Tag Archives: knitting cables

Monday – aaaand I’m on hold

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Monday, July 8, 2024

Well, it seems that it’s Monday again and I’m on hold with Electrolux/Frigidare because hubby’s 2 year old air conditioner that was a replacement for a 2 year old air conditioner is broken. Does this seem like a pattern to you? I have approximately 19 minutes to wait on hold and since I’m still not feeling particularly energetic, I thought I’d just wait. I hope I can drag half of our laundry to the laundromat today but it may be tomorrow. We’ll see how I do.

Today our gorgeous purple iris is blooming. This is one of my favorite flowers in our garden. Well, actually, they’re all my favorite when they bloom because they all bloom at different times: yellow iris, white iris, peonies, lilacs, forsythia, daisies, echinacea, astilbe, day lilies … you get the drift. I loved seeing my purple iris this morning and today it’s my favorite. Don’t tell the others.

I’ve been doing a little bit of knitting and a lot of thinking about knitting as I recover from Covid. We both got it somewhere in our travels and in the wedding bliss but we’ve both weathered the virus well and haven’t been too terribly ill. Thank goodness! I’ve been without a fever for a couple of days and yesterday the cough subsided for which I’m really grateful. I hope with another couple of days of relative rest, I can return to work later this week.

My second gray Hermione’s sock has turned the heel is well on its way out to the toe. I have to re-check my notes to see how long I knitted it before I started the toe because I’m that close. I do love the texture in this pattern and I love the Coop Knits SocksYeah! yarn. It’s soft and not at all splitty. It makes knitting socks a cinch. I hope my sister will like them. The next pair of socks will be for my brother-in-law. Two great couples will be gifted custom knit socks this fall/winter.

I’ve also be working on my River cowl by Yumiko Alexander. I am really loving working with the Sonder Yarn Company Muse yarn. It feels great in my hands and it’s a tiny bit thick and thin at times which makes it interesting. I think the drape, once blocked, will be gorgeous. I also love the color! The pattern is fun and easy enough to not take up too much of my brain’s band width (which hasn’t been great with my covid brain!) I’ve completed the five repeats of 66 rows of the “hard” work of cables and dropped stitches. There were a couple of places where I forgot to twist edge stitches so that when I dropped the purl stitches and unravelled, it wanted to go too far. Thankfully, I knew this was a problem and stopped the process. Grabbed the stitch and wove it in with a new piece of yarn so it will stay put. And it barely shows. Since this is for me, I’m good with that fix.

I’m measuring the length of the edge of the River cowl at 52 inches long at the five repeats of 66 plus 1-9 for a total of 339 rows so far and the pattern wants 52.5 inches so I have a couple more rows to complete to make the length what they’re asking for and then will begin picking up stitches along the edge to make the body of the cowl. I’m excited about this one! AND I’m so glad I chose not to make the tee with this yarn. I’ll wear this cowl all the time. (I think!)

I’m still on hold with Frigidaire … it’s been 54, almost 55 minutes so far … and so I’ll just write that I am thinking the next project will be a pair of baby sweaters for my granddaughter and great-nephew and a pink Lane’s Island in Remix Light for myself. And, of course, the socks for my brother-in-law. All of the yarns that I will need are in my stash – yay!

I’m at an hour and 4 minutes. Gone knitting.

Thankful

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We woke to this view this morning and are so thankful for the privilege of living here, this close to nature and where we can escape the craziness of the world. We are just back from our Thanksgiving gathering in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Two of my kids and their partners and dogs came up from New York. It was a wonderful Northshore Thanksgiving – seafood feast; clam chowder from the Causeway Restaurant in Gloucester, steamed clams and lobsters and dessert from the Italian bakery in the north end of Boston. A wonderful gathering of family and friends who are like family.

I’ve been knitting away and have finished several projects that I can share and a couple that I won’t.

I had a commission for three simple Christmas stockings from my cousin who had lost hers to a moth infestation. She requested green, red and white and I insisted that I’d put on their names. I made an effort to get them finished by Thanksgiving because I’ve lost the post office holiday “battle” before when items intended for Christmas didn’t arrive in time … even when sent two weeks in advance. I didn’t want that to happen here. I’ll be writing up this pattern in the coming weeks for my followers. Why not, right?

