This time of year in South Carolina we always manage to have crazy weather. It’s usually colder here in January and February than it is in December. However, our weather has been all over the place lately. Our temperatures have ranged from the twenties to nearly 75 recently. No snow or ice, so we’re lucky; one night that I know of, we had a little sleet that didn’t last till morning. That’s all the cold stuff we’ve had other than some frosts.
The renovations continue. We’ve got that new roof on now, a new front door, a new back door, some repairs done to one of the window seals, some brick work repaired, and the garage is painted. That’s really only some of the work we’ve had done, but the point is, it’s getting done.
Finishing up UFOs
In her last year of being able to do needlework, Mother tried to crochet a doily. She said she was making it for me. She never got it done, though. She told me she’d done a lot, but in fact, she got very little of it done if what I got was all of it. Since it was sent to me after her death, I thought I’d finish it up. I was a little afraid my arthritis would give me fits crocheting, but it didn’t seem to bother me. Poor mother, as I worked along, I could see she was in over her head. She was always careful with her work, but she was beginning to be ill, and I think it was too much for her. She made some mistakes. Some won’t really matter that much, I don’t think, so I left them in, but she misplaced a leaf, and that had to be corrected, or the rest of the doily would have been off. So I had to redo that leaf. I tried to keep as much of what she did as possible, though, as I know it was hard won for her.
At any rate, the doily was finished, and although it’s not perfect, it’ll do. I did change the color of some of the pansies as I had the other on hand when it came time to do those flowers.
Before anyone asks, it’s a Maggie Weldon revamp of an old doily. You can find her version here or on Annie’s Attic here. It’s not terribly difficult to do, but you must pay attention, and be aware that there are a few places where the instructions aren’t very good. You need to examine the closeup included in the pattern very carefully.
After I finished this, I realized I didn’t much care for the eleven points in it. It’s difficult to dress because you can’t evenly pull against another point. Now, I saw that someone else had dressed it differently, with the mid-points pulled out too, and that might be a better way to do it. I didn’t dress this extremely well; I see I have pointy pansy petals, so it ought to be dressed again, but that won’t get done for a while. I decided to show it anyway. Use your imagination.
The main thing is that I finished a UFO, even though it wasn’t really mine, and I hope to finish more of them as I go along. I’m getting a little tired of having all these unfinished projects lying around.
Stoles and Shawls
I am still working on my Baltic Sea Stole now and then. I got quite a lot done during the time I was watching some new DVDs after Christmas, but then I put it down, and it took a while to pick it up again. It’s a wonderful pattern and very restful to knit. I’m nearly through now, though.
I joined Mario’s Spanish Armada Shawl group. I love the idea of a shawl based on the Spanish Armada. You can see part of the shawl (it’s a square shawl) here. Now, I think that’s a pretty shawl.
I have also joined several shawl knitting groups on Yahoo, but I haven’t started any as I still have the Baltic Sea Stole in the works. Am I the only one noticing a trend these days in the shawls that people are writing the directions for? It seems that they’re all very small or they use a boatload of yarn and turn out huge. I used to order 1260 yards of yarn, and I’d have plenty for a large shawl. Now, they can’t seem to make a shawl without using at least 1500 yards or they make it the size of a postage stamp and require less than 1000 yards. It doesn’t pay anymore to stockpile yarn when you find what you like. As a result, I wind up with tons of partial balls that aren’t big enough to do anything with. I need to use up some of the yarn I have on hand, not buy more! I’m beginning to doubt that I’ll find any new designs that use the amount of yarn I have on hand. I guess that will teach me not to buy ahead.
I also started another sweater for myself. I have been enjoying the blue-gray sweater I made myself last year, so I thought I’d use some yarn I got from Mother’s stash. (Just what I needed acrylic from Mother’s stash!) Still, it will make a good knock-about sweater that I won’t mind the kitties pummeling. I still have to decide on a stitch pattern for it, but I know the basic shape, and that’s half the battle.
Books I’m Reading
I’ve read several books since I last blogged. I read Katherine by Anya Seton about John of Gaunt’s mistress during the 1300’s. It’s an old book, but I hadn’t read it, and I found it interesting. If you enjoy historical pieces, you might enjoy reading it; it’s still in print. She did a lot of research before she wrote it, and she includes much about how things were done back then, which is always fascinating to me.
I’ve read some lighter books too. One that I have to mention is the last Cat Who book, The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers. I’ve always found these books pretty repetitive but relaxing to read with some fun observations about people and cats, but this was a nightmare. It never should have been published. Story lines are broached, but they go nowhere. Several times I caught myself re-reading passages because nothing made sense. There’s no mystery. Qwill’s barn burns and he’s not even interested in it, and although the book says it’s arson, nobody seems to do anything about it. Polly moves to Paris, and Qwill seems not at all concerned and picks up with another librarian. I thought Polly and Qwill were serious about one another at one point. I think it’s time to end this series. I understand the author is over 90 and ill. Bless her heart, let her end her career with some dignity.
That being said, let me end this entry. Keep knitting and stitching!
I’ve noticed that about shawls too! lots and lots of yardage, or little bitty shawl. Go figure.
Hello! You are in SC! I came across your site today while looking for sea-themed shawl patterns, and you had done both of the ones in which I was interested! I am originally from Charleston, and my mother still lives there. I though an ocean-themed shawl would be nice for her. I was particularly happy to see the FiberTrends design, as their picutre of it on-line does not do it justice.
Your shawls are beautiful! I’ve also enjoyed looking at your blogs. I came across one where you talked about Virginia Tech and the shootings at the Univ. of Texas. That is another funny coincidence because my in-laws were there that day. My father in-law was teaching a class, and his sister was in classes. My husband’s great-aunt owned a diner near the campus and the capitol.
Anyway, I just wanted to say hello and thank you for posting. You have helped me enormously!