Knitting Along...

...the knitting needles are flying around here. I got it into my head the other day that I could possibly finish the green traveling socks in time for the trip to see Kid #1. That would be kind of a record finish for me for a PAIR of socks. But it's really just plain knitting, so this weekend, I applied myself a bit more. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

Let me say this: I thought I was not going to like this combo. I'm watching it knit up and I'm thinking maybe they won't be my very favorite, but they'll be nice. I'm kind of liking the way the pattern is turning out. 

Of course, photographing it on hot pink probably doesn't do it a lot of justice. But I'm kind of getting into the feeling of the combo here. 

I thought that perhaps I should make these into a pair of shorties, but since I'm already a couple inches down the leg, I'm really not inclined to frog them, and right now they're at the "dorky too strange looking" height. And besides, if I wanted to bring the tall hiking boots, these will look cool peeking out of a hiking boot and I won't be losing my socks. 

I hate when the socks slip down into your shoes. I have a couple pair of "no show" socks that do that and it makes me crazy. It also makes blisters. 

I did put a few more rows on the Close to You Shawl. I have time, though. So I'm good there. 

I'm also looking with horror at the stash. I mean real horror as in, "Oh my God, how am I going to knit all of this?" And that's only the VISIBLE stash. I haven't even opened the closet. 

Definitely on a yarn diet as of now. And this time I'm serious. I have some very special yarn that I need to knit up for myself. I'm anxious to finish more socks - and try to make some of the "shorties" that I can wear with tennis shoes. I'd love to buckle down and finish at least one of the sweaters. 

It will come. I think I can. I know I can. Focus. 

I love not only the process of knitting but the product of knitting. I love to finish things and wear them. I love to knit them. I love to see the stitches form, the pattern start to work, the garment being built. 

One of my most magical things is the turning of a heel. Seriously, you have this tube. And with a few rounds, all of a sudden, you have a heel. It's amazing. 

I love to see a bunch of written lines turn into lace. 

I love conquering a picot edging. 

I've gotta focus and get knitting, and I'm planning to have a blast while doing it. 

That's Just Wrong...

This is what I found in the "hummus" part of the grocery store. I'm sorry, but this is wrong. Snickerdoodles are cookies that are yummy. They're not hummus. 

Not saying hummus isn't yummy. But hummus isn't sweet. It's savory. It's meant to be served with veggies or pita or crackers. 

Seriously, what would you serve "snickerdoodle hummus" with?? Arrowroot teething crackers? 

This jumped the shark big-time and I just can't fathom it. 

Plus-Sized Models...

So I'm wondering why, when I see plus-size models (and I'm not talking those size 14 gals here, but the larger women I see modeling bathing suits and the like)... they never seem to have a tummy. 

Take a look - they have larger bodies, which I'm happy to see, because it's reality, right? But many of them don't have tummies. 

You'll see an article, called, "Swimsuits for Every Body," and the "larger bodied" women will have flat stomachs. 

What about those of us with a meno-pot? What about those of us whose "babies" are 30 and we still have a maternal pooch? 

Yes. I'm freaking out because I have to bring a bathing suit to the trip because we'll be doing something with hot springs that may involve me dipping into one. 

Anyway, take a look at the pictures and see if you agree with me. I love seeing realistic women modeling clothing because we're not all sticks. 

But even the "real" women in the Dove ads weren't as "normal" as they could've been. 

It's a conundrum. And maybe I need to just put on my "big girl" panties (over the meno-pot) and deal with it. But it would be nice if clothing manufacturers would also deal with it and if the fashion world got even better at it. 

Random Picture...

The sunset tonight was really pretty. And I managed to catch a couple of shots. This one was my favorite one, as the sun just got behind the tree in the perfect way. 

I stepped aside to get this one, so I eliminated the building that's usually in the way. 

My students were grateful for the class. They all said they were "fuzzed out" and relaxed. That's what I want to hear. They stopped, looked at the sunset, then made their way to their cars to go home. 

One Down...

...far, FAR too many left to go. Hubby says I've got the worst case of SABLE that he's ever seen. And in his opinion, if I should live to work through my stash, I'll be, oh, maybe 429 years old...

SABLE: Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy. My friend Sonda, who was my "enabler" (a/k/a LYS owner and dear friend) had, in her store at one time, a club called SABLE. Many of us were members. 

But. 

I. Have. Finished. A. Thing. 

Before blocking

The Shape-It scarf, thanks to my "Snag Sister" friend, is done. It's on the blocking table (a/k/a our massage table) now. I'm bandaged (don't use dressmaker pins - find your blocking pins!), and it's done and drying. 

