A Non-Knitting FO (From the Land of the Miserable)

Hello! I am on Day 2 of colonoscopy prep, and have decided that medicine really needs to get on the ball here. After Day 1, I am feeling incredibly awful on approximately 2 hours of sleep with a headache that would stop a buffalo from winging. Surely medical science can find some better method for this. I told The Tim that the military should use colonoscopy prep instead of waterboarding, because frankly right now I'd admit to kidnapping the Lindbergh baby.

I just hope that tomorrow when I go for my 2 p.m. appointment, that they are on schedule. Last time, they were running behind, and I had to sit on a gurney in a hospital gown for 2 1/2 hours waiting. 

OK, enough of my whiny self. Let's move on to something more pleasant, shall we? (And thank you for listening while I complained.)

A few weeks ago, I started working on a kit that I had ordered probably three years ago from Katrinkles. It in included felt shapes and buttons that you put together to create an Advent calendar. 

First, I used embroidery thread to sew on the numbered buttons:

I did them in groupings, so that I'd stay motivated. Then, according to the directions in the kit, you were supposed to use embroidery thread again to sew the stockings together. I decided that I would use red and green yarn instead. 

Once that was finished, I had to figure out a way to hang them on something to make a garland-type thing. Enter this, which I found by mistake looking for the site where we had recently purchased wool dryer balls to forward to a friend. 

I had left long tails after I sewed to get her the stockings, so I tied those tails around the string in between the colored balls, and voila! Advent Calendar FO!

(hanging on a curtain rod to see how it all looked)

The garland had a long string and a few more little wool balls on each end to hang it up. I am really happy with it, and happy that it is not just cute, but that I was able to use some of my stash yarn on the stockings.

So now it's a matter of finding small things that will fit into the stockings. I'm hoping to get that done either this weekend or throughout next week, so I can send it to my great-niece Penn and great-nephew Oden in plenty of time for December 1. I've already decided that for the 8th, 16th, and 24th, I'll put in some money - The Tim suggested that we use some dollar coins that his mother used to save because then it would seem like "treasure." (Since there's also a good chance that kids their ages have never seen dollar coins.)

I don't know what took me so long to actually make this. It seriously took so little time, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Needless to say, you could just make it as a decoration, but I had bought the kit with the intention to make it for Penn and Oden, and wanted to do it before they were too old to really think it's fun.

I checked on the Katrinkles website, and now they sell the buttons you can sew on, and provide a pattern for mini-socks, but no longer have kits like this one. Just so you know - I guess you could still make little felt stockings yourself, though. (No, I wouldn't either it's true.)

So once my life is livable again, I'll be heading to the dollar store or the equivalent for other things to include. I think it will be fun. And I plan to send each of them a book for a Christmas gift, so there will still be something under the tree to open. 

*****

And so stringing those onto the garland kept me occupied and distracted yesterday, which was nice and also fun. After tomorrow, I will be busy getting things ready for The Tim's birthday on this coming Monday. I am keeping that in my brain so that I have happy thoughts today and tomorrow. 

I'm trying it all, because at this point, any distraction is a worthwhile one. 

Now I must go start drinking horrible things, etc. as part of Day 2. Please drink and eat things that are yummy and enjoyable today and tomorrow - enjoy it all! 😊

A Long Weekend That Wasn't A Long Weekend

Hello and I hope your week has started out well. This past weekend was a long weekend here in the U.S., in honor of Veteran's Day, which was yesterday. A lot of people had an extra day off work. Since I do not have a job, I was "off" anyway; The Tim had to work. So I headed out to a doctor's appointment, and then came home and did some projects around the house. 

Our weekend was quiet, but the best thing was that our new stove arrived. Finally, we can use the whole thing, not just the stovetop! It's funny when something is not available, how you realize you use it all the time. When I would go to start making dinner, I'd be rudely reminded that I couldn't use the oven because it was no longer working. And a couple of times, I thought, "Oh maybe I'll make muffins for breakfast on the weekend," and then ... NOPE.  So Saturday night I used the oven for dinner, and on Sunday, The Tim made some bread. That was our big excitement.

