We’re home again as you can see by my photo of the lake this morning. I am happy to be home and ready to sleep in my own bed tonight. But we are going to miss our little muffin like crazy! We’ve had a full ten days in NYC with the family there and our hearts are so happy. We have been making memories.
The ride home was wonderful too. We stopped last night at my college roommate’s house in Connecticut for the night and a really sweet visit. Our almost 50-year-old friendship is so special!!! She’s moved into a new house and we got a chance to see it and catch up … even though I was whispering!
I’ve got a cast of laryngitis, I guess. We went to the NYCFC game in New York on Saturday with my future daughter-in-love (my son was called to Washington, DC for work unexpectedly) and we had such fun. We’d never been to a soccer game before but we have watched Ted Lasson so we have a bit of soccer knowledge … and we had fun. New York City was playing Cincinnati (where I raised my family) so I was torn about who to root for but I chose NYC and they won! (Apologies Cincinnati.)
In the past ten days I have gotten the first part of the sleeves of my pink Lane’s Island sweater knitted. There is four inches of ribbing and then it changes to stockinette stitch forever. I’m nearly done with the first set of increases. We had some new stitch markers arrive at the store and I bought a couple of packs before I left. I’m using them to mark my increases so I know how many I’ve made. It’s another wonderful tool for us knitters. More updates coming soon.
We have been in New York babysitting for our granddaughter while her parents take a little anniversary holiday in Costa Rica. It was all planned out so that we would have a bit of a break when Sylvie went to school on weekday mornings … but you know about the saying, “when you plan, God laughs”, right?
On Monday morning we were so proud of ourselves, we got the little miss up and dressed, fed and out the door … delivered to school at 8:00am. We got to the grocery store and back home and I pulled out my knitting after I cleaned up the kitchen, vacuumed up the dog hair and put a load of wash in … and the phone rang. School was asking for us to pick her up; she had bumps on her hand and face and they suspected HFMD. So we packed up the stroller for the second trip to school to pick her up and on the way called the pediatrician to make an appointment for a sick child visit … and she was sick! Hand, foot and mouth it is and she’s out of school for at least this week. So, no more breaks for Yaya and Poppi, but I’m proud to say that we’ve fared very well partly because we go to bed early and partly because she takes a good nap in the afternoon. BUT we are re-learning what a challenge a 2-year old can be! Ha! Ha! Yaya has a lot more patience for toddler antics than Poppi does but we are tag-teaming it and we are winning!
With HFMD she’s not allowed in proximity to other children or people so we are trying to keep her busy without the playground and we’ve been pretty successful. Yesterday we went out to the courtyard in her building to carve our little pumpkin and the day before we made cookies. Today we went back into the courtyard with sidewalk chalk and bubbles.
We had a pizza party with her aunts and uncle on Sunday and she’s eaten left-over pizza a couple of times. Yesterday may have been a three-cookie day … she ate mine! And playing in the leaves is still fun when you’re two! She loves coloring inside and out, and she can put her own shoes on! She’s brilliant. We’ve been singing SO many songs and she loves Miss Rachel – when Yaya and Poppi need a breather we will turn her on for a few minutes.
AND while all of this is going on, they’re fixing the facade of the building right outside of the apartment … jackhammers on the walls, brick bits falling onto the windows. As if New York wasn’t loud enough for these Mainers! What an experience! Thank goodness they’re gone by four o’clock or so in the evening. But the New York City kiddo is SLEEPING through it all! What a trooper.
I fixed the neck of an anchor sweater that I made as a sample for a workshop that I taught that just happens to be the right size for Sylvie right now. It didn’t go over her head the way I’d made it so I pulled the neck ribbing out and re-knit it and used a stretchy bind off and now she can wear it.
I have finished the front and back of my pink Lane’s Island sweater and I’ve started the sleeves. I’m knitting both sleeves at the same time and had mostly completed the four inches of ribbing for the sleeves and I’ve managed to knit eight rows of stockinette stitch. Not much knitting going on here! But I’ll have plenty of knitting time “soon soon” when her parents get home. I’m going to hate to leave.
I turned my alarm off this morning and slept for an extra (almost) hour! It was lovely to ignore my alarm. We had coffee indoors because the morning was a bit too cool for outside on the porch but it’s warmed up quite nicely and I think I will be opening a window or two today.
