Good News, Weird News & Knitting

 My husband and I woke up to a great text this morning: All the conditions have been removed from the offer on our house and we are closing on June 1! It will be nice to own only one house.

Weird news: Threats of a shooting at my high school have been posted on Snapchat. Really? As if this school hasn't been hard enough! The worst thing is that Snapchat doesn't seem to know who posted the threatening posts. We definitely need to regulate social media.

And finally .... knitting!

I finished the first Petty Harbour sock. I was worried about running out of yarn, so I only did a 5-inch leg. Big mistake! I didn't get to the final color. Oh well. I'm not redoing the sock!

I am a huge fan of Casapinka. She writes amazing patterns, and I love ponchos. So how could I resist casting on Noncho? The red and gray yarns are from my stash, but I honestly didn't have a third color. Local dyer and store Knit Circus had just reopened, so that gorgeous hand-paint is from there. We much support every LYS, right?

I have 19 more school days before retirement. It still feels like a long time. But I will get there!

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.

Fiber on Friday

Yes, this is still a knitting blog. But first, thank you so much for your kind words and support about my work. I have helped some students get through school and into college, but I definitely feel like I mostly lose out to structural racism. Because Wisconsin's court system is all online, I can count 24 students who have been convicted of crimes -- most of felonies. All --100% -- of these students are Black or Latinx.

On to more cheerful things. The weather is moderate today, so I had a fabulous bike ride. I try to bike 3 or 4 mornings a week -- at least 35 minutes of hill repeats. I live in a glaciated part of Madison, so I don't have to go far. I actually live on a pretty steep hill.

I have an FO to share today. This is Kate's Poncho, which I finished in 90-degree weather. Even today, I can't stand to put it on to model it!

I made it with a now-discontinued Miss Babs worsted. It is going to get a lot of wear next winter! It is a very easy pattern, top down, nothing fancy. I shortened the neck because my neck is so sensitive to wool.

My daughter has enjoyed teasing for me 6 years about the fact that she doesn't need many knitted items as she lives in Miami. But, August 1 she will be moving to Denver! Mittens, hats, scarves! I could hardy be happier! When I asked her what color her winter coat is, she said, "I know why you're asking." She know me, all right.

I am working a pair of socks for her -- the Petty Harbour pattern on Ravelry:

It's a great and easy-to-memorize pattern.

I hope that we all have a calm and not-too-hot weekend!

Winter Weekends

Yarn and winter just go together. There are a lot more opportunities to wear wool in Wisconsin than in points south. And there is something extra cozy about knitting when it's cold outside.

I spent a chunk of this weekend at my Knitters Guild winter retreat, held in the cute little town of New Glarus. My husband can't believe this events exists. 

"So you just sit around all day and knit?" he asks disbelievingly.
"Yep."
"That's all?"
"Yep."
At this point he just shakes his head.

I knit quite a bit on a new pair of socks:

These are the Go With the Flow Socks from Interweave's Favorite Socks  book.  I wanted a simple pattern that would show off this gorgeous yarn from Ewetopia, one of my favorite Wisconsin dyers. 

And I'm close to finishing my Soundwaves shawl.

It's hard to get a feeling for what this shawl is like because it's large -- two skeins of sock-weight yarn -- and very scrunched up on the needles. But I think it's going to be very cozy and pretty.

Last weekend, I was up in Door County (the "thumb" of Wisconsin) with some friends. Luckily my friend Lisa knew a place to go to see ice formations, which were awesome:

Lisa is a serious photographer, so we were out for every sunset:

The only bad part is that today I have a stomach bug, so I went to bed as soon as I got home from New Glarus. I have had good company; Kola enjoyed exploring my knitting bag before settling down to nap by my side.

I hope that I feel better in the morning. We are a week away from finals, so I can't miss work next week!

Finally Some FOs...and a Start

I started out 2018's Secret Sock Society run by the talented Helen Stewart with great enthusiasm, but I've gotten distracted by embroidery and quilting. Still, I completed a second pair of the Winter Rose socks. 

This pair is gray and is for me. This is a great pattern than I highly recommend. It does require you to knit 3 stitches together occasionally, but you get used to it.

Don't faint from surprise, but I have a second FO. This is a Sockhead Slouch Hat. 

It takes some time because it's knit in fingering weight, but it is perfect for a gorgeous gradient skein. I used yarn from Knit Circus. Truly perfect mindless knitting!

As for my start, I have to thank Kathy B! I don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner that my father needs a Twiddle Muff. 

He does indeed have restless hands, so I'm hoping this will keep him happy once I add some texture, bobbles, and i-cords.

If he likes it, I may knit up a few more for other residents in the Memory Unit.

