Trying to get family to give me ideas for Christmas gifts is like pulling teeth!

I have been trying to get our families to let us know what they and the children would like for Christmas.  All the grandchildren have plenty of clothes and toys.  I like to get them something they really want.  As we don't see any of them very often it is difficult to know.  Same thing with my husband, I asked him to do an Amazon wish list for ideas for himself.

What response have I had so far?  Nothing, nought, zilch, nada!

So as all our money goes into one pool, said presents are bought out of it.

So, as I know exactly what I want, I went ahead and ordered mine this morning. I ordered the Sizzix die cutting machine and some dies.  I had bought some felt on the weekend so I will be ready to go on Christmas Day. Special thanks to my blogging friends Marie and Dawn for their help and advice on the machine and dies.

But I am overcome with feelings of guilt.  Now I may get over that when the parcels arrive but for now I feel bad.

When they arrive, I will check they are all OK and then put them away.  I am a stickler for not having presents until Christmas Day.  As I made the rule, I have to stick by it lol.

Maggie is doing great, she is 15 weeks old now.  Boris and she are getting along much better.

See the little spotted guy sitting on the dresser, he has been with me for many years. He came with me from England to Canada and then to the US.  He is by far the best behaved of the bunch lol.

Have managed another couple of granny squares this past week but no knitting or sewing alas.

All I want for Christmas is a ?????

Actually I do know what I want for Christmas, it's a Sizzix die cutting machine.  The problem is which one do I need?

If 'Dottie's Daughter' reads this can you let me know what your model number is please.

Also, does it cut through several layers of fabric or felt and what dies do you need to do that.  Does it need the BigZ ones to cut through fabric.  Do you think it would cut leather too?

I have been checking out Amazon but am clueless as to what I need.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.  I want to make some felt Christmas tree decorations for next year.  I see you make them.  I think it is something I can work on downstairs in the living room. Getting up to my sewing and knitting room is not easy these days with the puppy and other things going on.

As to my other crafty projects, still just working on Granny squares for a blanket for us. I have 16 made so far, so 4' x 4'.  Still have a long ways to go.

I took Maggie to the vets yesterday for her last set of puppy shots and worming plus she got her rabies shot so now she is good for a year.  She weighed in at 31.5lbs. She is 14 weeks old.  I think she is going to be a big 'un.  She is adorable, especially when she is napping lol.  Seriously though, she is doing well.  A tad on the boisterous side so we take her out a couple of times a day and let her run around like a mad thing.  Poor Boris gets worn out trying to keep up.  He does stop though when he has had enough and Maggie eventually slows down.  We are lucky that we have the land for her to run around.  She doesn't wander too far away from us though.

Maggie has found she can get on Papa Bear's chair via the footstool. Caught her on her way to attack my yarn!

Had some rain and strong winds here the past week or so. Can do without the wind but the rain was much needed.

Child's hoodie jacket pattern and arran type tuck stitch punchcards for a standard and a bulky machine

I mentioned I had joined a Facebook group about machine knitting.  I posted a couple of pictures of things I had made and a couple of ladies were interested in the hoodie jacket.  I took some pictures of the  Knit radar pattern and the punchcard I had used.

Not sure how a person can transfer the schematics of the pattern for their use but here they are if anyone is interested.  I do know a punchcard can be copied easily though.

For the standard machine

close up of the arran pattern on the standard.  I don't think I elongated this.

For the bulky machine

The arran tuck stitch on the bulky machine which I did elongate

PS: This post was done when the puppy was napping lol.
PPS: I am a terrible photographer. Apologies for the shadows etc.

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses......and darned good ones too!

Recently I joined a machine knitting Facebook group and the yearn to knit again is overwhelming.

Why can't I find the time?

Well, first of all there is Maggie, the new puppy who is now 12 and a half weeks old and very active. (She does take naps but then I have to catch up on other chores). She is getting better behaved every day which is a blessing.

The cooking, washing, cleaning etc. etc etc.

There are the many hospital trips we have to make, but I am happy to do whatever it takes to help my husband and his doctors manage his horrible disease.

But the main distraction right now is the Asian beetles that are invading our home. They are terrible this year, absolutely awful!

We bought infra red bug traps, we have copious amounts of menthol and camphor all over the place but they still keep coming.  The late warm and sunny weather doesn't help.

