I decided to add the securing stitches with my sewing machine, stitch length at 1mm--very small indeed. My steeks were 7 stitches wide making the 4th stitch the middle one--the one that would get cut. To keep things clear in my mind, I ran a piece of white yarn up this stich so there could be no mistaking where I would cut.
I ran 2 lines of machine stitching up and down the 3rd and 5th stitches thereby isolating the impending cut. Since I wanted the feed dogs on my sewing machine to create a consistent 1mm stitch length, I didn't want to lower them out of the way, therefore I placed a sheet of tissue between the feed dogs and the knitting so the knitting wouldn't get tangled in the feed dogs which could end in disaster.
All set for the first line of stitching:
The back side after the 2 lines of stitching. The lines are quite close to each other:
That made it a small task to remove the tissue from between the lines. Tweezers and a porcupine quill did the job:
The machine sewing all in place:
Let the cutting begin!
I used my left hand to ensure that I was only cutting the fabric I wanted cut. I read that some people place a piece of cardboard under the cutting area to make sure it's the only layer to get the scissors, but I trusted my hand better.
With all 3 steeks finished, I laid out the vest and pinned down the yoke so I could get a better look:
All that remains is sewing up the shoulders and knitting the collar band and armhole bands. I discovered that I don't have enough of the dark brown which I used for the waist band to do the yoke bands! I thought I might get some more brown wool and spin it, but I have plenty of spun up white wool so this evening I dyed some of it brown. I didn't have brown dye but with a little testing I discovered that burgandy mixed with half as much teal and a smidge of burnt umber makes a nice deep brown. That yarn is now drying and I should be able to start the final bands this week.
I took a quick trip up to the mountains this afternoon. I intended to go the craft fair in Lincoln but as I approached the exit from the highway I could see the traffic backed up all the way onto the highway and it was not moving. Very crowded. So I decided not to stop and drove by, deciding to head on up to Littleton to do a bit of antiquing instead.
The foliage is turning now. Lot's of beautiful color up in Franconia/Sugar Hill past the notch. Franconia Notch, itself, was clocked in fog but north and south of it was clear.
This sure is a vibrantly colorful time of year. Some pics from the road I take to Rumney (Halls Brook Road), some pics from the notch and points north, and a few pics from the back yard:
My road leading to Rumney (Halls Brook Road):
The Notch and Franconia--all ablaze:
Pics from the back and front yard. The flower is a Japanese Anemone, one of my favorite fall flowers.:
Work on the stranded vest continues, it has been knitting up nicely. Ever so satisfying to knit with my own handspun yarn as always. I have noticed some unbalanced yarn slipping through my fingers which leaves me with mixed feelings. I love the look it creates--lots of character, but it makes knitting a little harder because of the extra twist. I think a good hot soak after I'm done knitting will relax the fibers a bit more.
I am employing "steeks" in this vest for my first time ever. I've never done them before. To "steek" means to cut, I believe. When knitting in the round, as I am doing on this vest, 7 extra stitches were cast on across each armhole (after the underarm stitches were placed on a holder for later) and 7 extra stitches were cast on across the v-neck opening. When I am done knitting, I will sew a line of stitches with needle and thread along both sides of the center stitch in each of these steeks. Then I will take a scissors and cut ("to steek") right down the center stitch, opening up the armholes and v-neck. The 3.5 stitch flaps will get turned in and stitched down inside the vest.
Steeks allow the entire vest to be knitted as one tube, whereas without steeks, the back and left- and right- front sides would each have to be knitted back and forth once the underarm has been reached. Knitting in the round is so much easier when doing stranded work. An ingenious idea and I'm thankful to the person who thought of it.
It won't be long before the knitting is finished. In this picture the steeks make the top part look narrower than it really is because the v-neck and arm holes are being pulled in by the steeks.
I'll try to catch-up with all that's gone on since mid-summer, having arrived at the end of summer--for real; we are officially in autumn now. Some leaves--the early birds--are showing color. It gets dark between six and half-six. Our temperatures dipped into the 30s last night. And it seems like just a few weeks ago I was waiting for daffodils to sprout. It has moved quickly, this summer. Faster than many I can remember. I attribute it in part to the large, time-consuming projects I tackled.
No matter. I love autumn probably a smidge more than the other seasons so I'm happy. There are more than a handful of months ahead in which to plan big projects for next year.
Where to begin? There's the wind mills to show, some fiber work in progress, the deck is in the midst of being stained and sealed, a few garden pics, my new phonograph, and my Phragmipedium come back to say hello once again ...
