What Day Is It?

What a weekend it was! Weekends away always mess with my internal schedule, but this weekend was exceptional. It was great fun but also greatly exhausting, so I expect I will be playing catch-up all week.

I think it's fair to say that we all had a great time at Rhinebeck. With the exception of some light showers on Sunday afternoon, the weather was spectacularly autumnal and perfect for sweaters. But the two days at the festival were also incredibly busy, even with an extra person in the booth to help out this year. I did not get out of the booth all weekend except to go to the bathroom once or twice each day, so I did not have a chance to visit any other buildings or see any other vendors at the fairgrounds. Not that that was a problem -- I certainly didn't have a need for any more yarn! But I also didn't come back from Rhinebeck empty-handed.

Aside from the festival t-shirt (that's the thing wrapped in plastic that looks like a postcard), which technically was purchased by Scooter Pie, I bought everything you see here at Indie Untangled or Needles Up, both of which occurred the day before the festival and were really my only chances to shop. As I said, I really didn't need anything, but I did decide to treat myself. The yarn at the top is, from left to right, self-striping from Must Stash Yarn, a purple variegated (to make something for Rainbow) from LolaBean Yarn Co., the MDSW colorway from Fibernymph Dye Works (because I never made it to Needles Up Maryland this year to get a skein), and four skeins of fingering weight singles from Lambstrings Yarn that I plan to use for the Stephen West mystery shawl that's currently in progress. I purchased a bar of wool soap to try and a lotion stick (in the Cider Donut scent, yummy!) from Tuft Woolens as well as two enamel pins from Nerd Bird Makery, a sloth in a tree for Rainbow and a "Nevertheless She Knitted" one for me.

New acquisitions aside, the best part of going to Rhinebeck was seeing people -- friends from near and far, podcasters, members of the "knitterati," and so forth. Here are a few photos I got (though I missed taking photos with some other people because I was a little awestruck, like Bristol Ivy, Kirsten Kapur, and Jenny and Nicole from the Stash and Burn podcast).

Top left: with Beth Smith and Amy King (aka Spunky Eclectic)
Top right: with Lisa Ross of Paper Daisy Creations
Bottom left: with Boston Jen (center) of the Down Cellar Studio podcast and her mom
Bottom right: with Caroline aka Dunderknit of the Knitting Vicariously podcast

As you can see, I did wear my new sweater all weekend, and one of the highlights of the weekend was when Kirsten Kapur stopped by the booth to say hi and told me that she thought the pattern was beautiful. She may have just been trying to be nice, but I was over the moon regardless!

Now it is back to reality for me. The Mister is away at another conference this week, so Rainbow and I are managing on our own and trying to get the house back in order. I've got lots of blog reading and e-mail to catch up on and laundry and house cleaning to do. And I will be back to my normal blogging routine later in the week!

Pattern Release: Public Works Pullover

One of the designer groups on Ravelry that I'm involved in is the Budding Designers group, and every year for the past several years we've had a thread in which we post our design goals for the year and then periodically check in. For 2019, I had two goals: Release 13 new patterns (which would get my portfolio to the magic number of 100 designs) and, as part of those 13, release a yoked colorwork sweater pattern. While I'm not quite at 100 designs for the year just yet, I am super excited about the new pattern I have to share with you today.

As you probably already know, I do a lot of walking. Partially it's because I hate to drive, but where we live it's actually easier and cheaper to walk many places than it is to drive and try to park. Because I walk many of the same places every day, the walk can get a bit boring, so I'm always on the lookout for interesting things, and some months ago I noticed that there are some manhole covers along my route to work that are really beautiful. They say that inspiration can strike at any time, and I suppose there are stranger things to inspire a sweater than manhole covers!

I've been working on this pattern for several months now and am completely delighted with how it turned out. I've abstracted the metalwork that first inspired me into repeating geometric motifs that appear in the yoke, at the bottom of the body, and at the wrists. My goal was to create a sweater that was comfy, like an well-worn sweatshirt, and I think I've achieved that. The body is straight (though you can add waist shaping if you like), and the sleeves are fitted but not tight. I can comfortably wear a layer under this sweater and still feel like I have room to move.

The yarn I used for the sample is pretty special. This is naturally colored Shetland from the Ross Farm -- the lighter color is from a sheep named Marigold and the darker from a sheep named Lindy. These farmers (who I'm also happy to call friends) specialize in rare and heritage breeds, and all their yarns are undyed, minimally processed, and breed specific -- and my favorite thing is that each skein of yarn comes with a photo on the sheep who grew the fleece on the label! Their Shetland yarn is one of my absolutely favorites to knit with. It's the softest Shetland I've ever felt, for one thing, but because it's minimally processed, it also still has a little bit of lanolin in it and smells delightfully sheepy. The three-ply Shetland yarn used to be labeled sport weight, but I noticed when I was adding the pattern to Ravelry that it's now listed as a DK, and it certainly knits up well at a DK gauge, so I've recommended a DK or at least a heavy sport in the pattern.

I've tried to make the sizing on this sweater as inclusive as possible, so the 11 finished sizes range from 30.5 in./76.5 cm up to 59 in./147.5 cm, with 2-4 in./5-10 cm recommended ease. (For reference, I'm wearing a size 37 in./92.5 cm finished size with roughly 2 in./5 cm ease.) There are optional short rows to raise the back of the sweater, and certainly there's a lot of flexibility in the body to add shaping or add or subtract length.

This sweater will be making its debut in the Ross Farm booth at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival (aka Rhinebeck) this weekend in Building 22-U. Provided the weather cooperates, I'll be wearing it, and there will be plenty of Shetland yarn if you want to make one of your own in the same yarn! If you can't make it to Rhinebeck this year, you can still get the pattern on Ravelry, and this weekend only, it's available for 25% off with the coupon code RHINEBECK. Hop on over to get it now!

