The In Betweens

What with all the ruminating on things that were, minutes between sections of huge but rewarding jobs, and grandkids, all the knitting going on here has been about time in between other things. It is sort of rewarding to sit down and really take a look at everything going on.

Each day, I try to knit at least 2 rounds of what was once a completed top, my Not Daisies Top . It looks exactly the same today as it did before I called it done.  I am utterly thrilled to say that it is now as long as it was before I ripped back the garter stitch hem and I am beginning actual new length to it.  So it goes.  I ought to work more devotedly on this one just to get it done but sometimes it isn't the right yarn to work with and sometimes, such as when I am sitting in my knitting chair, which is just a smidgen too high to use one of my WIP bins to support the rest of the top.   My knitting chair is a superior F1 vantage point so that means it isn't a good top for F1 races and there are a fair number of hours every second week spent watching F1. Other knitting happens.

I am two rows away from the start of the second lace section on my stunning yellow top,

the sweet Cascadas Tee by Susana IC in Patons Hempster.  The more I knit with this yarn, the more I like it.  I washed my swatch from back when I was thinking of using it for a Shakerag Top, several more times, to see how it would perform in day to day life, and it does indeed just get better.  I  purchased two more skeins when I was hoping to make the Skakerag Top, and almost had a yarn incident purchasing several more colours. I am really pleased with the way the lace is turning out with it, crisp and clean.  Or it will be when it is washed and blocked.

And then the second of my tops made using the Summer Snowflakes pattern from Susan Dingle.

This top had the most change over the last ten days.  It made for great knitting during races and between kids and chores and errands because the increases are easy to see and place and there are the same number of plain rows between each set of increases.  I have to do a gauge check to see if I need to do the last two sets of increases, but it is really nice knowing exactly how the pattern fits before I can try this version on.  

And then there is this, my new Icelandic shawl, the Dýrfinnustaðahyrna með blúndu.

It is really too lovely to be an in between project but the little edging really was a great in between.  I have picked up stitches but the next bit is going to take a few days of devoted work and a lot of counting till the lace pattern is established.  Once that is set up, it will be wonderful knitting again.  The lace is not hard (I hope) and the colour changes look intuitive.  

If you look carefully just at the tip of the needle, you will see what seems to be untethered lace edging and indeed, it is.  By the time I got to the right number of picked up stitches, I had exactly one repeat of the edging too much.  I will go back and shorten it after I have knit the rest of the shawl.  The construction of this shawl and the edging pattern allow me to do that.   

And that is the betweens, reported to you, in between.  Gotta go.

Stinky Sticky Work

Right now, in this moment, I am dirty and stinky and completely and utterly victorious.  I need a shower.  Badly.  There is no one here but me so I took the low and mildly disgusting route, made my coffee and just started.

Remember last fall I purchased some fleece from a local sheep farm?  I did cold water washes on them till winter surprised me and showed up before I was done.  Drying them in the house was a herculean task and it took forever, about a week, actually.  Because the first batches took so long and I had run out of drying room, one fleece remained outside frozen into its vat of water.  I did check if it was recoverable, but nope.  

The dried fleece had more lanolin in it than I hoped so I wanted to give it a hot water wash to see if that would deal with it.  

This is what I faced this morning.

 

In preparation for this, I made some large wash and dry bags out of some screen repair rolls. Each 84 inch roll made two and a half bags that fit perfectly into the bins I was going to use to do the job.

As I went through the fibre, picking out the big stuff that remained,

there was some detritus falling to the floor, but much, much less than I thought there would be.  The tips were the dirtiest bits and the cut ends were packed with grease, so I fluffed them all out a bit and separated everything into nice loosely filled packages.

The first wash was pretty dirty but the second was much better,

and after three hot rinses, the water was clear.  Really truly clear! 

I spun the last of the water out in my washing machine.  Seriously debated about this step, but honestly, after letting my screen bags drip for a bit suspended from a wood dowel, there was so little water that I wasn't really worried.  The machine is going to get a good clean out with vinegar and hot water before I wash clothes again, though.

Half of the fleece is outside right now, drying.  By the time the last three screen bags were done washing, the first two bags were almost dry, thanks to a high of 26C today.  There will be another days work to finish the fleece on the next hot sunny day.  It has been fluffed and is ready to wash so it won't take long to do. What with making the bags this morning, and fluffing the whole fleece, today's work took about 6 hours of on and off work.

Plus this. 

The fleece is beautifully clean and pouffy and is completely free of stickiness and the lock structure is reasonably well preserved.  It wonderfully soft, a complete victory.  I can't wait to see how this Border Leicester spins!

Still, victory comes at a price, and it is time for me to go and take that hard earned, seriously deserved and much needed shower hot shower.

Shifting things about.

I hate summer.  I know that it is really odd to hate summer.  I mean who on earth hates summer in Canada?  Winter should be the season we all hate but not me.  It's goofy, but life took a turn and I kind of hate summer.

Six years ago today, a kindly doctor told Brian what the medical team thought he had, several days before the final results were in.  Early results showed he had very little time.  This time of year is a struggle for me but the one thing I learned last year is I cannot run from it.  I knew it before, but I think part of me hoped it would leave with all the new places I was seeing.  I hoped to prove it to myself that distracting me would work, but it did not. 

