I have completed my swatching for the Lunar Phase MKAL. I am so excited about what I have learned about putting together colors in the past year or so. In my mind’s eye, I envisioned this shawl being like a water color painting – with subtle changes. My swatch has more of the pop of color than I think the MKAL will (after all, we only need 80 yds of the pop of color) and I think I have achieved the watercolor effect I was looking for. While this was not my outward intention, it very much reminds me of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
I have likewise spent much time thinking about the other little swatch. I think that swatch might be destined to become Find Your Fade I just need to figure out a few more colors to add in, more swatching will ensue. And, that does not disappoint me at all. I have learned the value of swatching, even swatching for a shawl. Yes, Gentle Reader, the swatch is your friend.
I discovered this week that I knit tighter at a smaller circumference, which is not a good thing at all. My sleeve on Strokkur is a much smaller gauge that the sweater body. Here is the stupid part of this: I realized this about 10-ish rounds in, but I ignored that little nagging voice saying to me “DANGER, WILL ROBINSON” and “THIS IS NOT RIGHT, STOP KNITTING” Some 50 plus rounds later, I finally listened to the yelling in my head and measured gauge. Yeah, when that voice speaks to you, you need to listen. Now, I am having a bit of a debate with myself – rip out sleeve one and start over or knit sleeve two at the correct gauge and then see how much yarn I have left with the hopes that I can then knit a 3rd sleeve at the correct gauge without ripping out sleeve one. The one good thing in all this…It has been snowing here for the past couple of days and wool knitting is all the rage when the snow flies! Ha.
I read a blog in the past week that has made me shake my head in confusion – the gist of the post was that they were all about the process, not about the finishing of projects and stated that they finished almost nothing in a year and that was okay. Wait, what? You want to make but not actually make anything? As my daughter would say SMH… big time! LOL I am not that at all, I am a PROJECT maker versus a PROCESS maker. Don’t get me wrong – knitting is my superpower; it is therapy, and when I am knitting, I am in my happy place. But, I knit to make. I guess that I what really makes me happy is a finished object that someone will love and, hopefully, wear often! I still don’t understand that post, but to each their own I suppose.
And, finally, Marie Greene has us turning our minds to spring with Lace Market. Oh man, I love it and am pondering yarn subs.
That is all I have for the week, have an awesome weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!
P.S. The flowers above are from one of my Sunday School students. I am so surprised they are surviving as they are, I don’t have the best of luck with indoor blooming plants!
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. Anne Frank.
When I read Anne Frank’s Diary my life was forever changed. Her words had a profound impact on my being. It was difficult to realize that people did not all automatically have love and respect for each other. I was even more lucky to visit the Anne Frank Huis in Amsterdam years later where her simple writing is not forgotten and it continues to change the world today.
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. Gloria Steinem.
She was the first woman I recognized as a feminist. She gave that word new meaning and I wanted very much to be a feminist too! She gave a new meaning to the word for me – being a feminist was not a dirty word, but rather a glorious description of what a woman should be.
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Maya Angelou.
I will never forget watching the inauguration of William Jefferson Clinton, not because it was such an amazing thing, but rather because of Maya Angelou’s poem. It was the first time I was entirely enthralled by the words of a poem read masterfully by its author.
In the waning days of winter, I have a seriously urge to knit different things! (i.e. NEW things!) I have this urge to cast on all the things and last night at knitting I brought a ball of yarn to do some swatching for a new project. I should have brought a smaller needle too, but I did not and I did not get gauge, but I am certain I will a different size needle.
I must wind some yarn to do another swatch for the Moon Phases MKAL and then decide which color sets I like best. I loved all your votes for the blue/grey with the pop of green-yellow and I am excited to see how this knits up.
See how I am ignoring those mystery socks and the sleeves on my Strokkur? Yeah, I see that too! LOL
I did get Genevieve’s little bear in a bunny suit done! And, I am seriously in love with her (so is Sherman btw! LOL) I need to steam the hood a bit, but she is all ready to be tucked in the Easter basket of one very amazing little girl!
I also finished Grand Central Scarf and I just love how it turned out. I used a skein of Rifton from Jill Draper Makes Stuff. It needs a good soak and a little blocking, but some planned unraveling makes this an easy and fun knit!
