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The Borg Afghan

The Borg Afghan. That’s what this afghan is becoming. It is part of the Borg collective. I feel I should name it Loctus, Jr or something.

All of a sudden it is September and I have to get a move on with finishing this afghan. Not only do I want this wedding present to be given before the wedding, I also want to offer a custom made afghan in the shop so it needs to be done for that.

There are 20 squares in this afghan and I am just on square 5. 5 of 20. Borg. And I feel an act of science fiction is needed to get this thing across the finish line on time.

This afghan is a mixture of three sources: my own mind, and two sampler afghan patterns: The Caron Sampler afghan and Leisure Arts Sampler Afghans books. See? A collective right there. Melded together to create something new. I am also frogging a WIP afghan to make these squares so assimilation is going on all over the place. There should be a star ship for me to captain.

I have been resisting the urge to buy more yarn. I really don’t need it. If I needed it, there would be no hesitation or pouring over what to buy. I would just go get it. This is a clue to me that it is an emotional purchase. I can probably get the am rush by looking through the domesticated yarn in the closet. There would be some pleasant surprises in there.  I am taking this as a sign of maturity. Let me have my moment.

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Knit in Public

It’s been a while since I knit in public. I can’t remember the last time and it was something I did on the regular. I would take my knitting and go sit in the cafe at a bookstore or at one of the Paneras. Most of the time I was alone and I would be enjoying the moment and there would always be a few folks who would comment about it. That was the success of the moment, to have someone comment on my knitting or crochet – even when they got the two confused.

Actually, people don’t call knitting crochet but they often call crochet knitting. This tells me knitting is the dominant even though granny squares have recently given crochet an uptick in popularity.

Covid chased us indoors and my knitting group hasn’t seen the sunlight since. I’m thinking it’s time we emerge again. This also comes on the heels of me wanting to create stuff to sell at church. I can create things at home, of course. but knitting in public is great PR for the craft and for the crafter.  It’s also the end of August. I figure we have about 6 more weeks before the too cool to knit outside/outdoors hits. We still knit in public, but we will be indoors in warm spaces. This is not a complaint.

The pastor asked if I were open to starting a craft circle in the church. Not just for the needle arts but a time and space for folks to come in and paint, draw, as well as do needle work. I am open to that. Knitting in the parlor was a very nice experience. Having a regular place for some creative crafting with all different genre sounds empowering and inspiring. It is something to think about.

In the meantime, I have orders to get out and it’s date night and we are doing Famous Dave’s. That means dinner will be two buffalo wings and a rib tip.

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Thank You, Lord

Thank You, Lord is the new digital sticker set now available at Abbey and Lincoln.

It was certainly fun working on them. The design ideas usually came when I was working on something else or during my faith hour. I would pause what I was doing, open Canva and get to designing. I would then use that sticker in my journal. Very nice to use something I’ve created. It took me a while to do that. It’s only been a few years since I started wearing the hats I knit. Don’t know why there was that disconnect between my cold head and the myriad of hats I have stored away.  Might be the business person in me thinking they were better sold.

 

I also started using  these. Let me tell you; these things are great! I had no idea how well those scrubbies worked. They are now a staple in my very own kitchen and I have them in my studio (of course I do) but I mean as a tool! I am in love with this particular one. I used it to clean my Corningware bake dish after I made an egg, sausage and veggie bake. Took just a little over a minute to make that thing look good! 

I don’t know what it says that I get excited about cleaning a dish. I don’t think even my mother ever had that feeling.

There are orders to be filled. I just finished a pair of fingerless mitts. There are knitted sleeves, a snake and a stocking cap waiting to be created and dispatched. So I am on my way!

I do thank the Lord for all he’s done for me and continues to do. May the Lord bless you and keep you as well.

 

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Strike While the Needles Are Hot

 

I think I want to strike while the needles are hot! (or the hooks, the hooks can be hot, too.) All that is to say, I am thinking of starting up the in person knitting group again with the idea we would create things to sell at a craft show through the church.

It’s how it all started way back in the day. I started a knitting group with a friend and we knit so much stuff, we had to sell it. It was a big success and then we left the church,. The sale changed and by the time I got back to the church, it was all but over.

But now, with the resurgence of crochet; it seems like a great time to get back in the groove. Might be time for a holiday sale. The vendors keep 80% and the church gets 20%. If we can pair it with a luncheon or bake sale, all the better.

There are things that would sell at craft shows and I think we should make them. I need to feel out some folks at church first before I start trying to pull in knitters, crocheters and other craft folk to join up and be willing to have their stuff sold.

