GIFTED

My lovely and dear cousin Susan

 wearing the shawl I gifted her on a recent visit.

You can see close ups of the shawl if you scroll 2 posts down.

PRAIRIE BOOTS

Loved the look of these knitted up in the local knit store via a Coco Knits pattern.

I knew I had some bulky Malabrigo wool yarn in my stash,

so at least 3-4 years ago I started on these and wasn't enjoying the pattern.

It was a bit difficult to follow,

 so after being half done with the first one, 

I put it away and forgot about it.

This January I ran into it while looking for projects to finish up.  

So I pulled it out, 

spent a lot of time trying to figure out in the pattern where I was,

and plowed thru.

The pattern wasn't as bad as I remembered and they sure turned out cute.

I had my husband cut some leather soles and punch a few holes,

and I found a couple of buttons to accessorize with 

and Woo Hoo,

they are done!

They will be a Xmas present for a favorite person in my life. 

ON A 2 DAY POSTING ROLL, ha ha!

Even though I'm rarely present on my blog anymore,

I've been busy cranking out knit projects that I started but never finished.

I'm trying hard not to allow myself to start something new

till I finish long forgotten projects which is incredibly hard for me.

This shawl was started many months ago to learn some new knitting tricks.

Fading contrasting colors, pointy scalloped edges,

 plus more lace work then I usually do.

I can't tell you how many times I messed up the pattern and had to frog back before I could move forward again.

It was so good for my brain.

Above is a picture of how I block my pieces with tons of sharp pins

and a special squishy board after I soak/wash the finished piece.

This locks in all the loose ends as well 

as stretches out the work to show off the stitch pattern.

After removing pins it's pretty much holding it's shape.

This is a kit I found on a new site to me called Ranching Traditions Fiber

located in Montana.

The kits comes with a lovely skein of wool yarn (you pick the color).

It's called Roots in the Valley and the pattern is housed in the sweetest booklet.  

It also comes with a wooden shawl pin

 that I can't seem to find anymore.  Ugg!

However,

I didn't use the yarn because I wanted to use up some of my handspun stash.

I thought I had enough yardage to finish the shawl

 but sadly ran out 3/4 of the way thru.

But I love challenges like this.  

It forces me to think outside the box.

I had some leftover Malabrigo Worsted which was about the same diameter

so I ripped out a couple of inches and faded it in.

Again more frogging!!

The fading was trickier then I've done before 

because the colors contrasted so much,

 and I had to cheat and go back after I finished the piece

 and weave in some more lines to help it fade more smoothly.

The beige handspun is wool with some small pieces of silk spun 

to bring in a touch of color.

I recently gifted it to a dear long lost cousin that I just reconnected with,

 and am asking for her to send a pix of her wearing it.

Hopefully coming tomorrow in an email.

And here she is, 

my lovely cousin Susan wearing the shawl.

I think it looks perfect on her and am so very happy I gifted it to her.

Susan is from my father's side of the family 

and lives with her family outside of Salt Lake City.

I haven't seen her or her mother Georgie Lou since my mother's funeral in 2013.

It's been way too long!

I'm so glad she reached out to me and came to visit.

Susan and her twin Karen are such lovely gentle souls.

Now it's up to me to pay all of them a visit.

So Utah,

here I come.

EASTER AND BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS

Funny,

 I never thought in a million years I'd be 68, 

but this is what it looks like after a lot of hard work in the gym, Pilates,

Intermittent Fasting and only 2 meals a day,

 one of which is a big vegie/fruit salad.

Seven pds. lost so far and going for at least 25 more.

I feel like I'm never going to make it,

and it's so hard not to give up.

Plus I love food and I live to eat my ex tells me. 

He on the other hands eats to live and has never has a weight problem.

Ugg!

Everyone tells me I hide it well,

but only because of big blousy shirts.

On another note,

I can only remember 2 other times in my life 

when Easter was on my birthday. 

So this year was double the celebration with my beautiful children,

and my bestest buddy Easton.

We celebrated with an Easter egg hunt 

while E was busy tummy timing it with his music and lights.

I love that my kids still want my ex and I to hide eggs for them.  

They continue to be very competitive siblings.

Can't wait for next year when Easton can participate too.

And color Easter eggs!

My ex hosted at his home

 and my husband drove down to be with his daughter and two grandsons.

It was a very rainy day but my son insisted we still do a barbeque.  