I went upstairs to get some knitting and got sidetracked as often happens. First because I didn’t feel like knitting my sweater and I’ve finished a couple of projects this week. More on those later. So, I went up to my studio and started looking through my Ravelry queue and found the cowl pattern that Glenda and I bought on our trip to Knit City Montreal. I had seen what I thought was the same cowl on my bosses FB page this morning, too, which was partly why I thought about the next project to cast on. Anyway, I pulled out the yarn (a full hank of peach and two mini hanks of black, all tweed, all really soft and will be great against the skin) and wound it up. When I had a first glance at the pattern, though, I realized that I didn’t feel confident with the cast on and so I sat down to watch the tutorial suggested by the designer and thought … why not just cast on with the video? So, got my needles and yarn and sat down again. Needless to say, I have my stitches cast on, the tubular cast on is completed and I have my 168 stitches on the needles.
Tubular Cast On Complete
The yarn is so pretty and the sunshine so glorious that I thought I should take a photo of my new start … that’s when I realized that I had downloaded a NEW pattern by the same designer and I had already bought the original pattern a year ago … AND the original pattern has six fewer stitches. So, now I have to decide whether I want to decrease six stitches in my first row after the ribbing and knit the pattern I bought the yarn for OR whether I keep going on the newer pattern (the one my boss saw) and I think I like the original pattern better. So … stay tuned. Hahaha!
Genna Yarn Tweed
So, I will be knitting the First Snowfall Neckwarmer by Runningyarn. With the pretty yarn that I bought at Knit City Montreal when we went two (?) years ago. I loved the peach color even if the combo is a bit unusual for snowflakes, I liked it and chose it and am going to knit it now. I’m on a colorwork spree. I’m about to pull out the provisional cast on stitches and then I’m off and running.
Finished this week … two projects, both quick and easy, taking a couple of days each. First up, the Have Your Seen My Octopus Hat for our granddaughter who just turned two yesterday. This hat is a blast to make and went together so easily and quickly. I will make the pompom today and add it to the top (the body of the octopus) and will take one last photograph of it.
Have You Seen My Octopus hatWriter’s Warmers
I also started and finished the Writers Mitts (I have no idea where you can find this pattern, sorry). I was given the pattern by our Berroco Yarn rep, Andra, who had knitted a sample pair in the new sport weight Lopi yarn called Fjallalopi in this pretty pink colorway. I was gifted the yarn and when I saw Andra’s mitts, it was obvious what I was going to make. Since I had to buy more pink Remix light, I cast these on Thursday night and knitted them Friday and Saturday and blocked them last night. Super simple pattern, super simple mitts and they’ll be fun to wear in the cooler weather. Or maybe I’ll gift them to somebody … they’re almost dry and ready to go.
Animal Advent Calendar
I finally remembered to ask my sweet hubby to cut a dowel for me so I can hang the Advent calendar that I made for Sylvie. I have a few things to fill the pockets (a little gift a day) and I guess I’m about 15 short of a complete calendar. I’ve got my work cut out for me between now and Thanksgiving … maybe several packets of organic gummy snacks of some kind will suffice in a pinch. Meanwhile, I’ll check Target this week. I wish we still had the Christmas Tree Shops.
So, I said I’d be out on the porch a while ago and I’d best keep my word. I’m going to stop writing and head out to knit while the weather is so pretty. Meanwhile, a shot of my three little knitted pumpkins on the windowsill with the window open this afternoon. (I’m still in my PJs!) It’s raining leaves!
What a beautiful if cool sunrise this morning. I love these cool nights and later sunrises and am grateful to have had a good sleep last night. I’m heading to Rockland to visit with my friend Lori today, a bit later than we’d thought because the Vinylhaven ferry is experiencing a staff shortage and her 8:45am ferry was cancelled. It’s ok, we’ll meet at noon and see what we decide to do with our shortened day.
I have re-started a commissioned Christmas stocking and then put it off for a bit to get a couple of quick projects done (and vacation knitting that I didn’t have to think about). Yesterday I got through the first intarsia design, the Santas and even wove in some of the ends. Today I won’t have a lot of time to knit but I’ll pick it up again over the weekend.