In Which I Start to Lose My Mind

Friends, the way I can tell that it's Rhinebeck week and I am not at all prepared is by how crazy I have gotten with the knitting. But first, for anyone who was concerned about my finishing in time, let me ease your mind with this photo:

Sorry for scarring your retinas this early in the day; I snapped this just as I was about to wrap them. These, obviously, are my father's birthday socks, finished over breakfast yesterday morning and then quickly treated to a citric acid treatment and a block. I worked on them as much as I could over the weekend, but there were enough errands and chores to do that I only managed to get to halfway through the toe by the time I was off to bed on Sunday evening. Thankfully I had a bit of extra time yesterday morning because Rainbow was off from school for an in-service day and spent the day at the office with me, so we didn't need to leave the house quite as early as normal. I did give myself a bit of a heart attack when I managed to somehow yank all the stitches off the needles as I was in the process of grafting the toe of that second sock, but I got everything mostly back in place and thankfully black yarn hides all manner of goofs (not to mention that my father will never know the difference if the graft isn't perfect). So they are done and blocked and ready to be presented to my father at dinner tonight. I used 87 g of my skein of Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce for these, leaving me some leftovers to add to my crochet blanket.

After finishing the socks, I got to that point where I felt like I had to cast on all the things -- I mean, I do have a lot of hours in the car coming up later this week, and I'll need some variety while I'm away! Yesterday at lunch I started a new hat for my nephew:

Despite the fact that the darker color looks blue here (bad early morning light, sorry), it's actually black, the same black as in the socks. I'm using two half skeins of FDW Traveler (sport weight) that were in my grab back to make a Halloween-ish hat. I used a new-to-me cast on for the brim, and once I get through the twisted ribbing, I'll be doing stripes with the two colors with some slipped stitches for interest.

I also started another little project last night, and this one I'm hoping to wrap up before I leave on Thursday. Remember that cute hat with the leaf on it? I'm making a pair of mittens to match.

I'm using the Snow Day Mittens pattern, with the leftover green from the hat for the cuffs and non-superwash blue yarn for the hands. I knit this entire mitten, including weaving in the ends, last night, so I think I can reasonably expect to finish the pair before I leave Thursday morning.

There will be more new projects cast on while I'm on the trip. Yarn has been wound and just needs to be put in project bags with appropriate needles.

The two skeins on the left are the latest shipment from the FDW Just Desserts club that I'm using for socks for Rainbow (toe up, which is why I've already divided it in half so I can knit until I basically run out of yarn). The mini skein in the center will be used for contrasting heels and toes. The blue and copper-y skeins on the right are from Dusty Tree Dyeworks and will be used for a new shawl design. (Rebecca also makes amazing soap and wool wash, by the way!)

As if all the knitting isn't scatterbrained enough, reading has also been less than focused. I'm nearly finished with Just Mercy and hope to get through the last 25 or so pages tonight. I also got notice over the weekend that my hold was up on The Nickel Boys from the library, so I started that yesterday as well. At least I should get some good reading time this weekend when I need a break from knitting!

Well That Was Satisfying!

When you finish a big project, sometimes you need a quick and easy follow-up. And the spinning project I just finished definitely fit the bill.

It's still wet, but it's done! This is the Romney I won during Camp Spin 15 this summer, and it's now been plied and washed. I don't expect it to bloom much, if at all, so it looks like the finished yarn will be about DK weight overall. It's a bit uneven and certainly not as smooth and consistent as my typical three-ply fingering, but it was so satisfying to finish this skein as quickly as I did that I don't care. And plying this up in about an hour today felt like a good way to round out the weekend.

Normally Sunday nights are a bit depressing (really, does anyone like Mondays?), but this is going to be a short week -- Rhinebeck week! -- and Rainbow is coming to the office with me tomorrow because it's an in-service day at her school. Even if I'm busy, it's so much more fun to have her there.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a sock to finish!

Finished and Finishing

Having a holiday and a day off in the middle of the week really throws off my schedule, but I'm pretty sure today is Thursday and one of my regular blogging days.

Yesterday went fairly well; I find that it's easier to fast as I get older, and I think I sufficiently hydrated on Tuesday so I didn't get the horrible dehydration headache I usually get. My only side effects, as it were, from fasting were that I was really cold and really tired. I was actually too tired to knit at the end of the day, if you can believe it!

Yom Kippur, like all Jewish holidays, begins in the evening, at sundown, and there's a really beautiful service that opens it that begins with a prayer called Kol Nidre (here's a video if you'd like to hear it). The service my parents and brother went to started at 6 p.m., so we were in a rush to eat our big pre-fast meal so they could get there on time. We stayed at their house to clean up the dinner for them and then headed home, where we were able to watch the service at our synagogue online. While we watched, I was able to finish up this sweet little project:

Pattern: Little Worsted Sock Arms by Stephanie Lotven, size 6-12 months
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Mountain Tweed DK (85% wool/15% nylon) in a OOAK green and Bona Fide (100% superwash merino) in Pizza Pi(e)
Needles: US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)
Started/Completed: September 29/October 8

This was a fun knit, though I'll readily admit it was rather fiddly because there are a lot of ends to weave in and not much space in which to weave them. I also substituted a DK yarn, which worked okay, but the fabric is a little loose for my taste. It works fine for a little sweater, but I'm planning to knit one of these for Rainbow eventually and will be sure to use a true worsted for hers.

My favorite part about this sweater is the sleeves. The yarn is dyed so that the stripes follow the digits of pi, so it's completely non-repeating and thus I didn't need to worry about trying to get them to match. The colors in this version are meant to represent common pizza toppings: red/brown for pepperoni or sausage, taupe for mushrooms, white for onions, green for green peppers, and black for black olives. There's a significant amount of yarn left, so I'll likely use it to make a hat, either for my nephew or to add to the charity pile.