It isn't a serious depression or even a mild version of ptsd.  It is just a sort of gentle soft sorrow that rears its delicate little head many more times than is usual on any given day.  It is always there, but at this time of year, I really have to work on it to keep it from becoming life.

The best thing for me so far, is just to keep busy by stretching my mind and doing something just a bit different (Road trips leave you a lot of time to think) and shifting my day around seems to help as much as anything.  Jolting me out of my long established routine works.

So this morning, I am getting my errands and routine chores done really early in the day. This afternoon, I am going to wash some fleece.  The rest of the week should be warm enough and sunny enough to dry them quickly.  Next week will be carding.

Then, this evening, I will knit, like a normal person, in the evening.  Going to bed at 7:30 is just not acceptable and that has happened more than once in the last few weeks as this season approached. When it is close to bedtime, I will sit down and write about my day rather than doing it in the morning and discussing my plans.  It may take a bit of work and effort to adjust to evening writing again, but I have done it before and it will work again.

So if things seems a bit weird here for the next bit as I adapt, run with it.  I have to.  

Begin Again, Again

Today is back to the drawing board for my pretty Not Daisies top.  After my success yesterday with beginning again, it seemed like a good idea.  

Yup.  It needs a couple inches more.  It hits right at the worst possible point.  A bit longer and it will be much much better. With me loving everything else about it and wanting to wear it, it feels right to do it before the urge wears off.  

I had a wonderful time knitting yesterday.  This Cascada pattern is working much better for this yarn.  

Begin Again

Yesterday, I started work with Paton's Hempster, a cotton and hemp blend.  I have been mulling patterns for a while and settled on the Shakerag Top from Mason Dixon Transparency, Field Guide No. 6. 

I did a large swatch and thought, yeah it will be fine with the right needles.

Not that I felt any of the three needle sizes I used for the swatch were the right size, mind you, but I moved forward with it anyway.  You know that thing where you are blind to something and a good sleep takes care of it?  Well, a good sleep made me see that even on the largest size needles, a size 5.5, the sections where two strands of yarn needed to be held together, were stiff and much to firm for what should have been a drapey fabric. Rock Toasties firm.

Wrong yarn for that pattern.  For the rest of the day, I worked on my Daisies top.

I started this when I started the same top in Remix Light, intending them to be the same top but for the lace bit.  I can tell you, I am not doing the out of control flare again.  No way.  Just to much knitting!  It is going to be a more toned down version with shaping to fit me, which is already plenty of stitches in a row.

But because this yellow bright cheery yarn is the yarn I want to work with,

I found another pattern that I hope works, the Cascadas Tee.   There is a lovely little lace pattern around the yoke and it is designed to be knit from the top down, my favourite thing.  I'm hoping that a bit of lace with crisp well defined lines, is this yarns forte.

I'm taking today a bit easy again.  Feeling much better today.  No headache!  and the rest of the stuff I have been feeling seems to be leveling out.  Thank heavens.  

I have got to be more careful.

I have been feeling really crappy the last few days, Sunday being the worst.  I may have gotten an inkling of why this morning.  Or part of why.

 I listen to CBC One in the morning via TV where they carry a lone hour of the show.   The health guy was talking about licorice this morning.  He spoke of a patient who was having headaches and whose blood pressure, despite meds, was out of control.  When asked what he ate or drank or did differently the patient said he had some herbal tea with licorice in it.  The guy was in hospital for two weeks getting things back in order.  The health guy discussed not just licorice, but also green tea and things that are more widely known, like grapefruit, that can be very harmful to people taking certain medications.  

I am not a natural medicine is better for you sort of person.  I am also not a western medicine is the only valid medicine sort of person.  I would lean to natural remedies more often if the people prescribing them were better trained and better regulated in their qualifications.  I would probably trust a person trained in China as a Chinese herbalist for instance.  I would NOT trust what the internet tells me just because it is on a website I like.

As it is, I take medications that helps to make my life.  It makes life not just livable, but I suspect that I would be gone now but for taking it.  

I do think about herbal remedies and how they may affect these meds.  I looked into CBD oil  for general pain and aches and have researched ginger, which I do take and really enjoy.  Mixing natural remedies and western medications has to be very carefully done.  I think about it because I know what I felt like in the time before my meds and I know what I feel like now, which is a lot better.  I really try not to upset the balance. I clearly missed the boat this time.  Green tea which I was aware of and licorice which I was not, are both bad, indeed very bad at small doses, with my meds.  

I have been trying to cut down my coffee consumption.  It too, is not a good companion with my meds.  I have been doing tea every second day, but because caffeine is what I am really trying to avoid by lowering my coffee intake, I have been using my favourite herbal tea of all time, Bengal Spice tea from Celestial Seasonings.  I decided to change things up on Saturday and Sunday and had one cup of coffee and then grabbed other tea in place of my usual Bengal Spice tea.  Unfortunately one of the teas  had a green tea component and the other had licorice root.  I alternated them and probably had four cups of tea on Sunday.  After lunch on Sunday, I really started feeling awful, headaches principally and every day since, I feel as if I am not taking my medications at all.  I went to town yesterday and the rest of the day was a wash.  I slept.  Not just napped slept, I mean.  I slept.  It feels almost like the time before my meds.  

