A little bit of everything

I finished my Wonder Woman socks!! 
Then it was a busy week at work - month end always is. And then there was a required trip to The Mall for jeans. My pant/jeans were entirely too loose to keep wearing, so it was   necessary. Mission accomplished. 

I finally sat down this afternoon and got some knitting done!! I was cleaning up some of the more random yarn in The Spare ‘Oom and came across a messed up skein of that fabric yarn so I decided to just bang it out instead of rewinding and stashing it. 

It already has a good neck to go to (not mine), so that’s done. 

I couldn’t help but cast on another sock. This one is for another colleague, and as soon as I saw it, it almost screamed her name to me. 

Yup, another Turtlepurl - Trenchcoat this time. So iconic!

I am presently going to knit another episode of MasterChef Australia on Humulus. 

She has sat stoically whilst I played with other projects, and now it’s her time to shine! 

I also picked out a final colourway for Till Death - after deep stash diving and a FaceTime consultation with Helen. 

That will likely get cast on tomorrow after work. 

Phew - good thing I’m just doing some ribbing! That task list is inspiring but almost tiring. Lol. 

Not enough to do ...

Slow and rather disappointing start to the day. I shan’t bore you with the details, since the problems have been sorted and the remainder of my day at home was quite nice and fairly productive. 

I got a bit done on my Turtlepurl Wonder Woman socks. I am not used to matching socks, so this is rather a novelty! 

I also need to get a push on as these will be a part of my Wonder Woman costume for Halloween at work.

I am 48 rounds into the 90 rounds that I need on the body of Humulus. 

I just had to use my new Starbucks stitch marker that I got from Fibermancy!!

Because these projects on the needles just doesn’t seem like enough (on top of the Wonder Woman cape that I need for Halloween as well), I have signed on for the Till Death  MKAL  My only saving grace here is that they.are mittens and I should be able to keep up! LOL I’ll have to go stash diving to find a some yarn to knit them with.

Got a bit behind on my 30 Days of Flowers colouring, but I am caught up now - days 6-9. 

All of this therapy, along with the love of puppies, the support of friends, and doing some baking has made a massive improvement to my mood! I have changed what I can today and left alone what I can’t. I’m getting better at that and it makes a difference. 

Traditional Progress

Just a quick little update tonight. 

The carpet is drying nicely. The white noise of the a/c and the ceiling fan are for a function, so I am tolerating them. I usually try to turn them off for a few hours a day at least to give myself a mental rest, but needs must. 

A sunny day meant another lovely day to hang out some washing. Is fall cleaning a thing?? I’ve been in a mode lately ... today it was the shower curtains and liners, and a couple of blankets. They all now smell like sunshine!! 

I managed to sort out my gauge, though even down to 4mm needles I still need to be mindful to knit snugly almost or I stray into too loose territory. 

Wow - don’t the colours really start popping in that yoke??

Once Peter and Chica got used to the living room not having the usual things in it, (they are quite attuned to things in their environment and aren’t keen on change. Don’t know where they get *that* from -lol!) they were happy to have the extra playing space. 

A lot of people see stockinette/garter as boring; I love it!! It is so relaxing and soothing to me. It is also something that I’m known for - my even gauge, and nothing shows it off like stockinette! It’s a lovely way to finish off an evening. 

My Ignorance Amuses Me

So I’m on series 8 of Masterchef Australia. Every year, they do this challenges, and for the life of me, I would’ve sworn on a stack of bibles that they were saying “diggerstation”. Between the accent and not really knowing what the word was, I just rolled with it. I finally decided to Google it. Big Surprise - no such thing as a “digger station”. Some research later, it turns out that it’s a “dégustation”. :facepalm:  What immediately came to mind is that bit in Tomb Raider where Manfred Powell says, “My ignorance amuses me”. “Digger station” - LOL!!!  

My knee is back to normal - phew!! I iced it to near frozen on Friday night. It wasn’t perfect Saturday morning, but I had to work. I think that the degree to which my knee got iced the night before and the amount of Naproxen and codeine that I can function on scared my knee into self-reparation! 

So I had today off from work. I think that I actually do not know how to relax. I mean, I get the concept, but I don’t know how to not do something productive. Unless I’m actually asleep or physically incapacitated, I need to be doing. So I had started deciding last night that yes, I really did need to clean the living room carpet. The stains had started to run into each other, and I couldn’t remember the last time that I had done it. I shifted furnishings and strayed last night, and then 6-ish hours later today, with a load of laundry done and hung as well, the carpet is clean(er). I don’t know how many more wash/rinse sucked I would have had to do to have it come out actually *clean*, but there is a marked improvement! 

