Tag Archives: Knitting

the real new year

To me, September has always felt like the true new year, when you buy new clothes and pencils and organize your stuff and have a new schedule to attend to. Even as a 48-year old grown woman, Labor Day to me is the time when I set new resolutions. And one of my resolutions for the true New Year is to get back to blogging on a more regular cadence. It’s been hard for me since my dad passed to find a lot of joy and comfort in self-reflection because the pain of missing him is always right near the surface. But although that has not changed, and probably will never change, because he was such a massive part of our lives, I’m ready to pick up this stitch and keep going.

So here’s a few recent photos from my camera roll to ease me back in.

I finished up my mom’s birthday socks! These took me forever because knitting also sort of fell by the wayside. These are Raveled but I’ll tell you that they are the Kia pattern by the wonderful Dawn Henderson (find her on Insta as knit.yarn.stuff) knit with Six and Seven Alfalfa base which is stunning.

The little one is back to school in-person for the first time since the pandemic. And not so little anymore. She’s vaxxed and they wear masks. (And seriously, adults – neither she or any of her friends have lodged a single complaint about full day masking. Quit your bitching. If my 13-year old can wear one without issue, SO CAN YOU.) She’s very happy to be back, and is expanding her fashion sense now that she can see all the different “lewks” at the morning bus stop. (So far she is heavily favoring a ‘90s throwback, with ripped boyfriend jeans, t-shirts of bands she probably has never listened to, combat boots and oversized flannels, with a sk8ter boi undercut for her glossy red locks.)

Watching a lot of stuff lately – a very mixed bag. A pretty bad Heidi Fleiss doc, ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’, and ‘Val’, which Brandon and I highly recommend. Heartbreaking and interesting and nostalgic and ultimately uplifting.

And lastly- shame, shame, shame on Texas. For my friends not in the US, this state has recently enacted the most restrictive abortion law in the country, banning abortion after the sixth week,when many women don’t even yet know they are pregnant. Moreover, the Texas law deputizes private citizens to sue anyone who performs an abortion or aids an abortion. So yeah, think – Uber driver. Friend. Any plaintiff unconnected to the patient or the provider can bring a (frivolous) lawsuit, collect attorney fees and a $10k bounty. As you may expect, this law disproportionately affects vulnerable populations- teens, and low-income populations who can’t afford to travel to obtain safe healthcare. As well as allowing a bunch of self righteous Karens and Bubbas to clog up an already taxed legal system.

Withholding critical healthcare, without ramifications for the young men who participate in insemination, without aid or assistance after that baby is born, no carveouts for rape or incest, taking choice away when this is the ultimate choice of the woman and the woman alone – nothing good can come of that. And don’t ever tell me you are “pro-life” if you don’t care what happens after that baby is born. It’s the most nonsensical and cruel virtue signaling.

Abortions will continue to occur – now they will just occur in more highly risky conditions under more barbaric and traumatic circumstances.

I hope everyone out there in the US has a fantastic Labor Day and in other areas a great end of your weekend / beginning of your week.

some warm days

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Author’s Note: In March my family suddenly lost my father. There is no way that I can ever put into words what that has been like. For awhile, I didn’t want to talk about it, except with y mom and brother, and I didn’t want to be online at all, much less on my blog. But this space is about celebrating the things (mostly small things) that make me happy and bring me joy so I feel like that is positive and something I can do. My family has pulled together and we are dealing with our grief the way he would expect us to- by loving and supporting each other and moving forward as best we can and with humor. I don’t want to share any more, but not sharing our enormous loss at all didn’t feel right, either. I appreciate your support as always.

We’ve had a spate of warm days and spent most of them in the yard. We’ve raked up the detritus of our willow tree and I weeded and raked one small bed which contains a day lily, coneflowers, and sedum. I also planted container lettuce, tomatoes, and strawberries.

Brandon’s passion project this year is our grass. He’s spent an inordinate amount of time overseeding and patching and consulting with the Scott’s expert at our local hardware store.

