Yes, the name on the yarn label is who started this whole ordeal or shall I say year of yarny adventures. Each month we will receive a skein of yarn and we can do whatever we want with it as long as our finished project contains a minimum of 75% of the Farmers Daughter Yarn. Not a problem if you knit a pair of socks. I’m taking the easy route for January.
Do you read much?
I read at least something almost every day. Each year I sign myself up for the Goodreads challenge by adding one more book to the previous year’s challenge which, silly enough, coincides with the last two numbers of the year we’re in. This year I’m going for 26 books. I read beyond my pledge last year which was easy once I got myself hooked on the short history books with lots of photos. Hey, they count, right?
The books that I’m currently reading are mostly carry-overs from last year. The Kindle app is on my laptop, my phone, my tablet then I have three Kindles with an ongoing book on each one. It’s almost like having several WIPs going in knitting. I read while I knit. Some watch TV. I read. Yes, I will watch TV or listen to it while knitting especially if it’s one of those romcoms that my husband seems to enjoy around the holidays. You know the movies. The girl and boy crash into each other somehow in a setting usually in a small town where it’s snowing. They don’t like each other, then they flirt for about an hour and then live happily ever after. Me? I prefer crime or mystery movies. I think I can blame those old black and white films for that obsession. They were my favorite back when I was a kid.
I’ve also discovered PixelCreate on my Pixel 10 Pro
Yes, that’s what I typed. WordPress Class. Over the past few years I’ve been taking online courses conducted by Gale Education (I think that’s their name but I’m sure it’s Gale at least). The courses are available using a library card and a local community college. It’s been quite a while since I’ve signed up and taken one of their 6-week courses so I went for a perusal session on my classroom site and found this one.
I have WordPress and have been using it for a few years. Right. Really, I have even if it doesn’t look like it. The instructor recommends that we all subscribe to a paid plan using the .org version. I’m not sure I’m going to but we’ll see how the class goes then maybe I will. I’m not seeing a big difference other than the upload process.
Remember back when you could build webpages using Yahoo? I had one of those. I had one that I built using Go Daddy and one other – Google. All of them should have disappeared from view although it’s been a long time since I’ve looked for them.
The class starts on December 18th. Just hope that I don’t subject everyone to some wacko coursework assignments here.
I am still knitting. Currently, I’m participating in the Gnana’s Visit gnome MKAL with Imagined Landscapes. I finished Clue 4 this morning and really need to get myself going on blocking the finished piece of Clue 3.
My other project is just a simple hat where you knit something that looks like a bolster pillow cover when it’s really a double-thick hat. That is the name of the pattern. Double Thick Hat and it can be found on Ravelry. This is my third one. It’s excellent for using up those left over fingering weight yarns.
Genealogy has been another obsession that’s been taking up some of my time and lots of my money over the past two years. I’m finding that I have ancestral ties that go way back almost to prehistoric times in both Canada/France and Scotland. Not that far. I am back into the 9th generation before now. Would that be BN – Before Now?
Obligatory Photo Time
It’s been a really long time since I’ve purchased yarn from Periwinkle Sheep. One day, an e-mail arrived in my inbox and I opened it instead of deleting it. Why I subscribe to every Indie Yarn dyer in the United States is still baffling me, but, every now and then I do make a purchase. Karin had mystery yarns as an option. I bought these. Aren’t they gorgeous? I think so.
Not really. There is a lot of knitting going on around here along with other activities like constantly being bossed around by CarLotta Spots the Rat Terrier. They say dogs keep us active and young. If you seriously need to move around a lot get a busy dog. Mine is always on the hunt for rodents and there are a lot of them out there. My Garmin app now has the option to show a map of our walks and they are interesting.
Simple Something
The pattern is by Ankestrick and it’s so easy. When I first saw the pattern on Ravelry I really liked it bought thought I didn’t need to purchase another pattern since I have similar options already in my library. Then I thought that Ankestrick’s patterns are so well written and the finished projects always turn out so well that I’d buy it. I did. The best part is that is uses double strands of fingering weight yarn which works perfectly for those of us who are in the red in our 2024 Stashdown numbers. After I do the math on this one I might be close.
There were two fiber festivals in Michigan this past fall and I might have bought some yarns………
It looks like spring but for those of us who live here or are very familiar with how Mother Nature treats our Mitten, it could be winter any moment.
Yes, I’m still here. I’ve been knitting and actually sold a couple items. Neither one was a recent finished object. They were both holdovers from an Arts & Crafts show that I participated in several years ago. It’s encouraging if I do say so myself.
