What’s next? I’m going to finish knitting my Broom Riding Cowl and sewing my Halloween Shirt. Then next month, along with a theme of thankfulness, I’m going to knit for others! And dive into my Mom’s Franca sweater and some socks for one of my kids.
I’ve got some interesting things going on in my garden. Could call it a second summer?
I think these peppers will be edible. I guess it pays to be lazy and wait until spring to clear out the garden.
I’m reading this book. I heard an interview with him on NPR about his new memoir, and I’m a fan. One time, I saw Peter Frampton as a guest on the Today Show at the start of baseball season, and he performed “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” on the Talkbox. I love that. It made my eyes twinkle with delight. I bought a copy for my sister, too, who is also a fan. I don’t normally purchase books, but I had to support this. I special ordered them from our local book store. I felt good about that, too.
It must be Feel Good Friday! What are you feeling good about today?
If you look carefully, you will see these socks are not identical. Leave a comment if you spot it.
But they are fine. I don’t care. Yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 Ply in Cardamom. Cuff is double eyelet rib.
I got my hair chopped off. I love it.I brought in my plants since it’s been getting cold at night. They get so much sun here. I think they will be very happy this winter.
And right on cue for 2020, I’ve finally got two tomatoes on my plants. The leaves are already dead. Too funny.
I guess I’m going to have to learn how to darn. I’ve got a hole in the elbow of my $1.99 Marks and Spencer thrift store cardi. Hopefully I can find a tutorial on YouTube.
I’ve watched the first episode of Great British Baking Show. I’m hungry for more. (See what I did there?) Bob and I finished the first season of Raised by Wolves. If you like sci fi, as we do, you might enjoy it.
Tomorrow’s Saturdate theme is Karl Urban. I was thinking of Star Trek but we’ve seen it too many times. Bob has Dredd and The Irrefutable Truth about Demons on the calendar. I think Karl Urban is funny.
A few weeks ago we watched the new Charlie Kauffman film “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” Do you like Charlie Kauffman? I like Charlie Kauffman. I’m enjoying the film, you know, just going with it, and then at the end I look at Bob and say, “What the hell just happened?” And we laugh. It’s an enjoyable experience. Plus David Thewlis and Toni Colette are two of my favorite actors.
I hope to get some crafting done this weekend. Wish me luck!
I finished my Foursquare Cowl. I’m not gonna lie. I had some tension issues, which is all my fault. But I worked it out, and isn’t it pretty? The yarn is super soft. This is a fun pattern to knit. Also, I’m wearing my Weekender on the weekend, because I’m original like that.
Next up is my Mom’s Franca. I look forward to learning this construction method. I bought the book and journal from CocoKnits so there is no reason for me to misunderstand anything.
I still need to finish my second PSL sock, but at least I’m on the heel flap. I have two new projects in the planning stages, and I will share about those later this week.
Sewing
I am ready to start on my Rachel shirt. I’ve taped together the pattern and washed the fabric. I ended up getting new Halloween fabric because the print was too big on the first fabric. I am going to offer Bob a Halloween shirt from the big print. Like a Hawaiian shirt, but Halloween. He will probably decline. If so, maybe I can host a Halloween knitalong next year and make a few Halloween totes as prizes. Or maybe I can do both. It could happen.
We have our curtain rods, and once they are installed I will start sewing the curtains.
Fiber Art
I have two pieces in the idea phase, and two shadow box frames for them made from salvaged barn wood. Now I need to fill in the in between. I am taking a vacation in October and I expect I will get them done then.
Other than that, I’m still plugging away on my list. I’m not focusing on fiddle at the moment, but I am focusing on increasing my running endurance. I’m up to 2 miles, 4 times per week. In October I hope to run 45 miles for our Move 4 Fair Trade campaign at work. If you would like to show your support for me, or Fair Trade, or Global Gifts, you can pledge here: https://move4fairtrade.rallyup.com/f95b63/goalissa
Yesterday, we had our first fire in the fireplace of the new house and it’s heaven. RBG’s passing was a gut punch. For Satur-date we ate our feelings and picked movies that we each defined as a “feel good” movie. Here’s the funny part, both movies are black comedies about ordinary people trying to cover up a death for their own ordinary reasons, money and love, taking place in beautiful scenery with great dialogue: Waking Ned Devine and The Trouble with Harry. Bob and I are the same person.
Blogville Knitters Virtual Knit today at 1PM Eastern! Please message or email your Skype ID to me, Marilee, or Sarah if you are new and want to join in.
I finished my Arachne Sweater! I love it! I think the cropped silhouette and short sleeves keep the vintage vibe alive. I had plenty of yarn and I look forward to making a Seamwork Rachel shirt to wear under it in this print.
Surely I’m not the only one whose YOP list stays the same number, or even grows?
I want to sew more Rachel shirts, one for each season. I want to customize the fit and make it my go to shirt pattern. I also want to do that with a pant pattern, but I haven’t found the pattern yet.
Our curtain rods should arrive today, which means my linen curtains just moved up on the sewing list.
Laura Kate asked me to share a sketch of my idea for my fiber art piece. I don’t feel comfortable doing that yet, but I am glad I have a more concrete idea. I will share something later, once I’ve made a little more progress.
Bob and I watched Driveways yesterday. Highly recommend. We shared our mutual love of Brian Dennehy. Then we watched the latest episode of Lovecraft Country. Highly recommend. Then I thought we were going to make it a Brian Dennehy weekend with a Lovecraft Country intermission, but Bob surprised me with an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that was a Doug Jones breakout role. I don’t love Buffy (the show, although I love the movie) but we think a Doug Jones weekend is imminent. And I wouldn’t mind rewatching the first season of Buffy in October.
