Too much stress

I am a citizen of the United States, living abroad.  I am watching with horror the destruction and mayhem currently being inflicted on the government of the United States.  Yes, the election was certified that DJT had a majority of the popular vote.  And then he ran off at the mouth about Elon Musk knowing how the polling machines in Pennsylvania worked and making sure that Trump won the election.  Did he?  Really?  We will never know for sure.  

All I know is that right now I go to sleep at night, praying that my children and grandchildren will be safe from harm.  I wake in the morning with the same prayer on my lips.  My eldest is married to a beautiful young lady from Hong Kong, and they have two children.  The loudmouthing about the "China virus" was particularly difficult in the first presidency; it is no easier this time around.  This time around, my middle child is married to a beautiful young lady from Puerto Rico.  She, and her son, are citizens of the United States.  However, they live within 100 miles of the Mexico border, AND have the misfortune to having darker complexions and black hair.  I have heard of instances where ICE agents, in moments of unbridled enthusiasm, have rounded up citizens -- legal, law-abiding citizens -- and sent them to detention centres in preparation for deportation.   

In short, I despair for my country.  I am so glad that I live in Canada, but this carries its own brand of stress.All I can do is regularly contact my members of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House to voice my displeasure at the goings on.  And I do, and I will. 

The stress that I feel is apparently being channeled into my knitting and crocheting.  I seem to be finishing projects, both big and little, left and right.  It feels good to be finishing things, and planning for the next round of projects is always fun.  A nice little distraction, as it were.

This sweater is the Waterfall Cardigan, designed by Ashwini Jambhekar. I knit it as a gift for a very dear friend who has had to give up knitting.  The yarn I chose was Herlig DK from Ancient Arts in the colourway Contented Grape.  I used 9 full skeins and a decent part of the 10th, making the largest size in the pattern. For pictures, I modeled it but please note that it is at least three sizes too large for me.

Note the water fall fronts. 

The lace pattern is repeated down the centre of the back.

Worked correctly, the sleeve cuffs would have left- and right-turn cables.  I, however, failed in that aspect.  Oh well.  Not a thing that people will notice. 

I do have a couple of comments about the pattern.  It was originally published in Cast On Magazine, which is a publication from the Knitting Guild Association.  This leads me to believe that the designer was working towards a Master Knitter Designation, but I may be wrong. 

I did not find the pattern to be incredibly well written.  In particular, the directions for the two fronts were confusing.  I did contact the designer via Ravelry, and she did respond in a timely manner.  The fronts are knitted with the public side split -- so you knit one part of the front with the wrong side facing and the design part with the right side facing.  Even trying to explain it here, I struggle.  It's no wonder the designer did as well. In any event, I did get it figured out and knitted. 

 

I also note that the sweater is worn with the purl side as the public side.  Seaming with purls as the right side is always interesting.  I tried my usual technique, and hated it.  Went back and tried crocheting the seams with the right sides together (inside out as it were), and loved it.  Must make a note to myself to always crochet in situations like this. 

 

My biggest complaint is with the concept itself.  If you are having a waterfall front, the public side of the design should be ... well, facing the public.  Because of the waterfall concept, only a smallish part of the front designs are visible.  The rest are the wrong side facing out.  Go ahead -- go look at the photo of the front and you will see what I mean.  

Am I glad I knit it?  Yes, it was fun and challenging.  Would I do it again?  Eh, no. 

Another recent finish is this little gem --

,

This is the Crossandra Sweater, designed by Nashwa Sakr.  In news which will surprise no one, I knit this for my grand-daughter, in a size 12-18 months.  Many months ago, we ordered in some Eco Cotton DK from Estelle Yarns to test knit.  Of course, time got away from me and it languished in a corner.  When ordering yarns for Spring 2025, we ordered in the Eco Cotton -- and I remembered I had this waiting to be worked.  And a store sample/grand-daughter gift was born. 

The sweater is worked in garter stitch ... some in the round and some back and forth.  Keeping one's tension even in garter stitch is a true challenge.  I hope that blocking will kind of smooth out the rough edges.  One delightful facet of this design is the scalloped edge around the hem.  It is worked in short rows, and then bound off all in one go.  Lots of fun.  The sleeves are finished in the same manner. 