This year hasn’t been a year of sweaters so far. Most of my finished objects are socks, doll clothes, hats, and reworking a cardigan that I knitted a decade ago and never wore. There is one sweater that I made for my mom. She had shoulder surgery and wanted something to wear like a poncho but what she and my youngest sister described was not a poncho. Then, one day while I was at her house as her Support Person of the Day we were watching a show where twin sisters who are real estate agents in Oregon or Washington were showing the owners of a house around their newly renovated house. One was wearing a short sleeve sorta jacket with elbow length wide sleeves. More like a kimono.
So, when I went home I did another pattern search and found one called Not Quite a Cape on Ravelry for $7.50 and bought it and started over for the second time. The sweater is almost done. I just need to knit some loops for the buttons and sew them and the buttons on and it’s done.
Mom and L’il Sis seem to think that I could whip up that sweater in a weekend. They called me on a Friday with the request and I was there on Sunday as my turn. Mom wanted to know if the sweater was done yet.
Huh? Seriously Mom? You’re the one who taught me how to knit when I was 8 years old.
Time for a walk with my doggo. It’s a sorta nice and warm day here so we should take advantage of it. I’ll even take my cute little JBL speaker and entertain the birds and squirrels in our woods.
Take care all of you out there and come back soon!
This is one of my knitting accomplishments from this year. There are others but, I get behind when it comes to sharing photos and stories of the projects. This was from participating in another mystery knit-along. The final date to share photos to the forum is the 31st so I did at least get that accomplished yesterday.
I also started another MKAL with Imagined Landscapes titled Gnot Just Another Gnome. That didn’t last long. I knitted less than 2″ of Clue 1 and just quit.
My inability to resist these MKALs from my favorite designers has started to give me the feeling of working a job. I quit in July of 2016. The past two or three years have been a steady stream of KALs and MKALs where I feel stressed and pressured to finish them on time to enter to win the prizes.
So, what am I doing now? I’m finishing a cardigan that I designed myself using a schematic based on The Sweater Wheel from back in the 1960s. You dial your size, yarn weight, needle size and go from there. I’m finishing the seams, then will wash/dry it, add buttons and it’s done. I had a cone of multi-color space-dyed cotton yarn that I found that was already involved in another project that needed to be frogged. I love light weight cotton cardigans for summer.
Summer? It comes and goes here in the Mitten State. I think we’re shaped like a mitten for a reason.
Yes, there’s another KAL in the works. Laminarus Cardigan from Stolen Stitches, Carol Feller. Clue #1 arrived yesterday and I’m about to cast on.
At the same time, I’ve got a pair of socks going in the team colors of the Detroit Tigers. Why? I bought several skeins of this yarn a few years ago and had one left. When I finish my pair of socks I’ll use what’s left for a pair of baby socks for my new great-nephew. Yep! I’m a great-aunt now. Does that mean I’m old or what?
Some of you stopping by to visit might be familiar with the Stonecrop Cardi. Andrea Mowry is the designer and is easily found by looking for DreaReneeKnits. She used to live here in Michigan then they moved. I still love her and her designs anyway. Sometimes opportunities arise and relocation is necessary.
The bobbles drove me nuts, caused pain in my left hand, but, I persevered. The yarn was an eBay purchase and came in two giant skeins which added up to over 1000 yards. What I didn’t know was that it needed to be washed before I started knitting. There was a dirty feeling to it but since I had started already to keep the gauge going I kept knitting. The yarn purchase was for a charity organization and the price was unbelievable. You’ll be seeing more green knitting. All of it has been wound into balls and ready to be used.
Are you all staying safe and practicing your social distancing? I am. But then, any of you who know me, know that’s nothing unusual. This summer is the anniversary of four years of not working for me. After 15 years of working in management in the auto plants and other automotive-related places, not seeing people works just fine for me. It’s a tough life when you’re a member of the maintenance management team and the buildings are all old and falling apart. Everyone wants something from you and they want it right this minute, or better yet, before you even knew they wanted it. They call you before you get to work in the morning, they call you when you’re home at night, they call you on your weekends, and they even call you when you’ve told them all that you’re using some of your precious vacation time.
The quiet is wonderful.
