No Time Like the Present

Getting down to some different-than-usual business

I haven't written a blog post since January of last year. That's a long time. Well, here we all are, quarantined, sequestered (I like that jury reference -- think there's a joke in there somewhere ...), "hiding from an army of Sontarans" as Jodi Whittaker says in her Dr. Who tweet on current happenings. (go to #messagefromthedoctor)

Dental offices like mine are closed for, as the ADA tells us, "until there is a return to safety." I think that means a long time. So, as a displaced healthcare worker who, when treating patients, uses loads and loads of masks and gloves every day (these are some of the items they are speaking about in the news when you hear the acronym "PPE"), and generally creates a lot of aerosols when I work, I am likely here, at home, for the longer haul. While I cannot work from home in my day-to-day profession, I can work from home in my own way. It's just time to pull out my special, not-all-that-secret-and-not-all-that-super-but-pretty-good-powers and do some other work.

During this time, I am fortunate enough to have a husband who can work from home, a place to live, food to eat and internet access. I have a yarn stash that has nearly reached hoarder levels over my knitting life, and creative ideas stacked up to match, and maybe surpass, the stash.

Like all of us, I have those projects -- those dreams, if you will -- that have been on the back, back,  back burner(s) for oh so many years. Since we are living in surreal times anyway, why not a little dreaming? It's a wonderful thing to retreat to your rich, inner life as an artist, whether your art be fiber-ish, word-ish, visual or anything else. You can create a literal "retreat" in your own mind by thinking about those things you love, you want to create, that make you happy. In my own life, this is an activity I turn to again and again when I need calm or beauty. And right now, so many of us do.

I think that, in this time, those dreams and inner worldly things can and should come out and play. Be pursued. And we can share them with each other. As for me, I am resurrecting my Ravelry shop and my blog, which was formerly abandoned and sometimes haunted. I will kick up my novel writing to epic proportions ( I have 2 going -- and have had for some time).

So my plan is this: 

1. A twice-weekly check-in on the blog.
2. I will share: something I am reading; something I am designing; a picture of my puppy Beans; and something random.
3. Random things shared may include: UFOs or things I always wanted to sew or knit but have not had the time; skills I am trying/learning; things I am cooking, etc.
4. Once a week, I will share how the writing is going. I am enrolled in Camp NaNoWriMo and the #100dayproject, and they can keep you honest!

So, let's get rolling! 

I am a huge fan of the Craftlit Podcast with host Heather Ordover, I have been a listener for only about two or three years, but I am sucked in. Binge listen? Yes, please. The podcast is a wonderful way to hear classic lit (audiobooks) complete with some Lit Crit, commentary, and fantastic research from Heather on the authors, times and places in the books, etc.

Current book for me: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

This is a book I've always wanted to read, but never got around to it. Thankfully, Heather offered it on the podcast and, of course when I consider the source, I'm in.  It has led to a convergence for me. Years ago, I designed and knitted a Fair Isle hat for my brother Tom, who is a former MP with the Navy and is now a Merchant Marine. He truly is a seaman, or A Seafaring Man. Now seems to be the time to finally work the pattern out, complete with sizes infant to adult large, and pop it into the Ravelry shop. I am finishing up one more sample, finishing charts and the written pattern and shooting it over to the pattern testers at Ravelry.


After that, I may have one more Treasure Island pattern in mind, who knows?

These babies are getting tassels. Working on the adult sizes,
with regular tops. Or flat ones. Your choice.

As for designing, A Seafaring Man hat is the latest, but I have some others too. Included in the queue are some cleanups to some existing free patterns I have that are long over due, such as Grandma's Christmas Slippers. It's just an "ok" pattern right now, offering a single size. I wrote it as a second (or first? Can't remember) try to pattern writing. I'll let you all know when I fix it. It will remain free, no matter how many sizes I come up with. : )

Beans the Chiweenie says,  "Weird snow in March here in the Portland, Oregon? Apocalypse? Maybe. So what! Let's go!"

Yarn Along {January}

In case anyone wondered, the rules are roughly
 these: on your own blog, post this "button,"
seen here. Tell everyone what you
are reading and what you
 are working on right now. 

