Kninja Knitter

Plenty of updates to share this week, including a new segment! I’ll jump right in…

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

August keeps marching on, and I’ve continued to be faithful to my two key projects. The Camp Loopy shawl is growing longer, though its width has hit its max. The purple and blue lace sections are slightly better lit here, though they’re so close in saturation value, you might not be able to tell the difference. I like that the garter stitch sections between MC lace sections now grow with each color. And because it’s an easy pattern to move along, I’m ahead of schedule – started Monday with 70% complete by stitch count.

And I’m particularly excited about my progress on the cardigan! A week ago I was making my way up the left sleeve with the side lace panel. I’ve finished both the left and right side lace panels, so now I’m ready to start on the collar! I’m really looking forward to finishing and blocking this sweater as it seems to be ideal as a neutral cover at church, and it’s sure to get a lot of wear this fall. And I absolutely love how Stitch Saver has made this project so easy! I’ve only had to pick up stitches in certain spots where the held stitches weren’t enough to span the edge nicely.

Cast-on Conversations

I’ve been focusing on those two projects particularly because I’ll be waiting for the start of the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party before casting on anything new. This craft-along challenge only applies to new projects, unlike the Splash Pad Party which allows for WIPs. That simply means I’m devising my strategy and preparing for several cast-ons for September 4!

Since the event runs for five months, it allows for bigger projects to be completed. I’ve got plans to cast on a couple sweaters, including one spectacular design! I swatched this past week for both sweaters. First, I picked some deep stash yarn, a cotton-rayon blend I bought back in 2012. The sweater design is one that was made to be knit up over a long weekend, though I won’t need to race through it at all. It’s a seamless design with short sleeves and a fun leafy lace bodice design. My swatch used a technique to simulate knitting in the round while not having to do so. Because of the way this technique works, the edges of the swatch are not helpful in checking gauge; but after blocking, it came out pretty close to the desired gauge. Woot.

And the second swatch is for more of a “magnum opus” type of project: an Alice Starmore Aran cable knit sweater. And to up the difficulty factor, I’m using black yarn! I bought the yarn from a Dublin (Ireland) store using a gift certificate that a friend gave me just before my 2024 trip across the pond. This is one of four sweater quantities of Irish yarn I’ve purchased, and to date I’ve only finished one sweater. Because the yarn is black, it was tougher to check gauge, but I think it’s pretty close to spot on. I’ll check again in strong sunlight.

For the PSP, I’ll be planning more projects of varying sizes. I like to have easy projects along with complex ones, plus things I can finish quickly to offset the tedium of the beastly big ones!

Environment Evolution

No pictures to share here, but I did manage a few updates in the past week. First, I lugged the collection of packing styrofoam that had piled up in my garage to the recycling center, and I dropped off my boxes of donations to Goodwill. There’s still a large pile of cardboard that I need to load into the car bound for the recycling center, and I should be able to get that done this week. That alone would free up a LOT of space in the garage!

Today, the city’s bulk pickup crew came and cleared out the furniture that was waiting for them. One or more passers-by had taken the office chair and rug that I had placed there, and I chuckled when I realized that someone also took a section of the computer desk, but they left most of the pieces.

And the final big celebration this week was that I was able to resume using my Roomba robot vacuum! Affectionately named Alfred (call me Batman, lol), it’s been on hiatus under the kitchen table since last fall when the bathtub was installed. The prep work for the effort required a lot of re-situating of furniture that dominated the floor space. Alfred finished the first total pass in about 45 minutes and only needed attention twice before completing its work. Ideally that should improve over time – and I’m hoping my shorter hair has less of an impact on Alfred’s need for attention.

Bookish Banter

I’m continuing along with the Kindle quarterly reading challenge, though I’m still struggling with consistency. I haven’t managed to earn the “perfect month” award since February as a result. Perhaps September will be my opportunity. Still, I’m generally consistent – my current streak is at 193 consecutive weeks! Right now I’m very much invested in reading Coming Clean: A Memoir by Kimberly Rae Miller. I’d first heard of the book on Dana K. White’s podcast, as this is about the daughter of a hoarder. Kim talks at length about growing up surrounded by stuff because her father was obsessed with paper and her mother battled depression with retail therapy. A few tidbits that she’s mentioned hit close to home – sometimes with experiences from my own clutter journey, and sometimes bringing up memories about my parents’ attachment to things. I might manage to finish the book this week, so I’ll share more after that.

Tail Tales

Here’s my new segment – and we’ll see how long it takes to develop some good content here, lol. My new housemate arrived on Thursday evening – the friend who had been fostering her brought her over. Due to her higher level of anxiety as a rescue cat, she was pretty heavily medicated. That actually made her pretty friendly for the first twelve hours or so. She ate and drank and came to me for some pets. And that night she even hopped up on my bed for a while as I was drifting off to sleep.

But the next morning, the medication wore off and she found her perfect hiding place under my bed…where she stayed all day. After the sun set and I settled into bed, she got up and ate and drank. When I woke up the next morning, I was very relieved (pun intended) to learn that she’d used the litter box. [I bought one of the robot boxes that not only clears the clumps away from the cat’s area, it weighs the occupant and provides a date/time stamp history of activity. Data!]

She remains skittish, but she’s definitely getting acclimated. In the most cat-like way imaginable, she has a knack for knowing when I’m getting ready to leave the house and that’s when she saunters into the living room seeking pets, lol.

I’ve decided to name her River – inspired by two different fandoms I’ve enjoyed immensely: Doctor Who and Firefly. The latter felt particularly appropriate since cats can surely “kill [us] with [their] brain[s]!”

At least because she stays hidden most of the time, she’s not a threat to my knitting! Still, I’m being vigilant about putting needle stoppers on my projects and storing them safely in their project bags before I go to bed or leave the house.

I’m hoping to get more pictures of her as she grows more comfortable in the house. There’s a wonderful cat tree sitting in the corner of the living room, but so far she’s expressed no interest whatsoever.

Knit on. 🧶