A Year Winding Down

If I seemed a little down the last few days, I am sorry.  I'm not, not more than usual at least. I have been preoccupied though. If you find yourself feeling sad, do listen to this most recent episode of the By the Fibreside podcast.  It is a beautiful reminder that feeling sad is part of us, that it isn't negative or bad.  It just is.


I have been pondering and thinking about ways to end the year and start the new and that lack of decision is showing.  Yesterday took care of that.

I did go through all my WIPs and sort my boxes.  I took out the lace and looked at it but it didn't inspire me.  Go figure.  I picked up a thing that I put aside to frog and dealt with that and sputtered and meandered till I made it to the box with the Sock Monkey Blanket.  

That felt very right and I settled to knit it.  It was a huge relief to just knit.  I sort of decided that I would give it to Amy's folks, but Amy said that if I give it to her to pass on to them, it will never make it.  She adores it and she knew right away what it was.  This pleased me.  I may find myself knitting another just because she instantly understood Sock Monkey Blankets.  This never happens with my knitting and I am completely charmed that it did.

Then the landlord came home with the mail.  Mail is generally a chore, but if you knit and order online, mail is quite often filled with delights.  

My copy of Downton Abbey  the movie.  This feels like what getting a copy of Serenity would have felt like, if you had been a huge fan of Firefly.  I am saving it for this evening, to watch it as I bring in the new year.

Next up, my order from Yarn Canada.  I am so excited to get this because Isaac needs a new scarf and we consulted on yarn and colours.  We picked two options and he thought about them and ended up going with the brilliantly lit Bernat Reflective in neon orange and a gorgeous, rich peacock.  I haven't quite decided if it will be squishy brioche or a patterned something. Either way, I can't wait to start it and to see the colours developing with each other.  Just how reflective is it?  Very good.

And then there is a box of a little something for me.  I recently found that layering my wrist warmers overnight has made a significant difference to how I sleep and the way my hands feel after a big knitting day.  I have a feeling that heavier socks will make a difference too.  I have also been debating the need for a series of specific socks, just for sleep and bed.  I still want superwash and I hope this yarn delivers.  Otherwise I will need a worsted weight which may be too heavy for all night wear.  Yes, that does happen.  Sometimes socks get kicked off.

I started them first thing this morning. I love how it is turning out.  The colours are taken from HBC Point blankets. I really adore the felted HBC inspired slippers from River City Yarns, but I am looking at socks, not slippers so...I couldn't see foot wear with white or natural colours looking good for long so I went with a strong charcoal gray. The gray looks great and should be a bit better at withstanding stains.  Who knows.  Heavy socks may become my regular wear.  

So that is where my head is today, wrapped in a fun little project, thinking quite happily about tomorrow's first project of the new year.  Delivery so perfectly timed, is a lovely little gift from the Post Office.  As a way to wrap up the year, it is not so bad at all.

Melange

I don't want to end this year with my last completed project being a dishcloth.  

Most assuredly not one with wonky edges and a weird colour combination.  

I am going to knit something much more cheery today.  I think.  In between everything else, family dinners, lots of visiting, kids, much too large sleeves, and other assorted little nightmares, which really aren't nightmares, just inconveniences, I have been knitting on fine things.  

I think this is going about how it should, though there is no way to tell until it is farther along.  Even then, with its  relaxed shaping, I am not sure I will be able to tell until I get to my target number of stitches at the underarm.  

I am thinking about lace today though.  And maybe getting a start to finishing it so pretty lace won't cross the decades end.  

Meandering...

I am sitting here taking a break before everyone comes and I have some help.  In some ways, this is a much easier dinner.  I already have all the dishes out and organized. I didn't put them away after the other day.  That might be a small cheat.  

The things that needed prep work are more or less done and cooking and the salad veggies are ready to be cut.  A few spare minutes are good.  

I have been thinking about what I want to knit next.  With 14 some projects already on the go, the last thing I need would be one more project.  But it is New Years very soon and there should be something new, right?  

I haven't been able to decide and I am starting to understand why.  I have one thing I am avoiding.  My Bridgewater.  It is the only thing left from the time before and there is a large part of me that doesn't want to let that one last thing go.  The next oldest is from 2017 started when I was already living here.

That one last thing is a project I worked hard for.  The body was more or less knit twice to see if the dye lots were close enough to use.  I had to search for yarn and the lovely wheatfran rescued me.  And there was progress till halfway through the edging, the join between two balls of yarn failed and I couldn't sort it out to fix it.  I had to pull the edging all off to restart from row 1.  And that is where I am.  

It breaks my heart but it is foolish to feel this one lace shawl holds anything other than the challenges of knitting it within it.  It doesn't hold anything from before other than the date.  Time passes and only memory remains.  

Popular wisdom in the western world would have us put the things that are past down to leave them behind.  If we put things down we are magically healed and we never think of them again, we never let them influence us again, we never need to talk of them again.  Popular wisdom is stupid.  Our past made us.  We need to learn to walk with that past, to know it is with us and to operate with it in our current world whether we want to or not.  It is so no matter if we have bad things in our past or loved ones that are no longer with us.  We must walk in step with where we are in time.  But even so, it is okay to not want to have to do it.  It is okay to want with all your might, that one thing back.  

