The other day my daughter forwarded this photo to me. It’s cute, right? Well, I found the pattern on Theresa’s Crochet Shop on Etsy and bought it … even though I really don’t crochet. Why? Because it’s utterly adorable, right!?
Despite the fact that I work in a yarn shop, we didn’t have a jumbo chenille yarn and I didn’t want to struggle with crocheting holding two strands together, too. I’ll struggle crocheting with a single strand, thank you very much. So, off to Michael’s I went on Monday and bought two balls of their Sweet Snuggles yarn in a baby blue and a cream. I wanted a teal blue but they didn’t have a great selection at the store and I didn’t want to try to order and have to wait. I also bought a Prym crochet hook in an 8mm/L.
Yesterday I had a very long meeting via Zoom and decided that it was as good a time as any to give it a try. I started twice (note: frogging chenille yarn is not an easy task!) but got the hang of it and since it’s all single crochet, I do know how to do that. I got the first part, the top, finished during the meeting.
I had planned to complete it today but got busy cleaning up our primary bedroom and bath and then cooking all the veggies that I had bought to roast for my week. I’ve been dragging since the time change and it’s been a struggle to get as much done as I’d like. So, I’ve not gotten a lot of crocheting done today but I did manage to write my store newsletter and print a recipe for a customer friend … now I just have to remember who that was.
I’ll get to it this weekend. The head is next and it can’t take too long – it’s small. And then the bottom of the body. I have to remember to buy some stuffing at work this week so I can stuff it properly. And I need to find the safety eyes. Nothing else will be quite right. Right?
It was a beautiful day at the lake today … it warmed to 50 degrees and the ice is starting to melt. It wasn’t much of a winter and I hope the Browntail Moths don’t thrive with this warmer winter. I will never be able to work in our yard if they’re as bad as they’ve been the last two years. Spring is coming!
I woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning and, as usual, it made the start of the day at 5:45am perfectly fine. Although it felt like noon at 8am when I thought I needed to get moving and get some chores and errands run. Ha! Ha!
I spent the morning writing the store newsletter and getting the weekend plans and reminders together and planning my calendar for next week. I went downstairs for breakfast after 11am and we went out to run some errands around noon time.
I was sent a photo of a crocheted ray by my daughter that she saw on Instagram. We don’t carry the yarn at Yardgoods so today, one of my errands was to go to Michael’s to see if they had any there. I bought two balls of Michael’s Sweet Snuggles a jumbo weight chenille yarn. They had a limited choice of colors in the store but light blue and cream will work. I also bought a L crochet hook … wish me luck. I may be an expert knitter but I’m a mediocre crocheter at best.
Ray … I’ll be attempting this someday soon
I’ve been rolling along on my Stashbuster Shawl. I’m nearing the end of the project and have taken a bit of time to count my stitches and estimate how much yarn I will need for casting off. I typically give myself three times the width of the edge to be cast off. I made a knot there and I’ll knit up to that knot or very close to it and then bind off with my fingers and toes crossed and my legs, too, maybe. When I bought this yarn I thought it was in shades of gray. Turns out that it’s navy blule. It’s all good, I wear a lot of blue and this one is slightly larger than the multi-colored Stashbuster that I knitted a while back. I think it’s going to be a good addition to my shawl collection.
Haven’t made a lot of progress on my daughter’s Christmas socks or the Oorik slip over for my granddaughter. I hope it’ll fit her in the fall but I’d still like to check it off the list. I haven’t touched the Fiddlehead mittens or my pink embroidered mittens but I’ll get to them. I’m enjoying all the knitting that I’m doing so it’s all good.
This afternoon we attempted to install a new digital TV antenna on our roof. The original one hasn’t been working for a while. We got a few channels but none of the ones that we really want from more than 60 miles away so we will return this one and get one with a larger range. For a couple of “old” people we can still crawl in and out of the windows and walk on the roof. My husband has a new hip and it seems to be working well. I’m grateful for that!
My nephew got married on Friday in Lafayette, Louisiana to an absolutely adorable, smart, organized, lovely and loving woman. We are all thrilled for the newlyweds and their boys. It was a wonderful event. I took NO photographs. My phone remained in my purse and I was thoroughly present with my family.