It involves hours of vacuuming every day, not just regular whip round with the vacuum type but intense into every nook and cranny with the crevice tool type.  It exhausts me but it has to be done.....every day.

We have researched and researched and the vacuuming is about all we can do.  It doesn't stop them coming in, it justs rids us of the previous 24 hours deluge of them. They will continue to swarm until it gets cold and cloudy and stays that way but the ones that are already in will stay in and we will have to deal with them. They do not vacate until April but hopefully they will slow down so that my life can resume to some sort of normality.

Meanwhile, I am plodding on with the crochet granny squares in the evenings if I have enough energy left.

Not a lot to tell, still hanging on in there!

I still haven't been doing too much crafty stuff.  A couple more granny squares for the blanket and did get up to my sewing room a couple of days ago to sew some camo fabric together for my hubby.

While I was up there I took out the sponge bars on my SK700 and my SK155 knitting machines.  I have a tube for them so thought they would fare better in that than in the machines not being used.

My husband has had a couple of trips to the hospital in the past couple of weeks.  His auto immune has flared right back up so he is pretty weak and tired all the time.  Back again tomorrow to see the neurologist and see what's next.

Last week he went for a colonoscopy.  He had one 6 years ago and they removed a lot of polyps some of which were andenomas which have the potential to turn into cancer if not removed.  They recommended he have the procedure done every 5 years and we had been waiting for the appointment but none came so we chased it up and they arranged for it to be done last week.

Will spare the gruesome details, if you have had one you know about the prep and if you haven't then don't want to spoil it for you.

The prep didn't work, he has to go back again in a couple of weeks and prep for two days this time.

All that taken in to account, I don't think they will keep up the Rituximab regimen as one of the side effects could be cancer.  We think they may resume plasmatheresis again but will know more tomorrow.  I am a little worried that the Rituximab may have triggered the polyps to grow again but praying for it not to be the case.

Maggie is growing like a weed.  She weighed in at 17.2lbs last week at 9 1/2 weeks.  She is 10 weeks old today.  Sometimes she is a handful as most puppies are.  We are soldiering on, trying to instill into her what she can and can't do while she is still small as when she is fully grown she will be a very strong dog.  She needs to learn now how to be gentle.  Easier said than done sometimes lol.

She pesters the life out of poor Boris because she wants to play all the time outside.  He is good for so much but she doesn't know when to stop.

We had to get her a bigger sleeping crate as she has just about outgrown the first one.

She is wonderful at night though.  She will sleep through from 8.30pm to gone 6am which gives us a good night's sleep too.

And Yes, that is Boris's bed!

She dragged in a small branch with dead leaves on and annihilated it

A little bit more crocheting, a visit to the doctors and a Maggie update

It's been another busy week with Maggie.  I want to document more about her but this is my 'making things' blog so I am going to encroach on Boris's blog for a while to do it. I am sure people reading this one aren't really interested in Maggie's exploits even though she is the cutest thing in the whole wide world!

For the past six months the arthritis has gotten a lot worse, to the point of really debilitating.  My husband is the one with autoimmune disease which attacks his muscles and nerves and is limited to what he can do but it had become so bad with me that he was actually more active than I was.

My annual appointment with the doctor was due so I went to see her and told her my tale of woe. She said as this summer had been so humid people like me were really suffering.  Shr renewed my blood pressure medication, added a diuretic as my legs had been swelling a lot more than usual and gave me a weeks supply of steroids.  She said they would help a lot with the arthritis.  Well, I am on my second day of taking them and I already see an improvement which is great.

As for my hobbies, I am half way through Granny square 8.

I plead getting the new puppy, helping my husband with his project and arthritis as my excuse for lack of making things and am hoping things will settle down and I can get a bit more done soon.

Just one Granny square this week!

Well, Maggie is adorable and we love her to bits.  She has thrown us right out of our routine and we are trying to adjust to a new one to include her.

She needs lots of going outside to do her business and our yard isn't enclosed so that means we have to be with her.

She loves to play but we have to supervise because she just wants to bite everything, especially my trouser legs!!!

She will play with her toys and we interact with her to keep her exercised but she will not take no for an answer when she bites my trousers.  Trying to research a solution for that.  I offer her a toy as an alternative and that works for a short while but back she comes!

