What I Was Going to Blog About

I meant to blog all last week about my progress towards my goals, and how I'm doing with my Make Nine Challenge, but I can't quite bring myself to care enough to talk about it.

green checks are completed and the orange star is on the needles

TL;DR, it's going very well, thank you for asking.  I seem to suddenly have as much time as ever for knitting, despite my new found love for Animal Crossing.

Today should have been the first day of my Passover PTO.  I try to take the Wed-Fri before our Seder off to get ready, and then the Mon-Tues after to recover.   But what with one thing and another, my plans have changed, and I'm only taking two days off.

I mean, everyone's plans have changed right?

For the first time in over twenty years, I won't be having Seder with my community.  Gathering 30+ people into my living room right now would be beyond irresponsible, so we're doing the smart and sensible thing, and eventually I'm going to have a good cry about it.

I haven't yet, but I can tell it's coming.  A dear friend linked me to a Darcy Lewis (MCU) Passover fic and just reading the summary was enough to get me to tear up.

"This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. All who are hungry should come and eat. All who are in need should come and make Pesach. Now we are here, next year out of quarantine!"

So here I sit at a cross roads.  I can decide to wallow and be angry and sad and to say the hell with it and eat bacon cheeseburgers on Saturday (okay, I lie, just typing that made me twitch a little).  But the point remains - I get to decide how to respond to this.  And yes, it's 100% valid to be upset.  My oldest daughter has her own household now, and we won't be sharing Seder together this year for the first time since our family began this tradition.   Some of the kids (I say "kids" ... they're all adults) that are part of my family-by-choice won't have this celebration to come to this year.  I won't see the wonderful friends and community members that I see so rarely.  And yeah.  All of that is true, and it's okay that I'm sad and angry and a little bit heart-broken.

a naye yor, a naye cast-on

But, Passover is a time of renewal.  It's a time of hope, and new beginnings.  At Passover we celebrate the fact that however hard things are right now, we know that it will not always be this way.  Tomorrow things will be better. 

I get to decide how I want to respond to this.

We will have a tiny family Seder here at the Burrow, with Carl, Morgan, and Rowan.  It will be lovely and intimate, and with only four of us ...  this year we can see what that line about "reclining" is all about.  Think of the bounty of space we'll have! 

And in this moment, let me share my extreme gratitude and love for my sweet husband.  He is driving this tiny family Seder, and making sure that it happens.

We'll have charoset, and home-made horseradish, and if we can't find lamb we have back-up brisket, and I have wine (oh yes, I have wine) and it's going to be lovely.

This year, a tiny Seder.  Next year, at the Burrow!  Now we are here, next year out of isolation!

All the FOs: I Was Made For Social Distancing

There's been quite a surge in finishing related activity here at chez woolly in the past few weeks.  Now that I'm a 100% remote employee, during the day if I'm not actively typing or writing something, odds are good there's knitting or crochet in my hands.   Need time to think?  Knit a round on a sock.  On a conference call?  Whip up another granny square for that blanket.

I finished my Exploration Station by Stephen West last Saturday, but it was several days before the light was right for pictures.  I took the first set of pictures while it was overcast, and it sucked the joy out of the outrageous colors I chose. 

I was glad to have the chance to try again a few days later when the sun finally made an appearance.  It was gloomy and grey here in Middle Tennessee for entirely too long.

This shawl is so far outside of my normal "1970s Kitchen Appliance" color palette that it's almost shocking.  I adore it - it was just the shot of cheer that I've needed this winter.

I used two skeins of Dream in Color Jilly, and two of Suburban Stitcher Single Sock.  The rest of the details (including specifics on colorways and how much I used of each skein) can be found here.

I've also recently finished my Litmus Cowl by Amy Edwards Green (Amyflorence of Stranded Dyeworks and Podcast fame).  

This picture was taken on one of those grey days I was talking about - while this cowl actually is more reserved in color than the Exploration Station, it's not as muted as it looks in this photo.

Look at that cute kid, y'all.

I'd originally been worried that I was going to run out of the contrast color, but it turned out perfectly.  I used every drop of the Canon Hand Dyes mini set, and 90 out of 100g of the White Birch skein I paired it with.  Each color was approximately 11 rounds, so I did 9 rounds of the contrast and that solved it.   My Ravelry project page is here.

