The Color Purple

Apr12

What did I do with my busy busy day yesterday? Well, not knit, that’s for sure! Nope, I spent the day with my MIL, aka my favorite hairdresser, and emerged with a new hairdo! I thought about waiting to post until I could get a “better” photo, i.e. one with makeup and a nicer shirt and a better background, and then I thought, nah. This is me. This is what I look like on a regular basis. It is what it is. So without further ado, voila: If you’re wondering WHY the heck I would dye my hair purple, read this post from a couple of years ago. I loved my purple hair, truly. The only reason I went back to “normal” hair is that I was going on a big vacation to Washington D.C. with my mom and kids, and either I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that with purple hair, or I knew my mother would rather I not have purple hair in those photos. Not sure. In any case, I missed my pretty hair and decided to do it again and this time it will stick around indefinitely. It makes me happy.

I did manage to pick up some 5″ DPNs yesterday and started another fingerless glove this morning. They’re a bit more fiddly, but they’re much more comfortable than the 7″ metal DPNs I was using. The metal hurts my fingers after an hour of knitting. And since I had a Jo-Ann coupon, it was a good buy.

If you could anything wild and crazy with your hair, what would you do? What’s stopping you?

The Birthday Girl

Mar8

Selfish knitting was interrupted by commissioned knitting yesterday, as I got an order for two baby Yoda hats. Fortunately they’re finished and ready to mail, but I don’t anticipate much knitting time today: it’s the girl’s birthday! And she’s 16!! In the blink of an eye, we went from this: to this: It’s gotten more fun with every year. She’s a pretty cool kid. Sad to think that in just a couple of years she’ll go off to college. But I won’t think about that today. Today we’ll just celebrate, and I’ll be back with more knitting stuff tomorrow!

Yoda Interrupts

Feb25

No progress on my Marshmallow Fluff today, sadly. Yesterday was a busy day. I got to visit with my wee nephew, who is often crabby but awfully cute, and I got to visit my mother, who seemed delighted with her rainbow cowl and who also bought one of my other cowls. Then I got an order for a Yoda hat, this time for a 2-year-old. I’m selling these made to order now, and they’d like it quickly, so I needed to get to work. But I also had to drive the girl to flute lesson (45 minutes each way) and of course I had to watch American Idol last night. Here’s what I’ve got so far: I need to get busy. This needs to be shipped out today! So nope, I don’t get to play with the buttons my mom gave me yesterday. Don’t you just want to paw through all of those? I do! But it’ll wait. I’m off to knit Yoda and watch Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. (That show is hilarious. If you like musicals and quirky humor, you need to be watching it. Seriously.)

And if you want to see some Marshmallow Fluff, check out Mulch and More Crafts. She’s going much faster with her cowl than I am, and it looks great!

Two More Hats

Feb11

Yesterday I wondered how many hats I could get done before Saturday. The answer is: At least two. Waiting room Yoda hat: To be fair, I only need to knit one ear and then sew the ears on, but still. Another hat added to the pile.

Flute lesson pink sparkle hat: I got about halfway done during lesson and finished last night during American Idol. The pompom was made and attached this morning. This one is an older child size. I kind of want one myself! The yarn is an acrylic blend, Cascade Yarns’ Cherub Aran Sparkle. It’s not fancy but it’s fun, affordable, and washable. I’ve still got some left so I’m thinking I need to do a gray newborn size beanie, simple and classic. That might be today’s project, something easy to work on since the kids have a half day today so they’ll be home early, making all the noise. For now, I’m going to take advantage of the peace and quiet to work on my manuscript a bit.

Before I go, here’s a photo of Grace, since usually Jack is the star of my photos. These furry blankets were Christmas gifts, and Grace is convinced they’re hers.

Oh Yeah, Knitting

Feb10

I’ve been distracted from my knitting the last few days, but I came back to it yesterday. While in a waiting room, I knit up some Yoda ears and completed another Yoda hat. It looks a little long, doesn’t it? Hmm. I used a different hat pattern this time. I might modify it a bit next time. I’ve got another Yoda waiting for one more ear, and then it’ll go into the For Sale pile too. I also finished the pink and gray hat last night. Now I need to make one in the reverse colors, but I don’t know if it’ll happen before Saturday. You may remember, I have a small craft show on Saturday, and I’m focusing on hats for this one. I’m trying to get a good variety of price points, and acrylic kid hats seem to be popular. Anyway, once I finished this one, it was time to get everything tagged and priced. I turned up Adele and got to work. I added 17 hats and 4 cowls to my inventory! With any luck, I’ll come home from the show with a lot fewer. Now, let’s see how many more hats I can knit before Saturday…

