Greetings, Gentle Unravelers!
I have so much to share with you today… good things, NEW techniques. And a reinforcement that sometimes you just need to try more than once to achieve success!
First… I am happy to report that the 3-needle bind off I wanted to achieve (with purls showing on the front and the back) WORKED! Woot! Look at that! It is a thing of beauty!
Just a beautiful chain…
I have settled in for Sleeve Island and have gotten through some very smart short rows and am now at cruising speed with some interspersed decreases. These sleeves will have deep cuffs… the pattern calls for 3-inches… and I am making no adjustments, it just has all been so smartly designed! My only alteration is in the number of stitches picked up – I never seem to match what the designer suggests and that means I will do a few more decreases to get to the cuff stitch count.
The details are just so excellent like the line of chain stitches where the sleeve meets the body.
Next up… my non-flaring toe-up sock bind off win! This socks has no pattern, I am knitting to fit Big Foot’s foot, lol. I tried several stretchy bind offs and none of them liked the 3×1 rib pattern I am using. I think Genevieve would love Lettuce Edged Socks, but Steve… not so much, lol. Anyways, I finally gave the suspended bind off a try… in pattern… and it is a thing of beauty! Flaring… none. Stretchiness… the perfect amount! It took me several tries to find the Suspended Bind Off, but I am so glad I did not give up and kept searching for a solution! Now I am on to the heel with it’s short row bits for heel/ankle fit! I feel like I have finally become a knitter… one that can take all I have learned and apply those techniques to a thing I want to make! I am so proud of ME! LOL
Flutter-free bind off, FTW!
And… my daily spinning reminder has produced another full bobbin plus another well on the way!
A slower reading week with a book that I have not stopped thinking about since I finished it. Sorrow and Bliss for Read With Us (reviewed below) and oh my, I can hardly wait for the discussion on this one.
At night I am settled in to Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life… I have 11 days to finish it so I might have to put down the knitting and do some reading a couple of afternoons to get it done in that timeframe!
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was very “on the fence” about this book after reading the “about” of it. Skeptical…sure I would not like it (because, I am the Queen of Preconceived Notions!) and I started it only to have a mini-avalanche of library holds come through. So I stopped listening and came back to it this month. This time with perhaps a bit more focus on my part.
And so I settled in with Martha and with those around her and Mason begins to paint a clear picture of what life is like for both a person with mental health issues and the people who interact with a person with mental health issues… in a very real and compelling way. Mason shows us how hard it is for the people around Martha so incredibly well.
I found myself, like her family members and Patrick… loving her and hating her… so much. Feeling guilty with I was angry with her, wanting to love her more and beyond that… helping her find a fix to make everything better. I did not cry as the book progresses, but boy… I truly felt all the emotions.
This is a book for the Read With Us Book Club and I cannot wait to talk about this book!
If you have not read it… my goodness, do! I highly recommend!
There you have my making good things this week… what about you, is there something you are proud of this week? Do share!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
The chains on your sweater really are beautiful Kat. I’m excited to see this finished and worn!! And yay for no ruffly-edged socks for Steve – LOL. Well done on that bind off (and I really like the yarn you used too). I’ve read part of “Sorrow and Bliss” but not all of it. I was able to renew it at the library, but am now racing to finish “Fellowship Point” before that is due back (and that one can’t be renewed).
You certainly deserve to be proud of finding and applying new techniques! I think you were a knitter before, but you are a better knitter now with a toolbox full of techniques and abilities. I’m also looking forward to discussing Sorrow & Bliss, and will be interested in what you think of Little Life when you finish.
love the 3 needle bind off, truly a designer’s touch! I’m knitting socks for my husband with my generic memorized pattern in my head with a broken rib pattern again in my head.
As a very amateur knitter, or as I call myself, ‘a rustic knitter,’ I’m coming to you next time I need bind-off guidance! (I often feel like the bind-off makes or breaks my garments.)
Sorrow and Bliss. I missed my audio hold–by 2 hours!!–so ended up back in the queue. But I’m hoping to get it in before discussion time. (I think.) (Slightly apprehensive about triggers.)
I can’t wait to see the finished sweater, Kat. It looks divine (and like something I might be interested in knitting myself). Love the striped socks, too! So glad you enjoyed Sorrow and Bliss . . . and A Little Life? Such a gut-punch . . . XO
Your shoulder seam is a thing of beauty! I can’t wait to see this sweater done.
I had some similar thoughts about Sorrow and Bliss before I read it, but I ended up loving it so much. I think we’re going to have a great discussion about it, too.
That row of chain stitches look so neat, what a clever technique. I have a huge pile of library books to read, and a lot of them are big books. Should keep me out of mischief.
What a beautiful finish on that shoulder seam. And I am bookmarking that bind-off technique. Well done you. I think you were a very accomplished knitter awhile back but it never hurts to learn something new.
That 3-needle bind-off is GORGEOUS!! Packing that one away in my memory…
I just started Sorrow and Bliss last night. As one who had several major depressive events in her 20s and 30s, I find this book fascinating.
So happy that Sorrow and Bliss was a winner for you. I really enjoyed it, too! And happy to hear that your knitting week was so successful – I will be trying the suspended bind off!