I also started another new knitting project. I'm trying a yoked sweater with two colors. Here are the beginnings of my efforts:

Let's just say that I'm not certain this will work at all. But I've been wanting to try this type of project, and if you don't ever start, you'll never know. I did make a two-color hat as you may recall, back in February, so I thought it would be worth the attempt at another level. So this could possibly be the last you ever see of this project, OR I will be hoping that blocking will solve a lot of problems ... 

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you've already seen the photo below. I posted this with a caption saying I was glad to get one of these before they sold out at Sephora:

I opened my package, and then put the box in front to the door to the basement so I could take it downstairs to add to things going to be recycled. But apparently Pip decided it was a nice cozy place to hang, and spent most of Sunday happily just curled up in the box. Cats and boxes you know. 😊

Today I'm headed to my volunteer gig for the morning, and then I'll work on some things around the house in the afternoon before I sit down to read and/or knit. I have to also be sure to eat and drink whatever I want for the rest of the day and evening, because after today, I am doing a prep for a colonoscopy on Friday afternoon. Ugh. I hate it in the first place, but having to do a two-day prep just makes something bad even worse. 

So I may be MIA until next week because of that, or I may be here every single day to give me something to think about other than how hungry I am, or how much my head is hurting, etc. We'll see. 

In any case, I hope *your* week goes well. I told The Tim that even with the prep and colonoscopy, this week will still be better that last week was ... 😢

OK, time to clean up my breakfast stuff, brush my teeth, and leave to go and take care of some kitties - have a good one!

Friday Funny - TGIF Edition

Yes it's finally Friday after what seems like a much longer week than possible. And if you are like me, you need a smile if not a good laugh. So enjoy Mr. Fireside Cat and his take on things, and have the best weekend you can have. 

I'll check in next week. Take care.

What I Knit in October, Part 2

Well, hello, and Happy Just-One-More-Day-Of-Political-Ads to those of us in the U.S! Not having to see another one, or receive flyers in the mail will be soooo nice.

Our weekend was pretty quiet. Our trip to IKEA to look at area rugs didn't happen, because The Tim didn't feel that great. Since we don't have to have rugs right away, it's no big deal that we put off going. Sunday was nice and chilly, really feeling like a fall day - so nice!

Anyway, I thought I'd show you what else I knit during the month of October. It started with these cakes of yarn:

These were going to be socks for me from the get-go.

Project: Apple Cider Socks

Pattern: My go-to vanilla sock pattern

Yarn: Legacy Fiber Artz Steel Toes, Micro-Sock Kit in the colorway Old Cider Mill

Needles: US size 1/2.25 mm

Notes: I thought this would be a perfect pair of socks to knit during the fall - the colors, the name of the colorway, it all just screamed fall to me. I thought I'd use some of the contrast yarn for some stripes near the top, and I like the way it looks. The sock itself is a 1 x 1 ribbed cuff, with a 3 x 1 leg and plain foot. I did a Shadow Wrap Heel on this pair - I'm trying to practice it, because it's nice to have some variety when knitting socks, and I have failed spectacularly at trying Afterthought Heels. 

I knit the first sock pretty quickly, and once it was finished, decided to put these aside and work on the Halloween Socks for The Tim, since those were on a deadline. My goal for these initially were to have them ready by Thanksgiving; but once I finished the other pair, I really wanted to try and finish them by the end of October - and I finished on October 30, so I had an extra "free" day! 😊

The Micro-Sock Set contains a 50-gram main color and a contrast color. I had most of the contrast color left, but this was the amount of yarn I had left for the main color:

I was sweating out the last couple of rounds, let me tell you! Not that it really mattered that much, since the socks were for me, and I had plenty of contrast yarn to finish the foot before knitting the toe. But the closer I got, the more I was hoping it would work.