Her potty training is going well but that's because we have been vigilant in taking her outside.  She doesn't bark to let us know that she needs to go unless it is at night when she is in her sleeping crate. She cries then when she wakes up and needs to pee.

So our first week with her has been hectic but we are enjoying having her so much.  She is only 6 weeks old and we have a long ways to go.  We are in for the long haul.

Only managed one Granny square this week but hey, it's better than nothing!

A little surprise this week!

If you read my blog then you know we are senior citizens, my husband isn't too well, I am arthritic and we live in the country and are pretty isolated.
Boris, our wonderful and faithful dog is getting on too and we know we could be targets for robbery so we knew that we would have to get another dog sometime soon.

My husband has been researching breeds and we decided that an American Bulldog would be perfect for us. They are loyal family dogs and protective. He also wanted an all white one. Unfortunately, they are a little pricey.  We have been checking out rescue places to adopt but have never found one.

My husband was browsing Craig's list on Tuesday and came across an advert for a white puppy American Bulldog in a town not too far away.

She was 5 weeks old, which we thought was a little young to be being sold but we went ahead and texted the owner that we might be interested and we got a reply right away.

She had told us how much she wanted for the puppy which wasn't outrageous by comparison to what we knew was the going rate.  We offered her less if we liked her.  She accepted and we arranged to meet.

The owner didn't want us to go to her place, she wanted us to meet her in the local Walmart car park and bring the puppy. Umm!

When we saw the puppy we were smitten.  My husband's birthday is soon and he said he would be happy to have her as a birthday gift.  This is great for me as I don't have to worry about what to buy him now.

The owner told us she breeds these puppies but we suspect she is not a professional breeder.  The puppy had three patches of what looked to be some sort of skin infection and the owner told us she had taken her to the vet and the vet had told her it was a bacterial infection and to bathe her twice a week and apply the ointment which they prescribed for the puppy.

That seemed to be reasonable but when we got home and checked the ointment it was out of date.

The next day we had a hospital appointment so we took her with us in her crate bed.  I stayed with her and let her out to do her business and gave her her food while my husband went and got seen.

I called our vet and made an appointment for the next day as we needed to know she was OK and to get the skin patches treated.

We took her to the vet and they gave her a good checking over and proclaimed her to be in perfect health.  Phew!  They took some swabs from the patches and could not find any sign of a bacterial infection so they suspect it may be ringworm and gave us medication to treat her.  She also got her first shots and they wormed her.  They also told us not to bathe her unless she got dirty. The seller I think had come up with her own diagnosis and treatment so I am glad we got it checked out straight away and have the correct treatment.

Her tummy was a bit upset Thursday and yesterday, I suspect from the shots meds and worming but today she has been much better.

She eats very well and we have her on a schedule whereby we are taking her out often to potty with Boris and she does her business outside when we do.  There have been a couple of accidents but we are still getting used to her and her to us and I am confident she will get the hang of the potty thing very quickly.  She is very bright and very energetic and loves to play but she also naps in between feeding followed by play sessions.  She sleeps in her crate bed at night and I do have to get up and take her out usually about 1am to potty but she goes right back to sleep afterwards.  She is a bit of a chewer so I dug out Boris's toys which he never really played with and put them through the washer and she loves to play with them.

So, so far, so good. We named her Maggie. The extra exercise is good for me too, I am walking a lot more than usual which can only be good.

Boris isn't too impressed with her yet, he is keeping his distance.  She is trying to be friendly with him but I think she isn't endearing herself to him when she tries to bite his tail.  He has already blogged about her!

www.boristhehandsomestdog.blogspot.com

Soooo, I don't think I am going to be getting up to my sewing and knitting room much for a while so I guess I will be making a lot of  granny squares which is OK for now.

Leather knife sheath and granny squares

The past few weeks have been busy.  Three hospital appointments with my husband which are all day happenings, outside work on the land including mowing, fertilizing, spreading seed, some re-organising of the workshop, shopping and general house wife type things.

It felt like I hadn't done any craft work though because I haven't been up to my sewing room in forever but that really isn't the case.

We made a sheath for my husband's new Damascus steel knife so he can wear it on his belt or inside his boot when he is outside working.  Leather work is something we can do together.  It gets interesting at times as we both think we know better than the other but it's all good natured and between us we get the job done.