Some of the highlights were seeing the great-nephews who have really grown up since they were last at our house and a sisters trip to the beauty parlor to have our hair and makeup done for the wedding. Let me repeat that we didn’t take any photos of us in our makeup (and three of us washed it off as soon as we got home, haha!) The rehearsal dinner was a lot of fun and we got to meet lots of the Louisiana people whose names we’ve heard for over a decade. The wedding was one of the prettiest I’ve attended and my great-nephew read his vows to his dad and new mom – there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. All of the siblings and their “spice” had dinner together at my brother and sister’s (adoptive) mom’s favorite restaurant on Saturday night and that was special. I wish I’d known her but I’m so grateful that she provided a loving home for my brother. And I know both Betsy and my mother are celebrating that we found each other.
flowers in my brother’s yardsibling dinner at Betsy’s favorite New Orleans streetsPat O’Brien’sHurricanes for all of usCommander’s Palace
We headed into the New Orleans on Sunday for the night before our flight out. If you’ve ever gotten stuck on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, you’ll know why. We returned our rental car and took an Uber into the French Quarter for a quick walk around. We stopped at the historic Pat O’Brien’s for a Hurricane and then out onto the streets to have a quick visit. We traveled back to the hotel to change for dinner at Commander’s Palace. We had the most enjoyable experience there. The food was incredibly delicious and the service was impeccable. What a way to end a fantastic trip to Louisiana.
Our flights were uneventful, the weather was cool for Louisiana but the sun came out ever so briefly for the wedding ceremony and I am so grateful that we were able to take the time off to make the trip. There’s nothing better than hugging my family. None of us is as young and healthy as we were 15 years ago and I’ll always try to make the time so we can spend time together. How lucky I am to have such wonderful family.
I hardly knitted at all. More on that later. I just wanted to take the time to write about our visit before too much time passes. We leave feeling lots of love with hearts full.
Gone knitting. This time I mean it … my knitting chair awaits.
I’m sitting at my desk having finished my newsletter for the store and adding the subscribers to the list. I don’t love “working” on Sunday. I like to keep it set aside as a day for me but some weeks this just doesn’t happen. This was one of those weeks.
We drove back from New York City on Monday after a fun but disappointing visit. We had gone down to meet a little dog at the Humane Society that we’ve been approved to adopt. She’s a 4 year-old shitzu, bichon and maybe a bit of poodle thrown in mix. I fully expected to bring her home with us but got a call on Sunday night with a health update that triggered me as my Boq died with the same two “issues”. I ended up cancelling my meeting and we came home requesting more time for me to think about whether we want to adopt a young dog with potential health issues that might require a special diet and/or medication. I’m so grateful for the understanding and caring response from the Humane Society. We’re now on hold until we get back from a family wedding in a few weeks and we’ll see if the medical issues have resolved and decide about next steps. This is a great and very thorough place that really wants adoptions to succeed and so do we. I know I’ll fall in love with her if I see her so I’m trying to step back from the emotion and take care of myself first in this instance. After 40+ years of taking care of everybody else first, I’m really trying to listen to myself and leave space for me to practice self-care first. I was proud that I could speak my truth and name my concerns and ask for some more time. I was rewarded with a wonderful conversation and a mutual understanding. Bravo, me!
Monday evening I was dropped off at Maine Arts Academy in Augusta to attend a board meeting. It was a great meeting and I’m so proud of our school and proud to be associated with it, too. We had a student visit to update us on her life today after we granted her an early graduation last year. She’s an incredible young woman who will do great things and it was so thoughtful that she wanted to thank us and update us on her life.
The next couple of days I got all the house and home stuff caught up so that I could work at the end of the week. I baked some bread and some hermits (read about it here) and it’s been fun to share the cookies at work with my wonderful co-worker friends. I am so fortunate to work with some excellent, creative, smart women! I’ve been at the store working and teaching for the last three days and today is (finally) a day for me to catch up … again. Ha! Ha!
Photo by Melissa Blackall Photography – “Of This Place”
Friday night we went to Colby College to see the performance of “Of This Place” in the new Gordon Center. The new theater space is amazing and I really enjoyed the performance. My only criticism is that they’ve not completed the sound system and it was difficult to hear some parts of the spoken words. I loved that it was a multi-generational collaborative performance that included kids from a Waterville elementary school, staff and alumni, students from Colby and Maine Arts Academy, and professional dancers, too. I’m not a dancer and don’t pretend to be but I do like to watch dance and admire people who can dance.
