February Knitting Update

 Sadly, Ginny is not doing the Yarn Along this year.  She has an excellent reason for that decision, but I'll definitely miss the monthly link ups.

I've decided that I will continue to post the first Wednesday of each month with an update on what I've been knitting and reading.  Mainly because I love a schedule, and the Yarn Along has been one of the few scheduled things I've been able to keep up with in the last couple years despite all the twists and turns that life and family have thrown my way.  I need to be able to keep to a schedule and cross things off my to-do list.

So, for February's knitting post, here's what I'm currently working on:

The pattern is Vertex by my favorite sock designer verybusymonkey.  The yarn is Knit Picks Chroma fingering in the coloryway GoGo Boots.  I do have to say, as far as the yarn goes, I like the in-your-face brightness, but it is definitely not (so far) producing the color changes shown on the website. Disappointed about that.  The pattern, I love! It is super simple to follow, yet like so many of verybusymonkey's designs, looks very intricate.

Completed knitting since January's post: 

Elevation socks for my Mom. 

Two dishcloths, which, like the ones I knit in December, were made with scrap yarn.

Icicles

Michigan

I managed to read two books (woo hoo!  My reading has been much less than I'd like).  

The Stone Wall by Beverly Lewis is her latest novel.  I'd been waiting quite a while to get it from the library, and I did like reading it once I got my hands on it, although I have to admit it seemed a little predictable.

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel was tough for me to put down.  I'll be seeking out more by this author.

Currently I am reading Dressage Riding by Richard Watjen. While I've had this book for years I've never actually read it.  So, this year is the year I'm going to read it cover to cover.

A Quilt For The Quilter

 I think the very first homemade pieced (versus stamped, embroidered) quilt I ever had was made by my Mother-In-Law.  Waaayyyy back, more than 29 years ago now (this past week was the 30th anniversary of the night DH and I met), she gave me/us a quilt that she had made.

Since then, I've received a couple more quilts from her, as well as quilts from two other people, before I started quilting myself.  She has made quilts for each of my kids when they were little, when they graduated from high school, and when they got married (for the two that are married, that is).  She has also made quilts for other members of her family, as well as for family friends.  As far as I know, however, she hasn't made herself a quilt in a long, long time. And I don't think she's received a quilt from anyone else (afterall, she's a quilter, why would someone make her a quilt?) since her own mother got too old and gave up quilting.

At family Christmas in 2019, as I watched 4 members of our extended family unwrap quilts from her in varying sizes, I had an idea.  I would make a quilt for the quilter.  A lap quilt that Mother-In-Law could have for herself, because I knew that she would never think to make such a thing to keep.  Not only would I make her a lap quilt, I would make a lap quilt about her.

Using the books Farm Girl Vintage and Farm Girl Vintage 2, I made a list of blocks that represented facets of Mother-In-Law.  From that list, I made a preliminary sketch of a layout of the blocks into quilt, using both 12" blocks and 6" blocks.

An idea

I ended up changing a few of the 6" blocks that were traditional quilt patterns (meant to represent quilts that she's made for others), moved the row of chicks and eggs down closer to the hen block, and I adjusted colors on pretty much all the blocks to fit her.

A black and white cow to represent all the Holstein cattle she's worked with on the dairy farm.

A red tractor to represent her Farmall (little) A and (Big) H tractors

 

A pink pig, in the back of a black truck, 

for all the piglets she's hauled in that old truck

 and raised into pork for our freezers

Skeins of yarn and a crochet hook,

reminding us of all the afghans

 and baby clothes/blankets she's crocheted.

Hard to see, but the chick blocks have embroidered legs and eyes.

When my kids were little, there were always new spring chicks at her house.

Ta-Da!  A Quilt for The Quilter

The blocks, from upper left corner:

• the family cabin, in the blue my children remember (before a bunkroom addition was put on in the late 2000's and the cabin was re-sided in vinyl.
• Old Glory
• (Holstein) cow
• Sawtooth Star
• Pinwheels
• 9-Patch
• Churn Dash
• Maple Leaf
• Haystack
• Spools (of quilting thread!)
• Pickup with pig
• Yarn Skeins
• Chicks
• Eggs
• (More) Chicks
• Red Barn (in her backyard)
• Hen (For the 1-3 chickens she's always seemed to have)
• Tractor

I bordered the top in X's representative of the many cross stitched designs she's done on quilts and pillow cases for others. For the backing, a farm themed print fabric I found at Hobby Lobby last winter. For the binding, a red and white checked fabric (I think from Lori Holt's Farm Girl collection) from my local quilt shop this past summer that makes me think of plastic table cloths on picnic tables used by Mother-In-Law.

Backing and checkered binding

Due to Covid precautions, Mother-In-Law wanted to space out visits from each of her children this past Christmas. DH & I were finally able to get together with her last weekend, so it wasn't until Saturday that she received her quilt.

She loves it.  And, as DH was told in a phone call on Thursday evening, it works very well--she sat down in her chair Thursday afternoon 'for a minute', and ended up falling asleep under the quilt!!  I take that as a huge compliment.  A nap-inducing quilt is a cozy thing indeed. 