Now that this is off the needles, I've turned all my attention to finishing up my father's birthday socks, and it's getting down to the wire. I've only just finished the first sock.

Ideally I will finish the second by the end of the weekend, because the black dye has been coming off on my fingers as I knit (pretty common for very saturated colors), so I want to give the finished socks a citric acid soak before I gift them and will need to allow time for them to dry after they're washed.

In my reading, I am very close to finishing up the Inspector Gamache I've been listening to and should be able to put it on my "read" shelf by the end of the day. I'm about a third of the way through Just Mercy and enjoying it quite a lot; I hope to make serious headway on it this weekend when I can stay up a little later to read. I've also been keeping an eye on my holds from the library, and it looks like I'll be getting The Nickel Boys in the next few days. At least that one I'll be able to read while I knit!

This weekend is my 20th high school reunion -- crazy! Because it's a small school, there's not a big to-do, but there are activities at the school on Friday and Saturday, so Rainbow and I are attending a few on Saturday. It is her school now, too, so it should be fun to go together!

Also on tap for the weekend? Going through the photos from last weekend's sweater pattern photo shoot and getting the pattern ready to launch next week!

Wool Weather

Botanically printed sidewalk on the way to work

Though I first noticed it over the weekend, the beginning of the new week has formally announced the arrival of autumn. Yesterday was cool and rainy, and all day I felt like I couldn't get warm and my nose wouldn't stop running. I was thankful for the knit shawl I brought with me to work!

I am nearly done with my nephew's sweater; tonight should see the completion of the second sleeve and the final weaving in of ends. Then all I will need to do is find and sew on a button for it to be finished!

As soon as the sweater is done, I will turn all my focus to my father's socks, as I now have only a week until his birthday. While I'm sure he wouldn't mind an IOU, I'd like to give him a completed pair, and realistically if I focus I shouldn't have much trouble doing it.

I'm currently at five inches for the foot and need to get to eight before I start the toe.

Tonight marks the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. That means I will be fasting from after dinner tonight until dinnertime tomorrow. Fasting always makes me cold, so I expect that when we get home from services, I'll be curled up under a blanket for the rest of the day. I might manage a little knitting or spinning, but really it's a day for rest and reflection (and then, once the fast is over, for some serious rehydration -- I can manage just fine with the not eating, but it's the lack of water that really gets to me!). See you back here on Thursday!

Autumn, Officially

After several days last week that felt like mid-July rather than October, I am happy to report that autumn has officially arrived here in Western Pennsylvania. Friday was comfortably cool (I wore a wool cardigan all day and only got a little warm on my walk in to work), and Saturday when the Mister and I lined up for the start of another 5K race, it was a balmy 42F! I wore wool socks yesterday and made soup and apple crisp for dinner tonight, and it feels wonderful!

I hadn't done any spinning since finishing my big project last weekend, but Friday nights I usually spend at my wheel, watching podcasts and spinning. So this past Friday evening I did just that, starting a new project -- some Romney fiber dyed by Sherrill that I won for Camp Spin 15 this summer. I divided the fiber into thirds for a traditional three ply, and while I originally intended to spin some sock yarn, it's not being terribly cooperative as far as spinning as fine as I'd need to, so I'm just going with it. The first bobbin is already done.

The fiber was dyed in shades of blue and green, with a bit of white in there as well, so there's some nice blending happening.

I've already started the second bobbin and have made good progress, and considering that I'm likely to do some spinning on Wednesday while I'm off work for Yom Kippur (anything requiring thinking or counting doesn't work so well with fasting, so spinning is typically a good activity), there's a good chance I'll have this off the wheel by this time next weekend.

It's been a really good fall weekend here, though too short, as always. The race went well yesterday (my time wasn't quite as good as my PR last week, but it was close, and I ran the whole course for the first time), we got to go out to dinner with some friends, and I've had some time to read and rest. I did finish up Eleanor Oliphant Friday and really enjoyed it, so now I'm back to reading Just Mercy. I'm expecting another library hold in two weeks or so, giving me enough time (I hope) to finish the other three books I'm in the middle of at the moment. I also got my sweater pattern off to my tech editor, so I now have that weight off my shoulders, and I'm looking forward to Rhinebeck. See why I love this time of year?

A Time of Three Books (and More)

In my younger days, I could not read more than one book at a time, at least not for pleasure. I would have trouble keeping the plots and characters straight and have a hard time getting through any one of them. As I've gotten older, though, I seem to find that more and more I have multiple books in progress. I think part of it is that I'm more accustomed to multitasking, but it's also a result of the many ways I "read" books these days. There are still the physical books that I read in bed at night, but increasingly there are also ebooks that I can read on my phone or tablet or on the computer and audiobooks that I listen to while I run or while doing things like cleaning or knitting. This past year, it's been quite common for me to have two books going at once, in fact. At the moment, however, I'm finding myself a bit more loaded up on books than usual.

Among the current reads, the one I've been reading the longest is How to Be Less Stupid about Race. I heard Crystal Fleming speak at a conference earlier in the year and was so impressed with her that I ordered her book on the spot. I'm reading it much like a textbook, with a highlighter in hand, so it's going slowly and deliberately. I think I'm something like 90 pages in. This one will probably get put on the back burner for the near future, which is fine with me; I'm reading it as part of my personal growth in my efforts to be more educated about race and racism and how to be a more effective antiracist, and I want to take my time with it.

Earlier in the week I started Just Mercy, which I'm reading as part of the readalong and discussion that Bonny, Carole, and Kym are hosting. I expect this is going to be my main bedtime reading until I finish it. I've only gotten through the introduction and started the first chapter thus far, but I hope to have more reading time this weekend to spend some more time with it.

