Blogging...not happening!

Man, I must be the world's worst blogger. I hope I will be forgiven for not keeping up with my duties.

I have been knitting socks, lately. I just started a pair using Reggia yarn in Kaffe Fasset colors. I used a different pattern this time...knit3, purl 1. Makes a nice flat rib. I will try to get pictures of my socks.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. We will be traveling the day of thanksgiving to my brothers, and returning the same. I made a little wall hanging for my sister-in-law. Snowmen, she loves snowmen.

I'll try and get some pixs of my socks and latest quilting projects, soon. Gotta get going to work now. ByeBye Happy Thanksgiving, all!!

Its Been Awhile...

Hidy-Ho, folks! I'm afraid I am going to be kicked out of the blogger union if I don't start blogging more frequently! Here it is October and this is the first I've blogged since July?!? Yikes...

Here's a quick'catch-up': August was busy with getting ready for my daughter's school, her birthday party, her marching band 'Heck' week nd her school starting.

September: A fabulous trip to Door County Wisconsin with 3 other friends. We stayed in a cabin on Lake Michigan and quilted, knitted, ate and shopped. We all dyed blank sock wool with Kool-Aid. What a hoot! Found some great knitting shops, and spent waaayyy too much on yarn....

October: Met the editor of Quilter's Home magazine, Mark Lipinski. He spoke at our local quilt shop (actually at a large meeting room sponsored by our local quilt shop). What a funny, funny guy!! Yesterday I had my Gourmet Club at my home for lunch. YUM-O!!

And that's life in a nutshell....

I am currently working on a pair of socks. I haven't made socks with my kool-aid yarn, but that should be next...I've also made a couple of fall-themed small quilts in the last few weeks. These are ones I should have done a couple of years ago but am just now getting to...

Its cold and rainy here today. The leaves are spectacular this year, but I'm afraid they will all dissappear after today because its so windy. Tonight is my daughter's marching band final performance "Sounds of the Stadium".

Till next time...Fibergal

SOLD

Hi, all! Once again, I have neglected my blogging duties. Sorry. I have been quite busy these last few weeks. I got my mother all moved in to our home. So far so good. Everyone is still in a period of adjustment, but things seem to be running smoothly.
The good news...I sold my short arm quilting machine! YEAH!! That really freed up some space for me to be able to move some furniture around now that mom's stuff is here. I was running out of room! Now I can move my stamping stuff and some of my sewing stuff in that room. Sweet!
My brother and sister-in-law were here last weekend. They were a ton of help...THANK YOU! We also attended the performance of AS YOU LIKE IT that my daughter was in. It was a great show, the kids worked really hard and it showed!
Haven't done too much knitting. I am still working on a second Rutabaga bag. It is pretty mindless knitting so its easy to pick up at any time.
I've got plenty of yarn calling my name, but haven't been able to commit the time to starting another project.
I'm working on a quilt for the shop. It should be pieced soon. Speaking of quilting, I've been reading about the new Bernina 830. Oh Wow! Looks like quite a machine....$12000.00 and 40 pounds!! YIKES!! But, like any quilter, I'm thinking it would be a nice addition.... WAIT! SNAP OUT OF IT!! Thanks. I needed that..

Gotta go.

For Sale

Well, another stretch of time has passed since I last wrote in the blog. I never was one for diaries, so its no surprise that I don't put a lot of time into this blog. Oh well.

I do have a bit of news. My 89 year old mother will be moving in with us by the end of this month. So I will officially become a member of the sandwich generation....taking care of my elderly mother and still raising my 14 year old daughter. Should be interesting. We are moving her here from a retirement home, where she has never been very happy, especially after my dad died. We recently moved to a lovely condo and she would have access to everything on one level. Its a process. Of course, what that means for me is that I have to get rid of some stuff to accommodate her. So, I must now sell my Gammill Homecraft quilting machine. If anyone is interested, it has a 12 foot wooden table, 11" width throat by 5.5" height, modified industrial head, bobbin winder, etc. I'm asking $2000.00 (buyer must come here and pick up). See picture above.