This is the half-way point of the first section. Front side looks sane and organized. Back side … not so much. I had to giggle to myself while knitting this because this is the way I’ve been feeling lately – I look like I have it all together but I’m a hot mess underneath. There’s been a lot going on in life and in my volunteer life, too. I’m managing but I’m not going to lie, I’m losing some sleep over it all. Those middle-of-the-night wake-ups are brutal! My mind simply won’t turn off! The good news is that it should resolve itself over the next month or so. Fingers crossed.
The Christmas stocking pattern is one that I have duplicated from the original that was knitted for my friend when she was a child. I’ve posted about it before because I’ve made a few for her over the years as her family has grown. This year she’s added another grandchild and needs another stocking. Intarsia is not my favorite knitting technique. I’d rather do just about anything else. But it is getting easier with practice and I’ve learned how I like to work it – no bobbins for me, I just leave long lengths of yarn hanging in the back and pull them to untangle them now and again.
I’ve knitted a new sample for the store in Jamieson’s of Shetland wool with a strand of mohair held double on the main color. The pattern is a new design by Gudrun Johnston called Cloud Drift. I was given early access to the pattern by our Berroco rep, Andra, to make a sample but the pattern is available now on Ravelry. There is a main color and three contrasting colors and the pattern is accomplished with mosaic knitting or slipped stitches. I have yet to weigh the extra yarn that is left over but I have quite a bit … maybe a pair of mitts to match? I love the way the cowl turned out and I hope that others will choose to try this pattern. I thought the design was brilliant and the knitting was really fun. I may even make another one for myself… in gray with pinks, perhaps?
We have a store here called Marden’s that sells surplus and salvage and it’s often a fun place to wander for a few minutes. They’ve had a lot of yarn from a yarn shop fire in Washington state and it’s now 80% off which means that when I was in search of some white shirts the other day, a few balls of Jamieson’s may have fallen into my shopping cart. Oops! So, navy and blues or gray and pinks will be my choices for cowl #2. My Jamieson’s collection grows … I need to knit some fingerless mitts or something!
I finished another Musselburgh by Ysolda Teague for my son. He chose the colors of Juniper Moon Farm Moonshine (worsted weight). I love this pattern, too. It’s simply brilliant because you just cast on and start knitting and use your knitting as your swatch to calculate how many stitches you need to increase to and then how long you need to knit. There are so many ways to knit this hat and it’s not at all boring – but it is great knitting for vacation, car rides or TV knitting while watching debates or in the evening after a long day when your brain is on fire. This hat is going to be so warm and it looks great and feels better. I have one more for my son’s fiancee to knit up before Christmas – the yarn is caked up and ready to go for when the Christmas stocking is finished. I’m really trying to focus.
We’ve had a series of stunning sunrises since our return from vacation. The sunrise has moved again almost to its winter position and it’s coming up after 6:30 rather than before 6. The days are unquestionably shorter and it’s getting cooler, too. The last photo is a hat tip to Dame Maggie Smith who died last week. I loved her in Downton Abbey and was addicted to watching the show (twice each week). My mug has remained a favorite that I bought at Pier One when we lived in Florida during the height of the Downton Abbey fervor. How grateful I am to live here in this beautiful place.
Off I go to the coast! Wishing you peaceful stitches.
Our Messalonskee “TV” station has been providing so much entertainment in the last few days. We heard these two chirping at each other before we found them – it took a minute or two to figure out they were sitting in the tree at the corner of our shared driveway. And there they sat until my DH (dear hubby) had to chase down our naughty, wandering dog. We’ve seen a “critter” swimming by a couple of times and once it dove with a slap of its tail (a beaver). I’ve heard the owls in the evenings again which tells me they’re coming back out of the deep woods. And until this morning we had a couple of female hummingbirds. There’s been a lot of activity on and around the water with cormorants, gulls, loons, ducks and even a dead pike.
I’ve been at work inside finishing projects and just got back from a Target run to buy wrapping paper and tissue paper so that I can package them up and send them off on Monday. I’ll have one to deliver locally in late November but the rest will be fully checked off my list. Yay!
