I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

I'm a little pinched for time but wanted to share my progress!

I am currently about half-way through January 1959 and by the end of the month, I'll be using the "coldest" color on my chart. There are a lot of color changes! I carry them as much as I can, but don't like to do that for too far, or with very many colors.

This represents Milwaukee, and I'll be literally turning the page on my chart at the end of January and from there to the end it'll represent the weather in Escanaba -- which is actually Green Bay, WI.

READING:

YOUNG MUNGO!

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

I am one-fifth finished with my Temperature Blanket project!

It starts with December 26, 1947 at the bottom and ends with December 26, 1948 at the top -- with a couple border rows in black at each end. My bound-off edge will need to be re-done (as usual). I must have been rushing last night!

This photo gives you a better idea of scale.

READING:

I had a very timely notification the other day that my Audible pre-order was ready, so YOUNG MUNGO it is!

Today I'm buckling down, though, and finishing the task that is taxes. Yuck. My reward will be casting on MY blanket panel this evening and knitting some of those new colors!

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

Y'know, Rusty's panel for the Temperature Blanket.

It's coming along... I'm at about 200 "days."

My stitch count was off last night and I found a dropped stitch. I didn't have a crochet hook handy, so it's on hold for now.

READING:

I finished listening to AGATHA OF LITTLE NEON the day after our book club discussion. I had less than an hour of listening when we met, so I was able to fit together some random pieces from the conversation!

I am currently listening to MIRACLE AND WONDER: CONVERSATIONS WITH PAUL SIMON by Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Hedlam & Paul Simon, with contributions from others such as Sting, Rosanne Cash, Art Garfunkel. It is fascinating!!

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

As mentioned the other day, I finished Close To You over the weekend -- bound off on Friday, blocked on Saturday, modeled on Sunday, and worn on Monday!

Ginny was my "it" girl... STRIKE A POSE!

• My Ravelry Project Page: Close to Puerto Rico
• Pattern: Close To You by Justyna Lorkowska
• Yarn: Make.Do Be (Hellebore colorway)
• Needles:  US 6
• Start to Finish: March 5-14, 2022

Cast on & set up just before leaving on vacation (because traveling with long straight aluminum knitting needles in a carry-on), it was the only project I worked on while in Puerto Rico.

I wasn't so sure... I love that colorway, but it was looking a little muddy at first. The little pops of green some nice sections of the stronger colors, along with the texture & overall design -- it looked better as I progressed, and I'm glad I stuck with it. It looks great with black, which is the color I wear most often.

It looks great with polka dots, too!

MORE KNITTING:

Well, last night there was some ripping... 10 rows yanked because I spotted this:

My stitch count was off the other night and I "fixed" it, thinking I knew where the problem was. The real problem was here, at the beginning of the row and I never noticed until I picked up my knitting last night and, of course, it was glaringly obvious! I pondered possible solutions for about one second, and then started to rip... it was the only way!

So, 10 rows backward and a bunch more forward, and now I'm here:

The colors are a tad more vivid in this photo than in real life, but it's close. The day/high temp side will "grow" and the nights/low temp side will "shrink" by about 10 more stitches before they start going back the other way. This panel will be quite symmetrical since Rusty was born just a few days past Winter Solstice.

READING:

I continue listening to AGATHA OF LITTLE NEON.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

I brought a bunch of mini-skeins of yarn for some small crochet things that I thought I might do -- even put it in my carry-on -- but I never even looked at it.

I had some balls of yarn, DPNs, and a couple of gnome patterns... but I didn't look at that, either.

I was recently reminded how much I loved knitting & wearing my Close To You shawl and I've always wanted to knit another, so at the last minute I wound up a ball of yarn that's been hanging around, gathered needles & pattern, cast on and knit the first couple of rows, and tucked it all in my suitcase.

It was perfect for vacation, as it starts small and grows. I'd knit while we caught up on Olympics or watched a movie before bed, and it was great for knitting on the beach, too.

I love the subtle pops of green...

...and I think that those pops will get a little bigger & brighter as I progress through the skein.

READING:

Maybe those bits of "neon green" spoke to my subconscious... I've finally begun reading again! I started AGATHA OF LITTLE NEON on Monday and should be finished in time for the discussion.

BACK TO KNITTING/CROCHETING:

As established a while ago, it wasn't practical to bring my Temperature Blanket along on vacation, but I could bring the data/charts that still needed work! Everything is stored in a Google Drive folder, and Rusty brought his laptop. I took a planned break for an hour on Sunday afternoon and attended my first Vogue Knitting Live event -- a virtual talk by Cara about temperature/data projects! I was happily surprised that she gave my project a little shout-out in the presentation -- along with Kay Gardiner's projects (plural!), Suraya Hossain's Heirloom Temperature Blanket, and Tara Seifrit's NH Year 1 Temperature Blanket (one of my biggest inspirations when planning my design) (which I hope works). Inspired (again), I did a little work on my chart and nearly have it finished!

Anyway, I can't wait to get back to that project -- and my Hexie crocheted project -- but I'm really into knitting this shawl right now. First, the colorway is HELLEBORE (which I dyed a few years ago in a couple of yarn weights), and it'll be perfect for SPRING (which is happening this month), and it sure seems like a long time since I've had a finished object that wasn't a gnome or a hat. So, it's going fast and I'm just going to go 'til it's done, and then back to all those other things!

Joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday... but no reading. I am on hiatus, I guess. It's happened once or twice before.

This is the start of my Temperature Blanket! That knitting represents about the first two weeks of Rusty's life -- December 1947-January 1948 -- in Southern California. The daytime high temps are on the left and the nighttime lows are on the right... in a few more rows, the days will start becoming noticeably longer! It's a little fiddly, but I'm finding a groove, and it is SO SATISFYING! Look at that!

What I really need to do is streamline my information -- the number of day/night stitches is on one page, the temperatures are on another, and the colors are on a third (color chart)... it's a balancing act and I am constantly counting. (There might be a color/temp mistake in there, but I won't tell if you won't!) All I know is that I'm really glad I didn't follow through to the end with all five charts just yet.

