What’s everyone up to for the long US holiday weekend? I’m off today so it will be a nice 4 days for me. I haven’t taken one long vacation this summer, just a few long weekends, which have been welcomed. This week felt like a really long one with storms and a power outage one day as well as the kid’s first marching band performance at the first home football game. (I don’t like the early season games – it’s so fricking hot and last night the stadium was almost as full of bees and wasps as it was half-dressed hormonally charged teens.)
The kid started school on Monday which feels weird to me as a Gen-Xer who always started school after Labor Day. Lots of memories of that last sad Labor Day weekend (possibly spent watching the Jerry Lewis telethon on my grandparents’ screen porch) which I usually couldn’t enjoy because of the looming back to school jitters. However she has today off so assuming she gets up in time we’re going to do some back to school shopping. Otherwise, this weekend I want to get a couple of runs in, have breakfast with my bestie tomorrow, and do some cleanup in the yard. We still have lots of branches down from the storms.
Oh and my knitting mojo ramps up as we near the ‘-ber’ months. Finished a pair of socks for the kid and have pulled out another sock wip to hopefully make good progress on this weekend – maybe listening to my current audiobook “The Villa” by Rachel Hawkins.
Hope everyone has a very safe and happy Labor Day.
It feels so good to post a finished object! These are the “Vanilla Socks on 9” Circulars” which is a fantastic pattern by Kay Litton aka Crazy Sock Lady. The yarn is Knitting Lizard Fibers Super Soft Sock (75% superwash merino & 25% nylon) in the “Carlson’s Fishery” colorway which was a special offering via Wool & Honey’s Sleeping Bear Yarn Club.
I hate to make proclamations but the spring so far has been okay and vastly better than the winter was. I’ve avoided making this observation because – you know, the proverbial ‘other shoe’ – but in my little corner of the Internet no one is really listening anyway so knock wood and let’s goooooo.
Making. My only recently finished object is a – dishcloth. (I subscribe to the Kitchen Sink Shop newsletter and every month she sends a free dishcloth pattern!) I am a slow knitter. I have two pairs of socks (plain vanilla on 9-inch circulars) going (they’ve been my springtime soccer field knitting), as well as the Cozy Comfort throw from Homespun House, and I have the Shift kit ready to cast on as soon as I finish the socks (and as a side note isn’t Andrea Mowry just absolutely gorgeous and so cool? I wish I could have that kind of edgy yet laid-back coolness). I’m also really close to finishing a cross-stitch kit (a little A-frame cottage). As usual I have too much stash, too many projects to start, and not enough time, and I still keep finding new kits, new patterns, and new yarn to fill all the nooks and crannies of my dusty little office / crafting space. I need to lock in and get some finished objects. (As usual you can find me on Ravelry as sixtenpine.)
Reading. On vacation in the Bahamas I blew through all seven of Martha Wells’ ‘Murderbot Diaries’ and would have just kept going if there were more. These were sci-fi about a futuristic security unit android that attains some level of cold human observation and affinity. SecUnit (or ‘Murderbot’ as it refers to itself) spends the seven novels alternately amused, horrified, sympathetic, fascinated, and repelled by the humans it is charged with guarding and its internal monologue is (for me) un-put-downable. After Murderbot I plunged into some dry histories (I went through a massive Mary Queen of Scots phase and then some Romanov which was depressing). Slogging through beheadings, conspiracies, doomed royals and the events of Ipatiev House might not have been the best overall choice and sadly my reading slowed down a bit. I’m trying to jump-start it with the new Tana French ‘The Hunter’ but it isn’t really doing it for me yet. (I wish she’d go back to the Dublin Murder squad format.)
Watching. Brandon and I finally watched ‘The Bear’ and loved it. I hope next season we get more of the Richie comeback and more Fak. The kid and I are watching the first two seasons of Twin Peaks (a multiple rewatchable for me, her first time) and she’s hooked. I’m debating about whether she’s ready for ‘Fire Walk With Me’ and you know, no one is ready for season 3 The Return. Maybe if I rewatched it, I’d understand it more. While Brandon is in Iowa during the week, I watched ‘Marie Antoinette‘ on Prime (LOVED it) and caught up on ‘Nordic Murders’.
