Tag Archives: boh

sweetness, a soaker, and first sweaters.

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This dog has been such a comfort to me this week — a mixture of silly and sweet. Last night when I got home from a reading group, we played a game where I told him to sit, walked five paces, turned around and said, “Come on!” and he raced towards me. I think I got tired before he did. Dogs know when you’re having a hard time, and I am so thankful for Boh’s company right now.

I’m almost embarrassed to show you this — the beginning of a soaker that I started six weeks ago. It has succumbed to the curse of my in-the-bag knitting. It seems like I never actually work on the project I take everywhere. I can’t explain it. I started this alongside my dear friend T, who is expecting. (Yay!) We began them together, with the idea that I could help with troubleshooting if anything came up. T. has already made close to half a dozen of these sweet soakers, while I’m still knitting the ribbing of my first. (For shame.) At least I still have a few months before she’s going to need this!

I was talking with my friend P. yesterday about sweater-knitting — she called me on the way home from a yarn shop, her first sweater’s worth in the backseat. And as I bundled up to head out for a reading group last night, I grabbed my first sweater. The seaming is completely wonky, the ends are woven in weirdly, the size isn’t quite right…but I LOVE this sweater. Together with thrift-store boy jeans over long-underwear and a couple of long-sleeve layers, it was the answer to single-digit December temps — and to the transition I’m coping with right now. Handknits are magical like that.

(legs) outstretched.

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I snapped both of these pictures today, and only realized that they sort of go together when I pulled them off of my camera. It is officially long-underwear-season. At least some of mine is stripey. (Brrr!)

Here’s a broader view of this evening, if you will. Boh, asleep. Me, knitting and grading. A few more papers to go. And I’m on the last row before the lace section of terra. More soon.

fake it ’til you make it.

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That’s what K. said today when I tried to articulate that I felt the need to at least “look” put-together, even if I don’t feel like it right now. See?

Wednesday, before I got completely soaked below my raincoat and above my boots. Luckily, the torrential rains turned to snow for the walk back home.

And today, before bundling up in a down vest, handspun fingerless mitts, my handspun wurm hat, and my trusty pink spindle-spun cowl.  Hooray for the arrival of handknit weather!

And here is Boh. He doesn’t fake it.

I came home between commitments today to walk Boh, read for fun, and drink a pot of tea.

And start the last repeat of the basic portion of my terra shawl. Thank you all for your kind comments on yesterday’s post. As I work to process the end of a meaningful relationship, I am just so thankful for my craft and for my community, both here in blogland and in real life.

the end of november.

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This pretty much captures how I feel this morning. B left yesterday. He’s headed home to begin his dissertation research, and he’ll be away indefinitely. Yesterday marked the end of a wonderful eight months together. I’ve never done this before — the bracing for the end you know is coming — and it is really hard. We had a sad, sweet, weepy week, filled with reflection on what this has meant for us.

I took B to the bus station early in the morning, and when I got home, I busied myself with a deep cleaning of the apartment. Time to marvel at the neatness of my knitting corner:

All (okay, most) of my WIPs are in that bag, and I intend to spend some quality time on that part of the couch today. My friends have been pretty wonderful about filling my date-book with hang-out time, and I’ve got a whole list of things to keep me busy in the short term. Topping that list? Being good to myself, knitting on Terra, cuddling Boh. (Well, and making progress on that pile of grading I’ve neglected…)

Welcome to December.

boh knows best.

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I left off yesterday by saying that I owed Boh a good, long walk. All this reading, writing, and grading has meant a slew of shorter-than-they-should-be walks for my favorite four-legged companion. I was thinking about it as something for him — but really, it was exactly what I needed, too. (Funny how that works.)

Late afternoon light.

Intrepid adventurers?

I love this tree.

The reservoir, late fall.

We needed that. (Way more restorative than the fancy coffee drink I splurged on yesterday as I headed home from campus.)

yo.

