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!

Another Monday - I Think ... Right?

As if keeping track of the days of the week wasn't enough of a challenge these days, I ended up with a partially lost weekend.  So I actually had to check to make sure what day it was and what was happening.  I hate hate hate it when something happens on any day, weekend or not, that means one or more days feel like they never happened.

Friday I had finished the pair of socks I was knitting (photos to come) and I had designated Saturday as the day I wanted to attempt to sew some face masks for The Tim and myself.  I got started nice and early, and since I'm not a fast or amazing sewist, it took all morning and into early afternoon.  I finished two that are fine - not great, but better than nothing.  I figured that I would make at least two more on Sunday and go from there.  Then I sat down for a while and started a new knitting project, until I decided to just zone out for a while.  The rest of the afternoon was uneventful.  Around dinner time, I started to feel really sleepy, the way you do when you have gotten up earlier than usual and just kept going.  I figured since I had actually "done" something with my brain (i.e., made the masks), I was just tired for a change, but I was really so very sleepy that I went to bed extremely early, and feel asleep quickly.

Fast forward to ~ 1 a.m., when I woke up because my neck hurt.  I went to sit up, and SEARING pain came from the back of my head.  I finally managed to sit up, and I promise I am not being dramatic, but every time I moved any part of my body, I would scream out in pain.  The Tim helped me get upstairs very slowly to sit in a chair and found one of those neck rings like you wear on a plane to sleep without getting a stiff neck (we actually used to travel quite a bit).  He found some Tylenol, and I took it.  I was in misery, sitting very still in the dark for hours.  But finally the Tylenol kicked in, and the pain started to lessen.  Between the neck pillow, a heating pad, and more Tylenol, I finally got to the point where I could move without the searing pain.  But the day was spent just doing that and nothing else.  I was able to go to bed and lie down with a minimum of discomfort, and had a pretty decent sleep.

Today I feel a lot better, and have very little pain.  But I am exhausted.  In my panic during the night on Saturday/Sunday, I was actually worried that I was having a stroke, but was with it enough to know that none of the BE FAST signs were there.

I have decided that what it was in fact was a migraine.  Normally I get the ones that are in the front of the head, where everything seems to have an aura around it.  But other than location, this had all of the same kinds of things going on, both during and after.  I was also extremely grateful that I didn't have to go to the ER, not because I was afraid I had Covid-19, but because they have so much else to worry about right now.

And now, here we are on another Monday, back to the grind, right??? 😄

Take care, friends!

Palm Sunday in Isolation

Hamlet Is a Good Boy, But -

even he has his limits!

"I know this is a kitty toy, but I no longer care!"

"Trump's gotta go!"

(You know it's bad when a Golden Retriever doesn't like you.)

March Knitting

Hello all - well, it's April 1st, so a new month is here to greet us.  I don't know what is coming, but that's the thing, the world keeps going anyway, not caring if we are happy, sad, nervous, whatever.  In some ways it's reaasuring.

I have finally managed to remember that today is Wednesday, and decided to join Kat and everyone for Unraveled Wednesday.  Oh the unraveling that occurred during March!  Fortunately, right now, I'm moving right along.  Here are the two things I was knitting during the month:

On your left, is sock #2 of my March KAL socks.  All that is left is the rest of the foot and the toe, and that will likely happen by the end of this weekend at the latest.  So I won't have finished during the month, as I'd hoped, but I'll just be a week late.  Not too bad, considering that I had concentration issues, and this pattern also presented me with a new heel construction that took me a while to do.

On the right, is a smooshed up sweater-in-progress.  I spent way too much time unraveling and re-knitting the neck on this when I started, but now it's underway.  However, the only needles that were the correct size were also on a cable that was too short, so I'm waiting for the new needles that I ordered from WEBS to arrive, becuase there are just way too many stitches on the size needle I have and it's making it a PITA to knit. 

Please do not count on either project being the color in the photo - not even really close, but this is as well as I could do at the moment.

As for reading, this is what I'm going to attempt to start next:

Generally, this kind of book would not be my cup of tea (cup of blood?), but a friend sent it to me to read, and a friend of hers wrote it.  It may be OK, it doesn't sound completely out of my wheelhouse, and there are Jesuits, so that might make it a bit more interesting to me.  I'll let you know.  :-)

I see that a lot of people (OK, tons of people) are using this time to start baking with sourdough.  I am somewhat amused, because The Tim has been baking with sourdough for years, and most of the time, people give him a strange look when he mentions it.  He makes bread every week, and then maybe every other week or so, another variation using the sourdough.  I told him for once he was on the cutting edge of a trend!  That's him, always way ahead of the curve ... hahahaha.

Let me know what you are knitting/reading/doing these days, and please know that I hope all of you and yours are well.  Though things may not get better anytime soon, it's clear that we will get there if people stop being selfish and realize that we all need to work together.  It's not easy, and not necessarily pleasant, but it's better than the alternative, right?

Take care.