Retirement!!

 Hi All -

Sorry for the long silence again! I should be able to post more regularly again because, believe it or not, I'm now retired!! Friday was my last day of work, so it's still sinking in. But now my time is all my own! I've been offered some contract work from my old employer, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which sounds interesting to me so I'll probably do that if it works out for everyone, but I'm definitely taking a couple of months for myself first so I can get used to the new norm and so that I can enjoy March Madness without anything else vying for my attention. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!

But, anyway, let's see what I've been doing since my last post! I've been working on finishing some of my old projects. It's nice to finish these up and reclaim my needles. I generally leave my knitting needles in the bag with my unfinished projects so I know which needles I was using and I can start back up again easily. This isn't too big a deal since I generally use ChiaGoo interchangeable needles and I can get a new set for a project, if I don't have the right size available, for only about $8 per pair so I don't mind collecting a few extras. But it's still nice to finish!

My first finish is my Witchful Thinking cowl designed by Amy Gunderson:

Witchful Thinking

This was a Halloween "Advent Calendar" project from Jimmy Beans Wool from a couple of years ago. I had originally stopped working on it when I realized that I didn't repeat the rows like I was supposed to. I decided to finish it up so that I could add the rest of the yarn to my left-over yarn blanket and decided that it was okay that I didn't repeat things like I was supposed to. This pattern was done using a lot of slip stitches. I think if I were to make it again, I would use larger needles for the main section, keeping the smaller needles on the ribbing, so that my slip stitches would be looser. I think it would look a little better that way.

Another project I finished up was my Otayski headband designed by Laura Nelkin:

Otayski

 This was one of the projects from Laura's "Lola's Choice" knit club, which sends me a new little project every other month. I had some trouble getting the tension right for the colorwork on this headband because it was knit in a small circle around the width of the headband and I couldn't decide how long the floats needed to be. But the floats are inside the tube of the headband and the yarn is rough enough that I think it will be held in place. I love the headband, but it turned out a little bit big for my head. I think I can make it better by reblocking it.

I've also made some progress on my Aquifer scarf designed by Laura Nelkin:

Aquifer

This was one of the projects from Laura's "M Club" which was a mystery knit club where you didn't know what you would be making, but got the yarn and then were given a part of the pattern periodically until you had the whole thing. I've come back to this project several times, but kept getting side-tracked. I think I'll be able to get this finished up this time!

Laura Nelkin also had a Cowltober event, where we knit any of her cowl patterns and were eligible for prizes. I decided to make one of  my Shalola kits that I had purchased from her. Shalola is a knitted lace cowl with beads:

Shalola

Shalola close-up

The cowl is knit flat, then you block it and seam up the back. Sorry I don't have any pictures of Lance modeling this! He's getting too old to make him sit for pictures in my knitwear. But I think it turned out beautiful and I will be making more of these!

I won a skein of yarn from knitCompanion, who has a thread on Ravelry where you can post pictures of the projects you are working on using the knitCompanion application (which I use for all of my knitting). Periodically, they randomly select some of the projects and and let the makers pick some yarn or another prize from their prize coffers. I picked a beautiful yarn and decided to knit an Undulating Waves Scarf designed by Laura Nelkin:

Undulating Waves Scarf

I really love how this turned out! It's a little heavy with all of the beads, but I really think it's gorgeous!

I've also made progress on my Habitation Throw designed by Helen Stewart:

Habitation Throw

This is the blanket I'm making to use up my leftover yarns. It's so close to being finished! But, unfortunately, I ran out of leftover yarn. So, I'm working on finishing up other projects so I'll have more yarn to add to this blanket. I'm also going to spend some of my retirement time cleaning up and reorganizing my crafting supplies, so I'm sure I'll come across some more of my leftovers in that process since I didn't have a place where I was keeping the leftovers before. So, hopefully I'll be able to snuggle up in this blanket soon!

A new project that I made is this 81-Yard Cowl designed by Gretchen Tracy:

81-Yard Cowl

81-Yard Cowl close-up

I saw this yarn on sale from Jimmy Beans Wool and I thought it would look beautiful on my niece, who has long blonde hair and blue eyes, so I ordered some. Then I looked through the patterns on Ravelry and found this one for a simple cowl that I thought would showcase the yarn well. I really like how it turned out.

Another new project is this Star Stitch Knit Cowl designed by Amy Gunderson:

Star Stitch Knit Cowl

This was the October 2022 knit project for the Jimmy Beans Wool Accessory Club. The JBW Accessory Club is a monthly club where they send you yarn for a project, along with a knitting pattern and a crochet pattern for an accessory. This is a fun, fairly inexpensive way to try new yarns and make fun projects. I've always been using the knit pattern, but one of my goals in retirement is to also do some crochet so I'll probably be trying some of those patterns in the future. This month they gave us so much yarn that I was also able to make a Sundial Beanie designed by Carli Miller with the leftover yarn and a pom-pom that I had in my stash:

Sundial Beanie

I was really excited to find this pattern that uses a slightly different stitch, but matches the cowl so well! And I love the pom-pom!

