Remember all those squares I’ve been knitting? Well now as I watch the exciting Tour de France and the equally if not more exciting tennis matches at Wimbledon, I am joining the squares to make a cosy blanket/lap robe.
p.s. further progress 
Now for a border
The days are getting longer and brighter. The summer solstice is going to be here before we know it. My friend Freyalyn has finished her garment making for Stonehenge – see her blog for pictures etc. The big Fremont Fair and the Solstice Parade are scheduled for this weekend. Lots of blue body paint is being collected in preparation. I have a few photos from the 2009 event. I just have to figure out how to access them. They were on the old computer in Dublin and they all got saved and hopefully transferred to this computer. The Solstice Fair was a big event so I hope I can find those big pictures. Meanwhile here is a photo from 2009, kindly supplied by Susan, DIL. 
Two grandaughters wearing their new dresses and their new guitars – treats from the Fair, 2009
In case you might think I have not been doing any knitting lately – (1) here is a postcard I received today.
(2) Here is what I have been doing instead: crochet blankets and a crochet hat – ends not sewn in yet – it’s like the editing for my autobiography – have to get around to it, and have to get around to sewing in the ends to my knit and crochet items
Well, this was the big neighbourhood yard sale Saturday. Approximately 50 households in our local neighbourhood had yard sales. I can’t really verify this number as we were so involved with our own one and the one across the street and Susan’s yard sale a few blocks away. Yard sale roamers were numerous, actual customers were a select few. It was fun and we met many interesting people. And it was a good chance to organize and clean out. I held fast to non-garage sale prices for my handknits, not that I really had many potential buyers at any price. We had a lively atmosphere thanks to the household across the street who not only had a huge miscellany of items for sale but also had a barbecue and numerous friends coming and going all day as well as the casual yard sale shoppers. I think we benefitted from the spill-over.
not much for sale really – my first customer offered me $1 for 2 books which I had priced at $2 each. Well, there we were. My reaction was “no”. And off she and her partner went in their convertible. I wondered if this was a bad start!! Subsequent customers were more fun.
Believe it or not – I think the repairs have been completed – at 12:47 p.m Pacific Standard Time March 8. I have been unpacking since I arrived here 2 months ago but as you know, my unpacking has been very restricted. Now I can really spread out and all those things I carried upstairs are now being shifted downstairs and vice versa – well, that is a bit of an exaggeration but I think you get the picture. I’ve made sketches of each of the rooms and allocated areas for book cases or whatever. All my yarn supplies are lining the upstairs hallway. Textile and art books go to one of the bedrooms. Archival photos to another. Ian’s books get prime of place in the living room etc. All you readers are saying “eek” but it really is quite enjoyable to feel that some degree of order is beginning to emerge. Pity that my shoulders are aching so much but maybe that’s from the knitting and crocheting I do during my breaks. Hunching over the computer doesn’t help either. Not to mention carrying a backpack with my knitting and a hardback Henning Mankell book and various notebooks, etc. Why do I feel compelled to carry so much stuff??
the bin men came today and yet again they took all the cardboard boxes – I was so pleased. There are only a few left for next week.
Blanket no. 9, work in progress
crochet blanket, a stash project – it doesn’t look great at the moment but I think it will be fine
the new dishwasher was installed today – the black is quite a contrast. I’m not sure I like it but I’m sure I will get used to it. And so long as there are NO LEAKS, it will be fine.
the kitchen table and chairs are in place. That kitchen table is a gift and there are 2 leaves so we can expand it for family gatherings etc.
and this was absolutely riveting. I kept retreating to quiet corners to read it over the weekend.
We thought we were all ready to go with the flooring in our new house. The men arrived promptly at 8 a.m. and we discussed at length the direction and angles of the laminate which was to be put down. Then we went upstairs to look at the floor which had been done earlier. Ma’me – there is water up here – oh,oh. There wasn’t water there yesterday so this was a new development. Alas it turned out that the problems which everyone thought had been sorted out, in fact had not been sorted out. So we now have water damage again and the floor could not be laid today. That’s a set-back. But I was able to get on with more unpacking and all will be resolved eventually.
Below is our dining area, very kindly furnished by a friend. Ian’s pills and glasses sitting on the tray from Kenya – but that’s another story. Note the empty boxes on the right. The photo was taken late yesterday, before the water appeared this morning.
Dare I show some of the clutter as I proceeded with the unpacking- happily that orange and white towel was handy this morning to mop up some of the water spreading across the kitchen floor
Ethan enjoying playing with some of our DVD’s – and you can admire him wearing his Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket ( and the rug in the background is one I wove – it’s a Peter Collingwood corduroy rug – a mock rya – fun to weave and I really like it, I must say.)
Today wasn’t all bad news. It was Market Day for the 2nd grade at school and budding textile artist granddaughter Ashley had made colorful crowns from felt to offer for sale at her stall. The children earn special market dollars and then have these to spend on Market Day. It was great fun, as you can see from the photos.
