I've 0nly done one so far. I did it twice, but that doesn't count. The first try was too small. My yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy.

Why is a Raven like a writing desk?

The Mad Hatter asked this of Alice. No one has the slightest idea, but I have a sock kit for Mad Hatter Socks. The yarn is Wool Candy dyed with Johnny Depp's version of the Mad Hatter in Mind. The pattern is mine.

I received a box from Woolgirl with the Alice in Wonderland Sock club, full of lovely gifts.
In addition to the yarn and the pattern, the box contained: an orange sock knitting bag with Mad Hatter print by The Silver Pumpkin, an Alice in Wonderland coin purse designed by Julia of Simbiosis: Super Cute Handmade Stuff, a large Mad Hatter notebook with a bookmark by Roberta of Pink Cherry Mama, a teapot tape measure, a Mad Hatter pillow box with Skittles inside also designed by Pink Cherry Mama, a set of 3 yummy tea flavors form Stash Tea, a teacup sugar cookie from Beaverton Bakery in Beaverton Oregon, a lime cupcake soap and melon berry lip butter (a Don't Eat Me treat) from Erin at Naiad Soap Arts, and a Mad Hatter gift tag. Quite a haul! Also included was a nice check paying for the pattern.

Sock progress
I am working on 3 pairs of sock right now. Crazy, I know, at least for me. I'm finishing up the Sockotta socks for Plymouth Yarn. The Clandestine socks are on leg #2. I've called mine Secret Sparkles, since the yarn is Dream in Color Starry.

The latest sock is a Ram Club selection from last September, called Intersector Socks. The club has sock kits for men. The yarn is Foot Prints from the Unique Sheep, dyed in "Gradiance" colors. Four small skeins of progressively darker colors were in the kit. There was a problem with the wording in the transition from ribbing to pattern. I contacted the designer, Sarah Wilson, and she has fixed the pattern. She offered me a free pattern, but nothing on her site excited me. The most interesting one is in a book I also designed for, so i have the pattern. It was a nice gesture though.

We are talking with a landscaper for some serious clean up of our front yard. Priority one is some dead bushes that need removing, and he will do a lot of other work too. I'll have to take before pictures in the next few days.

Family breakfast
We get together with our son and family on the first Sunday of each month at a restaurant. With a large family, it gives us some together time.

Son has a broken finger, caused by a misjudgment while splitting logs. The finger did not fit between the maul and the hammer when the handles were aligned. It has cut into his bicycle racing, brought it to a temporary halt.

DIL has started school for becoming a physical therapist and is having time management problems juggling that and her graphic design job. The hours are flexible in the job, but is sleep optional?

Granddaughter A is going to prom later this month. She brought her dress to my shop yesterday for alterations. It's tough being really short! She's talking about going to Brazil after graduation. That's where she was born. She and her siblings were adopted.

Grandson V is talking about his summer job. He has one, but doesn't know yet what kind of hours he'll have. Last year he worked at a swimming pool as a substitute.

Grand daughter L is not planning on working, but has a busy summer planned, including a lot of volunteer work at the Natural History Museum.

Plans are afoot for Mother's day, including a breakfast at Bob Evans and a dinner with DD #4 and family.

Spring socks and more

Green scarf
This was started in mid January. The pattern is called Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf. There are no knitting fairies to knit it when I'm not looking, so I'm still working on ball #1 of 2. The yarn is Noro Matsuri, a cotton/wool blend. The needles are glass, obtained at a TKGA convention.

Skew socks
Patons Kroy yarn works all right for these socks, but I like the striped ones I've seen better. The pattern is easy to work, but requires concentration in certain parts. It's very detailed, which is good. I heard that the socks ran a little tight, so I upped my needle size from US #1/2.25mm to 2.5mm needles. They fit nicely.

Secret Sparkles Sccks
The pattern is Cookie A's Clandestine Socks from Knitty.com. Yarn is Dream in Color Starry in Midnight Derby color. The needles are 5" square needles from Kollage. The 7" needles would have fit my hands better, but I like them. They're not slippery, but more like bamboo or Knit Picks Harmony. The pattern is fiddley, but not hard. It does require constant chart consultation. There are twisted stitches, lace, changing stitch counts, wrapped stitches, and the left sock is a mirror image of the right sock. Definitely not boring! I'm working the first heel/gusset.

