Addictive

Have you seen Sarah Jordan's  I'm Still Stranding cowl pattern?  Be careful if you purchase the it.  It's addictive.! I planned to simply get the cast on stitches on the needle then go to bed but all of a sudden....

I'm absolutely in love with the pattern!  I'm already thinking about using the charted design with worsted weight to make regular, long scarves.  Or a sweater body.  Or just use it as written and make 1,000 more color combinations.  The charted pattern is so simple yet the color changes keep you engaged.  I can only imagine how much fun it would be if I was using self striping yarn for my constrasting color like the pattern recommended.  Anyway, if you haven't seen the pattern, go take a look, but be warned.  It is addictive!

I was worried when I started winding the yarn for my I'm Still Stranding.  It started off looking perfect on the swift then suddenly.... It got bad.  Really, really bad.  I ended up having to cut the yarn a few times.  I have no idea how it was so tangled in the skein.  Oh well.  I got it caked eventually.

While I had the swift and ball winder out, I went ahead and caked a few more skeins.  The extras are intended for the Insanity blanket which has basically been put away for the summer.  It's just too hot to knit on it right now.  Although.... I've been too lazy to put the giant tub of scrap yarn away so it just sits beside my desk and acts as an extra table.  I have pulled the blanket out of it a few times and knit on it when I wasn't feeling the love from whatever project I was currently working on.  It will probably remain beside my desk for the rest of the summer so it may see a little more action despite the heat.

Okay, this one is more so I have a record of my progress than for your entertainment but....  Have I mentioned my DAV project?  I promised to deliver 75 knit hats to the DAV (Disabled American Veterans) by early November.  What was I thinking??  Currently, I have 41 knit, 34 more to go. As long as I keep up the pace, it should be doable.  I haven't paused the knitting long enough to take photos but soon....

Happy Knitting!

Is it Fall yet?

We just got water in the pool last weekend and I'm already ready for fall.  It's just way too hot. 98 degrees today and tomorrow.  Ugh!

I don't have much to talk about other than complaining about the weather.  I've finished 35 out of the 75 promised hats for the DAV.  Well, the knitting part is finished.  They all still have long pieces of yarn hanging off them in case I want to attach pom poms.  I'm not going to make/order the pom poms until I know I have the hats done. 

I finished that one yesterday.  That hat was actually hand knit, not made with the Sentro.  I used Lion Brand's Fisherman's Wool which I love.  I had to order it from Lion Brand's website because none of the big-box yarn stores around here carry it anymore.  Makes me very sad.  I also don't know why I didn't order a whole lot more of it when it was on sale.  I only got a few skeins in various colors.  I should have bought sweater quantities in all the colors, plus more for hats and gloves.  Oh well.  I probably would have had to buy a new house store it all in anyway.

I finally got to my LYS the other day and of course I bought a bunch of stuff. I hadn't visited the store in a very long time, probably close to a year!  Shameful!  Anyway... a friend, Martha from Dyeing For Art, was having a trunk show so of course I bought a skein of her  yarn.  It doesn't look that special in the photo, but it's a beautiful pale gray tonal with silver sparkle added in.  I plan to use it with that purple Malabrigo to knit Sarah Jordan's I'm Still Stranding.  The pattern suggests self striping yarn for the constrasting color but I love that gray and purple together and while the purple is tonal, I think it has enough variance in its shading to make it work.  Finger's crossed.

Other than the fact that I've had that song stuck in my head ever since I bought the pattern a few days ago, the pattern looks to be excellent.  A fun, easy yet not mindless, project.  Based on all the color combinations I came up with while searching the stash for a skein to use with the silver sparkle, I may be knitting this cowl/scarf about 50 times.  

Oh, it just dawned on me.... In my last post, I was talking about starting the second Christmas sock.  I finished it a few days later.  How does it take 4 1/2 years to knit the first sock and 3 days to knit the second?  And it's always like that for me!  I'd say I drag my feet on the first one because I know I have to knit a second one exactly like it, but I don't have that problem with mittens so....  Who knows.  Just one of life's little mysteries.

Happy Knitting!

Is it Christmas yet?

Is it Christmas yet?  And exactly how lazy am I?

Christmas socks, West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply wool

Apparently, I'm so lazy, I'm okay with photoing these socks on my unmade bed.  Hey - it's laundry day and the sheets and quilt are out hanging on the clothesline.  I'm so lazy, I didn't even bother moving the stack of books and papers I've been shuffling from my desk to my bed in the morning and back to my desk at night  for, well, for weeks now.  Good grief!

But the exciting part of that photo ...  I finished the first Christmas sock!  What is it about socks?  It takes me FOREVER to knit the first one, then the second one practically knits itself.  I started these socks in November of 2019 and just finished the first one 48, no, actually about 56 hours ago.  As soon as I finished the first, I started the second and am already working on the heel gusset! 

And during those 56 hours, I've done a lot of other stuff too!  I've made three hats on the Sentro machine, I knit a chicken, I've cleaned the house, done many, many loads of laundry, meal planned, gone grocery shopping, cooked, eaten and cleaned up afer a few meals and I've even gotten some yard work done.

Can you tell I'm enjoying retirement?  I really am.  It is so incredibly nice to feel like I have time to clean the house and do the yardwork and all the other adulty/housewifey stuff, and,that time spent doing those things is not taking away precious crafting time.  I actually feel like I have time to do everything I want to.  It's awesome!

I've even sarted an exercise program, if you can call it that.  I'm making sure I go for a walk every single day.  Even when it's 1,000 degrees outside and I don't want to go for a walk, I make myself go.  And, I bought myself a weighted hula hoop.  No affiliate and that's not even the one I bought.  The one I got doesn't even seem  to be listed anymore.  If I get the nerve up, I'll video myself trying to use it.  It is HILARIOUS!  I have not been able to hula hoop since I was about 8 years old, I'm ridiculously uncoordinated, and now as an overweight 62 year old....  It's pretty damned funny!  I think I probably burn more calories laughing at my patheticness than I do from hula hooping but at least I'm having fun.  I do feel sorry for the poor Amazon guy who showed up while I was on the porch trying to hula hoop though.  I think he may be scared for life.  

And now, I'm going to wind this up and go finish that sock so I can get busy working on craft fair items.  I've applied for quite a few fairs, mostly in the fall.  I'm not sure I'll be accepted to any of them though since I had pretty much abandoned my knitting business and social media for the past few years.  If you look me up online, things aren't looking too impressive.   Thankfully, retirement has given me the time and motivation to get it going again.  Wish me luck.

Happy knitting!