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So THAT’S sleep!

Jan25

Last night I forced asked the husband to sleep downstairs with Duncan so I could get a much-needed recharge in a real bed where I could move around as needed and not wake up at 4 in the morning. Guys, sleep is good. I still woke up a couple of times throughout the night, but I feel so much better this morning. Imagine what life will be like when I can do this EVERY night!! So let’s look at knitting, shall we? I’ve actually been working on my Boxy Fade the last couple of days and I’m THISCLOSE to being ready to split for sleeves. 496E95E7-21DE-4C9F-B204-5E7D1EB24CB5_1_201_aThis is usually what happens: once I the end is in sight, I get super motivated, and I’ll probably work on this most of the weekend. Because once I get the body done, the sleeves are just like half sleeves anyway and won’t take much time at all. And maybe I can have a new sweater to wear before spring!

I finished the Diamond Purl cowl the other day, when I was supposed to be working on the Fade, and it hasn’t even been blocked but I’ve been wearing it around the house, since we’re in the middle of a stupid cold spurt. It’s quite cozy and toasty, as tall as it is.

One more thing, and then I’ll be done. You could probably tell I was having a hard day yesterday. But after lunch I got my mail and found a sweet, encouraging card, and an unexpected gift, and it was exactly the boost I needed to get through the rest of the afternoon.

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These are the cutest stitch markers I’ve ever seen and I know they were made with affection and sent with kindness and really, nice people are just the best. I’ll be switching out the markers on my current projects this weekend!

I hope you all have a good weekend, however you define that. It feels like a lot of us are struggling right now, so take care of yourself, ask for what you need, and be kind to yourself!

I am not at my best

Jan24

I’m tired, guys. Like my brain and my body are just…tired. And it means I’m not functioning at my best in any aspect of my life. Nothing’s falling apart, but I’m just getting by at the moment. And that’ll have to be okay for now.

Duncan is three weeks out from surgery and recovering pretty well, but there’s still one spot on his incision that hasn’t closed up, which is why I’m so tired. He either needs to be supervised or coned to be sure he’s not licking it, and since he’s in the cone all day while we’re gone, I can’t in good conscience make him try to sleep with it. I mean, it’s kind of ridiculous for me to be sacrificing my good sleep for his good sleep but that’s how moms roll a lot of the time, right?

The knitting is going fine, when I have the energy to do any of it. I’ll show you some tomorrow but today I wanted to share my newest purchases. I’ve coveted the Cube bags from Thimble & Thread Make for ages. They’re handmade, they come in fun colors with contrasting linings, they’re sturdy canvas, and best of all, they have a lining with snaps so you can put your pins on the bag without your knitting catching on the backs! But they’re from the UK, so I’ve resisted for a long time. Then, they made a PURPLE one. And I’m not buying yarn, which means I’m more susceptible to knitting accessories. So I caved and ordered the large Cube bag, and it arrived two weeks later.

Look at that beauty! I love it. I can’t wait to get it all decorated with some pins; I just have to decide which ones to put on there. And it means I have room for more, should my collection grow.

I did get further distracted while on their site, and since I was paying for international shipping anyway, these little goodies slipped into my cart as well.

The notions pouch has an actual wax seal on the back! And hopefully you can see the detail on the clay Sorting Hat charm, the wee face carved into it. There’s also an R carved on the bottom, since I’m a Ravenclaw.

I’m not sure how this all works into my current yarn diet philosophy, but at least my stash isn’t growing. Do you get tempted by other things when you’re not buying yarn?

Musings on a Monday

Jan20

If you read my last post, you’ll know I was meant to work on my Faded Boxy yesterday. Why I thought making an oversized sweater in fingering weight yarn was a good idea, I’ll never understand, because it’s taking 84 years just to knit the dang body. I started this sweater over four months ago and I’m finally getting to a point where I can imagine splitting for the sleeves.

908CC117-7E5F-453E-A443-3B519E8A2B1A_1_201_aThis is about 16 inches, and I need 19 before I split. That’s just one color section; I can do that. Or can I? Yesterday I did not work on my Faded Boxy. Instead I cast on a new worsted weight cowl, because those are my jam right now.

