Kninja Knitter

I’ll share about the chaos a little later. I prefer to stay positive, so let’s start with the knitting!

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

Once again, I’m sharing a “glamour shot” of an FO I completed previously. I do wish I’d had a different skirt on for this, but such is life. My body is what it is, and some clothing is better at hiding things than others, lol. Anyway, I wore my newest sweater for church on Saturday as my Worship team led the music for the start of our new “season.”

Also, I completely forgot last week to share the completed socks I had test knit in the past couple months! The pattern collection is available for pre-order on Ravelry, so the designs are now publicly displayed. I tested three of the four patterns in the collection (wasn’t up for a top-down stranded colorwork design, though it’s a gorgeous one!). These patterns will be released through October (Sock-tober!), and Lisa is offering a discount for both this collection and her older Socks of Oz collection; just use the code POPULAR. And the discount is nothing to scoff at, so act soon if you like any of these designs. The individual patterns will be available for purchase when they’re released, but the discounted collection price would make it worthwhile to pre-order even if you only like a couple of them!

The project I worked on the most this week was a shawl I’d cast on the previous week. This pattern has sections of specific stitch patterns. I think my favorite is the eyelet section – perhaps that’s because there’s only one row of actual pattern, flanked by rows to stockinette (knit on right side, purl on wrong side). I haven’t looked ahead yet, but right now I’m on a “textured stitches” section that uses an offset pattern with slipped stitches and yarnovers. According to the pattern I’m 60% complete by stitch count. I want to maximize the yarn usage, so I may work more garter rows at the end than the pattern calls for, leaving just enough to bind off.

Early in the week I put some solid time into my stripey vanilla sock as I was thinking of going to the movies. I ended up not going, but I did get through the gusset increases and the heel. All that remains for the first sock then is the leg and contrast cuff. The colors make this one so fun!

Then there’s the cowl which hasn’t seen quite as much attention. Perhaps managing the two yarns has been more than I wanted to deal with this week. I did make progress, though. This one is 40% complete.

I did make decent progress on the test knit sock, too. Hopefully I can share photos of that in December. The cable knit sweater remains on stand-by, too.

Cast-on Conversations

I have one project I cast on last week: a hat for my grandson to use up the yarn I’d knit the fingerless mitts out of. The pattern is simple enough, and I really like the way it’s working up! I’m ready to start the patterned decreases for the crown, and I really hope I have enough yarn to complete it!

Once the hat is done, I’m going to start working on the second socks of the Wicked collection along with a couple other single socks I have waiting for a mate. And as the quarter is ending tomorrow, I’ll be reviewing my progress toward those Year of Projects goals!

Environment Evolution

No pictures to share right now, but I cut down more of those errant tree bits I showed last week. Thanks to rainy weather plus the chaos, I wasn’t able to do much more. But I’ll get back to this soon.

I mentioned last week about the water meter replacement I was preparing for. Sadly, the technician assigned to the task arrived very late, and I was in back-to-back meetings when he arrived. I’ve rescheduled for late next week. I’ve set the dates for the dumpster rental, though I haven’t scheduled it yet. Right now I’m debating the size of said dumpster. But ideally it will be here most of next week.

Grandson Glimpses

Alright, no pictures here either, sadly. But this is where the chaos of last week comes in. Without going into a lot of detail, my grandson and his mother and sister showed up at my house on Thursday. They stayed with me until midday Saturday. I was not expecting houseguests, and while I have space for them, it’s not ideal.

I definitely enjoyed having my grandson here for an extended period of time. However, it’s difficult to work with him around as he’s always looking for attention. He joined me briefly on a conference call – and thankfully my work day on Friday was pretty light.

With all the strangers here, River stayed out of sight most of the time. She came out at night to eat and such, but she didn’t make a daytime appearance until Saturday after everyone had left.

The family situation is very difficult, and my son is still in South Carolina. Thankfully the latest tropical storm (eventual Hurricane Imelda) appears to be less impactful than forecasts last week had suggested (rivaling last year’s Helene that devastated North Carolina). If you pray, please add my son to your intentions. And while the situation with his mama is rough, I should get plenty of in-person time with the munchkin going forward.

Football Frenzy

As I mentioned early on, I was at church on Saturday – the entire Ohio State football game occurred while I was away for these duties. I was getting score updates on my iPad during Mass, so at least I knew the high level situation. When I got home, I watched the game (YouTube TV rocks!); since I already knew the outcome of the game, at least I wasn’t terrifying my cat, lol. (I used to have to crate my dog to watch games because she’d get so riled up by my excitement!).

Ohio State retained its #1 ranking following the fourth game of the season, following a Big Ten conference win over Washington. While the UW Huskies are unranked, the odds for OSU to win were lower than usual because Husky Stadium is known for being very loud (much like the Seattle Seahawks’ NFL stadium). OSU managed to snap a 22-game home winning streak for Washington. Huzzah!

This week I’ll be putting most of my efforts into my bedroom, and I was very glad last week to learn that the Ohio State home game vs Northwestern will be a night game! That will allow me to crush the All-Day Declutter event with time to spare before I settle in front of the TV to watch another stellar football game!

Knit on. 🧶