Fall Fever

I'm suffering from a serious case of fall fever.

While unpacking my booth setup stuff after the county fair last weekend, I set the cup of fake leaves down in a random corner of the room for a lack of a better place to store them.  They looked so lonely, I added a pumpkin.  And now I officially have fall fever.  I want candy corn, bonfires, jeans, boots, flannel shirts, and did I mention, candy corn?  I love candy corn.

The fair was a success, despite it incredibly hot and humid.  From my booth alone, I saw three different people get loaded into ambulances, presumably from heat related issues.  It was hot!  Naturally, no one was in the mood to buy wool hats but I did sell tons of pumpkins.  Despite the heat, it was a successful day.  My booth neighbor, Winnie from Sweet Threads, was a lifesaver.  There wasn't room in my booth for the fan I'd brought but Winnie had a spare and aimed it at me for the entire event.  Thank you Winnie!

I've been pretty lazy since getting home from the fair.

All I've managed to accomplish craft-wise is to bind off a scrap shawl I was knitting and I started a granny rectangle blanket.

I'm loving the granny rectangle, although I can't crochet for more than about 30 minutes a day or my hand feels like it's going to fall off. Crochet bothers my carpal tunnel.  Anyway....  

I've never crocheted an official granny rectangle before.  I've always just made two (or more) squares, sewn them together then granny stitched around them to create a rectangle.  This time, I watched a you tube video to learn how to do it correctly and I love the results.  I'm already afraid I'm going to run out of yarn though.  I may have grossly miscalculated how much I'd need.  The blanket may end up being a weirdly large table runner.  We'll see.

As for the scarf, it's another simple scrap Palette garter stitched scarf.  Every row is a different color and I leave a little extra yarn hanging off the ends to become fringe.  Super simple to knit and a great way to use up little bits of mis-matched left over yarns.  I've made a zillion of them and will most likely make a zillion more.

And that has pretty much been my week.  I hope your week has been as relaxing and frivolous as mine has been.

Happy knitting!

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!

This week's knitting

Thank you all for the prayers and warm thoughts for my mother-in-law.  She passed quietly in her sleep, which is about the best way things could have gone.  She is at peace now and that's all we can ask for.

I haven't been able to get as much knitting done this week as I'd hoped.  I am, however, on the very last section of the mohair and wool scarf.

Pardon the poorly lit photo.  It's raining outside so it's dark and gloomy inside.  I think this scarf is going to be awesome when it's finished.  And it may be finished tonight!  Maybe.

I've also been beading socks.  These are for Easter.  I just love how the beads are pastel colored but also bright.

And since I've been asking for prayers lately, let me ask one more time.  How about we all pray for the troops in Ukraine.  I know the families of several service men and women who have been sent over and the news is looking a little scary.

In the infamous words of Elizabeth Zimmerman, "Knit on with confidence and hope through all crises."

Mohair and Wool

This is going to be a short one today.  There's a lot going on around here and my time is short.  But, I wanted to show you...

The photo doesn't do it justice.  It's a scarf with uneven stripes of mohair and wool.

I was searching Ravelry for something entirely different but a similar-to-this scarf popped up and it gave me the idea.  

I've been wanting to combine these two yarns forever.  I even tried knitting them held together earlier in the week.... But they looked horrible held together.  The Iceburg Aloft muddied up the Cascade 220 Wave yarn.  I was so disappointed because I've been thinking about this combo for over a year.

But then I stumbled across the Ravelry pattern, took a look at the photos and now I'm making my own version.  Hope that's considered getting inspiration, not stealing.   It's just too simple to pay for the pattern though.  I simply cast on some stitches and started knitting.  Knitting uneven stripes of mohair and the wool.  And I'm thrilled with the results.

