Wednesday, how I love you! You usher in the downhill ride to Friday while giving me a nice pause to review my week and refocus my priorities. And, you are also all about reading and knitting! Just ask Ginny!
I started this book yesterday and I am hoping to get some uninterrupted reading time today.
And these socks. I am enamored. The yarn is lovely, thank you Yvonne for the stellar recommendation.
How is your week progressing?
I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse. Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather
It’s Tuesday and that means Carole is wondering this:
10 Movies You Have To Stop & Watch When You Come Across Them While Channel Surfing
So pull up a chair and see what we can come up with!
So many great movies, but if I am channel surfing, I want one of these to be on somewhere!
So tell me, what movie would you stop and watch?
The weekend went far too quickly as it zoomed by at practically warp speed! (Beam me back to Friday, Scotty!! That Manhattan was so tasty as were the Friday eats!)
It was a weekend with lots of some…
Some unknitting and some knitting – I had to unknit a few rows of my Pincha, I think I missed a wrap, which created a troublesome hole. No worries though, the unknitting of short rows is not overwhelming. I am back on track now and again breezing along.
Some spinning – I managed to spin quite a bit on my little drop spindle, it helped that the weather was nice for outdoor spinning!
Some gardening – After cleaning up the vegetable beds, I worked some compost in to the soil. I also got my potatoes started in the pots! And, the seeds I started last week are all sprouting.
And… some disappointment – Perhaps that has something to do with eagerly (anxiously even) awaiting the beginning of the farmer’s market only to be overwhelmed with sticker shock… serious sticker shock! And, thinking how ironic that everyone is charging exactly the same amount for things. Hello, I am not paying $5.00 a dozen for eggs!
We were not disappointed in our trip to Janoski’s though. Welcome back, Asparagus! You have been seriously missed!
Outside of that, it is a nose to the grindstone kind of Monday. I have a long list today and some extra caffeine to help me stay focused!
Tell me, how are you staying on track today?
It’s Friday and that means a plethora of things to everyone, but across the board there is a collective sigh of relief that the work week is over and the weekend has, again, arrived! (And, it is Earth Day)
Before the weekend begins, it is Fiber Friday at Casa del KatKnits – and we have lots of fiber for you today.
I was unbelievably fortunate to talk with a knitting genius this week and she gave me a good bit of fiber food for thought. Which has me thinking about the economy of yarn and knitting things you love and, more importantly, will love wearing! And, swatching. Lots and lots of swatching. She shared a new to me way of determining if you like the fabric of your knitted swatch…close your eyes and let your fingers decide. Fantastic advice, which I did with the swatch from last week. And, my fingers like the fabric better with the smaller needle. Knitting is such a tactile process, yet I never thought of doing this. Thanks, Ina for closing my eyes and sharing a new dimension.
Rolag production has been going very well, especially with the addition of a bit of “pre-combing” to remove the vegetation. Pre-combing before carding? Something new I learned in the last week. It not only removed the chaff it also made carding incredibly easy and as a result, the carding is going faster.
I know. I am pretty sure I do not experiment enough, especially with fiber prep and spinning. I need to give myself permission to step out of my comfort zone, which is not always an easy thing to do.
Soon the spinning can begin in earnest.
Speaking of spinning in earnest, I am going to attempt to spin the braid above entirely on a drop spindle. I am aiming for a dk weight single. I struggle with this on my wheel, because of the ease of spinning and too much twist. Hopefully this plan will help that a bit. Add to that the portability of the project with just a drop spindle and a bit of fiber and it seems like the perfect summer combination. So far, so good!
Now, for the enabling portion of this post!
Ever wanted to knit stained glass?
Thea’s been cooking up some fun with Jill
Summer cardigans are so much fun, especially when they remind me of an Eileen Fisher-esque design!
Did you ever wish for a Big Sister?
That’s all I have for today, have an amazing weekend and I will see you back here on Monday.
April marks the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month and today is Poem-In-Your-Pocket-Day!
