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Yarn Along: Knitted Pockets

For Ginny's Yarn Along this week, I whipped up a few pockets after seeing Lori's post.  I chose some watery blues and greens, both bright and muted.  All Cascade wool.  You might recognize a few of the colors from other projects.  What a fun little distraction this project provided: quick and wonderful knowing that they'll be going to a good cause. 

The knitting portion was easy, but the crochet portion?  Stinky.  My daughter knows how to crochet and taught herself.  I do not.  Yes, a single chain and edging wasn't too difficult, but weaving in the ends proved a bit challenging.  Oh well.  They're made with a little sprinkling of love and care.  Did you join in too? 

Reading has been simply browsing through some new homeschool books (when I really should first finish my other school books for this year!).  I'm excited about using Artistic Pursuits with my two younger boys next year.  Funny, I went to art school but found in our homeschool journey, that art was/is often pushed to the side for other must-do's.  I reasoned with myself (with pride I might add, ugh!) that "I could teach them that...why do I need a program?" or "yuck, I dislike the drawings/artwork in this curriculum, so I'll just make up my own"...

Well, art (vs crafts) simply didn't get done unless we were in a co-op or someone else was teaching the course.  This year, I hope to use Artistic Pursuits.  It teaches the elements of art in simple ways, includes art history and art appreciation as well as exercises and finished projects to work towards.  I've also been scouting the internet for some interesting videos to demonstrate the art elements as well as using some art books we already own.  Throw in more picture studies, and It should be fun. Have you used the program?  Likes/dislikes?

So what are you knitting and reading this week?

Yarn Along: Lace Ribbon continued for a 2nd time

Popping in for Ginny's Yarn Along again...

Knitting has been somewhat sparse.  This past weekend, I knit a few more rounds of my black Annabel, a few more rows of my husband's scarf and a few more rows of the Lace Ribbon scarf.  I've finished one skein of yarn and wound the 2nd so that it's ready to go when I have any down time.  Right now I have a total of about 20" complete.  The pattern says it'll be about 6' long so with my 3 skeins, I should be just about on target. 

Reading also has been sparse.  I don't know what it is.  Feast or famine so it seems.  Perhaps after this tournament, I'll have a little more time to read.  I am still enjoying Death comes to Pemberley and finally received the next installment of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (audiobook form) from our library.  My daughter reminded me that we hadn't quite finished listening to the 2nd one in the series and shouldn't we wait to listen to this one so as to not spoil it?  Yes, yes, yes...but...

What are you reading and knitting or crocheting this week? 

Yarn Along: Honey Cowl!

Happy to be joining in again for Ginny's Yarn Along...

Knitting: I'm still inching along on my Lace Ribbon Scarf and realizing that it may take longer than expected. Today, I show you my completed Honey Cowl or as my youngest thought... a knitted cow :)  Thanks to my 2nd son for taking the photos of me wearing it...

Yes, the weather has changed, and I won't be modeling this until next winter, but I'm glad it's complete.  An easy pattern, certainly... just sort of monotonous in execution. 

Rather than complete the suggested 11" in width, I opted to make it only 8 1/2" wide.  I wanted it done. Simple as that.

I love the textures on both sides of the scarf.  And despite my getting bored with the pattern, I really do like the stitch and am wondering how to apply it to another project in the future. 

Reading: Haven't done too much reading again this week.  I'm continuing with last week's book as well as flipping through The Art of Argument...a book on logic for my two younger boys.  Hoping to incorporate it (with some other logic books we already own) into next year's schooling.  I don't know about you (homeschoolers or teachers can relate?), but even when there's plenty to do to finish out the present year and those straggling lessons...somehow, always around this time (or earlier), I get the itch to start planning for next year's schooling...

So what are you reading and creating?

 

Yarn Along: Lace Ribbon Scarf continued

I'm slowly making progress on my scarf for Ginny's Yarn Along this week.  After several restarts, I managed to knit just a little over  6" long.  And shhh...don't tell anyone, but for some reason (brain fog) I did not alternate the first 24 rows as planned.  The pattern should be slanting one way for 10 rows then switch at the 11th row and continue on until row 23 in the new direction, finishing with row 24 then repeating all 24 rows again. You get a zig-zag pattern going on as well as the lace pattern (alternating in even/odd rows).  Well, I misread the pattern and did 18 rows one way and then began the opposite slant after that...oh well.  Rather than frog yet again, I decided to just leave it, continue on and add an extra few rows at the opposite end before casting off.  No one but me (and now you, fellow yarn alongers, will know).  But I have to say, I really like the texture of this yarn.  So soft and...silky...I guess that's why they call it silky merino...duh!

