So, it’s…done?

Jun24

The good news is: I bound off my commissioned Find Your Fade this weekend! Even got it washed and blocked too! As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to do the last section by fading back to the first color with the leftovers. That didn’t go exactly as expected, as I ran out of Color A with something like 12 rows still to go. At that point, I could have weirdly just picked back up with Color C, or frogged back to where I started fading back and knit longer with Color C. Not surprisingly, I didn’t care for either option. So I figured, what the heck, just bind off early, it won’t matter that much! Well. That’s debatable.

Instead of a nice point on top, I have an interesting edge. I don’t hate it, but in hindsight I would have chosen differently. I’ll unpin it tonight and see how it hangs when I try to wear it. I’m not ruling out the idea of undoing the bindoff and frogging back, but man, I’d love to avoid it.

And speaking of avoiding, Grace was a very good girl and knew she wasn’t supposed to walk on this big wet smelly thing on the floor of my craft room.

And now it’s Monday and I’m wondering where the heck my weekend went!

Fading Out

Jun22

I have been knitting and knitting on my Fade shawl all month, and I’m very close to the finish line! I’m on section 12 of 13 and still have a fair amount of the third skein left over. Totally didn’t expect that, even though I am using smaller needles. It’s possible that I also messed up on yarnovers and my stitch count isn’t right, but I’m not fretting about that. It’s turning out just fine.

Since I have so much of color 3 left (maybe 20 grams), and at least that much of colors 2 and 1, I’m going to fade back out for the last section, rather than dipping into color 4 just for one section. Then I can use color 4 for something else completely, and I think it’ll look really cool to end back on that lighter yellow. So that’s pretty much my weekend sorted!

Um hey, here’s a sock

Jun18

I finished a sock yesterday, so that’s something. I also had a visit to the MinuteClinic yesterday for a clogged ear, and then last night our upstairs A/C decided it was going to die. Right in the middle of a Midwest summer, sure, no problem. I mean, June is kind of trying to kick my ass, but so far I’m holding up better than I was a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, yeah, sock.

This is The Loopy Blue sock, because the yarn is Loopy Ewe Seasonings Series that the husband and girl brought home for me in May. It had the mini-skein of the solid blue and at first I wasn’t sure the two worked together but now I see that they’re perfect! And the yarn is great too; it feels sturdy and crisp, which I’ve come to appreciate in my socks. Yes, my foot is really that long. I would show you, except remember the Midwest summer I mentioned? No way a wool sock is going anywhere near my foot right now. We’re all just relaxing, trying to beat the heat!

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Just a quickie

Jun12

I’m about halfway through the Fade now! I started melting in the third color last night and I love how the change is so subtle. This is just a couple of rows but I’m loving how the yarns are playing together. See that bit of red at the top? That’s really the only change from the previous yarn, and it’s just popping up here and there right now. I was so happy to get that color started, too, because this project is fading in enjoyment for me. It’s just not my happy colors. But I have to admit it looks cool and it will be a pretty nifty shawl when it’s done.

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Beyond that, things are looking up, at least today. Sometimes I just need to remember to force myself to get out of my house, out of my head. After resting my strained calf at home on Monday, I went back to work yesterday, even drove myself, and it was good to be around people, good to get my mind off the negative things it’s been dwelling on. The muscle is improving quickly, though I’m still being careful and taking the meds, so that helps my mindset too. I even got a little excited thinking about some new review yarn coming my way, instead of feeling stressed about it. New yarn for the win, as always!

Happy Hump Day, friends! Hope the rest of the week flies by!

