Post Christmas Post

The basic routine for Christmas was the same this year as in past years, but there were a few differences.  The most notable for me was that it was the first year without my mom.  I've been missing her a lot lately.  I'm sure it is because of the holidays.  I catch myself having little conversations in my head like we used to do over the phone.  Her voice isn't really there.  I just imagine what she would say or ask.  She always wanted to know how the kids were doing and she always told me about the birds or deer she'd see in her yard.  

Other differences this Christmas are harbingers of things to come.  Kristin has a boyfriend and she divided her break between home and his place.  Trisha's job at a hospital means that she will have to work holidays occasionally.  Blake is more social now that he is in college and didn't spend as much time at home with us, and when he did he was usually asleep on the couch.  Ed and I are going to have to get used to the quiet of just the two of us.

Last year I was able to get everything on my Christmas To Do list checked off.  This year not so much.  The reason is that I am back to working full time.  I didn't bake all the cookies I had planned, which is alright though because we have way too many leftover.  I didn't send out cards but I'm contemplating sending out New Year's greetings.  I didn't knit anything for my family.  Kristin's boyfriend got a hat but that was as much as I got done.

The boyfriend's hat was Bankhead using a skein of yarn that a friend gave me.  I didn't realize that I had this was the second time I make this pattern until I created the Ravelry project.  It works up very nicely.  It will be my Go To hat pattern.

I have hats in the works for the girls.

Kristin is getting the 21 Color Slouch.  I am going to have a hard time parting with this but she needs something for on her head while walking to class.  The only downside of this pattern is all the ends to weave in.

I am thinking about making another hat like this but pre-joining the yarn using Russian joins.  I have a lot of worsted weight in the basement that I can use.

I am haven't touched the hat for Trisha in a while.  I'll post pictures once there is progress.

Finally, I cast on something for myself.  It is a lightweight scarf knit with Habu.  A sample which caught my eye was hanging at my LYS.  Once I saw the name of the pattern I knew I had to make it:  Charlotte.  Charlotte was my mom's name.

First Snowfall for the Season

The first snowfall of the season arrived overnight.  There isn't a lot of accumulation.  It is enough, though, to make it feel a bit like Christmas.

Feeling the Christmas spirit has been a bit tough for me this year.  I've always heard that after losing someone you love, the first year is always the hardest.  It is very true.  I am missing my mom terribly and can't get motivated to prepare for Christmas.  I know I have to get moving because Christmas is two weeks from today.  Fortunately my children are old enough to help with decorations and baking.

I am trying to knit something for each of them for Christmas.  I may end up wrapping the yarn with an IOU for their hats.  This is the start of a hat for Trisha.  Thinking about it now, I should have started with Kristin's, then did Blake's and finished with Trisha's.  Kristin will be leaving first after Christmas followed by Blake.  

Now that I got a few other projects done, I can focus on these hats.

Here are the (almost) finished projects.  All that is left is a bit of sewing and blocking.

This cowl was the class project for the Craftsy stranded knitting class I took.  I really love the way it turned out.  I used Jeny's super stretchy bind off for the top.  It looks a bit puckered but hopefully will block out nicely.  It will take a soak later today after I weave in the ends of yarn on the inside.  This may become a Christmas gift for a friend.  I'm still trying to decide between this and the next project.

The Tunisian cowl is still waiting to have the buttons sewn on, ends woven in and to be blocked.  This is the other candidate for my friend's Christmas gift.

I also finished the Fall Run cowl.  It has a few ends to weave in and also needs to take a soak.  This will go to my niece/Goddaughter.  Since the variegated colorway is called Shark Infested Waters, and my niece loves Shark Week, I thought it would be an appropriate gift for her.

Now I'm off to get my day started.  Enjoy your day!

Found a New Love

Tunisian crochet has captured my heart.  The cowl I made for the class I took at my LYS was fun to make.  I got to try out a few of the Tunisian stitches.  The variegated yarn worked out nicely.  All that is left to do is block it and sew on the buttons.

I fell in love so hard with Tunisian crochet that I bought a book to explore further.  There are several projects in here that I want to make.  I recommend the book because it give clear, illustrated instructions on how to perform each stitch.