Because it was my birthday the kids did all the cooking 

and it was delicious.

Sadly my ex took a bad fall the day before Easter and was laid up in a sling.

He suffered a broken/cracked humorous and a very swollen leg.

He tripped on a polished wood floor while visiting a friend in the hospital.

It's such a shame because he is still recovering from his heart arrest

and has been doing really well in his physical therapy balance classes.

I had so much fun putting together an Easter bucket for E.  

All was thrifted from our local mountain thrift shop except a brush and comb set.

And if you look closely 

you can see two antique baby rattles from the 50's/60's.

 I picked them up for only 75 cents a piece.

It's so strange to handle plastic that old because it's very brittle.

And of course all the thrifted items got a bath including the stuffed bunny.

What was a little more challenging 

was to draw and watercolor Easton's Easter card.

I haven't done representational figures since I stopped teaching 4 years ago,

so I'm really out of practice.

But it turned out being super fun, 

and my kids thought it was store bought.

Hee hee 

I love when I can surprise them with something I've made.

 ANOTHER TRIP AROUND  THE MOON

or is it around the sun?

No really sure

 but what I do know is I just finished another baby sweater from

Alexandra at Two of Wands of Season 8 Knit Stars.

I love this demo pattern she shows and I had some left over yarn 

from another project,

so why not try it again?

The only bummer I encountered

 was that I ran out of yarn when knitting the first sleeve.

Oops!!

So I went thru my stash and found another similar yarn from Malabrigo.

But it was a slightly thinner structure and a slightly different color way.

Nooo!

So what to do?

I ripped out the entire sleeve that I was halfway thru with,

then alternated every other row with the thinner yarn.

If you have never knit with two yarns simultaneously,

I don't recommend it.  

It's constant Yarn Barf (tangles)

I also ran out for the collar and waistband.

So for those I swished to smaller needles and just knit them with the other yarn.

You can totally see the difference in the pix for the collar and waistband,

but I kind of like it.  

They are slightly darker in value which I think is a nice subtle contrast,

 and pleasing to the eye.

So now I need another baby to gift this to.

Whose going to be next?

Got my fingers crossed for my son and his wife.

ANOTHER SWEATER FOR MOLLY

KNIT STAR ALEXANDRA TAVEL

of  Two of Wands 

created this sweater pattern for her Knit Stars Debut in Season 8.

Her course is called the Duality of Knits and Crochet.

So she demos her pattern in both styles of handwork.

It has become one of my very favorite patterns to knit up.

It looks a bit difficult in it's textural Andalusian Pattern Stitch,

but it's super easy!

I like it so much that I'm almost done with another one.

Will I ever do an adult size of this pattern?

Probably not because I'd be scared I wouldn't finish it.

Baby/child size are more doable for me.

In Season 8 of Knit Stars,

 Alexander demos on a baby sweater so I just followed her demo.

and changed up the neck a bit.

It's supposed to be a full turtleneck

 but I thought it would be a bit uncomfortable for a baby,

so I altered it to a half turtleneck with a stockinette roll over finish.

This baby demo will probably fit up to 12 months.

I also learned a new bind-off called a Tubular Bind Off

 which is super stretchy and so much fun to do.

This photo is a truer example of the colors 

even though I took both pix at same time in same light.

Weird??

Can't remember where I got the yarn but it's a worsted weight 

in a super soft Merino wool.

And it washes up in the sink (wool wash) and dries beautifully.

And I felt the colors could be worn by either a girl or a boy,

although I'm not even sure if that's a thing anymore??

Ha ha

FORGOT TO SHARE THIS

Easton's Baby Blanket

I wanted to make sure my daughter Dani had input into the baby blanket 

that I wanted to make for our little man,

so I had her chose a pattern and the yarn.

I knew she would never like what I would have chosen.

Our tastes are very different so I played it safe.

Both yarn and pattern were from Shelly Brander's Knitstars shop. 

Have I talked about Knit Stars?

Can't remember,

but it is the most wonderful knitting/crochet store/community

of famous knit stars from all over the world.

And I mean really famous!!

Every year Shelly and her very professional crew

 travel the whirrled to find knitters who are trending.

Then she films their beautiful landscape surroundings,

their studio space, 

and the pro knitter demonstrating their trending patterns and designs.

I have done (paid for) all 8 seasons/years

 and have currently signed up for number 9 at her early bird pricing.

And you have the Seasons forever!

