Decided to Crochet a scarf from the frogged shawl!

I have decided to crochet a scarf out of the frogged shawl, I am going to work in this shell stitch for how long I want the scarf to be then am going to crochet a lace border all around the outside...have not decided the border yet...will wing it as I go. This yarn is crocheting up much better then knitting with it...unless I have to rip back then it is sticky which might be because it has been ripped back and reknit so many times it is well worn. Remember I had decided I had to finish ...I think it was three unfinished items before I could start something new....now what is this scarf....is it something new...or is it a unfinished item?? I decided as I made the rule...I can decide it is an unfinished item.....I did take a vote of everyone in the house at the moment and they all agreed...it is an unfinished item!!

I finally got the Message...and frogged the Shawl !!

I have been knitting on the little blue shawl for I am sure three years!! The lace on it had been ripped back many times after I had to tuck it away to knit items someone ordered and then when brought back out I had forgotten where I was in the pattern so then rip back and start the lace again. Was not the right yarn for the pattern as the stitches would stick together and if I was not being very careful I would find I had knit two together...then it was take the row out again, when I took it out this time I was going to finish it no matter what and finally was putting a lifeline in occasionally so I did not have to rip it all out, it was going great and I was so careful,only had eight rows left to knit but had to sit it aside for a couple of days as RH had started moving my storage cabinets that had been in storage into my work area downstairs so I was helping it that sorted out. I had my knitting sitting on the dining room table so when I had a bit of time I could knit a row...well the other day I picked it up to knit.....could not believe my eyes.....there were stitches pulled in a few places on it...only thing I could think of was one of the cats had been on the table and got their claws caught up in the stitches...and although when asked no one is owning up to it! Well I have decided it was the last straw for the shawl. It was not meant to be! So here she is having a time out until I can decide what she is going to become. Am off to bed and will decide what to do tomorrow!!

Still Knitting and so Wanting Spring to be here!

Have the scarf blocked and ready to be worn, it is handspun and is so funny that it looks like it was knit on the bias but it wasn't. I had said I would finish three UFO's before I started a new knitting project, scarf is one down and two to go, I finished the bulky sweater I had started a couple of years ago but have to get it blocked and sew a zipper in it, so it is not quite done and then......I pulled out the shawl I was knitting....I am sure it has been a couple years since it was started, had just started on the lace pattern but with packing and moving etc. etc.i know this is not going to be a fast knit but decided to just get at it. Well although I thought I had marked where I was in the pattern I had too many stitches on the needle, tried to rip back a few rows to figure out where I was but just was not working...why oh why did I not put a life line in??....well had to rip it back to the solid knitting and this time I did put a life line in!! And will after every full pattern...I can see that is the only way I am going to get this shawl finished. I am knitting it out of a yarn from Knit Picks that is a lace weight alpaca/silk and I have to be so careful not to knit two stitches together at times as they stick together And here it is...in a blue colorway...always blue...I think I had got a skein in a mauve/purple colorway too, will have to check. The pattern is Holden Shawlette by Mindy Wilkes and I am going to stick with it and try to get it finished before I have to tuck it away again...but if I have to tuck it away it will have a life line so I will not have to rip all the lace back again...I have so learned a lesson!!

Yay! Finished the Scarf and on to The next UFO!

After thinking about the scarf I was knitting and had taken the tips off to knit something else I finally got it out and put the needle tip on that I thought I might have used and I tried not to think about the pattern and just started knitting and it all came back to me, plus after knitting a few rows it looked like I had the right needle.

I received some roving as a gift and spun it up for this scarf. I finished knitting it tonight and will get it washed and blocked tomorrow. Got one UFO finished!! I have many more to get out and work on, it seems I am working on something then I get an order from a customer and put it aside and there it sits, then I come across another pattern I love and want to start something else....so I had a little talk with myself....decided I would finish three UFO's totally and get them blocked and I would allow myself to start something else I have been waiting to knit. This is such a blah time of year a person needs something new to knit...at least I do..really sad when you have to give yourself a bribe to get a few things finished up...but what ever works. Still working downstairs...ran out of flooring so had to order some more and wait for it to come in, came in Friday so will get it finished in the next couple of days, meanwhile RH picked up some baseboards and has painted them so they are ready when the flooring is finished, he also picked up some paint for the walls so things are coming together. i am just so stressed with all the mess and not being able to get the alpaca fleece sorted and away to the mill. We had a snow storm blow in this morning but it ended as fast as it started, it is not that cold out right now, just watching the news tonight seeing the snow other parts of the country are having...nasty!! Now the decision....what UFO should I bring out tomorrow to finish?? Will sleep on it......

February has crept in.....Where did January go??