March reading is off to a dubious start. I finished Fire and Fury and A Stash of Ones Own. Both fell flat for me and for me they each were 2-star books. There were essays I enjoyed in Clara Parkes book, but most I did not. And, Fire and Fury… what can I say – I liked the book about as much as I like the characters in the book. I pushed aside a Net Galley book to read these library books, but I am glad to be settling back into Paula McLain’s Love and Ruin. I spent a few moments letting her words push out all the disappointment from the other books and I was quickly sucked in and read longer than I intended! I love when a book makes me do that!
I am about half way through the audiobook of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and I love it!
If you are joining today, please leave the link to your post in your comment and thank you!
Watching Loch Ness which I borrowed from the library.
Reading A Stash of One’s Own by Clara Parkes – this one will fill a slot on my Read Harder Challenge list.
Listening to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and I am enjoying it tremendously.
Making a bunny in a bear suit, mystery socks (which still are a mystery to me!), and sleeves on my Strokkur!
Feeling eager for the arrival of spring, gardening, and spending more time out-of-doors and ennui about my current knitting projects (except that little bear which is getting all the love!)
Planning lots of things! Starting with my participation in The 100 Day Project again this year. I would like to do something a bit more creative than I did last year. I am thinking about how I can successfully accomplish this. I am also planning some “days of sewing” coming up – why days? Well, when I get out the sewing machine – I’d like to have a few things to work on while it is out! And, the garden – lots of planning is happening over what to grow this year!
Loving the longer days and these surprisingly sturdy snowdrops that survived the weekends gale-force winds!
The weekend was kind of a chaotic blur. In the perpetual search for storage in a house with no storage, which is the bane of our existence, we again reorganized/reworked some rooms. It did not end well, and Steve is back at work today, sans that weekend feeling. End result, we fiddled with a few rooms with no real solutions found. Sadly, you cannot create storage space where it does not exist.
On a brighter note, if there had been more knitting time, I might have gotten this little bear done! But, even with the scant amount of time I did spend knitting this week, I got a surprising amount done! Several of you have asked about the Fiddly-ness of the kitting of this little bear. It starts out in a very easy and straightforward manner. The instructions are clear and concise – my one pro-tip, thus far: attach the bear head to the body after you have knit a good bit of the hood. Knitting the hood around the bear head has been the fiddliest part of the process thus far. I will let you know how the arms and legs go, but I am not foreseeing any major issues! I really love how she has configured picking up stitches! It is so insanely easy!
With so much chaos all weekend, it was easy to convince Steve that Sunday supper should include Margarita’s and happy hour food and at least for a few moments we did not care at all that Monday was looming large!
Usually my list for Monday includes several loads of laundry, but today I am passing that task on to Tuesday’s list! I am reclaiming some weekend minutes before Steve gets home from work today.
Yes, March has some lion-like qualities here in the ‘Burgh today. The mild weather we had been joyfully experiencing has been replaced with the rude return of winter. Snow, cold, and blowing winds are what my world looks like today!
However, there were some good things to reflect upon as the week ends.
It appears my fix on my Carbeth is a winner! I would have soaked and blocked it again – but this weather has pre-empted that because I am wearing her today!
Last week I had a visit with the optometrist who confirmed there is a change to my prescription… new glasses arrived on Wednesday and my eyes are rejoicing at all the things they can clearly see! (If you follow me on IG, I will post a photo of both the new and improved Carbeth neckline and my new glasses there later today!)
My forsythia has NOT bloomed yet, so I am hoping to avoid the catastrophe that happened last year when they bloomed and then the cold returned destroying all the flowers!
AND, the weekend is here! Which is always a very good thing! I will be heading to JoAnn’s for some Bear in a Bunny Suit stuffing…
There were some very good links this week as well!
First up, a new Sally Melville pattern: Necessary Neutral I really love this, and she is so right with this statement: “Whether or not we knit socks, we buy fingering yarns.”
Twisted Threads and Gravity of color wrap both caught my eye for different reasons. Both are a most wearable shape and they are both currently free.
As winter so harshly reminded me this morning, he is not quite ready to move on so perhaps some mitten knitting is a good idea: Long Reach Mittens or Dreyma Mitts
Oh My Sheep is about the cutest thing ever. Someone should knit one for Vicki’s new grandbaby!
