In Which There Are Many Shawl Photos

You may recall that over the summer, I took part in the Stillness Shawl MKAL organized by Helen Stewart, and knit a truly lovely (but very large) shawl.  Here is the FO post, though at the time it wasn't blocked.  I thought of, and tried, a few different possibilities, but the real problem was that I had no place where I could safely block it and leave it to dry and even more importantly, I didn't have enough blocking materials in the first place!  

Lorette mentioned in the comments that I should send it to her, and she would be happy to block it for me.  I thought that seemed really nice, but figured that I would somehow finagle something.  Long story short, I didn't.  So a few weeks ago, I checked to see if she was willing to give it a shot, and she enthusiastically said to send it to her.  I know she does lots of lace knitting, so it didn't surprise me to think she had someplace to block lace without meaning she had to move everyone out of her house to do so.  I packed it up and sent it on a visit to Washington State (a place I have always wanted to visit, but no, the shawl went instead.  Of course).  I told her there was no hurry, and whenever she had the time and inclination was find with me.

When it was returned, I could not believe how amazing it looked - and that I had actually knit it!  So I took a bunch of photos, and here they are.  I liked the shawl before, but now - WOW!

THANK YOU LORETTE!!!  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the offer of help in the first place, and then the time you clearly spent getting every part of it to look so nice.  

I love these close-ups - some of these patterns and stitches were completely new to me, and it was so exciting when they worked out!

I have no idea if I will ever join another MKAL and actually participate again, or if I'll ever tackle another project at this level.  But I learned so many new things, and enjoyed this one so much, it was worth all of the time spent figuring it out.

Look how big it is - my arms really started to hurt while The Tim was taking photos!

An FO for Friday - Not Blocked and No Longer a Secret

I'm glad that today is Friday, because this has been a rough week in so many ways, and since today (at least so far is rainy and dreary) I can just stay home and do what I want - or not do anything.

I have an FO for you today.  I almost waited to share it until it was completely finished - meaning blocked - but that will likely take a while, so you are getting an FO post anyway.

As mentioned during July, I decided to join the Stillness Shawl MKAL hosted by Helen Stewart.  To be honest, I'm not sure why, except that I'd seen the finished projects on several podcasts from previous MKALs and they were always lovely.  It could also be because at the time I was knitting a pair of socks designed by her and really enjoying it.  Anyway, I signed up.  More amazingly, I actually participated, in that I decided on yarn, wound it up, and not only downloaded the clues each week, but actually kept up with the knitting.  WHAT????

Project:  Stillness Shawl

Pattern:  Stillness Shawl MKAL, by Helen Stewart

Yarns (from left to right):  Indigodragonfly Tough Lester Sock, in the Dark Lord Bob colorway; Plucky Knitter Plucky Feet, in the colorway Good Ol' Pip; and, Sweet Swallow Yarns Nuthatch in the Shy Violets colorway

Needles:  US size 6

Modifications:  None, since I was flying blind here!

Notes:  First of all, I was pleased because I used all stash yarn for this project, and since that has been something I've been really trying to do, it was nice to use three skeins in one project.  Also, I was pleased because I got to learn two things that were new to me, which is something I have also been trying to do.  This pattern included an i-cord cast on; one of the sections was the Star Stitch, which frankly I was worried about since it looked rather complicated, but as it turns out, it's fairly simple to execute.

After finishing the first clue, I was feeling quite proud of myself, I must admit:

I think the fact that I was able to do this without [many] problems kept me motivated.  I will say now that the project is finished, that I feel confident that I can trust any pattern written by Helen Stewart to be not just well-written and understandable, but very easy to follow.  Even when I would mess up, it was my mess, not because of anything to do with the pattern.

The finished shawl is a really BIG one - so big that I do not have the space nor the pins to block it!  I mean, even before blocking, there's a whole lotta shawl here:

As a point of reference, this is across a double bed!