I'm still wondering how I can pack a project with 20+ balls of yarn for vacation, but more "realistically" pondering packing Hexie Love...

...one ball of yarn, but one big project... made of wool. It'll be 80+ degrees. The sane option would be to cast on a pair of socks or something.

I've been online and on the phone for much of the day trying to figure out how we can arrive in Puerto Rico... not in the dark. The original booking back in September had us with only one connection (at O'Hare) and arriving mid-afternoon. The airline made a couple of changes, adding another connection (Houston... not good memories of Houston), with less than an hour for each connection, and arriving at almost 9 p.m., which means we'd be lucky to be on the road by 10 and it's a 2-hour drive to our destination, across an island that we've never visited before!

NOT WORKING!

I am currently texting with an agent (this is new, and I like it!) and we're this >< close to re-booking departure on the last flight out of here the day before. I've already booked our overnight stay, and we'll catch an early flight to San Juan the next morning, arriving in... daylight.

Stay tuned...

It's another 3TT/Unraveled mash up! I'm joining Carole & friends for Three Things on Thursday + Unraveled Wednesday with Kat & the Unravelers.

KNITTING / 3 PHOTOS:

I finished a hat -- my first FO of 2022!

• My Ravelry Project Page: Perky Little Bun Hat
• Pattern: Perky Little Hat by Sharon Lentsch
• Yarn: Malabrigo Rasta (Boreal colorway)
• Needles:  US 15
• Start to Finish: January 3 - January 5, 2022

I actually knit it twice; the first was a test/prototype. Ali wanted a "messy bun" hat, but she has a pretty big bun so I wanted to make sure it would work! I had some leftovers from other projects, so knit up the tester and I'm glad I did because we made a couple of adjustments. The Rasta has very little stretch, so I decided to run some fold-over elastic through the stitches to finish (instead of the yarn).

The colorway is gorgeous! To minimize any pooling or flashing, I knit alternating rows from both ends of the yarn cake.

We'd also decided to lengthen it a bit, which was easily done by knitting an extra row or two or three in each section. I have yarn for at least one more (in a much less exciting color) (which I might end up overdyeing)!

READING:

I haven't been reading. When I do, it'll be: The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois (audio), by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, and (still): This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History (pages).

_ _ _ _ _

It's been a little crazy around here. Annie & her family were supposed to come up for a day or two between Christmas & New Year's Day, but they were hit by Covid/Omicron... falling like dominoes over a couple of days. Thankfully, all vaxxed, so none of them got very sick but their visit was postponed. They're all here now and finally spent a night in their own house! They like it a lot! It's really cool that Annie was informed that she'd achieved AIRBNB SUPERHOST status while they're here! (That's all me, but it is her house!) So now we're a duo!

I was able to nab a couple extra days off next week, and I'm looking forward to some proper visiting & catching up. I've been a little out of sorts since the new year began, and I hope to get a little more centered/grounded, too.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share a review of my 2021 Knitting & Reading!

KNITTING:

It was an OK year! Details of all on Ravelry; I am knitorious.

Completed:

• A bunch of gnomes
• A bunch of stars
• A hat
• A Christmas stocking

Started/Current WIPs:

• A crocheted blanket -- getting close (and will get back to it ASAP)
• A second Wild Fields hat
• A messy bun hat for Ali (not recorded above)

That blanket has been the focus this year, for sure.

READING:

I exceeded my goal this year! The bar was set at 12 -- pretty low by some standards -- and I read 15 books.

There are some doozies in there -- even a few 5-stars -- and a dud. I never "returned" an audio book before, but I just.could.not.handle Maggie O'Farrell's "I Am, I Am, I Am." I sure did love Hamnet, though! What a great bunch of books... a little more than half were audio.

I actually ended up buying a hard copy of Stanley Tucci's memoir and then I received one in a gift swap, so I gave it to Ali because even thirty-somethings are crushing on Stanley! haha. Kate gave me The Tucci Table cookbook for Christmas, so, yeah... we're fans.

Joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

What I thought might be a satchel or bag turns out to be a backpack!

Have you ever seen anything cuter? I'm sure you have, but dang... We've been informed that something will fill the backpack, but from recent clues it appears that we are knitting a small gnome that seems too big to fit in there... so we'll just have to wait & see (again!)!

It's fiddly knitting, for sure, but it's in small manageable bits -- do a little knitting, take a rest, do some more knitting, take a rest, sew some stuff together (or stuff it with some stuffing), take a little rest, etc. This month-long KAL is just my speed, and I have time to do some other things, too. My friend Deb is also knitting this project, but as a fairly monogamous knitter, this is not the scenario she prefers; in fact, she didn't even start it until almost two weeks in (when she finished a project) and then sat down and knit through all the clues... and now she has to wait for the next clue(s) and pick up something else in the meantime.

We're all a little different, eh?

READING:

Goodness, I have hardly read/listened to a word lately, but when I do...

Listening to: The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers.

Actual book: This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History.

Instead of reading, I've been watching variations on a theme: The Great British Baking Show. And Young Wallander... which I feel like I may have seen before -- some if it is so familiar but much is "brand new."

What are you knitting/making, reading/watching? Are you a monogamous knitter/maker?

Joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

I got a start on the last (or maybe not)... the latest little bit of gnome knitting last night.

Those are all the pieces so far. I feel like that little bit of pink on the needles might be the start of a hat... but it's a mystery, y'know, so who knows!?!

Whatever it is and however this all turns out, I'm already sensing a DANDY Gnome!

This is really fun. I think fun & fiddly & mysterious is just what I need right now.

Don't worry, Hexie Love Actually will be getting plenty of love again once I catch up with gnome clues!

READING:

Listening to: The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers.

The book on my nightstand has not been getting any love lately, but it's still: This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History.

Joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveleding Wednesday... (I'm sensing an ongoing theme).

CROCHET:

I worked around the entire blanket once, then across the "top," and... it didn't appear to be working. I'd suspected that I picked up too many stitches, and it turns out that I was right.