So today, I am having my lone cup of coffee right now and then I am going to have hot water with a squeeze of lemon juice in it for any following hot beverage I have.  (I checked.  A bit of lemon juice ought to be okay.)  And then I am going to call on my doctor to check it all out in case I have done bad stuff to my well being.

There will be a knitting component to the day, though.  That always lowers my blood pressure.  Well, it makes me feel better so bright side, one, dark side one, but I am rooting for the bright side to win.

Finished ?

I managed to find time to finish my Not Daisies top yesterday.  

It wasn't a big effort at all.  It just needed the sleevelets to be finished.  

But though it is technically finished, I won't really know if it is finished finished until I wear it a bit.  I made it slightly longer than the pattern calls for, but it still seems plenty short to me.  If I don't feel comfortable in it, then it will be knit longer.  It turned out really nicely and while there are times, I wouldn't go back and do more major knitting, this one, I would.

Why major knitting?  There isn't any way not to with this design.

Here is the grand sweep of one side.  It gives the top it's distinctive draping and short rows at the back mean it isn't just the dropping sides of  handkerchief hem.  It also means that each round is a lot, a LOT of stitches.

I won't like it if it needs to be longer but I will do it.  It is just too pretty not to.

On the Edge

I don't quite understand why, but so often I feel like a spring under tension, waiting.  For something.  I have no idea what I am waiting for.  I wish I did because then I could resolve it. Sitting here waiting to blow isn't quite the way I would like things to be.

I had a plan in place to start something different this week, and I mean to start today.  I am going to card some fibre to spin and while I do that, I was planning to wash some other fibre.  I am going to leave the washing part though, because that may just be an unrealistic expectation.  I have some sewing to do today because none of the sewing was finished last week.  The skirt is today's main task.  In breaks between I will card.

There are things that were resolved so nicely last week that I am using very actively today.  I was in serious need of new seating by my computer.  I had found what I wanted but it took many hoops to sort out shipping with Amazon.   In the end, I had to find an in the city address to ship it to but I now have it an am using it.  It isn't the usual sort of office chair.  I had that and the way my space is set up, doesn't fit a regular chair.  I need something that I can tuck below my desk.  It needed wheels, so I started looking at lab stools, made my way through drummer's thrones, and kind of ended up with a really comfy mechanic's stool that is the perfect answer to a rather odd quest for something that will comfortably support me and will hold the height I set it to and will roll around less intrusively than my former chair.  The kids torture tested it this weekend.  It will hold!

And that is pretty much it from Chez Needles today.  Unless the spring is sprung or the pressure blows.  

A Litany of Blessings?

Small blessings.  That is what yesterday was about.  Our skies here were filled with smoke which meant our forecast for temps in the range of 29C did not happen.  And it got really cool overnight, 4C.  However the sky filling with smoke, not the grey kind, but the ashy, smelly, orangey, greeny, can't see past 200 yards kind, meant that you couldn't breathe.  We were on a direct smoke path from the fires yesterday.   Still, in a lot of ways, breathing wasn't such a big deal.  Our lives and our homes were safe unlike so many people in the very dry north.  Small blessings.  Pray for rain.  Do a raindance. 

I stayed working with wool on Wednesday.  Ta Da! Two ends!

Part one of my new and authentic Einband shawl is done.  Picking up stitches along the lace border is going to have to wait though.   Kids are coming this weekend and there is some sewing to do.

Thursday I went to spin in the newly re-opened Strathcona County Library.  I spent the rest of the day getting some of the errands I had building up done.  Wiper blade for car.  Check.  Air filter for car.  Not in yet. Elastic for sewing.  Check.  New fabric for Cassie's skirt.  Check and on that last, I couldn't be more pleased.

I was struggling to find the right thing.  I did not really want heavy fabric and all I could find was heavy.  I asked a clerk if she had any swiss polka dot in pink or otherwise embellished lightweight cotton or poly cotton in a soft pink colour.  She offered to go searching but they were kind of busy.  I told her not to worry.  I would eventually find something and had lots of time to search and she aimed me in the direction of the bridal fabrics and fancier stuff and she went off to help others.   About 10 minutes later, she came running down the aisle, literally, with a massive bolt of fabric.  She said "I was cutting fabric for a customer and I looked up and saw it."  And she had.

I may or may not have screamed, "That's it!"  Thank you so much, enthusiastic Staff member at Fanny's Fabrics.  It is really the most perfect replacement skirt fabric I could have imagined.  It is dainty and airy and light in weight and is plenty wide to give my not a little princess Cassie her long princess twirly skirt!

When I was putting away the few things that did not sell in the garage sale I came across two and  bit skeins of a lovely blue Mirasol Tika. I guess it was meant for me to use. It's a great all cotton and it struck me that there was just enough yarn for another dress top for Cassie.  Which meant that I also picked up fabric for another skirt.

And more.  Marcus is always sad when there is nothing for him so this time, grandma made sure there was lots of fabric not just for the skirt, but also for a pair of little boy board shorts.  Uncle Keith has affirmed that fishy board shorts would be absolutely perfect for boys big and small. And while this grandma has the pattern out to cut pants for Marcus, she is also going to cut out a couple pairs of pajama pants too.  He can use those because I am pretty sure he has outgrown his others.

