Hello Friday...

Hello Friday, Susan here.  Even though I'm not in the traditional work force any more, I still have that "it's Friday!" attitude every week.  I like to think about what has happened during the week, what we have done, and what needs to be done to start a new week. 

The hubby and I have been a bit under the weather this week.  He has been slightly sicker than I. We both had sinus problems, body aches and general malaise.  That's an interesting word and works quite well for how we were feeling, but it you read further down in the Wikipedia description, you will find all kinds of related conditions. but that's another post for another day.

Any hoo, I just wanted to come by and say hi and let you know what artsy creations I have been working on.  As you my know by now, I am once again trying to perfect my knitting and crocheting skills and I have come up with these...

This little table runner/scarf is a practice piece using bulky, self striping yarn.  This is such a cool way to work. Here is a little blurb on About.com explaining a bit about this type of yarn. I didn't realize there was such a thing until I dug a skein out of a care package that Sissy sent.  I started working with it and soon realized what was happening.

The little cosy on the glass jar holding my silk forsythia, started as a practice piece using the knit, purl technique that makes ribbing.  I knitted it flat and then joined the edges together for a matching piece to the table scarf.  I'm planning on using this same technique for a wrist cuff or two.

I learned to crochet back in the 70's, but I never progressed past the basic crochet stitches.  If fact, I didn't even know there were other stitches, but in one of my new magazines, Crochet World, one of the patterns has a stitch called the afghan stitch. This stitch, also called Tunisian crochet is traditionally done with a long crochet hook that has a stop on the end.  After reading and reading the instructions for this technique, I finally had to go to the Youtubes to see it being done.  After seeing it in action, I realized that I could do a smaller version on a regular hook.  After several false tries, I did come up with this.

You may be able to tell that I inadvertently began to decrease the stitches after several rows.  I finally realized that this was happening and made the necessary adjustment.  This is such a cool technique.  It is part crochet and part knitting and makes an almost woven piece of fabric.  I've seen online this method used for yarn items that are then cross stitched on.  Very cool.

Well, that's what I've been up to this week.  That and continued work on the blue knitted shawl.  I hope it is still going to be a shawl.  It started out as a scarf, but I made it too wide.  So I'm calling it a shawl, but I think it will do double duty as a lap rug.  Well, I'm having fun with it and it keeps me off the streets.

Hope everyone is having a great fall.  Remember that I have another blog (check my right hand sidebar) for other projects that my friends, followers and I will be posting online.

So take care and enjoy your weekend.  Happy Friday!