Kninja Knitter

Good stuff this week!

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

I put the most effort into the hooded cowl I’d cast on the week before. One of the benefits of waiting until a mystery pattern is fully released is there’s no longer a mystery! This pattern was primarily intended to work with two sets of gradient minis in a DK weight. I have a set of colors that were intended for another purpose, but they’ve been sitting in my stash for so long, the other purpose may never come. The solid colors work better as the MC, and it took some false starts when I was casting on to determine that. The variegated pink/white yarn is quite suitable as the CC. This weekend I finished the hood and started working in the round on the smaller needles for the brioche pattern of the cowl segment. This section started with straight two-color brioche, and then I started working the brioche wave pattern, which you can see on the wrong side at the bottom of this picture.

I forgot to mention last week that I’d moved on to the color work portion of my fingering weight cowl . This color work is mosaic style, so only one strand of yarn at a time. My contrast color yarn isn’t the greatest here because there’s some sections that blend into the main color. But I still find it an intriguing design!

I didn’t have a chance to get back to the sweater, and I only managed a few rounds on the vanilla sock.

And I managed a few more rows on my latest shawl project.

Cast-on Conversations

I did cast on another small project this week, inspired by a couple challenges being hosted this month in the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party. One challenge, hosted by the designer and host of the Knitty Natty podcast, is to knit one or two cozies (something to cover an item); the other is to knit in primarily pink yarn in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The pink yarn I’m working with is neon bright, so I hope you can make out the ribbing…

The next mystery design kicks off on October 22, so I have plenty of time to finish the current hooded cowl.

Environment Evolution

I shared a week ago that the dumpster had arrived, and it was collected on Thursday. I ended up not taking any video of the effort in filling it because it took a LOT of energy just to get work done. On the first day, it was rather hot. After twenty minutes of “laps” from the basement to the dumpster and back, I was wiped out. So I started working cyclically: 20 minutes of work, 30 minutes of rest, then back to work. And after three shifts of work (60 minutes of effort) I was completely drained.

On Tuesday, we had a significant amount of rain. There were complete downpours repeatedly during the day. I was hoping it would stop when my work day ended, and my wish was nearly granted. I was able to start another round of shifts that evening, and I managed to get one space about 80% cleared. Wednesday was significantly better, and I took some time off my day job to get a couple more hours in. By that evening I’d managed to clear out all the clothes and other stuff from the floor of my laundry space. When I called it “a night,” I had just a few laundry baskets/totes of clothes left in the space. I added an old mattress from my son’s toddler bed, and I snapped this picture before going to bed.

On Thursday morning, I did toss the remaining baskets/totes before the dumpster was collected. And I’m borrowing a wet-dry vacuum from the Tool Library this week to get as much dirt off the floor as I can.

I still have about half the basement to address, but the new water meter was successfully installed on Friday. I’ll get more stuff out of the space and then I’ll be bringing in some professionals to assess what repairs are needed.

Grandson Glimpses

Halloween is coming, just over a couple weeks away. I bought a Spider-Man costume for the munchkin, but sadly he’s not interested even though he loves the character. He tried on a Bumblebee costume (Transformers) earlier in the week and looked so adorable in it. I’ll revisit the costume store and see if there’s something else he’d enjoy.

On Friday, he came to visit, staying until late afternoon on Saturday. Thankfully he was napping when the water meter swap occurred. We had an enjoyable evening, and the kiddo was asleep at a reasonable hour. On Saturday, we watched football sporadically, as I was having to monitor efforts for work as well.

Next weekend I’ll be dog sitting for friends, so we’ll have a venue change and some new sleeping arrangements. I’m excited for the kiddo and dog to meet again, as the munchkin was very small the last time!

Knit on. 🧶