Christmas

On social media, my life (quiet as of late) seems somewhat put together.  That is a big, fat lie.

1. My Christmas tree is not lit.  It is not decorated.

2. My sewing projects are undone.

3. I have knitting I want to complete and it's not.

4. None of the above bothers me...and that's what makes me sad.

"Make sure you knit..."

~   Advice from a fellow knitter in regards to my four hour Amtrak trip to Michigan.

Baby hats galore!!!!!

I forgot how ridiculously happy knitting baby hats makes me.  Seriously.  I love them for several reasons...
1st - They are easy-peasy.

2nd - I probably won't go broke knitting them.  Minimal yarn purchases

3rd - They are to keep a tiny human's head warm.

4th - THERE ARE A GAZILLION FREE PATTERNS!!!!!!

This hat is knitted with a super chunky yarn.  Probably a new favorite baby hat pattern of mine.

Football

My coworker and his wife are expecting a baby boy in a few weeks.  Remembering this particular co-worker is a HUGE fan of football, I found the cutest sleep sack pattern and knitted this delightful "Welcome to the world" gift for baby boy.

The beauty of this cute sleep sack pattern is once you cast-on and connect the stitches in the round, you just knit and knit and knit and knit and knit...eventually you decrease stitches to draw it in at the bottom...but for real, it's a great pattern when you have two 15-minute breaks because you don't have to count and keep track of what row you are on.

Pumpkin head

My former supervisor is a grandpa!!!!  It's his first grandchild...and he described her as curly hair and a real charmer.  (Aren't all curly haired gals charming?)

I immediately determined this charming new little human needs a FABULOUS Fallish hat. 

What better to couple with curls than a PUMPKIN HEAD!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

It's Friiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiday!!!!

A couple things...
It's Friday.  My plans for tonight got cancelled so my introvertish-self is loving this last minute do what you want sort of evening.  I came home, changed into gym clothes and hit the fitness facility where I did the twister twice and some cardio.  And now I'm sitting here blogging.  I love being home tonight...and it's not that my Friday evening plans weren't delightful.  I was going to get to be fun Auntie Angie and hang-out with Aaron, Ethan, Addy, and Elly.  Turns out one of the quartet has the sickies and to protect fun Angie from it, the parental outing was canceled and thus Angie is home and in her jammies.  Goodtimes.

I never really realized I was in introvert until...
- I had a moment when people-ing became too much.
- I started loving canceled plans (not that I don't love making plans).
- I began hiding away on my half hour lunchbreak.

People-ing is hard.  My job requires it.  I also have to people with the public...*sigh.*  Have you talked to the general public?  They are precious.  (I say "Precious" like in the South when they say "Bless your heart."  They do mean literally BLESS your heart...they mean oh-honey-you-are-three-kinds-of-crazy.)

I'm going to embrace tonight.  And by "embrace" I mean, I'm about to pull out my knitting project and turn on "When Calls the Heart."  I love how Netflix asks, "Are you still watching this?"  Hahahahahahaha.  It's called binge-watching, Netflix, and YES I AM!!!!!!!!!!  

#heartie #knitting #fabulousFridayplans

My new knitting project: A Flamingo Scarf

Adventures in Knitting: Hedgehog Mitts

I love knitting.  
I love knitting for others.

Earlier this Fall, I knitted a mermaid tail.  Feeling pretty confident in my knitting accomplishment of the gills, I decided it was time to learn something new.  By accomplishment, I mean my ability to email the pattern's creater, wait for her response which contained a tutorial, to watch said YouTube tutorial and follow along.


Columbus Day weekend JoAnn Fabrics had a 60% off one item coupon.  Since I had learned several months ago that JoAnn's removed the book purchasing with a coupon restriction, I decided to use my coupon on a knitted animal hats, scarves, and mittens project book.  

I chose Fiona Goble's book titled, Knitted Animal Scarves, Mitts, and Socks because of the cover photo of hedgehog mittens.  I know someone who LOVES (L-O-V-E-S) hedgehogs.  