The red sweater is finished and the machine knitting pattern is finished. I really need some replacement needles for my mid-gauge machine, so i can knit one for myself. I have contacted a dealer and ordered lots of needles. Now I won't mess up any more (Murphy's Law in reverse). I told her they were for insurance.

Guild Toy time
Every May our knitting guild has a toy competition, with the toys being donated. Knitters have a choice of dressing a ready made toy, or knitting a toy. I'm knitting a turtle from Knitted Toys by Fiona McTague.

April showers

Blue Socks
These socks were knit from my oldest sock yarn stash. The yarn and pattern were bought on a visit to my sister in 2003. Yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Jeans color. The pattern is Fiber Trends Walking Away Socks. The pattern has 3 designs, all with patterning only on the back. This version is called Reflections.

Secret socks
I'm working on socks for Plymouth Yarns. The yarn is Sockotta Limited, a cotton wool blend.

Skew socks
I seem to be a lemming, following a large group of other knitters and not really knowing where I am going. I saw this interesting pattern in Knitty.com. The SKA challenge for this month on Ravelry is to knit from an online magazine. Now was the time! I heard that the sock was a little tight and hard to pullover the heel, so I chose Kroy yarn, which is a little heavier than some sock yarns, and went up a needle size from 2.25mm to 2.5mm. It has worked well. The first sock goes on easily and fits. The pattern takes more concentration and counting than I gave it. There are a lot of stitch count adjustments in that one. It is finished now, and still looks strange off the foot. Sock #2 is on track through the toe. I'm working with the idea that my problems were user error.

Judy Garland Dress
Hong Kong finished seams were mentioned in the last post. A 1" wide bias strip of lining was used, stitched to the edge of the seam, turned under and stitched again.

To the left is the sleeve edge finish. Chiffon was used for this, bias cut 1 5/8" wide, folded in half and machine stitched to the outside, and turned inside. Hand stitching was used to finish the edge.

A 9" side zipper was called in the instructions. That turned out to be a little short, so I replaced it with a 12" zipper and hand picked it. The sleeve's bottom edge is gathered by hand and stabilized inside with seam tape. The lower sleeves has an outside tuck which is gathered. The sleeve head is organza, which supports the puffiness even better when a real arm is inside. These details were in the pattern instructions.

The belt buckle is a vintage one that I had in the shop. I gave the customer a choice of two buckles, or no belt at all. Working to a tight deadline and having no belt backing, grosgrain ribbon looked like it might work for a backing. This was a good thing as the belt is gathered a little in the buckle. There seems to be enough resistance to make it stay put. This buckle was not meant to have a prong.

The skirt was sewn with the lining separate from the chiffon, so that each could be hemmed by itself. Each layer has a tiny machine stitched hem. The skirt had hung for a couple of days before marking, and is basically cut on the straight grain, so it should not sag. A rolled hem was called for in the pattern.

On to the next "big" thing
This week, I'm putting new linings in winter coats. These have been shoved aside for a while. Two are finished and one still to go. I feel like I'm catching up on my backlog.

Teaching
Saturday was spent at Knitter's Fantasy in Youngstown, OH. I taught basic cables and chart reading. The responsibility for the event rotates around 3 guilds. This year it was my guild's turn to run it. As far as I know everything went smoothly.It's a great one day event! Knitters get 2 classes, lunch and vendors for under $50.00 for the day. Total attendance including walk-ins was almost 600 people.

March Madness

I must have been crazy to start so many projects with a March 31 deadline.

Green socks
These were a Mystery Pattern from the Ravelry SKA group. Green is the March color for Ravelry Solid Socks group. Yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton.

Black scarf
Ravelry's Project Yarnway group had a challenge for March to knit with something not sold as yarn. I used black tape usually used for hanger loops in garments. My contrast is rayon seam binding. I would have made it longer, but the knitting was hard and time was short.

There is another pair of socks on the needles. Lace socks called Reflections from the Fiber Trends pattern called Walking Away Socks. SKA says I have until April 30 for these, but they are almost finished.

We won't talk about the sweater I'm knitting. Garment and design are due April 2. Oh by the way, could I do a machine knit pattern? Chosen yarn doesn't work on the machine, so I'm doing it in another yarn. Just need a pattern and technique illustrations, not a complete garment.

On the work front, I am making a "Judy Garland" dress from a 1940 pattern. My customer is a singer doing a Judy Garland program. She bought the pattern on eBay.

