April...drought...brings new projects!

We need rain! It has been so long since we've had a good drenching rain here, which is not at all normal for this time of year for Missouri. We have 275 gal IBC totes to collect rain water, and they have barely been half-full since we hooked them up in February. It only takes an inch or two of rain to fill them, so we are really hurting for some moisture around here. A lot of my "free" time has been tending to the plants that we've been trying to start, planning the garden for this summer, planting perennials, weeding, and watering what we've already got. I love perennials! I love watching them burst through the soil, seeing the first signs of life for the year. Many plants (like creeping phlox) appear dead during the winter but just when I think it's not going to come back, every inch of it turns green, and then lilac with the beautiful flowers that last for a couple of weeks. It is truly magnificent to see it in full bloom. Even though I've been very busy with the garden, I have managed to find time to complete some projects. I've got a pair of socks that are just about off the needles that I'll showcase next time, but I've got some fun neck jewelry for this month!

I finally finished my silk woven cowl! I've had this on the loom for a couple of months and watched a friend finish two projects in the time it took me to weave one, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I hem-stitched it on the loom on both ends, as well as zig-zag stitching with my sewing machine. Then I cut off the fringe, folded it over twice to bury the ends, and sewed both ends together. I don't love how that turned out, but until I get my sewing machine out again, it'll stay like that. I love that I can double it over, and the silk lays really nicely and it's not too bulky.

Next up is this gorgeous shawl that has been sitting in a bag for over two years. I had over 50 ends to weave in because of all the color changes, but it was so worth it! I LOVE these colors together!! The pattern was so much fun to knit, I enjoyed all the different sections. It was like knitting a sampler. The pattern is The Knights Who Say Knit on Ravelry and it was a mystery knit-a-long (MKAL). At the time, I was participating in 4 KAL's, and I really enjoyed each of them. I still have one shawl that needs ends woven and blocked, and the other is a little gnome that isn't quite finished yet. Those will hopefully be done by the end of May. The other KAL was a sweater, and it's going to be the last to be finished.

My little L'aig was trying to finger-knit a scarf over a long weekend using Bernat Blanket Alize. He does a row here and there, but isn't committed to it yet. I bought yarn for all 3 boys but he's the only one that seems interested so far.

My new knitting bestie, Sharon, is so crafty! She taught me how to sew these super-cute flat-bottomed drawstring bags, so I bought fabric for all the kids and my family for Christmas. She also taught me to use my needle-punch to finish this kit I bought myself for my birthday last year. I enjoy the craft, although I think I still need some practice. It's fun and a great way to use up scrap yarns! I helped her figure out how to warp her loom, so we are happy to share with each other.

Here are March's and April's homeless sets and potholder/dishcloths gift sets. Since we were gone at the beginning of March, this was practically all I worked on from the time we got home until mid-April. I was so ready to do anything else after 4 weeks of these things! I got to work on my socks that I mentioned and finish a couple of other WIP's at the end of April and I was thrilled before starting on May's sets. I'm about 3/4 of the way finished with May's Christmas gifts.

This was another WIP I started on the cruise and finished in April. I used yarn I bought in Colorado Springs and crocheted this beautiful reversible cowl. It's very warm and a little stiff. I love how the colors look together.

Last, but not least, is this adorable little purple guy my son bought on vacation. He asked me to finish it within a couple of days after arriving home, but it's amigurumi, and it hurt my hands. I was finally able to finish it about a month later, once I figured out how to do the finishing. I don't mind making all the tiny pieces, it's the sewing and finishing that either makes or breaks a cute stuffie. I think this one turned out pretty precious. So that's been the last month and change! Hopefully next month I'll have a pair of socks, a shawl, a gnome, and maybe even a blocked cardigan to showcase. I don't really know what I'm going to be knitting in May, but I would like to warp my loom with some worsted acrylic, and making some very soft scarves with Homespun yarn. I need to re-sew my woven cowl and start cutting out bags for Christmas. We have a trip at the end of June, so I'll be starting another "vacation" project then, so I might just work on one of my blankets for May. Not that I want to be covered in wool all summer, but those are the next big things I need to complete to work through all my WIP's this year. I do have a colorwork scarf I can knit if I get tired of that, as well as a sock monkey and some other stuffie ideas. I might even make another stegosaurus in a bigger yarn for each of the big boys. I also bought supplies to make my own lye soap, cheesemaking, drop-spindle spinning, and natural dying. I need to try my hand at those before my busy fall kicks in. We'll see how I feel after this heat wave!