Huh.

To a muggle, it might all be fine, but I could see that motifs were becoming misshapen. I was hearing my inner voice say, "it'll block out," but if I've learned one thing in all these years, it's that those three words are among the most dangerous words of all!

So today, I was literally UNRAVELING...

...and hearing that song in my head as I did so! Tomorrow's another day.

READING:

Listening to cool guy Dave Grohl read his memoir, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music.

I've finally cracked a book from the stack on my nightstand: This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History.

Enjoying both a lot!

Joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

CROCHET:

I am working out the edging for Hexie Love (Rav link) using a couple of charts from similar (free) patterns that I found -- with enhancements by Malina!

I want to "fill in" the little dips between hexagons at the top & bottom edges of the blanket so that it ends up straight on all sides.

I've already worked a single crochet up one side of the blanket... and ripped it out. So, "unraveled" is spot-on today! Now I'm working half-double crochet up the side (but started only a couple of motifs from a corner because it's the corner and the top/bottom edge that I really need to work out. I'm not crazy with how that half-hexie looks, but I'm hoping I'll refine/improve that as I go.

I think it'll work... there's a long ways to go. This is the first of at least four rounds!

READING:

I finished Stanley Tucci's memoir, Taste: My Life Through Food, on Friday night and LOVED IT! Memoir is my genre of choice, and this did not disappoint in any way. Except that I listened to it on Audible and really wish there was a download with all the recipes.

I shared the book with Kate, and we started talking about audiobooks, memoirs, memoirs read by the author... and she told me that her friend Blair was listening to Dave Grohl's new book and loving it, even though she's not a big fan of his music.

I feel the same about the music... I wouldn't recognize a single Nirvana or Foo Fighters song... but I am aware of Dave Grohl and what a cool guy he is! When his memoir, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music, was announced, I purchased it straight away, so that's what I'm listening to now... and LOVING IT!

It's a mash up! Joining Carole & friends for Three Things on Thursday... in combo with a belated Unraveled Wednesday post with Kat & the Unravelers.

NEEDLES & HOOKS

Thing One: Gnorwen

I finished her last Friday!

I can't remember the last time I kept up with a Mystery Knit-along. This was a fun project, even with all the fiddly bits (the flower on the hat, the nose, the mittens, the braids) and interminable I-cord -- a.k.a. the things that make her so special!

I took her out for ice cream on Tuesday after Knit Night. I really wanted to take her photo with our local iconic neon drive-in sign illuminated!

I also wanted a photo with an actual ice cream cone, so I took her inside. The employees were all quite charmed.

• Ravelry Project Page: All Work, Gnome Play
• Pattern: All Work, Gnome Play by Sarah Schira
• Yarn: Various fingering/sock weight scraps
• Needles:  US 1½ (2.5mm)
• Start to Finish:  September 21 - October 15, 2021

Thing Two: Wild Fields

I finished this cute little hat on Sunday. It's intended for Malina and I'd planned to take a photo of her wearing it last night when they were over for dinner... not only did I not get a photograph, I didn't even give it to her! So there's still a chance for a photo op.

• Ravelry Project Page: Wild Fields
• Pattern: Wild Fields by Beth Ashford/Kaleidoscope Knits; free pattern at knitty.com
• Yarn: Malabrigo Rios from Flaxen Fleece in Sauk City, WI
  
  • Queguay (headband/brim)
  • English Rose (body of hat)
• Needles:  US 6 (4.0 mm) DPNs
• Start to Finish:  September 18 - October 17, 2021

I found myself flipping pages back & forth a lot while knitting this hat, and the abbreviations are all on a separate knitty.com page... a little annoying, especially because I started this while camping and internet was not great. The flower stitch was fun to do, once I figured out how to pull the last "petal" through without losing the previous two, and it looks great!

These two FOs are not only the first FOs since the wave of knitted gnomes that got me through Covid in December/January, they're also the first actual knitted items since the gnome wave... and one of them isn't a GNOME!

And I've started another hat, reversing the colors, for Gin! I bought enough yarn for four hats, so...

Thing Three: Half-hexies

(It's so dark in the morning.) I did a lot of research to see how people finished and/or squared off the edges of crocheted hexagon blankets! I've decided on half-hexagons for the sides, and will likely use some longer stitches to fill the smaller divots on the ends.

Those are the three most recent hexagons and the best, so far. There are some wonky ones at the beginning, but that totally fits with the vibe of this blanket. I think there are only four more on this side, then up the other (and they go pretty quick), and then -- FINALLY -- the border. I've ordered two more skeins of the natural color. Hopefully, I'll only need one, but regardless, this is probably one of my most costly projects ever.

READING

I've recently finished Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore by Patric Richardson & Karin B. Miller. It was a quick, entertaining, and informative read! I'd previously (slowly) begun changing up a few things in my laundry practice, but I'm on the way to changing it quite a bit more.

I've put The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore on pause.

I've just begun listening to Stanley Tucci's memoir, Taste: My Life Through Food, and it's delightful... as is he, and his Instagram, with plenty of cooking & cocktails (with recipes). I'm adding one of his cookbooks (or two) to my Christmas Wish List*! And need to queue up his Emmy-nominated show, Searching for Italy, on Hulu.

*Speaking of Wish Lists... I'm sure one or two of you has recently received Amazon's "Ready, Set, Play" toy catalog in the mail. Ali did, too. She said that the kids grabbed it, circled all but five things, and put it back in the mailbox thinking that Santa would be by to pick up. I love the way those kids think!

Joining Kat & the Unravelers for Unraveled Wednesday...

CROCHET:

It's slow going, but it's still going... Hexie Love (Rav link)! I meant to take a photo but, really, it's not changed that much since last time I posted. I usually try to do a little hookin' in the evenings, but lately we've been watching Nordic Noir and attention is divided between my project and subtitles (currently watching The Bridge on Amazon Prime).

