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!

Where did she go?

Knitting.  Knitting like crazy.  I am a knitting machine.  Eriskay ganseys.

Here's Sheltering Gansey.  Why sheltering?  Silly, 'cause I'm sheltering.  This one is made out of KnitPicks sport Wool of the Andes. 

This one is not totally authentic in that a couple of the patterns are from other places than the British Isles.  So, a fake cable from Japan, a star from a Danish book.  Also, no underarm gussets nor shoulder straps.  I did those things many years ago, and don't need to do them again.  I'm not making historical ganseys.  I am not a fisher lassie, nor do I sail or catch fish.  Yep, NJ is on the Atlantic coast, but I'm inland.

An Eriskay gansey comes from this tiny little island called Eriskay, and has patterns on the body, a cross pattern, and then separate patterns on the bodice.  Different patterns on the sleeve.  All that patterning makes it very interesting.  Just about the time you're bored with it all, you move on to another set of patterns.

Now this Eriskay gansey is more authentic.  I used the real gansey yarn, Frangipani gansey yarn with a worsted spin on it.  The patterns are all from fishing villages. But, again, no underarm gussets nor shoulder straps.  This one is very warm!  It didn't help that I stood out in 90 deg heat for the Hubz to photograph it.  Bring on winter; I'm ready.

Quilting?  Knot a Garden (see previous post) is now quilted, and the binding cut out.  Just have to attach it and then sew down the binding.  Eventually.  In the heat of summer, I feel the need to knit warm woollies instead.

Knot a Garden

She's sort of like a knot garden, but not a knot garden, so her name is Knot a Garden quilt.

Differences in colors are due to sun or shade. 

A couple more photos.  I'll post more pics after she's been quilted.

Quilting is back

I'm so happy to be quilting again.  After 5 weeks of mask making, I'm finally done with them! If there's a need when the next wave of the virus comes along, then I'll go back into masks.  But for now, freedom! 

Here are the first 2 rows.  I'm so loving this quilt!  The pictures aren't great, but they'll do for now.  I think of the quilt as a bit of a knot garden, except that it's not a garden, so... the name of this quilt is Knot a Garden.

I'm knitting a sweater, the usual pair of socks, and baking and cooking a lot.  It sometimes seems that we spend our days eating.  Breakfast, mid-morning break with home-made biscotti, lunch, mid-afternoon break with home-made muffins, supper, and nibbles while watching TV. 

Way back in January, I started to run out of all-purpose and bread flours.  So the Hubz, who loves to market, bought me some more.  We already had yeast bought in Dec (I think).  I buy yeast by the pound, and freeze the bulk of it.  I take off enough for a small jar and keep that in the fridge.  It lasts me about a year.  We also put in a flour order from King Arthur flour.  It was all back-ordered,  and was supposed to arrive in about a month.  Instead we got it all in a couple of weeks.  So we are all set from bread and pizza baking as well as muffins, biscotti, etc. 

And on that note, I'm off to eat lunch.

Masks

Sigh.  I do not like making masks, but masks need to be made.  So, I'm looking for pretty or cute fabric from my stash.  It does cheer me up to see silly masks.

Eggs.

Chickens.

Chickens and eggs.  I don't know which comes first, the chicken or the egg.  But here they are.

Back to the masks.  Stay home.  Stay safe.  You do not want to catch the virus.