Forever Knitting

I deleted the original “Forever Knitting” post accidentally (on my iPad, in the morning, when I was sleepy) so for record keeping’s sake, I’ll write it again. Different this time. My favorite knitting store Little Knits (in Seattle) makes my knitting heart sing. Brown Sheep is my favorite wool and has been since the old Skyloom Fibers existed in Denver. Sue, the owner of Little Knits, has a beautiful knitting heart and serves so well. The prices are amazing and her stock is vast! Brown Sheep of Nebraska produces SO MANY different wools. I shall find a gansey or aran pattern to make up the gorgeous yellow above. Lemon Pound Cake is the color. It might not be the best choice for cables because it’s bumpy, but I’m going to try.

The BFL below also came from Little Knits. See? She has it all! This might be a simple top down pullover like the purple sweater I finished recently. As I get older, I get colder. I used to be forever too warm, but now I walk out in the heat and I fully appreciate the heavy warmth of sunshine. I’m thankful for that.

This is the Plotulopi “Rusty” sweater. I haven’t reached the colorwork but I am a little worried about joining sleeves to body. The directions are assumptive (That’s okay, I get it. I’d have a hard time explaining remedial things to someone who’d never tried it if I were a knitting designer). The wool is delicate and rough at the same time. I like making traditional things. I gave some of my “cool cat” knitting books to my young daughter-in-law. For all the time it takes me to complete sweaters, I best stick to the classics.

Alice Starmore’s Aran Knitting AND Book of Fair Isle Knitting are research treasures. Sheila McGregor’s Traditional Scandinavian Knitting is also in my library. Knitting Ganseys by Beth Brown-Reinsel is challenging reading, too. I’m getting back to my book loving path to knitting. It feels right.

Here are some other woolly wonders. My friend Heather used to make these and I think I have purchased the majority of her flowers. Here’s a patch of flowers for YOU!

Some Knitty Stuff

I used all soft and kind-to-the skin fibers for a random cowl. It was so nice to knit, such good clicking.

I used a cowl pattern to begin but then shifted to y/o around the top and bottom with varied yarns for stripes. I had some acrylic stuff to add to some of the lighter weight yarns I chose.

My sweet mama liked it so I left it with her. It sits on the chest in a “just right comfy” sort of way and she found it warm and comforting.

I finished the rib armholes for this striped vest. It looks kinda clowny but I still like the colors.

If I lost ten pounds it might look better. Ha!

I’m just about finished with this sweater. I have a few inches of sleeve and then the i-cord trim for the neckline. I don’t know if I like how purple it is. I do keep picking purple. My Lopi cardi is coming along and it’s pink/purple. Hmmmmmm.

I found a new yarn shop. It’s all the way in Longmont but it’s sweet and very well supplied. I’ll visit again.

One of our young friends came over for dinner and he saw my Penguono on the chair. He was cold so he put it on. Funny, but it’s nice to see it on someone besides me. I haven’t worn it out of the house yet. Too chicken.

I’m going to cast on something and then maybe finish a mitten or sock. Maybe. I cleaned house today so tomorrow I can sit and knit. Bliss.

A Few Knits

Isn’t this little “prayer square” a nice quick project? I think I’ll make the next one from wool. Cotton is a bit thick.

Timothy gets so tired. LOL! He’s so cute when he curls up. He does not bother my knitting. Yay!

I finished the clown vest that started out as a sweater but the dropped shoulders seemed wrong so I ribbed the armholes and . . . another vest! Ha! I have another almost finished vest on the needles. I guess this granny likes vests.

And the self patterning socks are cute! I do have that second sock/second mitten thing going. I hope I finish sock number two.

I received Estonian Knitting and another great book about sheep and wool. Yay! I’m slowly picking up my works in progress and I feel hopeful about their completion. That’s a good feeling. Happy knitting!

A Mitt Made

One lovely mitt finished. I changed it up and went for a bulky pattern to use with my favorite wool – Lamb’s Pride.

