Well...this was not how I envisioned my spring...

It’s now my fourth week of online teaching, and things are falling into a bit more of a pattern. These last four weeks have been made harder by a family loss that we don’t know when we’ll be able to be together for and a right hand/arm injury that I’m pretty sure is tendinitis. I’ve had to be very, very careful how and how much I use my hand, so I haven’t been able to knit much these last few weeks. However, my hand is slowly healing, the weather is improving, and I’m finding ways to keep myself hopeful and remembering how much I do have more than how much I miss. So, here’s a look at what I’ve been doing, mostly over the last two weeks.

Before my hand got bad and before the end of my ‘real’ spring break, I decided to cast on the brioche cowl I had bought a particularly beautiful skein of Chicken Coop Dyeworks yarn for at the East Texas Fiber Fest last fall. I learned a few things about fixing mistakes in brioche (it’s a PAIN), was able to knit sometimes only two rounds a day on it through the pain, and was getting close to completion when I tried it on-

And then I came to the awful conclusion that the cowl was going to be too big. Now, this was 100% my fault as I had added to it because of my gauge, but I had forgotten to take into account how very stretchy brioche is. So, after putting the project in time out for a few days I ripped the whole thing back, cast on fewer stitches, and I’m trying again. This time the yearn is pooling which it didn’t before—I’ll be interested to see how it behaves once I get to the flat part.

Easter was a bit odd this year, as I suspect it was for you too. One of the things I learned from my time overseas is how powerful traditions are. They are a way to help you look beyond where you are at that moment, and a way to connect you with loved ones far away. They are a way to hope, to remember, and to get outside yourself. So, I dyed a few eggs on Good Friday,

made hot crossed buns,

and knit some covers for blown eggs. The knit egg covers isn’t traditional, but making something—particularly something small and fiddly—for holidays is traditional for me.

I also made myself a nice dinner and ate off my inherited china. Because if this isn’t an occasion to use the good china, I don’t know what is!

I also did a bit of sewing Easter Monday. I’ve been doing some research into mask making, and this is my first one-

I made a few modifications to the original tutorial which can be found HERE such as pipecleaner in the bridge of the nose portion, ties out of random lavender bias tape that a younger me bought for some unknown project, and did a bit of top stitching. I’m pretty happy with it, and pleased that I had enough scraps of both fabric and interfacing.

I've also been spinning a bit. There was about 55g of a brightly colored pencil roving that I got from my mom that has been a very cheerful thing to have in my sore hand and on my wheel. I'm plying it up right now, but here is the single on the wheel-

Lastly, as something to look forward to every weekend, I've been driving out to visit the many historic cemeteries near where I live. I've been to four so far; at least two more to go. Once I've hit the ones labeled on the main road, I'll look up some more. There sure are a lot around here, but seeing as I live in the oldest town in Texas it's perhaps not too surprising. It's so nice to get out into the beautiful spring weather, wander around safely, and I quite like reading the names and dates and piecing together tantalizing bits of the stories left behind. It's also nice to have an 'outing' to look forward to; a safe way to go DO something. As always, even in times of worldwide crisis, it's the little things in life that make so much difference.

Making and Russian Ho-to's

On Saturday I was able to pick up the bowl I painted at the Mud Hut, and I have to say I was pretty pleased with the results. I love how the lace effect turned out, and overall I'm pretty pleased with my brush work. Now I want to go paint something else!

In honor of Pi Day, I tried out a 1940's pineapple pie recipe. It had a meringue topping which I don't think I realized, but I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. It was pretty sweet, but I rather liked the different pie filling.

I have to admit I've been really caught up in the latest season of The Great British Baking Show, so when there was the chance to make soda bread and a trifle for St. Patrick's day, I jumped on it! I made much better soda bread than I used to when I was a teenager, and thought I was a bit worried that the lime jello and the pistachio pudding would clash, they made for a very satisfactory, very green dessert. I'm coming for my sister's title as the trifle queen!

In knitting news I finished up the Alzheimer mat circle project, had a lovely lunch with the friend who commissioned them, and was relieved that she loved what I had made. Now I know a lot more than I used to about both bobbles and yarn crafting in circles. Plus, I got rid of several little bits of yarn--bonus!

