Let's talk about my knitting! (and a couple other things)

 It's Friday. End of the week. Yay! 

Usually I'd try to do some sort of "This is how the week went" if I hadn't written much during the week. 

This week not much happened, except rain and crappy weather. Really.  I worked and when I wasn't working the weather was not conducive to being outside.  Bah!

So I've been puttering with this and that, all the while thinking about how I was going to sort all this crafty stuff out ... I'm still working on it.  Or, as some may know it, I've been in my own head a lot this week. 

Oh, and sewing. But that's for another post. 

I'm looking forward to the weekend, even though it may just be more rain.  I'm looking forward to spending time with my man and possibly having my birthday dinner early.  

Okay, so boring week. Nothing exciting going on. ... Let's talk knitting!

I've been holding on to a few things, waiting to share about them on the blog. I've been wracking my brain, making sure I remember everything and not leave anything out. 

Current WIPS (Works in Progress)

Project Name: February Lady Sweater
Started: May 2024

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Flint Knits.  I still had my copy from the last time I knit this sweater.  Apparently it's no longer "Published" but I'm sure you can still track down a copy. 

Yarn: Yarn purchased from Temu and the label has Chinese written on it.  So ? I can tell you that it's 95 percent alpaca and 5 percent acrylic.  It is SUPER soft. 

Colors: Red/burgundy

Needle Size: US #8, 5 mm; US #10 (6mm)

Made For: myself. 

I started this sweater in May.  My first time working with yarn purchased off the Temu site. Each skein says 100 grams but I have no idea what the yardage may be. Crossing my fingers I have enough yarn to make sleeves a little bit longer than my other February Lady Sweater.

Yarn is super squishy, though, and I enjoy knitting with it.  It's easy on the hands. 

Project Name: Passenger princess socks
Started: June 3, 2024

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Vanilla sock pattern

Yarn: Patons Kroy sock yarn

Colors: Mid century stripes

Needle Size: US #1, 2.5 mm

Made For: myself. 

I decided to start a pair of vanilla socks and knit on them only when I'm passenger in a vehicle.  I made quite a bit of progress the first week.  I don't anticipate having these done until the end of summer at the earliest. 

Project Name: Monkey Socks
Started: Nov. 12, 2023

Finished: 

Designer/Source: knitty.com

Yarn: Forbidden Fiber Co.

Colorway: Tale as old as time, on the Fortitude base.

Needle size: U.S. 1, 2.5 mm

Made For: myself. 

This sock hasn't received much attention the last few months.  The main reason why is that I need to haul my chart keeper with me because I'm using it to keep track of where I am in the pattern repeat. Bit of a lame excuse, but it is true. 

The last time I had it out and was working on it I tried the sock on and it was a bit snug. I reminded myself that they will "ride up with wear"  grow a bit with washing and blocking. The yarn is so nice to work with. 

Look at those stitches. 

I'm will working on my charity stitching.  It's crochet.  Maybe I should have said "Let's talk yarn crafting." 

Project Name: Charity Stitch year-long project
Started: Jan. 1, 2024

Finished: 

Hat and blanket sets for Make Bundles for Babies. 

Yarn: Acrylic baby yarn I have in stash.

Needle size: Crochet hooks of various sizes, depending on yarn weight

Made For: Make Bundles for Babies. 

Hats need to be made for these two blankets.  Since this yarn is a light weight yarn, and not worsted, I need to use a smaller hook and a different hat pattern than what i was using.  I'm dragging my heels on making the hats because of this. 

I have other sets completed.  They are already in the pile of finished sets and sitting out in the she shed.  I had sets left over from last year so there is 12 complete sets, which was my goal for the year.  I'm not sending them just yet.  I'm sure I'll make more, here and there. 

Finished projects (FOs)

I've been holding on to these socks to share. 

Project Name: Vanilla sock
Started: Nov. 13, 2023

Finished: March 5, 2024

Yarn: Patons Kroy sock yarn

Colorway: Amythest stripes

Colors: dark purples.

Needle size: U.S. 1, 2.5 mm

Made For: myself. 

I'm happy with how they turned out. They fit like a dream. 

Project Name: Vanilla sock
Started: Nov. 18, 2023

Finished: March 15, 2024

Yarn: Patons Kroy sock yarn

Colorway: Coastal stripes

Colors: variations of blue and some white or grey.

