WIP Wednesday

I haven't gotten much done but I've been full of inspiration!  Does that count?  I have to admit right now that I have a "thing" for blankets but evidently I'm not the only one.  Here's my inspiration for them..........and once again both are from the U.K.....what's up with that?  Are my long deceased relations channeling me?  I am a true anglophile, at least in the craft sense! LOL!

 This gorgeous blanket is courtesy of Sandra at Cherry Heart and she calls it her Giant Granny Patches although the patches are small the blanket she made is huge!  She tells you how she made it and gives you a tutorial on the beautiful border below.  Now do you see why I was so inspired?

 Here's my little start on it.  There was some fiddling at first since the directions for most granny squares have you "fastening off" when you change colors and then starting in a corner with the next color.  I had to figure out how to get to the corner as I was continuing on with the same color.  I did a slip stitch until I got to where I needed to be. 

 Then she talked about "joining as you go" which led me over to Dottie Angel's website and her Ordinary Extraordinary Blanket where she had a tutorial about hers and her "join as you go" method

 

which led me to want to make hers and practice that technique first 

and so blanket number two is now started also......

and now I need to go order more yarn in more colors, of course!  Does anyone else have this problem? 

P.S.  Not to  mention the fact that I have another granny square blanket started from my Nicki Trench book and a knitted blanket kit I ordered that I haven't even started yet!  Woe is me!  Or lucky me depending on how you look at it.  I love planning and starting....finishing?  Not so much.

Monday Reading Update

 Fall is here big time and I and Mother Nature are in our glory!

 I'm still reading Halloween Party and it was perfect for this time of year and a good mystery starring Hercule Poirot!  There will be a report next week as I will have finished it by then.

 Still reading this one too but almost done with it.

 I finished George Washington Carver, An American Biography by Rackham Holt published in 1945...below is the bookplate inside the front cover

 This was the best biography I have ever read and G.W. was the most fascinating and gifted individual that I have ever read about.  I remember hearing his name but not really much about him.  As with women and blacks, there wasn't much studied in school as the white male was the preferred "hero" and the smartest and the bravest....or so they wanted us to believe.

 This man overcame odds that most would have given up on long before.  He struggled and overcame, struggled and overcame and never lost his sense of humor, or his kindness or his sense of self and what his gifts were to him and for sharing with others.  In my mind, his contributions far outweigh Martin Luther King's.  George W. Carver did more for the black population and the South and they are still reaping those rewards today.  There are biographies out there but this one was written from interviews with him and those close to him.  There were other biographies written but many held fantasies and untruthes but Professor Carver didn't have the time nor the inclination to set them straight so before he died he worked with Rackham Holt to ensure there was one biography out there that "came straight from the horses mouth"!  And wasn't I the blessed receiver of this particular book?!?!  From where I sit right now having read many, many biographies over the years...this one far outshines all others and so does George Washington Carver.  In my mind, he was one of the greatest human beings that ever graced our planet and we all have much to be grateful to him for. 
A brief synopsis is that he was born into slavery, wanted to learn so badly that he never gave up and finally graduated from Iowa State University in Ames with a degree in Botany and Agriculture.  He spent time working at the University and later took a job with Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee in Alabama.  He worked at Tuskegee for the rest of his life and invented and created and taught and shared all his knowledge with everyone and anyone who wanted to learn.  He was a man who was strong in faith and walked the talk.  If you believe that "there are angels among us" then this man was one of them.  

I am tearing up writing this review...that's how profoundly it affected me.

YOP Sunday

I really didn't get much done this week on my YOP list.  Halloween pretty much took over and I had a great one!  How about you? 

I had more trick or treaters than ever before and I was so happy but it was too warm to have my first fire of the season.  I did manage to get a little ornament done for my Halloween tree although it's going to my grandson so he can have his own Halloween tree and I'll make another one for me.  I  love Skype!  I got to attend his Halloween Party at school with a parade and he in his "Scream" costume.   What a treat that was!

 

I got the pattern free on Lion Brand website and now I need to find some for Thanksgiving!  My little tree will stay up all year and then I can make different ornaments for it depending on the season.  It has purple lights for Halloween but I'll have to find a different color for Thanksgiving. 
I think a tree skirt is on order too!

The leaves have really changed here this week and I took a walk today with the girls to bask in the sunshine and beautiful colors.  I hope you are enjoying your Sunday.  I'm off to watch the Titans and the Rams and do some much desired handwork.  I wonder which came first...football or handwork?  LOL!