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.
Well, it’s been another busy week at the Warner homestead! We’ve had a couple of rainy days but this morning we were able to enjoy our coffee on the porch. What a wonderful way to start the day. Coffee, my favorite husband and the BBD.
I’ve been home from my babysitting gig for about a week and a half and I’ve more or less recovered from full-time grandmothering. AND then life started up again. In the past week we’ve both had our eyes examined, I worked a little bit extra and a Saturday when the boss was out of town, had a board meeting, Maine Arts Academy graduation and a couple of committee meetings. (Thank goodness for Google Meets.) We are now looking ahead to our youngest daughter’s wedding at the end of the month and a bit of travel. I’m excited about July when we will just be at home. I know we have at least one visitor for the 4th of July so that’s exciting!
Yesterday “the girls” at work and I dressed our front window at the store. We’ve been planning this for a few weeks and announced to our LYS community an Emotional Support Chicken kal/cal in our weekly newsletter. We’ve had terrific participation and we are so excited by our summer window display! Our customers are excited about it and we are, too! We even have a couple of foxes.
Today I spent the morning running little errands. One of which was to deliver the little signs for the window. This is one of my boss’s favorite lines and we thought it was appropriate for our window. The ESCs have been such a great fad and we capitalized on it. Isn’t it great!? (New from Lake Yardgoods is that four more chickens arrived today! Yay!)
I’ve knitted four of the ESCs myself. One was sent to a friend in Florida and one was delivered to my granddaughter. The other two are in the window for now. The purple ESC who I’ve named Janet is going to be raffled off to one of my donors for the Longest Day Knit-a-thon that I do each year. The longest day is actually on a Thursday when I have to work so I’ll be knitting on the following Saturday. I hope that maybe some of you will donate to the Alzheimer’s Association through my link.
Thank you to those who’ve already given. I’ve raised $450 of my $1600 goal. But we’re getting close to the date and I hope to amp up my fundraising posts soon.
I’ve been in a little bit of a knitting slump. I don’t really want to knit anything that takes any bandwidth. I’ve started a pair of socks ostensibly for my brother-in-law or my sister and I’ve been working on a little sundress for my granddaughter. I need to frog back a bit on the socks because I noticed last night that I’d made a mistake in the pattern an inch or so back. Since these are gifts, I have to make them right – I see the mistakes and I won’t gift them that way. I might be able to forgive the mistake if they were for me … alas they’re not.
Emotional Support Chickens
I did make a couple of chickens and a giant ray which I finished. BUT I just noticed that the ray doesn’t have a tail and I threw away the left-over yarn. I also returned the other balls of yarn to Michael’s because the yarn had changed. The new white yarn was SOOOO messy and was shedding all over me and all over my atelier when I was working on it. I hated it. Hopefully, though, my daughter will like it and she can stuff her corn heating pad into it and use it as a heating pad cover. We’ll see how the reports come back. I may also close up the hole after I stuff it like the one for Sylvie (which lives in her crib!)
Ruby Ray the Mega Ray
I also ran out of the blue yarn so the poor ray is a bit wonky. But that white yarn was a horror to work with. I’ll be finding white ray fuzz in my studio for years.
Sunbeam Kids Dress
The body of the little dress is finished. I have a few icord edges left to knit and I hope to get to them today but I had to run my errands and pick up some veggie plants for the garden before it’s too late. We have a short planting season here in Maine and we’ve been derelict in our planting duties. My sister-in-love had kale and lettuce ready to eat in her garden. We hadn’t even planted any but today we got some in. Swiss Chard, tomatoes, yellow summer squash, broccoli, kale and some radishes are in. We have to soak our pea and bean seeds and get them planted … maybe tomorrow.
The gardens are full of weeds but the flowers are blooming all around. Spring bulbs have faded into lilacs and then into wild roses and peonies and iris. I love watching the gardens come alive again year after year. We may even get a blueberry or two this year – if we can beat the birds and critters.
The King Fishers have returned to the lake as have the Humming Birds, the Great Blue Herons and, of course, the loons … I mean the fishermen. We had two old guys who could have heard me (ahem) sneeze this morning. I watched them from my atelier window as they scrutinized our house and I’m sure they heard me yell down to my hubby, “maybe they’d like an invitation to dinner” because they quickly motored away. They were close enough to cast their lines onto our shore and hook the dog! With hundreds of acres of water, you’d think they’d choose a spot where people aren’t obviously living – our cars are in the yard, the doors are open, the flag is flying … geesh!
