Dresden plates

are such fun to do.  I made my first one a number of years ago as a doll quilt for Miss P.

This was back in 2011.  Miss P is now a freshman in high school and needless to say, doesn't play with American Girl dolls any more.  But I still play with Dresden plates.

Ignore the oval openings in the center; they are really round.  and the blocks are on the back of a couch in my sewing chamber, hence the bit of a backward curve.

I'd forgotten just how much fun they are to do.  The plan is for a 4x4 quilt with a border or two.  My usual lap quilt.  I think the centers will be white and also the background.

My autumnal log cabin

is finished!  Yay!  I made quite a while ago, and just finished it today.  It's my usual lap quilt.  I love to cuddle under lap quilts and never make bed quilts.  I get too bored to do that last row that would turn a lap into a bed quilt.

Next to string quilts, log cabins are my favorite kinds of quilts.  They are perfect for folks like me who argue with points matching.

I actually finished...

a quilt!  Really finished, as in it's quilted and bound and ready to be mailed off.  Took me long enough.

Yep, it's another string quilt.  I love making string quilts.  I could make them nonstop.  Easy sewing, no points matching, and the fun of deciding which strip to place next to the previous one.

It's hazy, hot and humid...

So it's time to start knitting sweaters. This is the first one.  It's all lace, and not blocked, so it looks like a rag, but it will stretch out beautifully when washed.

Yarn is Knit Picks Palette in Seraphim.  Skinny stuff, and not terribly drapey.  I'm working it on sock needles, size 2.5mm.  I'm a very loose knitter, so it works out OK with those tiny needles.  256 sts in circumference.  I don't know yet what I will do with the bodice and sleeves.  My inclination is to work the sleeves in stockinette with a row of lace running down the center, but I'll see.  I'm a way off so just thinking about it at the moment.  My usual crew neck, and if I have enough yarn, maybe a cowl?  Or not.

The color is weird, sort of a grey/beige/mauve thing.  I have no idea why I bought it; it must have appealed to me.  I'll wear it over navy or deep green or something else dark.

 

Last of this spring's socks

That's it.  I'm done, at least for the time being.  This is the last sock I've designed,  and other than helix socks for Miss P, I'm socked-out for a while.

Charming

Mostly lace with a little bit of cables.  Fun and pretty easy to do.  Sweaters, here I come!

Emma

Emma is a split lace pattern with my favorite little fake cable in the middle.  The yarn is PennyRose Rachel (400 yards, 100 g, 100% SW merino).  Size 2.25mm circular needles, 56 st pattern. 

Still on a sock binge

I can't help it; I finish a pair of socks and then chart out another pair.  So here's the latest, which I gifted to a friend.

Tutti Frutti

Cute little lace pattern which is very easy.  I like knitting lace and I love playing with 3-5 stitch small patterns, and then and combining the patterns.  Holds your interest while you knit, but fairly mindless.

By the way, On the Wing is now available for free on Ravelry.

Socks!

I'm out of the Sock Madness competition, but it's fine with me.  There are times when you know that knitting a particular pattern will destroy your cranky hands and round 5 was the case.  So, not competing, but boy, am I knitting socks.  I'm happily designing and knitting away.  That's what happens to me after Sock Madness:  I want to design and make socks.  And of course, these will fit my small, narrow foot.  But it's the Madness that inspires me to get off my tush with my boring, same-pattern, basketweave socks and make something new.  So here's what's done.

This one is called Undulate because of the way the fake cables move left and right.  Yarn is KnitPicks Stroll (I think it might be an old yarn because I can't find it on their website).  Size 2.25mm needles.

This one is On the Wing because I sort of see flying geese on the front and back of the leg and little winged bugs on the side.  I have a good imagination.  Yarn is PennyRose Rachel, which I dyed.  100% superwash merino/ 100g/400 yards.  Size 2.25 needles.

I dyed and sold yarn for about 6 years and then retired from that a couple of years ago.  Still have a nice supply of yarn, so I can dye just about all my sock yarn if I wish.

Another rosette

Here's the 4th rosette from

Sock Madness - Round 4

Finished!  Sweet Nuttins is a lovely pattern by Adrienne Fong (aka Bellybutton Knits).  Cables, lace, beads, cute little ruffle, pattern on gusset and heel and toe.  Oh, my!  A neat challenge and pretty socks as my reward.  Click on the pics to see the beads!

If you like to knit socks, and want to learn new techniques and make unusual socks, Sock Madness on Ravelry is the place to go.  You'll have to wait until next Feb. to sign up for 2017, but it is such fun.  I'm speedy, but not nearly as fast as some of the knitters.  That's fine with me.  Teams are set up with the knitter's ability to zoom in mind. So this year we have 16 teams, ranging from very slow to beyond fast.  I'm somewhere in the middle, where I belong. 

My take on Slip Stripe Spiral

Slip Stripe Spiral was this year's qualifying sock for Sock Madness.  I didn't try to get gauge since I knew they would be much too big on me.  And indeed they were, and they fit the Hubz perfectly.

I just loved the techniques, and had enough leftover yarn to make me a pair.  The original pair was knit toe up, with a Sweet Tomato Heel and on 64 stitches.

I decided to re-engineer the pattern to fit my small narrow feet and legs.  So, a 56 stitch sock, knit top down with the usual heel and toe.

I love them to pieces!  Now I want to explore slip stitch colorwork patterns for socks.  I've done this technique many times before, but always for sweaters.  So this should be a lot of fun.

Sock Madness - finished

I just finished the third sock for this year's Sock Madness.  I really love these guys, but they are big on my little feet.  About an inch too long, and very roomy.  However, I can still wear them and I shall.  They look like they fit, but trust me, there's a lot of sock under my foot.  I enjoyed this one very much!

Castle Wall

I finally finished my sister's wall hanging.  I don't enjoy the quilting process, either by machine or by hand, but I also don't want someone else to quilt it for me.  So it can take me forever to finish a quilt.  Couldn't get a good picture because it's so sunny.  But the top two pics are very close to the real color.  The last pic was taken on my driveway in the shade.  Click on the pics to get a better idea.  Anyhow, here it is:  

Linda's Castle Wall 

Second Sock

I finished the second pair of socks for Sock Madness.  Took me 3 days.  I couldn't get the hang of that cuff.  Watched the videos over and over, and then it clicked.  The rest of the sock is pretty straight forward, but oh, that killer cuff with the beads!

The socks weren't all that pretty while I was working on them, but I do like how they look on my feet.

It's here. It's finally here.

The Annual Spring Poem

High up, over the tops
Of the feathery grasses, the grasshoppers hop.
They won't eat their suppers,
They will not obey
Their grasshopper mothers and fathers who say:
"Listen my children, this must be stopped.
Now is the time your last hop should be hopped.
So come eat your suppers and go to your beds."
But the little grasshoppers just shake their green heads.
"no, no," the naughty ones say.

"All we have time to do now is to play.

If we are hungry we'll nip at a fly,
Or nibble a blueberry as we go by.
But not now. Now we must hop.
And no one, but no one can make us stop."

The end

Sock Madness Is Here!

The annual craziness known as Sock Madness is upon us.  I just finished the qualifying pair of socks.  Made them for the Hubz.  These are done toe up with a variation on Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato heel.  Slip stitches form the instep and leg.  I really love these, although I am not a fan of Japanese short rows.  The heel fits him very well, but in the future, I'll use Cat's instructions.  The pattern is SlipStripeSpiral by Mylene Pijper.