So deciding to knit that one thing from the time before is a pretty big step.  

I have no idea if any of this makes sense. But my mind us wandering.  And my turnips are done.  Time to get back to work.

While the rest of you are out scooping up bargains, I am here, mulling this over.

It's an awfully wide sleeve.  

I made the armscyce on this sweater deeper because the yarn is not very tightly woven.  My hope is that the deeper cut will mean less wear on the stress points where the yarn pulls.  That deeper sleeve wouldn't be a problem I thought because my usual sleeve is a bit tight.  I did things as usual and I probably should have done something else.  

The sweater also has this long dramatic rib on the lower sleeves.  I liked that but at the moment that long rib helps make the sleeve look very belled and leg of mutton, if you will.  I am not at all certain this is what I want. It is very much the coming style though, if you look at ready to wear fashion sites.  

So it is going to get a try on and then, before sleeve two starts, I am going to think about it.  Might do a stash dive for something else to knit for a few days.  Might need a sleeve three.

So, here are the socks I talked about possibly finishing.  

Possibly finished. 

In between baking the nicest rolls and bread I have made in years, and between cleaning floors and doing dishes, the socks were finished.  Right about supper time I wove in all the ends and took the picture.

And then we had company, and like me, she complained of cold feet, so I gave her the socks.  I have and she needed.  They were perfectly Christmas, possibly the most Christmas gift I have ever given or received. 

This morning I am going to have coffee, and just sit.  Years and years ago, when the boys were young, this was the busiest day.  The turkey needed stuffing, and had to be on the BBQ early.  Brian was in charge of roasting it. I did all the other prep but in a normal year, I always had as much stuff prepared ahead of time as humanly possible.  It is the same this year too, though this year, some of the things are store bought pre prepared. 

About lunchtime, things will start to happen and shortly after, the kids and their mom and dad will arrive for a semi traditional Ukrainian feast.  We will cook and snack and have fizzy beverages to our hearts content.  And eventually, we will open a few gifts before the kids go home to await Santa. 

I know I live in a world of plenty and comfort, even though my world is not nearly as full of plenty as it used to be, it is enough.  I am so grateful and thankful for that.  And I wish and pray that it could be so for all of us. 

Merry Christmas where ever you may be.  If you celebrate Hanukah or the solstice or other celebration at this darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere, my wish is that you find joy.  May your celebration fill your spaces that need filling.  May you find richness and comfort in the sunshine or the fog. May you find a little bit of rain if that is what you need.  But Merry Christmas from me. 

Maybe a pair of finished socks.

I've been thinking and mulling what to knit next this week because there hasn't been much time for knitting.  I am in full preparation mode for Christmas.

Our family used to get to my husband's family for Christmas Day.  Sometimes the meal was pretty plain.  By the time we got there, even though it was Christmas Day, my poor mother in law may have already been looking at two or three different Christmases.  She often cooked for when her daughter and that whole family made it out the week before Christmas.  And if any two other families were coming though at the same time, she would do a turkey.  But sometimes, Christmas Day was a day between larger gatherings and she was pooped and not up to preparing much. She would have been well into her seventies at the time and my goodness we all popped in at various times with all our expectations.  Not well done of us, now that I am older and think of those days.  She worried that it was only 'leftovers' sometimes.  It was fine though. There was always plenty and topped off with her buns, whatever was there was wonderful.

My mother in law was a very traditional cook though where my own mom was always much more adventurous in her approach.  Christmas could be brunch or supper and it always had interesting tidbits and hors d'oeuvres and whatnots.  That is what I aspire to.

My Ukrainian daughter in law hasn't had a traditional Christmas since she has been here in Canada.  The traditional meal for Christmas Eve was always meatless, though according to my daughter in law, tradition adapted from the set in stone things Canadians of Ukrainian descent serve.       We are going to do stuffed salmon,  perogies, mushrooms with gravy or my version of it, holubtsi, a mashed bean dish that I have not had served the Ukrainian way before, pampushky, a fruit plate, and meatballs. And duck.  It's my daughter in laws favourite Christmas dinner food. I wanted Kutya, but my daughter in law says to save Kutya for later.  For desert we will have Christmas cookies and this really delicious lemon cheesecake pie thing we invented here at Chez Needles.  And Ice cream for those who are small and not into cheesecake lemon pie.

For the next Christmas, we will serve a stuffed pork loin (have you seen the price of turkey) mashed potatoes, gravy, mom's broccoli salad, turnips, creamed corn, meatballs, chicken strips for the kiddos, a noodle casserole, among other things.

So that is kind of what I am working on this week.  Adventurous cooking. I might do a little sock knitting.  I was thinking that finishing a pair of socks for New Years might just be the perfect way to ring it in.

Mattress Stitch

I finished the last of the ties just after lunch and I sewed up the last side that needed sewing.  It felt good to have it all done.  I was going to lay back on the couch and wrap it over myself for warmth, and have a nap.  I pulled it up to my nose and...

  

I realized that the stitches in front of me were a little wide.  You can just see 2 stitches peaking out about 3 inches apart right where the fabric meets.

Oh yeah.  That.  I basted one side together rather than sewing it in case I needed to make my fabric 'duvet' cover larger or smaller.  It held up wonderfully well while working on it, but it is not a good seam for the long haul.  