Another project I was able to start and finish is the Lolancha Shawl designed by Laura Nelkin:

Lolancha Shawl

Lolancha Shawl close-up

Lolancha Shawl close-up

This was the Lola's Choice project for November 2022. It was a really fun knit! It's made with WoolDreamers Manchelopis yarn, This yarn is actually something called "sliver" which is the yarn plies before they are twisted together. You knit with two of the plies and have to be very careful while knitting because the plies pull apart very easily. But once you knit them, you have added the twist that makes the yarn strong so you end up with a really soft and plush shawl. It's scrumptious! I picked up a couple of extra cakes of this yarn to play with in the future....

A bigger project that I also completed since my last post is my Da Light shawl designed by Laura Nelkin:

Da Light

This was an advent calendar project. We got the pattern, yarn and daily goodies as a package. Each day, we opened a new mini-skein of yarn and a little surprise. The surprises were things like knitting notions, patterns, recipes and treats. Each was individually wrapped so each day (Dec 1-25) we had two little packages to open -- the yarn and the surprise. It was a lot of fun! The shawl is over-sized and is perfect for keeping by the couch to wrap in when it's a bit cold in the house. I love it and use it all of the time!

Another couple of Christmas projects I did were the Quantum Cowl designed by Vincent Williams:

Quantum Cowl

 and the Zaniah Hat also designed by Vincent Williams:

Zaniah Hat

These were the 2022 MadelineTosh 12 Days advent calendar knitting projects. The 12 Days advent calendar was an advent calendar that had 12 boxes of surprises. Each day you either got yarn or a knitting notion or a treat. It came with two knitting patterns and two crochet patterns. As usual, I made the knitting projects but I could try the crochet projects in the future. MadelineTosh is a yarn company that makes really beautiful yarns.

I've also made some progress on my After the Storm Cardigan designed by Kelly Fowler:

After the Storm Cardigan back

After the Storm Cardigan front

I haven't spent much time on this project since I've been working on so many other projects, but I hope to start making more progress again now that I'll have more time to work on this. I'd really like to be able to wear this sweater and another that I also need to finish up!

Well, I think that's everything! I took my sewing machine in to be serviced so that it would be all ready for my retirement, so hopefully I'll have some sewing to share soon. I'm working on cleaning up my sewing area, so it might be a little while, but I have a bunch of projects calling my name!

For those of you who know Lance, he is still getting along. He just passed his 16th arbitrary birthday (no telling when he was actually born), which is amazing for a dog his size! His back legs continue to get worse (he has Degenerative Myelopathy), but he can still get around at bit. Otherwise, he seems quite happy and healthy! He gets acupuncture every other Tuesday to keep his legs working as long as possible, and his vet takes care of any problems that might crop up during that two week period, so he's getting incredible care. And, of course, he's as sweet as ever!

I hope everyone is doing well and is keeping warm

Nancy

 

Lots of Knitting!

 Hi all -

I've been knitting up a storm lately, so I have a lot to share! We actually got down to freezing at my home last night, so I might get to enjoy more of my knitted items soon. Fall is in the air, but I'm sure the dog days of summer will be back soon!

For my birthday month, I really concentrated on finishing my Birthday Bliss shawl designed by Amy Gunderson. I was excited to get it finished before the end of August! Here is the finished shawl:

Birthday Bliss

I should block it, but I can still use it as a large scarf if I never get around to that. I hate blocking, especially large items like this! But blocking really does make the lace shine and will get rid of some of the rolling that I'm getting on one end.

Finishing my birthday shawl inspired me to start a new project. (I don't need to start any new projects, but have to follow the mojo....) A lot of the projects that I get as kits, like this shawl, come with lots of small balls of yarn and end up with lots of small leftovers:

Project Leftovers

All of these leftovers were starting to bother me, so I decided to start knitting a Habitation Throw designed by Helen Stewart. This is an easy-to-knit pattern that allows you to throw in whatever spare pieces of yarn you have. Here is where I am so far:

Habitation Throw

I'm really enjoying seeing some of the scraps disappear, although the pile doesn't seem to get any smaller. The pattern has you connect the pieces of yarn using a technique called the "magic knot." I found that some of the yarn I had couldn't handle the magic loop, so I've switched to just holding the old and new yarn together for 10-20 stitches when I am transitioning between yarns. This will save me from having to weave in a million ends when I'm finished with the throw and isn't noticeable in the stitching. The yarns that I had the trouble with were what are called "singles". These are single-ply yarns without any twist. Although they are strong when pulling on the yarn, I found that yarn would easily break when I put a tight knot in it. If I were using all plied yarns, I would probably stick with the magic loop technique since it allows you to get all but a couple of inches of each yarn into the blanket.

