2019 - The Good Stuff

December 31.   How did that happen so fast?  Not that the days ever feel like they go slow.  They move all too fast, but still, the end of a year from the first day of that year, seems like a long time away. And then on this last day of the year, you realize it all went so very fast and you barely had time to take it all in.  While December 31 might be a time when you think back it is also a time when you think ahead.

I was sitting knitting this morning (It will help organize my thoughts if I ground myself in what I am doing today) getting started on the first sleeve of my Greige (green so neutral it is beige) sweater.

It's at the stage where it might be called cute. Cute is a little appalling.  I am not the cute type.  I am aiming for  mature woman nice sweater, if you know what I mean.  I am aiming for vaguely stylish but mostly comfortable.  I hope it will get past cute with sleeves and the collar, which still needs to be decided on. Cowl or turtleneck?  Or indeed, ribbed edging.  I have no idea which way I am leaning just yet.  I have two sleeves worth of time to ponder it. 

Looking back to the beginning of 2018, I used Ravelry's brand new challenge feature.  I set out ten things I really wanted to get done last year.  Some were new and some were WIPs that I wanted to wear.  The only challenge project I am working on now that the end of the year has come, is the First Point of Libra Shawl where I am now about 4 garter ridges from the end of the colour gradients and on to the last section of the shawl. 

I already know I am going to love this. I did finish a few of the things I aimed for but when I saw there was no way to keep everything I finished in the year out of my own personal challenge, I lost interest.   

I wound yarn for the Dancing Reindeer shawl and for the Keynote pullover which were part of my challenge but that was as far as it went with plans.  When it came to actual knitting, those two great projects did not move me to knit them.  Not that I did not finish a lot of other things.  I did.   I finished 33 projects, more than in all but one of the other years I have been knitting but so many were small things again this year.  I loved knitting them, but I feel just a bit let down by the scope of it all.  Somehow, the more I try to set goals, the less joy I am finding in tally at the end of the year.  I am not going to focus on that feature this year. This year, I am just knitting.

All the small things the last few years is showing up in my wardrobe.  I am starting to notice a lack in the sweaters department.  I knit many sweaters and I wear them intensively.  I wear at least one a day and that constant wear and frequent washing does take its toll.  You saw that earlier this year with my Freyja sweater,  which was no longer fit to wear and is now well on its way to being a really great bag.

All that remains is for the bottom to be squared a bit and a lining sewn.  Those things are ready and waiting to be done.  

I still have enough sweaters to get by at home but some of them are things I only want to wear at home. Sadly, one of this years sweaters is in that group.

 It may be warm and new but it is too pilly and fuzzy even for my very casual standards to wear out very much.  I would have to de-fuzz every time and that is just not going to happen.  It's such a shame.

Whether I want to or not, I need sweaters in 2019.  So for 2019, a focus on sweaters for sure.  Nice cozy plain warm ones.  Sweaters to carry the heavy load of wear.  Workhorse sweaters that can do nicely when I am out and about and that will be good for about the house sorts of things too.  I also need to finish my green jacket so I can start my colourwork jacket, the Ram's Horn cardigan again.  One big needle project at a time.  

But I also want to knit lace in 2019.  I started a shawl plan in 2017 and knit the edging piece of one shawl.  That was it.  About 6 inches.  If it was blocked which it is not.  It sits by the TV taunting me.  I love knitting the music that lace can be so I really want to knit lace shawls in 2019.

I want to knit socks.  I struggled with socks this year, though in the end I did complete 5 pairs.  It's meant that I needed to break into the bag of finished socks and make heels to keep my feet warm and while I have a few pairs still waiting, I'd hate to have cold feet because I did not keep up the pace.  I want to knit a few patterned socks too, just the the pleasure of it. There are so many interesting ones.  So sock knitting for 2019 too. 

And wristwarmers.  I wear them every day, particularly at night while I sleep.  After I scalded my wrist, I couldn't wear the warmers for a couple of nights, and I caught myself always tucking my hands when I could.  They always felt a chill.  Now that it is more healed, I've been able to wear wrist warmers again and the ache is gone.  I need to knit more wristwarmers.  