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Yep. That was the problem. I accidentally yarn-overed at the start of a lace row, when I wasn’t supposed to. And then, in my uncaffeinated stupor, I proceeded to attempt to account for the fact that my stitch count was off, all the way through each section. I know better than to do that, at least when I’ve had my coffee.

I realize that to the untrained eye, these pictures look pretty much like what I posted yesterday. The knitter, however, will notice a key difference: yesterday’s photo has lots of extra yarn in it, suggesting the un-knitting that has just occurred; today’s photos have no such excess yardage, suggesting that things are moving along as intended. And they are. I re-knit the offending row — AFTER a full cup of coffee.

And now I’m off to campus. But since it’s Friday, I’ll leave you with a dose of sweetness:

I thought Friday would never get here. Happy weekend!

pancakes, pears, and a pumpkin.

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(Okay, it was a red kabocha squash. Also known as a Japanese pumpkin. I made the alliterative choice.)

Cranberry pancakes for lunch. (Fresh cranberries, from my favorite little farm/market hybrid.)

Red kabocha squash, stuffed with a mixture of local sausage, kale, onions, mushrooms and rice, and topped with some shredded jack cheese.

A double batch of pear crisp, made with pears from the tree in D and T’s yard. I’m warming this up for breakfast.

And there’s this guy. Leg up in hopes of a belly rub. Sometimes he just lays like that.

No knitting to share, folks. Despite deadlines of the knitting variety fast approaching, the work pile won out yesterday. Grading, reading, corresponding with students — the productive hours disappear. Hoping to find time to curl up with my needles today.

 

FO: half the grey alpaca.

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So this is the first half of the grey alpaca I’m spinning for my friend N., after setting the twist and hanging it to dry. While neither of these mini-skeins is next-to-skin soft, I’m really happy with the halo and the sheen of this yarn. What you’re looking at is about 160 yards. I delivered the first half of the alpaca to N. yesterday afternoon, and decided to work on the second half after dinner last night. One of the remaining bumps of fiber felt softer, so I spun that first. Here’s the bobbin:

I think you can see the difference in the quality. N. told me that she paid five bucks for almost eight ounces of this stuff, which makes sense to me. I think some of this fiber is the “good stuff” from the animal, but I think a lot of it might be the hair from the less prize parts of an alpaca’s coat — like the underbelly, maybe? That would explain the amount of veggie matter in the first two bumps. Here’s the final (larger) bump after separating the fibers a bit with my hands:

I love the depth of color in this picture — such a complex grey. This was coarser, more like the first two skeins. I think singles were the right choice for this yarn — and hey, I’m no longer afraid of alpaca! Maybe I’ll dig out what I’ve got from my very first fiber purchase and try again.

I’m pretty sure that this expression has something to do with the fact that Boh finally understands that there is not an alpaca in the kitchen. Just some yarn hanging to dry.

A few glimpses of the weekend:

Deb’s scalloped tomatoes, made with the last of the season’s farm tomatoes.

After dinner hot chocolate made with dutch cocoa, organic sugar, and milk.

And this morning, I pulled on my down booties when I climbed out of bed in the darkness to make my coffee. I’m ready for daylight savings — I’d rather get up with the sun than rise before her.

 

lakeside.

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We spent Saturday afternoon by the lake, on a blanket, reading. Looks cozy, but actually it got pretty windy, and after an hour or so we retreated indoors for nachos. I rewarded myself with a margarita. See, all this is relevant because in these pictures, even though you can’t see it, there is yarn in my bag. Malabrigo, to be exact. And it is destined to become another windschief hat. This one’s for the boy.

I cast on with my coffee this morning, before my 8 am yoga class. The colorway is verdeazul, and already I love the combination of the malabrigo worsted and twisted rib — so squishy! I’m planning to curl up with Boh and the boy this evening and knit some more ribbing. After all, it is fall break…