Reading:  I've been delving into a little bit of Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James.  So far, I like it.  It is heavy on description and little on dialogue, and I hope that changes/improves as the story unfolds.  At first I was simply drawn to the cover and the title, and then finding that the story is an imagined continuation of Pride & Prejudice, I thought it would be an entertaining read.  I do hope however, that none of the characters I find so endearing in Pride & Prejudice turn out to be the guilty party in this murder mystery.  Except for perhaps Mr. Wickham :)  I'm just now starting the part where the mysterious carriage furiously rides up (in a great storm no less) with sister Lydia screaming murder...

Yarn Along: Lace Ribbon Scarf

Joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along after a too-long hiatus.  Funny, how only a week away feels sooooo much longer.  I should really call this yarn along 'beginnings' since neither my knitting or reading has actually begun! 

On the knitting front, you'd think that since I have 4 (no, 5!) projects that need finishing, that I'd work on those any chance I get.  Call it spring fever, but I decided to pull out something new, something with a bit more color to it.  I found Malabrigo Silky Merino in my stash (a birthday present from my husband 4 years ago?) in a lovely purple called nocturnal and matched it with a pattern: Lace Ribbon Scarf by Veronika Avery.  No, I haven't begun this yet, but I'm hoping it works.  Then...I'll have to return to all those ufos.  Have you used this yarn or made this pattern?

Reading also is just beginning...our homeschooling book called The Bronze Bow.  My older two read it and forgot what it's about.  I never read it with them, just checked their reading progress along the way.  This time, my two younger boys will be reading it for our Ancient study.  I have 3 copies of it so that all 3 of us can now take turns reading.  But I figured that I should try to pre-read it before they do.  We'll see.  Maybe this time around I'll find out what this book is all about?  Have you read it?

What are you knitting and reading this week?

Yarn Along: Puppy is raring to go!

Glad to be joining in with Ginny again for her Yarn Along.  I really didn't think that I'd have anything to show this week since it's been a very busy week.  Next week is even worse...feeding 200 people 3 meals each day for 3 days?  Ack!  I love it and hate it at the same time... 

Anyway, back to the yarn along.  I had finished this little guy 2 weeks ago, but he sat without a face all that time.  Last night, I embroidered his features: just some simple stitches and a lopsided smile. 

Wasn't really sure how to add a knot without having it show, so I simply buried the embroidery thread in the stuffing of the body.  I'm guessing that with a few good tugs, it could come loose?  My 11-yo won't pull on it, but if I were to give this to a younger child, I would want to make sure the thread wouldn't come loose. 

If the thread were wool, it would probably just felt with friction.  Or if it had been sewn on a felted piece of wool and then attached like I had done here and here, then I'd have a place to tie the thread. 

Anyone have suggestions for future sewing on of embellishments with embroidery thread?  What have you done?

For reading this week, I've been browsing some of my sewing books.  Yes, they look too new.  Yes, they've been sitting on my shelf making the shelf look pretty for much too long and haven't been seeing much action at all.  Presently, I'm working on two bags/purses and hope to finish them up soon.  Why is it that when I have so much to do, my urge to sit down with knitting needle or sewing machine or a good book only increases?  Does that happen to you too? 

More photos of the puppy and Ravelry info here.

Gotta go!  Puppy wants a walk...

Yarn Along: Honey Cowl & a Library List

Joining in again for Ginny's Yarn Along!

Knitting: yes, I said that I was going to show you the puppy, didn't I?  Well...how about looking at some Honey Cowl progress instead?  Not quite as 'cute' but...

And I might have to make a Honey Cowl Hat like Francesca from Oltreoceano (Italian for overseas) shared a few weeks ago.  How neat to use the same stitch pattern applied to a different project.
Reading: continues to be the same as last week.  Nothing new there.

Now onto the library list...

I made a 'little' treat for all of you yarn-alongers.  Each week I see so many lovely knitted and crocheted items and numerous books, and I am amazed.  But more often than not, I get overwhelmed by all the selections mentioned.  And then if I walk into a library or bookstore ...poof!...my short-term memory evaporates into thin air.  My brain synapses cease to work.  Who wrote what?  What's the name of that again?  (Same thing goes for music and videos.)  Unless I jot down that information before walking in, I'm done for.

