Fiber Friday | 6.8.18

Fiber Friday | 6.8.18

I don’t know if it felt this way for you, but this week just flew by for me! It was a week with lots of outside activity and not much done at all inside. I hope to remedy that today, although I should work outside a bit more this morning because we have rain showers in the forecast for the afternoon!

All that outside work made for sporadic knitting time, although I am almost ready for my fifth skein of Sparrow, so even though it does not feel like I am making progress I am!

However, all this outside work has been a boon to my audio book listening which gives me my first BINGO on my card! It feels so good and my brain is just full of all the good reads of the past week. Oh, and I want to give you all a heads up… Goodreads is doing a give away for Ondaatje’s Warlight. You can enter here! Really… do it! NOW! It is such a wonderful book! You can also get a glimpse of where I am going on my card and I am so excited for this summer’s planned reading!

Now, how about some links to kick off the weekend?

First up, Karen Templer of Fringe Association wrote an excellent post sharing an introduction to sweater knitting. If you have shied away from sweater knitting but want to dip your toes in, this is an excellent article with great information and she even links to four patterns that would be a good start!

And, so because sweater knitting is just so darned satisfying…this week there were some lovely sweaters released! Ombre Tank Redux is a lovely summery knit, or perhaps Sayer which is so classic.

Like yoked sweaters? Wool & Honey, Kronblad, and Yume

Kid Knitting is so satisfying and Carnival as a fade is really fun or perhaps the simplicity of Stella Eve

If you love colorwork, Udamo Cowl is really gorgeous!

I love Svetlana’s Autumn palette, but it looks like summer waves to me!

Finally, I have been long debating with myself about KK’s Summer MKAL. I have decided I will knit it, but I will be using stash to do so. You can still buy the pattern at a discount through the start of the MKAL; which is still two weeks away in case you are wondering!

That is all I have for today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Weekending | 6.4.18

Weekending | 6.4.18

I am not sure one could pack more into a regular weekend than I did this weekend!

I re-purposed 2 skirts into Esme tops. This was surprisingly super quick, and I am feeling most accomplished for reusing unworn garments into something I will wear. The pile of unworn items is shrinking as they are re-purposed, which makes me feel so very good!

The farmers market had an explosion of good things which prompted some monumental tasks that included making Judy’s Famous and Oh So Delicious Oven-Roasted Strawberry Jam, pickling radishes, making Bourbon Soaked Cherries, and making stuffed peppers to freeze.

And, much of this happened during a sudden water outage Saturday afternoon thanks to a water main break in the neighborhood. How this can happen with the temperatures in the 80’s is beyond me! But, no water in the midst of all.the.things caused me to put off peeling and cutting up about 4 lbs of apples for apple crisp until today.

We also enjoyed a delicious Friday Happy Hour, had some steamed mussels on Saturday of which there were leftovers which made an incredible pasta on Sunday.

All this took place with the ‘normal’ weekend things going on as well and I feel like I lived the Make Hay While the Sun Shines motto to the fullest (even though the sun shone very little over the weekend!)

Obviously, there was little to no knitting time so my Eavesdrop is about the same as when you last saw it. However, all that time in the kitchen helped me make good progress on an audio book, which helps my Summer Book Bingo card tremendously!

I almost feel like it should be a “no list” Monday, and outside of those apples – maybe it will!

How was your weekend?

Fiddly Bits

Fiddly Bits

I am now in the “easy flow” of Eavesdrop, I have finished the sequence parts, the increase parts, and the Horizontal Stitch parts! I will just say that horizontal stitching with linen is not something for the faint of heart! I got it done, but it too the better part of an afternoon and all evening! I now have 13 inches (or there about) of stockinette to do. Translation… easy, peasy knitting!

I am also contemplating my next knit and I need to swatch, so I am ready to cast on. Why the rush? Well, I want to have this close to done so I can squeeze in Marie Greene’s 4 Day KAL. So, I am focused on getting Eavesdrop done, which means some monogamous daily knitting.

However, all the planting is done, the garden beds are all in fairly good shape which means I have no real distractions to keep me from knitting! I doubt I can have it done by Monday but maybe…

How about some links to welcome June!

Summer sweater knitting should be a thing so I have some ideas for you: Hvide Sande or La Lancia or Latitude or Congrats are all fingering-ish weight sweaters and all are so cute!

In the summer sweater knitting vein…#makenine2018 on IG continues to inspire me! The creativity!! This and this… both caught my eye yesterday and the urge to swatch is strong!

I have always been obsessed with Koigu and their Pencil Box Collection is wonderful!

For the shawl knitters out there: I love Walk your Way and Areas is really interesting as well. And, if you like texture…Bobble Diamond Shawl is fascinating. Also, TTL Summer MKAL shawl is up for sale this morning!

Finally, building blocks for Fair Isle lovers!

That is all I have for this week! Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!

Achievements Unlocked

Achievements Unlocked

What a weekend, Gentle Readers! It seemed to fly by at warp speed and it contained bits of all kinds of things.

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?

Fiber Friday | 5.18.18

Fiber Friday | 5.18.18

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!

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