Yarn Therapy

It has been a very long, very exhausting week for me. Without getting too political, it's a hard time to be an American right now, and I've been utterly devastated by the current administration's policies toward immigrants in general and child immigrants in particular. I'm generally the type of person who is easily emotional, so you can imagine how emotional I've been the past several days as more and more heartbreaking information has come to light.

At times like these, when I feel anxious and sad and powerless, playing with yarn and fiber is a comfort. It seems frivolous, but it's good to know that I can always get out my knitting or my spinning and find a small measure of peace. So while I'll continue doing what I can to help those in need and fight against the injustices I see, when I become overwhelmed, I'll be turning back to crafting time and time again.

I am fortunate that at the moment my projects are fairly mindless, because frankly I have not had the mental energy to do anything more complicated than stockinette or some simple ribbing (I think that was perhaps the problem with the sweater shoulder the other night). And thanks to that, my latest pair of socks are off the needles as of earlier today.

Pattern: the toe-up version of my Non-Euclidian socks, currently in testing (to be released early next month)
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (80% superwash merino/20% nylon) in It's Wine O'Clock Somewhere!
Needles: US 0 (2.0 mm) Addi Sock Rockets, 40 in., magic loop
Started/Completed: June 9/June 21

I made these slightly smaller than my first pair (68 stitches total rather than 72) because the first pair was just slightly loose. The stitch count was in between sizes for the pattern, so I had to adapt it slightly -- luckily I knew how to do that because it was my own pattern! The resulting fit is just perfect. The yarn came from Lisa's Happy Hour Sock Yarn Club, which has been quite enjoyable. The third and final shipment should be coming soon; as the first colorway was inspired by beer and the second by wine, I suspect the third will be inspired by a cocktail of some type.

My Boxy now has a second front shoulder, and I've done just a bit of knitting (a row or two) on the back. It will be my main project this weekend; we're going away for a long weekend with the Mister's parents and brother as a belated celebration for my father-in-law's 70th birthday. It looks like the weather isn't going to be very favorable to outside activities, so I should get a lot done. With any luck, all that knitting will help me relax a bit.

I hope that if you've been having a difficult week as well, you're able to find some relaxation and stress relief this weekend as well.

Travel Knitting

I'm leaving for TNNA tomorrow, so naturally instead of thinking what clothes and toiletries I need to pack, I'm thinking about the knitting I'm taking.

Of course my Boxy is coming along -- I'm hoping that all the extra knitting time will help me get closer to finishing. I hit a big milestone over the weekend: I officially finished the body (after adding about four inches of additional length) and started working the front piece.

That's a Fat Squirrel sweater-sized bag on the left for scale -- this thing is enormous!

After dividing the last transition skein into its constituent sections, I'm now in the process of dividing each of those sections in half (so that I have one bit of it to use on the front and one to use on the back). I also wound the final skein (all the lightest blue) last night and divided it in half for the sleeves. There will be lots of little balls of yarn and extra ends to weave in, but I think it'll work and give me the outcome I was envisioning.

Meanwhile, I couldn't let the sweater be my only WIP, particularly as it's a rather large one that's not especially portable, so I cast on a new pair of socks. This is the most recent shipment from the Fibernymph Dye Works Happy Hour Yarn Club, called It's Wine O'Clock Somewhere! The stripes are the colors of different types of wine.

Cheese plate stitch marker from the Victorian Studio Shop

I am again knitting toe up, using my newest pattern (which, by the way, is now in testing). I'm adapting it to a slightly smaller stitch count, as I think I've relaxed in my gauge; the last pair fit but didn't have as much negative ease as I'd like.

I'll be at TNNA through Saturday, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a post up on Thursday, but I'll certainly try. I did want to mention for those of you who have left comments recently that Blogger seems to be having an issue with e-mail notifications of comments, so if you've left a comment, I haven't been aware of it. I do usually try to respond to all comments if I can, but it's hard to do when you don't know you've received them! I hope the issue will be resolved soon, but in the meantime please know that I really appreciate it when you take time to comment on a post and I do read every comment!