Some more ramblings...

Not too long ago, a very breezy day, the bay was choppy and the sea birds were all hunkered down on pier pilings left over from Katrina.

This guy was eyeing the bait of a nearby fisherman. We were able to get pretty close before he started to move away.

And something I've rarely seen, on the side of a house in Bogalusa, a walking stick. Amazing.

Another view of the wrought iron balcony of 220 North Beach Restaurant, so pretty, and not in New Orleans, right here in Bay St. Louis.

I continue to work on socks and am contemplating a shawlette from the Jane Austen Knits special issue from Interweave. Dealing with sick car and hence a new car, that already has a slight transmission problem, being serviced as I write, but as it gets terrific gas mileage I am thrilled.

A beautiful day today, nice and warm, a bit of rain in the forecast, a good day to make something yummy in the kitchen. Hmmmm.

Colors changing softly

So here is the shawl blocked, a detail, showing the subtle color changes. This was the yarn I spun from the Colinette roving, already dyed, 100% merino, lovely.

From a little further away; I added one more repeat of the petal pattern, and I really enjoyed working the leaf edging. It worked up quickly. If I didn't mention it before, this is a design by Bonnie Evans and can be found in Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders edited by Judith Durant.

These leaves changing color reminded me of the subtle, soft colors of the shawl and vice versa.

And a shawl too

My fingers were itching to do something other than socks for a little bit of a break, plus I had this skein of Colinette's dyed roving that I had spun up just sitting there begging to be put to use. So I went looking for a shawl pattern and came across this one in 'Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders' edited by Judith Durant. It is the 'Petal Shawlette' by Bonnie Evans, who explains that this is an adaption of an old tablecloth design from 'The First Book of Modern Lace Knitting'. One of the things I really like about the pattern is that the center line of eyelets that usually adorn the middle of top down triangular shawls is joined by many other lines of eyelets and so seems more a part of the shawl and not just a line on which to fold the shawl when storing. I know some who consider that an eyesore.

It is growing nicely and I am enjoying seeing how the colors work out. It is not a very big piece, hence 'shawlette', but I think it will work nicely as a scarf this fall/winter.

Ok, so I've been knitting socks...

I broke down and bought Ann Budd's 'Sock Knitting Master Class' when I opened it up and saw the 'Stealth Argyles' designed by Eunny Jang. I'd been wanting to do a pair of Argyles for my brother, but when I saw these, I thought 'Perfect!' only two colors to deal with and no bobbins..and being constructed by shadow knitting the pattern vanishes depending on viewpoint and becomes a simple pair of striped socks. Brilliant! Rather quick to knit as I wanted to see how it was going to work out!

Next I tried Cat Bordhi's 'Pussy Willow Stockings', also a very fun knit, although I felt that I was in danger of breaking my dpn when I got to the slip stitch part of the heel..the stitches are slipped purlwise through the back loop, and it took me awhile to settle down with it. Another thing it revealed to me is something you can see better in the close-up:

Look at the difference in the size of the eyelets from one sock to the other. The sock on the right is for the right foot and the eyelet is nice and loose; in contrast the eyelet on the left sock is smaller and tighter. The only thing I can figure out is that on the looser eyelet, a m1 increase is performed before the yo, and in the tighter version it is performed after the yo. I believe this operation tightened the eyelet, and I'm thinking that I should have tried a different increase. Any ideas? Suggestions?

I went rummaging around in my sock yarn stash and found this partially knit sock (which in the meantime has been re-knit). This is a Classic Elite sock kit from many many moons ago using Fox Fibre Naturally Colored Cotton, in a simple lace rib pattern. I had cast on more stitches than called for to make it for me, but I have decided to make it for someone else with smaller feet who won't wear wool. Hence, ripping out and casting on fewer stitches. Almost to the heel flap.

