Kninja Knitter

I have a bummer to share in my knitting update. But lots of other tidbits to share. But first, how on earth is it March already?!?!?!?!?!?

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

I’ll start with the sad news here: I was working on the Sock Madness qualifier pattern, Newspaper Socks, this week. But when I got about seven rows away from starting the heel flap, I went to try it on and discovered that I couldn’t get the leg over my heel. Sigh. I’d been waffling so much about whether or not to push to meet the qualifying round as a cheerleader (earn all the patterns for free without having to knit like a maniac), but once I knew I wouldn’t be able to wear that sock, I just stopped. I’m deciding now whether to frog what I’ve knit and start again or cut the yarn and just start over. Eventually I did find that I enjoyed the pattern and how the design looked, so I’d like the completed pair. It just won’t happen anytime soon.

I cast on the mate to the vanilla sock I finished over a week ago, and after getting out to the movie theater a couple times this week, I’m just a few rounds away from starting the gusset increases.

I also made decent progress on my rainbow colored scarf. In fact, I used up almost all of the colors and started on the gray for the second half of the scarf. There’s still a bit of the first color in my project bag, so I’m planning to use it up toward the other end of the scarf.

I have too many ideas swirling around about new projects, so you’ll just have to wait until next week to see which direction I take.

Grandson Glimpses

The kiddo’s behavior had me very sad this week as I didn’t get to spend much time with him. On Friday, he was adamant about not wanting to be near me, in fact. Toddlers! It’s a precursor to teen years, right? Thankfully he’s not like that ALL the time – I had video on my Ring camera of him bounding up to my front door and knocking (while saying “knock-knock” very loudly), and when he burst inside he yelled “Trick or Treat!” I wasn’t there, so I asked Mama what was going on, and she said he was very disappointed that I wasn’t there to be greeted or surprised or whatever reaction he was going for. Maybe next time!

This morning, he decided to hangout with me for quite a while, and it was glorious, lol. He started off wanting to run the vacuum cleaner – having made great strides in overcoming his fear of the machine, he likes to use it. Except he can’t push it very far, so the result is one very clean patch of rug or carpet, about a foot square.

Then he investigated the walking pad that I set up in my office last week. Its remote lives on a shelf beyond his reach, and I’ve been trying to explain the importance of being careful on it. I keep it at the 0.5mph base speed and he’s been really enjoying walking on it. And when it’s not running, he sits on it and pretends to drive it, like a bus.

After some time with that exercise, I accidentally triggered music from the Echo device in my office. That sparked a dance party… and he boogied through a couple songs before I stopped the music. Then, when I went to get myself some lunch, he managed to get the device playing country music, lol. Spotify can be so fun.

Environment Evolution

I’m still reveling in the joy of my new windows! There’s so much more light in my bedroom and office, now that the mini-blinds are gone. And my tech plan worked out – I’ve set up a Switchbot-brand pair of devices to open the curtains in my south bedroom window. I have automation so the curtains open at sunrise and close at bedtime (ish), and I also connected them to a hub so I can use my Alexa devices to change the curtain status as needed. Since the curtains are black-outs, it’s nice to have that set-up so I don’t sleep the day away. I also put up privacy sheers in the bedroom (for obvious reasons) which make it feel nice and bright, particularly on sunny days. I’m waiting on a valance from Target and then all my new curtains will be in place.

I put time on Sunday into addressing a few cluttered hotspots, but I still have a ways to go. The biggest boon was getting the spare dresser out of my bedroom since it was taking up space, making it feel more cramped, plus it was allowing me to hold on to a lot more clothes though I need to be decluttering! Hopefully next week I’ll be able to show some good photo updates here!

And the last topic for this segment involves the garage. I’d been struggling for some time with the tech I’d previously used in the garage. For several years I’d had a Chamberlain hub which allowed me to give other rights to open my garage door. The best part about it was being able to have Amazon deliveries placed inside the garage! But when I changed internet providers, things started to go wrong with the hub. I’d been unable to get things working again and it had gotten too cold to try to resolve while freezing out there. Saturday’s warmer weather inspired me to put in the time and effort. I called support and got the hub working. I thought that would be it and everything else would fall into place. But alas, I haven’t been able to connect the hub to the opener itself. The sensor works, so I know when the door goes up or down, and the camera also works, so I can see my family coming and going.

After spending an hour trying to get that last thing to work and failing, including more than 45 minutes on a call with support, I aborted the plan and decided to get a new opener. The current one is more than thirty years old, so I can’t be upset that this isn’t working – compatibility should be there, but it’s not, and that’s the way of the tech world. I bought a new opener and booked an installer, so that should be taken care of this week. Then I can set up a new table inside the garage for deliveries to be deposited.

Soundscape Sessions

At long last I’ve been making it back to the movie theater to catch some entertainment on the really-big screen. This week I caught something of a double-feature, though I ran an errand between movies, and then I had a one-off last night. I managed to see, in chronological order: The Housemaid (Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney), Mercy (Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson) and Crime 101 (a Marvel-ful cast including Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry and Barry Keough, among others).

About that first film, I read the book by Freida McFadden, along with its first sequel (and part of the third movie in the series). I was pleased to see a majority of the plot points from the book remained intact. On the second, it was an intriguing story, though I identified the antagonist early on in the movie, but I didn’t have the evidence to support it. As for the final movie, it was an okay story, but I’ll take nearly any Hemsworth delivery vehicle. I was most surprised that it took me to the end of the movie to understand the title – that was silly of me!

Tail Talk

Last week I shared about the dog saga for Mama. It seems Honey is a much better fit here, as she’s settling in. Today, in fact, she sensed Mama’s anxiety as she had to drive in a snowy mess, taking her daughter to school and returning home. She’s still a puppy, but she’s got a decent temperament for being around my grandson. She’s very wary of River, who isn’t a fan of the canine persuasion. I don’t see her much, but I was able to grab a couple photos of her today! I may get her measurements to make her a better-fitting coat or two. She appears to have outgrown this one.

Travel Tales

This week marks the anniversary of my last big trip: the flight to Buenos Aires and the cruise around South America. Today I made an initial reservation for one of several trips I’ve planned for this year. I’ll be hanging around town for a while, but in May I’m going to Winnipeg for a fun and nerdy event. In June, I’ll return to Minnesota for a knitting retreat. My cruise along with eastern seaboard is in July; and now I’ve decided to venture out to Philadelphia in September for a convention hosted by the All Fifty Club, an organization for folks who have visited (or plan to visit) all fifty states in the U.S. I’m sitting at 41 with my sights on getting to the remaining nine before I retire or soon after! I’d like some input from folks who have been to those states (Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming).

I have other activities closer to home planned out, too. But I really like to feed the travel bug from time to time, and a couple of these trips have been long overdue!

I think that’s about it for this week!.

Knit on. 🧶