I'm also thrilled because over the past week, I have taken my email from almost 800 pending emails down to 41.  And I'm actually reading them, not just deleting them automatically.  Well, I am deleting the "this offer is good for today only" type emails without reading them.  And of course the obvious spammy ones.  But otherwise, I'm reading them.  So, if you happen to notice and wonder why I replied to 30 of your past blog posts on one day... Well, now you know why.  I'm also getting lots of scarf knitting done while I read the emails.

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's last weekend.  Hayden painted Valentines.  And herself.  

And last but definitely not least, please say a prayer for peace for my mother-in-law.  The Alzheimer's is winning.

Olympic Knitting

It's been a busy Olympic knitting week.  And that's weird for me.  I've never been a big Olympics watcher.  I like to watch the ice skating in winter and swimming in summer, and that's about it.  But this year.... This year I have become obsessed OBSESSED.  I have no idea why but the TV is on 20+ hours out of 24 and I get extremely upset and frustrated when they are running reruns.  

And I have to say, I just don't get curling.  Okay, it's sort of like bowling on ice but when I first started watching, it was male/female teams and all I could see was the woman throwing a giant rock on the floor then screaming at the man to Swiffer harder and faster.  And once that image was in my head.... But other than that, I am really enjoying watching the games and I'm getting lots of knitting done.

I finished knitting the "walking hat."  I may have to rename it the Sitting On My Butt, Watching The Olympics hat, but that just doesn't have the same ring to it.  The hat needs a pompom and I think it needs to be either black or white, neither of which I have at the moment.  I'm counting this as a finished project anyway.

Valentine's is right around the corner and I need a gift for Hayden.... but gift shopping would mean turning off the Games for an afternoon so....  I remembered I had this pink sparkley yarn in my stash and decided to knit her a hat.  She likes to wear hats.  Hates having her hair "done" but loves hats.  Anyway.... 

Sadly, I got cocky and "knew" my gauge with this yarn (Yarn I've never even knit with before.  Sheesh!) and didn't test it out.  I simply cast on.  And well, it turns out I cast on two inches too many stitches.  Dammit!  

Will I ever learn gauge matters???

I knew it was going to be too big and considered ripping it and starting over but I kept knitting and telling myself that it just looked big because the brim was rolling before I hemmed it and hemmed hats never stretch as much as ribbed hats so it would be fine.... Then it just seemed to big because it took forever to pick up all those stitches to do the hemming..... And well, I'm now knitting an adult sized hat for the shop and Hayden will probably end up getting a pan of brownies for Valentine's instead of a hat.

And last but not least, I'm almost ready to bind off the Palette scarf.  I can't believe how fast this has knit up.  I've made a bunch of these in the past and it normally takes me forever.  As in, sometimes multiple months worth of forever.  Probably because I get bored, but this time I've had the Olympics to help with the boredom of all that garter stitching.

This bad boy, if I measured correctly, is 67 inches long.  It's hard to measure when scrunched up on circular needles plus my tape measure only goes to 40 inches for some odd reason.  Anyway, it's long.  And in two more rows it will measure 8 inches wide.  I'm struggling with making it 12 inches vs binding off and starting another.  Your thoughts are welcome on that.

The scarf  has 58 different shades of Palette in it.  Granted, a few of those are the same color, but different dyelots that are noticably different if you look closely and under good lighting.  As for a color pattern, I knit two rows from the brown pile and one row from the 'colors' pile.  I'm on my third roation through the browns and am just two skeins into the second repeat of the colors.

And while I have a zillion other knitting projects on the to-do list, some of which are slightly important and have deadlines, all I can think about (besides the Olympics) is casting on another Palette scarf using whites, creams and pale blues and grays.

I need help!

On the Needles

It's been a busy week!  Mainly, I've been focusing on getting my shop restocked, but there has been a little knitting happening too.

Remember the Bamboo Bloom yarn I got a while back?

I quickly knit it.

