What a morning! No fog today and we saw the sun come up this morning after a couple of days of fog and gray, rainy weather. It’s been downright dreary but today feels so much better. I’ve been busy tearing apart and putting back all the stuff in the sewing side of my atelier. I’m making room for my granddaughter to have a space of her own for when she comes to visit this summer. I have a few more things to do until it’s finished but step by step we are building a little nook for our little monkey.
It’s also been a good opportunity to go through and clean out a little bit more (again) and clean it all up. Spring cleaning? It feels good. Today I got a thing to hang up my ironing board and put away the iron … I had to assemble it and when I put it where I thought I wanted it, there wasn’t enough room between the wall and door to work so I moved it to another door but not before the iron fell out of the little shelf and hit my arm on its way to the floor (and it dented my floor). Oops!
I’ve been really working on my Bolin cardigan this week. I’ve mostly finished the first sleeve and I’m working my way down the second one. When they’re both at the same place (just before the ribbing) I’ll try it on and see how much more length I need to make it “just right” and then keep going. I’m getting close!
I really like the color of the fabric, too. The base is a camel color with the rosey mohair it has a haze of mauvy rosy neutral It’s different from other sweaters that I have and I think it’ll be good to wear with jeans or dresses. Time will tell.
AND I have finished my Cardoon! I wore it yesterday (without having cut all the bits left after weaving in all the ends. I’ve done that now and will probably wear it to work on Thursday. I like it a lot. I’m still not 100% sure of the way the collar/neck works but I like it.
Cardoon
I’ve mentioned before that I love the yarn. It was in the clearance at the LYS where I work and I brought it home a couple of years ago. It’s been sitting in my stash waiting for me to knit it up – I een knew it was going to be a Cardoon. The yarn is Fibra Natura Kingston Tweed, a DK weight wool, alpaca and rayon blend. When I wore it yesterday, it was really light but also quite warm. It’s the perfect weight sweater. Of course the yoke is doubled because it’s stranded so it keeps my shoulders warm and toasty.
I’m teaching a workshop in April and I’ve begun planning the sessions and knitting the samples and doing some research on how to teach colorwork to a continental knitter. I can knit continental but I’m naturally a thrower so I’ve got to figure out how it works so I can teach it. I know I’ll have at least one continental knitter. I have to pull together some samples of colorwork knitting from my “collection” too. I have plenty!
I’ve just finished a book I loved. The Blueberry Pickers is a Maine story about indigenous people who picked blueberries and who lost a young child. The child disappears from the field one day and her brother Joe is the last one to see her. In a parallel story Norma is an only child of a wealthy Maine family that’s dysfunctional and she searches to uncover the family secrets and the reason why. I highly recommend it. AND I’ve been baking again which tells me that my soul is either in a good place or troubled or both. I made our favorite oatmeal scones this week and a pineapple angel food cake. We’ve finished the bread I baked last week and there are a couple of banana muffins in the freezer. In the last couple of weeks I’ve made s curried red lentil stew that was sent to me in Ann Budd’s newsletter. It was delicious! I also made my “dump, dump, stir, stir” soup recipe, too. Also delicious. So, while the country is going down in flames, I’m making soup and baking and I’m so grateful that I am not in danger of losing my job and I hope and pray that some sanity and balance is found soon.
My heart is feeling very tender today. I woke up thinking about my father and how long it’s been since he’s been gone. It’s 40 years today. My Katie wasn’t even a year old when he died. The kids never got to know him or he them. I’ve forgotten the sound of his voice and how he smelled of pipe tobacco. And for today, I’m feeling so sad about all the years he’s missed. But I do take comfort in believing that he’s watching over us all. I think he’d be pleased that we are living in Maine. He loved Maine (my mother did not) just as we do. I think of him with a smile when I see the wild birds here, when my husband is snow blowing and covered in snow, when I’m working in the gardens pulling up weeds and pitching little rocks. He died when I was 26 years old, just shy of 27, in his car, in his garage, under strange circumstances. We will never have the answers but I have to believe that he suffered a heart attack. I’ve grown up, raised a family, got divorced, started a new life at 50, lost my mother, found my big brother, got remarried, and moved three times since he died. A lot of life happened. I have to believe that he’d be proud of me and of my kids because we’ve all had a strong work ethic and have built good lives. I’m now older than he was when he died by a good margin. It’s funny how some years this day barely hits my consciousness and others it hits me (like this year) right in the solar plexus!