Needle size: U.S. 1, 2.5 mm

Made For: myself. 

This was the pair of socks I started out on a 9 or 11 inch chiaogoo mini twist and decided I wasn't happy with working on that size needle. 

The toes turned out more pointy than what the photo shows.  I'm happy with these socks too. 

And now that I've shared them on the blog I can wear them. 

Project Name: Opa! Dishcloth
Started: June 5, 2024

Finished: June 11, 2024

Yarn: Peaches and Cream dishcloth cotton yarn

Colorway: green

Colors: green

Needle size: U.S. 5, 3.75 mm

Made For: myself. 

A while back I saw someone on Instagram making dishcloths and sharing the patterns from the Kitchen Sink Shop. Free dishcloth knitalong this year and a different pattern each month.   So I bit and signed up for it. 

This is the first dishcloth I worked on.  I'm almost embarrassed to say that this pattern repeat gave me more problems than it should. I kept messing up. I think because the pattern repeat is so similar to the pattern repeat of the February Lady sweater, too. 

And now for the project I know a lot of people have been waiting to see. 

My Harvest Cardigan.

Started: Nov. 12, 2023

Finished: Feb. 10, 2024

Designer/Source: Tin Can Knits 

Yarn: Hobby Lobby "I love this yarn"

Colors: Cinnamon Cedar

Needle Size: US #6 / 4mm & US #8 / 5mm

Made For: myself. 

I am ridiculously happy with how this turned out. It's super cozy and I enjoyed snuggling in it earlier this year when it was still so cold out. Oh, who am I kidding, it's still cool out.  The coolest June in ages. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Happy Valentine's to all. 

My husband and I celebrated with a meal at home.  He cooked filet mignon and I made a salad to go with it.  Homemade ice cream for dessert. 

My man can cook a great steak. 

In my Facebook memories for this day a photo of us from one of our first Valentine's Day dinners popped up.  

I know we went to a supper club that is well-known for it's prime rib. 

My mother-in-law took the photo and told us to have a good time. 

We were such wee babes.  

Here we are, 27 years later. 

We first met when I was working at Wendy's. I'd say it was love at first sight.  Though it probably didn't seem like it, at first. We exchanged phone numbers and talked on the phone for hours almost every night before we went out on first date. Our first date was memorable.  The engine on the old Monte Carlo caught on fire and we had to pull over, by Pattison Park, and pop the hood and throw sand on the block to extinguish the fire.  Yes, we did continue with the date and went to a pizza joint in a town I don't remember.  

He said when he drove me back home I jumped out of the car so fast he thought he'd never see me again.  I remember being so excited that I couldn't wait to get on the phone and call one of my girlfriends to tell her how the date went. 

Happy Valentine's to my soulmate, and that we have many, many more. 

I can say soulmate because we've been together *forever.*

In other news ... I've been feeling a bit low the last several days so I haven't been writing or posting the #fiberuarychallenge posts over on Instagram. The recent weather kinda blows and I think the barometric pressure is sapping my energy.  Then last night I didn't get a good nights rest. 

And since I can't sit still unless I'm sick in bed, I've been working on my quilt blocks. 

The next set of my Dancing Stars quilt blocks

 The next block in my Sandpiper quilt

I also started my Emotional Support Chicken.

Project Name: Emotional Support Chicken
Started: Feb. 13, 2024

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Knitting Tree LA

Yarn: Scrap yarns in my stash and Red Heart

Colors: Brown and Saffrom

Needle Size: US #7, 4.5 mm

Made For: myself. 

I also finished my Harvest Cardigan.  I'm saving it for the next podcast I record.  You will just have to wait to see it. 

Spinning fiber also happened.  Not as much as I would have liked. I'm falling behind! 

Oh! I did have some fun mail today.  I ordered a floor lamp for my spot in the living room. I think it's going to work out. It's nice and bright and it is positioned such that it's not blinding anyone else in the room. The price is also very reasonable.  Less than $40. 

Earlier today I went to town, to pick up mail at the office and take care of one thing.  I swung up to Harbor Freight and picked up a generator. 

Guess you could say it's a Valentine's Day gift for the man of the house. 

Experiencing setbacks and setting this week's goals

 Sunday afternoon I started working on the second sleeve of my Harvest cardigan. 

I knit and knit, and knit and knit. I may have knit almost all the way to bedtime, with a small break for playing Animal Crossing with some of my friends. 