I love the way it turned out.  The yarn is incredibly soft and it was fun to knit.  The design is so simple - knit the thin bits and purl the thick.  For something so simple, I had an incredibly difficult time with it in the beginning.  For the life of me, I couldn't remember to switch from knitting to purling and then back to knitting again.  All in all, after all the tinking, I probably knit the scarf six times.  But other than my lack of attention/muscle memory issues, it really was an easy, fun, simple and quick project.

Remember the Winterfest sweater?  Oops! I don't have a recent photo. And I won't have one for a while because I've put the unfinished sweater away.  It's a good thing though.  I finished all the stripes from the yarn the kids picked out and now I'm ready to finish the sweater with a solid color.  A solid color that I don't have.  But I will have it soon.  Well, in March.  I do a quarterly bulk yarn purchase and March will be my next bulk order.  Luckily I have plenty of other projects to tide me over.

I'm slowly making progress on the Walking hat.  I need to rename it because I'm no longer walking while I knit it.  It's just been too cold to walk without gloves and for the life of me, I can't knit properly with gloves on.  Okay, let me re-phrase that.  I can knit with gloves on, but my gauge looks like an uncoordinated toddler's first knitting lesson.  In other words, bad BAD!

The Walking hat is progressing very, very slowly because... 

I cleaned out my craft closet.  Normally that wouldn't affect my knitting time too much but... I stumbled across a scarf I had started ages ago.  A simple garter stitch scarf made from all my brown and green skeins of Palette.  I don't know why I'd put it away for so long.  I was only about five rows from being finished.  

But the point is, I've been wanting to start another one of those Palette scarves.  I enjoy knitting them, they use up lots of scrappy bits and they sold very well at Winterfest.   

So, instead of finishing the Walking hat, I finished the old Palette scarf and started another.  I'm a little bit obsessed and am having a hard time putting the it down.  Luckily, I have enough Palette to knit a thousand of these scarves.  It ought to carry me into March.

So, how about you?  What have you been knitting? 

Ooh - By the way, Knit Picks has all their pink, red and white yarns on sale, 40% off for Valentine's Day.  It's a great time to shop if you need those colors.

Drama, Drama, Drama

 It's been an adventful week.

My Tuesday doctor's appointment with the ortho guy got postponed to Wedenesday because the doctor had some kind of emergency.  Not a big deal, and in fact, it worked out better for my schedule.  I really liked the new doctor.  He took me off the muscle relaxers and put me on Lyrica which is a nerve pain medicine.  In his words, "muscle relaxers are for amatures."  I laughed at that!  So, anyone else out there taking Lyrica?  It's interesting.  It is helping somewhat but it has some strange side effects.

One of those side effects is dizziness.  I took my first dose Wednesday night and slept like a log, except for the brief moment I woke up and was so dizzy, I thought I might fall out of the bed.  It was great to sleep though. I hadn't slept more than an hour or two at a time since this all started back in the middle of August.  

The next morning, I gathered myself together, took my second dose and high-tailed it down stairs, clutching the stair rail for all I was worth and praying the second dose didn't kick in before I got my coffee and safely seated.

I got coffee and plopped myself down in my spot on the deck and.... my head proceeded to flop around on my shoulders.  I'd suddenly realize my head was so flopped over, my ear was touching my shoulder.  And then the giggles kicked in.  And then for the next few hours, I felt like I was so drunk I was 5 minutes from puking and passing out.  Fun times.  

Meanwhile, I knew I wasn't going to be able to knit anything to gauge so I started a garter scarf.  The plan is to use up the dresser full of Palette.  Or at least make a dent in all that yarn.

Thankfully by 2 p.m. in the afternoon my head cleared up and I was mainly normal feeling.  Good thing because...

By 3 p.m., Sarah was calling to say her car had broken down in the grocery store parking lot.  I went off to sit with her while she waited for the tow truck and to drive her home.  It was the first time I'd driven in over a month and it was a weird, strange experience.  But I made it all five miles to the grocery store with no troubles.

