Knit garter-stitch dishcloths

First ... where did the month of May go?  Could I get a do-over here?  I'd like my May back, please!

I have been playing with yarn here, and I have even started unpacking the sewing lair!  I don't have all my yarn unpacked/rediscovered yet - and I realized the other afternoon that I still have not unpacked all my books when I wanted to look up something in a gardening book - but progress has begun in there and I can tell when the light is on as the towers of boxes are a bit shorter.

At hubby's request, I have been knitting up simple garter stitch dishcloths.  Like the crochet wool socks, hubby has requested a dozen of them.  I am weaseling out of doing that many socks by calling the dozen socks as six pair, but that technicality won't get me out of the dishcloth situation.  I am halfway there, as the first two went straight to the sink upon completion.

garter stitch knit dishcloths in kitchen cotton

I found the pattern on YouTube ... let me see if I saved the start of it.  Here it is!

I have no idea what that would look like written out, but it knits up easy (read: newbie-friendly!) and the third one is pretty quick.

I have crochet stuff on the hook and even finished, but that will wait for another post.

I could not resist

So, I am still on FabricMart's email list, and get notice of sales and specials ... well, last week I decided to browse about their website and of course I ended up in the linen section.  I filled my cart, but then hesitated. Then I did the same over the weekend.  Hubby noticed this and said I should just go ahead and buy since I was putting the same fabrics in the cart.  Then, yesterday morning ...

Email from FM said "Special offer for premium members" so I opened it up, and there it was!  Linen fabrics 50% off ... and y'all know how much I adore linen.  Back to the cart, and those two twills were still in stock. Yup, linen twill in two colors I can wear (as in, not the daffodil yellow).  The only thing better would have been to have denim weave twill, to make it easier to see the grainline for me, but a nice grey solid twill and then a cream and black houndstooth twill will do the job nicely enough.

Pretty soon, it will be too hot in the afternoon to do much outside, and then the sewing lair WILL be officially unpacked, fabric WILL be cut, and new clothes WILL be made.  Also, hubby will be roped into re-measuring me.  I am down to retail size 12 in jeans, comfortably, and I can even fit back into my garrison BDU pants.

Crochet wool ankle socks for hubby

I made myself a pair from this pattern first as a test, but I think I ought to wash mine before taking a pic of them.  Here are hubby's nice warm wool ankle socks - they are "absolutely perfect!" for wearing to bed.  I managed to get them done right before the latest frost hit.

crochet wool sleep socks

I'll need to grab some of the knit dishcloths after laundry today to snap a pic for Gloria.  I am now on dishcloth #4 - hubby requested a total of 12.  Then again, he also requested 12 socks (which by MY calculations is only six pair).

While the sewing room-to-be is still mostly stacks of boxes, there has been some progress in the past week. The solid wood bunk beds left by the previous owners have moved out to our new storage shed, and the oak bookcases hubby made have been trimmed to fit and moved in.  Not all the boxes in there are fabric, yarn, embroidery, or notions ... I have so far found one boxes of cups that should have been stacked in the kitchen, but there were three motivated movers for the two of us on the day all that was delivered.  BUT, enough progress has been made to let in the morning sunlight in the window.  In all honesty, if the weather is decent to nice I'd rather be outside than inside wrestling boxes.

It's ALIVE!

Not only am I still alive, but we have moved to Florida.  While the sewing room is still in boxes (and packed almost up to the ceiling fan's blades) we have been working on the yard when weather has been nice.  Given the blizzards in the news the past week ... I probably should not mention too much about the weather right now.

I will mention a new blog we've made.  Yes, WE!  Hubby is posting on this one as well, as it will chronicle our adventure here at what I've named the S&G Homesteade.  Garden and orchard pics are already going up there (as of this weekend) although we are still not caught up on pictures of what we've done these past three weeks here.  I will also move my cooking, canning, and gardening posts to that blog while leaving this one for indoor crafts.

Oh, and I have learned a new craft over the past month - knitting.  I started with a gauge swatch that turned into a child's size blue scarf in stockinette stitch, and am working on a dishcloth in garter stitch on the diagonal so I get a crack at increasing and decreasing.

Finally, a pic from my front yard taken Saturday morning:

Apple tree's first blossoms

I am now using this as my wallpaper on my computer.

Stew weather

Rather whine and cry about our second major cold front ... here's a pic of our stove this evening!  Beef stew with the last of the pole beans and the surviving turnips, with some store-bought veggies for good measure, and on the back burner is hubby's big pot of chili with beans.

Stew and chili on the stove

Of course, the dog is filing more paperwork with Amnesty International about further violations of the Geneva Convention (which prohibits torture).