A Distracted Week

I'm letting this knitting and crocheting kinda distract me, anxious to cast on the next knitting project and spending time checking to see if I have the right size needles for what is lined up. As if not bad enough to have at least 3 projects ready to go, I keep looking through patterns I've printed out but not paired with yarn yet, and a nearly gone skein of yarn I'd really like to use up. Yup, knitting, like quilting, leaves you with "scraps" left over that you can't toss but can find it difficult to use up. But as my mind has wandered, it occurred to me that there would be enough yarn on that skein to do the ribbing on a tam and there was a tam pattern with a sweater pattern I'd printed out so I couldn't resist starting that. This may all be because I'm finding myself a bit intimidated by that crochet cardigan. Right off the bat it requires me to learn a new stitch with a yarn that is very slippery. I didn't think that the bamboo viscose yarn would be like that but then again, it is actually just rayon, and rayon is definitely slick.

The pattern does give a link to a video showing how to do this foundation double crochet stitch, a good thing because I couldn't quite figure it out from this copyright 1959 book that, along with a 8-1/2 x 11 multi-page how-to pamphlet I'd was given way back in gradeschool is how I taught myself to crochet. 

Me and my sister-in-law crocheting away

This book was bought in 1970 before heading out on a 3 week family vacation that included one brother and his wife. Sue wanted something to keep her occupied in the car and decided she and I needed to get yarn and this book. I've made several things from it and it is a good resource to have on hand. I have to be honest, I'm really struggling with this stitch and that slippery thread, as I work to make 109 of these stitches before turning my work and doing the next much easier row.

I had hoped to spend more time quilting Venetian Tiles but the distractions also included catching up on correspondence and end of the month bills plus baking my annual rhubarb pie. Still, I'm probably about half done quilting the green parts around the outside, easily done echoing using an adjustable bar attached to the walking foot set for half inch spacing . The green thread I chose definitely blends in nicely, leaving me wondering if it is too safe a choice. Nahhh, as I've mentioned before, I'm generally not into showy quilting, texture being enough for me. Click on the photo for a larger view to see just how those stitches blend rather than stand out.

Yesterday as I was looking down our greenbelt, I noticed the syringa has started to bloom. It's been lovely to watch the procession of blooms throughout the neighborhood. Certainly brings a smile! How is spring in your neck of the woods?