Tag Archives: simple things

sick day.

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I have lots to show you: homemade fire-roasted salsa, Boh being silly, millet “fried rice” from Super Natural Cooking, the ingredients that go into a hot toddy…but tonight, I’ll just stick with these two pictures of the couch. This is what a sick day looks like. (And really, it’s been two.)

I started making a Daybreak shawl last night, but (a) there was counting involved, and the sore throat that had spread to my ears wasn’t having any of it and (b) my handspun singles were not so pleased with having to knit and purl M1L and M1R (or rather, I was anxious about it — the stitches around those increases were tightening, putting stress on a single that isn’t as strong as I’d like it to be everywhere). So I ripped it out and cast on another Simple Things shawl by Mary-Heather Cogar, using the handspun I’d initially set aside for Daybreak: 2 oz. of AVFKW bfl in the Sadia colorway, and what I think is 2 oz. of SCF club fiber in one of the Hades colorways. Today I knit stripes while watching all available episodes of The Voice and three (count ’em) movies on Netflix. I also drank more mugs of hot liquid containing one or all of the following than I can count: black tea, lemon juice, honey, apple cider vinegar, and whiskey. Hoping I’ll be on the mend tomorrow.

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spring singles.

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Inspired by a whole host of handspun citron shawls, as well as too many stunning skeins of handspun singles on ravelry to mention, I decided to work on some singles of my own. This fiber is a new-to-me blend: 83% mohair, 15% nylon, 2% merino from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club in the Loch colorway. I did a bit of reading in the forums, as well as in a few spinning books, to learn more about spinning mohair, and found that the long staple length makes this a great candidate for thin singles. First, I thought I’d need my very fast flyer. When I went to adjust the mother-of-all to a different height, I found that it was stuck — I think the humidity must have encouraged the finish on the mother-of-all to fuse to the wheel base. I decided that dental floss might help, and with my fingers crossed, I forced the floss between the mother-of-all and the wheel base — victory! Now my wheel is minty fresh. (Turns out, actually, that my regular flyer is what I want in order to have a bit more control and to spin lower twist singles, so I re-swapped my flyers.)

I did a bit more spinning this morning, and snapped some photos of the bobbin in natural light. I am in LOVE. (I realize I say that a lot, but it is true.)

I had a slice (or two) of this pie for breakfast, and Boh continued to lounge.

In order to be comfortable with the windows open this morning, I added a few more layers, including my simple things shawlette. Here is an official knits-in-action shot:

Hello, spring.

patchwork.

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It’s official. I’m spinning for legwarmers. I acquired a second bump of Hello Yarn merino in Patchwork expressly for this purpose, inspired by these. When Stacey made these out of her Patchwork last month, I knew it was a good idea. I wear my Cascade 220/Madil Kid Seta aqua legwarmers all the time, and with spring around the corner, I’m going to need at least one more pair to keep my ankles warm when I wear flip-flops…

Boh thought he heard something outside while I was spinning.

But then he decided it was no big deal.

This is maybe the 9th baby casserole pan full of apple crisp I’ve made in the last week. And I’m not sure I’m exaggerating. I took the recipe from last week’s apple crisp and essentially halved the apples and quartered the topping to make a less sweet, more apple-y crisp, and I’ve been making this in the evenings, eating a bit for dessert, and then warming up the rest for breakfast. I love it when apples are buy-1/2-a-peck, get 1/2-a-peck free at the orchard!

And here’s my simple things shawl, fresh off the blocking mats. I got a bit more width out of it, and the fabric is so nice and drapey. Win.

Okay, back to work. And apple crisp.

FO: simple things.

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This was exactly the kind of knitting I needed this week: simple, fast, and beautiful. I knit this simple things shawl out of Socks That Rock Mediumweight in the Gypsum colorway (thanks Laura!) on size 4 needles. Because the STR was a 380 yard skein, I added a full 10-row repeat of the garter eyelet border pattern to the edging, and I still have a little bit of yarn leftover.  I snapped these photos while still in my pajamas this morning, and before Boh and I headed off to make pancakes with our friend T. and pick greens at the farm, I gave this a warm bath and pinned it out on my kitchen table.

The STR seemed to relax nicely, and I think I’ll be quite happy with the blocked size of the shawlette. More pictures soon!

super boh?

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This is what my simple things shawl looked like on Tuesday morning.

And here it is today. I struggled with trying to get it to lay flat enough to take a good, representative photograph. And then I decided, why fight it? In this stage of the knitting, my simple things shawl might work better as a cape for Boh.

That’s more like it.

He’s a good sport — and good company. We spent most of the afternoon curled up on the couch reading and knitting. (Well, Boh mostly slept.) I’m hoping to finish this over the weekend!

A box o’ yarn arrived yesterday, along with a little bit of fiber. There was a great sale (50% off, though for a sad reason — after three years, they are going out of business) over at Sonny and Shear, and I decided to celebrate getting through the colloquium with some truly gorgeous yarn. This is Shalimar Zoe sock yarn in Saffron, Pagewood Farm Denali in Navajo, Hazel Knits Sock in Greenlake and Sailor’s Delight, and at the bottom, a skein of Madelinetosh Worsted in Malachite. (I also acquired a few bumps of Pigeonroof Studios merino.) I think I’ll be knitting socks and shawlettes for spring!

a mild case of startitis.

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(Sudden Saturday onset, as a result of sunshine and a 100 degree reading on the sick-and-tired-of-all-this-work temperature scale. I’m hoping it was only a 24-hour bug…)

Here’s the first bit of my wurm hat. I decided to cast on the medium (100 st), and I’m using a size 5 circular, instead of 4s for the hem and 6s for the rest of the hat — not for any good reason, but because I was able to locate a size 5 circ. I love the color transitions, and I think this is going to be a fantastic yarn match for this pattern. I’m a little concerned about my turned hem — about a third of it is really smooth and well-lined up, but there are places where it feels a little wonky. I wasn’t super meticulous about this, but I did rip back a little bit to try to improve part of the hem row. I think one of the issues is just that the variation of my handspun makes it hard to have even a perfect 1 to 1 match up result in a folded fabric that lays perfectly flat. I can’t exactly see how it will look on my head without taking it off the needles, so I’m just going to go with it for now and trust that it will look fine — or that I can block it into looking fine.

I also cast on simple things, by Mary-Heather Cogar of ravelry fame, whose gorgeous sunset photos help me deal with my southwestern withdrawal. I’m using Blue Moon Socks that Rock mediumweight in the Gypsum colorway, and I love how this feels in my hands. This yarn was a gift from Laura, and I am excited to be able to wrap these colors around my neck. This is going to become my in-the-bag knitting…if I put it down long enough to place it in my bag.

Yesterday Boh and I took a nice long walk along the creek and reservoir near my house. I think he is still sleepy from all the sunshine and playtime — he didn’t move when I pulled up the covers.

And here’s where he was about fifteen minutes later. I ground the coffee and got my french press ready, snapped a few photos of yesterday’s knitting, and then went back into the bedroom and found this. Sweet, sweet dog.

Alright. Time to get to work!