Today I’m putting my body to work and figuring out how to add a little spot in my atelier for a sleeping nook for our granddaughter when she comes to visit this summer. She’s still too little to send up to sleep on the third floor and yet she’s too big for the pack and play crib she’s slept in when she was here last year. We have lots of stairs in our house and in the dark, they’re a danger to little people so we’re making it safe for her so we all sleep better and I hope she’ll love it. My plan is to make her a quilt for her bed (she wants purple) and create a “nook” where she can sleep in a “big girl” bed without a crib to contain her. It’ll be interesting. Right now I’ve taken all of the bins and books out of my big IKEA shelf and we’ll move it to a different position creating a “wall” for her space. I’d like to make a sleeping platform that my walking pad and ironing boards can store away under. And one or two of the boxes in the IKEA “wall” will hold her books and stuffed friends. I’ll knit a heart for her wall just like she has at home and maybe we can paint the back of the shelf (it’ll need some plywood to make it safe) purple for her. It’ll be a project but it’ll be her space for now.
This week was a good and busy week. I had a board meeting on Wednesday, worked on Thursday and yesterday I taught. I’ve been working on deep cleaning/spring cleaning the ceiling fans and cobwebs and windows and rugs and I can’t wait to be able to open some windows and get fresh air into the house. I’m starting to feel stifled by stale air! It’s supposed to be warm-er today so I may risk opening my atelier windows … and maybe I’ll hit them with a bit of windex and elbow grease. (So much for my manicure!)
I’ve finished my Cardoon pullover. I have blocked it and only need to trim all the ends that I wove in and add a label and try it on one last time. I hope the fit will have improved post-blocking. I was chatting with a friend the other day and was trying to remember if I’d done a gauge swatch for this sweater and I couldn’t remember and didn’t make notes on my Ravelry project page. So, I’m going to assume that I started knitting the yoke and measured my gauge there. Not the best way to do it but I’m generally pretty close to gauge. I did have to block the sweater pretty aggressively to get it to the proper measurements on the schematic but I hope it’s going to be a good fit and wearable this coming week. I’ll post a photo when I have my shower and try it on.
Cardoon by Isabell Kraemer
I loved the yarn and the pattern, as all of Isabell’s patterns, was well-written and easy to follow. It really was a pleasure to knit … too bad I waited so long to knit it! LOL
Yesterday at work I started the sleeves for my Bolin Cardigan. The cardigan is cropped which may or may not suit me but I’m knitting on. I love the big 6×6 cables running down the sleeve and I’m eager to see how it all comes together. I’m hoping it will be something I can wear with a tunic and jeans or dress. I got about four inches of sleeve done … one twenty round repeat and a second cable twist … I’ll work on it again tonight.
I may have missed it but my dear hubby didn’t (although he confessed he took it from his chair) and it was a beautiful sunrise on Messalonskee Lake this morning but the day has turned into gray and dismal. The ice is starting to turn gray which generally means it’s thinning and before you know it, the water will once again be open and boats will return. We’ve seen a lot of Bald Eagles on the lake. It’s breeding time for eagles here in Maine. I keep hoping to see a pair together. The circle of life on our lake is evident in each season and we feel so much closer to the Earth here.
I’ve just counted a train with 75 cars go past. They’ve increased their speed on the tracks a lot since we moved here full-time ten years ago next month. They used to poke up and down the tracks so slowly you could hear the clickety-clack of the tracks and touch the cars as they went by without being hurt. Now, though, the cars speed by at 45 mph and there’s no clickety-clack. A few years ago they replaced the rails. The new quarter-mile-long rails looked like they were being extruded (think play dough extruders) onto the tracks and they bent under their own weight. This is what allows them their greater speed and reports say that they’re planning to speed up even more in the future. What could possibly go wrong on mostly camp (dirt/gravel) roads with few or no RR crossing signs?
I worked Saturday so I recovered Sunday and yesterday and today I’m catching up with stuff around the house and planning for my big Maine Arts Academy board of trustees meetings this week. The second week of the month is usually full of meetings; the board meeting, a Charter Commission meeting, and a committee meeting or two. Some are in person and some are virtual. Today I’ll attend the Charter Commission monthly business meeting virtually and can knit while I listen. Yesterday I took all the plants and stuff off our bedroom window seat that we never use because it houses plants and cleaned the windows, the plant dishes, the giant Lake Tahoe pine cones and then put it all back. The cobwebs were getting out of hand in our room. N and I took his mother’s old “oriental” rug and the rug pad out of the living room to see if it’s any of the reason why my allergies are so horrible in the morning. Time will tell. Meanwhile, it’s out in the boat house chilling. I got our laundry done yesterday and today I’ll wash the guest room sheets and clean that room. I’m going to finally hang one more picture and then move the rest of the unhung to the little hidey-hole in the stairway up to the third floor. We have a lot of windows and not enough wall space for the framed pictures we have. Maybe we’ll sell them, maybe we’ll alternate. Time will tell.
I knitted until past my bedtime last night and I’ve got one finished sleeve on my Cardoon to show for it and another sleeve half-way done. It feels really good to be making progress on this much-delayed sweater. I may be able to wear it once or twice before it’s too warm. I love knitting Isabell Kraemer’s designs. Her patterns are clear and easy to follow. The charts are in a good place in the pattern and their placement makes knitting her designs a comfortable process. These charts and the colorwork happen to be only two colors which are easier, too. The yoke pattern is a bit more complicated than the designs around the wrists and bottom of the sweater but simple enough for an adventurous beginner to follow.