And slippers.  And cowls and neck things.  And mittens.  I want to knit it all.  As usual.  This year I am not going to focus on any particular kind of thing.  I am not going to set goals.  I am not putting a focus on a project category.  That sort of goal setting seems to lead me to feeling like it wasn't enough.   

    
What I am going to focus on this year is knitting the good stuff.  As I dug through my stash the other day, I touched and felt so many good yarns. I dearly love my stash.  I pulled a few things and put others away but I did not fill my cabinet with yarns that I have plans to knit right away as I often do when I stash dive. I'd need a cabinet the size of the yarn closet for that because in my heart of hearts I do want to work with every single foot of it immediately.  Instead, I filled the cabinet with yarns that are inspiring, yarns for touch, for scrunch, for origins, for history, for fibre goodness.  I filled it with the things of my dreams.  Just looking at good yarns makes me want to knit them, and wear them and treasure the memory not just of having them in my stash, but to make memories of how they felt as I worked them and how they felt to wear. 

2019 is going to be my year of knitting with all the good stuff I have deep in my cabinets, and bins.  I hope to do some sweaters and I hope to do some shawls and some small things, but as long as I am working with yarns that are the exact right thing for what I feel like knitting,  I am working with my kind of good stuff.  Every yarn has a perfect project so every yarn I have is the good stuff.  It is all good stuff.  So long as I knit, I win.

Now that is a challenge I can look forward to.

Slippers

I'm really surprised to be sitting here feeling like writing.  It's unexpected and mostly because I have had a few days to get myself right with my world again.  Not that all the babysitting isn't fine, but that is their world not mine. In a few years, my little grandchildren won't need me so much and it will be I needing them.  They will be busy as is the way of growing children, so I will take it now and treasure it.

I've been missing slippers for a while now.  The leather bottoms of my socks turned slippers had disintegrated in the wash and though I had once knit heavy socks for the day that happened, I seem to need a pair of heavy socks.  I was loath to lose my favourite pair.   I yearned for a good pair of slippers. 

When I was knitting the mittens for Cassie's Mitten Tree, I found myself really liking the density of Kathmandu Chunky knit tightly.  It's a sort of dense yarn blend, and knit tightly, it was as if your hands warmed just looking at them.  I couldn't get the thought out of my head that this yarn might make really warm slippers.

I woke yesterday morning, feeling like the world was my oyster.  It may have been the Baileys in my coffee but the world was my oyster.  It was great but for one thing.  My feet were cold.  I usually just put on some socks, but not this time.  

This time, I grabbed the bag with the yarn, dug out some dpns, sorted out a pattern or rather a plan, and just got on with it.

I had read several patterns and the ones I kept coming back to looked so easy even if they were cuff down and needed sewing at the end.  I really liked the purposefulness of them, the ordinariness of them but I really did not want to sew, and I really did not want to have to graft the yarn if I didn't have to.  Plus a toe knit and finished the way it is in the pattern doesn't fit me well. So I took  The Simple House Slippers of Simone A. and turned them upside down.  Sort of.

I grabbed two strands of leftover Kathmandu Chunky and started with  garter toe,  rectangle in this instance.  It is the easiest way to start a toe and it certainly fits my rather squared off toes.  Then I knit around the garter stitch, just like I would for a sock till I reached my instep.  I started knitting back and forth then in garter stitch till the whole shebang was just at the back of my heel.  And then I did the same thing as a heel turn, a straight sided heel turn all the way up the two sides of the garter stitch and knit a handy little pull tab and voila.  Slipper.  And before the end of the day slipper two!      

And now my feet are warm.

It's not complete

I was pouring coffee this morning and glanced up and my eyes caught on the little beach scene I gave Brian many years ago. It seemed empty. If Brian is on a beach in his heaven then surely at Christmas, he would have a Santa hat to wear, nearby. 

At the moment he is out for a walk splashing in the water, cerveza in hand. It’s good place to be.

And One More

I have a little bit of sewing to do today and then I am off to babysit my house of little boys!  I only get over there about once a month or so so it always makes me happy to go.  I my or may not stay over night, though I do sleep much better in my own bed, staying over gives me a chance to shop in the city should I not be able to get what I want from shopping closer to home.  And no, it isn't christmas shopping so much as grocery shopping and a stop at a fabric store.  Well, okay.  I do need to get something for my little Emmett.  I have a lovely thing for him but wanted to get him some clothes too and that is easier in store than online. 

