Apparently March is Also for Finishing

The last two weeks passed by in a fugue of coughing, going through mountains of tissues, and generally feeling as though all thoughts were being processed through a vat of cold oatmeal.  After five years of antisocial and hermit-like behavior, I finally got got and contracted baby's first Covid.

We had friends over for our semi-regular D&D session Friday before last, and then woke up Saturday morning coughing.  I think the final body count was seven friends and family taken out by this thing.  0/10 stars, do not recommend.

While I did still kind of work last week, I also had tons of enforced couch time, so I was shockingly productive - and not just because this is two weeks since my last update ... although I imagine that isn't hurting any either.

I missed finishing the Wasilla Poncho in February by just a few days, but done is done, and I'm playing by no one's rules but my own.  I ran out of yarn at a weird place in the pattern and briefly considered finding another skein of the Lion Brand Mandala so I could end at a better spot.  I really didn't want to do that though because using every bit of the yarn was entirely the point of choosing a top down project like this in the first place.  I set it aside and noodled on it a bit until I was hit by a brain wave.  I had a sudden vision of a yarn that I bought long enough ago that the store it came from has been closed more than 15 years.  In my mind's eye the color and texture would be perfect, AND (get this) I knew exactly where it was.

I'm pretty pleased with myself, truth being told.  My mind's eye knows what's up.

Heady with that success (and the over-abundance of phlegm I'd recently taken on board), I turned my attention to the Beach Walk blanket.  I finished up the remaining granny squares, got them joined, and have 2 out of 8 border rounds completed.   We're still on track to have it finished by the end of the month if I can stay consistent with it. I'll try to share an updated picture next week.

And if that wasn't enough, genties and ladlemen, let me please introduce you to Delores de Colores.  She is perfect and I love her.  For all that it took me ten months start to finish, this was a remarkably fast knit.  I probably only worked on it a handful of days all in and I couldn't be happier with the results.  Plus I used some old-growth stash up, so wins all around.

Did I need a stuffed rainbow chicken?  Don't be ridiculous, of course I did.

In addition to all of the above, I moved my Riptide vest along and got both the left and right front shoulders done and the neck shaping to the point where I've joined the two together into one front piece.   It's in an unwieldy and un-photographical state at the moment, but progress is assuredly happening.

And finally, you had to know that there would be a new sock. 

Next week's plans include more progress on all the things. I'm feeling highly motivated to keep knocking down the old WIP list.  I even pulled out my 2024 Hiberknitalong Shawl to see if I could figure out where I was with it.

The border is not nearly as annoying to knit as I remember.

More specifically, I plan to:

• add two more border rounds to the blanket
• add four more repeats to the shawl border
• turn the heel on the sock (bonus points if I can finish it)
• get Riptide to the point where I can join in the round

On the one hand, that feels ambitious.  On the other hand, that feels ambitious and I like it.

No, it is too much. Let me sum up.

April has just flown by.  Do you hear that WHOOSHING noise?  That was April.  Happily, I caught a lot of it on film (er, metaphorical film.  I use my cell phone.  But you know what I mean.)

So settle in and buckle up.  Here's a picture heavy, lightning tour of the month of April here at chez woolly.

Stitches South

Right after we last spoke, we loaded up the car with a swatch of knitters and headed up the road to Stitches South.  Since they moved Stitches to Nashville, it's only a 45 minute drive from my house. Atlanta would have been doable (though I never actually did it...) but Nashville is just right there, you know?

Anyway, we were Stitches bound, stopping mid-way between the Opryland Hotel and my place for breakfast and to collect our Jess.

A Swatch of Knitters

Assembled, fed, and caffeinated, we continued our journey.   While there we spent some money (some of us spent a lot of money...) and met up with some dear friends from out of town.

Some of these knitters live in the internet.

I bought some yarns...

Don't give me that look, my goals specifically mentioned Fiber Events as an exception.

...and the best wine glass.

That says "three sheeps to the wind"

Business Trip to Melbourne, FL

The next week saw us starting the process of cleaning for Seder, and the week after that was for a business trip.   I spent the better part of the week in Melbourne, Florida.  I was there to facilitate two leadership workshops on inclusion and empowerment.   

Among other reasons....

I may or may not have also walked on the beach, eaten excellent food, had some wine, and, oh yes, I did some knitting.

Something about knitting a Hitchhiker as travel knitting appeals to my sense of the absurd.