UPHOLSTERY:

I thought I'd use this post, instead, to show my recent upholstery/recovering job. You may recall that I'd purchased a vanity bench for $9.99 at St. Vinny's a while back, and also scored a bag full of upholstery scraps for another $3.99. Here's the "before" bench:

Turns out, that fabric was just pinned on atop an older cover.

The faded and stained original fabric was atop another layer that was more like muslin, and under that was... horsehair, probably a little straw, and webbing.

I had to move the whole operation outside... it was getting messy! I took a bunch of pics and sent them to Ann, picking her brain about how to proceed (she worked for an upholsterer in high school).

She suggested to get rid of the webbing altogether rather than trying to tighten it, because that's pretty difficult to do without the proper tools. And likely one reason it had such a saggy bottom to begin with is that someone had already tried to repair the webbing. I pulled it all apart and now have a lot of upholstery tacks!

Rusty cut & attached a new solid bottom under the seat frame, which I filled in with some styrofoam (plenty of that around from the dining room furniture delivery), and topped with a new piece of 2" foam. Then I stretched & stapled a remnant from the upholstery grab bag over the top.

Voilà!

It turned out pretty cute. There was a lot of that fabric in the bag, but turns out most of the pieces were trimmings -- 6" by 100" or in that area. There were only a few with dimensions even close to workable for this project, so almost anything else I do with that is going to have to be pieced.

I still want to make a couple of pillows, and we'll just see how that turns out.

READING:

I'm still working on The Lager Queen of Minnesota: A Novel. Is there a reader slower than me?

I attended my first in-person book club last week, and the new book is The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore. I'm listening to that one, and just started on Monday (when I drove down to pick up chickens), so far so... good? What a story.

Joining Kat & the Unravelers for Unraveled Wednesday...

CROCHET:

I crocheted the last charted circle motif the other day for Hexie Love (Rav link)!

My box of colors has changed a lot since February 1st.

I started with 35 and not only have I run out of some colors, but I've also dumped the box too many times to count... so lately the chart is just a suggestion, and I work with whatever feels right.

Now I have two stitch holders full of circles to join/make into hexies, and a pile of extras -- because every other row is a short one (not reflected in my chart of squares). So there will be one non-charted row, and at least a few more after that. At least.

READING:

I guess it's been a while since I wrote an Unraveled post! I have finished An American Quilt: Unfolding A Story of Family & Slavery (pages) and Sinéad O'Connor's memoir, Rememberings (audio). The quilt story was... missing something; it wasn't quite as dynamic and engaging as I'd hoped. I really enjoyed listening to Sinéad read her book, but I'm sure it's not for everyone. I was eye witness to the event that changed her life and it was interesting to hear the back story...

I just finished listening to Unsettled Ground this morning! It's a full month until the book club discussion (unheard of!), and I'm looking forward to that. On my nightstand is The Lager Queen of Minnesota: A Novel, which I am enjoying.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers...

CROCHET:

It's growing... but these are busy days! There have been a few evenings of late when I didn't even lift my hook. I've just started joining the two rows worth of circles that I have ready, and added a couple of hexagons last night while the boys & I watched S2E2 of LEGO MASTERS... wherein stuff was blown up with glitter, dust, water or slime. Yeah. It was great!

READING:

No one was more surprised than me that I finished Shuggie Bain in time for last night's group discussion! I found it to be a very compelling read, and it was especially enjoyable to alternate listening & reading. (I loved the narrator's voice, and kept thinking that he sounded like a mash-up of Alan Cumming and Sean Connery!) Now I'm back to An American Quilt: Unfolding A Story of Family & Slavery, thinking/hoping that we'll be returning to the quilt in the last 30+/- pages. I've also begun listening to Sinéad O'Connor read her memoir, Rememberings. 

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share...

CROCHET: I'm still devoted to my crocheted blanket, even if it's a little slower going these days.

READING: I finally finished The Midnight Library... having sped up the audio to 1.5! Ugh. It wasn't awful, but it did seem to go on and on and on with this life and that life and another life, not to mention the root life. I have about 50 pages to go in An American Quilt: Unfolding A Story of Family & Slavery... I do occasionally speed read my actual books, too, do you?

IN OTHER NEWS: LIFE!!

OMG, you would not believe what's all been going on around here. In approximate order...

There's been a lot of weird activity next door over the past few weeks or so. The current owner has been there for 12 years, having moved in with her three kids when the youngest was just about in kindergarten... and is now in college. The eldest skedaddled ASAP after high school and I haven't personally seen him since. The middle child, who we call "NOT LAZY" for reasons of his own making (and, uh, as you might expect, is truly the laziest SOB you'll ever meet) was recently engaged and it's obvious that he's been (slowly... one might even think lazily) moving out. The recent random occasional appearance of vans from a remodeling/renovating company, also a BIG van from a moving company, increased action over the weekend, Rusty's social media "friendship" with Not Lazy, and his chance run-in with the youngest on Sunday night... all led to learning that she sold the house and THEY'RE ALL MOVING OUT!!

(I think she called one of those "We Buy Houses 123-456-7890" numbers.)

Anyway, that's a whole lot to process... right next door!

_ _ _ _ _

Meanwhile, it's an actual category: Ann's New House!

Just over a week ago, Annie sent me a listing for a house in my neighborhood, and a week ago last Sunday Rusty & I walked over to check it out... walk around, look at the foundation, etc. Rusty happened to try the back door, which was held shut with a bungee cord... "Hello! Anyone home?" Well, of course there wasn't. So we gave ourselves a quick little unencumbered tour. (So quick that he forgot to re-bungee the door and had to go back later.) It's old, has had some systems updates, but hasn't really been touched much in many years... and even with all that, was a million times better than the first property she asked me to check out. After our tour, I did some research. Turns out, the house belonged to a 92yo woman who died a couple of years ago; she was born in that house, lived there for her entire life, and died there per her wishes. I remember that there was an amazing flower garden in the back yard quite a few years ago, the footprint is still visible.