And then there were the I-cords.  The directions were somewhat lacking in clarity and I must admit there were some harsh words used.  Maybe I should have realized that "pick up" is not the same as "pick up and knit," but there you have it.  Anyway, the end result is that you knit a length of I-cord, work an attached I-cord around the sleeve, finish with another length of I-cord.  In theory, following the directions, you would have sufficient length of I-cord to tie a little bow.  In theory.  I ended up knitting a separate 1.5" I-cord, sewing it into a circle, and pulling the attached I-cords through to mimic a bow.  

Am I glad I knit this sweater?  Yes.  Am I pleased with how it turned out?  Again, yes.  Will I make it again?  Mmm ... not sure.  At least now I have notes about how to work the I-cords. 

Other projects on the needles will surprise no one.  I am currently working on Pair #2 of my annual sock list. The yarn is from Orange Octopus, in her Sock Tenticles.  The colourway is Golena.  To be honest, I don't know how often this dyer recreates colourways.  I know that I liked it when I saw it in the skein at the Fibre Festival in Hamilton, and I liked it when I caked it up.  And I like it when knitting.  These are for Doug, and he is waiting (im)patiently for Christmas.

My last project is again for a friend.  I do not often do commission work, but ... this was Qiviut.  How could a girl say "no?!"  This will be a hat; I originally knit one hat a couple of years ago and noted that there was a lot of wool left.  The friend was OK to have another hat knit, and was, thankfully, quite happy to be patient.  So ... finally, here I am beavering away.

The brim is knit lengthwise with a lot of cables and fun things happening.  After 7 pattern repeates the stitches are bound off and stitches picked up along the length.  Knit for 6 inches, and then shaping.  As you can see, I am now at the "knit until your head falls off" part. This is fine -- I can watch television without worrying about the pattern.  

Will I have enough wool to finish?  That, my friend, is the million dollar question.  I THINK I will ... in the event I am short I have a couple of ideas.  We have some alpaca yarn at the store that possibly I can sub in without being terribly obvious. I am hoping I won't have to. 

Signing off now.  Hoping for boring days ahead.  Or lots of knitting.

 

Ambitions

 I am being ambitious this year.  Possibly unduly optimistic, but only time will tell.  I am not going to publicly air my plans, in the event they fall thru.  I will say, however, that one of my goals is to keep going with this blog.  So, onwards.

Remember that unfortunate skein of Ella Rae Snuggles that would not cooperate?  (This is a new yarn and not yet listed in the Ravelry databank.)   After pondering its poor life choices, I gave it a second chance.  I pulled out my pattern for the Baby Springtime Cardi and cast on.

The yarn behaved beautifully.  It made stripes, it made little fair isle patterns, it didn't split or anything.  Clearly, I had found what it wanted to be.  I used a 4.5mm needle as specified in the pattern, and just knit away.  When I was finished, there was enough yarn left to make a hat.  Since this was a trial run for the yarn, I gave the skein to Barb so that she could knit with it as well. I liked the yarn well enough; however, it is almost identical to the James Brett Fairground that we already carry.  Additionally, the Ella Rae warehouse is in the United States and I am uncertain as to how tariffs might affect us. 

Another project finished in the last little bit is this cowl.  I used Gedifra Creativo and a 7.0mm circular needle.  We have a hat pattern in the store already, and I mimicked the stitch pattern for the cowl.  Very simple and basic, but quite effective.  The plan is to make a kit up featuring the matching hat and cowl.  There will, of course, be better pictures in the advertising for the project. 

I have also been working on the Waterfall Cardigan as a gift for a very dear friend who has been forced to give up her knitting.  The pattern has been interesting to say the least.  It was originally published in the Cast On, which I believe is the magazine published by the Knitting Guild of Canada. 

I found the pattern to be a bit confusing at first, and actually reached out to the designer with a few questions.  She answered them, and in a reasonable time, so I cannot fault her for that. By the time she responded, I had already figured out what was happening. 