Still on the needles where I was when I last wrote about them are WIPS: 1) Fiddlehead Mittens, 2) Oorik Tank Top … I did at least pick up the stitches and knitted the 5 rounds and bound off for the last arm hole. All that remains is to stitch down the steeks and I can block the sweater. 3) Pink Mittens, 4) Three Seasons Cardigan: I’m going to have to frog this and start it again when I’m ready. My tension is bound to have changed since I bound this on over a year ago. I have done a tiny bit of hand stitching; started a new block for the love note quilt – a picture of our old house here on the lake before we rebuilt.
All I want to do it knit little things. I have yarn for two French Macaroon sweaters by Purl Soho for Sylvie and her friend Isaac. Mitten yarn was purchased for Sylvie and cousin Noah. Dish Towel yarn is in the house for a pair of Farmhouse Dishtowels by Purl Soho (they have some terrific free patterns!) Little things, boring things, things that don’t take a lot of thought or effort because I’m not there and it’s okay.
Today I mixed up some natural ingredients that I hope will work as ant repellant. I am allergic to everything (allergies may be part of what’s going on with me because my system is overwhelmed) and we can’t use any chemicals in our house. This ant repellant is all natural with witch hazel, water, castille soap and essential oils. I’ve had an infestation in my atelier and it’s bugging me (ha! ha! funny!) I had to have a full on cleaning session before heading to work yesterday because they were everywhere – turns out they were in my bag of cough drops the little buggers. I vacuumed, washed the floors and walls and my desk, tossed anything with ants in it and now I sprayed. Crossing my fingers they’re gone forever.
Ant Repellant – Mix in an 8oz. glass spray bottle:
I didn’t get out this morning to take a photograph. Not sure why but I didn’t so here’s a photo from yesterday that seems appropriate for today. Mothers/’s/s’ Day. Maine has been experiencing the Aurora Borealis storm that much of the northern part of the country has been but we’ve missed it at our house … the first night because we were too tired to stay up late and last night because of thick cloud cover. Maybe tonight it’ll happen for us?
Today is Mother’s Day (singular) in the USA. A day to honor our mothers when we should be honoring them every day since they gave us life. But I learned something today from Heather Cox Richardson about the origin of Mothers’ Day. Professor Richardson says that Mothers’ Day (plural)
… “actually started in the 1870s, when the sheer enormity of the death caused by the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War convinced writer and reformer Julia Ward Howe that women must take control of politics from the men who had permitted such carnage. Mothers’ Day was not designed to encourage people to be nice to their mothers. It was part of women’s effort to gain power to change society.”
I’ve been receiving HCR’s Letters From an American since its inception and have learned a lot about the history of our country and how what’s happening today fits or doesn’t. Today’s post talks about Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic and who hoped after the Civil War to have women keep their new role as participants in national affairs. But the 14th Amendment established Black men as citizens and didn’t specifically mention women. Howe had an abusive husband and if she left him, her children would belong to him. Her activism lead her to believe that mothers were the only way to stop war; wrote an Appeal to Womanhood Throughout the World, organized a Woman’s Peace Movement and Mothers’ Day events to encourage women to speak up and speak out because she realized that a woman’s life didn’t have to revolve around a man, that they should share human rights and responsibilities equally with men. A fitting reminder today that women must make their voices heard and they must have the same rights as men.
I thought I’d update you all on my knitting WIPs. They only seem to be growing and not much is being finished. I seem to have a case of castonitis. (For those non-knitters, it’s when you start a bunch of projects which in knitting is called casting on.) I have cast on another Emotional Support Chicken and a sweater gift for a sweet mother-to-be and I have two more sweaters for little people that I want to knit and bought the yarn for because I don’t have the right yarn … of course.
Emotional Support Chicken(s)
I have two FOs. One is a bit older than the other but I’m showing them side by side for the size difference. On the left is my worsted weight ESC and on the right is the DK weight ESC. The one on the right will be going to my granddaughter. I will likely be knitting another one because we’re doing a window display for the summer … a chicken coop. Ha! Ha! We’ve asked our customers to participate in a Chicken-along, we stole the idea from Franklin Habit who is doing the same, and we’ve asked to borrow the chickens for our window. I hope we’ll collect a few! This pattern is so much fun to knit and there’s an equally charming crochet pattern. I made the first one just for fun and then made a second one who’s gone to live in Florida with a dear friend and the third I made with one 50g ball of Plymouth Dream Baby Paintbox. I used the same pattern as the worsted weight chicken and a US3 knitting needle. I love her!
