Knit we go in quarantine

Well, except that I am an essential worker.  But, I will remember this as the item I knit during this time.  I have a pink version of this one that I knit a few months ago, and I have worn it as a skirt (belly warmer) and a shawl, and used it simply to cover my legs while I sit and read or type.

It is a size 7 circular needle, and this particular one comfortably fits about 130 to 150 stitches before they want to pop off.  So, that is the size these blankets are.  It works out with the Red Heart acrylic yarn to be about 3 feet wide, and then I knit them about 4 foot long.

They are really handy little things to have around.
Weaving in all the ends of the stripes can be a bit hectic, but they look too plain otherwise, and I use up lots of little balls of scrap yarn in the process.

The nubbly areas are seed-stitch alternated for three to five rows and then back to garter stitch.  The stripe rows are two passes of each color.

Really simple but effective and useful knitting.

//

I saw a LOT of knitting posts lately, and yarn stashes, and deliveries etc etc... and I'm not doing anything fancy or ordering a lot of special yarn.. but I am glad to have something to work on.

I washed up and finished out the two Simply Soft scarves I had been making - one in magenta garter stitch and one in grey brick stitch.  They are about 10 to 12 inches wide and 5 and 6 foot long. respectively.  They are lovely and useful, as well.  I wore one of them around my neck up to the mailbox when it was cold the other morning, and the other one I had worn when I was wearing the pink shawl as a skirt and kept warm on top and bottom. 

That is a good yarn to hold up, although 3.68 per skein now at the store and what I have is mostly because Mark and Esme have given me them over the years as presents - silky and colorful yarns, they are definitely the type to draw the eye in.  I threw both of the scarves through the wash and they came out very nice - except I also threw in a wool scarf I had forgotten what it was made of and it came out really soft but kind of small - only 6 inches now by about 4 feet - but it is still a good neckwarmer type for tucking into a jacket collar.  I've worn a few of my knit hats, too lately - same reasons.. and making more of those for the 'pile' would be useful, too.

I also finished two net market bags, one book size and the other towel size for the beach.  The towel one is made of the same green yarn as this.

And of course wash cloths, I had stacks of them a few weeks ago - and they are all finished up and put into circulation.

Happy Fourth of July!

We have Fireworks! (they are legal in Tennessee, but are not in Minnesota)

Yesterday was a long day, we went to the flea market in the morning, a town trip in the afternoon and at about 8:00pm we decided to go to the Transformers movie in Murray, KY with a stop at the fireworks store while we were up there.

Tranformers was extremely fast visually, hard to see things because they were moving so fast. It was like a video game, with everything going on all over the screen at once very fast and hard to track it all. Plot-wise it wasn't too bad, but it was funny to see Ebay used as a plot device ;)


Our Pogo-face
When we were at the flea market we saw a kitten that could have been Pogo's twin. She was very small and scared of dogs, though. I'm sure Pogo is glad we left her there for someone else to adopt.


Cotton Shirting Fabrics
I also picked up some men's cotton dress shirts from one of the flea market booths. At 25 to 50 cents apiece I don't mind using them for fabric - they'll be great for toys!

Wishing you all a happy and safe Fourth of July!

'Magical Lights and Messages' 07/04/2007

Hamvention 2007 in Dayton, Ohio (fleamarket)

We were at the Dayton Hamvention Friday through Sunday. It was my first Hamvention - although Mark has been coming (and selling at the fleamarket) for years. We brought Blaze along and she was a big hit among all the people who had left their dogs at home. We kept getting asked 'Is that a Great Dane?' (or greyhound, depending on if they had seen a Great Dane before).


Mark and Blaze at the hotel.
We call this the 'Scooby-Doo' grin. (on Blaze, not Mark!)


Blaze watching the shop.
We had a sign up 'Dog Can't Make Change' after somebody asked -- and it made quite a few people laugh :)

Our flea market was bright and well-marked, or so we were told!

At one point, we got really busy!

Mark catches me playing with the Sangean ATS-505P shortwave radio we bought.