Passover 2016

And after that?  It was time for Seder.

 

Seder Prep Selfies

One of the best things about Seder is the day we spend preparing the meal.  This year the kids were more involved than ever and that just makes my heart sing.  Even little Phoebe got in on the act, with a butter knife and some apples.

That's Morgan, Iris, Phoebe, and Jess making the Charoset

Dinner was lovely, and the remodeled living room served to make things more comfortable rather than less (I'd had some concerns, but all was right in the end).  We fit 30 at table comfortably and with room to breathe.  Barely.  

There's another table out of frame to the right.

Since Seder I've been quietly working on finishing up some old projects, and getting some new things cast on.   I'll tell you more about that next week, as surely this has gone on long enough.

But that's April, more or less in a nutshell.

Oh!  And one more thing...

The iris started to bloom.

Three Socks Enter, One Sock Leaves

I'm fully recovered from Seder.  So recovered in fact, that I let Sunday blow right past me (the day I've been trying to post my "weekly update" posts) because I was busy-busy.

I've started Couch to 5K again, with Jess, and I'm doing Barre with Koren (mind you by "with" I mean, contemporaneously, not colocationally).  I've also been sewing more, and knitting and crocheting, oh! and going out to meet friends after work, and...

It's Spring, baby.  The weather (or maybe just the weather in my brain) has changed.

The First of Many

On the sewing front, I've made a project bag for an on-line friend.   She won it for the "Mod's Choice" project in our February is For Finishing Frowdown (Ravelry forum link).   While early April is considerably after the end of February, I'd like to point out that with my track record on these things, she's lucky I'm not listing it as a UFO next February.  I'm just sayin'.

It's about 13" wide, and probably about the same deep.  Lined with white muslin, and I used grosgrain ribbon to create drawstrings and a casing.  If you'd ever used an Erin Lane bag, this is essentially a cheap knockoff.   I hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Next up is a project bag for me, made out of one of my favorite old shirts.  The shirt is both way to big for me, and a little worse for wear.  I would be too sad to hand it over to Carl to use as a shop rag, so it will find new life as a project bag for me.  Or maybe two.  It really is a big shirt.

In knitting news, I've been fighting with two pairs of socks, and hopefully winning a battle with a third.  Remember the blue socks I flashed a pic of last post?  I ended up giving the other skein of that yarn to my good friend Bella.  I'd given her two for her 42nd birthday to make a Hitchhiker.  She wasn't going to have enough to make 42 teeth (and after all, that was the point), so I handed it over without a qualm.   Jess is probably going to end up with the 50g I have left, because she has tiny feet.

Then I cast on these:

They are Fork in the Road socks by Lara Neel.  And they don't fit.  I'm either going to rip them out (I'm actually farther than this pic implies) or see if it's just that I didn't knit the heel deep enough before I decreased or ... Erf.   I suspect I just didn't cast on enough stitches.  I used a 64 stitch cast on, and I think I would have done better with 68... if not 72.  Note to self:  If you aren't going to swatch new yarn, and no one says you have to... check the size earlier.

Carl's Big Dude Socks seem to be going okay at least.  ::knock wood::

Man Socks in the "Catfish" Stage of Development

I also worked on my Cosy Stripes and my Pink Hitchhiker since the last time I updated.  I'll share pictures of those next time.

And that's about all the news that's fit to print.  What are you getting done now that the weather is so much nicer?  Is it nicer where you are?  Discuss!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Chag sameach, and good Passover to those that observe and celebrate it.  It's a favorite time of year here at chez woolly.  The grass is green, the forsythia and red bud are in bloom, and it's time to shop for lamb and matzo.

I learned a new thing this year, as I was scouring the local food-sellers (seriously y'all, I've been to four different grocery stores in two days).  We always hold our Seder on the Saturday night that falls within Passover.   That works best for all the guests who have 9-to-5, Monday through Friday gigs (especially since dinner is always followed by more wine, music, and sometimes dancing.)

Anyway, for the last several years I have had the damnedest time finding matzo, and last year I ended up having to hit two different Publix grocery stores to get the lamb (yes, that is a lot of lamb.  I generally feed anywhere from 25-30 people.)   Anyway, this year the first Publix I hit has bales of matzo out in front and four different leg-o-lambs to choose from.   At first I thought it was a Passover miracle, but then I realized that I wasn't buying my groceries three days after everyone else has already been there and done that.    Note to self:  in years where Passover starts on a Wednesday, buy the lamb early.

