Ryan's Garden

We had a delightful day with our grandson, Ryan, this spring!

He was a natural at careful handling of the root balls before planting.

Great work with the trowel! Watered and mulched; the results below! This is Ryan's Garden; it is growing nicely!

SPRING, AGAIN!

It's always fun to return to the yard after the last (we hope!) frost and poke around beneath last year's leaves to find the ferns. Their graceful journey upward is almost a dance.

Thanks to Martha, we have this Wisteria on our back fence; it was frozen just a day or so after blooming last year. There is never enough blue in the garden for me, so this is a special pleasure.

Our grandson's first birthday came in February, just two days after Mom died. Then Spring, and Easter! The rebirth that cannot be denied is all around, reminding us of the joy of the cycles of life.

I will soon show you that I am back to the knitting; in fact, am working on two ruffled blankets for sisters as well as a little stroller blanket for a baby. My sweet husband is making great progress on a lovely wool blanket of blocks - more later on all those. Meanwhile, I hope spring works Her magic once again! Enjoy!

Beth

On the Fence: Parting Shots

We finally saw a bit of sunshine today, so I took the blanket outside for a picture. Here it is hanging on the fence. Below, it's on the gate.

I tumbled it in the dryer to remove bits of debris from the yard before trying it out on the guest bed.
The next pictures I hope to see of this will be as it covers a family snuggled up together on the sofa. If I get one of those, I will share. Now, as my friend Diana says, onward and upward!

Beth

Hooray! It's finished!

This has taken a year and seven months, from its beginning. Of course, I have completed several other projects in the intervening time. This has been a learning experience and a real joy!

Yesterday, I tumbled this in the dryer on air fluff (no heat) to remove lint and cat hairs. I washed it this morning in cold water and Woolite on the delicate cycle; dried on lowest temperature.

The colors remained vibrant; the wash water was not colored with dyes. There was a bit of shrinkage, but nothing alarming.

This big project is completed and I am happy to be able to give this to my daughter-in-law on her birthday in a few days.

Now, I am looking forward to spring and new projects for my needles! I hope you are, too!

Beth

Learning By Doing

This blanket has been a true learning experience and I have loved it all. I had to re-place this rectangle (with the diagonal center) from the bottom edge, to the row above. Then I knit another to put where it had been. That left two spaces to fill in next to it, and another at the bottom edge.

Below the white, circular stitch marker is a tiny rectangle that I filled in with background color. The space above required I create another log cabin rectangle. Below, those spaces are filled in, and lying at the front edge of the pillows, one row from the left end of the blanket.
The wise ladies at The Yarn Nook in Candler suggested the border be the same as the background, and not deep blue as I had at first thought. After deliberation, I concluded they are right. I wanted to put on an applied I-cord border, but this yarn is not conducive to that which calls for a bit of tugging to get it right. This yarn is easily broken - basically, it's roving with a thread around for texture - and has very little elasticity. So I have opted for a double seed stitch. Have not begun yet; I am working on the many, many long ends to weave in on the wrong side.

Anyway, I continue to learn and enjoy as I go. I hope it's ready for her birthday in February!

Beth

Optimism Reigns...thank goodness!

Still slogging away on this blanket. I created this small strip of blocks to fill a horizontal space in the blanket.

Sewed in ends and then did borders and added background to the edges; after taking last picture, I saw that it was still a bit too wide for the space.
Often it takes getting far away from it (taking a picture) to see what has to be done; I have seamed this in such a way that it is very easy to undo a seam, and remove some rows of stitches.
Anyway, here it is, and I will take another picture in a day or so to show even more progress. When I contemplate this project, I am amazed that I have not grown really tired of it, or stopped altogether. But I do love the colors, am enjoying the continuing process of creation, and am eager to see how it turns out!

My next decision is about the border color; I want to put a border around the whole thing. It is not going to be white, as that will show soil easily. Beyond that, I just don't know...yet. :)

Beth

Still Making Progress

I have seamed the top, down the sides, and across the bottom, with the exception of the middle bottom. I think that there will be some adjusting to do all along the way, and I don't want to lock myself in to a certain perimeter right now.

Above, there is a vertical space between two rectangles. It is small enough that I decided to fill in with background color. I picked up stitches, knitted garter stitch rows, using what I learned in entrelac to make connections at the top end. Below, you can see the space (one turn to the left from above picture) again, with the newly knitted portion ready to be seamed.

This entire blanket is taking this sort of detailed attention as I do the seaming. Currently, I am working on the other space that is visible in the top picture, just above the Courthouse Steps (emerald/white) block. I made a tiny log cabin rectangle and filled in the small space to the left of the Courthouse Steps a couple of days ago. I am loving the work! I have patience I didn't know I had, and am gratified that my brain is able to figure out these details. It's important to remember that these blocks are all knitted randomly, with no attention given to number of stitches or size. So placement is crucial, and a great deal of filling in is a given.

Maybe I will have a bit more to show you after the feast; I hope you each have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Beth