Walkabout Wednesday and WIPs

 

It's the last day of August and I know some of you are celebrating the end of summer but around here summer lasts until just about Halloween anymore. It's hot as blazes with no relief in sight. We took a ride around town the other day to look at what people did for porches to get some ideas on what we might do for one when we came upon this flamingo garden in someones's front yard. That's something you don't see every day.

As for WIPs...the socks are past their gussets and heading to their conclusions.

In a few more rows the sleeves will be joined to the yoke on Number 12.

And.....I had to fight second mitt syndrome on the other Fright Club mitt. If I'd had any sense I would have knit both at the same time but I didn't think that far ahead. They are some monster mitts. I got a bit carried away. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday: Raccoon Rabble

 

With all the excitement happening this weekend I didn't have any quiet stitching time but last week I was marching pretty steadily across all that blue sky. I also got a few more beads on Arctic Santa's sheep but it doesn't look much different. 

I could have finished that beaded sheep if I hadn't been sidetracked. I said I wasn't going to start any of the Stacked Critter projects until the beaded sheep was done but then this one came in the mail on Wednesday and I HAD to get started. I did run aground with the pumpkin. I didn't like the DMC equivalent so I am waiting for the Weeks Dye Works floss that the kit called for. It is more of a mottled orange. 

The biggest tiny needle news is that I bought a box of foam core board and some acid free double sided tape. I spent $100 on the stuff to frame the little Needles and Pins sampler last week and there is no way I am paying to have all my projects framed only to have no walls to hang them on. What I am doing is stretching them out, like I saw someone doing on YouTube, and propping them up here or there in the craft rooms. Sheep Virtues was the first to go. I think it's going to be fun digging out all my finished work. Hopefully I'll have a few more to show off next week. 

More Baby Talk

 

I spent the weekend doing a lot of this.

And a lot of that. I got caught up on the latest episode of Sesame Street. He loves Elmo. So do I. The last time I saw Sesame Street there was no Elmo. 

We did a lot of NOT sleeping when we should and sleeping when we shouldn't.

In between all that, I had a very put out Pup to console. We have never had a baby overnight before and she didn't quite know what to make of it. Neither did I at first but it turned out to be a lot of fun BUT.... the most important part is...that I returned him to Mom and Dad in one piece-neither bruised or dented. Whew...

Baby Talk

 

Babies are hard work. That's it. That's the post. See ya Monday.

Here Be Dragons

 

We went out for a walk early yesterday morning before it got too blistering hot. Pup lucked out because the only shady spot we could find to sit in was just outside of the little coffee shop that sells her favorite blueberry muffins. I got to sit and knit while The Mister and Pup shared one. 

Even though it was early the place was abuzz with excitement. Tomorrow morning they are holding the dragon boat races. They haven't held it since the pandemic started but things were coming together down at the water yesterday. The beach was full of dragon boats.

Back at home we hung the new fancy light I got for the hallway makeover. Compared to the some of the things we've had to do this was a piece of cake. Using two ladders, I wore it on my head like a hat to balance it while The Mister hooked up all the wires to it. I wish I could have taken a photo. 

Then I went to work on the placemat redo. I got two put together and even made some potholders but ran out of steam with all the bindings. I'll have to tie up all the loose ends on Monday because this weekend I've got a babysitting gig. One of the baby Grands is coming to spend the night tonight while mom and dad go on a boat ride. It's been a long time since I've had a baby in the house overnight. This should be interesting.

Friday Fluff

 

How's that for fluff? I actually got out the drum carder the other night and cranked out some purple California Red. If I am going to spin a rainbow I needed some purple. 

The Mardi Gras and Emerald Isle fluff is still being spun while I watch TV. I had to spin my way through Game of Thrones and now I'm spinning my way through House of Dragons. It helps me handle the ick factor. Like the stories. Hate the ick.

I finally cracked the code on the cotton spinning but it's still slow going. Knowing what to do and being good at it are two different things. 

Since I spun up the two little sample punis on the takli I treated myself to a box of them from the same vendor. 

I'm not in any real hurry for the cotton because the threading of the loom has been slow going. There's been a lot going on around here and this is last on the priority list. I'm fine with doing a little at a time because it really is back breaking work. Leaning into the loom to snag one tiny thread at a time takes a lot of patience and physical bendability and by the time I get around to it I've got neither. 

Home Improvement

 

We were back to getting things done this week. After I did all the touch up painting in the hallway it was time for some new fancy doorknobs.

The first one was a bear figuring it all out but after that it was smooth sailing. 

The hero of the day was this Dremel kit. I had bought it to buzz Pup's nails but she hated it. It's been gathering dust until yesterday. The skeptical Mister was impressed. This little thing has power. We used it to shave wood and metal to get the door plates to fit. 

We also installed new vent covers over our giant return ducts. My old ones were a mess even after a good scrubbing. One fit. One did not. I neglected to notice which way the louvers were going. I have another one on order that goes the right way.

 

I ended the busy day by giving The Mister's bathroom a coat of Kilz. We won't be painting it until it cools down outside but I couldn't bear looking at those icky walls any longer. Even with the window we get mold issues in that room from time to time most likely because we live a few blocks from a large body of water with crazy humidity. I'm also sure both of us having to take 5 hot showers a day during The Great Itch didn't help either. 