A couple of hints for those who knit colorwork or want to try it:
Read your knitting! What that means is, look down at your knitting and see the pattern as it develops. You’ll know when a stitch is misplaced or doesn’t look right almost immediately.
Use stitch markers on your needles to remind you about pattern repeats. This trick also helps you when your stitch count is off because the pattern doesn’t “fit” between the markers. It is possible to drop stitches even when you’re paying attention. Ask me how I know.
Knit colorwork with a wooly wool. The yarn blooms when you block it and lots of errors and outsized stitches disappear magically. Floats can be a bit longer, too, because the yarn felts to itself with wearing and creates an impenetrable layer or warm.
Relax! This is another technique that seems daunting until you practice. And you really do need to practice. With repetition, we gain what is called “muscle memory” and your hands and brain keep the movements stored in your data bank. You’ll be able to feel the mistakes.
Keep your stitches spread apart when you’re knitting colorwork so the fabric doesn’t pucker. Floats (the yarn that is carried behind your stitches) can look very loose when the knitting is bunched up and they should be able to stretch comfortably when the knitting is spread out.
Cardoon by Isabell Kraemer
I’m teaching a colorwork workshop at the Yardgoods Center in Maine on April 12 and 19. We’ll knit a colorowork “swatch” that we’ll turn into a cup cozy by cutting a steek. Two weeks of fun. Maybe you’ll join me? I’ve been preparing for the workshop and need to knit another sample of two – one for the shop, one for each step in the process so I can demonstrate steps along the way. I’m looking forward to teaching a new technique again.
I finished the second tam for my customer and got it washed and blocked yesterday. It’s nearly dry this morning. I’ll bring it to the shop with me on Thursday so she can pick it up at her leisure. This hat pattern is no longer available on Ravelry but it’s a quick knit with larger needles and bulky weight yarn and she loves it. This is her second order this year for a black and navy tam.
Quick Lacy Slouch Hat in Berroco Ultra Wool Chunky
I’ve still got my Bolin Cardigan on the needles but I’ve not pulled it out this week. I’m focusing on the Cardoon pullover instead. BUT Bolin is ready for sleeves and they’ll knit up quickly in the heavier yarn and larger needles. It won’t take long to finish it up.
Yankee Knitter Socks in On the Round yarn. One finished, another cast on
I’ve cast on the second sock in Over the Rainbow yarn. The first sock is finished as of the night before last. I stayed up way past my bedtime that night and paid for it in the inability to get to sleep. I am officially a creature of comfort and schedule. I still have to cast on the second mitt for my daughter’s fingerless mitts and I hope to get that started this week. The first one is done and I’d like to take them with me to give to her at the end of the month when I have babysitting duty. I haven’t taken any photos of Bolin or the fingerless mitts because they haven’t been out of their bags! Soon, soon!
This was my weekend to work and so I trotted off to work yesterday (and forgot to take a picture of the lake before I did. So I posted a shot from the winding table at the store and said that I’d be there all day. And lo and behold, I had two special friends appear at the store for a visit. First Bristol Ivy and her husband, Will, and then Ellen N. who used to come to knitting class on Friday but she’s been busy being a grandmother and has even taken a new part-time job which requires her to be there on knitting class day.
Ellen and Me (my hair was a mess!)
And on Friday another dear knitting friend, Katie, came in for a visit! Each of them gave and collected a big hug from me and it brightened my whole week seeing them. This is why I love working in a LYS! It’s all about the people, the community that is built in these small businesses, mostly women-owned, safe spaces for everyone. At least I can speak for my LYS.
At my last class on Friday I also “birthed” two new knitters! Anne and Liz are a mother and daughter duo who came in to learn to knit or get a refresher after a really long time. They caught on quickly and I am eager to help them get to where they want to be with knitting. So, all in all, it was a really good week.
My two sweaters are getting banged out even though it’s now March. I’ve been working on the Cardoon this week for the most part and an officially on sleeve island. One sleeve has been started. I’m also ready to pick up stitches on my Bolin Cardigan but, to be honest, I haven’t picked it up since I finished the shoulder seaming. It’s next for sure. Maybe I’ll get one sleeve started today.
I started another hat for my customer Judy. She picked up the black tam and I’ve cast on the (final for now) navy one. I ran to the shop this morning to pick up my check so it won’t get forgotten. I also got the car washed and picked up some sour cream for our beef stew dinner tonight. I haven’t got any new photos of anything I’ve been working on so you’ll just have to trust me. Maybe I’ll have some real progress shots for later this week.
For now, I’m going to put my feet up and knit and watch some “stupid tv”. It’s Sunday!
This morning’s photo was taken by my hubby, the real photographer in the family. I took one a bit later but his is exquisite. Mine is ok. We are having a warm-up here today with temps in the low 40s and two days of rain on the way. If it stays warm the road will become mud and yuck. I have to venture out the next three days to work so my car will be dirty again. What’s a girl to do?
