Yopping Update #43 - Double-Knitting is my happy place

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The test knit socks are done and I LOVE them, but I won't show them off until the pattern goes live.  

Since April is almost gone I got down to my April Advent Gnomes - #7 and #8

Look - Arms!

I have arms tooooo

I still dislike duplicate stitch, but it is getting easier

Then I decided to wind up the hemp I bought some time ago and make a new kitchen cloth in double-knitting so that the colours are reversed on the opposite side.  

Tree of Life

reverse side - tree of life

This one is a gift, but I have enough hemp to make another one for our kitchen too. 

I noticed one of my kitchen ones had a big hole in it - so I frogged it, and I am making my son one as his are getting a little raggedy too.  

from this....

to this....

adding these little leftover balls, and....

you get the beginnings of a kitchen cloth

other side

I also knit a little sandpiper out of some left over frangipani yarn I have - the pattern comes with five variations, and I am definitely going to make more of them. The pattern is on Ravelry here. The pattern is free if you send a handknit bird to Cordova Alaska for the Copper River Delta Birds by Hand festival.  I didn't make mine in time to get in the mail for this year, but I sent my peace dove which safely arrived there last week.  

Now resting in Cordova, Alaska

Now roosting in my livingroom

Speaking of birds I did get a good photo of our resident Heron fishing in the pond at the end of our block.

I even caught his reflection!

And on more bird news I also ordered a watercolour journal and some new paints, which I finally sat down to play with this morning.  

it is a beginning

So that is my week in a nutshell.  I just got the pattern for a new sock to test knit, so I will get going on that as well as finishing the kitchen cloth.  Both are good TV knitting. I am currently binge watching Station 19.  I do love those firehall dramas. 

I have ordered the frangipani wool for my son's gansey.  It was less expensive to order it from the UK rather than the USA.  Go figure.  I hope it gets here soon - I can't wait to cast on.  I will start with just the waistband and plain knitting part while he still has to decide on which motifs he wants.  

And in other news my granddaughter has apparently been crowned Queen of her little village:

bestowing blessings on the pregnant neighbourhood cat

It is hard to believe May will be here my next Sunday!  I don't know where the time goes.  (Of course not getting up until 9 or 10 every day is probably part of where my time is going).

I wish you all a good week, and yes, world peace would be amazing as well.  

Yopping Update #42 - Test Socks FTW

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Thankfully the new test knit socks I am working on are coming along spendidly.  Of course I can't share them until the pattern goes live, but suffice to say I LOVE them and I am happy to have moved on from the frustrations of last week.  

I did finish my Lento Cowl KAL.  It is very colourful and soft and squishy so I image next winter it will get a lot of wear. 

It looks very Easter-y to me, and also very Ukranian so I will call it my Easter Ukrainian Cowl from here on in. 

That's it on the knitting front.  Otherwise this week I have been transcribing a few more of my Father's letters as well as beginning another round of edits on my second novel.  I am gearing up to send a copy to my Croatian teacher for a beta-read and hoping she will have some suggestions for my Croatian language scenes. 

I have done a little bird watching - no pictures that are clear enough - but I did spot two juvenile bald eagles coming in to rest in the tree tops last week.  My apple tree is full of Juncoes and chickadees, and there is a varied thrush that has been visiting often too.  The weather has been quite cold this past week, and today is overcast.  My hip is resisting any kind of hill walking - up or down, and stairs are totally out of the question.  I have been doing some yoga and it is giving me some relief.  Now that we have our car back I have been driving to flat places I can walk - but even then anything more that 3 kilometers is too much.  

We bought some halibut steaks to make for our Easter dinner.  Ham just wasn't going to do it for us this year.

Lent is over so I checked Instagram and Facebook, and I have to admit I haven't missed anything - except for some lovely posts on my gansey group.  

Speaking of Ganseys - I did finish sewing in the ends and attaching the snaps on the shoulder flaps.  It is now in the cedar chest awaiting a future recipient.  

My granddaughter has been painting Easter Eggs and by the look of this photo she is taking it very seriously. 

Tomorrow we are taking the truck in to get a repair done on the broken tie-down.  We are getting closer to being road ready which I think is a very good thing. 

Wishing you all a Happy Easter, a Good Passover, or just a super Sunday.  May peace be with us all.  I found some gluten free Hot Cross Buns so I am happy about that and they make a fine goto with my morning coffee. 

Oh yes, and Lent is over so today there will also be CHOCOLATE.

Yopping Update #41 - Third time is a charm

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Remember this?

Well I turned the heel and did the short row toe... and then all hell broke loose!  It was a test knit, but I could not for the life of me figure out what the designer wanted or how to get the stitch count to work as I started up the front of the foot.  I puzzled and puzzled and looked at other test knitters' notes and then I did the only sensible thing - I frogged it right back to the cuff.  I did like the cuff as it was done with a cool provisional cast on that you then take out once the cuff is finished.  My friend sent me a different test knit and I thought I could use the cuff I had and continue on with the mosaic pattern.  I don't know - it just wasn't speaking to me so I ripped out the provisional cuff and started a basic 1x1 ribbed cuff.  After finishing the cuff it went into time out because I really liked how the two colours were working in the now frogged sock and I didn't think the mosaic was going to show it the same way.  FitznStarts had a design that was made with knit and purls but if I did it stranded I think my colours will show.    So, I ripped out the cuff and started over yet again last night.  The pattern suggested the Chinese Waitress cast-on which I have never done before so I took on the challenge.  I like the look of the cast-on and it is very stretchy so today I will start the stranded work. 