All of this to say that I haven’t gotten a lot of knitting done this week. When I was teaching class on Friday morning I realized that I didn’t have some of the stuff I needed to knit, other projects needed more attention than I could give at that time and place. What’s a knitter to do? I have worked a little bit on the second sleeve of my Norwegian sweater and I’m up to the heel of my Hermione’s Everyday sock. My friend Glenda and I are going to do another self-imposed KAL and we’ve picked Christopher’s Bunny by Susan B. Anderson to be our project. I may choose to cast on today … although, I’d love to finish the sleeves of my sweater. I’m so close that I’m not sure why I’m continuing to put it off. I NEED to do our laundry because I have one pair of underwear left in my bureau. Ha! Ha! I SHOULD vacuum and wet mop the upstairs because my allergies are showing their ugly heads … between the unseasonably warm weather and lack of snow, I’m afraid it’s going to be a really bad year for allergies. Our road is already thinking it’s mud season and I was white-knuckling the drive home last night as my car was sucked into the muddy ruts.
Enough “griping” … I’m off to attack this beauty of a day. Wish me luck.
We are back home after a wonderful whirlwind Christmas trip to New York City. Rather than spending the holiday staring at each other, we decided to head to the city to spend the holiday with our NY family and, maybe most importantly, our granddaughter.
We ate and drank and played games and watched movies, we spent lots of time together enjoying each other’s company. Christmas Eve we ate beef stew and shrimp scampi at B&K’s apartment and Christmas morning was also at their place where we had cinnamon rolls, muffins, mimosas and eggs and bacon. Christmas dinner was at K&S’s apartment and we had lasagna two ways, garlic bread and kale salad. I so love spending time with my family. We fit in time for baking Spritz cookies which is a family tradition and the kids even snuck a few into our bag when we were heading home. A nice surprise!
I designed my first “real” sweater for my granddaughter’s second Christmas and I wanted to show it to you. I have to look into how to grade and tech edit (and test knit) the pattern and decide if it’s worth it to publish the pattern. It’s a chimney sweater and popping out of the chimney is the jolly old elf. I had to re-knit the yoke to make it deep enough to fit a pair of little arms but I am pleased with the way it fit our little elf.
The sweater is knit in a DK weight yarn and fits my darling elf perfectly. The hat is a special addition because I wanted it to look like Santa’s head is popping out of the chimney. I added the little green garland to give it a pop of color. It’s sewn on with cotton thread. The little hat also fit perfectly and my daughter loved it. I’m guessing an elf hat will be requested another time.
I also knitted two berets for my future daughter-in-love. She requested spring weight hats for her golfing when the days are a bit chilly. I pulled tan yarn from around the store one day and she chose two favorites. A Malabrigo Arroyo in colorway 131 Sandbank. I wouldn’t have looked at this color twice (or once) but I really love the color and the hat is stunning. I loved the icord edging and will be looking forward to the report from the wearer. I was so excited to finish the hat before leaving the city that I forgot to photograph it. I have one in-process photo.
The pattern, Bisbis by Sari Nordlund, is simple enough for an adventurous beginner, starting with an i-cord and increasing rapidly. It’s a bit fiddly to do because you have only a few stitches on DPNs but it was easily completed in about 7 hours total knitting. I started it on Friday in my knitting class holding a strand of mohair with the sport weight superwash but I didn’t like the fuzziness. So, on Saturday on the ride into NYC, I frogged it and started again with just the Arroyo. I loved it.
The other hat is One Day Beret by Kristin Kapur. This one was knit in Cascade’s Aegean Tweed which is an organic merino wool and I used two colors and knitted two-round stripes. I carried the yarn on the inside of the hat so I didn’t have lots of ends to weave in. I also loved the way this hat knit up and the yarn is wonderful to work with. In fact, it was very similar to my favorite yarn, Patagonia by Juniper Moon Farms. Both are organic merino and they’re similar weights. This hat is a bit larger than Bisbis and ends in ribbing. It’ll be interesting to see which hat fits better, which is the better size, etc.
I’ve got to get better about photographing the hats at the end … I get excited and forget. Haha! Oh well. You can get the gist of what it looks like by this photo. I added a bit of an i-cord “string” or whatever that part of the tam/beret is called that sits at the top and then began the pattern. I am really pleased with both hats.
I have a long list of projects to start in the New Year. Mostly gifts but a few for myself. Sock for my daughter, Love and Light for my nephew’s bride-to-be for their shower, another for my bonus daughter’s engagement gift I want to finish my gnome KAL and knit the Arne & Carlos Advent Christmas Stocking for myself. My stocking isn’t my favorite anymore … and needs to be changed out. I’ll keep the old one just in case we get lucky and have all the kids for Christmas at our house one year.
