Kninja Knitter

Oh boy, so much to share this week, and I’ve got more adventures planned over the next couple days that I’ll share next week. Let’s jump right in, eh?

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

Lots of knitting time this week means plenty of progress to share. No finished objects yet, but I’m closing in on one! I am blogging from a coffee shop in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada), so my backdrop is new.

In the past week, I finished section three of the shawl, as expected, and started on section four. I’ve completed the colorwork portion, so all that remains is the garter rows before moving on to section five, the final one. Three colors are now used, not to return again in this project (orange, yellow, green). I should be able to finish this section and start the next this week, which puts me well ahead of schedule.

The self-striping sock is moving along – I finished the heel over the weekend, so there’s lots of stockinette in the round for mindless knitting. I worked on the instep during the football game on Friday night, and that was helpful – I used the partial sock and its completed mate as mittens as it was very cold!

Next up is my other sock WIP. I finished the first sock’s sole and heel, and it’s ready to work in the round for the leg. Being mindful of my yarn management, I switched to the second sock, and I completed the instep and cast on the toe. Again, this is an unusual sock construction, using Laura Nelkin’s Novus technique utilizing Stitch Saver to hold stitches to be worked later. With 32 stitches on either side of the instep, it’s outstanding not having to pick up stitches – such a project would never land in my queue, let along on my needles! I should be able to finish the second sole and heel this week, and then I may end up working the legs two-at-a-time (2AAT), though I haven’t decided yet if that’s what I’ll do. I was surprised, as I was finishing up the second instep, that the striped segments weren’t quite equal. But it’s not critical anyway – the important thing (for me) is that they both end in white.

And my last WIP is the lacy cardigan! Last week my #MarkItMonday photo showed that I had just started the ribbing. I finished the ribbing later in the day, and I moved on to working the two sleeves, 2AAT. I had to work the sleeve caps separately as short rows aren’t conducive to 2AAT work, but now it’s almost mindless knitting. I do have decreases to make on each sleeve as I work down to the cuffs. With so much yarn left to work with, I can make them nice and long – and I might add thumb holes in the ribbing, but that’s just an idea right now. The one challenge of 2AAT sleeves is that photos are awkward, lol. Next week I might split them to show the full sweater – but since I’m not home, that has to wait a week.

Cast-on Conversations

I did manage to start another project this week, just because I was excited to start it and it’s pretty mindless knitting to complement my more involved projects.

This sweater project is a simple one, using garter stitch throughout, and incorporating a pretty variegated colorway with some undyed yarn from my stash. This should be a wonderful stash buster! This project was specifically selected to maximize my points-earning potential for both the Zombie Knitpocalypse MAL and the upcoming Down Cellar Studio Splash Pad Party, since the designer is featured in both events.

Grandson Glimpses

This was a pretty chill week with the munchkin. I did enjoy several visits from him to my office. He has taken over my old whiteboard that has lost its ability to stay on the wall. We also watched Wall-E a couple times, as his current favorite movie.

Environment Evolution

After putting so much work into clearing my bedroom floor, I decided to put some focus on the dresser where so much stuff collects. With limited availability, I set the timer for one hour, and it didn’t even take that long to reach this state. I’ll be doing much more over the coming weeks as I’ve set a goal to get below my clutter threshold in my bedroom within the next thirteen weeks.

Football Frenzy

The Columbus Aviators were back in town this weekend, hosting the Houston Gamblers – the team that beat them last weekend. Since each home game offers goodies for attendees, this week they gave out bobble heads of former Ohio State head coach/now Ohio Lieutenant Governor Jim Tressel, who was also the honorary coach for the game. Once again, the team came out strong to start the game and stayed ahead, defeating Houston 24-17, effectively ending the game with an interception in the last thirty seconds.

I finally had the opportunity to learn my neighbors’ names – Troy and Dan – as they arrived early and without a third member of their party. The weather was more like November than May, and that kept people away, unfortunately. It was cold and windy at kickoff, and by the time the second quarter ended we had quite the downpour of rain. Thankfully, it dissipated by the end of halftime!

We have two home games remaining, though I won’t be able to attend the next one due to a scheduled commitment. I’m hoping to at least pop over to the stadium during the tailgate time to pick up the hat giveaway! This coming weekend, they’ll be playing in Saint Louis. With the current standings, Columbus is sitting just outside the top four as the leader among the 2-4 teams, and in our final four games of the season we play two of the other three (including playing one team twice), so it’s possible (though I haven’t seen how likely) for them to end up in the playoffs, reserved for the top four teams in the league.

Travel Tales

As I mentioned, I’m in Winnipeg now – flew in on Saturday, returning home on Wednesday. When I arrived, I had the pleasure of attending a private screening of The Devil Wears Prada 2 as part of a fundraiser event to benefit the Women Build initiative of Habitat for Humanity here. The red carpet opportunity even gave me the chance to be part of a local radio station’s Instagram stories over the weekend.

The main reason I’m here at this moment in time is to attend the Tenth Annual “Sing Along With Horrible Feeling, Once More” event hosted by a local group and benefiting Sunshine House this year. I brought with me a few Buffy-related items I had in my house – some things I would have decluttered last year, but I held onto them so they could be included in the silent auction to help raise more funds for the cause.

On Sunday (yesterday), I helped out the crew with assembling the participation bags that are distributed to attendees. These goodie make the event even more interactive – not unlike so many showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Legacy Lens

This is my newest segment, focusing on my rumination about the concept of legacy and what that means to me as time passes. Since I’m traveling, I don’t have the bandwidth to actually start sharing my thoughts, but I figured I’d at least drop in my prompt for the week, in case you want to contemplate it along with me!

Beginning with a basic foundation question, the prompt is “What do I actually think exact is?” Check back for my thoughts on the topic next time!

Movie Moments

I’m running short on time here, so I’ll share just some brief thoughts, having seen Michael this week. This biopic about Michael Jackson, starring his nephew, Jaafar, was quite engaging for me; and while it was interesting that a number of things were omitted (including his sister, Janet, and three other siblings), I realize that omissions can occur for various reasons. (Janet and the other absent siblings asked not to be included.) A few well-publicized events were left out for legal reasons. Also, some elements of his timeline were compressed.

And since I mentioned it already, I also enjoyed The Devil Wears Prada 2. I felt like it was a nice homage to the original – noting that it takes place twenty years later – while being an entertaining story in its own right. I had watched the original a couple weeks ago just to refresh, and I’m glad I did! The cameos were also great fun.

And now I need to jump into my next adventure of the day/week!

Knit on. 🧶