Chipping Away

 In the whirl of school and the holidays, I haven't had much time for crafting or blogging or blog reading -- though I've squeezed in a bit of that. I have chipped away at a few projects during my morning coffee.

I'm almost to the heel flap of my Winter Rose socks.

My unnamed embroidery is getting more filled in.

I made my sketch group for the first time in months at a cafe in Verona, a Madison suburb.

The cafe where we sketched had this sign:

I have to mention that there's a yarn store in Verona. My friend wanted to go in, so we did...and I came out empty-handed. No yarn was acquired!

This weekend I'll be cooking for the Yom Kippur break fast that I host every year. It's always fun, but it's a big event and it's a relief when it's over.

It's THAT Time of Year

Well, it is if you're a teacher. Today was freshman-only day, and I'm exhausted! I did stay late for an IEP meeting, so that doesn't help. But I'm excited for tomorrow when the rest of my students show up. I want to hear how their summers were.

 There hasn't been a lot of time for crafting. My weekend was busy with driving to a family gathering in Chicago and working. But I did finish a Winter Rose sock and get a start on the second one.

 And I assembled another mini-quilt. I want to go through the whole process soon -- before I forget everything I learned at the workshop in August.

And along with the start of school, the High Holy Days start at sundown on Sunday. I took this photo of our communal granddaughter at services this past weekend. I told her that we stored all the good girls on this shelf, and she climbed right in!

I'm hoping to get back to work on my Vodka Lemonade sweater this week. Do you have any projects that you've been neglecting?

On Travel Knitting

I didn't get a lot of knitting done on this trip, partly because I had my daughter to hang out with and partly because I didn't make good choices in travel knitting.

I chose two sock projects, starting with Bonnie Sennott's Plumtree. This is a darling and well-written pattern.

But it has two 32-stitch repeats per round, so you really need to follow the pattern. It also takes more concentration than I wanted to spend on vacation

The second project is one I'd knit before, Helen Stewart's Winter Rose Socks, which I knit once last winter.

This one has a pattern that is easy to remember, but there are three plain rounds. I'm not good at reading my knitting, so I need to have a counter handy to keep me from knitting too many rounds. 

I will finish both pairs eventually, but it would have been nice to have come home with at least one finished sock, if not a pair. Next time, I'm packing some mindless knitting!

It's All About Curious Handmade

I have managed to finish Magnolia, the second pattern in the Secret Sock Society, and I'm very happy with them. This pattern was a lot harder -- for me, at least -- than the first pattern in this year-long KAL from Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade. There are a lot of cables, and I cannot cable without a needle on fingering-weight yarn.

I think the yarn is a bit too busy for the pattern. Still, they are very pretty. This is the second pair I've knit from Great Lakes Tweed yarn, and they slide on like butter. This is truly a luxurious yarn!

The next pattern should come out in early June, and I'm looking forward to the next challenge. 

In the meantime, I'm working on another Helen Stewart pattern, the Spindrift Shawl. It's hard to believe that such a simple pattern can yield a stunning shawl.

Ok, so this picture doesn't do it justice. But I'm on the bottom lace now, and it is very pretty. I started this a year ago and somehow it got buried in the knitting basket. 

Thank you for all the comments about Magic Loop. I am relieved to find out that I am not the only one who struggles with this technique. A number of you suggested starting on DPNs and then shifting the stitches to the long circular. I am definitely going to try that!

A Fail, A Finish, A Feline & Flowers

Have you ever dropped a Size 1 DPN on an airplane and found yourself crawling around on the floor to find it? Well, I have -- and more than once. Since I've got some travels planned for this summer, I determined to learn the Magic Loop method.

I spent (wasted?) an hour trying to get a pair of socks started. I couldn't even get the first sock going. At first, I spit out a few bad words in the direction of the book. But I know a lot of people have used this book. I think we may be talking user error here. Maybe some You Tube videos would help me more.

This failure was balanced by the finish of my mindless knitting project, a pair of self-striping socks in the Hermoine's Everyday Socks pattern. 

I bought this yarn at 50% off and it worked out be much prettier than I expected. Into the gift box they go.

 I have to throw in this photo of Kola. I love making their heads look too big for their bodies. Makes me laugh every
time. If that seems odd, remember that I work with teen-agers.

And last, but not least, we finally have flowers around here. I love spring flowers, especially the early ones like lilacs.

Wishing you a productive week!

Back to Knitting

Despite all the graduation excitement, there has been knitting. This gorgeous cake of yarn is turning into a Field of Wildflowers hat.

It is a Joji Locatelli pattern, so of course it is well-written and easy to follow. It has quite a few cables, pushing me to take time out to start learning how to cable without a cable needle. 

Thanks to Internet tutorials, I can cable without a needle -- but only when the crossed stitches are held to the front. The yarn is local -- Four Crows Yarn Hand-Dyed Worsted.