When it rains, it pours

Jun10

Because I wasn’t stressed out enough lately, the fates decided I needed another challenge. Yesterday I stepped down weird off a step stool and heard a pop in my calf, then felt extreme pain. SUPER. I am so lucky and grateful to have good health insurance and I was able to go to the ER to get checked out for breaks, tears, and blood clots. They decided it was probably just a bad muscle strain and prescribed an NSAID, rest, ice, and elevation. Plus, since it’s my right calf, no driving for a couple of days to give the muscle time to rest and avoid straining it more. And since I took time off last week for my MIL’s service and some mental health time, now I’ve got the guilt from being home again. The sister pointed out that I had a good reason last week, and I have a good reason today, and of course logically I know she’s right. Yet there’s the guilt, still hovering. WhatEVER. Sometimes I hate my brain.

Let’s distract with some knitting, shall we? Here’s my Fade progress.

I went through so many project pages on Ravelry and didn’t find many helpful notes for a 4-color fade, but I got enough to give me confidence to move on. Rather than frog back to fade in the yellow garter section, I was a rebel and did the color melting in the lace section, and I think it looks fine. I did a longer melt than in the pattern, to use as much yellow as I could, and now I’m halfway through the second skein. This shawl is going to take forever, I think. As much as I love the look, I don’t know if I’ll want to make another one for myself once this one is done.

Hope you all are having a better start to the week than me!

Back to knitting

Jun8

Things are weird around here. My head isn’t quite right; the experience with my mother-in-law brought back a lot of feelings about my dad and I’m struggling to get on top of them again. Added to that are a few smaller things weighing on me, and it’s all feeling heavy. I haven’t been excited or eager about knitting, so I’ve just been forcing myself to work on my Fade while I watch the French Open.

But here’s the thing: I think it’s getting better. I took two days off after the service and have been spending time with the husband and kids, who are all home this week too, and that’s been good. I had dinner with my siblings, who always make me laugh. My dogs have been nearby, ready for snuggles. And Thursday I cast on a new sock with yarn that was calling my name. So I’m getting there. Day by day, right? In the spirit of easing back into my routines, I’ll show you what I found at an estate sale this week.

VRdkZHfST52b2rxLaVi7kw The two smaller blue cakes are Koigu fingering weight merino, which came with the unlabeled cake of worsted. The two WIPs I mostly bought for the needles. I’m not sure which brand they are but they remind me of Addi needles. I’ve already frogged the projects, and the big ball of red/blue/white will probably become warm socks for my Colorado girl. And here’s my new yarn, an impulse purchase after seeing it on Instagram.

Z%QLZCKHTxOtf4Bw1pHqGw It’s called Pride in the name of Love, and is an exclusive color from Three Irish Girls for Eat.Sleep.Knit. I kind of had to get it, right? Purple and rainbow! If you feel similarly compelled, it looks like they still have some in stock here.

With any luck, I’ll get a good photo of my Fade progress this weekend, and I can show that off soon. Happy weekend, friends!

Another good-bye

Jun3

Grief is so dumb. Argh. My mother-in-law passed away on Saturday. It wasn’t sudden or unexpected; she’d been fighting lung cancer for almost three years and made it longer than any of her doctors predicted. We all had time to go see her while she was still alert and hold her hand and tell her we loved her. One of the last things she was able to eat was a meatloaf I made for them. I had no idea it was one of her favorite meals, it was just easy to transport and bake. I’m glad I was able to be there for her in a few small ways.

But wow. The last couple of weeks brought back so many feelings from when my dad was fighting the same thing. He lived less than a year after diagnosis, and I wasn’t there at the end. I didn’t think I could drop everything to go several states away to be with him, and by the time I figured it out, it was too late. I know now that nothing’s more important. I saw him about a month before he died, and I knew there was a chance it was the last time I’d see him, but still. I’d give anything to have had more time.

And now we’re going through photos, finding ones of her for a picture board for her service, and it’s a wrench, seeing all these people we love who aren’t here any more. My dad, my husband’s grandma, step-dad, and grandpa, and now his step-mom. My kids have had a lot of losses. My own grandparents died when I was very young, so I didn’t have to do this. I didn’t have any experiences teaching me that it’s okay to feel however you’re feeling, that you should go when you want to go, and that it’s okay to step back when you need to take a breath. It probably wouldn’t have made any of the grief easier, though. Nothing really makes it easier. I miss them. I miss them all.