Yarn Along: January '21

 It's a new year, new month, and the first Wednesday.  Time for a Yarn Along post!!

Hoping to join with Ginny for the Yarn Along; I see that she doesn't have it posted on her site yet, so I will go ahead and link in later once hers is up.

There are some December projects to show, all of which were finished in time for Christmas, as well as some January knits all ready.

These socks went to Surprise for Christmas

The pattern is Branching on Ravelry.

I also made, but didn't get a picture of, a pair of Lego man mitts for Toad in the 6-9yr size.

Once the Christmas knits were wrapped up (pun intended, LOL), I made another dish cloth for myself using scrap cotton yarns.  This one is much prettier in real life.  It's the Copycat pattern that I made another scrap yarn dish cloth out of on last month's yarn along.

Right before Christmas, my Mom asked me if I would  to knit her a pair of socks, using yarn she'd bought for that purpose,hopefully in time for her birthday in February.  She dropped off the yarn to me, and I started them on Dec. 30th.  I am using the pattern Elevation, and making the leg the usual length rather than as a short sock.  I think it shows off the color changes of the yarn really well.  Currently, the first sock is knit through the heel turn and ready to pick up the gusset stitches.

Also in the above photo, you see a very purple dish cloth done in the Honeycomb pattern, as well as a light blue dish cloth that is using the Michigan pattern.  Both are using leftover cotton yarn.  I'm hoping to use up my stash of scrap cotton yarns this month.

Reading in December was squeezed in around work, holiday prep, and making presents. According to my reading log, I read the newest Sloan Krause mystery, Without a Brew, by Ellie Alexander, and that was it.  After waiting a long, long time to get my hands on this through the local library, I read it way too fast for the hectic time that is late December.  It was a 7-day checkout through the library so I had to churn through it and finish it on time.  Even so, I really enjoyed the story and can't wait for the next one in the series--which apparently is in the work but not due to be published until October 2021.

Your Kids Will Remember

 When my kids were little, DH and I tried really hard to live on just his income so that I could be home with the kids.  Sometimes this didn't work, and I would take a job for a while. But often, the cost of child care took the vast majority of my paycheck, and when DH would be traveling for his job and I not only needed a day time babysitter, but a second (typically teenaged) babysitter to pick up my kids from the normal babysitter before 6:00 p.m. so I didn't get charged exorbitant late fees for not getting there on time we questioned the sustainability of that system for our family.

So, for the most part, after DD2 was born, I was a stay at home mom. Money was tight.  We were creative.

One thing we did, several Christmases running, was to make homemade gifts for the kids to give to their teachers, both at school and at Sunday School.  If the kids could participate in the making, they did.  This was, afterall, their gift to their teacher(s).  It was cheaper than buying a token gift, and we didn't even have to leave home to find the right thing. 

Cookie in a jar mixes were quite popular back then (late 1990s- early 2000s), and I found a lot of them by searching online and through borrowing recipe books from the local library.  My kids would choose a recipe or two for that year, we would make sure the ingredients were in our pantry, and then they would get to work reading recipes, measuring ingredients and packing them in the jars in the correct order.  Then they would hand-write labels for the jars with instructions on how to make the cookies.  We even had a catchy name we'd put on the labels:  Four Kids in the Kitchen.

Years later, when I would run into my kids' former teachers who had been recipients of these gifts, they would mention how much they had appreciated the jar mixes (which they could make any time, not have to eat right away at Christmas), and what a unique gift it had been--obviously something the child had put time into.

Fast forward to Christmas 2020.  DS1 and his family arrived to our (pre-quarantined so we could safely pull it off) family Christmas gathering at this little place here with a box full of jars.  Each jar had a printed label on it, signed by K3, Toad, and Rascal.  Together with their dad, those three grandkids had made cookie in a jar mixes for DH & I, DS2, DD1 & Honorary Son, and DD2.

It was a touching gift for me, who was happy to see that DS1 had drawn on that part of his childhood and passed the experience on to his own kids.  And my other kids all had fun reminiscing about when they were little, making the jar mixes themselves, and whose hands fit into the mouth of the jars therefore making them the designated tamper when the ingredients threatened to not fit.

Introducing: Faline

 Our fourth grandchild, and second granddaughter, was born in mid-November. For a variety of reasons, including deer hunting season, some complications DD1 had during labor, and after giving birth (which included sepsis and an emergency hospital stay only 6 days after being released from the hospital postpartum), and of course the craziness that is pre-Christmas, I am finally just now getting this post written.

When DD1 announced, in April, that she was approximately two months pregnant, we were ecstatic.  This daughter has always wanted to have a family of her own.  In her late teens, she was told that she has PCOS and might not be able to conceive/carry a baby to term.  So, nearly two years after she and Honorary Son were married, to be expecting a baby of their own was wonderful!  I had some trepidation about the viability of the pregnancy, given DD1's gynecological pronouncement some seven years earlier, but thankfully everything in that department developed normally, and DD1 is now the mother of a healthy baby girl.

