woolythyme

summertime....and the knitting is easy

Nothing easier than garter stitch.  And making strips...skinny ones separating wider ones....has made this a portable summer project.  And a stash-buster...grab a leftover ball of fingering weight, knit to the end...grab another...knit.knit.knit.  As awful as some of the color combinations might initially appear, in the overall scheme of the blanket, they seem to be working just fine.  

I thought this might be the last strip...but who was I kidding?  I'll need at least another skinny one and one more wide one.  Miles yet to go....but, months left of the summer.  We have at least two major road trips coming up....I'm golden for a 'first-frost-finish' goal. 

This poor Citron was languishing in the closet, waiting for a good blocking...which just happened this weekend.  To celebrate its official completion...another was cast on.

 Ravelry automatically named this one citron-7 (as compared to the blue one which is named citron-6.)  I guess Ravelry is keeping track for me....I do love this pattern, and it has turn into my go-to charity shawl.  Another easy, forgiving (if you get the stitch count off...no worries), almost mindless, portable summer project.

Summertime knitting may be easy, but I just dragged out something that's proving a bit more challenging....

at least until I find my embroidery threads.

 

a week of slow stitching...

A week of slow stitching....is slow.  I don't have much to show for it. And I'm fine with that.  This little lap quilt is growing on me, even though I've done absolutely everything wrong.  

This may have been a kit.  I forget.  The colours are all wrong for me and my house, but I really like them; someone did a nice job of choosing them, it just wasn't me.  When I cut the squares, I paid absolutely no attention to grain of the material.  I didn't pay any attention to the slight stripey pattern.  The squares are all wonky.  But it's OK.  I also failed to pre-wash the fabric.  Is this really a cardinal sin in sewing?  Ignorance is bliss, and I'm pretty blissful at the moment, so please don't ruin it for me.  (I 'found' it this far assembled while gathering all my 'sewing' stuff for our new addition/renovation.  How many years ago was this started? Beats me.)

And my quilting!  eep!  I thought I'd try a little kantha-look and started the running stitches rather close together.  Too close.  So after the first block was quilted, I simply followed the horizontal seam lines.  Now the stitch lines are too far apart.  I'm 'filling' in.  I think you are supposed to start at one end and quilt to the other....not hop all over the place.  The back isn't real pucker-y, just a little.  Maybe when it's washed, those puckers will shrink out since I didn't preshrink. (Now that would be a happy coincidence!)  I have about 5 more lines to quilt, then I'll add some kind of binding.  I have no idea how to do this, either, so I'll wing it like the rest of the project.  (My fingers are totally chewed up at this point....I never learned how to sew with a thimble.  Knitting is FAR kinder to my hands!)

 

I faithfully stuck to my February stitch journal (yep, a WHOLE week---don't hold your breath that this will last the whole month!).  Just a few stitches every day, the colour of the day inspired by the early morning sky.  I had no intention to be representational and yet that seems to be happening.  How could I not stitch in the flock of geese migrating?  Or the bird seed flying from the feeders and covering the patio?  A bright yellow goldfinch swept onto a feeder a few minutes ago....yellow might appear on the linen today.

slow, steady...no destination, no 'end'.....a process not a product.  Fun.

why did i wait so long......and goodbye, facebook

I've had this little piece of embroidery for years, and for most of those years, it's been hanging out in the drawer.  Oh, it got a little love now and again, but always got stuffed back in time-out before it was finished.

Yesterday, it saw the light of day again.  And I finished it. It's 'finished' as any piece of embroidery can be because, let's face it...you can continue to stitch and stitch and stitch until every tiny space is filled.  So, I guess I just decided it was 'done-enough'.

This morning it became a pillow.

and was immediately adopted.

 

I used an old (old old old old old old feather pillow in a ticking cover) that probably has a 100 years of smells only a dog can smell.  (for an old pillow, to me, it smells just fine)

Someone is in love.

 

 

 

 

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And now...the Facebook thing.  I'm hardly ever on that format/platform/whatever you call it.  Somehow, though, my blog is.  It appears there rather magically, but I think I've finally figured out how to remove it.  ( With Facebook being mostly a picture and a few words space...I don't think it's a very good place for my blog that sometimes gets wordy and sometimes is overrun with photos.)  I have been rather surprised to discover, though, that some people actually read the blog there.  ???? really???  If you happen to be one of them and would like to continue following Freddy and me (since he's sort of taken over the blog lately), on the sidebar is a button to click to follow me on Bloglovin'---an easy way to follow that will bring our knitting adventures to your email box whenever we post.  

We're also on Instagram @woolythyme1, a format that I'm loving increasingly more and more. (In fact, I'm there toooo much...and am toooo distracted by it!!!  I thought I hit 'publish' on this post days ago and haven't been back since!!  eeep....is that indicative of what the future might hold???  It seems more and more of my blog friends have switched to Instagram. Any opinions???) 

scotland....one final time

Thank you all for the kind words and keen reception for my recent holiday posts.  But, honestly, how many more days can this enthusiasm last?  So this is the last Scotland vacation post!

 

There are many, many reasons to take a guided tour--especially when it's your first time visiting a country.  But, there are probably just as many reasons that (for me) this is not always ideal.

• Put me in a museum, and I can stay for days.  A tour allows you usually an hour at best.
• I love taking pictures.  A bus isn't ready to stop at everything I deem a Kodak moment. (And it doesn't back up, either, for the drive-bys that I miss.)
• I love 'local'.  Compromises must be met, and dinners are far too often at hotels that will accommodate a tour group of 30 rather than at pubs or local eateries.
• I read rather extensively before going on a trip, and there are things that I just simply want to see and do.  Some of those things don't make the tour itinerary.

