A matter of semantics

Are you surprised? I did some more sewing!! My quilt top almost finished!!!! And of course, no picture I take is complete without a photo bomb, courtesy of Maggie, the stubborn Doxie. It still needs the two borders, one thinner than the other, and then it will be ready for the actual quilting. This quilt is going to be much bigger than I ever thought, which is a good thing because my grandchildren all want one now, so I will have an idea of what size to make for their twin size beds. I just can't even begin to tell you how over the moon happy I am with this!!! Thank you to both my friends, Toni, and Nanci, for encouraging me to do this...

 

My Remembering Vanessa cowl got its first blocking yesterday, and I'm so very pleased with it! It always amazes me how blocking evens out your stitches, especially with fair isle colorwork. I was planning on grafting the two ends this evening, and then I remembered I'm babysitting grandchildren so mommy and daddy can have a nice evening out without kids. It probably won't be completely dry by then anyway, so tomorrow would be better instead.

 

I'm almost finished with my Nymphalidea Shawl...well, actually, I already reached the point where the pattern ends, but I had way too much yarn left to go unused, so have chosen to just keep knitting. Then, I remembered I'm using Miss Babs Yummy 2 Ply, which has a whole lot of yardage in each skein. Once I'm finished with it, I will post the colors, etc.

My day wouldn't be complete without some sort of spinning! This cutie, for the most part, sits on my coffee table and everytime I look over at her, I just can't resist picking her up and giving her a twirl or two..or three, and so on. Next thing I know, at least 15 minutes has passed. Spindle spinning goes slower than wheel spinning, so I know this picture doesn't show a whole lot of progress, but this was from a couple of days ago. Since then, I have done quite a bit more, but just haven't gotten around to taking a new picture. I will soon though...promise. I have also added a lot more to the bobbin on my wheel...in fact, I've nearly filled it up! Again, no progress photo, but soon....



The other project that got some love yesterday was my sock. I finally reached the point where I needed to put in my lifeline for my afterthought heel, which means I've reached the halfway point for sock number one. Whoop whoop! I will more than likely take this project with me when I go to babysit...I shouldn't call it "babysit", but rather what the kids prefer.."hang out". Lol Gotta love the way our English language seems to be ever changing.
Anyway, see that red line up near the needles? That's where my heel will go after I've finished knitting the rest of the sock.

Lately, I think I've mentioned how I've become obsessed with video podcasts, and I thought I would share a few with you I have recently discovered. The first is called Stitched in Sweden, and the host is Maria, or mmontzka on Ravelry, and I think she's on Instagram as well. She is so adorable, and is an American living in Sweden. Like me, she is into neutrals these days, and everything she knits is such a soft color. I mentioned neutrals....yes, I want to add some softer colors to my knitting palette, like grays, and pinks, maybe even some beiges and off whites. Sounds like a good excuse to visit my LYS!
A couple of other podcasts I'm enjoying and think you should check out are The Knitting Expat, by Mina (mina86 on Rav), who is originally from London (UK), but along with her husband, Perry, have been living in the Middle East. They recently moved from Dubai to Bahrain...very interesting. The other one I like comes from Melody (mandarines on Rav), and is called Mandarine's. Melody is French, but lives in Latvia. She is so lovely as well, very soft spoken, and her knitting is amazing, as is all of the above podcasters. All of these podcasters also have groups on Ravelry, if you would like to have a look and maybe join.

I hope you are off to a lovely start to your weekend!