If you call me, I’ll look at my phone and say “If they leave a voicemail I’ll check it.” If you’re my mom and you’re calling me, I’ll answer or call back ASAP. She’s almost as bad as me when it comes to phones. There are other pastimes we’d rather be doing than talking on our phones. With the invention of cordless and cell phones it’s easier, though. Now, if we could just teach Mom how to use speaker phone. I knit while having conversations with my Mom – or anyone else as far as that goes.
Politics. Nope.
Reading.
I’m currently reading a book about the history of the Spanish Flu Pandemic. I’m telling you, that was horrendous. Pregnant women were at an extremely high risk and one line in the book mentioned that it was a wonder that any children were born at all during those years as the moms-to-be died during pregnancy at very high rates. One military man was on his way home and people on the train just fell over dead right in front of him. Could you imagine?
Science and medicine have come a long way.
Knitting.
Right now I’m working on two projects and itching to start more. There are so many yarns in this house and just so little life left. Yes, I might live another forty years, but, can I knit during all those years? Will I buy more yarn during those years? Pffffft. If a knitter is alive, a knitter will buy yarn.
My current projects are Dawe by Amy Miller and Color Affection by Veera Valimaki. Dawe is a pullover and Color Affection is a shawl. I’ll try to share photos. Right now, if I did you would wonder what the heck I’m working on.
I finished a Vogue Knitting cardigan. It’s #1 from the Winter issue of 1992/93. There was some yarn hanging around here that screamed at me one freezing cold winter morning. At first, I was thinking hat then when I realized there was enough here to knit two sweaters, one sweater is this cardigan. I’m thinking a pullover is next.
#1 Vogue Knitting, Winter ’92/’93 Yarn: Bon Bon by Lana Gatto
I’ll leave you with this for now. Gardening has begun so I will try really hard to come here more often as you’re probably sitting on the edge of your chair holding your breath just waiting for my next post.
That would be January, that is. Look how fast it can sneak on by when we’re busy doing what we do. Remember, way back in the beginning I did mention that I have a tendency to fail to keep posting on any blog that I’ve created over time. I’m here. Really, I am.
Sunshower Shawl by Ambah O’Brien
That would be the result of the 2019 year-long KAL with Jimmy Beans Wool and Ambah O’Brien. There are a whole lot of these out there that all look just like mine. This is the Jimmy’s Choice color scheme. I want to make another one with my color choices including some yellows, greens, white, browns – you know – the colors if you’re imagining an actual sun shower.
Adenturesome Wrap KAL 2019
That’s the Adventuresome Wrap, also by Ambah O’Brien. This was the Advent KAL from December, 2019. Each stripe represents the days before Christmas including a stripe for Christmas. I ran out of the gray gradient yarn so had to order more. Guess how much I actually needed to use. Half of the stripe for December 23rd and all of the stripe for Christmas Day. I thought I’d need more of the gold but didn’t so now I have another ball. This was Lion Brand Shawl in a Ball. Since I had leftovers of the gray I used it.
Close To You by Lete’s Knits
There’s more to share but why use them all up now? Since I’m probably getting close to using up my storage space here in my photo library I’m going to have to start pre-planning each post by finding the photos online then sharing them through their URL. All of these photos are also on my Flickr since I upload them there to move them over to Ravelry.
Back to my comfy chair and tonight’s knitting project. I’m also working on an Einstein Coat by Sally Melville. Oh, that reminds me. I finished another Sally Melville design a couple weeks ago. The Classic Shirt cardigan. I’ll share a photo soon.
I’ve also started my Carbeth by KDD (Kate Davies). I bought the Cascade 200 Superwash Sport over a year ago and finally decided it was time.
It’s that Make Nine in 2020 challenge that’s getting me motivated to finally knit those projects that I’ve purchased the yarn for.
You’ve been surfing the ‘net daily just waiting for me to post something, right? Sure you have.
Here I am. Yes, I have been here all along just knitting away. You know, it’s the knitting that keeps me from typing. Hmmm. If that were totally true then all that yarn wouldn’t keep arriving at my house. There isn’t a Yarn Fairy Godmother just sending it. There’s online shopping going on. Way too much online shopping. It’s crazy I tell you.
Adventuresome Wrap by Ambah O’Brien
This is mostly what has been keeping me busy over the past couple weeks. To be honest, since December 1st. Right now it’s on hold until more yarn arrives since I ran out of the silver. There’s enough of the gold left for one more day which is fine since there is only one more day of gold. There are two more days of silver. The last stripe is for Christmas Day. One of my thoughts was to knit Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in another color. A different ball of Shawl in a Ball with greens in it. I have one. There are greens and blues in it. It could still happen.