After I finished the shawl, the only thing I had left other than four (?!) blankets was a pair of shorty socks.

That didn't last very long.

It's time to figure out what the next big thing is going to be. Another shawl?  I'm on quite a shawl kick right now. 

I'll think about it while I work on this sock.

The World's Gone Wild

This week I've developed a weird and intense love-hate relationship with Twitter.  The world's gone wild, and it's like watching the slowest, most ponderous trainwreck.  You can't look away, but nothing's happening. 

There's no toilet paper in the middle-Tennessee area; flour, sugar, and meat are in short supply, and pasta is a dim and distant memory.

But on the bright side, there was a sale on wine, so we're well stocked there.

I'm working from home now, as are many of my close friends.  Which is pretty cool in one respect -- they've specifically asked us not to turn on our web-cams or use video streaming, due to the load on our servers, so that means conference call knitting is happening.

How are things where you are?

February is for Finishing Review, or "How'd all that finishing go?"

We're a week into March, and I've yet to provide a round up of February's finishing shenanigans.  I came into the month with eight projects, and ended with six, so that's a net positive gain of finished projects, and the kind of forward movement we like to see here at chez woolly.

Last year, I pulled a bunch of nonsense and started with four projects, cast on three (oops), finished two, frogged, one, and rounded out the month with ... four projects.  What the hell, last-year Bekah.  What the hell.

Anyway, none of that malarkey took place this year.  I kept my nose clean and poured some solid energy and time into several of my projects - including a couple of the blankets. 

1. Hogwarts Studies Blanket.  I added one row (12 squares). It's now 12x15 squares, and when I hit 12x18 I'm going to think real seriously about stopping.

2.- 3. Weekender Blanket and Scrappy Granny.  I didn't touch these two at all in February.

4. the art of creating comfort.  I really busted a move on this one, doubling the number of finished squares.  I'm aiming for 90 squares and am sitting pretty on 35 (I still need one more of the light green ones to finish out that color.)

5. Divination OWL: a secret country (Exploration Station). On Feb 1, I was a few rows into the brioche section.  I didn't focus a lot of time on this shawl, but still moved it forward nicely.  The brioche and another section are done, and I'm into the last bit before the final border.  This needs to finished by March 31, or I don't get my invisible internet points or my OWL Mistress badge.  I want that badge, y'all.

6. mighty in battle (Hitchhiker).  Finished!  You can read all about it here.

7. to catch or ensnare by the foot socks.  Also finished!  *

8. bold branches bid farewell to rainbow leaves (Litmus Cowl).  I knit roughly half of this cowl in February (using rough maths, and positing about 10% complete coming into the month and figuring 60+% done now).  This cowl is a complete dream to knit -- the only complaint I have is that it's getting long enough now that I have to stop and untwist the whole thing.  It's like a sleeve on steroids.   Remind me how much I love this and how simple it all is when I'm kitchenering the whole business shut in a few weeks, will you?

So that's the wrap-up.  While I only finished two projects, I feel really good about the progress I've made - especially considering that the four not-blankets were all started in January.  I expect and intend that the cowl and shawl should be done by end of March, which means it's time to cast on more things.

Starting with some socks, I think.

* I didn't share pictures of the two finishes, since they both got full FO posts.  Click the links to see pictures!

The Intersection Between Magic, Politics, and Knitting FO: to catch or ensare by the foot socks

In the center of the Venn Diagram between magic, politics, and knitting lies these socks.

These are White Birch Fiber Arts self-striping sock yarn in the “Study In Peach Mint” colorway. (If you don’t natch right away, try saying it out loud.) I started knitting them in late January when certain political events were playing out in Washington because I’m angry and wanted to do something productive with that anger.

Let me backup a little. Let’s lay some groundwork and define some terms.

Let’s start with magic. I was taught, when I was a wee baby pagan, that magic is the “art of changing consciousness through will” (paraphrased from Dion Fortune). Another way to put that might be “you get more of what you pay attention to” if you want to take all the romance out of it. Here’s the underlying premise--humans are both incredibly powerful and incredibly limited. Our reality is largely defined by how we experience and interact with the world.

