Archive | February 2020

WIPs and FOs

Okay, friends, yes, I did go to yarn stores while I was in Colorado. I even made it to Wyoming, and to a yarn store there. I have lots of photos to share but today I’ll focus on my knitting progress and then tomorrow will be all about yarn (stores). The most exciting bit of knitting is that I finished the front of my purple faded Boxy last night!

EC9165BC-BC72-49A3-A7D4-572504821758_1_201_a Don’t you love that stripe of pale purple? (That’s sarcasm, in case you missed it. Note to self: when doing fades, don’t use solids. Or use all solids. Either way, but don’t mix solids and speckles.) I don’t love it but I don’t hate it enough to frog back. Why I thought I’d love making an oversized sweater in fingering weight yarn, I’ll never understand, but I can’t back out now. The neckline currently looks like poo so I sure hope it looks better by the end, or else I’ll be forced to pick up some stitches to make a cleaner edge. There’s still plenty to knit on this, but I’m feeling a little more optimistic that it might someday get done.

What did get done is a sock and a new cowl, both from my travel knitting. The sock is the Devil’s Details from Old Rusted Chair and the cowl is Tropical Fish from See Jayne Knit. It’s her superwash merino DK yarn and I love how smooth and supple it is. The cowl needs to be blocked but I’ve already worn it and it feels marvelous.

Now I need to decide what to work on this weekend! I really *should* work on my Melodia shawl that’s been hibernating for several weeks, but I really *want* to cast on something new. What are your knitting plans for the weekend?

Go with the flow

Feb25

We didn’t make it to Wyoming yesterday. The girl forgot about a late afternoon rehearsal, so instead we had lunch, hit her favorite thrift shop, and went to a saxophone recital. And last night, I got to relax and work on my sock while she cooked dinner for us!

Dinner was delicious, but it was weird to see her being so adult-like. Not that she’s been immature before this, but she’s just so sure of herself and her life here. And it’s great but also… I don’t know if sad is the right word, but it feels like there’s been a separation, like she’s turned a page into this new life and it’s hitting me that we’ve crossed into this new territory, where she won’t be coming home as often or for as long, and she might not move back after she graduates. And I’m happy because that means we’ve done our job well and she’s capable of taking care of herself. But it also means I feel a little superfluous. I was never really sad as we moved through stages of parenting before, but this one is harder, maybe because it’s more final.

Anyway, sorry for getting all serious and maudlin. Parenting is hard and I miss my people and puppers back home and change is hard. That’s all.

I also made some progress on my Wave cowl. This is one full pattern repeat. The pattern says to just do half a repeat more, but if I’ve got enough yarn, I’ll do a full repeat to use as much yarn as possible. Plus I like tall cowls.

Today is concert day so I’ll sit in on a couple of rehearsals and work on my sock. And maybe tomorrow I’ll steal her car and go to Wyoming myself!

Sock It To Me Monday

Feb24

Yesterday was a travel day for me as I came out to Colorado to visit the girl for a few days. Not only did I have knitting time on the plane, but I also had down time while she worked yesterday, and I made good progress on my new sock.

This is one of my new yarns from Old Rusted Chair and I’m doing a plain vanilla sock. But I also cast on a new cowl in some stash yarn, a pattern with some lace for when I’m chilling in the hotel room.

The yarn is a DK from See Jayne Knit and the color is Tropical Fish. I love the little bits of purple playing with the blue and green! Sadly, I started feeling a weird sharp pain in my thumb by early afternoon, so I had to take a break and read my book instead. Here’s hoping a little bit of rest does the trick because I only brought one book and three knitting projects…and I finished the book last night!

Today we’re driving up to Cheyenne, Wyoming because it’s not that far and we’ve never been to Wyoming. Have you been there? What should we do?

Catching Up

Feb22

Okay, so the good news is things have picked up at work and I have lots to do and I like that. The bad news is that it’s pulled energy away from my knitting and blog, but hey, today I have some FOs to share!

The socks have been a WIP since mid-November, so I’m thrilled to finally get them off the needles. The pink is Knit Picks Hawthorne Fingering and I really like it. It feels nice and crisp, which I like in a sock yarn. The turquoise is Knit Picks Stroll, I believe, in Razzleberry. It’s a softer yarn so it might not hold up as well, especially on the toes and heels, but it sure is cute. The other FO is my crazy Oats cowl in Manos Alegria Grande Locura Fluo. It’s badly in need of blocking but I couldn’t wait to share because I love it so much. It was a treat to knit and a treat to wear.

I finally made it to the yarn store today and got the pompom I needed. I really wasn’t going to buy yarn but she was having a singles sale, with 40% off single skeins of yarn, and what knitter can resist that? Not this one. I think I did really well though, and restrained myself to only three skeins.