I do want to return to Ann Budd's book as there are several other sock patterns in there that are attracting my attention, including two that allow you to totally reknit the sole when necessary without reknitting the whole sock or even the instep again. I do recommend the book as worth perusing for beyond the ordinary socks, not to mention that it is accompanied by a DVD that demonstrates some of the techniques used.

Dreaming of California Sunsets...

Days and days of wet grey skies led to my getting my skein of 'dreaming of California sunsets' out of my stash and turning my hand to Susanna IC's Annis shawl. Tropical storm 'Lee' didn't do much here in BSL other than keep us off the streets and safely tucked inside with an excellent excuse to knit.

Quick knit, really, and fun. Not too much lace and then mindless short rows to the end.

I like the sheerness of it and the lightweight nature of the shawl. And the good news is that I still have about half a skein left of this colorway to do something else with. So I will continue to dream about watching the sun set over the Pacific....

Ready to sew

I'm gearing up to sew today. I have a rare day off and nothing else scheduled. I have a dress cut out and the bodice front already pieced together. I also want to make a skirt, A-line, simple out of a Hawaiian print. If I don't spend too much time here I can get started!

The two little 'Bo Peep' skirts I made earlier this summer, for a one year old and her three year old sister. They were fun to make. Both the skirts and the pin cushion ball caddy above are from Anna Maria Horner's 'Seams to Me'-24 New Reasons to Love Sewing. Fun book, fun patterns.

Now to work!

What have I been doing this hot, hot summer?

My skein of hand dyed and handspun fiber that I called 'Beach Glass' has become an 'Old Shale' shawl, one of Evelyn Clark's designs from a back issue of Spin Off magazine. I have made this shawl once before in the Matisse colorway that my friend Martie dyed, only this time I did the picot bind off rather than a plain bind off and I really like the way it turned out.

I look like a refugee in the snow however this was an attempt at a self portrait in the mirror and the flash did interesting things that look like sparkly snow flakes and I liked the effect, I especially like what the colorway does to my eyes...

A little detail shows the lovely lacey effect of the picot bind off.

Sometime earlier this summer my  LYS started carrying roving, dyed by Colinette. It is 100% merino fiber, and it wasn't until I got it home that I read the label more closely and saw that it was especially made for felting. Ah well, I spun it anyway.

5 ounces became 714 yards, not quite as many as I had hoped, however I should be able to get a nice size scarf or shawl out of it. My hand spun stash is growing and I have to keep working at finding or creating patterns to make with them. In the meantime I am also trying to work on socks...

Cherri, from our Friday Mockingbird knitting group gave me this yarn and pattern (she got from a sock knitting club) and I really enjoyed the knitting. Easy to memorize pattern and an 8 row repeat makes it easy to note the progress.

I've been wanting to knit socks for family members living in California. Last Thursday I got a happy call from my sister who was phoning from my older brother's wedding reception! I had no idea he had decided to marry, and as the two have been together for the last five years they have everything they need and, no, they didn't 'register' anywhere. As I was knitting this sock when I received the call I blurted out that I would make them each a pair of hand knit socks, and the idea was accepted. Any ideas for wedding socks?

I leave you with the view out my window taken earlier last week when we had an almost full moon rising, visible through the leaves of the tree next door; pardon the odd reflection of the flash and the light from my room...

Back to knitting socks.

A little relief

On our way out of Bay St. Louis the other day, the clouds made an impression, especially as they promised relief from the heat that everyone seems to be suffering.

Oddly enough in our travels we didn't get wet! We did get to admire this rain and the rays of sun shining through the clouds from a little distance,

And at the end of the day enjoyed the colors of the sunset.

 And yes, it is raining this morning, as it did yesterday, so we are starting the day nice and cool.

Rainy Days

So out of focus but love the brilliance of this sky, afternoon thunderstorm drifting to the east, evening sunset, bringing relief from the incredible heat we were experiencing. 105 degree heat index. Too hot to work on anything much. Just a few miles back we saw this rainbow.

