Me Old Eyes!

Smallest Child is a dancer, and often gets sore after a long day of dancing.  When she does, or when she creaks and pops a lot, she will comment, "Oh, me old bones!" which I find amusing, as she is just shy of 16.  She knows little of old bones!

At any rate, it has become more and more clear to me as I work on the bug, that I have old eyes.  I am having to hold the hoop closer and then farther and then perhaps a little farther away from me as I try to focus on those tiny holes.  I knew I was due for an updated prescription, but this has really made it clear to me.  Ah well.   

Here's an update on bug status:

I've finished most of the backstitching.  What's left to be done is with good old #310.  I'll do the backstitching on the bee, and then put in the name of the bee, and then there's a single line of gold and a row of black stitches that goes around the whole thing.  I suspect the backstitching may take as long as the frame.  

I haven't worked on any other cross stitching because of the eyesight issue.  I'm thinking about getting a pair of cheap reading glasses at the drugstore for this purpose.  

After finishing the cowl, I did do more squares on the Hue Shift, and then I undid them because I grabbed the wrong color.  Oops.  Hard to see in the gloom of TV watching sometimes.  I've finished the omitted color, and am now halfway through the first of the frogged squares.  

I did some swatching also for the two sweaters mentioned previously for Middle, and was pleasantly surprised to get gauge for Glenmore quickly.  Middle opted for a tan color, and I cast on last Sunday.  I had a Zoom conference to attend this week, which provided lots of knitting time, as I am peripheral to the meeting and didn't need to take notes or talk.  So the first picture is of my starting point at the beginning of the meeting, and then the second is where I ended the morning session today (Friday).  I have started on the sleeves and I am hoping to be done within a couple of days.  We all think it looks like chain mail, but that seems to be a feature, not a bug, for Middle (fond of D&D).

At the top, I had just joined the shoulders across the front of the neck, so all the tricky bits were complete. At the bottom, I have completed the body of the sweater.  It helps that it is bulky yarn on 10.5 needles.  Middle decided that she didn't want ribbing on the bottom, so I did three knit rows with size 9 needles to give it a rolled edge.  She is pleased.

Still no word from Catherine, but I have hope that she will return to triumphantly post the completion of the second bug.  She finished the one our mother had started.

I think after I finish this sweater, I need a little break before working on the other one, which will be all stockinette on size 7 needles.  Perhaps more socks, or a summer top for me?  It sounds like I get to keep working from home for a while, so that bumps up my knitting time a fair bit, which will be fun.

Margie

Where Does the Time Go?

Well, now it's July.  What happened to June?

When I got back from Boulder, I did block All the Things that came home with me.  I still haven't put buttons on the Carbeth cardigan.  Perhaps a goal for this week.  I haven't needed to wear it as much, with Houston being a little warmer than Boulder.

The pucker in the Metronome shawl, that I thought might block out, firmly refused to budge.  I am chalking it up in part to the cream colored yarn being so dense, so I've undone the whole thing and will re-do it some time in the future.  It might also be needle size.  The top band of stitches was super tight.  I have a sweater-sized quantity of yarn the same kind as the brown, but in a white color, so I think since the sweater may not materialize, it may get used for the Metronome re-do.  Here are post blocking pictures of Metronome and Dangling Conversation.

Since I've been home, I remade the Thermal Cowl (Purl Soho).  Turns out it wasn't just my fault it turned out so small, there was an error in the pattern!  The original cast on was too short, so this time I cast on 224 stitches.  It turned out to be the right size this time.  Yay!  Here it is pre-blocking.  Many of us have tried it on to confirm that it can actually go twice around the neck.  It's nice and cosy, and I still have some yarn left over.  Maybe a hat to go with.

I made another pair of socks with some old Knit One, Crochet Two yarn.  I only did 64 stitches around this time, and the fit seems preferred.  I think for the next pair, I might go down a needle size as well.  I'm using small 2s now, and I'm curious about how a 1 would work.

Other than that, I've finished two more squares on the Hue Shift blanket, and am planning on some warm sweaters for Middle. Because Chicago.  We're looking at Glenmore and Homebody.  I'm swatching now to see what the yarn likes.

And... there's a return to cross stitch!  We still need to complete the set of bugs for our brother, and Catherine took home the one our mom was making, so we're getting close!  I just need to do some fuzzy stuff and a ton of backstitching, and then I'll be done, so I'm going to work on that.  When I went on the hunt to find the bug, I turned up a bunch of unfinished things, so that's all out and in the mix now.

Perhaps the Bug Escapades and other things that Catherine has found to do will precipitate a return to the Blog!  We shall see...

Margie