I am going to take  bit of a holiday from posting.  I work hard to try to keep this part of my day routine, and as I am sure anybody who may be reading it all can tell, there are times when I am not inspired.  I am going to give myself a bit of a break between Christmas and New Years.  Or at least till after my kids come to Christmas with me.  I am certainly going to be doing my year end post as has become almost a tradition around here.  Till then though, this blog is going quiet.

So, may your days be merry, may Christmas be wonderful, and I pray that the new year finds you peaceful and content.  Merry Christmas.

 

Of Babysitting and Knitting and Being in the Moment

I don't know where to start.  I have my trusty coffee.  I have knitting behind and all around me. I have coffee.  Did I mention that?  After all these weeks, babysitting is done now till the New Year.  Or at least the very early morning one.  I babysit tomorrow at my other grandkids home for a Christmas party that their mom and dad want to go to. The early one returns January 2nd and remains at least to mid January.   

Marcus and I had very busy day yesterday.  It wasn't supposed to be that long because mom did not have to work, but she came home and was exhausted.  She asked if she could sleep for a few hours. How could I not?  I stayed till Cassie was home from school which is my usual home time.  Marcus was very busy.  There are new episodes of Paw Patrol on Netflix (Bless you, powers that be) and he was absorbed by new stories and played up a storm.  It is fun watching him play.  Last week it was all Ultimate Firetruck and before that Shopkins as pup food and yesterday, it was mermaids playing with pups, and plenty of under water pup action for his Sea Patroler.  All in all, it means Grandma got a fair bit of knitting done.  

All of the ribbing on the back and a bit more than an inch of the front is done!  The front section has fewer stitches to it and has that little ribbed band down the front, so it feels like it knits fast.  It takes so little time to get to the band that it feels like you haven't knit anything and making it to the end of the row just happens without even noticing you knit.  Bless that 9 stitch break in the middle!

I am putting my thoughts into sleeves now.  How long should they be?  For practical purposes,  wearing things as I do, while working around the house or actively knitting,  it is hard to beat a 3/4 sleeve.  I really like not having to push the sleeve up.  On the other hand, wearing sweater layers as I do, rather than spending huge dollars on an ill fitting outdoors coat, absolutely requires long sleeves.  I know this from having too short sleeves on several things that I have layered, much to my chilly consternation.  I am very strongly leaning to having this be 3/4, simply because I see it as a sweater to wear without a shirt under it.  

Most of the things I have knit so far, have been knit to wear as a second layer.  Up until now, that has been what I needed in my wardrobe, but I am to the point where my famously old turtlenecks and other shirts are starting to die and I could use a few things that are stand alone by design.  If anything, I was thinking of this sweater as a piece to wear under other sweaters.  It isn't quite the plain turtleneck I was thinking of before casting on, but it won't be that far from it.  It will be essentially a first layer garment.  

I am delighted to be done the back and moving forward.  It's just a good place to be.  I was originally hoping to get this done to wear at Christmas, but it looks less than likely.  There are just too many things to do and too many places to go. 

I have to keep telling myself that even as the days are full, the only person who can make me feel too busy and overwhelmed is me. I am really good at thinking myself busy.  I do it at the expert level.  I  have to make a conscious decision to not think myself into busy, not to allow myself to be overwhelmed just by thinking.  If the things I want to happen don't, life goes on.  I will let go of wants.  I have what I need and I will live in the moment and enjoy what is and what comes, not stress over what is not.  I have to say it out loud to myself (good thing no one hears me) and at this time of year, I have to repeat it regularly. Right now, in this moment, I am and that is enough.  

Maybe that sounds weird to you but I have tried to live up to the things I expected for so long that just I forgot how to just enjoy what is.  It is taking much more practise than I thought it should (see, there is that expectation thing).  Life is what happens, not what we expect to happen, not what we plan for, not what we dream of.  Life really is this moment in time, not past, not future and we may as well treasure it because it is what we get.        