I have been too busy sewing costumes (just three – two jackets, two skirts, a pair of pants and a vest) and doing my Community Bible Study lesson and planning for the CBS fourth graders. Oh, and having house guests. Now things should free up. It’s snowing today so that means I can make the other mitt.

I’m still aiming to shed my knitting conformity and simply live in my own wool wonder, finishing things when I feel the wave of inspiration and starting new things whenever I want to. I ask nothing of knitting but to calm my mind. It does that.

I’ll bring the garden props inside soon. I do love looking at the toadstools.

I had the hardest time getting motivated to sew. Why? One of the costumes I made will be worn in two different shows by two different granddaughters! What a chance to contribute to their adorable-ness! I simply must try to overcome my “I don’t want to do that right now” tendency. I prayed for verve and motivation and God delivered. I did get my assignment finished and there are many costumers helping now. We’re thankful. I think it’s because I am older now and I don’t stay up late EVER.

Our house is cozy, the books are plentiful, the tea is also plentiful, and I have so many things I like to do right here. Bliss. I’ve organized my Bible reading for now. I’ll do my CBS study, of course, and then I’ll read Matthew a little (Jesus’s words), Habakkuk a little (a prophet) and then one of Paul’s letters (Titus right now). Yesterday I was at Barnes and Noble and they have lovely Bibles. I wanted a new one but I have new ones and I am just fine in the Bible department. I bought C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man because we’re reading it in book club.

Happy day to you. I hope you do something you like to do. There are so many wonderful things we can find to do with our creativity, that creativity that is a sweet gift from the Creator.

Back To My Own Knitting Ways

Our daughter in law and I are doing another knit along together. This time we are making mitts. We’ve both had a few glitches with our yarn choice. My mitts are pink and cream and she is still figuring out what wool she’ll use. Working with skinny double points is relaxing, easy really. October is a knitting month (ha – all months are knitting months!)

Crab apples are my favorite color. I wish hair came in rosy red. I’d have to have rosy red hair.

This hat (above) was a Shetland Wool Week hat a few years ago. I gave this one to a friend but I may make another. I have a quiet week ahead and I am going to knit peaceably and enjoy my own kind of love for it. I have tired of the social media influence over my chosen craft and I’m seeking to let my knitting ways return to the pure love of clicking needles and enjoying fibers.

Fruit and Wool

Soft fruits, stone fruits, are juicy and inviting at this time of the year. My neighbor gave me plums and I messed up the jam. Sadness. I’ll try again.

I bought plumcots at Trader Joe’s. I’m not sure why we would find it necessary to tamper with the gorgeousness of the apricot, but they are interesting.

A friend brought me peaches. She grows them in her backyard. She’s aiming for a mini-orchard someday. One harsh winter many of her fruit trees died. I shall not use them for “putting by” because I want to relish them in all of their sticky juice.

I’m thinking of the winter and how the oranges will come around Christmastime. That smell (especially the tangerines) is heavenly.

I’ve been busy preparing to teach a class of children for Community Bible Study, so I’ve not been knitting much. I have been knitting a little. I am astounded by my Snowy Woods mitten and soon I shall begin its pair.

I like my rendition of the Hitchhiker shawl.

I bought this because . . . Yorkshire. The Dales. I am not sure if this particular skein from Yorkshire is amazing or not, but I wanted it and I’ll make a pair of socks.

I added this to my overly huge collection of knitting books.

This little sunny sun decided to squeeze her neck through the crack in the fence and say hello. Welcome, little flower face.

I’ve got the fall feelings and the crab apples are such sweet mascots. I don’t have a crab apple tree, but I am stunned by the loaded trees in the neighborhood. Wow!

I think I’ll do a little knitting now. First I’ll put on some paint clothes so that after my knitting time I will be ready to paint on the patio (a chest is going from red to green today).

