The Mister Makes a Cake

 

Since we hit the one year milestone yesterday we decided to go through our boxes of pandemic pantry items to see what had expired. This was close. 

The Mister wanted to eat it but I didn't. I'm not putting anything pink or sugary in my newly restored mouth. I told him if he wanted it he had to make it....and to my surprise he did. 

I stood back and watched. Everything went pretty well until it was time to get the cakes out of the pans. One stuck. There was a big hole in the middle but a little frosting would fix that. 

He turned out to be a whiz at icing. 

He took his time and got every speck out of the container. I usually lose interest halfway through, glop it on and toss the rest. 

Not bad for someone who literally can't even boil an egg or make iced tea without help. He had a big piece with dinner and called it a success. Now I have to figure out how to freeze the leftovers because I know he won't finish it anytime soon and as pretty as it looks...I'm still not tempted. 

 

One Year

 

It was one year ago today that I was last in a store doing my own shopping. The Mister and I went over to Walmart with Pup and we took turns getting what we thought we needed to survive the impending lockdown. I came out with a cart full of non-perishables and he came out with.....this. I had a good laugh about it at the time but then quickly realized we were in the deep stuff when it came to food, cleaning products and above all-toilet paper. 

Being smack in the middle of a kitchen remodel added to the problem. Without workman coming in to measure and install the counter tops the rest wasn't happening. It still hasn't but we are surviving just fine in the chaos.

On the bright side, I have had a lot of fun with my puzzles. I always had one going over at Dad's and had forgotten how much I liked them. I look forward to it everyday. This is the latest. It's another one of my tiny ones-hand for scale. 

One year. Can you believe it?

Sprung?

 

It looks like all that cold and ice didn't hurt the sprouting things one bit. 

There are lots of new things popping up all over the place and the things that had popped before that icy winter adventure seem none the worse for wear. The daffies are even budding. 

The trees seem to have gotten the message also. If you look closely you can see the buds on the branches. We'll be all in shade again soon. 

Everything is new outside do I started some new things inside too. The second mitten has been cast on and the thumb on the first mitten is done. 

My latest two-at-a-timer socks are Fiesta in Felici.

My latest Arne and Carlos Pairfect socks are the lightest of all of them-perfect for spring knitting. 

I had quite the adventure getting them started. I knit the cuff three times before I got it right. The first time it was too long. The second time it was too short. The third time I weighed all the cuff yarn, halved it and then started my long tail cast on from there. It worked. Right now I am hoping I wrote down exactly what I did because I know I won't remember. 

Thrumming Along

I always get a lot of comments asking about the thrumming process so here goes:

Before you can add your thrums to your knitting you have to make them. It starts with pulling out pencil sized lengths from whatever fiber you're using. 

Then you wrap those skinny bits around your hand and roll them together using your other hand making a loop. You take the loop you just made, lay it down and with the side of you hand roll the middle until you get a bow. 

You pull the middle of that bow through the stitch below the one you want the thrum in and then knit it together with that stitch. That locks it in place. I have never had one come loose. Not even went they went through the washer and dryer....ahem.

When you finish that round you get something that looks like a troll doll. Remember those? I still have one. 

Then you tuck in all that wild hair and knit three rows plain. You repeat all this fun until you get to the top. The thumb is an afterthought and follows the same thrum pattern. When you're all done you have a soft cloud of a mitten that is so warm and so cozy you wonder why anyone ever bothers making any other kind. 

 

Wednesday WIPs

 

I finished a lot of stuff over the weekend but I still have a lot on the needles. Festive Doodle is starting to look like a sweater. I'm about 4 inches under the arm now thanks to all that terrible weather we had last week. 

I am on the hem of Altheda. It's a 3 inch garter stitch hem so it's slow going. It puts me to sleep.

The Mosi mitten I knit on that 9 inch circular is a huge success-well, minus the pointy top. I've never been a fan of the pointy top mitten but I have to say it does fit my fingers very nicely. The afterthought thumb was also a big success. It's not quite done yet but it will be soon. I hate the fiddlyness of small circumference colorwork so I am taking my sweet time with it. Now I have to work up the interest to make the second one. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

The second little reindeer is done and the winter patchwork sampler is getting packed up for the season. I'll do the border next winter.

I'm putting my energy into the green grass of my lawn. I finished row three this week. Now I have just 2 more rows of all those 10 by 10 filler squares. There are 13 of them in each row so that makes 26 times 100 stitches to go....yikes. 

My tiny needles were also busy with my little hexies.....

....and my big hexies. I am almost ready to add another row to my table runner.

