Fade Away

. . . and radiate!

(Here's a link to the soundtrack for today's post, should you want to hear a little Blondie.)

Tom and I have a new grand niece due to arrive any day. So I made her a little sweater.

If Panic at the Disco! was the name of a song instead of the name of a band, THAT would be the name of this sweater. Because . . . I was definitely going to run out of yarn for this one! It's such a panicky feeling to know you're cutting it close, but not be quite sure. I had my little scale out and I was doing maths like crazy. But it was clear I was going to run out of yarn before I ran out of sweater.

In the end, I decided to attempt a fade. (My first.)

And it worked!

PHEW. . . 

You can read all about how I got myself INTO that pickle in the first place - and see all my other project notes - over on Ravelry here. (I'm sorry if you're having vision/vestibular issues with Ravelry these days; please send me an email if you'd like more details on how I knit this.)

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How about YOU? What'cha making?

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And be sure to visit Kat today for more Unraveled fun.

 

 

Like . . . REALLY Unraveled!

Look at it . . . 

Just sitting there.

Looking all ready to . . . Become Something!

(Fooled you, though.)

Just Monday morning, those lovely balls of yarn were behaving ever so nicely all knit up as Clues #1-3 of Kirsten Kapur's current mystery shawl. The yarn (Jill Draper's Ansel) is lovely and knits up beautifully. The design is interesting and clever, and the clues flow so well from each other (as Kirsten's designs always do). It's entertaining knitting, for sure, and I know the shawl will be a stunner when it's all finished.

But you know what?

It's just not my style.

I was not completely sold after the first clue, and was really having some doubts after the second. But . . . I knew I needed to give the whole thing a bit more "real estate" to judge it fairly, so I knit the third clue. And just kept thinking to myself . . . hmmmmm. I'm thinking no. But I decided to see what happens with the fourth clue before making any final decisions about continuing.

When I saw clue 4 (which, to be fair, does look like fun knitting and a very clever design), I knew that it just wasn't going to work for me.

So I ripped.
And re-wound.
Totally unraveled.

This year's mystery shawl will be beautiful, I know. And I can't wait to see all the other knitters' stunning finished shawls. I'll be content, though, with my decision to unravel. No regrets. Because I will have listened to my own heart . . .  and just let it go!

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What's the most surprising thing you've ever unraveled? And did you regret letting it go?

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Be sure to join Kat today for more tales of "unraveling."

An Altogether Different Destination

This week . . . I'm supposed to be biking through the Scottish countryside.

But I'm not.
Of course.

Instead, I took a little trip to "sleeve island."

Yep.
That's two sets of sleeves there. Adult-sized sleeves for this cardigan for me. And baby-sized sleeves for this cardigan for a gift (for a great niece due next month).

An altogether different destination, indeed.

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Head on over to Kat's today for more Unraveled posts.

Mystery Date

Remember this?

(Holy sh**. SO MUCH WORSE than I remembered. . . )

So. A few weeks ago, I told you all about my . . . recent flirtations . . .  when it comes to my knitting. Well, my heartbreaker of a summer continues. Because now I'm on a Mystery Date!

Will it be a dream??? Or a dud???
Stay tuned and find out!

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How about you? What are you making?
And be sure to pop over to Kat's for more Unraveled posts.

 

A Wild and Crazy Summer Coming Up

What happens when a normally monogamous knitter suddenly has a summer fling or two (or three or four)?

Well.
I'm not exactly sure.
But it looks like a wild and crazy summer ahead!

While knitting another hat for my son (finished now, but no photos yet), I started dabbling with this . . . 

Fiddly knitting. Fun, though! (Those striped roofs. They get me every time.) This is kind of . . . well, that "bad boy" you really shouldn't date. But you do anyway because he's so exciting and a bit unpredictable, and besides -- he's really hot, and who doesn't need to let loose once in a while, right?

To balance things out, there's this . . . 

Simple and soothing. Level-headed. Dependable. Kind of like strawberry ice cream. This is . . . well, you know. That steady-freddy kind of boy you can really count on! Always polite and well-behaved. Your dad really likes him, and your friends all think he's cute. It's a good thing to have a steady-freddy in your life, but . . .

Oh, that's not all!

There are bunnies to make (they're . . . the neighbor's cute cousins, visiting for the summer -- and who can resist them???), and a baby sweater, too (that obligatory date your well-meaning co-worker set you up with).

Oh, yeah.
It's going to be a Wild and Crazy summer here, with quite the cast of characters!

Stay tuned.

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How about YOU? What are you making this summer?

Sweet and Sour

I've been in a kind of . . . in-between place . . . with my knitting projects lately.

I feel so up-in-the-air right now.  In-between seasons.  In-between normal life and not-normal-at-all life.  In-between moods.  In-between everything! 

Whenever I get to feeling all in-between, I tend to gravitate toward small things that don't require much commitment or focus.  And lately?  It's been all about my mood, which I'll describe as . . .

sweet
and
sour!

First, I'll show you the sweet.
(Soundtrack if you want it.)
(It's a live performance of one of my favorites.  Just sayin.)

Such a cozy room,
the windows are illuminated by the sunshine through them,
fiery gems for you, only for you . . .