We usually sit down after evening meal and watch TV for a couple of hours and my fingers were itching for something to do while doing this.  I have embarked on a crochet blanket made with 12" x 12" granny squares.  I started about 10 days ago and have four made and another is nearly finished. We don't watch TV every single night and sometimes it's only an hour but I am enjoying the simple task of making these squares a lot.

I have quite a lot of the beige yarn so will make as many as I can with it.  The yellow and brown not so much of hence the small areas in those colours.  After these are all used up I will decide what other colours to buy.

I have also been trying to keep up with the blogs I follow as I so enjoy reading them.

Back from our trip and trying to catch up so I can start a new project

We have been back home a week now.  There was a lot to do.  The grass had grown, my riding mower still won't start, (finally put it on the trailer Friday and took it to the repair man), the raccoons totally blitzed the deer feeder so we had to repair it and clean it all out, cases to unpack, washing to do, housework to catch up on......you know how it goes lol.

The trip was wonderful, we drove about 3500 miles all told.  We travelled through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, Colorado and Kansas. We took in some of Route 66 and the Grand Canyon on the way there.  Lot's of interesting places on Route 66, my favourite was the retro town of Tucumcari. The Grand Canyon was awesome.  I had a mega case of vertigo when I first saw it, it's massive!!!! Two things crossed off my bucket list though!

The trip out was great until we hit LA.  For country bumpkins like us LA traffic is a nightmare and I was a nervous wreck by the time we got there.  We drove a different route back and my stepson drove the van for us through the worst of the traffic in LA then hopped on the Metro back home so we didn't have to endure the really bad traffic again.  Bless him! Once out of LA the return trip was good until we hit the descent through the mountains.  Going through the desert wasn't as bad as I had expected and as we have both been to Las Vegas we just drove straight on through it.

The skirt I made for our grand daughter fitted perfectly but I am not so sure she liked it that well as she never wore it the whole time we were there.  I was happy with how it turned out though so I am sure someone will get some use out of it as clothes are passed around among friends when their kids outgrow them.

Here is a photo of it on her.

We got to spend time on the beach and some quality time with the family.  I also got to go to the movies to see the new Pixar movie 'Inside Out'.  That was a very interesting movie.  I was also treated to a foot massage at a Chinese massage parlour where they actually massage  you from the head down and you don't have to get undressed.  Just wear minimal clothing like shorts and a tank top.  It was so relaxing and a bargain at $25 for an hour.

The day before we left I got to go to Disneyland with my daughter in law and the children. Something I never expected to do again as walking long distances isn't easy these days. I took my husband's walker and it was such a blessing.  It helped enormously.

We survived the drive there and back despite the traffic, desert and mountains and had a really memorable visit.

Will sort some more photos and post later when I have resized them for the web.

Yay!, the skirt is finished

I finally got the skirt finished today.  I am very happy with it.  I hope our grand daughter likes it.  I think I may have to take some more out of the waist so I haven't closed it up yet incase I have to shorten the elastic.

We will be going to see the family in a week or so and I have the little baby coat to take too for the newest grand daughter.

I didn't get anything made for our grandson there yet so I bought him a nice Wrangler Polo shirt to take.

I will not be starting any new projects here until we get back home but I hope to be able to allocate some sewing time with my grand daughter while we are there so who knows what we will make between us.  I suspect something for her American doll.

I am making a little progress on the skirt

I did manage to get some time in my sewing room last week.  I got the skirt for my grand daughter cut out and started to sew it together.  It has two rows of bric brac around the skirt.  It is a full circle skirt and I hadn't really noticed how much was on the reel so had to pick up some more when we were away for hospital appointments.  (It was deceptively packaged so it looked like there was at least three or four yards and I thought I had more than enough).

I tacked on the first row and only had enough for half of the second row so yesterday whilst watching Nascar I tacked on the rest of the bric brac and pinned then tacked up the hem and tonight I pinned and started tacking the broiderie anglaise around the bottom ready to stitch it all up on the machine.

The skirt has a dropped waist so I have to edge the seams on the machine of the top of the skirt before I can attach it to the bottom full skirt then it will just need the elastic putting through the waistband.

I like sewing, it is quicker to make a sewing project than a knitting one so for me with limited time to spend on these projects it is more rewarding.

I also bought a pattern for a baby dress for her baby sister and I am pretty sure I have enough fabric left to be able to make it.

