FOs

While on the 17-day cruise, I had quite quite a bit of time to knit during our 8 full days at sea.

I finished the Katwijker Frok socks.

It was a pretty simple 4 row pattern.

I think it's a unisex design.

I then started another pair of Practice Makes Perfect socks using Regia Kaffe Fassett Design Line yarn. I wore my last pair out so need a replacement as they were my favourite socks. These socks are my own design inspired by the cables from Fiona Ellis' 'Practice Makes Perfect' scarf from her book, "Inspired Cables".

I used my favourite eye of partridge heel and a K1, sl1 stitch on the bottom of the heel for a few centimetres. I then continued a 2 x 2 6 row cable down each side of the foot.

I've finished the gusset decreases on the 2nd one and am working on the foot.

I also finished Wingspan that I knit with Katia Darling sock yarn. I haven't blocked it yet but it looks lovely as is.

Hmm, I seem to continue to gravitate towards blues...

I had two balls of the Katia Darling yarn and cast on using the recommended 90sts. There are supposed to be 8 wedges in the completed project. I didn't finish the 4th one before using up half the yarn (one ball). So I frogged it and started again, casting on 75sts this time. I was on the 7th wedge before I ran out of yarn on the first ball. So again I frogged it and re-knit it with 86 sts and it worked out pretty well with only a few grams of yarn left over. I think it'll be even more drapey when I block it.

Here's a picture of the only yarn shop I entered during my entire holiday. Case di Lana in Siena. We were walking to get our bus back to the hotel and had no time at all to explore the shop. I was in there for 15 seconds and then had to continue on my way. They sold crochet cotton, yarn, needlepoint canvases, books and pretty much any needlework supplies. 

While in Madeira, I found needlepoint kits way in the back of a souvenir shop. Again, I was in a hurry and grabbed a small project for myself. It only cost 8 Euros and contained a canvas and all the yarn for the design - just not the background yarn. The canvas wasn't painted, rather a single strand of yarn was woven horizontally where the diagonal stitches should go. One simply stitched over the horizontal stitches with the tapestry yarn.

Now I wish I had bought a couple more for gifts. They were locally made and excellent quality. Oh well, next time. (sigh)

Jet Lag

I'm back! Did you miss me? Did you wonder if I'd fallen off the face of the earth?

Skip and I got back on Sunday from an excellent adventure that included a 6-day Caribbean cruise, a 5-day transAtlantic crossing, a 6-day Mediterranean cruise, and a 6-day land tour in Italy (Tuscany and Rome). Then we had a 9 hour flight on Al Italia which seemed interminable and where we were served inedible food. I almost dared one of the flight attendants to eat what she had served me.

I will blog about some of our holiday but I'm still kinda pooped and just glad to be home. I've been taking it easy and aside from tackling "Mount Washmore", grocery shopping, petting the cat who really seemed to miss us (he didn't stop purring for a day and a half after we got back), visiting some of my friends, getting back to my regular schedule of spinning and knitting get-togethers, I haven't done very much. I also went back to rehearsing with the nearby concert band in preparation for our summer concert schedule.

I finished Wingspan and a pair of socks and started another pair on the trip but haven't any pictures of them to show yet.

What I can show is a pillowcase I made for my friend Aiden who turned 10 last month.

I used this tutorial and French seams to make it without any exposed raw edges.

I don't think he minded that his gift was my first time using this technique.

I liked the dragons and the blue flames.

I also sent him one of the earbud cases I made with the dancing cats. It was like this but with a black zipper.

We gained 6 hours returning from Rome on Sunday and still are feeling somewhat jet lagged. We tried to stay up late Sunday and Monday nights and were finally waking up at about 5:30am then going back to sleep for another hour or so. Last night we both went to bed at 9am and woke up at about 6am. So today I think we're almost caught up on our sleep AND re-adjusted to GMT -5. I did have a snooze on the couch this afternoon, though, so I could make it through the rehearsal without yawning every two minutes.

I will get some photos of my FOs and prepare some blog posts about our superb holiday.

Here are Skip and I in Funchal, Madeira with our ship, the MSC Poesia, in the background.

In Málaga, Spain our friends, David and Susan, and Skip and I happily found a place that sold churros and sipping chocolate. Yum!

And here we are in Firenze, Italia (Florence) at Piazza Michelangelo with il Duomo in the background by Skip's left ear. The person who kindly offered to take our photo didn't get the concept of framing the picture with us AND the Duomo clearly visible - sigh.

Ciao!

Goofing Off

I have been doing some serious goofing off lately. Mostly I've just been enjoying being home. The weather has been unseasonably warm and precipitation-free. The birds are enjoying the feeder. We've had dark-eyed juncos, our resident house finches and chickadees visiting the feeder. Skip saw his first grackle today.