This was done with alpaca lace-weight, using Addi needles about 6 sizes up from what lace-weight calls for. Size 9, to be exact. And they've been really slippery little buggers. The lace weight has threatened to slip more than once. 

If you recall, I had a HUGE snag. I was having a fit because it was down in the "point" of the scarf, and I didn't really want to rip it all back. I initially thought I'd dropped a stitch, but it wasn't looking right. 

Eucalan soak

I just stuck it in time-out for a month or three, and figured I needed to calm down before I tackled any kind of repair job. I needed to contemplate. And then an opportunity presented itself. My friend "R" asked me to come over and help her get a top-down sweater started. You remember, she gave me that amazing Mongolian lace-weight? Anyway, before I went over, I had a brainstorm. She's a talented seamstress in her own right, as well as being an amazing musician and teacher. 

She looked at it, and grabbed a needle. "Oh, it's just a snag. Let's work it out." And...she did. Whew! 

Soaked and rinsed

This is a Sally Melville pattern - you start at the point, increase to a certain number of stitches, and then make "wings" on either side. You can pretty much fudge this pattern left, right, and center! The woman at the OLD Wool & Co. who clerked there told me about the pattern and ok'd this yarn choice when they were having their close-out before they turned over the keys. 

She had a beauty on that was a tape yarn. I liked this alpaca, because I wanted one out of this and I have about a half-ball left. Maybe a little shawlette left in there - it's amazing how far this stuff goes! It's definitely shawl or wrap yarn - not hat yarn for sure. 

I'm no expert, but let's go through the steps. I bound it off (probably a tad too tightly) and then stuck it in a Eucalan soak for about 15 minutes. Even though they said to not rinse it, I rinsed it anyway. It didn't hurt. The trick to not felting the crap out of this stuff is to absolutely let it soak without agitating. 

Tepid water, a plish of the soak, gently lower your garment into the water, and then GENTLY squish the liquid through the garment. Then set a timer and walk away. Go knit something. Have a cup of tea. 

When your timer goes off, GENTLY (are you getting this???) lift the entire garment up with two hands, so as to not let it droop. Squeeze gently. Then, if you want, rinse it under cool water. Squeeze. Gently. 

Have a large towel ready, lay out your garment, loosely patting it into some sort of shape. Roll it up. Put it on the floor and then step on it. Seriously - step on it to squish out the excess water. Have your blocking stuff set up.

Find your blocking pins. I mean it. I didn't. I paid for it! Regular sewing pins have teeny tiny heads on them. So, when you forget to turn your pole lamps up to "high," you will inevitably stab yourself. Which I did. It was stupid. But I had "Finish Fever" and wanted to get this done. 

I pinned the top center out first - about 4 pins to anchor it. Then I pulled the point down. You can really open this up - and I probably could've gone further. 

This is where the "slightly-too-tight" bind off hurt me. I should've loosened up or taken it to a size 10 needle. But perhaps this will give it the structure or foundation it needs. 

Blocking pins offer you a little more anchoring, though this is my first time with lace yarn. So maybe blocking pins wouldn't have mattered. I could've used my lace wires, but the way the wings lay out, I didn't have the right configuration. Maybe if I do another one, I'll try it. As you can see, it's pretty open, and I really did need another set of blocks. My lace wires are all straight, and I could definitely have used a curved set to pull the point out correctly and get the definition in the triangle part more appropriately set up. 

Unfortunately, since Kid #2 still has his stuff in my one room, I have no floor space where dogs are unable to tread. If I had a dogless household, I'd just stick it in the hall, since it's just me and Hubby - we can walk around a blocking board, maybe! 

Get the point

Anyway. It is what it is. So after anchoring the top, I pulled the point down even more. I ran out of space, so I stuck the needle into the sheet covering the table, and wrapped the excess yarn, which I didn't cut off for this particular reason, by the way, around the needle, to keep that point very obvious. As you can see, there's a slight ruffle along the sides of the triangle part. I'm living with it. According to the schematic, it should be more deliberately straight. But the original pattern also called for something like sock-weight. Not lace... I can deal with the ruffle. It's now a design element. 

So in a day or so, I'll have this ready and will figure out how to model it. Here's more of a close-up for the point. At that time, I hadn't finished pinning out the sides of the triangle. I did tighten up the bound-off edge, but I really wanted to keep the point just as it was till I was done. It won't hurt to weave it in later. 

