Bohemia

Didn't Meg do a good job spinning up my fiber?

I love how it barber-poled.

I am thinking of knitting a scarf in linen stitch soon.

I named this colorway Bohemia.

I have wonderful memories of visiting Prague and environs.

The regional folk costumes of Bohemia are very brightly colored 

with heavily embroidered flowers of all colors.

Kind of like this fiber. :-)

I just finished a scarf that was a free pattern from Pinterest/Ravelry.

I will share a picture soon of this scarf.

So much lovely wool in a hot week at this end of August.

I am clearly thinking of cooler weather. :-)

Dibs and Dabs

Some lovely threads and yarn gathered up yesterday. 

My mom was cleaning out her stash and allowed us to make away with some really pretty yarn and threads. Hoarders galore in this family!!

Granny Stitch Cowl

I finally finished something crafty!

I made a warm wooly cowl--now that we are having summer-like temps I thought I would finish this for my winter wardrobe--ummm--just a little out of step with the season I think? :-) 

I love the colors in this yarn.

It is Liberty Wool, color #7865 from Classic Elite Yarns.

The technique for this cowl is from Meg, HERE and Attic24, HERE.

The stitch is from Attic24's Granny Stitch blanket and the cowl idea is Meg's.

It is long enough to go around my neck twice to be snuggly warm. 

Geranium Cranesbill "Johnson's Blue"

Yarn & Books

Soon to be on its way to a new baby.

These were a ball to make! ;-) 

More books in the stack for 1/2 Price Books.

Toss out Tuesday seems to work for me--I only have to think about it once a week and 7 things--one for each day isn't too hard--at least this week.

A few more than 7 things this week....Yeah!!

Blue-Striped Happiness

My daughter assures me that knitting socks is addictive.

Would my third pair in four months count? :-)

Too Early for Sock Knitting

Close-up! 

The moon got me up in the early morning today and I had the crazy idea to start decreasing for the toe on my second sock to finish it up. I must blame the moon for starting the decrease too soon.

At 4am I decided I must rip the toe back to just before the decrease.

The sock was simply turning out way short.

I could either leave it open to allow for my toes to pop out or rip it back.

By 5am I did not want to wish anyone a good morning. Uggh!

The picking up of loose stitches was a mess. All turned the wrong way and dropping through.

At one point I had four needles and two crochet hooks all picking up stitches at the same time.

Happy am I that it all came out OK. 

Braving a third pair. :-)

A Second Pair

Still practicing. 

I am feeling more assured in knitting this pair. Not so many thumbs or needle-fumbling.

The yarn is Red Heart, Heart & Sole in Toasted Almond. 

Yarny

Bowl of yumminess!

A group of us went to a warehouse yarn sale today and I for one am exhausted.

We walked into the warehouse just after lunch and the area where the yarn was

looked like ants on a sticky sweet.

The boxes of yarn, covered in people.

Mostly nice, polite grabbing of yarn,

but I was clearly out of my element.

I got some colors but with no plan I ended up with quite a mish-mash.

The bowl above is some other yarns that I have short pieces of in my art area.

One Sock, Two?

I'm guessing that every person out there who has ever knitted their first sock is fascinated by it.

Sits and stares at it in wonder.

Wow, did I really knit THAT,

(and how am I ever going to do it again)?

Doll's Afghan

These granny squares have been an orphan project for soooo long. I couldn't decide how to join them up. I looked online and found about four different ways-at least-of joining granny squares and I tried each and was not happy. Especially about ripping each method back out!

I liked the idea of joining them with a crochet stitch but it ethier left a bumpy ridge or it skewed the squares and ended up looking crooked.

So, I mattress-stitched them together. :-)

The final size is 15 1/2" X 18 1/2", made of Palette Yarn from KnitPicks, C-hook. 

Meg helped me with the border. The red is just two times around, but the blue border is one normal row and one edging row. The pattern is on Meg's blog, right HERE. The result looks like ric-rac to me! :-)

Granny Pennant

My brand-new granny pennant banner that Meg made me for Mother's Day. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?

Meg's blog is but a click away HERE to see more of what she works on.

(hint--she loves to knit lovely socks!)

Lovely Hutch and Stuff

I finally got my hutch painted and filled with many lovelies.

Dibs and dabs 

It was a lot of fun to get my fabric all out of storage boxes.

It seemed to take me a long time to get this room back together again.

A rainbow of colors.

Grannies

I just learned to make granny squares. They are such fun to make, soothing and rhythmic. 

Meg taught me on a recent trip and I've been cranking them out. I in turn taught Em and she is now making them.

I've been using my familiar wool palette yarn from KnitPicks in fingering weight.

I am working out an afghan the size of a doll's bed (theme of small size here).

The colors are from the center, Serrano, Petal (discontinued), Sky, and Pool.

I am not planning on washing this afghan much and that is the only drawback in using the wool.

Unless you have Superwash wool yarn you are stuck with cold water, hand-washing.

You can just barely see our tent in the background.

We had it set up in our backyard, tucked into the treeline.

We had a dab of cooler weather and we enjoyed ourselves outside with campfires, s'mores and flashlights.

Not so much with the bugs and cot-sleeping. :-)