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!

If at first you don’t succeed, dye, dye again

Sorry, couldn’t pass up the pun! I have been going through my stash mentally and physically over the last few days, and starting to make decisions about what I’m okay leaving behind (as little good stuff as possible), and how I might use up some things. I had a skein of yarn I had dyed with sunflowers a few years ago, and wasn’t wild about the results. It was a weird yellow color, and I wasn’t very inclined to actually use it.

Then, this weekend, the dying bug hit. First of all, I made up some dye, froze it into ice cubes, and put it out in the sun with some cotton yarn I had lying around. The randomness of this method appealed to me, and if it hadn’t rained this afternoon I think it would have worked better. I ended up cooking it in my crockpot all day Monday to set the dye; I’m very interested to see how that works when I go rinse it…

Then, as I was sorting through my dye tablets, I thought about overdying that weird yellow, and figured that purple might work well. So, 4 purple tables, a blue, and a red later, I threw it in the pot and got this lovely result:

I LOVE it when a gamble pays off like that! I want to play around with a self-stripping and some more tie dye, but I think that will have to wait till later. Dying takes a lot of time and space!

On the knitting front I have finished not one, but TWO hats! First, the Sausalito. I didn’t read the decrease directions carefully, thought I could live with it, tried it on, and then realized that I was going to have to FROG back and do it right. I’m pleased with the results; it just needs a bath now.

The second hat I finished was the super basic brioche baby hat. I also managed to mess up the decreases on that the first time through, so out they came and I tried again with better success. Still not sure how I managed to follow the simple directions so badly… I think I’m going to top this with a pom-pom to use up the last little bit of the yarn. Not sure how it will look, but I don’t have to actually put it on, right?

I finished the ribbing on my Sockhead hat over the course of my morning bible readings last week--yay! The stitch marker shows my total progress. Little bits of time add up!

Lastly, I've been having fun with a new level of madness--non-mirrored double knitting. I'm slowly working on a cotton potholder that has the character for tiger, my zodiac sign. It took a little getting my head around, but now I'm enjoying it so much I'm considering how to have two totally different pictures charted for double knitting!

Parting shot: I tried string art! I might re-string this floss as it is a gift and looks more leaf than feather like, but I'm loving the results!

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.

I make a snail and find myself in a hat place

Several of my students and I are locked in a battle of wills. Their will to do no schoolwork versus my will that oh yes they shall. Oddly enough, this battle takes a lot of time and energy from their teacher, so in order to combat the urge to organize a firing squad and do humanity a solid, I turned knit a snail.

This pattern showed up on my Facebook feed, and I realized that here was the answer to a) glaring personal defects in immature persons and b) my naked tea pot that I have been meaning to cloth for quite some time. So, shoving pipecleaners up icord is harder than I had thought. I was so excited about putting on the eyes that I forgot to block it so it's not as even as I would like, but oh well. Too late now! I also probably should have doubled them like I originally planned, but my little critter is DONE, and I'm charmed!

Other than being gripped by a great need to knit a snail, I'm weirdly in a hat place right now. I have one going full steam ahead, one waiting for when I finish my current mindless project, and a brioche baby hat that I can hardly wait to cast on. Here is my third Sausalito hat; I added a repeat after the band; not sure it will actually make any difference (it certainly won't make it slouchy like I was sort of hoping but I might try again...) but here we are.

My other accomplishment for this week was finishing the French knit hot pad I was making as an example for my handwork class. Boy did that take me back to my childhood... I had this massive piece of spool knitting that we were sewing into a hot pad, but never actually finished. This wasn't as big as I was expecting it to be, but the yarn finished and I was ready to stop working on it. Both good reasons, right?

This weekend I decided to try cooking my potatoes that were quickly reaching their expiration date in my slow cooker. It was a new idea for me, but apparently (at least according to the internet) a fairly common practice. I forgot to prick the potatoes first, but it worked beautifully! When propane is as expensive as it is out here, having a house with enough power to run a slow cooker is a HUGE blessing!