What you see below is a portion of a seam that I used a slip-stitch to close, with the right sides together.  Zoom in and you will see how nice and neat it is.

This second photo shows the seam that I sewed together, like I always do.  Whipstitch with right sides facing me.  I set in a sleeve and worked the underarm seam and most of the side.

After much teeth gnashing and deciding that I really did NOT like the look, I unpicked my seams and started over with crochet.  It is now all assembled and I am pleased that I took the time to redo it.  More photos will follow shortly of the entire project, as well as my observations. 

I needed some brainless knitting for riding to and from our ski outings.  I had purchased a skein of wool at the Fibre Fest in Hamilton last fall, intending it to be my Christmas gift from Doug.  Of course, this means that next year it will be his Christmas socks from me.  And I have now started.  When I find the label (again) I will tell you all about it.

While at the Fibre Festival, the Texture and Twish Shawl by Robbie Laughlin had just been released and I swear every booth had one displayed.  I did, of course, download this free pattern.  After much discussion with Barb (who did purchase yarn to actually make it), I picked up this beautiful pink wool and cast on.  The wool is KFI Indulgence Kettle Dyed Fingering and I love it.  I am always a fool for the kettle-dyed look -- all those intensities of colour just make my heart sing.  This will look fabulous with my brown leather jacket, don't you think?  And the pattern worked out very well.  With a second skein, I had enough to work the pattern repeat an extra time.  Honestly, I could have done another two repeats, but I was afraid that the shawl would be too large at that point.

The last little goodie in my project bag is the Berroco Blanket Mystery Knit Along.  The first square is composed of blocks of three knits followed by three purls.  Easy-peasy and very restful.  There is a great story about this project tho.

I have in the past knit blankets for all of my children -- including my step-daughter.  I have knit a blanket for my first daughter-in-law.  This leaves my newest daughter-in-law and my son-in-law without their own special blanket.  When I saw the introduction for this KAL, I was immediately on-board.  I threw out the question in the family chat about it.  My son-in-law responded quickly and said he would love a blanket.  I sent the daughter and him the links to the colour card for the wool I would be using.  They selected five colours.  I ordered the wool promptly.  

You will note there were 5 colours selected.  Which means that decisions needed to be made about which colour was #1, etc.  I had the kids on a zoom call with the yarns spread out and we were discussing the project.  My darling daughter pointed out that it would be easier to decide colour sequences if they could see the pattern.  The look on her face when I said "No" was priceless.  I do wish I had gotten it on camera.  That's when I explained the concept of a mystery KAL.  

In any event, decisions were made and the project has begun.  Next post I will have the completed square 1 and possibly square 2, along with the Waterfall Cardigan completed.  How's that for a teaser?

We went for a x-c ski last Monday and had a grand time, despite my eternal clumsiness.  There are always new and exciting ways to fall.  I am pleased that I was not injured.  I was looking forward to another ski this weekend, but life had other plans for me.  I experience a little nose-bleed last night (dry winter air and sleeping on my belly) and so will need to take things easy for a couple of days.  This is not all bad -- I will be playing Minecraft Dungeons with my grandsons in Virginia for a while, as well as some more knitting. 

Cheerio, until next time!

A New Year

I am wishing for a happy, uneventful 2025.  With the political scene being what it is both here in Canada and in the United States, I fear I will be sadly disappointed.  In which case, I will hope for happy times and good health for my family and friends, both near and far.

I can report my first finished project of 2025.  A pair of socks destined for holiday gifting next December.  These are Socks on a Plane, wool is Borgo dePazzi Magic Kette, and a 2.5mm needle.  I have started a list of how my family socks are constructed, so I am not going any further here, lest I give a hint to the intended recipient.  Of course, they all know they are getting socks; the only surprise is colour and pattern. In any event, I did start these on Dec. 22 in the car while riding over to Michigan, and finished them today.

Our friend had cat-sitting duties in our absence.  She always leaves Pixel a treat of some sort.  Sometimes it is a new toy; other times it is a yummy treat.  This visit, however, she really outdid herself!

