The Fun Never Stops Around Here

 On Monday, I fell down two or three stairs at school. I'm very lucky that nothing is broken, but I am pretty banged up. Fun fact: Sprains often hurt more than breaks. I broke my right leg nine years ago to the day: April 19, 2013. Monday I ended up with high ankle sprain -- and that hurt way more!

More fun: Our old house is not selling quickly. We think it's because we didn't update the main bathroom. That was dumb on our part. We may need to take it off the market and do a quick update. We priced it knowing that the bathroom needed to be updated, so we're hoping that works out.

I have had time to knit and I finally finished the Adrift Shawl, which I had taken to calling the "forever shawl." It needs a good blocking, and I think it will be very long and cozy.

And I started a pair of Petty Harbor Socks with an unknown color of Knit Circus yarn. I need easy these days. 

I went back to work today and it was really great to be with people. We only have 9th- and 12th-graders in the building so it was calm. The kids were quiet and they all wore masks. I got to meet some of my freshman finally. I think the weeks will go faster now that we are back in school.

The Bad and the Good

 Let's just get the bad stuff out of the way. I've been absent from the Blog World lately because of doctors' appointments and bad news. It started with a podiatrist, who sent me to a rheumatologist to see whether I have Eylers-Danlos Syndrome, a disorder of connective tissue. Well, I do.

I also have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and Sjoden's Syndrome. You can look them up if you want. Suffice it to say that the EDS and the POTS make one very tired. No wonder I've been tired for 30 years. And I've had symptoms of POTS since I was 12.

And, if that's not enough, I have a biopsy scheduled for later this month to see if I have Celiac Disease.  I feel like I've been hit by a truck. 

As you can imagine, these new diagnoses are making the retirement decision quite easy. I have to formally announce by Feb. 15 if I'm going to get my retirement benefits. Don't worry! I'm not going to miss this deadline.

On to more cheerful subjects. It's been snowing here!!

I've been able to ski for the last three days in a row -- which is pretty much heaven in my world. The photo is from Saturday's outing to the Arboretum.

And I've been able to ski with friends each day. This is as close as I can get to socializing in person, and it is pretty darn nice.

I have two FOs, which have yet be photographed. I'm getting ready to cast on the Adrift shawl from Laine Magazine and using some stash yarn.

It's a nice easy pattern -- perfect for this time when I have so much to sort out!

Trying to Finish a Few Things

 It's a good day. To begin with, it's Saturday so the entire weekend lies ahead of me. Second, yesterday our superintendent announced that my district will start third quarter virtually. I hope that means he won't reopen until teachers are vaccinated. Third, we've been having freezing fog, with leaves the trees with a gorgeous icy coating.

I have far too many UFOs lying around the house, so I've chosen two to focus on. The first is the gorgeous shawl kit that I got from Bridget during her Christmas in July giveaway. I'm playing around with it to make it longer, but it could not be more beautiful. Thank you, Bridget!

The second one is a an embroidery pattern that I designed to get some practice with filling stitches. This one is going to take a while. For some reason, it is very hard on my fingers, even using a thread puller. I used a stabilizer under the muslin, so I'm wondering if that is the problem.

Still, if I do a little bit every day, it will eventually be an FO. Then I'll make it into a small quilt.

Of course, I can't shake off my shock at this past week's sedition at the U.S. Capital. Three Wisconsin legislators voted against counting all the votes even after the Capital was breached. Shameful. I so embarrassed by them. At least Twitter pulled the plug on our cowardly leader.

Enjoy your weekend!

Taking a Deep Breath on Friday

Thank you all for your kind words of support. They really helped me as I moved through the week, which was a hard one. My jaw was damaged when I was born. When I'm under stress, I clench, which causes terrible headaches. (Yes, I have a bite guard, but that just protects your teeth.) For the first time, the jaw problems are causing severe earaches. Apparently this is a common issue with jaw problems.

I saw two doctors this week. They both said I need to reduce stress as much as possible. Since that's not really possible, they upped my pain and sleep meds.

Still, I hustled all week. I have a lot of freshmen on my caseload this year, so I've been getting to know them and their families virtually. I completed a mountain of paperwork -- and I think I did it correctly! Now we have two weeks of professional development before the students come back virtually.

In the midst of all that, it seemed reasonable to indulge myself, so I started knitting the Annalise Shawl that I was gifted by Bridget:

Clearly I will have to block the heck out of the edges. Nonetheless, it is the perfect antidote to this trying week. Easy, fun, and beautiful.