Today I think I will just stay home and get stuff done. I think.  There was that stash dive I was thinking of and ...  I could make a list here, but I won't.  I'm just going to let it happen.    

Milestones

I knit a little here and there while babysitting today.  It's always a crapshoot how much knitting I will get done with Marcus.  Each day is different and sometimes it is a row and others, I knit many many rows.  Today was in between, but it was a very rewarding in between.

I am thrilled to show you this!

The ribbing on the back! Okay.  I admit it's way more fun doing it and getting there than it is reading about it, but trust me, this is how to have a good time.  It's a little longer than I planned.  I managed to take it to 7 inches from the split rather than 6, but that is fine with me.  It looks so lovely.  I am really happy with the way this yarn is draping.

There still is a long way to go on this sweater.  There are 7 inches of front to knit plus front ribbing

 and two sleeves plus whatever collar I put on it.  I was thinking turtleneck or cowl neck.  It would look great with this yarn and I have lots and lots of yarn.  I just started the tenth ball as I started the ribbing.  In my dreams I am wearing this at Christmas but more realistically, I will wear it in the new year.  

I don't know why this point n this particular sweater feels like such  milestone, but it does. That isn't common, but it does happen on some projects.  It might be more normal to feel you reached a milestone at the end of a sweater, but this sweater is somehow different.   It isn't the end but it feels like the beginning of the end and that is something.

Two down.

It didn't quite go like I planned.  In the morning, I scalded my my wrists as I was pouring my coffee.  It would have been bad enough on one wrist but my other wrist got in the way of the cascading mass of hot liquid.  It meant that I was walking around all morning with a damp chill cloth around the worst of it.  Stash diving was out.  Sewing was too.  It remains  bit hot and red on one arm but there is no blistering.  There was only me whining.

So, I sat down and managed to get the grafts done on the two striped eternity scarves.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.  It was just a nice long graft in stockinette and I didn't mind doing it at all.

So, there are now just 3 gifts to finish up and that will only be an afternoon of sewing.  All the weight and rush of the holidays is done.  I can sit back and be comfortable now.

I counted up my WIPS on my Ravelry page and I only have 14 things on the go in some way or other.  Two of those are the dishcloth parade and the sock parade and they are closed each year. There are two things which I still hope to finish up in this calendar year, the Griege Sweater and the First Point Of Libra Shawl.  Going full guns on them and loving it.  And then there are the other ongoing projects.  They will be done in due course.  I love them all and do NOT intend to clear out any of them. 

The day didn't go like I thought but it did go and it went well.  Morning comes early around here so it is bedtime for me.

A Mitten Tree

Last week, my little Cassie was telling me about the school mitten tree, where the kids purchase mittens and at the end of the tree time, all the mittens are sent to one of the local family support places.  I asked if I could make some for her to give, and she told me that they had to be bought at a store.  On Thursday she came home, and told me she asked the library lady who is in charge of the tree, if her grandma could knit some. The answer was of course, and  she asked if I could maybe make some for her.  Friday morning at 6 a.m. she woke to find out if I had finished mittens for her.  

Sadly, I told her it takes a little longer than that.  But I am pleased to report this morning

that two pairs of mittens are going to be given to the mitten tree.  

The first pair

is made from some Rowan Cocoon I had for an experiment that did not work out.  It's a good warm mitten yarn.  they are just plain because a boy might need these and better to keep the options open.

The second pair

is made from Kathmandu Chunky.  This yarn, left over from my big first thing in the morning sweater  is a superb mitten yarn.  I don't know if it is woollen spun but it has a loftier character that suits mittens perfectly.  Great for little kids.

That is all so far.  There might be more kid sized mittens.  They take so little time.

I have everything more or less ready for Christmas.  I have a run of groceries to do, but there isn't any urgency on it. I have a bit of housekeeping to do.  I have a bit of sewing to do today and if that goes well, I am going to do a little stash dive.  It's a bit past time for one from a taking care of the yarn perspective but there are a few things I need to pull out for projects and  few things to tuck away.