I’m not going to get into a debate about objective vs. subjective reality, not even to point out that from our limited perspective as meatsack-mecha pilots, the closest we can get to an objective understanding of reality is a communal agreement that what we’re all seeing (subjectively) is really the way it is. That’s perhaps a rant for another day.

In my practice, I approach magic through metaphor. I find meaning in symbols or stories, and use that to focus my will. A fine example of this (and a nice tie-in with the knitting piece of this equation) is the Knitting in Red shawl that I knit several years ago. The metaphor was that red thread has the power to help knit a life back together. The goal was to process through a period of deep depression. The shawl took me around four years where I spent more time ignoring it than knitting, but by the time I was done the shawl, the worst of the depression had also eased.

Yes, I understand that I was able to finish the shawl because I was less depressed. I also understand that exercising, regular sleep, and an overall reduction in daily stress were also all major contributing factors. That doesn’t mean that the shawl didn’t work -- it totally did. It allowed me a place to focus my will, time, and not inconsiderable talents towards the change that I wanted to see in my life.

My approach to magic tends toward the personal. I use magic, as I define it, to improve my life and well-being. My goals are to improve my health, both physical and mental, and to leave the world a better place than I found it. “Changing consciousness through will” works really well (or as well as it can when the will in question is stubborn and occasionally refuses to cooperate) when I’m only focusing on my own life.



So where does this connect to the political? Feminists and others of a certain age will remember the phrase “the personal is political.” This phrase rose out of Second-Wave feminism in the 1960s, challenging the prevailing idea that the “personal/private” sphere is apolitical and that the “public” sphere is the only place where political discourse belongs.

That sounds pretty great right? Government should stay the hell out of my home and my private life, right? Well, yes, except -- by depoliticizing the “private” women were in effect completely removed from politics and political discourse. (Coincidence? ...I very much think not.) Nevermind the very real consequences of having no societal conversation around things like domestic violence, which member of a household works, legal protection for divorce, etc.

“Therefore feminists argued that the personal is political from two distinct standpoints: politics should include women, who have historically been seen as private individuals; politics should include a wider range of issues, including those historically considered to be private” (source).

So let’s bring it back around - my primary magical focus has historically been personal. I am working to change the world by changing myself. I also hold it to be true that “the personal is political” (second-wave feminism was certainly not without its faults, and we’ve come a long way baby, as they say, but I think they were right about this one.)

Which means that when I use magic and metaphor to change myself, I am indeed impacting the world. When I knit a pair of socks with a snarky colorway name that encourages the removal of our current head of state because I’m absolutely livid at the cesspool that our country has become… well, what does that do, really?

What’s the actual, real world benefit of knitting angry political socks?

1. The socks are awfully damned pretty. They are also warm and comfortable. I have turned my disappointment and frustration into something positive and lovely, and that’s no small thing.
2. I have talked about what I’m knitting and why with friends, on social media etc. I used it as a vehicle for conversation.
3. It helped me to remember to vote in the primary. I had the project with me when I cast my ballot for Elizabeth Warren, but the line was so short I didn’t have time to knit them at the polling station. (No pictures either - they get squirrely when you try to take a picture inside the polls).

So as a result of this magical act I have transformed something hateful into something beautiful, and I’ve gone out into the world and acted in accordance with my beliefs. From my perspective, that makes these socks pretty strong magic, indeed.

Project Notes

Project Name: to catch or ensnare by the foot
Pattern: my standard vanilla sock, CO 68, FLK heel
Yarn: White Birch Fiber Arts 80/20 Merino/Nylon, in "Study In Peach Mint"
Total Yardage: 320 yards
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) 32" circulars, magic loop
Started: January 25, 2020
Completed: February 26, 2020
Ravelry Project Page: here

Popping in for a Quickie

I thought about skipping blogging this week, because I don't feel like I really have anything to say.  But that way lies madness and accidentally skipping three weeks in a row, followed by forgetting I have a blog at all for months at a time.

So I figured I'd just pop in for a quickie.  (TWSS).

After last weekend's flurry of activity on Hitchhiker, I'm back to working on all the things.  I'm nearly to the half-way point on my Litmus Cowl.