8875B99C-4DF8-4BA1-AF48-E0741A8D8748This is the Diamond Purl Cowl in KnitPicks Preciosa, color Tadpole. This is one of my favorite yarns from KnitPicks. It’s soft and fluffy and I love the subtle variations in the color. The pattern is pretty easy, still a comfort project as I sit with Duncan. Now, the question is: as I watch the coverage of the Australian Open today, will I work on the cowl, or the sweater?

And today is my Dad’s birthday. He would have been 76 today, and he’s been gone almost eight years now. Yes, it’s gotten easier, but I still miss him, and it’s still sharp sometimes.

IMG_5621Not everyone marks these days, the birthdays and death days of people they’ve lost. Maybe they think it prolongs the grieving process. It’s different for everyone but for me, I think of Dad often. I’m going to be sad about it sometimes regardless. And recognizing those days means they’re still important to me, and that Dad’s still a part of our family, even if just in this tiniest of ways. I like having this special day where I remember Dad fondly and with intent, and I allow myself to feel the loss a little bit. So, Happy Birthday, Dad. Wish you were here.

FO: Peyto Lake Cowl

Jan19

There has been knitting again! I got a full night’s sleep Friday night which felt amazing and restored a lot of energy, both physical & mental/emotional. Long-term sleep deprivation is not fun, and I’m really glad Duncan is almost to the point of being left alone at night without the cone. Anyway, I spent some time hanging with Dunkie yesterday and finished a cowl I haven’t even shown you before.

You know my goal is to work down my stash, so lately I’ve just been poking around and pulling out skeins that call my name, then finding a project for them. This is a skein of Malabrigo Worsted, one of my favorite Malabrigo yarns, in the color Whales Road. (Which I also have in Mecha and the colors look SO different which is weird.) I poked around in Ravelry and settled on the Peyto Lake Cowl, since the water theme kind of went with the blue/purple colors of the yarn. The wavy lace gets a little lost in the color variegations but I don’t mind.

I’m just loving knitting worsted weight cowls again, after so long knitting with fingering weight. I’ve got another one on my needles, but it’s a totally mindless all-stockinette cowl with rolled edges and everything, so I save that for when I don’t want to use any brain cells at all. This yarn is Dark Side of the Moon by Alexandra’s Crafts, in the color Purple Rain. And it’s a merino/SILK blend, yay!

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I’ve got a two days left in my three-day weekend, so I anticipate more knitting in my future. Let’s see if I can motivate myself to work on my Purple Faded Boxy, or if I’ll cast on for another worsted weight cowl. I do have the yarn already picked out and the pattern purchased!

Bandana Cowl

Jan14

What’s today, Tuesday? I think that’s right. I’m still sleeping downstairs with a dog and I do believe it’s killing brain cells every night. But Duncan did well by himself yesterday while we were all gone, mostly thanks to a healthy dose of a sedative. He slept all day and all evening and didn’t perk up until 4 am, unfortunately. He got a slightly smaller dose today and hopefully that will balance things out a bit. Anyway, I’m really here to share the knitting, because I finished a project. I started a Bandana Cowl last week with some Woolfolk LUFT from my stash.

img_6545I LOVE this yarn. It’s so soft and lightweight, it’s like wearing a warm cloud. I had a little over a skein and a half so I just kept knitting the top part until the yarn was almost gone. It’s been done for a few days, even washed and blocked, but I never found a good time to take photos, until yesterday, when I wore it for the first time.

img_6608It’s perfect, just perfect. I can pull it up to cover part of my face and it’s super warm without being heavy. And I just now looked up the fiber content: it’s 55% merino and 45% Pima cotton. I had no idea there was cotton in there! Well, this is the best yarn I’ve ever used with cotton in it and now I want more. Except not because I’m not adding to my stash right now! Right? Right!

FO: Rasta Hat

Jan13

I was not in a sock mood last week, which is very weird for me. I think I knit about an inch of my current sock over the entire week, so there’s no point in sharing that. Last week was about bulky yarns, the bulkier the better, and for me, the best bulky yarn is Malabrigo Rasta. I pulled out a skein of gray Rasta the other day and within a couple of hours, I had a finished hat. I love that.

fullsizeoutput_2538The pattern is Nour and I love it except I made it a touch too long, so it slides down more than I’d like. If I were really crazy ambitious, I could frog back to the last pattern repeat and re-knit it smaller, but I don’t think that sounds like fun. If I end up really disliking it, I’ll give this one to someone else and make a new one for me! The pompom is one of the fantastic snap-on versions, so I can switch it out with other colors.