I'm trying to get my (admittedly) self-imposed hand towel knitting finished, so I finally decided on some buttons and had a sewing on 'party' on the six or so finished towels, and am trying to get the rest of my seasonal ones finished up so I can move on to something else. I wasn't super impressed with my home town's button offerings, but decided I could live with the cheap Wal-Mart ones. Boy do I hope the nice ones I saved from my old towels turn up back on this side of the ocean eventually...

And lastly, I've been trying to get my Fancy Mee scarf/shawl finished up. I decided it was too small after finishing the last section,

and while I totally plan to add an edging, I wanted to use up more of my yarn and have it be just a bit bigger. I don't have a proper stitch dictionary anymore, and after looking through what I had and what my mom has, I turned to the internet and found this-

I liked the individual elements of the stitch and the look of the loops, but the problem was it was in Russian. Some more Googling had me a conversion for the Russian chart symbols, but there were still some parts I couldn't figure out. I noodled around with a swatch, but then found a forum on Ravelry where you could get help with Russian pattern translation. I ended up watching the suggested Russian how-to video, which ended up with me realizing there was a mistake in the chart and how to achieve the desired look. I was afraid it wasn't going to work as it looked a terrible mess until I worked a row or two past the loops, but I think it's going to block out even better than it eventually settled. On to the edging!

I'm trying to get a few things cleared out so I can get back to work on my Ink cardigan; I was reminded that Stash Dash is coming up! This year I'll be able to spin as well, so I might stretch myself and go for the 5K...we'll have to see how busy I am!

Parting shot: Silver Grizzly coffee, good company (sister and brother-in-law), and knitting are always a good idea on a Monday morning!

In which I thought I had accomplished more...

One of the many good reasons to set yourself a goal of blogging at least once a week, is to have the chance to recollect what you have accomplished in that time period. I had an odd job that took an afternoon last week, but I must have been reading and running errands more, because I don't have a huge amount to show for my time. One thing I finally finished was plying the last of the three RoundHouse Alpaca Farm rovings, the chocolate brown with stellina. I have to say, it's my best yarn yet!

I just wish there was a bit more of it... Now I need to make the final decision on how to ply the pink stuff that has been sitting quite long enough.

During the course of various social events and low-attention actives I got the heel turned and am ready to start the toe decreases on my sister-in-law's sock. I enlisted a mutual friend to get a sneaky idea of if she liked matched or fraternal socks, and it seems I need to figure out how to deal with the hand the sock company dealt me. Oh well, I know I can do it, it's just a bit tedious.

I've also been working away on my hat out of handspun, and then I hit a snag yesterday. I don't think I have enough white to finish it. So... Options.

Start using the brown again and pretend that was my plan all along. Not a huge fan. Plan 2-rip the whole thing back, knit the bottom only using the brown, and then do the top using only the white. Also not a huge fan. Plan 3 and so far the most favored-rip back to where I changed to just white, keep alternating with the brown for a lot longer, have just the very top in white only. I just hate ripping back! I've got another gamble going on this scarf too; I ordered a faux-fur pompom this afternoon in the hopes that it will be close enough to work. If not, I'm sure I can find something else to crown with it!

Ah, as I write memory is coming back to me... One of the reasons I didn't seem to have a lot of show was because I spent a big chunk of one day last week hand mending my oldest and most beloved pair of jeans. My jeans tend to wear out on the inner thigh, so there is now a huge patchwork of mends holding that pair together. I hadn't received my sewing machine yet, plus, it's really hard to work around all the fabric bunching up. So, I did it the slow way, and found I really should have used a thimble. The jeans are back in service now, and I only have two other mending projects to work on. Still waiting for that darning mushroom...

The other thing I spent a lot of time on last week will have to wait a few days to be posted, as they are surprises for some special folks. And, I did spend quite a bit of time reading too, as well as working on studio documents for when I start teaching piano.

As a certain special day is coming up, I decided to treat myself to a few things. One I want to write about a little later, but my yarn gift to myself was Nomadic Yarns McGonagall colorway which I have been wanting for some time. I've had my eye on that colorway for awhile; not only am I a Gryffindor, but I was also a house mistress for three years, and McGonagall was the second best teacher at Hogwarts (some things about those books are ruined for you when you work at a boarding school). The best was, or course, Lupin. So, I will have two of her skeins of HP colors for my sock knitting delight!

One other thing I did last week, was try out a Southern Living peanut butter brownie recipe. It was *amazing,* and I particularly appreciated how it wasn't too sweet, though it is rich. It made a lot, so we've been steadily working out way through them. There are worse things to have a weeks supply of...