The pattern called for wool-blend yarn and size 8 straight knitting needles.  I purchased two skeins of wool-blended yarn that looked hedgehog-ish.  The size 8's were already in my needle collection.  At this point I was super excited about the straight needles...not that circulars or double-pointed needles (DPN) scare me anymore.  I was just nervous about using DPN needles to shape the thumb.  That part seemed tricky but not so much with straight needles.

My first attempt to knit the mittens was so-so at best.  Something went amok when I lost track of what row I was knitting.  Upon noticing my mistake, I happily removed the yarn from the needles and undid the stitches.  No worries.  There's a first time for everything.

My second attempt made it all the way to the thumb-forming which made no sense to my brain.

My third and fourth attempts were noble at best with a dash of frustration.  After the fourth attempt, I put the pattern book and yarn and needles in a project time-out.  I hid my knitting bag in my craftroom.  I did not think about the hedgehogs.  I did not talk about the hedgehogs.  The hedgehogs (for a period of 2 weeks) remained dead to me.

After 2 weeks, I pulled out my bag and began again.  

My fifth attempt - my new co-worker was kind of worried about my sanity.  I asked him to read aloud the row that confused me.  He, being a non-knitter, offered words of encouragement but not words of how to help a knitter.  I was on the verge of swearing off knitting...but something inside me kept telling me to finish what I started.  Also the little voice began suggesting an email / mail correspondence to the author. 

My 6th attempted mitten got me all the way to the hedgehog nose before I realized the thumb was knitted on the wrong side.  Since there was a bit of a knot in the yarn during this unraveling, I cut the yarn and threw the messed-up hedgehog mitten in the trash.  So long $2 worth of yarn and so long to my sanity.  What would I do if I quit knitting?  What about all those fun patterns that I still want to make?  What about the loss of dishcloths for my family and friends?  What about knitting circles worldwide?  I cannot quit.  I must persevere.

At this point, I informed my non-knitting co-worker that it was time to pull out the big guns.  I searched through the book and found the publisher's email.  I, then, went through the book to the author's note where she gave thanks to so-and-so for knitting and trying out the patterns.  Once I had obtained the pattern-checker's name, I opened Gmail and sent an email with a subject line "Please forward this to the knitter _______."  

Less than 24 hours later, I had an email from the publisher saying she forwarded my email to the actual author.  THE AUTHOR!!!!!  I love it when I can correspond with the author.  I should note that I had asked the publisher - now author - to explain the thumb-shaping to me like I was a third grader.  

Less than 12 hours later, I had a response from the fabulous Fiona.  Due to my lengthy email explaining what was happening (or atleast what I thought was happening) to my hedgehog, the author was able to figure out where I was confused.   With straight needles, at the end of each row, your needles switch hands.  At my bad spot, the pattern said to knit x-number of stitches & turn to cast-on 1.  Next row do this ____.  Because the pattern said, "NEXT ROW" after the turn & cast-on 1, I turned it where it should NOT have been turned. 

Fiona even offered to knit the pattern herself to see if that would help me.  I cannot believe that she would take the time to help me.  the very confused hedgehog mitten can't-knit-a-mitten knitter across the Pond.  (Did I mention Fiona lives in England?)

Yesterday ( 12/16/16 ) I pulled out my size 8 needles and I once again cast on 34 stitches and began the 8th hedgehog.  When I got to the thumb-shaping row, I re-read her email response and it totally made sense.  An hour-ish later, I had a completed sans-eyes and nose hedgehog.  I played 2 more episodes of Gilmore Girls while I finished the left mitten.  

Sometime around midnight, I had both mittens done.  

Looking at them - you can tell I was more relaxed when I knitted the left one.  It's a little "bigger" due to a looser stitch.  

I'd like to knit another pair now that I kinda-sorta know what I'm doing.