I will feel the workout tomorrow - pushing and pulling the 25lb+ Bissell Proheat 2x (mine has yellow accents which I love!) an incalculable amount of times adds up. I was focusing on holding my core tight and alternating between my left & right arm, paying attention to being hard on the muscle and easy on the joint. I am pleased that it is done though, and while I don’t use it a lot, I have to say that this carpet cleaner is worth all the money! 

I had been making nice progress on Humulus  but the fabric just didn’t look the same as the stranded yoke. Sure enough, too loose. GAH!! I reknit the 2” after the sleeve division, trying to tighten up my tension a bit; still too loose. I’ve taken it back to just after the fair isle bit and am dropping to 4mm. Pretty needle tips on the Marblz!! 

Remember when I started out and said that I tend to knit more loosely on circulars - yeah, here it is. The fair isle was keeping the looseness in check.  It is easier to adjust needle sizes than it is to consistently adjust your tensioning to achieve gauge. Well, for me anyway. 

So here is to a night of backwards progress!!

Yoke

Day 5 of 30 Days of Flowers!
The lines are so tiny, it makes trying to stay inside them a challenge, but I don’t give up easily. Another Prismacolor lead  failure. 

I have made excellent progress on my friend Lynn’s Humulus  You can see the floats and the pattern. I really try to do my fairisle neatly, and don’t carry a float more than 3 stitches. Just another round or two then I’m onto the separation of body and sleeves. I really love that pink bit in the Dream State fairisle section!!  

Yes, that is a bag of ice on my knee. I really didn’t do anything, but after lunch I got up from the table and my knee just felt wrong. It’s not muscular, or a strictly weight-bearing pain. It’s a stabbing pain when I move my knee. Hopefully rest, ice, and elevation will get me through work tomorrow, then I can decide on going to urgent care or not. I did try a knee brace that I have (not THE knee brace which is for my right knee, but a good one from years back) and it didn’t help in any noticeable way. I hate mystery injuries that I can’t diagnose. 

Humulus Le Deux

Made excellent progress after re-starting Humulus and the gauge is spot on. 

Because I prefer a tighter gauge than is generally called for in most patterns, sometimes I don’t realize I’m off until a bit in. This fabric, relative to the first go, definitely feels looser in a better way.

I’m definitely liking the gentle fair isle effect that the Spincycle Dream State is giving without having to change yarns! I love yarns that do the work for me. 

I made egg bites in my Instant Pot yesterday from this recipe  They can put a bit more dense than the Starbucks ones that I love, so I may reduce the steam time a minute or two next go. 

The flavor is good, though the flavor of the Swiss cheese that I used is coming through rather strongly. I’m not a massive fan of Swiss, so I think I’ll have a go with the Gruyère next time. 

I also need to let them cool down in the mould so that they come out less misshapen ... I was in such a hurry to try them though.

Today is day 4 of the 30 Days of Flowers colouring challenge with Johanna Basford. The colouring pages are a free download - give it a go!

Does colouring make you happier? I think so. It’s relaxing, except when I look at it and I’ve gone outside the teeny tiny lines. D’oh!! Still, I enjoy it. 

Except when the lead is broken all the way down and I just have broken tips. These are Prismacolor; I may pop into the art store in Barrie and see what other options there are.  

Giant swatch

Well, it’s a giant swatch, but it serves its purpose and I know that I have to go up a size needle. 
Honestly, I think that the time invested knitting this was worth it. I struggle with circular swatches - the arranging of the yarn behind to do just knit rows. They use up a lot of yarn and in my experience, they aren’t as accurate as actually knitting around. 

I have also enjoyed knitting with both the Woolstok and the Spincycle yarns - this was not a hardship and I don’t mind that I’ll be in a state of déjavu reknitting this first bit. 

I don’t ham it up a lot for pictures - I mostly don’t like having my pic taken - but Julie caught me in a moment!!

 I love this pic (I ganked it from her blog). It is a sweet torture working her booth at the shows - I can’t have all the yarn and yet I want all the yarn!! She has so many projects knit up for inspiration and the colours!! 

I am wearing the Veronika cardigan in in Mad Tosh Chunky in Wilted Rose. Lynn and Sarah are wearing their Comfort Fade Cardis.