The best part of this is that it means I have no partial skein left to add to my stash. It's a nice feeling to think I used all of the yarn for once!

I personally cannot believe that I knit two pairs of socks in a month - but I was motivated, and not working on any other things, so that combination made it all work.

So what's next? Well, I'm sure there will be another pair of socks coming up, since I like to have a pair going all the time. And I'm waiting for some needles I ordered to arrive so that I can move along on another project I've started. 

But more on that later. 

Have a good week, and if you are in the U.S., please remember to vote! People have died for that right, and worked hard to obtain it. And this election is too important to skip showing up at the polls.

Happy November! And, What I Knit During October, Part 1

Hello everyone and Happy November! I hope all of you surivived Halloween. Ours was quiet - not a single trick-or-treater. I blame the current state of the world. People are afraid to let their kids go trick-or-treating, and only allow them to go to parties, or do the Trunk and Treat thing which frankly I think is gross. I miss seeing the costumes so much, that was one of my favorite things.

Oh well, just another thing that apparently isnt' going to happen again around here. A friend of mine who lives in one of the fancy 'burbs said that they only had 20 trick or treaters. Which sadly makes me feel a little better - it's not just a trend in the "big bad city." 

*****

But onward to November and the coziness of it. I will especially enjoy it when November 12-15 is over. I have a colonoscopy on the 15th, and have to do the usual (for me) three-day prep. So other than those dates, bring on November!

I have a finished object to show you - actually one of two pairs of socks I knit during October, which is insane, because I seldom can knit one pair of socks in a month, but guess what? If you concentrate on a project, it gets finished - who knew?? 😄

It all started with this ball of yarn:

Project: Tim's Halloween Socks

Pattern: Plain vanilla sock pattern, based on this pattern, which is my go-to for basic socks

Yarn: Nox Yarn Mars Sock base, colorway is Potions Master

Needles: US size 1/2.25 mm

Notes: I've had this yarn in my stash for a long time, and every year would notice it either right before Halloween, or right after. This year, I made an effort to find it well in advance. 

My original plan was to make a pair of Halloween socks for myself. I was even going to use a pattern. So I got it going, and decided that with the way the yarn was dyed, the pattern would be completely lost. Since the pattern I was trying out used the number of stitches I generally use to make socks for The Tim, I decided to just knit a plain sock and give it to him for our anniversary, which is a few days before Halloween.

It's a 1 x 1 ribbed cuff, and then a 3 x 1 ribbed leg, with a plain foot. Shortly after starting these, I finished another project I was working on; I'd also completed one sock of a pair I was knitting for myself. So I decided to concentrate on these, since I had a deadline at the end of the month.

I finished them a week ago today, and I'm really happy how they turned out. And it's a shame that Nox Yarn is no longer dyeing, because this was lovely yarn to knit with, and makes a great pair of socks. 

They were gifted for our anniversary on Monday, and even though The Tim has been sitting *right next to me* for a lot of the time I was knitting them, he was completely surprised. Which works for everyone, right?

*****

Do you have any special plans for the weekend? We're headed to IKEA at some point to look for a couple of area rugs for our living room. We had our living room rug picked up for deep cleaning and storage last week (long story, I'm sure I'll tell it sometime), and would like to find a couple of smaller rugs for the living room until the big one is in use again. Other than that, I'm sure there will be a LOT of napping (The Tim), a lot of hilarity (the kitties), and a lot of knitting and reading (me). It's supposed to be cooler (thank the Lord!) this weekend, so it will be nice to just cozy in and stay in the house.

I hope your weekend goes well.  Rest up, because next week should be a long one, at least here in the U.S., with Tuesday being election day. I sincerely hope that you will cast/have cast your vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Because any other choice is unacceptable if you want to continue living in a country that you're not completely and totally ashamed of, with a vile creature deciding our futures ... or lack thereof.

And I believe that sincerely.

Take care.