I am making progress on my Stranded Cowl.  The tension in the color block rows might have been a tad too tight.  It seems to be puckering a bit.  Hopefully a bit of blocking will take that out.  I have to say I really love how the colors are working together.  The gold and dark green is vibrant.

I still have a few more sections to go on this cowl.  The class covers each section at a time.  Since it is a cold, blustery day, I'm going to reheat my tea and settle myself on the couch and get back to class.

Honoring My Veteran

Today is Veteran's Day in the United States.  It is a day to honor and remember all who have served the country to preserve the freedoms we enjoy.  My dad served in the army right after the end of World War II.  He spent 18 months in the army helping to rebuild the war-torn country.

I thought about posting my thoughts on the current climate in the US, but decided against it.  All I'll say is that I pray for peace.

Now on to something that brings joy:  fiber!!!

I am slowly getting my craft room organized.  I have a corner of the basement where I store all of my fabric, yarn, fiber, books and other supplies.  The wall along the right side of the photo below stores my yarn.  I organized it by weight.  It was quite a shock to realize how much I have accumulated.  The corner of the room is filled with fabric.  That still needs sorting.  Along the back wall  will be my books and other supplies.  I am making slow progress, but it is progress.

I finished the homework for the Tunisian crochet class.  Tomorrow I will take the second class and finish this cowl.  I really like Tunisian crochet and will make more items with this technique.  I'm not sure if I'll keep this cowl or turn it into  a Christmas gift.

I decided to take a Craftsy class on stranded knitting.  The project in the class is a cowl made out of worsted weight yarn.  I decided to dig through my stash and follow along.  This will end up being a Christmas present for my daughter.  After I get the hang of stranded knitting, I'll get back to knitting the other cowl using Portuguese knitting technique.

Herdliament??

A group of cows is called a herd.  A group of owls is called a parliament.  Is a group of cowls called a herdliament?  Whatever it is called, I am creating one.

Yesterday I took a class on Tunisian crochet at Knitting Temptations.  It is a 2-part class with the second class in 2 weeks.  We are making a cowl using three of the Tunisian stitches:  Tunisian simple stitch, Tunisian purl stitch and Tunisian full stitch.  I am really loving how the piece is working up.  The bottom edge of the piece is a combination of simple stitch and purl stitch, creating a honeycomb pattern.  The center is solid full stitch.  The top edge will repeat the honeycomb pattern.

After this project is done, I'd like to make more projects with this technique, however the instructor mentioned that there really isn't much in the way of patterns for Tunisian crochet.  She wants to write some patterns to fill the void.  As I'm making the cowl I can imagine a jacket in Tunisian crochet.  The fabric is thick but has more stretch than regular crochet.  It would be something classic looking, like this Karl Lagerfeld jacket.  Maybe I should design my own.  Hmmm....

I'm making progress on the Fall Run cowl.  I passed the halfway point on the pattern.  I really love the way the colors are working up.  As much as I love it, though, I think this will be gifted at Christmas.

Another cowl is on the needles.  This is the Gift of Thistle 1 cowl from Knitty.  I plan to make two of these, one for each of my girls.  I am practicing the Portuguese knitting technique that I learned earlier this year.  The first couple rows were fiddly but I am getting the hang of it.

Got My Goetta

The batch of goetta was a success.  Blake came home for the weekend and has been eating it every morning for breakfast.  Trisha is eating hers after she exercises for a blast of protein.  Kristin is very disappointed that she can't have any yet.  There is a chance some of her friends will be going to visit her next week.  If so, I'll send some up to her along with some other things around the house that she needs.

Several months ago I signed up for Knit Purl Hunter's sock knit along.  I bought this lovely skein of Stone Washed Zauberball.  As you can see I haven't cast on yet.  To be honest, I totally forgot about the event until I a mention of it in a newsletter from my LYS.  I'll have to put this on the "On Deck Circle" until I finish the socks I have in progress.

The Bat****Crazy socks have arisen from hibernation.  Once these are done, I will cast on the Zauberball.