To celebrate, I am sharing The Enkindled Spring by D.H. Lawrence. I hope you enjoy!
Thanks to Kym for the lovely reminder’s she has shared all month-long!
As you can see, my backyard is a bursting bonfire of green (and purple and yellow!) How I love the rejuvenation that is spring!
Wednesdays are for knitting – okay maybe every day is for knitting, but it is also the day that Ginny hosts the Yarn Along!
And, I have been infected with a case of startitis which I am totally attributing to the awesome weather we are having. Although there was not lots of knitting completed amidst all the yard and garden work over the last several days, there was some.
I am almost done with sock one – and I think that I can find the motivation to finish it today. Hopefully sock two goes along as easily. But, I was so enamored of Karen’s Pincha and I had this lovely vintage skein of BMFA Rare Gems it seemed obvious to me that I needed to knit this so I cast on! I have completed 3 pattern repeats and I will keep knitting until I am out of yarn. There might be more of these in my future – I have a good bit of Lorna’s Laces sock yarn in my stash that is never destined to become socks. Why? Well, at the gauge I knit it pools – which I really don’t like at all – so I think it would be perfect for this pattern! This could be my summer knitting carry along knitting. I have a couple of other things in the casting on process and some swatching that is happening. If any of those get past the first few rows, I will be sure to share them here!
I am meandering through The Bat by Jo Nesbo and I am enjoying it tremendously. I am just about half way through however, I really want to get it finished because I have this waiting in the wings. I am not starting it until I am finished. Really. I.am.not!
It is supposed to be another gorgeous day here today; I know – they are so hard to take! I will be heading outside to do some knitting and reading (and maybe a bit of carding to finish up!) before the rain they have forecast for tomorrow and Friday keeps me indoors. I have some sewing lined up to do if and when that happens.
Have a great Wednesday and please tell me what are you doing to enjoy this amazing weather?
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. – Bob Marley
Carole has perhaps picked the best topic ever for this 10 on Tuesday, she wants to know:
10 Albums You Love. As in, you love the entire album, not just a few select songs
Wow, how do you even start with this topic – better yet, WHERE do you start?! Who gets the number one spot? How do you pick just ten? So, in no particular order (okay, alphabetical because there has to be some logic, right?) here you go, the 10 albums I love – in their entirety!
So, when I first did this list there were 19 albums on it and, sadly, this is not 19 on Tuesday! So, in thinning this out a bit I tried to pick albums that might not be on everyone’s list. Maybe I will be surprised and find that there are many duplicates! However, I thought it important note that it goes without saying that there is so much good music available today. But, more importantly is that even though a musician might be gone from this world – their music lives on (and in a way they do too) every time we listen.
If you do not see an artist on my list, it does not necessarily mean I do not love them and they are not ENTIRE ALBUM WORTHY – they are. (Hello Adele, James Taylor, Brandi Carlile, Aaron Neville, Tony Bennett, the band, Fleetwood Mac, fun., Mussorgsky, Gillian Welch, Joan Baez, Le Vent du Nord, The Lumineers, Mat Kearney, Michael Bublé, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Avett Brothers, Pearl Django, Patsy Cline, Sam Cooke, Sarah Vaughn, and Warren Zevon – I am looking at all of you!) Picking 10 was just such a difficult decision, truly!
I hope you see something new on my list, something or someone you maybe did not know, and they become something you love! Because, really, I hope the music never ends!
I don’t know about you, but it seemed like the weekend sped past.
And, there was no carding completed.
I know.
But, there was so much other stuff that got done, I am almost not upset.
Almost.
There was also no laundry getting done over the weekend so this morning I was greeted by Mount Kilimanjaro – the laundry version.
But, there were days of Al Fresco dining, cocktails, and lots of yard work – even a little bit of sunburn was obtained!
I hope your weekend was wonderful and that your Monday is not harsh!
P.S. Rhubarb experts… do I cut the flower out now, or wait? Help!!
