by Kat | 3 days ago | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Gentle Unravelers on this most somber of Wednesday’s
I am sure, like me, you all remember exactly where you were at 8:14AM EDT in 2001. Today, especially, I think of the 2,977 souls that were lost. A good day to sit in quiet meditation and catch up my stitching… I am a couple days behind this month.
In an effort to not stitch olives… I am hoping these will look more flower-like as the month moves along!
There has been the tiniest bit of knitting this week… some rows added to my Color Marled shawl and I have joined a new color to the mix!
Leaving the land of deep magenta for a fun orange!
I also have knit some rounds on what I think might be a hat for a gnome… Yowza… it appears it’s going to be a mighty big hat! This is some slow knitting… there is a row guide leading me on and, as you can see, I have LOTS of boxes to tick off yet!
A long way to go yet…
And that is the sum total of all my knitting this week.
Most of the time I fiddled with Gnatty! On his most recent walk, a grey-winged blue gnatty catcher stopped to say hello! And he discovered an oak tree that produces knitted acorns but he is keeping the location a secret! No pattern for the bird, just a few tiny scraps and some stuffing to fill him out… and those finishing touches of some wings, a tail, and a stitched beak!
A wee gnatty catcher!
This week has found me immersed in the world of Adam Bede. Oof… it has had its hard moments, but Eliot’s writing is just magnificent. Really… does anyone do conversations better than her? I think not. I finished it yesterday but I have not given it any rating yet. Everything is still swirling about my head… but I know this, I loved it…perhaps not quite as much as The Mill on the Floss, but close!
Up next, Rosamunde Pilcher’s September… and I am excited to settle in with it!
Ant that is all I have for today. I hope you are feeling more productive than I have felt recently!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Sep 4, 2024 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unravelers and welcome to September!
https://askatknits.com/wp-admin/edit.phpKnitting season is upon us… and I want to knit all the things! Or at least all the things I should not be knitting! (Like Gnome sweaters and September socks!)
Gnatty has had some improvements. A sweater to cover his delightful bulk was knit over the weekend and I want to make a wee bird to sit on his raised arm! And I need to find an acorn cap… some incentive to go for a walk! Stay tuned!
I also began the September socks! Some Dream In Color Smooshy from my deep stash paired with a pattern I have never knit: Monkey Socks. I know… about damned time, right? It is a satisfyingly easy pattern to memorize and I motoring down the leg…
And a new Mystery Gnome clue dropped yesterday!! See how I have an abundance of things to distract me?
This issue was not an issue in the round, but it absolutely is knitting the sleeves flat… I need more stitches for the pattern to work.
Things I have not picked up recently… that sleeve and my color study wrap. Let’s begin with the sleeve… I am thinking lots about how to make this pattern work knitting the sleeve flat. As you can see… it needs to have more than a few stitches added so that the pattern does not do what it is currently doing. My problem is that I have to set this sleeve into an armhole of (X) number of stitches. All this thinking (and the reality that I will be ripping back to the increase point) has stymied this project. But I have ripped back to the increase point and will begin the pattern again… and I think I have a work around for how to decrease those additional stitches before I bind off the sleeve.
The light has been the issue with the color study wrap… or should I say the poor post-dinner evening light… which is directly tied to my fight against turning on lights after dinner! These all too soon shortening days and my own stubbornness are the reasons I have not picked this up this week!
The “end of summer” reading was perfection. Most especially, closing out summer reading with Charlotte’s Web! I listened to Meryl Streep read this beloved story to me and hearing someone read it who loves the book as much as I do is a treat! But… summer reading is easing into fall with the bit of crisp weather we are having here in the Pittsburgh area! And I am here for it! I was between holds at the library… so I went to my list of things I want to read and George Eliot’s Adam Bede was available. I am settling in nicely and loving how Eliot crafts a story. Up next on my fall reading will be Rosamunde Pilcher’s September!
There you have my week… what is distracting you this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Aug 28, 2024 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unraveler’s!
It is the last Wednesday of August… I know. I blinked and the month was over… even with two uncomfortable days (One month without my sweet Sherman and what would have been his 12th birthday.) I think those days were worse for me because Steve is of the “no more dogs ever mindset.”
