 During the football game Monday night I finished the shawl that I started on the drive home. I still have to put a button on it but I'll wait on that until I finish 2 more shawls.  Why 2 more? Well, it's coming into winter and From The Heart is always asking for shawls. This one comes together really quickly and I have enough of the same yarn to make 2 more. I started a new one yesterday afternoon so I could take it to quilt club to work on a little. I spent some time yesterday getting my crochet projects in order. I unraveled a vest that I was making and not enjoying.  I might be pretty close to done with the big blanket. I got this far on vacation. The plan was to finish continue until I added a final section of dark blue. That will make the blanket 46 x 60.  But I had a little problem. The ball of navy yarn is the last of the navy in the blanket and it's not enough for another section. It turns out that Lion Brand Pound of Love doesn't come in navy anymore. But I came home and found this navy blue yarn in my stash and I think it will be fine. I'll do the whole section in the new yarn so the transition between the two shouldn't show up too badly. Now I have enough yarn to make this blanket 72" long if I want and I'm kind of inclined to do that. For those of you making donation blankets, do you have an opinion on the size?  I also unpacked these 2 hats that I finished on vacation. The one on the left is a man's chemo hat and the one on the right is a kid's hat. I'm going to be really happy to see the end of this tweedy yarn!  I decided to switch over to making some winter hats and pulled out my bulky and super bulky yarns.
I'm going to start with the super bulky yarns and this speedy pattern. I've made a lot of these caps and they actually look pretty good. I should be able to get 5 hats out of these yarns.
It's nice to have an organized plan so I don't have to think about what to work on for a few weeks.  It was kind of a nightmare getting here, but this blanket is finally done and it turned out great!  On the way up to maine I thought I was about 75% done with the blanket but, in the car, I noticed that the top was wider than the bottom. At some point I changed from an H size hook to an I size hook. I had to rip it back to the blue arrow. It was the equivalent of more than 1 skein of yarn.  I'm glad I did because now it's perfectly 36" square and it's a really sweet blanket.  The border really adds a lot to the personality of the blanket and it's a very easy border. There's a row of single crochet, 2 rows of V stitches, a row of granny stitches and a ruffle of chains and single crochet. I made this blanket once before and I'm sure I'll make it again. This one will be donated.
Yarn: Yarn Bee Sweet Delight, 3 weight, 340 yards/skein and I used 3 for the body and about 1/2 for the border. Pattern: Vintage Inspired Fan Stitch blanket by Blossom Crochet Hook Size H, 5.0mm  We started off early yesterday to get on the trails before the parking lot filled up. If you want to hike in the morning in Acadia you have to get to the parking areas before 9 to be sure of getting a space. We got to the trailhead about 8 and when we returned about 10:30 there were 5 cars waiting for a parking space. We selected the Bubbles for our hike yesterday. This fun trail has two mountain tops in one trail. This is on top of South Bubble looking over Jordan Pond with the ocean beyond.  On the North Bubble we were in view of Pemetic and Cadillac mountains. This weekend my goal is for us to hike one of these. Cadillac is the highest so that's a goal. But if we don't do Cadillac I hope we can do Pemetic, it's my favorite trail in the whole park.  We got back in time to relax in the sun for a while and then get in some sewing time. I'm now working on chickens! I started with the sections that are common to all 4 chickens. Getting these out of the way will speed up all of the other chickens.  I got the first chicken made and I think it's so cute! We have another friend coming to visit today so I might not get the other chickens done before Monday.  The crochet blanket is coming along great. I'm working on the border and only have about a round and half left to go.
 We left Wilton, ME Friday and made out way through Belfast and then on to Southwest Harbor on Mount Desert Island. We look forward to this view every year. We had some friends arrive and we were blessed with perfect weather for 4 days. Those guests left yesterday and we are on our own until Friday. Yesterday we woke to rain and it was mostly cloudy all day. But here's what's been going on so far.  We have a tradition of doing our first hike on Beech Mountain. It's a nice length with great views and all different types of hiking surfaces. This view overlooks the pond that "our house" is on. Tuesday I kayaked the length of this pond out and back. It was about 2 hours and a lot of fun.  Everyone except me hiked the Precipice Trail Sunday. Precipice has the right name, lots of ledges, rungs and ladders. Not for me at all! I kayaked the lake that day too. On Monday three of us hiked the Champlain North Ridge Trail. It's quite steep but had great views looking over Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor is the far point of the land mass with Bar Island right behind it. The town is named for the "bar" of land that is only visible during low tide. On the other side they have a sign with the nuber of a water taxi in case you get stranded. Midway in the photo is a big complex that is the Jackson Laboratory, a large research complex that has 4 location just in Maine. In this photo you can see that the fog was rolling in as we were hiking up.  At the top it looked like we were above the clouds. So far the hiking and kayaking has been great but we took yesterday off.  I didn't do any sewing while we had guests here but I got my sewing corner set up yesterday and got back to the Fab Farm quilt.  I finished the tall sunflowers yesterday. Only chickens and bees left to do. We have a couple of days until the next guest arrives so I'll make some chicken progress the next 2 days.  I did get some crochet done while our guests were here because we watched movies at night. The red marker is where I last left off and was ready to attach the next ball of yarn. I finished that whole ball and the blanket is basically square, as I wanted. Now I will start the border and get this one wrapped up soon.
Today we hope to go for a hike and then I'll be on chicken duty while Chris goes out fishing. We are gett the best weather this year! It's the best year yet for weather.
We are still enjoying our time in the little cabin in Maine. Yesterday Chris caught a 4.5 lb smallmouth bass. He says it's the biggest he's ever caught so he was VERY happy. I took the kayak around the perimeter of the lake so I was very tired but also happy. It was a beautiful day and we plan to do a relatively easy hike today to test out my ankle/foot issues.