I’ve been enjoying so much knitting lately although I don’t have many FO’s to show for it. I finished my Mittens to Fit by Slavi Thomsen in March so had to photograph them amongst the new spring growth. They’re Raveled, blocked, and go into the mitten basket for next winter (unless, in typical Michigan fashion, we get a spring snowstorm).

I’m currently working on these Beatrice mitts by Leslie Friend of A Friend to Knit With. They’re a super easy and quick pattern and the recommended yarn – Turtlepurl’s Striped Turtle Toes in the Trenchcoat colorway – is divine to work with. Although I’m really trying to de-stash this year and only buy yarn for specific patterns, I might buy another skein for another pair of Mittens to Fit.

I’m swatching a couple of different options for a cotton short-sleeved summer sweater.

I’m also watching some wonderful new-to-me crafting vlogs- Tales from Cuckoo Land and Ollie and Bella, both on YouTube. Chelsea Yarns is a newish one as well although I may have mentioned that before. So many beautiful things.

I am still working from home and still fine with it. It looks like we may go back in July and in my current frame of mind I am not eager to do so. I can’t help but feel exhausted at the thought of the commute and constantly being surrounded by so.many.people. The upside is that I will be fully vaccinated by that time. Brandon and I got our notifications that we were eligible for our first dose at the big Covid clinic being held at the home of the Detroit Lions, Ford Field. One sunny Friday morning we went down and got our shots. It was a quick, friendly, efficient process and apart from slightly sore arms (similar to the flu shot) we felt no side effects. Our second dose is already scheduled for April 30.

I think that brings us somewhat up to date. I hope your spring (or fall, depending on your hemisphere) is lovely so far. xo

winter break

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Miss L had the week off for her winter break so we scampered up north for a few days to visit the folks.

It was pretty cold – a few degrees above zero Fahrenheit- but Miss L still wanted to ice skate at the local rink. She spent a fair amount of time shoveling and sweeping the rink free of snow, which I suppose is an occupational hazard for kids in the northlands.

We also played quite a bit of poker with my folks & tried to get their cats to love us (in vain).

I’m working on a pair of sock yarn mittens – the Mittens to Fit pattern by Slavi Thomsen is a Ravelry pattern and I’m using some old – very old – sock yarn from my stash. (Leftover from legwarmers, it’s Berroco Sox in the now-discontinued Huddersfield colorway.)

I’ve been looking for a sock yarn mitten pattern for awhile and this one is very cute, except as I start the second mitten I am plunging into the unknown. The pattern is written for the right mitten and the pattern note says to be aware to make the thumb on the opposite side for the left mitten, so they fit your hands. There aren’t any other pattern instructions as to how to put the thumb on the opposite side. I assume that I just reverse the pattern for the increases for the thumb? I’m going to try it. If worst comes to worst, I’ve tried the right mitten on my left hand and it seems to look fine, so maybe if I utterly can’t figure it out I can just knit two “right” mittens but if any crafty knitters know how to do this, please leave it in the comments!

My mom made a great Bay City ham and sent us home with a big container of leftovers so once we got home I put a pot of white bean and ham soup simmering on the stove for dinner.

The great thing about a vacation in the early part of the week is that you get back and it feels like a Monday but here it is Friday and I only have one day of calls and catch-up before the weekend! It is warming up into the mid-20’s F. here so Brandon and I are going cross-country skiing tomorrow – it’s my first time and I can’t wait! What are you up to with your weekend?