My wild Friday night plans

Gilmore Girls + Christmas knitting + decaf coffee + dryer-fluffed jammies = An amazing Friday night

It's mer-mazing!!!!!

I have 7 more inches of knitting which means 2 more regular pattern repeats and then I get to begin the 32-round decrease.  It is looking more and more MER-MAZING!!!!!!!!!!

AND WE HAVE MERMAID GILLS!!!!!!

This pattern has been such a struggle.

First of all - I have never knitted gills.

Second - when I have gone fishing, my brother always removes the fish so I never have gotten a good look at gills.

Third - I don't have gills so I cannot look on my person.

Third time is a charm?

That's a real thing, right?  Third time is a charm?

I sure hope soooooo.....

This is row #13.

...also known as "the part where I realize I totally screwed-up the gills of the mermaid blanket."

Something was odd about the knitting instructions.  They read "placing a loop" and "lifting a loop."

Sadly, it wasn't until I put down the project, slept 8 hours, had a cup of coffee and re-read the pattern while trying to figure out how the gills would be formed.

Thankfully, my brain has wrapped itself around the instructions.  I get it!!!!!!  I have to grab the previously placed loop and knit it into the next lift-a-loop row.

Ripping out abd restarting -- how I spent my morning break.

#knittingepiphany

A Blogging Epiphany!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy First Day of February!!!!!!  Happy Groundhog's Day Eve!!!!  Happy we're-under-a-winter-weather-advisory day!!!!  Happy birthday month to my friends - Ruthie, Kathy, and Michelle!!!!  


Today on my morning break, I sat in the downstairs spa-like bathroom locked away from everyone so I could work on a baby blanket for my friend's new fellow.  The pattern for said blanket is not really complicated.  It's 4 rows to begin and then you do a 4-row-pattern-repeat until it's 36" wide...then you knit 1 row one time before picking up another 4-row-pattern-repeat.  What does yours truly do?  She knits the 1 row that is supposed to be knit all by itself twice...thus making her pattern off.  

What's a girl to do?  I cannot just keep knitting the wrong way...and to rip out this gazillion stitch row was just too much for my I-can't-believe-I-messed-this-pattern-up-again moment. 

I did what any sensible knitter would do...I removed all the stitches from the circular needles and I began to unravel the blanket.  

The first time I unraveled it - there may have been tears.

The second time I unraveled it - I had a blogging epiphany.  And noooo, my blogging epiphany is not to fill my blog with posts from a delusional knitter desires to finish a baby blanket while the baby is still a BABY!

Sooo what was my grand epiphany?

I'm going to blog through the month of February about 29 things that I am thankful for during this season of singleness.  Why?  Because I need to be reminded...and good heavens, I cannot be the only single gal out there who needs reminders of all the blessings and graces that we have on our being single journey.  And I'm hoping that my little posts will help others who are walking down the same uncertain path.

I'm kinda thankful for the 2nd unraveling because I don't think I would have had my blogging epiphany.

Confessions of a knitter

I have a baby blanket that I need to get done.  The little guy was born last month.  I have been knitting like a ninja.  I have restarted and started and restarted the project.

My co-workers keep interrupting me and getting me side-tracked.  And then I forget which row I am knitting....

Today I have taken to hiding from everyone.  I am not anti-social...I am just a gal who wants to finish a baby blanket before the kid is 18!!!

A baby hat

My co-worker and his wife have welcomed a baby boy.  This new little one has the brownest eyes that I have ever seen.  They are more brown than milk chocolate but not as brown as dark chocolate.  I imagine if you swirled those 2 chocolates together, you may find just the right hue.

As soon as I knew he was here - I had an overwhelming urge to knit him something to say "Welcome to the world, little fellow."  I looked through several baby hat patterns and decided on the hooded bear hat.  I love this hat and I love the monotonous pattern.  The way the hood flips inside and out for the duration of hood knitting.

I sure hope the little guy likes his new hat!!!