Anyways, I told you this month I have been dabbling… but I don’t have a lot to show for any making this week! I have not knit another stitch on my silk shawl… but I did do all kinds of knitty maths to figure out how to work those sleeves on my sweater. I have opted with the completely detached, flat, and knit from the cuff up (so exactly like the sweater body was knit) option. One would think that this would be easy to figure out the math on this, but it was not. My solution is not perfect, but it works and I am working along… the bonus is that there are no sleeve increases outside of the rapid increases done after the cuff ribbing is finished so it is a straight-away to the shoulder. I think a week of nighttime television watching should see this sleeve done and perhaps a good start on its mate! Then the real work happens… putting the sleeves in the body. (Yeah, I am thinking lots about how that all will work…)
I also have a finished Gnome! This is Gnatty… I like him but I think he needs something. I am thinking a sweater. Stay tuned!
As for my dabbling in painting adventures this week… I tried something very different this week and my result was better than I expected! I will paint this again a few times to see if I can improve the end result. I am sharing the inspiration image for your comparison!
The reading this week was a bit of a mixed bag. I finished three books… Dark Matter, A Death in Cornwall, and Convenience Store Woman. All very different and while ymmv, I found Convenience Store Woman to be the most impressive. This week I am reading a Netgalley advanced copy of A Fabled Earth and listening to Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn. I am further in the latter than I am in the advanced copy… but I am liking both of them thus far!
Note: the following is a bit of a Soapbox Rant, feel free to skip it!
My library is making some rather dramatic changes to Libby and Hoopla come September… I am happy about one and sad about the other. First, Libby where we can currently have up to 20 books on hold… yes, that is a lot! However, September 1st the number of holds we can have drops to 10, which is still a really good amount… I currently hover between 10 and 12 holds so this won’t change much for me. I am hopeful this change will mean a much shorter wait time for an item. The Hoopla change however, is quite dramatic and there is no way I can see that it is a good thing. They are reducing the monthly borrows to 5 from 15. Currently, I listen to way more than 5 titles a month on Libby… way more. Sigh. Maybe this won’t have much of an overall impact if the hold list in Libby moves quicker… but really, this all boils down to money… as in the money that libraries are charged for digital materials. I will absolutely be attending some upcoming local council meetings to ask about increasing library funding!
Rant over!
How about you all… are you excited to turn the page to September?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Aug 21, 2024 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unravelers!
I am short on sleep this week as I am staying up late to soak in every moment happening in Chicago! But all that watching means I have made some excellent headway on knitting projects!
I finished my August socks with lots of time to spare and I have a nice fat bottomed Gnome close to completion!
I also reached my first color “shift” in my shawl… woot! Gradual and perfect!
Knitting perfection!
But not all knitting has good news this week. That sleeve I had underway? Well after almost 2 full pattern repeats, I ripped it out. I did not like how it looked… perhaps because my gauge in the round was WAY off and it pulled in horrendously. I am back to contemplating workable solutions… the solution that has percolated to the top might be the best solution. I am contemplating a number of options from picking up stitches and not joining in the round, knitting flat from the cuff up and seaming it in, figuring out how to make it a “vest”, or tossing the patterning all together and just knitting a plain stockinette sleeve…. and currently the last option seems to me to be the smartest option. If you have any other ideas, chime right in… I’d like to get this in the done and ready to wear category especially since we’ve had some hints of autumn in the weather this week!
The reading though… I finished Brian Doyle’s One Long River of Song, which is a collection of his essays that were published posthumously. I loved each and every one of them. They are perfection… some I even shared with Steve (the Pants essay was particularly perfect! lol) I have not stopped thinking about them since I finished it!
I also finished P.J. Tracy’s latest from the Margaret Nolan series, City of Secrets. This was my first Tracy book and while I thought the book was good…there was so much backstory that I struggled with, rather the lack of my knowing the backstory! Sometimes you can read a series book without having read any of the prior books, but this book needs the reader to have some backstory. I did feel it was very realistic though… and there was a wild twist. If you have read the previous books in the Margaret Nolan series, I think you will love this one!
My current read is Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus, Emergence Magazine’s Time, and the latest Gabriel Allon – A Death in Cornwall.
And there you have my week… what about you? What are you making this week? (And a wee reminder from Monday, Kay and Ann are organizing a Makers for Kamala online event… you won’t want to miss it!)
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Aug 14, 2024 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unravelers and Happy (almost) Mid-August!
I have two words for today…. Flying By! As in what this month is doing… at warp speed! And I am feeling a definite loss with no Olympics this week… Paris was spectacular and the athletes were all amazing!
So what’s a knitter to do when the month is flying by and there are no Olympics? Well… I have come down with a case of cast-on-itis and I am going with it! Line up all the things to cast on! LOL
First sock done and so I cast on and made some headway on the second sock!
A wee mystery gnome… one that is being done by the publisher of Sarah Schira’s new book (it is free, if you are so inclined) Two clues are out… and I have a hat and the start of what appears to be a very stout body! I do love me a fat-bottomed gnome! Haha! (The book will be published this September and I will add a pro-tip… if you like your gnomes to look a specific way… this might be the book for you. All gnomes “parts” are interchangeable!)