 Another project I worked on is the Laxo Worsted hat designed by Laura Nelkin:

Laxo Worsted

This hat knits up quickly and is very warm with the fold-over brim. The faux cables look fancy, but they are very easy to do and don't require a cable needle.

I also picked up and made some progress on my Hring Scarf, also designed by Laura Nelkin:

Hring Scarf

I have a love/hate relationship with this scarf. I think the pattern is beautiful and the yarn is soft and feels wonderful once it's knit up. However, I find the yarn a bear to work with. The yarn has an uneven consistency (that is, it's thicker in some places and thinner in others) and it has what I would call slugs throughout. It also kind of sticks to itself when knit together. When you add my tight knitting style to the inconsistencies and the stickiness, you get knitting that is very hard to read (when looking at the stitches I've made, it's hard to tell which stitch is of which type) and very hard to unknit. So mistakes are hard to fix. So, I'm actually thinking of punting this project. I just can't decide if the final product is worth the trouble. I'll put it aside for a while again before making the final decision.

In place of working on the Hring Scarf, I started working on the Otayski headband designed by Laura Nelkin:

Otayski

I'm enjoying working on this much more! The yarn feels so good in my hands and you can read every stitch you make! This month is Laura's K(n)it-along where you can win prizes for working on her kits, of which I have plenty! So I wanted to join in and make some progress.

I've also made some good progress on my After the Storm Cardigan designed by Kelly Fowler. You can actually tell that it's a sweater now:

After the Storm Cardigan

I've connect the fronts to the back under the arms, so am now just knitting back and forth for the body. This is a lot of knitting because I'm a larger person and this sweater is designed to be worn with 12" of positive ease. That means that you make the size of sweater that is 12" larger around than your measurements. That's a lot of knitting with fingering weight yarn! But this yarn is really soft and beautiful and I'm loving it! It's from Crafty That Way and is dyed to order. I'm finding that the color matches perfectly between skeins so I don't have to alternate skeins or do anything to hide transitions between skeins. And the brown is a beautiful, rich milk chocolate color that I'm loving! It may take me a while to finish this sweater, but I know already that I'm going to love it when it's done!

Finally, my Habitation Throw inspired me to do some more work on my Witchful Thinking cowl designed by Amy Gunderson.

Witchful Thinking

 This is another one of those advent calendar type projects that gives you a little ball of yarn or a prize each day. This was from Halloween last year and I got busy and put it aside. I decided that I wanted to finish this up and throw the leftover yarn in the pile for my throw (or for another throw down the road).

So, you can see I've got plenty keeping me busy! I hope everyone is enjoying the end of summer and the start of fall!

Nancy

I'm 60!

 Hi all -

It's been a long and busy year, and I'm finally getting around to writing another blog post. It's been a very busy year. Our little company was acquired by Google on Dec 1 and I've spent a lot of this time working every spare hour to get our system to run in their cloud. I got the initial work done in mid-June so have had more time for other stuff this summer. But I never got around to writing about any of it, so decided that I should write today since it's my 60th birthday. Boy, does time fly!

To get back into things, I worked on a lot of small projects. I started with the Rosemary Cowl by Alison Green:

Rosemary Cowl

Then I made the Permafrost Cowl by Rachel Brockman, which is shaped to protect your skin where your coat opens:

Permafrost Cowl

Permafrost Cowl

I had a lot of yarn left over from the Permafrost Cowl, so I decided to make a Fernhill Hat by Kate Gagnon Osborn:

Fernhill Hat

Fernhill Hat

I also made the Bridgette by Jane Richmond:

Bridgette

I made these Mosaic Dish Towels by Universal Yarns:

Mosaic Dish Towels

and made an extra towel with the remaining yarn:

I made these Colorful Cloths by Amy Gunderson:

Colorful Cloths

and made a couple of extra dishcloths with the leftovers:

I made the Embark Shawlette by Becky Dahlberg:

Embark Shawlette

Embark Shawlette

I made the Orchid Cowl by Jo Strong:

Orchid Cowl Detail

Orchid Cowl

All of these projects were from the Jimmy Beans Wool Accessory Club. I really enjoy this club because you get a new, fairly small project each month with interesting patterns and a variety of wool. You also get similar knit and crochet patterns each month. So far I'm just doing the knit projects, but I do want to learn to crochet, too.

