Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Spring

I think it is funny when someone says a word or phrase incorrectly.  My granddaughter said she has a footdad.  She meant stepdad.  Foot, step; so similar. LOL  The other day a lady was in our office and talked about a neighbor child who was autistic.  She kept saying that the child was artistic.  

Isn't spring beautiful?  It has taken about 25 years to get the wisteria to bloom so well.  The fragrance permeates the air on the strong, Kansas winds.



 In the back of the house, I have a lilac bush.  I had to bring some lilac beauty and fragrance in the house.  I had to place one of my socks from a current project onto the table.


Grandbaby 1 and I planted herbs together last week.  We had a pretty good success rate.  The packages were kits so it would have been hard to mess up.
  



I started making fireplace mantle covers, dresser scarves, buffet covers, or whatever they can be used for covers.  One edge has hand dyed wool locks which can go to the front edge, or hang over the front edge.  This one is reversible and totally different.  


See the new chicks.  They are growing!  I may have eggs this time next year.  Last week we lost one of our adult chickens to a neighborhood dog attack.  A second chicken lost her tail feathers.  She may have a bite on the top of her back, but she is holding on well.  The third one was not injured and gives moral support to the injured one.  We have a variety of colors and breeds with the new chicks.  

What projects are you working on?  I have some project bags ready to sew.  I hope to start a knitted pillow, another pair of socks, and a large rug.  

Have a great week!!!  Dawnie


Tuesday, April 16, 2019

2 Pair of Socks



I forgot to share with you my sock pictures.  The first one is cherry chip colorway from SMAK Super Fibers.  The toes are hand dyed and have sparkle. The manufacturer is unknown.  The bottom socks are made with yarn from Hue Loco.  The colorway is no longer available.  The toes have an added lace thread of Tussock yarn in the pink joy colorway from Purl Soho.  This yarn is made with 60% kid mohair and 40% silk.



The socks above were experiments on size of needles and number of stitches.  The body is plain.  I used an afterthought heel on both.  The heels are made differently on both pair.

Thank you for viewing!  Dawnie




Thursday, April 11, 2019

Birthday cupcakes and socks


I had a birthday this week and a  co-worker made adorable cupcakes.   See the spool of thread?




Above is a baby picture of me.   How old do you think I am?
Hint, the picture is in black and white.



I am still making socks.  I have made a few changes to the original basic plain socks.  I had to change to a size 0 needle, instead of using size 2.  The 0 needle is close to the size of a toothpick!  I also decreased the number of stitches from 64 to 60.  This was still not enough to hug my foot correctly.  I decreased the stitches by 4 again, after the heel and instep area.  I also made changes to the heel.  The above sock was made using an afterthought heel.  I experimented with my method and I am still tweaking it.  

I am making another pair of socks and they seem to be much better, but I am still thinking about the heel.  The corners of the heel tend to have larger holes in the stitches and it is not attractive.  Even the best knitters have issues with this.  This problem arises with the traditional method of making socks and with an afterthought heel.  An afterthought heel is when a sock is made without adding a heel until after the sock is made.  Then stitches are picked up where the heel would go and it is knitted in.  
One sock finished!


Heel

Toe

Cuff

How have you been?  Are you working on any projects?  I would love to hear from you.

Have a great week!  Dawnie