A hint of a sleeve has begun!
My sleeve… at long last! Yes, it took a good bit of fiddling but sleeve one is underway! (And this is the fiddliest project with swapping balls of yarn each round… it was manageable on the flatlands of the body but in the round is not as fun.) This was also NOT a project for Olympic Watching… there are just too many things to count so it got little love during the Olympics… however, the color is screaming fall to me so I believe that it will be back in the rotation!
And a new scarf! This one I am really excited about… it is almost like striped sock knitting, except the rows are longer! I love that the pattern is completely reversible… so there won’t be a wrong side. And my hope is that this will be as beautiful as I think it is going to be! I am having a bit of an issue with “loose” stitches going from the knit to the purl (funnily… it is not the same with the purl to the knit) and the yarn is 100% silk, so giving it a good tug is not the same as when one does that will wool.
One repeat done… lots more to go!
Whew… that’s a lots of making for one person! The days have been so glorious, I have been doing lots of porch knitting and it would be totally okay with me if this was the weather for the remainder of August!
Now on to the books… I had just one finish this week, Sipsworth. It was such a delight! Perhaps it is the space I am in right now, but this book hit all the things I need a book to hit! An interesting character, a beautiful story, and an ending that was perfection! Bravo to Mr. Van Booy for the genius of making an 83 year old women the focus of this book! I highly recommend!
My current listen is a book that has been on my radar for some time now, and a bit of a “gap” in my hold list (and some technical error with Hoopla) allowed me to listen to Brian Doyle’s One Long River of Song. It is short story perfection… exactly the thing I need on these late summer days! It is not long so I am slowly savoring an essay or two a day to make it last!
A bit of a future note… Sarah mentioned recently that she picked up some books at a book sale… one of which is Rosamunde Pilcher’s September! This book has been on my radar for some time now, and so I sent a rapid email to Sarah wondering if she’d like to do a bit of a buddy read next month! She, likewise, thought this was a very good idea… and I would like to invite you all to join us in a September read of Pilcher’s September. (It is available on Hoopla, so that makes it very easy!)
And there you have my week of makes and reads! What about you? What is tempting you as the midpoint of August looms?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you! (and I will be back tomorrow with some poetry to share!)
by Kat | Aug 7, 2024 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Dear Unravelers!
I have one burning question today… how on earth are we already a week into August?!
I have been working on a new rhythm to my days and I am struggling quite a bit because Sherman was deeply woven into the fabric of my days. But right now, the most difficult part of my day are mornings. My routine very much centered on Sherman so I am trying new things and being tender with myself as I flounder through the changes. I know that a figuring out a new rhythm takes time.
I have been knitting… thank heavens for the Olympics! I have the first August Sock done! I will start its mate this afternoon!
July done… simple stitching but I love everything about this one!
My July stitching really helped me cement a “new” way of stitching for me. I am spending less time thinking about what to stitch… but instead, I am stitching the same stitches each day… I simply change the color I am stitching with. I love how this looks and am eager to continue on this path… so, as you can see above, my August stitching will focus on “stitch soldiers” … a simple straight line within a couched border. I am really glad I did NOT get May started before I figured this out… pluses and triangles, FTW!
My Obi-wan sock… and a sweater that is one big sigh right now.
Now on to the sweater… sigh. I did finish the left front but I have yet to give it a good soak and blocking… why? Well, we have like 9000% humidity and I am not certain when it would dry! Instead, I carefully (read loosely…lol) did a 3-needle bind off of the left shoulder and then I began the process of picking up stitches for the sleeve… and my stitch count did not work out for the patterning. So I ripped out the 6 rows I did and have yet to sit back down and try again. I really should wind the last hank of yarn I have, so I can blend that skein in over both sleeves. Fortunately, winding yarn is an excellent task for watching the Olympics!
The reading has, thankfully, picked up a bit… which is a good thing! I had three finishes… the best of the three is Liz Moore’s latest, The God of the Woods. It was brilliant and full of layers. If you are looking for something to read… look no further! I highly recommend it! My current listen is not at all in that category… I am listening to Cat Bohannon’s Eve… with very mixed thoughts. It started out quite fascinating… but then quickly jumped off the fascinating to the absurd? Unbelievable? Speculation? I don’t know… but I am about a hours in and not sure I will finish it… but I will try giving it another hour or so of listening to see if it gets back to the fascinating part.
There you have my week! What about you? What are you excited about right now?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
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