Tag: family

Posted on

Wanting Memories

My folks would be married 71 years this year and I am wanting memories of what that would be like. My father liked taking pictures but where all those photos are – no one can say. We are completely devoid of images. There’s dad with most of the grandkids and with my brother and sisters – which I must have taken since I’m not in the photo.

I think the next generation is so lucky because they have instant imagery. I had to take a full roll of photos, drop or send them off to be developed, wait for them to come back and hope they were all in focus and usable. There was nothing if not patience for the entire process.

I think about their 71 years and Mr. Honey and I about to celebrate our 25th. We are not going to make it to 71 years Don’t think we’ll make it to 47. we married late. I was in my 30s and he was about to say hello to his fifties. I am wanting memories of that. Desire but no regrets. Life is good.

 

In the rest of Knitsville, I had a recent order where someone asked to make these: they are going to be given away at a high school prom. The theme is Narnia (you know, The Lion, Witch and the Wardobe…see here. The scarf is a Mr. Tumnus scarf. He’s the faun in the story and in the movie, he wears a fringed scarf.

I really like how they came out and I was so pleased, I decided to make some more for the ready to ship section in my shop. I think they will look great in purple and an emerald green.

There are other things on the needles and hooks which I will share at a later date. Im about to settle in for a few hours of knitting before we go out on our date.

Posted on

A Change is Gonna Come

A change is gonna come. We are moving. This time next week, we will have closed on the condo. So, the house looks like disaster. We haven’t put this house on the market yet and it will be weeks before we do. I am trying to be systematic in going about it. 

The first thing I want to do in the condo is put the bathrooms in order. We will be going back and forth and we will need toilet papers, towels, air freshener – All that jazz. 

Mr. Honey will be doing some painting and we may be getting some new flooring before we start to settle in the furniture. The most exciting part will be setting up the new studio.

we were looking for a 3 bedroom but ended up with 2. But the studio will be a combo studio and guest room. Or rather, it could be a guest room. We are getting a sleeper sofa for the living room as well as the studio, so there will be options.

The room is larger than the one I have now but still don’t know if it can hold all that yarn. I am consolidating as much as I can.

I am looking forward to the move but I am also sad. I have spent most of my life in this house. This house is next door to the house Mr. Honey grew up in. We are starting way over.

This has been more stressful than I expected. I will be happy when we are free to go back and forth and work together to make this our place. But I will miss the privacy of the house. 

Any ideas on how to make a move out and a move in easier? I need all the help I can get. Drop a note in the comments with tips and tricks!

Posted on

The Finish Line

 

I can see the finish line for the blanket. Which means I will continue until I reach the desired six feet mark or until it’s time to leave for the party. The first update, the blanket was in the infant stages. 

Remember this from last month? The time when the world was new and dreams were tangible? The good old days.

 

 

 

A few scant weeks later and here we are. As you can see, it takes up the space. It no longer fits on the small table but it was fun trying to get it to. But I know that doesn’t really give a good look to the stitches, though you can definitely see the texture. 

 

How about this one? I can’t believe how the light changes in the same room only a few feet apart. This is taken without the flash and the colors are not that bright.

But you can see it. It might seem like it’s big enough but it’s still too much of a rectangle. Needs to fill out a little more and it will be good to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news, I have been using chunky yarn and made two cowls and have a third one on the hook.This is using the Buttercream Luxe Craft Alpaca. I have the idea of making a less chunky but still chunky version of this cowl using the Tea Cakes. This is using two strands of yarn. That makes it very chunky and cozy but also makes it very expensive.

 

I’ve also started using Ice Yarns Glitz! It’s taken a while to get there but it’s on the needles and the work has progressed a far cry from what you see here. 

I’ve also started doing some embellishments but haven’t done any photos but they are coming. I did say I was ready to start doing the 2020 stuff, right?

I still have two more things to start. I pulled some cotton yarn to start my market bag – one of two market bags; one knit, one crochet. And then I need to start the fingerless gloves.

Did I mention we also just purchased a condo? Nope, not busy over here. Not at all.The finish line seems to have moved.

Posted on

Happy New Year

Don’t judge me. It took me a minute to remember I haven’t yet posted this year. I was doing the last few orders and the final was shipped off a few days ago and now I am free…

…to start working on 2020 items. I did take a few hours off and played some Candy Crush Soda but then it was back to work. Though there are no deadlines so the work is a little more relaxed.

