Another one bites the dust

I am once again a single woman. After stringing me along for months and lying about his feelings and intentions, finally on Friday Sweetie just...let go. He was not stronger than his fears, especially when he started believing the lies depression told him. I'm still in shock but friends have had many kind words and that helps a lot.

Cat litter calls: feel free to admire my breakup yarn while you wait.

I forget how weak many people are and how scared they are of love. Love is the reason I get up in the morning. It's what gives my life meaning and joy. Love makes my heart sing even when tears are falling.

I realize I cannot rely on the fickle nature of romantic attachments for my future. What I truly long for is community and family. There have to be local families who would love an honorary aunt. To that end I'm going to start attending a community church on Sunday evenings. It's a bit of a trek and previously had conflicted with my support group meetings then softball spectating (ugh!). But now is the time. Maybe this is an unattainable goal but all my goals seem out of reach so why not aim for the stars?

Knitting update: Morvarch is done!

In April I finished Morvarch, the great green cabled shawl started on Jan 1st. I am so happy with it! I've worn it a couple times, my mom wore it once, and it luxuriates atop a bookcase in between airings. I greatly enjoyed knitting the cables but the stockinette seemed endless.

I don't have the energy for real photo shoots so I'll just have to hope these pictures do it justice :)

Morvarch's length matches my wingspan: perfect!

Just the cables, ma'am.
With bonus butt in my new favorite jeans.

This accurately captures its actual color

Whale Baby Sweater

I traveled to visit family a few weeks ago. One of my trip must dos was to finish the Whale Baby sweater for a cousin's November baby. A nasty cold and reknitting the button bands slowed me down, but I did finish! Even if our grandma questioned a blue sweater for a baby girl ;)

It fits already!

The recipient and everyone else loved it. I knit a size 12mo so we'll have to wait another year to see action shots.

This was a tricky project because it uses super soft baby wool. Normally stranded colorwork is done with sticky wool. The wool's stickiness holds it all together and evens out tension. I'm very proud of my ability to get a nice result with the materials used, something I doubted I could do. It's fun to see the result of 20+ years of knitting.

The reverse side: so proud :)

I knit a sweater

During the International Games of Sportsing Endeavor (please don't sue me IOC) knitters knit. I joined in again this year with grand plans and high hopes. I stumbled a couple times but recovered to finished this sweater--poorly photographed by me.

The sweater

Jake helped

❤️ Jake Break: Jake is doing very well on prednisolone! (the only corticosteroid I didn't have on-hand ;) A brief Friday night breathing obstruction had me worried enough to contact the at-home vet about euthanasia. But tweaking the steroid dose has him doing better than a week ago. Go Jake! ❤️

My brain has been only halfway functional due to kitty-related sadness and stress. But my treat-dispensing abilities remain intact which is what matters.

The sweater is linen which is unfun to knit with. But will feel great in hot weather, once I break it in. Which is a euphemism for beating the snot out of it until it stops being able to stand on its own. I'm not thrilled with the hem ribbing and may reknit it...someday.

Knitted Sheep Carousel

I just finished knitting Sheep Carousel, a tea cozy designed by Kate Davies. I used Harrisville Shetland instead of the Scottish yarn the pattern calls for. I have plenty of yarn left for a second.

Sheep!

All is not as it appears

I do not own a teapot. I borrowed one to block the cozy (i.e., let dry in the desired shape) but it was too large. I wrestled with wet wool but I was not victorious. The cozy is instead drying on some leftover containers, but for photo purposes I faked it!

Roof of the cozy, complete with I-cord handle

I-cord handle edging

The spout and handle openings are cut open, then bound with I-cord (a narrow knit strip). I'm very pleased with how the finishing turned out. Shetland is a nice grabby wool that lets you do seemingly mad things like cutting your knit fabric without everything unraveling.

The only thing left to do is find a friend who'd like a 4 cup teapot cozy.

