Knitting presents

I have some friends from a former workplace who are getting married. They are lovely people and as they are older, they don't need a lot of things that most newlyweds need. So I decided to make them some dish clothes.

I asked them about colors, and they chose black and white.

Here is what I made for them:

This is a set of 6 dish clothes, two in each color. These are all in Lily Sugar & Cream and knitted in a pattern I referenced here.  

I hope they like them. I think this is a nice wedding gift. Personal without being TOO personal. And made with love!

Also - I recently met up with some members of my college class (I'm on the reunion committee) and I brought some dish clothes for them to chose from. They were all delighted with their gifts!

Here are some of the ones I brought - I've shown a number of the other ones.

I'm still knitting. I'm obsessed. And it helps keep me from eating!

More scrappy knitting....

I liked the scrappy knitting so much that I made more.

Behold:

A Sunset-on-Water dishcloth!

I really like how this one came out. Obviously I'm doing the same basic dish cloth pattern, but it's the color that makes a difference!

Speaking of the same pattern...

These three dish clothes are part of a set I'm making for a wedding gift. I'm working on the other black one, then on to 2 white ones. All made in Lily Sugar & Cream. I think it will be a nice gift, don't you?

Best of luck to those going to Palmetto Tat Days the weekend - I hope to be there again next year!

Some scrappy knitting

I'm still on a roll with knitting. Knitting cotton washcloths.

As I've been doing so much of this, I have a lot of small balls of the tail ends of various colors. So I decided to make good use of those leftovers.

Hence Scrappy Knitting!

Behold:

I made this one with more solids than variegated yarns. I like these! 

FYI - I experimented with several yarn joins before using a Russian Join. Lily Sugar & Cream is thicker than some yarn, and I didn't want to find a knot. So the Russian Join seemed best to me. 

Here's a pic with another scrappy washcloth.

My sons want some of these, so they must be cute.

What do you think?

I've been knitting

I've been keeping my fingers busy with a bit of knitting. Nothing fancy, just some wash cloths.

Full disclosure - during the pandemic, knitting kept me sane. I made many many dish cloths and gave almost all of them away.

I don't feel crazed right now, but knitting is productive in the evening and it keeps me from nibbling on food that I shouldn't eat!

These have all been given away. The patterns are (from top left, clockwise) Easy As Pie Dishcloth, An Almost Lost Washcloth, and the classic square diagonally knit cloth. 

I made another diagonal square in blue and promptly gave it away.

And then I knit two that I might keep. These are the Spa Washcloth pattern.

I just started on another! I have a ton of Lily Sugar & Cream cotton yarn!

A bit of tatting

Hello. Remember me? That Crazy Mom?

Much has happened since I've been here. 

I still live in my gorgeous flat in metro Hotlanta. I'm still kicking - yea! 

Lucy and Theo still live me me. Theo has become a tad portly. They are living the good life.

Aren't they gorgeous?

Theo is such a cutie. His tail curls into a circle!

He sometimes watches TV.

He is a funny boy

I haven't gotten Covid19, thanks to serious hiding and 2 vaccines and 2 boosters (soon to be 3). 

I've dated some guys - but I'm not right now. Not until Covid19 is really long gone. 

And....   

Some things have been bad. Pretty awful. God awful in fact.

I lost my job in early 2020, right when the pandemic started. NOT fun. Fortunately there was unemployment, and I'm frugal.

I was bored, so I made a ton of masks for my church. And then I started knitting....

4 of sooooo many...

I knitted a TON of dish clothes. Many, many dish clothes. I gave almost all of them away.

While I was in the throes of no job and pandemic, the Ex moved and decided to throw Larry out of his house. So I took Larry in and he lived with me for a while. Much longer than I wanted. Larry became embedded in my spare bedroom.

During that time, Curly developed major addiction issues and went off to rehab for 9 months. Yes, we all want our children to grow up to be addicts...

In November 2020 I got a job working remote at home, for less money than I had before. But it was a JOB and I was glad to have it. It came with benefits, a good thing.

Larry struggled with depression. But I was working, so we managed.

Curly got out of rehab in July of 2021 and moved in to my place for what was supposed to be 2 weeks, living on a blow up twin bed in my living room. So now I had 2 grown sons living with me. Moe was still with the Ex. 

And then.... 

Curly relapsed. Doing the hardest of the hard drugs.

Here's a lesson for you: never EVER have an opioid addict live with you. They will steal from you, lie to you, abuse you in every way, wreck your car, and turn your place into a flop house.

Results of Curly's addiction. Don't live with an addict.

In the mean time, I was absolutely hating my job. I had a boss from hell and was grossly underpaid.

So I started looking.

Lo and Behold, A Great Company recruited me. For a lot more money and better benefits, still working remote! With a great boss! Hurrah! I started with the Great Company in November of 2021.

And Larry (who had been entrenched and depressed) got a job working from home. Hurrah again!

In January of this year, Larry and Moe moved into an apartment 10 minutes from me. Moe is working too and they are happy in their apartment. They have cats. Huzzah for them!

On Easter, I finally was able to get Curly into Rehab again. It took his brothers working with me to force him out (it's complicated) but he actually got out and went into detox and then rehab. Larry and Moe spent a lot of time cleaning up my place and de-filthing it. It was really disgusting. But that's over!

Curly is now out of Rehab, but he's NOT living with me and he is clean and sober and is actively trying to remain that way. Thank you Jesus. 

So now I can tat. In peace. And relax. In peace.

Oh - I guess you want to see what I've been working on?

In progress...

I worked on a larger project. It's tatting in Lizbeth size 20 white.

