Easy like Sunday Morning

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Sundays have become my favorite day of the week.

Beings that Saturdays are my friday at work, Sunday means getting to sleep in, drink all the tea I want, knit, and watch shows.

I had started the pair of “Kate” socks last weekend after I finished the “Santorini” socks. I had only knit about 5 or 6 rounds on the cuff, and then it sat my entire work week. I finished the cuff of this first sock and started the leg portion of it.

The song Easy (Like Sunday Morning) had come to mind as I was knitting and drinking tea yesterday morning.

Mondays can be busy. This morning I had a few things I needed to do. I took my vehicle through the car wash and vacuumed it out after (most of the sand is now gone from the beach trip I went on a month ago, which is sad), I took my bottle drop bags back. Here in Oregon, our cans and single use drink bottles have bottle deposits that we get back when we return them. Several years ago, they started the green bags, where for a small fee, the employees, as the bottle drop locations, will count the cans and bottles in the green bags for you. I got coffee from Black Rock, stopped at the pharmacy, made an appointment, and then came home. I thought about going for a drive but decided not to because I needed to use the bathroom, and I didn’t want to spend money on more gas right now. I also wanted to spend more time knitting.

After a couple weeks of very hot weather (in the 90’s for highs), the last couple of days have been dramatically cooler and cloudy which I have loved. It has made me wish it was Fall all over again. When it’s hot, I literally have no energy (which is in short supply anyway), and don’t feel like tea, or knitting. Any of you who have followed me for any length of time know that I am all about the tea and the knitting. This weekend has definitely made me want to knit like nobody’s business and has inspired me to want to do more craft projects.

I would love nothing more than to get out of the city rat race and spend more time doing the things I love. Those include knitting, being outside, growing a garden, cooking, canning, reading books, all the things that an introverted homebody enjoys. Then I would throw in coming into the city every so often to go to yarn stores and for supplies (can anybody say Smith Teamaker and Bob’s Red Mill).

Beach Day

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A few weeks ago I had put in to take PTO this weekend to make sure I got my storage unit moved. With some help I got it done a couple weeks ago.

This was all before this weekends weather forecast was even a thing. It turns out that Friday was almost 90° here in the valley.

Beings that I already had requested the weekend off (Thursday – Saturday shifts) to use rain or shine, I got paid for the days I was off and did not accrue any corrective action steps for going to the Beach on Friday. And yes, I was laughing at my coworkers who were stuck at work, the whole way to the beach and back.

It was 63° and perfect right on the beach, and about 67° on the highway, which was a few hundred yards up from actual beach. It was a perfect summer (in spring) day at the beach.

Thursday I had worked on my first sock from the passprt Mediterranean mystery kit I had ordered from Forbidden Fiber Co, part of the time while watching Mamma Mia. The colorway of yarn from this kit seriously gives me Mamma Mia and & Santorini vibes.

I always seem to have a hard time coming back from the beach, even if I go for a day. I don’t know why leaving the beach affects me so much, but it does.

My beach day, and going through the towns I lived in while I went to college on my way to and from the beach have definitely made me think about my life and the direction I am going. I never would have thought I would be where I am today, and each day I want to be a better person and to make a difference. I am still trying to figure out how.

In 10 years’ time

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years time, I see myself living a simple life in a small town or out in the country on some property, with a husband and family of my own. I would have found a church community to belong to and serve in.

If I am still working, I would be working at a small lys or book store in the small town.

I would still be living out here in the PNW, trying to give my children a simpler childhood without all the technological distractions and let them be kids.

I would still be knitting, of course. I couldn’t give up knitting unless it was literally taken from me.

If I lived on some property outside city limits, I would have a garden and grow a lot of my own Berries and vegetables. Maybe have a few fruit tress, and plenty of flowers.

Summer Days and Summer Socks

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What a week. I worked only two nights last week, and two off so I could go to the beach with my family. It was a good day.

Beings that I had two extra nights off than I regularly do, I had extra time to work on my knitting. I am currently working on my beach bunny socks, which is the Hedgehog Fibres yarn I had picked up at For Yarns Sake over in Beaverton a little while back.

I finished up my first sock of the pair Tuesday night, and started the second sock.

Part of what helped me get through this first sock so quick besides having a couple nights off was also the fact that I binge watched the 4th season of Virgin River while I was working on it.

It’s also been pretty hot the past few days, seeing upper 90’s and even low 100’s in the Willamette Valley. So I have also been biding my time in the air conditioned house trying to keep cool.

I had pre-ordered the Long Dog Yarn Summer 2022 Sock Set and project bag. I think the sock set is actually called “She sells seashells” or something similar. When I had seen it, I couldn’t resist it. I love the beach (obviously) and beachy themed stuff. I love the color of turquoise that the mini hank is for the heels and toes. I am definitely excited to work up this yarn too.

The North and Central Oregon Coast have definitely made the short list of where I would love to live. While there are other places on that list that I am open to living should I be able to find a good job that has health insurance, the coast is just at the top.

Summer Knitting

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This past week I started watching Rhinebeck videos. I quickly realized that I need to go next year. I also realized that I really have no idea who anyone who is anyone in the knitting world is. That is another reason I need to go to Rhinebeck and other fiber festivals back east. That is one of the crappy things about living out west, we don’t have many fiber festivals and really none of the big names in the knitting world come out here.

Today I started winding up my Bad Sheep Yarn hanks. I had to stop after 3 hanks as I started not feeling well and needed to lay down. I did take some videos to put up on TikTok and my Instagram stories.

I love these Alaskan themed yarns. I am excited to see how they knit up when I get to them.

