And the Weather Was Good

Friday night, we headed to Citizens Bank Park to see the Pittsburgh Pirates play the Philadelphia Phillies. This is always the game we try to go to, since both teams are dear to us. We both grew up in/near Pittsburgh, so the Pirates were our team, during the Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell years. They were terrible until they were not, much like they are now. And the Phillies are our team where we live now, and though they are having a good run these past few years, trust me, they know very well how to be a losing team!

Unlike most times we've gone to a Pirates vs. Phillies game, the weather was glorious! It had been a beautiful day, in the high 70s and sunny, so the evening was just perfect. It was really enjoyable to watch the game and not be sitting in the killer sun and humidity, feeling like a pile of dirty sweat.

It's funny though - I still have a hard time cheering against the Pirates. And when we sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," I have to remember not to say "Pirates" as well. Proof that old childhood habits are really deep. 

I'm going to one other game, in a couple of weeks, with my friend Lisa. It's the Phillies and the Chicago Cubs, who are one of my other beloved teams, from living in Chicago both as a child and an adult. So I'm looking forward to that as well, though once again, I'll be cheering against a team that I've really liked for a long time. 

Life can be confusing and contradictory at times. But a night at the ballpark is fun and when the weather cooperates, there are few things better than the feeling of cheering on your team(s).

Laser Eyes!!

The other day on a walk, I happened to notice that the way the sun was reflecting off of my sunglasses, it looked like I had superhero laser eyes, so I tried to take a photo. You can kinda get the gist looking at this, but it was much more exciting in person.

You know, like most things are. 😊

Anyway, have a good week!

Friday FO Post: Yule See It Every Year

Hello and Happy Friday! I wanted to share a major FO with you, as I get ready to pack it away until cooler weather comes.

You may remember seeing this starting point:

And then when I finished the colorwork yoke, and was proud of myself, I had to show all of you!

Once I got to the point where I had a little bit of the body done after separating for the sleeves, I decided to knit the sleeves next. 

And then, it was an FO:

Project: Yule See It Every Year

Pattern: Yule Do, by Isabell Kraemer

Yarn: Kelbourne Woolens Scout in the colorway Natural; Life In the Long Grass DK Twist in the colorway Wolf Green

Needles: US 2.5/3 mm; US3/3.25 mm

Modifications: I ended up making the sleeves slightly longer than the pattern called for, and added three rows of the green on the bottom of the cuffs, just because I thought the sweater needed a little bit more green.

Notes: I had seen this pattern when it first came out, and had wanted to give it a try, because I do love me a Christmas sweater. But I'd never done a colorwork yoke before, so I kept saying that I needed to wait. Then at the beginning of 2024, I told myself that my goal for the year was to try knitting a sweater with a colorwork yoke. 

Then, as you may remember, we took a weekend trip to NYC in March for my birthday. We visited a little shop in Greenwich Village - West Village Knit & Needle - and I saw the green yarn. Well, it was St. Patrick's Day, and Life In the Long Grass yarn is from Ireland ... and I realized that I could use it for the colorwork yoke in this pattern, so that would be my plan!

I originally started at the end of October with this pattern, but was having trouble with the it (user error, the pattern is actually very clear). So I ripped out and started again early in November. I finished the yoke and realized there was no way in the universe this sucker would be finished by Christmastime. So I put it away for a while. News flash: when you don't work on a project, nothing happens! 🙄

I picked it up again around the end of February, and decided to try and finish by St. Patrick's Day. Knitted on it a bit, and then put it down again. (See News flash above. Sigh.) But then I picked it back up again after about 10 days and decided that my new - and hopefully final - goal would be the end of March.

I finished all of the knitting on March 31! And I was really proud of myself! Then I tried it on, and ... the sleeves were too short. Not ridiculously too short, but short enough that I was worried it would just bother me. So I ripped out the cuffs to the end of the main color, and then knit them longer, still adding the three rows of green at the end. Then I tried it on again, and the sleeves were just right. So that part was finished by April 2. 

