Yopping Update #31 - Fighting dragons - literally and figuratively

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Well it has been a week.  

I started Tahesha the Dragon on my gansey, and although it is slow going, and there has been some tinking back, and some math complications, I am happy to have got to row 25.  Only 73 more to go!

my first ever icord cables with provisional cast-on

My gansey is taking all my knitting time these days. 

I have done a wee bit of spinning, but nothing much to show for it, however my beekeeping combs are working well for combing out the locks before spinning.  

Speaking of these days, I had quite a sharp dip in my mental health earlier in the week, but by Friday I was slowly pulling up and out.  Depression and anxiety are the two dragons I battle almost daily.  Today I feel like I might be winning.  Yesterday was a good day from start to finish which is stupendous for me. 

I did a fair bit of retail therapy again this week.  I did order a knitting belt and some long dpns.  I am looking forward to trying them.  Knitting my gansey on two circs (2.25mm) does cramp up my hands a bit and knitting belts are suppose to help alleviate such things.  We shall see.  It is always fun to try new things (I keep telling myself). 

I ordered a new scale for weighing my projects.  The one I have is very old and sometimes turns on, and sometimes doesn't, and sometimes turns on and then promptly turns off.  I am relegating it to the kitchen as hubby often wants to borrow my scale when he is cooking so he can deal with the on/off issues and I won't be worrying the scale I am using is covered with flour, or something sticky. 

I also order four skeins of hemp to make some more doubleknitted kitchen pot-holders.  I am going to make another KnitPicks order as soon as white Brava Sport is back in stock.  I decided my tree skirt will be red and white so I need more of each colour, and also I will throw in more sock yarn just because (and to get the free shipping).

On Friday an antique popped up on facebook marketplace and, well, to make a long story short - look what I brought home yesterday. 

inside

outside

open

top - opened

It is a sewing machine case for a treadle Singer sewing machine.  It is over 100 years old and, well, it was love at first sight.  I have my Mum's Singer and I think it will fit in there, but for now I am using it to store spinning supplies.

I reorganized my knitting magazines the other day, and culled a few to give away.  I also donated some sock needles and sock pattern books to a one room school north of here.  My friend teaches there and her students want to learn to knit socks. 

So despite all my buying, I am also trying to keep decluttering too and anyways now I have new furniture in my craft room I have to make sure things all have a place!

I did get out on Tuesday for a very long bird walk.  I manage 9 km, which meant that the next day with a short 2.5 km walk I finally finished this:

Ta-Da!

Now any kilometers I log go towards my next challenge of walking the distance of the Kruger Safari Park in Africa.  These Conqueror Challenges keep me motivated and the medals you receive are pretty awesome.  I will post a picture when the Ring Road medal arrives. 

It is rainy here today - the first in a while, and we are expecting snow later tonight or tomorrow.  We have all our groceries in as of yesterday, and there is firewood in the carport so I suspect today I will be nestled on the couch, watching 'The Good Place', and wrestling with a dragon or too. 

I hope, dear readers, you will tame whatever dragons you are wrestling with these days. 

These days are not easy, but they are the days we have and I am working hard at being grateful for all I do have.

Like this:

spring daffodils

And these:

six wooden bird buttons that came with my knitting magazine

And of course, this:

Yopping Update #30 - Beekeeping and knitting - What?

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Well I hope my title got your attention.  As I mentioned last week I have been participating in a challenge on Ravelry that revolves around the themes of the Harry Potter series.  I challenged myself to spin 100gm of locks I have in my fibre stash and to do this I wanted to source out some combs to tease out the locks before spinning and then to learn how to use the diz I won in Tour de Fleece two summers ago. 

Sourcing combs was a) frustrating because almost everywhere I looked they were out of stock, and b) they are very expensive (around $175 for a set of mini combs).  While searching aimlessly I came across a blog that talks about an inexpensive alternative.  Beekeeping uncapping combs.  What?  I know, right.  So I went online to Princess Auto and ordered two, that with shipping included, was under $20.  Who doesn't love a bargain. 

The challenge started yesterday so I go out my new 'combs' and after watching this video to explain how to use wool combs I set to work. 

First comb loaded

first little bird nest ready to spin

and she's off

Otherwise this week I have been working on my gansey.  I started the motifs and bsides the first row having the wrong stitch count (because apparently I can't add and then multiple x2) and having to tink back and fix it - the following 41 rows have been smooth (albeit slow) sailing.  I average about 10 rows a day and because the motifs repeat I can watch tv and only rarely have to reverse a knit or purl stitch that I have misplaced. 

I am looking for some long dpns (12 - 16 inches) in 2.25mm and I want to try using a knitting belt for these ganseys.  I think my hand wouldn't cramp up as it seems too lately with the circular needles I am using.  Knitting Belts and long dpns are the traditional way to knit ganseys.  I can't seem to find a source in Canada, and I hate paying the exchange and the shipping and the duty costs from the USA.  I'll keep looking, but so far no luck.  

I am almost at the point where I can start the underarm gussets

Since I was on a Harry Potter theme via Ravelry my dh and I watched all the HP movies over the past couple of weeks.  Now the new season of Ozark is up, and we have also been watching YellowJackets so I am lined up this week for more tv knitting, or Knitflixing as my friend Fitznstarts calls it.  Oh, and also the new season of Billions starts tonight!

I got quite a bit of walking in this week, and lo and behold Spring really is coming because a) 

the ducks are back in the pond

and b)

snowdrops!

I just re-read last week's blog post and I did manage to vacuum and dust, however the windows still need washing and it is more noticeable at the moment because the sun is shining and apparently will continue to do so for a week or so.  I better get to it. 

One of my walks took me to the local garden store to look for a new pot for my jade tree that needs a new home.  I couldn't find one I liked (in my price range).  When did plant pots get sooooo expensive?  But I did buy myself a new addition for my front porch. 

Lenten Rose

So there is my week.  A lot of walking, some retail therapy, some knitting and Knitflixing, and even some fibre prep and spinning.  

Is January over yet?  I want January to be over.  Pandemic fatigue is real for me these days, but I am hoping that the arrival of the spring birds and plants will get me over the hump and into February.  

At least February is only 28 days long.

Right?