AND.......in the "it's always something file...we started wondering what ever happened to that new refrigerator that we bought several weeks ago. They said it would take a week or so for delivery but it's been almost a month now so yesterday we called. Lowe's first told us that we had never ordered one. Then they said we must have taken it with us. After lots of back and forth they decided we did indeed pay for one but we have to start all over with ordering it so maybe it will show up sometime next week. We hope. 

Walkabouts, WIPs and Watercolor

 

When we took Pup out for a walk the other morning I took my knitting. I don't usually knit walk in public but we weren't walking anywhere interesting and I was really into getting those heels turned on the Kitesurfing pair so off we went. I got a few strange looks but who cares. I stuck the ball of yarn under my arm and off I went. 

In fact, I have four socks all having their heels turned at the same time. That's no fun. I'm not sure how that happened but I sure didn't plan it. 

Number 11 is done and Number 12 is off to a good start.

The first Fright Club mitt is almost done. I think one more repeat and it will be time for ribbing.

As for watercolor, I splashed around another one of my sets this week. 

But....what I should be doing is coloring dogs and cats. I feel like I've made hundreds but there are only eight finished. Golly, I really need to pick up the pace. According to Alexa, Christmas is only 123 days away.

Nothing But Blue Skies

 

I've been working my way through all that blue sky at the top of the sheep sampler. There was supposed to be a banner up there but I didn't like it so sky it is-all the way across. It's really not so bad. I like that polka dot effect even though I do lose count sometimes and have to rip back. 

There was some beading done. I did the underside of the sheep in the gray beads. The new magnifying light makes a world of difference.

And........I added four more Dear Jane blocks to the finished pile. I'm not going to sew that lattice together to make rows until I decide how big I want this thing to be. I learned my lesson with the Sunflower quilt so I am going to make sure this thing is NOT 13 blocks wide and 13 blocks long. No freaking way. Jane was out of her mind.

It Takes Two

 

I did get my day in the sewing room yesterday but I have to admit it's never as much fun as you think it's going to be. I started out with a bad case of second placemat syndrome but luckily I had done all the cutting the night before so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 

Making one placemat is a lot of fun-making two, not so much. I ran out of steam with sewing down the binding. I need a good movie and TCM wasn't doing it for me yesterday. It was Clint Eastwood day and westerns and war movies aren't my thing unless we are beating up on Nazis in WW2. I'm always up for beating up Nazis. 

After looking through the rest of the kits I can see that I have more than enough material left to make a couple more placemats in a different design. I only need two of anything because we only eat on the island in the kitchen like a couple of heathens. 

I briefly mentioned my new fabric glides yesterday. In anticipation of the big machine quilting adventure with the Sunflower quilt I bought a new slider mat and those glides to see if they could help with fabric movement under the needle. Free motion isn't so free when you're dragging along a heavy quilt sandwich. I'm glad I'm practicing with the placemats because there is a pretty steep learning curve with both. It went better the second time around but I'm still not ready for the big thing. 

Almost Nailing It

 

In spite of The Mister's hand still looking pretty terrible from all the stings he was raring to go on the floor molding in the hallway yesterday. That means I spent the morning crawling around knocking in nails. Good times. 

I told him in no uncertain terms that I was taking Sunday off. No sanding, no touch up painting just me in the sewing room. I found these pre-cuts when I was cleaning out the stash and wanted to turn them into the placemats I so desperately need. 

But....when I went to get things ready for my big day in the sewing room that material wasn't doing it for me. Since summer is in its last gasp, I wanted something fallish so I went stash diving instead.

I found some fall batiks and two kits for making a table runner that was veggie themed. Before I knew it I had cut up a bunch of the material....

...sewed it all together, sandwiched it and quilted it. I got to try out my new machine quilting fabric glide which resulted in the worst looking stippling I've done since I first got the Juki. I kept bumping the edges of the glide but I did like how it held the fabric down. 

The next thing I knew I had an almost finished placemat and all the stuff cut out for the second one. I wasn't wild about the results. I should have just followed the kit instructions and let that veggie material speak for itself. Since I have two kits I can try it again. I may have not liked the product but I really liked the process. I can see a drawer full of placemats in my future. 

Dirty Work

 

I did have to paint the second coat on the hallway all by myself. The Mister's hand was terribly swollen in the morning. I told him not to go out there and bother those wasps but did he listen....of course not. Maybe this time he will learn that wasps are nothing to mess with especially this time of year. Daughter has a student that got stung so many times over the weekend she ended up in the ER. She's fine now but how scary that must have been.

Second coats don't take long so I had it knocked out in no time. While I was covered up in my old paint clothes I decided it was time to tackle some other dirty jobs I had lined up. This is my last bag of craft stuff that was packed away during the Great Itch. I haven't had the courage to unpack it but its time had come. 

I was hand quilting this last winter and the way it lays all over me I knew it had to be infected. It's been bagged up since March so there is nothing to worry about anymore but I gave it a lint rolling and an alcohol wipe down. It's still too hot to work on it but at least it will be ready when the weather is. 

Ditto for Rainbow Kitty. I haven't touched it since last winter either so it got the same treatment. 

Since this doesn't lay on you while you are working on it, it wasn't too hot to start again. I literally had to force myself to pick up the wool and start to hook a little. I have to say both these things gave me the willies to touch again. It's all in my head I know but that's where those nasty mites get you the worst. Every innocent little itch is a reason to panic anymore. It never ends.