I’ve been working on a pair of socks for my bonus son-in-law for a future gift and my Nancy’s vest. I’ve nearly reached the end of the button hold section and will be happy to wear it in the New Year. I have to find 7 perfect buttons for it, too. I have two sleeves to finish my Norwegian knitting project … actually, it’s one sleeve and a little bit of a second. I’ve had a challenge in how to knit a chart with the wrong number of stitches while decreasing to the right number of stitches. But I’ll figure it out. I hope. I’m so close to being able to wear it!
We will be spending New Year’s Eve with my brothers and their brides and we’re excited to see them. I hope your Christmas was merry and your New Year is healthy and happy!
Gone fishing.
A Very Long Ride Home on 12/26! Lots of tail lights for sure.
I’m posting a photo from yesterday because this morning we are facing a wall of fog. The air is relatively warm and the ground is cold after several days of unusually cold weather and our first plowable snow. We were in New York City taking care of our granddaughter and missed the snow – it’s not yet shoveled from the driveway and if we actually get rain today as the weathermen suggest, what little we have will be melted away.
We had a wonderful time in New York with the kids and grand. My eldest and her husband took off for Miami for a few days and we stepped in and stepped up to watch the baby and their very senior dog. And we had a wonderful time! Sylvie is engaging and has a great sense of humor. She’s adding new skills daily and communicates with baby sign language (hungry, more, all done). We both adore her and she really loves her Poppy.
While we were there I attached some legs to the Very Hungry Caterpillar that I knitted for her (and she loves). The pattern was simple enough to knit but didn’t have any legs in the pattern. I knitted six legs at home and brought them to NY to attach, a good choice since I didn’t knit more than a couple of rounds the entire six days we were there. I was playing with Sylvie or cleaning up or sleeping. Regardless, the caterpillar now looks more like the illustrations in the books.
If I were to knit this stuffed toy again, I would make the body and head in one piece rather than making them separately and stitching them together. I made the legs with a 4-stitch i-cord and they’re about an inch long. I pulled the yarn through after sewing them on the body and then tightened it up to make the legs “bend”. Because Sylvie is a chewer and everything goes into her mouth, the eyes and nose are sewn on, too. No buttons for this child.
I have designed and knitted her Christmas sweater for 2023. Unfortunately, I need to rework the upper part and, frankly, if I had time, I’d take off the binding at the bottom and extend the brick pattern by one or two repeats. But I don’t have time so I’m going to lengthen the chest/upper body and then block the sweater a little more aggressively than I would normally to widen it a bit and lengthen it, too.
I will be writing up the pattern and hope to find someone to help me grade the sizes. I think it’s super cute. I will be taking the top back to the first few round of raglan decreases and will add several more rounds to make the top a little deeper (and the sleeves a little wider at the shoulder). Overall, the size I made is too small for Sylvie. It would be pretty perfect for a 6-9 month old I think. She’ll wear it for a few photos and then take it off … lessons learned. Knitting is so good at making me feel more humble.
Before I-cord garlandWith i-cord garland and sequinsclose-up
I also finished knitting the i-cord “string” for Sylvie’s second pair of thumbless mittens. These are red (duh!) and are quick to knit. I’m amazed to report that she even leaves them on! Next year we will graduate to larger mittens with thumbs but this year those little fingers spread out and it would be impossible to get a little thumb into a mitten thumb.
The last photo is exactly how much knitting I got done this past week. For someone who prides herself on daily knitting practice, I was SO busy with Sylvie, getting her fed, bathed, and changed, etc. that I just fell into bed at the end of the day. I didn’t read much or knit much at all. The car rides to and fro were different, however!
On my needles Christmas edition (I have more but they’ve been set aside for deadline knitting!)
A hat to match Sylvie’s Christmas sweater … my thought is to make it appear that she’s the Santa popping out of the chimney.
Socks in Paton’s Kroy in blue stripes
I have yet to start and must get going on a golf tam for Kyla in beige
AND I have to frog and reknit the Christmas sweater itself
We got home last night from a wonderful Thanksgiving trip to see Ned’s youngest and her fiance and to meet her future in-laws. His oldest daughter and her husband came out, too. It was a wonderful (almost) week with our family!!!
We went for a great walk on their near-by bike trail, spent lots of time eating and chatting, had the most wonderful Thanksgiving feast with Jake’s family, went bowling (and tested Ned’s new hip), ate at a delicious Indian restaurant with Jake’s family and went for a drive to the mountains and had lunch in Golden.