Be well and enjoy. xoxo

PS – I also wanted to share the great news that one of my favorite vlogs – A Simple Swedish Life, about a Korean / Swedish family living in Stockholm – now has an Instagram account. His vlog is simple, silent, about the Swedish lifestyle, and his imagery is minimalist and striking. His subject matter is heartwarming and pure, especially when he features his cooking, musings, his wife, and his 1.5 year old son. Please go follow @asimpleswedishlife if you have an IG account – well worth it. Thank you!!

friday five – where’s the turkey, chuck

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All I can say is thank goodness Apple TV loosened their capitalistic stranglehold on the Peanuts holiday specials and are allowing them to be shown on PBS after all. I bitterly railed against the loss of the Halloween special and can’t imagine getting through the holidays without seeing Snoopy fight with a lawn chair and Linus bring us to tears with his simple reminder of what the holidays are all about, Charlie Brown. At the age of 47 I will still be sitting in front of the TV at 7.30 EST Sunday night November 22 with Miss L and my snacks (maybe popcorn, pretzels, jelly beans and toast?) to bring back a taste of my childhood.

2. Some weekends, all I want to do is sit and knit with something soothing to watch. I love vlogs and am so excited about Vlogmas coming up. Some of my favorite crafting vlogs include Ina Knits, Sandy by the Lakeside, Birch and Lily, and Mandarine’s (all available on YouTube). I also love Christine McConnell although that’s less crafting and more aesthetic (achievable crafting, anyway), Talasbuan, and Northern Heart, and I recently found a new one that I love called Simple Swedish Life. This is a very quiet, peaceful vlog about a young Korean man married to a Swedish woman living in Sweden with their toddler. It’s very aesthetic, full of poignant musings and images, not much (if any) spoken word, and some great cooking and recipes. If you’re looking for an excellent accompaniment to an afternoon of working quietly with your hands with a cup of your favorite beverage, I would highly recommend any of the above.

3. I don’t think I’ve shared yet, but I cast on my holiday socks in the post-election trauma and have been busting away on them ever since. They are the Summer Camp pattern by Jill Zielinski (which is not seasonally appropriate, I know, but looks great with the yarn I chose and a contrast heel / toe) in two colorways from West Yorkshire Spinners. I can’t remember them offhand and the ball bands are downstairs so I will just say the socks are Raveled and I’ll add the colorways later on. Whilst I was taking the inaugural picture for Ravelry, Emmett decided he wanted to help display their attributes and I let him. He’s a handsome model, don’t you think?

4. For the first time perhaps ever, I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping before Black Friday. Making a budget and lists in advance helped. My biggest project left to finish is Brandon’s Advent calendar. I don’t want to reveal it here, but I found the base idea on Etsy and have to buy the supplies for each day. I have 6 days done but need to hit up some shops over the weekend to finish it up. I didn’t quite realize that the month was going so fast. All three of us are getting Advent calendars this year and I look forward to sharing them here on the blog and also over on my Instagram (link in the side column).

5. For the past two weeks I’ve been scheduling my workouts in advance and blocking off time on my calendar. Over the summer, it got light early enough that I could be up and out and get back and shower and not have to delay the opening of my home office, but with the shorter days and darker, cold mornings, I find I have to make accommodations. Setting aside a few mornings a week where I don’t schedule meetings too early has been great and I’ve stuck to my scheduled workouts every time – either getting out for a walk or run or, if the weather is inclement, going into the basement for a strength workout. It’s not always going to be possible this winter to do this, based on my work schedule, but anything is better than the nothing active I did last spring during early work-from-home times (and the corresponding weight gain). Could it be that I’m getting the hang of this “adulting” thing? (Questionable.)

Anyway, I hope you are all well and safe and your families, too. What’s on tap for this weekend? I will be finishing up the Advent calendar for Brandon, picking up the last bits and bobs for our Thanksgiving dinner next week, knitting and enjoying my books and vlogs. Take care and enjoy. xoxo

finished object

friday five

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What a week. I almost didn’t show up in this space today but I do have five things and I’m enjoying this little weekly exercise, so without further ado, let’s jump right in.

