Kninja Knitter

As the title suggests, I have less knitting to share this week because I was busy with some other things. Read on!

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

I was nearly done with the hooded cowl, Cowltopus MKAL, when I posted last week. I managed to finish up midweek, and then it took a few days to block it and then get an FO pic. The hood blocked out to be rather large, in my opinion, so I’m thinking about putting some elastic cord (left over from my mask-sewing days) into the I-cord edging to snug it up.

I also finished a small project that I’d started the week before. This is for the Cozy Challenge hosted by Knitty Natty as part of the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party. While I’d planned to also submit a set of cozies for the Pink challenge, I’m rethinking that idea because I’d have to knit several cozies to achieve that, and I’m running out of time!

While I didn’t do anything on the cable knit sweater or the single-skein shawl I have in progress, I did get a bunch done on my vanilla sock! That made up for the lack of progress the week before. I’m nearly ready to switch to the contrast yarn for the cuff.

And the color work section of the other cowl is coming along nicely. I have eight more rows of mosaic color work to do, and then sixteen pattern rows followed by the bind-off. I have just re-visited the pattern because I had planned to work a graft instead of the mattress stitch join. The pattern calls for an I-cord bind off of the long edge, then I’ll pick up stitches from behind one I-cord segment along the edge of the piece. I know that may not make sense as text, but I’m finally able to see how it will work.

Grandson Glimpses

This weekend I was dog sitting for friends. The munchkin and this beautiful Golden Retriever had met well over a year ago, but the kiddo wouldn’t remember that. When mama dropped him off with me, he fell into his sadly-standard meltdown. But the dog made it somewhat easier to calm him down. It helps that Baxter is quite patient with little ones since his owners have nine grandchildren across a wide age range, including toddlers at one point.

Munchkin went on a couple walks with us, wanting to hold the leash. Because Baxter is a strong and often willful dog, I had to be an intermediary, much to the child’s frustration. But he accepted my role eventually. It helped that once Baxter got moving, the little guy had to “run” to keep up.

On Saturday morning, after our walk, I pulled out the second costume option for him. He was much more amenable to this one. There’s no mask involved, and while the kiddo used to be very resistant to hats, he was cool with wearing this one. Here’s a sneak peek of my grandson prepping to be Chase from Paw Patrol for Halloween! Next weekend I’d like to take him to the Halloween event at the Columbus Zoo, and that will give us the opportunity to practice with some face paint.

Sadly, I got the news last week that Baxter has cancer and it’s fairly well progressed. The family has opted not to go for surgery as it would be very expensive and super invasive. In the meantime, we should get another opportunity to hang out with him in November, as I’m slated to dog sit again before Thanksgiving.

Tail Talk

Because I was going to be away for most of the weekend, I did get an automatic pet feeder for River. Considering how she’s up more at night than the day, and I’d have to refill her bowl at least a couple times a day, this has simplified things for me. I want to revisit the dispensing schedule now that I have a better idea of how it works. But it’s quite amusing that she’s adapted quickly and runs to the bowl when it “spits” food out. 😹

Once I got home last night to stay, she bolted from me a few times. After I’d unloaded the car, though, I was able to sit on the couch and give her some attention. All is fine now, and today she was snoozing in my office while I was on a conference call. I find it funny that she reacts to some voices from devices in addition to the television. I was watching a reaction video, and she was staring at my iPad for quite a while.

Movie Moments

I haven’t shared this segment in ages, because it’s been several months since I’d made it to the movie theater. Go figure – AMC adjusted their A-List program to allow for four films per week rather than three, and I haven’t had the bandwidth to see any! Not so this past week, and the positive trend should continue. This week I went out to see Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I followed it up with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the latest in the MCU series, kicking off phase 6. This one was also quite entertaining and has me more excited about what’s to come.

Both movies gave me the chance to work on that vanilla sock!

Random Ramblings

The last thing that was occupying a fair amount of my time this week was the launch of the 2026 planners by MäksēLife. I think I’ve shared before about how this goal-setting and life-management planner has been instrumental in moving me forward toward a more enjoyable future (including retirement). And as a digital planner, I was over the moon about the changes they introduced in the 2026 planner products!

The goal-setting and life assessment elements in this program really do help me make progress on the areas of life that have been bringing me down in recent years. The planner has addressed annual & monthly goals well along with weekly action planning. But the daily piece had been somewhat ignored previously. For the 2025 digital weekly, they did include a daily add-in, but for 2026 they’ve now integrated the daily pages into the entire planner. Granted, this addition along with a plethora of paper templates and a 16-section notebook included, brings the PDF to ~1000 pages without any inserts. But that also means there are a crap-ton (pardon my language, lol) of links in here!

The goal-setting and review process can be an incredible force for change in so many ways. I’ve put a lot of focus this year on my Physical Environment, and that will continue into the new year. I’m also working on my Finances, and both are truly essential as I plan for that retirement! If I can navigate enough growth in those two areas, I should be set to transition in 2027, right around my 60th birthday. It’s good to have goals, isn’t it?

Knit on. 🧶