By the time I got my camera out it had faded quite a bit, but again, the colors are so lovely. We have pop up thundershowers in the forecast again, but so far we haven't received rain from them. We need the rain.

As for me, it has been little projects, installing a zipper in a dress that was purchased discount because the zipper was broken, making a pair of footlets for a friend who complains of her feet being cold even in this hot weather, trying to knit a few rows on my 'beach glass' shawl, and practicing my embroidery stitches for the Daisy Chain Sampler from Alicia Paulson's posie rosy little things shop which finally arrived in the mail on Tuesday. It is lovely, I love the colors, it has been many many moons since I embroidered anything, and it just appealed to me all of a sudden. Happened to catch it before she sold out (in pre-orders no less), but you can still purchase the pattern from her shop if you wish.

In the meantime, I went a little bit crazy, let's call it the heat, shall we? And hacked off three to four inches of my hair. A pound lighter and much cooler, and it will always grow again, won't it?

Some things are just too beautiful or too cute to pass up; note this cactus flower, even against the asphalt of the parking lot in front of Los Tres Amigos, a local Mexican restaurant, brilliant in its beauty.

And then there is Sophie in her new dress showing off all her lovely new teeth. No doubt about it, she's a happy little girl.

As for me, I've been sewing...duplicates of what I showed in last post only in different fabrics, a skirt in the same print as the peacock looking fabric only in more subtle shades of brown, and a dress, in the same fabric as the blue dress only this time in a reddish purple, with a lavender trim. I cut it a size smaller too and am a lot happier with the fit.

Finished knitting Sophie's dress and decided she had to have it right away, she's getting so big, she probably won't be able to wear it very long.

I feel as if I have become a sewing fanatic, which is slightly refreshing after a terrifically long drought of not sewing; I have one more dress cut out already and bought fabric for another skirt, although my idea at the time was to add a skirt to a t-shirt and make a dress of it (?) but may be losing my nerve. Any thoughts?

Despite the fact that it is way too hot to do anything except trying to stay cool and visit with friends, it is a nice feeling to know I'm getting a few things done.

My recent experience making the crib quilt forced me to dust off my sewing machine and I enjoyed sewing so much that I decided to try my hand at making something I would actually wear!

I had been collecting some skirt patterns since arriving in Mississippi after Katrina. (In a wild moment in packing to leave California I threw all my sewing patterns away-not a good move).

What made me gasp was taking my measurements and then comparing them with the size/measurements on the back of the pattern envelope. Deep breath, and remember, it is only a number!

There are fabric stores in Slidell, Louisiana, and Gulport, MS, both about 1/2 hour away, then there is the local WalMart. For whatever reason, the powers that be decided to leave intact the fabric section of the Bay St. Louis/Waveland store, although they have closed them in the other stores in the area. That is where I found these fabrics. The first photo shows a Simplicity pattern, #4137, one of their 'it's so easy it's simplicity' patterns. And it was easy. The only change I made was to line the yoke.

This skirt was easier yet, and is an Anna Maria Horner freebie pattern, downloadable in pdf format, and super simple to follow, super directions. The changes I made were simply to add the self-lined patch pockets, in order to be able to use some antique pearl buttons from my mom's/grandmother's button collection. Check out Anna Maria's blog, always tons of good information and inspiration.

Then I thought I might try a dress...another 'it's so easy it's Simplicity' # 2199. I like it a lot because besides being all cotton and wonderfully comfortable to wear, it is long enough for me, not easy to find in ready to wear.

So that's what I've been up to; time to get back to knitting, but also want to make another skirt, this time the Bo-Peep skirt from Anna Maria Horner's 'Seams to Me' book, and this one for a 3 year old. Photo promised.

Recent visitors to our garden

This sweet redbellied woodpecker has been visiting us a lot recently. He seems fairly small, so I assume him to be young. I love to hear his cat like mewlings in the trees; I run to see if I can catch a glimpse of him and was rewarded with these pics.