Sarah was definitely having some trouble though.  She'd been backing out of her parking place and was caddy corner across the travel lane when her axle broke.  The car wouldn't drive forward or backwards, nor could it be pushed.  One front wheel was pointing due south while the other pointed north.  Eventually the cars parked near her left the parking lot which meant there were empty spaces both in front and behind her.  But there she sat, caddy corner across the road.  (By "road" I mean the travel lane at the grocery store.)  And people kept driving around her giving her the evil eye or yelling at her to push the car out of the way.  It was pretty embarrassing and Sarah was so upset.  I'm SO glad I was able to go sit with her while she waited for that tow truck.

By the way, if you're local and in need of a tow, Robinson's Towing & Recovery were great.  Our tow guy, Steve, was friendly, polite and did a fantastic job getting Sarah's car on and off his flatbed without allowing the wheel to fall off and do further damage to the car.  

As far as the Lyrica goes, each dose affects me - or at least my dizziness/drunkeness - a little less.  That bothersome pinched nerve is still zinging my knee pretty badly but my butt and thigh aren't cramping hardly at all anymore.  I have high hopes for it.  Now, if I could only get the physical therapy place to return my call and get me scheduled...

Knit Picks, I really do love you!

Remember me talking about running out of yarn for the scarf I was knitting and Knit Picks calling me to confirm that I still wanted them to fill my order even though they no longer had the dye lot I'd requested?  Well, that happened and I thought it was great customer service.

Well, the new yarn with a different dye lot arrived.  I held the new yarn up to the old and couldn't see a difference.  I decided to risk it and started knitting with the new.  After all, it was a simple, narrow garter stitch scarf.  The world wouldn't end if I had to rip out a few rows.

I knit a few rows and still couldn't see a difference in the yarns.

I knit a little more, still didn't see a difference so I asked my daughter to identify the fault line.  If it was there, she'd see it!

She couldn't see a difference either so I kept on knitting.

Can you spot the row where the two different dye lots join?  I sure can't. 

I don't think, in my entire crafty life, I have ever had two dye lots match so well.  Thank you Knit Picks!  Thank you for having incredible dye consistency!  I just love you guys!

Three on Thursday

I finished Felix last weekend and had planned on showing him to you today but I realized I'd forgotten to take any photos.  I've already worn him twice so he may have to get washed first.  Oops.  

So, with no Felix photos, today's Three on Thursday is three random things instead of three knitting things.

I started a simple, slightly beaded, garter stitch scarf.  I'd planned to use this City Tweed DK yarn for fingerless mitts but I wasn't feeling the urge to use dpns so I cast on a scarf instead.  I'm pretty happy with it.  I don't normally like plain garter stitch scarves but I feel like the single row of beads sort of dresses it up a little.  And the color is going to look great with my new coat.

But as luck and spontaneous, poor planning would have it, I don't have enough yarn.  I started with two skeins and knit to the end of the first.  The scarf is approximately a third of the length it needs to be.  Argh.  So now I'm awaiting another skein of Coastal and a contrasting color skein just in case the dye lots don't jive with each other.  

I already know the new skein won't be the same dye lot.   Knit Pick's customer service amazes me.  I'd put a note on my order requesting the dye lot I needed if possible.  They no longer have it and called me to see if I wanted to change my order.  Anyway, if the new skein is  too far off the color of the old, I'm going to add a white skein in and pretend I'd intended the scarf to be color blocked.

To all the puzzle affectionados out there, first, darn you for blogging about all your puzzles and getting me hooked.  I'm puzzle-ing almost as much as I'm knitting these days.  And second, I discovered puzzles in Target's dollar bin section.  They are $3.00 and 500 pieces and well, they are three dollar puzzles but whatever.  At the rate I'm working puzzles, I'm a lot better off spending $3 on a 500  piece puzzle that takes me a week to put together because the pieces bend and well, they're the quality you'd expect from a $3 puzzle vs. $12 on a 1,000 piece puzzle I put together in two or three days.  But the point is, Target has cheap puzzles if you're desperate.