The dress is silk chiffon over lining. The bodice is underlined with the lining. I had considered doing a traditional lining, but the pattern construction seemed to make that difficult.

I decided to finish the shoulders with a Hong Kong finish using a bias strip of lining. I'll be using it on other seams, so do a how to then.

The neckline is finished with a chiffon binding. The bias strip was folded and the raw edge sewn to the neck. The fold is hand stitched to the lining. The lower hand stitching is the neckline edge of the front piece, not a separate piece.

The pattern is interesting. Perforations mark seam allowances. The pieces were pre-cut. Notches have more information than we get today.

Assembly instructions are printed on one side of a sheet of paper, but appear to be complete enough. I do think that the print and pictures are smaller than seen today. I will show that next time.

Vareity is the Spice of Life

Spring is definitely coming to NE Ohio! No pictures of all the mud. It's been raining for a couple of days, which is melting the last of the snowbanks. At least I can walk my dog because there is no ice or deep snow on the sidewalks.

Work life has been busy. I made a pile of veils this week for my wedding veil customer. The alterations business is picking up. I need to finish an Irish dancing dress tomorrow. It's not a fancy dress and the customer is very large. She's an adult, getting back to what she loved as a girl.

Red sweater for TKGA is progressing. I hope to finish the back today. I will need more yarn, but want to do the back and one sleeve before ordering. While I wait, I can work on the front and the patterns. Yes, that's plural. They want a machine knit sweater too. I'll work out gauge with Caron Simply Soft, which works on the machine, and use that to demonstrate techniques. It may show up in the hand knit pattern, since it's off white and a better color than cranberry for showing details. I'm showing the back of the fabric here, and its quite a bit darker.

I didn't order enough yarn to account for the cables, and I've changed the design a little and that will use more yarn too. I saw something on line that was very interesting. The white swatch was the machine knit original idea. I still want to use the drop stitch cable somewhere, sometime. I also sent in a really bad sketch for a child's sweater. TKGA wanted an adult pullover. The front neckline will change in the final sweater. I may do something with the idea for a young granddaughter.

Sock progress
The blue socks are mid leg. The lace pattern is easy, and the foot even easier. I don't need to finish them until April 30, but they'll be done long before.

The green Mystery Sock progresses. I don't think I will have the second cuff ready by the time I catch up with Clue #3 on Monday. I'm trying to finish these by month end to qualify for Ravelry's Solid Socks group. Red sweater needs to be done by then too.

March - a Time for New Beginnings

Exciting News!
I have a design published in a book! It is in Circular Knitting Redefined, a baby sweater named Sweetie Pie Stripes. It was knit last April from The Fibre Company Canopy Worsted in 2 colors. I knit the sweater 3 times before I submitted it. I scanned the little boy image out of the book. The back is really interesting. It isn't shown in the book.

Ravelry starts for this month.
I joined a new group last month, called Project Yarnway. It's similar to Project Runway in that you have a challenge to do in a short period of time. The challenges are monthly and unknown until the month starts. The February project was to use stash yarn. My Oh My! Moguls! socks qualified. The March challenge is called Innovation. The project can only have a maximum of 20% yarn in it. The rest must be materials not sold for knitting or crochet.

My project uses olive green rayon seam binding and black tape used for hanger loops in the shoulders of garments. I have lots of each; 100 yds of seam binding ?00 yds of black tape, the number is illegible. The project will be a scarf. The knitting is hard work because of inelastisity of "yarn". I don't know how long I will make it.

Sock Projects
SKA Mystery sock for March Clue 1. The cotton yarn and twisted stitches make the pattern really pop. I have started the second sock.

SKA March lace challenge
This yarn and pattern were bought in 2003 on a trip to the west coast to see my sister. It finally matched with a challenge. The pattern is Reflections socks from Fiber Trends. The interesting aspect of the pattern is the patterning only on the back. The front is 1x1 ribbing. The foot is stockinette.

If I have nothing else to do, I have a sweater to knit by April 2. I had hoped to knit it by machine, but the yarn wouldn't cooperate. Luckily it is short sleeved in worsted weight yarn. I still will have to write a machine knit pattern, but will illustrate any techniques with a machine tested yarn.

Plymouth Yarn Co. has 2 new sock yarns. I am working on swatches for new socks for them. I've been designing 2-color socks from their solid yarn recently. It will be a while before I can show them off. I did find one pair of my socks on their website recently. They were designed for a man.