Back in the swing of things...

We made it through the Bermuda Triangle and home again! It was a lovely trip, and we enjoyed it so much, we've booked another cruise for next year! We didn't get to take all of our children, and weren't planning to take any of them, but we couldn't find someone to watch our littlest for 11 days, so he got to go with us.

Our shipmates

Beach knitting!

Sunset on Sunset Cove, Key Largo

I was able to take 4 projects on our trip, and ended up working on all of them at some point, but I finished one that has been in the works for 2 years. It was a MKAL from 2021 that got too hard when I got to the lace, so I put it in a bag and stuffed it in the closet. Since I'm trying to finish my WIP's this year, I pulled it out and got to work. I finally finished it the last night of our cruise and blocked it when I got home.

Loving the Shetland lace sections!

Beads are so much fun!

Long wingspan

I love how the lace turned out! I had to make an Excel chart of the repeats to finish it, and counted after every. single. row. It was tedious but I really like it.

I also finished a set of cotton dishcloths and pot holders in February. The rest of the month I spent working on the shawl. They are Chiefs' colors and my family are big Chiefs' fans, so I already know where they're going.

February's Christmas gifts

Up next are some precious little hearts I made with leftover yarn for Valentine's Day. We didn't do anything special for our kids or each other, since we were planning our cruise, but my little Blessing got me at bedtime that night. I was putting him to bed and he asked if we were going to go out and get something for them while they were sleeping. He said, “Not candy, but a card or something.” My heart broke and I said there would be something for him when he woke up.

When your sweet little snaggle-toothed baby flat out asks you for a valentine, of course you stay up two hours past your bedtime crocheting him and his brothers something!!

For my sweet valentines

While we were in Florida, I found a GREAT yarn shop that I wish was in my town. I was looking for something local. I had already ordered sock yarn from String Theory Colorworks that was amazing, and she gave me the best customer service experience! I thought it would be fun to find something from Miami and we had some time to kill before our AirBnB was available, so we went to Sheep Thrills. I found this awesome yarn from Circulo there and bought 4 skeins of it and had it hand-crocheted up the first night we got home. I'm keeping my WIP's in it in the living room. My little shipmate also picked out a cute stegosaurus amigurumi kit that I've been working on since we got home. 

Circulo Jumbo XL

I also had another pair of the Candyman socks on my needles. I'm ready to do the heels on them but haven't had a lot of time to work on them since we got home. I also took a hat to start with some yarn I got in Vicksburg last summer, and some yarns I got in Colorado Springs a couple of summers ago and started a crocheted cowl. I finished the hat but don't have the pom-pom on it yet, so I don't have any photos of it. I am about halfway done with the cowl. 

Other than these things, I've been working on my homeless sets for March and April, and I have finished March's Christmas gifts and started April's. I also have a cowl on my loom that I've been weaving on occasionally. Oh, and my new knitting best friend showed me how to sew project bags, so I've got one of those I need to photograph. I'm making them for all the kids for Christmas. 

Silk Ella Rae yarn from our Arkansas trip last fall

It is garden season and along with a new cruise to plan for, we bought a shed for the backyard. It should be installed by the end of April, so we'll be filling it with garden supplies and yard equipment. We'll be cleaning out our sunroom and garage, so I might not have as much time to craft this month. Also, we'll be planting annuals and our veggies. The daffodils and hyacinths waited until we just got home to bloom, so I'll leave you with some sunny flowers!

Let's see if we can make a habit out of this...