Anyway, official showings didn't begin until Friday and bids were going to be opened on Monday. I went over on Friday afternoon with an electrician, and met her remodeler guy, to look things over. Ann put in her offer... and wrote a nice letter. And on Monday night she texted that they got the house! She didn't have the highest offer, but the letter clinched it for her. There's a ton of work to be done, and I'm thankful that she'll be here in June/July to oversee things (if it's even closed by then).

They sent Ann this photo of the house from many years ago... the fancy stuff, including the porch, is long gone/changed, but...

...it's the same with mine. The similarities are striking! I believe my house is just a few years older than hers.

My sister is going to be my occasional few-blocks-away neighbor (closer even than my mom was)!

And I think, holy cow, she could have been my literal NEIGHBOR!

_ _ _ _ _

I had an extremely overdue re-re-rescheduled hair appointment early yesterday morning. Canceled 14 months ago, I put it off for quite a while even when they reopened, but eventually made a date. Then had to cancel because of a work schedule conflict. So I rescheduled and had to cancel that because of the opportunity to get the Pfizer jab. The new date turned out to be the morning of Kate's departure, but I just couldn't cancel again (for fear of being banned for life).

This is the before pic, but the after isn't much different -- trimmed an inch, smoother, and it smells so nice -- I just couldn't handle anything drastic yesterday!! Haha.

_ _ _ _ _

Kate's rapid test for Covid was negative on Monday, which set the ball rolling for final departure prep! It's been very relaxed and measured... paring down, moving things around, making plans, and yesterday was no different. She drove Rusty & I down to the airport in Milwaukee yesterday, with one last stop at Culver's for lunch, to drop herself off... NEW ADVENTURES AWAIT IN EDINBURGH (AND THE GREATER UK). She arrived in London early this morning (our time), caught a cab to the train station, and is currently on the train to Edinburgh where she'll self-isolate at an Airbnb for the next 10 days, and then... stay tuned.

_ _ _ _ _

<INSERT ALL THE EMOTIONS RIGHT HERE!!> 

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share what I'm knitting crocheting and reading!

CROCHETING:

The last time I shared an "official" Unraveled Wednesday blanket update, I was seven rows in, and now I'm three hexies away from finishing Row #11!

I am still gobsmacked that it's working so well. I love it more and more! There are some very weird color combos in a few of those hexagons... there are also many that are perfection, and often I'm surprised. Details & more pics on my Ravelry project page if you're curious.

READING:

I will likely finish listening to Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation by Kevin Roose today. It's not my usual type of book, but it's interesting and enlightening, even for someone at little risk of losing her job to a computer. AI (Artificial Intelligence) touches our lives every single day in a myriad of ways and, while "controlling" may be too harsh, it (algorithms, data, analysis) definitely influences us in ways we might not even realize.

Perhaps then I will get back to & finish The Midnight Library, I know I'm not the only one who found it a bit of a slog through the middle.

Though I should probably start reading Shuggie Bain!  

And An American Quilt: Unfolding A Story of Family & Slavery is still on my nightstand. I used to read a little every night, but lately I've been prioritizing sleep (sort of, because I'm still a night owl and stay up too late) over reading.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today (or not) to share what I'm knitting crocheting and reading!

CROCHETING:

I'm one motif shy of 7 rows complete! I started to join the last one in (top left) last night and, whoa... that's one loosey-goosey circle and way too many stitches in the end!

Often, I fudge, but this one's getting a rip & re-do.

READING:

I am listening to The Midnight Library, and I am really enjoying Carey Mulligan's performance, but I'm tiring of the story... I have about 3 hours to go, but taking a short break for this:

Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation by Kevin Roose. Kate just finished reading -- and recommending -- it, Rusty nabbed her hard copy, and I just downloaded the audio book. Looking forward to it. Kate can't stop talking about it!

An American Quilt: Unfolding A Story of Family & Slavery is still my bedtime reading. I'm slow.

What are you making and reading?

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today (or not) to share what I'm knitting crocheting and reading!

CROCHETING:

Well, y'all know what I'm crocheting. I added a few more motifs to the second row last night.

It's way too early to be thinking about this, but I think I'm going to want a border around the whole thing. I have done ZERO research, but if any of you have any suggestions for what kind of crochet stitch makes a good border, I'm all ears.

READING:

I finished listening to LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND, and I'm looking forward to discussion! My new audio book is THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY, and I am really enjoying Carey Mulligan's narration. AN AMERICAN QUILT: UNFOLDING A STORY OF FAMILY & SLAVERY is still my bedtime reading.

Best laid plans, y'all! I had errands to run yesterday morming morning and kids coming over (yay!) in the early afternoon. I tried to get this written & posted in between but I barely got started before I ran out of time. And then I ran out of energy.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share what I'm knitting crocheting and reading!

CROCHETING:

I laughed when I read Kym's post today yesterday, because boy oh boy, have I done that!! More than once, in fact, and because of it I am drowning in mini-skeins! Actually, let's just say that I'm swimming in them... because I'm okay with the situation!

Unicorn tails! I had a few, and then I bought a "pandemic" bunch, and then I bought a "pandemic" few more. I've always loved the saturated color, some of which actually seem to glow, even if a single-ply yarn can sometimes cause problems. (We shall see.)

I'm making a little progress... sort of just winging it right now as I try to figure out a direction of sorts.

LOVING IT!!! I am living for color these days...

...and, apparently, especially when it glows! This is our kitchen bouquet in yesterday morning's sunshine. (Today, it's gray and snowing.)

READING:

I finished listening to HAMNET on Tuesday night while I stitched on my Car Jacket. My next audio read will be LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND! AN AMERICAN QUILT: UNFOLDING A STORY OF FAMILY & SLAVERY is still my bedtime reading.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I am participating in the Fiberuary Challenge on Instagram, created by Creative Ceci a few years ago, and it's been fun! We're only on Day 4 of 28, but so far so good.

Today's prompt was "Made in 2020," so of course:

Safe At Home for & with Davy!

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share what I'm working on, and, because I'm a day late, I'm also joining Carole & friends for (a very loose interpretation of) Three Things on Thursday...

