Starting over again

Where has the time gone?  It's been 4 years plus since I have posted on this blog!  Lots of changes over the years.  Where to start?  I have arthritis in my thumb, now.  Haven't been doing much hand knitting or spinning, because of that, but have exchanged hand knitting for machine knitting.  Did my research and bought an Artisan 70 D mid gauge machine, with a ribber.  Am learning how to use it, and made a few of Diane Sullivan's 3 panel baby afghans, and some baby hats for a local charity called the Calumet Hats for Hope Initiative.  We meet for knitting/crocheting and dinner at a local restaurant every Thurs evening.

This past summer there was an ad in the paper for a knitting machine for sale, made a  phone call, only to discover it was a Brother kh910!  An electronic standard gauge machine,with a ribber, lace carriage, garter carriage, linker, many many patterns, 3 totes full of cone yarn, table, and tons of accessories!   So far have made some swatches, used the ribber, and the electronic patterning to do a couple newborn sized hats, and a practice mitten.  Am so grateful to the person who offered the machine to me!

Also have been using a plastic bed machine, a Bond Incredible Sweater Machine, so between the 3 machines have every size yarn covered, now and it's a lot easier on my thumb/wrist. The Bond is  very different from the metal bed machines, in that it only does flat knitting,but still a very nice machine to learn on, and takes worsted weight yarn.     

In between the machine knitting, have been making some things on my rigid heddle loom.  Scarves and  dishcloths are what's usually on there.  It needs another warping, have been thinking about making some scarves for the knitting group mentioned above.

It is winter, here and am waiting to get enough snow for cross country skiing.  I recently adopted a dog from the Humane Society who loves being out in the woods, so will have a cute willing hiking/skiing/snowshoeing buddy.  He came from Missouri, and wasn't used to the cold.  Now he is getting acclimated to it, and loves running in the snow!  He doesn't seem to need his coat as much, now.  We named him Pepper, btw.  Am looking forward to sharing photos of him, and my projects, soon.

One more thing I hope to talk about on this blog is my weight loss journey.  Three years ago I lost 100 # by following a keto diet.  Am currently struggling, and have gained back around 30 pounds, but am not giving up.  Would like to explore weight issues a little, as well.

Will go though my links, some are not updated, and others probably are gone, now.  Am looking forward to updating everything and posting often again.

Busy weekends

 This is  another of the  top down infant sweaters I enjoy making.  It's a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern, love the color and spots in it. Nice project for traveling or visiting, except for the increases it is fairly mindless. 

Here is the Braided Baby Cable sweater, just need to do the sleeves.   It took a lot more yarn than I thought, this is two skeins down.  

Haven't done a blog post for several weeks, we had a family reunion to go to on Drummond Island the beginning of May, and a working weekend, then Mother's Day.   This picture isn't a very flattering one of me, but it's a nice one of my grandkids,besides being the only one I have of all three of us, so it's going on here.  

The weather is finally getting nice here, although Friday morning we woke up to a winter wonderland.  I bought some iris bulbs and tomato plants at a church garden party yesterday.  Can't wait to get them all planted, want to try some kind of little greenhouse for the tomatoes this year.  We have a bunch of old storm windows that would work for covering them at night to keep the heat in.  Think spring!

Crocheted baby shoes

These are the Mary Jane skimmers ( a Ravelry pattern)  I made them Wednesday.  Serenity needed some "shoes" for Easter.  They worked up very fast, an F hook and the yarn is Caron Simply Soft in watermelon.  Started another pair in black in the same brand yarn but am having issues with it.  The color is hard on the eyes and my row count is off.

Went through my links, deleted some of the ones that are gone, now. Will keep checking on them, after being away from blogging for so long am finding  that  blogspot has changed and I will have to spend some time learning how to do things again.    Tried to change the background and ended up changing the template (?) and couldn't remember which one it was originally so this blog will be a work in progress for awhile til I figure it all out again. 

