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WIP Wednesday

May5

There are a lot of WIPs at my house lately. The house is the biggest work in progress, still. They’ve gotten a lot done but I’m guessing we still have at least a week of work left, if not more. I’m hoping they finish the deck stairs today, and they’ve started putting up the new clapboard siding.

I’m totally in love with my new deck. It’s 12′ deep and there’s going to be plenty of room for the grill and a table and chairs, and maybe even a lounging chair for napping in the sun, plus three dogs. I’m so glad we decided to splurge on a huge deck, since sitting out back with the dogs is my favorite part of this house. Who knows, maybe we’ll decide to stay here after all!

Of course I’ve got my knitting WIPs too. Even though I have probably six things on my needles, I’m still only working on one or two projects at a time. One is a sock and one is a bigger project. I just finished my Walls wrap, which I’ll share Friday, so right now, these are the two.

I’ve got maybe four or five rows left on the sweater before I get to join in the round. I’m still totally in love with this yarn and I think I’m going to love wearing it. And my Twilight sock is growing nicely and look, I even managed to match the stripes! It totally doesn’t bother me when they don’t match, but it does tickle me when they do.

The last bit of news is that we got the boy a car on Monday! He’d had a 1963 Mercury Comet for a couple of years, but they never really got it running, so he wasn’t able to drive it. With us working from home so much, it was no problem for him to just use one of our cars. But things are starting to open up, I might be going back to work at least part-time this summer, and he’s graduating high school this month. It was time to get him some reliable transportation of his own. We found a nice used car with super low mileage, and though it’s not the cutest car, it’s got space in the back for him to lug around his guitars and amps and other music gear.

He seems thrilled with it and I’m glad we’re in a position to be able to help him with this — though it might have been nice if it hadn’t been at the same time as needing to pay for the renovation, haha!

Happy Wednesday, friends!

A new project!

Apr26

Today is my knitting anniversary! Eight years ago today, I finished my first knitting project, a mug cozy with a button. My knitting SIL taught me to knit, and this project taught me the knit stitch, decreasing, increasing, and a simple button hole. If I remember right, this was an inexpensive wool/acrylic mix, and I borrowed some bamboo straight needles from my SIL because I didn’t have any yet. That didn’t last long, though!

Knitting and I have been very happy together for the last eight years!

I’m not sure what motivated me, but I cast on a new project this weekend. I’ve been collecting Manos del Uruguay in the color Locura Fluo for a while now, planning to make a super bright, fun sweater. I started the gauge swatch months ago and then it went into hibernation for ages. Happily the gauge swatch, which was my second, gave me the right gauge, so I was able to cast on right away. I want the yarn to be the main focus so I chose a simple pullover called Apogean. I’ll do a long sleeve version but I haven’t decided if I’ll do a solid color, like gray, for the ribbing.

I’m almost to the part when I get to join in the round, and then it will just be lots and lots of colorful stockinette! I think I might enjoy it with this yarn.

Happy Monday, friends!

Nothing finished over here

Apr23

It’s Friday but I have zero FOs to show off. Not the knitting, and not the house. But there has been good progress on both this week. Since I finished my last bigger project (which I think was the Water shawl??), I’ve been focusing on my gradient Walls (Circus) wrap, and it’s getting enormous. When it’s done, it’s supposed to be over nine feet long! I’m on color four of five and to be honest, I’m quite bored with it. But I’m sure I’ll love it when it’s done. I do love the yarn, which is a gradient set from Neighborhood Fiber Co. I also started another sock. I stumbled onto a great sale at Webs and bought several solid colors of Cloudborn sock yarn and had to cast on for a striped sock right away.

The house project is coming along. The demo is done, and they removed the back of the house so they could do spray foam insulation. Insulation wasn’t a thing 100 years ago when this house was built, so I’m excited to get at least one side insulated. Yesterday the crew was here almost a full 12 hours doing the insulation, sheathing, and vapor barrier. It was supposed to rain today (though of course it hasn’t yet) so we’re getting a nice break from the noise and intrusion until next week, when they’ll start putting the clapboard siding back on. After that, it’ll be a deck and paint, I think!