It is also time to seriously start thinking about the new year which is galloping towards us.   NaJuReMoNoMo is coming up and I am hoping to get past two novels and maybe to three for January, and there is the first knitting project of the year to think about. I think I have always started  new year with something new.  It just feels right and I have done well this year with finishing older things and with meeting my goals.  Of ten goals from the start of the year, only 2 remain undone and one of those projects may very well be the new project.  So many choices of lovely knitting things.  I think I know what I want, but I'm not quite sure.  A meander through the yarn will settle it, I think.  

 So, lots to do.  lots to see, and a whole lovely day to do it in.  

Winning the Day

First goal of the day:  Find pants.  

Second goal of the day:  Put them on.

I won the day before I got dressed.  And to think, I do not see myself as goal oriented at all.  Ha. Putting on pants is a big step in starting the day and is really a pretty big deal.  But seriously...

Knitting is going along famously. It's boring as all get out, but it is going along.  I have opted to work only on the striped project the last few days, just to get it done.  There is a big graft on this and the purple one and since they are gifts, there is a deadline. 

Boy this is a bad photo of this pretty green. Still you can see the colour change in the last section and that means I am on the last little gradient bit.  Once the gradient is done, whatever brown is left is simply knit till the scarf is long enough to wrap it twice around your neck and it is time for the graft. 

So almost done.  All in all it's a pretty good start to my day.

As sweet as things are...

No matter how sweet  things are, no matter how dark things are, life goes on around us willy nilly.  I found out today that very good longtime friend has cancer.  She isn't the only one among the people  know, but she is the nearest and most dear.  I've been out of touch for a while with her, through no fault of either of ours, more just that time gets away from us if we are not careful.  I guess I wasn't careful enough.

Once Brian and I knew what he was facing, he made a point to say 'Today, I have exactly the same chance as any other person on the earth of dying'  Occasionally he added, 'more so than the people walking across the corner at 170th Street'.   And he was absolutely right for most of his short illness and that statement meant more to me than he ever knew. It  bolstered me in all the ways I needed bolstering and shored me up when I wavered.

So that is what I will hold on to again.  Exactly the same chance as anybody else.   I pray that her outlook is ultimately a good one.  I would like to keep her here longer just to go to lunch with again or to have coffee with.

Meanwhile, life goes on around us willy nilly and that is how it is supposed to be.

Trees, trees

A Christmas tree post today.  My knitting is boring and I'm pretty tired mentally, when I get home.  I don't seem to have the energy to get around to posting.  What I really need is a good dig in my stash to enliven my brain.

My bigger tree.  Its really not that big.  If pushed, even I with my 5 feet nothingness can still put the topper on.  It looks naked to me.  I didn't get the icicles on yet and they make such a difference, turning a well lit tree into a cascading wonder of twinkling lights.  Like lights, more icicles is better.

And my pretty little pencil tree.  This is the first time this has been up in a few years.  It's in a bit of a nook just at the entrance to the public space I share with the roomie, aka, the landlord, aka, son 2 or Keith. He says I am pushing it, putting it here.  Scrooge.  Burt I like it.

My favourite way to look at the trees is in the dark.  Both trees currently only have clear lights, but The red and white tree really needs some red lights and the big tree needs some gold lights, or blue lights, or maybe green lights.

But at night with all the house lights out is my favourite way of tree watching.  I put my tv to the fireplace channel and sit and just look at trees and listen to the crackle of it before I go to bed.  Some evenings it is capped off with a small glass of port or sherry just to seal that this is indeed a special time of year.

Those long lights sparkling across the floor remind me of my very young childhood and Christmas long past.  Christmas of doll houses and barns and furniture and tiny plastic bales of hay.  And how what regular people called chocolate macaroons became cow pies in my family.  

Saturday work.

I had lots to do on Saturday.  Besides starting a big clean, I knit.  I knit a lot.

I knit several inches on the body, getting well last the last increase round and then I had a decision to make.  Do I want a split hem or just keep on doing it in the round.  

There are several good reasons for doing it in the round.  It's fast to knit, always doing the same thing, zipping along like nobody's business. Ribbing at the bottom and then done.  There are reasons to not do this.  It gets a little bit boring.  There are a lot of stitches on the needles and without the increases to watch for, it can take forever to get anywhere.  

I opted for a split.