Thank you for popping by to read my blog.

Hello Teddy Bear

Teddy is sewn together and stuffed. His arms are funny (stuck on him in a funny way) but oh well. His overalls are coming along, taking a lot longer than I thought they would. His face is precious. I like him already.

When I went to buy more wool for the loopy sheep I’m making, I had to buy this cake. Green and gray are a good combo.

It’s hot outside but cool in the air conditioned house, so I shall knit on.

A Sock and New Wool

A sock finished one and a half years after I started it (Christmas Eve 2017). It languished in a bag and the needles came out a few times thus the bumpy stitches. The wool wasn’t a great choice, but IT FITS really well, so yay!

I did order the watermelon smoothie Lambs Pride wool and it’s very full of girth. It will make a nice little cardi or maybe a pullover. If it is a cardi, I’m going to steek it even though it’s super wash.

I’m off to the grocery store to buy strawberries and lactose free milk (and chocolate milk) for two little grands who are spending the night tonight (cousins not sisters) and two little grandsons who are coming over for dinner, too.

Next knitting finish: A teddy bear! He is all blocked and ready for his parts to be joined, his face to be stitched, his body to be stuffed and THEN his overalls to be knit.

Lots of people to love today. Thank you, good God.

Small Knitting

Instead of casting on another pair of socks I dug around for this WIP. I started out with Little Bobbins Knits Twas the Night Before Christmas pattern (an excellent pattern!) but I didn’t want to make trees on the leg so I created purl rounds instead. I really like the twisted ribbing and the way she wrote the heel and gusset instructions. I’ll use the instructions again. The colors are muddy. They remind me of my elementary school because we were the Vikings (ha ha ha) and our colors were green and gold. Go Vikings!

I’m using my Penguono by Stephen West as a decorative item in the hobbit hole. I have put it on a few times when the AC makes the house cold. I’ll use it for that in the fall when the weather changes.

This cake of brightness was a birthday gift . A Sockhead head, perhaps?

When our daughters and I were in Victoria, BC last September I visited The Beehive Wool Shop. What a lovely yarn store. I found this Fleece Artist wool. It smells like a sheep.

I have shopping and sewing to do for our daughter’s theater company. I am puppy sitting tonight for our son and his wife (they are going camping). I must hurry along, but I’m so excited that I have decided to homeschool myself in history. A friend told me about this homeschool curriculum and there are four volumes. When I read about Gertrude Bell (The Queen of the Desert) I realized that I don’t know enough about the history of the Middle East. I want to learn. I could spend years studying history. I am not sure if I ever took a course in world history in high school or college. It’s time to grow my brain in a new way. Yay!

I hope for a quiet cup of tea for YOU and me.

Yay for knitting!

Outside

A bumblebee was having quite a snoop in the wild thistles on my walking path. I’m comforted that I find so many bees around.

Here is a green canopy for all who pass by.

And a place to make a fort.

Living on the edge of a big city I’m ever grateful for the open spaces. I yearn for views, but I shouldn’t be greedy. Every time I drive anywhere I can see the Rockies.

The rabbits (or SOMETHING) are eating my seedlings so next year I’m making the whole of our flowerbeds into sunflower riots.

The Sweet Williams are almost finished and I am so in awe of their beauty. They came from a big bag of wildflowers from last summer. Wow. What a nice surprise. This might be the last gnome summer. I had fun repainting them last year.

I’m seeing both our girls this morning. Jenny and I are meeting for breakfast and I will take Kelli and her girls lunch at theater camp (Jenny’s girls will be there, too! Bonus!). Then on to the Apple store to sort out my phone battery. I do love the Apple store.

Knitting. More pink knitting on my Skeindeer sweater (I cannot remember the name of the pattern! Sorry!) on lovely Jamison and Smith wool. It’s mindless because I’ve finished the hard part (the yoke) and now it’s all round and round and round.

I hear the neighbor children playing outside. I shall go play now.