I do think it is pretty, and when I talked about my blocking issues on Facebook, Lorette offered to block it for me if I wanted to sent it to her.  I have to say, I'm giving that some serious consideration.  I know she does a lot of both shawl and lace knitting, so she knows much more about blocking this kind of item that I do.  I'll keep you posted.

In any case, this was actually fun to knit, and though I didn't really do a lot of the chatter, etc. type of stuff on Ravelry, I did enjoy seeing others' projects.  I think the reason that all of the planets or whatever aligned and I ended up finishing this was because at first it seemed a good distraction and a way to use stash, and then it became a personal challenge to me to keep up.  This is not to say that I'm likely to sign up for any KALs again anytime soon, but it was a good feeling to sign up and then actually *do* something!

 I guess sometimes you can still surprise yourself in a good way.  

******

Not a lot else worth reporting.  This morning I walked up to the Post Office, and finally mailed out all of the prizes for Christmas in July.  Why do I think I'll mail each one as it happens?  From here forward, if you win a prize, just assume it will go out all at one time with the others.  Geez.

I did feel bad because the woman who helped me was so apologetic, saying, "I just want to let you know that in the current situation, I can't guarantee that any of these will get there right away, or as soon as they probably should.  The Post Office is under attack, you know."  I told her that it was OK, I'm a big supporter of the P.O., and between the virus and the administration, they were getting hit everywhere.  She looked at me and smiled and I hope it made her day at least .000001% better.

Hamlet is recovering from a bad bout of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, which has really knocked him (and by extension, all of us) for a loop.  Fortunately, the vet took x-rays and it wasn't caused by any blockages, tumors, etc. - just probably from something he picked up and ate off the street.  We watch him like a hawk, but sometimes things get past us.  He is starting to seem more like his usual sweet self though, so that's good.  The cats have been very annoyed because they can't sleep on/next to him because he smells bad and that is a real inconvenience for them ...

Next weekend we had scheduled a trip to Baltimore to visit my niece and her husband (we made the plans back in April).  Now my sister and brother-in-law are planning to be there as well, which means most of the family will show up to visit also.  I had been leaning towards cancelling even if it would just be the four of us, but the addition of even more people has made me certain that I don't want us to go.  It just seems irresponsible, and though I know they are all careful people, I just think we have been so conscientious about things, why stop now?  Having to go into work two days a week has been making me anxious enough.  It is disappointing, since we haven't seen anyone for such a long time, but I'm not willing to take the chance, particularly when things are taking an uptick again.  Why can't people wear a mask? (Rhetorical, I know why and so do you.)

Anyway, it's Friday, and it's the weekend, and we have wine, and The Tim just informed me that he made some chocolate pudding!  All's well that ends well, right?  😃

Have a lovely weekend yourself, and take care.

It's Thursday, But This Week Has Been At Least a Month Long

Sometimes, when a lot happens in any given week, it seems like the time went by in a flash, and you kinda wonder where all time went, or what happened. 

Then there are weeks like this one.  As mentioned above, I'm pretty sure it's been a month long.  At least.

Since it's Three on Thursday, I thought I'd tell you three things that have made it seem sooooooo long.

1.  Hamlet had diarrhea.  Fortunately, he is on the mend.  But for two nights in a row, he needed to go out to go to the bathroom approximately every hour and a half.  And then in the daytime, I was exhausted but too wide awake to successfully take a nap.

2.  We finally got our new stove, which was very exciting.  Except, 1) they couldn't get the delivery truck down our skinny street, so the poor delivery guys had to walk the stove (using a dolly of course) up the street in 96 degrees with humidity; 2) then they didn't have the right thing to install the gas connector.  So The Tim had to go out after they left, get the part, and install it himself.  It was a much longer process than it should have been, but at least we do have a working oven again!  It looks like this one:

3.  I told you I had signed up for a KAL.  I finished the first clue pretty quickly last week, well before Clue #2 was released:

Then Clue #2 was released, and it is 99% lace, which as you know, is a challenge for me.  And this was truly just very simple lace.  But *(*^*&*&%%%!! did it give me fits.  The question is, WHY does it take me so long to figure out that all you really need to do - especially with this pattern, since it stayed the same throughout - is figure out how many repeats there are, and use markers?  Once I did that, it was smooth sailing, but before then, I ripped back at least three times.  I finally did finish Clue #2, which is good since the next clue comes out today, but I gotta tell you, I was ready to just scrap the whole thing.  I'm glad I didn't, but geez, what a self-imposed slog!

Add in a week of approximately 8-10 Zoom meetings, and I have to ask - was this week really a month long???

It's Monday, and It's Too Hot, and I'm Already Over It

Not that it matters, of course.  Summer weather is gonna do what it wants, no matter what I care.  It was a pretty awful weekend - heat, major humidity, and mosquito-fest.  In spite of the fact that I practically poured mosquito repellent on my entire person when heading out to water our flowers, those evil creatures feasted as if nothing was different.  Grrrrrrrr.

Which is why other than taking Hamlet out for walks, we both pretty much stayed put.  Things were done around the house, so it wasn't a complete loss, but no real garden time which was disappointing, since that had become a lovely way to spend the mornings.

In the continuing list of things that seem to make the world feel like it's working against us, our oven died a week ago.  The Tim thought that it just needed a part that he could likely install to work again - or at least to buy time - so he ordered it, and spent about an hour trying to install it before realizing that it would mean tearing out part of a wall.  And even then, as mentioned above, it would only be buying us time, since our stove is about 20 years old.  Since like most everyone, we have SO much extra money coming in while not being at work (one of us is laid off, one of us is getting paid 30% less of our salary), we bit the bullet and ordered a new one.  The good part here (and there is one) is that we ordered it from the manufacturer, so not only was it on sale for July 4th, but they had a payment plan where if you paid it off monthly in 12 months, there was no finance charge, so that at least will work out.  Supposedly it will be delivered sometime this week.  That would be nice.

I did finish knitting The Tim's shortie slipper socks, and though they look weird (yes, I did run out of the yarn I was using!) he is thrilled with them.   It's nice when someone goes with the flow like that.  It's also nice when yarn chicken happens on something that you are only going to wear around the house.  😌 I'll do an FO post this week so you can see how they turned out.

I also wound yarn for another project, and got started.  For reasons that even I can't really explain or understand, I decided to try the Stillness Shawl MKL.

Who am I???  I no longer know, apparently.  The first clue came out last Thursday, and yesterday I actually sat down and got going on it.  So far, I have learned the i-cord cast on, which is nice and pretty when it works, but meant that I started over about 8 times before I decided it was OK-looking and moved along.

Here are the yarns I've chosen:

Side view

Top view

Yesterday, while we were watching some things we had recorded, I finally got my cast on to be acceptable to me, and managed by the end of the day to knit ~70 rows.  So far, it's pretty reasonable, with a few rows where you have to pay attention, and then more rows where you just knit or purl, depending what side you are knitting.  

The Tim (when I was trying to get the cast-on to work):  Is that going to be a shawl?

Me:  Yep.  It's a Mystery Knit-Along, you get one clue a week.

The Tim (laughing):  Oh that sounds so exciting.

Half an hour later, after I had a nice amount done:

Me:  See, I'm about halfway through Clue #1, and this is what it looks like.

The Tim:  Oh cool, now I'm invested.

*****

So that's the news from here.  Summer is making itself known, mosquitoes are feasting on my person, I've not only joined a KAL, but have actually started knitting the project, and June is nearly over.  

BUT.

Something is getting ready to start again.

Stay tuned!

Kinda Sorta Tiny Needle Tuesday - An FO Post

I know that Tiny Needle Tuesday is actually about other kinds of stitching - embroidery, counted-cross stitch, etc., but since I used tiny knitting needles for this project, I'm crashing the party with this post.  :-)

Back at the end of January, my friend Andrea and I decided to have a socks KAL during March.  We decided to knit the same pattern, and see if we could do it within the month.  This is the kind of KAL I can do - informal and not involving lots of other people!  It meant that I actually knit the project, instead of losing my knitting mojo altogether.