I have three items on needles or hooks – not counting the afghan I need to finish for Mr. Honey’s family gathering next Sunday. It is a crap shoot to see how finished it gets. I measured it yesterday and it was a little over 2 feet long. I’m headed for 6 feet. It’s 3 rows to the inch. 

Let’s do the math, shall we?

It’s 31 inches as of this morning. We want to get to 60. 60-31=29. 3 rows to the inch. 29×3=87 rows. 9 days. 87/9=9.666. I think the 666 is significant. 

This seems doable. I will show you the process I am making in another post. When I have the camera upstairs. But 9 rows of 171 stitches could be manageable. Someone wake me up from this dream.

It should also come to no surprise that I changed the pattern. The intention to do the fast and easy blanket was real. But you all know I am a chronic changer. But hey, it’s still an afghan and it’s still being crocheted, so that’s something. I did think about how to create knit stitches but time didn’t allow it.

I will be more than happy to post my version right here on the blog when it is done.You really should have known I would change it. I mean, it’s a baby blanket and I just told you I have 170+ stitches to a row. Do you think that would have been my only change? It’s like you don’t know me at all.

As I was saying, I have three things currently going and two more items that will probably get their start today. I have a Claire Outlander cowl started (it’s way too basic to even call it a pattern but I will also post how I did it and you won’t have to buy it.) I also have another cowl and then some embellishments – currently hearts. The first of the fingerless mitts will be started and the first of the market bags.

I have my first orders of 2020. I kicked one off pretty quickly and the other was a pattern. I’m excited for the new patterns coming. Of the five items that are going on, only the embellishments are the only things I’m not doing from scratch. There are other things I want to do that I will use a pattern (as far as my condition allows.)

All in all, the beginning of the year looks really hopeful and creative. So Happy New Year!

Looking forward to it. I don’t do resolutions. Do you?

Posted on

On the Road

We are on the road every summer. I should say we are in the air. It depends on where we’re going. I think I might have mentioned that we go on Cubs away games during the baseball season. It started with us just going to Milwaukee once or twice but there were only so many times we could go there and the Milwaukee Zoo – which, if you like zoos is pretty good. 

I felt the need to expand our horizons. So I suggested we go to a different major league ballpark every season. This, is the height for us. Our traveling before this was going to Disney World every other year. I don’t know how many trips we took before it hit me to just go in alphabetical order and make the deciding easier. Asking a question to Mr. Honey can take anywhere from one to sixteen weeks to get an answer. He likes to look at things from every angle and then make sure the angles don’t have angles that need looking at. So, I just tell him where we’re going early on so he can angle look all he needs before we eventually book the trip.

This plan was working really well until we discovered our nephew, he lives in Denver, didn’t see much of him growing up, is a baseball player. The kid loves baseball from the time he was three. He had to choose between baseball and lacrosse and chose the former. He is a really good player.

When I played college tennis, an away trip meant we got on a bus and traveled maybe two whole hours to a different school. For him, going to school in Phoenix, an away game was coming to Chicago. So two things I loved combined into one my nephew and baseball. I have to admit the kid is good. And I wasn’t the only one to think so. He was named WAC (Western Athletic Conference) Player of the Year.

So good he was just drafted by the Cincinnati Reds after finishing university in three years.

The road to the majors can be long. He was sent to Montana to play for the Billings Mustangs. So that’s where we went on one of our trips this summer. And we drove because it ain’t easy getting from Chicago to Billings through the air. Mr. Honey mapped the trip and I made just one minor adjustment for the return trip.

We were stopping at Mt. Rushmore.

Now let me say, I am directionally challenged. I can get lost in my own house (and I have) so when I thought of South Dakota and I wasn’t looking at a map, it was always to the right of Illinois. It is decidedly to the left.

I promised Mr. Honey we wouldn’t be there for long. We had some serious miles to travel to get to our hotel on the other side of the state. And since some of the park was closed for the rest of the year and I cannot walk really long distances, there wasn’t going to be much to do but look at the monument and pop into the gift shop to get some gifts for my three great nieces who are all under the age of ten and are already presidential historians.