Been knitting a Rutabaga bag. It was a pattern I purchased from Knitpicks. It was fun. It will be good for grocery shopping or farmers market trips.

Trying Times

I haven't blogged for quite a while. My daughter and I went on a little vacation when school was out. We went to Paducah, KY. Went to Hancock's of Paducah...with only 30 minutes til closing time! There was so much...I couldn't begin to take it all in. The next day we visited the Quilt Museum in downtown Paducah. WOW...some incredible quilts. Everyone of them worthy of being in a museum! After that, we hit the road for Mammoth Cave. The road we took had a 400 mile garage sale!! Mammoth Cave was outstanding! We went on a 2 1/2 hour tour (there are several to choose from) and we walked almost the whole time. IT WAS HUGE!! Our last stop was Springfield IL to see all the Lincoln stuff. A great place to visit.

On the day we came home was the first that we had heard of the flooding in our area. We got back to the Iowa City area 2 days before they closed I-80 because of high water. We were quite fortunate in that we had no high water in our area. So many people were affected, so much damage. My thought and prayers go out to all who where directly affected.

My daughter had some wisdom teeth removed after we returned. She was pretty done-in for the weekend. Then we had my 89 year old mom here with us for a few days while she was on antibiotics. She just needed someone to help her remember to take them. This weekend, my husband is down with the flu. I hope everything settles down soon.

I finished the pink socks. I will add a picture as soon as I recharge the camera batteries. I've started another bag.

A big shout out to Erin! Congadulations on your beautiful baby girl!!

One Pink sock

Well, I finished one pink sock today.

Its my first attempt at a lace pattern in a sock. I'm pretty pleased with it. Now to sock 2! I used Cascade Fixation on #6 needles.

I've started the second sock this afternoon. I'm sitting on my three season room with the windows open and the birds singing. Its very relaxing.

I finished a quilt for a friend in Washington, yesterday. Her mother passed away before she could finish it so I said I could. I hand tied it and put a binding on it. I should have taken a picture but I forgot. Its on its way now...

Well gotta go. Leaving in a couple of days for a vacation! I'll take sock 2 with me.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Long time, no blog

Wow, I guess I haven't blogged for a while. I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this blogging stuff. I don't do it often enough.

I am working on a new pair of socks. I am doing a pattern in the leg. First time...I usually just do a stockinette stitch for the leg. I'll try to get a picture up soon.

I've been working on a quilt for the quilt shop where I work. I finished piecing it yesterday.
it looks pretty nice, if I do say so myself.

My shell is still in a state of undone. I don't know why it isn't getting done. Perhaps because I don't think it will fit very well. I may have to give it to a friend or relative when I finally finish it.

We purchased a Wii! Its a riot! I had my 88 year old mother playing it this afternoon. We all had a good laugh. She had trouble remembering which button to push or not to push. She and I played a beginner round of golf and we both were 25 OVER par!! Its lots of fun.

The weather is cold and windy. Not very nice for Memorial Day weekend. I took my mom to the cemetery today to decorate my father's grave. We all miss him...

Finished socks!!

Well, its May and I haven't blogged for awhile. I finished my socks!! They look pretty good for a first time. They weren't as bad as I thought they would be. It was the getting started that threw me. I think I could do them again...but will I?? I still like my double pointed needles the best. Maybe I should try the 2 socks on 1 circular needle and see how frustrated I can get with that...

I 'steeked' (I think that's the word) my shoulder straps on the pink shell. You might recall that I knitted the back straps waaay too long so I had to get rid of the excess. Haven't joined the front to the back yet. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I've started a French market bag with soysilk. Its pretty cool and very colorful. I started this bag a gazillion times when I first started knitting but I didn't understand all the directions for the handle and proceeded to get very frustrated. So I tucked it away. But a week ago, my friend and I visited a yarn shop and there was the yarn that I had originally seen the bag done with and I thought I would give it another shot. Its actually coming along nicely.

