Off and On the Needles

I have my first complete pair of socks for this Soctoberfest celebration! This is Opal Antonia Hand-dyed yarn -colorway 3173.

I love that puddle of gold on the first sock but by the time I got to the foot I could see that the pooling was disappearing and wide irregular stripes were developing. It continued on the second sock. There was a faint bit of pooling at the toe of the second sock - oh well. It doesn't bother me that the socks don't match. I make all my socks to be fraternal twins and these are definitely similar but different. I have 3 more skeins of this Opal Antonia and I can't wait to see how they knit up. I will say that having this yarn knit up randomly is a great motivator to knit another round and another round and another round... and you get the picture.

So as soon as this pair was finished I was ready to cast on another sock. I was going to stick with Opal yarn but this skein of Lorna's Laces landed on my doorstep (I have no clue how it got here.... I must have "accidentally" hit the buy button... that's my story.) As soon as I opened it up I was intrigued.

Notice how one half is all a brown/black and the other half has a mirror image rainbow effect going on. I had to find out how this was going to knit up. And here it is....

You get row of brown/black in between rows of the rainbow and occasionally you get a spot where that tomato red stacks. I like it! My son called them technicolor socks which is a pretty good description.

As for Moby I wasn't able to get over to my son's house to stake him out yesterday and the weekend doesn't look promising. Hopefully next week I'll have some time to play National Geographic - LOL!

Have a great weekend!

carol fun

Butterscotch Scrap Jar Stars and an Albino Squirrel

So did the title catch your eye? If so, I'll admit it is a teaser. More info at the end of this post on the albino squirrel. So.....Ta dah!! I got the binding on my Butterscotch Scrap Jar Stars! While there was some sun today I dragged it out in the backyard for a couple of pictures.

The quilt measures about 80" square so it should be a nice fit on a double bed.

Cass again did a great job on the quilting - just look at those adorable pumpkins stitched in a Fall-ish variegated thread. I love them!

And here is the arty shot -- I think the colors are truest in this picture. Now I have about 9 blocks left over from this quilt and plenty of fabric to do some more. I think they may reappear next Fall as a lap quilt but for now they will hibernate in a lovely ziploc bag.

Now about the albino squirrel -- okay after doing some research it may not be a true albino but I'm not sure since I couldn't get a good picture of him. And to be truthful this isn't my picture but I didn't think I could talk about it without one.

I was down in the neighborhood where my son's house is today on two different occasions. As I was leaving his house around noon I almost wrecked my car when I saw an albino-or white- squirrel run across the street in front of my car. After recovering I pulled to the curb and got my phone out and tried to get a picture as he was nonchalantly snacking on a neighbor's landscaping. The picture I took is kinda blurry and he scampered off. I returned to the neighborhood about 2 hours later and told my youngest son who was now with me in the car about the squirrel. He looked at me like I had rocks in my head and then the white squirrel reappeared in the exact same yard!! My son also tried to get a picture without success. Now I'm thinking about taking my camera with me tomorrow and staking out a spot and seeing if I can get a picture of my own white whale I mean squirrel. I think I'll call him Moby - LOL!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Prepping my Picnic on Design Wall Monday

I swear the 48 hours of a weekend tick off lots faster than any other 48 hour period of the week. I got a lot of cross stitching done, a bit of knitting and a tiny bit of sewing. Here are 4 more blocks for my Picnic quilt - the one from the Scrap-Basket Sensations book.

I spent several hours yesterday prepping for Picnic by cutting out more blocks.

I have about 75% of it cut. I just need to do the reds and then sub-cut those beige strips for the background. I thought I would be able to pick fabrics and cut a 2 1/2" strip the WOF and easily sub-cut the pieces. No such luck! Several fabrics I want to use are just irregular hunks that require some finagling to get my pieces. Some fabrics weren't bit enough to get 2 blocks from, so I just cut one block and then rummaged around to find another small chunk for an additional block. The idea of making this a charm quilt (121 different fabrics) briefly crossed my mind but I immediately beat it into submission. It will be a very scrappy quilt but not a charm quilt. I showed that idea whose boss in my head - LOL!

Now I did get 2 more rows of Fallout Stars sewn together - just 3 more to go. I'm still pondering whether to add a border to it. I'll need to try some fabrics out after this quilt is all sewn together and the edges trimmed. And I had a thought of making another quilt with the Hex and More ruler. I would just make big hexagons, perhaps each a different pretty floral and use a tone-on-tone white for the triangle star pieces. I think that would be very pretty. Oh my what am I thinking - I don't need any more quilt ideas I just need more sewing time!