So, we arrived at the park, tooks some photos, went to the gift shop and the bathroom and we were on the road again in under 30 minutes. Don’t think I wasn’t sufficiently wowed. I am impressed with seeing it in person. Never thought that would happen and if we didn’t have to get over to the Minnesota side of the state, I would have been happy to hang out until we could have heard a lecture or something.

This has been a big travel season on the road for us: Arizona, Texas, Wisconsin Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. Three of the states I never visited and now I want to go through a list of the states to see how many of those I have left.

There was knitting done. I will save that for another post. Gotta leave ya wanting more.

 

Posted on

Sibling Rivalry

These afghans belong to my elder brother and eldest sister, respectively. I have four siblings; two of each, and they each have a afghan from me.

Except my elder sister, doesn’t believe that to be true. With each afghan that went to a sibling she reminds me that she doesn’t have an afghan.

“You got the first one.” I remind her. “You were the one that started this. Because I gave you one; I had to make one for everyone else.”

“You didn’t make me an afghan.”
“I was at your house when I was making an afghan and you asked for. I gave it to you.”
“But I used that one in my classroom.”
“You were free to do that.” I said. “Because it was your afghan. Otherwise, you would have taken my afghan and put it in your classroom.”
“I don’t understand.”

This is how it goes. This isn’t the first time sibling rivalry has shown itself when I give an afghan to a sibling. After giving the afghan to Carole (elder sister), I decided it would be nice if they each got one and decided the best way to go was to go in order. So, I asked Vel (eldest sister) her favorite colors. I made the mistake of asking on a conference call with the other sibs. So they wanted to know why she was getting one. Going in order. That seemed to calm the beasts a bit.

When Rick (elder brother) got his, we were all at his house in Phoenix for Thanksgiving. There was some discussion about how much effort I put into each one and that was somehow an indicator of who I liked best. There was a mention that Carole was never asked her favorite color the way everyone else was. Because you asked for the afghan I was making so you must have liked the colors enough. (That explanation didn’t fly.)

Recently, Facebook did a memory of Vel sending me a photo of her afghan on her sofa. I ain’t gonna lie, that afghan was a corner to corner and was a PITA. It looked good on her sofa and that was a saving grace. But along with the memory of the photo were to comments where Carole declared she never got the afghan in the picture so it must have been intercepted on the way to her since the post said my sister sent me a photo of her afghan.

“You have another sister.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“It’s her afghan.”
“There’s something wrong with you.”

It was a pleasure to make all their afghans and give it to them. I felt as if I was given the gift. Despite the weirdness that comes from DNA, I know they all appreciate them. Will I make another one for Carole because she used her in a classroom in a school she no longer teaches? Nope.

I’m the youngest. I can get away with bratty moments.
 

Posted on

WTF

This is yarn. This is pink yarn. This is pink yarn I have in my stash, I don’t do pink much but I have it for a specific purpose.

I also have a nephew – well, I have several wonderful nephews – this one, Alex, made a request that I knit him something. Hear that, Mr. Honey? Alex asked that I knit him something.

A pair of pink gloves.

WTF?

At first I thought he was kidding but he reminded a few months ago that he still didn’t have them and he still wanted them/ So, I have it on my list to knit the kid (almost high school age) a pair or pink gloves.

Here’s the thing: I’ve never knit gloves. Fingerless mitts. Mittens. Those I have done but not a pair of gloves.I have scoured Ravelry and found this. I will be using that pattern when I start working on them It looked simple enough. Which means, I will change it around to suit me better. It’s what I do. IT’s the fingers that give me pause. That looks like work. Each finger put on dpns and worked. Makes me think the best thing to do is just knit the middle finger. Oh c’mon, I can’t be the first person who thought of that.

I am beginning to think there are no rules to man knitting. I thought my nephew would forget he made the request and he was very firm with his reminder and that he likes pink and he doesn’t care who says anything about it. He likes what he likes and he’ll stand on it. That boy is so getting a pair of pink gloves made by his auntie.

I wonder if male knitters know what guys want. I know they won’t have problems with their girlfriends. While a man may scoff if a woman says her boyfriend knit her a sweater, this is something she will lead with on a girls’ night out.

“Hey, girl, how you doing?’
“My boyfriend made me this sweater.”
“WTF!”