The weather has finally turned into perfect spring weather. I was trying to get some photos of some Orioles at my neighbors feeders this morning. She probably thinks I'm kind of creepy.... I should give her one of the photos so she doesn't think she lives next to a weirdo.

Well, its another rainy day here. Will it never end? Should we be building a large boat? Here's the kicker, its supposed to turn cold and possibly snow!?! Geesh.....

My socks are coming along nicely. I have made the heels and am now decreasing the gusset. I was at a friends the other day and knitting my socks. As I was knitting I said this was pretty easy (after such a rocky start), and almost impossible to screw up. And when I finished that round, I was holding an empty 24" needle!!! Thank God, my friend kept a calm head and put stitches back on the needle. I think I must have moved my needle point protectors to an end of each needle instead of the same needle. OOPS! I'll try and post a picture this weekend...

My shell is still in a state of undone. I have to shorten the back shoulder strap...once again I wasn't paying attention and just kept on knitting...

More tomorrow.

SorryI haven't posted anything for a while. Time seems to just slip away so quickly... I have continued on with my two socks on two circulars. Its all making sense,now. Although,I'm not sure I can start one without the pictures. This weekend, i found a book called, "2-At-A-Time Socks", Melissa Morgan-Oakes. This one reveals how to knit 2 at one time on one circular. I guess I'll give that a shot next.

I'm also making great progress with a shell that I'm making. Its Knitting Pure & Simple pattern#997. I'm using Cascade Sierra. The interesting thing I have gotten from this pattern is that it instructs you to knit with one size and purl with a smaller to maintain you gauge. It seems to be working. My gauge, when I purl, is significantly looser than my knit stitch.

I will try to post some pictures of my projects.

The weather here has really turned nice. Yesterday, Sunday, was beautiful. Today promises to be just as lovely. Too bad I will be working... I'm in the mood to plant, which isn't always the best. I tend to have all these potted plants and then ignore them. Not the most healthy environment for plants...

I baked the No-Knead bread recipe over the weekend. It takes 24 hours, but most of the time is just the bread sitting around and S-L-O-W-L-Y rising. My family liked it, but I want to try a similar recipe that I got about a year ago and see if it is any different.

Gotta go. More soo. I'll try to get some pictures.

Knitting frustration

Well, while I waited for my daughter to perform in the music competition, I visited a knit shop. I found the book, "Knitting Circles Around Socks" by Antje Gillingham. I purchased some Cascade Fixation and a 16" US4 and a 24" US4. After my daughter's quartet performed (they got a ONE rating...the best!!!), I sat in my car trying to figure out how to knit two socks on 2 needles at the same time. It didn't go well. So this morning (Sunday) I sat at the kitchen table and started again. Following directions and pictures to a T...I thought. But still, after the first row on the 16" needles, the peice did not look the same as the book...I'm frustrated. It doesn't feel right as I knit, like I'm doing something wrong but I don't know what. WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT FOR ME???

I actually started knitting socks using the magic loop method and then started using 3 double pointed needles (which I prefer), so its not like I don't know how a sock goes...I will try again. Then I must go to my mom's and visit with her for a while. Sun is finally shining here. Its about time! Now if we could just have some warmer temperatures...

Holy Cow! I've created a blog! Needless to say, this is a first for me. Its a rather cold, dreary day and I'm sitting here reading other blogs and asked myself...why not me? So, I decided since I like to knit AND quilt, I would start there.



I am currently working on a sleeveless shell out of Cascade Sierra yarn. I am trying to maintain some skills after I finished my first sweater, a cardigan. I'll get some pictures soon.



I am also just completing a quilt top for the quilt shop I work for. It is machine applique. The quilt is called "Just Ducky".



My daughter has a music contest today. My husband will be putting around the house. I'll be knitting...