No Chicken Here!

 So, yeah.  I'm 99.999% positive I'm jinxing myself but...  

I won't be playing yarn chicken with Felix.  I was a tiny bit worried when I got down to the waist ribbing on the body that I might not have enough yarn.  Actually, "worried" is probably too strong of a word for what I was feeling, but I was concerned enough to knit a sleeve before I knit the body's waistband.  I'd rather have a short waisted sweater than one who's arms are too short.  Having freakishly long monkey arms, I have spent my life with sleeves that were too short.  I will never, ever, no matter how bored I am with a project, intentionally knit the sleeves too short. 

Anyway, I put the body on a holder and knit a sleeve.  Well, almost a sleeve.  I have one more decrease row repeat and the cuff to go.  But the point is, I will have plenty of yarn.  Thank goodness, because my big ol' belly hanging out of my super cropped sweater would not be a good look.

And yes, I am knitting that sleeve on the world's worst plastic dpns.  Ugh! I really despise knitting on plastic needles.  Specially these.  I have no idea where they came from.  They've just been in my needle stockpile for as long as I can remember.  And they have a 10 cent price tag on their storage case/envelope/pouch... whatever you call that thing that dpns always come in.  These needles' only saving grace is that they are ten inches long which means I could practically knit an entire sweater body on them without concern of over crowded stitches.  I will never, but I could if I wanted.

Why am I going on and on about my hatred of that set of plastic needles??  Probably because I have a headache and am feeling grumpy.  I have the headache and feel grumpy from lack of sleep.  I didn't sleep last night because...  

Wait for it - I have THE best daughter in the world!  She gave me a set of Gilmore Girls DVDs for Christmas!  I'm SO freaking excited!  I just love Gilmore Girls!  I love Gilmore Girls possibly even more than I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I think we all know how I feel about that show!  Anyway, it was the best Christmas gift ever and I've been staying up late binge watching it every night.

And last night, after staying up an hour past bedtime so I could finish a season, I stayed up another hour to that I could finish reading If the creek don't rise by Leah Weiss.  (Okay grammar/editor geeks - should I have capitalized that title?  It's not capitalized on the book so I didn't but now I'm wondering...)

Anyway, it was an interesting read.  I can't quite bring myself to say I "liked" it because it was kinda awful.  Not awful in the way it was written or the way the story was told, but in the way Appalachian life can be pretty awful.  The story was full of abuse, both sexual and physical, extreme poverty and prejudices.  It was sad and pathetic but also truthful.  I'm glad I read it and it did have a bit of a happy, surprise ending.

If the creek don't rise also made me reconsider my charity knitting goals for 2021.  I may have to go find a charity group that donates specifically to Virginia's Appalachian folks instead of the groups I normally knit for this year.

So, what are you knitting?  Reading? Binge watching? And if you knit for charities, which ones?

Oh, by the way, I'm going to try something new.  Assuming I can remember to do it, I'm going to start listing available links to things mentioned or pictured in my posts at the end of each post YouTube style.  I frequently see things in other knitting blogs that I feel the need to rush out and buy/investigate and I thought you might feel the same.   

Links:

Felix Pullover pattern

Wool Ease Bulky weight yarn

Hero vintage plastic dpns

If the creek don't rise by Leah Weiss

Gilmore Girls complete set

Photo Friday

After finishing the denim faux cabled fingerless gloves the other day, I decided to be a responsible adult and pick up a project from the UFO pile instead of starting something new.

Although I love the colorway of these socks, I hadn't been enjoying knitting them when I tossed them into the UFO pile.  It dawned on me recently the reason I wasn't enjoying them was that the dpns I was using were too pointy.  Way too pointy! While knitting the purl stitches on the heel flap, I kept splitting stitches and ending up with more on the needle than I'd started with.  I'd gotten frustrated and tossed the sock into the UFO pile.

About the time I realized what had been bothering me, I also realized that I could use two circular needles instead of dpns.  I don't know why I've never knit socks this way before.  My goodness!  Knitting socks on two circular needles is SO much faster than knitting with dpns!  I'm sure that unless today is the day you learned to knit, you probably already knew this but.....  Oh my goodness!  This has been a life changing realization for me!

I'm so excited

I'm so excited & I just can't hide it....  Okay, so yes.  The Pointer Sisters' lyrics are stuck in my head.

Why am I so excited?  Because my most recent KnitPicks order arrived.  Of course I'm excited - new yarn!  But do you know what I'm even more excited about?  The freebie gift package they sent along with my order.

When I ordered, KnitPicks was offering a free knitting tools set with purchases of $25 or more.  Of course I took them up on their offer.  I didn't pay any attention to what was in the set, I just saw that it was a freebie & used the coupon code.

But when I opened the big giant box of yummy yarns they sent, imagine my surprise when I was more excited about one tiny thing in the freebie package than I was about the whole big box of yarn.

Can you guess which item it is that's making me do my Pointer Sisters imitation?

It's that tiny lace weight sized tapered sewing needle.

First, I LOVE my old tapered sewing needle.  I've had the same, one needle for 20+ years.  I guard it with my life.  I'm more protective of that needle than I am of my wallet.  But it's big.  A little thicker than the biggest needle in the KnitPicks freebie package.  I don't often knit with thick yarn.  I knit mostly with fingering weight yarns.  (Worsted or bulky weights tend to make my carpal tunnel scream.)  It's a major pain in the butt to sew fingering weight yarn seams or weave in loose ends with that big eyed needle.  The yarn is constantly falling out of the needle.  But that tiny little lace weight tapered needle....  That baby is going to see some action!

I'm so excited....