Still Here!

We are by now in the midst of our kitchen renovation...all the contents of the kitchen are placed across the family room and it is very messy indeed. We have set up a tiny coffee station with the microwave on a table, but have no sink or water in the kitchen, hence need to run to the laundry for every little bit. It's interesting to say the least. Dinners are a hassle as we also have no cook top as yet. During last week the work men were in and out so I did not do much at all other than trying to keep the place reasonably clean.

In terms of quilting not much is going on. I almost finished my wholecloth but cannot show any pictures of the whole thing as yet as I am thinking of putting it in the upcoming quilt show. However, here is a little picture of how intense this has become in terms of backfilling

I decided on those tiny echo lines as a backfiller to really flatten out the surrounds. Currently I only have the outside of the last border to do but I reckon that it will take a few more weeks...just in time to put my entry form in for the show. As I need to concentrate in order to quilt this I have not continued on that during the last week.

I did however manage to do one of my fox blocks. I am using up the last of the Dryad fabric from Shannon Brinkley. Just love the colours of that.

Planning to do a couple of those every week once things have settled down a bit.

In the week that the kitchen was demolished and the new cupboards were put in I just sat there knitting one of the socks that I had started earlier. My sock obsession started last year...very enjoyable once you get the hang of it, however it is best to continue to knit socks because it is very easy to forget the intricacies of how to do them as I found out last week. I finished one sock

Looks a bit funny because of the ribbing however looks very nice when put on. this one is for my daughter who has got slightly bigger feet than I have so I just extended the foot a bit more. Am onto the second sock however am trying something new. I got these new knitting needles last year, called the Addi Crasy Trio Needles. Normally you knit socks on DPNs which is ok but takes a bit longer due to the handling of the needles. When I saw the Trio needles I thought that this might be the solutions to go a bit faster. They are developed by a German woman, Sylvia Rasch and there are a few videos on the net on how to use them. So, for the second sock I am knitting with them

You have only three needles which are flexible, two for your stitches and one working needle. My blue stitch markers indicate where there would be a break normally if you would use four needles. Very unusual to knit with as they are very small and I felt at times as if I had two left hands, just could not coordinate myself. However you do get used to them very quickly and the knitting does go quicker as you only have to change needles twice. There is absolutely no way your stitches are going to slip off as they are safely tucked away on the flexible part. Since this photo I had to do it again as I missed a stitch, so got more practice than I wished for. While I was at it also tried the cast on with these needles and must say that that worked incredibly well and was ten times easier than casting on with the DPNs. We will see how the shaping works...in theory this should be easier on these needles as you have got more room to accommodate the increase in stitches. We shall see...

Anyway, for the coming week I will

- continue to knit up this sock

- continue with the backfilling of the wholecloth

- maybe piece another fox which is already cut out and ready to go.

Was going to link up to Quilt Schmilt for the To Do Tuesday #69 however it seems that that linky party has ended. May have to come back tomorrow to have another look. 

Karin