I finally recovered from year end at work and the conference in early October. I'm convinced that I'm ready for retirement. Some of the things I have to do these days are just downright annoying and I find myself lacking the patience for all the corporate BS that's being perpetrated on me. I guess I truly qualify as a short timer!!
I had to actually go to the office downtown last week and again yesterday, so I had a chance during the commute to check out fall in SE Wisconsin.
It's gorgeous.
I love red and of course if you have red maple trees, you get RED! I mean, could it be more spectacular? And when the sun shines through them, it just explodes. I don't think I could spend a lot of time where the colors don't change like this!
And then right after the colors change, the leaves fall. DH is outside today continuing the battle against the trees... this is our patio after he's been through with the leaf collection system. He's been putting them in piles on the curb for pickup by the City. This week he put away my table and all but one of the chairs. Sad to say, I know what's coming!
I have not been much inspired in my sewing room though. Sometimes I go down there and plan to do a lot, when all I actually do is mend or clean or move things from pile to pile. The cousins and my aunt are going to a quilt retreat this weekend, and lack of motivation ALMOST made me want to go along, although I really don't enjoy the location of this particular retreat. It's in a small town in a hotel that lacks even an on-line reservation system and the lighting in the sewing space is questionable at best.
However, they DO somehow manage to sew while they're there!! I should be so lucky.
The last time I was in my space, I did sew some small string blocks because I was trying to clear out some project bins and bags.
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| These blocks finish at 3 inches! |
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| Some six inch blocks resulting from sewing random strips together out of complete boredom and the inability to plan anything! |
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| They'll make a nice scrap quilt, or maybe a border on something. At least I was sewing something. |
With the advent of fall, my knitting needles have been clicking again, though. I think it's the perfect thing to do while sitting on the couch pretending to be busy while you're avoiding other more onerous tasks like balancing the checkbook or cleaning out the cupboards.
I made several hats recently, and have a couple more in process. These two are for girls with lots of hair -- the one on the left is kind of poofy so you can tuck your hair into it without mashing it down, and the one on the right has a hole in the top to stick your pony tail through it.
Not mine, I don't have a pony tail and I don't think I've had hair that long in about 40 years!
This hat uses a pattern I got from ravelry.com for free, my favorite price. It's a couple of rows of knit, a couple of purl, repeat the knits, then the purls. You get a cute set of rings that don't really show up in this photo. Yes, I bought a LOT of this yarn... it's Red Heart Super Saver Fleck, and I have lots of skeins of all three shades of brown/tan.
While I was wasting spending time browsing patterns on Ravelry, I saw this adorable hat, a very simple pattern but done in Sock Monkey colors! I thought about the stash (yeah, we won't go there today) and I KNOW I have some brown and white and some blue and white yarns that will make that hat! You knit a band of white, then a skinny stripe of red, then more white, and finish up with the brown or the blue to mimic the socks they use to make Sock Monkeys.
I couldn't resist starting one. After all, why did God bless me with multiple knitting needles if not to have many projects going at once? I call in boredom management.
Additionally, I have been making some baby sweaters for the gazillions of new moms that have been cropping up around me lately.
This one just needs buttons, and I had enough yarn left to make a little cap to match. The yarn is my current addiction, Big Bad Wool. It's so soft and the colors are so pretty, and I bought a ton of it... This was two skeins worth.
This little boys' striped sweater is from a book published by the company that makes Superwash 220. I'm told that no one is carrying it these days because the quality had gone downhill since it's manufactured in China now. But my wonderful local yarn shop provided me with a substitute and I'm really enjoying the results. It's soft and washable, and it feels nice while you're knitting. It needs one sleeve and a front band and it's done!
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| Blue and tan. Classic combo! |
This one is just components so far. You knit panels and then assemble them into a sweater with an asymmetrical hem. I'm using Caron SuperSoft. I have a whole big tote bag full of multiple colors, so this is an alternative to the randomly striped sweater, and it's all knit with no shaping. It's the perfect thing to knit while pretending to actually be doing something. <wink wink>
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| Front and back yoke and back panel |
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| One front panel in process. The colors coordinate with the panels already finished. One sleeve will be this yarn and one will be the lighter blue if I have enough. |
I gave up this week and finally turned on the heat in the house. A low of 42 degrees was just too much to recover from, and despite all the knitting there were not enough socks and sweaters in the world to thaw me out!
Sew or knit on, as you choose!