I have been a bit worried about this.  Cassie is getting a bit of a wardrobe boost this week.  Her new top and sweater are complete.  Her pink dress is restored and another one is on the way.  It is time for Marcus to get something special too.  

A busy weekend is on the way because said little people are visiting this weekend.  There is lots to do to get ready. We have to have inside activities in case the 'normal' park (as in not the water park) is not an option because of smoke or excess heat. I could go on with my litany of things, but seriously, time is wasting and it doesn't stop while I write. 

  

  

  

Pretty Little Projects

I feel a lot better than earlier this week, not nearly so jumpy under my skin.  Thankfully.  There has been substantially less reading, though this afternoon, my book and my bed and I are going to get cozy.

It all comes down to the drive to get this little thing done.

It needs to get to her asap and with a little bit of luck, asap means Thursday or Friday so she gets lots of wear out of it before school ends.  It needs ends woven in and a button, a cute little button.  A bright shiny sweet button, a flower or heart in orange or yellow, will surely be found at my local fabric store.  

Cassie has always loved the little top that I made for her using this same multi coloured yarn and Phil Bamboo.  Who wouldn't.  Bamboo, indeed any rayon from any source feels utterly sumptuous against your skin.  Wearing it is a pure delight.  With Phil Bamboo being discontinued, I opted for Bamboo Pop from Universal Yarn.  It does have a lovely drape and will, I hope, have enough of that cool rayon smoothness to be great to wear on hot summer days. 

The other thing that needs ends woven in is this sweet little Boxy sweater, made from Flirt aka, Baby Bamboo from Sirdar.  My goodness this sweater feels marvellous.  She doesn't know it yet, but I guarantee it will be a favourite.

But oh the ends!  There are thousands.  It only feels like thousands, I know, but wow, what a lot of ends.  By the time I finish these two garments, my end weaving skills will be totally renewed and refreshed ready for the next thing that has a lot of ends. Still weaving them all in.

I picked up my Einband lace again this morning.  It is such a different creature to work with than the slip of yarns with bamboo sourced rayon and cotton and bamboo sourced rayon and wool.  Its grabby, toothiness is really my happy place. I have loved spending time with different patterns and yarns that glide, but I have missed pure simplicity of wool.      

Busy day today what with the reading and the knitting. 👵 ha!  We finally got a few things done inside that have been holding up some routine housework so there is catch up to do, and a deck to ready for flowers and pots.  With those things done, and with me, feeling like my knitting is in a pretty good place, I can focus on something really different for next week.

Just a Little Dreaming

I am so close to finishing this top for Cassie.  If I get another day in like yesterday, it will be. Yesterday I knit long and napped, knit more and had another little nap, knit more and made dinner, knit more.  All I really did was knit more.

By my best guess, another inch and it will be time to do the bottom ribbing or whatever.  I haven't decided that just yet.  On the original, I did seed stitch welts, and I have been debating about that for this version as well, but I don't know if I am in the mood for seed stitch.  Finishing at the sleeves and collar is still to come and I'm kind of feeling like a rolled hem is what I want for that.  Either I go with that for the bottom as well or I have two finishes and that isn't really my preferred choice.

As much as I knit, I let my mind wander.  When I ordered my bobbin winder from Camilla Valley Farm, I also ordered a sample card of Harrisville.  I meant to get one while I was there last summer, but in my sheer pleasure at being there, I forgot. 

Thinking about the Harrisville makes me think of all that luscious stuff in my stash, those wonderful full cones of colour and 'not so much colour'. 

My mind keeps wandering to Kate Davies' Myrtle sweater, which the 'not so much colours' are for.  I may have thought about knitting something else, but I keep going back to this.

The Harrisville colours, I don't know.  I am much less certain of the design for these.  But my fingers are getting hungry to knit them.

Only three of these really go together perfectly, and they are the ones I mean to use together, but I can't remember which I liked best.  

That card of colour reminds me too of the secret Harrisville which I have had in my stash for a while, suede and and ebony in large quantities.  Plenty for some serious adventures and perhaps even more stunning if I add a little something?  Like a nice ripe red?  Turquoise?  Warm mustard?

Looking at these reminds me of some Rowan too.  It has such a similar character and such rich deep colours. I have it in green and golden but I do have a plan for that.  I think.

Dreams, dreams, dreams such as they are.  There is always something exciting to knit on the horizon.  It is easy to get lost in the dreams and end up going nowhere.  If I just keep knitting something, though, I win in every way.  Time to get this project for Cassie done.  Time to get on with many other things!

I'm jumpy this morning.  

It all started last week when I started to listen to an audio book when I was knitting during the day. That led to actual reading of actual books from my library.  Since Friday, I red one and a half very large heavy books and have knit only the wee smallest bit.

And that is where the jumpy comes from.  No knitting.  

I have three inches to go on Cassie's little variation on a theme tank top.

 I want to get this complete as fast as possible because my little girlie wants to wear it to school and there are only weeks left for this year.  I'm reusing this picture, because while it is longer now, it does look just the same.

So back to my unfinished audio book and knitting.  I have got to take the edge off before I drive myself batty.  I will save the big book till later in the day when my hands are done.
 

Irritation

For good or for bad, I am what the world calls an old woman, and with age and by quirk of personality or lack thereof, comes a certain sort of curmudgeonly boldness.  I should have used the name Curmudgeon online had not a very good imaginary friend of mine not come up with it first.