I'm loving how the colors are working up.  I'm hoping that blocking will fluff up the fibers and straighten out the stitches (no I didn't swatch, don't be ridiculous) because the knitting itself is looking a little wonky and anemic.  I live in hope.

On Friday I decided it was time to move the current sock WIP along, so I knit through about half of the foot and nearly finished the toe.

Then Saturday morning I finished it up and and cast on the second.  If I hustle, I may turn the heel tonight.

I've given Exploration Station just a little bit of love - maybe I'll get enough done on it this week that there will be something worth showing.

I'm also still plugging away on my granny square blanket.  I am closing in on having 30% of the squares done.

So there you have it.   Nothing terribly interesting to report - other than the fact that I haven't cast anything new on and am still making progress on my February is for Finishing goals.  I don't know if that's interesting so much as unexpected. 

Last year I hauled off and cast on three new things during February (one of which I finished during February, so there's that at least).  This year any of my mojo that isn't being channeled into my OWL or Mission (that's Exploration Station and the Litmus Cowl for those of you playing along at home) is going into those blankets or the sock.

With a week left in February I feel good about finishing the socks, and expect to have major progress to show on the shawl and cowl.  I should also be well and away closer to assembly on the granny blanket too. 

The socks might be the only other technical finish this month, but I'll be a lot closer on a lot of things, so it's still a victory of sorts.

That Takes the Edge Right Off or FO: mighty in battle

Well, I feel better.

After my bewilderment at my lack of progress on any of my knits on Friday, I decided to buckle down and make something happen this weekend.  My spreadsheet (remember the spreadsheet?) said I was around 70% done as of Friday mid-afternoon.

I knit while playing video games with Carl (he drives, I opine).  I knit while chatting with my friends and listening to music Friday night.  I knit last night curled up in my spot with an afghan, some bourbon, and the Yarn Harlot's back catalog (I'm up to 2008.)  I knit this morning while surfing Ravelry.

I started playing yarn chicken when I finished the 41st tooth.

This is the 6th time I've knit Hitchhiker - which in an of itself is something to stop an marvel over.  With the exception of my vanilla socks, I can't think of another pattern with this level of commitment to it that I've knit this many times.

But anyway, the whole shtick with this pattern is that it has 42 teeth.  That's the joke, the point of the name of the pattern.  It's a whole thing.   Never once, spanning seven years and over two thousand yards of yarn, did I hit 42 teeth.  Not even my 42nd birthday Hitchhiker, knit in the same dang yarn the designer used - that one crapped out at 41.

So, I was determined to get 42 this time, and by the time I hit the last tooth I was sweating. Maths and my spreadsheet indicated that it was going to be close.

One row and the bind off to go...

Fortitude provided by Nabisco(tm)

...and this was all that was left.

stitch-marker provided for scale

I made it by the skin of my (har har) teeth.  This is the most satisfying conclusion possible for a one-skein shawl project.  I used every drop of the yarn, and love the result.

Hooray!

(Now, what should I work on?)

Project Notes

Pattern:  mighty in battle

Yarn: Leading Men Fiber Arts Monologue, in "And Then There's Maude"

Total Yardage: 523 yards

Needles: US 7 (4.5mm) 24" circulars

Started: January 22, 2020

Completed: February 16, 2020

Ravelry Project Page: here

Mods: Added a row of eyelets on the bind-off row for each tooth.  Followed BO instructions, then YO, K2tog across the row, ending with a KFB.

An Absolute Slog of a Week

I don't know what it is about this week, but everything has been an absolute slog.  Right now my job is simultaneously boring and stressful.  The house is a bit of a mess, but I can't be arsed to care.  My knitting just keeps not finishing itself...sigh... it's just all ...meh.

One could make a compelling argument that the flooding (last Thursday), snow (last Friday), weird 60F temps (Sunday), and more flooding (Tues-Thurs) might have something to do with the current mood.   The other day I looked at my co-workers and with a big, dramatic sigh said, "Do you remember the sun?"   They all agreed that they did not.

February is rough, y'all.

Especially a February that doesn't seem to have any finishing in it.  What?  "No finishing?!" I hear you cry.  That's right my friends, I knit and I knit and I finish nothing.  Sysiphos got nothin' on me. 