Well, that's me! Enjoy Valentine's Day, remember you are greatly loved, and do something you love just for you this week.

The Things We Knit When Life is Crazy...

No sign of the star fever drying up around here! These have been made at various times over the last two-three weeks (I'm loosing count). I made two as Christmas gifts and tried out a Halloween one,

and have plans for a few others before I have pretty much used up the yarn I have here that I feel like knitting stars with.

I knit some tentacles while I was off last weekend for the Cthulhu mask. I have kind of an idea of how many I want/need, but I think I'll need to start pinning them to the mask to get a better idea. The things we knit for love!

I got some more work down on my 'Coraline' squarcles, mostly while watching Logan which is just as good a movie as I remembered. A little hard to watch, but SO GOOD!

These will probably be in hibernation for awhile because I realized something. I have no hat or gloves to take with me to Germany! Where it will be cold! And it would be super embarrassing if a knitter had to by accessories! So, I started a simple hat, and am swatching for my attempt to copy some fingerless gloves I like but don't want to pay for.

Lastly, I finally finished my Trillian! This will probably not end up being mine, but it made good meeting knitting!

Here's hoping for a bit more knitting time this week...HA!

Packing, Sports Day, very little knitting

This last week has been full of mostly A) packing, b) marking, c) teaching, and D) report card comments. Half-term was Monday and Tuesday, so I had actually watched TWO movies over the weekend, and got to knit. Wednesday I took about an hour out of my evening to celebrate the 4th with Ruthie and Anna; here was our little American second supper/dessert-

Saturday was sports day, so as usual I worked on a sock (the second Coraline) in between handing out ribbons, answer questions, and keeping track of the scores.

I only have three and a half more days at Sakeji, so it's going to be pretty wild with tying up loose ends, handing over my class and duties (have fun with *that* sub!), and finishing my packing which is more than packing, it's stage 3 of 4 in my move back to the States. So, don't expect to hear too much from me till I've slept off the worst of the jet leg next week! I'm so excited about traveling, being home, seeing my family, and welcoming a new brother to the clan. I'm excited about being in Dubai for a day, the first Starbucks, having time to knit and breath, and going to some movies. This year is 2/3 done--I'm in the home stretch!

Happy Easter!

I absolutely meant to update last week, and I even had an entry all typed up. And then...life exploded, and I was over my eyeballs, and by the time I had a chance for something so 'frivolous' as blogging, what I had written was rather out of date. How over my eyeballs? Well, to use the Hogwarts measure, I returned over two inches of graded exams, not to mention all the other marking to finish out grades!

So, all the things I've been up to these last two weeks! My last weekend of term I was 'off' though very busy, but I did take time to try out a Nutella break recipe. I've found it's important to have something to look forward to when I'm off, and this was my big treat to myself for that weekend. It turned out really well--nicely balanced between the sweet dough and the spread. I'd totally make it again, and I hope next time I'll have some hazelnuts to kick it up a notch!

Since it was Easter, I of course made hot crossed buns. I forgot to half the recipe as I usually do, but that just meant I had some to share, and I have some to freeze. I'm getting better at this every year; I should have it down to an art in another two or three!

I also tried out a shimmer egg kit that I was hoping would show up enough on our brown eggs to make it worthwhile. I'm pretty happy with the results--next year this won't be an issue!

I mostly did 'brainless' knitting while reading in the mornings during exam week, and while talking to my family on Easter I got about to the decreases on another brioche baby hat, but the main thing I worked on when I had a moment was still my Hitofude. This is what it looked like right before exam week--ready to start the increases,

And...that's about what it looks like now too, since I didn't read a vital instruction and had to rip out close to two inches of knitting. I hate when I orchestrate knitting attacks... Everything from the heart marker up had to go. Ah well; it builds character, right?

Now that the holiday has started, one of my biggest goals is to get caught up on sleep and to plan my April and July trips. And to knit. And to not be around kids. And to clean my house, sort a bunch of stuff, get rid of a lot of stuff, and to cook. I'm a third of the way through this year!

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:

All About Hearts

I totally had a blog post written out last week, but then stuff happened. Lots of stuff… So, here is two weeks worth of news.

