Charmed

 

It was my first day in ages that I didn't have to take The Mister to therapy and look what we had going on all day-again. My neighbor in the front was using our driveway to have three more giant trees cut down. That was the last of them in her backyard. Thank goodness. 

I tried drowning out the racket by using the sewing machine. Back in October I had started a DNP made out of my reject charm squares. 

I called it the Big Ugly Quilt because it most certainly is. It was supposed to be a joke for The Mister who hates all the quilts I make and always asks for something bigger and more colorful. 

This should do it. This is just the start. I've still got more rows to add on....

...and this many more ugly charm squares for a border or two. Now I need to go find some ugly yardage in the stash which won't be too hard to do. I was on a dress making binge a few years ago and have a bin of some really terrible stuff that I found on clearance.

Old Friends

 

Remember me? My poor loom has been pushed into a corner while we made room for all of The Mister's special equipment. I gave her a good dusting off and actually wove a couple of inches on it yesterday morning before we went off to therapy. It felt good.

I could easily finish that towel in a few sittings but since I haven't got anything ready to replace it with I'm taking my time. I need 339 ends and I have 220. I'm getting close. 

That white warp is going to become one of these towels in a main color I haven't decided on yet. I remember being very excited with this draft at the time but I'm a little meh about it now to be honest. 

Another old friend that I spent some time with yesterday was the fall batik quilt. Five more center blocks are now done but I still have a long way to go.

And.....in the next chapter of The Mister's recovery-his first shopping trip. He's still not driving. He tried and he's not comfortable enough with that wonky leg just yet so after therapy we needed a few things from the store so I sent him in. I stayed in the car with Pup who was tired out from her long walk. The Mister's supposed to walk 100 yards a day so he might as well make them useful yards, right? Dad could always manage a cart and cane when I took him shopping with his bad hip so I was sure The Mister would be okay. He was. 

Tiny Needle Uh Oh...

 

The only thing I accomplished on the Cow Pile was the border. All I need is a few more flowers up top and it's a done deal. I wanted it to be done by July and I think it just might be.

I only had the new house's roof half finished last week and that other half was calling my name. I hate to leave motifs undone so I spent some time with it. 

I had a very few minutes with the Village Quaker on Sunday and did a flower and a Z. The flower is a mess. I had to make it up as I went along. I couldn't seem to count to 4 and I wasn't in the mood to do any ripping so I just made it work. Oh, well...only we know it's wrong. 

And for the uh, oh...one of the even stupider things I've done lately is this. I wanted to start the summer version of the patchwork collection but instead I spent the afternoon online trying to locate more of this fabric because for some idiotic reason I started the autumn sampler smack dab in the middle of a large piece of it when there should have been more than enough fabric for the last two. So I had to order more but.....

.....of course the 18 count Vintage Country Mocha was sold out everywhere in the US. I checked everywhere and I mean everywhere. I had to order it from an Etsy seller in Great Britain so it most likely won't be here until the end of June. Serves me right. The summer Patchwork will have to wait. 

Twenty One

 

Number 21 has gone on to joins its siblings.

I always enjoy pulling the color for the next one. 

For a project that was supposed to be a Palette stash buster it was anything but. This entire bin is filled with Palette that was bought just for this project. 

Which only adds to the Palette that's still in the Palette cabinet that I was hoping to get rid of.

I even have a bag of it that I pulled thinking I would just use these colors for all of them. Ha. The little things took on a life of their own. No regrets. I'm sad that I'm coming to the end. 

And...speaking of too much yarn. I had a Knit Picks gift certificate to use up from Mother's Day and I swore I wouldn't buy anymore sock yarn. So what did I get? Sock yarn. Of course. 

Brutus

 

This is Brutus. It's what The Mister calls his riding mower. 

Keeping up the grass is the job I dread the most but I always have a good time while I'm actually doing it. 

It's a lot of grass to cut but at least, unlike most housework, it stays looking good for at least a few days. I can vacuum and mop a hundred times a day and within minutes it looks like I never touched it. 

Yesterday I put my foot down with The Mister. He's been napping all day and then not being able to sleep at night which make him tired all day. I told him he's been training himself to be a permanent invalid with habits like that. I put him to work helping me with the laundry and made him take up some of his old hobbies instead of spending the day on the couch. Getting him back on track isn't going to be easy. He saw what my dad went through when he broke his artificial hip and he's been erring on the side of caution a bit too much. Maybe his upcoming surgeon visit can give him the confidence he needs to rejoin the land of the living. 

And a couple of you asked me about the yarn I was using for the socks I am working on. It's Regia's Gargia Color. I went looking for more and came up empty handed but....

...I did buy some more of this. After getting it here I realized that this colorway looks very familiar. I am pretty sure that I've already knit it before. In the big world of sock yarn, I really need to start branching out a bit. Regia and I need to take a break. 

 

Baby Steps

 

At The Mister's very early PT session yesterday they graduated him from the walker to a cane. Hallelujah. I was so tired of hauling that thing up and down the stairs and in and out of the car. He can also do more for himself now like get up and down and dress and bathe which is a huge load off me. 

I celebrated back at home by not mowing the lawn (too hot), washing several loads of laundry in the tub (machine's still broke, no sign of repairman with the new part) and making some blueberry scones that were not terrible to eat but awful to look at. I'm not sure what I did wrong. I've yet to make a decent scone but that doesn't keep me from trying. 

Hello Kitty

 

Pup and I have been lucky so far. The weather has been nice enough to be able to hang out in the park while we wait for The Mister. It takes a big chunk out of my day. 

It hasn't been easy to convince Pup to let me sit and knit for a bit in the shade. She always wants to go sniff things. I've been bribing her. She's also discovered they give out dog bones at the visitor's center. 

For all that sitting and knitting last week my socks don't look much different. I only get a few rows on before we are on the move again. 

See that face? That means it's time to go.  We've sat long enough. I was trying to get a photo of the sides where any ladders might be forming. So far, so good. I keep checking. 

And....for those of you who were wondering what is going to become of Rainbow Kitty, the truth is that I have no idea. A pillow, maybe? All I know is no real kitty butt will ever be sitting on him, Whatever he becomes I plan on keeping him safe. I've been working on him so long that he's like an old friend.