The third book in the mix is the fourth in the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, A Rule Against Murder. I started it over the weekend so I'd have something to listen to during the race on Sunday and have been listening during my lunch break as well. I borrowed it through a new app that I'm using called Hoopla, which is similar to Libby or Overdrive in that it's done through the library, but it also offers video. It also does not appear to have the same wait times as the library, though different libraries have different limits on how many borrows you're permitted a month (mine gives me 10, which is more than enough).

Very shortly I will be adding a fourth book to the mix: I got an e-mail from the library this morning that my hold on Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine has finally come up, so I'll likely start reading that today. It never rains but it pours!

Lest you think I'm spending all my time reading (though with all these books to finish, I probably should be!), here is one of the newest projects on my needles.

This is most of the body of a Little Worsted Sock Arms for my nephew and is the result of just a few hours of work. I started it Sunday afternoon and have worked on it a bit each evening since. Tonight I should be able to finish up the body and get started on the sleeves, which will be knit from a self-striping. The yarn I'm using for the body is Fibernymph Dye Works Mountain Tweed DK, which seems to be working just find in a pattern calling for worsted. I love how quickly this is working up and I expect I'll be finished with it before too long. If only kids could stay this tiny for longer!

An Easy Finish

I hope no one has been anxiously waiting since last week to see if I finished my sweater, but just in case, I'm here to set your mind at ease. It's done!

I made it a real priority on Thursday evening, so that meant I not only finished the second sleeve, I also wove in all the remaining ends and was able to block it. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate this past weekend for a photo shoot (in fact, it is still quite warm here and is predicted to get close to our record high temperature today), but more seasonal temps are supposed to come later this week and I'm hoping to take it out for an official shoot this weekend. In the meantime, would you settle for a really bad selfie? We were too rushed this morning for Rainbow to take a photo for me, so this is the best I could do.

The fit is perfect -- which I suppose it should be considering that I designed it to be that way, but I'm always a little worried that something crazy will happen. Blocking settled the colorwork tension a bit and allowed the yarn to bloom, so the fabric is less lumpy bumpy now. I've got a few more finishing touches to put on the pattern and then it will be off to my tech editor by tomorrow, if not sooner.

My other project that I was determined to finish before the end of the month was Rainbow's new pair of socks, and those were finished up Saturday night. She kindly modeled them for me on Sunday just before we were off to Rosh Hashanah dinner.

I knit these toe up using the Fish Lips Kiss Heel template (we measured a new one recently because her feet have grown since last December). There's a bit of room in them, per her request, so that she won't outgrow them too soon.

Now that these projects have been completed, I'm moving on to some gift knitting. On Sunday I cast on a Little Worsted Sock Arms for my nephew for this fall and winter. There's not much to look at just yet, so no photo, I'm afraid. I'm also going to be starting a new pair of socks at lunch today for my father, as he'll be turning 70 in two weeks. I'm hoping that will be enough time to crank out a pair of socks! I also may be casting on another sweater for me soon. I may not finish it in time for Rhinebeck, but at least I can get started and then take it with me for the car and the evenings!

Done and Good

At long last, my Tour de Fleece sweater spin is complete! (And yes, I'm aware that TdF ended months ago!)

All the yarn is plied and washed, but most of it is still damp, so I don't yet have the final yardage, nor can I tell what the final thickness of the yarn is. The only skein that dried in time for this photo is the little one on top that's twisted into a proper skein. That one is made of the last of the plying, and it's roughly half traditional three ply, half chain ply. When the first bobbin of singles ran out, I wound off what was left on one of the others and used both ends of it to ply with the remaining bobbin. But when I ran out again and had only one bobbin left with singles (and a significant amount), I figured I might as well chain ply them to use up as much as possible. I think the fact that the three main skeins are still damp speaks to just how big they are; they were washed last night, and I squeezed them out by hand in addition to rolling them in a towel and stomping on them so it's not like they were dripping wet to begin with. I'm hopefully that I'll have somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,200 yards.

I'd hoped to start a new spinning project today, but it's been a busy one! We started it out with this:

The Mister and I both ran and finished the City of Pittsburgh Great Race 5K! It's not such a big deal for the Mister; he runs that much just about every day and has been doing the race for about 10 years. For me, though, it's an accomplishment. I think this was the fourth year I've run it and for sure only the second time I managed to run the entire thing without having to walk a bit to catch my breath. I'm fairly certain I also set a new personal best time this year. According to the official results, I finished it in a time of 28:33, though my running app said 27:55. Either way, it's still more than a minute faster that my previous best time in this race. [Edit: Apparently I misunderstood! 28:33 was the time on the clock, but because I didn't cross the start line right away, my time was actually 27:54!]

This afternoon Rainbow and I were busy baking banana bread and making homemade apple sauce using some of the apples we picked yesterday on a trip to a local apple orchard with some friends. And tonight we're headed to dinner at my parents' to start our celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. If you're also marking the holiday, I wish you and your loved ones a very happy, healthy, and sweet 5780!

Is Tonight the Night?

Well, friends, we are on the precipice. If this evening goes smoothly (meaning I can get Rainbow to bed at a reasonable hour), it looks like I just might be able to finish my Rhinebeck sweater! Last night I finished all the decreases on the second sleeve, so all that remains is a handful of plain rounds, the colorwork band, and the ribbed cuff -- about 35 rounds of knitting in all. I managed to do that much last night in about an hour and a half, so it seems like a realistic goal.

The timing couldn't be better because I intend to start writing up the pattern this weekend. Ideally I'd like to get the complete pattern to my tech editor sometime next week to ensure that she has enough time to review it and that I have enough time to make any needed adjustments before Rhinebeck weekend. I'm hoping to recruit some test knitters, but I won't expect anyone to actually finish a sweater before the pattern is released. If you're interested, let me know.