Joining the Modern World

Feb8

I think I did something really cool this weekend, something that will help my small businesses. I’ve been working on a computer that’s ten years old. Thanks to my husband, it had a huge hard drive, but not much memory and a very slow processing speed. (I don’t speak computer fluently. This is the best I can do.) Anyway, after my word processor kept locking up while I was working on my proofreading job, I decided enough was enough, and I upgraded. I now have a modern computer that runs quickly and smoothly. I have an upgraded version of Pages, with lots of features I didn’t know existed, though soon I’ll be adding Word. The photo editing websites, like PicMonkey, work much faster now, so I can more easily create cool graphics for my Bonny Knits stuff. The proofreading end results are the same, but I can get there faster and more easily, and that’s a huge plus. I’m really excited!

So with this new tool, I’ve decided I’m going to set up a website for my proofreading. Even if I’m mostly getting jobs by word-of-mouth, I’d like to have something people can be referred to, something professional and clear. So I’m checking out hosting sites and trying to decide which route to take. Soon I’ll be asking my authors for testimonials to add to the site, and then it’ll go live and I’ll get jobs to help pay for my computer upgrade and I’ll be even more excited!

Most of my weekend was taken up with words (I did finish my proofreading job and sent back to the author this morning) but last night I cast on for a new hat. I’ve got a small craft show this Saturday, so I’ve been making a few inexpensive pieces to fill out my inventory. I really like this one! Toddler-sized basic beanie in sparkly acrylic, and of course I’ll add a pompom too. The coolest thing is that I learned how to do the jog-less join and now my “seam” is practically invisible!

I love it! But before I can finish it, I should probably do some work toward my newest website. Happy Monday, friends!

Depression Remission?

Feb5

I had a conversation with a friend recently where I mentioned that I’m supposed to go off my antidepressants this spring. Her reaction? “Oh, that’s good!” And that’s a pretty normal reaction; I’ve the same reaction in the same situation. Why? Why is that good? Because it’s supposed to indicate that I’m “all better now”? Because I’m supposed to be able to handle my emotions on my own? And maybe that is/should be the goal of happy meds: help you get over the hump of depression, when they can, so you can get back to living a happy life without them. I suppose it’s no different than blood pressure meds, or meds for diabetes. If you can get your body to a point where it’s healthy enough without them, it’s a good thing to be able to stop taking them. I’m just sensitive to the subject of meds for mental health, and when the reaction to going off them is “Good!”, then I start thinking, “Wait, does that mean it’s bad that I was on them?” And the answer to that is always NO, it’s not bad. If you struggle with depression and can’t manage it on your own, and your doctor has prescribed them, and you take them properly, and they HELP? That’s not bad, that’s great.

Am I all better now? Who knows, right? I believe my depression was caused (for lack of a better word) by a lot of stressful, crappy things going on in my life at the same time, and my mind/body sort of collapsed. So now that I’m past the worst of the stress/grief/pain/anger, I am in a much better place emotionally. I feel happy these days. I worried about my broken foot bringing me down again, and it did, but I didn’t realize how much until it was healed. It’s like you don’t know how much something hurts until it stops, right? I’m back to my calm, peaceful, content place again. THAT’S what’s good, whether it’s with meds or without. And I *think* I’ll be fine to stop the meds, I really do. But it’s still scary. I don’t want to go back to where I was before I started taking them. And if I do, I’ll have no reservations about going back on them.

So it’s not “good” that I’m going off my meds; it’s “I’m glad you’re doing well!” Just like it’s not “bad” if someone starts taking meds; it’s “I’m sorry you’re struggling.”

I know what my friend meant; that part is fine. But it just got me thinking, and I want to be aware of the effects of my words. Maybe I’m overthinking this, maybe I’m too sensitive. The most important thing when dealing with depression is finding something that works for YOU, be it exercise, diet, therapy, meds, or any combination of things. For me, it’s been my meds, and my knitting. (I’m going to start exercising soon. I think. I mean, I am. Sighhhh.) The meds may go away, but the knitting will be here forever.

The Snood, and a Hat

Feb2

The snood is complete and en route to my customer today, so I feel safe in sharing photos. I’m delighted with it! It was much simpler than I expected, and really fun to make. I’m definitely going to make one to add to my Etsy shop. This one is for a girl pup, so she got a cute little pompom on the tail. … Shoot. Nope, accidentally deleted the photos I took yesterday. Here’s all that’s left. Just imagine the pompom. And better lighting. And a puppy inside, while you’re imagining.

