Sometimes Mondays ...

are for staying home!

I think I mentioned last week that Rainbow had an extra-long weekend, with both Friday and Monday off, and I was going to be working from home on Friday. I decided to take today as a vacation day so the two of us could spend some extra quality time together, and it's been a great decision. There really is nothing quite like sleeping in on a Monday morning, especially when you're awakened by your favorite kiddo crawling into bed to snuggle with you. We did some cleaning and organizing in her room to start the day, after having a leisurely breakfast, but this afternoon we're planning on reading library books and crafting. I also figured I'd shift my regular blogging schedule this week because I had the extra time!

My current library book -- Ann Cleeves's White Nights -- is one I'd been waiting for from the library for quite a while and I was getting really impatient, so I was delighted when my hold came up on Valentine's Day. I think that my wholehearted embrace of the ebook over the last year or so is in no small part due to the fact that provided my knitting is something easy that doesn't require me to look at it, I can read while I knit. Thanks to this book and a couple of hours reading it yesterday afternoon, I'm now more than halfway done with the body of my Darkwater, which Rainbow was kind enough to take photos of me modeling (please excuse my disheveled look -- I figured there was no need for me to put on makeup or spend too much time with my hair if I'm not planning on leaving the house).

You can see that I've got a nice amount of positive ease, though if I'm honest, I'm a little worried about there being a little too much fabric in the yoke. I'm hoping that blocking (and adding sleeves) will help with the bunching, but I know it's because of my being so worried about those long floats and overcompensating by relaxing my tension. I'm sure using a thicker yarn than called for had something to do with it, too (the pattern calls for fingering worked at a DK gauge; my yarn is labeled DK but really knits up more like a sport, in my opinion). As long as it doesn't look like a potato sack on me,  I'll be happy, and honestly I wanted a slightly oversized fit anyway. It just boggles my mind a bit because I'm making the smallest size in this pattern, and while I'm smaller than I used to be, I'm not that small.

Meanwhile, when I've been in the mood for a project requiring a little more attention, I've been working on a new cast on, my Brackthaw mittens. I started these on Friday night and have worked on them for a couple of evenings. This collage shows you both the back of hand side (left) and the palm side (right) of the same mitten.

I'm using yarns that were sent to me in my FibreShare package when I participated last year. The green is Quince & Co. Finch in Sage, and the cream is handspun that came with only a small hand-written label indicating it's a blend of "Georgia rustic wool," silk, and nylon. The handspun is a bit thick and thin, which I don't mind at all, but you can see that it does mess with my tension a bit (you can see it most prominently in the corrugated ribbing at the cuff). It's always a treat to knit with handspun, and I rarely knit with handspun that's not my own, so I'm enjoying this. The dense gauge for the colorwork (9 stitches per inch) is a little hard on my hands, so I can't work on these too much, which is not a bad thing considering that the chart is also small and probably not great for my eyes, but I'm moving right along on them. I'm entering these in the Woolly Thistle Mitten KAL this year, my first time participating, and as long as I get them done by late March, I'll be fine -- of course, I'd much prefer to get them done sooner so I can wear them!

Well Worth the Earworm

Spinning fiber that has been in the stash for a while is always such a delight, especially when it's not from a fiber club and is instead something that I've picked out myself. My most recent spin is just such a project. I bought the fiber back in November 2018 and even surprised myself at the time because it was just gray, not dyed at all. But I was drawn in by the depth of gray and the sparkle of it. It was a 40% Merino/40% Shetland/20% nylon blend from HipStrings, from Jill's Favorite Things series -- a bunch of custom fiber blends inspired by things mentioned in the song from The Sound of Music. This one was Silver-White Winters, and it was perfectly designed to fit that name. I've spent the last little while finally spinning it up after discovering that it had been unfortunately munched on a bit by some critters, but most of it was just fine. I decided that I wanted a lofty, imperfect yarn, so though the prep was combed top, I spun it semi-woolen. When all the singles were done, I wound them off the bobbin onto my ball winder and then plied both ends together.

Here's what it look like freshly skeined, just before it got a nice soak in some hot, sudsy water:

You can see the fresh plying twist still in it -- that's because the twist in the plying direction is the most recent and thus the most active, but washing it "wakes up" the spinning twist and allows all the twist, in both directions, to even out. It also looks a bit wiry, but it did fluff up nicely when it was washed.

You might be able to see some of the sparkle here if you look closely, but certainly you can see that it's more of a rustic spin than what I typically do, and I actually really like it. There was a time when spinning long draw stressed me out, type A personality that I am, because it was never as consistent or controlled as I usually like my handspun to be. But as I get older, I find that I appreciate yarn that has character a lot more and find the stuff that's too perfect to look a bit sterile and overprocessed. Perhaps that doesn't make much sense, but I'm not questioning it too much. I really enjoyed the easy spinning -- woolen spinning is so much faster than my usual short forward draw -- and am delighted with the finished yarn. It's still hanging to dry and it's late in the afternoon on a gloomy day, so I'll share it at a later date. And if you now have "My Favorite Things" stuck in your head, the least I can say is that there are worse things and you have good company!

Pattern Release: I've Got Sunshine

Yes, I am posting on a Saturday, which is not at all typical for me, but it's for a good reason! Today I'm sharing my first pattern of 2020, a new sock pattern designed especially for the Lots of Socks KAL hosted by Lisa Ross to benefit Down Syndrome International.

Last year's KAL came together rather quickly, so my featured sock pattern was one I'd already published. For this year's KAL, however, I knew I wanted to design something new. I also reached out to an indie yarn dyer to see if she was interested in collaborating, and I was delighted when she took me up on the offer! Elizabeth of Holly Press Fibers even custom-dyed a colorway using the Down syndrome colors (blue and yellow) and named it I've Got Sunshine. I loved the colorway and the sentiment it suggested so much that I shamelessly stole it for my design.

