Cooking & Knitting

 To make up for two nights of parent-teacher conferences, I have the day off, so I am alternating between cooking and knitting. 

I'm doing a socially distant potluck with friends. We are each going to make a couple dishes and package them up for the six participating households. Then we'll meet at the Arboretum, exchange food, take a walk, and regather later via Zoom to eat. I think it will be fun. 

I started a pair of mittens for my daughter, but the cuff turned out horribly large. I should have read the Ravelry comments first because there are some issues with the pattern. Besides, I don't enjoy doing corrugated rib. I'm very slow at it.

So I frogged the mitten and chose a simple slip-stitch pattern. Now I'm flying along.

This very warm and squishy, so I think it'll work.

As always, Kola keeps us smiling. Apparently she wants to quilt:

Wishing you all the happiest and safest of Thanksgivings!

Best Present Ever!

 It's not my birthday or Hanukkah or Christmas, but I got the best present in the mail this week:

Yes, 6 skeins of incredibly luscious Koigu sock yarn. And they came with a beautiful and easy shawl pattern: Annalise Wrap.

I have to thank Bridget. I am the beneficiary of one of her Christmas in July give-aways, and I could not imagine a more fabulous package!

Even though I'm supposed to be knitting monogamously on a poncho, I couldn't resist getting started on my Annalise:

The timing could not have been better. I'm working half-time at this point, and I'm sad to miss so much summer. When we had full union rights, we didn't work until the contract year began. But those are bygone days now in Wisconsin. I am enjoying seeing and talking to my colleagues. I've been doing a lot of meetings with my special ed team and the freshman biology team -- and I enjoy those. But mostly we have a lot of paperwork, and that isn't as much fun.

Still, I've been working for 40 years now, and I really love knitting and embroidering and drawing. I will be very happy when those things are my "work"!

All About Sweaters

Life has been busy here. With my travels coming up soon, I've been working, seeing our parents, trying to finish a project for a show.  And, most importantly, trying to set up travel knitting projects! Even summer vacation is busy.

I have finished the cardigan for my daughter, Rachel, with just over a week until I fly to Florida. I'll give her the sweater then -- and hope that it fits!

It's the Windchill Cardigan by Melissa LaBarre. The pattern is easy and well-written. I used Valley Superwash DK, which was lovely to work with and is a good value for the price. I really like the waffle-weave edging.

With that done, I have tracked down my Vodka Lemonade sweater, which I'm knitting in Cascade Sport-Weight. 

I was able to slip it on today, and I think it's going to fit. I have broad shoulders, so I added some length to the raglan shaping. It's a very sweet little pattern, but I'm not sure it was smart to make it in wool. It's more of a summer sweater. 

Maybe I'll make a second? I don't know. That seed-stitch collar took forever!

Happy Mother's Day

Whether you are a traditional mother and/or a woman who has nurtured others, I hope you are having a wonderful day.

I started mine by working on The Fair Isle Tassel Hat. A baby project just seemed appropriate. Although I'm simplifying much of the color work, I did have to figure out how to use three colors in one row, a new skill for me.

It is a beautiful day here, so I'm off for a little walk and then on to my parents' place for brunch.

Scratch That

A week ago, my plan was to finish a shawl I started in 2013. Well, you know what they say about the road to hell... That project was put back into hibernation because Baby Ma'ayan turns 1 at the end of the month. I really MUST knit her a gift, don't you think?

So I've cast on -- even though I said I wouldn't -- for something new: a monster from The Big Book of Monsters by Rebecca Danger. I've checked this book out of the library a number of times; finally I have an excuse to try making one of the projects.

Danger recommends that you knit her monsters using magic loop, a technique that, frankly, terrifies me. But I have always wanted to learn how to do it -- I love the idea of knitting two socks at once! -- so I'm taking the plunge. I have managed to start the first leg on dpns, as instructed, and slip it onto the circular needle.

I've also scratched all the books I was looking at last week. Instead, I'm reading Timothy' Egan's Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, the story of Edward Curtis, the photographer who made it his mission to get photos of the disappearing Native American peoples. Egan, famous for his book about the Great Depression, is truly a great writer. The first couple chapters were fascinating.

So, then we get to what I didn't read:

I am not one of those people who has to finish every book she starts – in fact, I’ve become the opposite. Here are some of the books that I put down:

Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein. I love Brownstein in her Portlandia role, but her autobiography just didn’t grab me. I’m sure someone who is younger and loved her band (Sleater-Kinney) would find it fascinating.

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. I loved her first six or seven books, but haven’t liked any of the later ones. The writing in Chapter 1 of this book is downright amateur. She uses conversation quite awkwardly to convey background information. I didn’t get very far before I slammed this one shut.

Mercy Snow by Tiffany Baker. First, let me say that this book involves knitting! It’s actually a pretty decent read for a piece of popular fiction (yes, I’m a bit of a snob). I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

 Join me in checking out what everyone else is knitting and reading this week with Ginny's Yarn Along.