So did we need ANY MORE PROOF that Trump is a criminal, a liar, a bully and a racist who defends, protects, and promotes white supremacy? I didn’t. He’s been showing those things via his actions for years. The minute he appointed a poster boy for the Breitbart alt-right to his administration, that was all I needed to know, and by the time he defended white supremacists in Charlottesville (“very fine people”), the horse was waaay out of the barn for me. The fact that he could not wrap his fat mouth around the simple words condemning a fascist, alt-right, Holocaust-denying organization is no surprise to me – but when people tell you who they are, believe them. The sad thing is that his base doesn’t care. His time in the White House has given credence and a voice to a segment of the US population that should be living under rocks, in the boondocks, being generally scorned by the civilized public and allowed to die a toothless death on a sagging couch under a stained Confederate flag wall-hanging. Instead, our President, our Commander in Chief, has them on standby when he refuses to accept a peaceful transfer of power. What the ever-loving FUCK, people. (Although I did love the suggestion from one Tweeter that said that if he were Biden, he’d open the debate by putting a tin cup in front of Trump and flipping a quarter into it.)

I will always be here for the Biden / Barack bro memes. 🙂

2. If you are on IG and NOT following Quentin Tarantino’s account @quentin.quarantino, you are missing out on some extremely funny shit from someone who hates MAGA and the right-wing and has an amazing sense of the bizarre, the incisive, and the hilarious. Also some great merch in his shop, and I think he donates some portion of the profits to charities although I can’t find any verification of that (I think I remember him posting a Story about it?).

3. On a complete 180, I’ll move into television entertainment and say that we were excited to see a new ep of The Great British Baking Show on Netflix. It is more subdued than previous seasons, but Noel, Paul, and Prue were a breath of fresh air and although we miss Sandi, Matt Lucas seems like he’ll be a fine addition. It’s such a nice show to have for family viewing times with Miss L and when she’s with her dad, Brandon & I have been dipping into Season 2 of The Boys which is just as totally off the hook as Season 1 with just as many crazy “WHOA” moments.

4. I am making hay while the sun shines. Working from home has given me no excuse to get my shit together so this week I made dentist appointments and flu shot reservations for me & Miss L, went to the doctor for a physical and a prescription refill, had the chimney swept, and bought firewood. My car is completely up to date with service, and I am going into the winter with a new furnace and water heater. And yes we broke down and turned the heat on yesterday. Bring on the winter.

5. I’m hoping to get my Halloween socks finished to wear for Halloween but although my progress has been steady so far, I know that my sock-knitting productivity can take mysterious hits at any given time, so I am really trying to (see above) make hay while the sun shines. These are Ravelled, but just as an FYI I”m using Less Travelled 757 sock yarn in the Slutty Pumpkin colorway and using the Minecraft pattern by Heather Cox, which is also on Ravelry. This is resulting in a very satisfying knitting project and the Less Travelled yarn is lovely to work with.

I hope you’re all getting ready for a lovely weekend full of fall fun – pumpkins, woodsmoke, yummy treats, warm blankies and leaf piles. I’m going to be decorating the yard for Halloween with a variety of tombstones and a scary pumpkin-headed ghoul (that Miss L, in withering 12-year old fashion, thought was “a little tacky”). DON’T CARE – BRING ON THE GHOULS. xoxo

friday five

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The mailman has been so good to me this week. I received my copy of Nomadic Knits issue 7, featuring our beautiful Mitten State. I haven’t read it thoroughly yet but just browsing through it, it’s full of beautiful patterns and stunning photographs. I think my next sweater project (after Pink Memories) may be in there.

But first, I need to pick a pattern on cast on for my very first pair of Halloween socks – using one of my other bits of happy mail this week. Two preordered colorways from Traveling Yarn came – Turning Leaves (the pink tones) and Slutty Pumpkin (who can resist that name???)

2. Miss L was very disappointed not to get placed into an art class at her middle school this semester, so I signed her up for a small, socially distant weekly community ceramics class. It’s held at a local park which is the site of an historic homestead, a beautiful old house, stables, barn, a forest with several trails, orchard, a nature center, etc. The art studio is in the old stables and while Miss L threw some clay, I rambled around the trails, admiring the hazy sunshine, thickly overlaid with high altitude smoke from the West Coast, and did some knitting. It was a very peaceful way to spend an hour, watching the archery class and martial arts class meet outside, six feet apart. I can’t wait to see these trails in a few weeks, when darkness rises and fall color blazes.