I got two more blocks hand quilted on the squares lap quilt. I got a lot done last weekend because we were trapped in the house because of all the ice. We couldn't get up the driveway if we tried and believe me The Mister tried. It was like a skating rink out there. We had about an inch of snow covered with a layer of ice and 20 degree temperatures. Not a good combination. 

We were tucked in nice and cozy and everything was just fine until The Mister dared me to take a sleigh ride down the iced back hill and I was dumb enough to do it. 

Heading straight for a tree I tried to stop myself with my hands but my mittens came off and my naked left hand got drug down the hill over the rough ice under the sled. It hurt like the dickens but I'm lucky all I needed were two band-aids worth of care on my poor thumb. It could have been so much worse. I'm such an idiot sometimes. 

All of These Things are Kinda Like the Other

 

The one good thing about having a lot of WIPs is that one day you have a whole lot of FOs. The Cozy Mitts are done-again. I got out the stitch counter and it made a difference. I can't keep count anymore but it can.

The latest Arne and Carlos Pairfect Pairs are also done. I made these huge to see if I could get the pattern to work out. I hope they fit someone. 

The Felici Rainbows are also done. They make four pair of socks in the gift box for this year. I always feel like I am never getting anywhere but I'm actually ahead of schedule. 

Little House

 

Ordinarily I love winter and I love snow but this year I am over it. We've had several days of something that looks like snow but isn't. It's no fun and I can't stand being cooped up. I was feeling so sorry for myself the other day that I went and bought myself a present. 

Two presents actually. I bought a collection of the The Little House books and ....

....and a single copy of The Long Winter because it wasn't included and it's my favorite. 

The illustrations threw me for a loop though. They are in color. 

This is how I am used to seeing them but I adjusted just fine and read through half the first book the day they arrived. 

I already owned several of the books from when the kids were little but they are so tattered and torn that the pages are falling out. Nothing puts an end to a pity party faster than taking a trip back in time to when folks had it really rough. Sure, we have a pandemic raging out there and the weather is miserable but at least we don't have to take a gun to fetch water from the creek every morning while looking up in the trees for panthers. 

Mail Call

 

Look what I got! It's one of Cindy's hand turned wood vases. I remember seeing her make this one and was beyond thrilled when it showed up in my mailbox yesterday. What a way to brighten up another miserable winter day. I am looking forward to sticking one of my pink camellias in it or maybe an early daffodil. Thanks so much Cindy. It really is most appreciated. 

I also got what appears to be the winner in the fiber contest for the red thrums. I liked the other on but I wanted something deeper and darker to make those thrums stand out This will do it nicely.

Speaking of thrums, I wound up the kit yarn the other night and tried my hand at making some of those little fiber bowties that you knit into your mitten. It's been a long time since I've done this so I had to watch a tutorial.  The best one is the one by the vendor of the ill fated purple thrummed mitten kit. In case you're interested it's Zenitude on You Tube. 

 

Paint By Number

 

The Mister has been on my last nerve now that football is over so I thought I would surprise him with a new project. I had no idea that paint by number was even a thing until I saw Kathy B's posts and was amazed at how many really nice kits they have on Amazon. 

These little pots of paint brought back so many memories. My dad loved his paint by number kits when I was a kid. All the neighbors had a Walter original hanging somewhere in their house. Back in the day his were oil. I am very thankful these are acrylic. 

For $10 you get that huge canvas, all the paints, decent brushes and when you are done you will have something that I hope looks like this. The Mister is very fond of wolf themed stuff so I am hoping it holds his interest-until spring at least. I've got stuff that needs to be done around here. 

Snowblind

 

I had The Weather Channel on full blast watching the snowstorms roll across the country this week so I thought I might as well get out the snowflake quilt and crawl around on it all morning. 

My table is a disaster so I had to throw it all on the floor to get that sandwich made. It was like a long, hard yoga workout. My back and knees are still killing me. 

I zig zagged that batting like you all suggested and got everything put together but this is as far as it got on the Juki.

I had forgotten all about this horrible thing that I had drug out of one of Dad's quilting boxes a while back and sat on the Juki. I was going to use it for machine quilting practice before I dove into something good but instead I felt sorry for it. I think I can save it. 

I think it needs more flowers. I think it needs an explosion of flowers actually so I tore the sandwich apart and then dug out Dad's old charm squares and his box of paper pieces to make more hexies. I was kicking myself all day about starting something else when the sewing room is piled with things that need finishing but went ahead and did it anyway. My hands just don't seem to listen to my head anymore.