I've Got Sunshine (the sock version) is knit cuff-down and features a meandering twisted stitch pattern that goes all the way down the leg and on top of the foot toward the outside of each sock. The sock uses a traditional heel flap and gusset construction, but with the twist: The placement of the gusset decreases are shifted toward the bottom of the sole and angle up toward the instep, resulting in a snug fit around the heel. You can see that line of decreases in the left sock here:

The tech-edited pattern has been graded to five sizes, to fit foot circumference of 6, 7 (8, 9, 10) in./ 15, 18 (20.5, 23, 25.5) cm, and has been professionally tech edited. The stitch pattern is both written and charted. And, what's more, for today only, it's on sale!

All proceeds from the sale of this pattern today, February 15, 2020, will be donated to Down Syndrome International. Additionally, if you enter the code LOTSOFSOCKS, you'll save 50% on the purchase price!

All of my sock patterns are eligible for the KAL as well, and each sock you knit is an entry for some great prizes, so I hope you'll join us!

Plans for a Three-Day Weekend

It's another wet, cold day here in Western Pennsylvania. We had a snow/rain mix yesterday and are due for more of the same today. The gloom is really depressing, but today I'm not letting it put a damper on my mood because I have a three-day weekend coming up! Rainbow's school is closed tomorrow (for a teacher in-service day) and Monday (for Presidents Day), so I've arranged to work from home tomorrow and take a vacation day on Monday. All of that translates to much more knitting time! When I work from home, I can often get away with knitting because if I don't have any actual work to do, I'm good to do whatever as long as I keep an eye on my email. That works out perfectly because I set up my laptop next to my spinning chair to keep an eye on things and can knit or spin in the meantime.

One project I really hope to make a lot of progress on is my Darkwater; as of last night, I have about five inches of body done. For as much fun as the colorwork was to knit, stockinette in the round is really the perfect thing this week, as work as been busy and my brain has been absolutely fried by the time I sit down to knit in the evening.

That project bag is my current favorite sweater bag -- it's from Amy Beth of Fat Squirrel Fibers. I have several of her bags and they are all extremely well made.

I'm still working on my Louisette Socks as well. I turned the heel and have started knitting up the leg, but they don't look much different from the last time you saw them, so I will spare you from having to see another dark photo.

Right now I'm pondering mittens, mainly because my hands have been cold lately and the warmest mittens I have are actually a bit big on me. I happen to have two mitten patterns in my 20 in 2020 pattern list: the Snow Day Mittens, which I plan to make for myself to match (sort of) the pair I made for Rainbow, and Brackthaw, for which I'm planning to use yarn I received from my FibreShare partner last year. Today marks the start of the Woolly Thistle Mitten KAL, so I might actually wind  the yarn and cast on for the latter tonight. I know they won't be super fast to knit, but given that the high tomorrow is only supposed to be in the low 20s F, I'm certainly going to be motivated to get them done quickly so that I can wear them.

Whether or not you have a three-day weekend ahead to look forward to, I hope it's a good one!

Not So Fast, Phil

Despite Punxsutawny Phil's prediction of an early spring, we are very much still in winter here. We had a small snowstorm move through Thursday night into Friday, resulting in a snow day for Rainbow (we didn't get that much snow, but we've had so little this year that I think the schools felt obligated to use one of the built-in snow days). For once -- maybe the first time ever! -- the Mister volunteered to stay home with her so I could go in to work, and I was very thankful for my cozy new hat for that blustery walk in on Friday morning.

Pattern: Neon by Sarah Cooke
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Beguiled (75% superwash merino/20% nylon/5% Stellina) in a OOAK colorway and Floof (72% mohair/28% silk) in American Rust
Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)
Started/Completed: February 1/February 6

I had such a good time knitting this hat for Rainbow back in December that I knew I had to knit one for myself. My only modification, if you can even call it that, was to carry the mohair/silk laceweight alongside the DK, and the effect is amazing. This hat has both sparkle and fuzz, and it's quite cozy. I had a small moment of panic on Sunday when I couldn't find it and thought I had lost it when we went out to dinner the night before. Silly me forgot that the reason it wasn't in my coat pocket was because I had washed and blocked it on Saturday afternoon and it was still sitting on the drying rack upstairs. D'oh! Anyway, this was fun to knit again and I have a feeling this pattern will be a go-to hat when I need a gift in the future.

We had a rather quiet weekend, and we got an early start on Saturday because we went to get our taxes done. I took my new handspun sock along with me, and you can see how much I've gotten done since then -- the progress keeper marks where I was Saturday morning.

I'm maybe half an inch or so from being able to start the heel, and I should get there during my lunchtime knitting today.

My Darkwater saw the most attention over the weekend because I really wanted to finish the colorwork in the yoke. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this picture of my yoke "guts" after I finished up.

Here is where things stand as of this morning:

I've split off the sleeve stitches and gotten about three inches of body knit under the arms. I tried it on last night to make sure the fit was okay, and it is, though it looks like I was so worried about the floats not being tight on the yoke that I may have overcompensated a bit. I'm sure it'll look better after blocking, but this sweater will definitely have a good amount of positive ease. That is something I'd planned for, but it's breaking my brain a bit because I'm making the smallest size in the pattern and, though I have lost weight, I'm still not the smallest person. In any case, assuming things don't change too much with blocking, this should fit like a comfy sweatshirt, which is just what I wanted.

Though I likely would have had enough, I did end up introducing a new skein of main color yarn before I finished the yoke so I could transition it in, and I've since completely used up that first skein. It looks like the two that are attached now should get me through the body, or at least most of the way, and that will leave me the last skein for the arms. I have a bit of a cushion from what the pattern specifies, but you never know, especially when you substitute a DK for a fingering. I've gotten to the mindless part of this sweater now, so I hope it will knit up quickly going forward. Looking ahead in the forecast, I'm definitely going to need it!

Easy, Breezy

I am so enjoying my current spin. It is just about effortless because I am spinning supported long draw, which means that I essentially let the twist that the wheel is putting into the fiber create the single as I pull the fiber supply away from it. My usual style of spinning is short forward draw, which is pretty much the ideal style of spinning for someone who is a control freak: The spinner controls exactly how many fibers are twisted together and the twist stays out of the fiber supply. The resulting yarn is very smooth and (if you've done it right) very consistent -- and that's in stark contrast to what I'm spinning now, which is more light and airy and less consistent. But sometimes you want yarn like that, and for this fiber, I want a cloud-like finish.