We will be visiting them next month and I will be taking her great grandma's Brother sewing machine to her and we can have sewing sessions.  I am looking forward to that very much.

An absolutely nothing to do with knitting and sewing post!

It is raining, yesterday it was raining, last week and the week before and the month before and the month before that it was raining.  Last Sunday and Monday were dry so the roofers were able to come and replace a section of our roof that had started to leak this year.....yep, because of all the rain.

Not really complaining because when it finally stops it is going to get really hot and humid which will be even worse.

The streams are all running, the ponds, lakes and rivers are all full to overflowing and there is a lot of flooding all over.  Too bad we can't export some of this water to other parts of the US that are having drought conditions.

We are quite lucky, we do get some accumulation in front of the workshop and sometimes on the front porch but nothing serious.  We have a sump pump and are able to direct it away.

The main gravel road which leads to our property gets washed out a lot especially on one corner before it gets to our property.  Sometimes it gets flooded past our property. Sometimes it is pretty dodgy getting round that corner but the county does come and regrade it and bring more and more gravel. Sometimes we can't go the other way because of the flooding. I suspect that one day they will close off the road and do something to make it permanently better but will have to make sure the other way is not flooded or else we will be trapped!    

So that's what we are dealing with this year.

It isn't the reason I haven't got any knitting and sewing done, that is another story for another day.

The new roof

The rain we keep getting

The storms that keep rolling in

Toddler coat done finally!

I finally got it finished.  Not 100% happy with the front bands but not going to undo them.  My time for knitting and sewing is so limited that I have to accept that I can't produce perfect work.  Had I unlimited time I would undo the bands and do them again, but I don't and I have a skirt waiting to be made on my new sewing machine.

I did sew it up carefully so it can be worn either way.  The inside out way is different but I would have preferred to have the bodice the proper side.  In hindsight I could have duplicated the bodices and sewed them together with the right sides out.......but I didn't think about that at the time.

Always learning!

I made one of the sleeves yesterday for the baby coat,  Everything went perfectly and I had it done and my knitting room tidied up afterwards in an hour and a half.

Went back today to do the other one.

Was doing great but I forgot to change the rows per 10cm on the knit radar when I changed from stocking stitch to tuck stitch.

I was 14 rows into it when I realised it.

Having done this before I had a plan formulated in my mind to correct it rather than just take it off and start again.

The plan was to change the rows per 10cm then take the pattern back to where I should have changed it then click it back through on the new setting.

Great plan eh!

I did it and finished the sleeve to find out that I had done 14 rows less than the previous sleeve.

Drat!!!!

But why didn't it work?

Well, I was changing from 52 rows to 75 rows per 10cm.  2 knobs to adjust.  The first from 0-60 to 61-120. (Think that is correct without going back up to check).  The second knob from 52 to 75.

What I didn't know is that on 0-60 each click represents one row and on 61-120 one click represents 2 rows.

So I should have just moved it up 7 clicks to represent the 14 rows I had knitted.  I moved it up 14 clicks so it took me further up the pattern than I should have been.

Lesson duly noted!

Too long between machine knitting sessions!

I found some time today to get up to my knitting machine.  A couple of hours.  If all had gone well I could have got the other front skirt part done in that time but it wasn't to be.

Cast on went wonky first and second time. Probably user error!

Third time cast on was OK. Got up to the row of holes to realise I had one two many stitches.

Could have dealt with that but then I forgot to return the needles to the working position after transferring the stitches and knitting one row to make the holes so got ladders instead.

If it hadn't have been so long since I last knitted I would have remembered, at least, to return the needles.

Fourth time all went well, casted on, made holes, turned up hem then proceeded to knit in tuck stitch.

Same problem as last time, the tuck stitch wasn't coming out right.

Upon inspection and evaluation (before taking it off the needles in frustration) I noticed a lever on the back of the needle bed underneath and to the right of where you insert the punch card.  Decided to see how the carriage effected it.  It was then I realised the problem.

I am using knit radar and knitting from the left side of the knit radar sheet so all my needles in use were left of the centre.  When I was knitting left to right I wasn't taking the carriage far enough right to allow the lever to pass fully underneath the carriage and engage whatever it engages.

I tried a few more rows taking the carriage further to the right and it knitted just fine.

