Yesterday was the mother’s birthday. I probably shouldn’t tell you what age it is, but I’m 43 and she had me in her 30s so that’s close enough. Old enough that when I dropped off her birthday donuts, my heart ached that I couldn’t go inside for a long visit, that we had to stay on the porch in the heat and the sun, that I felt like I needed to wear a mask to keep her safe, that I couldn’t give her a hug. But I remind myself that I’m doing this so that maybe she’ll be around for another birthday next year, and by then hopefully we’ll be able to do all the things I missed this year. And we’re having a small socially-distanced family gathering tomorrow, which will be nice. I have a real gift for her but today I also made her this.
Cardinals are her favorite bird. I’ll cut a little bit of string so she can hang him somewhere and he can always be flying. And now that he’s done I’m off to finish my shawl! Happy weekend, friends!
I love them both! And the sheep pin has a magnet on the back, rather than a pin, which I think is a brilliant idea. I think it’s because they were more or less intended as name tags, but I just wanted a wee bonny sheep for myself.
I just started color four of five and it still seems a bit … mini? I’m really hoping it blocks out to a wearable length. If it does, this is a pretty good pattern for minis, because the small size is marked by percentages. Since I have five skeins, I just marked the rows at 20% increments. But when I got to that first 20%, I still had some color A left, so I did a baby fade with alternating two rows of A and B. That meant I had even more of Color B left at 40%, and so on. Basically, it means that if I want to use as much of the last color (the pink) as possible, I’ll probably be adding in a few extra rows, which will mean guesstimating how many rows I can add without running out of yarn. We’ll see what happens. This shawl is very much a “what the heck” shawl. It’s full of mistakes and shrugs and “eh, it’ll be fine” moments. And I’ll never notice once it’s blocked and around my neck!
This is probably close to $130 worth of yarn, and I paid a whopping $5. Can you believe that?? I just love getting a bargain. My SIL did even better, with something like seven or eight skeins of high-end yarn for $15. Part of me wants to cast on some socks with the pink Emma yarn right away, but I know I’ve got a ton of WIPs already, so this will all just go in the stash for now. The cream Malabrigo is sock yarn but I’m pretty sure it will be part of a multi-color shawl at some point.
Twenty-two masks later, my friend is happy, and my back is not. I really need to find a better set-up for my sewing machine. As it is now, I’m not sitting straight on but at an angle, and clearly that is not a good thing for long sewing sessions. So now the rest of my Sunday can be knitting time, because I have a good excuse to sit on the couch with a heating pad and a dog or two. Or maybe outside. That’s good too.
Yeah, I wound all that yarn yesterday. It will become one gradient wrap, one half-circle shawl, one sweater gauge swatch, two asymmetrical shawls, and one pair of socks. Eventually. It was super fun though, spending the time winding and then deciding patterns and pulling out the right needles, and putting them all in project bags. My knitting cart is now FULL of projects ready for knitting at a moment’s notice, with so much variety that I should always be able to find something I want to knit. Of course, after all that, I was a little tired and didn’t have much knitting time, so I actually only cast on two of those six projects. But I’m looking forward to starting the rest!
And the most fun part is: I can work on other projects now! The temptation to cast on something new is great, but I also have another sock on the needles plus my Ripple Bralette that was put on hold. Not to mention the shawl that’s been forgotten for a few weeks. Still … new project! What should it be??
bonnyknits 