Another Blanket

I finished this blanket before New Year's, but my photos were bad. The recipients were kind enough to take more pictures in their non-blue drenched home and I present: 

New Rings Grow Warm

I worked on this pretty consistently for four months, not-so-cleverly beginning a month before the wedding. The edging, while gorgeous, was grueling: it's patterned on every row and is almost impossible to memorize. This was nicknamed the Hell Blanket before it was done, but once blocked it sat there looking so pretty and impressive that all was forgiven. And they loved it :D

Blanket Accompli

My squishy, warm and cozy Mitered Brights blanket is done!  And I love all of its 40x48" or 100x120cm.

It folds up nicely

Whimsy is important--thanks Tom for reminding me--so I added a multicolored I-cord border despite being tedious to knit.  And unvented a slight faster way to work it, which I will post.

The Blanket, posing provocatively on my queen bed

I reknit the border a few times all told to get the tension right, it kept loosening up as I got bored went.  I surprised myself Sun night when the last stitch was truly cast off.  I'd already worked most of the ends in as I went.  Of course then I had a dream that they were still dangling, because my brain is a sadist.  I got the last laugh,  I woke to a fully finished blanket :)

Salmonberries in Winter

I finished this sweater in June, at least the knitting of it.  I found buttons for it a couple weeks ago, and here it is!  Just in time for winter :)

This sweater took F O R E V E R to knit, but it's done and full of cozy squishy warm alpaca/wool goodness.  Salmon berries are a delicious local berry, and seemed the perfect descriptor.  The bumpy stitch pattern on the inner sleeves and back is blackberry stitch, so there ya go.

Photo from June

I Made Yarn!

I've been doing some spinning, and I think finally getting the hang of it.  Spinning is one of those physical skills where your body takes over and your brain just hangs out, half paying attention.  Initially it's more tear your hair out frustrating, but eventually it starts to click.

I played with wool, trying different thicknesses and methods of spinning.  I started with two large bunches of natural Jacob roving, plus some Finn and Wensleydale top.  I honestly don't know quite what to do with this yarn, besides knit cat toys.  But here are the results:

Left and above: My first 2-ply; Right: One ball from 3 sheep

All the balls and hanks I've spun so far.

FO: Earring Holder

Last weekend I knit a neat project, a strip to hold my earrings.  It's made from scrap purple wool, knit in garter stitch to the required length.  A butterfly pin of my great-aunt's decorates the bottom edge.

Most of my earrings had been living in the base of a ring holder, which lead to a jumble of earrings in short order.  Now the earrings are on display, and I'm more likely to see and wear them.  This earring holder holds many more earrings than fit in the ring holder, as well, so they're no longer scattered between a couple other jewelry boxes.

The Ravelry project page has more details.  The lighting in my bathroom is pretty horrible, sorry about the poor photos.  I had a long weekend of migraine last week, and was very glad to have an easy project to distract me and add a sense of productivity.

Total Project Success

The felted cat bed is an unqualified success:

Who couldn't love this face?

Jake also loves the cat bed, though he juuuust fits in it.  I've decided to make a second, since it's obviously the best cat seat in the house.  When I knit I hope that the finished item is loved and used.  I only dream of a reception this positive. 

Tiny Baby FO

I attended a friend's baby shower on Saturday and knitted baby mittens for it.  These were cute, used yarn I had on hand (the yarn shop didn't seem to want to sell me any!), and were happily received.  I hope they're one of those happy small objects that are used over and over and make life better.

Plum lacy baby mittens, with I-cord connecting them

All wrapped up for the party

This was by far the most fun baby shower I've ever been to.  It started at 4pm with little sandwiches and cupcakes, as well as a punch bowl full of Manhattans!  I didn't get home until 9.  A great time with friends, male and female, and a fun celebration for the soon to be parents.