 Two, TWO MONTHS in a row!! Woo-hoo! I won't do that every time, but I'm proud of myself for getting to do something that I planned. 

I tried to take photos of everything I finished in January, so here is a "photo drop."

Snowflake ornaments I added to Christmas gifts this year

Little people and the hats and fingerless mittens I made for Christmas

50 curly-q "vines" I made starting in November for VBS at church

Headphone covers my husband asked for two years ago...

My newest skill! Weaving on a rigid heddle loom

Slippers my brother asked for on Christmas to replace his that wore out

Leftover yarn from his scarf that I knit into a simple ribbed hat

Still loving his cat after all these years!

So some of the projects pictured were actually from 2022, but they didn't make the cut last month. I'm amazed that my little guy still carts his beloved "Bobo" around every day and even though she's been repaired more than once, she goes everywhere he goes.

I also made my first weaving project! Warping the loom took quite a while, especially since I had to keep checking the instructions, but the project turned out wonderfully and my hubby loves wearing it already. I realized that it is much nicer to have vertical stripes rather than horizontal because there are far less ends to weave in when it is complete. My in-laws have a couple of projects requested that will be more "tartan" like this plaid, but I think I'll try to keep the stripes in the warp otherwise. I've already got a cowl warped for this month, and I have a friend that is learning to weave along with me. 

My first finished weaving!

I was able to get all the ends woven in on the fingerless mitts and cowls for the homeless, and dropped them off at the shelter this week, along with a hot meal. It was so cold during those few days, so I just took them all, instead of waiting until the end of this year. I should have 11 more sets by the end of 2023. I am halfway through the stash of red yarn I purchased for this endeavor, so hopefully that will make a huge dent in that.

20 crocheted hats, 13 pairs of fingerless mitts and 5 cowls for homeless in our town

I bought a huge stash of cotton yarn for gifts for this year. It has been a few years since I made dish cloths for family and they wear out, and I'm making matching pot holders to go with them. These will be gifts for some of our neighbors and church friends as well as family. I am able to get two sets out of each color set (2 solid and 2 variegated skeins), so 2 gifts completed each month! These are January's:

4 potholders, 5 dish cloths for gifts for Christmas

I also branched out and tried my hand at focaccia yesterday in addition to my rustic sourdough loaf. We're having it with dinner tonight, and it smells amazing with all the herbs and olive oil drizzled over top. We also have some seedlings that need attention, but we're trying to get onions, broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes, asparagus, and indigo for my natural dyeing started indoors this winter. Things are busy around here but we do have some time for fun and games too. I've been teaching the boys how to play solitaire so soon we will be able to play Nertz and I can whip them ;-)

Christmas presents and sandwich loaves of sourdough

I'll be on a cruise this time next month, so I might not have a chance to post, but I should have some great photos for April! I can't decide what to take for knitting on the plane, if they'll even let me. I might have to take a book! Ha! Until next time...

The Return of the Queen

Whew, three years! I can't believe what all has happened in the last three years. First of all, the world shut down and everyone lost their minds for a good long while. Many of them have drank the Kool-Aid and won't come back from that choice, but I feel like most people are coming out of the fog and realizing just how screwed-up everything was, and continues to be. I won't get political here, but I'm looking at life through a very different lens since all that happened.

Let's see...personally, we've had some big changes. Hubby and I have celebrated our 10th anniversary and my 40th birthday, we moved (twice) to be closer to his aging parents, and we've found a fantastic new church in our new town. We've taken up gardening and many aspects of living self-sufficiently, including making many of our own foods and raising chickens! They are precious and so dumb, but we love them. I can't wait to get a few more.

As far as my own interests go, I've been making so many different things. Here are a few of the more fun items I've made over the last couple years:

I love knitting for the ease of it, but I am getting back into crochet this year. I really enjoyed making the doll above (I actually made two with several costume changes!) and I have plans to make a few more stuffed animals before my boys get too big. 

Some of my goals for this new year are to finish all the projects I have knit over the last couple years. I'm great at knitting, but I am not so good at the weaving ends and blocking. I have an entire sweater that needs ends woven and blocked, as well as several shawls. 