While I was digging out the beads for the City Tweed scarf, I found beads that I thought would look good with this yarn.  Knowing that I was probably going to have to wait for a yarn shipment before I could finish the scarf, I went ahead and started a beaded shawl too. 

There's no official pattern involved, just a heart shaped shawl with a single beaded, *K2tog,YO* row thrown in every so often.  The yarn is On-Line from my LYS.

Links:

City Tweed DK yarn

Caspian Interchangeable Needles

Knit Picks

Center of the Yarniverse

NaKniSweNope!

Are you doing NaKniSweMo?  I'd planned to.  I had the yarn and pattern picked out and at the ready.  I'd even balled the skeins of yarn, swatched, and set the proper needles aside for safe keeping.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I swatched!

And then I realized the reality of my pre-Christmas knitting.  NaKniSweMo quickly turned into NaKniSweNope! 

I'm knitting a pink Stroll Gradient shawl for my mother-in-law.  Pink is her favorite color.

I'm knitting the Mountain Colors scarf for my great niece.  And if I'm knitting something for the great niece, her brother will need something handknit too.  

The not so great cowl for Sarah got frogged.  She says she'd rather have socks.  It's a dammed good thing she likes to cook and grocery shop!  

There's the poinsettia needlepoint that needs to get finished and turned into a pillow.  

There's the two Christmas stockings that still need to be lined.

And last but not least, let's not forget the seventy-two Smitten mittens I need to knit.  And as if seventy-two mini mittens wasn't enough, I'll need five garland cords to go with them.

Yeah, NaKniSweMo is definitely a nope this year.  But hey, on the positive side, I've already got my Christmas Eve Cast On project ready to go.

Another Finish

I have another FO to show you.

Eclipse

Eclipse.  Actually, it's a modified Eclipse.  

Per the pattern, it should have an additional purple section but I purposely left it off.  I've knit this design many, many times and have always stopped after two sections of the main color.  The first time I left off the third section only because I ran out of yarn.  But I loved the narrower scarf-like result so much I've repeated it several times since.

I knit this version with sock yarn from Unplanned Peacock.  The purple is Starling and the green is Lagoon.  It's a little brighter than intended and I sort of wish I'd reversed the main/contrasting colors.  But bright or not, I'm happy with it and ready to move on to the next project.

What will the next project be?  Good question!  A baby blanket?  The Te Ara mitts I mentioned last week?  Or perhaps I'll focus on finishing my Madli's Shawl.  I'm so close, yet so far away from finishing that shawl.  I'm part way through pattern repeat #27 out of 31.  Each repeat has twelve rows and then there'll be the border to knit.  My goal is to have it finished by October 1st so I really should focus on it.  But....

We'll just have to wait and see how I feel.  Dorian will be here this afternoon and it may be too difficult to concentrate on beaded lace.  Or not.  I think we are far enough inland that we won't get anything more than a few thunderstorms at most.  Of course, that's what we thought with Isabel many years ago and we ended up without power for 13 days.  

What ever happens weather-wise, I've vowed not to complain.  Honestly, I'm having a hard time being the least bit concerned about Dorian now.  After seeing the destruction that took place in the Bahamas...  It's hard enough to imagine a Class 5 hurricane, but one that hangs out and stays basically stationary for over 24 hours....  Good Lord!  Now that Dorian is down to a Class 2.... I'm having trouble taking him seriously.

If you never hear from me again, you'll know it's because I just jinxed myself.  Apologies to my neighbors!

On the Needles

Is there a contest for worlds most boring post?

Showing off  the gradient's color change in bad lighting.

