Knitting | As Kat Knits

Sometimes Monday | 6.9.25

by Kat | Jun 9, 2025 | General, In This Moment

After a very rainy, steamy, warm weekend… it seems that summer weather is upon us. The second wave of allium are about to burst open, the bee balm is nearly five feet tall, the lavender has exploded, and the weeds are taking advantage of the rain and each morning I feel a bit more like I am losing the battle.

But the Orioles have landed! Yes, that is right… this weekend we saw Baltimore Orioles at the jelly feeder multiple times! Last year, not a single Oriole visited, but my persistence has paid off! “Good things come to those who wait” has been ringing in my head all weekend!

I had some “Gnome-spiration” over the weekend as I worked away on the sweater of the Big Sister Gnome. I am knitting at a frenzied pace to get my inspiration to reality… (think a bit of a riff on Lindsey Degen’s 4 Letter Sweater) I hope to show you all how my ideas worked on Wednesday… stay tuned!

Finally, on the top of my list this morning is to begin working on my medicare choices with PA MEDI. Wish me luck! Ha!

Happy Monday all and I will see you all back here on Wednesday!

Sometimes Monday | 2.19.24

by Kat | Feb 19, 2024 | General, In This Moment

Is for processing the weekends thoughts and ideas!

You all provided an abundance of food for thought with your comments last week…thank you so much for your input!

Yes, I have been thinking LOTS of thoughts about that Great Cabled Disaster of a Sweater… starting with the painful thoughts of ripping the entire thing out.

And while that is a very real possibility for the sweater, I also considered a simpler starting point… buttons to see what that might do. I did not buy new buttons, rather I went to my button jar and pulled out 5 matching buttons and stitched them on. It helped… the tiniest bit. After sewing those buttons on, I am still not at all sure what the designer wanted with the button holes that she wrote in the pattern. Quite simply, they do not work… I managed to jam two buttons through two of the holes and if this sweater is not frogged… they will need some improvement. At the current size it also needs an additional button to snug up the collar.

Next on the adjustment list… the sleeves. The cuffs are just all.too.much. They need to be less bulky… and quite a bit tighter. It might not be too difficult to cut the current cuffs off, put the sleeve stitches on a needle and knit new, tighter, less bulky, better fitting cuffs. Still… this is a lot of work for a sweater that the scale is tipping more and more towards frogging.

I also did a bit of Ravelry searching over the weekend which might be the tipping point for this disaster of a sweater.

So after all this “thought processing” I am pretty sure I know where this sweater is heading… now I just need the right “binge watch” to get that process started!

Happy Monday all, I will see you all back here on Wednesday!

The Trees have IT | 11.10.23

by Kat | Nov 10, 2023 | General, In This Moment

I am not sure if there is a knitting designer I have come to love more than Sarah Schira… I have found hours of delight in knitting small things.

A not so wee Gnome Cottage.

And last year she released the pattern for a Gnome house… which of course needed trees. My first two trees sort of clung to the idea of natural trees… they are a fun knit (bottom up knitting, in case you are wondering) and no… the ending bit of I-cord is not meh knitting, but it is perfect for watching… oh say, Gold Rush with ones other half on a Saturday night.

One very Festive Tree!

But with my Choir Tree I released my some of my natural tree urges and used some left over Miss Babs Deep Sea Jelly Fish Yowza for those miles of I-cord. And I could not stop… this I-cord is LONG so I could wrap it and wrap it and wrap it and wrap it! And I love how the dk weight yarn really stands out!

Since I have broken out of the natural tree urge… I have been thinking about some different colored trees to “change seasons” with the Gnome Village in my hutch… Winter white and grey ones for the doldrums of winter, cherry blossom pink ones to usher in spring… and some glorious red, orange, and gold ones for fall!

Perhaps your mantle needs a tree or two this December… they are a quick knit! (and they are really NOT fiddly at all… even stitching down the I-cord! Or could you do trees sans I-cord!) They are the perfect stash buster (just like Gnomes!)