I mean, except that I'm not knitting up hill. And arguably I like knitting.  And I can do a little crochet to take the edge off.  And as far as I can tell no one is actually coming along in the night and rolling my shawl back down the hill again...

Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic. 

It just seems like nothing is moving.  I expect socks to drip from my needles, like that one fairy tale princess who had jewels falling from her mouth every time she laughed (which, in retrospect, sounds both horrific and economy killing.  But I digress.) I just want my sock to be done, y'all.

And blankets?  Don't talk to me about blankets.  Who makes 4 blankets at the same time?  Who?  Nobody sane that's who.

I just wish I understood why I'm not finishing anything.

It's a mystery.

Wherein our knitter shocks no one and knits all the things

In my usual fashion I'm working on ALL THE THINGS this week, meaning that I'm seeing little to moderate progress on several different projects, rather than any kind of real progress on just one.

actual picture of me

Look, you knew I was like this.  And it's not like I hauled off and cast on a bunch of new stuff like I did last year.   (It's also not like I started the month with only four WIPs like I did last year either, but that's neither here nor there.)

Hitchhiker was the clear winner of my attention and affection this week, going from 22 teeth up to 30.  My spreadsheet (you knew I had a spreadsheet, right?) says I'm 52% done.  If I can average around 17-ish % a week, I'll meet my goal of finishing this in February.

Years of personal experience and a recent deep-dive into the Yarn Harlot's back catalogue are keeping me from declaring this "a piece of cake" or a "done deal".  Nor will I make references to lemons and the squeezing thereof, lest I call down the wrath of the Knitting Goddess.  She has no truck with hubris, and will smite a knitter faster than Icarus can yell, "Hey y'all, watch this!"   But I like my chances.

Also - this yarn is wild, y'all.   It's red in the cake, green knit up, brown outside, and grey in my office.  I mean, I know what you're going to say -- you're going to start in on me about natural versus artificial light and how that impacts photos.  And while you are right, I would like for you to explain to me why the colors are actually different IN PERSON WITH MY VERY OWN EYEBALLS.  Chameleon yarn, yo.

I've also made nice progress on my Study in Peach Mint socks.  (I should have cast them on earlier.  It's my fault, guys.)

Other projects that saw a little action include my Exploration Station, my "art of creating comfort" afghan and...

...check this out.  My Hogwarts Studies Notebook is back in action.  I have vague hopes of finishing this friend in 2020.  I figure my chances are improved if I work on it.  Crazy, no?

The Annual Airing of the WIP Basket: February is for Finishing 2020

It's that time of year again, folks.   Friends of the show will remember that February is for Finishing, and that every year we begin the month with the "annual airing of the WIP pile."

I've talked a bit here and there about why February is for Finishing as a tradition has evolved for me over the years (TL;DR - I just don't have as many WIPs as I used to), but I definitely think that the practice of giving everything currently in progress a good, strong eye-balling at least annually is a good idea.

So without further ado, here is my 2020 list of Works in Progress, in order from oldest to newest.  (Links go to the relevant Ravelry project page).

1.  Hogwarts Studies Notebook, cast on May 16, 2016.  This is Schrodinger's blanket.  It is and is not a WIP, depending on whether or not I am currently in the process of adding a square.   I started this blanket not long after I started playing in the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup, and every square has been turned in for points in the game. I have this running gag where I refer to each square as a page in my notebook, and that's where I keep all my homework.  This is one of those things where I think I'm clever and the rest of you just sort of tune out and nod at me and hope I'll stop talking.  It's okay, I get it.

I made a ton of progress on this in 2019.  I'm going to push hard to finish it this year.  I've added three more squares since this photo was taken, but this is close enough to where I am.  It's sitting pretty at 12x14 squares, and I'm targeting 12x18.  The end is in sight!

2. Weekender Blanket, started May 20, 2018.   This is a modular, JAYG hexagon blanket, crocheted with Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn.  I'm using the "Cottage Pack" from Lucy of Attic 24 (purchased through Wool Warehouse).  I've made significant progress on this one too, adding 4.5 rows since last year.

3. Scrappy Granny, started April 1, 2019.  Because one fingering weight blanket wasn't enough?  But you see, what had happened was... I had little bits leftover from adding squares to the Hogwarts Studies blanket, and I am only using a yarn one time in that one, and then Amy Florence from the Stranded podcast, and Caroline from the Dunderknit podcast were both crocheting one and then... It was peer pressure, okay?!  It was FOMO, pure and simple.  Also at work was a desire not to drown in small bits of fingering weight wool.

4. the art of creating comfort, started November 3, 2019.   Okay, I have no explanation for this.  No, I don't know why I have four different blankets in progress right now.  The heart wants what the heart wants, alright?   This one's also Stylecraft Special DK (this time in the "Woodland Pack" from Lucy at Attic24, via Wool Warehouse).   I'm doing 6, 8-round granny squares from each of 15 colors, and then I'm going to join the whole thing up with a gray border.  It's going to be big enough to put on my queen sized bed, and I'm stoked about it.   So far I have 17.5/90 squares done.

As an aside, you'll be pleased to note that there aren't any more blankets after this.  (I mean, I have more blankets planned, don't get it twisted, but let's finish a couple of these first, eh?)   As a second aside, the res of the projects I'll mention were cast on in 2020, so they're all brand, shiny-new.

5. Divination OWL: a secret county (Exploration Station), cast on January 2, 2020.  Would you believe I've never knit a Stephen West pattern before this one?  Where the heck have I been all this time?  I'm knitting this for my OWL in the House Cup.  This is my 12th OWL, and if I complete it on or before March 31, I will have earned the title of OWL Mistress.  Not gonna lie, I'm pretty stoked.  I'm knitting this out of Merino singles from Dream in Color and Suburban Stitcher.  This is a bit outside of my normal palette, but I love it fiercely.  Also, brioche is pretty fun. 

6. mighty in battle (Hitchhiker), cast on January 22, 2020.  So this is my sixth Hitchhiker shawl -- I knit my first one in 2013, and my most recent one in 2016.  But this is the first time I've done one with eyelets in, so there's that.  The yarn is Leading Men Fiber Arts in their Monologue base. The colorway is "And Then There's Maude."  Maude is my middle name, and those are my colors, so I was on that yarn like a duck on a june bug.  I'm farther along that this picture implies (around 22 teeth), but the picture I took today doesn't do the color any kind of justice.

7. catching or ensnaring by the foot, cast on January 25, 2020.   Did you know that the word "impeachment" is related etymologically to the word "impediment" and connotes catching someone or something "by the foot"?   Well now that's a thing you know.   Yarn is Whitebirch Fiber Arts "Study In Peach Mint."  Pattern is my standard CO 68, 1x1 rib, FLK heel.  This is the first sock of the pair.

8. bold branches bid farewell to rainbow leaves (Litmus Cowl), cast on January 26, 2020.  This will be a simple tubular cowl, knit in the round and grafted together to form a loop.  I think I'm going to run out of my contrast yarn, but that's a problem for future Bekah.  I'm using the "Autumn Rainbow" mini set from Canon Hand Dyes along with a neutral solid from Whitebirch Fiber Arts.

So that's it. 8 projects, 4 of which are blankets (?!) and 4 of which were cast on within the last month.  Unlike last February, I'm not planning to go rogue and cast on a bunch of stuff.  I plan to stay focused and to work solidly on my 4 new projects, while also getting some progress on one or more of those blankets. 

We'll see how we go!

Trouble Was His Middle Name, FO: to ride the silver seas

Homer's Odyssey, as I'm sure you know, recounts the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and the ten years it took him to make it home after the Trojan War.

Now there was a man who would not stop to ask for directions.

While he was off galivanting with sea nymphs and taunting the odd one-eyed giant, his wife Penelope was at home beating back the advances of 108 young men who all thought they should be the next king of Ithaca, and they'd all like to grace her sheets while they were about it.  While circumstances rather forced her hand when it came to entertaining gentlemen callers, she was adamant that "no other man's boxers will go in my washing machine," and she rebuffed all advances.