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And then . . . the sour!
(Soundtrack if you want it.)
(And it's not the clean version.  Just sayin.)

Now baby, baby, baby 2020
Why d'you wanna wanna hurt me so bad?
(So bad, so bad, so bad)

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So.  There you have it!  Sweet and sour knitting . . . for the in-between times.

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Ravelry details - with more photos - here:

Sweet . . . and . . . Sour

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Be sure to head over to Kat's today for more Unraveled Wednesday posts.

 

This Is My Message To You

Let's set the mood today . . . 

Yeah.  
These are difficult times.  
Every day it's the crawling out of the hole again.
Fighting that pandemic-gravity.
Finding the energy to move forward.

I don't know what I'd do without meditation and yoga and movement.
And . . . knitting.

It's nothing complicated these days.
Just the basics.
One stitch after another.
With really lovely yarn.
And preferably for someone I love.

I might not really feel it.
But my knitting says it loud and clear . . . 
Every little thing is gonna be alright.

(This is my message to you.)

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You can find all the details about this knit here, on Ravelry.

Just Raveling Away

Every year at this point in the season I go through a sort of . . . knitting "mood". . . where I can't quite settle on what I want to knit next.  I can't blame the pandemic this time, really.  (Although, actually, I can.)  (Because I like to blame everything on the pandemic.)  But I think it's mostly that between-seasons thing I go through every year.  

I'm not really in the mood for woolly knits - like sweaters - by the time May rolls around.

But I'm also not in the mood for more summery knits - like with linen - either.  

So I just kind of . . . play things by ear and dabble in some fickle-knitting.

What's that look like?  Well.  Right now it looks like this . . . 

As soon as I saw Margaret Holzmann's Safe at Home blanket on Ravelry, I was smitten.  I mean . . . this design has pretty much every element that lights up the happy places in my brain: a grid design, color free-play, whimsy and charm, little houses, and (squeee) striped roofs!

Of course, it also includes futzy intarsia in garter stitch, a whole-lotta seaming, and millions and millions of ends to weave in.  (And my intarsia skills are Not Good; a real weak spot in my knitting repertoire.)

But whimsy and charm!
Color play!
Grids!

And also there's the symbolic nature of the whole thing.  Knitting little houses . . . while we're all staying in our own little houses.

So I'm digging in.  I don't know how many squares I'll actually end up with.  Probably not the 90 called for in the pattern . . . but maybe enough that I can make a pillow.  Or something on the small-ish side.  (I do know for sure that the only way to get better at intarsia is to practice.  So there is always that, too.)  One thing I do know?  This will not be a monogamous kind of knit for me.

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(I've also gone a bit ga-ga for Susan B. Anderson's sweet Little House design.  I bought the pattern, and kind of sense that this may become one of those potato-chip projects for me in the days ahead.) 

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But it can't be all futzy little houses all the time now, can it?  So I've got this on my needles as well . . . 

It's another hat for Brian like the one I made him for Christmas.  He loves that one -- and recently told me that the Christmas hat is getting him through his current pandemic-hair growth stage.  (It's this pattern.)

So.

What's a knitting-mom to do?

(Of course.)

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How about you?  What are you knitting these days?

(And be sure to join my fellow Unravelers over at Kat's today!)

Because I Know You've Been Singing It Too

There is one song that just keeps playing in an endless loop in my head these days.  And I bet it's been playing in yours, too, maybe.

So let's all have a sing-along today . . . to celebrate my first pandemic knit!  
Because . . . it's finally done: my big, cozy, comfy, stay-at-home, pandemic sweater.  
Now with ALL NEW pandemic hair styling!

Sing along with me now!
Everybody. . . 

It's the end of the world as we know it
(time I had some time alone)

It's the end of the world as we know it
(time I had some time alone)

It's the end of the world as we know it
(time I had some time alone)

And I feel fine!

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The sweater is knit from this pattern, and you can find all the details here on Ravelry.

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And, just to end on a fun note, check out this "unplugged" version of REM doing It's the End of the World As We Know It. . .

 

Just What I Needed

(If you are looking to join this week's Read With Us discussion of the book Fever, here it is!)

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Let's start today's post with a soundtrack, shall we?  (And this one is worth clicking into!  It's a live performance by The Cars when they appeared on on The Midnight Special back in 1978.)

Way back last winter, I decided I needed a gray cardigan in my life.  And then I proceeded to get distracted by many a colorful sweater.  And holiday knitting.  And pretty much anything BUT a gray cardigan.  (I also had a hard time deciding on the right pattern, because I had something particular in mind . . . and I already had the yarn.  So that did complicate things a bit.)  (Do you know how many sport-weight cardigan patterns there are out there to choose from?)  (Many.  There are many.)

Anyway.  I finally started knitting my gray cardigan on New Year's Day.  
And, yeah.  It was a bit of a slog.
And, yeah.  I whined about it.

But.  In the end?

It's . . . just what I needed!

you always knew to wear it well . . .
and you look so fancy I can tell . . . 

I guess you're just what I needed . . . 
just what I needed!

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Get all the details here on Ravelry.

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Be sure to visit Kat today for more Unravled posts.