The wind mills. For the past year I have been on our town's citizen's planning committee, charged with the task of fielding our fellow townspeople and gathering what we learn into recommendations for the planning board so that we may implement an official town zoning ordinance. It's been wildly educational, if difficult at times. We are nearing the end of our task, the ordinance will be voted on next spring at town meeting. Last month, while we were discussing how to zone the ridges where the wind farm is situated, we were taken on a tour of the area so that we could have a better idea of the possibilities it might be suitable for. It's very beautiful up there, overlooking Rumney and Plymouth to the North and East, and Groton to the South and West. I snapped a bunch of pictures...
From the west ridge I could see the location of my house. Although it's not visible, it is where I have circled. I live in the country!
The garden was a mixed bag this year; when it comes to gardening we are at the mercy of the weather aren't we. It was dry early on and I was doing quite a bit of watering to keep things growing. But it all normalized and I then let mother nature take over. As we know, my chard was hit by leaf miners and I lost most of it, and the green peppers were a complete failure (but that's nothing new--I have yet to be successful growing green peppers!). I ended being unhappy with the seed I purchased from an online site. It all germinated quite well but failed to produce any fruit. I harvested 4 zucchini and just a few cucumbers. But my tomatoes have done well, and the spring crops were plentiful. The flowers have been ablaze as well.
Huge disappointment a few weeks ago. I have a sunflower that sprouted itself--must have been from last year's flowers, and it was growing really really tall. The flower bud developed and was making great progress and then one day I went out and found this:
Something (I suspect a red squirrel) had climbed up the stalk and chewed away the developing bud! Oh!! I have other sunflowers and they have blossomed, but that plant was the tallest and grandest. Alas.
Last week was Plymouth's town-wide yard sale. I found up a cuckoo clock for $1. The woman who sold it said it didn't work, hence the price. It was missing a weight and the deer and antlers were missing as well. But I bought it anyway figuring there was little to lose. I put some fishing weights (which I use to weigh down freshly washed hand spun yarn--I don't fish) on the chain missing it's weight. It works! It works perfectly!! $1. My neighbor had a spare weight and he gave it to me. I'm ordering a deer and antlers online. The same neighbor knew I was looking for an old phonograph. They also went to the town-wide sale and phoned me a few days after. He said they found a phonograph there and wanted to know if I was interested in it. So I drove down to their place--just at the bottom of the hill--and was presented with a very nice Victrola for the grand sum of $50. I have seen several in worse shape going for two to three hundred dollars, and I consider $50 something of a steal! I made a little video after I got it in my living room.
My new phonograph. Warning: There is quite a bit of bird chatter because I forgot to close the bird room door and Ciello was on my shoulder!
My sweet Phragmipedium Manzur la Aldea, which I rescued last year from arid conditions at the nursery (These orchids need to be wet all the time, they grow by streams and need their feet in the water; the nursery where I bought it had not taken the tape off the top of the pot--which was put on for shipping--resulting in it's inability to get any water at all.) is blossoming once again. It's a pretty little flower...
Off the wheel, on the needles, through the heddles. I have 4 projects in the works: some knitted mittens, a vest I'm knitting with my own hand spun yarn, some kitchen towels on the loom, and more spinning for the vest. The mittens and vest are stranded. I'm making my own pattern for the vest, using a book "Traditional Fair Isle Knitting by Sheila McGregor for individual patterns. The mitten pattern is from a book "Mostly Mittens (Ethnic Knitting Designs from Russia)" by Charlene Schurch. Both projects are progressing nicely. I am teaching my neighbor more about weaving by working on some kitchen towels on the 8-shaft loom. We wound a 10-yard warp which should be enough to make 6 towels for each of us, 12 in all. The draft is a pinwheel. She chose the colors and I like them.
Last but not least by any means: I'm sealing and staining the deck at last! It is two years old this year and I really didn't want to wait any longer. It's a painstaking, lengthy process of washing every inch with a mildrew remover, sometimes using a bit of bleach, sometimes a bit of Dawn dish detergent (great at cutting grease) and then rinsing it off with the jet stream of my hose. After it dries for at least 4 hours I apply the stain to each and every baluster and all the nooks and crannies above, below, and to the side of every square inch of every board. I've been at it at least two weeks already and have almost finished the first coat on the railing. I'm using a water-based stain so two coats are required! When that's all done, I will do the floor of the deck. It's worth it--looks so much better with this redwood stain.
