The Anything but Lazy Kate

I could not wait to spin all my cotton to try out my Anything but Lazy Kate.  I had my first bobbin of cotton wound off on 5 plastic bobbins and had spun about 3/4 of a second Hansen Woolee Winder bobbin full.  I made a 3 ply and have yet to soak and dry it.  The Kate really worked well without any additional tensioning.  I may ply a second skein before finishing the rest of my Ewa Beach cotton.

Very little knitting has been going on.  I wanted to make a hooded cowl after watching Seventh Son.  Jeff Bridges has a cowl that has a nice drape and reminds me a lot of

Shoulder Cozy

by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.

The one I use the most does not form a nice hood.  I found this pattern on the LionBrand site

Margate Hood

by Lion Brand Yarn and Number 4 sister was nice enough to pick up the Thick and Quick with some coupons.   The contruction intrigued me so I knit it up.  Two skeins.  Face has been blurred to protect the hopelessly paranoid.  It's basically a garter stitch rectangle.  Instead of binding off I folded the piece in half and grafted the end off.  With the beginning yarn, I sewed up the sides.  It made for a pointy hood and something very wam and cozy.  Not for Hawaii, though and not very drapey.  It was fun to make. 

I found a quilt I made a while back, back before I knew much about quilting.  It was a sad thing with a folded over border, that didn't even have batting all the way to the edge.  The fabric is a bit spotted and the quilting bad.  There are a million puckers.  But it is one of my very favorite patterns, Storm at Sea and it is nice and soft.  So I decided to trim off the weird border and bind it, and use it.  

Catching Up

April 1 I will be coming up on 10 years blogging!  A decade!  I started this blog when I had lots to whine about.  Now that I'm pretty much retired, there is not much to whine about.

What there is, is a whole lot more time to think about gardening, housecleaning, and exercising, which is still not happening as much as it should.  There is a little more walking and so far two zumba classes.  I'm thinking about giving up my regular massages since the price went up again and go prn.  I've also giving up regular haircuts, for a while.  I'm contemplating using that money to join the Y.  In a year I can get free membership through my health plan.  I'm not really the gym type, but I'm willing to give it another try. 

It's be a revolving door of sisters the last month or so.  So nice to have them visit mom and help her with those things she cannot do anymore at 91.  She can still do plenty though.  Her garden puts me to shame!

Her honohono orchids are doing exceptionally well this year.  They are so fragrant!

On the knitting scene there was another Giro and another Cadhla Shawl.

A friend brought some Romney yarn from NZ for the Cadhla Shawl.  She has another Cadhla I knit with Pima Fresca Solid by Queensland Collection that she says is her favorite shawl and requested another.  This yarn is way warm for Hawaii! I used my last bit of Noro Aya for the Giro, my third one.

I did a little Wilton's cake dye dyeing on some Romney locks.

My kind of dyeing...non toxic and done with kitchen supplies.

I finished 3 quilts.  2 are large lap quilts and one is baby quilt size.  I used up my flower blocks from the 2014 Big Island Quilt Shop Hop and made a pieced backing.  The pattern is called Garden Path and is free from McCall's.
The two pink and green ones are called Summer in the Park.  I arranged the blocks in different ways and used only two Amy Butler prints and white.  The smaller one has a flannel backing which really showed up the machine quilting nicely.  The machine quilting was done by Barbara Alama. After seeing her fabric stash I'll feel no shame when I look at mine, lol. 

I had fun making my own quilt label with a rubber stamp and sharpie.  Ironing the fabric on freezer paper really helped.  I heat set the label before hand stitching it on.  Next time I will sew it into the binding. 

I'm still spinning cotton.  It's a long term project.  I can't wait to try out my Anything But Lazy Kate.  I may just have to interupt the cotton spinning and ply!  This cool gadget was a birthday gift for my wonderful and enabling sisters!  Aren't sister grand?