I feel the pricing is very reasonable for all that you get.

I have now traveled the world by armchair with Shelly and her team 

to some of the most amazing locations on earth

 to watch these incredibly prolific fiber artists.

And oh my,

I've learned so much in the process!!

Tomorrow I will show off a baby sweater I knit for sweet Molly.

Just finished it last week and I'm hoping the weather continues to be chilly.

The Knit Star was featured recently in season 8.

And it's probably one of my most favorite patterns to date.

So stay turned dear friends as I try very hard to be more present on my blog.

 

A side note:

After some recent blood work,

 2 of my doctors told me to get my butt to the gym.

:( :(

I have a fatty liver and pre-diabetes 

which I understand is something else that is trending here in America. 

Realistically,

 I need to shed at least 30 pds. 

which as of late,

 I disguise rather well under baggy tops.

I've gained that weight since I married my husband 12ish years ago.

He is a fast food junky because he worked in that industry his whole life,

and he's been a very bad influence on me.

When he had his gallbladder removed a few years back his doctor told me

it was the "biggest shit show he'd ever seen."

Ha ha!!

LOL  :):):)

So I'm not the only one who needs to loose weight in this household,

but that's a whole other story for another time.

Anyways,

in the last month I joined a Pilates club and average 2-3 times a week there,

 as well as 2-3 times a week at the gym for weights and cardio.

Love going to Pilates which really surprised me,

but I still HATE going to the gym.

That I have to force myself to do.

Have I noticed a difference?

YES!!!!

I've lost my first 5 pds which thrills me

 and an inch in my hips and another inch in my big old tummy.

My arms are looking way more toned and defined,

oh,

and I also lost weight thru my legs which look slimmer thru the thighs.

Woo Hoo!!!!

Now to just keep it up.

I also feel different when I walk.

I'm standing up straighter

 and my thighs are not rubbing together as much.

But let me tell you I'm spending a fortune at the Pilates Club.

Over $200 a month.

They are all very expensive in our community,

but I talked them into giving me a senior retiree discount,

but it's still a ridiculous amount of money.

:(

ON A ROLL

A CORINNE LAPIERRE KIT

from French Needle or Loop London

I just couldn't resist this delightful felt embroidery kit from Corinne's collection.

I liked it so much that I also purchased another smaller one,

 possibly even cuter,

 for one of my Tuesday Nite gals,

Aileen,

who has been with me now for 4 years.

She is still working on hers.

Back seam side

It came with wonderful color instructions,

and also encourages you to add your own touches which I did.

In fact,

 I pretty much changed up the entire top here and a couple goodies on the sides.

And recently I gifted it to Alyssa,

yes Molly's mommy,

when Alyssa brought Molly over to meet me.

And because Alyssa is very crafty,

 I wanted her to have a pair of bird scissors from the Gingher collection.

I also added the special heart & circular pins from Dritz on Amazon,

plus,

 of course,

 a variety of pre-threaded needles.

WILL YOU BE MINE?

HANDWOVEN & WATERCOLORED VALENTINE CARDS

Misc. Scrap Yarns, Watercolors and Papers, Pearl Cottons Size 5 or 8, 

Mixed Media Paper, and both Yarn Darner and Tapestry Needles

This project is a standby when I'm in a hurry,

which I always am.

Ha!

I can do it in one night on watercolor paper at least 140 pd weight.

Using 90 pds. will curl too badly and punched holes might rip.

I precut various sizes of watercolor paper that I knew I'd be folding into cards,

 and using a wet into wet technique,

dripped various colors onto the papers

 that I felt might look nice with my scrap yarns.

Underneath me I had some mixed media paper to catch drips and overflow

which I cut up into various size hearts to be glued inside card

 to cover all my pearle cotton holes, warp thread (pearle cotton) and knots.

This first card went to my new Grandson Easton,

and the yarn was leftover from a skein I had dyed

 and demonstrated with food colorfor my students some years back.

I think I used Kool Aide and Wilton's Cake dyes.

I really liked how the watercolors moved along the wetted surface.

And knowing me I probably dropped some water droplets 

into the color on the paper 

to make the pigment move even more.

This next one I gifted to my husband.

To my long legged,

 big hearted,

 guitar pickin' man.

From his big mouth woman.

Hee hee

Love that Johhny and June Carter Cash hit.

The yarn was a leftover ball of chuncky handspun 

which consisted of wool and Angora Mohair goat fleece.

