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

My Turn

Back at the beginning of May, it was decided that Catherine had served her time and needed to go home.  Mostly Catherine decided this, but we all supported that decision.  So, with things not quite where we, the children, felt they needed to be, I got in the car and drove to Colorado in time to see Catherine off on her drive home.  Things are mostly good now.

The plus of working from home and being away from home while I'm working is that I don't have a lot to do when I'm not working.  I help with dinner, groceries, their dog, and house stuff, but my parents are much tidier than my kids.  Go figure.  So I've had a lot of time for knitting.  Yay!

The first thing I finished was the Metronome shawl.  I had gotten to the border before I left (I think?) so there wasn't a lot to complete.  I still need to block it, and I'm not entirely sure that I love it.  I think that the white yarn is too "stiff" for the shawl.  I think it needed a larger needle size, but the brown didn't.  I should have used two colors of the same yarn, but alas, I did not.  While still knitting it, I did test block just the end on the white side, to see if it would behave and I think it will.  I haven't decided if I'll block this here, or when I get back home.

The next thing was to knit a pair of plain socks in the super stripy yarn, so that was completed as well.  It took way less time than it usually does, which was fun.  Less than a week.  I wore these to sleep one night and have decided that I need to make socks smaller than I have been.  They are certainly warm though.  These are destined for Smallest, I think.

Next were two washcloths in the Purl Soho waffle stitch washcloth pattern.  I messed up the pattern on the first one, but sorted it out for the second.  I have a little bit of linen left still.  I'll probably wait until I get home and then weigh things to see what I can make with what I have.  This is the second one, not quite finished.

Now I'm working on a Dangling Conversation shawl using a set of gradient yarn that I admired and Smallest got for me as a present.  It's going quickly, I've already finished the color I was using in the picture and am on the fourth of five now.  I'm hoping to finish it today or tomorrow and get it blocked so I can admire and wear it.  The yarn is very soft and fuzzy.

I don't have a Carbeth picture yet, but I've been wearing it, buttonless, a fair bit.  It was colder than I expected when I got here and I didn't bring many warm clothes, so it's been very useful!  It's pilling like crazy, but I'll use my new Gleener when I get home and sort that out, I hope.

Once I finish the shawl, I have plenty more sock yarn along with me, and I have some yarn to swatch for a sweater for Middle.  Middle was learning how to skateboard two days ago in our driveway and fell.  At the time, they thought they broke their arm, but decided they would wait and see.  Middle told Jeff yesterday morning, a Saturday, and after much driving around and waiting, the doctors determined that yes, they did.  It is hard to be far away while Middle is hurt, but the good news is the break didn't go all the way through, they don't need a cast, and it's their non-dominant arm.  I will have to go home in a week or so to return to work, so there will be time to dote on the injured child.

Catherine has some big news of her own, but that will be for her to tell if she ever returns to the blog.

I think that's it.  I'll post again one I make it home and things are blocked.

Margie

A Carbeth Cardigan!

First off - the finished Little Moons wrap.  It was very satisfying to finish.

I finally finished a sweater for me!  It's the second one I've ever done.  I like it a bunch.  It's a Carbeth Cardigan.  The pattern was pretty popular a couple of years ago, and seems to still be relatively popular.  I finished it Saturday and need to block it and put on buttons.  I suspect that Smallest will steal it from time to time.  The yarn has some cashmere in it, which is oh so nice.  This is before I finished -

We are deep into Coronavirus stay at home now.  Middle was retrieved from school by her dad and Smallest a week and a bit ago (it is Monday, they got home last Saturday).  Smallest has had online school for a week.  The Boy starts online classes today, and Middle starts them next week.  We are all wondering how one will have a studio art class online.  About the same way Smallest has online dance classes, I guess?

Catherine has been in Boulder with our parents for almost two months (?) while our mom goes through some medical stuff.  The good news is that she (Mom) is doing much better.  The bad news is that I'm not sure if Catherine can get back home?  I guess that traveling is still allowed, so she probably could?  Probably not for a couple more weeks, I would guess.  We'll get that all sorted out.

I've been working from home for about two weeks now.  It is nice to use my down time in a more productive fashion, but I also miss being around my colleagues who could help me spend my time in a more work-productive fashion.  Ah well.

Now that I've finished the sweater, I am back to TV knitting on the hue shift blanket.  I've started the third row of 10.  It's relatively slow going - about an hour per block - but it's nice mindless work.  I've got another Sliding Frogs scarf going for Jeff's brother.  That will take a while, but I'm happy with it so far.  Smallest wants more socks, so I have some yarn wound for that.  I tried a spiffy pattern, but the yarn is so stripy that it just wasn't cooperating, so a plain sock it will be.  I think the next big project will be a Metronome shawl that I bought yarn for on our honeymoon to Seattle.  We went to Churchmouse Yarn and Tea and I picked up yarn there.  Hard to believe that was three and a half years ago!  Time flies.  I have a bunch of other yarn set aside to become things, so I am looking forward to working my way through it all.