Yesterday I had an incredibly productive day and got caught up on a lot of little tasks that needed to be done … watered the plants, did the laundry, descaled the humidifiers and filled them with distilled water (we are finding out if our water is causing the white film on the furniture), grocery shopped (picked up), applied for Social Security (yes, I am that old!), and various other stuff. AND I got up to my atelier around 2 to knit.
I made great progress on my Bolin Cardigan. The fronts and back are complete and I have seamed the shoulders. I know I said it before but I love, love, love the fabric that the combinations of yarn is making. I don’t always love knitting with the two strands. Every once in a while the mohair gets stuck and makes a weird extra loop or doesn’t get knitted and I have to go back to fix it. But this sweater is going to be snuggly and warm and cropped. I tried it on after the shoulders were connected last night and it’s going to be short … I’ll have to wear it with a long tunic/blouse or a dress. At least I think so. I have marked the arm holes as noted in the pattern and with any luck will pick up the stitches for the sleeve(s) today.
Bolin Cardigan by Norah Gaughan in Rowan Felted Tweed and Kid Silk Haze
I also have made a significant dent in the body of my Cardoon pullover. I have reached the eleven inches point and am ready to begin the colorwork that is at the bottom of the body. More on that after it’s done. Once the body is complete, only the sleeves remain … could I finish two sweaters in the month of March? I think I can … I think I can … I think I can!
Quick Lacy Slouch Hat in Berroco Vintage Chunky
I have finished half of my order for a customer for two more berets. The first one is black and done. The next one is navy blue and she likes a true, dark, navy that Vintage Bulky doesn’t seem to have so I will be making this one in Berroco Ultra Wool. I should really cast on and get it done today so I can block it and bring it to work this week but I have a feeling the sweaters will win today. This is an old pattern that I’ve made for this particular customer at least a dozen times over the years. She loves them and is so happy to have them. It’s nice to please a customer and I know exactly what she likes and wants.
When the world is as unsettled and ugly as it is recently, I tend to dig into my knitting even more. It is true that the rhythm of the stitches is therapeutic and it mends my distressed heart. I really dislike the nastiness that is happening in my country; the name calling and hatred being spewed by both sides. I fully support dialogue and haven’t unfriended anybody for having different views. I believe in science and researching to find out what is true and what isn’t. A lot of stuff out in the social media world is untrue. (f you don’t want to read my political rant, stop here.)
I am fully in favor of following the laws as they are set out before us in the Constitution and in the states. If we don’t agree with the laws, we should work to change them. In the US right now, the Republican party controls the White House, Congress and the Senate. They could be changing laws, policy, etc. the “right” way but they’re not. They’re standing back and allowing an unelected billionaire in an unofficial department to rampage through the government firing employees, closing departments, accessing personal information of citizens, etc. In some instances, he’s fired people who are critical to the day-to-day safe operations of such things as airlines traveling in the country and can’t find them to re-hire them. And now, it seems, the Social Security department is in his viewfinder.
We, my husband and I, are going to need our Social Security and Medicare when we fully retire. We built it into our retirement plans. I have just reached the age where I can claim my full Social Security without penalty (literally this month) and I’m hearing that SS is being called a Ponzi scheme. What!? I know what a Ponzi scheme is, I’ve been the victim of one. This is not the same unless the government was purposefully deceiving me all these years. I’ve paid into SS for my whole working life and not because I chose to … it was required, automatically deducted. It was “promised” that it would be a good way for me to save for my retirement and now I’m being threatened by a man who could, if he chose, make the program solvent for generations to come without so much as a how-do-you-do. Instead, he’s threatening to cancel Medicare, Medicaid and now Social Security (because he doesn’t understand how the department has been operating on an antiquated system and what the process was. My government is stealing my peace and threatening my financial security during the last however many years I have left.
I have a friend who is Trans, I have several friends and family members who are LGBTQ+ and they’re all being attacked. If you don’t know anybody who is Trans or gay, how can you possibly judge whether they will harm you or your children? Trans women are not sexually aggressive men in dresses. They are not interested in hurting your daughters in the bathroom. If you don’t know a trans person you don’t understand. Didn’t Jesus ask us to love our neighbors as ourselves?
The SAVE act will prohibit most married women from registering to vote and possibly voting. Did you know that? I almost kept my maiden name when I re-married but at the last minute my husband said he’d love it if I took his name. It was such a sweet request. Now my birth certificate says “Rockwell” and all of my other IDs say “Warner”. Most married women who have taken their husband’s name will be unable to register vote (and some say to vote) in the next election if that passes. Don’t believe me? Research it! Google it!