Remaining on my needles, however, there are several active and several passive WIPs. The active ones, ones that I will actually pick up and work on over the last couple of weeks are coming first.
In the order in which they appear … My Jelly Roll Blanket is half-way up (down?) the third strip. I was working on it while on a zoom meeting with my friends from college on Friday night and did something screwy and had to frog a few rows, and then a few more, reknit a few, frog a few … not sure why I couldn’t get the stitches back on the needles successfully, but there you go. Today I was watching an Arne & Carlos YouTube video and got it fixed and then continued knitting almost to where I had originally made the mistake. I think I’m going to like this crazy patchwork-y scrap buster!
A new cast on. I have a young woman in my life who I mentored when we both lived in Florida and she was a student at my local school. I fell in love with her as a ten-year-old and love her still today as a young woman and soon a mother of three boys. I cast on this sweater to send to baby #3 who is due in a few weeks. I’ll have to head to Target or somewhere to find a little something to send to the big brothers, too. The sweater is an oldie but a goodie – it was in a magazine in 1982 and is out of print but we have a very poor copy of the pattern at work and I’ve used it a few times. I’ve chosen Cascade’s washable/dry-able acrylic and wool blend Pacific Print to knit the Zip Up A Baby Sweater. Since the yarn is multi-colored, I decided to do the plain front and sleeves rather than the cabled one. The yarn is busy enough!
My second pair of Hermione’s Everyday socks are coming along slowly. I finished the first sock and have started the second. This yarn was deeply stashed ages ago but it was calling my name. I love this pattern and even mentioned it to a customer at the store on Thursday who was going to knit her first pair of socks. (I didn’t suggest it as her first pair. I suggested she use the Yankee Knitter sock pattern for her first pair and when she’s ready, she can branch out.) Anyway, the socks travel with me to work and when we’re out and about.
I’m knitting a little cotton sundress for Sylvie. I couldn’t resist this dress when I saw the pattern and I am loving it. The pattern is Sunbeam Kids Dress (on Ravelry) and I’m making slow but sure progress. It’s still too cold for Sylvie to wear it so I’m ok here. I suspect she won’t be wearing it for a while since our weather has been so bizarre. I am hearing rumbles that we might get snow next week? Are you kidding me?
Oorik Tank Top – arm hole #2
The Oorik Tank Top (vest) has been languishing in the project bag. I have exactly one sleeve opening to finish and I haven’t touched it. I think it would take me less than an hour to pick up the stitches around the steek and knit a few rounds of ribbing but I haven’t done it. No reason, no excuses. I’d like to say that I will finish it this week but I’m not a liar. Ha! Ha!
And last but not least, the Fiddlehead Mittens. I’ve started the first lining and have reached the thumb gusset but I’m more interested in knitting baby sweaters than knitting mitten linings apparently. So it goes. They’ll get done one of these days. I’m working on keeping my sanity and not fretting about not finishing things. It’s all good.
I’ve still got the pink mittens and Three Seasons Cardigan in “time out” and they’re not really even on my radar right now. My knitting mojo has been a bit “off” and I’m trying to just go with the flow and knit what speaks to me. There’s a time for everything in its time.
We celebrated Mother’s Day here with a trip to our favorite Longfellow’s Garden Center in Manchester, Maine. We bought some new compost and soil for the new raised garden bed and we bought flowers to fill the window box and the bee pot in the door yard.
The term door yard is used a lot here in Maine and it helps me because we two main doors in our house – one at the lake side of the house that leads to the porch and the other at the back of the house that we go in and out of from the driveway and yard. We aren’t sure which is really our “front” or “back” door so I’ve decided to use the “door yard” for the (technically) back door which is the main entrance door that would typically be termed the “front” door. It’s confusing. But they’re pretty and cheerful now and let’s hope the weather stays reasonably warm because some of them need to be hardened off and some are already. If it decides to snow, I’ll pull them in. Let’s hope it doesn’t snow.
It’s only Wednesday but this is proving to be one of my busiest weeks in a long time. My boss is away from the store and I’m working three days this week and teaching one. Today, my “day off”, I started the day by painting the board office at Maine Arts Academy. At least it’s fun to be at the school, see the staff and students and one of the other board members painted with me so the work was shared and went quickly.
When I got home I decided to check on my Trillium plants that have always been out in our woods. I’d seen a couple of posts about never picking them … anyway, they’re back and they’re blooming. One or two flowers a year. This year, it’s a two bloom-er. Isn’t she lovely?