Life Stuff. As I said, I think things have evened out from our winter of discontent (it was a tough one). Brandon still spends weekdays in Iowa and weekends here, and that has made for some adjustment, both for us as a couple and our family unit. It’s not ideal but we are working through it and understanding (or trying to) that it’s just a season of life and it too will pass and fade into a new season.
I am still dealing with pre-menopause health issues which all in all are pretty minor compared to some horror stories I’ve heard. HRT has helped with the mood swings, night sweats and recurring monthly pain and nausea. It hasn’t helped much with brain fog or weight gain, but I just have to keep pushing through. I try to eat well without restricting, and get out 3-4 times a week either to the gym or for runs around the neighborhood. I’d love to lose 20 lbs but I’m also not willing to head into the land of diet culture to do that, so for now it’s bigger pants. [shrug]
Soccer, soccer, soccer. Spring sports are a lot but this soccer season for the kid was fun and for the most part, laid-back. They’re not the best team but they’re not the worst, either, and manage to have fun and enjoy themselves even when they lose and when they’re playing in downpours or gale force winds. She just started a part-time summer job at the local family-owned garden center / plant nursery and I am hoping it’s a great vibe for her, working outdoors with little growing things. She has a male friend (ahem) and after several years of being at home with us every evening, now, on occasion, he’ll pick her up and they’ll get food or go to a school sporting event or movie. She is hoping to get her driver’s license this summer on her birthday and so I feel we’re on the verge of a big jump forward in terms of maturity and independence…I am alternately dreading it and looking forward to it. She took an AP exam this week, is mostly indifferent about her grades yet but still gets things done. She’s a good kid and we laugh a lot when we’re together, which is a lot, especially now that it’s just the two of us during the weekdays when Brandon is away. I have to balance the feeling that she is my best friend these days with the reminder that I am the parent, as well, and so that’s been an interesting line to tread.
Despite things being easier than they were a few months ago, overall, I am in a mostly introverted phase. And since I live my life as a baseline introvert, for me to say I am in an introverted phase probably realistically means I’m full-on hermit now. I viciously culled my personal social media feeds this winter and just don’t post much anymore. I’ve pulled back from volunteering for school things and the parent text threads. Work has settled back down into it’s usual place in my life, instead of waking me up at 3AM in a cold sweat, and if that means that some days I only can do what I can, that’s the way it is right now. I no longer have the bandwidth to put energy into things that look “right” but don’t feel “right” or pay back in emotional dividends and that runs the gamut from doing everything and more at work to trying to look like the perfect normal active cheerful mom in the neighborhood and school community. Hustle culture, social media pressure, competitiveness and comparison – it’s all real and I’ve had to seriously duck back into my introvert shell and focus on us – my little family – and how it feels instead of how it looks. We do our own thing and for us right now that’s healthy and positive.
I started the New Year with 3 WIP knitting projects and 2 more ready to cast on.
WIPs
A Homespun House Cozy Comfort throw – this has been in process for awhile now but it’s a blanket, so those usually take me years. I started this last January or February with minis from my A Homespun House Advent calendar held double with Purl Soho line weight merino (yes this was a splurge but it was so worth it). This is my mindless TV knitting and I actually worked on it a lot over the holiday break. It’s knitting up squashy and soft and I love seeing how each mini-skein’s colorway blends or stands out with the prior one.
Clinton Hill Cashmere’s Bandit Cowl in their bespoke cashmere DK in the Forest colorway. This yarn is knitting nirvana and this is a small indulgence project. I keep this one in my purse or in the car as it is extremely portable “waiting” knitting for when the kid is off doing something and I’m the chauffeur waiting to drive her home.
The Secret Garden knitted dishcloth from the Kitchen Sink Shop. At some point, she released a free dishcloth pattern every month. I went back and tried to find them all on Ravelry but could only find a few that were still free, and this is one of them. I’m just using cheap cotton from the craft store in a navy blue and this will probably be gift knitting in a package of little things for my bestie. It’s a little rough to work on cotton after the cloudy softness of line weight merino and bespoke cashmere but it’s a fun knit and the pattern emerges in a very satisfying way.
Ready to Cast On
Road Trippin’ Hat – a free pattern by one of my favorite knitting vloggers, Christina Lundborg of ‘Chelsea Yarns’. I need to use up some of my seemingly bottomless stash of fun sock yarn so I picked a skein of Targhee Sock by Oink Pigments (“Smoky Purl”) that I bought at the Quarter Stitch yarn shop in New Orleans and I’ll be holding it double with a Chelsea Yarns Luxe Mohair (“London Fog”).