3. For someone who very rarely paints her nails, I sure love nail polish and look of a beautiful, shiny manicure. It’s one of the first things I notice and admire in women. I ordered a Cookies & Creme polish set from Olive & June and did my nails this week. The colors seemed to go on a bit thin, but I’ve been overall pleased with them, and they’ve lasted 4 days without chipping so far, just using the Olive & June topcoat (usually I use Orly topcoat, which is the only thing I’ve tried that can preserve my manicure). I’d love to get back into the swing of having painted nails.

4. This week’s only real spot of bad news is the water heater. See last week. Sure enough, the diagnosis was imminent death. So Monday was essentially spent with a plumber. I’m out a nice wad of cash, but it is undeniably pleasant to have hot water whenever I turn on the tap without having to run down to the basement to relight the pilot.

5. I went into the office yesterday. I’ve gone in about once a month since the pandemic hit, but the mood yesterday was different. I’ve had some tough moments working from home this summer, even though I prefer it overall to being in the office. But this time the sun was shining and the leaves turning, and I had a feeling of wistful nostalgia walking up the stairs, unlocking my door, smelling the office smell, turning the calendar another month. Will we ever be back? The office is comfortable; it makes me remember that I’ve got this. Things that feel like a huge deal sitting alone in my home office slash spare bedroom are shrugworthy in the office. Being there reminds me that I have a pretty good track record of handling shit and a pretty strong emotional bandwidth, even when I am not sure that I can take one more thing when I’m on my own during a pandemic. I feel alone sometimes but in truth, I’m not. Two of my colleagues were also in, and we chatted behind our masks. They reinforced that they’d had the same moments of self-doubt, malaise, isolation, and loneliness. It was so nice to see them, to laugh about the fact that we couldn’t hug after six months, share our stories, catch up, and then go our separate ways with best wishes until we meet again. I needed that boost because, as my colleague said, it will be dark soon. Winter will bring the darkness, the days of grey will come, the cold will come, and it will be hard again, here; short days and long nights and a second wave. He’s worried about how we will all deal with that. But somehow, yesterday, being in the office reminded me that we are all in this together and will get through this and although our politicians and our bad actors will continually try to point out how different we are, how much we should hate and fear, in my experience, the people in my circle, work and personal, even with ideological differences, want to come together and find a middle ground and do right by each other as best they can. I hope you have those people in your circle as well and I hope wherever you are this weekend, you have a moment of remembering them, not just in your mind but in your heart and your soul. xoxo

week two of the new normal

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Alrite.

How’s it going.

(To quote Karl Pilkington, for any of my readers who are fans!)

Our second week of isolation is going well. I’m back into a good groove with my home office and Miss L has set up with me to do her online classwork. (Huge props to our school district for a quick move to online learning- they’re doing super cool things with Google Classroom assignments and keeping kids connected via Hangouts and video conferencing a couple times a week!) She has also been keeping us well supplied with baked goods from a cookbook for kids that my folks got her for Christmas- she’s made brownies from scratch and chocolate chip cookies this week.

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Emmett has been our faithful home office companion and we call him out unpaid intern for as much time as he spends hanging out with us at our work table.

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Although our governor has issued an official stay-home order, Brandon was deemed an essential employee by the company he is doing work for, so has to go into his workplace every day. He’s been a trooper about it but I know it causes him a lot of personal and ethical conflict and concern. We’re trying to take extra good care of him.

The weather has been nice (for Michigan) the last couple of days, with mild temperatures and sun. Brandon got Miss L’s bike out yesterday and we went for a walk while she rode. It was amazing how many people were out – hanging out in their driveways, on porches, doing some early yardwork, walking their dogs. Everyone maintained wide berth from each other but it was very reassuring to have some contact, waving and calling hello, sharing gratitude about the sunshine.