I am already plotting for a new sweater, in part because this arrived in the mail yesterday:

Color is way off -- it's very overcast this morning!

This is a very poor representation of four skeins of Hedgehog Fibres Skinny Singles that Bonny sent me (I got lucky and won them in a giveaway she had on her blog). The colorway is Potluck, which is definitely in my wheelhouse with these gorgeous deep blues and greens. I have 1,600 yards total -- plenty to make myself a light, flowy sweater or a positively enormous shawl. Pattern suggestions are welcome!

I am still trying to finish up Rainbow's socks by the end of the month, which I think shouldn't be too hard as I'm almost finished with the foot of the second sock.

Not much reading has been happening this week, but I did manage to finish up The Testaments on Monday. I won't give away too much, as I know many of you are reading it or plan to, but suffice it to say that I loved it and found it a very satisfying follow-up to The Handmaid's Tale. 5 stars from me! I'm now looking forward to reading the first selection in the new book club/discussion group that Bonny, Carole, and Kym are leading. Normally I'd borrow the book from the library, but for this one, I know I'm going to want to underline/highlight passages and make notes, so I ordered a (very affordable) paperback from Amazon. It should arrive today and I'm excited to start reading it tonight!

In the Red Zone

If my Rhinebeck sweater were a football game, you could say I'm on the final drive toward the end zone. My first sleeve is complete, and my second sleeve is well under way. Here is your regularly scheduled update photo taken by a 9-year-old (hence the strange distortion of my head):

And here's a closer look at the finished bottom of the sleeve with the lower part of the body so that you can see the colorwork:

The sweater is clearly in need of a good blocking, so the colorwork will settle down a bit once it gets a good soak and be more prominent and not quite so wrinkly.

I managed to finish the first of Rainbow's socks over the weekend and start the second, so I allowed myself to cast on a new project Sunday night, a baby hat for charity. Unsurprisingly, it was done by yesterday.

Pattern: Greenleaf Baby Hat by Evelyn Uyemura
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in Green Apple/color 802, 0.48 skeins
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)
Started/Completed: September 22/September 23
Mods: increased stitch count, adapted leaf to be double sided (see below)

This hat pattern is written for Aran weight yarn and worked at a gauge of 4 stitches per inch. 220 Superwash is more of DK, so I worked it at a gauge of 6 stitches per inch and increased the stitch count to compensate. I worked the body of the hat a little longer than specified and did additional decrease rounds to get to the number needed for the leaf. When it came to leaf, though, I went quite a bit off book. As written, the leaf is worked in stockinette, so there's a clear right side and wrong side. I decided I wanted my leaf to look the same on both sides, so I continued to work it in the round. I also made it a little longer (I added a couple of rounds in the middle, between the increases and decreases) and changed the decreases to centered double decreases. I really like how it came out.

Rainbow has suggested that this would be extra adorable if the main part of the hat was worked in red to look like an apple, and I think I might just do that the next time I make this hat, if I can find some apple-appropriate yarn in my stash. I've still got plenty of green and could certainly make another one of these if I wanted to as well! It was a quick and satisfying knit and a nice break from sleeve knitting. Now, though, it's back to the sweater -- I'm determined to finish it this week!

R&R

After the craziness of last weekend, it was really nice to have a normal Saturday and Sunday this weekend. We had some errands to do (the usual grocery shopping, for instance, but Rainbow and I also went to apply for our passports yesterday), plus the usual cleaning and laundry, but we did not have much on the schedule and so I was able to fit in a fair amount of leisure time.

I find that I tend to do spinning primarily on the weekend, and this weekend was no exception. I was at my wheel for a bit Friday evening, a bit yesterday, and a bit this afternoon, and as of earlier today, I have two plied skeins of Polwarth.

The second skein is a bit smaller than the first, but there are still plenty of singles left to be plied and I have no doubt that I'll have a decent amount of yarn to work with when all is said and done. Now that the singles are diminishing on the bobbin, I can see that the third bobbin will be the first to run out, so there will be some creative unwinding and splicing of singles to come. The nice thing is that because I spun up the singles so randomly, you won't be able to tell! Sometimes I'm smart about how I do things (though, to be honest, the smarter thing would have been to divide the fiber evenly before I started spinning).

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go put my feet up for a bit -- treadling a wheel after going for a run in the heat is exhausting!

A Tale of Three Projects

Technically I only have two active WIPs right now, but there's a third project in the mix that isn't fully finished just yet, so I'm counting it as a project on my radar at the moment.

The first WIP, you will likely guess, is my Rhinebeck sweater, which now has a little more than half a sleeve and is moving right along. I should be able to finish up this first sleeve by the end of the weekend; if all goes well, I'll also make some decent progress on the second sleeve.

Yesterday I started a new pair of socks for Rainbow. Several weeks ago I received a skein from Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works to use to knit her a small sample to display in her booth when she does shows. In return for doing the sample, I got to keep what was left of the skein. I had 92 g of yarn left (the full skein was a bit overweight), and while that'd likely be enough for a pair for me, I thought it would be better not to play yarn chicken and use it for Rainbow instead. I divided the skein into two smaller cakes and am knitting toe up so I can just knit until I'm out of yarn.

Finally, off the needles but not yet blocked is my brioche sock yarn hat. I don't expect it to change much with blocking, but at least it'll settle all the stitches into place. I'm pleased with it, especially the crown. Now I just have to write up the pattern!

We have a slightly calmer weekend ahead, at least compared to last weekend. On Saturday, Rainbow and I have an appointment at the post office to submit our passport applications. Then my mother and I might go see the Downton Abbey movie, and then we have reservations for dinner to celebrate the Mister's birthday (which actually on Sunday). Sunday should be a relaxing day, and that's when I plan to get a lot of knitting done. Here's hoping all goes according to plan!