Highlights were seeing a pair of buck moose on the way to a state park photo spot. They were just enjoying their nibbles a bit off the side of the street. We stopped, of course, like foolish tourists and took photos. We supposed that they wouldn’t be able to reach us quickly because there was a six-foot barbed wire fence between us … we also did not try to annoy them closer to us. AND when we got to the scenic overlook of the mountains it was breathtakingly beautiful. Those mountains are incredible. We were treated to witnessing a proposal. We saw a woman “lurking” at the side of the trail and a couple walked hand-in-hand to a little clearing near the trail and before we knew it, they were face to face (at a distance from where we were standing and he got down on one knee. The lurker was a photographer and we were the unintended witnesses. A privilege to witness such a special intimate moment in a couple’s life.
We adore the new family we are adding to ours and are so excited for Amy & Jake’s wedding so we can get back to Denver. I missed being able to visit with my “little mentee” from Florida who has moved to the Denver environs with her little family. She was sick and I couldn’t risk getting sick because I have babysitting duty in NYC this weekend. I also was reminded that an Instagram knitting friend is in Denver but their Thanksgiving was on the day that we had time/opportunity to visit so we’ve postponed both until June. I also didn’t get to visit any yarn shops which will happen in June. But it was an excellent visit and we look forward to more in the future. Guess it’s time to get a Southwest Airlines credit card for the points, right?
My knitting sure took a back seat to visiting with the kids and family. I worked a bit on the blue baby sweater for one of my daughter’s bestie’s new baby boy. I have to finish the button bands and block it and get some buttons on Thursday at work and it’ll be done. I frogged the mistakes in my Nancy’s vest and have begun re-knitting with ten rows between buttonholes. Good grief, I can’t believe I read the pattern so badly the first time. I’ve said before that knitting is a humbling experience and this was once again proof of that. I started a pair of socks with yarn that has been deeply stashed (another one, yes!) in a Maine Lobster colorway. My intent is that they’re for me this time. The last ones I knit for me years ago felted slightly in the wash despite them being superwash wool … and I gifted them to Kate who has smaller feet.
I adore this man and the family that we’ve built together. I hope we get at least another 20 years to watch them all grow together! We are so lucky to have found each other and to have weathered the weirdness that we’ve been through at different times. We are grateful to live in our beautiful home and to have some wonderful friends who make our life richer and we are most thankful for our health and our children, children-in-love, and of course our grandchild.
Life is good. Our hearts are full. Gone knitting.
PS. While we were gone, we started the process of fixing up our little wonky cabin which will be available for rent (hopefully) next summer. We lived in the cabin for seven months when we were building our house. I think it’s especially a great place for writers, artists, contemplation … I know we did a lot of growing together in those seven months (and it was darned cold for the last few weeks!) More on that to follow.
Today is my last day at home before returning to work after having some cruddy virus-type thing. I’m still coughing and stuffy but I do think I’m on the upswing and am feeling much better. My sweetie not so much. Today’s been one of those days where your plan just keeps falling apart.
I always spend a few minutes at my desk in the morning to have a look at what I need to get done that day, if I have any meetings, etc. Today I got myself ready to start the day and headed downstairs to fold the laundry. When I went into the bathroom I noticed that the toilet seat needed attention so I cleaned it up. The sink also needed attention so I cleaned it and the counter. Finally, it was time to fold the laundry and put it away. Done and dusted. I thought I’d make granola next and walked by my purse in the front hall which reminded me that I had wanted to changing purses so I went into our closet and found that my two vintage Coach purses at the bottom of the bin were moldy so I grabbed the shoe polish and the purses and went out into the kitchen to clean and polish them. My purses look brand new after more than 40 years and I switched my stuff from my “fall” purse into the oldest and smallest Coach purse that I have. I bought it on sale at Lord & Taylor in Manhattan when I lived and worked there. It was my first ever Coach purse. After putting the other purses back in the closet, I got out the makings for granola.
And while the oats, etc. were toasting, I remembered to catch up on my Wovember posts on Instagram.I know that committing myself to these monthly postings is going to be tough but I try it again and again. I was really behind … like 5 or six days behind. I’d thought about the posts and had taken some photos but needed to take a photo of the afghan that my grandmother’s friend Ruth gave to me as a shower or wedding gift the first time I was married. Ruth is my knitting hero. She could knit while drinking coffee, smoking a cigarette and watching TV. The afghan remains one of my favorites despite the acrylic yarn. I noticed it needs some repair – it has a few pulls – and I’ve added that to my mending list. I wrote my post while the liquid part of the granola was melting and then put the granola together and back into the oven.