The children had their various wares spread out all around the classroom and they took turns shopping and selling. There was a buddy system whereby your friend minded your stall while you went off to shop and vice versa. James and I were visiting shoppers and we were soon joined by Susan and Ethan. Caitlin is in Kindergarten so she missed out – how she would love to participate. She is another entrepreneur in the making, showing promise at an early age.
Ashley’s crowns – I bought the green one with money kindly supplied in advance by Ashley’s teacher – I’d better do a good deed, or do well in my spelling test, etc. to earn that money
And for my knitting readers – here is another Blanket, now finished, to add to the Blanket Series. Blanket Number 7 (?)
And to close – a picture of Knitting Graffiti – a Knitted Tree Cosy on a neighbour’s tree
Snow and ice have us housebound here in suburban Dublin. In fact, virtually the whole city ground to a halt yesterday and the airport was closed for a few hours. This weather has me a bit uneasy – I’m due to fly tomorrow. A few days ago when there was a slight break in the bad weather I booked a flight to Seattle – the plan being to greet our container and welcome the contents in to our new home. 
Yesterday’s cartoon in the Irish Times says it all – this is for you Bettina in County Mayo.
The snow is beautiful but when it’s life-threatening, then it loses its glamour.
To change the subject – here’s what we have been doing since we’ve been snowed in. I’m not a reader of Mills & Boon but doing this jigsaw of their covers was great. Good bold colours, definite pictures, historic context, and very easy. Very satisfying.
Mills & Boon Jigsaw Puzzle
And I have finished another blanket. 
Knitting for a change – rather a play on words. I haven’t blogged about my knitting recently, hence the title, but read on and you’ll read about other changes. My knitting of late has been baby blankets or panels or whatever else you want to call them – I’ve been using 2 strands of sock yarn – one strand of multicolour self-patterning and one strand of solid colour. I have been choosing yarns from my stash. The strand of multicolour has remained constant but I have the fun of changing the strand of the solid colour every few rows. Here are some of the results. 
I am partial to the purple based one on the left. But the green based one on the right is quite nice also. These panels are on the same idea as the grandaughters skirts featured in an earlier blog.
The past couple of weeks I have been taking a blue and yellow panel to my weekly Kilternan Market but I haven’t featured it for sale among my hats and scarves and socks. The hats and scarves and socks have been selling well. One particularly discerning customer spotted the blue and yellow panel which I had casually displayed behind the table. She asked to see it and asked how much I was charging for it. I kind of fumbled around and decided on a price – she decided it would be perfect as a lap rug for her elderly dad.
Blue and yellow panel (lap rug), sold at Kilternan Market. I am nearing the completion of another panel and had decided to knit something else, for a change. Well, this sale boosted my spirits, as happens when one makes a sale, and now I think I will knit yet another panel. 
I’ll choose the yarns from my ever shrinking stash. I think the next panel will be “brown based”. Watch this space.
One of the rugs in the house we are renting is a rug I wove quite a few years ago and was selected by my friend to put in her cottage down in the West. The rug has somehow migrated back to Dublin and is now in the hallway of this house.
One of my woven rugs – a striking resemblance to my current knitting!
When I went to the Sunday Market in the People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire, it seemed as if everyone was knitting. As I walked along the seafront to get to the Park what should I see but a girl sitting on a bench and knitting intently. Looked like she was using thick yarn.
Knitting while enjoying the view across Dublin Bay to Howth
I continued on my way to the Market
Approach to the Sunday Market in the People’s Park
The first stand I found was my favourite Amani Crafts Ltd with Lucy Ndungu Lane from Kenya selling the Kazuri Beads. Much to my surprise Lucy was knitting – I thought she had told me she didn’t know how. Beyond her I could see several people sitting on the grass and concentrating on their knitting. And another person standing and knitting while chatting with a friend orcustomer.
Having a chat while working away at her knitting
I proceeded next door to The Yarn Room to see Stephanie and Maria. Not surprising that they were knitting. But here the reason for all the knitting became clear – Stephanie and Maria had organized their friends in the Market to knit squares for a comfort blanket. The blanket is to be assembled by Stephanie and given to another Market friend who is ill. I thought this was a great idea and I volunteered to knit a square as well. So I was given a pair of size 10 needles and some uninteresting gray and white yarn, which I managed to exchange with Lucy – her green yarn was much more my colour to knit.
Here’s my effort so far – cast on 20 stitches and knit a square
After Stephanie stitches each person’s squares together to make up the blanket, I’ll try to get a picture to post. Keep watching.
In addition to the knitted squares blanket featured in a previous post, I have now completed another knee rug. This one is done in crochet – not my favourite medium but it is a good use for my coarser rug yarn which is easier to crochet than to knit. I am having difficulty in uploading a photo of the crocheted blanket. It appears as if WordPress has made some changes and I can no longer navigate my way through to uploading an image. Is anyone else having difficulty? I’ll answer my own question – with some degree of pride – I continued to niggle away at the problem and finally succeeded in uploading the picture of this little cottage in the Aran Islands. Now to try again with the crocheted blanket image.
Well, as you can see – success!
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