Penelope was the true hero of the Odyssey.   Odysseus, who's name actually means "trouble" in Greek, my gods what a trainwreck of a man, is widely considered to be one of the cleverest of the ancient heroes.  And other than the wee-est spot of hubris - which was basically a pre-requisite for the heroing gig back in the day - he's a pretty stand-up guy.

But he's got nothing on his wife.  Friends, she had over one hundred frat boys drinking her ouzo and eating her olives, literally devouring the wealth of a country that she'd been ruling for twenty years, and she plays them.  Plays them one and all for fools and stalls them for three years while she waits for her dumb husband to get home.   

"Let me weave this shroud for Laertes," she said.  (She was a big Hamlet fan, loved Shakespeare.)

Unweaves a night's work.

"Oh, still not done!  Loads to do!" she said the next morning.

"Seems legit," the suitors all agreed, going back to the ouzo.

Suitors.  Am I right?

 Dorothy Parker, a delightful human being, author, and poet wrote this about Penelope:

Penelope

In the pathway of the sun, 
In the footsteps of the breeze, 
Where the world and sky are one, 
He shall ride the silver seas, 
He shall cut the glittering wave. 
I shall sit at home, and rock; 
Rise, to heed a neighbor’s knock; 
Brew my tea, and snip my thread; 
Bleach the linen for my bed. 
They will call him brave.

It calls into question what we define as heroism.  Is it more brave to go out into the world, to "ride the silver seas," or to stay and to wait.  To make a home, to get up day after day and do the things that must be done.  To honor politics, custom, and civility and to "heed a neighbor's knock" when you'd rather do nothing more than stay in bed and mourn the loss of the one you loved more than life?

Is it bitterness, grief, pride, or simply weariness we hear in Penelope's voice when she says, "They will call him brave"?

So anyway, this shawl I knit is called Odyssey, but I knit it for Penelope, mostly, and only a little bit for her dumb husband.

Project Notes

Project Name: to ride the silver seas

Pattern:  Odyssey by Joji Locatelli

Yarn:  DK Still by Deep Dyed Yarns in Whisp (dk grey), One Shot (olive), and Smoke (lt grey)

Total Yardage: 558 yards

Needles:  US 9 (5.5 mm)

Started: January 1, 2020

Completed: January 20, 2020

Ravelry Project Page: here

A Cozy Nest

Do you have a knitting nest?  In my house we just call it "my spot" - as in no one sits in mom's spot, lest they get The Look and summarily booted.  

It's me.  I am the mess in my living room.

You can tell it's my spot by the way it's completely surrounded by tools, projects, yarn, and the detritus of making.   I took a couple of candid photos this morning so I could share what my spot looks like in it's natural state.

Note first the projects on the couch.  If I were a better person I would put my toys away when I was done playing with them, but when I went to bed last night I knew I'd be back and working on them again today, so enh.  Why bother?

That's my current sock, the Odyssey Shawl, and Exploration Station all in a pile.

To my left is the side table that I've utterly taken over.  There's a blue cube tucked into the table that holds spare needles, bits and bobs of yarn, the odd notion, and whatever else I shove in there when I'm trying to clean up in a hurry.  Don't lie, you do it too.

Note the emergency chocolate.  It's been a week.

On the table itself is a big wooden bowl full of minis from Row One and advent calendars.  They go into various blankets, gnomes, earbud cozies and the like, but mostly they just live there because I think they're pretty and they make me happy.

Also, I told you I didn't clean up before I took these pictures.

Also pictured are my Captain America coaster, blocks from one of my blankets, a notions tin, kleenex, because I'm not a barbarian, a yarn bowl, the charger for my fitbit, and a little plate I keep extra darning needles and stitch markers on.

The plate belonged to my dad - it's from Copenhagen, and I believe that his parents brought it back from a trip?  That part of the family lore is lost now, so I might be making that up.  Our family is from Denmark originally (at least that side of the family) so it's really special to me.  I kept it hidden away for years, because I was afraid it would get broken.   Now that the kids are mostly breaking their own stuff instead of mine, I decided that the best way to honor this family treasure is to use it and have it where I can enjoy it every day.

And present pictures not withstanding, it does help keep the table a little tidier.

What's around your knitting nest?  Do you have a "spot" or are you nomadic with your making?