One thing to take into account when trying to match a commercial yarn is the density of the yarn. I think that the Briar Rose yarn may be a worsted preparation. In fact I am certain it is. So, my Shetland in a woolen preparation is a much lighter, fluffier thing!
Before finishing the yarn
And, while I have matched the diameter, the twist angle, and the WPI of the Briar Rose yarn. My yarn feels much different. Some of you even noted the difference from earlier this week! As I was swatching – the yarn seemed much too light – and it almost seemed like I had more stitches because there were these ripples in the white fabric that really concerned me. I really did not want to spin this Shetland in a worsted preparation and I was brainstorming in my head about a fix, and my first thought was to go down a needle size. Size 3 needles were found and I kept swatching until I had a good bit more of the fabric.
After finishing the yarn
Before soaking and laying it out to dry, I thought the smaller needle would be the answer, but after giving the swatch a nice bath and letting it dry overnight – I think the fabric on the same needle will be just perfect.
The washed swatch
The Rolag Production Train is again underway, I hope to have them done shortly (Monday at the absolute latest!) and then spinning can begin.
In case you are not a spinner, but you are Jonesing for a new project, Ravelry has had a plethora of new patterns that are really making me itch to cast on one or ten:
Carol Sunday might have the perfect accompaniment for a Dress #2
The perfect sweatshirt sweater with lovely details – thank you Ysolda
If socks are your fancy, these are so cute!
And, I have been spending lots of time thinking about Spice Market, Torquata, and Miss Babs.
And the details on this little sweater really shine!
There you go, Gentle Readers, have a great day and an even better weekend. See you back here on Monday!!
If you Google “planners” you will get about a zillion results almost instantly. (Actually, I got 139,000,000 in .39 seconds) There is so much information available from Pinterest boards, to blog posts, to YouTube videos all with volumes of information on what people think is successful.
Perhaps the reason that there is so much information is that there is not one perfect system for everyone and this is absolutely true for me!
So, what I have done is taken parts of things from a variety of “planning styles” to create a system that works very well for me. This took a bit of work, because when I worked in the corporate world – Outlook worked perfectly for my needs. I combined that with some other online programs and my work life was well-organized.
However, now that I am self-employed and I work from home a digital planning system did not work as well. I am not sure why – perhaps the fact that I am a team of one, and what I am doing does not need to be accessible to others.
Now, I do use some excellent online resources for my work, Trello, Slack, and Harvest are wonderful resources for working on projects – and they make working remotely seem less remote! But, for my daily, weekly, and monthly goals – I really like a paper planner.
Last year I moved to the Midori Traveler Planner. It has become the best thing I have ever used. I did a bit of modification to it (thanks to Bradley at Stuff & Things) and now it is just perfect for me. I am not an “art” planner person. You won’t find stickers, washi tape, or collages of stuff on my pages – just simple planning – daily, weekly, and monthly/yearly. I use this insert for my planner. It helps me “stay in the week” and focus on the tasks that I need to complete. It helps me know where I need to focus my hours and how many hours I am spending on a project.
I borrow a few things from the Bullet Journal System – not many, just a few.
Sometimes, I have a task that cannot be completed in a week – a little arrow shows me I need to move it to the next week. In the new week, it gets an arrow to tell me this was a carryover project. Sometimes it gets cancelled entirely. I can easily look back to see how my week’s went and can keep clear records of the work I did. I think this will make tax time next year infinitely better.
I also have a journal insert for my Midori, which I use daily for my creative writing. This year, I have been trying to work on my creative writing so I am using Spunky Eclectic’s monthly journal prompts. I look forward to expanding my writing as the year continues.
The last insert I have in my notebook is just a simple graph paper insert. I use it to keep track of inks I like, of projects I would like to make, recipe ideas, Breed School notes, and just plain doodling.
Not in my planner – my monthly calendar – this sits on my desk open and visible. I use this to remember birthdays, anniversaries, personal appointments, etc. Things that are not work related, but I need to remember.
There you have my planning style in a very portable planner. Tell me – what is your “Planner Style”?