I follow Hunter Hamerson’s blog (such pretty pictures!), and when she released her pattern Palpitation, I knew I had to have some seasonal knitting. I’m making two hearts as Valentines for deserving friends, and two for me. Perhaps next year I’ll add some different sized ones, but four is about all I can manage (and get dried!) right now. The beginning is super fiddly, but once you get the point big enough it is smooth sailing. I love Hunter’s patterns, and I love this whimsical use for leftovers. Here are some hearts pre-stuffing,

And this is what they look like afterwards. I poured a little lavender from an extra sachet I had in with the stuffing to give them a nice smell as well. It was a tad fine for the job I was giving it, but it’s what I have at the moment. Next year!

Though it’s not much to see, here is the Sockhead hat I’ve been working on in the mornings while I soak my foot and read my bible. The colors are not knitting up at all like I expected from the skein—not a bad thing, just not what I was expecting.

I also started a brioche baby hat with the leftovers from the last vertebra I knit. I’m really enjoying it, and doing a cable cast on in the round was way less of a deal than I was thinking it would be. I actually restarted this hat because it was turning out way too big and I only have a little bit of yarn left over. I’m liking the firmer gauge a lot.

Oh, speaking of said vertebra? It’s done and blocked!

As well as knitting tiny hearts, I put up a few Valentine’s decorations in my house and classroom. I will be defiant until the end in the face of my non-celebrator WPAs! (Workplace proximity associates—Parks n’ Rec). I was going to make my kids Valentines, but then realized that Past-me was *brilliant* and bought Valentines when they were on sale. Since I was in a super long and tedious staff meeting till late, it was a double bonus. Looking forward to being Stateside next year!

Hopefully tonight I can cast on my Chinese New Year project--I'm mulling over a super crazy version, but right now I'm going with only the kind of crazy already provided version. Hint--double knitting!

I apparently am going to be on the sock kick for awhile longer; I found a pattern I’m dying to cast on, but I’m making myself finish one of my other three hats first. It’s a 3 color stash buster; I might be able to salvage some weird yarn I dyed with sunflowers a few years back to fill things out. It’s kind of frustrating right now trying to knit what excites me while also making sure that none of the ‘good stuff’ gets left at school when I leave at the end of the year. I found my Coraline sock that I started in the fall; I have a feeling once another hat or two is out of my system I’ll be ready to get back to footwear.

Christmas 2017

So, being home for Christmas meant a lot of knitting, a lot of cooking, a lot of errand running, a lot of decorating, a lot of dishes, a lot of laughter, and a lot of joy. Since I had a lot of stuff going on, I figured a blog update could wait. Here are some of the things I did:

I went on a tour of Dubai and saw the world’s tallest building! Maybe on my last swing through Dubai I’ll take the four hour tour, but this was a nice treat on my way home.

I tried a Christmas tree frape—so nice to be able to go OUT again!

I visited the lake (knitting, not swimming took place!)

I got to see a Christmas balloon glow—very cool.

I got dressed up and went to the symphony; such a treat!

I remembered the Alamo. One of my dear friends was spending Christmas in San Antonio with her family, so I drove down to visit her for a few days. I hadn’t been since I was a teenager, and I had forgotten how small the church was. That old live oak tree was spectacular all wrapped in lights.

I had a wonderful Christmas with my family which included my brother’s hilarious labels, a beautiful pie co-created with my sister, my first macarons, guests, and lots of runs to Wal-Mart. There was a truly spectacular sunset Christmas day.

In knitting news I finished my Crazy Stripes cardigan that I started in the spring—I LOVE IT! It needs a blocking and buttons, and now that I think about it I might have left a few ends in the one sleeve, but it can wait till December when I’m home again. So pretty!

I worked on a Christmas sock while watching The Man Who Invented Chrsitmas and Star Wars: The Last Jedi as well as once I had finished my sweater and gift knitting.

Speaking of The Last Jedi, not perfect, but I sure enjoyed being home and able to see it in theaters! I splurged on a rebel cowl for the occasion; it will come in handy later as an innocent looking scarf when I need to keep my inner nerd quiet.

So, it was a wonderful holiday all in all, and I am so thankful that I got to be home. While there wasn’t a lot of physical rest, it was absolutely much needed soul rest. It was a little difficult having my life in three ‘boxes,’ the ‘enjoying it right now’ box, the ‘need it for my last year overseas’ box, and the ‘future’ box. However, life is seldom easy or tidy, and while this year will be no exception, I’m ready. Ready to finish this chapter and turn a new one. Ready to tackle new projects and learn new skills, and ready to move back home. Okay 2018, bring it on!