1 -- KNITTING CROCHETING:

Knitting is on hold. I have things percolating, but nothing is moving forward at the moment. Instead...

I picked up one of my crochet projects last night. Remember crochet?? Way back in JULY, while I was also working on Davy's Safe At Home Blanket, I also decided to start crocheting not one, but TWO, blanket-type projects. I even designated Saturday as "Crochet Day," which I think happened on the very next Saturday and then never again. Heh.

I plucked two yarn balls from the basket and reacquainted myself with the process, making some of the same mistakes again! It's all about practice! This is Hexie Love Actually, and I think it's going to be random, but with some "rules"... which I've yet to figure out. And, since I'm the one making the rules, I probably won't use ALL the colors I have of this yarn as originally (loosely) planned... the neons do not bring joy for this project. (I think they might make an awesome something for the kiddos... maybe some trippin' gnomes!)

READING:

I still have a few hours of listening to HAMNET, and I'm on the edge of my seat. I am also reading AN AMERICAN QUILT: UNFOLDING A STORY OF FAMILY & SLAVERY. I don't remember where I heard about that book, but it's an interesting historical non-fiction story that truly "unfolds" through the discovery of an unfinished quilt. At the risk of sounding juvenile, I like that there are lots of pictures!

2 - MORE MENDING:

When I patched the left elbow in this favorite sweater, I wove the patch directly into/onto the sweater... you can see that process here.

For the right elbow, I picked up and knit a stockinette patch, which I then sewed down on the other three sides.

In hindsight, it would have been nice to do some increases along one side of the patch to better "fit" the shape of the sleeve... but it's a patch on a holey old sweater that is in need of some other repairs, likely soon relegated to "house sweater," though I am going to get some public wear out of it yet!

Though the hole was smaller, the new patch is quite a bit bigger than the first -- there was a lot of "thinning" happening!

A close-up of the first patch. I'm happy with how it's held up. Both of these were worked in Madelinetosh Unicorn Tails.

3 -- CUTENESS OVERLOAD:

Kate had a dentist appointment a few days ago that involved novocaine and she sent a hilarious Snapchat to all of us, which, as often happens, started a flood of Snaps amongst us.

I had to grab a screenshot along the way!

And this morning, Ali sent a few photos, including this:

If that is not a doting big sister... and her little brother who is fully aware that he is Living The Life... I don't know what is.

P.S. Ginny is wearing a pair of Hannah Andersson PJs worn by both her mother and her Aunt Maddy, and still going strong! Quality FTW.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share what I'm knitting & mending!

KNITTING:

Can you believe it? There's not a gnome in sight...

Just a quick pic of my current knitting:

It's a bit of a mess and I'm not in love with the color of the house @ top left, but I'm carrying on. I was knitting this pre-Covid and made some modifications of my own -- including color choices, knitting each house's sky in a different color, and adding a narrow border between each row of houses -- and ended up with two charts with scrawled, crossed-out, and scrawled again numbers... so this is a bit of a mash up! It'll be fine.

DID YOU SAY "DARN IT"?

Today's main event: my first attempts with the Katrinkles Darning Loom!

I did not take any video, but Sarah has posted a couple demonstration videos on YouTube, if you're interested: Part 1 and Part 2.

I have an old slubby cotton cardigan from J.Jill that I wear at home -- it makes up part of my "loungewear" ensemble, along with a night shirt/gown, a pair of cropped pants, socks, slippers, and sometimes a shawl. It used to be in regular daytime rotation, but it would get stretched out and not bounce back (even with heavily ribbed sleeves because... cotton), the big buttons would get caught in the cart at the grocery store and some of the buttonholes are enlarged and it doesn't always stay buttoned, and then I wore a hole in the left elbow. Somehow, it works just fine at home, though, even with flaws.

Hole at left sleeve elbow.

Katrinkles Darning Loom Kit (included, but not shown: soft elastic loop for securing, darning needle, and instructions)

I slipped the circular part inside the sleeve and positioned it so that the hole was pretty centered. The "heddle" part is put into place and it's all secured with a soft elastic band.

Then you warp your little loom! The yarn is anchored at the heddle end, brought between a set of heddle teeth and gently pulled to cover the hole, caught in the "good" fabric just beyond the hole, and brought back up to the heddle... wrap, catch & repeat as needed!

Because this was a pretty big hole, I used a double strand of leftover sock yarn for my patch. After the warp is done, you just catch the yarn in the fabric and begin to weave. It was a last-minute decision on my part to double the yarn, so I ran out and had to cut a new length part-way through. (What's another end to weave in?)

I started weaving from the bottom up, and removed the heddle when I got close. The "live" ends are woven & tacked down, and I did extra stitching and/or weaving wherever needed, using the "eyeball" method. Heh. And here's my first finished patch, front & back. Not too bad!

Admiring my work in the mirror, I noticed that there was a pretty bare spot on the right elbow -- not a hole, but almost, so I decided to fix that right away using a single strand of the same sock yarn.

This time, I began by sewing running stitch along the sides & bottom of the area I wanted to patch to define the edges -- mostly an effort to keep the edges more straight & consistent. It worked okay... it's a little better. I definitely need more practice! I'm sure that using coordinating rather than contrasting yarn would make any wonkiness less visible!

The back-side of the second patch.

Here are both patches (and the cute unicorn scissors that was also part of Kate's gift). I love them!

I have another hole to patch in the other elbow of another favorite J.Jill sweater -- it's smaller than the first one that I patched a few years ago, but too big for the Katrinkles loom. Darn. I really like that sweater for springtime, though, so I'll probably do that soon and use the ham again.

IN OTHER NEWS:

OH HAPPY DAY!! We get to officially welcome our new President and Vice President today!!

And... it's our 36th Wedding Anniversary!

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share what I'm knitting & reading!

KNITTING:

I bet you thought I was finished with gnomes for a while, and so did I! Then, on Saturday, I went to a drive-by surprise birthday party for my godson/boss who turned an unbelievable 40 years old on Monday (how did that happen?). His Aunt Carol was also in the party parade and she'd previously mentioned on an FB post how much she loved my gnomes, and even offered to pay me to make one...