Other than knitting, what else have I been up to?
I’m trying to get organized for Stashdown 2020. There are two Ravelry forums that have lured me in. This should be fun. One forum is right in Ambah O’Brien’s group and the other is in Team Michigan. We are knitting from stash and sharing how many ounces, grams or yards of yarn we’re using up as the year progresses. We are allowed to buy more yarn during 2020. However, those purchases don’t count towards the Stashdown. We can only claim yarns that were purchased prior to 11:59 p.m. December 31, 2019. The great race begins :01 January 1, 2020 and ends 11:59 p.m. December 31, 2020. Oh, I feel the excitement already.
This is one of the sweaters that I’ve finished since I’ve been away. This one is #19 Drop Shoulder Pullover from a winter Vogue Knitting issue from about five years ago. The yarn is a close-out boucle from ICE Yarns purchased through Paradise Yarns. Since Paradise Yarns has such great prices, this sweater cost about $6 in materials and there’s a whole lot more yarn leftover. I’m thinking maybe a hat and legwarmers. I even doubled the yarn.
What else have I been up to?
For a few weeks I had a communications issue where I just plain old couldn’t access the world. Then, my phone would randomly turn off while I was using it. My mobile hotspot wouldn’t stay connected. That all lead to even more excitement.
While I was on the Verizon Facebook page in a conversation with several other VZ subscribers regarding our connectivity issues a customer service rep requested that I contact them through Chat. So, I did. They found that there was nothing wrong on their end and they were just as baffled as I was. I did some Googling and found out through one of the Windows Forums that the 1093 update may have something to do with hotspot issues. So, we created a new password and logged in again with the new information thinking that my laptop might think it’s a new network. It worked a little better but not much.
In the meantime – beware of any CSR that pops up in a Facebook chat in messenger. They may not be who they seem to be especially if their last name is Brown. I was contacted by two different reps with the last name of Brown wanting to know how my service was working. One had me so convinced that he was real that I gave him/her too much information which led to a new VZ account, new bank account, and an attempted bitcoin account creation.
Verizon is working with law enforcement to investigate since the person is impersonating one of their employees and used their logos and the exact verbage as the real person that I chatted with on the previous day right down to the order of the questions asked.
Beware. I never thought I’d be sucked in and there it was.
Oh yes, and a new phone made all the difference as well.
This morning wasn’t as pretty as yesterday. I’d share a photo from yesterday but, as I’ve complained previously, getting photos to easily upload to the internet these days is a real pain. This sunflower photo was from a couple days ago. It’s not Mammoth as the seed package said it would be. The plant itself is about 6′ tall but the flower is less than 12″. Either way, it’s pretty. I’ll try again next year. There are a few other plants. One’s going to have twin blooms. That should be fun.
The painting on the house is almost done. There are two more boards that need to be done but we’re waiting for new gutters. Then, we have these hideous looking boards just under the porch roofs that need something. We found out that milled wood didn’t hold the Sikkens stain that we used when we originally stained the logs. Paint may be the way to go and I may just do it myself to save some $$$$. All I need is a brush, roller, paint, and a ladder. Lightly sanding the wood will have to be done first.
Originally, I was going to head up to the cabin this Thursday. Now, I’m feeling like I just want to ‘vacation in place’. It’s too funny when I say that. How does one who isn’t gainfully employed Vacation? My husband was going to go up with me but would have to return for work while I was going to stay for an entire week. My knitting group meets on Sept 10th and we’re going on a field trip to a yarn shop. So, I’m going to go up on the 9th or before. Can’t miss the field trip. There’s yarn involved.
Knitting. You know it’s going on here. I’ll share a photo of my Glass Houses shawl after today since I’m pretty sure it’s going to be finished today. I’ve got just about 30 rows left. There will be 215 stitches on the last row after all the decreases so maybe it won’t be done today.
My next project to finish is the Shakerag that is turning into a cardigan. Right now I’m up to the armhole separation. Silly me started the neck decreases at the same time. No, I don’t want my front neckline as low as the armhole on my cardigan. Good thing I realized what I did only 8 rows into the mess.
Market Bags. I want to knit some. I’ve got five giant cones of cotton in a cabinet. Bulky or heavy worsted weight cottons in earth tones that I bought close to 20 years ago. The quality of the cotton is similar to the dishcloth cottons so it will all be perfect for market bags. I’m getting real tired of those plastic bags.
Susan is Knitting.... 