When I took my crochet class last fall at Spun in Ann Arbor, most of my classmates were already knitters so there were some pretty cool handknits being worn. One of my classmates had a careless yet absolutely elegant little triangle scarf / shawl made, she said, from a set of Harry Potter minis in a pattern she couldn’t remember. I was instantaneously envious and needed it in my life. I got myself a Christmas Advent set with this in mind, picking Six & Seven Fiber’s Literary Women 8-skein fingering weight mini set, and with 5 selected colors I’ll be casting on the Mini Solutions Scarf by Kelene Kinnersly Designs very soon (I’ve selected Amy Tan, Toni Morrison, Mary Shelley, Celie, and Louisa May Alcott for my colors!).
Cross- Stitch
I started cross-stitching a couple of years ago and am still plugging away periodically on a seasons sampler, although I haven’t picked it up in awhile. Since October I’ve almost exclusively been working on this Jacob Marley piece by Lindsay Swearingen of ‘Tusk and Cardinal’. The only thing I do more slowly than knit is cross-stitch, and I think it’s pretty funny that this is exactly half-done. The chart prints out half and half on two separate pages and I only printed one page to start with. Then, over the holidays, our printer ran out of ink so I couldn’t print the second half until quite recently. But it’s been fun to fold it over and see how it will look when it’s finished.
LIndsey Swearingen is worth checking out on IG if you’re a cross-stitcher and her book “Creepy Cross-Stitch” is full of fantastically gothic and elegant pieces that I would love to have on my office walls.
I’m being pretty lazy and not linking these projects and patterns, but they’re (mostly) all on Ravelry or for purchase from the yarn web page (as is the case with the Clinton Hill project). I also update my own Ravelry project pages (I’m sixtenpine over there) fairly regularly as things come off the needles or start taking shape, so please check me out if you are looking for more specific information like pattern links, yarn sizes, and notes. I hope you are all starting off your New Year with some fun and satisfying projects. I look forward to revisiting these pieces and providing status updates of my tortoise-speed progress! xo
Amy of the Noble Character Crafts vlog hosts an annual Make 9 makealong and although I don’t think I’ve ever finished nine projects in a year, I am joining in for 2022. It’s a relaxed and stress-free MAL and I do love a good plan, especially when I can make a vision board to accompany!
I shared my board and an overview of my projects over on my Insta (@sixtenpine) but wanted to provide more detail here – links and some additional info on why I selected each project.
From the top left corner of the photo:
1. Vanilla Beanie by Bruna Cortosi for The Knitting Loft. I need a few more warm knitted hats in our hallway closet and I love the slouchy look of this one. Pattern available on Ravelry.
2. Effervescence Socks by iknit2purl2 – a few of my selections are stashbusters and this is definitely one. I have more sock yarn than I could use in five years. I started this pattern last year, but frogged it because at the time, I hadn’t done any Magic Loop and couldn’t figure out how to convert to dpn’s. Now that I’m well-versed, I want to pick this up again. Pattern available on Ravelry.
3. Cozy Comfort Throw by Molly at A Homespun House – I treated myself to A Homespun House’s 2021 Advent calendar and this was a free pattern available for download with the purchase of the Advent. It’s a perfect use for all of my minis! Pattern available on Ravelry.
4. Modified Seed Stitch Washcloth and Hand Towel by Julie Fraser-Lindsay at Bunny Totem Knits. Another deep stash project. I have a lot of dishcloth cotton from my days of Mason-Dixon knitting obsession and I love the idea of gifting sets of these with a bar of handmade soap. Pattern available on LoveCrafts.
5. Classic Tee by Darling Jadore. This is actually already a WIP but that’s allowed in the MAL rules! I started this last year in a lovely lightweight, silky grey cotton and really need to dig it out and keep going. I love the understated, classic style. Pattern available on LoveCrafts.
6. Advent Mystery KAL socks by Anna Knitter. Amy of Noble Character Crafts knit these and I loved the textured, almost sample-esque quality of the pattern. I have some solid sock yarn in-stash that will show off the stitch patterns beautifully. Pattern available on Etsy from the link to her website above.