I plan to ply this back on itself for what I hope will be a light fingering weight two ply. I think I'm a bit more than halfway done with the singles; I didn't get as much done as I hoped because I skipped my Friday night spinning session in favor of knitting (which I'd planned to do after donating blood because it would be less taxing, but I ended up not being able to donate after all because my hemoglobin was a bit low). Long draw is, however, much faster than short forward draw, so I think if I can get in one more good spinning session during the week, I'll be able to finish up the last of the singles.

Meanwhile, my latest shipment from the Southern Cross Fibre club arrived mid-week, and I'm not sure yet if I like it or not.

I love the blue, the wine, and that dark brown, but I'm less into to the yellowy middle browns. I'm sure spun up this would look completely different, so I'll likely wait and see how others spin it up before I decide to keep it or destash. This is one thing I really enjoy about being in a fiber club -- there's always inspiration to be had!

Three Things I'm Looking Forward To*

It has been quite a week, but thankfully (not that I want to tempt fate) it seems to be calming down a bit. Last night I was able to enjoy that glass of wine I forgot to pour on Tuesday, and today I'm getting a little bonus time to myself. Rainbow has her annual check-up at the pediatrician this afternoon, so I took a half day off from work -- I'm actually writing this as I sit at the kitchen counter enjoying my lunch!

It's Thursday, and on Thursdays Carole invites to think in three, so today I'm talking about three things I'm looking forward to that should happen in the next few days.

1. A new hat for me.

I have just a few more rounds to work before I get to the crown shaping of my Neon, and it's a good thing, too, because we've had some gross damp weather here the past 24 hours or so and are due to get some snow tonight.

2. A completed colorwork yoke.

I have less than 10 rounds of colorwork to go on the yoke of my Darkwater, thanks to the past few evenings, and I've found that I've started trying to speed up my knitting a bit so I can get through the yoke before I run out of that first ball of my main color. I'm planning to alternate skeins once I'm only knitting with one color, and I really don't want to have to do that while I'm still in the two-color portion, so illogically I'm racing my yarn. I know I'm far from the only person who does this (just as surely as I know that knitting faster does not make the yarn last longer).

3. A new pair of socks to start.

I am totally ignoring the fact that I have zero room for more socks in my sock drawers and in fact already have socks that don't have a place to live by planning the next pair. Yesterday kicked off the second annual Lots of Socks KAL on Ravelry, and while I'm delighted to be participating as a designer again (more on that later in the month), I'm also going to jump in as a participant. This yarn is handspun Cheviot that came off my wheel in late summer 2018, and it's going to be turned into a pair of Louisette Socks. I'll be winding the yarn later today and casting on as soon as I finish up my hat. I even have a new pair of needles to try out! Ideally I'll get them started tomorrow, as I am signed up to donate blood tomorrow morning and will need to rest for a couple of days afterwards, meaning a perfect opportunity for sock knitting.


How about you? What are you looking forward to at the end of the week?

*I know that "they" say it's perfectly acceptable to end a sentence/phrase with a preposition now, but it still makes me twitchy. That said, "Three Things to Which I Am Looking Forward" doesn't have quite the same ring.

Foiled Again

Today has been A Day. I've been running almost nonstop since early this morning, when I had a 7:15 a.m. orthodontist appointment. I hardly had a moment to catch my thoughts at work. I thought that it had been so exhausting a day that I deserved a glass of wine with dinner -- but then I got so busy making said dinner, prepping tomorrow's dinner, and packing lunches for tomorrow that I forgot to pour it! So forgive me if I'm phoning it in on the blog tonight (the fact that I'm posting so late in the day should tell you just how busy it was).

The big projects are still in progress, but I finished up my handspun hat over the weekend, and I'm delighted with how it came out.

At some point this week I'm hoping to find the time to get the pattern together and send it off to my tech editor, though with the way it's been going, that might not happen until the weekend.

I also finished a book last night, but I haven't had time to write up my review yet!

I'll close with a recommendation for those of you who have Amazon Prime: Last night the Mister and I watched Brittany Runs a Marathon, which we both enjoyed. It was just the right balance of uplifting, funny, and touching. Highly recommend!

Taking Care of Business

Last weekend, my spinning plans were foiled, so this weekend I was determined to make up for that. I got back to my Friday evening spinning at last and finished up my BFL singles. After letting them rest overnight, yesterday I wound the singles off using my ball winder and then plied them from both ends of the resulting cake. I skeined the finished yarn, washed it, and hung it to dry, and this morning I had this:

Fibernymph Dye Works oatmeal BFL in Winter Deep

And here is a closeup:

The yarn did poof up a bit in the finishing, so it looks to be about sportweight, which makes sense with the estimated yardage I got of 291 (also taking into account that I typically get lower yardages with BFL in general). I think I may have put a tad too much plying twist into this yarn -- if you look closely at the left of the closeup, you can see some strands kinking up a bit -- so I might run it back through the wheel to remove some of that excess.

I so enjoyed the return to spinning that I started another project today, with some fiber that I bought about a year ago and foolishly put in a felted wool bag. I think you can guess where this is headed: It appears some moths got into that bag and nibbled on the fiber a bit. Fortunately, this isn't as big a problem for fiber as it is for yarn because it's all loose anyway, so I'm removing the nibbled areas as I find them.

This is the fiber in question, a 40% Merino/40% Shetland/20% nylon blend from HipStrings in Sound of Music-inspired blend called Silver-White Winters.

If you look closely, you might see a hint of sparkle in there, which is the silver in the name of the blend. Though the prep is combed top, I'm spinning it long draw, which works well with the shorter staple length of the component wools and any potential artificially shorter fiber.

As with my most recent spin, I'll be plying this back on itself. Long draw is a lot faster than the short forward draw I usually do, so I'm hopeful I can get this one spun and plied soon. This particular batch of fiber is on my 20 in 2020 list as well, so I'm eager to cross it off!

The Three Project Shuffle

It's Thursday, so it's time to link up with Carole and friends.