Pixel is really enjoying his new cat cave.  He has absolutely no hesitation in hopping in and having a nap and especially loves napping there when someone is sitting on the couch.  Of course, he gets a bit salty when that person shifts around or gets up, but … he has to learn to live with that minor irritation.

 While riding over to Michigan I attempted to start a Baby Surprise Jacket with a skein of yarn gifted to us (the store) by our sales rep.  The yarn is Ella Rae Snuggles — an acrylic self-patterning acrylic that feels delightfully soft.  The 100g ball contains 210m, so I knew I would be shy of a full sweater.  I compensated by grabbing a skein of Ella Rae Honey in a contrasting solid.  

I will have you know that skein of Snuggles fought me valiantly.  I tried to get started for an hour, casting on a total of five times.  Each effort ended in abject failure due to miscounting, tail too shirt, or dropped stitches.  Arggh.  So I wound the used yarn around the ball band and thrust the skein back into a project bag so it could ponder its unfortunate life choices.  

Doug, rather nervously, inquired if I had a back-up project.  It is, after all, a 7-hour drive to Battle Creek.  It’s like he doesn’t even know me!  I actually had three!  In the meantime, I think I have found a nice little sweater to attempt with the Snuggles.  We will see, since I am making no promises. 

With my remaining awake hours tonight I will get the knitting bag ready for the upcoming couple of days.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my days off.  Time has been spent in real life with family and friends.  There have been several Zoom calls with my children and their families.  I have also been able to play video games online with my grandsons and a good time was had by all.  Turns out I am a terrible driver in the Hot Wheels racing game, but I am improving.  We also played Minecraft Dungeons … wherein the most commonly heard statement from me is “I’m down again!”  Again, I am improving and the young men are so very gracious at restoring me to life and encouraging me in my endeavours.

And so hereI am, wishing everyone an excellent 2025 and even more excellent knitting and crochet projects.

At long last.

 I started 2024 all afire to update and stay on track with my blog.  

I was totally enthralled with my new granddaughter and life in general.  I knew that the plan was that my daughter would be moving west, to live in the same city as her husband’s family.  I knew that it would be occurring end of June or early July. But that was months and months away.  But if I stopped looking at the calendar, time would not pass.  right?

Wrong.  July came, and they packed up and moved.  I have to say that I am delighted to see my little granddaughter surrounded by loving family.  Little critters all the way to grandparents, aunts and uncles.  She is surrounded by love and support.  They are all living their best lives.   The little darling is growing.

She is nearing her first birthday.  Seven teeth, dimples, almost walking, and an obsession with music.  She is her very own person, and her parents are doing a fabulous job of encouraging her to explore this big world.

I did send out a box with some lovely hand knit items.  Not a birthday gift, but a just because I am the grandmother and these items would be fitting her soon.  I see pictures of her wearing them.  It makes my heart smile. 

I would be lying if I said that I do not miss them.  I do.  I miss them ferociously.  We try to video chat, and when we do the little one smiles widely for me.  It helps, but it just isn’t the same as an in-person snuggle.  We are hoping to travel in January for a visit.

I have been knitting quite a bit since my last post in May.  Store samples, socks for the upcoming Christmas gifts.  And I will show pictures of them.  Just not today.  

Right now, I feel the need to peruse my photos and videos of the little one out west.

Hello!

 (Frantically looks for calendar to confirm it is still May.).  Whew.  Second post for May.  Still looking good.  Life is busy and the days flow past, quickly.  I do not know where all my time goes, but it has slipped past.

Remember the fire truck blanket I made for my grandson in Arizona?  Upon completion, I realized that I had made something for the eldest grandson, several items for the granddaughter, and the blanket for the Arizona grandson.  The little guy in Virginia had been overlooked.  This would not do.  When the Virginia crew was up visiting the store, I asked the little guy to pick a yarn.  When I cleared my needles, I called him and we decided what he would like in a sweater.  This is the result!