I just snapped this pic half hour ago and as you can see, I have reached the far stairs. I hope to get the rest of the rail finished this week--coat 1.
When I moved here I decided remodelling the kitchen would be a project for some other day, a day 10 years down the line probably. The countertops were vintage formica: White with specs of gold. It looked old, there were stains and I thought a little paint could go a ways in improving it's appearance. So last year (or was it the year before last? Oh dear, I can't remember!) I painted over it with special formica paint with the intention of doing some stenciling. The paint worked well and it's sat for the duration while I did nothing on the stencil front. Just a few weeks ago it occurred to me that I had completely forgotten my idea of stenciling. So I got online and browsed: Stencil after stencil after stencil on site after site after site. Nothing grabbed my fancy. A week later I tried again, and lo! I found one. Ordered it and it arrived pronto--the wonders of modern life!
So the main work arm of the counter tops has had a re-do. I sprayed a couple coats of clear acrylic finish over the stencil (actually, half of it hasn't been sealed yet, but I will do that next week--will be off the NYC in a few days) and covered them with clear plexiglass sheets that I found for cheap at the Habitat for Humanity store in Plymouth. I have a feeling the plexiglass will end up scratched in no time so it may well be replaced with glass in the not-too-distant future.
A nice result, a cheerful countertop upon which to mix my batters, potions, and stews, etc.
Last month I had the driveway shortened and re-built. The heavy equipment and operator I hired did a nice job of putting in a culvert, digging drainage trenches, and building up the drive. He also scraped out the old, hard-packed soil up near the house and brought in some new loam. After he had finished, the loam sat for a couple weeks because I was too busy to do anything about it. When I finally got around to seeding it with new lawn, it had packed down a bit, so I took a shovel, and hoe, and rake and made several passes with these tools to fuff up the soil in preparation for seed. This is what it looked like after a pass with the shovel:
That picture was taken on May 30 and I'm noticing how the garden was still in the early stages of sprouting. Amazing how lush it has all become. I've been harvesting lettuce for a good while already, and have had several repasts of peas in the pod. We are high summer now and the earth is host to rampant growth, lush greenery and all the creatures that call it their home. Including those that chewed the tops off half my romaine lettuces!
It's lily season now, several of my wild and hybrid lilies are blossoming.
The first and fourth picture are my own crosses, back for their 2nd year of blossoming. I moved them last fall and it worried me, afraid as I was that they would be set back. They were, a little, but they're blossoming anyway. I expect more robust plants next year.
So anyway, I seeded the lawn and watered it twice a day for a few weeks--we were in a dry spell and I was worried nothing would sprout. But it did, albeit a little thin in some places; I need to re-scatter seed here and there to fill it in. Should be a good lawn next year. I have spent a week and half planting rocks (stones from Vermont) individually to build a path from the end of the drive up to the deck stairs. It's been quite a toil, especially in the hot, humid weather but I'm nearing the end. The addition of a few planters has transformed the newly loamed area. I'm pleased with the way it's turning out. (I have finished more of the stone path since the picture was taken, in fact it's near completion now.) I continue to get ideas, and may implement some of them down the line. For instance, I was thinking a nice grape arbor would be nice off to the right, in front of the garden. I could use it as an outdoor 'room'. A rose pillar might look nice at the corner where the end of the drive meets the lawn. All in time. Click picture to enlarge:
Getting these stones in the ground is hard work. I outline each stone with a trowel, dig a hole conforming to the outline, check that the stone fits OK, put an inch of sand in the hole, plop the rock in, and fill in around the edges. In an hour I can get from 6 to 10 stones in place. When it's all done, I'll plant creeping thyme and other tough creepies in between the rocks.
Well, it was meant to have 24 sections, one for each day of advent but after day 20 it was so long I decided to cut it short. So I end with a 20-day scarf! It came out ok though, I'm quite pleased with it. Each section is a different lace pattern and the sections are separated by an 8-row connection that includes beads. I used clear beads; they are a little hard to see in the second picture.
It was an enjoyable knit. I like doing these sectional type projects for the many milestones help move it along. I brought it out to knit in public several times. Now for my next knitting project: What will it be? I'm going through patterns I've saved to see if anything speaks to me at this time. I have it in mind to knit a fair isle vest (or sweater) with handspun yarn. We're now in the 2nd day of Tour de Fleece 2018 and I've joined the Warped Weavers group. I'm spinning more yarn for the vest.
Very busy with yard and garden work still. I'm laying in the walkway to the house but I will make that a separate post. Stay tuned!