I also started knitting the Flowla shawl by Laura Nelkin. The is the July Lola's Choice project. Laura decided to do a mini mystery knit-along for this project: the pattern was divided into 4 parts and we received a new part each week. I finished the first two parts:

Flowla

After that, I got a bit bored with this pattern and got tired of knitting with cotton yarn, which has no give. So I started working on my After the Storm Cardigan by Kelly Fowler:

After the Storm Cardigan

It's hard to tell, but this is the upper back of the cardigan. The pattern has narrow stripes of color, and, if you look closely, you can see that I just finished my first stripe, which is purple.

Finally, a couple of years ago I purchased the Birthday Box from Jimmy Beans Wool. This is like an advent calendar for your birthday month. I thought my 60th birthday was the perfect time to work on this! This is the box:

Every day you get a little surprise or a small ball of yarn to create the accompanying shawl project:

The project is the Birthday Bliss shawl by Amy Gunderson. There are knit and crochet versions of the pattern and I'm working on the knit version. So far, I've kept up to date and here is yesterday's progress:

Birthday Bliss

Birthday Bliss Day 11 Close-up

That's all of the knitting I've been doing. It looks like a lot, but the projects were small it's been a while.

Some of you are probably also wondering about Lance. He continues to do well. Amazingly, he's somewhere around 15.5 to 16 years old now! He has DM (degenerative myelopathy), so he has a lot of trouble getting around, but he can still walk, although he looks a bit drunk and sometimes needs help getting up. Otherwise, he's amazingly healthy and seems happy and comfortable. He gets acupuncture every other week to help him keep going. It's nice because his vet does the acupuncture, so we also talk about all aspects of his health while we're there. It really eases my mind knowing that he's getting such great care!!

That's it for now. I hope everyone is having a great summer!!

Nancy

Been A Long Time!

 Hi all -

I apologize for another long silence. Life has been busy and I just started working for a different company so some things had to fall off of my plate. I've continued to work on things, but it's been a bit slower. And I'll be going to Kansas City again in another week or so to help my sister through replacing her other knee. I'll be there for another 5 weeks, so I probably won't post again until I get back. So, let's get to it.....

In my previous post, I had finished knitting my Halloween advent calendar hat, All Treats, No Tricks designed by Amy Gunderson. At that point I was waiting for the perfect pom-pom to come back into stock. It reappeared and I was able to snag one, so here is the finished hat with the perfect pom-pom:

All Treats, No Tricks

The colors aren't great in the picture, but the pom-pom is black with bright pops of color and really is perfect for this hat!

I also knit another hat since my last post. This one is the Boulder Beanie, also designed by Amy Gunderson:

Boulder Beanie

This was the September 2021 Jimmy Beans Wool Accessory Club project. It was a lot of fun since it had both stranded colorwork and baubles, done a different way from other patterns I've tried. And, again, I found the perfect pom-pom to top it off. I really love this hat!

I found I was enjoying whipping out some smaller projects, so I pulled out the January 2021 JBW Accessory Club project. This one was the Rosemary Cowl designed by Alison Green:

Rosemary Cowl

This picture is prior to blocking. The cowl is blocking now so it will be cleaner when that is done.

In the interest of making progress on some of the WIPs (works-in-progress) that I have sitting around, I pulled out my Aquifer scarf designed by Laura Nelkin:

 

Aquifer

This is another really interesting knit and it is turning out so soft that I can't wait to finish it!

The final knitting project I'll share today is this year's Craftvent project from Jimmy Beans Wool. As the name implies, the Craftvent project is an Advent Calendar project. They do this every year and this is my third or fourth year participating. This year's project is the Festive Wrap designed by Ambah O'Brien. The project comes packaged in this pretty, sturdy box:

Craftvent Box

Inside the box, there is a drawer for each day:

Inside the Craftvent Box

Most of the drawers hold a small ball of yarn, like we got for day 2:

Craftvent Day 2

Others contain little surprises. So far, we've gotten the needles for knitting the shawl and a nice project bag:

 

 

Craftvent Day 1

Craftvent Day 4

Here's what I've done so far:

Festive Wrap

So far, I'm up-to-date. I hope to knit today's portion tonight.

Finally, I also worked on an embroidery project. This is the Cape Flower Needle Keeper kit designed by Sue Spargo:

Cape Flower Needle Keeper - outside

Cape Flower Needle Keeper - inside

For this project, I started with an organizer made by Yazzii. I then appliqued the felt pieces and did the embroidery on the finished piece. I thought this was an interesting idea and wanted to see how well I liked trying to work the stitching on a finished item, where you have to deal with burying your knots behind the fabric in order to hide them, without poking through to the inside of the organizer. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, but I didn't really enjoy it so I probably won't do another project of this type. Here is a close-up of the applique and stitching:

Cape Flower Needle Keeper

Well, that's all for this post. I hope you enjoyed my projects! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!!

Nancy