I purchased a huge amount (44 skeins!) of HeatWave yarn a couple of winters ago at a major discount and have made and plan to make a hat, cowl and mittens for homeless folks here in town every month. I have several of the mittens knitted but they need ends woven as well. I'm also making dishcloths again for family, friends, and our new church family. I have at least 3 blankets that need worked on and finished. The Ugly Square is coming along nicely as I finish other projects. I may be at a stopping point some time this year, and will add a nice solid border. I am considering this the year I get things finished! Then, I might consider casting on one item at a time, until it's done! Or, at least only one of each type of project...a sweater, socks, a hat, a shawl... It's fun to think about!

Some other new skills I'm looking to start this year are rigid heddle loom weaving, drop-spindle spinning, dyeing fiber with home-grown natural dyes, soap-making, cheese-making, playing electric bass for church, and sewing some of my own clothes! I've got the loom set out and I need to go work on my sourdough right now, so I'll let this be it for today. Hopefully it won't be three years before I'm back again! Ha! Thanks for sticking through it and reading to the end. Now get out there and make something!

Busy little bees

Ideally, I would have posted the last few months, at least monthly. I feel like I haven't really completed enough items but I've got tons of pieces that I've been working on. I guess I'll just share those with you here.

First of all, in my last post, I mentioned the beautiful socks I was knitting for my choir director. I did finish them in time for the end of February and they turned out great! I gave them to my friend and he was so appreciative. He gave me two hugs! (He's a very nice flamboyant man, so no worries.) I liked them so much, I went out and bought myself the same yarns.

March's socks were some that I was very much looking forward to knitting, as they were my Christmas gift (the yarn, anyway). I wanted to knit some fun socks for when I referee volleyball in the fall, and I have to wear boring old black socks. I thought it would be fun to do neon heels, toes, and cuffs, since no one would see them under my pant legs and with my shoes on, so I found a neat pattern and ordered some yarn. I got the black from Knit Picks (Stroll yarn) and the bright colors are not only neon, but black-light reactive! I found them on this amazing shop on Etsy. I want to buy a full skein of it, but it's coming from the U.K. and I need to justify the shipping. Alice, the shop owner, is very generous. She sent me a DK set of minis instead of fingering, and instead of paying shipping to return them, she let me keep them! This is not the last of this yarn! I also have enough for my blanket. The pattern is called Candyman and I think they turned out just perfect.

I'll just keep going with socks while I'm on a roll. April's socks were another pair I was looking forward to. I love the Coffee Talk socks from one of the Grocery Girls. I've been wanting to make a pair for a while. I bought this yarn around Christmas last year as well, from lolodidit, when I bought the yarn for my mom's birthday hat. I don't think I got a photo of the hat up here yet. I have one somewhere. The socks are sparkle, but they weren't that soft. I'm not in love with sparkle yarn, although I have more for July from lolodidit.

I am not a fan of cuff-down socks, and this just reminded me why. I have really big feet and after I knit the cuff and leg for ages, I didn’t have any of the hard stuff done, and I couldn’t try them on until they were about 80% done to make sure they were going to fit. I love the pattern, the striping and the reverse stockinette, but next time I will knit these toe-up. They are still waiting to be blocked, so I still don't have a great photo of them. 

 

I just had to share these photos. My little Blessing insisted on wearing these socks as soon as I had them off the needles. He would not take them off! So cute.

May socks were some quick and easy striped socks for my hubby, using Knit Picks Felici. I have heard great things about this yarn, and while I wanted to try it, I didn't have the budget to spend a lot. I bought this yarn on clearance and wasn't wild about it. The yarn itself is very soft, but the colors just aren't me. My hubby likes them, so they are for him. The stripes are a little flip-flopped, which is fine, and they happened to work out to be within a row of the color changes.