7. West Village Skirt by Selma of Little Big Knits – I love this whole look and concept. I’m a little unsure of how it will actually wear – I can envision some scrunching and riding up as unlined skirts frequently do – but I am going to give it a shot anyway because it just looks so cozy and cute.
8. Cornerstone Scarf by Jewell Washington & available in the book ‘Our Maker Life’ – I checked this book out of the library and although I don’t do a lot of scarves, we need more in our closet and I loved the look. I also have some stash yarn that will be perfect.
9. Toasty Mitts by Leslie Friend of A Friend to Knit With. This is a great pattern that I’ve made at least twice before and I absolutely love the finished product. It’s the best fingerless mitt pattern I’ve found. This pair will be a gift for my bestie – she got a pair a few years ago and I think it’s time for a replacement pair. Pattern available on Ravelry.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress here and on IG. And if you want to join, check out Amy’s Noble Character Crafts IG page and her vlog…The more the merrier – and there are prizes!
January and February are my least favorite months. The short, cold, dark days grind me down and there are no holidays to look forward to. Valentine’s Day doesn’t count because even though I have a top notch sweetie it’s still a stupid holiday.
I try for the cozy glow of November and December but never quite seem to get it back. I hate the pale, slanted quality of the light and the pervasive drear.
It’s better to be working from home than in an office during these days, though. Winter commutes worsen everything. I can pet cats and use my SAD happy lamp without being mocked, stay in my cozy sweats all day and maximize my productive time of day (early mornings).
But I am still tired and struggling not to beat myself up over what I perceive as my lack of productivity and motivation.
I did finish up my Snuggle Down Cowl. This is a pattern by Jooles Hill of Sew Sweet Violet; I knit it in minis from my 2020 Legacy Fiber Artz Advent calendar held with a strand of Casual Fashion Queen’s baby suri alpaca & silk in the Pink Moon colorway.
I finished it during a Thin Man marathon. You get through deep winter any way you can and for me it involves crafting, old movies, fantasy novels and true crime.
Southeastern Michigan is expecting Snowmageddon this week…the kiddo is super excited because it may mean multiple snow days and a trip to the sledding hill. I’m less excited because the downside of working from home is that work is right here no matter what. All the time. Even on snow days, vacations, and holidays. I still vastly prefer it to mandatory office presence but maybe a trip to the sledding hill would be good for my energy and outlook.
Anyway! I may be back with a Friday Faves! If I can find the energy! In the meantime keep your feet warm. xo
The kiddo had a minor ear surgery this week and although everything went well, she has still been my focus. Hence my lack of posting.
I took a long walk on the solstice and admired the low, hazy sun. I thought about the year that has passed and the year to come. I missed my dad and saw wild turkeys and several Eastern Bluebirds.
We finished a Harry Potter movie marathon (Brandon had never seen them) and I’m also very, very into the Witcher and Travel Man with Richard Ayoade. Before the kiddo’s surgery, we saw Kings Man in the theater (it was pretty empty because everyone was next door watching Spider Man) and tried a new-to-us local seafood restaurant. There have also been LOTS of Vlogmasses and although I am really enjoying them I’m heartily sick of the YouTube Christmas songs they all use.
I’ve been running just about every other day, and I finished two books (I started the Josie Quinn series at Steph’s recommendation via her blog) and hope to finish two more before the New Year to pad out my Goodreads total.
Also been knitting. Mostly small fiddly ornaments and although that always starts out fun, I’m about ready to call that quits for another year.
Although I’m feeling a bit disconnected and not very Christmassy, today is Christmas Eve and I’ll spend it with my little family in our cozy home. We’ll make something yummy and fun for dinner and play a board game and then eat cake. And I’ll wake up tomorrow to a bounty of gifts and food and Brandon’s birthday. I am so truly and thoroughly blessed. My love and best wishes for a peaceful and contented holiday go out to each of you and your families. xo
I accomplished two of my goals this weekend – our Saturday morning 5-mile run and casting off on the Purl Soho Simple Pleasures hat.
It also snowed this weekend, so it was the perfect time to model it. It’s actually for the kiddo, but I like it so much I might make one for myself too (although I may try to swap out stash yarn instead of the pricey Line Weight merino and silk mohair Tussock that I used for this version). I just bought the kit, in the RIver Rock and Grey Quartz colorways, from the website and it was a quick, satisfying, dreamy knit and as an extra benefit, my daughter seems to like it and I think she’ll actually wear it (it can be a bit touch and go with teenagers and hand-knits).