...and, well, that's not going to happen, but as long as I had the yarn and DPNs handy, I might as well make one for her! This, again, is Susan B. Anderson's Gnome and it's the (true) large version, just as I made for Junah. And, just as the one I made for Jün, it's not weighted right. I can re-weight/-fill him and all will be well. Notes for next time: I don't really like the shape of the body, less all-around round and more like a barrel (so knit fewer rows).

READING:

I finished Kitchens of the Great Midwest last night. It was "about" a girl named Eva, and each chapter was a different part of her story -- but she wasn't always central, and there were big jumps in time. I liked it. I'd really like to read The Lager Queens of Minnesota, another book by J. Ryan Stradal. I'm not sure what's next in pages right now (tonight)...

I'm definitely into Hamnet, though my listening time is limited.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Junah turned 7 yesterday!!

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share what I'm knitting & reading!

KNITTING:

Aha! It's a different gnome!

He's not quite finished -- still needs a pom pom -- and he's far from perfect, but he sure is cute!! This is Sarah Schira's Here We Gnome Again. Though the pattern has been in my library since its release, this is the first time I've knit it. Heheheh... not the last! Sarah's collection of gnome designs is amazing (and there are others in my library)! 

HWGA has options for both fingering weight and worsted weight versions -- this one is worsted. It is/was intended for my sister Ann but, since the earliest I'll likely see her is July, I have plenty of time to try again. The centering of motifs & patterns on this guy is a little off, and I'd like to improve that, and possibly try some different yarn (perhaps some of my own hand-dyed).

READING:

In pages, I started Kitchens of the Great Midwest when I was recovering from COVID, and I'm enjoying it -- not blazing through it, but it's going quicker than some!

In audio, I restarted Hamnet the other day... with a bit more focus. I love Ell Potter's narration.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share a review of my 2020 Knitting & Reading!

KNITTING:

It was an OK year! Details of all on Ravelry; I am knitorious.

Completed:

• (1) Cardigan
• (1) Pair of beaded, fingerless mitts
• (2) Shawls
• (1) Pillow
• (1) Epic baby blanket
• (1) Messy bun hat
• (4) Christmas Trees
• (3) Gnomes*

Started/Current WIPs:

• (1) Shawl for a friend (no deadline)
• (1) Village Pillow (fuzzy deadline)
• (1) *Gnome that needs fixing
• (1) Gnome for my sister Ann

READING:

I didn't meet my arbitrary "goal," but I did manage to read a couple more books than last year (though around 300 fewer pages)!

Pages:

• Fever, Mary Beth Keane (actually, I recall that I didn't finish this one... but almost)
• His Other Life, Melanie McCabe
• The Bone Weaver's Orchard, Sarah Read
• Wild Game, Adrienne Brodeur
• Plantation Slave Weavers Remember - An Oral History, Mary Madison

Audio:

• The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Woman in World War II, Svetlana Alexievich
• Crazy Brave: A Memoir, Joy Harjo
• Autumn, Ali Smith
• The Dutch House, Ann Patchett
• The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here, Hope Jahren
• Between the World and Me, T-Nehisi Coates
• The Women of Brewster Place, Gloria Naylor

I also listened to Break Shot: My First 21 Years, James Taylor's memoir on Audible and enjoyed it quite a bit.

Dabbled/started (audio): Beowulf, So You Want to Talk About Race, and Hamnet; and purchased five other titles that I haven't even begun yet. I'm going to restart Hamnet very soon!

And in pages, I added:

• (1) Cookbook
• Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa
• (1) Architecture book
• Centering in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person
• (1) Embroidery book

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share what I'm knitting & reading!

KNITTING:

If you have a really great memory, you might recall that I started knitting a Safe At Home "audition" before starting Davy's blanket, and I've been working on that again.

I started with the three houses and then did a log cabin-style frame around them to get to the desired dimensions.

I'm going to make it into a tufted pillow for Maddy & Viv for Christmas. I can tell you because neither of them/no one in my family reads my blog. I have a down pillow form and I'm going to use some of the linen that I used for Ducky's curtains to make the back, and then I'm going to find some little buttons, aka DOORKNOBS, for the tufting. I want to make similar pillows for Kate & Ali, and for Annie, too, I think. I have three more forms! I am dying to try some of Kaffe Fassett's houses in the new MDK Field Guide N0 16: Painterly!

READING:

Recipes and wish lists.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share my latest FO!

KNITTING:

That makes an unprecedented three weeks in a row with a finish under my belt!

• Ravelry Project Page: Nugget Mitts
• Pattern: Nugget Mitts by Laura Nelkin
• Yarn: Kestrel (100% Merino/Fingering) from Peace Love & Yarn
• Needles:  US 1½ (2.5mm) & US 2 (2.75mm) DPNs
• Start to Finish:  February 8 - November 15, 2020

Well, despite the fact that it took nine months to finish these mitts, they were really fun to make. This is the first time I've incorporated beads into knitting (except for some knitted wire earrings that I made a long time ago). It was a little fiddly, but the beading was all done on one row. I love that little detail, and the slight heft that the beads add to the cuff.

These mitts were worked almost entirely while on vacation... or three! I started in February when Kate & I went to Asheville; continued (if you can call it that) in March, when Rusty & I went to Mexico -- surreal, as things were beginning to shut down then; and mostly finished early this month on a quiet birthday getaway to Lake Superior's North Shore.

This was one of two kits that I bought about a year ago, so eventually there should be a pair of Princess Lola socks underway. They're little shortie socks that also have a bead detail. I love that the kits even come with special floss for beading.

READING:

Gah. I haven't been reading anything... I did listen to a couple of podcasts.

Things will be normal again someday, right? I feel like I'm starting to crack.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share another FO!

