Tangles

November 10

Wow, 10 day down already.  This time of year moves so quickly--I'm not ready!  I'm leaning towards no knitted gifts this year.  Maybe some beanies since they are so fast to knit, but probably not anything else.

I'm working on square #16 for the afghan.  It should be finished tonight.  I've finally gotten the routine down and worked out the best way to count the increases and not mess up.  This is going to take some serious time to finish.  I think that a simple pair of socks will be up next.  I ordered some skeins of the new Malabrigo sock yarn and look forward to working with it soon--it's so very soft and pretty.

See you tomorrow...

November 9

Today you get to see a pretty picture of the Camellia flower now that it is completely open.  Not much happening today.  I'm feeling blah and sitting around knitting.  Tomorrow's another day, right?

November 8

Saturday could not have come soon enough this week.  The time change really messed up my sleep patterns.  I hope the worst is over.

Last night, I blocked all but 2 of the squares for the Barn Raising blanket.  Here's a photo of the all the finished blocks.  I'm working on number 14 now and should have it done by tomorrow.  The pattern calls for 42 squares, so there is still a ways to go.

A kitchen injury will be cutting this entry short--I burned my hand on the cooktop while fixing dinner.  Not that big a deal but it's on the heel of my palm and keeps getting bumped every time I try to type.  See you tomorrow...

November 7

Sorry, I've had a long day and I'm too tired to write much of a post.  No knitting yet today, but I will finish another afghan square tonight.  Tomorrow, I'll take some pictures to update my progress. 

It was much too hot today considering that we are in the month of November.  It was 85 degrees at lunchtime, but supposed to cool down some tomorrow.

November 6

Not much going on today.  I thought I'd post a link to the Barn Raising Quilt.  The pattern is in the book Knitalong, by Larissa and Martin Brown.  The Ravelry button below will take you to the Project page.  Sorry if you aren't on Ravelry yet. Here's a link to a photo of one square.

November 5

Bad news day.  My iMac bit the dust yesterday,  Luckily, I have a laptop to fall back on, but it's just not the same.  Hopefully, my baby will go to the Apple store on Saturday for some TLC.  Wish me luck...

In the meantime, I don't have any photos to share on this computer.  There isn't enough light by the time I get home from work to take a decent shot with no flash.  Guess photos will wait until the weekend, too.

I'm plugging away on squares for the Barn Raising Quilt from the Knitalong book.

November 4

Today is finally election day.  Can you believe the length of this campaign?  I surely can't.  Please do your civic duty and cast your vote today. 

I will be glued to the TV tonight to watch the returns and will return to normal blogging tomorrow.

November 3

I'm up and ready for work a bit too early due to the time change and thought I'd post early on a work day for once.  Yesterday, I baked my first loaf of bread from the book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and it turned out great.  I have some photos of the process to show how easy it really is:

Enough dough for four loaves is mixed in a large container and stored in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake.  This shows the remaining dough after enough for the first loaf was removed.

Next, the dough is formed in a loaf shape and rested on a surface coated with cornmeal to warm up and start raising.

Here's the finished loaf in all it's glory.  It really was easy to make a great loaf of bread!  The book has recipes for lots of variations, too.  I think rye bread will be my next batch of dough.  I'll keep you posted about future taste testing.

Now, it's off to start the work week.  See you on Tuesday.

November 2

Today's post includes some new photos of knitting and flowers.  I forgot to show you a photo of the ripple afghan that I finished 2 weeks ago.  I made it using 2 strands of Dream in Color Smooshy yarn held together and crocheted the ripple design:

  

Yesterday morning, we had a tiny period of rain.  Shorty couldn't decide if he was happy or not.

Here's a shot of my mystery Dendrobium orchid that is now in bloom.  I bought this one at Trader Joe's several years ago and it blooms randomly:

And here is a shot of the Camellia that is about to bloom again.  I plan to take a new photo every few days as a progress report and to have something to fall back on when the blogging ideas get too thin.

I won't always make the photos so small, but didn't want to drag down the load time of today's page.  You can click on the photos for a pop-up window at full-size.

November 1

I finished knitting the rug last week and felted it on Sunday.  Tomorrow, I need to to the final trimming job and the whip-stitch edging on the short long sides.

Here's a photo of the almost finished rug:

I am again participating in NaBloPoMo. That means making 30 posts in 30 days.  I did it last year and know that I can do it again.  Most of the posts will be short, some might only be a line or two. 

My current projects include an afghan, potholders and a beanie.  Updates and photos will follow in the next few days.