A collar, to which I added beads. The pattern is here.

I made this to send to our newest Supreme Court Justice, in honor of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. RBG wore collars with her robes all the time.

Here's another picture, with a US dime for size. I actually removed the loop and button closure and replaced it with a satin ribbon as I thought it would lie better. I have sent it off to Justice Jackson - I hope she wears it!

Anyhow, that's the news from the Crazy Mom! How is life for you?

Sorry I've been away

I've had a lot to do at home, and not much time for anything else lately.

Some updates:

Moe has started back to school, his sophomore year in high school. I'm very pleased with his schedule (which he chose!) of Honors Math, World History, 10th grade Lit, French II, Chorus, AP Biology, Modern Military History, and Computer Apps. Excellent schedule. He's also now leading all the Scout troop meetings as SPL, and has to run the annual planning workshop this weekend. (He's nervous about this, but the troop's adult leadership will make sure he'll be successful.)

Sunday night, I gleefully mowed Moe's hair with the clippers. It looked attrocious before! Now it's a nice, tidy 3-guard length.

Larry is finally back at work, doing light duty. He started back last Tuesday. He's not getting many hours, but at least this is wedging him OUT of my basement. He's going back to class later this month, hurrah!

Larry does have a pretty funny sense of humor. This is a tableau he set up, with Power Rangers and Godzilla, sipping tea. Please note the tea cups.

Curly is back IN our house, after having massive roommate issues and finance problems, most of which were not his fault. He's car has been giving him fits - he spent all weekend working on it and is pretty happy with it now. He's only supposed to be in the house until September 1, but I suspect it will be longer, as he's had to spend a LOT of money on car parts. He's a better boy than the one that left though, much more considerate and willing to help. I'm so glad.

I have to take DH to have outpatient surgery on Monday, getting yet another basal cell carcinoma removed. The one on Monday is on his lower leg and is the size of a quarter. He has 4 more to come off on the 27th, none are as big. DH is paying the price for growing up outside in Florida sans sunscreen.

I've been enjoying the bears, but many times I need the calm of watching the fish. OMMMMMMM.

I did make it to my knitting/crochet/tatting group. They always have things to show off. I'm trying to get them to come to Tat Days!

Did you this month would be Julia Child's 100th birthday? She was the best.

Cisco doesn't care about Julia Child. He just wants more petting.

The latest from chez Crazy

Here's some of what I've been doing.

I finished a cap for the school.  This is sort of sad.  Knitting is not my strong suit.

I'm crocheting place mats, using Lily's cotton Sugar 'n Cream yarn.  These may be for me - or for my mom.  She loves place mats, and uses them all the time.  I'm kinda diggin' these.

I'm waiting on an order of size 10 Lizbeth from Handy Hands so that I can start my TAT Apprentice project.  I ordered some more size 20 Lizbeth (like I really need more!) and some more Sew Mate shuttles, my current favorites.

Also, this has been taking up some of my time.  My old, old, old desktop PC finally died on me.  I've mostly been using my work laptop, but I've nursed this baby along for a really long time.  (I got it in 2002.  I wasn't kidding - it's old, for a computer.) The only decent printer in the house was attached to this PC, so I had to do something.  So I got with my brother, who works for Microsoft and gets a discount on HP machines.

This is what I got - Larry set this up for me while I was at church.  I've got my old but decent laser printer attached and working and my wi-fi is hooked up.  I'm good for some time!

In other news, Larry has gotten a promotion at work and Curly continues to take his medicine.  He has an appointment with his psychiatrist tomorrow, first one in months.  Moe is going to 2 weeks of a school system day camp, then off to boy scout camp for a week.  I'm really busy at my job, but that is normal.  DH has lost his mind and is running for state office.  I'm trying not to think about this.  He's done this before - he has zero chances of winning, since he's not running with a major party.

Oh, and Curly has adopted a kitten.  I've said no more pets.  Not sure what will happen with her - but she is very cute.

A package and success

I got a package in the mail yesterday.  I'd been waiting on this one.

Yes!  The TAT Proficiency Progam test - I'll get right on it!

And after ripping out my mobius strip, my knitting looks better.

This looks more like cap potential.  I'm not ripping this out.  I think this will end up nicely.

Sophie, my little dumb white kitty, was crying and crying for petting.  AA! AA! AA! AA! she cries. Moe said, "Shut up, you stupid cat!"  "Moe, that's not nice.  She can't help it."  "So she's not stupid, just special?" "Yes, Moe."  "Shut up, you special cat!"

Failing at knitting

I was knitting on my little cap for the elementary school, when I looked down and realized that I was knitting a Möbius strip cap. There was a twist in the middle.

Um, I don't think this will work. It will never be a cap. Not in this world.  Maybe some alternate universe, but not here.

So I ripped it all out and started over.

Ain't life grand?

Giveaways and micro knitting

Don't forget LadyShuttlemaker's Mondo Monday giveaway!

Also - go to Edward and Lilly for a chance to win one of these cool broaches!

I don't knit and crochet well. I can knit scarves and hats and I have a crocheted afghan in progress. But I really admire those who do it well, and artfully. This site is amazing.

Althea Crome makes the tiniest, most beautiful knitted items I've ever seen. She calls her knitting 'micro-knitting'. I'm stunned.

These are socks. And yes, those are her fingers behind them. She makes gloves too.

And just when you can't believe she can knit any smaller, she does. She makes clothes that the dolly's dolls would use. See? These are in Gallery 8 on her site.

Here's a bit on how she does it.

Makes tatting look positively humongous.