Moving along

 I've decided that Sept is now the beginning of the year.  I have no idea why, but possibly because the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is in Sept this year.  At any rate, the cooler temps feel like a beginning.  My goals this year are to make 12 pairs of socks (for me and for the little kid), at least 6 sweaters, again for me, TLK, and his mom.  Miss P is good with socks and sweaters, DD1 doesn't need any, and the Hubz will wear my socks for sleeping socks, but is not apt to wear a sweater of mine.

So, on the needles is sock #1.  Basketweave pattern, which is my go-to lazy pattern.  My usual 56 st sock, but the pattern is a multiple of 8, so can easily be made in larger sizes.Yarn by EarthAndEmpress.

Sweater.  Ah well.  Remember the raglan from the previous post?  Turns out that I accidentally used the wrong needle.  I was working on a #5, and just grabbed it.  My #5 and #6 needles are pretty similar in color.  It was, of course, too small.  Frogged it, changed my mind to making another top-down raglan, but with a different neckline.  And I'm making stripes.  I think it will be very cute.  Yes, this scrimmage of stitches on a 24" needle looks too small.  It's not.  I tried it on, and anyhow, I always smoosh lots of stitches on a 24" needle.

Yarn is Spearmint in KnitPicks Palette.  The pink and white are some leftovers.  Size 6 needle, and should measure approx 38" in circumference when done.  

Quilting:  TLK, aka the little kid, has been asking for another quilt.  He has his baby quilt, now used as a sitting mat on top of a bench, and his I Spy quilt, which is someplace or other. He's growing, and could use a larger quilt.   At any rate, a grand wants a quilt, a grand gets a quilt.  He likes brights and I started this new log cabin with turqs and peaches and such.  Very little very light colors, which is good, since he'll schlep it around all over the place and his mom doesn't want to spend her life washing it.  So, here are a few new blocks.

I'm also binding a quilt that I finished way back when.  I'll post pics when it's sewn and crinkled.

This is all keeping me happily busy. 

Very interesting article on a quilting response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.  Worth reading!

What's new?

 3 projects, 2 knitting,and 1 quilting.

Yet another basketweave sock, this one in a lovely colorway by a brand-new dyer, Earth and Empress.The colorway is Blackberry Mist, and I believe that there is one skein of it left.

Remember the raglan craze I've been on?  This is the third in the series.  Bottom up, with that cute little rib I showed in the previous post.  The yarn is Palette by Knit Picks, and the color is spearmint.  After this raglan, if I can stand yet another one, the next one will be top down with a different neckline and with stripes.  I think.  Who knows?  

On the sewing machine is yet another log cabin, with colors in turquoise and orange or variations thereof.  8" blocks, so a total of 64.  I have 8 done.  The youngest grand has asked me a few times for a new quilt, and he's mentioned it to his mother, too.  So who am I not to make him one?  If he likes this, he'll get it. If not, then we'll figure something else out.

And here we go again.

 This is like deja vu:  I keep making it over and over again.  Yet another Vanilla Sweater.  This one is made from Rauma Finullgarn, which is very woolly and bouncy. Color is 466, and I did buy it at the Woolly Thistle.  Bought 6 skeins, but used 4.5.  Next time, I'll just buy 5 skeins.

Again, long sleeves and I dropped the neckline a tiny bit.  It's 40" around and roomy.  I'll use this yarn again, but make it at 38" in circumference and probably bottom up so that I can make a nicer neckline.  It comes in the most beautiful colors imaginable.

And, because I can't help it, here's a cute little rib on the next Vanilla Sweater, done bottom up.  Endless miles of stockinette, which, for some reason, appeals to me at the moment.  Usually it bores me to tears, but not now.  I might as well take advantage of this, and make as many raglans as I can. This is Palette in Spearment.  Soft and delicious!

Knot a Garden

 It's sort of a knot garden, but it isn't actually a garden, so it's Knot a Garden.

I love this quilt.  I started off with the idea of making the entire quilt with hourglass blocks.  Then I sewed some of them together and decided that life was too short to do this nonstop.  So that's why the blocks are bordered with a grassy kind of fabric.

And here's the back!  I fell in love with this fabric the moment I saw it, and now it's going into just about every quilt where it will fit.

What is this?

 

Can you guess?

Big bird, little bird

In our slow Covid world, we are discovering all sorts of fascinating nature moments both in our back yard and at a local arboretum.  

Here's a hawk sitting in the branches of an old (and probably not very healthy) fir tree.  He's one large and scary bird.  Looked the Hubz right in the eyes, and the Hubz was very happy to go back into the house.

 

And here's a hummingbird who is probably nesting somewhere at our Frelinghuysen Arboretum. There are at least 3 of them, and about as cute as can be.

Knitter on fire!

And another sweater finished.  This one is loosely based on the Vanilla Sweater by Corinne Tomlinson.  I'm not thrilled with crop sweaters. They seem to cut me in half, and I'm small enough not to want that.  So  I did some modification:  much narrower, long sleeves, and longer in the body.  I also increased each side of the side seam (fake seam), at around the waist to give a bit of ease at the hip. 

I just loved knitting this sweater.  Usually I hate miles of stockinette; it's so boring but this time, it just flowed along so nicely. 

I can see more of these top-down raglans in my future.  Stripes, patterns on sleeves and/or body?  A bit wider?  A slightly lower neckline?  All good fun to think about.

Corinne Tomlinson owns The Woolly Thistle up in NH.  Beautiful yarns from the UK, Norway.  That's where I bought the Frangipani gansey yarn in the last post.  Soft woolly yarns, stunning colors.  I'm in love!