I wove in the ends and blocked it, and then it sat folded on my dresser until I could get The Tim to take a photo of me wearing it. Then we got stupidly hot days, all in a row. The thought of even putting it on for ten minutes made me feel sweaty. So the other day, when I was putting away my heavy winter things, I just added it to that. If you want a "modeled" photo, you'll just have to wait until fall/winter to see it.

I loved making this, and love the finished sweater. The Kelbourne Woolens Scout is such wonderful yarn, and I absolutely love the Life In the Long Grass yarn. If I could afford to knit with them every time, I would!

I will likely wear this sweater for the first time next year at Christmastime, just because that was the original intention. But I'll also wear it after that too, since though I'm calling it a Christmas sweater, it's not so in-your-face-holiday that wearing it in say, February, would be weird.

And here are my "technicalities" - 1. Technically, I did fulfill my goal of doing a colorwork yoke sweater - and the yoke was finished during 2024; and, 2. Technically, it was finished by the end of March ... there was just a little bit of tweaking that had to be done after that.

In any case, now I have a new sweater to wear later this year, and it will be one I knit myself! I'm ridiculously proud of myself, and though I will definitely try a colorwork pattern again, it probably won't happen right away. 😃

***

This weekend is of course Mother's Day here in the U.S.  And I've already been told "Happy Mother's Day" about ten times this week, which annually irritates the living heck out of me, because why does being a female automatically mean you are a mother? The Tim says that leading up to and on Father's Day *no one* has ever wished him a "Happy Father's Day." 

I could go on, but won't.

Anyway, if you are someone's mother/grandmother/stepmother/mother figure, I do sincerely wish you a Happy Mother's Day, and I hope you get to enjoy the day and not have to do everything for everyone just because. 

If, like me, you are not a mother and your own mother is no longer with us, I hope you have a lovely, enjoyable weekend, and can spend it doing things you enjoy. 

Happy Weekend to all, no matter who, what, or where you are!

Sometimes It's Just Dumb Stuff ... and, A Birthday!

Hello and Happy May! I hope the month has been good to you so far, and that if you ventured to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival this past weekend, that you enjoyed yourself.

I've been away longer than I had planned to be, but fortunately, I should be able to keep up with things going forward. My unintended absence was due to just dumb things - you know, things that crop up unexpectedly and take up your time and then all of a sudden you realize that you have not come up for air, and it's for no really good reason? Granted, I was sick for about three days with an intestinal bug, which was unpleasant, but also nothing I could do anything about. But the rest of the time, I was putting out little fires everywhere, or having to do projects that I had not planned or expected to do right now. 

Annoying, but in the past, so that's definitely a good thing!

Anyway, I've been reading, and planning my knitting, after taking way too long to decide on anything. I think when I'm in the midst of Dumb Stuff, I shouldn't try to plan anything. I also decided on a stitching project, and got the materials together, so all I have to do is get started. I also swatched for a knitting project, and actually after I'm finished with this post, I need to measure my swatches (2 of them) to see what needle size works better. 

The kitties are fine. Milo the Koodle has been on a real tear lately against Esme. He always chases her, but he's been going out of his way to do so in the past few days. And then when you tell him NO, he hisses at you. Jerk.

However, today is a special day because it is Hamlet's heavenly birthday, and Esme's third birthday! When we decided to adopt her, we decided since we were picking her up from her foster home on May 6, that we would just say that May 5 was her birthday. We knew that our sweet boy Hamlet would think it was a good thing for a kitty to have his birthday, too.

I'm making some brownies for The Tim and to have as part of our celebration later, and the kitties will have some special food for dinner. Later we'll have treats, sing Happy Birthday, and Esme will get her gift, which is a catnip taco (seemed appropriate for Cinco de Mayo!).  We are so lucky that even though she still thinks we are trying to kill her 90% of the time, she has improved from thinking it was 100% of the time. Now she will cuddle for a few minutes, and let you pet her without having a heart attack and running away. Baby steps, but good ones.

So that's the latest from here. I hope this week is a good one, and Happy Cinco de Mayo from everyone at our house!