I’ve spoken about the baby hats and matching thumbless mittens. I’ve shown you the French Macaroon and cabled toddler mittens for my great-nephew’s birthday. And today I blocked my Fiddlehead Mittens and I’m tickled pink with them. They turned out beautifully if I do say so. I knit them with a partial skein of Patagonia organic merino by Juniper Moon Farm and a skein of handspun by Clarion Call Fiber Arts that my daughter gifted to me several years ago. I finally found the perfect project for it. The lining is knitted using a hank of yarn that I must have bought at Mardens years ago it’s Classic Elite Yarns, Escape. The Classic Elite company has closed. Despite the fact that these aren’t “my” colors, I love them.
And once blocked, the stitches have evened out and they are simply stunning. I have knitted a lot of colorwork but I love these the most of any. The lining yarn is so soft (I hated knitting with it!) and the little bit of yak in it will make these mittens so warm and cozy.
I have packed up the little Oorik vest, with another little toddler-sized sweater that I made for a workshop that I taught and a pair of the toddler cabled mittens for my darling granddaughter. I have five more packages to wrap and get ready to ship off on Monday. I’m very pleased with myself. This leaves me the Christmas stocking to knit for my college roommate’s grandson and a pair of socks for my brother-in-love. I have caked up my son’s hat yarn and will likely cake up his fiancees hat yarn, too. I believe these will be my last projects for Christmas 2024 leaving me open to start a couple of sweaters that I am itching to knit.
I have several to choose from and that I already have the yarn in my stash: Big Love in Berroco Pima 100, Lane’s Island in Berroco Remix Light, Ouzo in Patagonia (or Wool and Honey), Poet in Julie Aslin fingering from Knit City Montreal, Cardoon in a yarn (forget it’s name) that I bought on clearance at work, Diggory Venn in Lore and there may be a few others in my stash but this is a good start. Ha! Ha!
Aaaaand, on that note, I’m going to sign off and get cracking on the stocking. Think I can get it done in a couple of days? Yeah, maybe not.
Without fanfare, it’s Labor Day again. We are spending the day quietly at home and I am knitting. But I’ve also been thinking about the perceived value of women’s work … or lack there of.
For the majority of my adult life I was a “stay-at-home mom” which mean that I didn’t have a paying job. As a stay-at-home mom I was up and going as soon as my feet hit the floor every day of the year. Twelve hour days, 7 days a week. I got up at night with hungry infants and sick children. I was the CEO of our home: laundress, cleaning woman, logistics manager, chauffeur, counselor, cheer leader, therapist, chef, travel agent and more. I was responsible for the grocery shopping, cooking three squares a day and event planning. My work didn’t end at 5 o’clock and vacation was simply a change of venue. I moved from New York (2 homes) to Connecticut (5 homes) to Ohio (2 homes) and almost to Illinois when my ex-husband took a new job. Each move meant packing up a home, saying goodbye to friends and family and then unpacking and starting all over again. Making a life isn’t easy for kids or adults. But a home must be created mindfully, a place where children are safe, where they find food, clean clothes and endless support, someone who takes their side in friendship battles, where they learn to trust and learn about relationships. I was responsible for getting it all done.
When the first two kids were in school I became a community volunteer in their classrooms, in the school, school district, and my neighborhood association. Eventually I even went back to work at a “real” job part-time to earn a little extra money to help pay for the kids’ activities, driver’s ed, orthodontics, etc.
I saw a post on Instagram recently that reminded me of the “replacement value” of a stay-at-home mom (without bonuses) which in today’s terms would be over $200,000 a year. Forbes* estimates that the average stay-at-home parent’s value over the course of 20 years is over $1 million or about $4500 monthly.
Over the last 40 years or so I have invested in my skills as a knitter. I took classes, read books, and practiced. I learned from other women and some men. I took “correspondence courses” and became a certified knitting teacher and instructor (two levels of testing). I was paid as a teacher for my expertise to teach others (money means value, right?) I remember a customer who requested an alpaca sweater. She asked me to create a design from a photograph and execute it by hand. When I quoted her a price in the $400 range, she balked and said she could buy one at a store for under $100. Even at the price quoted, my labor would have been $5 an hour. My value as a maker is (or should be) much higher than that.
My rule today is that I won’t knit for someone unless they’re willing to pay fairly for my time. If does feel like $300+ is a lot for a Christmas stocking, for example. But when you consider that the supplies cost $60-75 that leaves $225-240 for me. The time it takes to knit a stocking is 24-30 hours all in making my “wage” less than $9 an hour. The stocking becomes a family heirloom crafted in premium wool, with hand-sewn embellishments, a custom-stitched name, birth year and sometimes sequins, beads and specialty yarns.