It's too bad too because I put that stuff all away already in preparation for my nap. It is coming right back out again too.  If I don't fix this now, it will never be done.  I know me.  I would forget about it in the blink of and eye.  

So no nap, but before dinner today, this blanket will be finished finished finished. Mattress stitch, here I come.

Calling a Thing a Library

Well, what happened to yesterday?  Not sure about you, but I spent the day sitting here unable to warm up.  The furnace was running.  I was wearing layers and layers of wool, but I could not get warm.  Is that ever part of migraines?  Because it might be for me.  Midday, I took a hot shower and went back to bed.  I wasn't aware of sleeping, but I must have.  When I got up, it was late in the day and time to make supper.  Just after supper, I layered my wrist warmers and put on socks, slippers and a shawl and I had a good night's sleep and  I feel a thousand percent better today.  

Plus The Taming of the Shrew is on TCM, one of my favourite movies and the are just at the part where Petruchio and Katarina are landing in the piles of fleeces in the attics.  It's a delightful scene made more so because I now know these are nice clean fleeces and admire the idea of a pile of fleeces in a home, ready for spinning through the dark winter days.  

Which makes me think of all things sheep.  Now that the batts are gone, what remains are two enormous tubs and several more reasonable sized containers of fleece.  Thankfully, all have been washed and just need carding or combing. 

I am also thinking of fleece because when I set up my tree, I had to get behind and under furniture which meant un hiding the various bags of fiber and the boxes with the combs.

I do believe that last year I said finishing the prepping was my goal and well, I missed that by a mile.  But perhaps once the blue sweater is done, the urge to be warm will be satisfied and I can focus on other things.  I really would love to get that fibre ready for spinning.  I would love that stockpile to be in  smaller containers.  It is my dream that all the spinning fibre is used up and I feel right about purchasing more.  

Funny how that feeling has never struck me with yarn.  Ever. 

A stash of yarn is like having your own library.  Having a library never stopped me from needing to read more, or from buying books.  I like just going to a shelf and choosing something and reading it.  I love going to my yarn stash and just picking something and knitting it.  

Maybe it is time to look at my fibre pile as a library.  There are several kinds  of fleece to process and tons of commercially prepared top ready to go.  It is a library of sorts too. Let us see if changing what I call it, changes how fast I prep it.

And Done

Well, mostly.  Frazzledknitter came out this morning and helped me tie and but for the edges and then or twelve spots to tie, it is done.  Bless her kindness and I hope her poor fingers recover soon.  All this tightly spun cotton thread can be a little hard on hands.  

There is an edge to sew and one to refine but it is good to go.  If I had company tonight, I would absolutely baste it up and put it on the bed.

I did all sorts of things this weekend. 

When I look at the tree this year, it strikes me the angel really us too large. I usually use a red and gold angel of the same size, but with it's dark colors, it never looked so giant.  Perhaps it is time to consider a new topper.  Or to go deep into the archives to find the pattern I once had for a hardanger angel.  I am pretty sure I know where all the parts are.  It would just mean some embroidery.  

So, I am half decorated.  I am half baked.  Which means that I have half my dough to fill with poppy seeds and other sweet goodness.  I also have the gifts about half ready.  They are here but need wrapping.

So right now I am going to have tea.  Later, I will put up the pencil tree and get all the decoration boxes put away . And then I will sit down and finish up this large and lovely warm blankie.   

Good to go.

Watch this space.

I have seen that on empty storefronts in malls and on wire mesh fence surrounded abandoned looking lots.  Watch this space.

I have even seen it on a sign in the middle of a low often water filled spot along highway 16 near Saskatoon.  Watch this space.

That's  how I feel this morning.  Like something is waiting, burgeoning inside me just waiting to pop out.  Partly it is the time of year and partly, it is my plans for the new year.  I am going to do a few things that I have wanted to and planned for a while.  I am thinking of these things bigtime as I tie this quilt. 

Quilt tying is giving me a lot of time to think.  Watch this space.

Tying of the quilt commenced yesterday.  

The batts are firmly held in place by two of the outer edges tied two rows in.  It establishes the grid that it will all be done in and I hope it prevents the batt inside from shifting around now that I have begun.

From here I just keep tying.  To amuse myself I am not tying in strict lines, but in sections.  There is less overall moving of the whole comforter that way, and I hope less moving means the whole process goes faster.  

I found that there was a limit to what I could do in one day, even with breaks.  After a while, the tips of my fingers got over sensitized and I had to stop.  

I am also suddenly aware that while I may have completed my pretty little floral  comforter in two days, this one is significantly larger.  Mine fits my twin sized bed nicely and is about 50 inches wide.  This one should be about 80 inches wide when it is done.  It has to cover my double sized guest bed, with a little left over for not just two people, but in case a little body ends up sleeping with mom and dad.  My timeline of two days for tying is way off.  

In my head, I thought that I could work slowly and it would be complete by Sunday night.  I envisioned doing my holiday decorating in my rest breaks.  To get this done by Sunday, it is going to take a pretty massive bit of work and an unusual amount of stick-to-it-ivness.  

Decorating will happen.  It just might happen a lot closer to Christmas than I planned.  Oh well.  

