More Color Play, Gnomes, Wordle and Audio Books

 

Start-itis!  It's a disease among knitters and crocheters...perhaps other crafters as well. When you have multiple projects in the works and instead of working on one of WIP (work in progress), you grab yarn and start another project.  These colors should look familiar...scroll back for the blanket of many colors with diamonds.  Still had plenty of all these fun colors and decided to make a basic striped ghan/blanket...but working on the diagonal is more interesting, I think; so, working a corner to corner until it gets the size I want then will start the decrease.  This is currently about the same size as the blue baby blanket (scroll back).  This has 151 stiches on the needles and measurers about 37 inches a side.  The weight of this yarn is slightly different than the blue blanket so it probably won't measure the same with the same number of stiches.

No new pictures of the blue baby blanket, or the Buckeye Scarf; as they remained unchanged since the previous picture and post.

The next audio book, a novel by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White.  This book blends WWI, WWII, and the turbulent 60's.  3 Women experience love, and betrayal.  A heiress, a Resistance Fighter, and A Widow and The Ritz in Paris.  Lots of intrigue, mystery, and some history.  Check it out.

I've continued to walk, do planks and until a week ago rode a bike.  Being out of town with warm weather makes getting outside to exercise easier.  But, back home now...so no good weather and no bike rental...so, we'll see how it goes.  Hubby and I took a walk today; which felt good after 2 days sitting in the car for the return trip.  This picture is from a walk through the neighborhood I took last fall while it was still nice.  Another cute little Gnome Village.  I've posted a few pictures of interesting things I see in my walks. Fitbit says my 28 days average (starting with Jan 31st) is 4.17 miles per day, which is up 17% over the previous 28 day cycle.  However, I've not yet counted the days I've done yoga or planks...feel pretty sure it's less than last month.

Not a current Wordle, just a picture I found.  A different form of exercise.  Are you familiar with it?  Are you doing it?  Do you enjoy it or find it frustrating?  I've only been doing it a few weeks and find it rather frustrating.  Seems the bulk of the time I'm only getting the word on the 5th try.  For practice, I started doing a couple of the archives; doing a bit better with that.  I've made hand notes of words as I think of them and or when I type them in, for reference, but.......when I typed a google spread sheet today from my hand notes; sorted them in alphabetical order and tried to print...I can't print.  Any clue why I can't print a PDF file from Google Docs/Sheets?

Knitting A Baby Blanket and Scarf, World War II Audio Books, and Horses!

 

The Blue corner to corner baby blanket is growing.  The white section is now done, and blended into light blue which has blended into the darker blue currently.  It now measurers 30 inches a side and 48 inches in diameter while on the needles (that often changes a bit), and has 154 stitches on the needle.  We're not yet at the decreasing point...not sure how large I want to make it...it's an eyeball thing for me.  Most people that make baby blankets go for about 30-36 inches.  Mine are always larger, more a crib size or afghan size vs "baby size".  Only time will tell.  I'm happy to see the shading changes.

The Buckeye Scarf (bottom in the picture), has been waiting in the wings for a while.  I started it just around Thanksgiving, then put it aside when I was started working on The Blanket of Many Colors.  Decided it was time to bring it out again, and I like to have projects to switch back and forth between.  As I mentioned above size to me is an eyeball thing.  This Buckeye Scarf will be a gift for a friend who's an avid Buckeye Fan.  I knew it wasn't currently large enough but wanted to compare to a scarf I made myself awhile back with the same pattern.  I like these asymmetrical scarves.  More fun to make than a regular scarf; and perhaps a bit dressier when worn.  The wing measurement is currently 37 inches (the previous one I made is 56 inches), it's 8 inches at it's widest part, while the completed one measures 10 inches.  The width of The Buckeye Scarf will probably be a bit wider on completion, as the yarn is a bit heavier.

Still in WWII mode....this book, "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand is hard to put down.  The book was a best seller and has in fact been turned into a movie, though I've not seen the movie.  This is a true story of Louis Zamperini, his participation in The Berlin Olympics, joining The ARmy Air Force and being a downed pilot.  The courage, hope, and endurance of men against severe conditions and horrible brutality is a testament to the human soul.  I highly recommend this book.

 One of many scenes I've enjoyed these past couple of months as I walk and or ride my bike.  The loop is just over 3 miles through beautiful Sea Pines Plantation in Hilton Head.  Hubby and I have really enjoyed our time away from The Ohio Winter.  I've not made a counting yet for my planks, bike rides, walks, or yoga for the current month of February to compare to January, but my gut feeling is it's less.  We've had some super windy days with cool temps which have lessen my exercising.  I need to pick up the pace with just a week left here before heading back to cold Ohio.

 

Blanket of Many Colors, TaDah!! American Spy in World War II

 

AND.......it's done!  The blanket of many colors has been laundered and is almost dry in this picture.  I debated about adding a 4th row, in fact had the colors selected to do so, then decided since the diamonds are squares...I would stick to keeping the blanket a square vs making it rectangle which adding a 4th row would have done.  It's about 43 inches square so works well as a lapghan, or a childs blanket.  I've not totally decided if this will be a baby gift or donated.

I've pulled out the Blue corner to corner project (intended for said baby blanket).....I've added about 12 rows since the last picture.  It now measures 34 in diameter and you can see quite a good bit of the white.  Not sure how much will be white, though you can see some still on the large ball of yarn.  I will continue to work on this and then make a decision about which to gift....but probably this one.  It's lighter weight and maybe looks more babyish?  More traditional?  What do you all think?

Obviously, this is not a recent picture.  But, one day after I returned from my walk back in the fall, I found 2 squirrels very busy eating my little pumpkins.  Each hanging onto the pots where I put the pumpkins.  These pumpkins grew in my flower bed on their own accord.  I didn't plant them, volunteers they were.  I had about 20 or so 4 or 5 inch pumpkins.  It's my understanding that's the type of pumpkin they were.  The lasted about a month with the squirrels having quite a feast day after day.  I enjoyed watching them eat.  Problem is...wonder how many places they spread the seeds they didn't eat.  Will I have pumpkins growing in odd places next year?  

Continuing to try and walk, or ride a bike, do planks, and yoga most days.  Fitbit tells me I walked 290,387 steps in January, 119.9 miles and burned 53,851 calories.  February hasn't started out very well, I think.  We've had some rain days, and some days with LOTS of wind keeping me inside knitting...so we'll see how the exercising progresses.  But, we must keep trying.

If you read no other WWII book, you MUST read this.  If you've been told woman are the weaker sex, read this!!  "A Woman of No Importance" by Sonia Purnell deemed the best book of the year by NPR and so many more.  The list of credible agencies calling it the best of the year is LONG!  The story of an American Baltimore Socialite, Virginia Hall.  1942, The Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission, "She is the most dangerous of ALL spies.  We must find and destroy her."