Hello, all! I haven't posted in the Yarn Along for the blog Small Things in a while, so here is my January post!

Right now, as part of my to-do list for my 50th year, I am working on list item #3: make birthday gifts for my two youngest daughters by the end of February (their birthdays are the 21st and the 25th). Amy Rose, turning 10 this year, will receive the Professor Meow sweater, designed by Claire Slade and seen on the Knit Picks website. I originally got this pattern (and bought the Wonderfluff yarn for it; a lovely mix of baby alpaca, merino and nylon fibers)  at Vogue Knitting Live in Bellevue, Washington in 2017, and in true procrastination fashion, I have been sitting on it until now.



Amy's sweater is my first real try at Intarsia and I have watched Sally Melville explain how to execute this technique on Craftsy (now becoming Bluprint) about 50 times. After a while, you just have to give it a go and stop living vicariously through someone else who can neither hear, nor see, nor really interact with you. I have learned that intarsia isn't insanely easy, but it also isn't insanely hard. You must be willing to blindly do as you are told, go very slowly, and it works out okay. Even so, I can tell that Professor Meow will do better with a bit of blocking once we are through!

Annie, turning 19 this year and living on her own for the first time, will receive a cowl that is taking an e-t-e-r-n-i-t-y to knit, with 400 stitches in the round (Okay, that number was my choice. The cast-on stitches were fewer, but not by much. I just started out with too much yarn tail, and there's no way I was going to remove 320 stitches just to start over with a smaller tail!). Those 400 stitches work together in a squishy slip-stitch pattern, and boy do those little guys love each other! They insist on hugging together in a pebbly, cushy way, so that after hours of knitting you feel like no progress has even been made. Have I already complained about that? Sorry. I can't hear you above my self-pity.

The cowl pattern is free (Is it? Really? Or is it an eternal sentence in hell?) and it called Array by Shibui Knits. I am using Lion Brand Wool Ease for Annie's and I plan to continue the eternal slip-stitch pattern for another couple of inches and then go off the rails a bit (for even more excitement) and switch out for stripes for a few extra inches, and then finally sew aaaaallllllll those stitches together for a totally closed cowl. Annie had better wear this thing.  Or else.

My reading is varied these days between audio and hard-copy books. My audio book right now is The Stand by Stephen King. I have never read one of his books and I've always wanted to read this one. I do so love microbes, and the mayhem they can cause is incredible. They are amazing and terrifying little buggers! For those times when children are in the room and I cannot play the audio book due to not-so-kid-friendly-language-subjects-otherstuff, I can quietly read my paper copy of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Thanks to Annie, my almost 19-year-old daughter for that one! I loved American Gods and I am so into this book.

Yes, I know. I know. You can see I am fascinated by apocalyptic storylines and the more supernatural the themes, the better for me. In fact, you as you get to know me on the blog here (or if you already know me in real life -- you know who you are), you will find I have a dark streak (humor, mostly...) that sometimes even freaks out my adult kids. But I like to think of it all as good, clean, end-of-humanity-as-we-know-it fun. After all, if we explore our fears, don't we totally control our worlds? No? Oh, well. "What if...." is still a good game, if you ask me.










Next up on the blog: I have no idea. First, let's make sure we make it to next week. ;)
P.S. This blog will soon be moving to a new address! If you would like to follow by email, please do it over at https://freckledgirlknits.blogspot.com/ ! I would love to stay in touch!!

2019: The Year of the Bucket -- er, To-Do List

Here's a recent photo of me. Ready for a new year
with a new stain on my shirt. 

This year, I have what I am calling the very exciting experience of turning 50. I truly am excited and for several reasons. First, if The Death Clock website is to be believed, I will live to be 99 years old, which puts me smack dab in the middle of my life, having another 49 years to live. That's plenty of time to get into the right kinds of trouble, and to accomplish a few things. More important, these remaining years will be much better than the previous ones -- at least 20 of those were spent knowing nothing about life, and at least another 10 were spent knowing only marginally about life, but believing I knew everything about it. Now, I can wisely spend my remaining years knowing that I -- and all of us -- truly know very little about life at all. And that there are rarely any true absolutes. This sets me free; I now can be exceedingly inquisitive, seeking experiences and new wisdoms that can be found absolutely anywhere.