I had emptied a bottle of fizzy water and hadn’t refilled it so I did that, put away the dry dishes on the drainboard, cleaned up the kitchen and washed the top of the island (I had to scrub a bit of shoe polish off.) Meanwhile, I’d forgotten to eat breakfast so I grabbed the last of the baked oatmeal out of the freezer and popped it into the microwave. See how it’s gone? I’ve made headway into the day but geez, there’s a lot of side trips! Ha! Ha!
Look how happy my houseplants are! I am thrilled to see the show they’re putting on this year. My Thanksgiving Cactus is in full bloom. It’s absolutely covered with flowers. The second one, is blooming too but nowhere near as fully as the red one. Our orchids are STILL blooming. They’ve been incredible and in nearly constant bloom for months. Yes, you read that right, MONTHS! My father would be so proud of me and I know that Helen is smiling.
I really am knitting. I’m endeavoring to design a Christmas sweater for Sylvie. She’s a year old but she’s a peanut so I’m not sure what size to knit but I’ve just begun and am hoping it’ll fit! I’ll write the pattern down when it’s done … maybe … but I think it’ll be cute and different. I’ve got the body done and am knitting the sleeves. Since they’re little, they won’t take a lot of time. The Yoke will be worked pretty simply with raglan decreases and then embellished once the sweater is knitted. I’m not going to share any more photos (the one below was posted to Instagram) until it’s finished but there are hints on my Ravelry project page.
I’ve set aside my pink mittens with some of the embroidery done and some yet to do. I’ll get them finished when I am done with Sylvie’s sweater. They may travel with me for Thanksgiving. We shall see. I’m continuing to work on my Nancy’s Vest slowly but surely and mostly in the evenings when I am too tired for colorwork and design work. I’ve got five of the seven button holes knitted so I’m making progress. I hope it’s going to be long enough … it looks like it could be really short. If that’s the case, I’ll rip it out and start again. I am trying to take my own advice and trust the pattern.
My gray socks are still on the needles. I found a dropped stitch way back and pulled it up as far as I dared. I’ll secure the one stitch when it’s finishing time. I’ve already added a stitch so that my count is correct. They’re for me so it doesn’t really matter if they’re perfect. Well. they’re perfectly imperfect.
One of the messy spots
My studio and home are a mess and I can’t leave for Thanksgiving before it’s cleaned up a little bit. Guess we’ll be vacuuming and dusting this weekend. Holiday travel is not my cup of tea and I’m trying to get myself into the mindset that what happens happens. We are so fortunate to be able to travel and to be invited for a Thanksgiving visit. Our generator is in good working order should we lose power and we have Tom coming to raise our guest cottage sometime during the long weekend so he’ll check on the water issue (we’re waiting on parts so it can be fixed.) Monk will be happy to see his friends at the kennel. We have everything that’s within our control done. The rest is up to the universe.
Gone knitting.
PS. Two more thoughts. First. I went to the doctor because I wasn’t feeling well on Thursday last week. When we bring our dog to the veterinarian, they call to see how he’s doing after the visit. I’ve heard not one word from my doctor. Second. The weather is really feeling wintery now. We (the royal we) covered the garlic with straw and it’s time to cover the Rhododendrons that we’ve been nursing for years. They’re getting a bit bigger but the weight of the snow (and the workers) may hurt them. Guess it’s time to put the life jackets and oars away, too. The dock’s only been gone a month or so. An extra thought. Be kind. Everyone’s fighting battles these days. Politics is ugly, war is ugly, and it’s difficult to wrap my head around the things people say to each other. What we can all do every day is to be kind. It takes so little effort.
I slept a little bit late this morning and missed the sunrise. It was a rough night. I left my snoring hubby and went up to sleep in the guest room around midnight but woke up all by myself at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep. But today waits and we had things to do around the house that we’ve been putting off. We vacuumed the house, I assembled our new rolling hamper and we helped our friend get her garage door working. We also hit Helen’s garden in front of our bedroom window. It was full of (what I think is called) strangle vine and it’s getting to the bushes and perennials in the bed. We’re going to have to keep a close eye on that bed in the spring! We can’t use any herbicides because we’re so close to the lake. Best we can do is a strong vinegar mix.
