These last few weeks have really been packed full of things, weddings, funerals, camping trips and grand babies. It was so crazy last week, I just couldn't post! Today the last of the out of town grandkids have started their return trip home, so life should settle down now, at least for a little while!
In the evenings, and while we were camping, I have been slowly plugging away at the Featherweight Cardigan, at the same time learning the new to me technique of Lever or Irish Cottage knitting. I have a knuckle on my right hand that just won't put up with my usual Continental style any longer, so I am listening for once.
Since you last saw it, I have finished to sleeves and now I am working on the "button band", but there will be no buttons or buttonholes. I have about another 1/2 inch to do before the final bind off. I can't believe that I started this Cardigan only a month or so ago!
There are approximately 250 stitches on that set of 14 inch straights. If it was anything else besides lace wt, I would not have been able to fit them all on, and I have decided, or my hand has decided that circular needles are the pits.
I went looking for other ways to knit in the round, and I came across something called a Knitting belt or a Maakin, that you use with really long double pointed needles. I have one coming my way in the post this very minute and you can be sure I will post an update, probably in my Farmstead Studio blog, since I have really been neglecting it of late.
Other happenings:
I complained recently to my daughter that I was down to my last pair of earrings. She asked me where they had all gone, and I really couldn't answer her. I went home and dumped out the box to take a look. What I found was that I had several pairs of earrings, but that they all needed new hooks. Some had hooks that were too small, and others had hooks that bothered my ears. I also had a necklace that needed a jump ring repair.
I went to Joanne's and found the parts and pieces that I needed, I went home and I fixed almost all of them! What I then discovered is that it is hard to find earrings when they are lumped together in a box. I went to the local Habitat store in search of something to use as an earring stand. I found a really old fashioned iron that you put the coal in the hopper, but I figured that might not feel good to touch all the time, it was a little rusty. (but I may go back and get it anyway, it was so cool!) I then looked at some pottery stuff that might have worked, and that led down the aisle to drinking glasses. I then remembered that I have some wine glasses at home in the cabinet that I thought would easily do the trick.
I was right! I think I have about 8 pairs of earrings on this glass alone, and I can fit more if I want to. I usually hang the necklaces off the side of my mirror, and that keeps them from being a tangled mess. I have a couple more earrings that I need to find the mates to, and I will really be in good shape.
Then today…….
I called my MIL this morning to see if she wanted to go for a ride. She said that if I asked her to stand on her head, she would do it as long as she could do it with me! I picked her up an hour later, and I whisked her away to the Smoky Mountains! We toured the park a bit, we stopped by the stream and just listened to it as it flowed by, and we marveled at the rhodedendrons still in bloom all along the road. I took her to the camp ground that we love to use, and showed her Dear Ones favorite swimming hole. She loved it! (When she was still driving, she often took herself off to the mountains.)
After the campgrounds, we took the turn in the road to Gatlinburg, a touristy town in the Smokies, then we went to Pigeon Forge that was packed with people shopping and amusing themselves. We were not there to shop though, we were headed to her favorite place to eat in the Smokies, the Apple Barn.
We ended up finding a parking place by the Applewood Grill, so we went there instead. They are run by the same people, and have the same ambiance.
While we were waiting for our lunch, they brought us hot apple fritters and cold thick apple butter, to tide us over. YUM! I ordered a BLT with fries. It so happens that it comes with a bowl of soup, and that is exactly what she wanted. So, for the price of one meal we ate like royalty!
After lunch we headed back into the mountains to take the pretty way home. Rain was threatening the whole way home, but it held off until after I had taken her home, and made it safely home myself.
Tired but happy, I think I could use a quiet day tomorrow!
Until next time, Happy Spinning, Knitting and Weaving, Tina
In the evenings, and while we were camping, I have been slowly plugging away at the Featherweight Cardigan, at the same time learning the new to me technique of Lever or Irish Cottage knitting. I have a knuckle on my right hand that just won't put up with my usual Continental style any longer, so I am listening for once.
There are approximately 250 stitches on that set of 14 inch straights. If it was anything else besides lace wt, I would not have been able to fit them all on, and I have decided, or my hand has decided that circular needles are the pits.
I went looking for other ways to knit in the round, and I came across something called a Knitting belt or a Maakin, that you use with really long double pointed needles. I have one coming my way in the post this very minute and you can be sure I will post an update, probably in my Farmstead Studio blog, since I have really been neglecting it of late.
Other happenings:
I complained recently to my daughter that I was down to my last pair of earrings. She asked me where they had all gone, and I really couldn't answer her. I went home and dumped out the box to take a look. What I found was that I had several pairs of earrings, but that they all needed new hooks. Some had hooks that were too small, and others had hooks that bothered my ears. I also had a necklace that needed a jump ring repair.
I went to Joanne's and found the parts and pieces that I needed, I went home and I fixed almost all of them! What I then discovered is that it is hard to find earrings when they are lumped together in a box. I went to the local Habitat store in search of something to use as an earring stand. I found a really old fashioned iron that you put the coal in the hopper, but I figured that might not feel good to touch all the time, it was a little rusty. (but I may go back and get it anyway, it was so cool!) I then looked at some pottery stuff that might have worked, and that led down the aisle to drinking glasses. I then remembered that I have some wine glasses at home in the cabinet that I thought would easily do the trick.
I was right! I think I have about 8 pairs of earrings on this glass alone, and I can fit more if I want to. I usually hang the necklaces off the side of my mirror, and that keeps them from being a tangled mess. I have a couple more earrings that I need to find the mates to, and I will really be in good shape.
Then today…….
I called my MIL this morning to see if she wanted to go for a ride. She said that if I asked her to stand on her head, she would do it as long as she could do it with me! I picked her up an hour later, and I whisked her away to the Smoky Mountains! We toured the park a bit, we stopped by the stream and just listened to it as it flowed by, and we marveled at the rhodedendrons still in bloom all along the road. I took her to the camp ground that we love to use, and showed her Dear Ones favorite swimming hole. She loved it! (When she was still driving, she often took herself off to the mountains.)
After the campgrounds, we took the turn in the road to Gatlinburg, a touristy town in the Smokies, then we went to Pigeon Forge that was packed with people shopping and amusing themselves. We were not there to shop though, we were headed to her favorite place to eat in the Smokies, the Apple Barn.
We ended up finding a parking place by the Applewood Grill, so we went there instead. They are run by the same people, and have the same ambiance.
While we were waiting for our lunch, they brought us hot apple fritters and cold thick apple butter, to tide us over. YUM! I ordered a BLT with fries. It so happens that it comes with a bowl of soup, and that is exactly what she wanted. So, for the price of one meal we ate like royalty!
After lunch we headed back into the mountains to take the pretty way home. Rain was threatening the whole way home, but it held off until after I had taken her home, and made it safely home myself.
Tired but happy, I think I could use a quiet day tomorrow!
Until next time, Happy Spinning, Knitting and Weaving, Tina
1 comment:
It sounds like a trip up to the mountains was just what you needed, and I'm sure your MIL enjoyed it, too. Take it easy with that knuckle.
Post a Comment