I only want to knit in simple, mindless, meditational garter stitch so I’ve pulled out the log cabin blanket I started a couple of years ago.

I hope you are all well and experiencing similar moments of goodwill and gratitude wherever you are, amidst all the worry and strain. xo

which is mostly about knitting

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I cast off on my New Year’s socks and am proud to reveal them as the “Lost Cathedral” socks, following on my fondness for the literary. These are named after “Chimes of a Lost Cathedral” by Janet Fitch.

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They are Raveled but I can tell you that I used Wendy’s Toe-Up Sock Pattern and the yarn is Six and Seven Fiber Alfalfa in the “Avonlea” colorway. As soon as they were off the needles, they were on my feet, and friends, this yarn is wonderful. It’s very warm, soft, and not a bit itchy. I plan on taking my mother to Wool and Honey the next time I’m up north so she can pick a color and I can knit her a pair – it is my new favorite sock yarn. My only grievance is that I did not cast off as loosely as I should on one cuff so it takes a bit of finagling to get it on but once it’s on, it’s fine, and I knit them a bit shorter than I usually do, as well.

My next knitting item for discussion is the Pink Memories sweater which I’ve been chunking away at for almost a year now. Friends, I need a stiff drink to tell you this, but after finishing the ribbing, I now think I have to frog it back to mid-chest.

You probably can’t see it as well in this picture, but I realized a fair way through that I had messed up the garter stitch just under the breast (I did two rows of purl which makes a strange compressed line instead of a normal garter stitch). Before that, there was a knot tie join in one of the skeins and it of course ended up on the front of the sweater with scraggly ends. I also dropped a stitch or did something wonky to one of the yoke-shaping stitches which makes it look gappy and strange. I thought I could live with these errors but I have realized that I simply can’t. I don’t want to wear my first sweater and constantly be self-conscious that everyone can see a strange bust line and a gaping stitch and a weird yarn join right in the front and think “yeah, I can tell she knitted that thing herself…”

…I think I have to tear it back and try to salvage what I can or entirely start over.

I know it will be worth it when it’s done – it’s a great pattern and beautiful yarn – but it’s a hard pill to swallow and I’ve been absorbing myself in all sorts of other little tasks to avoid tackling this painful process. I’m hoping it will now be finished and ready to wear for winter 2021.

weekend randoms

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Emmett is off his kitty Prozac and feeling needy

We spent most of yesterday with our eyes on the skies and our weather apps as the forecasters had told us to expect an “unprecedented” winter storm that would “more than likely” result in power outages. We hauled our woodpile into the garage and then watched it rain, and rain, and rain, and then sleet a little bit, and this morning it’s brightly sunny and clear. Don’t get me wrong – I am NOT complaining.

Our sideyard always floods!

My mom got me this skillet cookbook for Christmas along with two hardcore cast iron skillets and last night I made a chicken and rice recipe. It was excellent and I can’t wait to try some skillet bread & other recipes. There’s something about cast iron.

I’m trucking on my sweater and finished the ribbing, so very soon will be starting on sleeves and maybe have an unblocked, work-in-process photo to share…just a reminder that I’m knitting the Pink Memories pattern by Isabell Kraemer. I also got these adorable progress keepers from the Etsy shop Bump on a Hill and I can’t wait to use them on the sleeves.

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I’m doing a lot of knitting to a new-to-me vlog these days – Talasbuan, about a couple in Sweden going off-grid. The photography is just lovely and their journey fascinating.

And we are still on the fence about the new Dracula on Netflix, but likely going to tune in for the second episode tonight!

I hope you are warm and dry and I will see you here on Tuesday for Show Us Your Books – I have a couple great ones to share!

Six Ten

of this be sure: you do not find a happy life, you make it.

Tag Archives: Knitting

the real new year

some warm days

winter break

friday five – where’s the turkey, chuck

finished object

friday five

friday five

week two of the new normal

which is mostly about knitting

weekend randoms