I want to make mention that I am using Knitter's Pride Cubics for these socks.  I wasn't sure I would like the square cross section, but I have to admit I love them.  It might be my imagination but I think they grab the yarn a wee bit better than round needles.  I haven't had an issue of the needles sliding out of the stitches when the project is set aside.

I bought myself a couple new books.  I love Amy Herzog so I had to get her latest book.  I'll admit the second book was added to get the free shipping from Amazon (I know, don't tell me how spending $20 more to save $8 isn't really a savings!) but I'm glad I got it.  It has some really cute projects that look quick to knit up.  There is a pair of mittens that I think are going to be part of Kristin's Christmas presents 

Speaking of Christmas presents, I've started on one.  This is the Fall Run cowl from Destination Yarn.  This isn't the advertised colorway.  I'm making it in Sea and Shark Infested Waters.  I bought the yarn and pattern back in the summer when Jeanne was doing a trunk show at a LYS.

I have a few more projects I want to cast on, but I'll have to practise some restraint.  Patience.

Travels

We had our 27th wedding anniversary this year.  To celebrate we took a trip to Savannah for a long weekend in September.  The weather was warm, but not too warm.  We stayed across the river from the city.  Whenever we wanted to go downtown, we took a ferry to River St.  We also had a rental car that permitted us to venture a little farther away.

We drove out to Tybee Island one afternoon.  We climbed the lighthouse, grabbed some lunch and then visited the beach.  We didn't bring our swimsuits with us so a stroll along the sand was all we did.

We also visited Bonaventure Cemetery.  It is a beautiful, old cemetery.  It was a cloudy day, so the colors are not as vibrant.  This is one of my favorite tombstones.  I was hoping to find the iconic bird girl from the novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" but we learned that it has been relocated to a museum to protect it.

We spent one evening at the Savannah Smiles Dueling Piano bar.  This establishment is co-owned by some people from my hometown, so I knew we needed to stop in for a visit.  It was a lot of fun.  We go there just as the doors opened and of course the place was a bit empty, but as the evening went on more groups showed up.  Around 11 we called it a night so that we could catch a ferry back to our hotel.

It was our first visit to Savannah and won't be our last.  We fell in love with the place.  I hope the town didn't suffer too much damage from Hurricane Matthew this past weekend.   I'd like to go back and explore more of the parks and historic districts.

The week after we were home, we attended the charter initiation ceremony for the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society at Trisha's college.  She was inducted as a charter member.  We are very proud of her.

Then the next weekend we went to Cincinnati to visit Blake for Parents' Weekend at University of Cincinnati.  He took us on a tour around campus and showed us his skills on the rock climbing wall.  We had to cut the visit short, though, because I had a terrible head cold and wasn't energetic enough for too much activity.

I took advantage of feeling sluggish to finish up Blake's Gradient Blanket.  He'll be home next weekend for a mid-semester break so he'll get to take it back to school with him.  I need to send it on a trip through the washer first so that he doesn't also take back some of the germs I had.

Vine Street Vest was my take-along project for the Savannah trip.  I am probably a third of the way through.  I'm anxious to get this done to wear over some long sleeved tops.  There is starting to be a little chill in the air.  This is perfect for those crisp fall days.

Fall weather also means it is time to make a batch of goetta.  Goetta was a staple of my childhood and my children have adopted a love for the dish. My mom made her own from scratch, but there are commercial varieties available.  Cooking up a batch is a 4-5 hour process, so it is a good activity for a cool, fall weekend.  A big batch will last us several months since it can be portioned and frozen.  The traditional recipe calls for beef and pork, which is the way my mom made hers. I make mine with beef and ground turkey.  Kristin says mine isn't quite as good as Mammaw's, which is probably the difference of the meats.  Maybe this year, to honor my mom, I'll use pork.  In fact, I think I will.

All this talk about goetta is getting me hungry.  I better get it started or else I'll be up late waiting for it to cook.  Time to goetta to it!