Most of the week I was working on the wee gansey.  It has shoulder flaps, which I had never done before and it took me a while to wrap my head around the instructions.  It is on the blocking mat and then I have to find some snaps for the flaps.  I'll keep you posted.  (also when I washed this it smells like a wet sheep!)

I have been doing my five rows a day on the Lento Cowl.  This week there were some cool new stitches to learn.  The leaf stitch and the star stitch.  

Last 8 days or so worth of work

Leaf stitch

Star Stitch

Other than my crafting I have been duck watching a couple of days at the pond and I saw two fledging baby hummingbirds in the nest.  I took a video but it is quite blurry.  Still I am happy I got to see them.  I have been back to the nest twice since then and it is empty so perhaps they are out on their own now. I did get this cute video of two mallards drying their tail feathers. 

We get our car back tomorrow and we received the replacement part for our truck/camper so hopefully next week both vehicles will be on the road safely again.  I spent yesterday sorting out the inside of the camper and it really made me feel like I would like to get out in it again soon.  

This morning I woke up to quite the racket under our bedroom window.  There were three VERY large raccoons banging on the window where my cat was sitting on the inside ledge.  I shooed them away with my stern teacher voice and one headed into the front yard, but the other two headed into the back yard and climbed two of our cedar trees.  Too much excitement before I had even had my coffee!

I think that is it for my week.  I did order a new pair of bluetooth earbuds because I thought mine were broken.  It turned out mine weren't broken (oops) but the new ones fit better for when I am out walking so all in all it worked out.  

One more week of Lent and then I will be back checking out my friends and relatives on facebook and instagram.  Oh, and next sunday there will be chocolate!

I wish this little one was here to search Easter eggs next week.  

Have a good week all - see you on Easter Sunday!

Yopping Update #40 - New cast on and some whining

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A quick update on my projects:

Wee Toddler Gansey - I have finished the back, and have started the front.  I am straying from the pattern and have decided to make the front and back motifs different.  That is all well and good except when I started the back after separating for the arm holes I mistakenly was using the front motif.  I spent a couple of hours laddering down 10 rows of 17 stitches to correct my mistake.  oops. 

Lento Cowl - Keeping up with my five rows a day.  I am enjoying this knit very much, and will post pictures once it is done and blocked - which will probably be Easter Sunday. 

New Cast On - My dear friend FitznStarts on Ravelry asked me to do a testknit for her.  It is a very interesting construction, and had a cool cast on.  It took me all morning on Saturday to pick the two colours as the pattern will look best with a self striping yarn, but I didn't have one, so I am striping my own - yes there will be many ends to sew in.  Last night I started the heel.  The contruction looks similar to Pole Dance with a bias toe like Tipsy Toe, both of which I have made so it should be fun (challenging).  It had a cool provisional cast on that you undo once the cuff is complete.  It took me two tries to get the cast on correct as the first time I didn't have enough stitches after the first few rows.  Second time it all worked out, but was awkward with using magic loop.  For the second sock I will use my trusty nine inch circulars for the cuff. 

That's it on the knitting front.  Now onto the whining. 

My car is in the shop for a MAJOR and EXPENSIVE repair.  It is annoying but I couldn't face not repairing it and having to look for a new-to-me car so it is what it is  We hope to get it back sometime next week. 

Then two days ago while bird watching at the pond by the beach my husband noticed that one of the tie-downs on our camper had rusted through and was not holding the camper on properly.  We drove it home very slowly, and now it sits in the driveway while we await the part (under warranty) to be shipped to us.  Therefore we are home without any working vehicles and cabin fever is setting in.  It has been very rainy since all this transpired so walking isn't on the top of my list - but I need milk so I will venture out today. 

Then I spent another hour this morning on the phone with our internet/cable supplier - the third long call in the last couple of weeks trying to sort out our service and the billing.  I think it is sorted now, but time will tell. 

So, to sum up - this week I am not enjoying being a grown-up.  Just sayin!

However, I did get a lovely long walk on Thursday with a dear friend and her two dogs that ended with a nice lunch and latte outdoors afterwards.  Since Thursday was such a lovely day in the late afternoon my husband and I went to the beach and I was in awe of the number of different kinds of ducks in the pond; wigeons, mergansers, ring-necked. wood and of course mallards.  There were also some very large turtles sunning themselves as well.  Despite discovering the aforementioned tie-down issue it was a very cool outing. 

American Wigeons

Wood Duck

Ring-Necked

Momma Wigeon

Very big turtle

Last Sunday I saw this breeding pair of Wood Ducks

Today after I brave the rain and buy some milk for my afternoon tea I will continue to knit (I heard the term procrastiknitting this past week - and hooboy is that me). 

I could clean the pantry shelves, or wash the kitchen floor, or vacuum and perhaps I will do some or all of those things, but first I have to get out of my jammies, wash my face, brush my teeth and get on with the day one way or another. 

Sigh. 

Did I mention 'adulting' is for the birds.  

Literally.