Blocking day

I’m getting closer to a finished sweater here. I have half a sleeve left to knit, and decided to block the other finished pieces this morning so I’m ready to start assembling.

This is the Mine Hill Cardigan, I’m knitting it up in John Arbon’s Appledore yarn, which is just gorgeous. Those photos show it mostly as grey, but it is a lovely light grey-blue heather color.

Here is the pattern photo so you can see what it will look like. I’m doing the sleeves longer, but otherwise it’s knit as written. Oh, and no pockets. This is a rather light, drapey yarn, and I think pockets would just be saggy. Saggy pockets are worse than no pockets.

That front band will take a little time, but I should have a finished sweater to wear soon! Here’s the other sleeve in progress.

New socks!

I did finish the Ukrainian flag socks last night. As usual, they are a welcome addition to my collection. Though my sock drawer runneth over, some of those pairs are perilously close to wearing through at the heels, and I have way too much sock yarn in the stash to spend time darning socks. I’d much rather cast on a new pair. I do have a pair of John’s socks on my desk that need a new toe, but that’s just reknitting, not mending, so that is acceptable.

Here are the finished new ones:

The color in photos looks a little bumblebee-ish, but it is really blue and sunflower yellow, not black and yellow.

The yarn is Biscotte Bis-sock, color Minions. I knit these with my in-my-head top down-flap & gusset heel pattern. I used Hiya Hiya bamboo double pointed needles, size 2.00mm. I’ve played around with different brands of dpn’s over the years, often claiming that “these are my very favorites”, but these really are among the best. They are lightweight, with very sharp tips, and seem durable. The current pair has lasted through at least a half dozen pairs of socks, and don’t seem to be particularly fragile. And there has been no fraying of the tips. I also love my Lykke dpns and will keep those in rotation as well.

And no, it absolutely does not bug me that my socks are usually fraternal twins. There isn’t enough time in the day for me to try to match stripes exactly.

So there you are. I’ve already started the next pair. The yarn is from deep stash, you’ll just have to wait until I have a few rounds done to see what’s next.

One toe short

I fell off the blogging traincar for awhile there. Part of it is the general ennui that accompanies the grey and rainy spring we’ve had. No doubt some of it is all the political turmoil that has been sucking the soul out of everybody I know. It’s pretty easy to get dragged down into the news/social media cesspool these days. I finally decided to just delete my twitter account last week. There’s one less thing to be outraged over.

Another reason for the post-avoidance is the blog mess that happened two years ago when the blog got hacked, then I lost a whole bunch of photos when I managed to get it up and running again. I’ve been trying to upload those photos to the correct blog posts, but it’s a tedious process, and some of them have been unrecoverable. I decided last week to say just fuck it, and leave the old posts as is. Probably nobody goes back to look at those, and I do have project photos on Ravelry if anyone does get some burning desire to see them. It’s a bit like mourning a favorite possession that you’ve lost. Sometimes it’s just time to move on.

I have been knitting, but mostly I’ve been working on a secret baby project. Said baby is due in June, and I should be on track to finish that on time, as long as I don’t get all distracted and cast on dozens of new projects.

Those socks up there should be done by the end of the day today. I now have a sock drawer stuffed full of hand knit socks, which makes me a very happy person.

I have almost that many more in the sock laundry bin. And of course, John has his own sock drawer.

Next time I’ll drag out the other things I’ve been working on!

Happy blogiversary to me!

Oops. I actually let this one slip by me. 18 years ago yesterday, I did my first blog post! I’ve been a slacker for the past year, not for lack of knitting. I think part of it is that I’m a slow knitter in general. Endless posts about the same sock can get a bit boring. ”Oh WOW! I knit another four rows!”

I also still haven’t gotten out of the mode of keeping much of my personal thoughts and day to day activities private. I still remember the incident where I posted about being sick (“having the plague” was the phrase I used), and had a clinic manager get their knickers in a knot over it. There is also the pandemic, and being stuck at home for much of the past year. It doesn’t give one much exciting to report.

But 18 years! That’s a lot of blogging. And hopefully with spring here, and the pandemic looking at least a bit better, I’ll have more to talk about.

For now, you get this.

It’s a bag. With a knitting project in it. A secret knitting project that I can’t show you because it is a gift. It’s a gift with a deadline, so it’s pretty much all I’ve been working on, and I can’t even show it to you.

Here’s a tiny peak.

It will have a lot more pretty colors than that when it is finished.

I know that someone will ask about the bag, so here it is.

I got this on Etsy, but you can find similar bags all over online. Just google “bento knitting bag” and you’ll find lots of options. It’s a single layer cloth bag to hold a project. It stuffs nicely into whatever larger knitting bag you are toting around, and it keeps your project from being snagged on other things in your main bag. I highly recommend these.

Maybe I’ll go knit on that sock a bit so I have something to show you next time.

Tits Up!

Finished socks! The yarn is Adorn sock yarn, from Three Irish Girls. The color name is Tits Up!, which is from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel tv series. I love the show, so I had to buy the yarn.

