Friday, February 27, 2015

Knitting Fever and Quilting

I have one pair of socks on the needles and I have holes in my finger so, I am waiting for those to heal before I start working on that sock again.  I have a Selbu mitten on another set of needles, they are wood so, the points aren't sharp and this works out well.  I am also taking time to work on my first quilt. 

New for me...glasses!  Reading glasses only!  I couldn't read a box at the grocery store so, I knew something was up.  I went ahead and found an eye doctor, and managed to get the hubby an appointment as well.  We both need reading glasses, he is less blind than I am.  So, I found myself a package of 5 for cheap on Amazon.  They work well. This means I have a pair in each room where I need to read. 

I work on the mitten in front of the tv at night.  I try to work on my quilt during the day.  After several false starts, I finally found my niche.  I swear, that rotary cutter was a nightmare at first, I know you are thinking, how can that be since it looks like a pizza cutter?  Uh, a pizza cutter is easy compared to getting used to this thing.  I finally think I have it down pat.  I am using a square fussy cutter for my pattern.  My batting is 48 inches by 60 inches.  I am using polyester batting for my first one and will save the expensive cotton batting for a bigger one down the road. 

I had planned to make each of my dogs a quilt but, since the loss of my hound dog, that blew that out of the water.  I lost interest and now, I am making a lap quilt for myself.  I have also realized how damn picky I am when it comes to the colors in my quilt and the fabric choices out there.  My first one is going to be pinks, blacks and whites.  I am searching for my perfect backing fabric next.  That is the hard part for me.  I am looking for the perfect one. 

The Selbu mitten is going for charity.  I have started my charity knitting for the year.  I hit a sale on sock yarn on Zulily and decided to use it for my charity knitting.  I have one hat completed and now I am working on the mitten.  After the mittens, I am thinking, a neck cozy out of stash yarn.  I have way too much yarn and I need to use it.  So, the kids who are needy will be getting items from me out of it. 

I have plans to knit a custom pair of socks for a dear friend's daughter.  I want to knit a pair for my niece, Maribeth.  She needs a new pair.  The pair of the needles right now, are going to my niece, Kate. 

With the cold the way it is these days, one minute it is warm down here and the next, cold.  Freaky weird weather for Texas.  Seriously!  I have my tomato plants which I grew from seed, they have to be hardened and I can't set them out until all freeze warnings are no more.  I need to get these babies into the ground.  I also have some basil and parsley that I planted.  I love fresh flat leaf parsley.  It is really fantastic in tempura.  It makes it creamy tasting when it is fried in tempura batter.  The hubby and I love it. 

I want to see if I can knit projects for charity out of a bin of yarn at a time.  I want to empty a bin and then move on to another bin.  I tried to see if I could do this in a month, it didn't work.  So, I am going to try and see if I can do it and how long it takes for me to use up the yarn in one bin. 

I need to knit myself a new pair of mittens, I can't seem to find mine.  I lose everything.