Shawls

I took three shawls that I've completed recently outside this morning to photograph them.

I posted a different picture of this one previously, but these show the whole thing, plus close-ups of the right and wrong sides.  The top photo, of course, is the right side, although the wrong side doesn't look bad either.

The next one is an example of what to do when you have a skein of multi-color yarn that just doesn't work in any other project. Get a co-ordinating solid color yarn and make what I call my diagonal pinstripes shawl. I start at one corner with four stitches, then alternate the yarns every other row, while also increasing one stitch every other row. It is garter stitch, which is knit every row. When I run out of the multi-color yarn, I pick up stitches along the other short side and do a border of some kind. I've made several shawl like this, using various borders.

On this one, I used a very simple Yarn Over, Knit Two Together (YO, K2tog in knit speak). On the other side of the point at the bottom, I switched to Slip Slip Knit, Yarn Over (SSK, YO). I purled alternate rows. When I felt the border was wide enough, I did a few rows of garter stitch and then bound off.

I tried to show the top edge in the next picture. This is where I switched from one yarn to the other, knit three stitches and did a yarn over to increase one stitch. It doesn't matter whether you pick up the new color from in front of or behind the other one; as long as you are consistent it will give you a nice edge.

And now for shawl number three. This is the only one that is from someone else's pattern.

It is done in modules, with stitches picked up along the edges of other modules. I think my close-up of the fans is of the wrong side, but then it really doesn't matter, does it?

I haven't spent much time in my yard this summer, so I wasn't aware that I apparently have moles.

Can you see where they are traveling underground?

I guess you call this a molehill.

Knitting

I finally finished the blanket for that new great-grandson I mentioned a month ago.

This is a picture I took of it before mailing it to NJ. His name is done in shadow or illusion knitting, which only shows up at an angle. His middle and last names are on the side edges. His mommy sent two pictures of him with the blanket.

Note how the words disappear when looking straight on.

I hope he gets a lot of use out of the blanket.

My latest finished project is a basket-weave shawl knit in four shades of green. I did it first in just three shades, but it wasn't long enough when I ran out of yarn. They were all old yarns in discontinued shades, so I could not get more. Friends gave me some suggestions, but I decided in the end to completely unravel it and start over, adding a fourth shade. I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

It is about 18 inches wide and five feet long.

My Trees Don't Like Me!

It's a bit blurry, but you get the idea. I spent some time outside earlier today pulling up volunteer tree seedlings from flower beds and doing some pruning on three trees. I think this was mostly from the flowering crabapple tree, but some might have been from the holly and the Japanese maple. I haven't been on any blood thinners for at least a year and a half. When I was on coumadin, both of my forearms were constantly bruised.

Cousins

Wow! Two posts in one day! But when I pulled this up, I realized that I hadn't posted anything about Robbie's arrival.

Now on to the cousins part. Last weekend some of us got together for the first time in 25 years.

Eight out of 21, when we're scattered from Florida to Washington, isn't bad. That's our grandparents' graves we're visiting. We also went out to the farm our parents grew up on. The house there burned in 1949 or '50, but the barn was still there when we last got together. It's gone now. but when we found the artesian well emptying into an old bathtub (I'm sure the bathtub wasn't there when Daddy was growing up), we knew we were in the right spot. I have a picture from 25 years ago of my father and uncle sitting on the edge of that tub talking.

Before going out to the cemetery and the farm, we spent several hours at a church talking and eating. One of my cousins who had organized the reunion suggested that we go around the room and each tell a story about our parents or grandparents. Of course, it didn't quite work out in that orderly way, because one story would remind someone at another table of something, but the whole storytelling time was wonderful!

As you can tell from all the gray hair, we shouldn't wait another 25 years to get together again.

Robert Glenn Rickards III

He arrived on July 3, which just happened to be his daddy's 25th birthday. He weighed 8 lbs, 14.4 oz and was 21 inches long. Mommy and baby are doing well - and so is daddy.

And even Grammy.

I have no idea when I'll meet him in person.

I've just come home from a funeral/memorial service that was lovely. The man who died was my oldest great-granddaughter's great-grandfather on her father's side. He was 87 years old and had been sick for a couple of years. They tell me that after his wife died (before I knew the family), he started planning his own funeral - the hymns, scriptures, speakers, pall bearers, etc. And more recently, he had asked his two oldest great-grandchildren to be honorary pall bearers. Jake is 14 1/2 and Lexi is 13 ( they are each other's oldest playmates). I know that Lexi felt very honored by that. Fred had been living at his daughter's home for about a year, I think. Lexi decided that she wanted to be there for Granddad's last days. They say that one day last week, the only word he said was Lexi.

The funeral was held at the church (Macedonia Church of Christ) he had been a faithful part of for decades, which is as it should be. Burial was in the graveyard beside the church. Then there was lunch in the parish hall (I know that's not what they call it, but I'm Episcopalian.)

Now I'm waiting for a great-grandson to be born.

It's June

How can it be six weeks since I posted. Either nothing has happened or I've been busy, and I can't tell you which.

My main activity this week is demonstrating spinning at the Purchase District Fair in Mayfield. The fair had gone downhill and wasn't even held last year. They are now trying to resuscitate it. The mayor asked me several months ago if I would demonstrate weaving. I agreed to that, but after some thought, asked if spinning would be OK instead. For weaving, I need someone else to transport my loom; for spinning, I can move my equipment by myself. So now we are three down and two to go. Tuesday through Friday, we open at 5 pm and have packed up by 9 pm. Saturday, we open at noon; I don't know how long I will be there. There have been several 'no shows' of people/businesses who had said they would come, which is disappointing. The crowds have been sparse in our area, but I think the midway has done well.

I enjoy talking to people, especially children, explaining what I am doing. In hope that next year I can get some people to join me in demonstrating other fiberarts - weaving, knitting, crocheting, tatting, maybe even bobbin-lace making. I need to start talking to people in my various groups.