Last night the Whitby Spinners met (as they do every Monday night) at Coffee Culture in Whitby. I plied some of the red Dyeing for Colour singles I had spun. It didn't have enough twist and just fell apart when I was trying to chain-ply it so I Andean plyed the single and then plyed it on the wheel. I'm enjoying the Woolee Winder but I switched back to the regular flyer when I did the plying.

Today I got the urge to do some sewing so I made a cosmetic bag to test a pattern I found online. I used medium weight fusable interfacing rather than any batting. I like how it turned out, I just didn't make it big enough. I want to make a couple of large zippered bags. One for my cosmetics for when I'm travelling and the other for all my electronics cords, chargers, adapters, etc., also for when I'm travelling. I really like the 'cool cats' dancing.

It wasn't too hard to cut the fabric so the edges would line up.

I trimmed the interfacing 1/8" all around before ironing it onto the main fabric pieces so it wouldn't gum up my iron.

This one is too small for what I intended for so I'll use it for makeup. I now know how to modify the pattern to make the larger size that I wanted.

I then made a couple more earbud cases. One with batting

and one with interfacing instead of batting.

I didn't get a shot of the one with the interfacing but it has the same fabric as the one above but the white fabric is inside, the green is outside and I used a black a black zipper and topstitching.

Back Home

Skip and I got home yesterday after a 3400km (2125 mi) drive from south Texas. We're not people who like to drive for 12 hours a day. We're more like the 7 - 8 hour per day people. As a result, we just can't seem to make the trip in only 4 days. Oh well. We're home now and that is good. We had fantastic weather for the entire drive home. We kept our eye on the weather systems that were going through, particularly the violent one that had tornadoes touch down in IN and TN. But they were well north or east of us. I'll outline some of our escapades in another post.

Since returning home, I've tried out my new Woolee Winder which I had delivered to me in TX and I really do believe it will speed up my efficiency. I did spend quite a bit of time shifting the single to different hooks to wind the bobbin evenly and now I just spin and spin and spin. My spinning group continued on in my absence on Monday nights and we have lots of upcoming events we're planning for including a couple of spin-ins and perhaps even an overnight or weekend retreat!

I've also been doing a wee bit of sewing. I've been doing quite a bit of stash-building and thought it was time to actually make something! I was intrigued by this tutorial for an earbud case. I did it exactly as per the instructions.

My top stitching is a little wobbly. I had to pick out the first attempt and try it again.

I think I will make future ones a little bit bigger - perhaps another 1/2 inch bigger.

 

I like the music print I used for the lining.  It's just random notes.

I used the thinnest batting I had but it was still pretty puffy. However, I think it will protect the earbuds. A little zipper case like this could be used for lots of things - stitch markers, loose change, flash drives, dental floss, gym ID card, etc.

It's an easy, peasy project. I see a few more in my future.

A Stroke of Good Luck OR No Missed Opportunities

So the night before last, I checked my email and I got one from my friend, Suzanne, with whom I taught for many years before I retired. We live fairly close to each other (15 km or so), keep in touch almost daily via Facebook or email, and occasionally get together for dinner or a movie or both. We were both single when we started at our school and have both been through a couple of long-term relationships. She has interesting, creative hobbies like scrapbooking and photography and we both love to travel. We just have never done it together.

So I get this email with the subject: Want to go on the baltic cruise?

I then read on: You can be my roommate! The room would be free for you -- you'd just have to pay for your airfare, insurance, excursions, etc.  

It didn't take me more than a couple of seconds for my brain to scream "Hell, yes!".

Suzanne's parents are retired and like to travel as much as they can. A couple of Christmasses ago they treated their entire family to a Caribbean cruise. I think there were 13 people in total that they paid for. They discovered they enjoy cruising. Helloooo! What's not to like?

Anyway, this summer they are booking a 12 day cruise and paying for Suzanne and a roommate to go. And lucky me gets to be the roommate! I'm not sure how many were on her list of potential roommates, but I got to be the lucky one who said 'yes' first.

We're going to be sailing out of Amsterdam (which I last visited 31 years ago). Suzanne and I will fly over a couple of days ahead to do some sight-seeing. Then we'll meet her mom and dad (M & D) who will fly in a day before sailing and board our ship which will stop at: Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg (2 nights), Tallinn, Berlin (actually a port on the Baltic Sea with an excursion to Berlin) and Copenhagen.

A Baltic cruise has been on my bucket list for a while so I'm thrilled with this opportunity to do it so affordably. A trip like this would have been completely out of the question this year otherwise. I even have some left-over Euros from my last European vacation (before I retired even) that I should be able to make good use of.