In order to go to Rhinebeck next year, I need to allow my PTO at work to accrue. I want to be able to get paid while taking time off work to go. In the mean time, I also need to watch more Rhinebeck videos.

Road to Rhinebeck

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Sorry this post is a bit late, I super busy Wednesday, and then AT&T was a butt and I had no data pretty much until I had to leave for work at 9 o’clock at night.

Tuesday evening I finished up the “Road to Rhinebeck” socks I had been working on. I honestly love how they turned out and they are the favorite pair I have worked on lately. Then again it seems like whenever I work on an autumn colored / inspired pair of socks, I love them. Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival is in October so this sock set is definitely autumn inspired.

This was in fact a sock set, so there was a main hank and an mini hank of the contrast.

While Rhinebeck has been Goals for a while, this sock set really makes me want to go, and it is something I am going to try to make happen in 2023. It just isn’t going to work out this year due to what I have had going on and dealing with my health this year.

Yesterday, I took the time and washed the socks I had completed and stuck in my hamper for hand knit socks. I prefer to hand wash my hand knit socks and put them on the drying rack since we don’t have a drying line outside at the new house. The warmer weather makes me more inclined to wash socks since they will dry quicker. Some day I would love to have a wood stove or natural gas stove and be able to dry them in front of that in the colder months. Especially after having worn them.

Rhinebeck Is Goals

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This morning I finished up the first sock in the pair of “Road to Rhinebeck” socks I am currently working on.

This was a sock set with a main variegated hank and a smaller contrast / coordinating tonal hank for at least heels and toes. I have gone on the conservative side and not tried using the contracting tonal for a top rib in the cuff. I may kick myself later for that, if I end up with a decent amount left over. I just wanted to make sure I had enough for the heels and toes for two socks.

This sock, seriously evokes all things fall for me. Cozy Sweaters, Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes, turning leaves, fires in the fireplace, Gilmore Girls, Mel in Virgin River – the scene from the first episode or two when she is walking down the street in Virgin River talking to her sister on the phone in the cute sweater and boots.

Yes, one sock made me think of that. Well, it did have the help of visiting two local yarn shops yesterday. Those made me think of rainy Portland October days, with a cup of tea, hunkering down in a cute yarn shop working on a knitting project, or squishing the yarn. For me, Starlight Knitting Society was the coziest and most inviting of the two. It also really made me miss Happy Knits. Happy Knits was a yarn store here in Portland, on SE Hawthorne Blvd, that I fell in love with. They closed a few years ago (Pre Pandemic) they had a very light, airy, welcoming shop that wasn’t super crowded but had an amazing selection. In the back, they had a large table to sit around and work on projects as well as a couch that faced the natural gas stove. It was amazing in the colder wet months to go hang out, look at yarn, squish yarn, get inspiration, work on projects. I miss that space.

I have known about the Rhinebeck sheep and wool festival for several years. It is the big festival. I really want to go, and I want to try to make it happen next year. This year isn’t going to work for me, since I have other things I need to deal with first. Rhinebeck is one of things that I feel like I should experience at least once.

We don’t have many fiber festivals out here on the West Coast, and the ones we do have aren’t on the same caliber as the ones that take place back east.

All the smaller indie dyers I follow and typically buy from are from east of the Mississippi River, and the “better” fiber festivals are part of the circuit that most of these dyers go to.

Which is why I would love to go to Rhinebeck, especially, as well as some of the other fiber festivals back East and find more small, Indie, US based dyers who have amazing yarns.

What Weekends are for

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This weekend has been a productive weekend for knitting.

Once I finished the fury socks, I cast on another sock using “Strawberry Fields” which is on the coquette yarn base from Bumblebee Acres fiber farm.

The name of this colorway always makes me think of “Strawberry Fields Forever” by the Beatles.

The colors themselves together makes me think of something out of the 1970’s.

I had pulled out this colorway because I was wanting to work with one of the spring colored yarns I have in my stash.

The coquette yarn base has become one of my favorite yarn bases to knit with. It is a thicker sock yarn that is sturdy to work with, yet washes up very well. It makes the perfect winter sock.

This weekend is what I needed to relax and get in the frame of mind for my last week at my current job and starting my new job without missing a beat.

While where I am at, and what I am doing is not necessarily what I want to do forever, the income is a means to cover bills and help me get where I want to go.

There are some yarn stores here in the Portland Metro area I have been meaning to get to over the past few years, and now I will make a point to go visit them and buy more yarn. Yarn shopping, and knitting in general is definitely an expensive hobby. I wouldn’t trade it for a less expensive hobby though. It’s what I love doing and is worth the money.

A Yarny Fall Day

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I have definitely been enjoying my day off.

I have been working on my current sock throughout the day.

While it didn’t get super warm today, the sun was out today and made it feel warmer today than it was. So I decided to was the socks I had finished up, and put them on the drying rack.

The hank of yarn I had ordered from Deep Dyed Yarns, which had been recommended to me by a reader, arrived today. So I got it wound up.

I definitely love the colors here, and I am excited to knit these up into socks. This colorway was my favorite of the ones available.

After working 5 days in a row last week, and only having two nights / one full day off, it is nice to be back to my normal schedule. It has certainly been nice to be able to knit the past couple of days as well. I have certainly missed it.

Old Fashioned Velvet

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I was having a weird dream, like I sometimes do, and the question arose,

How does one wash Old Fashion Velvet? Without ruining it?

For context – person in the dream had in their possession an authentic period / Shakespeare period / Brand Name / Designer / Well Known Brand of the time Velvet cape with some dirt and stuff around the hem. So, it needed cleaning, and that is how the question arose in my dream.