Confirmation

The ribbing is finished.  Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy

And even better, it fits and not only fits but fits amazingly.  

If I had been knitting to pattern, I am sure it would be fine, but since my sweaters have to fit non standard sized me, every knit is a wing it.  No matter what, I worry that when I am done, it will be too small or too large.  I worry that my gauge lied.  I worry just because.  

Confirming it fits is a really nice thing to find out.  Just sleeves left to do but not just yet.  First, quilt tying.  That is up next.

Comfort and Love

A decent start to the morning today.  No sleeping in, which is a good thing. I  really hate feeling like I missed half the day.  

I love Ravelry.  I got a very nice message this morning from a lady about my dad's vest and her admiration of it.  I don't think I ever told the rest of the story here.  But it does make me smile.

All my worries about the vest were for naught.  The vest fit just perfectly.  Dad really likes the too and loves how warm it is.  He really appreciates it and loves that it was handmade for him.  He would wear it too, but for one thing.  One small thing that I did not think about.

The vest is hard to put on.  I worried about buttons and large enough arm holes and everything else.  I consulted with my sister in law, who with her nursing career in a small town is nothing if not a geriatric specialist, and her advice was buttons with shanks, which it has. It just never occurred to me that I should be watching for fibre content too.  

Dad said it doesn't slip over his shirts very well.  It pulls at his sleeves and he ends up all out of order.  I never thought about that part but the yarn with its wool and silk content isn't slippery.  The silk part is not slippery, but rather has that dry feel silk sometimes has.  It is lovely though and I actually thought the silk content would be one of the reasons he would like it.  It makes wool feel less wooly. Dad is after all, from the generations which wore farm prepped wool and where the idea of wool means itchy.  

But though he likes it he finds it hard to wear.  Because I am me at my age, I figure if someone has a hard time getting something on, they would just ask for help.  Because my dad is much older and is very used to being vigorous and active and always doing everything for himself, to ask someone to help get it on breaches a very sensitive area.   If you are 90 and have to ask, that may mean you are too old to do it yourself and that is a very sensitive thing. His doctor refers to him as 'presents as 70' but if you have to have help... I get that.  It touches a bit of a nerve at this point.  When he needs someone to help him more routinely, I have a feeling he will wear it.  

It makes me smile though.  This is my dad in a nutshell.  He figures stuff out.  He always did.  If you needed something figured out he did it.  He could build anything, put together most things, create from nothing and I have been inspired and have admired that in him.  I see it carried on in my boys too.  

The next vest for dad may will be in something slippery and smooth.  Probably something alpaca, which is a lovely slippy yarn.  I have some lovely stuff in my deep stash.  I wonder if he will wear a lovely stone coloured heather?   

Mom is a tougher nut.  I want to make something for her, but she sees wool as only itchy.  I think I may have to go full cashmere for a something for mom.  

Or possibly that lovely great cone of DK silk I purchased from Colourmart.  I think she might like silk, though the colour is wrong.  Oh well there is time.

Mom is going in for hip surgery this coming weekend.  I think the surgeon is working an extra day so taking advantage of the pre seasonal lull the hospitals usually have.  She did not think her hip was the problem, putting her pain down to sciatica.  The surgeon diagnosed her at one of the dad's post op visits to him. Good catch by him! 

It is going to be a busy for mom and dad the next bit and I just want them to feel comfortable and to know they are loved.  To me, warm is comfort and hand knit is love so...       

Draggy Butt

Draggy butt.  Forgive the mild 'language' but that is exactly how I feel this morning.  I woke at 8.  Not quite sure what this world is coming to, but 8?  More than once in a blue moon?  The day is already half done.  Most people would find it harder to go to bed in the evening but not me.  I seem to hit the hay about my usual time.  But it does mean coffee is later, knitting is later, feeling alert is later, writing is later. I am a little concerned that my medication is also later, but to set an alarm just to wake up for medicine?  Inconceivable. I would rather just get up and shift it all a couple hours later.

I did pick up my knitting with my coffee this morning.  After a busy weekend making cookies and decorating them with kids and surprising birthday party boys, it is kind of nice to sit quiet and do something so peaceful. 

The really thrilling part is that I am only a day away from the ribbing.

I am measuring a day by sections on this sweater.  I could complete a garter stripe and get to the next one comfortably in a day.  I just finished the last garter stripe section and will be knitting a stockinette middle just as before but then comes the ribbing.  I know that a repeat gives me just a wee bit under two inches, so there is two more inches of stockinette and then a likely two inches of ribbing for balance.  Or at least 2 inches of ribbing.  Might be more.  So I can pretty comfortably say I am a day away from the ribbing.

When I started this sweater, I had a quilt that I wanted tied before December 1.  Sadly, the quilt is still sitting there waiting.  I do need it, need not want before Christmas.  I have to get on that this week.

This week is going to be decorating the house and quilt tying.  Honest.  And one day to knit.  And babysitting.  I get to play with my kiddies again! 

So today I may be feeling a bit draggy butt but I am going to forgive myself and just relax, knit, have a nap and rest.  Time to do all the rest of it later.

Darkest Winter

It was 5 minutes to 8 a.m. when I woke this morning and boy do I feel great.  It is just not usual for me to sleep this late!  The big plus is that I feel really really awake and energetic.  I may yet get this house mostly tidied and readied for Christmas. 