Getting ready for Seder is a weeks long process at our house.   My house gets serious-deep-cleaned twice a year (don't judge): right before Seder and right before Thanksgiving.  Both major feasts, go figure.    We've been cleaning the carpets, going through cabinets, vacuuming those weird corners where you have to get out the wand attachment and most of the time you don't bother -- that kind of thing.   We've also gotten a new dryer and a new mattress and box springs in the last week or two.

Earlier this week I woke up and found Maurice taking in a sunbeam.  Dude knows how to relax when the time is right.   I decided to take a leaf out of his proverbial book and joined him in that sunbeam on Wednesday.  A bit of calm before the final storm.  (It went like this:  Last weekend: mad cleaning.  Monday and Tuesday: back at the office.  Wednesday:  curled up in a sunbeam with a stuffed hippopotamus.  Thursday: Every. Grocery. Store. In. The. World.  Today:  re-clean all the things that came unclean since last weekend.)

Passover is a time for rebirth and renewal.  It's a New Year's celebration where we celebrate what it means to be free.

When Carl and I got rid of our broken dryer (there are two things I need a dryer to do for me:  start, and dry clothes.  Ours quit reliably doing either one) and our funky old mattress, we weren't deliberately or intentionally engaging in some kind of life-as-ritual activity.  The stuff was broken or crap, or broken AND crap, and it was just time to replace it.

But there's a nice synergy to the timing anyway.   I am very grateful for the freedom to be able to rid myself of things that are no longer functional or beautiful in my life and to replace them with new (or "new to us") things that do work.   Our household has enjoyed some renewal and rebirth this week, and I'm loving it.

Last week my buddy Koren started trying to talk me into doing a Barre DVD that she recently acquired.  I think her long game is to get me to come to class with her, but she knows that I am allergic to leaving my house, and doubly allergic to leaving it in yoga pants.  Anyway, she suggested that she could bring the DVD over when she comes to help get ready for Seder.  

I started to hem, haw, and otherwise make noncommittal noises at her when she said, "Set your intentions for the New Year."

I got goosebumps and my eyes teared up.  I had this immediate, physical reaction.  My whole body said, "Yes.  This."

Dammit.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm as liable to ignore signs and symbols as the next guy, but that was pretty frickin' obvious.  "Alright, alright.  Bring it."

(I did the DVD yesterday.  It was fun.  Who am I?)

As a society, and culture we have a lot of energy and tradition wrapped up in the New Year's Resolution in January (and let's face it, there is nearly as much tradition in the idea of the failed resolution in February.)   It seems to me that January is a crappy time to try to motivate yourself to be healthier, exercise more, etc. etc.  It's dark, it's cold, and everything in your hind-brain is telling you to add a little extra padding here and there so you can live through the winter.   It's not until Spring that I, at least, really start to feel the energy of "a naye yor, a naye leben."

I'm going to play with this idea this year.  I haven't decided what my resolutions for rebirth and renewal are going to be yet (I think they are going to have something to do with decluttering...both my butt and my house.  I have a lot of excess weighing me down these days).   I'll let you know.

What are you doing to bring rebirth and renewal into your life this Spring?

Oh!  And I haven't forgotten that this is a knitting blog.  This is what I spent my sunbeam-day doing:

Trying out knitting a sock on a 9" circular needle.  My hands are confused, and a little annoyed, but I think that once they're used to how to hold the needles, it'll work just fine.  I am really digging the "go around in a circle forever" aspect of it.

One of These Things is Not Like the Others

Jess' particular brand of March Madness seems to be catching.  I've really tried to be "good"* and work on projects that I already have on the needles, but I'm booooooored with all of that nonsense.  That stuff is SO LAST FEBRUARY.

Last night I was casting about for something new (ha ha) to cast on.  I thought about the Color Affection shawl that Koren, Jess, and I have been planning, but we're not quite ready to launch that one yet.  So first I started trolling patterns (like you do) and then I started looking at Knit Picks (like you do), when I decided to get aholta (technical term) myself.

So I went to my Ravelry queue to check out what I already decided to knit, largely out of yarns and patterns that I've already decided to own.  Crazy, non?