So ... no finishing my cardigan by the end of the weekend.  That's okay.  No biggie, right. 

Yesterday, after dinner, I settled in my chair and knit some more ... I was tempted to push through and knit the last five inches so all I would have to do today was binding off and attaching the button. 

This morning I finished the last decrease repeat and measured the arm.  It was at the correct length so I just needed to switch needle size and knit the cuff. 

I opened my needle case and the slot for the needles I needed was empty. 

I knit almost the entire sleeve with the wrong size needles.  

That has been my crafting life since the new year started.  I don't even get it.  When I'm crafting I don't  feel stressed, or really any pressure to get the project done. Why do I keep having these issues? 

So at 6 a.m. I ripped back 16 inches worth of sleeve. I did compare the two sleeves and there was an obvious difference in gauge.  I know I would have never been happy with it as it was. 

Tonite, after dinner, I picked up the stitches and knit a few rounds.  I decided to call it for the night. Give myself a break from it. 

 Sooooo .... my goals for this week is to reknit the second sleeve and finish spinning the fiber that I didn't finish spinning in January. 

I'm going to take a bit of a break from most everything tonite, though.  

Tonite, I'm going to toss on "Community" and sew together the leftoever squares from my daydream wall quilt.  

I'm short two white squares.  I have no idea how I wound up with extra half-square triangles.  They will be ripped apart and pieced together to make full white blocks.  I'm thinking mug rug? Small pillow? Still deciding.

In other news for the day I had to make a run to town and the office.  I made the rounds to the stores and found the yarn I wanted for making the emotional support chicken. 

These two colors are probably the closest I will find for Furby's colors. I can start knitting the emotional support chicken at any time. 

I also picked up a string of fairy lights for the she shed. 

They need to be adjusted still. I'm sort of wishing I had picked up a longer string.  Oh well.  It is a nice pop of color and sparkle. 

One of the ladies at my work building called me about noon today.  There was some excitement after I had left. 

One of the guys had just returned from the post office.  He came through the front door and a moment later there was a terrific crash of glass breaking.  Some lady was going through the area and smashing windows of businesses and houses.  She's been arrested.  That is all I know. 

Someone from my work building posted a photo online. I was able to see the damage. 

It's not the first time there has been "excitement in my work building neighborhood.  I'm sure it won't be the last. 

We have reached that point of winter ...

 It's too cold out to really do anything.  Too much snow, but not enough for anything fun. 

Unless you are in to ice fishing on the bay.

Winter doldrums ... the Monday of winter. ... whatever you want to call it, we are in it. 

I'm not even sure what I mean anymore.  The cold snap (and I use that term loosely, considering the area I am in) is done.  Today we had a high in the upper 20s F.  The rest of the week the high temps are supposed to be in the 30s.  I'm just waiting for spring fever to hit me. 

Okay ... 

Last week I had Thursday and Friday off of work.  I have vacation time to burn before my work anniversary in February.  I'll have been at the paper for 21 years. TWENTY-ONE years! Can you believe it?  I can't. 

I decided to make use of this time to catch up on some of my crafty endeavors, and maybe knock a few things off the list. 

My last blog post talked about how I measured incorrectly for my binding on the Daydreams wall quilt. 

I went to Walmart and looked for the fabric.  They did not have it.  I was disappointed but not surprised. It's been a year since I purchased this fabric.  A yard of plain white fabric was purchased, to ensure I did NOT run short this time around. 

Wanna take a guess as to how much binding I would have needed for the original fabric? 

Here, it may make you weep. 

Maybe six inches?  When I set that up to see how close I was I immediately went looking all over the craft room and out in the she shed to see if I had ANY scraps of this fabric left.  I don't have a problem with piecing fabrics together. 

Nothing. 

Here's my finished wall quilt. 

Daydreams Wall quilt

Started: 2/5/23

Finished: 1/18/24

Designer: Sew Sampler Box, Jan. 2022

Fabric: Beautiful Day by Corey Yoder. Background fabrics from walmart. 

Made for: myself.  Will go up on the wall in my bedroom. 

On the bright side, it is my best binding job, to date. 

I put the binding on Thursday night.  I'm very pleased with it, overall.  This was my first time using the walking foot, with the bar, instead of drawing out all those lines.  I used a hera marker and pressed the first line, going each way.  Then used the bar to space them out about an inch apart. 