The landlord got groceries for me yesterday.  In those groceries among the spices, was a bag of poppy seeds.  I asked if he was hoping for poppy seed rolls and he looked rather sheepish and hemmed and hawed. A guy can dream, says he.  Hahaha He might get them too.  With our missing bakery, I dream of pastry making for Saturday morning treats and you can tell how good I feel.  I feel like making these.

I sorted toys yesterday and cleaned under beds. Today floors and dusting . Slowly things will be ready for Christmas.  Slowly it will be done.  

I was thinking about scents this morning, not perfumes so much as scents that bring us back to something from long ago, deeply remembered from childhood. Christmas is surely a time of year where scents bring things back.  The smell of a pine or spruce tree fresh harvested, of peppermint and cookies and buns out of the oven, of turkey and mom's stuffing.  

This morning I was thinking of other lovely scents.  I remember the scent of roses and lavender.  They are scents I gave always loved.  I have a shower wash that is lavender scented and it took me not to childhood but to an endless quest for lavender in my garden.  I never did have any luck getting it to grow in my gardens and it made me wonder if I should try some here in this sunny place.  It is a Mediterranean species but maybe here in the open?

I know it will strike some odd but this is the season for garden catalogues.  I wait for them at this time of year with its  darkest days and longest night.  Spring garden catalogues are the most exciting thing I can imagine to rid me of any lingering winter woes.  As eagerly as I waited for the Christmas catalogue from Sears and Eatons when I was a kid, I wait for the garden catalogue now.  There are some things the internet can never replace.  

Though I haven't planted a garden in any real way for a while now, I mean to this spring and even though I prepare for Christmas, I dream of flowers and spring.

Rounding up and knitting on.

Last winter, I purchased a pair of Addi Flexi Flips, knit with them and then set them aside.  I did not enjoy knitting with them.  I forgot about them.

I came across them when I was looking for some double points in the vase of dpns.  I wondered if I had given them short shrift.  So, I pulled out a skein of sock yarn and got to work.  

Yeah.  I was right.  I am not a fan.  It isn't the needle but my knitting style.  My hands rely on a  longer, firm needle to help push through the stitches.  (Sort of)  The flexi part of the needle is right where I need firmness.  I occasionally have the same issue with my Addi Short Lace tip set.  That lack of support leads my hands to cramping and a grip of death on the needles.  

What I do love about these needles is the tips. One side is the regular turbo tip, round and smooth.  The other is their rocket tip, which is longer and pointer.  I love that I can choose.

I use my set of the Flexi Flip Stix which have this same pairing of tips, all the time.  

My only issue is the one needle is bent.  Not a maker flaw, but extreme pressure while knitting a heel.

I don't like that I can't find a level of comfort with the Flexi Flips.  I won the battle with my Addi Short Lace Tip set and can now knit comfortably.  I figure if I persevere with these, perhaps I will get there too.  I am going to stick with these and we'll see.  I may adapt.

And just because you have seen all the other ongoing socks, I'll show you this pair too.

That is all my socks on the needles.  It was a good time to round them up anyway as we approach the years end.

Rambling on.

After sleeping in past 8 yesterday, and heading out to spin, I returned home and did not do one single bit of knitting.  And what is even weirder, I didn't even feel like it. 

But it was in my mind.  I pulled this out just for the contrast this morning. 

There are plenty of things going on around here and it occurred to me, that a lot of the tings being knit on recently, are blue.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  I love blue.  I suspect that I may be on a bit of a blue kick, as I was on a red kick for a while. 

What has really been on my mind that last while, is what else there is to knit.  I am almost full up with sweaters, though, really, you can never have too many sweaters.  In other words, my sweater chest is getting full and I am so NOT ready to stop knitting.  But there are so many other things I want to knit.  I try to keep that in mind even though I love knitting clothing.

I did start that lovely Icelandic shawl, but I made an error on the center lace, and I haven't touched it in months.  I have other shawls and lace things I want to knit too but I haven't made myself get there. There is a tiny garden that I want to knit for my miniature house and a tiny rug to weave and another to braid.  And that book of farms and then there is...

I could go on. I am starting to think about what to knit for the new year.   I don't seem to do resolutions and I find setting goals can be self defeating as often as they motivate me, so I don't want to set a goal, but I do think that the next thing I do should be something different, something I have never done before.  I just have to define what different means to me.

Lacklustre

My personal performance hasn't been great lately.  The last week or so, it has been downright pitiful.  I don't mean in knitting but in everything.  It is possible that this is going to be my version of the latest cold bug going around.  That happens sometimes. I get it but do not entirely succumb.  I just look lazier than usual and can only say I feel lacklustre.

But first, I want to show you where I am on my sweater.

It is really starting to look like something wearable.  As lovely as it is, knitting on this means I am not knitting on my coat, but oh well. It is proof that I am doing something, even if only a little.

I figure another two sections of the garter stripe pattern and then the ribbing and it will be just about perfect.  Then sleeves of course, but it all looks pretty good right now.

So how to get rid of the lacklustres, the grumps, the lassitude of the last while?  My usual fall back:  Stash Dive!  or I would but for one problem.  I can't get there.