Welcome to Sleeve Island

Even with all the activity of the crazy weekend, I did manage to get some knitting done (the nice thing about being around family is that they expect you to be knitting constantly while you sit around and talk). If you saw my Instagram post yesterday, then you already know this, but the body of my Rhinebeck sweater is done!

Last night I just got started on the first sleeve; I only got about 10 rounds done because I spent a good chunk of time crunching numbers for all the sizes and making adjustments so that there can be a round of colorwork just above the sleeve ribbing. Now I am on my way, and I'm hoping that the sleeves will fly. I know some people find sleeves to be boring and kind of a slog, but I actually don't mind them and find them to be relatively fast to knit. The total number of stitches is a lot less than what I had for the body, and obviously the rounds get smaller the farther along I get. Finishing up both sleeves this week might be a bit of a stretch, but I'm fairly confident that the entire sweater will be done by the end of the month. Very soon I need to find some time to focus and start writing up the pattern from all my notes and scraps of paper. There are only 32 days until Rhinebeck and I don't want to be rushing at the last minute!

My brioche hat is moving along as well and I should be ready to start the crown decreases at lunch today. I ended up working on it at the Lion King on Sunday, which perhaps wasn't the smartest of moves (I did make a couple of mistakes -- knitting brioche in the dark isn't for the faint of heart!), but it seems to have ended up okay.

My reading over the last week has been all about The Testaments. I'm generally only able to read a handful of pages a night before bed, and I am savoring it -- it is so good. As luck would have it, I also just finished up the second season of The Handmaid's Tale TV series, and I see enough similarities between the new book and some some elements of the series that I'm fairly certain Margaret Atwood let a few details of the new book slip to the writers. I won't give anything away, but I will say that I've enjoyed both iterations of the fictional world of Gilead.

More Done than Undone

It's been a very busy weekend, busy enough that I am still trying to get caught up, but in between all the running around I've managed to ply up my first Polwarth skein.

I could have fit more on the bobbin, but I'd rather have skeins that are similar in length than trying to see how much I can cram on one bobbin and I figured this was full enough. I have skeined it up but not washed it yet (I'll wait and wash them all at the same time), and it's a good-sized skein.

It's definitely in the fingering area now, but I'm expecting it to poof up quite a bit when washed, as Polwarth often does. I calculated what my yardage would be if I lost as much 20% (which is a lot) and I'd still get more than 400 yards, so I'm thinking I should end up with a decent amount of yarn if my other skeins are comparable!

It Averages Out

My knitting this week has been, well, interesting. On the one hand, sweater progress is good. I tried it on last night before putting it down before bed and it's just about time to start the fun at the bottom -- I figure another half inch/four rounds should do it.

I realize what I'm wearing here isn't the best for showing where the sweater is hitting, so let me tell you that it's just above my hip bones. My ideal length for sweaters is about five inches longer than that, so that the bottom of the sweater covers my hips and the top of my rear (basically so that if I squat or crouch down, that part of my back just above the top of my pants stays covered). I'm going to knit those four additional rounds in the main color and then reintroduce the contrast color for one more band of stranded colorwork. That should measure roughly an inch and a half, then I'll knit a few more rounds of main color, and finally I'll finish the body with two inches of ribbing. Then it's on to the sleeves!

While the amount of knitting on the sweater has been going in the right direction, I'm unfortunately doing a bit of unraveling and tinking on my brioche hat. I've been working on it mainly during my lunch breaks at work, and sometimes during those breaks I get into a bit of a postprandial stupor (that's a fancy way of saying I start to nod off). It seems that I did that on Tuesday while somehow continuing to knit, though not completely successfully. When I pulled out the hat yesterday, I discovered that I had dropped a couple of stitches and they had unraveled several rounds. I tried fixing that section twice, but even after those attempts, I still wasn't happy.

I don't think I worked the strands quite in the right order when I reknit up the problem areas, so even though the tension issues would have worked out eventually, you'd still be able to see the mistakes. And for a pattern sample, that won't do. So in my bit of knitting time this morning, I started undoing everything from the mistakes up. I probably should have done that from the get go yesterday when I found the dropped stitches, as by now I'd probably have reknit everything I frogged, but I suppose if I'd been able to fix it without ripping that would've saved me some time. What's done is done, though, and I'd rather it be right that close enough.

The weekend ahead is going to be a busy but fun one. Saturday is the bridal shower for my brother's fiancee, and several family members are coming in from out of town -- my aunt and uncle from Michigan and my other aunt and one of my cousins from Chicago. The shower is a brunch on Saturday morning, and then we'll have dinner with all the family Saturday night. On Sunday, the Mister and Rainbow and I are headed to see the Lion King (the stage show) with a bunch of friends. I'm excited for Rainbow to see it and to see it again myself -- the first time I saw it was in New York City when I was in college and my parents and brother met me there to celebrate my 21st birthday. (I should also add that I'm looking forward to seeing it again because the first time I was a bit hungover from having my first legal drink on an empty stomach earlier in the day!) I hope your weekend has some fun in store for you!

Get the Memo

I know that technically fall doesn't start for another couple of weeks, but mentally I am already there. We've had some chilly mornings (which have been very welcome) and leaves are starting to change, so I've definitely been in the mood for sweater knitting. That has meant some good progress on my Rhinebeck sweater.

I did not have a chance to take a modeled shot this morning (I had an early orthodontist appointment before work), but the body is now hitting just above my belly button and the fit continues to be good. You may be able to guess from the yarn butterfly near the bottom that I've just joined in a new skein, the third one. While I don't think I'll avoid yarn chicken anxiety altogether, I'm feeling a little better about having enough yarn. Even if I use up all of this skein and need to break into a fourth to finish the body, I figure that a skein and a half should be plenty to do the sleeves.

I've been working on the sweater this week while rewatching Downton Abbey episodes in anticipation of the movie coming out later this month. Stockinette in the round is perfect for binge watching!