Friday I decided to tackle the apron I've been wanting to make for around two years now. 

I had the video going, and wasn't feeling stressed at all.  

Bam! The piece I had cut out for the body of the apron. ... I accidentally grabbed that piece and cut the straps out of it. 

Seriously? 

I posted about it in a few places on my social media and a few people gave me suggestions, since I did NOT want to have to buy more fabric. I promptly folded this fabric up and put it away until I could think more clearly about it. 

I figured it would be a good time to break out the WIP progress bag I wanted to make. The WIP-style bag I like, and have made several of, is the one that Kimberly from Fat Quarter Shop shows how to make. 

Cruising along with it, and quilting the back of the bag was going easily enough. 

 Then I about 25 percent into the quilting and I thought 'Hey, did I check that both fabrics are the right way?  You can see in the upper photo, to the right ... No, they are not!

I'm pretty sure I said out loud "Are you freaking kidding me?"  

I sat there for about 30 seconds and thought to myself "I should have stopped after the apron, and just gone and knit." 

Then thought "I don't care." The bag is for me.  No one is going to see the back of the bag.  I use vinyl on the front to help showcase the fabric." Then I continued quilting the fabric. 

There may have been an email to my mom's group in the interim about this. ... *ahem*

Before I trimmed down.  I thought I'd take a photo to show how the fabric was. 

After it's all trimmed up. 

The finished product.  I'm thrilled to bits with it.  Naturally, I want to make another one. I also want to put a Valentine project in it.  Cross stitch or sock, it doesn't matter. I think I'm ready to be done stitching Christmas charts. 

Spring WIP bag

Started: Purchased fabric from walmart in early 2023

Finished: 1/19/24

Used tutorial from Fat Quarter Shop

Made for: myself

Gotta say .... my new Janome came with an awesome zipper foot.  The zipper foot with my older Janome is a bit confusing to work with and I'm never quite sure I'm using the right side of it. 

I finished my WIP bag on Saturday. Friday night I worked on it until 10 p.m. and only had the binding left go to.  Thankfully I had enough. ... 

Sunday I tackled the apron again.  Since I had stepped back from it, I was able to go "Oh yeah, just sew the pieces back on!" 

That I did! 

And here you go.  You may not be able to see the three pockets I have sewn on there. I'd love to figure out a way to sew snaps on so I can fold the apron in have and use it to haul stuff in from the garden. 

Farmhouse apron

Started: Purchased fabric at walmart in 2022

Finished: 1/20/24

Designer: Sewing tutorial from Cosmopolitan Cornbread. 

Made for: Myself.  I've wanted a harvest apron for some time, and i think this will fit the bill. 

Would you believe that as soon as I hung this up I realized there was something that I forgot to do when I was assembling the pieces together on this.  Yeah ...  I'm not going to say what, however, because I firmly believe in not pointing out your errors, especially if they aren't obvious. 

And, yes, now that I've struggled through one of these aprons I want to make another.  One in a lighter color. 

I'm a glutton for punishment.  It's a really nice design, though.  Simple and you don't have to worry about ties. 

This weekend I worked on few of my knitting projects.  I'm hoping to record a video this week, and I'll share about them in the video.   Naturally, I had some battles with a vanilla sock and my harvest cardigan. This wasn't my week for crafty things. 

In other news, my hubby is hatching an idea for our solar set up and the ability to charge up the batteries with a generator when the solar panels are covered in show, or when we haven't had sun in several days.  That's kind of exciting.  We haven't had any new homesteady-type projects in a while. Unless you count expanding the garden.  

The cold is here

 On Thursday or Friday the weather people said to prepare because snow was on the way, followed by sub-freezing temps. 

What it looked like on Thursday. 

Lovely, huh? 

Well, the heavy snow went around us. The southern part of Wisconsin was slammed by a blizzard. 

One of my friend's said her power went out for a few hours.  I also heard a rumor about the Milwaukee airport shutting down.  I heard later that it did not shut down. 

We did not get the big storm that was promised us. We got four inches at the most. 

It snowed a wee bit on Friday and overnight. 

Not that I was disappointed at the small amount of snow that hit our area. 

Remember the tractor we purchased? There hasn't been enough snow for us to really test it out. 

So it is the ATV plow for us, to push around this fluffy stuff that isn't amounting to much. 

