by Kat | May 25, 2018 | General
Not much knitting progress has been made on my Eavesdrop I am about 20 rows from the “suggested sleeve divide” but I am off on row gauge, so I will measure then to see how many more rows I will need to do. However, Sherman’s surgery was successful! Now we just wait for the biopsy results, but the vet was most hopeful and so are we! Thank you all for your thoughts for Sherman! He is most appreciative and so are we!
Friday’s that begin a long weekend are even sweeter, aren’t they? We got most of our garden in yesterday while Sherman was gone, and I just have a few pots to finish today.
Outside of that, we have no major plans for the weekend at all and that feels just perfect!
Now, how about some links!
First up, the knitters are in solidarity with Flint, Michigan. There is an amazing 11-year-old girl who is making things happen in her community and Thea Coleman noticed and Water is her latest “take a stand” pattern. 100% of the proceeds are being donated to her GoFundMe campaign ($3k as of this typing!) So, if you do nothing else this weekend, buy this hat pattern and support a very good cause!
Alicia Plummer also has a pattern that is supporting Flint with 10% of the proceeds from the sales of Real Life
These bird socks are just too cool!
The Seven Sisters is my favorite from the By Hand: Making Communities book.
Churchmouse Yarns Chevron Lace Scarf is FREE!
Blacker Yarns Trym Vest is also free and has a multitude of possibilities!
I love a yoked sweater, and Hap Yoke is different and so beautiful!
Laine Magazine, Issue 5 is now out and there are several gorgeous patterns in it!
That’s all I have for this week! Have an awesome weekend and I will be back with a short post on Monday!
P.S. Summer Book Bingo begins TOMORROW!! There is still time to join in the fun!
by Kat | May 24, 2018 | General, Words
This week I have a trifecta of randomness for you to peruse. Contain your enthusiasm and here we go!
Thing One:
People are talking about a “blue wave” in November. I am not so sure, but I am more confident that any wave that might happen will be pink! We are women, hear us ROAR!
Thing Two:
Tahini Swirl Brownies might be the best thing I have ever tasted. Really. Brownies for adult’s FTW.
Thing Three:
Finally, if you all could send some good mojo Sherman’s way, it would be greatly appreciated! He is having a bit of surgery this morning.
That’s all that I have for today! What’s random in your world today? Want to see more? Head on over to Carole’s!
by Kat | May 23, 2018 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Summer knitting marches on. I am working through the increases of Eavesdrop and I am pleasantly surprised that this experience knitting with linen is not as painful as I imagined it to be. Sparrow is a lovely yarn. But, knitting on size 3 needles is slow going as you would expect. However, I managed to start my second skein last night.
Yes, it was Knit Night last night where a huge discussion happened around swatching. Do you “waste your time” swatching or do you swatch. I was surprised that not everyone swatched! In fact, only half of us there last night did this “phenomenon”. Why this big discussion? Well, one of the knitters was starting a sweater sans swatching. The swatchers in the group wondered how she knew what size to knit. It was quite a lively discussion. What about you? Which camp do you fall in?
On a less controversial note, my yarn from Denmark arrived yesterday as well! Thank you, Holst Garn, from your amazing customer service and speedy shipping! I ordered the yarn on May 12 and it arrived here in 10 days! I highly recommend their customer service – I got emails every step of the way. Maybe I can even manage to do some swatching for a Uniform sweater over the long weekend.
My reading is in sort of a holding pattern right now. I did manage a couple of finishes this week, Caroline Kennedy’s poetry compilation She Walks in Beauty (which I really enjoyed) and The Death and Life of the Great Lakes (which I also loved!).
I have two books that I want to use for Summer Book Bingo, so I can’t finish them until Saturday. So, I have set aside The Baron in the Trees as well as Snow Falling on Cedars, which are both likely be finished Sunday.
But, I have started Lev Grossman’s The Magicians which I will listen to in the interim!
What are you making and reading? And, as always, if you are joining us today – please leave your link below!
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by Kat | May 22, 2018 | General, In This Moment
This past week has been filled with gardening moments.
There is something that just feels so amazing that these little plants return year after year.
P.S. The Great American Read debuts tonight on PBS (at least it does on my PBS affiliate). You can find the list of the Read the 100 List here.
by Kat | May 21, 2018 | General, In This Moment
What a weekend, Gentle Readers! It seemed to fly by at warp speed and it contained bits of all kinds of things.
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The Happiest of Hours
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Wedding Knitting
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Sweater Day One
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Sweater Day Two
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So comfortable
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Details
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That Sherman
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Bee Balm
I masterfully unlocked the “Wear Your New Summer Sweater” achievement by living in my new Lucinda all weekend. Yeah, that’s right. I wore it Saturday until the temps warmed up, then steamed it to wear it to church on Sunday. I worried about the sweater not holding its shape well, but it loved being steamed and looked as fresh as it did when I put it on Saturday morning. This sweater is just so incredibly comfortable, I am pondering knitting another!
The elusive “Knit at 4AM while watching a Royal Wedding” achievement was unlocked on Saturday morning. That’s right. I was up, knitting in hand, watching Meghan and Prince Harry’s nuptials. Best knitting time of the weekend!
The “Inaugural Bee Balm Bloom” achievement was also unlocked this weekend! No blooms at all last year, so when buds appeared earlier this week the excitement began to build. I am entirely enthralled with these unique looking blooms.
And, finally, we managed to unlock the “Yes, We Got Poison Ivy Again” achievement. Yeah, we are not at all happy with this predicament. We managed to avoid the poison ivy when we trimmed all the bushes, but Saturday we tackled some newly out of control Virginia Creeper and low and behold, while pulling vines we thought were safe were actually poison ivy. This is a double-ugh worthy achievement.
Bonuses for the weekend: I made pizza dough on Friday and grilled it with a bit of salt, pepper, and olive oil. It made the perfect conduit for marinated sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. And, on Sunday I blanched some fresh asparagus and made a quick and easy salad with Cannellini beans, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, lemon zest and juice. So good, and so easy!
How about you? How was your weekend? Did you have any achievements?
by Kat | May 18, 2018 | General
Houston, we have bind off!
Yes, that’s right… Lucinda, she is finished!! She just needs a bit of a soak, some very minor blocking, and a few ends woven in! Look for better pictures next week! All the details are on my project page on Ravelry.
Now… let the swatching begin! Apparently, it is the Summer of Orange for my knitting, perhaps this will make it easy to fill my “With a cover that matches a current WIP” bingo square!
I will be up early tomorrow to watch all the hoopla surrounding the Royal Wedding tomorrow morning, so I need to have my swatching done! Meghan and Prince Harry will give me a good chunk of knitting time! If you are interested in watching the wedding tomorrow Kwizgiver has all the deets here!
Now, how about some links? This week, it’s all about texture!
Starting with Marie Greene’s 4-day KAL of her Beekeeper Cardigan! While there are no images of the cardigan up on Ravelry yet, they will be up next week. And, she did share some of the details: “The cardigan has simple, all-over texture. No lace, no cables. Top-down, seamless construction.”
Lea is lovely
Not up for sweater knitting? Joji’s Bark Lines is wonderful!
And finally, I love the simplicity of Elizabeth Smith’s Castaway
That is all I have for this week, have a wonderful weekend and I will see you all back here on Monday!