So, I guess the moral of the story and what I have learned over time is that we have to value ourselves. We have to know our own worth. I know that I’ve made a difference in the lives of my children, my family, my community – all of them – and I continue to give back even after my children have left my home. I am fully satisfied with my successes and my mistakes because I am who I am today as a result of them all. When I’m asked to babysit for my grand dogs or grandchild, it means that I am trusted. When my son told me a few years ago that I was a great mom, that was my payday! I’m so grateful. I would choose being a stay-at-home mother again because my children will continue to make the world a better place. I will, too.
It was an absolutely glorious morning this morning after several days of clouds, rain and a lot of wind. It’s drier today and the sunshine makes me feel so much better! We had an early coffee on the porch and a blueberry muffin (hubby may have had a banana nut muffiin) and I spent a little while knitting one of my “secret” projects.
My stocking just needs to be steam blocked but I thought you should see what it’ll look like hanging this Christmas. I never hung the Arne & Carlos mini Nordic jumpers last winter but they’ll get hung this year no matter what. We probably won’t be home for Christmas but I’m going to put them up after Thanksgiving. Which reminds me that I have to get something to put in them!
My finished object is the River Cowl by Yumiko Alexander of Dan Doh Knits. I really enjoyed this project. I’ve written about it before but suffice it to say that it was supposed to be a tank top but as I got it started I realized it was much too sheer for my taste in this yarn so I frogged it and found this pattern. I love to wear things like this at work and, despite the fact that we don’t sell this particular yarn, it’s a fingering weight wool, linen and silk blend, I can sub in other yarns in the store if customers like it. I love the color of my yarn but I did substitute a fingering weight in place of the suggested DK. I may have to try it again with a DK and see what happens … I have just a bit of DK weight yarn in my stash!
I’ve cast on a French Macaroon for my great-nephew for the fall. I love knitting for the little ones in our life. I’ve chosen a different pallet for this one because he’s a big boy and the baby colors won’t work for him this year. I will still make another one for our granddaughter, too. BUT I’m trying to work on the things that have to be finished for Christmas so I don’t have to stress too much about them. Ha! When I think of the list, I’m freaking out a little bit already and it’s only August. (Two stockings, a pair of socks, two hats and two little sweaters and if I have time, I’ve bought the book Knitted Animal Friends by Louise Crowther and I’ve just ordered the yarn for three of the animals – a pig, a horse and a duck. I love the Sheepjes yarns that are called for in the book and we don’t carry them at my LYS so … I ordered from Jimmy Beans Wool.
I MAY have gotten into a little bit of trouble this week … our local salvage store, Mardens, has a yarn sale going on. The yarn is reportedly from a store that closed in Washington or New York or both, who knows? I dropped in on Friday after I taught classes and the selection was mind boggling! I walked around and around and around looking at the different yarns, picking out a project’s worth and sometimes returning it to the shelves. I ended up making a dent in my yarn budget for the month but I bought some fun sock yarns (enough for 7 pairs), some Fyberspates for another Bristol Ivy shawl that I made before in different colors that I wear all the time. I bought one hank of white Cascade 220 for the stocking I’m making for a friend, I got a couple hanks of pumpkin hat yarn, and a Herriot Fine skein in a pretty gold that I’ll make a shawl with – I’ve got a few hanks of neutrals in my stash and this gold will be a good color pop!
I put back a sweater’s worth of Noro Silk Garden and several others. The selection was incredible and it’s rumored that they haven’t even put it all out yet. It must’ve been a huge stock! I’m going to try to resist going back again. (TRY!)
The morning after our storm this week, I walked out onto the porch to survey the damage (there was none fortunately) and this little guy was sitting in our tree. Can you see the hummingbird? We have three or four around and they’re more fun to watch than television. Soon enough, they’ll be heading back south and we’ll really miss them. They zip and zoom around the porch and the yard so quickly that it’s a miracle they don’t end up stuck in one of our heads!