Oh - and Smallest made her first quilt.  She made it for her baby half sister.

Progress

I have made it past half way on the Little Moons Wrap for my mother-in-law.  I think I may be 1/3 of the way done with the second half, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high.  It seems like it has gone on a long time now.  I will try to get a picture soon.

In other news, Purl Soho has lured me in with their Thermal Cowl (a free pattern).  However, instead of using their yarn, which is expensive, I'm using some I got on sale at Knit Picks for under $8 a skein.  I did have to get four skeins instead of two, but it was still 2/3 of the price of the Purl Soho yarn.  It's bulky yarn, and a very simple pattern, so it looks cool, but is super easy and quick.  Just the kind of amusement I need in the middle of making the wrap mentioned above.

The yarn came in yesterday and I've swatched it and just gave it a bath.  The pattern calls for size 11 needles, but I always go smaller to get gauge.  I tried size 9 and 10.  Here are my results.  Hmm.  I need to figure out how to post these side by side...

So I really like the nice fat cables in the top swatch, which is the size 9.  However, it occurs to me that I didn't get gauge at all.  It's supposed to be 13.5 stitches and 16 rounds to 4 inches.  Yeah, maybe I do need to go up to the size 11 this time.  This will be for Middle, who is chilly in Chicago.

Over the weekend I was in Lafayette, Louisiana for a dance competition with Smallest and picked up some souvenir yarn that was new to me.  It's Emma's Yarn, and is dyed by a teenager whose parents own a yarn shop.  Pretty spiffy.  The yarn will be socks for Smallest.  At some point.

If you are a follower of Mason Dixon Knitting, then you will know about the February Bang Out A Sweater.  I'd picked up yarn to do the Carbeth Cardigan two years ago, and am thinking that this might be the month to get it done.  We'll see how things go with the wrap and the cowl.  There's a dance competition this Sunday, a plane trip and some long days of waiting next weekend, and then two more dance competitions the last two weekends of the month.  Hopefully I'll have something good to show for all that ear abuse!

I think that's about it for now.  I'll check back in with Little Moon pictures, and cowl swatch results.

Margie

Christmas done!

Unfortunately, many knit presents were not completed.  I did finish the pink hat for stepdaughter 2.  I had her try it on at Thanksgiving (with her eyes closed) and stepdaughter 1 liked it enough that she wanted one too!  I ran out of yarn with about six rows to go on the second hat, so that one got finished right after Christmas.  Here's me modeling the hat.

I made Middle a hat to go with her cowl by knitting the Turn a Square pattern with the two yarns held together.  I'm not sure how much I like it, but as long as she likes it, that's what matters.  We shall see.

So far, that's three hats.  I didn't finish the wrap, but I'm closing in on half way.  It will be lovely when it's blocked.  I also made a purple hat for one of Smallest's dance teachers, but it was too small, so I'll do that over.  Probably in the Bankhead pattern.

I did start and finish a sweater for a small friend.  One of my college friends is a single dad to an adorable kiddo.  I've made him a sweater before, and now that he is three, he's large like my big kiddos and is wearing sizes 4-6, so I made him a Flax light sweater with Gauge Dyeworks self-striping sweater yarn.  It turned out very well and I popped it in the mail this morning.  I am hopeful that it will fit.  It cleaned up nicely when blocked.  In the pictures below, the top is pre-blocked and the bottom is post-blocking.  I am pleased!

Other than that, everyone has been passing some crud around and it has finally gotten me.  I thought I had dodged it, but apparently not.  Alas.  We did go see Star Wars this weekend and I thought it was super.  Lots of references for people who have grown up with the original trilogy.

I'll post pictures of the wrap soon.  I think I will need a mid-point celebration.

Margie

Next!

I have finished the cowl for Middle.  I really like how it turned out, and I like how soft it is.  I'm going to offer it as an early Christmas present, since she might like to have it because it's cold in Chicago.
Here it is in the bath, getting ready to block.  I'll grab a FO picture soon.  Maybe Smallest can model it for me.

Now that I've finished the cowl, I've started on two more projects.  One is a wrap for my mother-in-law, and one is the hat requested by my younger step daughter.  The wrap is the Little Moons Lace pattern from Purl Soho, and the hat is Turn a Square from Brooklyn Tweed.  I'm using Malabrido Fino from my stash for the wrap and bought a skein of Malabrigo Rios in Valentina for the hat.  She wanted a soft pink hat.  I'm not putting in stripes, it will be all one color.  She wants a plain hat, so this should do the trick.
I cast on the hat last night and promptly messed up the tubular cast on.  Not sure what I did, but I did more unknitting (only three rows) and reknitting and now all is well.  Here's the progress so far.  Not much, but hats are quick!

My little yarn bag is just the right size for the project, and since I went to Rice University, I like things with owls on them (our mascot).  It's a Binkwaffle bag.  I think I got it at a yarn shop in New Braunfels?  Lucky Ewe Yarns!  I remembered.

Other than that, there's a scarf and a little sweater on my list of things to get done.  We'll see how it all works out!

Margie