Knitting Questions

So I have been practicing purl stitches
and doing stockinette...seemed to be working well.
Picture above shows the work I was doing and I think I was
doing it right (the above picture to me looks like I did
the correct row of purl and then garter stitch)
but then I discovered I did something wrong ~ see next picture...

The other side shows what to me looks like a
row of purls on the flat stockinette side.
So what did I do wrong?
Is it possible to flip and start on the wrong side?

Have been enjoying looking at this book on knitting.

This bag is really cute!

 

I don't understand one thing though ~
a lot of the instructions say,
like the one above,
with size 7 needles and A, cast on 73 sts.
What is A?
Updated: one of my friends helped me see that A
is the first yarn colour!
Whew... now only to find out my mistake,
which I am sure is a simple rookie one...
*
Any thoughts, explanations or otherwise helpful bits?
Do let me know...
Thanks! 

Sunny Thursday ~ new icons and knitting

I am waiting to hear about the
young adult who is in hospital.
Praying....

I was very happy to get new icons from
this monastery that Mr. Husband and I go to.
This icon is special to me as it is
the monastery's three main icons.
*
The one on the left is St. Mary of Egypt;
I had always wanted her icon and am so happy
to have it now! 

I also got this small diptych
of St. Xenia and St. Matrona.
I had been wanting one of St. Matrona for sometime,
so this was a real blessing!

I am about half-way through reading this book
on Abbess Thaisia.
She went through so many trials yet God
brought her comfort and help in the midst...
It's a real treasure of a book...
of course the reality that a Christian has to bear his or her
God-given Cross is not easy but
God promises to help us...
*
I have been making some new pages on my blog...
the one on Elizabeth and Family
I wrote as a further introduction
since with knitting I am
meeting some new to me people...
And I made one today that I will update as I can
on books I am reading this year...
doing this in part for my own record and
as a place to share books and links on or about them.

I am making a new knitting project ~
a small baby blanket for a
girl's doll.
I am using a 100% wool fingerling weight yarn
and have double stranded it for this knit.
The yarn was 50% off so I bought it :)

I am realizing that I enjoy working with smaller
knits and love the creativity in discovering what
I can do with different sizes of yarn.
Ravelry here.
*
For my yarn quilt
I am well on my way ~ I've made so far
cream, blue and red squares.
Question: I am thinking of using the
fingerling weight wool yarn 
to knit the squares together.
Would using wool yarn/thread to do this 
backfire because it is wool and may shrink?
The yarn I am using for the squares is
washable mainly or all acrylic yarn...
*
I am still tired from all of our travels but
have been so encouraged from
my visits to monasteries.
*
God is good to us and will bring help to us in
His timing... 

New Knitting ~ gauge swatch for baby blanket ~ and a question or two

Baby Wool ~ Colours: Blue Bonnet and Pear.
*
My goal is to make a cute baby blanket with
these two colours.
I am thinking of a pattern something like this:
~rows of the two colour strands together
~rows of one colour together
~rows of the two colours together
~rows of the other colour together
repeat as needed.
*
I think it will be really cute and varied!
It will be the first pattern I make on my own :)
I got the idea from a pattern on the
Lion Brand Yarn website called
Sunshine Day Baby Throw.
You have to register on the site to see it
(it's a real cute one! I may try it sometime
but would have to get the yarn colours first).

The biggest needles I have knit with so far! 13/9mm.
I am really loving them!
They are circular needles, as one needs this for bigger projects.
The bigger size is making it really easy to knit with two strands of yarn
and to see exactly what I am doing.
Also really easy to hold,
which is great when one's hands get a bit tired
from knitting on smaller needles.
*
I am trying the Stockinette stitch.
I am doing a gauge swatch for the first time.

It seems that this side (above) is the purl side.

And this is the knit side.

I think I must of switched sides towards the beginning
as you can see (picture above and below)
how it changed...
(if anyone can confirm that this is as I suspect,
I would appreciate it!)

I am appreciating the easy instructions that I can review,
 as my class only briefly touched on the Stockinette stitch.
*
Question:
The Stockinette stitch tends to roll up at the ends.
if you were making a baby blanket would you just leave this as is
or do you try to make a different edge to it?
*
I hope you are all having a great start to your day!
It is sunny here and I may try to make cookies
before the day is out!
*
What do you have planned for your day?

Sleep is elusive but God is always here

 

Our fridge in our galley kitchen.
Christmas letters/photos will be up all year
smiling at us,
reminding me of so many
who I and Mr. Husband love.
*
This is the last day
I hope to God
for the medicine I am on
that is creating such insomina.
It's the insomnia with sleeping pills
as opposed to the kind without.
*
But yet I sense God's mercy.
*
I am such a wimp - Mr. Husband had to remind me
that it has yet to be 3 weeks since I have been
mainly sequestered to home.
*
I lament not baking bread
yet how God has provided so deeply for me
with the new task of knitting.
*
The first scarf that is mostly finished
is with this yarn.
It is being documented here
on my Raverly account.
I still have to add pictures.
If you have an account, feel free to add me there!
*
The one question I have about yarn right now
is that I have had two of the skeins (one, two)
that I am knitting along with
and suddenly there are tangles in the yarn and
I have to spend a lot of time fixing them
before I can resume knitting.
Basically I have to untangle and make into a
ball of yarn.
Is this a universal problem
or is it the brand I am using or the type of yarn?
Is there someway to avoid this
literal knotty problem?
*
Side note: since I am not able yet to go out
much, I am ordering a lot of yarn online.
I am finding the Lion Brand website
even being with shipping costs
of less of a cost than what the same sells on
amazon.
*
I am hoping to look through old pictures and
write about one of my old apartments
as a way to remember God's mercy
and the time lived in it.
*
God is so good to us.