Month: December 2019

New Year’s Eve

Posted on by beverly

Sometimes stash diving is a good thing. I have almost three skeins of this Caron Big Cake in Pistachio Macron and was wondering what to do with it. I’ve made a long scarf with it and that’s about it. 

I started the family afghan for the giveaway but I wasn’t liking how it was looking. I was using a solid color and I thought it would look better in a stripe or a variegated yarn. I was thinking of buying some when I realized I had to have something in the stash. I saw it when I was looking for something else. Perfect.

 

There should be enough to make a nice sized blanket. Each cake has 600+ yards and I have two and a half. It might make it to lapghan size; which is fine.

My December yarn haul is almost complete. I am contemplating some cakes from Paintbox because they sent a nice 20% off coupon and I can get a nice 5 ball sample for less than $25. So tempting. I know I don’t need it…but still.

We’re headed out to the movies for our annual New Year’s Eve celebration. See a movie that starts in the old year and ends in the new. I have a dozen orders to get out. And some new ideas I want to get to.

Hope this new year is all you need it to be!

It Is Finished

Posted on by beverly

For a moment I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself. It is finished. We were out last night on our date night. Which was later than usual because Mr. Honey volunteers the second Thursday of each month and we eat afterwards. I told him I didn’t know what to do with my mornings when I remembered his family get together is in January. For the past five years, I’ve made an afghan to give away. Everyone’s name goes into some kind of receptacle and one name gets pulled out. You can’t win it two years in a row.

I have not yet started the afghan – I usually have one lying around but not this year. So, one will have to be made fresh. I was fretting about which blanket to make when my Google feed showed a really lovely one. Which I did not bother to look at right at that moment. I would have to scour Google to find it and I did on the YouTube. It’s here in case you want to know what it is. It’s a simple two row repeat. Which means I only made minor adjustments. I just don’t know how to leave well enough alone.

First, it’s sized for a baby blanket and I want something bigger.So I increased the chain. Second, I am almost always wary of just jumping into pattern rows so I like to make a base row. So while the pattern says one thing, I made a  row of single crochet just to make myself feel better. The row also serves another purpose. I am using one skein of Caron One Pound Century in Golden Yellow. I remember when I bought it years ago. I got two of them. I know where one is. I don’t think I have the other one. I have approx. 800 yards to make this work. The base row is so I don’t have to make the larger edge she worked into her blanket. One row of single crochet, then sc in the first and last two stitches, should give me enough of an edge.

It is not lost on me that I am doing a somewhat mindless crochet project, albeit an important one, right after doing a sweater that caused ingrown hairs in my brain. My breathing is somewhat normal. Though I am using a Tunisian afghan crochet hook to make it. Hey, it was was the only one available. Heaven forbid I go downstairs, get a hook and come back up.

I am expecting a new laptop to arrive today. I had to order a new one because the b on this one takes forever to type. It is worn out. In fact, I have a line of b’s sitting here in a row and I go get one when I need one so I can rock the flow. It didn’t occur to me to just make a few then copy and paste as needed. Then again, if FedEx holds true, this is the only time today I will need to worry about it. Though I will hold on to them because this can be the backup laptop and I will need them.

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbb BBBBBBBBBBBB Might as well leave them here. Just in case.

There Are No Words

Posted on by beverly

There are no words. Actually, that’s not true. There are plenty of words. They just aren’t good words. They are words that start with WTF? We said those words over and over Friday when we went to look at houses.

Yes, Mr. Honey and I are moving. Kinda. We have to move because it’s better for my legs to not have to constantly go up and down stairs. So after, heaven knows how long of getting him for real on board with us having to leave the only neighborhood he’s lived in his entire life, we went to look at houses.

We had a fairly decent price point in mind and I think folks are generally optimistic about what their money can buy them. Our agent lined up three houses that cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars. They were fairly close to where we are now because someone wants to stay in the neighborhood. That’s not gonna happen.

I can’t even describe which one was worse. Uneven floors, the house in disrepair except for a new room – usually a kitchen -which, I suppose was to distract you from the huge slant of the rest of the house. The last house fooled us because the outside looked lovely and the photos showed a light and airy interior with space. Our house is small; these places were supposed to be bigger. They weren’t. And of course, the place in the house where I thought I would have my yarn room/office was way smaller than what I have now. Deal breaker.

In the end, revamped the plan. We are looking for a condo on an interim basis because we really do have to get me in a place easier to move around.We will be on the hunt for a condo but I am better prepared for disappointment of photos to reality. The only word that matters is ‘Eureka!’

I came back home needing to knit something to remind myself there is something reliable out there. Knitting can crush you but it never disappoints.

It Tried to Kill Me

Posted on by beverly

The EDS is so called because it is Elizabeth’s Daughter’s Sweater. I could have named it Hope’s sweater but I didn’t know her daughter’s name when I started it so EDS it was. It is now EDS meaning Evil Demon Seed because the sweater mocks me, it laughs at me. It tried to kill me.

I know this to be true. I was at that point where you just want the project to be over. Knitters know this phenomenon. It happens all the time. But the morning I went to start to turtleneck on this sweater. The last major part: the shoulders and arms were seamed and all that was left was the sides. I went to start the turtleneck and felt a little nostalgic. It was going to be over in a matter of stitches.

I should have known then I was in for trouble. It was Thanksgiving morning. We were going over to the same place we have gone for the last three years and love to go. It was my birthday – maybe that’s why I was feeling happy and wistful when I picked up the sweater and started picking up the stitches to make the turtleneck.

The pattern said turn the sweater inside out and pick up 100 stitches around the neck – it was way more specific about that but that’s what I saw when I read it…so. I picked up the stitches and started working in the pattern and it took a row to realize it wasn’t going to work. It didn’t line up. Had to rip it out. EDS 1 – Me 0.

Recast on the stitches and started again. Took a few rows before I realized I made a mistake. The sweater was turned inside out but the stitches were picked up as if I was working the  right side. I was doing knit 3, purl 2. But it’s a turtleneck. The collar will fold over. I have to knit the opposite. I have to Purl 3, knit 2. EDS 2 – Me 0

For some strange reason, I didn’t want to P3, K2. I wanted to K3, P2. So I turned the sweater right side out and started to pick up stitches from the private side. The time I allotted to work on the sweater had run out. I went to put it back into the bag and I thought the bag was light. I started to panic. I had lost the back to the sweater. I know I had it out but I always thought I put it back. I frantically looked around for it and started calling myself an idiot for having misplaced it.

Did you catch it? Took me another minute before I did. I heard the sweater laugh at me and that’s when I knew it tried to kill me. I put it away to let it think itself victorious. EDS 3: Me 0

When I came back to it. I picked it up. Lined up the picked up stitches and started to work and it seems to be cooperating.. I had to get some more yarn from the original pieces but I think I will be able to finish it without have to touch that last skein. Of course, now that I said that, I bet this will get interesting. Keep good thoughts.