Very Little Knitting Going On!

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

This photo is from yesterday. We had an excellent adventure (again!) We took the little one to school in the morning and when we picked her up in the afternoon we jumped onto the subway downtown to head to The Shed (at Hudson Yards.) My younger daughter, the middle child, works there and she played with Sylvie while my hubby and I saw the show there through the middle of November. The Show is called, Viola’s Room and it’s an immersive theater experience. Six people in a small group enter a dark space, take off their shoes and socks and phones, etc. in a basket (they’re fully supervised) and with headset on, walk through the maze-like show, following the light. It was an experience like I’d never seen before and I was enthralled. The story is narrated by Helena Bonham Carter and you listen as you walk through for about 45 minutes. Highly recommend!

While the granddaughter was in school yesterday, I cleaned up the house a bit and baked an apple pie because her mommy only got one piece of the first pie I made. The Vessel is also at Hudson Yards where we were and it’s a sad thing. Now only open on the first two floors, it has been the site of several suicides. Not what the city or architects expected and now a rather “useless” space.

Over the weekend we visited the Bronx Zoo and I went to see my daughter’s show, Heathers, at New World Stages. Heathers was a big deal in the 90s apparently and even without knowing anything about it, I thoroughly enjoyed the performances. It’s a young cast with many very talented performers and my daughter is one of them. Sylvie rode the carousel at the Zoo three times! I’m guessing that was her favorite thing on that day. LOL

Obviously, wrangling an almost-3-year-old doesn’t allow me to do as much knitting as I normally do. AND I’m ok with that. I’m here to play and care for the kiddo while her parents are working. So we’ve spent a lot of time at the playground, doing craft projects, coloring and watching halloween movies.

I’ve frogged and reknit the mitts for my daughter. It seems that whenever I “know” what I’m doing, I make mistakes. But, I am making progress on the colorwork and have made it up to the second pattern of the mitts so I’m feeling pretty good about these actually getting finished before the winter really arrives in NYC. My daughter chose the black and blue colorway and I think the colors are magnificent. Perfect for NYC wear. The pattern is not intuitive, though, and I struggle to keep the count straight. Especially with the bottom “wave” pattern that I just finished. But I am making progress … slowly.

I have also worked on the Billie pants for my grandson. I have just begun the ribbing on the first leg and will (soon enough) get to the second leg. My plan is to have them done with a sweater to match for Christmas time. Or sooner. We don’t really believe in filling our grandchildren’s lives with stuff so we find books and little things throughout the year and we will invest in 529 educational savings accounts for them both. Being together and not having a relationship based on “what did you buy me?” is more important to us. Of course, if the kids need anything for the grandchildren, we will happily oblige. I’d rather buy ice cream or rainbow bagels on the way to the playground than give a toy that may or may not be played with and just adds to the landfill.

Today we’re picking up from school at 3pm and will head to the playground for an hour since the sun is out and it’s a pretty day. A stop at the pharmacy and grocery store will be on the way home. Everything is on foot here. We are walking so much more than at home and it’s so good for us! Yesterday we did more than 11,000 steps before dinnertime.

Gone knitting.

Not Knitting but Grateful

My new school - teaching on a beautiful day!

My new school – teaching on a beautiful day!

Well, I’ve once again joined the working world with a temporary job outside of my home.

While I am enjoying working with children in the elementary school environment, I am noticing that I am not knitting enough to feed my passion and art. Partly because at the end of the day I am pretty tired and partly because I still have all my work at the house to do, too. And my little dogs (and now our new big dog) have missed me and need some of my undivided attention … as does their “father”!

I have a pair of socks for my nearly 50 year-old brother on the needles. I reverted to my favorite (go to) sock pattern and have had some lovely green (with a hint of blue) yarn that I bought for exactly this reason last summer. His favorite color is green and this yarn by Plymouth Yarn Co. called “Happy Feet” is a superwash Merino and with my brother’s feet, I bought three skeins (he wears a size 14 shoe!)

Seacolors Yarn

Seacolors Yarn … 

I have deconstructed the sleeve on my Boxy Cardigan that I started last summer with my Maine wool from Sea Colors Yarns. The pattern was pretty straight forward but someone clearly forgot to have the sweater test knitted – the sleeves are at least two inches too narrow to fit into the shoulder. (You do get what you pay for! This was a free pattern. Lesson learned!) I will unknit them and then add more increases to make up for the two inches and see how that works. I hope I don’t have to start over from scratch because I don’t like it – and I spent a lot of money on the wool and want to love the garment that it becomes!

Dropps Tunic (Pattern #111-21) in Berroco Pure Pima (color 2243)

Dropps Tunic (Pattern #111-21) in Berroco Pure Pima (color 2243)

I still have my Pima Cotton tank on the needles. The back is done and the front is getting close but, honestly, I haven’t worked on it much at all! It’s really time to focus on this garment as we’re getting ready for that sleeveless shirt season!

I have several ideas that I want to knit when I’ve wrapped up a few of my WIPs … a tea cozy by the Queen of Tea Cozies, Loani Prior … it’s the daffodil one. We don’t have daffodils here in Florida and I miss them. A Stash Buster Shawl and I have yarn for a sweater and hat for my niece. I also want to knit myself a Wonderful Wallaby! It would be perfect for those cool (or even cold) evenings in Maine this summer.

I’m so grateful to be working with these great kids who really need the extra support to bring them up to grade level by the end of the year. I love the teachers that I’m working with and I am blessed to have the opportunity to work close enough to my home that I can (well, I could) walk to work. And since it’s temporary, I am hoping to pick up the needles more when I get to Maine after school ends.

Gone knitting!