I believe there is probably waste and lots of it in our government. Let’s start with the lifetime salaries and health benefits that all of our elected officials. Let’s talk about security details. Let’s talk about insider trading. All of these “offenses” take place on both sides of the aisle. Let’s start there. Why is it OK for my elected senators or congressmen to have a better healthcare policy than we the people who they are sworn to represent? Lifetime paid service was never considered by the framers of the Constitution and many of the elected officials work part-time for the people and also are paid to work another job. I’ve read about companies charging our military ridiculous amounts for toilet seats, etc. How is it that nobody has stopped that from happening. Any company that tries to rip off the government should be banned from receiving government contracts in the future. In fact, cancel their contracts when extortion/fraud is found. I’ve strayed away from my point which is the current administration could be passing laws legally rather than by decree. A president hasn’t got the right to unilaterally demand that his will must be followed “or else”! That’s why the United States was begun – to get away from the rule of a king who told them how to pray and how to live.
I have heard that there should be prayer in public schools. Who shall all students pray to? How would you feel if your child was forced to pray to someone else’s god? I’ve worked in public schools in Ohio, Florida and Maine. Children can pray any time they’d like. Silently and without judgement or bullying. Isn’t that more fair to all students? Private religious schools can do whatever they want. We’re talking about public schools here – where there are children of all faiths just trying to learn.
I’ve heard that trans “men” want to play on girls sports teams to exert their superior strength. This is blatantly untrue. There are over 510,000 NCAA athletes. Ten are trans women. This is a ridiculous waste of time and energy. Trans women undergo hormone therapies and what little scientific evidence there is tends toward trans women having no clear biological advantages over cis athletes*. As an aside, Gov. Janet Mills was singled out recently and threatened to have federal education funding pulled if she doesn’t comply to the will of one man and remove all trans students from women’s sports in the state. It is not known how many trans students are playing in sports in Maine. Maine law supports equal opportunities for all students. Mills is charged with upholding Maine law. (Interestingly, other female governors are also being bullied and told what to do … Gov. Hochul of NY, for example, is being told to end the NYC congestion pricing in mid-town despite the fact that they seem to be working.)
I do not support tariffs being levied on our neighbors, Canada and Mexico. This not only hurts our neighboring countries, it is going to hurt all of us. Immediately, I can see the price of gas in Maine increasing significantly (we get our gas from Canada). It’s hovering around $3 a gallon as of yesterday. The stock market is going down fast with the announcement of the tariffs. For those Americans lucky enough to have investments, this will hurt. I hope it’s just a “blip” and the market will rally. Many of my friends in Canada say they and their friends/family will not be vacationing or visiting Maine this year. This is going to hurt Maine’s tourist economy, particularly at the coast. And the lack of migrant workers is going to destroy the Maine wild blueberry harvest, I fear. (Again! It happened the first time DT was in office. Remember?!)
There is so much more and I don’t want to write any longer. I’m going to turn on my TV and knit and watch Netfilx until it’s time to bake my bread. Tonight we’re having a vegetarian curried lentil soup and, I hope, homemade bread. I forgot how long it takes to rise! Hopeful that our extra warm laundry room with heater will cut the time by a few hours at least.
We got home from a fun weekend in Marblehead with my brother and sister-in-law and their family. We were to have seen our other brother and his wife who were in Salem visiting their daughter, our niece, who is about to deliver her second child. BUT the airport made them both sick and they were quaratine-ing (is that a word?) so the mom- and dad- and big brother-to-be stayed healthy. Sad to have missed them but we’ll have to go down again before they leave.
Meanwhile, we hung out in a bar, ate dinner out, had a wonderful family Sunday dinner and got caught up with my nephew(s) and my brother and sister-in-law. I needed it.
And then when we got home this afternoon and parked the car in the driveway, I was so grateful to be home. We love being home. It’s cold today but the sun is out and I’ve jumped right back into my busy life.
I took three projects with me this weekend and worked primarily on my Cardoon. I had separated the sleeves so I was merrily stockinette stitching around and around and around. It was great knitting-while-chatting knitting. I’m almost to the spot where I begin the colorwork bit just before the hem!
Cardoon in Fibra natura Kingston Tweed
I’ve also made some good progress on my Bang Out a Sweater, Bolin Cardigan. The fabric is so soft and it’s going to be a lovely sweater; soft and really warm! I’m knitting it with a strand of Rowan Felted Tweed and a strand of Rowan Kid Silk Haze held together. One yarn is camel colored and the other is a fuzzy rosey mauve. Together it looks wonderful! I’ve got one front and the back up to the shoulders and have started the second front. Soon I will be seaming shoulders and knitting sleeves with gorgeous big cables down the side. This is my first design by Norah Gaughan and the body has been simple enough but I’ve been waiting to knit the sleeves!!!
Bolin Cardigan in Rowan Felted Tweed and Kid Silk Haze held together
AND, this morning after my zoom meeting (on my phone, in the car) I worked on my On the Round socks. With a nearly vintage On the Round sock yarn, I’m knitting the Yankee Knitter #29 Sock pattern with a 3×1 rib on the leg and top of the foot. I’m almost at the toe of the first sock.