Well the month of January is gone and February has crept in and with it some warmer weather, they are saying the Groundhog did not see his shadow....and we are supposed to get an early spring.We have been getting beautiful sunsets this winter so thought I would share the picture I had taken a couple days ago. I have been busy but at what?? Have not got much accomplished, did get another pair of socks knit and like the color of them, the color is lighter than in the picture, was not happy with the sock wool I used for the other pair but I have been wearing them and they are great, nice and warm.

We have been busy putting the flooring on the floor downstairs all week and almost finished, what a job with all the stuff we have down there, boxes that have been packed since we moved and all my fibre stuff in plastic bins, I have cabinets that are in storage that we can move in and I can get everything sorted out and know where things are, did not want to move them in before we got the floor finished. We had to move everything all to one side, do that portion of flooring then move it over and finish the rest of the floor but it is going to be sooo nice when it is all finished. Have been trying to take a bit of a break from knitting but is so hard to sit without knitting so have been knitting a few fingerless gloves. Should really get at all the UFO's that are lurking around here and there, came across a scarf I had started with some of my handspun....now what can I do....I was knitting it on a round needle, it was a needle with exchangeable tips...and I must have needed that size for another item, usually I pin a note to the item when I do that...but can not find any note...plus I remembered I did not like the way the pattern I was using was turning out...so I made up a pattern...and can not remember what it was..also can not find any info about that...note to self..smarten up..do not ever do that again, am hoping if I rip back a few rows I will remember. I have quite a bit knit on it. So on it goes....

Knitting and Feeding the Birds

Sister Jeannie gave me the red bird feeder for Christmas, I had mentioned one day that the trees were so pretty with all the snow and I took a picture through the kitchen window and it would have made a great Christmas card, all it needed was a red bird feeder...and here it is just as I imagined, picture is not that clear as I am taking it through a window with a screen on it. What little piggies the birds are, the males are up on the feeder fighting over their own space and tossing the seeds they do not want onto the ground below where the females eat (or that is what it seems), they go through a feeder of seed a day, we only fill it every other day and make them clean up the seed on the ground. Then there are days the birds are not here...hmmmm....wonder if the neighbors have feeders out and they do the rounds.

My Aunt made this little dress ornament and sent it to me for Christmas, it is made from some wool she had spun, I love it!! Could not put it away with all the Christmas things, have put it in the china cabinet so I can see it every day, I made her a couple of knit mice ornaments, I bought the book of Alice Starmore's Fair Isle knitting a while ago and this was the first chance I had to knit some of the patterns, the great thing about the patterns are they are all different rows....it has a pattern that says for six rows...or seven rows etc. so you can pick a pattern for what space you will have for pattern, I knit the pattern on the back of the mice and of course did not take a picture before I mailed them off to her, want to make myself a couple so will remember to take pictures. Finally got all the knitting orders finished and on their way to the customers and now have been knitting some socks for myself, finished a pair last night and am wearing them. Not really excited about the yarn but it was on sale and it will do, have started on another pair as I really need socks, have bad feet and the seam on socks you buy hurt my toes, I see they have socks for sale for Diabetics.....and they have seams on the toe too, most of my sock sales are for people who are diabetic.

We had such cold temperatures with lots of snow over the holidays and now our famous Chinook has blown in with temperatures in the plus numbers and everything is so icy, went up to the shed where I have my gardening things stored for the winter and what a time walking...thought I should have taken my cell phone with me just in case I went down on the ice. The wind blowing so hard and everything covered with ice!! not good!! RH is off to a meeting tonight so I am off to my knitting chair, if I am quiet hopefully the cats will not hear me.

New Year Here We Come!!

Christmas over and a new year beginning! Finally getting all the Christmas decorations down and put away for another year. Here are the resident cats having their last nap on Mr and Mrs Santa's lap.

Have to make a note to make the Santa's new clothes for next year, poor old things...they are twenty-seven years old and still wearing the same clothes, guess it is about time. We had a great Christmas, youngest son gave his friend K her engagement ring Christmas Day so it was pretty exciting, K has two young girls who made our Christmas, so great to have young children around at Christmas with all their excitement. Oldest son and daughter-in law were with us for Christmas Day too with our youngest Grandson who is fifteen, he also enjoyed the company of the girls, the girls kept him so busy he did not have a minute to be bored.

They even got him to lay under the tree with them to get their pictures taken! We were so busy with Christmas markets before Christmas and all my items would sell out at the market and then it was back to the knitting needles working steady to get a few things for the next market, good thing I could fill the tables with my Alpaca yarn, and I sold so much yarn I have to get busy sorting fleeces to take to the mill so I will get it back in time for this coming years markets. I just finished all the back orders from before Christmas and can take a bit of a rest....knitting myself a pair of socks...then get at the fleece sorting. I have a few fleeces already washed up and ready to run through the carder, have to decide whether I want to dye some fleece and then card it or spin it and dye it later...maybe do a bit of each, will be great to get back to spinning again.