The green shawl I made this summer while I was waiting for them to do my eye surgeries. It was something I could do (all one stitch straight across) and keep my mind off things. 

 

I finally sewed up all the ends yesterday and patched the one spot where the dark green yarn had frayed to a single strand and I hadn't noticed until after they fixed my eyes -- when I was at the end of it. It looks like it will hold with the repair and I am still quite happy with it. It fits around my shoulders and neck and is very warm, just like the one I had made with this yarn before. 

 

More than that - it's a sort of 'container' for that time and all the thoughts and uncertainty that was in those hours, but I was still pressing on with doing things rather than sit there and stare at the wall thinking about things I couldn't make happen faster or fix by myself.

Knit we go in quarantine

Well, except that I am an essential worker.  But, I will remember this as the item I knit during this time.  I have a pink version of this one that I knit a few months ago, and I have worn it as a skirt (belly warmer) and a shawl, and used it simply to cover my legs while I sit and read or type.

It is a size 7 circular needle, and this particular one comfortably fits about 130 to 150 stitches before they want to pop off.  So, that is the size these blankets are.  It works out with the Red Heart acrylic yarn to be about 3 feet wide, and then I knit them about 4 foot long.

They are really handy little things to have around.
Weaving in all the ends of the stripes can be a bit hectic, but they look too plain otherwise, and I use up lots of little balls of scrap yarn in the process.

The nubbly areas are seed-stitch alternated for three to five rows and then back to garter stitch.  The stripe rows are two passes of each color.

Really simple but effective and useful knitting.

//

I saw a LOT of knitting posts lately, and yarn stashes, and deliveries etc etc... and I'm not doing anything fancy or ordering a lot of special yarn.. but I am glad to have something to work on.

I washed up and finished out the two Simply Soft scarves I had been making - one in magenta garter stitch and one in grey brick stitch.  They are about 10 to 12 inches wide and 5 and 6 foot long. respectively.  They are lovely and useful, as well.  I wore one of them around my neck up to the mailbox when it was cold the other morning, and the other one I had worn when I was wearing the pink shawl as a skirt and kept warm on top and bottom. 

That is a good yarn to hold up, although 3.68 per skein now at the store and what I have is mostly because Mark and Esme have given me them over the years as presents - silky and colorful yarns, they are definitely the type to draw the eye in.  I threw both of the scarves through the wash and they came out very nice - except I also threw in a wool scarf I had forgotten what it was made of and it came out really soft but kind of small - only 6 inches now by about 4 feet - but it is still a good neckwarmer type for tucking into a jacket collar.  I've worn a few of my knit hats, too lately - same reasons.. and making more of those for the 'pile' would be useful, too.

I also finished two net market bags, one book size and the other towel size for the beach.  The towel one is made of the same green yarn as this.

And of course wash cloths, I had stacks of them a few weeks ago - and they are all finished up and put into circulation.

Knitted shrugs

 

 

This first shrug is actually Esme's.  She picked out the colors for it from my collection and I tried to find a pattern that would look okay with them.  

 

 Hers is straight across at the back and doesn't have the 'tail' of the other one.

I do need to work at the neckline a bit if I make a third one - and figure out how to do that part neater.

This is the one I made first, and it fits me but does not fit her.  I started it with scrap yarn I had left from other projects and continued in the blue because I had a lot of that.  It goes around my arms just like hers does, but the back hangs down further because I hadn't worked out what I was going to do with it until I saw the shrugs in the Outlander series and said 'Maybe that.'

Now I'm working with the general idea of the 'Rent' shawl, with the increases in the mid center.  I tried a few online patterns and couldn't work out what they were trying to do.  So, I'm going at it mathematically and figuring it out as I go. 

Another long week of work and school for all of us.  I get next Sunday off.

dreaming of sunflowers and more

The truck was fixed yesterday and it looks very good.  We are so glad it is back and grateful for friends and coworkers that helped us out during the waiting... 

No, these aren't sunflowers.  They are the radishes and kale that I planted in the pots in the window late last week.  They are on a good start.  Not pictured are some tomatoes that are also doing well.  The sunflowers were in a dream last night, big seedheads, nodding in the wind in some brush up at the top of the road.  That is a good dream, production and fruitfulness.  I took a twenty cent package of sunflower seed up there where they had been in my dream and poked them in the ground while waiting for Esme's school bus.  We'll see.

Green shawl, started yesterday morning.  It will probably migrate to some yellow and pink soon, as those are other leftover colors I have that are not meant for the bigger striped blanket - and that is getting so heavy it was hard to bring anywhere... thus a second smaller project begins in the time I needed to wait for things yesterday. 

We have two days off - Esme will still be at school but I'll be home. 

Some bad news is that Astro, the stray dog that appeared last fall and 'adopted' us,  is now gone.  A neighbor saw him in a dog fight outside our property the other day, and that was not a good battle.   One thing led to another and he lost.  We have laid him to rest in the valley.  At least he had someone who cared about him for the time he was with us - from cutting the tight collar off of his neck to reminding him that people scratch behind ears, and rub bellies, and feed you every day.  It wasn't much we could do for him - as he was still flighty and a little worried about people - but we did something, and I know that was better than what faced him if we hadn't tried to help him at all.

A girl and her frog - and a triangle shawl

Esme still loves her Mr.Frog. It is the toy Daddy bought her at a garage sale way back when she was less than two - he looked almost 'new' then, and has seen a hard life. Recently, he has been nearly replaced by 'Cookie Rabbit', although he still is sometimes invited to tea or thrown into the air then returned to his place behind her pillow in her bed. Today, he got the privilege of sitting in a chair with her and watching a cartoon ... and she was counting his 'toes.'




I finished the triangle shawl a few days ago - here is Esme modeling it for you. It is almost a perfect fit for her... not so much for me but it is very warm across the neck and shoulders.




//Daddy saw me put on the shawl and pin it up. I turned to look at him and he was standing there staring at me, shaking his head and giggling. What? Mama is putting on a wool shawl to go downstairs and cook. *giggle* I was thinking how rare that would be to be actually happening ... Putting on a shawl to take a picture of the finished work - yes. Actually using it to keep warm during everyday activities? No... that makes too much sense. Ha. He knew I was an 'old soul' a long time ago ;)

I finished a lot of cleaning downstairs. The fabric is out of the washer now, it is various shades of blue similar to this old dress she is wearing. There are two other things to repair and a new pattern came in the mail. I'm pouring up a cup of coffee and going to look at what to make out of this fabric.