So I've cast on Nurmilintu by Heidi Alander.   I'm far enough into it that Morgan looked it over and declared that it's "Just like Hitchhiker, but without the poky bits."  As far as it goes, she's right.  There's lace later, though, kid.  Hold on for it.  I'm using a skein of Rowan Fine Art in the Chiff Chaff colorway, acquired last summer from Little Knits in Seattle.  (I didn't go to Seattle, mind you, just the website).  Do not click the link if you are susceptible to yarn fumes.

One of these things is not like the others...

So this week I've been working on my Pink!Monkey socks, my Pink!Hitchhiker, and then last night I haul off and cast on grey and brown?  I don't even know about myself sometimes.  

I definitely can't blame it on the weather.  It's Spring for real here at chez Woolly. 

Evidence of Spring

To celebrate the vernal equinox, Carl and I burnt off a metric ass-ton of brush (including three Christmas trees.  Who has three Christmas trees in their back yard?  I ask you.)  We also did some weeding back there, rescued some daffodils, iris, and lilies, and started pressure washing our back deck.   We managed to get most of it from black to green...so that's like progress.  (I'm exaggerating.  Slightly.)   The inside of the house needs spring cleaning too, but it was so nice to just spend some time outside.

This picture doesn't have much to do with what I was talking about.
It just makes me happy.

So that's my week.  Pink!Pink!Grey!  It's like a chromatic version of Duck!Duck!Goose.  Don't ask me, I just work here.

*And okay, that is a rant for a different post.  Why is having a lot of projects on the go at the same time a bad thing anyway?  There's not a blessed thing wrong with me having half a hippopotamus in the closet for two years.  My lack of project monogamy isn't hurting anyone.  So there.

Pink is the Color of Spring

Spring is springing out all over the place here in Middle Tennessee.  It's in the upper 70s (still Fahrenheit) and last week's snow and ice is forgotten and forgiven.  Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.

It's so pretty outside I voluntarily did yard work yesterday.   I know.  I was shocked too.

On the knitting front, I finished up the thing I was being vague about last week.  I promise once it reaches it's intended recipient I'll read you in.  How boring is "I knit a thing, but it's a secret"?  This is why I'm an inherently selfish knitter.  It's so I can blog about what I'm knitting.  I do it for you, so you'll have something interesting to read about.  In fact, if you think about it, it really isn't selfish at all.  I'm a giver.

I do have a bit of knitting I can show you, though.  I've picked my Hitchhiker v3 back up (remember, I cast this on January 31st, so I could work on it during February if I wanted to?  Yeah, I picked it back up for the first time earlier this week.  Totally skewed my numbers for nothing.)

I've also gotten a bit further on my Monkey socks.  How is it that I've been knitting for as many years as I have -- have been knitting socks specifically, for as many years as I have, and this is my first Cookie A pattern?

I have no explanation for this, save that I default to vanilla socks since I tend to stuff them in my purse for on the go knitting.  I solved for that this time by printing the lace pattern and gluing it to an index card.  I'll just pop the card into my knitting bag with the sock, and Bob's yer uncle.

I seem to be in a bit of a pink phase at the moment.  I'm attributing it to the weather.  I'm so tired of grey and brown and neutrals, it's time for the pop of some brights.

The socks I was knitting for Bu (note the use of the past tense) were a bust.  I cast this wee little toddler sock on no less than four times before I came up with a stitch count/needle size combination that worked, only to realize that there just wasn't enough yarn left to make it work.  I cried uncle, and am frogging the little blighters.  It was a complete knitting fail.

My first shipment of the Miss Babs 2015 Knitting Tour came in on Friday.  I love the yarn, and am not crazy about the pattern that's meant to go with it.  (This is a far more favorable outcome than if I had hated the yarn and loved the pattern.  I'll take it.)

The destination was Sri Lanka, and the yarn is two skeins of Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply (the colors in the photo aren't really accurate -- it's much more of a lovely blue-green in person).   I've spent a fair amount of the weekend looking at two-color shawl patterns.  I'm considering Taygete by Romi Hill, but there are lots of great options on Ravelry.

And of course the spring weather has me itching to cast on a bunch of new things.  I may have a bout of startosis coming on.  I want to do a spring sweater, or the shawl I'm day-dreaming about with the Miss Babs yarn, or ....

A More Prepared Blogger

I decided to grab some pictures of my blooming iris before the thunderstorms and nickel-sized hail hit and mangled them all to hell and back.

(I should note that said thunderstorm and nickel sized hail never materialized. But would it have stormed and would ice the size of a small coin fallen out of the sky had I NOT taken these pictures? You bet your sweet Doppler it would have.)