My sewing area needs to be tidied.  There are boxes with fabric and bags with yarn and other assorted weirdness covering the floor.  That side of my room has been that place where stuff goes to be forgotten for the last while. There are boxes of yarn under the cutting table, there is a box of lace yarns under the sock yarn box, there are clean sweaters in very large bags that have been shoved on top of it all.  I mean to get in and tidy that, and then play in yarn today just for the heck of it.   

Things have become so disorganized lately and it is affecting the quality of my life.  So I am putting on an older sci fi series, Eureka and I am going to deal with it.  And if it takes as long as I think it will, then another oldie but goodie from my video collection, Warehouse 13. TV on, volume up.

But first coffee.  Because, well, coffee.

Goofy kids

My little Emmett was performing for Grandma today.  He is a sweet genial little stinker!  He took off to hide when it was nap time and had a very good time.  Grandma eventually caught him, fed him and put him down for a good nap.

He likes to explore everything.  Just before this he was stuck on top of the green box under the coffee table and was just starting to worry when grandma saved him, and dumped him out so he could beat a hasty retreat out of his predicament.

Sweet release.

He also likes to vacuum.  Mommy can never find the crevice tool but there it is, right where he put it,  in his toys so it is near to hand when it is his turn to vacuum.  It is also an excellent ball whacker.

He has shown that he is very good at tickling and really likes the old family tickle game we call krizel mizel.  We have no idea why it is called krizel mizel.  My dad, who invented it, said it must have been just made up words.  For made up words, it has enormous play power for little kids and all my grandchildren know it well. 

Not a bit of anything happened today except playing with kiddies.  I can always knit tomorrow.

Stuff and Knitting

It's one of those days where there are a dozen little things to do and I am actually doing them.  I am repairing snaps, some of which have been waiting for months, and sorting toys and doing laundry and coming up this afternoon, I will be starting to tie the quilt.  

There has been knitting.

The collar looks odd but as a whole, it is starting to look very sweater like.  I've made it down to the third garter row set and yes, it feels fast.  Not quite the perfect stripe sequence but close.  The perfect stripe sequence is seven for me.  When I start looking for a row count, I am invariably at row five or six.  Seven is great for socks, but at sweater scale, seven rows is too little space between the edges.  It would make the sweater feel busy, fussy and not quite right.  

There will be knitting after quilt tying.  It's nice to do some knitting right before bed for a change.  Bed will be early today because tomorrow , I start really, really early so I can get over to play with my sweet kiddies who live a little farther away.  My favourite thing!

Felting Adventures

Yesterday it was time to say goodbye to another old sweater.  

This time, the sweater biting the dust was a Shalom vest knit back in 2013.  It was worn a lot over the years but it had some issues.  In adventures in renovating before I sold my house, it caught on a nail or something mid back.  I always planned to repair it but once I settled in this house, I realized that the round low yoke wasn't  keeping me warm enough.  It sat and a few weeks ago, I decided  I could let it go.  

As much as letting go, I needed a few other things.  I needed pot holders.  Mine, sewn years ago, back on the farm, are pretty much gone.  I have been using my cotton dishcloths for taking things out of the oven, and a single layer of cotton is not enough.  At all.  

I also need pads for setting hot pots and dishes on  counters.  I used to have a bunch of cork pads for this but the standard cork hot pad is pretty useful for other things.  Like under a coffee pot that stays very hot below.  And as nerf gun target.  They also have broken over the years.  From my stock of 5 or 6, I can only find two to use.  

I also needed coffee coasters.  I have a sweet set of cut glass coasters that I use, but not all my coffee cups fit in them.  I made a set of felted coasters when I lived at the wee house, and was using them routinely.  I actually like them better than my glass coasters.  I had four and really need a few more.

I threw the vest into the wash yesterday morning and did a good long hot cycle.

I was a little concerned that the garter ridges of the yoke of the vest would not felt smoothly and that the ribbing wouldn't be useable. But no worries! 

I love when I felt a garment.  It brings a whole other character out of the wool.  It becomes so clear how the boiled wool jacket became a thing in some parts of the world. I have got to investigate how they make a true "boiled" wool fabric in the traditional way.

Meanwhile back at my felting.  It worked beautifully.  

I managed to recover enough of the colourful yoke to make ten, roughly square coasters.  Not perfectly square might bother some people, but not me. My others are mostly rectangle shaped and no one ever commented on their mildly wonky nature.  These imperfect squares are just fine.

Plus I have five hot pads / pot holders of various sizes.  Some are big enough for under my largest casserole,  and some are just right for my smallest pot.  All will be great for using as pot holders and I for one, am looking forward to not burning my hands in the spot between knitted or crocheted stitches.  

Delicious knitting

I did think I would do a bit of tying of the quilt on the weekend, but my weekend did not quite go like that.  My company, which was expected next weekend, came this weekend.  They may also come next weekend.  Knitting works better with company so I knit. 

It's  very good for the sweater though and less good for the quilt.

I just made the first of the second significant design feature on this sweater, the garter stitch rows.  

Without giving away the design mojo, these rows are repeated as the body of the sweater grows and the result is stripes of garter stitch texture. 