We had a rainy and gray morning today. I went out on the porch to take a video of the sound of the rain falling on the water and just at that minute a family of Canada Geese swam by. I love the sound of the rain on the water. The weather report said that it would be gray and rainy and HOT today and they were right about most of it … it sure is hot.
I had to run into town this morning to make a bank deposit and to the store to “fix” what we thought was a credit card machine problem. Last night we couldn’t print our reports. This morning, however, they printed. So, I messed with making it work on WIFI so we can move the machine around and it seems to have worked all day. Woo! Hoo!
I’ve been inside since I got home getting MY “work” done: laundry is done, banana nut muffins are baked – the bananas were getting pretty gross – and I’ve spent some time at my desk getting the store newsletter written, my calendar ready for August and catching up on some YouTube channels while I did some knitting. My friend Barbara says that there’s scientific proof that knitting lowers your blood pressure and mine’s a bit high so I wanted to knit a little bit extra today. LOL
After not getting much if any knitting done while my family was here, I’m trying to get some projects moved from the WIP column to the FO column. Today I’ve managed to move two!!!
First project finished is a pair of socks that I started in MAY! These are a gift for a special person. I used an amalgam of two patterns but the texture and most of the pattern is from The Crazy Sock Lady’s Hermione’s Everyday Socks but the toe is Yankee Knitters’ sock pattern that I have memorized. Laziness drove that mix because I don’t always have my Knit Companion/iPad close enough. The yarn is Coop Knits Sock Yeah! and I love love love this yarn. This is the second pair of socks that I’ve made with it and it’s wonderful to work with, the stitch definition is amazing and it’s so soft! I’m so happy to have these finished. I have one more pair of socks for another special person to knit before Christmas … no worries.
The second project that I finished today was the Lattice Have Pie cotton towel. This is another gift. I used some Takhi Cotton yarn and it was a fun knit. I love the towel … I changed the main color after two of the three designs and I might not do that in the future. I think I’d like the main color to remain throughout the project. I was worried that I’d run out of yarn … and I may have had I continued. It will work for drying hands and dishes. I just have to wash and dry it and it will be ready to go to its new home. This is an easy peasy pattern using slipped stitches (aka Mosaic knitting.) It looks so fancy but it’s not. Each row uses only one color.
I have two WIPs left in my knitting bag and a bunch of babies to knit for. My sister’s got a beautiful grandson and two women that I know are having babies, too. I have a couple more sweaters to make for my great-nephew Noah and for Sylvie. And as I mentioned before, one more pair of sock for a special person. So much knitting and so little time! I hope I can finish my Christmas stocking this weekend – tomorrow? – and then I have my River cowl. I’ve been plugging along on it and I’ve been enjoying the knitting. I bought some pink Remix Light and I really want to make another Lane’s Island Pullover with it. I love the one that I have. I have several other WIPs on my shelf waiting for attention … I’ll get there. No worries.
Gone knitting
PS – The sun came out this afternoon. It was a lovely day!
Today we’re back to my hubby and me. We’ve had the most excellent family time at our house for the last (almost) two weeks. My eldest daughter, Kate, and her husband and our granddaughter arrived last Tuesday and my son arrived Tuesday night with his two doggos. We had lots of fun swimming, playing with bubbles, visiting some fun spots and eating SO much great food. We’re early to bed and early to rise around here and the kids, despite their NYC lives, always fall into it, too. Coffee on the porch, blueberry picking, Belgrade Lakes Farmer’s Market … and did I mention swimming? Sylvie is a little fish! She loved the lake and became more and more confident over the time she was here – even confident enough to “fall” in twice on their last day. Of course we were right there to pull her out but we also have to let her fall so she knows the truth about the lake – it is fun and wonderful but it’s also frightening. (She was not a fan of falling in.) We went on some fun boat rides, saw eagles, counted loons, and we tried (and failed) to outrun a rain storm but arrived home safe, sound and in time to see a full rainbow across the lake.
She has started to put together two-word sentences like “Monk, no!” and “Help, please” and she is singing chunks of her favorite songs. For a kiddo with a slight verbal delay, she’s adding new words every day. We had so much fun watching her pretend with her new (to her) kitchen set and we found out that she will eat anything worthy of feeing to ducks – lettuce and frozen peas were a fun snack. Who knew? Otherwise, she always wants pizza, blueberries, milk and “bubbles” (seltzer).
