Coming back into the light and big progress on a sweater

I didn't update last week, because I had been fighting low mood and a threatening depressive episode all week, and I didn't do much in the evening except mark and go to bed a bit early to try and combat what I realized was happening. Thankfully I'm feeling better now--still super stressed, but not like I'm about to slip under the black waters any minute. On the one hand I'm glad I'm getting better at assessing my mental state, but on the other hand, I'm having more of these black times than I used to. I know it can't be helped much until next year, so I'm trying to take care of myself when I can. I want to be in a position to heal and move on in December!

I did a lot of work on my Hitofude which has been hibernating most of the last year. I have decided I want to finish it for Stash Dash 2018, and the love came back after all those hats, so I'm going with it! I finished the arm section and the neckband this weekend, and am on my first repeat of the body. Such clever construction!

The sweater sucked up most of my knitting time, but I did manage to do a little shamrock in honor of St. Paddie's day--so cute!

I also tried out and then did this fun Celtic knot craft with my handwork group--actually easier than it looks, and gives pretty good results even with a very mixed skill group. With different papers there are all kinds of fun variations one could do on this...

I'm also using up some KP Filici on another brioche baby hat. It feels really different right now, but I think that's mostly because of the wool vs. totally synthetic yarns. Should be interesting once I take out the provisional cast-on though!

Parting shot: We are washing away again with all the rain, so to see this sky on Saturday down at the river was a real gift:

Snippets

Last week no joke just about killed me. My kids were horrid, I was exhausted, and then it was my longest weekend on. Too little knitting was fit in around all the junk, so here are a few snapshots of what I was doing when I wasn't wanting to light myself (or my students) on fire.

Many mistakes were made trying to dye this cotton yarn; too much dye was used, I tried to save it with a citric acid soak and heat in the slow cooker, but I sort of accidentally burned it. Yup, I now have burned, almost colorless yarn. I now know how NOT to dye cotton.

I started my second brioche baby hat to use up the other oddments Berroco Comfort Sock; simple and happy!

I made pom-poms to adorn the top of both hats! A) I LOVE Clover pom-pom makers. B), more yarn in a pom-pom is better.

I got almost to the end of the first ball of yarn in my morning bible reading hat project,

and I picked my Coraline socks back up and found that stripes make an excellent antidote to puerile stupidity. There is a time and a place for neon green yarn!

Here'e hoping this week is better. At the very least, there is a weekend off on the other side!