I will be back on Monday, have a great weekend everyone!

Weekending | 9.12.22

by Kat | Sep 12, 2022 | General, In This Moment

Greetings everyone and Happy Monday!

It was a full weekend… a full indoor weekend thanks to the grey skies that brought some rain to Pittsburgh! Much needed rain, mind you…so I am not complaining. (Okay, I am not complaining about the rain but the mosquitoes on the other hand…)

I tried my hand at making pita bread from scratch – it needs a bit more work – but warm sort of pitas on Friday were a treat! I just need to work on the “getting the pita from the counter to the baking steel” bit… that was rough but no fingers were burned in the attempts however oval pitas were not quite the look I was going for! Ha!

I did lots of practice sewing on French Terry fabric scraps… trying to find the elusive sweet spot for all the tension knobs on my serger. It took some time, but I did get it “dialed in” for my fabric. And then some actual sewing began. I have one sweatshirt almost done, and one more all ready to go! It was a bit stressful as this sewing is well outside my comfort zone… but I rewarded myself with an extra “happy hour” on Saturday while we caught up on the new HBO series ~~Game of Thrones~~ House of the Dragon.

Outside of that there was a Steeler win (in overtime) which made Steve insanely happy.

I spent some time reflecting on 9/11.

I learned a new word.

I also spent some time working on this month’s suggestion for my word, which is to think about my word visually – with pictures – this month. I am finding this to be so much fun, capturing images of the things that fill my days!

AND… I even spent the tiniest bit of time knitting on my puzzle-y sweater start! The back is patiently waiting for the fronts to get caught up… and they are moving in that direction!

There you have my weekend highlights…I am more than ready to get this Monday off and running. I have my list ready for the week… how about you? Are you prepped and ready to tackle this week? I hope so!

See you all back here on Wednesday with The Big Sweatshirt Reveal!

Sometimes Monday | 6.6.22

by Kat | Jun 6, 2022 | General, In This Moment

Allergies to dust and grain, maladies, remedies and still these allergies remain. — Paul Simon

Spring is … wonderful … well, except for that little allergy thing that happens every year. I have some generally mild allergies to tree pollen and usually I can count on 5-7 days of itchy eyes, a scratchy throat, and – of course – a runny nose. This morning brings Day Fifteen of the most horrible spring allergies I can remember in … well … a long-ass time! So I did a quick Google search yesterday to see if my Off-The-Charts allergies were a one-off, or not… (really, I should have included a box of Kleenex™ in the above photo because we spent so much time together! lol)

Turns out, it’s a Big OR NOT… sigh.

So this weekend was all about not thinking about my allergy symptoms (and not rubbing my eyes, gah!)

My Mind Over Matter things… knitting, that water color class, and some Word contemplation (this month Ali Edwards is having us look back and look forward a bit, which is such an interesting way to consider my word at the “mid-year” point!)

First up… Knitting. In my Year of Never Not Gnoming, I began my June Gnome (a repeat of Gnombleberry that I had previously knit for Steve’s mom.) I have Gnombleberry’s body done… as well as the start of his “backpack”… which I am going to change up a bit and make it a cross-body messenger-style bag I think. Stay tuned.

Next… that watercolor class. I have watched the “make thumbnail sketches” video twice. The first time, I just watched what Rick Surowicz did. Wow, is he fast! LOL Anyways, the second time watching I picked up my pencil and managed to get two thumbnail sketches done in the time he did four. The first is perhaps too detailed for the watercolor process and the second might be a bit closer to how Rick did his four. The best thing about a video class… I can play the video’s over and over and over if I need to. I am working on letting go of my desire for perfection… but gosh, the struggle is real. Haha. Today I am going to watch the value study video … likely several times.

And that word work… I have made some notes from each month that fell into the “out of sight, out of mind” hole. A mid-year reflection is exactly what I needed to gather up some pieces I do not want to lose!

Finally, another list… and boy, I really wish that this would be the last ever list like this that anyone has to make: