Three on Thursday - Eight Days

It may be Three on Thursday but we only have eight days until Christmas.  Eight!  Where are the days going??

I'm feeling pretty good about it though.

The stockings are lined and hung.  I didn't do the best job in the world hand sewing the linings but the stockings will only get used once a year and I made sure to, at minimum, make my stitches small enough so that a Barbie shoe couldn't pass through.  I couldn't think of anything a young lady might like that was smaller than a Barbie shoe.  Maybe beads, but I figured Santa wouldn't be dumping loose beads into a stocking.  If Santa does ever decide to give something smaller than a Barbie shoe, he'll just have to put it in a box.

I finished four pair of beaded socks for Hayden and Fred is enjoying showing them off.  I will make more at some point - either when she requests a certain color or she's moved up to the next size socks.  That girl is growing like a weed so it will probably only be a matter of months, if not weeks, before she needs new socks.

The shawl for my mother-in-law is coming along and should go much faster now that it's the last Christmas item on my list.  I'm not sure I've ever posted a photo of it before.  It's a Very pink, very simple garter stitch, triangular shawl. 

I'm using Stroll Gradient Duos in BFF to knit the shawl.  My MIL's favorite color is pink and this colorway is very pink!  To make the shawl, I started using the yarn from the outside of one skein then from the inside of the second.  I've just made it to the middle shade on the second skein but the idea is that the shawl will fade from light to medium to neon pink, then fade back to medium then to light pink.

The last shawl I made for her wasn't received well but she is ALWAYS cold and pink is her favorite color.  This one is definitely pink so hopefully she'll like this one better.  But just in case, I'm not bothering with any fancy lacy bits on it and thankfully, the yarn is machine wash and dryable.  Yay for that!

I hope your holiday projects are going as well as mine, (Gosh, I probably just jinxed myself with that shawl!) and I also hope you'll join me over at Carole's for Three on Thursday.

Eight days and counting....

Worst Post Ever

 Is there a "worst post" award?  I'm pretty sure this one would win.

Yes folks, we have not only bad lighting but also boring content!

I finally decided I couldn't put off sewing the stocking linings any longer.  I've been dreading it.  I don't know how to sew.  I have a sewing machine... in storage.  Apparently way, way in the back of the storage unit because I couldn't find it.  Not that my sewing would have been much better if I'd used a machine.  Only slightly faster.

Did I ever tell you about the time I failed sewing lessons?  Yep, I failed sewing lessons and the teacher suggested I find a different hobby.  It was so disheartening!

I think it was back in my senior year of high school, maybe the year before... Really doesn't matter, but I was a teen and I took a class at the local technical center.  Our final project was to sew a dress.  I was so excited about making myself a dress!  I loved the fabric I'd picked out so much I can still picture it today.  It was green with blue flowers and white butterflies on it.  Doesn't get much more late '70's than that! 

Anyway, my dress was dismal.  One sleeve was longer than the other and the zipper was inside out and upside down.  I was heart broken!

Personally, I think I have potential talent.  I think I just had a lousy teacher.  And despite everyone else's dress turning out perfectly, I'm determined my pathetic non-dress was the teacher's fault, not mine.

All I can say is, thank goodness the stockings will only be used once a year.  It means the lining has a chance of holding up long enough for Hayden to start kindergarten.

Three on Thursday - Christmas Socks

Well, Stockings.  This final Socktober themed Three on Thursday post is more about stockings than socks.

Holiday Stockings designed by Michele Bernstein for Knit Picks.  I understand many of you are no longer Ravelry fans but this pattern can be purchased either from Ravelry or Knit Picks.  The pattern calls for Wool of the Andes so you know it wouldn't cost much to knit one. Or twelve.  Why twelve?  Because I have the sudden urge to knit these in college colors.  Or NFL colors.  Or any sports team for that matter.  Oh Lord, please don't let me take that project on!

Celtic Noel Christmas Stocking from Julie Steinhafel.  I love, love, love that Celtic cable around the top of the stocking.  Just love it!  The stocking would be pretty with just that single cable design but it's gorgeous with the addition of the cabling on the leg.

Stuff It Stocking by Heather Walpole.  This one is very simple and should be super quick to knit.  Should be, I say, seeing as though I've been knitting one very similar and it seems to be taking me a lifetime.  Of course, my lack of speed may have something to do with Covid causing me to become obsessed with doing jigsaw puzzles.  But I digress.  This should be a simple and quick to knit stocking.  I like the idea of adding the pompoms and may have to do that to mine.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on social media. Until next time, Happy Knitting!