I’ve been busy with meetings and work and events but I’ve also been working in my studio and have a bunch of projects on the needles and a few that are finished. With the craziness in the world with the wars between Israel and Hamas and Ukraine and Russia and all of the heartache that they bring coupled with the chaos in the American government, I’ve been struggling to keep my own sense of peace within me. I don’t like what the Israeli government has done to the Palestinian people but I despise that Hamas has kidnapped women and children and the bombing, murder and mayhem is horrible. I can only imagine how all the mothers and children, in particular, must feel as their homes are destroyed and their loved ones are killed.
I’ve discovered that when I’m feeling out of control and world events are so disturbing that I tend to cast on new projects. I’ve cast on six new projects; all of them are smaller projects than the sweater that I’ve been trying to finish. I have finished two hats and a newborn sweater.
The hats are the same pattern knitted in Cascade’s Baby Alpaca worsted yarn. This was on clearance at my LYS and I couldn’t resist buying a couple skeins for hats for babies. The yarn is so soft! The hat on the left is completed here, the hat on the right has also been washed and blocked and has a pompom, too. The pattern is Garter Ear Flap hat by Purl Soho. They have a bunch of wonderful and free patterns on their website. There used to be a store in New York City but it’s been closed and remains so. Bummer. It was a fun place to visit. We went there once.
The baby sweater pattern is called Newborn Vertebrae and it’s a free pattern on Ravelry. This one is for one of my daughter’s friends who is having a baby boy soon. I love knitting this little sweater for wee ones. It’s really only a back and arm covering because newborns are most often being held against the body. This one is made of an Online Linie fingering weight yarn in a self-striping colorway. I bought one 50g ball and hoped it would be enough … it almost was. Thank goodness I’m a bit of a hoarder (of yarn) and I had a tiny bit of leftover yarn from a pair of socks that was a perfect match and I was able to get the ribbing around the front completed. (I really only needed enough for a row or two.)
My WIPs list is a bit longer than it was but I was reminded that I had a few things to get on the needles that can’t really wait forever. My Norwegian sweater is in time out for a bit. I’ve almost finished the first sleeve and when I got to the place where I should begin the colorwork, I have too many stitches and I’m not sure how to handle it without going back and adjusting my decreases. I know that the traditional Norwegian knitters wouldn’t do that but I can’t seem to figure it out their way.
I’ve cast on a pair of purple socks, plain vanilla, with my Yankee Knitter pattern. I’ve knit so many socks that I’ve worn out more than one paper copy of the pattern. I now own an electronic version and hope that will last for the times when I can’t remember what I need to do next. I have mostly memorized the pattern. The yarn is Cascade Heritage and it was found in a basket when I was searching for blue yarn for the Newborn Vertebrae. I cast on immediately because it’s such a pretty color!
I’m also knitting a white garter stitch hat for my granddaughter. It’s a turkey hat, a replication of one that my daughter sent me a picture of last year. The baby will be a YEAR old on Thursday and I thought I’d knit her a turkey hat for this year. I couldn’t find a pattern to follow so I started out with a cast on of 96 stitches but it looked huge. So I frogged it back and cast on 80 stitches and it looks much more likely to fit our little peanut. I’m trying to get this one finished before we leave for NYC for her birthday party. You can bet we will be FaceTiming on Thursday. My intent with this hat is to embroider eyes and a beak on it and knit a few colorful feathers at the top. Cross your fingers (and toes, please!) Photos of the finished hat will be forthcoming.
The second pair of socks is a skein that I also bought at my LYS when it was on clearance. I’d knitted a pair in a similar colorway for my hubby and loved the yarn so much that I just bought the other hank. It’s been waiting for just this person’s feet. Haha! I am using the Yankee Knitter sock pattern here, too. Did I tell you it’s my favorite sock pattern? All of the details are on my Ravelry project page.
I spent the day on Wednesday last week sewing. I’m making two little pairs of harem pants for Sylvie. I decided to size up so that she can wear them for a little bit, I hope. I bought the pattern and the lawn fabric at Fiddlehead in Belfast, ME earlier in the summer. I bought some double gauze at my LYS which conveniently is also a fabric store. I got the elastic for the waistband there, too. The pants have French seams and I have stitched them both without (knock wood) making any mistakes. I have to insert the elastic in one pair and finish the waistband stitching on the second, insert the elastic and then hem both pairs. They’re so cute! I hope I’ll get those done tomorrow. It’s too late for today. I need to sew when I am fresh since it’s not second nature … thought I am darned proud that I knew how to follow the instructions, trace the pattern piece, etc. I may turn into a sewist yet.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of my mother’s death. I’ve written before about our somewhat difficult relationship and I’ve been working on forgiving and moving on. This year I am feeling some sorrow about her not being here to see her beautiful grandchildren and her great granddaughter although I do believe she’s watching over us. I feel more comfort this year than I have in the past and I’m proud of that progress. I’ll light a candle for her in the morning and let it burn throughout the day in her memory. I know she did her best.