This afternoon I’ve been working on finishing my Fiddlehead Mittens and it seems appropriate because it’s Fiddlehead season. Here in Maine, Fiddleheads are a beloved spring vegetable and people have their secret places to forage Fiddleheads. I have yet to find a recipe that I really love but my hubby doesn’t like Fiddleheads at all.
I used my favorite DK weight, Patagonia Organic Merino yarn for the main color of the mittens and a hand-spun variegated yarn that my daughter gifted to me several years ago. If memory serves, she found it at the farmer’s market in Ithaca, NY. It is perfect for these mittens. And I have found a perfect earthy green DK for the lining …. Classic Elite Escape. A DK weight blend of merino, yak and silk that is super soft and will be a good warm lining for these mittens. All I have to do now is knit to relatively simple mittens for the lining and then I’ll block them and they’ll be done. I hope I can work on them on Friday when I teach. I’m on a mission now.
I’ve also been working on the little cotton candy pink dress for my granddaughter and another pair of Hermione’s Everyday socks. I pulled the Oorik vest out of it’s project bag the other afternoon after work and decided I didn’t have the bandwidth to pick up the second armhole stitches and returned it to its bag. Ha! Ha! But these mittens are going to be a FO really soon!
Taco salad is for dinner tonight so I’m heading down to the kitchen to cook up the meat and chop the veggies for the salad. It’s a family favorite and a good, healthy, simple meal. Since I technically worked a shorter day than my hubby, I’m giving him the night off. I’m so grateful that he likes to cook because I really don’t … I have my three or four standards and that’s all I want to do. But I’ll bake! He’s got a dozen blueberry muffins in the freezer to have with his coffee in the morning.
As Mister Rogers would say, “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood!” We woke up to lots of sunshine and even got to have coffee on the porch until the breeze picked up – the breeze off the water is still pretty cold.
I thought I would update you on my knits, my WIP Wednesday post, so to speak. As I type, my Braided Cable Handle Tote is in its second very hot wash cycle. The first cycle was pretty close to felted but I could still see stitch definition so I’ve put it back in for round two. I didn’t think I’d want to have a pink purse but the yarn was a gift and the pattern was free so … off I went on Eclipse Day 2024 with a new project to cast on. It’s a simple enough pattern to knit and the cables add some interest to the stockinette stitch in the round. If I had the ability to be regimented and to keep track of my hours knitting, I’d know how long it took me to knit. BUT I don’t have that gene so I’m going to guess it took about 8-10 hours to knit? That would mean if I was going to even think about selling these and paying myself a “fair” wage (Maine minimum wage is close to $15/hour) I’d have to charge, for my time, $120-150 for this bag. Because this was gifted to me, the cost of materials is 0 but normally, two balls of 100% wool yarn would be somewhere in the area of $20-25. So, when I add the cost of materials to my time the bag now becomes $140-175. AND if I wanted to line it with fabric, that cost goes up again. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’d be willing to pay that for a felted bag … I’d love to hear what you think. But my feeling is that I won’t be knitting a bunch of these for a craft show any time soon.
Before Felting
I’ve also been working toward completion of my Oorik Tank Top. Last night I completed the first of the two arm hole ribbing. It was a tight circle to knit with my 5″ needle tips but I did it and began to weave in all the ends on the inside of the vest. I am totally patting myself on the back for the knitting on this vest. It looks pretty stinking great! Today I haven’t decided which project will get my attention first but this Oorik tank is one possibility. It’s so close!
I worked a bit on my raspberry-colored socks, too, yesterday. I’ve gotten to the end of the second sock and have a few more rounds before I can graft the toe and say that these are done. I really love the color of the socks and I really hope the person that I made them for loves them and wears them. Often when you gift someone something they don’t wear them OR they don’t care for them. I’m giving up that bit of “control” and hope that they’ll be cared for and worn … that’s the best I can do. Next on the needles for socks will be some self-patterning yarn that I’ve been hauling around with me forever. I think I may make one of the Crazy Sock Lady’s patterns. The yarn is a cotton blend and pink and white … I’m noticing a pattern here. Haha.
I have begun the first thumb on my Fiddlehead Mittens but they’ve not been touched for a while. This should only take me a few hours to finish and then the mittens need a knitted lining … I haven’t knitted a lot of mitten linings but the ones that I have knit are not perfect and I hope that my “practice” on the last couple of linings will make this lining the best one yet. I still haven’t decided what yarn I will use to line the Fiddlehead Mittens but I will use yarn from my stash. And I am reminded that the Maine Yarn Cruise will happen again this year with some big changes, apparently. There will be an online component (I think the passport will be virtual or print-your-own) and I know my LYS, Yardgoods Center, will be participating. It runs from July 1 through Indigenous Peoples Day in October. There’s a website!