I also had a talk to my knitting machine.  Her name is Betsy and sometimes she gets a little offstride and in a huff.  I told her that she didn't have to be jealous of the new sewing machine and that because we had a new grandbaby she would get plenty of use.

Hopefully will find the time tomorrow to try again while it is all fresh in my mind and Betsy will be be in a good mood.

It just goes to show you can teach an old dog new tricks!

On one of our 4 hospital visits last week I picked up a nasty cough and head cold which is making me feel pretty yukky and unmotivated. I know it will pass so rather than try and do some knitting or sewing while feeling this way I have been reading up on my sewing machine manuals and surfing the web for ideas and videos. This doesn't require a lot of physical effort and I can stop and start as and when the brain cells decide to work.

I have found out an awful lot I didn't know and have found out a lot more about the various sewing machine feet I have and what they actually do. I have a decorative foot with my older Singer that I didn't realise was different to a normal one and the zipper foot is adjustable for what side the teeth of the zipper are.  So, an old dog can learn new tricks!

I did purchase some fabric and a pattern on Sunday to make our nearly 8 year old grand daughter a skirt. Her favourite colour of the day is dark pink so I found some lovely pink fabric with white polka dots which I am sure she will love. The pattern has options and I am going to make the one with the yoke. It also has a full circular skirt so she will be able to twirl and it will flare right out.  She likes things like that.

I bought white ric rac to do the two lines of trim and am now on the look out for some pre-gathered white cotton Broderie Anglaise lace about 1" to 1.5".  For the life of me I couldn't remember what it was called.  One of those names that I knew that I knew but just couldn't pull it to the fore. Thank goodness for the internet! Although it is also referred to as eyelet lace and that is how I found it.

Patterns are much cheaper now than they used to be

View B is the one I am making this time

The new machine in situ.

 The skirt will be quite retro but I am sure she will like it.

The new sewing machine is fantasidoby!

My new Singer Sew Mate arrived yesterday while we were away at the hospital.  When we eventually got back last night all I had time for was to read through the quick start manual.  Today I browsed through the more detailed manual then watched the video. The video had some great ideas.

Later I took it up to my sewing room and set it up and gave it a thorough testing.  It is great, I absolutely love it,  It stitches so nicely and all the fancy stitches looked like they should.

I tried the buttonholer foot too.  It is a one step buttonhole machine and has 4 different ones to choose from.  The foot has a place where you put the button you are making the hole for then you pull down a lever and the machine makes the button hole the correct size for the button.  Flipping amazing!  The walking foot I bought for my other Singer works on it too as do some of the other feet I have for the Brother.

I tried some free motion stitching as I had a foot from the brother that fitted.  I was not very good, definitely a lot of practice needed but it was fun to try.

I am well chuffed with it.  It has certainly been worth the wait.

Another hospital run tomorrow then next week we have to catch up with the mowing.  I will go out tomorrow while my husband is in the hospital to look for some fabric and a pattern for my 8 year old grand daughter.  I have seen some fabric in our local Walmart I like so will see if they have it in Columbia where we will be.  Hopefully later in the week I will get some time to sew and knit.  Still working on the baby jacket.

It's been a funny old week!

What can I say, what a week!  Started off with a visit to Columbia on Monday for my husband to see his neurologist.  He has been losing a lot of ground these past few weeks so we knew the bad antibodies were in full battle mode and attacking his muscles and nervous system with gusto.  The doc ordered plasmatheresis to be done asap.  They were great and got it organised for Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.  So yesterday we set off at 4.45am for the three hour drive to the hospital. It was dark and pouring with rain when we set off.  The rain persisted all the way there.  The Red Cross nurse was 3 hours late due to a misunderstanding between us, the hospital nurse and her but despite all that they got the procedure done and we eventually left there at 5.15pm.

Tuesday was a good day.  Yep, I am finally getting my new sewing machine.  If you read my blog you know I have been lusting for a new one for 6 months now.  I have battled with myself long and hard over this as it really isn't a necessity (I already have three machines but they are all quite old) and we have so many other things that we need to spend money on for the house and workshop. Anyway, it all came to be on Tuesday. First of all I got a $50 Amazon voucher for Mother's Day which is May 10th here in the US.  So I searched Amazon for a sewing machine that was reasonably priced and would satisfy my lust.  I found a re-manufactured Singer Sewmate for $95.  It is a 60 stitch machine.  I put it in my watch list.