Another reason to be excited about turning 50 is that it is a good time to create a list of things I'd like to do. I love listing. It is a favorite pastime of mine. Big picture-wise, I will likely create a master "bucket list" for the rest of my 49 years as people often do, but I think that for practical purposes, breaking that list down into manageable parts might be best. So this year, I'd like to create a smaller list. More of a "to-do" list than a bucket one. That is what I want to share with you all here on the blog over the course of 2019.

The final reason that turning 50 will be an exciting time for me is Molly Shannon. Yes. I can stretch and kick and stretch … and I'm 50 (or I will be ...)!!!! My name may not be Sally O'Malley, but this brings up another to-do list item: On my birthday, June 11, I plan to drive everyone crazy all day long (and maybe for the rest of the year, for that matter) acting out that character. At work. At home. At church (what's that you say? June 11, 2019, is a Tuesday and there is no church? I'll find a way). At the mall. All locations are fair game. Is a Rockette audition in my future? Maybe not. But I can sure act it out at random.

Although 2019 has not quite started, I am chomping at the bit to go, so here goes the first to-do list item: I want to leave the old blog and "rebrand" myself a bit. Just a very tiny bit. And here I am, with a new blog name and a slightly new look to the blog page. I never liked the name of the old blog much anyway. In fact, I have been wanting to change it for a long time, and I don't even know why I've waited; it's not like thousands of readers will lose me. It's more like I will be telling people, "Hey, my blog has moved," and they will be like, "What blog?"

Here are some of my plans as they stand right now: 

1. Work (for real) on The Master Knitter's Program through TKGA. Good grief! This one's been lolling around my life for two years or more! Okay, more. But who's been counting? Not me and that's why it isn't done.

2. Finish the precursory correspondence course to The Master Knitter's Program, "Basics, Basics, Basics." That sounds like a good theme for 2019 as I organize a future! It's been so long since I sent in a lesson that Arenda Holladay surely has forgotten me ... if she ever knew me in the first place. I don't think that first lesson of mine was such a doozy.

3. Make my daughters' birthday gifts by hand for once, for crying out loud! The oldest two are turning 31 and 19!! The 9-year-old needs one too, but probably has not been as damaged yet by broken promises from her mom and handmade birthday gifts.

4. Make my husband something -- anything -- and actually deliver it. This is not unlike list item #3. He did get three handmade items for Christmas, which was a good start, but I feel certain that I am still behind. 15 years behind.

5. Write!!! Yes, write. Here on the blog and elsewhere! Journaling, novel writing, all of it!

6. Continue to read and read and read. In 2018, audiobooks changed my reading life. Back in October of 2017, I committed to reading more often. Audiobooks to the rescue! Although I did read some paper novels, like American Gods and Paulo Coelho's The Devil and Miss Prym, among others, I took off with Heather Ordover and CraftLit! Now I have Audible and the library, too! Wowie Zowie you can listen to bazillions of books while you knit and sew!!! This year, I've read 13 books to date, a record for my whole adult life. (I, like so many others, fell off the reading novels wagon post-college and never went back to my old beloved pastime of childhood. Mine is made worse by admitting that I graduated from college in 2008 at 38 years old! Other excuses include children.)

7. Go back to college -- risky, I know, for my newly found reading habit. I'll have to work that out. I want to finish that Bachelor's in Dental Hygiene! Working on entering EWU's online program, probably at the end of summer.

8. Take a cool trip for my 50th birthday -- in the works!!

9. Act like a giddy idiot on my birthday. Done. Always done.

10. Open ended -- I am a gemini, after all. God knows what I may do.

There are many, many other ideas that could potentially enter my to-do list, and as they rumble around in my brain, shifting and trading places with one another, I will share them with you.

Let's do this -- or at least try to. (See how I didn't say "or die trying"? That would be stupid. I have 49 years left. Dying while trying would be a total waste of resources.)