Almost

 

I had high hopes of having a completed stocking to show you but alas...  It should be finished by the time you see read this post though.  It really should have been finished in plenty of time to show off the finished stocking today but the weather turned cold suddenly and instead of knitting, I spent yesterday hunting for and unpacking my winter clothes.

And in an effort to make this not the world's most boring blog post ever written...

That meme popped up on my Facebook page the other day and I don't know why, but I thought it was funny and worth sharing.  

And because I now have it stuck in my head, I thought you should too.

On the Needles

 I feel like I haven't had a plain OTN post in a while.

I took a brief break from stocking knitting to work on the poinsettia needlepoint but the Gods weren't with me.  I'm assuming it's something to do with the way I was holding the canvas and the fact that I was holding said canvas for six or seven hours in one day... (Yeah, I know.  Not a good idea.)  I don't know what else it could be from but it's left me unable to use my left arm.  I've pinched a nerve obviously because my skin is numb, it feels like I've hit my funny bone except that weird not so funny funny bone sensation doesn't go away, I gasp when I bend my elbow and I down right curse when I touch it.

Happily, it doesn't bother me to knit so I'm back to stocking knitting. The photo doesn't show it but only four more rounds and I'll be ready to start the heel.

By the way, thanks for everyone's thoughts on meatballs last Sunday.  Grace suggested using beer instead of jelly which I thought sounded a little iffy but also odd enough to be worth trying.  I made them that way last night and they were good.  Thank you!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on social media. Until next time, Happy Knitting!

Benign

I'm benign!  I finally got my thyroid biopsy results back (the "results" they sent last week weren't actually the results.  Good Lord!)  But after cursing to (not at) my doctor's office yesterday then actually cursing at the Hospital Administrator.... I was finally able to get the results sent to my doctor.  And yes, I know I shouldn't curse at the Administrator but I'd already tried crying and that didn't work so....  Anyway, I got my results and they were good.  

I celebrated by doing a little porch knitting.  

I'm sure you think I do nothing but porch knit.

You might be right. 

I finished the first stocking and started the second.  And when I say "finished," I mean I finished the knitting.  I'm going to line it with fabric and create a fabric hanger so that it can be stuffed full without sagging out of shape.  Of course, I have no idea how to go about creating a lining and I don't even know where my sewing machine is, but those are problems for another day.  I've got a month plus to figure it out.

The toe of the red and white striped stocking is a darkish green rather than the black it appears to be.  The green and white striped stocking will have a red heel and toe.... except I have to find some red yarn that's the correct weight.  Again, it's a problem for another day.  Actually, it's probably a problem for tomorrow.  But I refuse to worry about it today.  I'm too busy celebrating the word benign to worry about anything today.

Another thing I'll have to worry about one day soon, but not today, is my failure to include names on the stockings.  Major Oops!  I'm thinking I might add some dangly beads, a few jingle bells or a tassel or something to the hanger and include an embroidered felt name tag.  Try to make it look like I planned it that way.  Your ideas would be most welcome.

Oh hey - something else almost as exciting as the word benign... Hayden got her first tooth this past Sunday.

And her second car. 

She's not spoiled rotten or anything.  😊  Actually, she's not.  Well, not really.  She's just very lucky to have a dad with a best friend with a two year old daughter who likes to pass things down.

Why?

 Why do my stitches look like this?

They look twisted but they aren't.  Is it something about the yarn?  It's Dona from Fibra Natura which is 100% extra fine merino superwash.  Or could it have something to do with me knitting from the outside of the skein instead of from the inside?

Both yarns are Dona but the red looks worse than the white.  And, when I stretch the knitting then let it snap back into place, the white fixes itself but the red stitches don't?

Why is it doing that?  

I'm knitting stockinette in the round on dpns, US5's if that matters.  Wooden dpns and yarn in my left hand, to be thorough.

I've knit on it over several days and with various degrees of tiredness and/or frustration, and with and without alcohol in my system.

Those weird, twisted looking, not flat knit stitches persist throughout.   Why?

On a happier side note, the hospital now has my records and faxed them to my doctor minutes before the office closed yesterday.  I had to contact the hospital administrator and mention that my family, including extended family members who work in the medical field, all thought I should be filing a complaint with the state medical board and/or contacting an attorney in order to get them sent to my doctor.  But I called and confirmed the records made it to the doctor's office.  Yay!! 

I didn't tell y'all the whole story but it was a whopper.  It was such a whopper, I'm not sure the Administrator believed me.  For now, I'm going to keep the story to myself but if a single other thing goes wrong, boy, you will hear me shouting about it from the rooftops and on every social media platform I can find.

Meanwhile, thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers for my health.  They were/are very much appreciated.