"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

7/25/19

Margaret Update

I finished the second right sleeve panel (one for each side) yesterday. Upon finishing it I held it up next to the first one. Ugh. The first one had a longer cap on it. WHAT??????? And then I saw it. I knit the cap on the first one totally wrong wrong wrong! Instead of increasing every other row 10 times, I did it every 3rd row 10 times. WHY DID I DO THAT?!?

I've taken out the bind off and frogged back to the row where the cap shaping begins.

Left one is correct. Partially frogged on the right side.
Shouldn't take long to fix. It's less than 30 rows.

I feel like I've made mistakes at every spot I could possible make mistakes at, and them some.

Daughter Ruth, who graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in Computer Science has been searching for a job every since. It's been pretty frustrating for her. She has an interview this morning. A real life in person interview. First one she's had. I'm anxious to know how it goes.

In the meantime, Zoey wants a new sweater.

Please mum. Can I have a new sweater?


Live long and prosper. \\//


7/24/19

Layette Set #39

The North Idaho State Fair is coming soon so I'm getting the entries ready. I did the KnitWits entries today. Including mine, I have 17 entries. I will have 5. One of those entries will be the cardigan, hat, and booties for Layette set 39, which I've finished.



These colors were very hard to photograph. I made adjustments on my camera and this was the best I could do. I think I need to take them in the sunshine rather than shade. Anyway, here it is. I used my slowly developing Polka Dot pattern I thought I would have finished a long time ago but Margaret Tudor gets my attention instead.

Cardigan



Pattern: Polka Dot Baby Cardigan by Me. Not available yet. I'll get to it eventually

Size: 3-6 months

Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable
Content: 100% Acrylic, Aran weight
Color: Aqua

Yarn: Unknown Acrylic
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Orange

Needles: Circular size 6 and 8

Started: April 9, 2019
Finished: June 25, 2019

Comments: I love knitting this pattern. I was test knitting it while making the cardigan and found several mistakes. I had it on my phone as a PDF file and made notes as I found errors. One of the things I really like about Adobe Reader. I lost that file last week.



An Android update took place on my phone and when it was done I lost all my photos and files that I had on my phone. I was able to get the photos back because they're automatically backed up by Android (via our phone company). I was only able to recover a small handful of the PDF files, (which sucks cuz I had some really cool beading patterns on my phone that I hadn't backed up on my lap top yet). I guess I'll have to test knit again to re-find the errors.

Isn't this a pretty stitch pattern?



Hat



Pattern: Polka Dot Baby Hat by Me. Not available yet. I'll get to it eventually

Size: 6 months

Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable
Content: 100% Acrylic, Aran weight
Color: Aqua

Yarn: Unknown Acrylic
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Orange

Needles: Circular size 7

Started: July 9, 2019
Finished: July 16, 2019

I found a nicer 3 stitch decrease for the last round of decreases in the crown and used it, though I doubt anyone will notice. I also used a different SSK (Slip, Slip, Knit) left leaning decrease. I like how it looks so much better. It lays smoother, more like the K2tog does. You can find it here: One Step Left Leaning Decrease (Alternative SSK)

Booties



Pattern: Polka Dot Baby Booties by Me. Not available yet. I'll get to it eventually

Size: 3-6 months

Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable
Content: 100% Acrylic, Aran weight
Color: Aqua

Yarn: Unknown Acrylic
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Orange

Needles: Circular size 7

Started: July 21, 2019
Finished: July 21, 2019

I have not written up the bootie pattern yet. I need to get that done. Perhaps after the fair.

Almost forgot, the buttons. I wanted to use orange buttons but I only had 2 in the stash and was loath to go anywhere to search for more, so I decided to alternate between orange and aqua. I really like how it looks.



Here's hoping it does well at the fair.



The matching blanket is not done yet. You'll be seeing it in the not too distant future. I am not entering it with the rest of the set because it's a crocheted edging rather than knitting. I hope I have enough orange yarn left. If not, I'm screwed cuz there is no way I can get more.

Still coughing the goopy cough. It's not asthma. I'm not having asthma attacks right now. The air has been very clear. Sweet Hubby asked me if any of the new meds I've been taking have coughing as a side affect. I had never thought of that. I checked, and coughing is the first thing on the side effects list for one of them. I've stopped taking it as of today to see if it makes a difference. I'm going to have to make an appointment with my doctor about this. It's getting worse and driving me crazy.

Live long and prosper. \\//

7/19/19

Mini Star Trek Update

With the North Idaho State Fair coming in just a few weeks, I thought I better finish my Mini Star Trek cross stitch project. I decided after getting the little characters done I'd put the famous words "To boldly go where no one has gone before" at the bottom. I declared it done Monday. Then I took a picture of it and posted it in a Facebook Cross Stitch group I am in. Everyone liked it, but one person said it needed the Enterprise in it. I thought about it and realized she was right, so Wednesday I stitched a couple little ones (found in the book Star Trek Cross Stitch) either side of the words. It added so much. Suddenly, the whole thing is perfect.



I've ordered the frame and mat. Should be here late next week. I'm getting a gold frame and a navy blue mat.

When my kids were young we used to frequently go for walks on the Parkarosa, mostly looking for wild flowers. I wish I had a good camera back then because we found some incredible beauties. Some of them were quite rare endangered species, a few which are gone now because their environment has changed due to everything just growing. For instance, there used to be a lot of California Cow Lily.

