two exciting things!!

 

first of all, my camper is in another magazine! a couple of years ago a crew came and photographed our house and the camper for magazines that focused on "flea market style". i didn't  know that they'd used the photos again for this magazine. thanks for the heads up cheryl and celeste!

and.......TA DA!! i finished my sweater! i have to say it is a bit on the "roomy" side...when i first tried it on my heart sank as it didn't fit as i had imagined. so that whole night i kept waking up thinking "i'll just rip it all out and start over". yuck! but the next morning i tried it on again and decided it's not so bad after all. it's so soft and comfortable, and i just love the color!  i should've gone down a size i think, but it is definitely wearable. i enlisted brian for the "photo shoot" in our ever-so-lovely spring backyard, grey snow and mud. but that will soon be gone! 

i really enjoyed knitting this! i'm glad to be done so i can move on to other projects which have been percolating...

i hope you are enjoying your weekend!!!!!!!!!

95% done!

 

i am BLOCKING!!! blocking! yes!!! so close to being done, and i've tried it on, and i think it's going to fit! yay!!! BUT, after the blocking process comes a dreadful and hideous step called "picking up 397 stitches" around the whole front and hood. holy cow that is going to suck! but, then i'll do the ribbing and be done! i'm racing against mother nature here. must be done before the nice weather arrives, so hopefully i'll have it done this week when the polar vortex makes it's return. tick, tick, tick!

in the meantime...

back to work on my quilt. for some reason this has been the hardest quilt to stitch. it must be the cotton batting. i can't remember the brand which is unfortunate because i never want to buy it again!! SO hard to quilt through! instead of being able to do a few stitches in one pass, it's one stitch at a time, and very difficult......but the good news is i'm almost finished. plugging along!

happy sunday to you all!!!

instagram LOVE

some lovely flowers for this first day of spring.

HAPPY SPRING!!!!!

frank's bargain center

this weekend i made a trip home to visit my parents as my mother was going to be in the hospital for a few days(nothing serious thankfully!), and to spend some time with my father.

whenever i go home i must make a visit to frank's bargain center.

this place is incredible! it's huge and filled with anything you can imagine craft and sewing-wise. when you walk in, there is a bin on the counter full of scraps of fabric, and i can usually find some vintage goodies in there, like the ones i've shown above. frank has a bit of actual vintage fabric and also newer fabrics at discount prices. there are shelves and shelves of old craft books and supplies for crafts i've never even heard of!

yesterday i found a bag full of vintage pieces for a quilt that was never made. all of the little pieces are fussy cut to perfectly display the patterns on the fabrics. too bad whoever did all of this work didn't get to see the finished quilt... there were several bags and i got the smallest which had probably 75 pieces. i was very tempted to get them all, but the thought of all the handsewing that would be required to finish this quilt was just too much. i may work on these, but most likely i'll just admire them...so pretty!

i have spent every spare moment working on my sweater. i want to finish it before it gets too warm to wear it, but with the temps as they were this morning (10 degrees!) i probably won't have to worry :)

instagram LOVE

 

 

 

 

 

some pictures from our frost-heave-and-pothole-filled drive through maine and new hampshire this weekend.

follow me on instagram at "roscorichmond", and happy monday!

ladders and double pointed needles

 

so i have spent every day after work this week feverishly knitting away on my sweater, going great guns, lots of progress! i had my first sleeve 90% finished when i stopped and gave it a good look and saw the LADDERS! i kind of knew this was happening but thought it would be o.k...however, deep down i realized this flaw would plague me forever...

do you have the problem of ladders when knitting with double pointed needles? my photos are not the best, but can you see in the first picture what looks like 2 creases running the length of the sleeve? these are where i am changing from one needle to the next and there is a loose stitch every time i move to the next needle. there were three of these ladders along the sleeve at each intersection of the needles. the second picture shows this a bit better.

i got on the world wide web and found this helpful link. i ripped out my sleeve down to the cuff and started again using tip #2, "forward switching". and it worked!!!!!

six episodes of "house of cards" later, look! a nice smooth sleeve! yay!!!!!  i have always pulled the yarn tightly when going to the next needle but still made the ladders. maybe i'm pulling too tightly, i don't know, but ladders have always been a big frustration, so i am glad to have finally found a solution!!!

i hope this link will help you if you have this issue! now to start a new sleeve and a new series. something more cheerful this time!!!

progress

 

knitting knitting knitting knitting knitting knitting knitting.

and binge-watching "house of cards".

my life for the past week.

instagram LOVE

you can follow me on instagram at "roscorichmond".

happy weekend!!!