We need to come up with fundraising ideas that don’t take a big hit of the funds before we even start. Methodists like to meet and eat and we also like to create so this seems like something that would be good for us across the entire board.

As I contemplate this and look at the grocery bags in the photos, I realize I miss making them. Some have sold and the pattern is a bestseller. These would be on my list to make for a holiday sales bazaar. This is worth looking into.

 

 

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Things Going On

I have some things going on. Knit things and crochet things. Blanket things, hat things. Gift things and order things. Even a heartbreak. There are things going on.

So, in the lower right is the wedding afghan. Square no. 4. It’s a little cable, a little lace and a little popcorn stitch. It’s going to take a minute because there is a 24 row repeat. I was on row 14 when I messed it up and had to frog back to row 8. It’ll take more than a minute.

In the upper right corner is the blanket for Lucas. I’m glad for the photo because it shows the purple. It doesn’t look purple when I look at it and I’m also loving the gray. He’s off to Loras College and their colors are Loras Gold, Loras Purple and Loras Gray. My colors are gold, purple and medium gray. Sentiment will make up the rest, I hope.

The lower left is another version of my Rasta Slouch – this is black tweed and the upper left is the beginning of a pair of fingerless mints that are part of an order. So, you see – busy.

Even though the wedding afghan and the Lucas Loras afgan will be given away, they will still be in the shop. They will be customizable for whatever color scheme someone needs: weddings, sororities, schools. For anything you wish, really.

There are deadlines on three of these projects so work is going on most of the time. These are the things I love to do. I am digging on the afghans. I will need until October to finish the wedding one. Good thing the wedding is the last week in October. I have about 3 months to get it done. The mittens and the long sleeves I need to knit have to be out in a few weeks and the Lucas blanket has to be done in another week or so.

I’ve been know to fall asleep knitting and can knit with my eyes closed. This skill might come in handy.

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Coming Along

So, the work is coming along. OK, it’s not going as quickly as I thought. In fact, it is going so slowly, I’ve had to add more work to motivate me to get stuff done. It is almost August, the store officially opens August 1 and there’s 13 items there. Not enough to generate real interest. In truth, it’s going to be a few days before I get something new in there.

You remember this from a few posts back.

Now it looks like this. There’s another square behind it and a third square on the needles. These squares are pinned to my KnitPicks blocking mats. It might seem like the work is steady since there is a third square but it’s been a couple of weeks now and it hasn’t moved much.

I started a another afghan, this time a ripple one, for a friend who is off to college. And I am designing some faith based journal/planner digital stickers. The stickers are part of the planned inventory. The afghans may be as well as a customizable custom order thing. I know I want to do afghans again. While I like Caron Big Cakes, this color is kind of muddy and I am thinking to use some solid cream colors blocks to brighten it up a bit.

It’s probably a good thing I have until October. Lucas leaves in August. We are giving him a send off at church at the end of the month so that one has to be done in a few weeks. Didn’t take a photo of it. Not much to see anyway. But I will do an in progress shot and show it for the next time.

In the meantime, I’ve redone my budget. Let’s just say it’s so tight, I can’t afford to look at anything let alone buy it. I have to figure out how to get the income in.

 

 

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This Looks Familiar

This looks familiar…this pattern looks familiar. It’s not a knit or crochet pattern. It’s a behavorial pattern. Remember when I said I needed a new hobby? It was reading. Remeber? I thought reading would be fun and relaxing and something I could get back into. I still believe it could be all those things. 

The problem (one of them) with technology is that when you go on the interweb and you select something – like a book – then your email gets all these notifications about these new books. And just like with yarn, I now have a stash of books on my iPad just waiting for me to get to. Granted, a great many of these books were free and very few of them cost over a couple of dollars but I don’t know when I am going to get to them.

Kind of like these yarn beauties. I still have them; haven’t used them – or much of them. I couldn’t quite tell you where they are. Well, I kinda could. Before anyone asks, the yarn in the mesh bags came from Paintbox yarns. The others came from a JoAnn sale that was about two years ago – maybe longer.

I think my point, if there is a point, is that this is a compulsive behavior. An addiction of sorts that I have to nip in the bud. Even if the books are free, if I am not going to use them, I’m just contributing to the clutter.