This week I'm doing a bit of a shuffle with my three active WIPs. First, there's my Darkwater, which is growing slowly but surely. I have been hoping to be a little more productive this week, but a certain small person in the house has been most uncooperative this week about getting to bed in a timely manner, so my evening knitting time has been sparser than usual.

As much as I'm enjoying the process and the combination of colors, the colorwork designer in me is getting a tad annoyed at the exceptionally long floats. There are many rounds where there are a good seven or nine stitches over which the contrast color is floated, so I am taking extra care to spread out my stitches on the right needle to ensure that my floats are loose enough to avoid puckering. I might even be tempted to add my own motifs in those stretches were I not already so far into the yoke. But if you're thinking of knitting this sweater and keeping an even tension in stranded colorwork is a challenge for you, consider yourself warned.

In any case, I'm about halfway through the stranded portion of the sweater and hope to finish it up by the weekend. My mahjong group is getting together Sunday afternoon, and the body would be the perfect thing to knit while I play (yes, I do knit while playing mahj -- doesn't everyone?).

My lunchtime knitting this week has been the handspun hat, and though the stitch pattern is such that it's not super fast knitting, it's growing nicely.

I love how handspun always stripes to some degree, even when you don't specifically plan for it, and I really like how it's striping here.

The third WIP, which has been seeing significantly less attention, is my sock yarn granny square blanket. I've added a few more minis to it, but there are still many left to be added. You can see some of the latest colors on the edge here (I didn't want to try to wrestle with it this morning so I left it in the project bag):

My plan is to add the rest of the holiday minis to it, then add the other sock leftovers that are in the bag, and then see how big it is. I'd love it to be as big as our queen bed, but I might run out of steam before then. Plus, I'm already plotting my next one, which I've already told Rainbow will be for her and will use all sock yarn scraps, not just Fibernymph Dye Works yarn.

Reading update: I finished Red at the Bone earlier in the week, and my goodness, those of you who have read it and raved about were right -- what a good book it was! I gave it four stars only because I felt like it didn't really have a plot and was a bit hard to follow at times, but the writing is simply gorgeous. I'm still reading Olive Kitteridge in the evenings before bed, so it's slow going because I only manage a few minutes at a time, and this week I started The Overdue Life of Amy Byler through Prime Reading. It's fairly fluffy and easy to read, which is a nice complement to the more complex, heavier books on my shelf. I'm hoping to make progress on both this weekend, especially since my next to-be-read book is waiting for me thanks to a hand-me-down from my father.

Happy weekending to you!

One Little Word: January

Unbelievably, it's the last Tuesday of the month -- this month has flown by, not that I'm all that sad about it (January is my least favorite month and it always seems to crawl). It's time to check in on my word for the year for the first time: How has savor made itself known in my life?

I think that one reason this month has gone by so quickly is because it's been very busy. By the time this month is over, the Mister will have gone on four work trips out of town in addition to being out at meetings several evenings when he's been at home. All that time that he's been away means a lot of solo parenting for me. Rainbow and I have gotten used to being on our own over the past couple of years as he's been traveling more, and she's now old enough to do a lot of things herself, but being the only parent around also means more time is taken away from me -- I have to do the school drop-offs and pickups, all the meal prep and cleanup, and all the household chores. When life gets busier, it can get harder to stop and enjoy the moment -- which is why I think my chosen word for the year has been even more important.

Over the past few weeks, I've made room to savor in two distinct ways. One has been to make a point to notice and appreciate small moments of comfort or pleasure: The boost from that first sip of coffee in the morning. The relaxation from stretching out in bed after a long day. The feeling of release that comes with taking off your work clothes and getting into soft pajamas. These are moments that only last a few seconds, but I've been making an effort to focus entirely on them for the few seconds they take rather than doing them while my thoughts are wrapped up in something else.

The second has been to literally slow down and enjoy what I'm doing when I'm doing it. I've been doing this with the books I've been reading and with my crafting. I've noticed with the past several books I've read, all ebooks, that I am consciously slowing down as I read and pausing more frequently to reflect on what I've read. I'm reminding myself that I'm reading these books for pleasure, and to get the most pleasure out of them, I need to read every word and be present for every page. As to my crafting, I've never been really able to determine if I'm a process knitter or a project knitter, but with my two most recent cast-ons, I'm definitely focusing on the process.

I started my Darkwater sweater on Friday night, a pattern I've been planning to knit for nearly a year, and though I very much want to have this sweater done so I can wear it, I am deliberately taking my time. I think this approach will also pay off, because there are some rather long floats in the colorwork yoke, and the slower pace at which I'm knitting is helping to ensure that my tension remains good (see how nice and loose my floats are on the right there?).

After finishing up that sock yarn and mohair/silk hat I've been working on, I also started another prototype of the pattern using some extremely old handspun that I've been saving (hoarding?) since it was spun. Is there any better way to savor your knitting than to knit with some of your precious early handspun?

Ohai, the sun is still hiding.

Using one of my earliest handspun skeins is a great way to see how far I've come in my spinning, because this yarn is all over the place in terms of thickness. At one point that inconsistency would have bothered me, but now I am really appreciating it because it makes it that much more obvious that this yarn was made by hand by a human being. Even though I can spin yarn today that's more consistent, the general lack of uniformity in handspun versus commercially spun yarn is what makes it so much more pleasurable to work with.

Thanks to Honore´ for hosting the One Little Word discussion this year!

Old Spins, New Toys

I had every intention of finishing up my current spin this weekend, but then the Mister came down with a Man Cold, so I did not get my normal Friday night spinning session in (my wheel lives in our bedroom, and he wanted to go to bed early, so I took my knitting to the den for the evening). I did get in a little bit of spinning this morning, though, and I'd say I'm about three-quarters of the way done with my singles.