I also picked up a project that I had cast on and lost track of months ago:

This is the beginning of a fingerless mitten. The pattern is About Town Mitts by Bonnie Sennott, who is one of my favorite designers. It's also an easy knit, which is all I am capable of at this point!

And I squeezed in another sketch of a house in the expensive part of my neighborhood. As you can tell, I really enjoy doing the stonework. The stone here is lannon stone, which is largely found in southeastern Wisconsin.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is glad that it's Friday!

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"!

Unraveled Wednesday

Joining with Kat for Unraveled Wednesday. 

I loved my Kate's Poncho so much that I decided to make one in gray for Rachel. After all, she's moving to Denver after 6 years in Miami. 

It's coming along so quickly that I think I'll make one for Clara, too. That's Seth's girlfriend.  This will require ordering yarn, though -- so sad! 

I love this gray wool. It is Shepherd's Wool Yarn from Stonehedge Mill. For a 100% wool it is quite soft and it knits up beautifully. I'm sure I'll be using more of it. 

Not as Much Knitting as I'd Like

I can't help but feel grateful for the welcome back to blogging that I have received from you, my dear friends. Thank you so much! And I'm so glad most of you are still blogging so I can share your lives.

Early in June, I went to town on our yard -- after 17 years of neglecting this deep-shade yard. Some friends donated plants and advice, and the back yard is beginning to look good:

We've tried growing shade grass on our terrace but always ended up with a weed patch. In early June, I spent hours weeding with a hand spade and planting  that most aggressive of ground covers: Snow on the Mountain, also known as Bishop's weed. So far, it's pretty bare, but I'm confident the "weed" will fill in by fall.

However, I spent far too much time twisting my right hand and wrist and ended up with a serious repetitive motion injury in my right hand and arm. Thus, I've had to limit my knitting time, which isn't helping with my goal of knitting a big dent into my stash.

I was able to finished my "pandemic shawl." It started as an Olive Pink Shawl, but I made a lot of changes in the pattern based on my own preferences. It is a huge, cuddly shawl that will spend a lot of time on my shoulders come winter.

And I've made slow progress on Kate's Poncho. I'm using gorgeous raspberry Miss Babs yarn that I bought at a Knit-In a decade ago. It's supposed to be for Rachel, but raspberry is my favorite color:

We'll have to see how it fits me before I decide!

Unraveled Wednesday

I have been enjoying mindless knitting this summer, possibly because I'm working to improve my sewing skills -- and that is no easy task!

I finished a Hitchhiker made from a series of very-mini skeins. I haven't blocked it yet, but it still looks fine. I like the crazy colors, but I'd hesitate before giving this as a gift!

 And I immediately started a Find Your Fade. The yarn in Fresh From the Cauldron Freyr Sock (colorway: A Rose by Any Other Name).

I haven't had much time for social knitting, but I did have lunch and knitting with my friend Marsha. She is so photogenic it's hard to be her friend!

I interrupted my reading when an ebook came through on my Kindle: Fascism by Madeleine Albright, which Marsha recommended. It's a pithy history of fascism, and I'm sure it links the past to the present -- I'm just not that far yet.

Scary fact: The term "drain the swamp" comes from Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. 

I'm linking up with Kat today for Unraveled Wednesday.

Nature and Messes

Do not be fooled by this sweet-looking animal. She seems to be driven by nature to play with yarn. 

I should have taken a photo. However, I was distracted by having to untangle miles of yarn and roll it into balls for my Hitchhiker.  She must have had a fabulous time winding so much yarn around the chairs and table on our screened porch.

Untangling it was not so much fun. Since she had gone into a knitting bag and dragged out the whole project with its many yarns, I decided that I needed some larger project bags that I could put in my tote. Shopping was fun.

I found these darling and sturdy bags on Etsy from a seller called Whimzee Stitches. 

Here you can see that a medium bag easily fits a nearly finished Hitchhiker and a good cake of yarn.

Nature -- as in the weather -- has been frustratingly unpredictable here, with scorching heat alternating with frightening downpours. I took my mom to the airport this afternoon (she's flying to Virginia to see my brothers). Much to my surprise, the sun was out as I drove back through town, so I stopped to do some sketching:

I ended up working even more slowly than usual because I was joined by three, talkative street people. They were passing around bottle of vodka, which I didn't mind; but they were also smoking cigarettes, which I do! They were very nice and told me I am very beautiful for an older lady. Is that a compliment?

Then I took a little stroll and saw this guy:

Last Friday, I was planning to meet up with Kathy B and Mrs. Macawber. Kathy and I agreed that the weather was too bad -- terrible storms, downed trees. But Sue (Mrs. Macawber) wasn't intimidated and she made it just fine. I should have gone -- the storms ended (which is not what the forecast said!) -- and they had a great time.