Here are a couple pics showing how I'm getting started:

Amy Rose's birthday sweater -- this is the back. The front will be much harder.
One word: Intarsia. This skill is on my lifetime knitting list, therefore this project
will kill two birds with one stone, so to speak!

Annie's birthday cowl. This is an example of a Christmas gift
becoming a birthday one.I have been working on this thing for 3 months.
With 400 stitches in the round, it never seems to end.
It needs to end by February 21, 2019.

*** Please keep in mind this blog will soon be permanently 

moving to https://freckledgirlknits.blogspot.com/ ***

Crafting My Face Off: A Good End to 2018

This year was a year to plan ahead. It has been a more optimistic year, as I am feeling better than I have a long time, getting back into better shape, eating right -- getting out of the pre-diabetic zone... all that stuff "they" tell you to do, but you take forever to get around to it.

So I made a bunch of stuff. Well, mostly for Christmas, but it was more than I usually make! The planning started out in September with this idea that I would make something for everyone. At first, my brain went straight to knitting, but then I remembered how that went in years past. The thought was lovely, but hand knitting slippers for 15+ people was -- at the least -- daunting. Especially since I didn't usually start the work until December due to a very long string of excuses to procrastinate. "It's not even Halloween yet!" "It's not even Thanksgiving yet!" "The day after Thanksgiving is a much better start date!" "The weekend after the day after Thanksgiving is a better start date. Then I can get up the tree!"

Etc.

While I pondered these things, I was partaking in another favorite procrastination pastime of mine: looking at other people's crafting ideas online. I came across a blog called "It's Always Autumn." Well, Autumn, the blogger, has a fabulous post on polar fleece blanket making, which you can find here.  I thought this would be a great way to make everyone in my family something and not epically fail, for once, at total Christmas making! Autumn's blankets were not the usual edge-tied type, and I was intrigued by how finished they looked, not to mention that the edge-tied way always seems to diminish the useful part of the blanket.

To make Autumn's sewn blankets, I of course used a zillion Joann's coupons and did a lot of shopping (online -- duh! Okay, I am cheap and didn't pay for shipping. I picked the orders up in-store to cut costs) and cutting and planning, but the blankets truly did not take more than 2.5 hours each to complete. I made 11 blankets that way, using jumbo rick rack or bias tape.

Then, I decided to go off on my own a bit. Instead of using a trim of some ilk on a single fabric, I tried sewing two pieces (planned and cut with the same rounded corners as the originals) of fleece together most of the way, flipped them right side out and top stitched them together, holding the open area of fabric together, closing the hole I left to do the flipping. This actually created a very nice blanket, double thick! And I didn't do any quilt-style tying; the polar fleece fabric sticks to itself pretty well and they worked just great as they were. This style of polar fleece blanket took a little longer, like 3 hours, but they are worth it! I made four of these.

Here are mine:

A couple of thoughts if you decide to try this: 

1. When using two pieces of fabric for a blanket, it gets a little tricky closing the hole while topstitching. Be very careful to fold the pieces in together to match the seam allowance you created when sewing them together in the first place. But also remember that polar fleece is a bit stretchy and as such, is forgiving; you can pull a little and stretch it in place as needed to make it work for you.

2. I didn't get super picky about my two pieces matching. I did my best, laying them out on the floor together  and using quilter's safety pins to hold them together for the initial sewing, starting my pinning from the center and working out. But I didn't freak out if during the sewing the edges sort of went a little askew. Life's too short and they looked fine -- better than fine!

3. When using bias tape on a single fabric: As Autumn the blogger tells you, the single piece blankets do take up to 3 packages of double fold bias tape, depending on how big you make it, but your mileage may vary. My large blankets took about 2.5 packages a piece, using 2 yards each of 59" wide Luxe Fleece.

I ironed my bias tape to get the kinks out of it, you know, where it bends around the cardboard in its little package? That annoys the crap out of me. Ironing it super hot with steam worked really well. And, after getting the hang of how it goes with sewing and connecting the new pieces of bias tape I even pre-folded the successive pieces and ironed the new-piece fold to save time.To make the new piece less bulky, I also cut the new piece into a point before folding it.

