knitting

Nothing Much

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The above pretty sailboat was the one owned by my parents when I was born, and until my twin brothers came along a year and two months later. The Indian was a Herreshoff designed sloop, and Dad did well racing her when the wind was up. Three in diapers on a boat was more than my mother was willing to contemplate, though! But sailing was something my parents both encouraged, giving us the opportunity to learn in small boats on the local lake, and chartering larger craft on the Chesapeake Bay and the coast of Maine. This photo of a photo is the only picture I’ve taken since New Years, and it’s been that long since I’ve posted anything! Nothing much happening, nothing catching my eye, no completed knitting…

Speaking of knitting, I sat down to organize my thoughts about what I want to complete in the coming months? year? period of time?? I knew there was a lot on the list. Here’s what you all have to look forward to, in order (maybe):

pair of socks for middle granddaughter, the current project (late Christmas request)

a bumblebee pillow/toy for youngest granddaughter (to go with the tiny one I finished at Christmas, late Christmas request)

a pair of baby booties or two for the infant due to my goddaughter, due in February

pair of socks for one of the Quaker Knitting Goddesses, already started and #1 up past the heel (request)

some washcloths/dishcloths for a friend who likes using them

another cousin sweater, for the fourth cousin; he’s requested a mosaic knit colorwork sweater

hat for a friend who saw the Christmas stockings with colorwork trees on them, and wants that design as a hat

I have the yarn set aside for three sweaters for me; I’d like to do at least one this year; I also have yarn put aside for the Andrea Mowry Nightshift shawl, also for me, with yarn that was gifted. I probably will fit one of those in between knitting for others.

And then there are the UFOs. Things unfinished that I’d like to get off the needles include a linen stitch baby blanket that doesn’t have a designated baby for it; a prayer shawl, lace, but the intended recipient died before I could finish it; a sweater from homespun spun by a friend who requested a brioche sweater, and then dropped off the face of the earth; a very plain, warm and utilitarian sweater I am reknitting for myself, reusing yarn from one I knit decades ago and wore out.

ALL of the above I should be able to complete from stash. Most is already contained in discrete bags, with patterns if patterns exist.

 

 

 

 

Roadtrek Roadtrip, Friday at Home

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Friday, October 28: The day dawned sunny, with a fairly brisk breeze. After yesterday’s hike, I was happy to mostly sit around the campsite and knit – I finished the second Christmas stocking.

It is PINK. This confection is for a five year old girl, and it is her color – definitely not mine! I had to little pink in my stash that I put out the word to the Thursday night knit group, and the day I left they came through with a bag of pink yarn! (And some purple; that’s for stocking #4.) I did spend money on this one – I bought a little pompom maker. I want this set to look related, but different; putting it next to the first one as I knit helped them come out roughly the same size, and with similar stripes. Large needles (#9) and doubled yarn makes for a quick project, and the marled coloring in the light pink. Gee, why doesn’t the computer know that word??

Roadtrek Roadtrip, at Elk Neck State Park and North East

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Tuesday, October 25 and Wednesday, October 26: It rained. And rained some more. It wasn’t constant, but you couldn’t count on it ever being dry! Tuesday, my friend found this interesting character on some oak leaves:

Maybe this is what is sounding cricketish at night? A brown one later jumped onto my shoulder. But indoor crafting activities meant that I finished the first of a series of Christmas stockings:

No pattern; I used yarn from stash run doubled, and made it up as I went along. I was able to take the photo on the picnic table between showers!

The first photo of the post is from a mural in North East, a charming little town about 15 minutes north of the campground. We went there to meet a friend from Delaware for lunch at Woody’s Crab House – we all had crab, of one sort or another, and also one raw oyster and a small bucket of clams, and salad and veggies to go with my crab sampler –

It was great to catch up – I’d not seen the Delaware friend for years! She had to go home, but the remaining two of us wandered the very compact downtown for a while. Woody’s also has ice cream (but not that day), with an assembly of animals in front:

Even the small windows above were charming!

My favorite quote of the day was in a shopfront window:

There was a occasional scrap of blue sky!! and one ray of sunshine!!! On the drive back to the campground, we took the road down to the western side of Elk Neck, where the swimming beach is; on the way in, this deer stopped in the road to watch us. As we crept slowly closer, she decided she’d had enough, and exit stage left she went.

Today is Thursday – and THE SUN IS SHINING!!!!! In the next post I’ll let you know what we did with it.

Richmond: Diversity Thrift

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Tuesday, February 1: After a good breakfast and a late start, the mission for the day was to hit some thrift stores, and a scratch and dent appliance store. Three of us and the dog loaded into the Tacoma pickup and headed for Diversity Thrift – a HUGE thrift store in Richmond. I took a brief glance around, but I do not need to carry anything home on this trip! I went out and sat in the truck with Genne and worked on my knitting – until they started bringing out bags of stuff (two bags of records landed in her dog bed, so she ended up asleep on my knitting – which put a stop to that!)

Then off to shop for a refrigerator, washer, dryer and bed to be delivered to the new house tomorrow, and another thrift store, and by then it was getting late and hunger was making some of us, both human and canine, cranky. We ordered Chinese, dropped the women at the house, and shortly after were feeling much happier. We have lists of things to get done tomorrow.

Happy 2022!

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It’s a new year! In Vermont, it’s hard to believe it’s January – the temperatures are too warm! It should be snow, but the day has been misty, drizzle, drip, rain, drizzle – so I’m giving you a fake snowflake!

My objective of the day was to complete the body of the sweater I’m knitting for my cousin – and it took me all day, but I did finish the last three rows and get the 346 stitches bound off. (I will admit to napping when the cat got in the way of knitting, though! We both did.) Now it’s on to knitting the sleeves.

My Aunt’s Yarn

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One of you asked if you’d get to see the yarn I brought back from my aunt’s apartment, now that her knitting has slowed considerably. The above, laid out on a double bed sheet, is most of it – I’ve pulled out the yarn to make the sweater she’d planned for her daughter. And since, I’ve also pulled the yarn for a sweater for another of the cousins. Most of the yarn is natural fiber (with some glitz and shiny synthetic). There’s lots of really wonderful alpaca, and the left side of the photo is a pile of mohair and mohair blends. Not all of this is in sweater quantities; a lot of it is left from sweaters my aunt has previously knit. There are also five nearly completed sweaters; the cousins get first crack at them, and I’ll weave in the ends (and make longer, if needed and if there’s yarn to do it!)