I used two skeins of James Brett Fairground and 4.0mm needles.  The pattern was a basic crew neck pullover with raglan sleeves.  The young man and I had decided that there should be a pocket, so I figured out how to do that.  (I counted in some stitches sadly I do not remember how many, and then did a knit front and back until I had the same number of stitches left before the end.  Half of the stitches went onto a stitch holder while I knit the body.  Then I went back and knit up the pocket, working 4 stitches at each edge in garter stitch and making decreases to shape the pocket.  When the pocket was as tall as the body, I joined the pocket and body by knitting the two layers together.  Easy peasy!) He has seen a photo of the sweater, and seemed pleased.  I will get it to him this fall, when the nights are getting cooler.

We also took the Victoria Day weekend and traveled to Virginia.  Both grandsons have been playing flag football and I very much wanted to see them in action.  Saturday was cool and wet, but both teams played — and won their games!  The little guy turns out to be a pretty solid quarterback!

Because I “needed”a store project, I cast around and decided that we needed a sample knit in Noro Viola.  It was the perfect  weight wool for the Sommerknus. I had been wanting to knit that design for two years … Now was the time!  I did a gauge swatch, and then ignored the result and cast on.  About 30 rows later, after a discussion about gauge during a Wednesday Sit & Stitch, I checked and sure enough.  I was off.  Way off.  Frogged and restarted, on May 22.  Others at the table were a bit distraught, but I promise I was philosophical about the whole thing.  i only had myself to blame.  In any event — progress to date!

In other news, I have been steadily knitting my quota of socks for *THAT* holiday.  Pair number 6 is finished, and it isn’t even June yet!   These are Gedifra cotton, knit from the top down.

Finally, my little granddaughter will be SIX MONTHS OLD tomorrow. She is such a total sweetheart.  Her uncle and family (from Arizona) will be visiting soon to meet her — which also means that I will have the opportunity to squeeze my son, daughter-in-law and grandson again!  Whee!

I hope you all are having a good spring and early summer.  Cheers!

Happy Mother’s Day!

 And what a beautiful day it is.  The weather is very steadily improving, and there is SO MUCH GREEN outside.  We can proceed with dock installation, followed by boat lifts and boats.  I am so very excited for all these things.

I have actually gotten caught up on my sock knitting for 2024.  I finished these two pair —

Sorry the picture isn’t great.  This is partly an effort to maintain some element of surprise for the recipients.  The pair on the left are Koigu, with a cast on of 68 stitches.  The other is a combination of Wisdom Yarns Pace for rib, heel and toes and some Noro for the body.  Deep stash projects, both.  

Barb had been doing some stash reorganization and discovered a skein of Noro something or other, which had mohair.  No idea how or why it was in her stash as she is allergic to mohair.  So she handed it to me with a request to “do something!” I obliged. 

This is a basic beanie, with the addition of Lion Brand Fun Fur for the ribbing portion.  All in all, I thought it was a nice use of wool.  Enough to make the hat, too little left over to save.

I have gotten the urge to clean and tidy of late.  I started in the bedroom, and have made great headway.  A corner that was filled with boxes, gift bags and tissue paper is now vacuumed, dusted and clear.  I moved around the corner and worked on my reading pile.  Also dusted, vacuumed and tidied. 

And now the embarrassing part … I tackled the yarn hoard.  I did find some yarns to donate to a local charity; I decided that my collection of straight and double point needles need not remain in my possession.  I even found some balls of yarn that were ridiculously small and should never have been saved. Which leaves me with this —

Oh my word, stars and garters.  I suppose you would not be surprised to read that I am heading back into the fray to find storage for these beauties.  

There is some good news out of all this — My daughter had brought an assortment of socks and a scarf to me in hopes of having them mended.  I have found them, and now have a good understanding of how to make the repairs.  She WILL see them again!

Cheers!

Sigh.

 Today is a day absolutely chock full of sighs.  Possibly a typical Monday, for all I know.  

I had such high hopes to get a second blog post in March.  Can someone tell me why February, demonstrably the SHORTEST month in the calendar, seems to d-r-a-g on forever?  Followed by March, one of the longest months, which just whizzes by as if it on speed??  Sigh.