You know how it is when stripes happen.  Knitting feels fast.  It is more than my usual number of rows between these garter stitch rows but not so much that it will be hard to count or feel different than stripes do.  I'm looking forward to this just to see if these garter stripe rows work their magic and make it feel as if you are not hardly knitting at all.  

I've done a vest for a small man, a banded pattern striped lopi sweater and a gentle repetitive lace in a very short time.  Is this sweater going to feel just as fast?

The elephant in the room.

It took all day, but by the end of yesterday, I was over the grumps.  I hate spending time feeling like that. Grumpy, cranky leads me where I do not want to live.  If you allow it, it can eat up all the good things in life and all you are left with is dark corners and the shapeless wasted spaces.  

My childhood fear of the dark has taught me nothing if it did not teach me to always look for the light. Even in the darkest corners, there is some light.  Even if the only light in the corner is the scent of your coffee, it can be enough to tip your day to something better.  If you let it.  

And for me, part of the way past cranky is to figure out just why I was feeling cranky.  I was correct.  Gratification Glut was a problem but there was more.  

I did knit on my green sweater for a bit.  I did 4 rows to take it to the next increase and congratulated myself and moved to my pretty blue sweater where I knit contentedly for the rest of the day.  

I felt it was ready for the sleeves to be separated but I wanted to be sure.  This morning I put everything on wool strings and I gave it a good try on.  I usually wait to try on till I've knit an inch or so below the armpit but I had to know.  All is good.  With that out of my head, I looked up and it caught my eye across the room. 

This seems to be the elephant in the room.

The blanket.  I had to set it aside when the kids came and I haven't really thought about it since.  It has just been sitting there, minus all the batts and minus the very large container the batts were in.  

I set myself the goal of getting it done before the end of the month and that certainly still is doable.  There is some toy putting and a good sweep that must be done before I begin, so that will be the housework du jour.  

Cranky

I'm cranky this morning.  It started when I woke to an old alarm.  At 5:30 a.m.  It is one thing to wake at 5:30 naturally or when there is some reason I needed to wake at that time and quite another when I don't need to wake early at all.  I couldn't get back to sleep, so I watched a program and then got up.  Cranky.

I asked Keith to make coffee because there has been weird stuff going on with the coffee pot.  I think it hates me.  He sorted it out and made a perfectly fine pot of coffee.  At least I have that.  Cranky.

I picked up a sweater to work on and found that made me feel guilty.  

I know that I need my green coat 

and I know I ought to be working at it, but I seem to be picking up the pretty thing instead.  Knitting should not be something I feel guilty about no matter what I an knitting.  

Cranky.

I think it is a end of big project issue more than anything.  Doubly or perhaps even triply so.  I finished dad's vest (he loves it) and the Hun sweater in October and then this speedy gradient of blues and never really addressed the end of a big project lull on any of them.  

Each were so fulfilling in their own ways, each a boost to my spirit in a dozen ways.  Gratification abounded and now that they are done and every WIP I have needs lots of work, I face a gratification deficit.  Maybe I should knife some mitts.  Or socks but the thought of those makes me cranky.

I obviously need an attitude adjustment.  Or more coffee.

Sweater Heaven

It is indeed done.  Pleased cannot begin to describe it. 

There is part of me that is a farm girl, who did not grow up to be a lady who likes plain simple unfussy things, whose idea of things is that it has to be useful and that useful is true beauty and a beauty unto itself.   There is part of me that adores the most feminine of laces, the ruffles, the bows, the satin, the velvet, the Edwardian perfection and folds of delicate handkerchiefs of lawn fabric so thin as to be made of air.  This sweater is everything of both sides of me. 

The lace is just right for this very substantial yarn, though it is a good thing that I did not do the garter stitch from the pattern.  That would have been too much texture and would have made it bulky and heavy.  It isn't light and airy though.  It is substantial.  It is warm.  It is not boring and that is exactly what my wardrobe needed right now.  It is also perfect for displaying my highly valued turtlenecks.

I did add a few more rows to the bottom, to give that edge a bit more weight.  I had to do it in a band of colour though.  There wasn't enough of the darkest blue to do three rows of garter, let alone the three ridges I wanted.

I didn't obsess over buttons too much.  I knew it had to be something from the box and I knew it was going to be something different and a bit more showy than I would normally use.  What I found in the box, is as perfect as if I had planned it.

The size that fit best through my buttonholes was fairly large, but that suits the scale of everything else.  If you look carefully at the buttons, you will notice that though they are the same pattern, they are slightly different colours.  I had three decorated with white, three with a coffee colour, and two of the middle tone of this same button and I had five button holes to fill.  It only seemed right to do a gradient for the buttons.  I wouldn't have ever thought of that had I not had a stash of a billion buttons and yet, I love the quirkiness of it.  It very much is part of my sweater love.

It hasn't made it to final blocking yet, but that is only because I am wearing it right now. I wore it most of the day yesterday too.  Blocking can wait.  I am in new sweater heaven.

Ten Days

By the time it was bedtime, there was this much left.

It is done!

I haven't tried it on yet, but from my earlier test runs, I am pretty sure of what it will be.  And it will be good.

There are still ends to weave in and buttons to sort out, but then I will have a second new sweater to wear. I just realized I didn't even make time to obsess about buttons!  What is the world coming to?  