If I need to do some more spinning, I have a couple of new tools at my disposal:

My friend David posted on Instagram a couple of weeks ago that he was looking for a new home for these two Bosworth spindles, and I immediately offered to adopt them. I don't do a ton of spindling, but when I do, these are absolutely my favorite. They're so beautifully made and exceptionally well balanced. Every time I see the Bosworth booth at a fiber festival, I'm tempted to buy another, but I've been good the past several times. David was offering these up at a very reasonable price, however, so I couldn't pass them up. The one on the left has a whorl made from American Chestnut and is 26 grams; the one on the right is Bloodwood and 42 grams. They're even more beautiful when they're in good daylight -- unfortunately the sun has been hiding all weekend, so gloomy light it is. Perhaps having these gorgeous new tools on hand will inspire me to get to more of my stash fiber!

Itch Sufficiently Scratched

I'm sure you all laughed at my assertion that I could quit mosaic knitting any time I wanted to -- I think we all know there's not likely to be an end to it anytime soon! But, having completed another project last night, I think I'm ready to take a brief pause.

Pattern: Lattice Have Pie Towel by Amy Marie
Yarn: Knit Picks Dishie (100% cotton) in Pomegranate and Linen
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)
Started/Completed: January 18/January 22
Mods: added rows to the bottom and top to even out the motif placement

This towel/cloth/whatever you want to call it was so much fun to knit that I could not put it down. I can tell that as I'm gaining more experience with mosaic knitting, I'm getting faster at it. The wonderful thing about mosaic knitting, particularly if you are used to using charts, is that you really don't need much more than the chart to knit a mosaic pattern. I can highly recommend this pattern, though, because the designer not only gives you a separate chart for each motif (so that you can put them in whatever order you like), she also gives you all three charts with the colors reversed, which is especially helpful if you're like me and have a hard time remembering to mentally reverse the colors shown in a chart.

I really can't say enough nice things about the yarn, either. It feels nicer to me than the typical big box store kitchen cotton, and it's really nice having a full 100 g skein/ball to work with. I used about half of the red and a little less than half of the linen, so theoretically I could do and exact replica of this cloth with the colors reversed if I wanted to. Though I certainly noticed hand fatigue faster with this cotton than I would with wool, I had a much easier time than I usually do when knitting dishcloths.

I'm sure there will be more mosaic knitting in the not-so-distant future, but for now, I'm taking a little break. This completed cloth will be put away for a couple of months for my sister-in-law's birthday in March, and I will be getting back to my wool projects.

Though I have not yet had a chance to write up a review on Goodreads, I finished The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell on Tuesday evening just before bed, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It reads like a memoir, but it is a work of fiction (though if you read the author's acknowledgments at the end, you'll discover that it is, in a sense, autobiographical). Last night I just barely started reading Olive Kitteridge. I'd been waiting for it from the library, but then my mother told me that she'd wound up with two copies of it due to a snafu with her address, so she gave me the extra copy. It feels a bit strange to be reading a physical book after getting so accustomed to reading ebooks, but I'm enjoying the writing and know it will be a good read.

We have a relatively normal weekend coming up, with a little added excitement in the form of the delivery of our new washer and dryer on Saturday (oh, the things that become exciting as you get older!), and I am hoping to find time to cast on my next sweater. I've already wound the yarn and swatched, so all that's left to do is cast on!

I Can Quit Any Time

Over the long weekend, I came to a little bit of a realization: I may be addicted to mosaic knitting. Now, I know what you're thinking: How can this possibly be a problem? Well, my friends, I'm here to tell you that it's not necessarily a problem -- until, that is, you start ignoring or even outright neglecting your other projects.

First there was the Turkish Tiles dishcloth, which had some errors in it because I was new, but I was nevertheless quite enchanted with the technique.

Then there came the hedgehog and its insane adorableness:

Pattern: Hedgehog Hotpad by Cassandra Bibler
Yarn: Knit Picks Dishie (100% cotton) in Coffee and Swan
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)
Started/Completed: January 8/January 17

And now I'm knitting a pie:

Lattice Have Pie Towel

I really didn't expect to have this much done by now, but apparently when I start knitting on this, it's hard for me to stop, and now it's looking like it'll be finished up in the next couple of days. I really should be working on a design sample right now, one that was started last year (well, in December), but all I want to do is a dishcloth. In cotton. Who am I?

I am going to finish up this latest project (because it needs to be done anyway for a knitalong) and then take a break, though Rainbow has been dropping heavy hints that she'd love another cloth with a sloth on it, and as I haven't found a pattern for one, that means that I'll have to design it myself.

I had hoped to do a lot of reading over the weekend, but I was (ahem) a bit distracted. Even so, I'm now more than halfway through a good read, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell. I know one of you recommended it, but I can't remember who it was, so if it was you, thank you! It's been just the easy and enjoyable read I've needed.

A Little Meditation

What a wild winter weekend it has been. We woke up yesterday (thanks to the beeping of the salt truck back up our street) to snow, which was followed in short order by sleet, freezing rain, and finally plain old rain. It was a miserable day, and though Rainbow and I did have to make a trip to the grocery store, we spent most of it inside, staying warm and dry. Today is thankfully less exciting, with just some scattered light snow showers, but it is very cold and windy out there, so I was more than happy to spend some time at my wheel, which is conveniently located next to the radiator in our bedroom. It is a relaxing and meditative way to spend an otherwise lazy Sunday.

This is oatmeal BFL from Fibernymph Dye Works. I'd intended to spin it a bit thicker, but I guess my fingers had other plans. I'm spinning from one end of the top to the other, and when all the singles are done, I'll wind them off into a center-pull ball and ply it back on itself.

While I've been spinning today, I've been watching the Netflix series Unbelievable. I had heard good things about it, but it wasn't until I started watching that I realized that I was familiar with the true story upon which the show is based thanks to an episode of This American Life. I'm only about halfway through the series but can already recommend it (and I can definitely recommend the podcast episode).

I'm looking forward to another quiet evening of crafting and reading and a bit of sleeping in tomorrow for the final day of our long weekend. Remind me again why I decided it was a good idea to schedule Rainbow's dentist appointment for first thing in the morning on a rare Monday off?

Thinking in Threes

I've got three things on my mind today, which works perfectly for joining in with Carole and friends.

1. Current WIPs
I am just about finished with my relay sock (and my apologies for the terrible lighting in this photo -- it's a very dark morning here). I've got about half an inch to knit on the foot before I'm ready to start the toe, and I expect that I'll be able to wrap it up during my lunch break tonight.