Well, as every move we make on the internet is scrutinised by Google this item kept appearing on my Facebook sidebar.  I was totally ignoring it as it still meant spending $45 and my guilt complex couldn't justify it.  Then Tuesday night it popped up as $81. That meant I only had to add $31 to the gift voucher.  Well, that did it.  Guilt complex flew out of the open window and I ordered it.

It arrives tomorrow but we will be out all day at the hospital so I won't be able to get my hands on it until tomorrow night. It had mixed reviews, people either loved it and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread or they hated it.  I hope I will be a lover of it!

Yesterday while my husband was hooked up the the Dr. Who-like machine getting his blood circulated to remove all the plasma and replace it with new I went and visited a sewing shop and a yarn shop in Columbia and had a lovely time browsing and talking knitting and sewing with the ladies in the stores.

Today we have to go take flowers to the cemeteries for Memorial Day on Monday.  We take them for his parents, grandparents, great grandparents and some other family members.  I am not from round here so my folks are buried in another country.

I did some machine knitting at the end of last week.  I got the bodice knitted and attached to the skirt part on the one side of the fronts.  I started to knit the skirt for the second front but for some weird reason the tuck stitch went awry so I took it off the machine and rewound the yarn.  I will get back to it next week I hope.

And the last snippet which is a bit late on getting mentioned is that I picked up a flat screen monitor for my knitware computer in my sewing room at the city wide garage sale a few weeks ago.  We decided to visit this town and go to the sales for a day out. A bargain at $10.  So the old clonky screen that took up half of the desk is now history! (To be fair, Old Clonker has served us well for many, many years but it is sooooo big. We will store it out in the workshop for emergency use). Now to find a flat screen TV for the same sort of money and I'll be set up there.

So, as I said before, a funny old week but so far, a good one!

Photos for the previous post

I seem to be having a 'wide' phase in my knitting.  Nothing intentional, it just seems the two latest projects have turned out to be wider than I think they should be.

The hand knit jacket is in the washing machine hand wash cycle as we speak and I am hoping it will fall into shape a little more.

The cable on the left looks out of wack but it isn't, hoping the wash will sort it out as well as the width problem

The machine knit seems that it is going to be wide also but in fairness to the pattern it is a gathered jacket and I won't be able to tell until it is complete and assembled.

The smooth side of the tuck stitch pattern

The bobbly side of the tuck stitch pattern

Keeping my fingers crossed on the outcome of the washing!

Making progress

The baby hand knitted jacket is almost finished.  Just sewing it all together right now. The machine knit one is progressing.  The back is all done and the skirt part of one front is done.  Haven't had too much time this past week but the machine is working fine now.  Will post some pictures later when hand knit is completely done.

Our new grand daughter Vivian Ann arrived May 2nd. A perfect little baby girl.  Still waiting on pictures.

Back to the machine knitted jacket, I am making the skirt part of the top in tuck stitch using #3 punchcard of the set that came with the machine.  I like both sides of it.  The bodice I am making in stocking stich.  I am having to use two colours as I realised I didn't have enough pink yarn to finish it. So, the bodice is in lemon and I have put two pink stripes on it so it blends.  The sleeves will be lemon too and the front bands and neck band.

My goal is to sew it up so it can be used either way.  Not sure if I can sew that neatly but will try. If I succeed then I will sew buttons on both sides of the band.  It only takes three buttons at the top. I will use flat buttons so it shouldn't cause any discomfort.  It is like a coat jacket so will be worn on top of other clothes and is for her when she is about 1 year old.

Feeling like a real rookie machine knitter!

I did not have a good knitting day!  Dropped a stitch after casting on, knitting 10 rows then doing all the transfers for a picot hem. I knitted another 10 rows and was about to hook up the bottom to form the hem when I noticed the dropped stitch!  I couldn't pick it up with the latch tool.  It had to be done from the machine side of the knitting and I just couldn't co-ordinate it.

I took it all off, and started again.. This time one of the stitches didn't cast on properly. I did the ewrap cast on and when I knitted the first row it didn't knit one of the stitches properly.  It seemed to be around the same place as the dropped stitch so I checked the needle that didn't knit properly.  I found the latch on the needle was getting stuck when it was flicked back so I decided to change it.