We'll have to try again soon, ladies!

One Done; Two New

It's been a weird weekend. Snow on Saturday, but then a glorious walk on dry sidewalks with my friend Denise today -- didn't even need a sweater. Crazy! At least we didn't have to cancel dinner out with my Mom Saturday. She took us to a very nice Italian restaurant.

As promised, here is my finished quilt:

So, what I don't like about it is that it is largely based on commercial fabrics: the rooster, the eggs, the words. It was fun to make, but I don't get the kind of satisfaction that I would from something that was more original. 

The next quilt is already under way. This time, I decided to force myself to work with a different set of colors.

And do you know what this is? I bet many of you recognized it right away. It is a sprouting Hitchhiker. I didn't think much of the pattern until a saw a few of you do it with gradient yarn. Now I'm a fan. As you can see, I am doing the Line 6 variation (yo, k2tog) to spice it up a bit. 

It is going to go through quite a dramatic color change before I am finished. That should keep it interesting.

31 more days of school. Not that I'm counting.

And the Beat Goes On

The action just never stops here!

Wednesday I showed up at the hospital at 6 a.m. to have my A-Flutter fixed. It was easy. I just fell asleep and let the staff take care of things. They seem to have me all fixed up.

I made it to my family's Thanksgiving at my Mom's apartment. My brother Eric and his family came out from Virginia. My other brother, Michael (in Washington, DC), baked us two amazing pies (cherry and apple) and mailed them to us. Above, Eric is enjoying a piece of cherry.

It was surreal without my dad. It just hasn't fully sunk in yet.

My sweater is ready to be blocked, so I started a shawl. What can I say. I could outfit an entire homeless shelter in shawls -- and maybe I will! They are just so much fun to knit:

The pattern is the Soundwaves Shawl, and it is perfect TV knitting. Easy but not boring. The yarn has been in my queue for years: Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere. Can you even imagine? It is truly smooshy.

I am about to start a mega knitting project. Probably the most ambitious thing I will ever attempt. Does that have you waiting for my next post?

Quick Trip and a New Skill

Keith and I had to make a quick trip to Chicago earlier this week so I could have my interview for Global Entry with U.S. Customs. I don't think I've mentioned this here yet, but I am traveling with my daughter this summer.

The Free Your Fade Shawl is perfect car knitting.

Early in the year, Rachel called me up, told me she was going to be a bridesmaid, and asked if I would be her date. Of course, I was thrilled to be invited and said, "Yes!" Then she told me that the wedding is in a small town outside of Lviv, Ukraine. So we are going to the Ukraine in August.

A couple months ago, I was browsing the stacks at our main library and came upon a book from the 1970's titled "Ukrainian Embroidery." 

I found a pattern that didn't seem too insanely time-consuming and decided a Ukrainian wall hanging would be the perfect wedding gift. Much of the traditional Ukrainian embroidery is complex, dense cross-stitch, but there is also a tradition of free-form flower embroidery.

I have a ways to go, but I think I can finish it by the end of July. Ideally, I'll take the finished hanging with me to Miami and leave it with my daughter. The bride is in grad school with my daughter in Miami, so I suspect she'd rather not have to carry it with her back to the States after the wedding.

Amazingly, the cheapest flight I found to Budapest (where Rachel and I are going to hang out before the wedding) left out of Miami. Traveling is rarely so convenient!




results.

Two Finishes

I think this took me about a year, but I finally finished my Spindrift Shawl by Helen Stewart. I have no idea why it took me so long. It's a simple and elegant pattern.

Here it is, unblocked. I'm sure that lace will really open up after a good soak. 

The yarn is a speckled fingering weight from KnitCircus. I seem to have lost track of the ballband. And I had barely enough yarn to finish the picot bind-off!

I also finished this Fair Isle hat of my own design. It came out huge, definitely a man's hat! I'm going to make some changes, downsize it and write it up as a pattern, I think.

It feels good to have accomplished a few things in the past week and a half since my surgery. I'm going to have to work quite a bit in the next weeks. Most of it will be on my own schedule, which makes it feel less onerous.

I hope most of you are having summer. It is so cold and rainy here that I am wearing jeans and a wool sweater!

Comfort Knitting

I am now in the final two weeks of my treatment, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! In the meantime, though, I am still fatigued. After work, about all I can do is knit and listen to All Things Considered. I've finished my first Kindness Shawl in record time. Never before have I knit an entire shawl in less than two weeks.