The week ahead includes a band concert and many home office hours, and planning for Thanksgiving (I bought the turkey on Saturday and it is safely chilling in the freezer waiting for its big day). I hope everyone had a cozy and relaxing weekend and is geared up for another week! xo
Halloween was a bit of a disappointment – the forecast was clear, but the weatherpeople were not correct. By 7:30 PM or so, the winds had picked up and the rain was pelting. We were expecting a flood of kids, pent-up demand from the past year, but we had a small turnout and the weather put a damper on festivities. We have LOTS of candy leftover which is terrible for my discipline and self-esteem.
the kiddo and brandon making the most out of her costume
I took Monday off and put away the Halloween decorations, smashed the pumpkins under our birdfeeder and filled them with sunflower seeds. The birds, deer, and other yard wildlife (we have possums and a raccoon) enjoy the smorgasbord. It’s turned colder so the flannel sheets are on the bed and the woodbox is filled. The kiddo and I had dentist appointments this week, on Tuesday Brandon & I went to vote the short local ballot (city council), and work has been a bit stressful. I had a call with Japan one evening that I spent a lot of time preparing for and feeling anxious about and now, here on Friday, I am drained and bloated and sugar-hungover and ready for a weekend of lots of water and fresh, clean food. I haven’t been able to muster the energy to run in the newly cold mornings, which seem increasingly dark, even though I do really like cold-weather running and I have all the appropriate gear, so I have to conclude that I’ve just been silly and have not done the best job at self-care this week.
Vlogtober is OVER and I am bummed out. I so enjoyed following two of my favorite vloggers with their daily updates. Gayna from Tales from Cuckoo Land and Ali from This Little Wonderful Life are just a joy and being able to climb under a blanket with my iPad and watch them every day was a balm for my busy October. Ali is pretty regular so I expect to see her again soon – and I think she’s already committed to Vlogmas – but Gayna has intimated that she maybe won’t be able to film again until the New Year and as I really enjoyed her Vlogmas last year, this is a crushing disappointment. I really need Christina and Red Bank Mike from Chelsea Knits to commit to a Vlogmas so I can fill in my Gayna loss. (Their house and chickens are so fun, and I love her planner vlogs too.)
On the knitting front, now that the Halloween socks are finished, I have turned my attention to a couple of other projects. I cast on a hat for the kiddo – the SImple Pleasures hat by Purl Soho. It is fantastic. She picked the grey tones and the yarn is absolutely luscious to work with. For the ribbing, you hold two strands of the wool, and once you get into the body of the hat, you cut one strand and replace it with a strand of the kid mohair. I’m considering doing another one for myself, maybe in one of the plum tones. I also got myself a little gift for Thanksgiving knitting – this tiny stitch marker from Sucre Sucre Miniatures. It’s the most perfect, detailed, immaculate slice of pumpkin pie and the artistry is amazing.
gah!!!
I’m also winding yarn for the Snuggle Down Cowl by Jooles Hill. This has been on my short list for awhile, and I’m finally winding up some of my mini-skeins from last year’s Legacy FIber Artz Advent calendar. I’m pairing them with a silk mohair in a pink shade from one of my new favorite indie dyers, Casual Fashion Queen, who is up in Ironwood, MI, where it’s already snowing.
So there’s my Friday update for you all. I hope you are well and safe, warm if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, and cool if you’re under the Southern Cross. We change our clocks back this weekend so the long days of dark are upon us. Be well, be kind, and enjoy. xo
Last year, I was madly casting off and stitching the toes up on Halloween, this year I finished my Halloween socks a full week early!
These are the Hermione’s Everyday Socks pattern by Erica Lueder, knit on Casual Fashion Queen’s plush merino sock in the Spider’s Lullaby colorway (with just some black Patons for toes and cuffs).
The only bummer is that I usually use a 2.0 mm for my socks and this time – following the pattern exactly because they are my first pair of magic loop socks – I used a 2.25. They’re too big for me. I can wear them with another pair of socks underneath but I need a 2.0 Chiao Goo red lace needle for future magic loop projects. These are modeled by my daughter whose feet are bigger than mine.
Six Ten 