Today I thought again about a poem by Wendell Berry, The Peace of the Wild Things. It’s a favorite of mine and perfect for these times of despair when the world seems so heartless and hopelesss.
When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
This morning before the sun came up after a perfect sleeping night interrupted by my snoring partner. I’m grateful that we have a guest room or I’d have been relegated to sleeping on the couch! Fall is a welcome change for me and I’m loving the cooler weather and have pulled out my flannel shirts so they can de-wrinkle without ironing. Ha Ha. I’m putting away my linens and tees because it’s sweater weather!
On Sunday I drove over to Rockland for a workshop with Katherine Ferrier at her Lincoln Street Center Studio at the suggestion of my friend Lori. The workshop was entitled Embracing the Mystery: Quilt Making and Cyanotype Prints. Cyanotypes are a photographic printing process that uses exposure to light to create its distinctive deep dark blue color.
Our task was to design the prints, some just because and some with a prompt, perhaps telling a story and being willing to embrace whatever happened. It was a cloudy but bright day and that alone could make our results different than on a bright sunny day. We enjoyed the print making and getting to know each other so much. This was a remarkable group of creative maker women. I was inspired by their talents and I’ve already purchased some cyanotype fabric. If it arrives quickly, I plan to take it to a friend’s lavender farm this weekend to make some lavender prints!
In the afternoon, we designed out quilts with our prints and some lovely scrap fabrics available from Katherine’s studio. I had originally thought I’d like to use just the cyanotype prints but with a little bit of guidance from Katherine and the beautiful orangey linen scraps, the final plan for my quilt top was made. And I love it!
It’s a long ride home so I took my photos of the quilt top and my fabric, batting, and backing fabric home with me with the promise that I would finish it and with three new friends. For the last couple of days I put the quilt together. I finished sewing together my quilt top on Monday. I made a few rookie mistakes because I’m new to patchwork sewing where not all of the pieces are square or the same size. Nor are they a planned pattern. I guess this is my first original patchwork design.
I am so happy with it. I added a little embroidery detail on the top left corner piece; an outlined blossom and a cluster of french knots in colors similar to the pops of linen. Orange/peach/salmon seem to be a new theme for me.
The center piece, the largest piece we printed was a prompt to make a wish. My wish was about my home, my husband and my family. Inside the circle is a joined pair of blossoms representing my husband and me and outside are pairs of blossoms that represent our five children and their significant others. I will be stitching a little pink blossom to represent our granddaughter. The grasses crossing it all represent flexibility, softness, growth and strength and above it all the “h” is the wish for health, happiness and home. Home to me is not only a place that you live, it’s a sense of belonging, peace, comfort and safety. This piece has a lot of meaning in it for me. I really do love it.
I then pieced the backing fabric. I wanted to incorporate the last print that I made, my self portrait, in the quilt somehow so that I didn’t bring home another piece of fabric without a plan. I also used my little square that Katherine gifted to each of us as my quilt label on the back. I pondered whether I wanted to stitch in the ditch for the quilting or tie the quilt, decided on the former and then decided to put a proper binding on it. I cut 2.5 inch strips for the binding, sewed them together and stitched them onto the quilt. I also stitched in the ditch around the outside of the quilt to attach the second part of the binding.
It’s not perfect. There are a couple of places on the back where I didn’t catch the binding and where the backing wiggled out of the binding but I am pretty sure I’m comfortable leaving it this way because the whole exercise was embracing the mystery, right? I’m consciously embracing the imperfections as part of the process of learning and meeting myself where I am.
Here is the finished quilt on my studio floor. I only need to hang it up somewhere in our house. I’m so grateful to have a house that is a true home with a partner who encourages my creativity even though dinner isn’t always ready. I have found my home here with him.
I’m grateful to my friend Lori who inspired me to take the opportunity and this workshop. I’m also grateful to my new friends who inspired me along the way. I am grateful to Katherine for making the opportunity available for us all together, learn, explore and embrace the mystery!
Queen Bee Knits 