I made another hat yesterday. I ran errands all day long and when I finally was able to sit and relax, I picked up my crochet hook and a skein of white cotton. Here’s what happened. I never get tired of this pattern. It’s so fast, and I love the look of the crochet body with the elasticity of the knitted brim. It’s called the Combination Summer Hat.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a manuscript to proofread! Whee! So far I’ve gotten jobs through word of mouth, but I might be ready to set up a simple, basic website. I just need to find the time to sit down with my resident IT genius. That might be the hard part!

Doing it Wrong

Feb1

Guys, I have something crazy to say: I have been knitting wrong for the last three years. More specifically, I have been purling wrong. Remember I was working on a greyhound snood and my two sections of stockinette looked so different? The top part was done in the round on DPNs, the bottom flat on straights. Well, another knitter mentioned that the alternate rows, the purl rows, on the flat section looked twisted. She was very kind and said it didn’t look bad, it wasn’t wrong, just maybe that’s why it was different. Well, I went to Youtube and looked at purling videos and behold! I have been wrapping my yarn the wrong way from the beginning! This is the video I watched, just because it was the first one, and they even show the “incorrect” way later. So yes, my purl rows were twisted. I’m sure it happened because I taught myself to purl from a book and never had anyone watching to say, oh hey, that’s different!

This was a huge Aha! moment for me. Why? Because from the beginning, I’ve found it harder to knit into purl stitches, and it made me dislike stockinette knit flat and garter stitch in the round. This is why! So if I can train myself to do it correctly, it will make my knitting easier. It also explained why so many people dislike purling. I never understood it, because for me it was as quick and easy as knitting. But this new way isn’t as easy, and partly that’s because it’s new to me, and I have to retrain my fingers, teach them new muscle memory.

The other cool thing is that my Knitting SIL pointed out that if I really want to keep purling the way I do (which is a bit faster and easier than the ‘correct’ way, I think) I can remedy it on the next row by knitting into the back loops. I probably won’t use that as my regular method, because I do want to get into the habit of using the right techniques, but it’s nice to know I have options.

Now, I know, there’s not a “right” or “wrong” way to knit, and I agree that my twisted stockinette section looks pretty cool. I like it, and it can be a technique in my tool kit. But there are traditional, accepted forms of the knit and purl stitches, and I was bucking tradition. I want to be a proper knitter, and for me, that means learning to do it the traditional way. Then while I’m knitting, I can make the choice to do it however I want! And I might just want to keep knitting in the round so it’s not much of an issue. 🙂 This is another Yoda hat. I made three this weekend (base hats only, no ears yet) while I was watching the finals of the Australian Open. We’re testing Sling TV for a week, and the sports part is great because I can just use the ESPN app on the Apple TV. But the Sling TV app itself is kind of terrible. It crashes A LOT and I have a lot of problems trying to use AirPlay to show the video from the iPad on the TV. It’s pretty disappointing. We probably won’t sign up; for $20 a month, I want consistency and reliability. So I guess we’ll go back to just having Hulu and Netflix. It sure was nice having tennis to watch again though!

A Greyhound Snood

Jan29

You’ve seen the photos, I’m sure, of the dogs wearing the hooded cowl-type things? Well, that’s called a snood and they’re popular for greyhounds because apparently they get cold more quickly than other breeds. I got a request for one the other day, and it’s been a fun project so far. It’s unusual and different, and I like the idea of keeping a puppy warm! I chose a machine-washable yarn since even though the dog is “reasonably clean dog” (what does that even mean? My dogs don’t speak that language!), she’s still a dog. I’m using the Pointy Greyhound Hood pattern. Most of the patterns were just the cowl/neckwarmer but she specifically wanted a hood, so a hood she’ll get! I cast on last night and it’s going quickly so far. It’s cool because you start with the ribbing in the round, which is what goes around her face, then you take part of the stitches and knit flat for a while, then you join in the round again for the pointy hat part. It was also interesting to see how much my tension differed from knitting flat on straights (lower portion) to knitting in the round on DPNs.Yep, I used the same size needles. Big difference, huh? Anyway, once I’m done with the pointy hat bit, I’ll go back to those open stitches (the ones at the bottom still on a circular needle), pick up some more, and knit in the round again for the neck portion. It’s a nifty design, and I can’t wait to see it on the pretty pup! Not my pretty pup, though. I’m afraid it wouldn’t last long. He may look docile but when he and Grace get going, they’re pretty crazy.

I wish you a happy Friday, and Jack wishes you happy napping!

bonnyknits

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