Yarn Discovery tour 2016

Yesterday my friend Cindy and I participated in the Yarn Discovery Tour 2016.  This tour features 15 yarn shops in northeastern Ohio.  To participate in the tour, you purchase a passport listing all of the shops you can visit.  If you spend at least $10 in the shop, you get a stamp in your passport and a free pattern. Each shop also had a drawing that you could enter.  Since we were only making a day trip out of this, we made it to five shops.

The first shop was Bare Naked Wools in Canton.  Finding the shop proved to be a bit of a challenge.  Canton was having a race and many of the streets in the area were blocked off.  We managed to find our way to a side street near the shop, parked and then walked over a block.  The shop is not large and is in the basement of a building housing a doctor's office.  They mainly do online sales but the shop was still cozy and had many samples of Knitspot patterns hanging on the walls.  They had two versions of their free pattern.  It was beautifully done in a green and in two natural colors.  I bought a couple skeins of their stone soup fingering and a pattern for a pullover sweater.

From there we headed to North Canton to visit Artist Gallery Yarn.  This shop reminded me very much of a Columbus shop called The Yarn Shop because of its large and diverse inventory.  The shop was bright and friendly, with a group of ladies knitting at a table in the front. There I got a big bottle of Eucalan in lavender scent.

From North Canton we ventured to Cuyahoga Falls to visit Harps and Thistles.  This shop is located in a building in the downtown district.  The owner pointed out the organization of the shop and pointed us to some exclusive colorways they had from Three Irish Girls.  I couldn't pass up two of the mini-skein sets they had.  These are going to become cowls and hats for my girls.

After we left Harps and Thistles we visited a couple antique stores around the block.  It was fun to browse through the items.  Cindy was almost attached by an antique sewing box, but she managed to unpry herself from its clutches.

Stop #4 was The Designing Woman in Fairlawn.  This shop features fabric and yarn. The shop had a lot of inventory but most of it was still in the shipping bags.  This made it a little difficult to browse since I like to touch the yarn.  Maybe that is the reason for leaving things in the wrapping.  I did find some very soft alpaca.

By this point we were getting hungry and a little tired.  We decided to grab some lunch on our way toward our fifth and final shop, Black Locust Farm in Lodi.  This shop is located right on the main square in Lodi.  We were surprised at the amount of inventory it had given the fact that the shop is only open 2 days a week and only accepts cash or checks.  We both found treasures in the bargain bin.  I found 5 skeins of Cascade Pure Alpaca which I hope is enough to make a sweater for Kristin. 

After we exhausted ourselves from shop hopping we turned south to head home.  But we needed to make one last stop:  Grandpa's Cheese Barn.  This place has cheese (obviously), seasonings, jams and jellies, cured meats and a sweets shop.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough cash on me or else I would have bought one of the beautiful baskets that the Amish girls were selling in the parking lot.  I did get a gift for Blake, a bag of Lucky Charms marshmallows.   Just as we finished up shopping a severe storm hit.  We sat it out at a gas station before jumping back on the highway.

Next week Cindy and I are planning on going to Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs.  After that I need to stop spending money on yarn!!

On the project front, I am making progress on Blake's blanket thanks to another up and back trip to Ann Arbor.  I am in the 3rd last section.

Since I finished my Sunset linen top (which I am wearing the picture above) I cast on the Vine Street vest.  The pattern and yarn were purchased in June at the wool festival Cindy and I visited in Columbus.  It is a fast knit.  I should have it done soon.

UFO Sightings

Life continues to be very busy.  The first weekend in August included a wedding.  Our neighbors' daughter got married.  It was a beautiful wedding.  As you can see, Ed and I had a wonderful time.  I was making mental notes for the future.  No wedding is on the horizon for our children, but I'm sure it will be here before I know it.

For years I have wanted to take the kids to see the outdoor drama Tecumseh.  This year we finally were able to make the trip.  Kristin wasn't able to go but my oldest sister took her place.  Ed and I had seen it about 25 years ago.  Not much has changed, but that is a good thing.  It is an exciting show with live horses, black power guns and real cannons.

Last Thursday we moved Blake into his dorm.  He was so excited to be starting college.  As we were driving to Cincinnati he was counting down the mile markers.  I think he got a little frustrated when we encountered a traffic jam north of Cincinnati due to an accident.  It only delayed us 15 minutes though.

