Knitting, Cards and (Temporary) Clutter - The Saga Continues

Since DH now knows about my knitting machine, I went ahead and got things set up to work on it first thing in the morning. He was muttering about "clutter" after I finished and he took a quick look at my machine, but it was all put back into the cupboard by the time he returned that night. It was still several hours (two loads of laundry and a trip to the office supply store and grocer) before I was able to sit down, but finally I settled and started working. The project went quickly and my new $4 light worked really well. I made a few errors, but nothing major, and by afternoon it was complete and off the machine. I then grabbed all of the various items I've made so far on the machine and pulled my "Drummie" out from under the laundry sink. 

I bought my "Drummie" specifically to wash items 
like fleece and knitwear. It's been a joy to use, and 
yesterday was no exception. It did a great job for 
my knitted gifts. I'll be wrapping them and sending 
them off to their new homes soon. 

After a thorough wash in the "Drummie" to get the knitting washed and sized, I settled down with blocking blocks, pins and wires, getting everything pinned down to dry flat. The weave won't really allow it to remain flat, but I at least want it to ship flat. I'll get things wrapped within a couple of days and take it to the post office to mail no later than early next week. I still have to work on Chickie's gift, but I'll have to watch some videos before I can jump into that one, and next week's "day off" is cut short by an eye doctor appointment taking up most of the afternoon. 

I bought several things from Amazon a month or so ago 
including these Blocking Mats. They're wonderful, hook 
together perfectly and work with T-pins to secure knitting 
to the surface for drying. I also bought blocking wires 
to put down the sides of items to help keep their shape. 
Everything worked perfectly! 

My holiday cards are being received all over the world, and it makes me very happy. They seem to be popular, people are liking this year's design. My goal, always, is to bring some joy into the lives of friends near and far, and I hope I have managed to do this. 

I'm so happy that people are receiving their holiday 
cards. I had great fun making them for each of you, 
and the mail is delivering them so quickly! I've 
even heard from a friend in England who has already 
received hers! Three cheers for the postal service! 

On that note, I'm wrapping this up and heading out. I have a lot to do today and want to make sure I have the time to do it without being too rushed. Please, as always, be kind, stay safe, and please wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

"Duck For President" Animation and Progress With Toys - A Wonderful Day Off

I posted yesterday about "Duck For President". My on-line friend Dusk Peterson found this lovely link to the animated reading of this wonderful book, and it's a great way to spend a few minutes. It can't be any more ridiculous than our current election - vote counting and recounting, and the realization that the better position is always over the rainbow or across the next county line. Here's a link for the YouTube video animation of "Duck for President". Watch it and enjoy and thanks to Dusk for the followup - you rock! 

Go and watch the YouTube reading of this 
lovely book. It's delightful. Here's a 
link - 

https://youtu.be/rOREr8Dcsq0

Yesterday was my "day off" and it was a beautiful, warm day. Did I have any time to get out into it? That would be a "No". Except to walk out late in the afternoon to collect the mail, and my early morning weekly grocery shopping run, I was indoors all day. But I had a wonderful day even though I was within the walls of my home. 

I used my Drummi for the first time yesterday, washing 
some bras and gloves. It was a small learning curve, 
but was pretty darned easy and it did a great job of 
getting things clean and rinsed well. I'll have to work 
a bit harder on the final spin cycle, I'd like things just 
a bit drier when I remove them, but I was quite happy. 

I used my "Spaceship Washer" for the first time yesterday. It fits beautifully underneath my laundry tub, so a place to keep it isn't a problem. I decided to use it inside the shower, so drainage also isn't an issue. I used my phone's stopwatch function to keep track of the time and make sure I wasn't pumping the pedal too quickly. It turns out that 12-20 pumps per minute is pretty slow. The final spin cycle to extract the water is more intensive, but even that was no problem. After I was finished I let it dry out on the bathmat, towel-dried the interior workings, and it was back under the laundry tub within a couple of hours. I like it. I'll try washing some fleece next week and see how it does with that. 

Fleece from the sheep is usually pretty scuzzy. It needs 
to be thoroughly washed before being spun into yarn and
then used in knitwear or weaving. I bought my Drummi
specifically to wash fleece so that I wouldn't break or
damage my expensive good washer. I think it's going
to be a wise investment. 

I spent several hours with my knitting machine. I cleared out the area in front of Sewing Cabinet #3, pulling out the side leaf of the table we have there, and attached the machine to it. It worked out beautifully. It was a good height, I was comfortable, and I actually managed to get the back side of the infant sweater completed within three hours, despite a few amateur mishaps and one stabbed finger. That's more than 100 rows (15 rows of ribbing and 88 rows of stockinette) in three hours of work. I can easily see that I'll be able to do a lot in a reasonable amount of time, so I'm quite happy. I'll tackle the front of the sweater next week. It's a first project, and I'm not expecting perfection, but I'm pretty darned happy right now and my small errors are quite minimal. 

My knitting machine is an LK150 by Silver Reed. It's 
a "hobby" machine, lighter weight and only 150 
needles wide, but I can do lots with it. Of course it 
would be nice to have one of the bigger, better, 
metal bed ones, but my machine was under $500, those 
other machines are well over $1000 or more. No - for 
something that's basically a toy for me, I wasn't willing 
to go all out. 

Unless something earthshaking happens, I'll probably finish up the "Me" meme tomorrow. I thought about doing it today, but I don't like making my blog too ridiculously long, and it gives me something to talk about tomorrow. Goals - good to set, better to achieve - LOL. So, have a fabulous and fantastic day, keep your head above water and your thoughts out of the gutter, and as usual - be kind, stay safe, and please wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow.