We’re Moving!

Moving to our dream house in a wonderful location, closer to family.  That is just one of the reasons my Blog has suffered neglect.  Hopefully after the relocation is complete I can get back to the routine of posting.

Look out Zwolle, here we come!  That is the town where I was born and raised.  I will be within 10 minutes of my Mom and Dad.  I will be closer to all my family and many of my friends.  And of course the fact that we will be on Toledo Bend does not hurt my feelings at all.

 

Can’t you just envision us roaming about in our kayaks out there?  Bass boat ready to jump in and go at a moment’s notice.  Crappie fishing off the dock. 

And did I mention the QUILT STUDIO?  What was once a “guest house” will contain all of my quilting things (I hope) so I will no longer be working throughout the whole house.

Soon… scheduled to close Oct. 7th.  Now, to get back to sorting, cleaning, packing.  Big changes coming!

Blessing to you all!

KAT

Today…. and Tomorrow

Today…

Today I am planning, gathering, organizing, gathering some more, loading the car in between rain showers (for which we are very thankful!).

Tomorrow…

Very early tomorrow, I will pick up my best bud and we will head to Cold Spring, TX.  Yes, it is THAT time of year again… RED BARN RETREAT!!

So please pardon my blogging absence (Like I haven’t been absent WAYYYY too much this year?) and know that when I return I will share the fun with you.

And when I return I will explain the picture you see above, because this will play a major part in my main project for retreat.  Now how’s THAT for a teaser?

Have a wonderful week.  Wish you could all come with us!

KAT

Congrats, Jenn & Brad!

 

The décor.  The ceremony was performed by my pastor and friend, Paula.

The kiss…

The maid of honor, my Katie Bug…

 

Relief!  We did it!

What every bride should wear with a formal wedding dress… pink  Converse tennis shoes!

 

The wedding cake… to be saved for the first anniversary…

The guests had 3 flavors of cupcakes….  The cake tower was Jenn’s idea and I love how it turned out.

 

The families…

Now, perhaps life can settle down a bit around here…

or maybe not.

Have a wonderful week!

KAT

Almost Ready…

The wedding cake is made and decorated (only 1 small tier, thankfully).

The 3 flavors of cupcakes are baked, iced, and decorated.

Serving dishes have been washed, labeled, and packed to take.

Filling for cucumber sandwiches is made.

Condiments and trimmings for sandwiches are ready to go.

Now if the decorating fairies would just show up tonight and get that finished…

Tomorrow morning I will head out early to deliver cake, cupcakes, and finish set-up and decorating for the outdoor wedding.  I am concerned the new blouse I bought to wear is going to be extremely hot in the predicted 96 degree weather, but it won’t be the first time I have sweated…however, this time I will have an audience.  But then, THEY will be sweating too!

Tomorrow will be so busy, and then I plan on just crashing for several days.  I even think I will boycott the kitchen and let DH throw a few meals on the table.  We’ll see how that works out.

Now, off to bed for an early and very long day tomorrow.

KAT

Dashing off…

I’m dashing out the door right now to begin decorating for daughter’s wedding.  Please pardon the brevity of this post but I am sure you all understand.  Next week, life will be somewhat normal (or as close to normal as it gets around here) and I promise to retrieve photos from the camera and give you a REAL update.

Kathy B. says just snippits are fine, so here you go…

I FINISHED the Farmer’s Wife quilt and it is absolutely stunning, if I do say so myself.  Pics later.

I am almost done with 2 pairs of socks… Pics later.

I have finished another Basket Whip Cowl… pics later.

This week will be swamped with the making of wedding cake and cupcakes… pics later.

You get the drift!  I’ll give a full report from the wedding and try to catch you up on things happening here… later.

Hugs to all!  I am hoping the tulle fairies really help us out with the decorating… I’ve never been really good with those kinds of things!

Kat

It’s Sort’a Like…

Getting back to posting on the blog is sort’a like…'

1.  Getting back to exercising after slacking for a while.

2.  Cleaning house after you have let it go to pot around you.

3.  Calling someone you have intended to talk to, but have put off so long you are embarrassed to call.

4.  Doing that little thing for yourself, that you enjoy, but you are so busy “fighting fires” in your world you just keep procrastinating.

5.  Feeling guilty every time you see others doing something (blogging) you know YOU should be doing.

 

For whatever reason(s), the blog has sat idle for months now.  It’s just hard to get back in the habit, so I will have to make a “routine” to cover this.  Yes, I have had lots of things I could have posted.  Yes, I have wonderful pictures of events over the last 5 months that could have been shown to you (most of them still captive in my camera).

I’m trying again… please be patient with me as I try to reestablish my blogging routine.

My latest feat… finishing my Farmer’s Wife quilt (all 111 – 6” blocks)!  I’m sewing the binding down now, and will hopefully be finished with it this weekend.  I absolutely LOVE it!  It is HUGE, so getting a good picture will be challenging but I will do the best I can.

Lots of knitting has been done in the last five months.  I will try and get those pictures loaded.

Kilt construction… yes, everyone needs a camo kilt to properly participate in the “Men In Kilts” golf scramble.  And DH makes such a striking figure in a kilt!

Stay tuned… in between wedding preps (for DD) and dealing with garden veggies, I promise to really give blogging a better effort in the future.