KNITTING:

• Ravelry Project Page: Braids & Bobbles Messy Bun Hat
• Pattern: Braids & Bobbles (AC-60) by Carolyn Doe for Fiber Trends
• Yarn: Cascade 220 -- a forest green color (ball band was lost long ago)
• Needles:  US 5
• Start to Finish:  September 20 - November 7, 2020

This is the second hat I've knit at the request of my cousin Gail; the first was one of the several Pussyhats that I knit in 2017. She sent me a photo of this hat/pattern several months ago and asked if I could knit her a "messy bun" hat, and I was happy to do it for her! She lives in Duluth -- a place where a person needs a hat!

I wasn't intending for these to be my "official" photos, but had Kate & her bun try it out when she was at our cottage one day last week. I'd hoped to (safely) meet & deliver the hat to Gail in person on our way home from the North Shore, and get a photo then, but she called the day before to say that her husband had COVID and that she was awaiting results of her own test. She turned out to be negative, but still... IT'S IN THE MAIL, GAIL!!

It's been quite a while since I knit cables -- and it was fun! The pattern wasn't all that fun, though. I mean, the end product is great, but the pattern is not written very well -- this, coming from a person who prefers to knit from a written pattern! A chart would have been very helpful.

I knit to pattern until the final decreases -- I'm sorry that I didn't count, but stopped short when there was about a 2.5-inch stretchy hole left at the top (after about 6-7-8 decrease rounds), and knit a couple more rounds before loosely binding off.

I tacked down the turned-up brim in four places evenly spaced around the hat.

READING:

I tucked an actual book into my basket when we were packing for our little vacation; Plantation Slave Weavers Remember: An Oral History by Mary Madison, which I'm pretty sure I ordered in late August after noticing that Beverly Army Williams' gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. So far, my rating will be the same or better!

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share my latest FO! (Though possibly not linked up because... writing in advance & timing.)

Before giving the blanket to Davy, I wanted to take a few more photos... similar to the ones I took at a local sculpture park when I finished Parcheesi! This park is just a few doors down from Kaukauna Coffee & Tea, but timing/daylight has not been on my side. After work on Mondays, I pick up & deliver an order to the coffee shop, and this week I made sure to grab my camera & the blanket on my way out the door.

I was so excited to take these photos, I didn't even notice that the blanket was upside-down at first!

• Ravelry Project Page: Safe At Home - Baby
• Pattern: Safe at Home blanket by Margaret Holzmann
• Yarn: Various Fingering/Sock yarns - held double throughout
• Needles:  US 7
• Start to Finish:  May 27 - October 25, 2020

Modifications! First was in the choice of yarn, I guess, using fingering/sock held double instead of worsted. I did not want to buy more* yarn and that's what I have most of... so I made it work. A color card helped me sort it all out and keep track -- most colors had multiples to choose from and/or to blend, and I made lots of combos while I knit, making subtle differences & variations in some of the colors.

*BUT OF COURSE I BOUGHT MORE YARN!! I had a lovely mini-skein of pink -- actually, it was orchid from Backyard Fiberworks -- and it quickly became my go-to for pink, so I ran out. Because of timing, I had to find something to match locally as best I could, and actually ended up buying TWO in order to get it close. That orchid, though... it was one of four or five mini-skeins that I'd picked up at Indie Untangled 2018, I think... and I might need to treat myself to a full hank!

And while I love the rows-upon-rows-upon-rows of houses in the original design, I just could not see myself knitting them all. Each house is basically a square, and that led me to think of a patchwork quilt... Parcheesi was also on my mind, of course, and outside of a few actual squares, the main feature of that design is stripes... and I really love stripes (plus, they're quick to knit), so...

...I started to play around. Margaret provided a "coloring page" to aid in planning, and that's where I started. I knew the whole thing would be bordered in houses, so that left the interior -- 7 x 7 squares. I made alternating blocks of horizontal & vertical stripes, and then added some houses -- I settled on two extra houses per row, which I placed using a random number generator!

For the striped blocks, I used the same combo of colors that would have been used if they'd been houses, but each had one more stripe than colors specified, so I made some sort of "rule" where I used the "house color" from the block two before... something like that. Heh.

And just as with Parcheesi, I knew I wanted a border. It would help to hide a few of the cut ends around the edges, for one thing, and I love how it makes a frame around the whole thing. I used a blue-ish black. First I knit along four houses at each corner with a mitered garter stitch border, then picked up and knit along the remaining five houses on each side, finishing with several short seams to bring it all together.

At one time, I'd toyed with doing some crazy border stuff -- a different color for each house -- but I really like how the single color works. As my sister Sharon would say, "The eye needs a place to rest."

Speaking of Sharon, I thought of her a lot while I knit this blanket. Rarely have I remained so focused on a single project, start-to-finish, but Parcheesi was one. I wasn't even quite this focused when I knit Parcheesi -- it took two months longer, and I remember a long break while I mustered the strength to begin sewing up! Anyway, that was 10 years ago, and Sharon was dying. I didn't even realize, at the time, how important that project was in helping me get through all that. I had similar focus on a shawl when my mom died. And now, this blanket... so aptly named for THESE TIMES, and definitely helping me to get through...

And that's a wrap!

_ _ _ _ _

We're on our way to the North Shore of Lake Superior for a few days. Rusty & I are staying at a lovely lakeside cottage, and Kate will be camping in Ducky about 20 miles north. There might be a little leftover snow on the ground when we arrive, but the weather is going to be gorgeous... for November in Minnesota! We'd actually sort of hoped for some weather -- big waves and all that -- but we'll survive. There's a heater for Ducky, so Kate should be fine... and a fold-out in our cottage if things take a sudden turn.

See you tomorrow!

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today to share what I'm knitting & reading.

KNITTING:

I have half a blanket almost sewn up!!

From the top, that's Rows 9 to 5... a few little sections still need to be sewn between Rows 6 & 7, and I'll probably be moving on to joining Rows 3 & 4 by this evening.

Adding on two rows at a time really makes it grow! The end is truly in sight.

Here's a view of the back. I'll be using most of those long ends for sewing up.

READING:

I've actually started "reading" again, listening to The Women of Brewster Place, which I am enjoying very much. I haven't been turning any pages yet, though.