I had a shortwave as a kid, that didn't work very well - and being around all the different radio equipment made me really interested in finding another one. One nice guy showed me his digital shortwave (A Sony) because I was looking for one in the fleamarket - and apparently they look much different now than when I was a kid! For one thing, mine was analog, and very small - like a transistor radio. On a good reccommendation from one of the ICom people inside the arena, I bought this Sangean and was soon listening to brodcasts in French, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese as well as English broadcasts from foreign countries. Wikipedia refers to this past-time as 'DXing.'

Other fleamarket scores: We haven't unpacked them yet, but Mark scored a few electronic hobby toys from 'the golden age.' We had them out on our table to see what other people thought, and they really got a lot of attention. We didn't want to sell some of them though - including a miniature robotic arm and a 200 project electronic wiring kit. Mark found a full set of 'Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia' volumes and a complete metal train railroad kit as well.

Some notable visitors to our booth...

We told this man he could have this HEAVY power supply for $5.00 if he could pick it up... and we could photograph him doing it for the blog. He was a really good sport!

This man showed us his 'keyboard experience,' a Blue Man Group contraption of strange design.

Some fleamarket booths had strange decorations...(see above) more fleamarket pictures below...












We took some video as well, although that takes a while to convert and pull off, but it's on the way!

All the animals were fine and happy to see us home. I think Mouse taught Pogo to hunt, as her pounce has gotten much more accurate and deadly! Pogo was sleeping between us again this morning purring and saying 'All is right with the world again.'

News from the Huntingdon, TN flea market

Where: Huntingdon, TN
At the: Carroll County Civic Center Fairgrounds
When: Tuesday mornings in fair weather


A man on a scooter with a very
happy passenger riding behind.
He was happy to pose for a picture!
(although it is hot, so no smile)


Singing puppy: "I Wanna Go Home"

A very persistant little dog...

Some of the display tables

Glass and liquor bottles

A traffic signal and a novelty beer display

Various farm equipment, tools and etc...

It was hot enough today that I bought a hat and sat baking in the sun. People started closing up shop about 10:30 or 11 due to the heat. I definitely hope to bring an umbrella and/or cooler next week if the weather says hot again!

Flea Market finds (and some knitting does occurr)

We found a steal at the flea market - an antique Singer sewing machine for such a small price, we had to scoop it up. It seems to work, too! The one thing we are having difficulty with is winding a new bobbin -- the instructions are wadded up and falling apart -- and this bobbin winder seems different than many of the ones we are looking at on the Internet. It is a 27-4 Singer according to the manual. We looked up the serial number (beginning with 'B') on the Singer website and it says this particular machine was made in 1904. However, since it has been refurbished, it might contain parts of several different models -- we're just not sure.


I play with the bobbin winder some.

A close-up of the winder in question.


There were also very good-smelling strawberries at the flea market!


Some knitting does still occurr here...
A *secret mystery project* (No guessing!) started out of fine white wool.

article on indian corn

Flea Market Day

The flea market happens at the Huntingdon County Fairgrounds every Tuesday morning (fair weather allowing) some time between 7 am and noon. The merchandise varies with the vendors that choose to come and pay the fee to sell. There are usually Amish selling baked goods and butter, and Mennonites sharpening knives and selling household goods. There are also coin dealers, tools, 'antiques' and usually a large variety of animals for sale.


This lady was walking her pet goat around on a leash.


These border collie puppies were for sale today.
We took the white one out and talked to a him a bit - but he had obviously not been handled before - and did the 'freeze puppy' pee and squall as soon he was away from his litter. A moment later he was happy and talking to us, but no more puppies here! The owner said his name was 'Snoop.'



Kelba got to talk to a little boy as well - who was very interested in coonhounds. She tentatively sniffed the 'people's puppy' just the same as she sniffed the border collie puppies in the market.

In other news: I've finished knitting one of the dishcloths for my mom's birthday, which is March 6th. I'm also prototyping a new type of rabbit for the shop. The first prototype I made frayed at the edges (calico fabric) when a mistake was ripped out - and now I'm working on a second one out of felt. At the moment, Mark says it resembles a Cthulu more than a rabbit.. but there are still things to get sewn up ;o)