Kninja Knitter

Next week I’ll do a wrap up on the quarter, but this week has been more ups and downs all over! Yesterday we had a gorgeous sunshine day with a high temperature of 86F, and by bedtime it had dropped to 46F. Waking up today, it was another ten degrees cooler and the wind made it feel even colder. So much for the Spring Equinox, eh? More later on the emotional side of things.

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

I’ll share a couple bonus FO pictures at the end of this segment. Here’s what I worked on this week. First, after a one-round week last week, my second sock got a lot of attention, particularly thanks to a couple shows. In fact, at the movies, I blew past my target stockinette rounds and had to rip back about twelve rounds to start the ribbing. I have only ten rounds to go and then I’ll bind off to finish the pair.

I also put a lot of time into my tee. I finished the upper back and joined the shoulders. Then I put the bottom stitches on the needle, worked the short rows on the back side, and resumed working in the round until I used up the black and red yarns. Now I’m working on the bottom ribbing, and hoping the yarn lasts so I can finish the ribbing and the neckline finishing.

My last WIP saw very little attention because of the other projects I focused on. I’m hoping to finish this by the end of the month, so it should see more love this week.

As for FO pictures, I blocked the Cuentas Scarf last week. I haven’t had an opportunity to wear it yet, so I grabbed this photo on my mannequin. My neck is much smaller, so at least it wraps around.

And on my evening at the theater, I wore my Love Fest poncho with a coordinating turtleneck. A seat neighbor took the photo for me, and I’ll share more about the show later…

Cast-on Conversations

I followed through on my plan from last week. Since I was dog sitting through Thursday, I had some time available to devote here. The stitch pattern is only a four-row repeat, and only two rows require any attention to detail. It starts at the collar – I’ll be using some Stitch Saver later in the process to simplify some of the work. I’m very excited, finally using this cone of Irish yarn from my 2024 trip!

Once I finish the Da Light Scarf, I’ll be casting on the Paper Daisy shawl I’ve planned for the yarn I bought recently from Leading Men Fiber Arts. I’ll be thinking, too, about my next pair of vanilla socks and any other portable projects to bring on my next trip, as it’s less than a month away!

Grandson Glimpses

The munchkin came to spend time with Baxter and me mid-week, and that was lots of fun. We took Baxter for a walk right about the time the neighborhood kids were coming home from school. That was a new experience for the toddler – he likes playing with older kids, so he was confused when one boy walked and then ran away from him. He tried to catch up…

And on Friday morning, we had a portrait session, our first AM experience as I wanted to avoid his tired-toddler antics. I was not disappointed! When he recognized the parking lot, he started chatting about getting his picture taken and saying “cheese!” He even tried to get behind the camera while the photographer was setting up the studio. This was our Easter session, as the Easter Bunny was there, and I brought along Sheep for our first official portrait. The photographer captured some bonus poses that we’ll fully enjoy! His outfit is a subtle nod to Blippi, given his infatuation with the media personality!

And speaking of Blippi, I received texts from the munchkin’s parents early last week to say that he was spending time in my office (while I was away) specifically trying to get the Echo device to play Blippi music, lol.

Soundscape Sessions

This month’s performance in the Columbus Broadway Series is the new musical, The Outsiders, based on the 1983 movie and the S.E. Hinton novel. Folks around me, as well as some of my friends, were clueless about the story. I adored the movie that started a number of actors’ careers – C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise (!), Diane Lane… plus Matt Dillon. The music had a distinctive not-so-musical-theater vibe, and the vocal harmonies were spectacular. The effects in the show were dazzling as well – even including actual water in a rainy fight scene!

Movie Moments

I managed to get to the movie theater this week, having booked my seat a couple weeks ago to see Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary. I loved the book, and I adored the previous movie adaptation of another book by this author, The Martian. After much anticipation, I was not at all disappointed, and I do hope Ryan gets a lot of award recognition for his performance! I read that Ryan was the only person considered to play the lead character ever since the movie rights were purchased in 2020. The emotional range of the character suits his acting style, certainly. I also enjoyed the trivia on iMDB about his daughters’ influences on his performance, too. I’ll be watching this movie again!

Random Ramblings

The toughest day for me emotionally was Friday… I woke up to the news about Nicholas Brandon’s death at 54 years of age. Having loved his character of Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and then Kevin on Criminal Minds, my heart ached knowing that he battled some mental health demons over the years.

I was able to overcome those sad thoughts, laughing a lot over my grandson’s antics at the portrait studio. He was so enthusiastic about meeting the Easter Bunny and playing with the Easter eggs we brought (there are still three eggs somewhere in my car…), then we went to lunch and were further entertained.

My entertaining distractions continued at the movie theater – in addition to the feature presentation, I thoroughly enjoyed the trailers for the upcoming Spider-Man movie as well as The Mandalorian and Grogu. When I came home, though, I got the sad news that Susan Hayes, the brilliant mind behind Desert Vista Dyeworks, has passed away after battling cancer for several years. I didn’t know her well, but a friend of mine was close to her. She’d had to stop dyeing yarn in early 2025 because her process of making self-striping yarn had become physically too much for her. I wish I had another skein of her work to knit a pair of socks in her memory. I suppose this means I have to pull out my Zig Zag blanket to honor her.

On that note… next week I’ll be doing some reflection on the past quarter. For now…

Knit on. 🧶