Kninja Knitter

I had wanted to share a post over the weekend but it just didn’t happen. I had a lot going on, which you’ll read about shortly. That did include knitting, though I have no glamour shots or FO pics to share just yet. Anyway, here goes…

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

The biggest gains were on my Camp Loopy project since my window to complete this shawl is very limited if I want to complete the challenge to earn the prize (and bragging rights). It’s absolutely do-able, and it’s been a much easier knit since I made the modifications to the pattern. Yesterday I even managed to knit more than my required minimum number of rows for the day. That puts me ahead of schedule. The knitting is almost 50% complete!

I’m also confident that I can finish my current hat WIP – yesterday I started on the crown decreases for the light end of the hat. This does mean I don’t have any simple stockinette knitting anymore (until I cast on a vanilla sock) but such is life.

I haven’t been consistent with the cardigan, but I’m still trying to knit one pattern repeat a day (eight rows) and the second sleeve is over halfway done. I’m thinking I should be able to finish the left side this month so I can work on the lace panels to join the left and right sides plus the side panels in August.

I also managed to pull out the shawl I started during Zombie Knitpocalypse. This was supposed to be a nice point earner for the Splash Pad Party hosted by Down Cellar Studio, but the project took a back seat to other priorities. It’s an easy knit but not something that can be done without light and at least a modicum of attention.

This is a Year of Projects post. Officially the Group is in its 15th year, my second. If you would like to find out more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, please join in the fun!

Grandson Glimpses

This is the big section for the week since I got to spend a significant amount of time with the munchkin this week! Alas, he’s heading home tonight, so the magic is leaving for a bit. But I’m expecting another visit in August if plans work out!

I may have shared this before, but my grandson’s vocabulary has exploded in recent months. He turned 2.5 earlier in the month, and he’s become quite curious about many things. Still, it’s clear to me that he’s not as advanced mentally as his language would suggest. Concepts are still a bit beyond his grasp. Nevertheless, he knows a lot of words and recognizes a wide variety of images! I bought him a set of blocks that have the alphabet (upper and lower case) and numbers (1-26) along with images associated with the letters. The fact that he recognized an Octopus immediately, and even said the word correctly, was a fun surprise for me. “Elephant,” however, doesn’t quite sound phonetic just yet, lol. The block set also has cubes to identify features (eyes, ears, nose, toes, head & mouth) and actions and emotions, though “sad” was the only one he easily identified there.

The little guy is quite obsessed with guitars, but I’ll share more on that later!

On Tuesday, we had a very big day – after a good night’s sleep (for him, as I woke up at 3am and struggled to fall back asleep), we played for a bit and then headed up to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. It turned a pretty hot day, though not “air quality alert” hot, thankfully! Still, it started off cooler, so I kept him in his pajama shirt until it got warmer.

We visited the tiger enclosure, listened to the Keeper Talk at the Pallas’ Cat exhibit, and headed to the Heart of Africa for the Keeper Talk at the lions’ enclosure. I had hoped we could see the cheetah run at noon, but Zayne wasn’t up for sticking around. In hindsight, he probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it very much since he doesn’t process distant things very well yet. Next year! We rounded out our zoo visit with a demonstration of training techniques with the resident sea lions and seals.

After our two-hour visit to the zoo, we made our way to Wendy’s for lunch. Then we headed downtown to COSI, the science museum! (Center of Science and Industry) This was the munchkin’s first visit here, and my primary goal was to check out Unofficial Galaxies, a touring exhibit of “one of the largest Star Wars fan collections in the world.” I chuckled at the merchandise on display throughout the exhibit – as my younger brother was a mega fan, I grew up with a lot of this stuff. In fact, I have a large toy Millennium Falcon in the basement. And my son had some toys from the prequel movies, too. The most impressive displays here are of the full-scale models of droids and ships, including an X-wing fighter. Getting pictures of the kiddo from a distance proved challenging with one exception:

Because I had to purchased time-entry tickets for the Star Wars exhibit, we had some time upon arrival to check out other displays. It’s been ages since I visited COSI! We checked out the resident display of dinosaurs and then made our way to the touring display on sharks.

The COSI visit was followed by a brief nap, naturally. And when Mama came to collect him, we agreed to meet at Polaris the next day for a portrait session – long overdue, as it’s been over seven months, and I’d had to cancel the planned Easter session back in April.

I spent “too much” money on the portraits, but with images this adorable, how could I not? I even ordered a canvas print for my ex-husband and his wife. And the munchkin also serenaded the folks in the waiting area of the studio – singing “Itsy Bitsy Spider” while accompanying himself. 😂

When I discovered that they wouldn’t be leaving town until the end of the weekend, I leapt at the opportunity for more grand time! So Friday night I had a houseguest again. In preparation, I ordered a guitar mount to put the quarter-size acoustic on the wall, giving it a home where it’s removed from danger! Leaning it against a wall was just too precarious for my liking.

On Friday, we had a couple hours together for guitar and blocks and bubbles, plus some grocery shopping, before bed. On Saturday morning, I decided we’d return to COSI to explore the sections that are geared more for the munchkin’s age group. And he had SO much fun!

It was particularly amusing that at some points he was upset about having to leave a play area as I was encouraging him to see something new. But with each new area, he had just as much fun, if not more. I have a feeling we’ll be visiting COSI more frequently, as I’ve bought a membership. This opportunity to play is great no matter what the weather!

We stuck around until the Rat Basketball demonstration started, but since he couldn’t see the critters up close, the boy wasn’t engaged in the activity. All in good time!

As I said earlier, I’m expecting the munchkin and his sister to come for a visit in August, though that’s certainly subject to change. Meanwhile, I’m getting notifications that some of the prints we ordered have been packaged up for shipping. Next week I may have some new wall displays to share!

Knit on. 🧶