Yankee Knitter Socks in On the Round yarn
I have one half of an almost FO, too! I’ve finished, well almost finished the first of the mitts for my daughter. Whew! Knitting with black yarn is a challenge and the result is incredible. I really love the colors she chose and the mitts are going to be stunning. And they’ll be warm, too. I’m going to knit the second mitt next and then finish both thumbs.
Rain Shadow Mitts in Brown Sheep Nature Spun Fingering
The colors aren’t really accurate. They’re a true black and a denim blue. But they’re going to be really pretty!
Tomorrow I’ll be grocery shopping, doing the laundry and writing the newsletter for the store in preparation for working the last three days of the week. Including Saturday. It’s my weekend this weekend! Ha! Ha! And tonight we’ll be sleeping in our own bed.
The sun was up at the horizon when my alarm went off this morning which means that the days are really getting longer. Not far back, it was still dark at 6:30am. It took me a bit to get going this morning because I was knitting into the wee hours (and by wee hours I mean until almost 11pm) last night and I didn’t want to get up this morning. BUT I had a repeat blood test to get to at 8:30am so up I got.
I have to say, though, I love having an early appointment or meeting because then I can get a good start on the day. I was out of the office at 8:40am, had a phone meeting and then headed to Oakland to the post office and the bank for work-related stuff. By the time I got home, it wasn’t even 9:30 yet and I decided to start a loaf of challah bread. While I’m writing this and doing some desk work, the sponge is getting ready to become bread. I’ve not made challah for decades but it’s one of my favorite breads. I hope it’ll be delicious. I’ll report later.
Meanwhile, what I AM supposed to be chronicling is that I have completely finished my Winter’s Finery shawl by Rosemary Hill. This is a one-skein-wonder that I knitted up with a special skein of hand-dyed yarn that I bought at Knit City Montreal two (or almost three) years ago. The yarn is dyed by Mailles a Part, based in Quebec. It’s a 75% superwash Bluefaced Leicester, 25% nylon yarn in the colorway “Maree”.It’s a dusty blue with specks of gray. I loved it from my first glance. The pattern is another wonderful Romi pattern with clear directions and simple to follow. I keep remembering, though, that I have to LOOK at my knitting and read my stitches because I am apt to make mistakes when I don’t read my knitting. Can you imagine that?! Once the shawl is finished you knit on the ornaments and I chose to do rainbow-colored ornaments to reflect my stance that all people should be accepted as they are. I am so disappointed in my country right now and with the hatred that is being spread based on lack of understanding and familiarity. Without getting political, although knitting is historically political, I know that change is difficult. Sometimes change can be baffling. It can be a struggle to accept change at face value. BUT I firmly believe that if we trust that every person is God’s creation then none of them is wrong or bad, they’re just different and there must be a reason that they’re here in front of us. And if you make an effort to learn about their truth, you’ll grow as a person.
I love my shawl and am wearing it today and will probably wear it to work on Thursday.
Today I’ll continue work on my Cardoon because last night I separated the sleeves and that means lots of stockinette stitching in the round which is great knitting for after work or when I’m teaching classes. I am also going to give my Bolin Cardigan some love today. I’ve gotten to the short rows on the first (left) side of the cardigan and I need to pay attention to these when I’m doing them so that I get it right the first time. I’ll pop in a lifeline before I start just in case. Frogging when mohair is involved is a royal pain in the patoot. This sweater is cropped and knitted on large-ish needles and it’s knitting up pretty quickly. I’m looking forward to the sleeves where there is a nice big cable down the side. It’s not often that I look forward to “sleeve island”!
Got to run down and see if my sponge is ready to have the rest of the ingredients added and the laundry is ready for the dryer. I love being home today in the house with one sleepy dog.
SNOW DAY! I was supposed to work today and while the accumulations have not been thrilling to this snow-loving girl, I am enjoying my snow day immensely. We had our coffee in a very leisurely manner not typical of days we both work. I went up to my atelier and wrote the store newsletter for Sunday and now I’m writing this blog post because I realized that I never posted a picture of my finished Hoodola.
Hoodola by Laura Nelkin is one of the 8 FOs that I’ve managed for 2025 so far. I knit my Hoodola in what I thought was going to be boring creamy-white yarn by Berroco that has been discontinued. I was given a couple of hanks of the white and one or two of a dark green. It was DK weight and I decided, why not give it a shot and hoping that I wouldn’t have to play yarn chicken. I am thrilled to report that I didn’t and it’s finished and I really do love it. Laura sent out a minor update to the pattern once I was well on my way and I didn’t choose to put a tie on mine (I’d have had to use another colorway and I didn’t want to do that.)