It's About Time

I have finally started a Tin Can Knits project. So many bloggers have raved about Tin Can projects that I've wanted to try one for myself for some time now. A friend who loves purple hinted that she'd love some handknit socks, so here is Winding Way:

I just love the lace portion. It's geometric with very clean, modern lines. I have always struggled with knitting dark yarn, so I'm trying to work on this when I can use sunlight. Even our pale winter light is better than artificial lights.

And remember this messy picture from a recent post? This is how it turned out. Here is my stash in a much more presentable form.

Now, I want to point out that most of these crates are not full. I just like to organize my yarn by weight. The bag on top of the crate in back is filled with yarn that is going to school with me. Next year I may have two boys who knit! And the bin is filled with yarn that is going to be sold at our next yard sale!

That's progress. If only the rest of my house was so orderly!

Apologies, Socks and a Book

I have so much to apologize for today! I am behind on reading your blogs, and I do miss you! I will get caught up in the next couple of days.

Then there are these horrible flash photos. And I am sure you are very tired of the Green Bay Packer socks. I sure am!

Don't get me wrong. Jaala of Knit Circus did a great job with the colors, but I'm not a football fan. These are a gift. I'm happy to make them for my brother, but they are boring to knit! I am also worried about getting them done on time (Hanukkah comes early this year!), so I'm doing two at a time. I know it's not rational, but I feel like they go faster that way.

I'm about 100 pages into The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen, and it's pretty good. Among other themes, it examines the intricacies of a long-term marriage, which I always find interesting.

So many books are about falling in love or breaking up. In some ways, those are the easy parts. Staying together for the long haul...that's an accomplishment!

Don't forget to Yarn Along with Ginny.

'Tis the Seasons

What do you get when you combine the upcoming holidays and fall?

Yes, I am hard at work on my Green Bay Packer socks. I hope the color comes through on screens because Jaala of Knit Circus really got the colors right. I think they will be a perfect gift. And work has been intense, so mindless knitting is much appreciated!

I"ve also had an itch to get back to embroidery, so I opted for an iron-on design and a dishtowel. Eventually this will be a gift, too, but first it is going to serve as a sample for some classes I'm proposing at my parents' retirement community.

 I'm also thinking dishtowels would be a good project for my Gift Club at school. I have to find inexpensive crafts because I pay for all the materials! It's sad that there is no money because my students are mostly on free/reduced lunch and they jump at the opportunity to make gifts for their families. Such is the state of education in America.

My reading is all about work, too.

Crossover is a young-adult novel told in poetry. The writing jumps off the page, which is appropriate for a book about basketball. However, I am not a sports fan, so I am forcing myself through it. I think it will be a great read-aloud for my crew this year.

Between the World and Me is writer Ta-Nehisi Coates book-length letter to his 15-year-old son that addresses living in the United States as a black man. It is very good and very intense. Painful, at times. I'm hoping to find passages I can share with my students.

After these two reads, though, I'm picking something that is just for me!

Joining up with Keep Calm and Yarn Along. Hope to see you there!

Oops! I Did It Again

Not long ago, I messed up my very simple Pelerine shawl by missing the end of a round. Inadvertently, I began knitting in the round, which totally disrupts the garter stitch. I painstakingly pulled apart the Unspun Icelandic wool and reknit. ... until I made the same mistake again.

I decided that there was a message behind making the same, very stupid mistake twice. I pulled out the needle and cast on a second Pelerine.

I'd realized that I needed to make one as a gift, but didn't want to buy a second needle so I was rushing through the first one. Hence, the mistakes. You may wonder why I didn't just finish the first one and give it as a gift. Well, here's why:

It's all about the colors. The pinks and blues in the first one are my colors. However, the person I want to gift prefers Earthy colors. So, I ordered a few disks from Schoolhouse Press and launched into a second shawl. And I'm so glad I did. I hate rushed knitting. What's the point of that?

Did you notice how the disk of Unspun Icelandic in the first picture has been elongated? That's what happens when you leave the disk sitting around the living room of a house with cats!!

It's a beautiful sunny day here, but cold. I went for a walk with a friend this morning and we both wore mittens. Oct. 3 is a little early for that, even in Wisconsin. There is so much around the house that I should be working on, but I've been having quite a bit of neck pain lately, so I suspect I'll have a lot of knitting time while I apply heat.

Any home remedies for neck pain?

Thinking Ahead and Back

In knitting, I'm looking ahead:

That means men's socks. I'm hoping to gift many of the men in my life socks for Hanukkah. I haven't knit a lot of socks for men, so I'm going with 2-by-2 ribbing, which I think is very safe in terms of fit. Not the most interesting knitting, so I decided I needed to invest in a good audiobook to keep me going.

Nixonland is serious nonfiction, but so well-written that I have a hard time turning it off.  The author is a journalist, which makes for better writing than many historians. (Or am I, a former newspaper journalist, biased?) It's very relevant today because it charts the beginning of the current divide between the two major parties, between the right and the left in America.

It's also a fascinating portrait of an unusual politician. Richard Nixon was a very unappealing man who managed to become president. I always wondered how that happened (I was a child at the time). The answer: he was a very smart politician.

I've got five more days of school before summer vacation. This year, I have very mixed feelings. I have a great group of kids this year. They are an exceptionally bright group so we are able to have great discussions about things like history and current events. I'm going to miss these guys!