What this means in the grand scheme of things, is that I'm less likely to sit and accept certain things than I used to and that on occasion, I am darn tootin' going to say something about it.  Today is my day to say something about it. 

Makeup, Hair dye commercials:  The first things these products have always told us is that we are not good enough as we are.  Without saying a word, this is what is internalised by every single woman on the planet.  Even worse is that for those of us who no longer wear or cannot wear because of the nature of allergic reactions, we are branded as having given up (at my age) or not caring what we look like, simply because we are not wearing goo on our faces or in our hair?  So over those things. My one concession to beauty products is that I use a particular  trendy kind of hair shampoo and conditioner that have none of the chemicals I am allergic to, so that I can actually put a comb through my hair. I couldn't always do that.

Television advertising:  There is an ad on TV right now that pretty much says that the most important time we have is our vacation time.  Stupidest thing ever.  I'm sorry but vacation ought to be celebratory and the reward for working.  But most important?  I think not.  If you put more effort into your few vacation days than you do into your day to day life, you are going to be a desperately unhappy sort of person, who is always living for something else.  It would be like putting all your energy into the wedding without thinking about all the rest of the days with your partner, Bridezillas take note.  Right now, right this minute of your life is the most important time of your life. It doesn't matter what you do, or how you get there (well other than stepping on or hurting others to get where you're going), live fully in this moment before it is gone away.  Don't let anyone tell you different, not even me. If I am honest, I am not sure that I ever appreciated that so much as I do now.

Online shopping for car parts:  I need some brake work done on my car.  My mechanic son said just have other son pick some up at Napa and I will put them on for you.  Great thinks I.  Other son says mom, Napa has a great website buy them online and I will pick up.  So, trusting hm, I go looking.  yeah.  Ten thousand things, well  okay, actually only  fourteen, but I know nothing about car parts or the things required for repair.  If you know nothing and get the wrong stuff, you are kind of screwed.  Giving up. Calling said evil son who directed me to stinking website and shifting the burden to him.

In fact don't listen to me at all because seriously, these are irritations which are easy to talk of and to gripe about but not the things that drive me.  No.  The things that drive me are way weirder than that.

Enter spinning.  I have a thing about spinning and plying.  Plying is something I particularly fear.  I am no good at it so it builds in my head till it becomes a thing.  My spinning partner is helping me through this fear, first off by recognizing what I am doing but also by simply talking to me about her own troubles and pleasures with it. I value that more than I can say, which is odd, because I obviously have no difficulty talking about the miserable things (see above).

One of the things that I find painful about recent spinning is the lack of bobbins.  When I had my Julia as well as my Victoria wheel, I had six bobbins as well as three lace bobbins from my high speed set.  I was never out of bobbins.  I only have three active bobbins now unless I spin on the S51 where I have three more non transferrable bobbins.

Obviously I have to wind off the singles to storage bobbins now if I am not finishing a particular fibre project and that winding off, had issues.  I decided the large weaving bobbins from Leclerc would  work wonderfully to use for storage, and they do.  BUT and it is a big but, they are kind of a pain to wind on to. It is so much more trouble than when I could do it, wheel to wheel.  I find even winding on to my other cardboard tubes a pain.  I am not as even as I need to be on anything to get really good results for plying. Wonky bobbins added significantly to my plying troubles. 

And because I am now in my best curmudgeonly years, I am so over putting up with not having tools that allow me to advance my skills. 

I bought a bobbin winder,

a good one.  With power and  foot control, way more money than I planned to spend but the best, most use-able tool for my particular list of needs and wants and ways to use.  With a little bit of practise and a little bit of work, I mean to slay the demon plying fear, and become friends with evenly wound bobbins that roll cleanly and smoothly.  No more catching and jerking. Now I just need a really versatile kate that will fit all of my bobbins, wheels and weaving, plus give me a little tension while doing so. I intend to build that myself with a little bit of help from previously noted sons.    

In things that are astoundingly less irritating, I give you this.

Really the perfect solution to irritation of any sort. 

My first custom fitted wrist warmer from Cat Bordhi's Cat's Family of Fingerless Mitts, the Pure Garter Stitch Mitts from folio one.  I really enjoyed knitting this clever thing.  The adaptability of this design is quite simply, amazing.

Time to my day to doing rather than thinking about doing.  I need another cup of coffee, obviously (see top of blog)  before I gird my loins to deal with car repair websites and recalcitrant sons of recalcitrant mothers.

No Sidekick? EEEEEEP

My day so far.  Get up early, drive and get kids to school.  Wait for kids to come home after lunch.  Even the preschool is a full day today.  They are off to the zoo.  Free-ish.

I'm going to head out to do a few personal errands in a while but for now I am playing around with needles and string.

Last fall just before the winter job began, I downloaded a book from the ever clever and inventive Cat Bordhi for some fingerless mitts and cuffs.  There are 9 folios and dozens of patterns and since I seem to be wearing wristwarmers everyday, it seemed like the perfect something different.  

When I was going through boxes in prep for the garage sale, I pulled out a yarn that was the ideal thing for wristwarmers.  

