Kninja Knitter

I don’t even know what happened last week… I took my #MarkItMonday photos and then I blinked and it was Thursday with life steamrolling into a busy weekend! The weekend wound up being not-quite-so-busy thanks to Winter Storm Fern, but I decided it would be silly to post last Monday’s update a day before the new post. Here are my updates…

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

I have a couple FOs this week, only one which was cast on before my last post. This shawl still needs to be blocked, but I bound off yesterday with just two yards of yarn remaining.

My NYE cast on is moving along, and it’s now over 70% complete. The colorway names continue to amuse me. And having missed a week’s post, it’s nearly double the size it was when I last shared!

I didn’t have the opportunity to work on the socks, but that’s on the agenda for this week.

Cast-on Conversations

I have two projects to share that were started after my last post. I mentioned them both two weeks ago, and one of them is done! I test knit this hood design for Laura Nelkin – she combined a couple of her patterns to come up with this, and the edging of the hood was familiar to me as a result. I also won at yarn chicken here, as I had less than three yards of yarn left. I blocked the piece after checking the fit on my grandson, and that opened up the face hole a bit. That will allow him to wear a beanie underneath for additional warmth.

And my second project was cast on after the Blingola scarf was bound off during the NFL games yesterday. This dishcloth will be part of a prize package I’m sending to the person who won this week’s pool (by picking the highest total score in the NFC Championship game). You’ll notice the stitch saver length – this design uses a provisional cast-on so the fifth and first star points are joined into a single piece. I’ll probably knit one or two more of these, as they’re quite simple, worked in short rows.

Grandson Glimpses

Things remain a bit chaotic, and to keep things “fresh,” my grandson’s mom broke her toe during the week, falling down the stairs after the munchkin. The biggest photo op experience was the snowstorm – kiddo went out to play with his sister. She tried to get him to make a snow angel, but he refused to put his head down in the snow. Everything else, however, was fair game. He had tons of fun simply walking through it, as the accumulation by that time was above his knees. After about thirty minutes, Mama announced it was time to come back inside… and that triggered the toddler meltdown of the day.

Less than half an hour later, he was back to playing with his toys, after changing into warm, dry clothes, happy as a clam. Once again, he was terribly resistant to napping, though his demeanor confirmed he needed one. But the meltdown he had when I put him in the crib used less than half the energy of his earlier tantrum. So it goes…

Environment Evolution

The one celebration I was most keen on sharing last week but didn’t was the result of my All-Day Declutter efforts. I was disappointed that Mama wasn’t here to help me, as she got called in to work, and that meant that I couldn’t clear as much clutter as I’d planned. Still, the results are delightful. I managed to get a lot cleared out of the kitchen (including the table which was really just a flat surface to collect clutter), and I restored a bit of order to the space. I do want to get a bigger shelf unit to house a smaller microwave and providing a more convenient work surface, leaving the hutch as the pantry space. All in time – I’ve spotted one I like on Amazon, so I’ll be on the lookout!

I made another investment in my home this week, taking on a loan to purchase new windows. I’m replacing nearly all the windows in the house – all those that appear to be original to the 75-year-old building. Ironically, the cost for this project is nearly identical to what I paid for my bathroom tub/shower a couple years ago. I’m sad that I’ll be extending my debt a bit longer, but at least I know I can pay it off pretty quickly and save a lot on interest! It also helps that I’m about to pay off the bathtub loan, so I can simply switch payments from one home improvement loan to the other. Plus, the energy savings we should realize with efficient windows should offset that expense a bit.

Because new window will be installed in a few months, some decluttering (and sadly, a bit of stuff shuffling) is needed to make all of the windows accessible to be measured. The storm delayed the appointment, so I have a couple more days to finish up. (This is good since my back has been acting up since the weather started shifting on Saturday!

Football Frenzy

I managed to get a fair amount of knitting done the past two weeks because there’s been plenty of football to watch! The College Football Championship was an exciting game last Monday, and I’m thrilled that Indiana won it all. That stretched the Big Ten’s streak to three years.

NFL games have been almost as entertaining, though there were a couple snoozers during the divisional playoff weekend. A statistic that made me smile was that every team in the playoffs has at least one Ohio State Buckeye in its roster. I also got a good chuckle, following that weekend’s outcome was that the two conference championships had head coaches named Mike facing ones named Sean. I got the end result I was hoping for, and the Super Bowl will be a Mike v Mike match-up.

I also love that TreVeyon Henderson, of the New England Patriots, is joining an elite group of players who was on the collegiate national championship team last year and going to the Super Bowl in his rookie season. I don’t know which team I’ll cheer for yet.

And the last bit of football news is that the United Football League, the spring league of pro football, released the schedule for the 2026 season which kicks off at the end of March. The Columbus Aviators will start with some Friday night games (first home game is on Good Friday) and then they have Saturday and Sunday home games later in the short season. There was supposed to be a fan event this past Saturday to meet players and coaches, but due to the cold weather, they pushed it to the day before the Super Bowl. (This baffles me, since it could be just as cold or colder then, but we’ll see! I’m on the fence about going.)

Tail Talk

And one final update – I shared a couple weeks ago that River had started getting off the floor, snoozing in the munchkin’s easy chair. Well, she’s gotten much more comfortable going vertical these days. She even sits next to me and/or my son on the couch if there’s enough room. She’s also getting closer to the kiddo, though she’s wary and doesn’t let him get closer to her.😉