Pink shrug and Braided Cable baby sweater

 Here is the braided cable baby sweater, the pattern is on ravelry.  The yarn is Paton's Canadiana in Grape Jelly.  Using Addi Turbo needles which I already had, to prevent yet another trip to the yarn shop for needles.  That happens quite often, it seems like I never have the right size needle for the new project.   (and there are always new projects)  Bamboo is my favorite, the metal ones seem way too slippery but these are working out alright for the moment.  This yarn is also slippery, there was an incident where the cable sts slipped off the needles then laddered down a row.  It was fixed for the most part, and the place where it happened isn't very obvious.  A few sts were iffy, but it looks okay now so that's good enough for me. 

Closeup of the braided cable now that the pattern is established.   Another repeat of the cable pattern and it will be time to divide up for the sleeves.   Very fun project so far.  It is going to be a fair entry then probably go to my granddaughter when she grows into it.   The size was 12-24 months so it looks huge after making the 0-3  and 3-6 mos sweaters.   

 

Here is the finished baby shrug.  Vanna's Choice yarn with size 10 needles made  for a very quick project.   It is a foggy, damp day here, nice to stay inside and fibernate.   Don't have anywhere to be and should be a quiet day around here.  Didn't get the mittens felted yet, wasn't in the mood to do it.  We have a front loader washing machine and while you can felt things in it, it isn't like you can lift the lid and check on things.  My first attempt at felting mittens in it was pure luck.  They were the right size when it was done, had forgotten to pause the cycle and check on them. 

Also we have an on-demand hot water heater and during the washing cycle the water turns on & off so the  temp never got hot enough to do any good.  Luckily the washer has a temp. boost setting which worked!  

Really want to get back in front of my loom, also.  It has a project on it now that I just plain don't like.  Stopped working on it then allowed it to get sidetracked. Maybe today should be about finishing up loose ends.   I'll unweave that project while the mittens are felting.  Both the loom and the washer are in the basement ( the loom was put there temporarily)  so it will work out the way it should. 

Catching up on things

It's been a busy winter around here. The weather was awful, below zero for weeks at a time and lots of snow.  The total so far is around 305 inches for the year, and we will probably get another storm before spring finally is here to stay....

Have been doing some knitting, some babysitting for our grandkids and  want to share some photos with you.  It is a quiet Sunday morning  and now is a good time to catch up on here.

This is Serenity dressed up for her Mom's birthday yesterday.  Her sweater is the one entered in the fair last summer.  Glad it still fits her, this is the first time she has worn it.

This is a baby shrug I have been working on for a few days.  A quick easy knit with size 10 needles and aran yarn so it is soft and warm.  It will probably be done today and I'll post a finished picture next time. Just have to find a nice button for it.

Knitted mittens for felting.  They are black although the picture looks purple to me.  The crocheted edging is just holding the stitches for adding a ribbed cuff after they are felted.   Hope to felt these this afternoon, they were misplaced in the house for awhile and just found them today when looking for something else.

This was taken early in the season.  You can't even see the bridge when you are in that spot now, the banks are so high.  It is warm out today, almost 50 degrees so far.  I will probably go for a walk later with my walking buddy.  

Here is my walking buddy, Noel.  She brings so much joy and entertainment to our lives.   This particular day we were making & decorating cupcakes and she wanted to be close to all the festivities in the off chance that something would fall on the floor.  

Sweet little granddaughter

Here she is, little Serenity.  6 lbs, 6 oz.  Born  Jan 30 at 5:35 pm. 

Finished baby cardigan

This for our new granddaughter who is due in early Feb.  The pattern is the free Pure and Simple Baby Cardigan, and the yarn is Bernat Baby Sport, Pajama Party.  Glad to be finished with it, time to move on to some felted mittens.  Have been wanting to try knitting with unspun roving and in our house we seem to have an abundance of single mittens this winter. 

So far we have been having a real winter this year, over a hundred inches of snow so far, lots of plowing & shoveling and not enough outdoor activities due to the cold weather.   Good for staying inside and knitting or spinning however.