by Kat | May 4, 2018 | General
This photo is from Wednesday, but this morning the lilacs are all open! Their gentle fragrance fills the morning breezes and our weather is supposed to cool down a bit, so I am hoping they will last longer. Add to that, my neighbors Dogwood is on the cusp of blooming and the trees all seem to be in a race to unfurl their leaves. We have had glorious gentle rains. Outside is a smorgasbord for the senses! Spring is absolutely springing here in Pittsburgh.
I continue to knit around and around and around on my Lucinda sweater. I need to get to that magical number of 16 inches and I can then divide for the sleeves… I am at roughly 10 inches so a bit more to go. I have taken to heart all your comments about my uneven stitches becoming more even through the wonder that is blocking! My fingers are crossed, and I am worried much less about how it looks right now.
This weekend is a trifecta of fun: Maryland Sheep and Wool, Cinco de Mayo, and the Kentucky Derby! I mean what more can you ask for in a weekend?
Are you despondent because you can’t get to Maryland to peruse the wares? Jennie the Potter will have pottery online today starting at noon central. Yes, you are reading that correctly! You can get pottery online on Friday here! This year’s MDSWF design features River Otters… oh the cuteness of a knitting otter!!
In the making department, I also finished a sleeveless tunic on Thursday, and will get some photos taken to share with you next week. This tunic is extra special because I was able to make it out of the ‘reclaimed’ fabric from a previously made garment! I know, I was so excited too! The modifications I made worked well and I could not be happier! Well, I could maybe be a tiny bit happier if I could knit a sweater in the amount of time I sewed these tunics! Hahaha! But, I am now planning what other garments I can deconstruct to make a couple more tunics!
To start the links off, I want to share an wonderful app I discovered this week: The Cornell Lab Merlin Bird ID I know a good number of birds, but not every bird I see I know… but thanks to the wonder of Merlin, I have been able to identify a few new (to me) birds! And, best of all… it is FREE and available in both the AppStore and in Google play.
Heidi Kirmaier has a new tee shirt with perfect summery knits timing!
Ankers Bluse is adorable and will be out in English soon!
Silver Forest… just stunning
Balloon Cardigan is a new twist on a classic!
That is all I have for this week! Have an awesome weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!
by Kat | Apr 27, 2018 | General
Spring has sprung in my neighborhood and that can mean just one thing – Nest Wars! Yes, that’s right. We have one determined Robin who wants to build a nest on our porch. And, they are so determined. I have removed seven nests in various stages since last week. Note the bag on the light is not deterring her from building the nest on top of the storage cabinet!! Yesterday, I took two down in a span of about four hours! Silly, silly robins! And, yes… I removed another one this morning!
The knitting is strong with Lucinda though! I am almost done with my second skein of yarn, which means I am just about to the halfway point of the body! It is a wonder what a few minutes dedicated to knitting can do each day!
Yesterday was Poem in Your Pocket Day and wow… there were so many, many, many great poems filling up my blog reader! Thank you all for such inspiration and for introducing me to so many new poets! April is just the best month and I am kind of sad to see it end from a poetry standpoint! I have both enjoyed sharing poetry and reading the poems that you all have shared!
Now, how about some links?
I love Adine Pullover
Isabell Kraemer has a new pattern out: interstellar
Rainwashed and Sandalwood are also lovely!
I also love Around in a Round very much! The construction is so interesting!
And, the texture in Kuben…
And, Scramble! Oh, my! It is adorable!
Perhaps socks in your preferred warm(ing??) weather knit? Brick and Mortar
And, finally…there is a fade for everything! And, it is free through the end of today!
There you have it, Gentle Reader, another week draws to a close! See you back here on Monday!
by Kat | Apr 16, 2018 | General, In This Moment
Resting!
It was a weekend full of lots of work; trimming, raking, and bagging umpteen bags of yard debris is hard work! By Sunday night, my body was complaining loudly but, we are ready for spring (even though winter is not entirely done yet…)
Today I am going to spend some time catching my breath and maybe getting started with clue 4 done on my Lunar Phases MKAL! This is the final clue so I now have a vague idea of how this will all come together and can I just say that Larissa Brown is a mad genius!!
And!! There could even be a load or two of laundry in process whilst knitting today. I can be talented like that! Hahaha!
I hope your Monday is full of the things you need.
by Kat | Apr 13, 2018 | General
Apparently, Mother Nature has decided that we will go directly from winter to summer… yep, temps in the upper 70’s around here this weekend. But, never fear… winter returns on Monday. Really, I can’t make this stuff up as you can see from my Dark Sky™ forecast…
It looks like I need to pull out some warm weather clothes…pronto!
Friday the Thirteenth should have some unusual links, should it not?