I pulled out the bottom ribbing and a couple of inches of my Sunset Highway sweater at least a couple of weeks ago and it’s been sitting on my ottoman for all that time on a stitch holder. I have to try it on to see if I’ve frogged it back enough (and I haven’t tried it on yet) and then re-knit the ribbing. I’ve also got to work the kinks out of the leftover yarn so that I can reuse it which means spraying it with water and stretching it on my swift or washing it and letting it dry on my swift. Update: I just tried it on and I think it needs to be frogged back another couple of inches so that it will be about this length when I reknit the ribbing. Or a little bit shorter. I have to check out the pattern since I finished this sweater so long ago to see how many inches of ribbing it asks for (and see if I agree.) Once the body is finished, I may have to do something with the sleeves, too. I’m not sure I like the heaviness of the dark red at the “cuff”. Hey, a pattern is only a guideline, right?
I still have a few things that are still on my list of things that need to be finished and I’ve had an “order” for another Emotional Support Chicken and for another Ruby the Mega Ray. I had an interesting experience shopping online with Michaels … I ordered safety eyes for the chickens and yarn for three rays … I was sent one set of eyes and got an email that part of my order was being sent (another set of eyes and half of the yarn.) I also got an email that my order was cancelled because the yarn was out of stock … but it’s still listed for sale on the website. So … when I called Michaels to ask if I had more stuff coming, the customer service rep was nice enough with a little snark and I may have to return all the yarn because I have nothing for the underside of the rays … unless I want to start over again and try to order a different belly color. AND then I have to wait again to see if I get any of the yarn I order … to be determined.
I had begun another sweater wayyyyy back when and then it has sat idly by while I did other things. I do want to make this sweater if I can figure out where I left off and can pick it up again and my stitches are consistent after all this time. I may begin again … the sweater is the Tree Seasons Cardigan and I absolutely fell in love with the yarn used in the pattern and I was able to buy ten balls which is exactly what I need to complete the sweater. I hope I can lengthen it a bit but I don’t want to run out of yarn either. I have a long way to go until I figure that out. This is a heavily cabled cardigan and it will be my project that requires me to sit by myself in a quite room project. At least initially while I learn the pattern. I want to get it done so I can wear it in the fall which means that I’m going to have to pull it out soon.
I want to start Susan B. Anderson’s bunny rabbit with a sweater pattern. Yarn is in a project bag in my studio waiting for me to finish just a few of my WIPs so that I don’t feel too guilty starting something new. Ha!
I have about eight minutes until the muffins are ready to be taken out of the oven and here I am trying to put into words how incredible our day was yesterday, Eclipse Day 2024. Maine was in the path of totality and my husband took the lead in finding a good spot from which we could see the full solar eclipse, better known as totality. Initially, he and a bunch of friends were going to go to Arkansas, rent a couple of houses and watch the eclipse but the plans fell through. And then we learned that we were in the path of totality! Right in our own back yard!
We set out early to get to the spot that he and his boss, Tom, found in The Forks, Maine. We headed for the spot which turned out to be a boat launch ramp on the Kennebec River and was not marked by a street sign. When we arrived, after stopping at the Bingham Hannaford store for provisions and use of their toilet, there were only 3 or 4 cars. During the day, though, the cars trickled in and we were probably around 20 cars by the time the eclipse started.
Eagle’s Nest in the tallest tree across the river
Of course, I brought my knitting! I should have been working to finish up either my Fiddlehead Mittens or the socks I’m knitting BUT instead, on such an auspicious day, I cast on a project that I’ve been thinking about for ages. The Braided Cable Handle Tote by Amanda Silviera. This is a free pattern on Ravelry. It’s knitted in worsted weight wool and then felted … no gauge measuring! I had been gifted some fuchsia colored Galway worsted wool from my student, Donna, before she moved to Nevada and it seemed that this bag needed to be made in that generously gifted yarn on a special day.
The eclipse experience was incredible. We donned our glasses at the start of the eclipse and sat back to watch what happens. We doubted that it would get dark enough for us to really notice. We were wrong. The temperature dropped, the birds quieted and it got dark – too dark to read but you could still see what was around you. I don’t use the word “awesome” often but I would for this experience.