Skip will be in the middle of his golfing and grass-cutting seasons, so will just have to muddle along without me for a couple of weeks. I'm sure he's somewhat jealous and would love to be able to join us, as he loves cruising as well, but he understands that Suzanne doesn't need 2 roommates.

I have been knitting on and off but mostly have been pursuing other activities lately. I know I've been eerily absent from blogging but all will be revealed in a week or so. I'm working on a second of two socks that I started on a car trip a few weeks ago. I also started Evenstar Gloves using some red KnitPicks City Tweed DK yarn from my stash. The yarn is really soft and squishy. I'd like to knit some other projects with it.

Tina at Soper Creek Yarn put a post on her blog about the classes I will be teaching there in April and May.  I need to finish one knitting project and get it blocked as well as blocking another I recently finished - both versions of the Dianna shawl. Then I'll get them over to her so she can display them in her shop and drum up interest in the classes.

Every day I am grateful for what life has laid out for me at this stage of my life. I don't take it for granted because I know it can all change in a heartbeat. As retirees, we know we are only 1 doctor's appointment away from some nasty diagnosis so I will certainly be availing myself of as many opportunities that come my way. I am a very, very fortunate person. This I know. It more than makes up for other periods in my life which were not quite as blissful. I'm certainly receptive to any good fortune that comes my way. And having a good friend with extremely generous parents, doesn't hurt either.  :-)

Happy Leap Day!

Quilts and More

Yesterday, I picked up a 'simple, fresh & fun' publication called "Quilts and More" - a Better Homes and Gardens publication.

It had lots of easy, achievable patterns for projects. One in particular that intrigued me was a 2-in-1 Reversible Quilt designed by Kate Spain.

Basically, each side of the quilt is pieced and then they're quilted together. This particular project uses the same pattern on both sides, just different colourways on each side. Each side can be created with one 26-piece strip pack or 'jelly roll' (2 1/2" x 42" precut strips or equivalent) alternating with solid white strips.

There are so many things that could be done with this idea - same colourways on both sides with contrasting patterns, sampler on one side and strips on the other, etc. etc.

I also did some stash-building at the discount department store that had a large fabric department. Most of the fabrics were on clearance for between $2 - $4 per yard. I bought 1/2 yd. of each (mostly).

These 4 fabrics would work together.

Of course, I couldn't resist these purples and blues.

These 4 might also work together.

I just thought this was cute.

And I grabbed a yard of this kitty cat fabric for Mo.

Next up - a variety of projects that I'm planning to make...  Stay tuned...

Checking In

I`ve been on a holiday from blogging lately but thought I`d check in with my latest efforts.

I continue to work on the Every Way Wrap, a comfort shawl for a friend who recently lost her husband. I'm on the last ball of yarn and repeat 13 of 16 before starting the ribbed edge. Forgive the crappy photos - it's nighttime and the lighting is horrid.

I finished a sock and have started a second one. The pattern is called Katwijker Frok by Erry Pieters-Korteweg and it's based on a Dutch fisherman's sweater pattern from Katwijk, a coastal town in the Netherlands. There are only 4 rows to the pattern so it was great car knitting.

I started another Dianna shawl - a store sample to promote a couple of classes I'm teaching. This one is using Noro Taiyo Sock Yarn. The feel of it is like the Sekku yarn I used on two previous Diannas but the Taiyo Sock Yarn is thicker. It should block out nicely.

I`m also working on a rectangular one which will be 3 squares x 20 rows of the Jawoll Degrade sock yarn I`m using. It should block out to about 9``x 60`` when I ever get it done.

I found a WalMart with an extensive fabric department and picked some inexpensive items for my little fabric stash. I then noticed several shelves with cute cotton fabrics at between $2 - $4 per yard. I'm definitely going back for more. I have no idea what I'm going to make with all these random fabrics. Perhaps a pieced quilt of some kind with an eclectic collection of fabrics? Some more project bags? For now, I'm going on cute/whimsical designs I like a lot.

I recently learned how to download movies to watch on my computer and have been having quite the Downton Abbey extravaganza. Skip and I have been watching it on Sunday nights for a couple of months on on PBS. I downloaded all of Season 2 and the Christmas special and have watched them all. Then I went downloaded all 7 episodes of Season 1 and watched them, realizing I had seen the first one but had missed several episodes of Season 1 when they were first aired.

I was surprised to learn how many of my friends (Facebook and otherwise) and cousins were watching it. We`re all really enjoying it. Tonight PBS aired the last two episodes of Season 2 (Episodes 7 & 8) back to back and next week they`ll show the 1.5 hour Christmas special which resolves some story lines and opens some others. Season 3 will be aired in the UK in the fall and on Masterpiece Theatre Classic on PBS in the spring of 2013. We`ll have to wait a whole year to watch it (unless I download it after it airs in the UK).