Clearly, it needs to be blocked! I find shawls that are wide and shallow easiest to wear, so I'll be working on manipulating the shape when I block it. It is KnitCircus yarn, a merino and silk blend that feels wonderful around the neck.

Knitting this shawl was so relaxing that I started a second one as soon as I finished the first.

This shawl is in Ogle Coloration Yarn. She's a Wisconsin dyer, but you can also find her on Etsy. I'm enjoying the second time as much as the first!

Shame on Interweave!

I don't think I have ever seriously railed against a product on line, but I'm about to launch in to a near tantrum! You see, I am trying really hard to finish WIPs instead of casting on. Yesterday I pulled this shawl project out of the bin, figured out where I left off -- never easy! -- and started knitting.

You can see that it is no longer on the needles. When I finished the first lace repeat, things didn't look right to me. I jumped online to see if there was any errata for this project. And there is: Instead of using the size 6 needle listed in the book, I should have used the size 10 advised on line. 

Really! I spent more than 20 years as a newspaper reporter and editor. I understand making mistakes in the details. But in the needle size? No excuse! The editors should have made one pass through the patterns checking for needle size alone. It's too important to mess up.

The pattern is Quixote and it's from Wanderlust, which has a lot of really beautiful patterns. Warning: Don't make anything from this book without checking for errata.

I am going to contact Interweave and see if they will make this right -- i.e. refund me the cost of the book. I spent between 6 and 8 hours on this project!

I started this project about 2 1/2 years ago, so I'm not even sure I want to knit this. I love the yarn, so I may repurpose it.

Well, it's Saturday morning, so I don't want to be grumpy for my whole weekend. Thanks for listening!

That Last Post Title Was Frighteningly Accurate

My last post was titled: The Quiet Before the Storm. Little did I know!

I was referring to the quiet pace of life before the high schoolers showed up for classes. But I have a daughter who lives in Miami, so storm took on a whole new -- and more menacing meaning -- by this past Monday, when Irma began to look like a serious Hurricane.

On Tuesday, my husband talked Rachel into flying home. To get a flight that didn't clean out our savings, she had to drive to Orlando and fly from there. Not that we are complaining to have her here, save and dry!

She is, of course, worried about her friends back in Miami, as well as her apartment (4 blocks from the ocean) and the University of Miami, where she's going to school. At least we have a new kitty and a new kitty-friendship to cheer her up:

There Nagi is, grooming Kola. There has been some playful biting, but mostly they are good friends and playmates. Kola is in that phase where she will leap pretty darn high for the right toy.

I cast off the last stitches on the Never Ending Shawl, also known as the TTL Mystery Shawl 2017.

I ran out of white, so I had to cast-off with pink, which I'm pretty happy with. I still have some ends to weave in and a couple dropped stitches to secure. I can't block it at this moment because I'll need the bed that Rachel is sleeping in!

My thoughts are with Dee and Mere and anyone else who is threatened by Irma!

A Gift, Some Knitting, Some Reading

First off, I have to share the wonderful goodies I got from Kim of Kim Knits, thanks to a lovely swap arranged by Kathy of Compassionknit. Kim is so smart. The swap was a no-yarn swap, so Kim included needles!

It seems so obvious, but it never occurred to me. Of course, the first thing that occurred to me was chocolate, but that's another story! I love the little notebooks she included. It's just perfect for keeping in my knitting bag and tracking details about my projects. And she noticed that I am a sucker for all crafts, so she sent a needle-felting project. It's a little hamster and just adorable. I'm thinking it would be perfect for Thankgiving weekend!

Thank you so much, Kim, for such fun and thoughtful gifts!

As for knitting, I've been unusually monogamous and managed to add quite a bit to my TTL Mystery Shawl 2017. I ordered the light pink online because I couldn't find anything that seemed right locally. It's OK, but a bit too pastel for me. I'm about 20% through the final clue; I will finish this!

I just finished History of Wolves, a first novel by Emily Fridlund. It's a coming-of-age novel set in northern Minnesota. It's much more nuanced that your usual COA novel and well-written.  In this book, a teen-age girl who is being raised by her hippie parents on the site of a failed commune begins baby-sitting for an affluent family that moves in nearby.

The plot is not what you'd expect. I found this novel quite gripping.

That just leaves me reading non-fiction for now. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, a doctor, looks at death and end-of-life issues in America -- and what a mess it is! Not a cheerful read, but very thoughtful and thought-provoking. My father moved into Assisted Living a few weeks ago, so this has special resonance for me.

I've just begun The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf, which is about early biologist Alexander von Humbolt, and it is fascinating and really well-written. I'm looking forward to getting deeper into it.

Please do join us for Unravelled Wednesday with Kat!