 
So...I thought I'd make an unofficial "Small Things Yarn Along Library List"  for myself to take with me.  I did consider (not for long!) about going back through the Small Things' archives and make a book list starting from the beginning ~ the very first yarn-along ~ but that didn't last long.  I considered (again, not for long!) making a list of for both fiction and nonfiction.  Nope.  So I thought 'okay, I'll just do the fiction each month.'  Nope.  Just trying to visit each yarn-along blogger for the month of February took oodles of time! 

Of course, then I thought that if I'm going to all the trouble, why not share the list?  So what was going to be a simple personal list morphed into a larger project. I apologize up front: I tried to visit each blog, but it got overwhelming so if I missed your fiction suggestion, I'm sorry. 

On a positive note, I have learned a few things:  there are a LOT of yarn alongers, and you are a well-read bunch!  Such variety.  In the fiction part alone, the books ranged from literary classics to popular series, from heavy-duty novels to children's picture books.

If you're interested in having your very own, here it is:  

 

Small Things Yarn Along Library List. 

 

 

p.s. - this is a pdf of a word document - I should have created it as an Excel document instead so that it could be sorted, but I'm not saavy enough (or should I say 'savvy' - spelled that wrong! - thanks, Greer, for gently pointing that out :)

p.p.s. - this is 5 pages long - not exactly a simple print out and stuff in your pocket to take with you kind of thing (although that's what I had intended originally) - to do that, I would have had to make the font size super small and with, ahem, some of our eyes, that would mean we wouldn't be able to read the list!

Enjoying

Happy Monday! 
We've been blessed with another week.

I've been enjoying...

Eating cake with lots of icing...

Sharing in the celebration with friends for their daughter's hour long piano recital...

Loving the bright colors of her roses...

Eating (again) at the simple but tasty spread...that was good hot homemade salsa...

Sneaking a peek at my boys playing outside with paper airplanes...

Squeezing in some car knitting...

Making another bowl of chopped kale salad for the umpteenth time...

Choosing more fabric from the stash for another sewing project...

Hoping to get taxes sent off this week...

Thankful for God's protection from storms last week...

Being reminded how brief our lives are, and how we are called to glorify the Lord all our days...

 

Yarn Along: Honey Cowl

Wow!  Ginny's Yarn Along feels like it was just a few days ago...I blink...the week whizzes by.  Are you feeling that way too? 

The puppy dog is finished sans embroidery for the eyes and nose.  I want to practice a bit before adding in his details.  I'm considering using wool felt for the features instead of straight embroidery.  Not sure.  Hope to show you the little guy next week.  My black Annabel is receiving some of my attention too, so I hope to be finishing it within the next two weeks, but we'll see. (the next few months are proving to be busy)

So of course, I cast on another project: the Honey Cowl by Madeline Tosh.  I've had this saved in my Ravelry favorites since August and have seen this roaming around other blogs for several months, and when I saw that my dear friend had started her cowl, I thought I'd join in too.  Obviously I haven't gotten too far, but it looks like it'll be an easy pattern despite the 220 stitches I cast on, frogged, then recast on since my long-tail was not long enough...

For reading, I'm busying myself with homeschooling books. Presently I'm reading aloud Augustus Caesar's World by Genevieve Foster (an Ancient Roman timeframe book told in story form and including all kinds of history that happened around the world during his life span) while the boys are amusing themselves with Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfield.  Unfortunately they insist on referring to one character in the book (Mucius) as 'mucus' :) And so as to not exclude my older two, they just finished reading Hamlet...

Ravelry Info here.

Yarn Along: Clara Cowl

Joining in again for Ginny's Yarn Along!

I finally finished the Clara Cowl that I had begun before Christmas.  Knitting a very large cable was quite the feat for me; my fingers wrestled with the stitches each time I had to change the cable direction.  But, it's done, and I learned a new stitch/technique, so that's good.

Overall, I like the pattern and the color.  Unfortunately, this will probably get little use this season since it's been unseasonably warm.  But who knows...perhaps we shall see a dip in the temperatures and a bit of snow before springtime? 

Please excuse the bad hair, blotchy-skin day - I seem to be having many of those of late.  And of course, I really dislike having my photo taken...

Reading this week is no different than last week I'm afraid.  Reading aloud lots of books for school, studying cookbooks and glancing at the one craft book I mentioned on Monday. 

What are you knitting and reading? 

Ravelry info here.