This can be worn front-wise: place the point over your sternum, drape the bound-off edge softly and then wrap the wings around the back and bring them to the front. It's not as long as the one in the original design, but maybe that's a fault of my bind-off. Though I don't mind. I'm not a big person and I don't want to drown in my knitting. 

More Knitting...

The silk scarf is coming along nicely. I like the sheen, and the lace is really something I could use in a small car-seat blanket or even the bottom of a sweater? Who knows? 

This one is supposed to be about 35.5" long. I don't know if it'll get that long, but anything over 30" will keep me warm. If I can get it to 36" - I'll be even happier. 

This is the first time I'm using this yarn bowl. I haven't been able to use it for the baby stuff or the socks. The bowl is actually quite small, even though it's beautiful. So sock yarn comes in oblong balls, which don't fit well. And the baby yarn is DK-weight, which is too big for the bowl. 

I'm still looking for the perfect yarn bowl. When I find it, I'll let you know. If you find it, please let me know. We knitters have to stick together!

The Perfect Egg...

Probably doesn't exist, but these came darned close! I was given these eggs as a gift. They're from someone who raises chickens locally. Unpasteurized, unhormoned, unchemical-laden. Grass-fed chickens. Local. Small - micro-farm small. 

As I had them handed to me, I realized that, while they're the same size as the dozen or so I have in my fridge, these felt heavier! 

So the other day, when I got home from teaching yoga, I was starving. I had done two classes, back-to-back, and maybe lots of people do that. Well, I know for a fact that many yoga teachers, in an attempt to make a real living from teaching, if they don't own a studio, go from studio to studio teaching classes all day long. 

I'm fortunate enough to not have to do that, but I do sub for my own teachers a lot. Which I did Saturday - an active a.m. class and then my own garden class. I was tuckered out and hungry. 

So I fried these up with some hash. Yum. 

That's all. Just YUM!

Hubby just found a fundraiser where a local animal rescue is selling chicken and duck eggs. Who knew that the person who's allergic to chicken eggs can actually eat duck eggs? That's kind of cool. 

So we'll be saving the link and when we need eggs, we'll see if they have some to sell. Again, the buying local thing.

Yes, I buy from the grocery store, but if I can find a local source? I'll try it at least. 

The Eclipse...

I didn't see much at the eclipse. My brother and SIL went down to Carbondale and she got some beautiful shots. I didn't. This was as close as I got... It was cloudy. 

I will say though - they were right. The texture of the light changed. I was sitting in my office, and noticed that the light changed. Not that "green" stuff you get when a tornado is looming. But it was gold. A shimmery, opal-like gold. I walked outside and looked up, and this is what I saw. 

I'm sure if I'd had a filter, I could've seen more, but I wasn't really sure what we'd see up here anyway, and I was on lunch anyway, so I was monitoring the whole thing on the internet. 

Then there was this... as I was prepping for teaching, I heard a pretty nasty batch of thunderstorms... But I couldn't see clouds. Seriously, out the studio windows, it was sunny. "Thundersun," right? 

So it was brief, but it did rain for about 10 minutes. Then, as the sun continued to shine, I had a brainstorm - which was remarkable, since I was up half the night with the elkhounds and THAT thunderstorm! 

I ran to the back door of the studio and I saw a rainbow. Well, a partial one. It never really did get too intense, but it was there. 

A rainbow and an eclipse all in the same day. Quite a Monday after all. 

I told Hubby that we needed to plan for the next total eclipse. It's 2024....so we have seven years to get the appropriate equipment and plan. I'd love to see it over Niagara Falls, which is in the trajectory. But likely, we'll end up in Indianapolis. First off, it's closer, so Hubby could bring his telescope. Second - Niagara Falls, while I've never seen it, will likely be horrendously expensive. 

We have time. 

Random Picture...

So I'm a member of the Southwest Suburban Activists. One of the group members has a GoFundMe to print these signs, as well as yard signs and car magnets. I bought several of them, and will spread them around as much as I can. 

I've put one at the studio. I'll bring one to church and see who wants to get them, and then I'll arrange to pick more up. 

Is it a game-changer? I don't know. But perhaps if enough of these signs go out and up, people will start to think more about the message. I'm hoping to find an event where I can participate. Peaceful protest is the way to combat the hate and anger. 

It's the only way. Violence begets violence. And unless you're in imminent danger, you don't fight like that. 

I'm not Pollyanna. I'm mad. This isn't the world I wanted for my kids. Crap - it's not the world I want to retire in! But I know I don't want to fight. I want to change people's minds so that we all learn that we can coexist. It shouldn't be that hard.