This yarn came from a thrummed mitten kit that Brian bought for me many years ago.  I need grabbier mittens so I separated the fibre and yarn and then just left the whole thing.  Over the years I started mitts a few times, but just never got there.  

I started working on the first pair of mittens in Folio 1 almost a practise pair but I think perfect for the bright vibrant yarn. 

Not too far along yet but the only time I worked on them was during a car oil change, so not a lot of time invested yet.  The fun stuff is just about to happen now with a bunch of short rows for shaping.

I have been looking forward to these all winter partly for their utility and partly for the wild ride with Cat Bordhi. Wristwarmers. Great summer knitting.  

Instead of.

There are a ton of things I am working on while I avoid finishing a repair project that has been waiting a truly sad amount of time.

I've been knitting on Emmett's scarf.  

I've been knitting on this bright pretty little tank top for Cassie.

I knit and have almost finished weaving in the many, many ends on a striped Boxy for Cassie.  And I took socks along instead of a pretty skirt and dress that I really ought to be giving my time to.

But I did finish the socks.  Nice and short.  no need for worrying about instep because of it so it gives me a chance to use that really comfortable all encompassing heel.

I am finishing the dress today.  Far too long.  My little girl is so disappointed in Grandma and I hate that more than you can imagine.  I must resolve it and do better.  Not promise to do better.  I must do better.

The Sock Monster

Besides all the sweater knitting lately there are still socks.  That's what I have with me today.  Socks.

I'm  spending the day with a certain someone and these just happened to be in the bag I grabbed.  So these will be my work today.

Mighty fine work if I do say so.  Because these are nice and short and perfect for summer, I was compelled to knit an almost gussetless heel.

Early Morning

Every once in a while, I wake really early, like today.  4 a.m.  Sometimes, it feels like if I go back to bed, I am missing something .

The sky is perfectly blue this morning.  There are some low clouds hanging at the horizon and they are holding touches of pink and the most delicious peach from sunrise.  There is a crispness to the early morning air, but it isn't cold.  It just caresses your skin and asks softly that you put a light sweater on.   A choir of birds are singing their morning song before they go off to do their birdy tasks for the day. Far off, you can hear a lone strident seagull looking for the early tractor to follow in the fields. 

There are a few trucks out on the highway.  I can hear them in a far off sort way.  It is a kind of comforting sound, telling me I am not alone.  We are a quiet conspiracy of people awake to see this perfect morning.  

More often than not, seeing 4 a.m. on the clock, sends me back to bed but sometimes, I wake early and feel compelled to sit. If I go back to bed, I might be wasting the best part of the day.  Later in the day, the world gets noisy, and full of strife and stress as everything  and everyone goes about doing their days work,  even here in my quiet little town.  4 a.m. is a good reminder that there is so much more and that the world wakes up gently, that there is another way to be.

I'm going to sit here a while and just listen.   

Cuteness Overload

And there we pretty much are.  A really cute stylish sweater for my little girlie. 

I have folded the sleeves in right about where her shoulders will be, so you can see that there is plenty of positive ease and if I did the sleeves right, lots of room for growth and long wear. I only have the little bit of re-knitting on the bottom ribbing to do and that is already on the needles and well under way before this cute little Boxy is complete.

That gives me room to start the next little sweater,which she has been asking for, a replacement for her much loved bamboo top.  I did not find 100 % bamboo like her first one was, but I found a nice bamboo cotton which will go wonderfully well with the bamboo orange yellow and gold cotton that I used in her first little top. 

I'm going to do this one the fast and easy way, raglan and sleeveless with a simple stripe or possibly three stripes in the mixed colour yarn.  And I am going to put a single button keyhole opening on the back so that she can get it on and wear it longer.

I'm not sure how much knitting I am going to get in today.  If I start the second top, I will count that as a huge win.  I am going have a long nap instead to see if it will help fight off this lingering cold.  The week before my dad's birthday party, I drank ginger tea, took long naps and made sure to drink lots of liquids, and that seemed to  hold it off.  My throat was a bit sore but that was all.  After his party, I wasn't quite so careful, but I felt better and now the darn cold has settled into my chest.  Or at least to the back of my throat?  I don't know, but I am sneezing and coughing in a not very productive sort of way.  I am working on the water, I have run out of ginger, so the only thing left is to take a nap.  And maybe see if a cough syrup will work.  I really hate colds even when it isn't quite so dehumanising as usual.   



   

Boxy Day

Yesterday was a Boxy day.  Today is going to be another Boxy day.  There is just the upper back, sleeves and neck band to knit and I think it is looking mighty fine.

And it is all good, but for one small thing.  Remember how I worried about the white?  Yeah, that is going to be just fine.  Lots of that left, but I really did need to use as much of the white as possible to make the red go all the way.  I will be starting on the last ball of red shortly, and I do mean shortly.  I am about halfway up to the top on the back section at the moment, but I had hoped to be just the smallest bit farther along before breaking into that last ball of red.

I will only have half a ball of red to make the sleeves with and that might be just the smallest bit short.  I have a feeling that I may have to make more white stripes on the sleeves to get to the five and a half inches they need to be.  They are skinny little sleeves and they start at about the wearer's elbow but still.

I do have some places where I could 'harvest' red from, if need be.  Down at the bottom, I have the problem of a horribly flipping ribbing.  And I do mean horrible.

