Kninja Knitter

This was a week of ups and downs, and today I woke up to another “down” with the news that Pope Francis passed away. He’s been my favorite pope in my lifetime, and the most Christ-like leader I’ve read about. I’ve been to Rome and Vatican City twice during his papacy but sadly never had the privilege to see or hear him speak IRL. Now the process begins of finding his successor, and I really hope that the conclave doesn’t reverse the church’s direction in doing so. On to other news of the week.

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

My knitting time was a little scattered this week – with the activities of Holy Week at church, plus my other commitments, it’s not surprising. But I did work on all of my focus projects (plus a new cast on!).

I wasn’t sure I even worked on this sweater during the week! I pulled it out of the project bag, though, and the progress keeper showed me I had, lol. A couple rounds — not much, but it’s progress!

Again, just a little bit of work here – one zigzag further along. But it’s progress!

This is the project that got the most attention this week, obviously. It’s more portable than the others, and it’s what was handy when I’d sit on the couch for a bit. The gusset resulted in some interesting pooling, but I think the instep has finally reverted to the sort-of striping as I had on the leg. Lisa, the designer, is hosting a KAL through the end of May, and the challenge is to knit any sock (singular) from her vast design catalog. Each completed sock earns an entry, so a pair is two entries.

Cast-on Conversations

I spent some time on Ravelry after finishing that colorwork hat last week. I have a lot of Palette left in the four contrast colors! So I started a Same As It Ever Was (Ravelry link) hat, which is designed much like the Musselburgh but with a slightly different beginning and ending. I looked at a bunch of Musselburgh project pages and decided to follow someone else’s decision to add ribbing for the brim. That’s an interesting challenge since the hat is knit as a tube, so the midpoint can be difficult to identify. But Ysolda Teague has given ideas in the Musselburgh pattern to add color-blocking for each end of the hat and the brim, allowing for some interesting color options. I might switch my yarn colors as well as adding the ribbing – stay tuned to find out!

I’m also looking at a couple more projects to cast on this week. I’ve committed to test knit a baby/child sweater (in my grandson’s approximate size) for Triona Murphy. Right now I’m assessing my yarn options based on what I have in stash. And I think I’ve decided on a pattern or two to knit up with the Knit Picks Dishie yarn I bought a couple weeks ago.

This is a Year of Projects post. Officially the Group is in its 14th year, my first. If you would like to find out more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, please check it out; it’s a very welcoming group!

Environment Evolution

The ivy pile has been cleared out, and I mowed the lawn this week. I’m going to make another pass with the lawnmower, now that the ivy is gone. A friend loaned me his wood chipper which allowed me to turn the heap of ivy into a much smaller heap of wood chips. Some of the sawdust-type remnants are in the yard, but most of it was dumped into my last yard waste bag.

It’s a dreary day today, but after I mow the lawn again (after lowering the blade to cut more), I’ll share more. I also need to start working on dissolving the two tree stumps on the far right of this last photo. They were cut down last fall, and I have a supply of Epsom salts to use for the project. Then I’ll decide if I want to reconfigure the landscaping rocks – they were part of a much grander setup when those trees were there.

Oh – I also received three estimates during the week to replace the front porch stairs, after realizing that the current concrete porch has sunk significantly on its left side. Replacing the concrete also gives me the prime opportunity to get a new porch rail and mailbox. More to come on this soon, too.

Grandson Glimpses

I’m feeling rather melancholy as my grandson was NOT able to visit. We had family drama last week, and due to financial circumstances for my son and his girlfriend, she did not make the drive up to Ohio. 😢 She did, however, send a video message on Wednesday, getting the munchkin to wish me a happy birthday. Whenever they do make it up here, I still have Easter outfits for Zayne, and I’ll try to set up another portrait sitting. No Easter bunny, but we’ll make do. I also got videos of him and the makeshift Easter Egg “Hunt” they staged for him. Very cute, but I wish I’d been there.

Random Ramblings

And I’ll close with a little bit about my birthday. I’ve taken a few big vacation trips over the years to celebrate. When I turned 50, I headed off to Australia and New Zealand and got to add a bonus tour of San Francisco on the way. Last year I celebrated my birthday with a big tour around the United Kingdom and parts of Ireland. This year it was very low key. I worked, I shared a text exchange with my former co-worker who is one day younger than me, I stepped out to Starbucks for my free menu item, and I did the Strength 50 workout at OrangeTheory to close out the day. Oh, and there was some knitting mixed in there from time to time.

Not every birthday needs to be celebrated in an extravagant way, and my cruise around South America was enough adventure for one year. I’m focusing on becoming the person I want to be, the best version of myself, as I inch closer to retirement. I did manage last week to get back to platinum status with DoorDash, and with the very next shift the difference was pretty obvious. Next week I will share more about the progress on my financial goals!

Knit on. 🧶