Here it is …
Hoodola by Laura Nelkin
The long ribbed section at the neck keeps my neck warm without need for a scarf, I can certainly fold it up and cover my nose with it if I want to. AND, I can pull the hood down in the car or when in a shop so my hair doesn’t get too flattened out and then just pull it back up when I head out again. I may have to make the green yarn into another Hoodola because it’s such a great “hat”! (Behind me is the American Flag quilt that I made several years ago. One of my favorite sewing projects of all time. I even quilted it on a friend’s long arm machine!)
The snow is coming down a bit heavier now (yay!) and it looks like the rest of my day will be watching Netflix and knitting. I am hoping to get the lace part of my Winter’s Finery shawl finished and get it bound off so I can finish the edge ornaments and block it. I also want to work on my Bang Out a Sweater … Cardoon. It’d be great to get past the colorwork before all of my classes tomorrow. I’ll bet I could get well into the body of the sweater if I could get to the sleeve division today. So I’m going to sign off.
Sunday morning is the only morning that I “never” have to wake up to an alarm. Most other mornings I set my alarm for 6:30am (and head to bed between 9 and 9:30pm.) This morning the alarm went off around 8am and I was still in bed sound asleep. Not a normal morning for sure. But it did feel good to sleep and maybe I will “catch up” with the sleep I’ve lost over the last week with this coughing crud I’ve had. I did get to the doctor on Tuesday and have an antibiotic but the cough remains. The sinus infection seems to be resolving, thank goodness.
So, we’ve been really spending a lot of time at home. I’m starting to get a little bit of energy back and am getting a few chores done around the house. I finally replaced the batter upstairs in the guest room (I’d disconnected the whole thing to stop the infernal beep) and I vacuumed my atelier yesterday. I need to make a trip to Costco tomorrow to stock up a bit and we’re supposed to get more snow on Thursday (my day to work).
Cardoon by Isabell Kraemer
I have been knitting! I started my “Bang Out a Sweater” project with Cardoon by Isabell Kraemer. I’ve had the yarn in my stash for this sweater, in two shades of purple tweed by Fibra Natura Kingston Tweed. I like the yarn, it’s got a wonderfully smooth hand despite being non-superwash wool. The color contrast isn’t high but I think it will be enough to work and the weight of the yarn is going to be perfect. If I can bang out the yoke, it’ll be clear sailing down the body. I made some good progress yesterday morning. I’ll work on it again for a bit today.
I finished a headband for my daughter’s friend Sheldon. I made him fingerless mitts for Christmas and he’s asked for a headband. I used the same yarn and the Petite Knits pattern, Weekend Headband. It’s an interesting construction. I made the small size and I hope it fits … I do have enough yarn to make a larger one if it doesn’t. AND if it doesn’t fit Sheldon it’ll fit Sylvie, I’ll bet. I’ll be sending it off with a headband for my daughter that I cast on yesterday. She chose another Petite Knits pattern, Ingeborg. I’m knitting it with two yarns held together a creamy white Berroco Ultra Alpaca and a silver Kid Seta lace-weight mohair silk.
Ingeborg by Petite Knits
I almost wrote to the designer when I could not for the life of me figure out how to make the pattern work. The pattern didn’t specify which provisional cast on to use so I used a crochet provisional cast on and then struggled to figure out how to keep the brioche rib with an odd number of stitches on the needles. BUT I pulled out some scrap yarn (because frogging with mohair is a pain) and gave it several tries and was able to figure out what the designer meant when she wrote the pattern. She doesn’t use the traditional terminology, BrK1, in the pattern which may be part of my “problem” but once I figured out the two-row pattern, I was knitting up a storm. In fact, I probably could have made two in a day if I had had a clear understanding of the pattern from the get-go. But it’s all good because I’m learning. Last night I found a partial dropped stitch in one of the brioche columns and was able to successfully drop my stitches down and fix it. That also felt really good. A few more inches and I can graft the headband and cinch it at the center front and then block it and send it off. Woo! Hoo!
I’ve pulled the pink mittens out of the time out area and had a look at what they still need to continue and finish. I think I may simply finish the one hand of embroidery on the one mitten and skip it on the second one. I’m not finding that I am enjoying the embroidery and I love the pink mittens so … it’s either cut off what I did already (and that’s not out of the running) and finish the two mittens or finish one mitten with embroidery and one mitten without. Time will tell. I’ll let you know.
I found a pattern for a really cute Jolly Gingerbread doll cushion/pillow by Jenny Watson in a WYS book. The doll is knit in a worsted/aran weight yarn. I happen to have a gingerbread cookie color of wool in my stash and I think I am going to make one for our house for next Christmas. I even have some left-overs of the sock yarn for the scarf and hat. If I love it, I may make more to give as gifts. It needs to be big enough to be easily visible, though. I also have the knitted zoo animals pattern book and yarn sitting waiting for me to prioritize them. I think I need to finish my sweater and the pink mittens before I allow myself to cast on something fun like that.
