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

Fair Warning!

Quilting can be very HUMBLING!  Regardless of your “professional” quilter status, regardless of how many awards you have won at large quilt shows, regardless of having had one of your quilts printed in a nationally distributed calendar, this week I discovered you can STILL do something really STUPID when quilting!  And no, I was not drinking, so I have nothing to blame it on except plain old not thinking!

The pieces for hubby’s sofa quilt are all cut out from recycled shirts and a solid cheddar fabric.  I had created a quilt plan in EQ7.  I printed out the picture of the quilt.  I figured fabric amounts needed.  I made notes of piece sizes and borders to cut.  That is all great… until I realized that I , too, am human and made a rookie mistake. 

While sewing the pieces together for these 4.5” finished 9-patch blocks I stopped to measure and be sure everything was as it should be.  But wait… the strip sets are measuring 5”… well DUH!  With seam allowances it SHOULD measure 5”… but then it dawns on me that I have cut 70 squares (the 60 I needed plus 10 more so I could adjust if colors ended up together… wasn’t I smart in thinking ahead like that?) that only measure 4.5”, from my precious recycled shirts, and some of them I used the last little bits I had… you get the picture?  I went back to check my notes, and written plain as day beside the notes for the squares is “cut 4.5 inches”.  GRRRRRR!

I will now try to scrape together enough shirt fabrics of the appropriate colors to cut 60 squares in the CORRECT size of 5”.  And I was making such good progress on this until reality burst my bubble!

The good news is… I am off for SIL  New Year’s Quilt Retreat tomorrow.  Fun, food, and sewing from now through Jan. 1 sounds just wonderful to me.

So, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!  May all your cutting measurements be correct in the New Year.  (And I hope that blessing comes back to rest on me… it appears I NEED it.)

And thank you for hanging with me in my blogging absence.  Inspiration (and time to post) has returned and I promise to be a more frequent poster.

Love and blessings to you all in the New Year,

KAT

Checking In…

The festivities are about to begin.  There will be some SERIOUS food indulgences… Weight Watchers will take a back seat in my eating today, then back on the plan tomorrow.  There will also be lots of laughter, visiting, busy children and catching up with siblings.  Thanksgiving at my Mom’s & Dad’s house will be absolutely CRAZY!  That’s because by the time all 5 of us children plus spouses, plus our children, plus grandchildren (and often a few non-family members added into the mix) get there we will have close to 30 people crammed into her house trying to get a reasonable serving of her homemade dressing before it is gone.

There will be tons of other food, but I’ll probably skip dessert for the most part and get 2nds on dressing if there is any left.  All this is written to tell you, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

And much in keeping with the traditions we were taught about the first Thanksgiving, DH killed a nice deer this morning. It won’t make it to the feast, but it will go into the freezer and I will be very thankful for it all year long!

I apologize for my great absence from the blog and also inform you that there won’t be much blogging between now and the new year.  Life is busy!  I am sure we can ALL use that excuse right now.  Yes, I have things to blog about but difficulty finding making time to do it.  Please bear with me!

The new laptop has a learning curve getting things set up where it is convenient to do the things I did so quickly on the old one… but I am slowly getting there.  There is an unbelievable difference in XP and Windows 7… I am SOOOO glad I opted NOT to get W8!!  That would be so beyond me at this point since the only thing I know about “smart” phone-type browsing is I don’t have a smart phone, and I don’t want one.  And then there is this thing where the cursor just jumps to places I don’t want it to go while I am in the midst of typing… anyone out there got a fix for THAT?  It is seriously causing me angst!  I guess you can’t (easily) teach an old(er) dog new (computer) tricks!

Enough dribble…. I’m off to eat, visit, and watch football.  I wish you and yours a wonderful day of counting blessings.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, Y’ALL!!

KAT

I’m Back!

Did you miss me?  I REALLY missed all of you!!  You might be wondering where I have been.  The following poem will explain…

ODE TO MY DEAD LAPTOP (By Kathy Ellzey)

My very useful friend for the last 5 years…

Your untimely demise brought me to tears.

File clean-up?  So sorry… that took too much time.

Organize all my files? It will all be just fine!

Regularly make back-ups? I’ll get to that some day.

I now apologize for all my negligent ways!

Printing business invoices?  I no longer can do them.

No more surfing; no more Face Book on a momentary whim.

Finding phone numbers, weekly blogging…  Oops! No more for me!

Solitaire? Mahjong?… just a sad, sad memory.

My loyalties are now split between you and another…

Because this week I purchased your bigger, faster brother.

So welcome home, new laptop.  I’m loving you already!

You rescued my rear end, and made my world so steady.

So now you know!  It will take a while to get things all organized and set up for uploading pictures and such, but at least I am now back on-line.  I have lots of posts planned and lots of photos to rescue from the camera.  Hopefully by the end of the week I will have this new OS figured out.  Stay tuned… good things are to come!

KAT

Lost…

I’ve lost it!  I can’t seem to find it anywhere.  Several times I thought I was getting close, but it was not so.  I’ve lost my blogging incentive.  Several things have happened and I would think, “I ought to do a blog post about this.”  But I never followed through.  I know you don’t want a list of excuses so I offer none.

Distractions… perhaps I am just distracted by other things going on right now.  Life things, fun things, sewing things, knitting things, other things… so many distractions!

As quickly as it left, it is likely to reappear, so I am not overly concerned about this happening.  Stuff HAS been happening around me, a few pictures have been taken, and so I’ll post  these meager offerings in hope of keeping you with me…

The Stack and Whack donation quilt.