Almost

I have about 4 inches of sleeve left to finish this sweater and you know what?  I am a little tired of it.  Weird how it happens now.  Still, I am going to work like a son of a gun to get it done tomorrow.  And I do not expect it to be a hard goal at all.

I have talked about the state of my wardrobe many times before.  I have talked about the age of some of my clothes and how so many of my old standbys are getting threadbare.  I have even talked about how sewing cannot keep my beloved turetlencks together anymore.  

The other night I was awake at 2 a.m. .  I tend to stay quiet in my room at night.  The landlord wakes if I make too much noise so I cruise the Internet for cool things or read in my room or watch movies or shop online.  I rarely buy anything in these shopping adventures.  It is window shopping.  I might fill a cart but I generally don't do anything till morning and nine times out of ten, the cart is emptied and I merrily go on my way.

I was searching rather seriously for replacement turtlenecks.  I had put a thumb through the fabric of my basic black and that means I can no longer avoid replacing it.  It isn't that I haven't looked, but it is rare to find turtlenecks at stores catering to women of size.  It is also rare to find nether garments or tights that are not pants, but are rather more a footless long stocking.  There never is a category containing winter underwear.  Apparently to the garment world, we do not get cold.

After several years of watching my stores, I had kind of settled on buying a mans turtleneck and sewing it down to fit.  I went to Marks, a work wear chain that ought to carry a good selection of what I wanted and I looked at various things.  

While I was there, I decided to see what they had for women's wear.  And they did have the right kind of thing but since they really only do average fits, I didn't think I would be buying.  It was worth the look though just in case.  And there you have it.  They do have a size that will do well enough.  They would be one size down but in a stretchy garment that can work.  I thought I would chance it.  The worst thing that could happen was that it would get sent back.

When I placed the order, there seemed to be some hijinks going on.  Each shirt was 25 dollars but my total including tax was fifty for 4 shirts delivered to the local store for pickup.  I checked again.  Nope.  There was a sale going on plus there was 30% on top of that sale.  I saved more than I spent but for the taxes.

I placed the order and then I went to sleep.  The landlord went to town today and picked them up and they are going to do just fine.  New warm shirts and a really good deal besides.  I win!

When Things started around the house this morning, my first wish was to knit the few rounds that were left on the sweater body.  It should have been quick and easy, right?  

Not.  I had a little lace problem.  The first repeat had a dropped yarn over.  Shouldn't be a difficult repair.  That's what I thought too.  I did it and then...

The next repeat had a dropped yarn over.  Or so it looked.  I tried dropping back and repairing it but it didn't work.  I did it again and it still was one stitch out.  I did it a third time and then tossed it in the corner.  Not literally, but I did put it down.  And had a coffee.  And made pancakes for breakfast.  And made lunch. 

In the end I dropped a third repeat and included those stitches in the repair and magically, the whole thing resolved itself.  And then I cast the whole darn thing off off.  

It was the happiest I have ever been to finish a sweater body.  I seriously thought about knitting a nice garter stitch edge around the sleeves and calling it a vest.  I have a skein of each colour of the three colors though and no way are they going back in the stash.  Since throwing yarn out is not an option, I must keep knitting.  

So slee

Thursday morning, the 6th day of this sweater event brings me to this.

I think I can get one more full repeat from this final bit of yarn, but only a partial repeat of a second.  So this is where I have to go back to the pattern and see how Ysolda wrote the bottom bind off. 

I had hoped to be showing you sleeves today but it took forever to get the shopping done yesterday.  I put my winter tires on the car, but then, in order to have room for groceries, I had to drive home and dump the summer tires into storage, and the go back to Vegreville to get groceries.  Plus shopping with kids took longer.  It just did.  

So knitting was the last thing I had time for.  Today, I am going to hold out for getting the bottom done and if I am lucky, starting one of the sleeves.  

I have left myself one ball of each of my 3 shades for sleeves, and I think, I will split the balls before I start to knit.  I am certain I have enough, but I want to be sure.  Till I start it remains in the realm of 'I think'.  There isn't  any security in 'I think'.  It feels like there is going to be better security in being forced to switch when I have to because the yarn is used up.  

I doubt that this will make it in 7 days.  Having the kids here changed that vague idea.  But 10 days on an F1 weekend?  Totally do-able.

Reasonably well done.

It wasn't hard and using that roll method to put the stuffing in place in the "bag" wasn't difficult at all.  It is such a sensible process to get something into a large fabric bag.  Laying things together is the only step where you need to take care.  If you can get everything laying just right, square cornered, it is going to work out.  Last time, I mentioned tacking the batts to the blanket at the top corners, but this time I didn't.  It just wasn't needed.

There is a lot of work to be done on it though.  One side needs sewing closed and another needs redoing to fit the bats a bit better.  I will do that by hand after some of the knotting is done.  I have to get the batts firmly in place before the whole thing is handled too much.

I cannot do that till next week though.  There just is not enough room with the kids  and toys and stuff.   To say nothing of the pile of my stuff which was already threatening to eat the love seat and chair.

I will work on that quick sweater just to get that one out of the way, and then will address my green coat.  Funny how my poor green coat gets shunted aside so easily when I really do need it.

Need versus want.  Ever the epic battle.