Day Forty-Five

Look, a photo!

I think I'm going to scale back to blogging twice a week, probably on Mondays and Fridays. This is something I've been thinking about since last summer, and there's enough going on in my life even without all this Covid nonsense that I think twice a week is a good move.

Anyway, updates: the new sweater I mentioned last week and STILL HAVEN'T SHOWN YOU is doing good. I think I'm about halfway through the sleeves? This sweater is knit flat and seamed and starts with the sleeves (no sleeve island later!), so I'm doing them two at a time because wow, I hate being stuck on sleeve island.

I spent several days this week working on my vest sample before realizing last night that it is absolutely not working as I'd hoped and needs to be ripped back to before the underarms. I also realized that it's going to need four skeins instead of three, so that's a problem. I reached out to the one person on Ravelry who has a skein in this colorway in their stash, and if I hear back, great. If not, I have another idea I could use this yarn for, and this vest will just get shuffled off to next summer's list. I'll survive.

After all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the vest, I cast on what was supposed to be my second summer pattern, a tank with some lace around the bottom. It has only half of a round so far, as I cast it on at eleven last night, but I'm hopeful that I can catch up on my Netflix queue and start banging it out.

I didn't do too much baking last week, other than a coffee cake on Saturday. I'm hoping to do bagels this week—I've never done bagels before, but I've also only had one really, really good bagel since being diagnosed with celiac disease, so they've been high on my baking list for a while. I've also been craving Eggs Benedict like crazy, so once I get a batch of bagels done, I can make that as well!

I love you all. Your skin's looking great, and whatever you've been doing to your hair is really working for you. You are a beacon of loveliness in a world of uncertainty. Your houseplants are thriving. Your pets are so glad you're home. Remember that I cherish each one of you individually.

Day Thirty-Eight

1. Yeah, no photo today. My house isn't the best place to take WIP photos? And also I've been forgetting until there's been no natural light. I mean, there's a pandemic going on, I'll take photos later.

2. I have started a new sweater with some yarn that's been in my stash for ages. I tried knitting it up twice, but each time I was wrong about what it wanted to be. I think I'm right this time, though.

3. I've read six romance novels in the past two days.

4. I successfully made my first loaf of sourdough last week! It doesn't have any nice bubbles, but it's hard to get bubbles without gluten. I'll experiment more later with adding xantham gum to try to encourage bubbles. I've been studying and trying for sourdough on and off for years, so this success is really gratifying.

5. I think that's all I have for now? Sorry for not blogging for two weeks. I promise I meant to, and I kept forgetting because time is meaningless. But I want to do better. So. Hope you're all doing well, whatever that means for you. Please be gentle with yourselves and your loved ones. Maybe make cookies? I did that last week and it made me feel pretty good. 

Day Twenty-Four: Numbers

1. No photo today. I'm sure I could have found something to take a photo of, but I was tired.

2. Yesterday was hard. I ended up having to scream into a pillow. We're all struggling. We'll be okay.

3. I made cookies this weekend and didn't put enough flour in. I have been using this cookie recipe for over twenty years. This is the second bake I've messed up so far during this pandemic. I suppose if all I'm doing is making some funny-looking but still delicious bakes, I'm doing okay.

4. My sourdough starter might be ready to start baking today. Yesterday it was close, and I decided to give it another day. I mean, I have the time

5. I have been out of chips for four days and it's really hard. Tomorrow morning is the hour at the store for elderly and at-risk people, so I'll be able to stock up for the next week.

6. I also need to get some puzzles. I mean, I have puzzles. But my current puzzle is a 1000-piece Chagall, and my other puzzles are a 1500-piece Van Gogh, a 1000-piece Frida Kahlo, and a 500-piece puzzle that's all black and white. I really need an easy puzzle (well, a few easy puzzles). I'm going to check the store when I go tomorrow for some 300-piece ones or some 500-piece ones that aren't black and white and therefore needlessly complicated. (Also, Puzzle Warehouse is still shipping, just FYI).

I think that's it for today. Please keep taking care of yourselves, kittens. We're all doing our best. We're doing great. I love you all specially and individually. 