And love to all of you who have sent emails to check and be sure I am ok… I really appreciate it!

KAT

PS:  You KNOW it has been too long since your last post when you have to SEARCH for the “post” button to send the latest attempt to the blog…. so sad!

A Fickle Persuasion…

Knitting can be such a fickle thing… it goes from wonderful to hair-pulling on a whim.  I am always just 1 mis-stitch away from a disaster, it seems.  It is sort of like Mr. Boots, our beloved minx stray that adopted us.  He craves attention and loves to be scratched or rubbed, but he may very well nip the hand that is loving on him.  Knitting is that way… except it may bite on the nether parts.

I am working my very first lace pattern!  Yes!  I can do this!  I am at the half-way mark on my project.  I proudly pat myself on the back from time to time as I am working along, loving the way the pattern is developing, row by row. Pattern row, knit row, pattern row, knit row.  But wait… something is not working out here.

“Pride goeth before the fall.”  How true these words of wisdom are.  It only takes one time of forgetting to do the YO (yarn over) to totally throw the pattern off. (Actually, I MAY have forgotten to YO several times on the offending row, but it only takes ONE time to blow the pattern out of the water.)  And since there is a plain row between each pattern row, being the novice knitter that I am, I did not realize the incorrect stitch count until it was too late.

“Frogging”  (Rippit-rippit!) goes so easily in quilting, although it is a real time-killer when you are under a deadline.   When I mis-stitch in quilting I just grab the seam ripper and pick out the offending stitches, re-stitch, and we are good to go.  You would think knit “frogging” would also be a breeze but it just is not so.  And I submit the evidence below:

1.  Just a quick glance can usually tell me where the quilting went bad… I have worked on finding my knitting mistake for about 1 1/2 hours now.

2.  Taking the knitting OUT is easy, but making sure you have all the live stitches on the needles is a real pain, and very time consuming. This has taken about another 45 minutes to rip back one row of 120 stitches.

3.  Then there is the little problem of being sure the stitches on the needles are turned the correct way after frogging.  I am slowly figuring this out… experience is a hard but good teacher on things like this. 

Long story short, I THINK I have found the problem, I THINK I have ripped out all the mistake-ridden row, and I THINK I have all stitches turned the correct direction.  We will see… the next pattern row will be the “proof in the pudding”.

But it will be SOOO worth it when my Fresco Basket Whip Cowl (a free Ravelry pattern) is finished.   The soft, squishiness  of the KnitPicks Andean Treasure yarn (100% baby alpaca)  and the “Tidepool” color are wonderful things.  (It is a little brighter in color than the photo shows.)

I know you are thinking, “She lives in Louisiana.  When would she ever need a cowl?”  Sometimes it just is not about NEED, my friends, but rather a NEED to KNIT!  Colder weather is coming next week, and I will be so ready for it, in my Fresco Basket Whip Cowl, which I am hoping does NOT cause “hat-hair” when used as shown in the Ravelry picture.

For those visiting from Judy’s Patchwork Times “On the Needles Friday”, you may enjoy seeing the BOATLOAD of knitting I have done in the past month.  Check this post for an update, please.

Happy knitting, my friends.  May all your k2tog’s and yo’s be correctly placed!

KAT

Socks In A Week…

And Other Knitting Feats Beyond Belief!

Yes, really.  I did knit a pair of socks in one week!  I knit while watching TV, and football is a wonderful opportunity for knitting.  So what does this accomplishment tell you?  I have been watching WAY too much football, but it will soon be over.

The pattern is “Circle Socks”, a free pattern from Ravelry.  The yarn is Lion Brand Sock-Ease.

I have been knitting up a storm, and a lot of it was for gifting.

Pedi Socks for my Katie Bug from a yarn that pooled too much in my size.  She loves them!

Socks for my step-father… finished 5 minutes AFTER they said, “Let’s open presents now!”

The Reader’s Wrap, finished, blocked, and gifted to a friend.  (That is my sock blocker sticking into the pocket so you will notice how pretty they came out!)

Three crocheted shawls to leave at church so those of us that are cold-natured can be comfortable while the hot- natured ones have the air going.  I have yarn for another one but it will have to wait until I get over my knitting frenzy.

I played around with the Slipper Purse pattern (another free Ravelry pattern).  I am still working on getting it to come out the right size.  I have made one that was way too large and another that was way too small… hopefully the next attempt will get it right.

I am working on finishing up this pair of socks started in October.  I really did not like the yarn (It was sale yarn, so that excuses me for choosing this.) and it was so very boring knit in plain stockinet stitch.

I debated abandoning the project, but I just don’t do that.  So I ripped back to the gusset decreases and worked the “Simple Skyp” pattern, another free Ravelry pattern.  I LOVE doing this pattern, and it is keeping my interest enough to go ahead and finish the pair. 

One sock is complete and I am working on the foot for the next one.

And I have knit 1 fingerless mitt for myself.  I promise pictures when they are finished.  I am hoping to get the other one done soon… having only one is useless, so I will try to have the 2nd one done before really cold weather returns.

And there you have it… knitting up a storm.  I have to because… (SSHHHHHH!  Don’t tell, but my KnitPicks order of more yarn should be here soon… I am SOOO weak when they flash the S-A-L-E word around.)

Happy knitting, or sewing, or whatever you are finding to do on this wonderful, rainy day.

KAT