This may even apply to yarn. (I heard the collective gasp and I feel your pain.) But it’s true. I still prowl the yarn sites as if I need or want new fiber to come and just sit in my studio. I have not yet made new purchases and I am determined not to. This behavior will be modified. I will gladly knit and read what I have on hand. When there is room – meaning when the clutter is cleared – I will add to both stashes. I am determined.

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Somebody’s Getting Married

Somebody’s getting married! Not me. I’m already married. One of my doctors. Emily takes my INR every month and her finger’s been itching for that engagement and wedding ring for a little bit now. She got it last year and the wedding is a mere 4 months away. I, in an unusal turn, have already started knitting her wedding afghan.

It’s what I do for weddings. I make the couple an afghan. And in a weird twist, I make it out of yarn I already have on hand. Now, for this one, I admit I went out and purchased three different tones of gray because Emily likes gray. But when I got them home, I pulled out some Caron Big Cake that I already have and settled down to begin the work.

I had in mind I wanted to do an afghan with squares instead of doing it all in one piece. I went online to find a pattern (not to follow cuz I write patterns but I don’t follow them atleast not stitch for stitch. I wanted to affirm the image I had in my mind. I settled on this one from Yarnspirations.

It was so pretty and just what I had in mind. I printed it out with the idea that although I knew I wasn’t going to use all the squares they had or at least not do them the way they did them, I might knit up at least one of the squares. And I did!! Not the one you see here. That’s from another book. What I ended up deciding is the knit the squares from the book and the website. I am using the yarn from that little sliver of the afghan you can see off to the right. It was a wip a bit back and it was never going to be made so the yarn is now going into this afghan.

I don’t think there’s enough of the frogged afghan to make the 20 squares needed for the new one. I have some cream yarn sitting in the stash that can help balance stuff out and brighten it up. It should be beautiful. I am enjoying working on it. I hope I am not tempting the knit goddesses by starting this so far ahead of time. They wouldn’t do anything to curse a wedding. Would they?

 

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Water Blogged

I am water blogged; I mean water logged. Let me explain. I started Intermediate Fasting for the second time. I gave it a try and decided it wouldn’t work. Then, one day it occured to me, I was doing some form of it naturally so I incorporated it back into being and I enjoy it. Not that it doesn’t present me with challenges but it seems to be effective.

I have an app (of course, there’s an app for it) and it, along with my doctor and nutritionist, talk about hydration incessantly. So, I set the app to notify me to hydrate. There I was sitting and knitting when I heard a funny sound coming from the phone. It took me a moment to realize it was the sound of water being poured into a glass. That was the notification to hydrate – every hour. I don’t jump up and drink when I hear it but if I am not in the midst of drinking something when it goes off, I dutifully  saunder and get either juice, tea or water. (The current drink is water.) I go and log it in on the app.

To give an update, here are three selfies that I took a while ago. It doesn’t show a huge loss – this isn’t a complaint. I find this entire process fascinating – but every pound lost is a golden thread to me.Sometimes the results come slowly. I am currently in a loss spiral and where as it took a month to lost the seven lbs in that photo, I am almost seven pounds down this month. Like I said, fascinating.

Back to the hydration. They say keeping hydrated is a hunger blocker and that’s no joke because I am feeling full. I was also feeling a little peckish a minute ago and the water with a single sheet of graham crackers knocked that edge off until dinner.

But what about knitting and crochet?

OK, check out the items in the shop. Continues to grow. We will get back to that in the next post. Promise.

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When Last We Spoke

When last we spoke, I had purchased some yarn from the road trip. Well, I went to the Hobby Lobby by the house just a few days ago….just to see what I could see. Also because someone online said they still had some clearance stuff including their Fireside yarn. The equivalent to Homespun. It was on sale for about $1.75. Prayer shawls, you see. I had prayer shawls in mind.

So I went. And there it was. And now almost every ball that was there is here. I couldn’t reach the last ball of the black so it couldn’t come. There was only one ball of a very pretty color but I needed three. So that stayed. Then there was a not very pretty color. That stayed. I came home with the rest. About 16 skeins. Less than $30.

Score.

But, as you can see, it’s not like I haven’t been busy. This is not all that is finished. There are two more hats. Two more washcloths. Some different kinds of scrubbies. (The inspiration for this particular Happiness Project.) There are also digital stickers. I’ve been thinking about starting the monthly sticker giveaway again. Thinking about it. When I pray about it, I might get an answer one way or the other.

When it’s laid out like this, I have a visual of how much was accomplished in such a short matter of time. Sometimes you have to step back and take a look at the whole forest and appreciate the trees as a group.

This is a pretty nice forest.