This weekend wasn't very exciting. It's surreal to have snow on the ground. It also doesn't seem right to have subzero temps now.  It's supposed to warm up a bit by the end of the week. 

Saturday we took a trip to town and Sunday we bummed around the house, taking it easy. 

I stitched, knit and sewed a bit. 

Knitting on my Harvest Cardigan.

My wall quilt. 

On Friday I hauled in a little something ... 

The garden soil had to thaw out.  

Even though I was all keyed up to start some seeds this weekend, I did not.  I still had to set up the lights in my seed-starting greenhouse. 

I finally did that today, after work. 

I flipped the lights on and it was an an immediate burst of something ... Like "Wow!" and feeling upbeat and chipper almost right away.  Crazy how lights can do that. 

I've been reading stuff on the book of Faces, and watching some Youtube channels about seed starting, gardening, etc., and I got to thinking a little bit. 

Ever since I got in to gardening it's been a dream to have a "real" greenhouse, but for various reasons one hasn't been built yet.  

With the recent cold snap I've been reading a lot of people asking for tips and advice on how to keep their greenhouses warm so their plants and seedlings don't succumb. 

I got to thinking about this a bit and how much maintenance a greenhouse is at this time of the year.  One person said they are spending $1,000 a month to keep their glasshouse warm enough. Can you imagine?  

Anywho ... these last several years I've learned a lot about gardening and seed starting.  And I realized that every place I lived since I got into gardening, I've worked my seed starting set up to fit in my house.  Greenhouses are nice.  What I am seeing is that having one is kind of the exception, not necessarily the rule. 

A lot of the blogs and channels show how to start seeds indoors with a seed starting station. 

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this because it's getting a bit late and I'm a wee bit tired.  I see a lot of people poo-pooing the type of greenhouse I have outside and that is a shame because they work well. There is at least one well-known YouTuber who said disparaging words about this style of greenhouse and I think she did a real disservice to those who are just getting started with seed starting and may feel bad that they have this "greenhouse" but not a "real greenhouse."  My only wish is that mine was a bit bigger because I start so many seeds now that my greenhouse is full to bursting when it's time to bring the plants out there.  However, I do have a second greenhouse and I may set it up this spring if I need it. 

So, yeah. If you are a hardcore gardener, you find a way. 

And my way is to have my seeds start in my craft room.  How close is everything?  You can see where my quilting station is, and my umbrella swift. 

Oh yeah, and the incubator behind it.  If I was hatching eggs out, I'd have the mini-greenhouse in a different spot. 

Fun times ahead! I can't wait. 

Quiet first day of the new year

 I went to bed about 10:40 last night.  Not even late enough to watch the ball drop in Times Square.  I thought about staying up until at least 11 p.m. Then decided that it would probably wreck me for today if I stayed up late. 

So I went to bed and woke up today about my usual time. 

Quiet day.  Didn't have the television on for most of the day. I knit a bit, off and on throughout the day. 

I learned something interesting about my knitting.  While working on my Harvest Cardigan I decided to time how long it took me to knit a row, and then purl a row. 

My knit row was 9:02.16. 

Wanna guess how long it took me to knit my purl row? 09:03.00

Yup. I was just as surprised as you. 

I played my newest "obsession." Though I don't know if I can call Animal Crossing an obsession. A few of my friends started playing and we are having fun telling each other how far along we are and such. 

I also did some puttering around the house, catching up on housework and putting away almost all the Christmas stuff away.  I let my Mother-in-Law's angels up.  I'm not ready to put them away just yet. 

My hubby and I spent a bit of time out in the back twenty. The weather was decent today.  Not warm, but not cold.  Like, it was cold enough outside that you could do physical work and not be uncomfortable.

It was decided to run the tractor and see how things were working.  Just making sure the implements were ready to go when/if we get enough snow that will need to be pushed around by big machinery. 

Everything works as it should and the tractor seemed ready to tackle some "serious" work. 

We ate chicken wings for a late lunch. What a treat!

The afternoon was spent chilling, basically.  Watching tv, puttering on the Internet. 

We need more days like this.  Especially now that I can officially start thinking/planning/doing seed starting stuff. I'll be setting my indoor greenhouse up for seed starting. 

I think I'll be going back to a non-every day writing schedule.  Several days a week.  I'll aim for Monday, Wednesday, Friday and maybe a day on Sunday.  As the spirit moves me.