It is far too easy to stop a sweater too soon because I am bored to tears with that wall of stockinette.  Even on a nice project.  Even with a nice yarn.  Somewhere about row 732 or 955, I just cannot will myself to go on.  So I quit and live with something less than I hoped for.

I like this too much to have it happen here.  Splitting the hem at the side ribbing sections, seemed like the wise thing to do.  Last time I measured, I was at 4 inches.  I am hoping for 6 minimum before I start the ribbing.  This ribbing section will be about the same long as the shoulder saddle is wide.

Tomorrow back to playing with my kiddies.  Kind of looking forward to it.  Hoping nobody get sick again.

And so on

Even with the sweater in a sad state there is lots to knit.  I've got this one well underway.

I cannot knit on thus everyday, not one unending stream of it.  It has to be interspersed with other more interesting stuff.  But it is good knitting.  7 row stripes are always fun.

The other neat thing about this project is how the single brown colour changes as the greens go through their gradient colour changes.  Its very pretty and interesting.  

Since this is the only knitting I have with me today, this is what I will work on, but I can't wait till this evening when I can play with other things.

What is wrong with this picture?

What is wrong with this picture?

See how the lower needle just sits so free of any stress?  Note the loose stitches on the right hand side?

Yup.

Could have cried. Not really though.  This isn't a yarn that is particularly glossy or slippy.  I wouldn't say that stitches won't run but it seems to stay, more or less, put.  After the cable snapped, I very carefully folded it together and tucked it in its bag to await getting the needle sorted out. 

That is the hard part you see.  I have dozens of needles.  I have tips and cables galore.  Two different brands of tips and needles.  But I don't think I have anymore of this particular size.  Or I have one and it is wood and my gauge would change.

Somewhere among all the projects are the rest of my fleet of needles and I am just going to have to sit down and sort it out which one can take freeing from its needles best.  That is going to have to wait for the weekend. I just don't have the energy to dig right now.

It ought to be noted for posterity that when I refer to energy, I am referring to mental energy.  I am not so much physically tired as mentally tired.  I am really looking forward to this weekend. 

I am really struggling to find the time to write my blog.  In the past, I have often done it while I am out, but I really want to avoid that if I can this time.  It leaves me 2 choices.  Early early morning and a rush or evenings when I am wiped out mentally.

But life will happen and I am knitting rather a lot, a huge plus to all of this.

Grandkids are little so short  time, and I am very lucky that I live close to mine.  I have made my life be that I am in driving distance.  I am farther from one set than the other but both are in easy driving distance, and hour and a hour and ten minutes away.  Still,I miss so much about them that when I get to see them like this, all in huge chunks of time, I treasure it.

Granny is still looking forward to the return of her own life and the rhythms of a day that is just her own.  

A very forgiving Uncle Keith from last weekend. 

Another week closer to Christmas

That rather sums up my weekend, because on Friday evening, the kids came home with me.  this was for something that momand I had worked out long before her job came up.  We decorated the tree and played and then my wee guy wasn't feeling well and didn't want grandma to leave his side.  Poor thing.  I highly suspect he had what invaded my household for the month of November.  On the upside, I am cured!.  So much so that I went to get my almost too late flu shot.

All this non knitting was fine, because there was a lot of knitting through the week last week.

We have Griege.  I really ought to call this really nice looking sweater by a nicer name.

This is just about the truest colour photo I have of the yarn and the more I knit, the more I like it.  Cotton and wool is sublime.   Yarn, thank you for being so cheap, ahem, inexpensive that I couldn't stop myself from buying you.


On other fronts, I really need to whack myself upside the head for this one.  I was so worried that the contrast wouldn't be enough, but just look at how pretty it is.

This photo shows how very lovely that golden brown is, all those subtle colour variations at play.  I am about midway through the second colour. At the same event that I picked up this yarn, one of the little gift things that were in our event bags was tiny skein, half size of size of the mini size I purchased, which were half of a usual mini skein, of this second green.  I am going to knit that in here too.  Because I can. Too pretty too waste.

And then on down to three more ever lightening shades of lovely foresty greens.  I hope she likes it.  I know I do.

Another week closer to Christmas!