I really like how it wove up and the way the Mohair curls.

This one I gave to my dear daughter-in-law.

I just love her to pieces

 and ever since her mom Mary passed we have grown even closer.

And this last one I kept for myself cuz it was too funky to give away.

I was using it to demonstrate how to go about weaving the heart.

(to a student in my Tuesday Nite Craft Class)

All my watercolor paper was drying up 

yet still too wet to work on, 

so I pulled this envelop out of the trash (hence stamp), 

and wove a heart into it.  

I was really surprised the thin paper didn't rip as I was puncturing holes,

 warping and weaving.

And this envelop was white with no watercolor

 but I see here it photographed a pale pink.

The Pearle cotton you see embroidered around edge 

was done in a blanket stitch and a size 5 string 

just because I had some leftover on my needle.

Note:  The yarn on the last two cards was from a special scrap ball.

Every year when I taught hand spinning to my young ones, 

at the end of the class period I would go row by row 

and collect all the unspun pieces of wool

 the kids had accidently dropped onto the floor.

At the end of the unit I would load it onto my drum carder 

and make a huge rolag that I would then spin into yarn.

And you would never know what the end product would look like

 until it was spun.

So much fun!!

ANOTHER BABY ON THE WAY

Back when I was teaching,

 I featured my Art Assistant Alyssa Olea often. 

First as my Ceramics student, 

then T.A.,

and she actually came back after she graduated High School

and assisted me a few days a week as her second job 

while putting herself thru college.  

I featured her wedding to her High School sweetheart Lucien Morales 

here

but what I haven't shared yet is that they are pregnant.

The baby is due soon in December and for her shower I gifted her a baby sweater

 I had knit several years in this post.

Back when I posted about it I thought it was destined for my step daughter Julie,

but she seems to only produce boys and she and hubby have decided NO more.

And since my daughter Dani had a boy I thought it was time to let it fly away.

The original post of it is much brighter and nicer if you are interested. 

So anyways, 

 I'm super excited to see this on her little girl.

Probably won't be till later in 2024 as it is for a 3 month old or so.

I'll keep you updated when I receive that pix. 

Besides the yummy Noro yarn I used from Japan, 

my favorite part of the sweater were the antique buttons

 from my husbands mothe 's button box.

Her family called her Cappy. 

I never got to meet Cappy but her son tells me she sewed all her own clothes 

and was quite the fashion plate and as well as a character.

I love that !

BEGINNING AGAIN

Ok,

here we go again with the second half of this Advent Knit.

Day 14 is this yummy blend of yellowy oranges

with the cutest sheep bag to store it in.

The bag snaps so you can wear it over your wrist and walk and knit 

if you want to.

It even has a great side pocket for storing extra tools and yarns.

EXPERIMENTING...

with two different needle sizes.

The one in front is with size 3 double pointed needles,

and the one in back is size 4.

Size 3 won out for this particular basic sock pattern.

The strips and rust colored yarn were put in to make them look more sporty.

The multi colored yarn was a gift to myself from Buku Yarns in LaVerne, Ca.

I also bought another colorway and gifted it to Aileen for our Fiber class.

It was time for her to learn to knit socks.

She's almost done and they are gorgeous.

They will be featured in another post.

I washed these gently in the sink so they wouldn't shrink or pill,

even though they are a super wash merino yarn base.

Supposedly I can throw them in the washing machine

but I'm too much of a chicken to do that after spending hours knitting them.

But instead,

 they grew enormously by a good inch in each direction,

as well as becoming incredibly soft and limp from the gentle sink washing.

I freaked out because they were now way too large 

so I did something I'd never recommend,

 and tossed them in the dryer for a few mins.

Zilch...nada...still ginormous!!

No...

Next I laid them out to finish drying and the next day,

 miraculously,

 they were back to the perfect size I needed

(the ones on size 4 needles a bit larger).

I honestly don't understand what happened.

Just chalking it up to experience and a lesson learned.

HALF WAY DONE

At almost 400 tiny stitches across each row

(about 20 minutes per row),

and ripping out so many rows that I made errors on,

I finally reached the half way point.

Woo Hoo!!!

Days 9, 11 & 12 brought in some wonderful forestry greens...

and then Day 13 thru me for a real loop with a very pale grey,

 but a pleasant surprise of a new tapestry needle.

