Category Archives: Family

1898 finished

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Another finished project – the 1898 cap is off the needles and ready for gifting.

As you may recall I overdyed some purple yarn with food coloring and vinegar because the color was too bright and I could change it.

Loving these colors!

I used a bright green one the back part of the headband so the recipient could tell the front from the back.  The back is smaller than the front by design but it’s just easier to tell the difference with a bright, visual clue.

Mr. Aitch (reluctantly) modeled for me.  He will find this under the Christmas tree next month.

The doubled headband was easy to knit and will really keep the ears warm.

Now should I add a pompom to the top?

Home again, home again

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Mr. Aitch and I were out of town for several days.

Without internet service.

I’m not complaining as it’s nice to unplug.

My brother’s birthday is October 26 and mine is the 27th so our family decided to get together at his Lake Chautauqua (New York) cottage to celebrate.  He lives in New Hampshire and my sister lives in Ohio so it’s a great meeting place, both geographically and scenically.

We ate prime rib, baked potatoes and roasted asparagus.  And dessert was vanilla cheesecake with a chocolate ganache topping.

Here we are getting ready to blow out the Happy Birthday candles my sister provided.

It was a wonderful celebration…

…but it’s nice to be home again.

And in case you are wondering, the nursery rhyme is:

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.
To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,
Home again, home again, market is done.

Gifted Knit 2016 Part 2

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Still catching up on 2016 knits…

The other gifted knit was a pair of felted mittens for one of my grandson using a generic mitten pattern that I tweaked, made larger and then felted.

The wrist ribbing was knit with Lions Brand Wool-eze in a dark green that won’t felt and the hand part of the mitten was Cascade 220 in Primavera that did felt.

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Before felting, I drew around on of the mittens so I could see the difference.

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I felted the mittens by hand so they aren’t as “solid” and machine felted ones but I think they will do the job of keeping his hands relatively dry and warm.

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I filled two bowls with water, one cold and the other one HOT.

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The mittens soaked in the cold water for several minutes.

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Then dipped and swished in the hot water.

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Cold water…

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“scrubbing” the mittens to felt the yarn…

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…then back into the hot water.

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Add hot water periodically to keep the temperature contrast.  I had to wear rubber gloves to protect my hands from the heat.

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and repeat again, and again, and again until the item is felted to your liking.

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They didn’t felt as small as I thought but then again, I did this by hand.  Machine felting would have definitely been better but this was a small project and I wanted to have more control over the process.

The process took about 20 minutes of switching between the two bowls and rubbing the mittens together to get them to felt.

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They are a bit big but he can grow into them.

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If any one is interested in the pattern (I made up as I went along), just leave a comment below.

 

Welcome 2017

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Everyone else is jumping on the New Year’s bandwagon, so why not join them?

2016 included more travel than I’ve done in any other year, home improvements, lots of sewing and knitting and many, many other things not blogged about.

2017 will be the year to finally get my house organized and updated with new carpeting (hopefully), paint rooms that have not seen a paintbrush since we first painted twenty-plus years ago, travel, revamp the staircase, and knit and sew more for others.

Also on the list is to reupholster six, count ’em six, chairs…four of which will go to Colorado.

I want to pick up my calligraphy pen again and make cards and envelopes exciting again.

And travel.

On a personal note I will work toward becoming more positive and less negative, clean up my vocabulary/mouth, give more of myself to others, exercise more, eat less and get rid of 40 pounds of fat.

What are your hopes and dreams for the 365 days?