Above are photos of Ned relaxing to watch the eclipse and Ned and Tom with a beer to celebrate the eclipse as it began. You can see how much darker it got during totality. For three minutes we all, all of us gathered in that little spot in The Forks, cheered and stared in awe at the miracle of nature and wondered what it would have been like for the first people to experience a full solar eclipse. In fact, a solar eclipse ended a war in the sixth century. Thanks to Tom for the tidbit!
The Battle of the Eclipse[1] (or Battle of Halys[2]) was fought in the early 6th century BC in Anatolia (present-day Turkey) between the Medes and the Lydians. According to ancient Greek historian Herodotus, the battle was interrupted by “day turning into night” – presumably a solar eclipse – and the result was a draw which led to both parties negotiating a peace treaty and ending a six-year war.
Wikipedia
All in all, it was such a wonderful day. Even the bumper-to-bumper traffic, at a stand-still for at least 20 minutes, was worth it. The ride up was about 90 minutes. The ride home was 3 1/2 hours. It’s maybe 60 miles total. We turned the car off at one point. But people were patient and respectful and, I think, happy to have been able to witness such an incredible sight. I don’t remember where I was seven years ago when we had another solar eclipse but this one I will never forget.
This is the photo of my knitting when I put it down last night to go to bed. I did pretty well in a day. I’m excited about this tote. One of my wonderful Friday knitters has this bag and it’s gorgeous. I’ve admired it for (probably) ten years or more. It’s time that I got around to knitting it. I have promised myself that I will work on the Fiddlehead Mittens or the Oorik Tank Top today and get one of them finished. I hope I can keep my own promise!
It was a glorious morning this morning and I got to spend an hour or more on the porch with my knitting and coffee. I really (really!) needed that. We had a wonderful visit with my son and his fiancee this week and then three days of work and I was really tired when I got home from work last night. This morning I was hoping to see the sun and I did.
I’ve been working toward completing the Fiddlehead Mittens that have been on my needles. Rather than put them away and wait until fall when I will need them again, I am going to finish them, knit their lining and block them and THEN put them away. I am really enjoying this pattern. The chart isn’t too difficult and the yarns that I am using are working up really well together.
Fiddlehead Mittens – ready for the thumbs!
I’m knitting with Patagonia Organic Merino for the main color. This is a ball of yarn that I had left over from another project. It’s an oatmeal-y colorway and it’s a perfect background color for fiddlehead ferns. The foreground color or contrasting color is a handspun yarn that my daughter gifted to me from Ithaca, New York (if memory serves). It’s a really great collections of colors that reflect nature to me. Greens, yellows, blues and reds. Although they’re a bit more fall than spring when the fiddleheads are found here in Maine. Regardless, the colors work up beautifully together and they’re making me really happy.
I’m wearing my Norwegian sweater today. I had been so concerned that it wouldn’t fit me when I started the project. Fortunately, I love the fit and love the sweater. In fact, I love the fit so much that I am considering another less boxy sweater in the future. I bought some pink Remix Light by Berroco to knit another Lane’s Island Pullover. I love the way this yarn feels and wears and I think I’ll make this one a size smaller than the white one I made a while back.
I have finished my daughter’s Christmas socks and cast on another pair for my bonus daughter. I am trying to get handknit socks on everyone’s feet in our family. AND I have a ton of sock yarn to knit with so why not share the wealth? Gone are the days when I buy a lone skein of fingering/sock weight yarn when I travel to a yarn shop. I still have a bunch to knit up but I am working my way through the stash one pair of socks at a time. I also made my daughter, a while back, a pair of fingerless mittens that are convertible to mittens that cover your fingertips. I may make some more of these, too.
With the grace of Mother Nature this week, my friend and co-worker, Glenda, hope to get together to reinforce and steek our little Oorik Tank Tops. Once we get together it won’t take long or be difficult but we’ve agreed to do it together and we hear that we’re getting a nor’easter this week. Time will tell. But I have to admit that even I am ready to move on toward spring and leave this horrible excuse for a winter in Maine behind. Sitting on the porch this morning just cemented that sentiment.
It finally happened! We got a good snowstorm yesterday and it closed a lot of businesses and kept a lot of people home. We were happy to be home for the day and took the day to relax and rejuvenate. I spent the best part of the day in my atelier knitting and making some sense of the messiness (again)!