As soon as this is done, I'll be turning back to work on my hedgehog dishcloth, as that also needs to get done this month. I'm itching to get back to my granny square blanket, but I'm not pulling it out again until the obligation knitting is done.

2. Reading
I finished Raven Black last Friday, meaning it took me only two days to read, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I've already added the additional Shetland series books to my Want to Read list and have put a hold on book 2 at the library.  Earlier in the week, I started reading The Murmur of Bees, which I've had in my Kindle library for a while (it was a freebie a while back) and was inspired to finally read thanks to several good reviews by friends. I had a little trouble getting into it and was a bit confused at first (most chapters are from the point of view of an omniscient narrator, but there are chapters every so often told in the first person, and I didn't understand initially who that person was), but now that I'm about 2/3 of the way through it, I'm enjoying it. I expect I'll be able to finish it by the end of the week.

3. Planning ahead
Before my relay turn came up and I had to start the sock, I had started swatching for my first sweater of the year. I'm planning to knit Jennifer Steingass's Darkwater (though I keep calling it "Deepwater"), finally -- I bought the yarn for it almost a year ago! I love my Humulus so much that I'm using the same yarn, HipStrings Buoy DK. Yes, I know the pattern is written for fingering, but the gauge is really more of a DK gauge. Also, I find Buoy to be a little on the light/thin side for a DK, really more of a heavy sport, so I'm confident I can knit it at the gauge the pattern specifies and still get good drape in the fabric.

We have a long weekend ahead due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, and it will likely be a quiet one. The Mister is actually headed out of town early on Saturday morning for a work trip, and we're also expecting a bit of wintry weather to head through, so I will be happy to stay at home and craft with Rainbow. I hope it's an equally relaxing weekend for you!

Doodling in Yarn

This past weekend was a good one for finishing. On Saturday evening, in addition to finishing up the skein of handspun I shared on Sunday, I also finished the latest pair of socks I've been designing. That was perfect timing, because on Sunday evening I had to cast on a new project that is time sensitive.

One of the make-alongs I've been participating in recently is the Down Cellar Studio podcast Pigskin Party. Jen hosts this annual event to coincide with the NFL season, and throughout the event there are various challenges and short-term mini events. This year Jen introduced a new team challenge, and one of the final events for the team challenge is a head-to-toe relay. The goal is to produce items to cover a person from head to toe, with each participating team member completing an item. The catch is that only one person can be crafting at a time, so it's a bit of a race to finish up the project so the next person can start. There are bonus points for yardage used and more difficult techniques, like cabling and stranded colorwork.

Because I'm pretty fast as them, I volunteered to do one of the socks. The other sock knitter and I also agreed that we could do colorwork for bonus points. I had an idea for a stranded sock pattern, so I figured this would be a good way to swatch -- because a sock is small enough that knitting one isn't much more work than doing a serious swatch. I cast on Sunday evening and as of this morning have most of the heel flap complete.

This photo was taken at the end of my lunch break yesterday, so there's a bit more knit by now, but you can get a good feel for the pattern (the rest of the leg is a mirror of the smaller motifs). I am using some Knit Picks Felici for the main color, and the black contrast is some very deep stash Knit Picks Essential. You can tell it's old because Knit Picks hasn't used that name for that base in a long time; it's now called Stroll. I'm quite pleased with how this "yarn doodle" has worked up, though I can see where it needs a few tweaks. Fortunately I don't have to have a finalized pattern for the relay, just a completed sock, and I imagine another couple of days of knitting with take care of it. I will likely make some changes to the stranded pattern on the foot, and once I figure out what works/what I like best, I can start over with the real thing (which might end up being a pair of socks for Rainbow, as she's already mentioned that she has no colorwork socks and heavily hinted that she'd like a pair). I have to say, it feels really good to be doing some serious swatching and getting something useful out of it in addition to the swatch!

I Took the One Less Traveled By*

After sustaining the injury the other night (which I fully accept is my own fault), I knew I was capable of knitting but wasn't sure I could spin. I use the injured thumb to draft, and drafting is darn near impossible when you can't feel the fiber because your finger is covered in a bandage. Thankfully, I healed up quickly. I still have a wound there, but it was healed enough by Friday evening to take the bandages off for a while and actually have a Friday evening spinning session! (I typically spend Friday evenings at my wheel, spinning and catching up on video podcasts -- I have my laptop set up on the end of the radiator next to my spinning chair.) I didn't need very much time to finish the rest of the singles, and yesterday I managed to find time to chain-ply the entire bobbin. I'm in love with the results, and I can tell you that the gloomy light today is not allowing these photos to do it justice.

The colors are rich and dark and moody. The fiber was a delight to spin. If you've never spun Bond, I highly recommend getting your hands on some. I'd describe it as being like Merino in its softness but with a little more toothiness to it. The finished skein is fingering to sport, with a tight twist, and about 333 yards. This spin was pure comfort spinning to me, and I'm actually a little sad that it's done.

I mentioned last week that I had some stash enhancements come in the mail. I showed you one skein of yarn but alluded to there being more. Also in that package from Fibernymph Dye Works were two bundles of fiber:

On top is 4 oz. of Falkland in the colorway Cosmic Vertigo. On the bottom is 4 oz. of oatmeal BFL in the colorway Winter Deep. I'm planning to turn the BFL into a relatively thick two ply, and I think the Falkland will make a spectacular three-ply fingering for sock yarn. I know I really wasn't in need of any more fiber, but I didn't have any of Lisa's fiber in my stash and she had a good end-of-year sale, so I decided to treat myself.

*The title of this post is a nod to the colorway of the completed spin, Two Roads Diverged. If somehow you're not familiar with the poem these two lines come from, go take a minute and read it.

