by Kat | May 26, 2017 | General
…First weekend of summer!
Where has May gone? I mean really! Next week is June? What!?
Start your Knitting – Summer Knit-Along kicks off tomorrow! And, because rules are really not much fun – it is a go at your own pace, knit what you want to knit, make your own rules Knit-Along. And if you want to start today – go for it! If you started last week, good for you, if you are not starting until next week – perfect! No stress…really!
Hopefully, you have a good book queued up because if Book Bingo starts tomorrow – and books you are reading now count, as long as you don’t finish until tomorrow! I have Moby Dick in a hold pattern to finish tomorrow! Great way to start Book Bingo, right? If you don’t have a card, or you are not sure you want to have a planned summer of reading, I will borrow some sage advice from my dear friend Carole – it’s your bingo card, so your rules! And, you might want to add something from Bill Gates Summer Book List.
Now, my summer knit along always includes a cocktail on Friday’s so I will occasionally share one here (but I will always share one in the Ravelry group!) And, today seems like the perfect day to do that! And, what better to usher in summer than some gin! This Cucumber Basil Gin and Tonic looks so good (I have no elderflower liqueur in the house, so mine will be made without however if you have it, use it! And, my gin choice for this one – Hendrick’s!)
There you have the makings for the perfect start of summer weekend – knitting, reading, and a beverage!
Now, how about some links?
- In the “not knitting category” but absolutely linkworthy: Trump Snooze
- This pattern will be released on Monday, and it looks very intriguing!
- Lorilee Beltman has a new mitten pattern! Because, mittens and summer – right? LOL Well, perhaps you want to start your gift knitting!
- Why don’t I have a little black shawl? Perhaps I am kicking something off my list to add this…
- Mint Latte – shawl construction FTW!
- In the Free, but wait, it’s cute too category: Hibiscus
- Freer (wait what…lol – for some reason Grammar check did not like “More Free”) and even cuter: Spots & Stripes
- In the “looking for another country” category for those of us on embarrassment overload here in the US – OH CANADA (and, wait for it… it’s free too!)
- Saltmeadow – simple, but stunning. (And, Gale’s photos!!)
- Now, this might be perfect if you want to knit new projects this summer – Happiness Make Along (it starts June 1st!)
- And, finally: TUK which is so cute! Every grandchild needs one!
Now, have a fantastic weekend. I will see you back here on Monday!
by Kat | May 22, 2017 | General, In This Moment
I would love to be able to push a button and go back to Friday. This weekend was one of those weekends that you just don’t want to end. The weather was perfect, including the slow, soaking rains on Sunday! The only “gardening” I have left to do is to fill the containers for the porches and the patio. It would have been nice to get that done over the weekend, but time ran out.
By Saturday morning, the poppies were in full bloom. Their cheery red catches my eye every time I go to the kitchen, and stopping to look at them is the best detour of the day. And, the perfect contrast of petals and the purple center is so stunningly beautiful. As Kym says, flowers are indeed magical.
I worked more on my Book Bingo list, invited a couple more people to join, and then began to work on my “Summer Knitting List” of things I need to finish, and things I want to knit. Both lists will take some dedication to make headway on so, I spent some time looking for audio book options on my Bingo list. I was quite successful at the library which I hope means that my summer knitting and reading will be successful!
I did hit a bump in the road on the KAL knitting project. Pro-tip… dropping a stitch with super slippery yarn (read not wool) is a very bad thing. Not noticing the dropped stitch for half a dozen rows is devastating to the knitting. I tried, unsuccessfully, to pick the stitch up but in the grey light of Sunday afternoon reality spoke clearly in my ear – rip back and start over. Reality is right – this is gift knitting and so I ripped back and will start again today. For the record, I am blaming this incident entirely on the fog that is brought on by allergy medicine. Thanks, Zyrtek… NOT!
I know this should be an “unraveled” story for Wednesday, but I am hoping by Wednesday I am as far as I was pre-mistake-discovery. So, if I could rewind this, I would have not knit this on Saturday and worked on simpler projects with wooly yarn!
And that is all I have for today! How was your weekend?
by Kat | May 19, 2017 | General
Hullo, Friday!!
Who else besides me, looked at the calendar and got excited that next weekend is Memorial Day weekend?
This weekend is the kick off to so many good things!
- Summer
- Book Bingo
- My Summer Knit Along
In preparation for Book Bingo I spent a good bit of time yesterday on Goodreads and on my library website looking for books for my squares and I have most of them plotted out. One book has a mile-long waiting list – so that moves to the “purchase” category. Two books have a short waiting list and I got on the list now so I know I will be able to get it before Labor Day! All the others, I am golden on and this is a very good start, don’t you think? I still am pondering a few categories: A Banned Book (outside of the US), a Biography of a royal (which royal will I pick?), About art/artist(s), and recommended by a family member (I am hoping my Blogging Family will chime in and give me a recommendation!!)