I worked on these during our looooong drive to the Grand Canyon, but the snow (yes, in late May!) was so beautiful, I didn't get a lot of knitting done on them. Toe-up, afterthought heel, taat. I used a pattern, but did not like the fiddly-ness of the cables after the third or fourth repeat. I asked my hubby if he minded that there were only a few cables and he honestly did not even notice.

June's socks are another pair I'm really looking forward to having. The pattern is by Joji Locatelli and it's beautiful. I have some yarn I've been holding on to for years and they are supposed to be fraternal twins, so I am flip-flopping the colors on the 2nd sock. It's been a long time since I've knit just one sock at a time, so I wanted to knit the 2nd one right away, so I don't procrastinate. I'm so close to finishing, and the first sock fits so great!

I guess that's all the socks I've made this year so far. I'm still going strong on the 12 pair goal, although I've fallen behind on my hats. I'm up to 14 now, but I should be at 20-something by this week. I've got to play catch-up this summer in between all my socks and other projects.

Another FO is my Grandma's sweater. I wanted it done before Mothers' Day, which it was. I finished the front and back in March, but I didn't sew it together and knit the sleeve ribbing until the weekend before. At least I got it done. It turned out cute and she loved it. It fit like a glove, and it's very stretchy, so it will fit if she loses weight or gains.

I love the look of the ribbing around the waist, which would be very flattering for boxy shapes. It was quick and easy, but I don't know if I would ever knit it again.

I fell in love with a shawl as soon as I saw it. The colors are what drew me, and it was an obsession for a short time. I bought the pattern and found yarn in my stash that I thought would make a good fade. I settled on these 5, which is going to make this thing massive!

I started with the light yellow and went to the left. It was a sparkle yarn and used all but about 5g. I'm on the third color, and it's like knitting 3 pairs of socks! It is on hold until I finish these current socks and get caught up on hats, and then I'm all over it. It is much larger than this photo by now, but this shows the detail well.

I also participated in the Mystery Knit-a-Long that I mentioned in the last post, and it turned out so beautiful. I *love* how it feels, but I haven't worn it yet. It still needs to be blocked. I had fun waiting each week to find out what each clue would look like.

I also had an order for a baby viking hat and baby beard from my Etsy shop. It used up some of my excess beard yarn and got me some more yarn funds.

I've been wanting to make a colorwork sweater for a while. I know I need to get some practice with making my floats loose enough, so I pulled out this cowl I've had yarn for for a while. I love the little sheep and alpacas! It turned out pretty well, but tons of ends to weave in, and it still is a little tight in parts. I have enough yarn leftover to make something else, whether it be little mitts for one of the boys or something else fun.

As I mentioned above, we went on a trip to the southwest U.S., so I knew we *should* have warm weather. I wanted to make a new swimsuit cover-up for my new swimsuit, and I had some Mandala yarn that I hadn't slated for anything else. I found a great easy pattern that would use up two skeins, which are all I had of that color, which is called Chimera.

The last big project I've started recently was another knit-a-long, for a sweater. I watched a podcast with the pattern author and was riveted. I need another sweater quantity like a hole in my head, but I just wanted to be able to knit the pattern for all the amazing tips. I am convinced that I need to do as many of Patty Lyons' classes as possible, as well as take her course on Bluprint, "Improve Your Knitting."

The current (well, was current) project is the Roselle Tee, which is a short-sleeve tee with a bit of lace on the torso and the sleeves. It is cute, and will be my first summery project. I started it, but made a few mistakes. I also wanted to watch her class and do a good job of knitting well. I am also in the process of losing weight, so I don't want to spend weeks knitting (and purling) a sweater that won't fit great by the time I get it done. I've bought the navy to start with, but I also bought a very pretty teal green.

I really hate ripping things out, especially since half of it is purling, but I already made mistakes, and I think I'll be able to knit a smaller size if I wait.

Well, that does it for all my projects. You're all caught up now. I hope to make several hats over the the summer to stay on track, keep going on all my socks, and finish a couple more shawls this summer, and then start on Christmas gift knitting. Homeschool will start within that time as well, so we'll see how that affects my knitting time. Until next time, keep on crafting!