Making Slow Progress

 

I'm making slow progress on the flame lilies. I thought I'd be finished by now, but things crop up. I put an extra  yellow stitch at the bottom of the petals on the second flower, which was a mistake, as the petals are now too spread out. I'm sure I can correct it when I sew the flower on. 

I have made progress on the pullover too. I'm up to the armhole level and must start on the sleeves.

WIP

 

I'm working on flame lilies for a food cover. I never did write my pattern for the flame lily out properly as I planned, but luckily I found my scribbled notes. I've tweaked it a bit, so perhaps it's as well to tat a few more before I type it out. I'm adding leaves this time too. I haven't got them absolutely right yet, though I think these ones will pass muster.  We're back to the retirement home craft group tomorrow, preparation today, so there's less time to tat, but I'll get there.  Real flame lilies are emerging after rain, so there's plenty of inspiration. 

Easy Knitting

 

 I like to have an easy  knitting project on the go, to work on when I'm waiting or chatting, or just have low concentration levels. I thought I'd make Jack another pullover. The one I knitted him a couple of years ago, using a Drops pattern, was very successful. I had a look at using it again, but the yarn I have on hand is too thick for that pattern to work. Luckily, I was rereading Elizabeth Zimmerman's book, Knitting Without Tears and came across a very similar pullover, though it's knitted from the bottom up, rather than top down. It uses Elizabeth's percentage method, so I could just knit a swatch and then work out the figures for this yarn and suitable circular needle. Neat! At the moment I'm just knitting round and round until I get to underarm level. 

Strawberries

 

No cream, but the food cover could well be used to keep flies out of a cream jug! The strawberry pattern is Ninetta's, links in the previous post. The butterfly is Jane Eborall's. 

On Ninetta's Diet Again

 

Ninetta used her Mediterranean Diet pattern as a bookmark, but it's also perfect for a food cover. I used it as such in 2016.  My printed version of Ninetta's diagrams were still in my file, so it was easy enough to begin, after gathering all the colours of thread I'll need. It's a diet that is certainly no hardship to follow! 

Finishes

 I finished tatting butterflies and some dragonflies and then made a concerted effort to finish the cardigan I was asked to knit.

It's very bulky, not my favourite kind of garment or knitting, but now it's done I can get on with other things without feeling it weighing on me! 

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it.  Thanks to all those who read my blog during the year, and, especially, those who commented. 

The picture shows one of the projects we did in a craft group at a retirement home. They are recycled thread cones.