Meanwhile, my lunchtime knitting has been my brioche hat in winter precipitation forecast-inspired colors. That, combined with the sweater knitting, has been making me laugh this week because starting today we're in for a bit of of a heatwave -- the heat index is supposed to hit something like 91F tomorrow!

I'm not quite ready for the winter, but I would like Mother Nature to get the memo that it's supposed to be cooler, at least cool enough for a sweater in the morning!

I haven't been reading a ton since I finished Mr. Rochester last week, but I did start How to Be Less Stupid About Race over the weekend. I am reading a hard copy, which means a handful of pages a night, so this is likely be a longer-term read -- and that's good, because this is a book I want to read slowly and thoughtfully. Yesterday I started an e-version of Once More We Saw Stars; I got lucky with a "jump the line" copy from the library. If today isn't too busy, I expect I'll be able to read the rest of it, and that would be perfect timing because I'm expecting my preordered copy of The Testaments to arrive today. I've been watching the second season of The Handmaid's Tale series via Netflix the past couple of weeks, and I'm really interested to see where Margaret Atwood takes the story.

Whoa, We're Halfway There*

This weekend, I really tried to make up for lost time at my wheel. Yesterday was a day free of obligations -- yes, there were the typical weekend chores to do, but I had no social plans and had the day almost to myself. I went for a run in the morning and then came home to a leisurely breakfast while the Mister took Rainbow to a friend's house and then took my car in for some service. In between loads of laundry and cleaning the bathroom, I dutifully sat at my wheel, determined to finish spinning the last of my Polwarth singles before the day was done. By the time I went to bed, I had done it.

The last bobbin I finished is the one on the far right, and while it's likely hard to see, it's just ever so slightly less full than the other two. I think that's actually pretty impressive when you consider that I just eyeballed it when spinning up the three bobbins. The smarter approach would have been to divide up the fiber ahead of time, but I guess I was so eager to get started that I didn't think of it. But all's well that ends well, and these look even enough to me.

The singles rested overnight only because I couldn't wait to start plying this morning.

The blending is happening exactly as I'd hoped, meaning that I should get some pretty subtle striping when the yarn is knit. And it's plying up very nicely. The plied yarn looks to be about fingering weight, but because this is Polwarth and Polwarth is famous for poofing up when washed, I'm hoping that the finished yarn will end up being closer to sport weight.

I've now filled about half a bobbin, maybe a little less, with plied yarn, and in theory, because I have three bobbins of singles, I should end up with three bobbins of plied yarn. I'm feeling a bit of time pressure on my Rhinebeck sweater, but I'm hopeful that I can make some time during the week for spinning to get at least one skein finished. Next weekend will be busy, with family visiting from out of town for my future sister-in-law's bridal shower and then a performance of the Lion King, so there won't be much spinning time then. But I am anxious to finish up this project after so many months!

*Sorry not sorry for the earworm -- I am a child of the '80s, after all.

Three Things This Thursday

I had a dentist appointment first thing this morning, so I dropped off my work bag and lunch at the office (it's on the way to the dentist's office) and then walked the rest of the way because I didn't see any buses headed that way. It was really the perfect morning for it: The sun was out, the sky was clear, and it felt decidedly like fall -- I actually needed a light sweater! And as it's Thursday, I've got three more things to share that are making me happy.

1. New knitting projects in waiting
Today also marks the official start of the NFL season, and while I don't care about that too much (I'm just a casual football fan), I do care that it means the start of the annual Down Cellar Studio Podcast Pigskin Party, which is a months-long KCAL that runs concurrently with the football season. Jen's KCALs are always a lot of fun, and I enjoy the camaraderie of making things and chatting with the other participants. I've been wanting to cast on a couple of new projects, but I held back for a few days so I could count them for this. Last night Rainbow helped me to wind four skeins of yarn that will shortly be put to good use.

All four skeins are from Fibernymph Dye Works. The skein on the bottom left is on Bounce (fingering superwash merino/nylon) and will be cast on during my lunch break today for a new hat design. The other three skeins are all DK and came in a mystery grab bag that I bought from her a while back (I knew how many skeins and what weight they'd be but not what colors or bases). The two skeins on the right are going to become a Little Worsted Sock Arms for my nephew, with the tweedy green for the body and the self-striping for the arms (obviously). The skein in the top left of the photo is a one-of-a-kind colorway that was immediately claimed by Rainbow, and she's still deciding if she wants me to use it for a hat or a cowl for her.

2. Granny square all the things
While I was waiting for today to come, I didn't want to start on anything new for my lunchtime crafting, so I've brought in my granny square blanket to work on this week. This is being crocheted from several years' worth of leftover sock yarn scraps, and as I get to the end of one scrap, I just join it to the next with a Russian join. It's highly addictive and kind of all I want to work on at times.

I haven't measured it officially, but I'd say that the square is more than a foot wide at this point, and I still have quite a lot of scraps. My plan for this is just to keep going until I run out of yarn or I determine that it's big enough, whichever comes first. I have a few mini skeins that will likely be added in, and I'll be getting a mini skein Advent calendar thingy later this fall that I expect will also go into it.

3. Reading good books
After finishing up my last book for bingo, I went back to my library app to see which of the books I had tagged "to read" were available without a wait. The first one I found was When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. I believe I heard about it because several people I know have read it, and as I've been really trying this year to read books that will help me to confront my white privilege and help me to be a better antiracist, I'd added it to my list to be read. It was really a powerful book and a fast but not an easy read. If you're in any doubt of the reality of the United States being a very different place for people of color compared to whites, you need to read it. I gave it four stars

My current read is completely different. On another recommendation, I borrowed Mr. Rochester. I was fully sucked into this book almost from the first page. Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favorite books, and thus it should come as no surprise that Edward Fairfax Rochester has long been one of my favorite brooding male love interests. I'm a bit more than halfway through the book and simultaneously want to devour the rest of it and not want it to end. It is superb. I'll reserve my official review until after I'm done, but at this point I think it will very likely be a five-star book for me.