The snow yesterday was blowing a drifting but we were nice and warm in our house. I finished my daughter’s Christmas socks (they’re not FOR Christmas, but she wanted a pair to wear at Christmas time). These are made with the Urth yarn sock kit “Christmas”. I’m sad to sat that I didn’t love knitting with this yarn. It was split-y and a little bit sticky on my needles. The socks LOOK wonderfu, though. I love the colorway and the kit was wonderful because it made is so easy to have a perfectly matched pair. She’ll be very happy with these, I think.
I spent a good while working on my Fiddlehead Mittens and have gotten quite a way up the second mitten. I am still wondering what to use to line these mittens because the pattern calls for a lining and I want it to be soft but wear really well, too. There are almost 4,000 of these mittens made and some of the other colorways are so pretty … betcha can’t knit just one comes to mind. I may have to knit more of these just for fun. *AFTER I finish some more WIPs and work down some more stash!
I was watching the new season of Call the Midwife and the gorgeous orange Norwegian (?) sweater came on the TV. It’s a beauty for sure. I loved the colors and it reminded me of some of Jenn Steingass’ designs. I’ve never knitted one of her garments but I can feel a Jenn Steingass coming on! I loved her little kid’s rainbow sweater. Perhaps Sylvie will want one in the future.
The last photo above was my photo of the day this morning. It’s Maine Maple Sunday today and the water is thickening again. Poor lake must be confused – and the poor ducks and Mergansers and other water birds must be completely confused. I scared a pair of ducks out of our boat house this morning. Our boat’s not in so I am happy that they can find refuge in there just as long as they don’t move in! The boat will be coming soon and this year we may even use it! But until then, I’ll enjoy my snowy day!
While I was sleeping this morning my dear husband took this beautiful photograph of the sunrise. I, obviously, missed it but can still share it with you. A week ago we had ice from shore to shore. We are watching the water birds return to the lake. I’ve been told that the loons are already here, too. I’ve not heard nor seen them but I am watching for them.
Tomorrow I am heading to the store for work, our long winter yarn sale is over and I’m back to working by myself. Today I’ve been busy vacuuming my studio and cleaning up, washing our bedroom sheets and towels, cleaning up the kitchen and I baked bread.
I’ve been busy knitting, too!
I finished my Sunset Highway sweater by Caitlin Hunter back in 2019 but I’ve only worn it a couple of times. When I put it on to help me decide what to do with it, I saw the problem (I think) … it’s too long. So, I’ve spent the last couple of days unknitting the bottom of the sweater and stopping 13 inches from the underarm. I’ve got it on a cord now and I will try it on when I get undressed tonight and then I’ll decide if 13″ is the best length or if it needs to be a little longer or shorter. I will complete the ribbing again and then I hope I will wear it.
I’m also reassessing the sleeves which I feel look heavy compared to the rest of the sweater. I now have a bunch of the body yarn and I may change the burgundy out for the white speckled. Time will tell.
Ruby Ray the Mega RayRuby’s belly
I did a crochet thing! My daughter, as I mentioned before, sent me a photograph of this ray with some little fishies on it’s back … a big hint. Ha! Ha! BUT it looked simple enough and I have been saying that I have to do more crochet to get better at it so I went off to Michael’s to get the jumbo chenille yarn and the size L crochet hook. During a long meeting last week I crocheted the blue back piece and earlier this week the white belly. Yesterday I got some 25mm eyes (they’re HUGE!) and finished it up. It’s very cute. I’m not sure how it’ll hold up to the abuse of an 18 month old but time will tell. My son and his fiancee are coming for a visit this weekend and I’ll send the ray back for Sylvie for Easter.
I’ve been working on my second Fiddlehead mitten and Jelly Roll blanket. AND the Christmas socks for my daughter. All three are coming along. I love the Jelly Roll blanket a lot – it’s so potato chippy – I have trouble putting it down. The socks are down to the foot so they should be finished soon. Maybe by Friday. I am itching to cast on Susan B. Anderson’s Christopher Bunny but I’m “making” myself finish up a couple of projects first.
On Saturday my friend and co-worker, Glenda, is coming over and we are going to reinforce and steek our Oorick vests. We both participated in the Year of Techniques ages ago, before we really knew each other well, before we worked together. But we’ve both finished the little vest (wee slipover?) and we’re ready for next steps. It’ll be fun. Just a bit of ribbing after that and one more project will be completed.