Day Twenty-One

Well, I've made it to the end of the third week of isolation. I don't know how long you all have been isolating, but we're doing great. I had a bit of a wobble at the beginning of the week because apparently Pandemic Stress wants to give me new nightmares, but I'm doing better now.

Last week I started knitting Wild Sky, which has been in my queue since Cory released it, and I thought I had the perfect yarn for it in the form of this mystery skein my friend Annika sent me when she destashed a bunch of her yarn. The color is great, it's got great bounce, and I really thought this was going to be an easy project.

Except, of course, there's not enough yarn. I'm three repeats in, of the written four, and that little ball that's left isn't even enough for all the crown decreases, never mind a whole extra repeat before that. I'm super bummed, because I've been looking forward to this project and now I'll have to find another yarn that ticks all the same boxes this skein did.

Looking forward to this project so much and having it not work out because of factors beyond my control feels a bit on the nose right now.

Yesterday I made cinnamon rolls for my sister, who has taken over doing my laundry during the pandemic so I don't have to be exposed to the laundromat. She's also a CNA at our town's nursing home, so she's a champ on many, many fronts, and she absolutely deserves her favorite baked goods.

You all look great. Whatever you're doing with your hair? Is working for you. Sending all my love, etc. 

Day Nineteen

Well, we've made it to April. 

I finally got hit with a big wave of loneliness yesterday—it felt ridiculous, since I've been on the phone with my mum every day, and we've visited each other outside the past several days, but I just got another wave of how different everything is and it was too much. 

On one of my most recent runs to the store I picked up a big bag of birdseed for the feeder outside my living room window. I figure if Lee Lee and I are stuck at home all the time, at least we can have something fun to look at. Not all of the neighborhood birds have realized it's full yet, but we've had a couple finches visit. 

I've been baking a lot. Baking is always soothing for me, and now I have the time and flexibility in my day to bake a lot. It's a concrete way of remembering that I have an effect on the world around me—I can't really do anything to stop Covid-19 (yes, I know that staying home is the most important thing I can do), but I can make a cake. I can make bread. I can do things. I matter.

It's not just baking, either: I can pull the dead leaves off my plants. I can knit a row on my sweater. I can put birdseed in my feeder so the finches get nice and fat. It's those small but still tangible things that are going to help us get through this.

We're all in this together. We are so strong and creative and resilient. We're doing our best. We're superstars, every one of us. I love you all.

A Pile of FOs

Do I have lots of pretty photos of finished knits to share with you? Yup. I washed my hair and put on a bra and everything. It's a photo-heavy post, but if there's anything we all have, it's time to scroll through and look at lots of pretty knitting pictures. Here we go:

Up first is my Old Harry, which is FINALLY finished after spending way too long on the needles. It came out exactly how I wanted it too, and I even got Lee Lee in for some pictures!

Ravelry Page: Old Harry (Wayward KAL)

Pattern: Old Harry by Kat Riddell

Yarn: Knit Picks Preciosa Tonal Fingering,"Anemone" and "Boysenberry" 

Next is this cowl I made with a bunch of my Malabrigo Rios scraps. I love this so much. It came out exactly how I pictured it. I can't believe it took almost four years for me to actually finish it, but it's great. It's just moss stitch, changing colors when I ran out of one. I just magic knotted the yarns together, and changed them wherever the old yarn ran out, even in the middle of rows.

Ravelry Page: Rios Scraps Cowl

Pattern: None, I made it up IN MY BRAIN

Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Rios, various

My first "Quick Win" project of Quarantine is my Purl Soho Bandana Cowl. I originally had another pattern in mind for this yarn, but I had thought I had two skeins instead of one, so the other pattern wouldn't have worked. I got this skein from my friend Annika, and I don't know what colorway it is and I'm too lazy to scroll through all of Malabrigo's colorways to check. It's a great color for me, though, and a great little cowl. Mine is a bit shorter than the sample as I only did three sets of decreases instead of the five that were written, because I ran out of yarn. I also had to knit it twice because I forgot how to read patterns. It's okay, I had the time.