 

The quilting design is “Honeysuckle”, one of my favorite leaf and vine designs.

 

I had another quilt also, but managed to “oops” the pictures while transferring from camera to computer.  I REALLY must go change my recycle bin settings where things are kept there for a while so I can retrieve my mistakes!

I have been getting lots of knitting done.  The Reader’s Wrap is so near completion.  Just a few more inches and I’ll be ready to work on the pockets.  It is at that gangly, difficult-to-photo stage, but I hope you get the idea.

 

I think you will get a better view of the color on this photo.

Almost done with sock pair #8  for the year.  I’m rushing to finish these because I want to cast on…

this wonderful hand painted yarn that was gifted to me.  I had really thought about taking a break from sock knitting but have been drawn back in by this lovely.  I think I will choose some sort of rather simple pattern for this, rather than knitting my usual fast and plain stockinet.  We shall see.

Now… off to do housework, sew a little, pack for quilt club tonight, and then start gathering things for a few days of quilt retreat with friends.  Distracted… that’s exactly what I am!

Have a wonderful week!

KAT

A New Perspective

Today gives me new hope… a hope of getting better with age.  A hope of feeling better and looking better.  A hope of strengthening my relationship with my Savior.  A hope of aging with grace, and continuing to enjoy outdoor activities for many years.  A hope of a renewed outlook on relationships with others and my life.

Today I turn 56.  A lot has changed in the last year.  I have totally rewritten my life’s plan.  Perhaps I should say I have SURRENDERED   MYYYYYY plan and given in to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  It was a long battle with my will, but I am so thankful that God does not give up on us.  He has been convicting me for the last several years about my unhealthy lifestyle, but I would not listen. He has called me closer, but I would not commit the time.

Because I finally got to the place of obedience I am now much healthier and happier than I was last year at this time.  Because I have chosen to listen rather than remain in rebellion to His will, I am now almost 40 pounds lighter, feeling better than I have in years, and walking in power rather than defeat.  THANK YOU LORD!

Because I finally surrendered the time to “visit” with Him each day, I am encouraged and filled with His power, rather than struggling to change by myself.

The journey is not done, because I still have a long way to go, but the victories I have won in the last 6 months have taught me that it IS a war that is winnable… through His power, not mine.

There are rough roads in places (recurring foot and knee issues have really thrown my exercise plan for a loop), but He leads me on.  Temptation comes, but He is faithful.

Thank You, Lord, that 56 (and beyond) looks better than the last several years have been!  “I surrender all, Lord. Be glorified… I surrender all!”  (From the Terry MacAlmon song, “I Surrender All”)

Have a blessed week!

KAT

On The Needles Today…

 

I am making a little progress on the latest pair of socks.  I am working on the heel flap, and will soon do the turn.  It is going slowly because…

I have really gotten SUCKED INTO this Reader’s Wrap.  I am loving it!  It is an easy and fun knit.  I forget how quickly large needles and large yarn add up!  The color did not come across well in the above picture.  It is called “Bronze”, is a beautiful tweed with black and tan nibs works into the yarn, and has a little more golden-brown cast to it than the picture indicates.  I have about 22” done, and try to knit at least 2-3” each day.  I need 58” before I work the ending pattern and make the pockets.

Check out what others are working on at Judy’s Patchwork Times!

Have a great weekend!  I plan on spending as much time as I can sitting in my chair knitting on the Reader’s Wrap (and nursing a very painful knee).

KAT

In Praise of the Redneck!

Honestly, the picture below shows the opinion of most of the world about rednecks.  I realize this is just in jest, and I do consider it funny, too!  BUT, the poor redneck has been given a bad rap.  Today I will convince you of that!

Most folks think of rednecks as lazy, trashing up their yards with junker cars, beer guzzling, gun slinging, cussing fools.  Now WHERE would they get that idea?  From movies and reality shows, for sure.

My least favorite of the reality shows set in our area is the “My Big Redneck Vacation”.  I’ve only watched it a couple of times because that is about all of that foolishness I can stand.  We are portrayed as drinking around the clock, passing gas without any modesty, doing really stupid and even dangerous things, destroying property and not thinking twice about it, and having no class whatsoever.  Although I realize these are characteristics of MANY young people in MANY cultures, I assure you that this is NOT the way mature rednecks work.

Mature rednecks are creative and resourceful, because they may NOT have the expensive gadgets that others have.  It might well be the reason they don’t have the expensive toy is because they just choose not to spend their money that way… not that they are poor and can’t afford it.

How would YOU get to muscadines that are way too high to be reached with a ladder?  DH has it all figured out!

Take your tractor with front-end loader, securely strap this double-stacked basket apparatus (created from metal baskets purchased at the paper mill salvage yard),

climb into the top basket, then get your wife to operate the tractor and lift you up to where the muscadines are.  Ours were growing WWAAAYYYYY up in a large pine tree.

No problem now, because you are now located about 20 feet up in the air!

       

YUM!  These muscadines are so good!

You might be wondering why the baskets have this cammo mesh on them… This also doubles as a portable deer stand.  Secure it to a nice size tree with straps, climb up the side of the metal, and you are all set to go!

SEE… I TOLD you we were resourceful  and creative.  My DH has been blessed with great “improvising” skills!  And yes we do have what others would consider “junk” (he calls it his “innovation pile”) but it is not lying around our front yard in an unkempt manner.  He has it more or less organized down by the barn where he has easy access and it is not unsightly. 

Yes, he hunts and quite often has a gun with him, but he is not blasting things just for the fun of it…  his hunting puts meat on the table. 

Now the passing gas thing…. I’m not EVEN going there!

KAT