Yes, there will be some windows and a door on this side! Overall, living through the reno hasn’t been as stressful as I expected, but I definitely miss having easy backyard access for the dogs. They’re enjoying all their walks though!

It’s been a productive week over here — hope it’s been good for you too. Happy Friday, friends.

Weekend Adventure

Apr20

Whew, I’m tired, guys. The husband and I went on a quick weekend road trip to visit the girl in Colorado and watch her perform her junior flute recital. We packed two days full of adventure and good food and vaccinated hugs, and it was all fantastic.

Of course I had to visit a yarn store in Fort Collins! And Longmont! Plus the husband found me the perfect travel mug at a kitchen store. So I came home with yarn goodies and a finished sock.

But there was a day of driving on either end, and we came home to minor renovation-related electrical issues, two dogs coming home from boarding full of craziness, one upset dog stomach, one damaged car bumper from an altercation with a curb, plus the usual unpacking etc. Fortunately, the clever husband blocked the gaps in the fence with some temporary fencing, so we’re able to take the dogs to the backyard when the workmen aren’t here. That helps so much! They’ve made amazing progress on the demolition; now they’ll move on to cleaning up the side of the house. The extra wiring and light fixtures will go away, the two upper doors will become windows, and the wall sections will be replaced with clapboard siding. No idea how long it’ll all take, but I’m hoping no more than a couple of weeks. Three dogs and limited backyard access is not fun!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to take a nap before dinner! Happy Tuesday, friends.

WIP Wednesday

Apr14

I’ve been working on my Desert Vista Dyeworks socks in the Bella & Edward colorway but I’m waffling at the moment. I wish I’d done contrast heels and toes. Normally I don’t mind a weird disruption of the stripes but since these are my Twilight socks, I kind of want them to be awesome.

I think I’m going to rip back before the heel and do a contrast color. What color should I use?

My other current, and main, WIP is the house. The painters are making good progress and I’m delighted with how it’s turning out.

I’m not sure how much longer they’ll be here, but demo on the back of the house starts tomorrow so we’ll most likely have workers in the front and back of the house for at least a few days. The dogs will be thrilled, I’m sure. I’m very excited to say goodbye to our sad, sagging addition.

The husband and I are now both fully vaccinated, and the kids have had their first shots, and it’s a relief. I’m so looking forward to being able to hug my relatives and friends again!

Happy Wednesday, friends.

FO Monday: it’s a thing, I swear

Apr5

You can decide for yourself what the FO stands for in this case!

I shared my socks on Friday, so I don’t have any to share today. I mean, I did get about three inches of a new sock done but that’s not very interesting, is it? And I have an actual finished object to share. This little cowl kind of flew under the radar. I didn’t post about it too much and it hung around for ages and then after my socks were done, I decided it was time to get this done too.

This is the Gris de lin cowl and I used my single special skein of Malabrigo Mora, which is 100% Mulberry silk, and the color is Sabiduria. I wasn’t good about weighing the yarn as I knit and I wasn’t in the mood to play yarn chicken, so I skipped the last pattern repeat and don’t feel the lack of it at all. It’s the perfect little silky cowl.

In exciting home renovation news: we have painters here today! They have been power washing the exterior to prep for paint and at first I was very excited and now after six+ hours of near-constant noise, my excitement has faded slightly. But as soon as they start painting, I know it’ll come back. No word yet on when the demolition will start on the back of the house, but surely it will be soon, if they’ve begun the painting process? All in due time, I guess. Maybe I’ll have a painting progress photo to share by the end of the week!

Happy Monday, friends.

Sunday Socks

Apr4

It seems appropriate that I share these socks on Sunday because the yarn color is “I woke up Sunday morning”! I finished them Friday night and boy howdy are DK socks fast! I love that! I need to remember that the next time the boy with the big feet requests socks.

