On the Needles - 8/23/2013

I finally fired up my courage and blocked Cloud Illusions!

I had never blocked a knitted project before, and I hit a roadblock when I realized that I might need blocking wires - which I didn't have.  A few knitting friends suggested that I could probably get away with not using them on this shawl if I was careful to not pull the neck out of shape too badly, so I decided to go ahead and try it.

This shawl turned out to be quite huge!!!  It is much larger after blocking than I thought it would be!  I used the directions for the extended body section because it seemed to be working up very small, but in hindsight, I'm thinking I could have stayed with that smaller size and been fine.  Look at how I had to add another piece of matting, and a small portion was still on the carpet.  One of these days I'll invest in another yoga mat to replace that piece of one LOL!!!  I think I cut that one up a couple of years ago to have pieces that I could kneel on in the flower beds.  It sure came in handy to have it!

Doesn't the lacework look pretty?  I can hardly believe I actually did that!!!  

I'm not sure I did everything correctly during the blocking process, even though I had a supervisor in the room with me.  Gypsy sniffed around a few minutes to see what in the world I was up to crawling around on the floor with wet stuff and pins, but I think she quickly decided that her bath was much more urgent and satisfying LOL!!!

Of course, I have to show you a few more views of the shawl....     =^..^=

...............on the love-seat in the living room - the light coming in the window washed out those gorgeous colors, but I like the way it shows off the expanse and delicacy of the lacework ....

It's so long, I can't even reach to each tip!!!

Overall, I would have to say that I'm happy with my first knitted shawl, and my first lacework project!

Next in line is to get busy on the Dreambird Shawl!  We start the KAL on August 25th!!!!

My current project to keep my needles busy until I can get back to Dreambird is a much smaller one....  

This is the Noro Bias Lace Scarf pattern (free on Ravelry!) using a Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn in a range of deep, rich fall colors.  I love the diagonal design to it!  I'm not really very fond of the yarn - it is not as soft as I would like and it curls up quite a lot off the skein.  But you all know I'm a COLOR girl, and those colors just sucked me in!!!

Be sure to go to Patchwork Times to see what others are creating On The Needles!

I know I haven't shared a lot of quilting items lately, but there's a very good reason for that.  I have been busy, busy, busy at the sewing machine, but I haven't been able to show you....

What am I sewing, you may want to know?  

Well..... come back on Monday to see!  

That's the day that I magically turn into a Hexie Queen!!!

I hope you've all been following the Hexie Queen blog hop so far!  Madame Samm and Cheerleader Debby Kratovil have put together a doozy of a blog hop for our entertainment!  And I have been simply amazed at the abundance of wonderfully creative hexie projects being shown!  Click HERE to find all the posts!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

On the Needles - 8/9/13

Just a quick update - not much happening that's exciting.... EXCEPT.....

I'm binding off on my Cloud Illusions shawl!!!!  Just look at that marvelous Picot Bindoff!!!  I can't wait to get this finished and blocked - that's when these little beauties will form lovely points and make this shawl shine!  This bindoff technique only takes off 2 stitches at a time, so it is excruciatingly slow work, but it's a lot of fun seeing each little picot emerge :*)

I'm excited about getting this project done because I wanted to be free to work on Dreambird when Denise and Judy do their Knit-along.  I have done just this one feather ....

...... to make sure I can do it, and now we're waiting for Camp Loopy to finish up so we can do the KAL.  Yippee!!!

In other news.....

First up, I was the lucky winner of this sweet charm pack from my friend Angie who quilts over at Quilting on the Crescent during her Celebration of Sewing to honor St. Anne's Feast Day a couple weeks ago - what fun!!!  Thanks so much Angie - I really enjoyed your Celebration and look forward to it again next year!

Also, happily, we would like to report the "birth" of my daughter's kidney stone!!!  I thought perhaps after all that drama, you might like to see a picture of the new "addition"...

I know, gross, right?  LOL!!!  She went way past her "due date" - one and a half weeks after the doctor said he thought it would come out, but it finally did!  Thanks so much for all your wonderful support and prayers for her my friends!  =^..^=

And I had to share with you a cute quote from Adam, one of our grandsons in North Carolina who is 6 years old.  His mom is a really creative type, and she is always rearranging things in their house to freshen up the decor.  I made this quilt for their bed several years ago....(yes, I made shams to match!)  It's not a great picture but you get the idea....

