A clean start

Yay for babies and blankets and cats!! So much fun stuff going on down there. 

Yes, I was referencing Star Wars. :D

This week's update is cross-stitching from the plane. These irises are in the bottom right corner, opposite from where the other purple flowers are. I should be able to finish this block on my next trip!

We have some visitors coming tomorrow, so I also had to clean my room. In picking up, I was reminded that there are a few projects that I have finished but don't know what to do with and/or that I haven't worked up the courage to finish (like, I want to try making a pencil case, incorporating a little llama that I made, but have not done that before and can't seem to find a set of instructions that I like). And, of course, I am trying not to get distracted from the quilt! Too much fun stuff to do.

In related news, my work paid for us to get a particular personality assessment done, and I have officially learned that I am good at ideating but not so good at executing. That would explain why I have a million projects in various states rather than just a couple in progress and the others either done or not started. Sigh. A tip that I received is that I can strengthen my ability to do things I'm not normally good at by tying them to things I am better at, so I will have to ponder that a bit.

I am also so excited to be in the same place as you - just a week away! <3

- Catherine

I Met the Baby!

I was out moving trash cans this morning and our neighbors happened to be heading out on a walk with their two little girls.  The new baby is just a week or two old, and was underweight at birth (even though she was on time) so she had to spend some time in the NICU before coming home.

Rather than retrieving the blanket (because I finished it!) and making them go for their walk, I decided to wait and I'll take it over later on.

So, I did finish!  Here's the beginning, middle and end of working the i-cord edging.  I like it a lot.  If I do a similar blanket, I need to go down a needle size when I use DPNs, because my gauge is off and it makes the center poofy.  Or I need to use bigger needles for the rest of the blanket.  Things to remember!

The picture insertion software has changed, and I do not approve.

Also, Smallest is home!  Hooray!  She has her roommate's cat with her and it's fun to have another cat for a bit.  The two cats are both terrified of each other, so there has been no interaction.  We picked up some Feliway diffusers today to see if that will help them be more chill.  Here's a Cannoli picture for your viewing pleasure.

Tomorrow we (me and The Boy) leave early to head to Chicago to help Middle move apartments.  As I suspected, there is still packing to be done.  Sigh.  We'll take some boxes and paper along with us also.  I was planning to take the sock for Smallest in the car, but after our conversation, I think I'll take the yarn for the blanket and test out the Ziggy one.  I'm curious to see how hard it is.

The Boy went to the doctor this week about some pain he gets in his hip when he walks around a lot.  He's going to Japan with his dad at the end of July, so lots of walking will be involved.  I am very excited that he has been referred to PT.  Hopefully they can help him with his posture, which is what causes his pain.  He's got a wicked slouch.  He'll have 6-7 weeks to work on it, which I think is enough time to help.

That's all I know!  I'll report back from Chicago.  Hopefully we'll get some tasty food while we're there.  I might see Gwen Reagor (who now goes by Sissy) while we're there!

Margie

Yeah, baby!

Catherine, did you intend to reference Star Wars in your last post?  A new hope indeed!  

I have been working on a baby blanket for our neighbors who had their second daughter this month.  I've wanted to used this kind of yarn for a while, so I did it!  It's all acrylic, which isn't my favorite, but I'm hoping that the ease of care will outweigh any negatives.  I was going to do simple knit/purl patterns changing with the colors, but then decided it needed some lace, so I used one of my Modern Daily knitting field guides that had ways to adorn sock patterns and that's worked out well.

I've since started an i-cord bind off and I'm hoping to finish in the next day or two.  It takes a while, and I think there's over 580 stitches to bind off, so it will take a while.  Mostly I'm hoping I have enough yarn.  I think I do?  We shall see.  I have a second big thing of the same yarn (different colors) to make something for the first child.  I'm curious to see how big a continuous Granny Square would get?

Since I didn't think it was appropriate to take my big, messy blanket to a church meeting yesterday, I cast on the next sock for Smallest.  It is Planifolia in Gauge Dye Works' Pumpkin Spice colorway.  I bought the yarn many years ago to make socks for Smallest, and so finally they will appear!