Well, that's all I have at the moment. I plan to make something seasonal this week, and I can't wait to try brioche again. I haven't worked up to a two color project yet--partially because I'm not sure I have enough yarn that would go together, but it's definitely on the knitting bucket list! That and steaking are two knitting skills I most want to encounter. There is another tea cozy that might be a good introduction...

Start school, start projects. Logical, right?

School started last week, so my life kind of exploded again. I have been working on some better teacher habits to help me have a saner year, and so far they seem to be helping. This could also be because there wasn’t as much marking to do this week, but I’m going to keep working on bettering my teacher practices. I’m enjoying my new teacher planner as well; I’m working on the disciplines I’ll need to be employed once I’m back Stateside.

In the midst of all the teacher crazy, I have been doing some knitting! I finished the second pair of booties and duly pom-pomed the ties.

I finished the back and edging on the Vertebra and am powering through the first sleeve. International Facebook chats make for great knitting time!

I finished my noble cowl and love how it looks blocked. It was a good thing I added a pattern repeat to it; I have this thing where I don’t like my cowls so wide they don’t keep me warm, and so tight that I feel like I’m wearing a turtleneck. I think this is just about in the sweet spot. So soft! This will go well with my winter coat for when I’m back home.

I started two hats this weekend; they are just a row or two into the ribbing so nothing much to see yet. I did the 'Chinese Waitress' cast on for both of them; not sure how much I'm digging it. It is supposedly super stretchy, but a bit slower than my good ol' standby, long tail. Consideration will continue!

I also found an adorable snail tea cozy pattern that I had to start right away for my little pot. I’ve been wanting to make a cozy for this pot anyway, and this was the perfect opportunity. I’m using some of the yarn I dyed several years ago as I don’t have any bulky yarn (which the pattern calls for) sitting around. I’m also having to tweak it a bit on the go because this is only a 500mL pot, not the L pot the pattern was written for.

Well, that's basically me. Here's hoping the first full week goes as smoothly as last week, and that I continue to have a little space to breath and knit every night!

Cast on lots of things, an arch, and a cool pin

Since arriving back at the little school in the bush, I have not been idle! Yes, I slept in all last week, but I have been sorting, cleaning, and clandestinely burning a lot of trash as I continue to work towards moving on at the end of the year. Man, burning trash by night is way more cathartic than it probably aught to be! When I got back I found a gift from a co-worker including this charming ceramic brooch from the Harray Potters of Orkney—all the better as I just finished reading Harry Potter through for the second time!

I assembled the garden arch I have owned for 9 years and had shipped out to me, but couldn’t assemble because I didn’t have the screws. (The perils of buying clearance from Michael’s…) My dad helped me find the right screws and I paid at least as much for them as I had for the arch in the first place. Once I started to assemble the arch things were going great…until I realized I was missing 6 pieces, and had two of the wrong ones. So, I pondered and managed to create a Gothic instead of a Romanesque arch which I put beside the rose bush I rooted last year and has been growing like crazy lately. Success!

As I had finished most of my knitting projects before Christmas, when I got back it made total sense for me to cast on a pair of baby booties, a baby sweater, and a cowl, right?

I have since finished that pair of booties—Bows before Bros (otherwise known as death by cute) and started another pair of Cutest Booties,

and this is how far I have got on my third Baby Vertebra.

I ended up ripping the Noble Cowl back and restarting it as I decided it wasn’t going to be big enough, but it isn’t looking too interesting yet so I’ll wait for a picture.

Well, I need to do a little more ‘teachery’ stuff before I can hobble to bed; spending an afternoon painting and climbing up and down a ladder did a number on my tendonitis. I hope to knock out these baby projects so I can get back to sweaters; I’m still on a high from finishing my first ever success sweater—and in less than a year at that! Hitofude and Bluebell, here I come!

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!