Today I go back to work, which means Duncan will be confined in the kitchen, wearing a cone, with a couple of Trazodone to keep him calm and sleepy while I’m gone. Here’s hoping all goes well!

 

A Dog Leg Warmer

Jan12

Duncan had a shaved spot on one of his front legs, where they had the IV during his surgery, and when he came home, he kept licking that spot. Originally I took a t-shirt and trimmed it so it covered that leg, and it was pretty cute.

img_6530But, well, I’m a knitter, and I kept thinking I could do better than a t-shirt, especially as that t-shirt got grungier. So last night I whipped up a little doggy leg warmer and by some miracle, it fit!

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Sadly, it’s really only good when he’s lying down. When he’s up and moving around, it slides down and eventually works itself off. Oh, well, it was a nice idea at least. Tomorrow I’m back to work so he’ll be in the cone and confined in the kitchen, so he won’t be able to lick anything anyway. And Thursday we’ll go back to the vet to hopefully get the stitches out and maybe even get permission to ditch the cone!

 

Thinning the Herd

Jan11

Every January, a large number of knitters declare, “I’m going to knit from stash this year! I’m not going to buy so much new yarn!” I’m usually one of those knitters, and this year is no different. I do want to knit from stash; I’ve spent a long time cultivating a healthy collection of beautiful yarns.

img_5735I mean, look at all that yarn!! I shouldn’t need to buy more at all for a long time! But I don’t want to stop buying new yarn completely. That’s not realistic or fun, especially since I’ll be going to Knitting in the Heartland this year. No, my goal this year is to simply use more from my stash than I add to it. I’m going by skein count rather than yardage and to increase accountability, I created a page in my knitting journal to keep track of skeins in and out. I’m off to a good start, especially after a week of lots of knitting time: I’ve used five skeins from stash and added none! Last night I wound two more skeins and this morning cast on for a new project, a Malabrigo Rasta hat that I’ve been planning for about a year.

img_6584What are your goals for stash this year?

Baa? Bah!

Jan8

One of my work knitting friends makes the cutest animals, some knit, some crochet. She’s done elephants and pigs and I don’t know what else, but I love them. Most recently she made the cutest little sheep and I just had to make one for myself. It’s small and quick enough that I made it all in one night, just a few hours.

So cute! And soft! And fluffy! And so fiddly to make that it’s gonna be one and done for me! Now, I probably got annoyed because I sewed the legs wrong the first time, and had to pull it apart and re-sew them, but still, making tiny animals has never been my favorite thing. So now I have my wee sheep and I can move on…to Eeyore. Sigh. I know, I never learn.

Duncan’s getting better every day, which is good and bad. He’s well behaved until around 3:30 in the afternoon, and then he’s bored and restless and wants to do all the things he’s not allowed to do. Yesterday we got a delivery of new Benebone chew toys, which was a huge help.

IMG_6548Not sure what I’ll do this afternoon when I have no more new toys to give him, though!

Chasing Squirrels

Jan7

I had projects picked out to work on while I’m home with Duncan; I even cast on a new one this morning. But then I decided I wanted to knit a little sheep, and also I want to crochet a little Eeyore. So I pulled out my baskets of yarn leftovers for those, and stumbled across a shawl I made six years ago that had dropped stitches and was a tangled mess. Like a dog distracted by a squirrel, I decided I really needed to frog that shawl and reclaim the yarn. Guys, it took over two hours.

But hey, I have a ball of purple yarn to add back to my stash! Sadly, it’s weird yarn (Feza Yarns Alp Natural) that’s a mixture of different fibers, including one stretch of velvet/chenille stuff that knits up weird. Plus, each stretch of yarn is joined by a knot, and I don’t love that. I don’t know if I’ll try it again any time soon, but it is a good feeling to at least have it available if I want want, rather than a shawl I couldn’t wear.

I was more focused yesterday, which is how I also have a new FO to share. This is another Flor de Maio cowl, which I’ve made four times now, in Plymouth Yarns Baby Alpaca Grande Glow.

fullsizeoutput_2531I love knitting with alpaca. I love the thread of sparkle in the Grande Glow. Sadly, I can’t wear it next to my neck, so this one is for a friend at work. And now that this is done, and the yarn untangling is done, maybe I’ll get back to the Bandana cowl I cast on this morning!