January 2022 - Fun & Frolic...

I’ve heard from some of you that you haven’t seen a 

blog post since Jan 3.  So here's the scoop...

To stay out of trouble and in the house I decided to do

some appliqué pieces... from photos of some tapestries I had

woven years ago... so I selected my color palette and got to work.

I wove the tapestry version of the  parrot (lower right), in Dec 1980.   

(Remember you can click on any photo for a closer look.)

The woven version was about the same size as the appliqué piece.

I used the raw edge appliqué technique for this wall hanging banner.

I haven't quite finished it yet... it needs the backing material and

the border binding, which will be a blackish grey and should frame the 

piece nicely.  Maybe I'll get to that today.   I plan to make

a series of these to rotate on a blank wall in the living room.  Yes,

they will be featured in upcoming blogs...

While I was home designing,  sewing & sulking indoors,  our daughter and 

hubby were having fun while frolicking in Cabo and sent us a 

couple of videos:

"Mama whale" did a great belly flop to show baby whale how to 

have some fun.  (This is short, so don't blink and you might

want to view it full screen.)

"Baby" tried but didn't get it quite right... and did a back flip instead...

but it was still fun to watch.

Don and I celebrated our anniversary by having "linner" at

the local Applebee's.   That's the meal between lunch & dinner.

We each pigged out on an 8 oz grilled top sirloin,

topped with sautéed blackened shrimp, with potatoes and broccoli

 on the side, and of course our very own glass of wine.

However, we took a more healthy approach with dessert

and shared the 1030 calorie "Sizzling Butter Pecan Blondie"!!!

(That was a brownie and ice cream with a warm sauce,

topped with Pecans.  And, it was even better than it looks.

On Jan 22 we headed to Alta (about 45 minutes up-country) to 

attend a special 70th Anniversary Celebration.  

Thats right, I did say 70th Anniversary not Birthday!! 

About 200 family members & friends joined the celebration.

Bob & Peggy Ewing  have been close friends of ours for since 1991

 and let me tell you a lot of water has flowed under that 30 year old bridge,

We  enjoyed reminiscing with lots of friends but didn't watch our diet...

because they served lots of of  fabulous food including 

shrimp cocktails, a full course buffet meal

and of course cake and even ice cream sundaes, plus coffee, tea, wine

champagne, beer, soda and water!!!

Bob thanked everyone for coming to help them celebrate.

It was our pleasure.  

 

Knit 1 Purl 2 - Something to Do

With very cold & wet weather continuing, I got on line and started 

to search for knitting patterns.  This one was called "Knit-Weave Scarf"

caught my since  I'd been a weaver for many years and started knitting

when I was about 22.   It looked like an interesting project.

I really liked the high tech sight at Plymouth Yarn Company

(which was the yarn the pattern designer had used). because when

you clicked on the ball of yarn you wanted it showed you a

close up of the yarn (left) and a swatch (knitted) so you

could get a feel for what your selected verigated yarn would 

look like when knitted.

I got a free copy of the knitting instructions on Raverly.com

and it told you everything you needed to know.  The designer

of the scarf was Emily Dormier.  The recommended yarn was

85% acrylic and 15% wool which should make it very soft to wear

around your neck.  (Remember to click on any photo for a

larger view.)

So I went to the yarn store and purchased a variegated

color I liked from the many Plymouth Yarn company offered.

The most challenging part was knitting the short rows

that would become the "woven" part and then "weaving" them.

  I know that looks pretty confusing but another

 knit designer has 

 come up with the best written instructions I have ever seen.  

And she knitted the sections in two different colors

which made that knitting & "weaving" section a piece of cake.

That  is what mine looked like from the (purl) side.

It looks better from the (knit) side which would be the

right side...   the side that would be visible when you

were wearing the piece.

After I had all the "weaving" section created,

it looked like this up close and personal.

The finished steamed & blocked scarf looks like this.

The fun thing about knitting

with variegated yarn is that you never know what 

you're going to get until you get to the next "color" change!!!

The resulting fabric is very soft, as anticipated,

so I tried it on to dress up my sweatshirt!!!  

And as you can see it can be worn in a variety of

positions as shown in my inspiration photo.

If the cold, wet weather continues,

 I'm going to get started on a couple of

quilting kits I recently ordered!!!