 

 

So, this time, I'd like to share with you what I didn't see but desperately wish I had.

We spent truly a lovely two weeks steeped in the rich history of this wonderful country.  If I had been making the trip itinerary, I would have ended the trip with a visit to this.

The Great Tapestry of Scotland was the brainchild of author Alexander McCall Smith, historian Alistair Moffat, and artist Andrew Crummy.  The 165 panels celebrate the 420 million year history and achievements of this beautiful land from the Ice Age to the 21st century.  More than 1,000 volunteer stitchers (over 40 named Margaret!), working for 55,000+ hours (the equivalent to sewing 24 hours a day for 6 years), using 300 miles of wool created this 143 metres long masterpiece, which is now touring the country.  While we were there it was visiting Kirkcaldy, just outside of Edinburgh.

What a great 'summation' of our two weeks of Scottish history this could have been.

 

Ah, yes.  Definitely a similarity!!

 

Yep.  Visited his statue in Edinburgh.

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Rennie Macintosh...I showed you Hill House and the exhibit at Kelvingrove and the the Glasgow School of Art in an earlier post...

 

 

Saw his statue, too....

and rubbed his big toe, for luck...

 

 

 

 

On a very very sad note....

Panel 36, depicting the Rosslyn Chapel, stitched in Roslin by 'The Apprentice Stitchers' was stolen from Kirkcaldy while we were in Scotland.  More intrigue added to the already mystery-laden story of the Chapel.

 

In looking through the 165 panels depicted in the best souvenir I brought home (but didn't actually see)....I've found many many reasons for a return trip someday.

 

Until then, I'll have to be content with...

a little stitching of my own...

Hoping I can do it justice!!!

banana, nana, bo-nana....

It's done.

 

And it's definitely something to sing about!

 

Some of the blooms on two of my new tallardias sort of match.   (Use your imagination, OK?)  Some friends and I visited this grower/distributor today; I bought 4.  He had over 300 varieties.  Is that GREAT restraint, or what?

 

* * * * * * * * 

Now.  Back to the regularly scheduled embroidery program.

 

yarnalong...minus the yarn

An old sampler finally was made into a little project bag....a bit of embroidery added to the back just for good measure  (because I've become somewhat obsessed).

 

 

 

 

And then I turned to some of those 'free' muslin bags that things are shipped in...

 

Three new project bags!!  Time to cast on.

Maybe this? or this? I impulsively bought the yarn for this in Nashville last weekend.

Or this?  No, that won't fit in these bags. Guess I'll have to stitch another one.

  

Who had time to read this week?!?!  (Still working my way through The White Queen.)

 

 

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The sampler is a Rebecca Ringquist design.  

The flowers are just doodles I stitched.  Maybe if this obsession continues, I could add a few more 'layers' and make them look more Angie Lewin-esque.  Love her work!

 

 

joining Ginny for yarnalong.

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Skirt Pocket

weekending....

 

A little of this....

• road tripping with friends to a fiber festival
• popping into a yarn shop
• popping out of the yarn shop with some yarn

A little of that....

• road trip knitting on this
• finishing this
• peach/blueberry pie baking

And a whole lot of this...

This piece is finished except for putting something on the 'banner'...any ideas? and turning it into something.....any ideas?

I finally got around to covering an old cigar box...did a little embroidery on the top and had planned to do more.  Got a bit carried away with the glue too soon.

 

  

Its job is to hold current embroidery WIPs.

 

So far so good.

 

done?.....or DONE!

When do you consider a project done?

Rill using Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb

Antarktis from a mystery skein

 

The knitting is finished on both, but both are residing in the to-be-blocked pile.  Are they done?  (hee hee According to my Ravelry page they are.)

 

The design is embroidered.  It's ready to join 8 other pieces that are in the same stage of 'done'.  But are they?

 

Barley from a teeny left over ball of something

 

Definitely...DONE!  It has a pompom.

awash with color....

More color than you've seen on this blog in awhile!  

I can't seem to put the embroidery away....I even bought a couple new colors to add to the box.  Usually, I'm quite happy to just look at the colors in the box....but I've actually been stitching on the paisley sampler (a Dropcloth sampler design).  If I knew what it was going to turn into when completed, I might have more incentive to finish.  Right now I'm just enjoying the journey.

The orphan ball of sock yarn has been kicking around in the stash so long that the ball band totally faded.  It's a Lorna's Lace sock weight---bought shortly after Lorna Miser started her company in the late 80s.  It was beautiful.  It was quite unique for its day.  I had to have it.  And it was on sale (reason there was only one!)

I came across this pattern...and one skein should make the pair.  It was worth the 25-year wait.

A Perfect Red rounds out my 'colorful' week.  The book blurb sums it up well:  'A delightful, rollicking history. A fun read, well supported by extensive research...'

 

 

Joining Ginny for yarnalong and Nicole for Keep Calm and Craft On.

friends.....

There are the friends to whom  you simply cannot say 'no'....

because they are so soft-spoken, and generous, and thoughtful and you wished you were more like them....  (although I DO wish there was NOT a deadline on this little ditty!!!!)

 

There are virtual friends, you've never met....

who were willing to drop everything to send  the 'recipe' for mittens.  (Thanks, Leigh!!!)

The mittens have proven to be the perfect 'break' when my eyes can't focus anymore on the cross-stitch.  One pair of mittens = m-a-y-b-e 1/10 of the sampler....which means my Christmas knitting might be finished by the time the sampler is!!  (this is, of course, a pie in the sky dream which will never happen....the sampler has a deadline, remember?)

Love the mittens. (and the freedom of no pattern)

 

And then there is my photo-bombing furry friend...

 He loves the mitens, too.