2012 Roundup

It was a very difficult year but I made a lot of neat stuff! lol  Not everything was well photographed so missed being posted about.  I started and finished 25 knitting projects this year, everything from baby booties to a cabled sweater.  Plus 5 more projects that were started in 2011 (or much further back) and completed.  A very successful year in that regard.

Healthwise, much harder.  I have more pain and less energy, and sewing is definitely on hold aside from some mending.  It was a difficult year to spend on my own.

I started off the year on a lace kick, finishing a few shawls.  I wore the large pink one for New Year's.

My first published pattern:

And Kate Davies' fabulous Peerie Flooers Mittens and Hat.  I'm excited to do more colorwork!

This cat bed, finished in Aug and finally felted in Dec.  It's already well-loved, and Ella's figured out how to sit inside rather than on top of it ;)

Goodbye 2012, welcome 2013, may this year bring all good things.

Knitting FOs

I finished a sweater that had been dragging on for years!  And wore it Fri--soft and cuddly :)

It's knit with a fuzzy silk yarn that is very stretchy and drapey, but the drape caused problems.  The first back piece I knit was 3-4" too wide.  Now I know to start on a sleeve, where gauge issues are less problematic and it's a smaller area to rip out.  Then I was not so wise.  

The sleeves, which I made sure to knit nice and long, turned out to have monkey arms.  I snipped off the extra 3" and conveniently was able to add it to the sweater's lower edge, thus making it plenty long enough to cover my tummy and keep out drafts.

And some socks for my mom.  They kept getting pushed aside for other projects, until recently when I was in the mood for a simple project.  I also wanted to finish them.  They're my 13th pair of socks, in about as many years.

I was excited to have finished two projects in quick succession, until I realized that I have nothing to knit!  Time to start a couple new projects...

Baby Knits

Babies aren't my thing, but I can get as excited about a teeny tiny (quick to knit!) baby sweater as the next person.  And booties.  This project started out poorly, when the pattern I chose was toddler sized despite being titled Baby Sweater on Two Needles.  However, 75% of the original values creates a baby sized version.

With most of the remaining yarn I knit itty bitty booties.  They're 2.5"/6.5cm long.  All this from less than 220yd!  Now I'm back to working on adult sized projects.

More Lace

I knit this Good Day Sunshine shawl in May, as a while-my-sprained-finger-heals project.  I made a couple changes: removed the first 2 reps (24 rows) to make a crescent shaped shawl and kept the lower density of 3into3 sts through the entire Sun chart.

I finally have some good photos to share :)  I've also worn it a couple times and it's great!  Beautiful as well as warm and soft against my neck.  I used white JaggerSpun Zephyr, one of my favorite lace yarns.  Initially I planned to dye the finished shawl but I really like it white.

The sun ray-like pattern

This reminds me of a dinosaur wing

Peerie Flooers Hat

The Peerie Flooers hat is done, to match the mittens I finished a couple weeks ago.  It's amazing how much faster the knitting went on a circular needle, and having memorized the pattern.  I also added a soft merino hem lining, as in the mittens, since my forehead is sensitive to itchy wool.

I made a tiny alteration to the last two rounds of the crown: instead of k2tog around I worked *k1, sl2 k1 psso* leaving 6 sts.  This continued the lines of the centered double decreases.  I'm quite pleased with myself, even though very few people will be tall enough to notice, lol.

In a future post I'll explain how I solved--in this case at least--the problem of the end of round jog.

Mittens in June

I finished the Peerie Flooers mittens and finally took some photos of them.  There were lots of ends to weave in!  I'm now working on the matching hat.

Ta da!

The thumbs are quite fancy.  There's a neat blue floral design under the red flower.


I redesigned the top of the mittens: the pattern as written would have been 1" too long.  This is the result:
(it looks better in person)

I was able to squeeze out both mittens and the hat with one ball of light blue, but needed two balls of natural.

Super soft merino cuff lining :)

In real life, I've had a couple weeks of daily migraines.  Most days it's an all-day thing so I've gotten very little done.