And here are my socks, finished only three days after the end of March!

Project:  Clarkle Sparkle Socks
Pattern:  Clark  Socks, by Jaclyn Salem
Yarn:  Black Bunny Fibers Stella, colorway unknown (this yarn has been in my stash for a while, I have no idea where the ball band is ...)
Needles:  US size 1
Modifications:  None.
Comments:  I have been wanting to knit this pattern ever since it came out.  I am a big fan of cables, and I love that the main cable is in the front rather than on the sides.  There is also a small cable that runs down the back of the leg, but I could not contort myself to photograph that! 

The yarn was lovely.  The color is kinda close in the photo, but in person it's actually a celadon green shade, with an occasional wash of blue and purple; it also contains stellina, so the socks have a little bit of sparkle!

Because I was trying to follow the pattern exactly as written, I went ahead and did the short rows/wrapped stitches heel.  I am trying to learn - or at least try - new things when I come across them.  The heels don't look great, and I don't know if they will wear that well, but I did manage to get them done according to instructions.  Needless to say, if/when I make this pattern again, it will be with a heel construction of my preference.

That part aside, the pattern is fun and after the first pattern repeat, it's very memorizable.  I am a huge fan of cables, so I'm glad I got to knit a pattern that includes them!

I recommend this pattern - it's well-written and very clear, and once you get set up and started, it goes really quickly. 

Now on to an April pair - TBD!

Rain, Sorting, and Ick - A Weekend in Review

I must agree with this pup.  But just as I'm sure his day went on, and hopefully improved, mine will too. 

It was an odd weekend.  Not terrible, just ... odd.  Saturday was a major rain day here in Philadelphia.  I mean, it POURED for the bulk of the day.  And it was windy, too, so if you never looked out the window, you might have thought you were on the English moors of Wuthering Heights.  The good thing about that is that I used a good chunk of the day to review/organize my stash and knitting supplies.  I found some things that had been given to me over the past year that I just wasn't loving, and nowadays if I don't love something, I tend to give it away or donate it.  I have finally gotten my stash to the point where what it contains are things I am keeping on purpose because I plan to actually use them.  Over the years, I had bought so many yarns "just because" that when I decided several years back to be ruthless and realistic, I was left with a stash that was mindful.  In the past year, a few people have given me yarns that they found in a relative's belongings, and passed to me 'since you know how to knit.'  And that's fine, because I have the distinct feeling that if I didn't take the stuff, it would be trashed rather than donated.  But it was almost all things that I either don't like (yarn with stuff in it - you know, like buttons, etc. that make it "artistic") or that I just know I won't ever use.  Since we have a women's shelter in town that has a knitting group, I like to pass that stuff on to them.  According to the person who runs the group, the women get excited to have things that are new/different to them. 

Anyway, I got those things together, as well as some extra needles and notions and got them ready to drop off.  This also served to get the whole room in better order, a bonus for sure.

We also watched some shows and movies during the afternoon and evening.  Every year, we try to make an effort to watch some movies that are nominated for Oscars in one category or another.  So far this year, we've seen "Marriage Story," "The Irishman," and "The Two Popes."  Eclectic, no??

Sunday it wasn't raining, but ugh.  I woke up with all kinds of aches and pains, and for a good part of the day, gastrointestinal issues.  I didn't feel terrible, but I didn't feel good.  So I mostly stayed put, and the good thing is that I got very close to finishing a pair of socks I'm making for The Tim as a Valentine's Day gift!  I have just a couple of inches on the foot of the second sock, and then the toe, and they will be finished.  This makes me happy because now I don't have to worry about them being finished in time.  It also means I can start on a test knit I'm doing (who AM I?) for one of the ladies who runs Nice and Knit.  Then in March, my friend and former Rosie's co-worker Andrea and I are having a sock knitalong.  We are going to try the Clark Socks by Jaclyn Salem.  I'm looking forward to it!

