Last post for 2017

I thought I'd get a post done before the year is over.  I can't believe 2017 is almost over!!

So I am still working on the Wave Cardigan.  I have finally steeked the front of the cardigan and picked up stitches for the neckband.  This pic shows the two sleeves all finished.  Yay!

Both kids were home for Christmas, which is wonderful.  We had a nice time, and we had a white Christmas too!

And finally, a quick year in review.  Here are my finished pieces for 2017. 

Firebirds by Alice Starmore.

Second Grace by Bristol Ivy.

Miss Rachel's Yoke by Kate Davies.

Ilia by Michele Wang.

Tale as Old as Time cowl by Anne Vally.

And the whopper, the Fair Isle Club II blanket by Marie Wallin.

I often wonder if I will get back to stitching or quilting.  We shall see!  I do worry that my eyesight won't hold up to stitching anymore...

Mia was not best pleased about Christmas.  She never is.

Here's to a happy, healthy, and a better 2018.  Happy New Year!

This keeps happening....

How did it get to be almost December?  Yikes!  Well, here I am again, almost at the end of the month.  I have a new project on the needles, the Wave Cardigan, from the Knit Real Shetland book from Jamieson and Smith.  I'm using a kit I bought from J&S.

I'm a bit farther along than that last picture shows.  The first picture is a just because, cause the colors are so pretty.  :)  I have the sleeve steek stitches in and am chugging along on the body of the sweater.

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving in the US.  We were lucky enough to have both kids come home for the weekend.  It was wonderful!

On Saturday, we took advantage of both kids being home, and went off to cut down a Christmas tree for the first time in years.

It was a lovely day.  And we found a new kind of fir that we really like -- a Canaan Fir.  We've never gotten a tree so early.  I hope it lasts for Christmas.  It smells heavenly!

Mia was a bit disgruntled by the extra people in the house.  She's sleeping it off now.  Silly cat.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

Just a bit of crochet left.... (never mind, I finished...)

I have been meaning to make my October post, but I kept putting it off, thinking I might have a finish to show.  Well, I'm close, at least.  Here is my Fair Isle Club 2 blanket from Marie Wallin -- all the knitting is finished, just a tiny crochet border to finish.  (Which I finished after all!)

This was such a fun project to knit.  At times, the long rows seemed a bit endless, but mostly, it was just a pleasure.  I didn't follow the rules, though.  I knitted each section in the round and steeked.  I was supposed to knit the sections flat.

I would be finished with the blanket, but my arm muscles are not used to the twisting motions required of me for long periods of time with crochet.  So I had to give the border up for the day on Monday.  I will do more as my muscles allow.

Lots has happened during October.  DS has moved 6 hours drive away -- that's probably the biggest news.  We have an empty nest once again.  The Father type and I went on vacation -- to NYC.  It was fun to "live" in the city for a week.  And I got to go to Rhinebeck -- The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival on the Sunday of the festival.  I went because I wanted to learn double knitting, and Sockmatician, aka Nathan Taylor was teaching.  And I succeeded!

Here I am with the man himself, wearing my Firebirds cardigan (which I realized I've never taken a picture of with me in it, so to speak).  I'm wearing my Walking Tour scarf around my waist since I knew it would warm up enough later in the day not to be sweater weather.

My finished double knitting heart, which I actually finished after class.  Double knitting is a technique that gives you a two-sided piece of knitting.  No carrying of floats or twisting of yarns -- just the same image reversed.  (Don't look too closely.)

My Rhinebeck haul -- a sweater's worth of yummy Cormo yarn from Fox Hill Farm, a cute felted llama with knitted hat, and two lovely mugs from the same artist (Stratford House Pottery).  (And there is my double knitted heart showing the reverse side of the heart.)

And of course I saw some sheep.  :D

And earlier in the month, a bit of NYC happened.

There was more, but I'll leave it there for now (since my uploading doesn't seem to be able to access the rest.  Sigh.).

Mia, of course, is Mia.

Happy Halloween, for those who celebrate it!

progress....

Just a quick post to show off my fair isle blanket thus far.  I've got 7 out of 10 sections finished and am started on the 8th.  And I'm loving this blanket.  So much.

This is the Fair Isle Club 2 blanket by Marie Wallin.  I'm rebelling by knitting each section in the round, complete with steeks.  My fingers are tightly crossed that I won't run out of yarn.

Various other events have occurred since my last post, including a fun day with the Boy Child as he set up for viewing the (70%) solar eclipse on August 21.  It was pretty cool, even without a total eclipse involved.

Father type kindly took pics of me modeling my Ilia sweater, which I finished way back when but never showed off on my body.  We went to the Walkway Over the Hudson, so I thought it was a good time for a photo shoot.

And here is a pic from our actual birthday celebrations for the Girl Child, way back in August.

I probably missed something in there, but you get the gist of it all.

Mia says good night.....

Happy birthday to my sweet girl

Need I say more?  It's been amazing to watch you grow into the lovely young woman you are.  I love you so much!

This is going to take a while....

I figured I'd dash into the ole blog and put up a post.  The time is flying, and I just keep not blogging!  Poor neglected blog.  I'm trying to stick to once a month at least, and I think I'm managing that.

Anyway, here is my current project -- it's Marie Wallin's Fair Isle Club 2 blanket, and it's big.  If you go to the link, you can see pictures of the whole thing.  I've finished 3 parts (the parts came out monthly) and am currently knitting the 4th part.  Here are the first 3 parts.

I'm going against how it's supposed to be knitted (which is to knit each part flat) and knitting each part in the round with steeks.  Hopefully I won't run out of yarn this way!  I just can't get my tension right when I knit color work flat.  The purling -- just can't do it!

Here is where I am currently.  Why am I knitting a big blanket during the summer months?  Hot!!!

I'm really enjoying the knit though.  The color work is easily memorizable as you knit a row, and it's a pleasure.  As the blanket grows, I have a feeling I will start flagging, though.  I hope not!

Before I started this blanket project, I finished another project -- I needed a mindless knit after all the sweaters I'd been knitting.  So I picked up that lovely double skein I'd shown in my last post, and knitted the Tale as Old as Time Cowl, with the La Belle et La Bette yarns from Must Stash Yarn.

It's fun to knit self striping yarn!

During the month of July, the father type and I managed to go see Hello Dolly on Broadway.  Sadly, it wasn't Bette Midler in the lead role that day, but it was still a wonderful performance.

And we got to go out to dinner with the girl child for my birthday too.  it was very nice!

Mia and the boy child have been getting along fairly well recently.

Hope everyone's summer is going well!