Pleasing

We had a lovely evening celebrating The Tim's birthday. He enjoyed all of his gifts, and was truly thrilled to receive the second sock to complete his pair of house socks. I had wrapped them in a couple of layers, where the older sock was on top. So when he opened it, he said, "Are you giving this back because you can't find the yarn to make the other one?" and then was surprised and pleased when he dug down to the next layer. So it was a success.

There are a couple of other things that have been pleasing, and I thought I'd share. Do you remember that last spring, the city planted a honey locust tree (aka "Loco") where a previous tree in front of our house had been? Well, Loco has been thriving. And last Saturday, it was time for us to get another tree, at the other entrance to our house (which is technically the main entrance). This time it is an American Hornbeam ("Beamy), and we are so happy with it! 

(The Tim: Oh good, it's a dormant tree. I was wondering why they would plant a new tree when cold weather was coming.

Me (in my brain): Brilliant deduction, Holmes.)

I'm so glad to have a tree in that spot, because the street is so small, and having a tree there must makes it all seem cozier, you know?

On Monday, I headed to Anthropologie. I had seen something online that I thought would make a nice gift; it was out of stock online, but it said, "Check stores." Our store did have it in stock, but in person, I didn't like it as much. However, I found something else that I liked even better for less money. But even better was the gift box they provided:

I had noticed on my way into the store that they had some yarn trees decorating the windows along with shiny ornaments, etc., so I guess they have a whole yarn/knitting thing going on for the holiday season this year. It goes without saying that I think it's an excellent idea!😊

So there you have two small but good things that really pleased me over the past week or so. It's a good reminder to pay attention, because even when a lot of other things seem to be terrible, disheartening, etc., there are still some little, lovely, happy things happening around you if you just look.

FO Post: The Hofo Sock

Hello there! Well, I survived both the prep and the colonoscopy, and I do have some pathology results to expect in the next week or so, but that is taken care of for now, and boy am I glad. I just hope the pathology report shows nothing worrisome, because I want to just be finished with the whole thing for another three years (three years! Last time I had only two, so that in itself is an improvement). But please know that I did truly appreciate your supportive and kind comments about surviving the prep. It's nice to know that people understand when someone is just plain uncomfortable.

ANYWAY.

When I was a kid, one of the jokes that at first puzzled me, and later pleased me because of wordplay, was this one:

Q: When is a door not a door?

A: When it's ajar.

And so, for this FO post, I have a similar question for you:

Q: When is a HO (half-finished object) not a HO?

A: When it's an FO.

Project: The Hofo Sock

Pattern: Plain vanilla sock pattern that I keep in my brain.

Yarn: Plymouth Worsted Encore Solids. The light blue is the Denim colorway, and the green is - you guessed it - the Kelly Green colorway!

Needles: US size 5/3.75 mm

Notes: In 2020, I knit these for The Tim. And he wore them. A lot. Until the sole of one of them wore completely through. So he handed the other one to me, and said, "Could you just knit a mate for this one? These are cozy and I like them, and I only need one more." So I said I would, set the sock aside, and immediately forgot all about it.

A couple of months ago, I was cleaning out the mess that was my knitting and crafting stuff, and came across the lone sock, waiting for its mate. So this time I placed it where I could see it, and determined that I would knit another one for The Tim's birthday. A couple of weeks ago, when I finished another long-term project, I picked it up and decided to see if I still had either/both colors of the yarn. I did! I tend to grab Encore when I can, because I think it's a nice yarn, and for certain projects and for certain people, it's a much better choice than other, fancier yarns.

And at last, the lonely sock once again has a mate:

I made certain to wash the older sock, and I even used the de-piller on it, and though you can tell that one has been worn, and one hasn't, they really look like they belong together! Of course, I had failed to write down the specifics - aka how many rows led to color changes, etc. - so I studied the older sock and I think I got pretty close. 

In any case, they are currently wrapped up ready for The Tim to open when we have his birthday celebration later today.

Oh - and "The Hofo Sock?" Well, it's a HO that was also an FO. 😉

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.