Couldn't remember how to!  Then I remembered I had to take the sponge bar out to change it. The sponge bar seemed OK but I swapped it out for a new one just to be on the safe side.

Then I oiled the machine.

At this point I decided to quit and I will go back to it another day, probably Monday. Weekends are usually busy.  In the meantime I am going to read up on the manuals just as a refresher.

I guess it is one of the pitfalls of not being able to get on my machines on a more regular basis. One forgets! or at least this one does.

Yay! got some time on my SK700 knitting machine.

It has been a good week so far, I have managed to get upstairs to my knitting/sewing room several times.  First job was to put a patch in my husbands camo pants.  I did it on the Singer.  Found some old tan jeans of mine and cut a patch from them to repair his. I trimmed the rip then placed the patch underneath. Stitched the patch in place then satin stitched over the tear to the patch.  It looked pretty good.  I was happy with it. Far better than the gaping hole that was!

The hand knitted baby jacket is growing, the back and two fronts are knitted in one piece and I am nearly up to where it splits  for the arms. So far so good.

I also decided to machine knit a baby jacket too.  I checked out the knit radar patterns and found a baby jacket I liked.

Pattern C5 from the original knit radar pattern set that came with the machine and the pink yarn is what I am going to use.

I hadn't done anything on the machine since before Christmas which was a lot of stocking caps which just involved straight lengths of ribbing. I hadn't done a swatch in a while and thought I knew where to mark the stitches. Unfortunately with the first attempt, not only did I mark the stitches incorrectly, I somehow managed to take it off the machine in one foul swoop when I was changing colours.  The second one was OK after I consulted the manual! I felt like a rookie again. I would have had to do two swatches anyway though as I decided to change the tension after I looked at the first one.

Marked the wrong stitches on this one doing it from memory! It was 21 stitches each way from the centre not 21 stitches in from the ends as I did on this.

Second attempt, did it in tuck stitch and stocking stitch as the back and fronts are done in two pieces as the bottom is gathered. Will probably do the tops in stocking stitch and the bottoms in tuck stitch. Amazing how the different stitches effect how many rows and stitches to 10cms.

Anyway, now I have the measurements from the swatch and the pattern is in the knit radar and it is set ready to go.  Hopefully, I will get working on it tomorrow.  I am using the SK700 standard machine this time.  I think I am going to take the ribber off as all the hems are picot edges so no ribber required.  The ribber makes it difficult to move weights etc.so if I don't need it might as well take it off.

I also got a really neat little anvil for my leather work.  Our neighbour found it at a garage sale and bought it for me.  Our neighbours are so nice, we are blessed to have them.  It will be very helpful when putting snaps and eyelets in small places.

That's it for the week so far, hoping the rest will be as good.

I even got out on the riding mower today.  It is perfect weather for me, cloudy and not too hot.  What can I say? I am from England, that's our norm so to experience it here in the depths of Missouri is a real treat and definitely to be taken advantage of.

The gnome patch

This year I decided to make a gnome patch just in front of the front porch.  There is a small area out there which is just filled with small rocks so looks a bit bare.  I have thought about doing this for years but kept thinking of my days in England where I had a beautiful rockery filled with gnomes. Someone came into the back yard (garden) one night and stole them all so I vowed never to buy gnomes again.

I mentioned this to our neighbours recently and they went out bought two really cute gnomes for me.

And so that was the start of my gnome patch.

When we were in the bigger town (35 miles away) picking up supplies and shopping I bought another gnome.  He is really cute too and a bit bigger than the other two.  Well, the back of the van was already loaded up with big bags of cracked corn, deer supplements and grass seed.  We had the dog with us and my husbands walker so there really wasn't much room for the shopping.

And wouldn't you know it, when I was loading in the shopping the gnome fell out!  I was quite upset, it seemed like it wasn't meant to be for me to have a gnome patch.

I picked up the pieces and bought them home.

And later that evening I superglued them back on.  There were gaps!

I didn't want him filling up with rain water so I got some plumbing putty and filled up the gaps and cracks. I am happy how he looks now and I will pick up some red spray paint at some point and respray the tip of his hat but for now he will do just fine.

Yesterday, I had to pop into our nearest town which is 15 miles away and his little brother jumped right into my shopping trolley!

When it stops raining I will get them outside into the patch.

Back to the knitting front, the hand knitted baby jacket is progressing nicely.