I hope your Thursday is making you happy! I'm off to see what Carole and friends are up to today.

Autumn Ready

Labor Day weekend is over. Bring on fall! I'm all ready for it with a brand-new pair of bright and cheerful socks.

Pattern: Non-Euclidian, modified (see below)
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (80% superwash merino/20% nylon) in Summer Fruit Tarte with unnamed contrasting mini skein
Needles: US 0 (2.0 mm) Addi Sock Rockets, magic loop
Started/Completed: August 11/August 30
Mods: added twisted ribbing on either side of the heel increases; changed up the decreases after the heel turn

This yarn was the first shipment for Lisa's Just Desserts club, in which all the colorways will be inspired by a dessert recipe. This one, as you can probably tell from the name, was inspired by those yummy tarts made up of creme patisserie topped with most colorful summer fruits -- and even came with a recipe for such a tart! I haven't made the tart yet, but I couldn't resist casting on these socks right away.

Given the inspiration and the fact that the accompanying mini skein was crust colored, I just had to make my cuffs look like pie crust. I did a hemmed picot edging followed by one purled round and then about half an inch of 2x2 ribbing. That used a good amount of the contrast skein, so I used it again for the heel turn on both socks and striped it with the self-striping yarn for the toe. I did have some leftover when I finished the socks, but I think I still might have run out had I tried to do both toes in only the contrast.

As with my last pair of Non-Euclidians, I did the 1x1 twisted rib modification on either side of the heel increase section, but this time I also decided to try something a little different with the decreases after the heel turn. This photo (though it's a little blurry, having been taken by a 9-year-old with unsteady hands) shows the outcome.

When I'd finished all the increased, I dropped my working yarn and let it dangle. Then I slipped the ribbed stitches until I got to the increase area (though I didn't use markers because the ribbing visually marked the area for me, if I had I would have slipped stitches until I got to the first marker). I then attached the contrast yarn and worked my usual heel turn, which is less pointy than the Non-Euclidian turn. I cut the yarn at the conclusion of the turn and slipped those stitches to the right of it back to the left needle, so I was back to where my working yarn was waiting. Then I decreased the remainder of the stitches while working again in the round, and they were done using mirrored decreases toward the middle of the heel (ssk and k2tog) starting at each edge of the heel stitches/heel turn area. It's a bit hard to describe but easy to achieve. I was a bit worried about fit because the decreases in the pattern add additional length to the sole that's not added to the instep and thus I worried that the two areas wouldn't match up with this modification, but it seems to be okay. I will have to wear these for a while to see if I get any bunching up on the instep to know if the mod is good for sure.

After meeting my goal of finishing these socks by the end of the month, I was left with one main knitting WIP, and it's one that saw a lot of attention this weekend: my Rhinebeck sweater.

As you can see, I made significant progress. I spent several hours working on it yesterday afternoon while catching up on some podcasts, and I was able to complete the remaining rounds for the yoke, the short row shaping to raise the back a bit, the split of the arm and body stitches and about an inch of the body by the time I put it away. I have tried it on and am happy to report that it fits and seems to have the right amount of positive ease for the comfy sweatshirt-like fit I wanted. Now comes what some people would call the boring part, but I'm happy to have reached the stage where I don't have to think or count. I'll be knitting straight in the main color for a while, but there's more colorwork to come!

Final Steps

Is it really and truly the first day of September? I'm in a bit of a denial -- this year is going by much too quickly for my taste, especially given that I feel like I haven't gotten as much done in the past eight months as I would have liked. But at least some things are wrapping up or getting close to being wrapped up.

It's Labor Day weekend here in the US, so it's a long weekend (we all have the day off tomorrow). The Mister, after getting back from a work trip Thursday night, left for a weekend away for my brother's bachelor party, and Rainbow and I wisely did not schedule much of anything for the weekend. Aside from the few errands we've run together, she has spent most of the weekend building and rebuilding a Lego house and watching terrible kids TV shows. I have done some chores around the house, but I've also been spinning, knitting, and reading.

One thing I'm really trying to finish is this big spinning project that's been on the wheel for the past two months or so. I'm on the third and final bobbin of singles, and as of this moment, I have only 16 little fiber bundles left to spin.

I did most of this spinning yesterday afternoon while I finished listening to the audiobook of Emma, which was most enjoyable. I am hopeful that I can finish up this bobbin in the next week or so and start plying by next weekend.

After finishing the audiobook yesterday afternoon, I finished reading Brass last night after putting Rainbow to bed, and that officially gave me the cover-all for Summer Book Bingo I'd so been hoping to achieve. I really didn't think it would happen, so seeing this full card (and with time to spare, no less) is bringing me a lot of pleasure. Those last two books also took me over my original reading challenge for the year, so I feel like at least in this one area of my life, I'm ahead of schedule for the year!

I've created a Summer Book Bingo 2019 shelf to my Goodreads account, so if you'd like to see what I read and what I thought, you can take a look. I'm very glad to have participated this year, but it's also rather freeing to now pick what to read next without having to think of where it can fit in my bingo card.

Tomorrow the Mister and I will be celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary (which, frankly, seems crazypants to me), so tonight the three of us will be going out to dinner to mark it. We have no plans tomorrow other than an early dinner at my parents', so I'm looking forward to getting some serious sweater knitting done. I'm also hoping the weather will cooperate and I'll be able to get out for a run, as I haven't gotten one in in the past two weeks. It's also a little crazy to me that I just typed that, but I've actually started to enjoy running a bit -- and, now that it's September, it's less than a month until the first 5K of the year!