4. When using Rick Rack: BE CAREFUL IRONING IT!! I tried to treat it like the bias tape, not testing it, not thinking ... it melted to my iron. Maybe try washing it and laying it flat to dry. Or read the package for care -- I sure didn't.

5. Finally, I used a stretchy fabric needle in my matching and I had to lower the tension to handle the blankets with double thicknesses.

Let's circle back the the slipper in the first pic. I made 6 of them for Christmas when all was said and done (When I took this photo, one was still on the needles!). The pattern I used is "Duffers Revisited" by Mindie Tallack. I am in love with this pattern as it uses less yarn, and is thus less time-consuming than the lovely (and also slightly more expensive to make) "Felted Clogs" by Bev Galeskas. Other differences include, a slightly less complex construction and "finished" feel to the Duffers finished product, including a single instead of double sole as in the Felted Clogs pattern. There is also no rolled top on the Duffers, but if you are seeking a simple and solid, predictable pattern and need to make several, Duffers may be for you!

I used Fisherman's Wool and Cascade 220 wool for my Duffers and would consider trying Lamb's Pride or Ella Rae too. I do suspect I will need to remember that Lamb's Pride doesn't felt quite as far as the others. Things to keep in mind!

I also made my 9-year-old daughter Amy Rose a pair of fat socks using Red Heart's new Hygge yarn!! What a treat! It is a bit hairy, but not too much so like some other eyelash yarns, and while it has the potential to split, my Size 9 Clover Bamboo dpn's worked out just fine. I haven't washed them yet -- I'll keep you posted.

Next Post: New Year's Stuff ***please note I am moving to https://freckledgirlknits.blogspot.com/ *** After the next few posts, that's my permanent home!! :) See you there!!

Yarn Along {May}

Well, here it is already. Another month has passed and we are into Yarn Along for May! Time to share what we are all reading and knitting. If you would like to participate or find out more about this, here is the link to do so! Let's go!

As for my own reading, I am still slowly working through The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, and, on the recommendation of a friend, I also am listening to Mink River by Brian Doyle -- through the magic of public library digital check-out -- and to The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton through the CraftLit podcast library, presented by the always-lovely Heather Ordover. I read The House of Mirth in college, but never got around to The Age of Innocence. And since I haven't seen the Daniel Day Lewis movie of the same name, either, I figured it best to read the book first.

My 9-year-old Amy Rose and I are listening to Anne of Green Gables on the weekly schedule through CraftLit (this is Heather's current book) as well, and we are up to the third audio book in the A Wrinkle in Time series, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. An aside: here is how old I am. I own the boxed set of THREE Wrinkle in Time Books, purchased in the 1970's from a grade school Scholastic book fair. Now there apparently are FIVE books in the series, the last two of which were published in 1986 and 1989. I was 17 and 20, respectively in those years and by then was no longer thinking much of those books, except as a nice grade school/awkward junior high girl memory. Looks like I am in for two books, new to me!

I know my book list sounds like reading overload -- but the books each serve their purposes. You know, one for driving alone to work, another for crafting, and the paper ones to hold in your hands when you can actually do so. The kid ones for Amy Rose's bedtime, etc. They are like knitting projects: A project to work on watching TV; another for work meeting or continuing education classes; another when you have time to really concentrate on those tough and complicated patterns (ha-ha -- like that ever happens!). Which brings me to knitting...

My current knitting: I finished one sock each of two different patterns. One from Toe-Up Socks by Wendy Johnson called "Rosebud," and I have been working on that one for a while (what was that about a more complex pattern?) and one from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. The first one has a nice lace pattern and the second has a ribbing named "Oak Rib," and has a french heel (very fun to make as I have not branched out much from short row and flap heels!) and a round toe. That one makes me feel warm and cozy, as it is adapted from Weldon's Practical Needlework. I love feeling connected to the knitters of the past, never mind that the pattern is simple. We, present and past, are of one mind.

Here are some pics:

I am loving this self-striping  Jawoll yarn! It is a bit rough but seems very durable.
And I love the colors. The other yarn is by Dream in Color, Smooshy, colorway"Strange Harvest."

I am hoping to finish these two by next month as I want to make a bigger project for me!