They have really enjoyed the quilt, but she decided she needed a change.  Yesterday, she sent me a text telling me that she had totally changed the look of the room simply by turning the quilt over and getting new curtains....

While she was doing all of this, she noticed Adam inspecting the quilt and overheard him saying to himself, "I just don't know how Grandma does this ... It's like magic!"  Isn't that the cutest thing????  Oh yeh, he wins Favorite Grandchild of the Month award!!!

That's it for me.... what's going on in your world?

I'm planning a lot of actual QUILTING this coming week - so stay tuned!!!

Want to see more wonderful yarn projects?

Go HERE to Judy's Patchwork Times

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

On the Needles - 8/2/13

My needles have been pretty busy lately!  I've progressed really well on my Cloud Illusions shawl...

I decided not to go with the Extended Lace section, so I have started the Lace Border section - only 11 more rows to go, including the Picot Bind Off row - yippee!!!

I love the lace on this shawl - it will be even more beautiful once it is blocked!

I'm also really glad I bought the second skein of yarn when I did..... this is all I have left of the first skein!

Also On the Needles, last night I tried the first feather of the Dreambird Shawl - my first feather looked great but it was 7 stitches short of the end, so I had to tear it out and start again. :(  But I really enjoyed learning a new cast-on method using a crochet hook...

This is how far I've gotten on this attempt.....

I'm going to a KAL tomorrow, so I wanted to see if I had any questions before I go.  I'm really loving the look of these colors so far - are you surprised???

YUM!!!

Linking up with On The Needles at Patchwork Times =^..^=

I also wanted to steer you over to Cat Patches - she's have a wonderful giveaway that you won't want to miss!  Go HERE to check it out!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Kitten Cuteness Overload!

If you don't like kittens, then this post is definitely not for you!  On the other hand, if you think kittens are just about the cutest thing God ever created, then hold on to your hat 'cause I've got a lot of "Kitten Cuteness Overload" pictures to show you!!!  I spent the past few days with my daughter, who STILL has not passed that dratted kidney stone!  On Wednesday, the doc removed the stent and told her he thought it would come through within 24 hours.  Not!  But we're hopeful it will be soon, as this is her third week of pain and dealing with this.  Luckily, we had the new baby KITTENS to distract us from all the drama of the kidney stone :*D

At the end of the post, I will show you my progress on my Cloud Illusions shawl, but really, how can that compare to KITTENS?????

NATASHA (the sweetest of the sweet!)

LOKI (Emma has him spoiled rotten already!)

HULK AND THOR (two big boy twins who love to play!)

Can you tell my daughter and granddaughter are HUGE fans of the Avenger movies?  Yep, every kitten has an Avenger name LOL!!!  That's some big names to grow into :*)  But Hulk and Thor are definitely doing their best.  They love to rough and tumble and play!  They are big boys!

You can see how tiny they are by the size of this one next to my hand!

Did I mention how sweet Natasha is?

Who can resist watching kittens play?

And I love how they all fall asleep together suddenly, as if a bell rings to tell them "Time Out!"
They all kind of fall down in a pile and sleep however they fall :*D

How do they manage to fall asleep in these positions???

There were kittens everywhere you looked!
We had to be so careful to watch where we were sitting and walking!

Mama Addie is doing a really fine job for her first (and last!) litter!
She's such a sweetheart!!!

While my daughter and the kittens were sleeping, I managed to get quite a lot done on my Cloud Illusions shawl!  I finished the beginning section - the Garter Stitch Body, and have completed 17 rows of the lace section.

I stopped by the Knaughty Knitter on my way out of town to compare the size of mine with the shop sample (you can see the sample in a previous post by clicking HERE).  Meredith knitted hers using a cotton yarn and following the small size pattern, but my yarn is more of a lace yarn which makes it work up much smaller than her sample, so I wasn't sure whether to stop at the small version like she did or go on with the extended size.  After comparing the two, I decided to go for the larger size in order to get it closer to the size I liked.  Fortunately, I had purchased two skeins of this gorgeous yarn just in case, because she didn't have any more.

So far, I think the lace pattern is working out well....this is really fun seeing the design come to life!!!

You can see other yarn projects over at Judy's Patchwork Times today.