We ate local corn, the last of the local strawberries, tons of blueberries, we found a farm where we bought local pork and beef (the pork was amazing!), lobster, blueberry buckle, blueberry muffins, mixed berry pie from Winterberry farm, an ice cream cake and a divine Da-Da-Made chocolate cake among others.
And … are you wondering if I did any knitting? I had made what I thought was great progress on my River Cowl. Turns out I missed a very important part of the first sentence in the main section directions where it says to knit so many rounds “as follows”. I read it as knit all the rounds and when I got to the 62nd round it was already as long as it needed to be. Ugh~ I frogged it back to where I pick up the 270 stitches around the cabled edge and started over again. So, I’ve actually moved backwards on my knitting over the last weeks. Ha! Ha! Humbled once more by my knitting.
I’ve not touched my Christmas stocking, my sister’s socks or the dish towel but I am sure that after a few good nights of sleep I will be back to my knitting practice with gusto and maybe even a renewed affection. It’s possible.
For now, this Yaya has a full heart and so many new memories; so many reasons to remember and smile. We are looking forward to our next time together in September at the beach!
Well, it seems that it’s Monday again and I’m on hold with Electrolux/Frigidare because hubby’s 2 year old air conditioner that was a replacement for a 2 year old air conditioner is broken. Does this seem like a pattern to you? I have approximately 19 minutes to wait on hold and since I’m still not feeling particularly energetic, I thought I’d just wait. I hope I can drag half of our laundry to the laundromat today but it may be tomorrow. We’ll see how I do.
Today our gorgeous purple iris is blooming. This is one of my favorite flowers in our garden. Well, actually, they’re all my favorite when they bloom because they all bloom at different times: yellow iris, white iris, peonies, lilacs, forsythia, daisies, echinacea, astilbe, day lilies … you get the drift. I loved seeing my purple iris this morning and today it’s my favorite. Don’t tell the others.
I’ve been doing a little bit of knitting and a lot of thinking about knitting as I recover from Covid. We both got it somewhere in our travels and in the wedding bliss but we’ve both weathered the virus well and haven’t been too terribly ill. Thank goodness! I’ve been without a fever for a couple of days and yesterday the cough subsided for which I’m really grateful. I hope with another couple of days of relative rest, I can return to work later this week.
My second gray Hermione’s sock has turned the heel is well on its way out to the toe. I have to re-check my notes to see how long I knitted it before I started the toe because I’m that close. I do love the texture in this pattern and I love the Coop Knits SocksYeah! yarn. It’s soft and not at all splitty. It makes knitting socks a cinch. I hope my sister will like them. The next pair of socks will be for my brother-in-law. Two great couples will be gifted custom knit socks this fall/winter.
I’ve also be working on my River cowl by Yumiko Alexander. I am really loving working with the Sonder Yarn Company Muse yarn. It feels great in my hands and it’s a tiny bit thick and thin at times which makes it interesting. I think the drape, once blocked, will be gorgeous. I also love the color! The pattern is fun and easy enough to not take up too much of my brain’s band width (which hasn’t been great with my covid brain!) I’ve completed the five repeats of 66 rows of the “hard” work of cables and dropped stitches. There were a couple of places where I forgot to twist edge stitches so that when I dropped the purl stitches and unravelled, it wanted to go too far. Thankfully, I knew this was a problem and stopped the process. Grabbed the stitch and wove it in with a new piece of yarn so it will stay put. And it barely shows. Since this is for me, I’m good with that fix.
I’m measuring the length of the edge of the River cowl at 52 inches long at the five repeats of 66 plus 1-9 for a total of 339 rows so far and the pattern wants 52.5 inches so I have a couple more rows to complete to make the length what they’re asking for and then will begin picking up stitches along the edge to make the body of the cowl. I’m excited about this one! AND I’m so glad I chose not to make the tee with this yarn. I’ll wear this cowl all the time. (I think!)
I’m still on hold with Frigidaire … it’s been 54, almost 55 minutes so far … and so I’ll just write that I am thinking the next project will be a pair of baby sweaters for my granddaughter and great-nephew and a pink Lane’s Island in Remix Light for myself. And, of course, the socks for my brother-in-law. All of the yarns that I will need are in my stash – yay!
Queen Bee Knits 