Bigger IS Better

So I finally went and bought myself a new tv. Early Happy Birthday prezzie to me :) It's been at least 8 years, and considering that TV is my main entertainment (symbiotic with my knitting), it's totally worth the money spent! 

It's huge!! 55" compared to my previous 37" one which is now in my bedroom. Not sure how often I'll use it in there as I rarely have a sick day, I'm not a fan of falling asleep to a movie, and it's currently just hooked up to the bluray player, but it's in excellent condition and you never know. Now I just need another hdmi cord! Lol

I bought a wall mount kit and wow - those are some detailed instructions!! I'll probably have to ask my landlord to help with installing the actual part that goes on the wall, but I think I can manage the tv attachment.  

I also finished my Beyond the Wall shawl!! 

Ends need sewing in and it needs a blocking, but the knitting is done!

I have changed my hair, again.

I absolutely love the blonde!! The cut will show better once the colour grows out, so I'm looking forward to the next trim! Not sure if I'm having more fun yet, 'cause I have a lot of fun, but you'll know as soon as I do. 😏

Spoiler pics below on the What The Fade. No very spoilery, as I'm only on Clue 2, but perhaps you're not that far along. 

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I am almost at the next Fade section!

I had a great weekend with the ladies from work. We went to Blue Mountain and the weekend couldn't have been more perfect!

We missed Julie on Friday night, but she came out Saturday night. I had to come home to my little brood, so I missed the Segway adventure, but it was still such a memeorable experience, and I'm deeply grateful to be working with such strong, fierce, and fabulous women!! ❤️👸💪🏻💖

Petey is still symptomatic, but is more himself. Still waiting for his inflatable collar 😒. 

A bit more Fading before I completely fade. 

What the Fade

Spoiler pics below. Though not too spoilery -- I'm back to Clue 1.

OMG - it's been two steps forward and one step back on this and I'm only one Clue in (barely made it into the 2^nd Clue). 

Brioche is a half sibling to Knit One Below and I'm aces at that, yet I keep forgetting incs and having to rip back. 

This is the at the end of CLue 1 -- before I was 10 rows deep into Clue 2 and THEN discovered that I was missing !!2!! Increases!! 

Le Grand Sigh 

I love how brioche is reversible - thewrong side is just a non-public side, whichever one the wearer chooses that to be!

I know - crazy!! At this rate I might be caught up in time for Clue 4.

That is my poor Petey in the pic above. He is suffering from The Allergies. I joked early days when he'd sneeze about him having allergies like his mum. Then when he'd bite and scratch at himself, I thought it might just be mosquito bites. 

Then after a day outside, his paws and belly turned pink, he started scratching and biting in earnest, his eyes and muzzle turned pink ... he was an allergic mess. I am loathe to out him on strong anti-histamine or cortisone, so after much consultation with doggie friends who've gone through this and searching my soul in the reflection of his sad little eyes, I am pursuing natural easements, building up his immune system and I have also changed his diet to raw on the outside chance this is a coincidentally occurring food allergy. 

The Cone of Shame has him quite dispirited, but he still has the gumption to bark at John the Landlord and snap at Chica on occasion, so he is not seriously ill. I have ordered an inflatable neck ring that I hope will keep him from reaching his paws, and also return some of his dignity.

All I can say is that I'm thankful that it's not Chica with The Allergies. She's bitchy enough as it is - lol!!

Oh - looky at what Helen sent me!! New to me yarn. 

Okay. Fortunately I close tomorrow - though I am up early to go get my hair did (yes, something new!!), so I am on a mission to knit back to where I was. 

Fading Away

I forgot to tell you that I finally have a cedar chest!! A friend was selling one since she was moving East, and I didn't even bother to bargain, I paid my $50 and started loading it up. 

The outside shows wear, but it has history, and the inside (where it counts) is pristine. I love it.

Today was a laundry day and I did a few more rows on my Beyond The Wall MKAL  The rows are at a time-consuming length now, but I persevere. 

The 3.75mm circulars were proving too large for the So Faded sweater, so I ripped out and restarted; 3.25mm are the ticket. 

With 8 colours, my first fade would have been before the neck shaping ended, so after a consult with Julie, I finished the neck shaping, then started fading. I have adjusted the row counts on the subsequent colour sections and it's all good.

Except something went awry with the first fade row and I lost the continuity of the single stitch between sections.

 I kept knitting, thinking that it wasn't so horrible, that it was on the back shoulder, no one would see it. Who was I trying to convince? We all know what a perfectionist I am. So that got taken apart and I am much happier now!

This pic is 7 rows into the fade. The colours are so close that it is almost impossible to distinguish them apart. This is going to be the most subtle and awesome fade ever!!! Prism has outdone themselves on this gradient kit. 

Uschitita

Uschitita yarn finally arrived at The Needle Emporium ! So happy that I had the day off; I stopped in Milton to pick up mi amiga Joan, and we enjoyed a good catching up on the drive.

I went with the mission of picking out a colourway for the What the Fade MKAL coming up at the end of this month. The purples called to me and with some help fromJulie, I put this kit together. Using black and white photography, I ended up switching the last two skeins for a more totally accurate tonal gradation. I;m a bit of a stickler for fading from dark to light ... unless you're fading from one colour to another.

Then Julie walked away to help customers and this one just sort of happened.

It may not end up being a What the Fade, it may be another fade or just stash, but I love them. 

This single skein of Hedgehog sock caught my eye - fairly screams Gryffindor, yes?

I put these for skeins of Hedgehog Singles together. 

Westknits is doing another MKAL come the end of September, and while he doesnt usually do fades, this caught my eye, but I managed to leave them behind.

My next project for Julie is a So Faded Sweater in a stunning green Merino Mia Gradient Kit from Prism Yarns  I wound up the first few colours and got started straight away last night!

On my way home, I ended up here:

I always seem to end up at Krispy Kreme when I go to Julie's. 

Since there was a Staples right there, I had the screen protector replaced on my phone. WOW!!! The original one was go cracked and abused that it's like having a new phone!! I also bought an external keyboard for the phone. I love it - it makes blogging so much easier! 

I have taken my flute playing back up; it's been a year!! I have missed it and am enjoying the playing immensely. My teacher, Myrelle, had suggested that I record myself playing, mistakes and all, so I did.

This is my favourite song (that I know how to play) and it is not bad considering that I've been not playing for awhile. https://youtu.be/Tt5NnEllCgw

It will give me a baseline for measuring my improvement.

Back to my So Faded Sweater before I head to work,

Beyond the Wall 2

So the Super Secret Project is a fait accompli, and I jumped straight away into my Beyond the Wall shawl.

I have finished Clue 2 and am headed into 3!! I should be caught up in time for the release of Clue 4 on Sunday. Go me!! 

I made time today to bake a pie using local berries. 

It was delish - the perfect tartness, cinnamon, and sweet. It's not going to last long - it'll be breakfast and snack and lunch ... you get the idea. 

I got new glasses!! Something a little different. 

I'm also trying out multi-focal contacts. I lose some sharpness on both near & far vision, but it affords me flexibility with sunglasses and the mid-range vision is excellent. I think I'll use them for beach days and sports.