Old Rusted Chair is a new dyer to me and I’ll be casting on the pink and black tomorrow. I got lucky with the purple: there were actually two skeins left, so it might become a big shawl. I’ll ponder that. So yes, I broke my yarn fast, but I’m still ahead for the year: I’ve used up 13 skeins from stash so far and have purchased five. (The other two are the Bonny Lass yarn that called my name the other day. Literally called my name.) Not too bad, right? But here’s the problem: I’m leaving tomorrow to visit the girl in Colorado and I know I’ll be going to a yarn store while I’m there. That’s just a foregone conclusion. So I better restrain myself while I’m there or I’ll wreck my good progress! Of course if I’d just finish my darn Boxy, that would be five skeins from stash gone. Maybe that will be my priority when I get back.

B3030694-9569-4A41-A412-599EDB8FE1DB Duncan is now seven weeks post surgery and doing really well. He wouldn’t stop licking his leg so I ordered some PJs online and discovered that dogs in PJs are the cutest thing ever. I might have to order more. Maybe three matching sets for all three dogs? He’ll go for his x-rays in about a week and with any luck get a green light for more activity. We’re all ready for that!

Happy weekend, friends! Hope you’re getting some of the same blue sky that I am!

To the Yarn Store?

Feb17

Oh, you guys are all bad influences…and I love it! So many votes to go to the yarn store, haha! Alas, I did not go to the yarn store, but it wasn’t really a conscious choice on my part. I left the restaurant after lunch with my friend, and there was a loose dog in the parking lot, just barking her fool head off. One woman was trying to catch her, so I grabbed the bag of treats I keep in my car and went to help. My friend had a grumpy baby with her so she couldn’t stay, but let me borrow the leash she keeps in her car. (Side note: I really need to get one of those for my car.) This dog, though, man, she was skittish. She loved the bits of treat I tossed to her, but didn’t want to come close enough for me to touch her at all. I called animal control, but in that city they don’t come out unless the dog is aggressive. The first woman managed to contact a volunteer rescue group, and they said they’d send someone out to help trap, and I said I’d wait until they came.

816E5054-E6C9-4D4D-843B-710F149F85FD_1_201_a

So, this is me, sitting in the parking lot, where I stayed for at least 45 minutes, trying to coax her to come to me. Eventually she started to wander off back toward the busy street so I had to circle around and herd her back to the parking lot. We ended up in a big grassy area, and the volunteer showed up to help, armed with hot dogs. The dog loved those but still wouldn’t let either of us get a leash around her neck. After another hour, the dog got full and started walking down the street. The volunteer followed her and found out she lives about a block away from the busy intersection. The owner knew she’d gotten out of her yard, knew she had no collar on, thought she “might be chipped”, and wasn’t worried because “she always comes home.” GAH. I hate some people. I was glad she made it home safely but hate that she might not be so lucky next time. At least the volunteer is aware of it, and said if the dog got loose again, she’d report the owner to animal control. Of course, all that will happen then is the owner will get cited, but it’s a start. It sucks to feel so helpless.

After that, my pants were wet, muddy, and cold, and I had no desire to go anywhere but home. I put on clean, warm pajamas and snuggled up with my own happy, safe dogs and cast on a new project with pretty yarn from my stash.

This might look familiar: it’s Manos del Uruguay’s color Locura Fluo, which I’m going to use for a sweater. This is one skein of Alegria Grande, which I accidentally ordered instead of Alegria one time. It was the most colorful larger-weight yarn in my stash, so on my needles it went. This the Oats cowl pattern from Tin Can Knits, something really simple to let the yarn be the star of the show.

I’m still slightly tempted to go to a yarn store today, since I’m off work for Presidents’ Day, but I’m also tempted by this gorgeous and fun yarn I found on Instagram: it’s called A Bonny Lass!!! How can I not order that? I think I need to make a big, gorgeous shawl and it needs to have some kind of Celtic cable design on it even though I don’t like making cables. So, we’ll see. I might just stay home with my pajamas and dogs today, or I might venture out. Either way, it’s a pretty happy day!

So that’s the problem!

Feb16

I made a hat yesterday. Like a whole hat, start to finish. And I enjoyed it and actually wanted to knit, which is different than the last few weeks have been for me. I was trying to figure out why that was, when I’ve been so stuck in my knitting lately, and I realized that I might just be stuck with fingering weight shawls and sweaters. My socks are still a reliable knit for me, and I’ve made two hats with worsted weight, but that Boxy sweater is my nemesis right now, and my Melodia shawl is boring me to tears with all those plain garter stitch rows.

Add that to yesterday’s yearning for a yarn store fix and I think one possible solution is to do some stash-diving today and find a new worsted weight project that excites me, in a pretty yarn I’ve forgotten about. Not to get all philosophical about it, but the rest of my life is challenging and stressful without any easy or quick fixes, so maybe I need the opposite from my knitting at the moment.