It is a mess and I am going to go back and fix it.  I have been thinking of adding two rows of white to the ribbing section which would gain me lots of red for the neck band.  That way, I could get as much length on the sleeves as possible.

All in all, though, what a nice pattern for a sweater.  I love knitting Joji's designs. Well written, stylish designs, great schematics, all the things that a knitter really wants from a knit.  And with just a little bit of luck, that Cassie will love to wear. 

Where does it go?

May is a big month for Birthdays here at Chez Needles.  First up is my wee one, Emmett.

He is one whole year old and is just the happiest little guy.  He is creeping around the house on the floor and is just learning how to get into stuff.  But he is easily distracted, and is too young to say no. It's a wonderful age.

And then, though we celebrated just a wee bit early so we could surprise him, my dad.  

90 years young and still keeps up well enough with the little kids.

and most of the big ones too!

Not quite all of the grandkids and great grandkids, but enough to make a happy, cheerfully noisy afternoon for a 90 year old. What a wonderful thing to be 90.  And the weather cooperated too.

From my side, only wee Emmett's family wasn't there.  My wee Emmett

is off doing the touristy thing with his brothers and his mom and dad.  They are in Disneyland, a trip they have been planning for months.  Emmett is getting ready for all the coastal sunshine and is looking mighty fine.

And then there is my oldest son, Anthony.  His birthday is the day before my Dad's but since he is celebrating last, I'm going to talk about it last.

Right about this very minute, 39 years ago, my eldest son was born.  Thirty nine years.   How the heck did 39 years go by?  It was hot that spring.  I had a very healthy tan by this time that year.

I have been thinking about how time has gone so fast that I could possibly be the mom of a guy that old, and I have to admit that I am a little bit floored by it. All those minutes, all those days, turned into little lives and children of his own.  Overwhelmed.  Verklempt beyond that.  Oddy verklempt.

Happy birthday to all three of you, beginning, middle and on the far side.

  Photography by Amy Renneberg, Glenda Young and Iryna Scott.  Thank you all for the great work.

Something Different

After all that knitting on one top and working so hard to get it done and then finally, not finishing it, my hands and my head, craved something different to knit.  

I pulled out some yarn for a top for Cassie, yarn that was in my use it or there won't be enough to knit anything for her category.  I have 4 balls of red Baby Bamboo or as sold in my balls, Flirt, and 2 ball of white.  It should be lots to use to make my sweet girl a top. 

And that is what I worked on this weekend.  I was playing around with intarsia in the round with it, doing a bit of colour play, but it was becoming very apparent that I would run out of white before the colour play made sense, so I ripped it back and opted for something much simpler.  And better for my limited white.

At the same time that I have limited resources in white, I have to use every inch of the white that I have so that I can make the top I am aiming for.   The goal is a Little Boxy, which is a lovely, simple garment wide through the body and narrow on the sleeves.  

My white stripes at the bottom are as wide as the red, and asI knit up the sweater, the stripes will get narrower.  For the top part of the sweater, I am going to keep with the narrow stripes. I think.  If it looks odd, I will try something else. So far, so fair though.  I lie the way it looks at the moment.  

It stripes.  It feels as if it knits up much quicker than plain knitting.  It's just a lovely and welcome illusion that comes from the magic of stripes and I know it, but I pretend that I am knitting fast. The feeling of accomplishment and getting it done fast and the change is yarns is so very good.  It feels wonderful going through my hands. 

Finishing out the week.

I did  lot of knitting this week and yesterday, it finally hit me, that I am not going to get this top finished for this weekend. I started a sleeve yesterday, and while that should be a sign that it will be complete asap, it isn't.

I could conceivably do it still, I suppose, but my hands are a little stressed and tired.  They need a rest least they end up in that bad place where I cannot knit at all.  That sleeve dimension is exactly the size where I hold my hands just a little more tense than I ought and where stress builds far to easily.  I want my hands to stay working more than I want the top finished.

I did give it a try on though and I think it will be just fine.  I might want to make it just a tiny bit longer, but gee whillickers, I hope not.  Those rounds are so very very long.  It is better to go back and knit more than to leave a thing unworn because you don't quite like it yet so we shall see.  I am keeping my mind open to the possibility.  

I have been working a bit on my lace.  I am more than 30 motifs now and it is really starting to show the size of this shawl.  It's long.  Really long.  Not going to need to worry about the size of this one at all.

With the break in intensive knitting, I'm thinking about swatching some brilliant yellow yarn I have, Patons Hempster. It claims to be a DK weight but I don't see it.  It is hemp and cotton, and it just doesn't look like it is going to be a yarn that blooms in any great way.  It looks like it will soften though.  I am very interested to see what will happen. There is some linen lace that needs swatching too.  Lighter knitting.  Easier on my hands.   

A Perfect Day

I did a lot of knitting yesterday.  A lot. 

Each morning I have been moving the second marker to track how much I have actually done in a day.  It sometimes keeps me engaged with a lng project when everything else fails.  You can see just how much in the very wide swath done yesterday in comparison with the day before.  Except in this instance, the photographic evidence is lying.

What you see here is the last major section of the sweter, a short row section done across the back half of the sweater.  All you can see is that back half of the sweater.  Maybe a sin of omission?  I did knit about half an inch before moving on to knit the short row section though, but it was still a good day of knitting.

