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 --

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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.