My newest Hitchhiker is progressing at a snail's pace.  I have managed to reach the second color in the gradient.  Remember how I was excited to find out how the colors would change?  Whether they'd fade or be speckled or.....  The change turned out to be quite sudden.  It was made by splicing two different yarns together.  You could see the splice because a bit of the new yarn hadn't been caught well.  The splice seemed strong enough so I'm not overly worried they will come apart during wear or washing, but I do hope future color changes will be handled a little better.  We will see.

On the needles

My newest Hitchhiker, knit with Eden from Sublime Yarns, is coming along.  Slowly.  But that's okay.  It's my 'knit while I read my email' project and since Outlander is now on Netflix, I'm ignoring my email.  

So, if you are waiting for an email response from me, well....  It's Jamie's fault you haven't received it yet.

So far, the Hitchhiker has fourteen teeth.  Not terrible for an 'only knit when I'm reading my email' project.  I am really excited to see how the colors change.  Will it be sudden?  Will it be a gradual change?  Will it be splotchy?  Who knows?!  I can't wait to find out.  But honestly, I'm more concerned about Jamie's welfare.

Smells Like Meadow

Are you a Target shopper?  Have you tried any of their Smells Like... products?  I'm over the moon about the Smells Like Meadow scent.

Smells Like Meadow

I don't normally buy products like these because my face and body are SO sensitive to, well everything.  I can't use any hand lotions, soaps, body washes, shampoos... that have coconut, avocado or several other 'healthy' oils in them because they irritate my face.  I wash my hands, touch my face and the next day I wake up with red, blotchy swollen lumps all over my face.  And just about every cleaning product on the market with the exception of Pine-Sol (the plain kind in the big bottle, not the fancy spray things) and Pledge dusting spray either bother my ability to breathe properly or give me a bloody nose.   

But, my daughter loves LOVES smelly stuff.  She is always coming home with a new soap or cleaning product, or some kind of smelly laundry detergent.  She came home with some Smells Like Meadow hand soap, I loved the way it smelled, took the risk and tried it and... nothing!  No bad reaction! Joy oh joy!  

So Sarah gave me three bottles of it for Christmas.  

And then we discovered they had more than just hand soap.  And the rest is history. 

Yes, the stuff is pure chemical.  There is not a single natural ingredient in the products but I love them anyway.  I love the scent so much, I actually look forward to cleaning the bathrooms now!  And, my house and I both smell like a spring meadow.  Oh, and did I mention that none of them cost over $2.00?  Joy oh joy!!

Simple Yet Effective scarf

As for my knitting, I've made a little progress on the Simple Yet Effective scarf.

So, this happened

So, this happened...

I started out with a sock.

A sock that was so big, I could have simply knit arm holes and worn it as a sweater.  I mean, look at that thing!  It's laying on an 8.5 x 11 notebook and the width of the sock practically covers it.  I don't know how I didn't notice its hugeness while I was knitting the leg.

Anyway, I ate a bowl of Cheetos and drank a glass of wine, (It's okay to have wine with antibiotics.  I looked it up!)  took a deep, calming breath and frogged it.

Simple Yet Effective scarf

And now it looks like this.  It magically turned into a Simple Yet Effective scarf.

As much as I despise frogging gone-wrong projects, (I much prefer to curse them and toss them into the trash rather than suffer the pain of frogging.) I'm not really minding re-knitting this yarn.  It's wonderful to work with.  It's soft, it has great stitch definition and its Christmasy colorway is muted enough that it only whispers Christmas rather than yelling it at me.  It's fairly easy to pretend I'm knitting a rose garden instead of a Christmas candy cane.  Oh, I guess I failed to mention - the yarn's name is Winter's Candy Cane and it hails from Puff the Magic Rabbit.

 I don't know why there are so few projects on Ravelry using Puff the Magic Rabbit yarns.  Perhaps it is more of a hobby business.  I bought my skein from a fiber festival but I see that they do have an Etsy shop that's been in business since  2007.  Whatever, I wouldn't hesitate to knit future projects with their yarns.  This 100% superwash merino, particularly, is a joy to knit with.