With all the company, I needed a mindless project. My go-to is always self-striping Opal. I can't find the ballband, but I am enjoying watching this sock emerge.

Our hummingbirds are back! If you look closely, you can see a female sipping at the left side of the feeder.

It's Wednesday evening, and I am still pretty darn tired.  Not that I'm complaining! It's a blessing to have events and people to celebrate.

Sort Of Spring

It was 36 degrees when I set out on my bike for Urban Sketching this morning. That seems awfully cold for the very end of April. At least I'd remembered to cover my ears, and the cold air turned out to be quite pleasant.

We sketched at a cafe along one of Madison's four lakes, and most of us drew the folksinger who was providing live music. Not my favorite drawing, but not bad for practicing. I told him we were competing to do his next album cover.

It's always fun to see what everyone else has drawn.

Work is getting busy as the end of the year approaches, so there hasn't been a lot of knitting. I did finish the first Magnolia sock.

Here is a close-up so you can see the pattern a little better.

There are crosses (cables involving only two stitches) and cables with four stitches. I do fine on the cables, but a good number of the crosses are in the wrong direction. I will confess to being a fudgy knitter. I think the color changes hide the errors. Besides, these are for me. I'm going to live with the mistakes.

Do you fix ALL your mistakes?

Starts

At long last, spring has arrived here. After all, it's only late April! I was able to take a spin on my favorite vehicle this weekend:

I have to say that it was a bit rough and I need to build up some strength -- but it felt good to be out riding in the sunshine.

I've gotten a good start on the second pattern in the Secret Sock Society run by Helen Stewart. Magnolia is a beautiful pattern:

Once again, I'm using a yarn from Great Lakes Tweed and I love it. However, it's a little busy for such a detailed pattern:

Even so, it's very pretty and I'm going to keep going on this pair. I can always knit a second pair in a different yarn!

I hope you have a wonderful week. Mine is starting out with jury duty!

Sunday Start and Finish

 So, here we are in the middle of winter -- wait! It's April 8! How can the high temps be in the 30's? Not fair! However, I suppose it is good weather for hat knitting. It only took me four days to knit a Crazy Color Hat:

I've started a second one, only I'm designing the colorwork section just for fun. The colored yarn is Ewetopia DK, and it is divine. The gray is MadTosh Charcoal.

And I cast on the second sock in the Secret Sock Society from Helen Stewart. It was 2 inches long when I realized I had made far too many mistakes, so this is how it looks now:

This pattern has lots of cables, which is both great and scary. Great because I need to get better at them and scary because (as rediscovered today) I am terrible at doing them correctly.

Has anyone else noticed that weekdays are longer than Saturday and Sunday?

On Socks

What is it about socks that grabs so many knitters? After all, as my husband never gets tired of pointing out: "You can buy three pairs for $9.99 at Farm and Fleet." And yet, many of us would rather pay $20 or more for yarn and then devote dozens of hours to produce a single pair.

A pair of plan vanilla socks pops with KnitCircus yarn.

I know what got me started: a skein of Opal sock yarn with specks of bright colors against a background of white. It became my first pair of socks (which I think my mother still wears) or, more accurately, my first pair of fingering-weight socks. Before taking on fingering-weight and size 1 needles, I practiced by knitting a handful of pairs in worsted weight -- a method I highly recommend.

These are Keith's Hanukkah socks. He rarely wears them because they are "too pretty" to wear, he says.

Once I knit up that Opal yarn, I was never again without at least one pair of socks on the needles. I swear I could knit a pair of plain stockinette socks in my sleep. They've become my go-to project for meetings and other settings that require simple knitting.

My Winter Rose socks in Great Lakes Tweed yarn.

But my favorite pairs tend to incorporate lace, and one of the best lace socks I've knit are these orange ones, Winter Rose by Helen Stewart. This pattern is downright meditative. I know I'll knit these again.

I am quite rigid about how I knit socks, though I'd like to branch out. At this point, I only knit cuff-down and I always use a heel flap/gusset construction. And I like DPNs. This summer I really want to learn toe-up on one long circular needle.

These are my current "meetings" socks. I bought the yarn on clearance, not realizing that it would knit up so well. They are Hermoine's Everyday Socks, which is beginning to be my plain vanilla. I just love the texture of this pattern.

The only bad thing I can say about sock knitting is that it tends to lead to sock-yarn stash explosion. It's so easy to buy "just one skein." It's amazing how fast those skeins accumulate. I suspect they multiply in the dark of a Rubbermaid bin because there is no way that I bought that much sock yarn.

I have quite a few pairs in my sock drawer, and I love giving socks as gifts. But at the rate I'm knitting them, I may need to make more friends to expand my sock-giving!