Ravelry Page: Bandana Cowl

Pattern: Bandana Cowl by Purl Soho

Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Chunky, unknown

When I first designed Breony, I knew the original sample was going to go live with Tara. About a year after sending the sample to her, I grabbed this skein from her to knit a Breony of my own. And then I let it sit in my stash for years. I knew this hat would take only a few hours to knit, but I never cast it on. I'm thrilled with it. I made the brim a little deeper on this one than is written BECAUSE I COULD. I love the soft pinks in this yarn, and I'm super happy with how it knit up.

Ravelry Page: Breony

Pattern: Breony by Kat Riddell

Yarn: The Dyeing Arts Rogue, "Bermuda" 

As always, much love to you all. Every one of you individually is my best friend. You're doing great. 

Day Fourteen

So, clearly I'm still trying to adjust to whatever my new schedule is. It's weird. It's all weird. I love being home, and I love being by myself, and even I'm struggling with this new normal. My heart goes out to everyone who's really missing being around people and being in public places. This sucks, but we're tough.

I've pretty much stopped sample knitting. I don't know if I'm still mad at my vest for having the wrong increases, or if I don't love the concept, or if the weight of *gestures widely* makes the thought of "work knitting" just too much.

I very nearly cast on a laceweight sweater last week, but I reigned myself in and decided instead to focus on some quick projects that have been in my queue for an age and a half. Let me tell you, if you have the stash for some quick projects, they are GREAT right now. In just a day or two, you go from "a skein of yarn" to "new cowl!" or "new hat!" and that feeling is incredible. It's an easy win, and it's a sign of progress in a time when time itself feels meaningless.

So far I've knit a Purl Soho Bandana Cowl, a Breony (which I've been meaning to do since the original sample went to live with Tara YEARS AGO), and most of an Arikaa Cowl (it just needs a seam and fringe). I also finished my Rios Scraps Cowl, which has been on the needles since 2016 and came out EXACTLY how I wanted. I'm also doing Jessie Mae's MKAL, which I'm really loving right now—ribbing in the round forever and ever with medium-weight yarn? That's exactly what the doctor ordered right now.

Numbers On a Wednesday

1. No photo today. Sorry. Things are just weird right now and I promise I'll try to get better/figure something out as I adjust to this new routine.

2. I'm on leave from work this week, and don't know what the next few weeks holds. I don't like uncertainty, but I'm trying to be chill and not worry too much.

3. Yup, I'm isolating. Because I'm diabetic, I'm high-risk if I get COVID-19. I don't want to get it. That would be very bad.

4. I had to rip out like six inches from my vest sample last night because I figured the rate of increases for the v-neck wrong. It is now in time-out, because how dare I mess up math.

5. I finally finished my marled Old Harry! I don't know when I'll do a photoshoot for it (I mean, I have the time, clearly, but I'm also very invested in not doing my hair this week, so we'll have to see if I can find any motivation to make myself presentable).

6. I have already eaten through most of my stash of Quarantine Chips, which is kind of a bummer, but also to be expected when I am alone with a bunch of chips and no supervision.

7. Please be safe, kittens. Wash your hands, avoid large groups, and know that I love each and every one of you.

Operation: SJW

I’m participating in Operation: Social Justice, and 20% of the purchase price of all my patterns and collections sold from March 15th through March 31st will be donated to Transformation Project SD, an organization that provides education and resources to trans youth and young adults and their families in South Dakota.

Check out #OperationSJW on social media to see what other businesses are participating and what organizations we’re supporting during this project.

New Pattern: Cervid

I love wearing triangular shawls, but sometimes that much fabric is too warm, or sometimes I don’t want to worry about trailing extra ends through my food, or sometimes I want something that I don’t have to worry about coming loose or falling off while I’m out and about.

Cervid fills all my stylistic desires without any of the hangups that can come with my beloved shawls. The triangular front of the cowl grows out of staghorn cables, one of my favorite motifs.

Cervid is worked flat from the bottom point, then additional stitches are cast on for the back neck and the cowl is worked in the round to finish.

Cervid is available on Ravelry and is 20% off through Monday, March 16th, with code CROWN.