I used the same pattern-in-my-head that I always use. 2.00 mm needles, as usual. Nothing fancy, just plain socks.

Here is where I am on the Get Out of Ukraine Socks.

The colors are more Ukraine Flag by Starlight than the real flag colors, but I like it.

And here’s a blast from the past.

Pretty exciting, eh? The really exciting part is that is the beginning of a sweater sleeve. Here are the rest of the sweater pieces.

Fronts and back done. I just have the sleeves and the front bands to do and this will be a finished sweater. This has been marinating a bit, but I’m determined to finish it soon. It will be a nice in-between-seasons piece to wear in the spring.

That’s what the finished sweater will look like, although I’m making the sleeves longer. And I still haven’t decided on the pockets. I think I’d like the line of the sweater better without the pockets right over my hips, which certainly don’t need any accentuating.

I do love this yarn. It is Appledore DK, by John Arbon Textiles. It is one of those yarns that would work knit up into a wide gauge range. I’m trying to restrain myself from buying more of this in some other colors. I think it would make a lovely shawl. Or two.

Stay tuned!

Deep stash

Like (almost) everybody else in the world, I’ve been bummed out by the situation in Ukraine. The Meske side of my ancestry comes from a part of what used to be called Bessarabia, now in southern Ukraine, near Odessa. Here is where my great-grandparents emigrated from.

The pencil point is on the area where both sets of great-grandparents on my dad’s side came from. So I’m sure that I have very distant relatives in the middle of this war somewhere. The whole thing is just depressing, and maddening at the same time.

I’ve been knitting in the midst of watching all this unfold on the news. I decided that I needed some socks in the colors of the Ukraine flag. I had a shopping cart ready to hit the ”buy” button, and then had the bright idea to check my stash. 🙄

I think that will do nicely. It is Biscotte Bis-sock, in the color Minion. I bought this on a vacation to Newfoundland several years ago, and it’s been waiting for just the right moment.

The banjos have stopped*

Wintergrass is wrapped for another year. It was a great festival, with a nice variety of music styles, and a diverse cast of performers. It’s tough to pick a favorite, so I won’t. This is the first time in two years we’ve been out doing much of anything other than with our close family and friend ”pods”. It was REALLY nice to be in a concert venue with live music. The festival is in Bellevue, which is in King County to the north of us, and they are still requiring masks and proof of vaccination for indoor spaces. They also sold only about the half the usual number of tickets (intentionally), so we felt pretty safe, especially since the Covid numbers have dropped pretty dramatically here.

I did get some knitting done. Here’s the sock in progress.

I started the long weekend with just the cuff of that second sock started, so got about half a sock knit. I also worked on a secret project that will be a gift, so I can’t show it to you. That sock yarn is from Three Irish Girls, it is their Adorn sock yarn, color name ”Tits Up!” (reference to a character in Mrs. Maisel).

I realized while uploading that photo that I completely missed posting a finished project.

Those are socks for John. The yarn is John Arbon Exmoor Sock yarn, colors Mackerel Sky and Mizzle. It’s the same ”pattern” I always use for socks.

I really am going to try to be a better blogger. Really.

*That could be the first line in a banjo haiku.

I should just go back to bed

I woke up this morning after having a bad dream. I occasionally still get work dreams even though I’m retired. Usually, they involve being forced to go back to work in the hospital. Whoever is in charge gives me more patients to see than anyone else, and I can’t figure out how to get around the hospital or make the computer system work. (OK, that last was a reality most days at work when I was still doing hospital work.)

In this morning’s dream, I wasn’t feeling well, and finally keeled over and passed out on the floor in the middle of a busy clinic. Nobody paid any attention, just kept walking around me and going about their business.

On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t go back to bed.

Once I was awake, I looked at the news. The first piece I read was about how Republicans all over the country are targeting Dr. Fauci, to the point where he is getting death threats, as is his family. There was a link to an attack ad by some lunatic running for governor in Nebraska. I made the mistake of clicking on that link. You should too, so I’m not alone in my misery.

The next article I read is about the “big one” that is due to hit the Pacific Northwest any time now. It outlined in detail what will happen to all the people living on the Washington coast when the 9.0 earthquake hits us, as it eventually will.

Nice. Go back to bed, dream about work. Stay awake, brood about an earthquake and the massive wall of water loaded with houses and boulders headed my way.

I decided to get up and distract myself by reading knitting blogs. How depressing could that be?

And then straight away I dumped my cereal and milk on the kitchen floor.

I was planning on doing a few rows on that lace shawl that I’ve been working on forever. After the way the day has started, that is not happening.

Three hours later

A Cautionary Tale

I started a new project a few days ago. It’s a lovely pattern, and lovely yarn, and the whole damned mess almost got tossed in the trash this morning.

The pattern is Quatrefoil, by Janina Kallio. It’s a dead simple lace shawl pattern, easily memorized after the first few repeats. The yarn is divine. It is Creamsilk, from DyeforYarn on Etsy.

I settled in this morning for some relaxing knitting, or so I thought. The yarn is 100% silk, and very slick. I wound it up using my swift and ball winder, which clearly was not the way to manage this.