I also have a sweater’s worth of Rowan Felted Tweed and a silk mohair yarn to make either a vest or a sweater. I want an orange garment to wear with my orange sueded boots – I can see my kids cringing! Ha! Ha! I like the Bolin Cardigan by Norah Gaughan that is being used as the Bang Out a Sweater pattern for the MDK month-long KAL. I’m just not sure that an orangey orange cardigan will be flattering on me. (Or will I look like a pumpkin?) I’ve swatched with two different colors of mohair …
On the left is the Felted Tweed (zinnia colorway) with a beige/tan lace-weight mohair and the right is with an orangey lace-weight mohair. Amazing difference, don’t you think? I like both combinations and the question remains, which one should I choose and for which garment? Since I can’t decide, I’m letting the yarn sit on the counter in my atelier until I can figure it out. I have the full sweater’s worth of mohair in the orange. I’d have to switch it for the tan if that’s the way I choose to go. The tan color makes the orange more subdued, for sure. Maybe I need to get my boots up next to the swatch and see what they look like together.
I’ve done a bit of work on my Jelly Roll Blanket and a little bit of the lace re-do on the Winter’s Finery Shawl. Nothing remarkable accomplished but I am trying to continue to make some progress each week. Eventually, all the projects will be completed. Right? I haven’t had the head space to work on my daughter’s fingerless mitts this week. This virus-thing has taken ahold of my brain. Lucky I only had to work one day and teach one day this week. Next week is going to be much busier with a MeAA board meeting and a MCSC business meeting to attend.
Off to move the laundry into the dryer and then it’s time to knit.
It’s a beautiful blue bird day here on the lake today. I have had a slow morning, a late wake-up after a middle of the night interruption by the smoke detector battery at 3:30am. I’ve been on meds for my sinus infection for 24 hours and hope to feel like a new woman by tomorrow. (No worries, right?)
I’ve been working away bit by bit on my Jelly Roll Blanket and yesterday came across a very pleasing combination of colors. I tried to take a photograph of them but it’s not coming out very true so you’ll have to just trust me. When I can knit outdoors again, maybe I can get a really good photo. Ha! I still have a basket and more of bits and bobs of fingering weight yarn scraps so I am planning to keep going. Maybe I’m half-way there? I knew this was going to be a long-term project.
Headband in progress
I’ve picked up and am just finished grafting the seam on the headband I’m making for one of my daughter’s friends who is like another one of my kids. He’s an avid runner, even in the winter in New York City. For Christmas, I made Sheldon a pair of fingerless mitts for running in his signature shade of blue. I had an extra skein of the yarn and offered to make him a headband or hat. I decided on Petite Knits’ Weekend Headband which is a 1×1 rib, cast on with live stitches so that they can be grafted at the end. I made a mistake at the point of the cast on without realizing it until I was ready to graft in 1×1 rib and realized I had live stitches from the cast on that were all knit stitches. Hmm. What’s a knitter to do? I certainly wasn’t going to frog and begin again. So, my answer was to knit a round of stitches and graft them in regular Kitchener stitch. While the graft doesn’t look bad, it would look MUCH better in rib but since it’ll be on the inside of the headband, I think it’s passable. The headband is soaking now and will be blocked and sent off. I made the smaller size because he doesn’t have a big head. I hope it’ll work. I still have more yarn, just in case.
Meanwhile, my daughter has also asked for a new headband so once I’ve finished another project on the needles, I’ll have to find a pattern for hers. AND finish her sister’s fingerless mitts. Since I’ve been under the weather, I haven’t had the headspace to work on them.
Winter’s Finery … lace gone amok
My Winter’s Finery shawl has taken some backwards steps. I thought I had finished the lace through the last chart row and something didn’t line up. I frogged a few rows to see if I could fix it and just kept needing to go back again. So, finally, I decided just to go back to the start of the lace and start over and this time I won’t knit the lace while watching the final few episodes of Outlander. (If you haven’t watched Outlander, you’re really missing something quite wonderful. Part time-travel, part love story, part historical fiction, I have really enjoyed it.)
I started my “Bang Out a Sweater” sweater on January 31 and then it stalled. Seems I have all of my US 6 needles out in projects somewhere. I’m not sure how that could be but it seems to be true. SO … it’s sitting and waiting for me to finish my Winter’s Finery shawl or get the store for work tomorrow and buy an extra needle (or two). I can’t believe I have no US 6 needles that will work for this sweater. I will work on the shawl today … and if I can get close to 11 rows of lace knitted, I’ll finish the shawl first. If I don’t, I’ll buy new needles. Don’t tell my husband. Ha!
I have a sweater’s worth of so many yarns in my atelier. A rust-colored organic merino, a navy blue worsted wool, sport weight grey (with a red for some contrast/pattern), and an orange felted tweed and complimentary orange lace weight silk mohair. What do you think of an orange cardigan? I’m not getting a lot of knitting done this week because I don’t feel well, but I may have to cast on another something … the two hats for my client, the headband for my daughter. Something that doesn’t take too much headspace.
Queen Bee Knits 