Sunflowers

For a change I made a little table runner with sunflower blocks. No plaids this time, just solid colors.

These socks are like made for Easter, light and striped and yellow and white. We still have ice and snow, night temperatures down to - 10 C or so, and - 6 C in the mornings, so warm socks are a sensible choice. I used some leftover yellow yarn for the stripes of these socks. I had about half a meter of the yellow yarn left after the last row so I could see that it would not be enough for a row of yellow dots for both socks, and it was time to make the heels. As always, I knit both socks at the same time so I can see how far a yarn rest will take me.

This method helps me keep track on the number of rows and adding stitches or any other changes along the way, and both socks will look the same.

For this pair of men's socks I used the rest of  two different blue yarns together with the basic grey, which seems to be a trusted favorite among men.

And finally a pair of bed socks in natural white baby wool.

The pattern is not quite what I meant. I didn't remember exactly what the easy lace pattern from my school days looked like, so I (lazy as I was, I didn't go looking for my old notes or for that blog post in the link) just knitted something in that direction.

More purled stitches between the yo, 3 tog, yo repeats, and maybe a knit row or two would have made this look like the school project revisited, but I think this "new" lace is not too bad either. 

The knitting quilter's return

Somehow time just flew by and nothing happened here on the blog. Week by week it was more difficult to sit down and write. Naturally there was Christmas, and snow and darkness, and it was cold out there, and then it was so long ago I last time blogged, and there were no photos ... and so I just knitted and knitted ...

... and I found a new way to use my Grandmother's mitten patterns like this.

 

And for a third pair with the same yarns.

Then I knitted some socks for fundraising in the sports club's colors for our grandson's team.

I had some 9-patches left over from the RSC2022, and made some more in feminine plaids, and used up a light grey fabric for the alternating squares. This time the machine quilting was no problem.

I got a nice lap quilt made all from scraps and little bits, and I happened to have a lovely grey flannel with white dots, exactly the right size for the backing. As the Autumn's Joys quilt has already been sold for the Red Cross fundraising for Ukraine, there is and empty place on the shelf for this quilt. People seem to be ready to use their money for a good purpose.

Usually at this time of the year we have the first snowdrops peeking through snow in the garden, and pussy willows soft and furry, but this year we have had lots and lots of snow (which has almost melted 

away before there was more), and today it has been snowing again all day. The only migrant birds so far have been the whooper swans, looking for open water (not yet there) and inspecting their familiar nesting place. In a few weeks there must be more signs of Spring!