That Was Most Unfortunate

Today I'm asking you to forgive any errant typos you see in this post because I'm typing wounded:

Last night, in a misguided attempt to save time, I decided to get out my mandoline (similar to this one, though my blade goes straight across) to slice some zucchini for my dinner instead of using my handheld spiralizer. It came with a hand/finder guard, which I foolishly decided not to use. And I paid for it -- I not only sliced the vegetables, I also sliced off a chunk of my thumb. And of course it's my right thumb, which is most inconvenient because I'm extremely right-handed. It's complicating pretty much everything I do with my hands, but amazingly I am still able to knit, albeit carefully. The Mister wondered if I should go to urgent care to get stitched, but there's really not anything to stitch together, so I think I'm stuck with lots of Bandaids for the time being.

Once I was fully bandaged up, I managed to finish up a blanket square, save weaving in ends (which I don't yet have the dexterity for) and blocking. I'm hopeful I'll be able to accomplish both this weekend.

This square is going to be part of a comfort blanket for Amy of the Ross Farm, and I used leftovers of Ross Farm Shetland yarns for all of it. The lace panel at the center is a heart, which should open up a bit after blocking. The blanket was the brainchild of my friend Lisa (the dyer behind Fibernymph Dye Works), and the two of us will be seaming all the squares together into a blanket and delivering it to Amy.

I had a little bit of time before bed after I bound the square off, so I started a dishcloth. It's also a project on my 20 in 2020 list and it counts for a knitalong I'm participating in, so I feel like I'm multitasking. I've only gotten a handful of rows done so far, and I appreciate that it doesn't look like much yet.

I'm using this pattern and two skeins of the Knit Picks Dishie I bought in the Great Kitchen Cotton Acquisition of 2019. The colors are Coffee (deep brown) and Swan (natural white). I expect that when it's done, Rainbow will inherit it; in addition to her obsession with sloths, she's also quite enamored with hedgehogs.

Because the knitting is rather boring at the moment (and also won't photograph well) and it's Thursday, how about we talk about reading, specifically the three books I've finished so far this year?

1. My first book finished of the year was an Amazon First Read freebie, Room to Breathe. As a vacation read, it served its purpose, but I'm glad I didn't pay for it. It was moderately entertaining but not especially well written, at least not in terms of character development. All the characters felt very one-dimensional to me. I gave it 2 stars.
2. Yesterday, I finished reading our next online book club selection, Fever. This one I liked a lot better, and it was certainly very well written and well researched (save for one mention of crocheting with needles!). I did enjoy the first half of the book more than the second half, though, and my lack of enjoyment of that section pulled my overall rating down to 3 stars. The book did give me a lot to think about, though, and I'm looking forward to our discussion of it.
3. Finally, just this morning, I finished listening to the fifth Inspector Gamache novel, The Brutal Telling. I'd started listening to it while taking my long walks in Florida, and it's been good company on my commute this week. I won't give anything away, but I will say that I'm still a bit shocked about the ending of this one. As is always the case, I enjoyed it. I gave it 4 stars and am looking forward to reading book six!

Up next is my first Ann Cleeves book, Raven Black (the first in her Shetland series). My hold from the library very conveniently came up this morning, just in time!

New Year, New Socks

Given that I describe myself as a "recovering sock addict," it seems perfectly appropriate that my first finished project of the year is a pair of socks. They're also the first thing I can cross off my 20 in 2020 list!

Pattern: Non-Euclidian
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (80% superwash merino/20% nylon) in 12 Days of Christmas, one skein
Needles: US 0/2.0 mm Addi Sock Rockets, magic loop
Started/Completed: December 24, 2019/January 5, 2020
Mods: adjusted placement of heel decreases (see below)

These were cast on to be my Christmas Day movie knitting; the other socks I had on the needles at the time were patterned and thus not suitable for knitting in the dark. I cast on and knit the cuff only that day and then got about four inches of leg done in the movie. I think the first sock was finished on New Year's Eve, because the Mister and I went to see The Rise of Skywalker on New Year's Day and I worked on the start of the second sock during that. The majority of the second sock was knit on the plane on Saturday, and it's probably the reason I didn't completely lose my mind during that long delay!

The modification I made to the heel is the same one I did in my last pair of Non-Euclidians. Instead of working the decreases as described in the pattern (which are done while working a flap back and forth under the heel), I resumed working in the round after turning the heel and worked mirrored decreases toward the center of the sole, starting at the edges of the stitches left after the heel turn. It's a bit hard to describe, but I think it makes much more sense if you look at the socks.

I'm still working on the other socks, which are a new design that will be released next month; I should start the heel during lunch today. I've also got another design sample on the needles (you saw a peek at it last week -- it's the sock yarn held together with mohair/silk), but I'm already plotting my next cast on. I'm late getting on the mohair/silk bandwagon, but I'm solidly on.

The skein on the left is a OOAK skein of FDW Beguiled, a 75/20/5 blend of superwash merino, nylon, and Stellina, that I got in my grab bag last year. I thought I'd use it for a hat for me, but that was all the thought I'd given it. And then I so enjoyed knitting Rainbow's Neon that I thought I'd use it for one for myself, but I'd kick it up a notch in the warmth department by holding a strand of mohair/silk alongside the DK. Lisa just so happened to be having an end-of-year sale, so this skein of Floof in the colorway American Rust found its way to me (along with a few other things that I'll share once I have decent light to snap some photos). I think that these two yarns together are going to look pretty amazing and be extremely warm, which is what I really want for walking to and from work in the winter. I mentioned my plan to Rainbow, and naturally she also expressed interest in having a hat with some mohair, so it appears this skein will be doing double duty -- luckily there's a lot of yardage in this 50 g skein!

Recentering

We are home, after a bit of an ordeal, to be honest, and getting back into the swing of things. We flew home yesterday after a truly lovely and restful vacation. We'd booked a 1 p.m. flight, which would get us home in the late afternoon time frame, giving us all a bit of time to unpack and catch up on the mail and generally settle last night. Unfortunately, all did not go as planned. The flight was showing as on time, and we boarded the plane at about 12:30 and then taxied to the runway at a bit past 1 (though I wasn't too concerned just yet, because when the pilot had come on to welcome us onboard, he'd said that the flight was about an hour and 55 minutes from takeoff to landing, so I knew that even if we left after the posted departure time, we'd still be on the ground by our estimated 3:30 p.m. arrival). When we got to the runway, though, I noticed a long line of planes waiting to board. We were informed after waiting a few minutes that the backup was due to the air traffic controllers' trying to avoid congestion in the airspace because of some storms and rain on the west coast of Florida. Then we were put on a ground delay as the weather moved over us. In all, we were sitting on the tarmac for a bit more than two hours and finally took off a bit before 3. We landed around 5, and thankfully there were no hiccups after that. The Mister immediately went to get the car while Rainbow and my parents and I grabbed the luggage (which was already on the belt by the time we got to baggage claim),  and the five of us went directly to a restaurant in our neighborhood for dinner before heading home to unpack. Though we probably all could have gone to bed a bit earlier, we all got a good night's sleep and got everything done at home without feeling too rushed.