Here’s a sneak peek at my newest review project, which is for a new yarn from Manos del Uruguay. It’s a sport weight which apparently is different enough from fingering weight to keep me happy.

The pattern is the Oleada Cowl and I’m loving these striped chevrons! This is a really addictive pattern; I just want to get to that next color change.

Now, I’m having lunch with a former co-worker today, so the question is: do I go to the yarn store while I’m out? I mean, I legitimately need to buy a pompom!

Knitting “Accessorary”

Feb8

“Yeah, I said it, accessorary.”

I’ve been a little obsessed with Lizzo this week. If you haven’t listened to her album, you won’t get my reference, but if you don’t mind a lot of cussing, I recommend it. It’s got a heavy vibe of empowerment and self-confidence, and I need as much of that as possible. Plus it’s catchy and fun to sing along with. Anyway, I have zero knitting to share today. All I’ve done this week is about four inches of the second pink sock and I’m not wasting precious image space on that. Instead I’ll show you the gorgeous new mug I got from HaldeCraft.

It’s a purple sweater mug!! She had a little sale on the cable mugs and bowls and I just had to get myself a purple sweater mug. How could I not? I love it so much. And I love that it came with three packets of tea. We ordered a yellow butter dish from her to give to the girl for Christmas and I was just really impressed with everything, so I was delighted to get to order something else.

And here, I’ll show you one more thing:

6550E27B-6F5C-4077-AB96-E0D24B2E370C_1_201_a I now have a sweater quantity of Manos del Uruguay Alegria in Locura Fluo! Now, lest you think I have fallen off the wagon, this is my belated Christmas yarn that only set me back around $12, so I’m not counting it. I’s going to be bright and colorful and crazy and I think I’ll absolutely love it! But I have to knit it first. I think I’m going to use this pullover pattern, Apogean. Mine will be long-sleeved, not short. I was tempted to make a cardigan, but then I’d have to do an awful lot of purling (because this yarn needs to be stockinette and not garter), and I seem to go marginally faster on sweaters knit in the round than back and forth. In any case, I’m not going to cast on until I finish the Boxy on my needles so it’ll be a while because my knitting mojo is MIA and even when it appears, it doesn’t appear for sweater knitting. Maybe it will make for good TV knitting while I watch the Oscars tomorrow night.

Happy weekend, friends!

WIP Wednesday

Feb5

It’s socks. It’s always socks. When I’m stressed out, I knit socks, and the last few weeks have been…less than fun, I’ll say. So I’m making socks. I finished a pair and was going to share them for Sock it To Me Monday but I forgot, or rather my motivation was lacking that day. So here’s the pair I finished last weekend:

D56B8092-3F44-4186-8E06-B01D47A2F520 For someone who thought she didn’t like orange, I sure love it here, especially paired with the pink. The gray speckled yarn is Yarn Geek’s Super Geek yarn in Boxcar Gallery and I have enough to easily do another pair, especially if I do contrast cuff/toes again, and maybe make the leg a bit shorter. I’m thinking turquoise and lime green accents for the next pair! As soon as those were done, I went back to my older sock WIP and cranked out the rest of the first sock.

C33CC362-94AD-4826-AB80-D064F7F7551E This is Knit Picks’ Hawthorne Fingering and I love both the kettle dyed color and the feel, a crisp, sturdy yarn perfect for socks. The blue is also Knit Picks but I’m not sure which, maybe Stroll. It feels thinner and softer, but also not as sturdy, so it’ll be interesting to see how the toes and heels perform.

Part of me wants to cast on a new, exciting project, but my mojo just isn’t there right now. The hard conversation I had last week hasn’t been as helpful as I’d hoped, and I’m having to keep pushing myself to have more of them, and I’m tired. My heart is tired. But how can I expect others to advocate for me if I don’t advocate for myself? So I’m pushing. No, I’m persisting! I like that better.

Happy Wednesday, friends.

Happy February!

Feb2

I made it through the entire month of January without buying yarn! That’s a good feeling! I know it won’t happen in February because I’m going to Colorado to visit the girl this month and I’m sure a yarn store will be in the cards. And to be honest, I did order some yarn last night but that’s different: the MIL ordered yarn for me for Christmas and the package got lost, so she got a refund and gave me the money. I ordered the same yarn she’d ordered but from a different company and it was about $10 more, and I think that’s perfectly acceptable. Once it arrives, I’ll have the sweater quantity I’ve been wanting!

I also got a delayed Christmas present recently, some size 1 SmartStix DPNs! Please excuse the dog hair clinging to…everything.

They’re my new favorite sock needles. They’re pointier than my wood Clover needles, and they won’t bend over time. And I can measure progress with them, so handy!

Apparently today is some big day in sportsball land and even though I live in the KC Metro area, I am one of the few who will not be watching because I do not like that flavor of sportsball. There’s bound to be something else on TV, right? Happy Sunday, friends.