Happy Veterans' Day

Hello:

Wow, what a gorgeous day.  There's some horrible storm from Alaska that has swept down into the midwest, totally missing us.  Well, not totally missing us, as it has gotten much colder here.  But the sky was beautifully clear, and the air was crisp and fresh.  The suddenly colder temperature has brought more color to our trees.

This is one of our Japanese Maples, our biggest.  It is a miniature tree, and during the summer, both cats love to hide under it.  Soon, these beautiful red leaves will fall off, and it will look like the skeleton of an umbrella.  Honestly, if it isn't too cold, the cats will still try to hind under it, as though we can't see them.  Silly cats.

Because today is a National Holiday, I didn't have school, and was able to knit at Crossroads with a few of my Eastside Stitchers buddies who also did not have work.

Last night was a special meeting of the Eastside Knitters Guild.  We had Mary Scott Huff as our speaker.

She was up to teach at KnitFit! and we had her stay an extra day to speak at the Guild.  She gave a very inspirational talk about knitting in general, and edgings in particular.  It wasn't a class, but she brought lots of items she has designed, and spoke about options for really finishing a project.  I liked how she spoke of edgings as a "frame" for the knitting.  She talked about how important it is to put a painting in the right frame, and how we should think of edgings in the same way.  I can't wait to try something new.  Also, she said that every time you make a swatch, you should use a new cast on and bind off.  Just for practice.  Even if you hate the choice, and it doesn't work at all with your project, you can then check off that option and know that you will never want to use it.
 
The Guild meeting was nice and full.  The programs this year have been excellent, and I think people have really appreciated this.

Today at Crossroads, we got together for just a few hours.

Alphabetadell had come to the Guild meeting, and decided to get in a bit of social knitting with us.  She brought a beautiful piece of Show and Tell,

This is a Wedding Ring Quilt done in crochet.  There are a few (ha ha ha) ends that still need to be woven in, but otherwise, this gorgeous afghan/quilt is finished.  Alphabetadell was working on a baby sweater.  She is just about finished and ready to sew in the buttons.

JulieMustKnit was working on a cowl.  I know she has made this cowl before, but I can't remember the name.

Because the yarn is held double, this knits up very quickly.

BlueBerryMary brought the sweater she is knitting for her Grand-Nephew.   The bear picture on the front is from his own drawing.

Mary has finished the front and is pretty far on the back.  I think you can see the ribbing at the bottom of the back in the above photo.  Look at where the date is.  Mary did the ribbing with crochet, then picked up stitches to knit.  Nice job of blending her two crafts.

Mary brought some show and tell, too, or at least she was wearing her show and tell.

This is a nice textured scarf.

CathieC has made serious progress on her Exit 0 Shawl.

I just can't wait to see this finished.

I brought some Vortex squares to finish up so I could attach them this afternoon to my afghan I am making for my God-Daughter #1.  Just as I was finishing the first square, I realized that I had made a mistake on the 3rd to the last round, and had to take out just about everything I had hooked.  Then, I was pretty  busy all afternoon, and didn't get very much done.  I did finish 3 more squares, and get them attached.  I now have 4 rows finished out of the 6 rows needed.  I don't have a photo because I finished tonight and the light is bad, but I can show you a photo of this afghan before the most recent squares were attached.

Her birthday is in February, but I would like to finish this for Christmas.  I think I can get it done by the end of November.  That means 10 more squares.  That is quite a lot, but if I really crank out squares, I can make 5 in a weekend, I think.

The other things I worked on this weekend were two scarves.  I am knitting a Racing Raindrops scarf by Churchmouse Yarn and Teas as part of my Swapetition package.  The theme this year is Local, so I thought that scarf would be a good choice.

I have to have it finished by November 20, and in the mail.  I am on the decreases now, so pretty on track to get it finished in time.  The skein/ball is 50 g, and I am knitting about 3 g /day.  Every day I weigh the ball to make sure I have finished enough.  The scarf is a long triangle, so I can't just measure the length, or count the rows to be sure I am on track to finish on time.  I have to do it all by weight.

I am knitting another triangular scarf for Quidditch.  This one has to be finished by November 27th, so I am weighing my progress as well.  I am making my own pattern, just a 12 row repeat.  It is very simple, but I like how it looks.

This isn't the greatest photo, as I ripped this version out after 2 days of knitting it and changed the pattern slightly, but you get the flavor of the scarf here.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a yarn scale.