We did have to do some of the normal chores and errands today, but it's largely been a relaxing day. As has been the case practically every other year we've gone away in the winter, I had a strong urge to spin as soon as we got home, so I spent about two hours at my wheel today, working on the lovely fiber that was already in the process of being spun. I found it apropos that the colors of the wool are very similar to the colors of winter up north -- muted and moody.

I've got about a foot and a half of combed top left to spin, and I expect that I will get in some extra time this week after being away from it so long.

One of my goals for 2020 is to really spin up more of my stash, particularly as I still have fiber coming in once a month from the Southern Cross Fibre club. This fiber, for instance, came in right before we left:

This one's called Pretty (aptly named!), and it's on South African Superfine Merino, which feels like kittens. It's actually even more vibrant in person, but it's a typical dreary winter day here, which does mute everything colorful.

In addition to getting to a lot of the hand-dyed fiber in my stash, I've also decided that 2020 will be The Year of the Fleece. I have quite a lot of unspun fleece fiber, some completely ready to spin and some washed but not yet processed. I have enough that I could knit several sweaters out of it, if I would just get around to spinning the yarn, so I have set myself some modest goals of spinning up several ounces of at least two fleeces. One is washed, carded, and already divided into 2 oz. bundles; one is the beautiful Romney/Romeldale cross I bought at MDSW 2018 that I've already sampled. I think I might wait until spring/summer for the latter so I can take my drum carder outside and leave the mess there, but I think you can expect to see the former soon. Hold me to that, will you?

Encounters with Wildlife

If I were not on vacation, I'd be sitting at my desk at work right now, counting the minutes until 5 p.m. Instead, I am very thankful to be sitting outside with a view of palm trees and blue sky. I'm soaking up every bit of warmth and sun I can get!

Today is what I'm viewing as our penultimate day of vacation (we fly home early Saturday afternoon, but my father is a bit neurotic about leaving early, so that means we'll likely be leaving for the airport right after breakfast). We've been taking this vacation for a number of years, but as Rainbow has been fairly young for most of those years, our activities have mainly been limited to relaxing by the pool, going to the beach, going out to eat, and shopping. Today, however, we decided to do something completely different. We drove about 30 miles away to a marina and took a boat tour to see manatees, among other exotic wildlife.

It's very hard to see, but that lighter brownish blob just to the right of the pylons? That's a manatee! It was one of several we saw, including a mama manatee and her baby. This one was enjoying all the yellow leaves from the mangrove trees that had fallen on the surface of the water. The water in this spot was shallow enough that we could see it pretty clearly and watch it "crawl" along the bottom with its flippers.

We also saw quite a few alligators along the sides of the waterway, though we didn't get so close.

This guy seemed to be enjoying the sunshine.

We don't have to travel far to see some other wildlife, though. I've been running or taking long walks (like 6+ miles!) almost every day, and in addition to seeing lots of birds like herons and egrets and ducks on or near the water features in the development and tons of little lizards sunning themselves on the sidewalks, I also spotted this guy as I was nearly back to the house the other day:

I was a bit worried he was going to get himself run over, but as you can see he was a bit scared by my being so close to him, so I didn't want to traumatize him more by lifting him up and carrying him the rest of the way to the grass. I decided he was close enough, and I didn't see any remnants of a squashed turtle the next day, so he must have been fine.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a break from the wild animals and go read a trashy book outside. Happy Thursday!

Unraveling the Year's Plans

I know there are some people who like to end the year with no projects in progress and start fresh in the new year, but I am not one of them. I would feel very twitchy with nothing on the needles, even if only for a brief period of time, not to mention that because I'm away from home from the vast majority of stash and some of my projects, it's not really feasible for me.

I am, however, thinking about what I want to knit and spin in 2020, and I have some pretty lofty plans. Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works and the 90% Knitting podcast is sponsoring a 20 in 2020 make-along, so I've made a list (which I'll be able to change at the beginning of each quarter) of 20 projects I'd like to make, 20 stash yarns I'd like to use, and 20 items in my fiber stash I'd like to spin. My project list is heavy on sweaters, and I plan to get started on the first of those after we get home.

Here's where the WIPs stand at the moment (at least the WIPs that are on vacation with me):

The socks you have seen. I have not yet started the second design sock, but I will soon. I cast on the second 12 Days of Christmas sock this morning because the Mister and I are going to see Star Wars this evening and I need to have appropriate theater knitting. The one you haven't seen is the start of a new hat design that I'm knitting with a strand of sock yarn held together with a strand of mohair/silk. I wish you could pet it -- it's unbelievably soft and fuzzy!

The two WIPs that aren't pictured are the ones that stayed home: my crochet granny square blanket and my current spinning project.

I have enough experience with trying to limit myself to know that I shouldn't declare that I won't buy yarn this year and only work from stash, but I really do want to make a better effort to use up stash this year. The sweaters on my 20 in 2020 list will all use yarn I already have, and I really want to do more charity knitting this year as well. I have so many half or partial skeins of DK and worsted weight yarn in my stash, and that stuff is perfect for hats and mittens.

While my Ravelry notebook is great for keeping track of stuff, I think I'm also going to follow Lisa's lead and create a spreadsheet of my projects -- all my projects -- so I can track how much yarn and fiber I use up over the course of the year. I'm not setting a goal for how much I want to use or anything like that; I just want to get a better idea of what's being used.

How about you? What do you have planned in terms of your crafting for 2020?