Early on, when DH heard that there would be a new grandbaby with a due date of firearm deer hunting season, he insisted that no matter what DD1 and Honorary Son chose as a name, if it was a boy DH was going to call him Buck.

As you read above, baby is a girl, so Buck isn't happening here.  At least not this time around.  I, however, have chosen to give her the blog moniker of Faline, who in the movies is the name of Bambi's doe friend.  Interestingly enough, when I look up the origin of the name Faline, it means 'like a cat', which to me is hilarious as Honorary Son and DD1 have two cats all ready, whom they both spoil and adore.  So it's sort of ironic that in this space, I'm going to refer to their daughter as Faline.  So far, she's very cat-like in that when she isn't eating, she spends much of her time sleeping.

Anyway, Faline is growing well.  She looks very much like DD1 did as a newborn, and we are all absolutely in love with her.

Before Faline was born, DD1 asked me if I still had the baptism gown that DD1 herself had worn for her own baptism.  Being that my mom had made the gown, at my request when DS1 was a newborn, and I had used it for all four of my children to be baptized in, I of course had saved it.  I was thrilled at the idea of my granddaughter also being baptized in that gown.

As you can see, it's nothing fancy. Simple, white batiste fabric that is both gauzy and durable.  Pin-tucks on the front bodice, with a small ribbon bow and lace sewn on the hem.  There is also a plain white slip (also made of batiste) that goes underneath the gown. Traditional, for babies of either gender.  Being that it's been worn by babies in two generations, I guess it is now a family heirloom.

Yarn Along: December

 I am joining with Ginny for the final Yarn Along of 2020.  Can you believe we made it to December?!?

The baby sweater I was knitting last month is finished, with exception of blocking and sewing on the buttons.  I have some buttons that will work size-wise, but I'm not in love with them.  Which is why it's not totally completed yet.  I need to get out and do some button shopping.  Or online and do some button shopping ASAP, considering shipping is taking a while this year.

My orange hat I use for deer hunting had gotten stretched out and didn't fit well anymore, so I found some blaze orange yarn from Jimmy Beans and made myself a new one.  The yarn is wool, and I love how warm and cozy it keeps me, for the most part (40 mph wind gusts off the field being the exception to toasty warm ears).  The pattern I used was Christina which has mock cables made with yarn overs and k2tog or ssk.  I'm thinking the wind gust air leakage is because of the yarn overs; my only regret is that I didn't use a pattern with real cables.

More small projects I have been knitting are some dish cloths.  Many of my dish cloths in the kitchen seem to have bitten the dust in recent months, leaving me with less than a week's worth.  I dug out my bag of scrap cotton yarn (from making dish cloths in previous years) and have been piecing together color combinations.  The finished sage green one is the pattern Honeycomb dish cloth, and the one on the needles is Copycat dish cloth.  

I also began a pair of socks, intended as a Christmas present for Surprise, although I may end up finishing them next year and keeping them for myself.  Long story, possibly a future blog post, maybe not, we'll see how things turn out.  The pattern for those is Branching socks, the yarn is some Knit Picks Stroll Gradient yarn I've had for a while, the color is discontinued, but I think was called Star Dust.

Not a whole lot of reading has gone on since the last Yarn Along. I read two books, one of which was the one I picked to take to the deer stand with me (I typically bring a book out to help me sit still and quiet; it has to be a book small enough to fit into my hunting bag, and not have a crinkly or shiny cover).

The hunting book this season was Snow Country by Kristin Neva.  While the story line was kind of predictable, I did enjoy this book because it is set in an area of Michigan that I am very familiar with and it was fun to recognize real places in the fictionalized towns.

The other book was Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo.  I love her Kate Burkholder series of books and absolutely devoured this one.

Yarn Along: November

 It's Yarn Along time again.  I am joining with Ginny this afternoon to show off what I've been knitting and reading lately.

First, a big finish to this year's big project: my Hue Shift afghan!  It is totally and completely done.  I am loving it.

A second finish is the pair of short socks I cast on while on vacation in early October.  I really liked the colors in this yarn, but I'm not sure if I can handle the mismatched-ness.  I might be a little too Type A for that.

Once those two projects were finished, I began working on my Knitting For Christmas list.  First, a balaclava for K3 that she requested (reminding me of the one I'd made Toad in 2018, she told me she needed a 'warm hat' in blues).  And then I made one for Rascal, because K3 had told me that he could use one too.  

That brought me to the next item on the Christmas knits list: a baby sweater for the new grandbaby (who is due any day now).  I am making that in a nice pale yellow, as DD1 requested gender neutral colors for as much newborn to 9 months stuff as possible so that it's reusable for any future babies regardless of gender.  The pattern I'm using is called Viola and Sebastian (any She's the Man fans here? Both of my daughters love that movie.) and I am doing 'Sebastian'--the cabled pattern--in size 3-6 months.

In the photo, you can see my current read, another Ellie Alexander mystery titled A Crime of Passion Fruit.  I've only just started it, but expect to like it just as much as her other mysteries I've read.

Other books I read recently are Poisoning the Pecks of Grand Rapids by Tobin Buhk, which was interesting but not very captivating; and The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson, which I absolutely loved and highly recommend.