Today, the real prep work for Summer Knit-Along begins. I will be going through my projects I want to get done and put them in some kind of order. Unlike last year, where I had lots of things with little bits to finish, this year I have things that are either barely begun or not begun at all to finish! I am hoping that the pairing of knitting with Audiobooks will help kick the knitting into overdrive! And, as you can see above, the KAL knitting is moving along smoothly – I love the fabric this stitch pattern is making! This is not my usual yarns to knit with either, but I love them all stranded together and I am ready to wind another ball of the bamboo yarn.
And, that brings us to summer. We got the rest of the vegetable garden planted yesterday and we had a few surprises…we thought we got zucchini and summer squash, but we got an “unknown squash” and bush cucumbers. Yeah, bravo on my reading skills…NOT! Our neighbor gave us a dozen tomato plants – some of which got in the “deer proof garden” and a few will be testers in a couple of new beds that are not deer proof. This will either be wildly successful (okay, I know I am fooling myself here!) or the deer will get some treats of heirloom tomatoes, but can they possibly eat them all? Perhaps a bit of sharing is an okay thing to do…amirite?
I also have some perennials to add to the bed we did last year. Some things did not make it over the winter, but as you can see – the Foxglove certainly did! It is just loaded with blooms! I probably should have divided it earlier this spring…but, I can’t wait. I also moved a yarrow plant from the front beds that was just not thriving at all. I am hoping this move will be good for it and it is happy in its new home!
So, with lots of things to do today, I think it is time for some links:
That is all I have for this week! See you back here on Monday – have a great weekend everyone!
P.S. Please don’t forget to share your book recommendations! XOXO
by Kat | Apr 28, 2017 | General
Tonight, Steve will be away at a work function. So that means no normal happy hour. Before you get too depressed for me, we had an “emergency happy hour” last night. Priorities, after all!
Speaking of Steve, sometimes he sends me the most hilarious things from work. Today’s gem involved the wonder of getting double monitors…
Really… I cannot make this stuff up.
Enough hilarity from outside sources! Today kicks off my “Home Alone” Day!
On my agenda:
- Finish reading The Mountain in My Shoe – I only have a couple of chapters left!
- Begin and finish The Lake – I have a due date of Monday! Yikes!
- Knit!!! I have begun the crossed stitches in the shawl and I love how it is looking!
A few things, but it feels like a full plate!
Now, how about some links!
There you have it, Gentle Readers! See you back here on Monday!
by Kat | Apr 21, 2017 | General
It took you long enough to get here!
There was a good bit of focus yesterday (although time ran out for stitching, but I will catch up this morning!) It is that time of the year when all the week “things” need to come to a close for the year (choir, meetings, etc.) I am so ready for a break and some time to spend at a less than fevered pitch! However, the end is in sight – choir is almost over for the year and after this weekend “active” resisting will settle down a bit…I hope!
In the horrible blogger category: I know I have been super lax at responding to comments – and I profusely apologize for that! All your comments are deeply appreciated and it is not my intention to not respond to you! Really!
In the Today’s the Day category: MDK’s Spring KAL starts NOW and it is not to late to join in! Really, Colorwash Shawl will be a fun knit! Join me! As you can see, my yarn is all ready to go…cast on will happen shortly!
Andrea Mowry wowed me with Find Your Fade and now Miss Babs has Find Your Fade Sets… yeah. I thought the exact same thing! Then, I saw So Faded and I think I might need to queue this up with one of Miss Babs sets! Amirite? And wait… there is even a So Faded Pint Sized… Cuteness overload!
If you love lopapeysa’s and long to knit them year around, perhaps the Norwegian Lopapeysa is what you need! I really love the colors!
Calling all Miss Marple fans… At the Vicarage and Bluebird Cafe socks are out!
In the free category: Espresso Shot Shortie Socks
Escalator Wrap
And, finally… this showed up in my “Hot Right Now” list on Ravelry. Yeah. I love this so much. And, a billion years ago I taught some beginning knitting classes at a yarn shop in Holland. The shop owner was knitting it… just a few rows a day. She was knitting with Cotton Glace as well. However, it is worked flat, which is just crazy to me – all that color work and purling! Gah! I promise you I could not even begin to understand the significance of that back then (and really, I probably should not have been teaching beginning knitting, lol but that is another story!) Anyways, I still love that sweater but would only knit it if I could figure out how to knit it in the round like Mary Scott Huff did recently. (and her latest episode in the continuing saga of the sweater from flat to round is insane…really, go read) I think it is safe to say that my knitting skills are light years behind hers…see this post for proof positive of that!
And, with that – have a fantastic weekend! I am going to try for one more day of focus and I will see you all back here on Monday!