Yesterday I took a walk in the woods with my daughter, Ruth, and my dog, Zoey. along one trail I haven't been on in years. I took my camera. The trail has changed so much. It used to have small pines along it that are now 15 or more feet tall, so the trail is much shadier. No more Cow Lilies because they don't like shade. There are more wild apple trees and they are loaded with baby apples. There's also quite a bit of Everlasting Peas. Oh my gosh, they are such a beautiful shade of pink.



This one was hanging on a low branch of a young Ponderosa Pine. Oddly, these do not have the sweet odor that the domestic garden variety Sweet Peas have.



I love the detail of the veins in the petals.



One area used to be a field of wild clover. The clover is gone. That area is loaded with 10 to 12 foot pines and tons of snow berry bushes. Also quite a few of these tiny little pink flowers standing on very tall stems. It's the Mountain Pink, a member of the Dianthus family (also known as the Carnation family). Notice, the pollen is purple.



I like this picture.



They were growing in a fairly shady spot. They really stood out bright in the small rays of sun coming through the trees though.



I need to get myself to go on more walks. My knees are able to handle it now. More Parkarosa wild flowers to follow.

Live long and prosper. \\//




7/16/19

Buttons

I am kind of getting excited at the prospect of getting all the knitting done on Margaret Tudor, even though I've still got a couple months at least before I get to that point. So today I decided it was time to order the buttons. I need 56 silver metal buttons for this sweater.

A few months ago I'd found some wonderful buttons on Amazon that were about 10 bucks for 50. I would have to buy 2 packs, but 20 bucks is not bad when you need 56 buttons. I put them in my wish list. However, recently they changed it to 6 buttons for 9.00. I don't know why they did that (I suspect that seller is no longer working through Amazon), but there is no way I am paying that.

At regular button prices, and my husband not working, I can't afford to buy that many of them. So I started searching on the internet for bulk button sources. I found one that had the most perfect buttons and for 56 it's only costing me about $8.00. That includes the $2.30 cents for shipping.



I'm getting them from a Chinese company called 8 Seasons. The buttons should be here in about 3 weeks. They have a pretty good rating with people, so I'm not worried. I've had some very good experiences when ordering overseas.

For the first time in years, I'm filling the seed bird feeders this summer. In the past I'd fill them and no birds would visit. Eventually I stopped filling at the end of spring. I didn't this time and I'm glad I didn't. An Evening Grossbeak has been visiting the bird buffet, as well as the usual Chickadees, Nuthatches, and Finches. I'm happy about that. Not putting out suet though because it tends to melt in the summertime.

The temperatures have dropped a bit here and we've been getting rain the last couple days. It's been nice having some rain. I have to admit, though, our July weather has been cooler than usual. Usually by now we've had at least 1, if not 2, weeks of upper 90's and low 100's in the temperature department. I'm enjoying the cooler weather. It makes for more deck knitting.

Live long and prosper. \\//

7/13/19

Margaret Update and a Spider

Doing the knitting update first. I finally finished the first side panel for a Margaret Tudor sleeve.



This is the piece I was trying to get done on the camping trip. I could not work on it after I got home because it smelled very strongly of stale wood smoke. Last Wednesday I dumped everything out of my knitting bag onto the deck table for the day to air it out in hopes of getting rid of the odor.

Everything lost the odor except the sleeve piece and it's accompanying ball of yarn, so I put it in it's ziploc bag (I've been keeping it in a ziploc bag to protect it from dirt and damage when not being worked on). I added a fresh cedar block to the bag. By Thursday morning, the smell was gone.



I washed the knitting bag, which was taking a chance because it was very expensive when I bought it, made with high quality upholstery fabric. I wasn't sure it would machine wash without some form of destruction, but I decided if I couldn't get rid of the odor I'd probably toss it anyway. It machine washed, and dried, beautifully. You can see it in this photo taken yesterday.



I spent several hours out on the deck knitting and got that sleeve piece done. I immediately cast on for the second one, of course.



I paid royally for all that deck knitting time. I had an asthma attack just before I went back into the house for the day. I coughed for hours. I ended up taking a Musinex D tablet to get it to stop. I don't understand why my asthma inhaler doesn't stop the secondary coughing. To explain, when I have an asthma attack, I get a funny tickle in my throat, my lungs start to ache, and I start coughing. It's a dry cough. I take my inhaler and it stops. Then a little while later I start coughing again, this time with tons of phlegm being coughed up. I cough so hard sometimes I actually throw up. It's exhausting. My doctor has been giving me various prescriptions to try and control that second cough but nothing seems to be working. Sigh. I don't want to have to stay inside all the time.

Okay. About a spider. I don't usually post about spiders. They're too creepy. However, this morning I stepped outside to check on some plants I'd planted in the boxes on the deck yesterday. We got a very hard downfall of rain during the night and I wanted to make sure the plants were okay. (They were.) I spotted this fella on the railing.



I had not seen a spider like this around here before. It was about half an inch long, and it's so pretty I went and got the camera. It's a male Red Back Jumping spider. It's didn't jump when I was taking pictures, thankfully, or I'd probably have dropped my camera and ran. I have a complicated relationship with spiders. They creep me out something awful, but I appreciate their purpose, which is to eat other bugs. It didn't like the camera.



I don't blame it. A large black menacing eye making clicking sounds just a centimeter or two from me would freak me out too. He actually turned around and charged at the camera. I got a really good shot of his face. Freaky looking. But also interesting. Look at those eyes, and those teal fangs. I'm so glad these creatures are smaller than me.



My friend Becky will love these photos. She actually has spiders for pets.

Live long and prosper. \\//