Spring Fever

Vintage Stichers met at my house this week, so I could get my turn in while there was little chance of snow and soon after my spring cleaning.

As always, they had some quilts in various stages of completion to show off. Carol took the Easy Bake pattern and added sashing.

Brenda made this Radio Way quilt for a relative injured in an accident.



Janet is working on this Bertie's Spring appliqué.







Barbara has done the preparation for this block for Kim McLean's Flower Pots from Glorious Color.



I finished my Kai-Mei Socks. The pattern is easier than it looks. I discovered the easiest way to P the four dropped YO strands was to come up under all four with the right needle wyif, put that needle through the sl st from he back, and then P them together. It's a well-written pattern, from Sock Innovation by Cookie A. The yarn is Stroll in "navy."


I may have mentioned this before, but I had bought the first printing of Cookie A's book, and there were a lot of errata. I found the corrections on the publisher's website, printed them all off, and stored them in the book. I was planning on having the book spiral-bound with an envelope bound in the book for the errata pages to take with me on our trip this summer, when I plan on knitting socks. Then I found this Kindle edition, with all the corrections, for not much more than the spiral-binding would have cost. The best part is, it doesn't add any weight to my iPad, which I was planning on taking with me anyway.

I moved on to my Snow Crystals Socks and quickly finished the first sock.



To get the beads into your knitting, you take the stitch off the needle and pull it up through the bead. Then you put the stitch back on the needle and knit it. I didn't have a crochet hook small enough to go through the hole in the bead; even my size 11 was too big, so I used a threaded needle. I put the needle through the bead, then through the stitch and back through the bead in the direction it came out. Then pulled on the needle and thread, pulling the stitch through the bead. (There are no beads on the foot. Ouch!)

The second sock went fast. I wore them on Sunday:

You may have to zoom in to see the beads, but they show up in the sunlight, like the sun shining on snow.

The Multi-scrap Scarf is coming along. Here it is with 30" completed:

The series of rain storms has finally stopped, and the weather has warmed up a bit. It has been good for walking the pups, and on Saturday, we took a hike in Toll Canyon.

What's on my needles: The Snow Crystals Socks are finished. CO another pair of socks. Ready to CO the "March of the Fibres" cardi when I get a chance. Maybe this week. I'm also working on another pair of socks, because I needed to visit my friend Joanie on Sunday and needed something to work on there.

What's on my Featherweight: Ready to start next month's blocks from First Ladies.

What's on my wheel: Still Full Circle spinning fiber in "Pigeon." No progress there.

What's on my loom: Still the Multi Scrap scarf, 30" completed.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Back Road by Rachel Abbott. Then read Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen, a "Daily Deal" from Audible. Then listened to A Murderous Yarn by Monica Ferris from the library on the Overdrive app. Now listening to Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson from Audible. Reading Death by Cashmere in iBooks.

What's in my wine glass: Lindeman's Cawarra Shiraz-Cabernet 2014. The big bottle.

What's my tip of the week: On socks, or other projects that require regular decreases until a certain stitch count, I always hate to keep counting sts, so I put a st marker at the point where the decreases have to stop. In the photo, I needed 32 sts, divided over two needles, so I just counted 16 sts and put a marker. You have to move the marker for the last two decreases, but I just take the it out, make the dec and put it back again. This works for sweaters or other projects as well.



Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.