Old Dogs, New Tricks

Actually, not completely new.  Mom taught me to sew when I was just a kid and I did sew a lot as a teenager.  But it wasn't my thing, so when I grew up and moved out on my own, I put sewing away and didn't touch it for many years.  Yes, I do still have the sewing machine that Dad bought me when I was a teenager but I haven't used it in many years and it needs a bit of TLC to get back to working order.  

So, Mom, here is proof that what you taught me stuck.  I made this jacked in about two afternoons.  I have to admit that I'm impressed myself - never thought I could do it.  (Laura did help, but at least 95% of this one is mine.)  I also did a lot of sewing on several other jackets and several pairs of pants for the show (The Wiz) at the high school.  I've decided sewing can be fun . . . I might just have to start saving for one of them new-fangled electric sewing machines.

Teresa

P.S.  To everyone else, sorry for the quiet on the blog . . . been busy.  Still need to post pics from the trip to Idaho and those will come when things settle down here (about another week).

We made corn

and drank great Idaho wine and did other crazy things for a whole week. That Other Girl and I are on our way home now and I already miss Dena and Mom a ton!

Dena made a corn too. These were modeled on a knitted pot holder that Mom had in her things from her youth. Her mom had made hers for Mom in red & white. I didnt think to take photos of all three with my phone, but i did with my camera and I will post pictures when I get to a computer.

It's Quiet Because . . .

Dena is showing me the sights in Idaho. I'll be home in a few days and post more.

Finished Shawl

This is the Damask Rose shawl from The Unique Sheep blocking.  It pinned out to almost 5' across (each letter square is a foot across).  I think it turned out to be a quite nice shawl.  I like the way it fits . . . unfortunately, I haven't gotten any shots of a person wearing it yet.

This is how the gradience changes look on the edging - see it starts with the peach/yellow and merges into the green/yellow.  

And this is the back of the finished shawl.  It's pretty large - probably 2 1/2 feet from the neck to the bottom - so it's a nice warm shawl to wear when I'm chilly in my knitting chair.

Teresa

'Nother Anna Zilboorg Hat

 So first I grabbed a dozen bits of leftover Galway wool - my favorite yarn because it's so easy for me to get, not terribly expensive and comes in sooooo many colors.  It's not fancy, it's just a great all purpose worsted weight yarn and I use it for a lot of stranded color work.

 Then I just randomly began grabbing the balls and knitting.  I did pick out the darkest colors for the backgrounds - there are four different background colors on this hat.

 This is another Anna Zilboorg hat from 45 Fine & Fanciful Hats.  I love that book and the crazy but lovely hats in it.  There is still one more type of hat in the book that I have not knit - the beret.  I'm sure I'll knit one (or more) eventually.  There are five of each type of hat in the book, so there are still a lot of hats left for me to knit, thank goodness.

 I just love how the colors came out - they don't show true in this photograph - the first two photos show the colors better.

 No, I wouldn't actually wear the hat like this.  I would wear it flatter.  I set it up like this for photographing it so you could see the layers and how it's made.  

This is the finished hat.  Sorry about the less than terrific iPhone photos - the hat is currently in the costume shop at the school as we are working on another musical.  That is actually what the last two hats were knit for, we will be using some of my hats as part of the costumes so I will need to make five or six of whichever one they choose.  There is another hat, a three level hat (pictured here) that they are also considering.  Both the three level and this two level hat are a lot of knitting.  Diane, this one took me three evenings to finish.  It should have only taken two, but I was tired from working in the costume shop all day.  When I get all the hats back, I will take a couple shots of all of them together - they are fun and wild.

Teresa