The really great part of this is that with this short row stuff done, there are only a few rows around the whole garment before the edging commences.  So, I am getting very very close to my goal of completing this by the weeks end.

You know what the other cool part of this is?  I have just started the third skein of grey.  Very little of it will be used.  That means I have two balls of  grey, plus a generous portion of a third, as well as significant remainders of the white, the the light blue and the dark denim blue.  I am going to get at least one more top out of this lovely yarn, possibly two!  Depending on their construction of course.

It's going to be a grand day.

 

The rain

I was responsible yesterday but I also did a lot of knitting.

I have another inch to go which seems like not much but...

There are a lot of stitches on the needles here.  A lot.  Even though this is near the end it feels like the long middle.  I have to push it though.  I want to wear it to my dad's 90th birthday party.  So today is an all knit kind of day.  All knit all the time with a touch of coffee on the side.

And Done

The town wide garage sale is done for another year and I am so pleased that almost everything I had up for sale is gone.  There remains a small bit of yarn that needs to be tucked back into the stash and some decorative items that didn't go that are now destined for the Sally Ann or somewhere similar.  Someone will love them.  All the things that really were in the way here are gone and that is the best part of all.  My earnings were enough to cover the cost of a  bobbin winder that will be useful for weaving as well as for spinning.  Thank you so very much to the knitter's who lightened my stash and freed up some space!

This morning, I put on the good coffee and am now sipping quite contentedly.  I am trying to decide what to do this morning.  There is a list.

1. To clean up the corners that were disturbed while I was digging out all the sale stuff.  

2. To sew some summer tops

3. To knit some summer tops.

4. To work on my cabinet or miniature house.

5.  To weave.

6. To spin.

No need to guess what I would do first.  

Fooled you.  I m going to be all responsible and I am going to clean the corners.  You have no idea how much it irks me to say this, to be so adulty and all but yup this is what I am going to do.  

I have two things to find so I can get them to the lady who bought the quilt frame and my living room and spare room are torn apart so badly I cannot use them in the normal ways I use them.  The guest bed is covered with stuff that belongs in the closet and my livingroom is awash with bits and pieces of getting the sale together.  It is beyond even my tolerance for untidy.  

I am thinking a good mornings effort ought to put things right and then I can knit the rest of the day away quite happily.  There might even be pictures on a post tomorrow! 

I am going to be so very happy when this garage sale is done.  Even though I  am much better prepared than last time, I feel like I am forgetting something.  And I do not want to have to do this again just because I forgot something.  I find myself looking at everything I have wondering if I really need it, and that can be exhausting.   

But it will soon be a done thing.  Yaaaaay.

In the moments when I am not questioning myself about stuff, I find my mind wandering to lace. I think that happens every time I go through all my lovely lace yarn.  I dream of lace.  When I learned to spin, it was with the thought of handspun lace. My first knitting obsessed over knitting books were lace.   The only yarn that I did not first see as sweaters was lace yarns.  Well and sock yarn.  Though I did come to see certain lace yarns for sweaters, and I have lace sweater quantities in my lace weight yarn stash, the goal of lace weight yarns has been lace.  Even in the time before I knit, I dreamed of knitted lace.

That is something I really want to knit some more f this year.  My Icelandic lace shawl is certainly a start as will be the large Shetland lace weight shawl that follows, but I dream of more than these.  

I dream of  lace like the Forest Path Stole and the Icicles shawl.  I made one of those for Olga's mom, and always wanted one of my own.  And every single thing Boo Knits has ever designed. And oh so many more. There are dozens of lovely delicate lace things I want to knit and  few more resting in the books on my shelf.

So, even though this week has not been about knitting, it has never been far from my thoughts.  

This morning I woke with a craving for an egg salad sandwich.  It's been coming on for a while, this craving.  It usually gets resolved at Easter, but with me going to visit family in Saskatoon, and no one doing eggs there, I missed eggs and the usual spring feed of egg salad sandwiches.  They were delicious.

Today I have  a few errands to get done, and then I will be ready for the garage sale on Saturday, but that is the only thing I need to do.  I might be able to sneak in a bit of knitting!

I may yet get this top done.  

The other thing that is weirding my week is that I did pull back a bunch of yarn from the sale, but the vast majority of it is one brand of yarn. Knit Picks Palette.  There still is lots of yarn left for anyone to find.  I have a rather large stash of it that I originally bought to do colourwork.  I do like the yarn, but I don't knit a lot of mittens and hats or other small projects beyond socks, and this yarn isn't really a good sock yarn.  Not in my washer and dryer for socks house  anyway. So why pull it back?

Well, I mentioned that I am going to be working on my miniature house garden. That miniature house is going to need many shades of green and blues and pops of other colours.  In Palette, I already have that, and it just doesn't make much sense to get rid of it while I have such an imminent use for it.  Well, next winter anyway.  I would like to get the house done in the next year and I don't really see anything stopping that.  Well, other than the usual way life works.  The materials are more or less assembled, and I have sorted out some of the small issues like how do I get down that low (I don't.  I raise the house up) and what rooms will I have (I only have three floors plus a garden in a drawer).  But it is ready to go and I am ready to knit and make small weird things.  

Time to get moving on the day.