I'm joining Nicole to see what everyone is up to.

FO Friday: A Viral Pattern

Finished but unblocked: Hermione's Everyday socks, a gift for my darling niece Rebecca. I didn't pick this pattern because it was popular -- I didn't even realize it was popular when I cast on. Rebecca is a Harry Potter fan and purple is her favorite color, so the two just came together. This is a great little pattern: easy, fast, but a with enough of a pattern to ward off boredom.

The yarn is Regia Extra Twist Merino. I don't remember where I bought it, but I haven't seen it again. And that's a shame because it is lovely to work with a creates a soft fabric. The color-blocking that shows in the photo is much less pronounced in reality. The yarn is splitty, though, so I would not use it for lace.

I have always loved waffle-weave fabric, so it's no wonder that I like this pattern.

Don't forget to to check out other FOs with Tami Amis.

FO Friday: Baby Blanket

Two of my teammates from school have had babies in the last year, so I just finished the second blanket:

I

I have to say that it isn't really this crooked, but rather the camera angle is a bit wonky.

I made it up -- though I'm sure many people have made up this same pattern -- using metered blocks. I like the way it looks and the fact that you pick up stitches for new squares. I don't think I could handle sewing together this many pieces!

I used Lion Brand Jiffy because it's thick and cozy and machine-washable. The drawback of acrylic, of course, is that it can't be used for a sleeping baby as it is flammable.

What have you finished this week?

Bad Blogger!

How did I go a week without blogging? Shame on me. To atone, I have set a goal of blogging every day this week.

Blogging may be easy -- if the schools are closed due to cold weather. Some school districts have already announced that they will be closed both Monday and Tuesday. Our district usually waits until the last moment. In the meantime, I'm trying to assume I will have to get up and go to work in sub-zero temperatures tomorrow.

It would be nice to make some progress on these socks.  The pattern is Hermione's Everyday Socks. I'm knitting them in purple for my niece, who is having some health problems and loves both purple and Harry Potter. It's easy to imagine watching a movie and knitting tomorrow.

However, we have used up our bad-weather days. If we miss any more school days, we'll have to make them up, which isn't very appealing. It gets very hot here in the summer, and our schools are not air conditioned.

 I'm trying hard not to check the Internet for school closings every 10 minutes! It will be easier this evening when I'm going to a Robert Burns party. If they have haggis, I'm not going to eat it! In case you're not familiar with haggis, it is a savoury pudding containing sheep's heart, liver, and lungs, mixed with other ingredients and encased in the animal's stomach. I'm not a vegetarian, but I do have my limits!

For A Special Girl

My dear, dear niece has been diagnosed with POTS -- Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which is caused by a low volume of blood returning to the heart after a person stands. The most common symptoms are ligh-theadedness or fainting. My sweet girl has also been suffering from headaches, nausea, and a sensitivity to light and sound.

I wanted to share this because it took doctors almost a month to figure out what was wrong, a month in which she was unable to go to school or do much of anything. We had never heard of this, and apparently many doctors were unaware of it also! It tends to strike women between the ages of 15 and 50. Young women like my niece, who is 13, usually are symptom-free within five years.

Since I haven't figured out how to send hugs to the East Coast, I knit up this pair of Peekaboo Mitts (my current obsessions) for her. The yarn is Plymouth Jelli Beenz Yarn, a 75% wool/25% acrylic blend that gets a 4/5 star rating on Ravelry. I found it to be very pleasant to knit with. It's machine-washable, which I decided was uber-important to this busy family.

One of the symptoms of POTS is cold hands, so I hope my niece finds warmth and comfort in these mitts. I also hope the line at the post office isn't too long!

Another Baby Blanket

The gift-knitting extravaganza continues: 

One of my co-workers is expecting a baby in January, so I "had" to start a second baby blanket of the year.

I'm going with a quilt-type look, just plain squares. I finished my last baby blanket in August (also for a co-worker) and it was a log-cabin design. I'm doing mitered squares, which I have done a lot of. I just love them and find that they are fairly mindless.

I'm using the same yarn I did for the last blanket -- Lion Brand Jiffy -- which I love for its thick and sturdy qualities. It has the added bonus of being stash busting --unless I find that my left-over yarn isn't enough and I need to "invest" in more Jiffy.

Mindless knitting does have its drawbacks -- i.e. boredom -- so it's a good thing that Keith and I recently began watching Breaking Bad!

Knitting Deadline

Let me start by saying that I have already missed the deadline. The little boy who will be receiving the blanket has already made his entrance.

Still, I'm close to the end. I've just begun picking up stitches for the border. Yes, it is a little crooked; apparently I picked up too many stitches on one square. Oh well. I think a little boy will not mind at all.

The mom is a coworker who I just adore. I'm even forgiving her for taking time off work!

It's a Log Cabin-style blanket that I just made up as I went. The yarn is Lion Brand Jiffy. I like it for baby blankets because it wears like steel, can be washed and dried by machine, and makes a nice puffy surface to lay a baby on.

I can't wait to finish it so I can go over my friend's house and meet Cole!