Before I get to the crochet update I want to remind you that if you subscribe to the blog by email that you will need to sign up with the new email provider: follow.it Just use the box below. The old email service will stop August 31. 
Vacation time has allowed me more crochet time and Thursday night I got to watch the Eagles preseason game so crochet season is officially underway. This is the blanket that I had to unravel on the way here. I raveled one whole ball and about a third of another. I've gotten the 1/3 ball restitched.
I stitched about 4 rows. This one is going slower because I didn't bring the right hook with me and the one I'm having to use is not comfortable. I'm hoping to convince Chris to drive by a Hobby Lobby next Friday so I can get a Clover hook.
I'm making more progress on this blanket and I'm really loving how this is looking. The last time I check in I was at the point with the red marker (circled in yellow).
I've done about 14 rows. It's moving right along!
We arrived in Maine Friday evening and I thought I'd post Saturday but I was just too tired for some reason. But we're settled in the cutest small camp and have started exploring around the area. The trip up is a 2 day trip and we drove up along with the remnants of Debby. Chris was driving. I81 is always stressful with all the trucks and he had added tension with the bouts of rain and fog. I settled into the passenger seat and thought I might finish the center of this baby blanket. But somewhere outside Scranton I realized that the hook I was using didn't match the color of stitch marker that I use to remind myself the hook size. I use Clover Amour hooks with colored handles. The blue stitch marker I used indicated the H (blue) hook. I was using the I (green) hook! I stopped working on it until I could get to the hotel and lay it out to see if I really did make a mistake. Once I laid it out on the bed it was clear that I had used the wrong hook and had been using it for a while. That red circle shows where I was 2 weeks ago and the blue arrow shows how far back I needed to undo. So that's probably all the work I did over the past month. Darn.  I unraveled one whole ball and part of another....almost half of it! But it had to be done and it's a charity blanket so there's no deadline. I'll get back on it with the blue hook this week. The second day took us through Massachusetts and we took a detour to the New England Quilt Museum to see the Paula Nadelstern exhibit. I took a lot of photos and will do a post tomorrow on that visit.  When we arrived Friday it was still raining but this was our view Saturday morning. The camp is just a few steps away from the shore of Wilson Pond in Wilton, ME. This is our first year in this area and so far we are in love with this cute little town and tiny camp.  Here's my sewing space. Fortunately we can eat on the screened porch.  I was itching to get started sewing on the farm quilt and I've already finished 2 pigs. I love my little Janome Gem Gold that's at least 20 years old. It has a perfect 1/4" seam which is really important with these blocks. The eyes are only 1/2" finished so precision is important.  Yesterday we went for our first hike I needed a fairly easy hike to test out my foot after all the pain I've been dealing with this summer. After x-rays, one MRI and 2 doctors it seems that I have 1 old injury that isn't bad enough to do anything about, a couple of "deformities" that aren't bad enough to do anything about and, most importantly, weak muscles in my right foot and ankle. I've been working on strengthening exercises so was happy to test it out on a 2.5 mile hike yesterday. It was a beautiful day and a lovely hike. Near the end we were greeted with this funny sign. The trail is at least 6 yards from the "cliff". If anyone gets that close to the edge I don't think this sign will help. But it was kind of funny.  This is what the trail looked like beyond the sign. No cliff.
We came home and took the kayaks for a long ride and then had cocktails on floats in the lake. It was a perfect day. Chris is off fishing today so I plan on a long kayak on the lake and some more pig sewing this afternoon.  It's been 2 weeks since I posted a crochet update and I've made a little progress. The orange marker is where I was at the last update. Now I can see how the stripes are going to look.  The baby blanket is moving along too. Can you see the red marker about 5" from the top? That's where I was the last time.
I just don't make much progress in the summer but it's going to pick up a bit because football season is about to start. I'll have lots of crochet time then. One thing is for sure, I'll probably be taking both of these to Maine because neither will be done in the next 2 weeks.  We spent a good part of yesterday moving the last of the furniture that we needed to move. One piece was big and heavy but we got it down without either of us getting hurt. Downstairs is easier than upstairs so we had that going for us! Now I'm down to getting drawers and cabinets reorganized and then I can start looking for a bed for the former office. Things are getting done! On the crochet front I got a little done this week. It's been a little warm to even think about crochet but I added a few rows to the blue blanket.  I also added a few rows to the baby blanket. I think I was able to do 2 nights on each blanket. I almost bought some sale yarn this week but I made myself look at my stash first and that helped me avoid that purchase.  In between moving chores I finished cutting batting for the potholders and got 11 of them finished! These come together really fast. I'm binge watching Money for Nothing (a BBC show) on YouTube while I stitch.
 I didn't take my crochet blankets to the river with me so I've only had one night each to work on them. Now I know that I do about 2 rows at a time in the evenings. I'm fine with that progress. These are donation project just dome to keep my hand busy in the evenings.  For travel, I generally take my hat bag. I made a lot of progress on the blue hat at the river. Just a few more rows and it will be ready to seam. I have to work on this during the day because it's just so hard to see the stitches with this yarn. I love the look of it but hate working with it. In the evenings there I started a new man's chemo hat. Both of these hat will be ultimately donated and I'll be really happy to see the end of that blue yarn. It's really best for stitches like granny stitches where you stitch into a chain space or other hole. Stitching into previous row stitches is hard for eyes full of floaters.
 I made a little crochet progress this week. The orange marker on this one is where I was last week. I got far enough to see what my pattern is going to look like and I'm happy with it. This is going to be a big blanket so it will take a while.  I made more progress on the baby blanket. The red marker is where I was last week.
I alternate working on them and it looks like I had more time on baby blanket nights this week. |
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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