This morning we had ice from shore to shore except for a bit of water around the edges. It was raining again and the wind was blowing. I knew things were about to change, I just didn’t know how quickly they were going to change. it’s now 12:22pm and the ice is all gone from the lake but for a few “cubes” around the edge. It’s really amazing how the process of ice out happens. Today’s was the fastest change-over that we’ve experienced in our eight years here. Not long ago there were two big Bald Eagles out on the ice near our “sunken island” and then down across from the music camp. Now they’ve got nowhere to land.
While all this excitement has been happening outside, I’ve got a lot of WIPs inside. AND i may have added one more this week.
Oorik Tank Top by MaryJane Mucklestone in Jamieson & Smith 2-ply jumper weight
My Oorik vest is ready for steeking. Steeking (Muffin) is when you cut the knitted fabric to create an opening and in this case, the steek will open the arm holes and the v-neck. I’ve not ever steeked a garment before so I am really excited to do it. My friend and co-worker, Glenda, has knitted the same garment so we are going to get together and reinforce the steek before we cut it and then cut it. After that we will finish the ribbing on the arms and around the neck and they’ll be finished. Yippee! I got this yarn and pattern in 2017 before I had a child to knit for … some things take awhile but are so well timed! Stay tuned for pictures of the process.
Ruby Ray the Mega Ray in Loops & Thread Sweet Snuggles
I have finished the main part of the top of the mega ray that was requested by my daughter. It will be a very soft toy for Sylvie if this YaYa can get it finished. I am going to aim for that today but I also have a few things that I need to bake for the week so we’ll see how far I get. Next up is the head of the ray in the blue yarn and then the belly will be next with the cream colored yarn. I also have to find some safety eyes.
The other WIPs that I’ve been working on are as follows:
Fiddlehead Fern mittens: I’ve finished the first mitten and have cast on the second but haven’t gotten very far on the colorwork. This is a pattern that I have to think about (or I am apt to make mistakes) although once I get started, it’s likely to go very quickly. I love the way that the handspun yarn that my daughter gifted to me is working in this pattern. The solid color is some left-over Patagonia from another project. It’s truly a pleasure to work with these yarns and these mittens are so pretty. Now that it’s spring, I’ll probably not get a chance to wear them until next year … unless I gift them or sell them before that.
My daughter’s Christmas socks: I’ve put these aside several times because Christmas. I have some time, right? But socks are almost always on my needles and before I started the next WIP I’m going to talk about, I was thinking that I’d try to do another year of 12 pairs of socks in a year. I have a friend who’s doing 24 pairs of socks in 2024 … not sure I could or that I want to do that. Anyway, the pattern for the Christmas socks is Yankee Knitter #29 Classic Socks with a modified heel. I’m using the Crazy Sock Lady’s heel from the Hermione’s Everyday Socks pattern. The heel is sooooo pretty! I’ve completed the first sock and have cast on and started the 1×1 ribbing at the leg.
Last active WIP is the one I cast on on Friday (or was is Thursday night?) and that’s the Jelly Roll Blanket. I’m knitting this pattern with the modifications that the Crazy Sock Lady made, using 2 strands of fingering weight yarn held together for a DK weight yarn. I’m knitting on a US6 needle and I’m having trouble putting this one down. I started the second strip last night. I am using all odds and ends of fingering weight yarn that I’ve used in projects over the last 40 years and I’m (sort of) randomly pulling little balls out and either knitting until they’re gone OR for about eight inches. One of the strands will be the white/natural yarn that I bought when I thought I was going to try to dye yarn. Ha! Ha! That ship has sailed. This seemed like a way to unify all the bits and bobs AND use up some yarn that has no real purpose in my stash. This one may take years to complete or may be the only thing I work on over the next few weeks/months. Once the blanket is finished I think I’ll have enough yarn left to make a Sea Glass tee, too.
Not shown here are a couple of other projects that are in time out. I have a pair of pink mittens that need to be embroidered before they can be finished. I found the embroidery hard on my hands – the stabilizer with the pattern printed on it was tough to get the needle through – so it was set aside. I still want to make the mittens so I have to get the embroidery done. They’ll be beautiful.
I’ve also got a sweater that was begun and soon set aside. The pattern is the Three Seasons Cardigan. It’s an all over cabled cropped sweater. I may be lengthening it a bit … or not. I bought the yarn that was suggested because I loved the sample. I am making size 5 I believe and I know that I’ll love this sweater. I just have to commit to knitting it and I will. Soon.
I have a few other WIPS, too. Yes, I know there are a lot. I’m reminding myself here how many things I have going on at this point in time as much as anything. And for now, I’m going to head to my orange knitting chair and get started working on knocking the WIPs list down by one.
Queen Bee Knits 