Is it too early to watch Hocus Pocus? It is, isn’t it.
Yesterday, The Woolly Thistle started their Sock Sprint KAL. In the spirit of thank you sir may I have another I hurried to finish my Pride socks so I could cast on another pair!
Not a perfectly matching pair, but I don’t mind.
I was thinking about making some Pumpkin Spice Latte socks (just the same recipe with a different cuff) from this West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-Ply in Nutmeg.
Spicy
Am I becoming a sock knitter? The thought of not having a pair of socks on the needles has me feeling off-kilter. But the Sock Sprint is only two weeks, and I don’t know that I’ll be able to finish a pair in that amount of time. But if I don’t, it’s really no big deal. Right? So maybe I’ll throw caution to the wind and cast on.
This weekend’s movie theme is Joker. First we’ll watch The Dark Knight for Heath Ledger’s interpretation then Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in Joker. I think they were both equally good, but I absolutely loved the film Joker.
Our Blogville Knitters virtual knit is tomorrow at 1PM EDT! If you’re not already in the Skype group, please message your Skype ID to me on Instagram or Ravelry. Hope to see you tomorrow!
This is my first fabric coffee filter. I wanted to test it out before I made more. It works great! I used this pattern. I also used their fabric, but you could use a cotton muslin. I didn’t have any. I also didn’t have any paper filters to trace since I was using the muslin bags, which I don’t recommend. Not cleaning out the muslin bags was motivation number one for me to get a move on for this project.
I know Sarah is moving, but is there any desire for a virtual Skype knit? I miss the company of knitters.
I made my own header image for YOP because I’m extra that way.
I decided to jump in and join Year of Projects. I have been inspired by Liz’s updates, and I thought it might be good motivation for me to blog along with my ever expanding, massive list. I read the group rules, and it seems pretty easy going, so if I fail (indubitably) it will be no big deal.
Without further ado, here’s my list!
Fiber Art
“Sunbleach” 2019
I have a group show in November 2020, and I need to create a piece or small group of pieces for this. I have some ideas.
I have a solo show in September 2021, and I need to make a body of work for this show. If I start on this now, it feels doable. I have some ideas. Once I have a firm concept for the show, I’ll make a sub-list of pieces.
Franca. For my Mom. I caked all the yarn today! This is unusual for me. I usually only cake up one or two hanks. But winding the yarn has become a real chore for me in my new house. I don’t have a permanent setup for it. So I decided to wind them all.
Peerie Flooers. I have the J&S Shetland yarn for the original version of this that you can see in the show Shetland.
Four Square Cowl. I could knock this out if I focused on it for a week. I would love to wear it this fall.
Farmhouse Cardigan. This is the sweater I was so excited to get the Black Welsh Mountain yarn for. What an investment! But I cast on, made a mistake in my knitting, frogged it, and now it’s all sitting in a bag waiting to be cast on again.
Midnight Merino Raglan. When I found out the pattern has you knit the pieces separately and sew them together, I lost interest. But hey. It’s my knitting and I can do it however I want! I need to remember that.
Mistletoe Kisses Socks. These were supposed to be for the Christmas in July KAL, but since socks are my least favorite thing to knit, if I get them done by Christmas in December, I’ll consider it a win.
The Oa. Cast on but languishing. I still want to knit it. In other words, I won’t be frogging it.
HAHAHA there is no way I will finish all of these projects in 2020-2021. But at least they are on a list now. And yes, I still have more yarn!
Knitting Design
My goal for design is to sketch a design 5 days each week, and knit one of my own designs in this 2020-2021 year. It can be anything. It might be a headband. It is not allowed to be a blue beanie.
Poudre linen curtains. The linen is a very soft pink. We are just waiting on the curtain rods and I will get started. Yay, more rectangles and straight lines to sew!
Coffee filters. I use a pour over and I have been using muslin bags to filter the coffee and it is such a mess! I have some organic hemp and cotton on the way. This should be a quick and gratifying make.
By June 30, 2021 I want to be able to video myself playing a song for you. Don’t get too excited. It will probably be a very basic song. But once I surprised my friends (and myself) by launching into an improv version of Three Blind Mice. So who knows?
Have you ever seen the film Enchanted April? I haven’t watched it in at least a decade or maybe longer. I hope there is nothing offensive in it. I sometimes think fondly on an old film and then rewatch it and find myself appalled by something I never noticed before!
Anyway, in the film, Josie Lawrence is wearing a lovely silk kimono robe. I’ve always wanted one. I have shopped robes but never found one I liked or felt good about buying. Then I decided to make one, and I shopped silk but couldn’t find quite the right thing. I finally settled on this cotton lawn with cranes and peonies (printed in Spain).
This was a very zen make. I didn’t follow instructions or a pattern. I measured and cut rectangles and sewed them together. I made the sleeves extra long for extra waftiness. Isn’t it great with the pink tile? I purchased this fabric several months ago, before I’d even seen the pink tile! Happiness score = 😃
Bob and I walked our local rails to trails bike path this morning. It wasn’t too far and it was a well kept path. I got all my steps in today!
I can’t wait to drink my coffee on my hammock swing tomorrow in my new robe.
I finished my Deschain Tee! I knit one sleeve then realized the design is much better on me without sleeves. So I frogged the sleeve and finished the armholes the same as the neckline. I’m wearing it here with my linen lantern skirt over a camisole. It feels great to finish something.
