Category: knitting

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Post Christmas 2008

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as I did!

All the kids were home (3 sons and 2 daughters-in-law) plus two dogs. Full house! Lots of eating,  lazying around, talking, eating, cutting up, drinking, eating, hot tubbing, laughing, eating, …. and more eating!

The knitting and sewing projects were warmly received – all the shrugs fit and the banners were just peachy.  The potato chip scarf didn’t get photoed but was still a hit with its new owner.

Lots of little people showed up at the Christmas party for my side of the family. A two month old, a five month old – both girls, plus a little 1 1/2 year old guy and a 2 1/2 year old gal – very busy people!  It was fun to have that many little ones around – it’s been awhile.  And we did a good job of eating,  laughing, talking, eating, singing, drinking, eating, …. and eating some more!

All is quite on the home front at the moment – everyone and their dogs are back to their respective homes. I was able to work on some teaching proposals today. We’ll see what develops from the effort.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll look at my accounting and get that underway…. Then again, maybe not.

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Projects finished

My fingers have been busy!  Finished up the knitting

and sewing projects that I had going.  I just hope they are to the liking of the recipients!  Will clue you in after gifts have been opened later this week.

A bit more energy in the bod.  I actually made a list today and crossed items off!  Haven’t done that since August and it felt good.

Tomorrow I’ll be making kolachi (a Polish nut roll that my love grew up with – all the neighbors would give them to his family) and wrapping gifts. And Wednesday we will be welcoming all the kids home. Can’t wait!

I wish you all a most blessed and joyous Christmas and Hannukah!

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Mosying along

I’m feeling like a lazy slug these days. Doing nothing much but knitting and reading, and not necessarily in that order. Still using the ‘healing’ excuse – which is real, so I guess it isn’t really an excuse. One obvious sign of things getting better: I have been able to sleep in bed this week instead of in the recliner!

There have been some bits of creative energy: a few seasonal decorations have snuck into the house (red ornament balls filling up a large glass vase and in/under some wine and whiskey glasses on display with a few more on top of the piano, …….. ummmm, that’s about it so far!) Outside we have red ribbons in between the hanging baskets filled with white lights in front of the main door – will have to get a picture of that for you. Usually we are the last ones to put up any decorations, but this year I think we were the first on the street to have their mailbox decorated.

The knitting is for Christmas gifts so I don’t want to say a whole lot right now, but I’m on my third one and they seem to be turning out fine. Just hope the sizes are right!

And the reading has been a whole mix of fiction – some historical and anthropological, some sci-fi, some just plain heartwarming. Going through the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (thanks, Dave!). Started on the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon but couldn’t get into it – too much high society stuff for me, I guess.

Not much excitement, but I think that is fine for the moment. Will definitely have to get in gear next week and doing something productive!

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Projects

All the knitted gifts are finished! Well, the knitting is all finished. I still need to finish felting one pair of clogs to fit the recipient. My love wasn’t quite sure what to make of them… still not sure the clogs will get him to the hot tub any more often, but at least we will have extra feet protectors when friends come to visit and soak.

The arm socks for the boys and their girls turned out well. The two pair that went over the elbow need to be tried on to be sure of the fit – those boys haven’t made it home yet, but I think they will work.

Almost felt sort of lost last night when I didn’t have anything to pick up to work on! Then I sort of made up for that today.

About 10 years ago I made a blanket for my eldest son out of t-shirts he had aquired from various cross country and 5K road races. At the time, I really didn’t know how to work with t-shirts in a large project like that, nor did I really know anything much about quilting; I sewed the shirt tops and sleeves together and then sewed a backing around it – no batting and no stitching to hold the two layers together. Over the years it became quite battered. Some of the shirts developed holes and rips and the backing shredded. Dan was ready to throw it away.

After a wash and a ripping off of the backing materials that was still hanging on, we started over. Fusible interfacing was added to help stabilize and strengthen the knit shirts, flannel backing and bamboo/cotton batting were added and made into a self-binding. I thought I would do some machine quilting in each t-shirt section, but boy, did that idea get changed rapidly while doing the first section! On a quilting frame with a long arm it would work great, but…. Ties of embroidery thread look just fine! I’ll finish the remake with some sheer fabric fused over the holey areas tomorrow.

We figure after another 10 years of so, we’ll replace the shirts and keep the backing/batting going!

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Season’s greetings

One batch of kolachi* is finished, with shiny coats and insides spilling out. We used walnuts and poppy seed and apricot fillings. May do another batch later, but this will get us through Christmas morning. Most of the bread rolls will go to friends and fellow musicians today and this evening; a few more will be gifted tomorrow morning as we are doing the music this evening for the Christmas Vigil and tomorrow morning for Christmas Day.

Still have one more knitted gift to finish. Was working on it last night and realized I had dropped a couple stitches. Mumble, mumble, grumble, grumble…. It’s back on track now, but I didn’t get any further. Need to get back to it this afternoon.

In the last couple days I’ve been invited to participate in an exhibit at a small Ohio museum and to write an article for a new fibre e-zine. Both coming at a time when I have been feeling particularly inept at being a fiber artist. Ego boosters, for sure! Will keep you posted on these developments.

I wish you all a most blessed and peace-filled season and upcoming year.

*Kolachi: a traditional holiday sweet, eggy yeast bread rolled out with a nut or poppy seed mixture spread evenly and then rolled into a loaf. Slovakian origin, I’m told. A staple in my love’s house when he was growing up – all the neighbors would make them and give them to his Italian/German parents. Now my boys make them better than I do.  <g>