Fun fact - While Smallest was cleaning up, preparing for some time at home this summer, she found Cannoli's first sock!  It was in the nest Cannoli had made under her bed.  Very fun.  Cannoli is going to be spending about six weeks with us this summer.  I think it will be a lot of fun.  Hopefully Ginny and Cannoli will get along.

Next projects... while working on the socks for Smallest, I will also be working on an Elwood sweater and a blanket for a postdoc at Georgia Tech who I've know online for many years.  She just had a baby in March and he is SO CUTE that I must knit for him.  I'll make the sweater in the six month size so that he can wear it when it gets cool in the fall.  I'm debating between two patterns for the blanket.  The first (Square within a square) looks relatively quick and easy.  The second (Ziggy Mandala) looks so cool, and would be fun to knit, but I worry about the attention it would require.  I'll have to think about this.  Maybe we can consult while you are here soon!  Yay for visits!

I have made some new cropped pants to replace the ones I made that are wearing out.  I even found the same fabric as before.  I am boring.  I finished one pair, now I need to finish the second.  Something else to do while I am working from home.  I am home to supervise The Boy, as he's in a bit of a depressive funk.  I am hoping to get the school to let him take more classes than he is currently.  He is bored, and a bored Boy is a sad Boy.  We're also looking at finding a job, which is hard when one is not motivated to do so.  Ah well.  We see the psychiatrist on June 1, so hopefully she'll have some thoughts.  He's also (hopefully) going to start PT for his hip, and I think that small bit of exercise will also help.  I'll be doing his exercises with him at home to make sure they get done.

I think that's about all I know.  We've bought tickets and booked campsites for a trip to the Canadian National Parks in the Rockies.  It should be a fun trip.

Margie

A new hope for the quilt

I’m so pleased with my efforts this week - I have designed and executed a new quilt top that is not as horrible as that crazy thing I made before. 

Here again is the original awful thing that my evil twin must have created:

I decided that I liked the outer two rings, but that the purple and bright red had to go. In looking for other brick red kinds of fabrics, I also discovered that I had a few scraps left of the material from the second ring, enough to replace the two pieces in that round where I had initially put in more fabric from the second round (in the top notch of the heart and the bottom corner). 

Here are a few photos of me testing out different combinations, as there were many nice fabrics to choose from:

Here is my supervisor helping me. He only messed up the pieces a few times, and fortunately I had taken a photo of all the pieces laid out nicely, so easy to fix.

And here are a few other "in construction" photos taken throughout last weekend/last week:

And here is the new quilt top, finished yesterday! I'm so happy.

Now I need to decide whether to do a larger border (the same width as the squares) or just cap it off, and come back to the question of how exactly to quilt it. I had an idea before, but might have changed my mind while I was working on it this week. However, the new idea is both vague and much harder than what I was originally thinking, so... we'll see. I am excited to have regained momentum, and will do more next weekend!

- Catherine

Work in progress

Today I have been pondering the quilt in a vague kind of way; tomorrow I’m going to actually make a plan. I am eager to get this quilt finished, in part because I was looking at the calendar today and realizing how fast this year is flying by!!

For now, I can show off some progress on my cross stitch - the full flowers are done, and the rest of the square is some sideways flowers and leaves. Coming along!

- Catherine

Flower time

I love spring! I don't know if more people have planted flowering trees and bushes since I originally moved away from this town in 1994, or if I just didn't notice them as much, but I have so much enjoyed walking around for the past few weeks and seeing all of the colors and shapes of the beautiful flowers coming up. 

It is making me especially happy when I have time to work on my new cross-stitch project, which is another celebration of flowers. I took this one over for my Tuesday afternoon time with mom and worked on it more in the car on Saturday, and I now have two complete flowers (out of ~4) in this block (see?). They are so cute! 

I'm still ignoring the sad quilt. I will try to work up the courage to make a new plan this weekend. Le sigh. 

- Catherine