I'm looking forward to some quality time at home!  I need to get my sewing studio back into some reasonable kind of order and get back to work on some of my priority quilt projects.  There is a certain little granddaughter who is already 4 months old and still doesn't have her baby quilt!  Bad Grandma!!!!

Genevieve Rose

And we have another on the way, due the day after Christmas!  They have decided to be surprised when the baby is born, so their baby quilt will have to wait until it is here.  Whew - a little breathing room :*)

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

A Knit and A Prayer????

No, I haven't given up quilting for knitting!  Although, it kind of seems like that lately, doesn't it? :*)

I have been quite the vagabond lately, on the road practically the entire past month, and so no quilting has been done.  However, for my wonderful quilting followers, I thought I would show you one really great quilt picture, just so you don't go into withdrawal and stop following me!  =^..^=

Amish Beauties - border treatment in planning stages

No, I haven't sewn a stitch on this quilt!  But it is the next project I intend to finish.... after.....
1.  Genevieve's baby quilt
2.  Mom's new table topper
3.  My Hexie Queen blog hop project
.............. and a few other things that need to be finished up and put away.

My Ivory Tower is a wreck!!!  Stuff everywhere, pretty much as I left it a month ago when I was preparing for those 4 classes at Spring Seminar (see post HERE if you are interested in that little side story).

I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the prayers and support you all have given me since my last post regarding my daughter!  I traveled back to Savannah last Friday to be with her and help as best I could while she tried to pass this kidney stone.  I certainly won't go into the details of that, except to say that after a week in pain and her body beginning to bloat to twice her normal size, and NO passed stone, we took her to the ER in Jackson on Saturday where they have a urologist on staff, and they admitted her for the night.  He decided that the stone was borderline in size for her to pass it, and put a stent in on Sunday morning to stretch the passage to help it go through.  During the procedure he saw that the stone had completely blocked her left kidney.  It was a good thing we acted when we did!  She is now almost back to normal size, thank the Lord!  I will go back the end of next week to be with her when she goes to have the stent removed and hopefully this monster stone will pass on away!

The one thing I have been able to work on during all these travels is knitting!  It is so transportable!!!  I really have enjoyed adding knitting to my crafty schedule - it is so soothing and relaxing in the evening while I watch my taped shows.  (Have you discovered "Call the Midwife" on PBS? What a great show!!!)  And I honestly don't know what I would have done with a knitting project to keep my fingers and mind busy during this past month.

I showed you in my last post that I had gotten quite a lot done on my Sugar and Cream Cowl while traveling to NC to visit with family.  Well, all the time spent this past week in ER waiting rooms and at the hospital has produced an almost complete cowl!

Love all those delicious cables!!!  All I need to do to finish this up is the 1" ribbing on the upper edge.  Woohoo!  I really love the soft feel of this yarn, and I can't wait to wear it this winter!  I have found that in recent years, my neck is the thing that really needs covering in cold weather, so this warm little cowl will keep me very cozy and be so decorative at the same time - WIN!!!

I had planned for my next project to be Dreambird, but since I can't start that one yet (waiting on the KAL!), I think I will start Cloud Illusions ....

knitted by mshoneybee - picture courtesy of Ravelry

This is a shawl that Joanne and I saw in the Knaughty Knitter in Murfreesboro.  The shawl knitted by Meredith at the shop looked like this....

You know those aquas caught my eye!!!

I originally bought a bright multi-color cotton yarn to work this up - you know me and bright colors!  But Joanne wisely chose a nice blend of variegated neutrals, and the more I thought about it, the more I decided I also wanted something that would read more solid and be more versatile.  This is my final choice...

I just love the mix of purples and aquas in this lovely yarn!!!!  It is an extra fine merino fingering wool made in Italy - oh so soft - and I can't wait to get my knitty little hands on it!!!!  This project will take quite a while to complete I am sure, especially with all that lace work, but I don't mind that.  It will be my "grab and go" project for the foreseeable future :*D

What do you have on your needles?  

Please share it with everyone over at Judy's Patchwork Times!!!
I'm also linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday over at Better Off Thread
and Connie's Linky Party over at Freemotion by the River :*)

I also want to make sure you all know about the Giveaway going on over at Jacquelynne Steves blog !!!  She is giving away this HUGE prize package with lots of wonderful quilty things ....

....... so GO HERE NOW!!!  This Giveaway ends Sunday, so don't hesitate :*)

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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