Here he visits the feeding station. I think he may eat a seed or two or three and then grabs some more and flies up to the trees, to hoard?

I was so pleased to see the grobecks back this year, sorry for the fuzzy shot, just love him peeking out from behind the 'pagoda'.

Could he get any fatter? I know he must have just fluffed up his feathers and settled down to his meal but from this angle he doesn't seem to need any more!

A bird of a different feather also enjoys feeding. This morning I watched him take a nice bath in the fresh water I had just replaced; now you know my pleasant routine: after filling the feeders and giving fresh water, I sit back on the screened porch and enjoy my breakfast whilst being entertained by what my husband calls the live 'Disney channel'.

Sorry, no pics to prove it, but I did enjoy watching a little wren bringing nesting materials to this potted plant. She would approach cautiously, landing on the ground to scope things out, with what appeared as a bristly white mustache, then she would fly up to the plant and hop in and the plant would go swinging lightly and moving up and down for awhile, then she would fly off to collect some more materials off in the distance. This morning I peeked and she has a beautiful nest prepared. No eggs yet, and I'm hoping that it is high enough not to get wet when the plant is watered. I will try to water carefully!

Nod to the Royal Wedding

Our Mockingbird knitters group decided it would be fun to wear hats for our Friday morning gathering this week in honor of the Royal Wedding. Some of us even woke up to watch the festivities live; then, as each of us arrived with our hats decorated in various ways, we ooh-ed and ahh-ed and went to get our coffee. Marsha lamented that she hadn't thought to bring champagne in time to do so. We asked Laura if the Mockingbird Cafe had any on hand, and to our surprise, she brought out a bottle compliments of the house!

Here you see our group after a sip or two of the bubbly showing off jewelry (at least two of our members wore versions of the royal engagement ring) and practicing the royal wave. Marsha sent this to me and titled it: God save the Queen from the Mockingbird Knitters!

We had lots of fun commenting on how beautiful everyone looked, both here and at the REAL wedding, and I believe everyone enjoyed the break in routine. It was suggested that we include champagne more often. Don't know how much knitting we'd ever get done...hmmm.

On reading my last post I realize I was certainly not clear about the quilting of this crib quilt. I had the pleasure and satisfaction of hand quilting in my lap, without a frame or hoop, and seeing that although the stitches are far from perfect, the result was pleasing. What's more, I enjoyed it thoroughly, and can hardly wait to try it again.

My very first and only other quilt I made back in 1974 (!) and pieced entirely by hand; it was a Wild Goose Chase quilt with nine blocks and by the time I finished piecing it I certainly didn't feel like quilting it so I just tied it in the corners and centers of the blocks. I certainly lacked patience back then. I wanted everything done in a hurry.

I'm glad I've changed at least that much!

Bee quilting...

Back to spring for a moment or two; we have had some cool days, then some hot and humid days and then blissfully a little cold front with clear skies and blossoms perfuming the air..

and happy bees, busy... as busy as my fingers were this last week....

when I decided to make my first quilt in thirty five plus years, and the first one I didn't even quilt! I just tied it together...Inspired by so many, Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Quiltmaking, Anna Maria Horner's blog which includes lovely clear tutorials, Alicia Paulson's blog which recently showed a BEAUTIFUL log cabin style quilt she made and included a link to a video tutorial on how to easily piece a log cabin block.. well after all this time I just couldn't resist. Plus I cheated. Well, at least I didn't have to cut all the strips for the blocks. I found a rondelle of fabric strips at Wal-Mart that had three strips each of eight different yet coordinating fabrics, and that was my start.

Here is my finish, one week later.

And here is the reaction I got when I gave the quilt to its intended owner! She started laughing and gathering it all around her, happy as a bee sucking honey. Then she got tired and I got to rock her to sleep wrapped in it, and then..

left her in her crib. Bliss is a happy baby.