But we’re okay. We’ve had a lot of time to get ready for this, and I’m glad she’s not in pain anymore. We’re sad but we’re okay. Last night, my son wanted to keep looking at photos, so the four of us sat around going through photo albums and scrapbooks, laughing at baby photos and just remembering all the happy stuff. It was a perfect couple of hours.

I’ll be back with knitting soon, I promise. Until then, go hug someone and tell them you love them, just for the heck of it.

Stress Knitting

May29

My break from my Fade led me back to sock knitting, which has become the best kind of knitting when nothing else will do. It’s good for when you’re visiting someone who’s unwell, and it’s good for when you’re tracking a tornado that might or might not be coming right your way. Unfortunately, that means this sock has grown a lot this week. When I picked it up on Sunday, I had just the cuff knit.

I made it past the gusset decreases today so I expect to have it done by the end of the week, barring any surprises.

Last night, the girl surprised me by doing some cleaning and cooking a bona fide feast for us. She made carnitas tacos (even deboned and cut up the pork shoulder herself!), lime/cilantro rice, guacamole, and pico de gallo. She also cut up limes to squeeze over everything, and it was all sooo delicious! It really helped brighten a day that desperately needed brightening. I also got to see the boy’s excitement over his first car!

It’s a 1963 Mercury Comet Custom, and he is seriously in love. It needs some work but runs well, and he and his dad can’t wait to start fixing it up. And even though I’m afraid it’ll be a little bit of a money pit, I have to admit it’s a pretty sweet car.

Hope the storms missed the rest of you last night too!

Stupid Fade

May28

This is not going well. My Fade shawl is currently in time-out and maybe you can help me. I’m using 4 colors instead of 7, and I thought I had a good plan for the color switches, but when I got to the first planned switch, I still had half the first skein left. If I switched then, I was afraid I’d run out of the other colors before I got to the end of the shawl. (I have ~1700 yards; it uses anywhere from 1500-1800 depending on which project page you look at.) So right now I’m at the end of section 5, out of 13, with 37 grams of the first skein still left. I have several choices that I can see.

Be risky and frog back about ten rows to fade in the second color as I’d planned. If I run out at the end, I would have to end early or finish with the first color.
Do section 6 (lace) in the yellow and start fading at the beginning of section 7. The downside I can see is that I might end up with a very large yellow section, compared to the other colors.
Start fading in the second color in section 6, even though the pattern recommends doing the color melts in the garter stitch sections and not the lace.

Please help me. I know this really shouldn’t be this difficult, but there are some other things going on that are sapping my capacity for thinking and stuff. Thank goodness I have good dogs to snuggle with.

And look at my new stitch markers! Those are MY DOGS! They’re from Jill’s Beaded Knit Bits. I sent her a photo of my dogs and she made these and I love them so much!

All about that Fade

May23

Somehow I have turned into a monogamous knitter. It’s the weirdest thing. But it means that I’ve been working solely on my Find Your Fade shawl and as of last night, I am in section three. Here’s how it looked at the end of section two:

Weird, right? Like a thong, or a uterus, or ram horns. But I am assured that this is how it looks for everyone and it will grow up to become a normal Find Your Fade shawl. I’ve even planned out my fade sequence, thanks to the little graphic at the end of the pattern.

I had to color it twice to get the sequence I liked best, which is the one on the left that will allow me to use as much yellow as possible. But I have a confession to make: the Fade is a little…boring? I hate to say that because it’s such a popular pattern. Maybe it’s just because it’s not a color I like that much and I’m in a big garter section. Surely it’ll perk up once I get back to lace and start fading in a new color.

And in other news, Duncan has not reached the point of not chewing things up.

In his defense, this bed already had some holes from a few months ago when I tested Duncan the first time, so he might have just expanded on his earlier work. Still, he’s back to his beach towel on the floor for now.