One funny thing about us having a knitalong - when we worked together at Rosie's, every time we'd see a pattern that we liked, or a new book/magazine arrived, we'd find something we both wanted to make.  We would spend time choosing what yarns to use, and discuss it ad nauseum.  Do you know how many things resulted from these various knitalongs?  Zero.  :-)  So it will be fun to *actually* cast on and get going this time ... 

I'm feeling better today (of course, it's a work day, right??), and hoping that this week at work will be as uneventful as possible.  We are in the near-end stages of a renovation of our workspace, and it has been horrific.  Theoretically, this week should be quieter.  We'll see.

Anyway, here we go with another week and the last one in January at that.  Let's hope it's a good one!

Please Don't Let the Door Hit You on Your Way Out

That is, if your name is Heat and Humidity.  This past week has been brutal - and when, like me, you are no fan of heat and humidity, it's enough to make you give up. Though I don't like it, in late July and for the month of August, I realize that is summer's M.O.; but in the last week of May, and the first couple of days of June, it's just plain wrong.  Yes, I am more than aware that at least we are not having tornadoes or floods.  And for that I am grateful.  But I still reserve the right to complain based on geography.  The weather forecasters are saying that a rain storm will come along tonight and break the heat, and we'll go back to 70s in the daytime.  I am holding on to that hope ...

My other big complaint (aren't you glad you decided to keep reading?) is that I fear I may lose some of my vacation time.   If you know me, you know that this is the equivalent to Armageddon for me.  I had not made specific vacation plans, since our trip to Ireland last October was likely the only big vacation we could afford to take for a while.  I just figured that I'd take some time when I decided to take it.  Which ordinarily is no big deal, as far as work is concerned.  But then my boss quit suddenly and unexpectedly, and our full-time assistant left to go to graduate school.  And the only other person in my department had already had all of her vacation time approved.  All of which is during June. Our FY at work ends June 30, and we cannot carry over more than 5 days.  Well, I hadn't been using my time since I thought I could take my few days during June, when The Tim had vacation time. So much for that idea.  I even appealed to the higher powers, and was just told that I "should have planned better."  Sigh.

OK, on to other things.  This should not turn into a whine fest.

Last weekend, it occurred to me to take my camera when Dug and I went out for a walk.  We headed over to the dog park, which is within one of the local parks, Schuylkill River Park.  In the past couple of years, they have really fixed it up (not that it was that terrible before), and now it's especially nice.  Here are some pictures for you.

 Community garden

 The park

 Entrance to the community garden

 I love these flowers!

 Community garden gate

 Part of the meadow

Main park entrance

This is all approximately 4 blocks from our house, and you go through a lovely little square with a fountain to go there.  When you walk a little bit beyond the park, you can cross the railroad tracks and walk along the Schuylkill River Trail, right along the river.  There are people, dogs, walkers, runners, cyclists, kids, and it's really a nice place to be.  We do live right in the city, but we don't have to travel far for trees, flowers, and the other sights and sounds of nature.  I think it's the best of both worlds.

In other news, I have signed up for this:

You may or may not know Kelbourne Woolens, but they are the distributors of Fibre Company yarns.  Not only are they local, but both of the owners used to work at  Rosie's, which is where I got to know them!  Added to that, Kate Gagnon Osborn is foster mother to both Pip and Dug!  So when they announced this KAL to accompany the debut of their new yarn, Meadow, I resisted at first, since my knitting is not that advanced, particularly in KAL-ville.  But then I thought about it, and figured, why not?  So I signed up yesterday, and now I can't wait until the yarn arrives and I can see what/if I can do this.  A lot of my knitting friends are also doing it, so I should be able to get some help when I need it.  I'll keep you posted. 

:-)

So that's all that's new here for now.  I hope you have had a good weekend, and that if your weather has been problematic too, things settle down sooner rather than later!