I also finished a stocking for my granddaughter. I wanted hers to match her parents and thankfully I kept a copy of the pattern. I must have had the book once upon a time but I don’t any more. I knit Sylvie’s stocking out of Plymouth Galway yarn in an Aran colorway. The stocking is cabled with two different cable patterns on it. The hugs and kisses cables go down the front and back of the sock from top to the tip of the toe, around the heel, too. It’s not an easy pattern but I’ve learned to read my knitting and cross the stitches according to my eyes in order to keep the pattern going. If my memory serves, I added a tassel and an initial ornament to her parents’ stockings. I couldn’t find a nice “S” ornament but I found a cute photo ornament and I think it’ll be good.

I’ve knitted a few things for my granddaughter that I think I can share with you since she’s not yet reading (she’s one month old!) I made her a pair of faux shearling booties and a Christmas sweater and a Love and Light to hang in her nursery.

The shearling booties have knitted cuffs. This is a fairly simple kit to knit that one of my co-workers saved out for me. She was knitting a pair for her granddaughter and I’m grateful that she thought of me. Every well-dressed Maine grand baby needs these. The are a “kit” by Boye called Starting Point Cozy Cuff Baby Booties. I used scraps of Berroco Vintage for the cuffs. I can’t wait to see these on her!

Babies love to look at lights and I thought a light-up heart, Love and Light, designed by Laura Nelkin would be a good addition to her nursery. I had ordered the 200-light strand of fairy lights from Amazon some time ago and finally grabbed my needles to get it done. It’s such “big” knitting that it doesn’t take too long to make and it’s absolutely adorable.

I made her a Newborn Vertebrae sweater in rainbow sock yarn and because this fits so well, I decided to make her another one, this time for Christmas. I knitted the body of the sweater with white sock yarn and then grabbed some bits of stashed yarn and knitted red cuffs, a green and red border around the front of the sweater, and then i duplicate stitched a big green Christmas tree with a bright yellow star to the back. I think it’s adorable. I really wanted to put some sequins and beads on it but babies only spend time on their backs these days and that would NOT have been comfortable. Maybe next year!

I’ve still got a Musselburgh hat to finish but I’m nearly up to the decreases and finishing. I hope it fits. I think it’ll be warm. Pictures to follow as it’s a gift. I’ve got 15 of my Arne and Carlos Norwegian mini-Jumpers finished and number 16 is on the needles. Needless to say, these will not be finished this year and it’s ok. I’ll get them done for next year and this year I’ve bought all of my kids a chocolate advent calendar from Harbor Sweets in Salem, MA. If you’ve not tried their sweet sloops, you’re in for a treat. They’re quite a step up from the $1 chocolate advent calendars from the Christmas Tree Store in Augusta!

I have a couple of pairs of mittens on the needles, too. The KAL “Merry” mittens has been fun. I’ve knitted through the end of the third clue and have the fourth to do next. And there’s a second mitten, too. The Peace de Resistance mittens have been chilling out in my knitting bag for ages. They’ll be happy to see the light of day one of these days. There’s also a pair of socks on my needles.

As of today I’ve completed about 63 projects. I think. I keep track in my bullet journal and in my Ravelry queue (mark the year you’re knitting in the “tags” area) I’m quite pleased about this number because I’ve been working and teaching and volunteering on two boards of trustees so I’ve been busy.

I want to touch back to the sad end of of our Thanksgiving when we had to say goodbye to my beloved grand-dog, Willow. On Friday morning, something was wrong with our girl. Luckily, my brother is a veterinarian and he and his wife scooped up a very uncomfortable Willow and took her to their animal hospital for a check. It turned out that she had a “sizable” tumor on her heart and the heart was surrounded by fluid from the tumor. The fluid could be tapped and drained but there was no way of knowing how quickly it would fill up again. My daughter and her husband made the difficult decision to put Willow to sleep so she wouldn’t suffer, and she was suffering. We all had a chance to visit with her and say our farewells and my brother and sister-in-love are the most caring and compassionate team I know. We are so very lucky that we were there at their house when this happened. The kids were scheduled to head back into New York City that morning and it could just as easily have happened in the car. At least our dear Willow was surrounded by people who love her as she passed away. We will all miss her.

Rest in peace, sweet Willow. Until we meet again.

Gone knitting.