The color is the truest in that first photo. I’m apparently still learning how to take photos with my fancy phone! The yarn is from Ewe Turn Dyeworks and it was lovely to work with. It’s so squishy! I’m looking forward to wearing these the next time we get some cooler temps.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate, and Happy Sunday to those who don’t!

FO Friday: Socks

Apr2

After I finished my Water shawl last week, I went back to socks, and that’s been my main focus this week. I finished the first Ewe Turn Dyeworks DK sock and the second Ella Fitzgerald inspired sock — and I have 54 grams of the Ella yarn left over! I’m totally going to make another pair but with purple contrast bits next time.

Before I do that though, I really need to cast on one of my new sock yarns! I fell deep into the Desert Vista Dyeworks website and couldn’t resist the yarns inspired by Twilight, West Side Story, and Wonder Woman. Pretty sure Bella & Edward will be first, and I might even do a Twilight marathon this weekend while I knit them.

Happy Friday, friends.

Sock It To Me Monday

Mar29

I finished my rainbow shorties late last week, which meant it was time to cast on another sock … even though I still have one sock WIP on my needles. Two sock projects at one time is fine, right? This pair is with new DK yarn that Shannon sent me, part of her new yarn business, Ewe Turn Dyeworks.

The pattern is a simple purl chevron that I got from a book, like an actual book in my knitting library. I’m trying not to use Ravelry and since I have four sock books, I should make good use of them! The DK feels so thick and squishy after doing fingering weight socks but I did have some size issues. Last night I got to the toe and realized the foot seemed larger than usual. It probably would have been okay, but I decided to frog back anyway. I pulled back to the end of the gusset decreases and just did two more decrease rows. Should be a better fit now!

Yesterday Sarah and I tried for one of our outdoor knitting dates, but our excitement about “spring weather” was a little early. Instead of sunny and temps in the 50s, by 1:30 it was only 46, and it was sunny but windy. We survived two hours and even though it wasn’t as long as we’d hoped, it should tide us over until it is actually warm enough!

Hope you had a good weekend too. Happy Monday, friends.

FO Friday: Water Shawl

Mar26

Oh happy day! It is Friday, it is sunny, and I have a new shawl to show off! This was our Blogville KAL led by Alissa at Headknits. It started on March 1 and even though we have until the end of … um, June, maybe, I finished mine Wednesday and blocked it yesterday. It was greatly helped by two things: I am currently a monogamous knitter, and the boy has been re-watching Doctor Who in the evenings. I’ve seen those enough that I can focus on the pattern and just half-listen to the Doctor. (Tennant is my favorite but Matt Smith is a VERY CLOSE second. And Smith with River and the Ponds is probably the best combo ever.) Without further ado, here is my Water shawl:

I know, it looks nothing like water, being this dark pink color, but it called for two skeins and I had two skeins of this that needed a pattern and I couldn’t justify buying two new skeins just for this. The yarn is from The Periwinkle Sheep. I don’t remember the base name but it’s 100% merino and the color is Fuschia Agate and it’s gorgeous, so rich and vivid. It didn’t lose any color when I blocked it, either!

The pattern is Water by Soft Sweater Knits. Though she has several patterns available on Payhip, Water is only on Ravelry at the moment. There were a few tricky bits in there for me, a couple of instructions that weren’t clear for me, which is why I was so glad this was a KAL and I could ask the other girls what I was supposed to do! The lace sections are lace short rows, which was only tricky the first time around. I did use stitch markers each time I turned, and I definitely recommend lifelines before each lace section. But once I got into the flow of it, I sailed along smoothly! (Hee hee, see what I did there?) Well, until the bind off, which is apparently a knitted on bind off or some such nonsense and took ages but my goodness, it sure is worth it in the end. Look at those little loopy bits!

I used around 600 yards and probably could have gotten another pattern repeat in, but it’s plenty big enough as is, very close to the ideal shawl size for me. It is kind of hard to show the full size of it; I don’t have a great way to display it stretched out.

But the branches of my beautiful magnolia tree seem as good a place as any! Happy Friday, friends.