Starting with some motivating links:
Sometimes inspiration comes in an email: Santa Clara was spotlighted in Gauge Dye Works newsletter where I saw her Santa Clara and wow. I love it!
Or perhaps we should all do a little Knit Along of Bateaux Mouches from Churchmouse Yarns & Teas…
Báirbre is really lovely as well!
Or maybe Fading Point?? Oh, and Miss Babs has oodles of Fading Point Sets…just saying.
Moving to the What am I getting myself into? links:
You know you might have lost your mind when you are contemplating knitting the Gansey sweater that Daniel Day-Lewis is wearing….
Or Jana Huck’s Dot Dot Dot…. Because we all need one more shawl and especially one with intarsia, right? (But, the colors in Strickwittchen’s test knit are AWESOME!)
Svetlana Gordon always has me saying wow, but then I see the hashtags… #icord #in-the-round #mosaic #phototutorial
Perle royale might seem like a good idea when you start, but this is lots of knitting and only in French….
Finally, the batshit crazy, you have gone off the deep end and need a knitting intervention links:
Ballerina Tea Cosy (hmmm, maybe Genevieve needs one of these for her IKEA kitchen…)
Clever felt and leaf One case where free is not necessarily good or using the adjective clever make it so…
If you are knitting for Barbie and Ken just put the needles down and step away from the knitting…
Or Textured Dresses with this bit of instruction: “The PDF pattern has 26 pages including an individual page for each of the 19 skirt designs, an index indicating level of difficulty and 4 pages detailing the knitted bodice with plenty of step-by-step pictures.” I mean really, just commit me already!
Sock Monkey Golf Club Covers? Ummm….no, just no.
Baby Cat with Baby Carriage… Craziest part? It’s not free.
Raccoon Slippers…for adults no less!
At Your Service Knit Cloth… in Sugar’n Cream and seed stitch. And, yes, I am strongly considering them… Oy vey, send help, would you?
Why jumbo yarn should never be used to knit a sweater…
For the “I never knit a gauge swatch knitter” (I think the designer did but I have no clue why, lol)
The Penultimate Boyfriend Sweater – knit this for the one you want to get away…
That is all I have for the week, Gentle Reader! FriYAY the Thirteenth might be a double martini happy hour, non? Have a good weekend, see you back here on Monday!
P.S. All these links were recently uploaded to Ravelry! That’s right, for some designers, it is always Friday the Thirteenth!
P.P.S. I have no idea what those darling little yellow flowers are! We saw them on our walks this week along the pathways.
by Kat | Apr 6, 2018 | General
There is so much to share today, I don’t know where to begin!
First up… Cluaranach, she is finished! Now begins this great internal debate about blocking her. I am of the mindset this morning that I really don’t want to lose all the glorious texture. She needs a bit of a Soak™ wash, but maybe I will just lay her gently out to preserve the texture. TBH, I have never tried to do this before – preserve the unblocked knitting – and I am uncertain that it will work. But, maybe she will be just as wonderful all blocked out to show off the glory of all her stitches… What would you do?
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And!! One cleaned up hair cut FTW!! However, I am not likely to be able to “recreate” how my hairdresser styled it did on my own. In all honesty, I possess zero “doing hair” talent at all and I was very torn on what to do with my hair… cut it off or stay the course on growing it a bit longer. But, I am happy to report that I am staying the course! Ponytails (which are not beyond my skills!!) are on the horizon!
Next, my favorite Pittsburgher has some more Nebby-ness in the works. I am especially excited for Nebby #3, which is all about “People Who’ve Written Books Around Here”!! I can’t wait…and have added a few more books to my ever growing “Nebby Reading List”!
Did you see that Brooklyn Tweed has a new yarn coming later this month? The wool comes from Bare Ranch and their Climate Beneficial American Rambouillet wool and I am very excited as the wool is being dyed here in Pennsylvania!
MDK is hosting the “mother of all knitalongs“…
All the Facebook uproar over the past few weeks has me seriously considering my use of the platform, and thanks to Kym’s post I realized just how many things I use that I login to via FB. It is a bit daunting but, this post helped me unlink it from Spotify. Note…this worked, but not as seamlessly as Callie spells it out in her post. Pro-tip if you try this when you need to create a new Spotify account for them to transfer the data from your old account, open a new browser window to do it.
Today’s links are all about the sweater:
Isabell Kraemer’s Jaycee
Katrine’s Froya
Kirsten Kapur’s Cherry Lane and Foxhall Studio
Elizabeth Smith’s Stevie
Caitlin Hunter’s Tegna (which is not new, but showed up this morning in the “Ravelry Hot Right Now” queue…this would be the perfect summer sweater, just sayin’)
That is all I have for this week! Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!