It took me about three hours to get it untangled and wound up. Isn’t that a pretty nostepinne? It’s made out of holly, made and sold by Dancing Goats on Etsy. They have some lovely tools if you are in the market for a little post holiday gift for you or someone you love.

The right tools make all the difference, as usual. Back to knitting.

Snow!

Snow in our corner of the world isn’t very common, so we get all excited when it happens. One of the (MANY) perks of being retired is that I don’t have to give a rat’s ass about how I’m going to get to work tomorrow with this mess on the road. I can just appreciate the pretty white stuff from the warmth and safety of my home.

This was the view we woke up to today. It’s snowing in some earnest now, and we’re supposed to get more.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

BY ROBERT FROST

Whose woods these are I think I know.   
His house is in the village though;   
He will not see me stopping here   
To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   
To stop without a farmhouse near   
Between the woods and frozen lake   
The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   
To ask if there is some mistake.   
The only other sound’s the sweep   
Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   
But I have promises to keep,   
And miles to go before I sleep,   
And miles to go before I sleep.

Merry Christmas!

And a finished project or two!

We’re having a low key Christmas. Given the latest covid spike, we have been hanging close to home until we see how this looks for those of us vaccinated and boosted (which we both are). We’re supposed to leave for a two week vacation to Mexico in a couple of weeks. I’m not as much worried about getting Covid there, it sounds like they have a pretty strict masking policy in Puerto Vallarta, and we’ll be outside much of the time that we’re not in our rental place. There is a mandatory 14 day quarantine to reenter the US if we DO get sick, so that is a consideration. An unplanned 14 day lockdown in a foreign country likely wouldn’t be a whole lot of fun. We have not been more than 25 miles from home since March of 2020, so I am more than ready to get the hell out of here and go someplace. I’m just ready for this to be over, and pissed as hell at all the lunatics who have driven this pandemic to where we are.

But on to the knitting. There has been knitting.

New socks! The photo doesn’t show it well, but those are sparkly! The yarn is from West Yorkshire Spinners, one of my favorite sock yarns. The color is this year’s holiday themed yarn, Vintage Tinsel. It’s the same old pattern, size 2.00 mm double point needles. These are for me, just in time for Christmas. I started these November 6th, finished last night.

The bigger project is my Snark-o-Meter shawl. I finished it earlier this week, and it came off the blocking board today.

Project Details:

  • Pattern: Snark-O-Meter mystery knit along, by Casapinka
  • Yarn: The gold gradient is Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock yarn, the other three colors are also deep stash, three different shades of yarn from the Sanguine Gryphon, a long-closed shop.
  • Needles: US size 3 and 5
  • Started: August 14, 2021
  • Finished: December 24, 2021
  • For: ME
  • Modifications: I added a section of 2 row color stripes to add a bit of length, otherwise it’s as written
  • Rating: ***** on both yarn and pattern.
  • What I learned: I don’t hate mystery knit alongs as much as I thought I do. I actually finished this in the same year that the KAL started, so I count that as a win. The changing stitch patterns were loads of fun, and these colors work together better than I had hoped.

There is already a new sock on the needles, and a new shawl. I’ll save that for next time.

Lastly, a photo of our Christmas tree.

I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season!

Loose ends

The Snark-o-meter is approaching done-ness. I have just two sections of the pattern stitches left, so about 50 rows or so left. I may add a few sections to make it longer, since I have plenty of all four colors left.

But those ends. I have been mostly sewing them in as I finish sections, but I haven’t done it in a bit. That’s today’s project. Not the most exciting thing to do in knitting a project, but there is a sense of accomplishment once it is done.

This has been a really fun project for me. Casapinka has some great patterns, and this isn’t the last of them for me.

Arlo

Arlo has turned into a snuggler cat. He still has a few skittish feral behaviors, but mostly he’s adapted to living in a warm, safe home.

He’s gotten into the habit of burrowing in as close to me as he can get when I’m sleeping. John got this video of him this morning. Make sure your device volume is turned up.

Rebel

i had good intentions to do Nanowrimo this year. Since I’m retired, I really have no excuses*. For the uninitiated, this organization encourages people to write a 50,000 word draft of a novel during the month of November. Last year, there were around 380,000 participants. I’ve done this before, but it has been several years.

I sort of planned ahead, had a crazy-ass shell of a plot, and waded in on November 1st. November 3rd, not having fun. Came up with a totally different seat of the pants plot, started over. November 5th, still not having fun.

I have no illusions that I’m going to ever publish the great American novel. I finished my career, I don’t need a new one.

So I bagged the whole thing, and here is what I’m doing instead.

My book weight is hiding the author’s name, this is the Fiction Writer’s Workshop by Josip Novakovich. It is set out in clear chapters, with a ton of writing exercises for each section. So I started a new project file**, and am writing away.

It’s not a novel, and I may not hit 50,000 words by the end of the month, but I’m having fun, and learning some things in the process.

*No excuses, other than the fact that I can’t write my way out of a paper bag. There is that.

**I’m using a writing project app called Scrivener. If you’re a writer, check it out.