Because I haven't blocked this half below, 

I had a really hard time laying it flat enough for it's photo.

But at least you can see how those greens worked in between the white and black which I loved.

And here you can also see the pale grey next to the white.

It's easier to see the difference in the photo then it is in person.

The very bottom is so sweet 

but in this pix it's hard to see the detail 

of the black bobbles along the edge. 

There was a real surprise for me at the bottom edge.

Amanda of Buku Yarns only had us bind off 1/2 of the 400 stitches.

The rest remain live on a cord to be knit together at the very end

 of the second half of the shawl.

Sounds pretty darn cool to me!

EVEE'S FELT JOURNAL

FELTED JOURNALS

Beginning 3-D Art

dyed wool roving, hot soapy water, thread and yarn scraps, hardware findings

I recently found these old pictures that I think are anywhere 

from the 2012-2013 school year up to possibly the  2015-2016  school year.

I haven't shared these yet, 

and it's been so long since I did a post from my teaching years, 

that I thought I'd give it a try again.

I have to admit that remembering this old format is somewhat challenging,

but so good for this older brain.

Amazing how it comes back!

 One of my favorite projects to demonstrate was Feltmaking 

because the kids loved seeing me surrounded and covered in hot soapy water which was dripping all over me and the floor.

Can't remember why I chose this colorway,

but knowing me I wanted to use up some leftover pieces of dyed wool roving 

from previous year's scraps.

These next 3 shots are after I had wet felted the piece.

I wanted to show the kids they could embed other materials into their felt

before the wet felting begins.

Didn't get a shot of that, only after I wet felted it.

Like this saved ribbon tag from my son's best friend's wedding (above),

along with a small piece of felt I had demonstrated beading (below).

I also sprinkled on a variety of yarns and threads from other projects I'd saved.

I was fairly pleased with how this concoction turned out.

The next step was felting it down even more in the washing machine 

with hot soapy water and some serious agitation,

and then it was on to turning it into a Journal below to demo for the students.

A picture of the finished Journal closed up in a 3 way fold

Not sure why these next 4 photos of the finished Journal are looking so bright,

but it will mellow out in the last couple of pix.

A few things to point out in the finished piece

 is first of all the name embroidered with handspun yarn on the front cover,

Evee.

Evee is the first born daughter of the couple who the wedding tag belonged to.

But note how much different the ribbon tag looks from the photo way above.

That's the washing machine doing it's shrinking magic.

Sadly though the date on the fabric disappeared.

Perle cottons were used with a running stitch to meander around negative spaces and to highlight certain areas.

And knowing the father of Evee well,

 since Kindergarten actually,

and how much he and his wife love to travel,

a fun ribbon with text was found,

cut up, fringed and tacked down.

Because my brain is in right mode most of the time while I work, 

I didn't realize that I had designed the Journal to open backwards.

Oops and oh well.

I really enjoyed using the wire clamp I found on a dog walk for the closure

along with a spring I scavenged from my husbands  hardware findings,

below.

Then it was on to the interior.

If I remember correctly I gave the students a choice between fabric or leather

 to line the insides of Journal with.

Turning the edges under and sewing fabric on worked for me.

And then another fun part is teaching the kids how to do a Long Stitch Binding,

and I believe there was also another choice, 

a Coptic Binding.

And then the choice of  papers to use.

I did a combo so show you could do more then one kind;

construction & drawing paper, and a map of the big Island of Hawaii

because I knew it was Evee's first plane ride to my son's wedding.

I also gave the students a choice to cut or deckle the edges of their papers.

I chose deckling for a softer look.

I know it's hard to see the center page of the Journal below

but it is the part of the island we had the wedding at 

on the Kona Coast plus other areas we explored.

Close-ups of some of the details and shrinkage.

I think dear Evee is now at least 4-5 years old with a little sister

 who is probably around 2.

When did I finally get around to finishing this book and photos?

Well,

I'm embarrassed to say last year or maybe the year before.

I know,

I'm terrible about keeping track of these sorts of things.

And will I make one for little sister,

probably not knowing me.

Have I given the Journal to Evee and her parentals yet,

gulp,

nope.

My excuse,

Covid of course!

Haven't seen them in over two years.

But now that I've posted this it will force me to get it to them.

Do they live far away?

Sort of.

But I'll figure it out.

Her parents live up in our cabin community of Crestline.

So yeah.

To see my students journals go here then scroll down PAST this one

 to all the others below it.