After we unloaded the car, we took a walk around campus.  First we ate lunch with him at the dining hall.  Then we picked up the books he pre-ordered.  Finally we went over to the athletic ticket office to pick up his season football tickets.

Unfortunately his move-in date was before Kristin's semester break.  Ed and I drove to Ann Arbor yesterday to bring her home for two weeks.  I wish all of my children were here together, but I guess that is part of the growing up process.  I have to get used to not having all my cubs together at one time.

Around all of this activity, I've managed to make progress on several knitting projects.

The Sunset linen top is finished.  I gave it a quick soak in the sink and then tossed it in the dryer for a tumble. 

After it was damp dry, I took it out, gave it a few quick shakes and hung it on a hanger to dry.  In case you are wondering why I did the quick shakes, when I pulled it out of the dryer, the stitched elongated horizontally, not vertically.  I'll admit I'm a bit big around, but not that big.  I also did not want a midriff top.  A few sharp shakes of the top rearranged the stitches, making the top longer and leaner.  It turned out perfectly.

One of my next projects will be to darn Kristin's sock.  This is one of the Java socks I made earlier this year.  I think this hole is the result of them being worn with Kristin's Birkenstocks.

I want to get to of my other UFOs finished before starting a new project. 

Blake's Gradient Blanket didn't get finished in time to go off to college with him.  I took the project along on the car ride to move him in.  I was able to get one pattern repeat finished on that trip.  It then went along on the trip to retrieve Kristin.  Nearly two more repeats were finished on that trek.  After the current red section is complete, there are 5 more pattern repeats.  I don't have any long car rides planned, so I'll have to make time each evening to work on it.

The other project that I'm going to try to finish has been avoided for emotional reasons. 

The summer has been so busy that I feel like I haven't slowed down enough to properly grieve my mom's passing.  Last weekend was a tipping point for me.  I won't go into the ugly details, but lets just say a lot of tears were shed.  Getting past some of the grief has allowed me to pick up the next UFO.  

The Bat****Crazy socks have been hibernating since the spring.  As you may recall from an earlier post, I knit the first sock mostly while sitting with my mom in her room at the nursing home.  Since Mom's death I haven't touched these.  They got tossed onto my dining room table to watch as other projects were worked and more yarn/fiber was procured.  Every time I looked at them, I felt a wave of grief.  I still have that feeling with them, but it isn't as intense anymore.  I think once they are done and I can wear them, they will take on a new life.

At least, that is my hope.

Proud Mama Moment

 Raising children isn't easy.  As any parent knows there are moments of utter frustration. Sometimes, way too many moments.  But when your child makes you proud, all of the frustrations are forgotten.  Friday was one of those days.

We traveled to Ann Arbor to attend Kristin's White Coat ceremony.  The ceremony was her official induction into dental school and the dentistry profession.  The event introduced her class.  Each student was presented with a white lab coat with their name and the Michigan M embroidered on the lapel.

Her dad and I are so proud of the hard work she has put in to get to this point.

As well as her sister

and brother.

After the ceremony we went over the dental school building for a reception.  Kristin showed us her lab space.  She'll spend a lot of time over the next two years at this workstation.

After the reception, we walked back to her apartment, stopping at a convenience store to pick up a few things for a little happy hour.  Later in the evening we walked into town for dinner.  The following day a professional soccer game was to be played in Michigan Stadium.  Ann Arbor had a small festival to celebrate the event.  As we walked around we saw many other dental school families.  We also saw other characters.  This one in particular caught a lot of people's eyes.  Since I am a graduate of The Ohio State University, all I can say to this is here's proof that rooting for Michigan is going to the dark side.

The long car ride there and back helped me make progress on the linen top.  The back (or is it the front?) is finished and I'm working on the other side.  I'm about halfway through it.  I haven't counted how many rows I have to go yet.  I'll save that for later today.  Once I know that I'll set a knitting goal for each day.

I have concerns that this top is going to be much too wide and not long enough.  A friend keeps reminding me that linen behaves differently after it's washed.  I'll have to play with it to get it to the proper dimensions.