Hope your week is productive!
Happy stitching-
carol fun

Some stitching on Sunday

This week has seen some good progress on my Lizzie*Kate Autumn Alphabet.

All I have left to stitch is the little house vignette and attach the embellishments. I spent all day yesterday cross stitching and watching college football. And its a good thing the cross stitch was satisfying because the football results (Purdue and Nebraska) certainly weren't. The day did end on high note after the Cincinnati Reds beat the SF Giants. However I could have done without the near heart attack I had watching Aroldis Chapman pitch the 9th inning. Lets hope tonight is another win!

As part of my Fall decorating I hung this piece in my breakfast nook - Bent Creek's Autumn Row.

I stitched this years ago and one of the main reasons I did this one, was I desperately wanted to use this frame. Isn't it gorgeous?

This one was framed by Bowman's Backdoor Framing in Ft. Thomas, KY. They were the framers used by my favorite cross stitch shop Twisted Threads when they were opened. Oh I miss that shop! Great charts, linen, fibers and staff! One of those shops you always felt at home in.

So this afternoon I hope to get some sewing done. I have 3 more rows of my Fallout Stars to sew together and I have to cut some more Picnic blocks. Those Debbie Mumm fabrics have been extremely vocal - get me off the shelf and cut me! I must obey - LOL!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

On and off the Needles

Soctoberfest is off to a great start. I've already completed one sock and I've started its mate. The yarn is Opal's Antonia Handyed color 3173. I got it at here at Simply Socks Yarn. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how the first sock knit up. Just look at the pooling...

Profile facing left....

Profile facing right...

And this is the beginning of the second sock. Hmmmm... I don't think this one is going to pool like the first one. I think it will be more of a irregular stripe which was the effect I got on the foot of the first sock. Darn... I really want it to pool, but I don't know that there is anything I can do to make it happen. Now I ordered 2 other colorways of this yarn and I'm seriously considering buying more. I also saw it yesterday here at Yarn.com. They have a colorway that SSYC doesn't. Oh very tempting!

Hope your Soctoberfest is woolly and warm!

carol fun

Here a cluck, there a cluck....

everywhere a cluck cluck! My chickens have come home to roost and are resting comfortably on my kitchen wall.

Oh my goodness, Cass did a phenomenal job on this one! Her quilting has raised this quilt to a whole new level. First, check out some of the girls they have great feathers and... some like Agnes are content.

Bertha is a bit unsettled but I'm sure she'll be okay in a day or so.

And then there is Cher (its short for Chernobyl - LOL!) I think she'll always be a bit addled... it could be that 3rd eye - poor gal!

Maybe she can use that extra eye to keep this little chick close by!

Cass added some wonderful images to this quilt. When she started to quilt this one she asked what I had in mind and I truthfully answered "nothing". After a little thought I came up with BACON! Oh I'm a genius -LOL! Hey, I love bacon with my eggs. Cass even added a fork!

And toast and jam...

And a hot cup of coffee! A complete breakfast!

These gals sure brighten up my breakfast nook - I know we are all going to be happy for a long time.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Soctoberfest!!!

Oh do you hear an oompah band??? Okay maybe that's just in my head. I am so happy that Soctober is finally here. I'm joining in the festivities over at Judy's blog Patchwork Times to knit lots of socks this month. Now I really don't need much prodding to start another pair of socks but Soctoberfest gives me even more reasons to keep those needles clicking.

One of the parameters that Judy suggested was that you knit with Opal sock yarn since the birthstone for October is opal. Oh I LOVE that suggestion since I have a very healthy stash of Opal sock yarn. What do you think?

As you can see I have a nice selection of Opal self-striping yarns. Those two skeins on the right hand side and the cake at the bottom are my newest purchases from Simply Socks. It is Antonia Hand Dyed and is in the Sale section. I've never used it before but I'm hoping that the colors will pool - I LOVE that effect. Sooooo which will I knit up first?

If you picked the cake at the bottom of the picture you are correct. It is colorway 3172. I'm going to knit a plain vanilla stockinette sock so I can see how the colors develop. Check back on Friday. I'll post my progress here and on Judy's linky party for What's on the Needles. It is going to be a wild and woolly month!

Happy stitching and knitting!
carol fun