Sitting at breakfast this morning, I discovered one of my earrings is gone.  One of my silver sea gull earrings made by my friends from Kensington Silver Studio.  Gone.  Missing.  Not in the bed.  Not on the floor near the bed.  Not wrapped up in the clothing I discarded last night before bed.  Since Kensington Silver Studio is now closed, owners retired and equipment sold, there is no way I am going to get this replaced.  Sigh.

The morning was bright and sunny — unusual for a day in Ontario when something big is happening in the skies overhead.  At the appointed hour, I took a colander, my knitting, and my cell phone outside to observe and hopefully record the eclipse.  Cue the incoming clouds.  And they were solid clouds.  Sigh.

I went inside.  I must say that the experience was more strange than I expected.  It was dark — very dark.  The street light came on.  A passing automobile had its full headlight system on.  And it stayed dark for a far longer period than I thought it would.  After the world got brighter … you guessed it!  The clouds parted.  Sigh.

My knitting of late has been fraught with mis-steps.  The firetruck blanket was well received, but the young man had moved on to being enamoured with all things Star Wars.  The parental units were very impressed tho, so I will accept that as a win.  But still … Sigh.

I have a client who brought me a half finished sweater with an appropriately sad story.  Her sister had suddenly lost her eyesight and could not finish it.  It was sent to my client, who shied away from the colourwork.  I quoted a price, she agreed, and I was charged with finishing. 

The body was complete up to the yoke.  The sleeves were mostly finished.  So I knitted and then joined everything to work the yoke.  I was halfway up the colourwork chart when I realized that I would be short in the main colour.  I consulted with the client, who was good with an “almost” colour match.  (After all, her sister would not be able to see the mismatch!!!  I am still laughng at this statement.)

I brought home a ball of pink … and contemplated and stewed.  I called my client again, who told me she was good with whatever I chose to do.  I consulted Barb with my dilemma.  We agreed that the best solution was to bring in one more colour … and I finished up the sweater lickety-split.  Just goes to show that when the colours are right, I feel an absolute compulsion to knit.

I am SO happy with this project.  It is a combination of Sirdar Snuggly DK, Patons Astra and Ella Rae Cozy Soft.  That lovely lavender just makes it fabulous, rather than very pretty.  

Another finished object is the Bumble Sweater from Tin Can Knits.  We had gotten a new colour of Noro Viola at the store, and I “needed” to showcase it.  Barb, of course, fell into that rabbit hole as well and selected colours to make sweaters for her new little grandchildren.  Being at the shop full time gave me plenty of time to work on this little baby.  I DID a gauge swatch, achieved gauge, and started knitting.

Four inches into the pattern, I thought to myself “That looks big.”  Instead of the usual knitterly thing of continuing to knit (DeNile isn’t just a river in Egypt!) I measured.  Sure enough.  Instead of gauge, I was off by 1.5 stitches to 10 cm.  I ripped back to the ribbing, and started again with a 6.0mm needle.  

And it fits!  Perhaps a wee bit more closely than planned, but it is way comfortable and cozy.  I wore it all day after this photo, unblocked and everything!

I really like this little style detail —

You don’t see it clearly when I wear it, but it is there.  Absolutely delightful.  This is a slip stitch pattern, in two colours.  I would rate it as suitable for a confident knitter.  

Details of the project — Two balls of James C. Brett Croftland (the white) and one ball of the expensive and beautiful Noro Viola.  I used a 6.0mm needle for the body and 4.0mm for the ribbing.  Did I mention that it fits?  And the sleeves are perfect.  Sigh.  

So I mentioned something about Barb’s new grandchildren.  It is only fair to fill in the blanks.  Baby Girl and Baby Boy were delivered via c-section on the Wednesday before Easter.  Baby Girl spent time in the NICU, but Baby Boy was able to room in with Mama.  They are all home now, and gaining weight as they should.  Barb is assisting with the transition to motherhood, and (woe is her) snuggling babies. Sigh.

My little granddaughter is now 4 months old and doing well. She is able to hold her head up so that a front-facing chest carrier is comfortable for one and all.  Consequently, she is getting lots of outside walks with her mama and papa.  I saw the family at Easter, and my heart is full.  Sigh.

Here's hoping that the rest of April passes a wee bit more slowly than March.