Photo Friday

It took a while but...

Weather Cowl 10/24/18

Fall arrived.

Makers' Monday

Hitchhiker

Eleven points knit on the newest Hitchhiker.  Only thirty two more to go.

Three on Thursday

Today's Three on Thursday is three knitting projects in the works.

Alstroemeria yarn from Shirsty Cat Designs

1.  I finished knitting my Stephen West Purl Ridge Scarf.  I'm counting it as 'still in the works' because I haven't woven the ends in yet.  Or blocked it.  It really doesn't need blocking but I might try to stretch it out a tiny bit.  It's not quite as long as I'd hoped it would be.

Purl Ridge Scarf

And yes, as you can see from the photos, the home renovations continue.  And yes, I am quickly loosing my my mind, my patience and my cool due to the unorganized mess.

Nope, it's not a black pumpkin.

2.  Secret Santa knitting.  I still need to add a bit of detail.... and I need to knit eight more.  Possibly twelve more, depending on how generous I'm feeling closer to Christmas.

Laurelhurst Hawthorne Yarn

3.  Another Secret Santa project.  Since taking this photo, I've cast on a Hitchhiker and have a whopping 12 stitches on the needles.  Another Christmas gift, 'almost' done.

Makers' Monday

So, we're talking about the weather today.

And I have "Oh the weather outside is frightful" stuck in my head and playing on repeat.  Thankfully, or not, it's just that one line from the song.  "Oh the weather outside is frightful..."

I know that while in the midst of it, every summer feels like the hottest, most humid summer on record.  But this summer....  This summer Had to be some kind of a record.

2018 Weather Cowl

My weather cowl tube (I still don't know what it's going to be.  A cowl?  A scarf? A pile of knitting that sits in the corner mocking me?) only has one, solitary red stripe indicating a temperature above 95.  But that single, solitary stripe is so misleading.  We may have only had one day that the actual temperature was 96 or above, but the Feels Like temperature was over 100 for most of August.  Even our 80+ degree days had Feels Like temps of over 100.

"Oh the weather outside is frightful....."

And September has turned the humidity into actual rain.  It's been raining for several days, and it's going to keep on raining throughout the coming week and into the next.

And Hurricane Florence is heading our way.

"Oh the weather outside is frightful....."

I have to admit although I'm complaining, I love a good storm.  I've been slightly manic ever since Mr. Weatherman announced that Florence would most likely not stay out to sea.  So, I guess I'll just enjoy this period of energized productivity and keep singing "Oh the weather outside is frightful....."  and just be glad it's rain, not snow.

"Oh the weather outside is frightful..... let it rain, let it rain, let it rain..."

And if my whining about the weather hasn't scared you away and you're still reading, please join me for Makers' Monday.

Hitchhiking

Boy! Time flies when you're hitchhiking.

Hitchhiker

According to my notes, I started this Hitchhiker on November 16th and I finished it January 12th.  That's almost two months of knitting, although it feels like closer to two weeks.

Maybela's Promise, Three Waters Farm

I'm SO thankful that Knitting Sarah blogged about knitting her Hitchhiker scarf.  The moment I saw it, I knew I HAD to knit one for myself.  I instantly fell head over heels in love with the yarn and the way it striped on Sarah's Hitchhiker.  I ordered the yarn before I even finished reading her review of it. 

Stripes, not pools.

See how the yarn stripes but never pools?  I just love it!  The yarn itself was great to knit with too.  Although I was using super sharp, pointy metal needles (they were my only US 3's available at the time) I never had trouble with the yarn splitting.  The few times I forgot to decrease for the 'teeth' and had to rip out a a row or twenty, the yarn behaved perfectly.  It ripped without snagging and knit back up without that weird, wrinkled look you get sometimes.  I just can't say enough good things about this yarn from Three Waters Farm.

To see what others are crafting today, join me over at Frontier Dreams for today's #Craftingon link-up.