Easy like Sunday Morning

Hey Everyone!

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.

Vintage Santa

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Today, I finally finished up the pair of “Vintage Santa” socks I have been working on for a couple of months.

The yarn is the “Vintage Santa” colorway from Forbidden Fiber Co, and the yarn base is the Pride base. This yarn is from a previous Christmas / holiday palette the company had put out.

While working on the second sock, I have had the Friends of Big Bear Valley eagle cam running in the background on my computer. It’s kinda cool to watch Jackie and Shadow when they come to the nest as I am working on my knitting.

Knitting has unfortunately taken a backseat lately as life and work have been keeping all too busy, and tired. Since life has hopefully calmed down a little bit now, and I put in for a few days off from work this week, I will hopefully be getting some more Knitting done and possibly go to the beach. Summer Weather is supposed to hit later this week, just in time for my anticipated beach trip. I am so not ready for summer.

How are you all doing? What projects are you working on? Reading any good books? Watching any good shows? I am wating for the copy of season 7 of Shetland that I ordered to arrive.

Sunsets over the Pacific Ocean

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What a weekend it has been so far (my weekend days are Sunday and Monday). Yesterday, I had gone for a drive to get out of the house. I also had made a blueberry crumble, that had gotten dumped all over the bottom of the oven by accident upon trying to get it out of the oven. The oven had to be cleaned and it was a mess.

I made another blueberry crumble this morning. It came out just fine.

While my blueberry crumble was baking this morning, I wound the yarn that came in my spring mystery box from Forbidden Fiber Co.

While I don’t know what this colorway is called, it reminds me of a sunset at the Oregon Coast this time of year.

Weekends always seem to go by so fast, don’t they? I like to try to get as much knitting in on my weekends, since I don’t typically feel like knitting when I get home from work during the week. This is especially true when what I do for work is literally to earn a paycheck and have health insurance, and it’s not something I am passionate about or even see staying at more than a couple of years. There is no career there for me. In the position I am in, I will cap out pay wise in less than 3 years, and it’s not an income I will ever be able to support myself on my own with. I also have no desire to go into management in this company. Being a freight lead was as much management as I will ever do, and I came back down a pay grade and responsibility wise after 10 months in that role. So my weekends are super important to me, to pursue my interests and what I am passionate about.

Shamrocks & Clovers

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Yes, you are getting two posts today. I was not planning on writing a second post today, since I was not sure if I would get this pair of socks done today or not.

Since I did finish up the second sock today, I am able to share with you all. This is the Shamrocks & Clovers yarn I had ordered for St Patrick’s day. It took me a couple extra weeks to get these socks done since work is keeping me busy and exhausted.

The color way is Shamrocks & Clovers. This colorway is on the Coquette yarn base from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm.

Another Yarn Shop Went Virtual

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Brick and Mortar yarn stores have been struggling to stay afloat even before the pandemic began three years ago. Then the pandemic hit and many more closed their doors, and if they were lucky were able to transition to solely virtual.

While it’s nice to be able to buy yarn from the comfort of your own home, there is more to be said to being able to go to a LYS (Local Yarn Shop) where you can see and feel the yarn for yourself. Many also have samples up where you can see completed projects made with the yarn. Many of these shops also have a seating / work area where crafters could come and work on projects and get help with a pattern and what not.

With the physical spaces closing down, it is harder for the community to come together and be able to have in person interaction with other crafters where they are from.

I know for myself, getting to wool and sheep festivals like Rhinebeck and others back east and in the Midwest are not necessarily feasible or practical in order to have the comraderie with fellow crafters.

Not only had my favorite LYS closed down several years ago (Happy Knits on SE Hawthorne in Portland), I found out that one on my list of yarn shops to visit, closed their brick and mortar shop two and a half years ago. This was Churchmouse Yarns and Teas on Bainbridge Island (near Seattle). This was one of the “destination yarn shops” that was relatively close to me, as in a weekend adventure for me. While I can still order yarn online, I do miss the whole adventure and change of scenery aspect to it.

Part of why it makes me sad is because the generations older than me, who are not as tech savvy as my generation and those younger than I am, are missing out on the yarn shopping options that used to exist. Knitting (and Crocheting) almost died out once. I would hate to see that happen again.

For the past decade or so, I have wanted to visit as many LYS as I could in different places I went. I thought it would be fun to have socks made from yarn I bought wherever I went. The more LYS that close their physical locations, that makes this harder.

I know I talk more about knitting than Crocheting, because I am a knitter. That’s what I do. Crocheter’s are just as important as knitters.

Socks, Work, Lunch Dates & Cabela’s

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It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Work has basically been all consuming at this point and has been kicking my butt. The insanity has been real.

I got a long weekend with the snow days, and had another long weekend this past weekend because I started my new schedule this week.

Over the weekend I had gone out with a good friend of mine I met through a previous job, working at World Market. She and I have kept in touch over the years that we have been gone. It’s been almost 2 years since we worked together. We went and got coffee and then had a late lunch at a French restaurant down the street from the coffee shop we went to.

It was a great afternoon, and great to catch up with her.

I also finished up the first Vintage Santa sock in the pair I am working on. I also cast on my first Shamrocks & Clovers sock since my yarn arrived on Saturday.

While working on my knitting projects I binged watched “Wednesday” on Netflix as well as the Murdaugh documentary, post double murder convictions and sentencing. I had caught the last few days of the trial, verdict and sentencing via the legal commentary channels I watch on YouTube.

Today was my early start day at work. It was a long day since I didn’t sleep the greatest last night. I did stop at Cabela’s after work, since I am kind of obsessed.

After the Snow Days

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I decided to try washing the hand knit Christmas socks I had done in the washing machine today. I had always hand washed them until now.

It was one of things where, I decided to give it a try considering we used to wash 100% Cashmere sweaters in the washing machine (and put them in the dryer) when I worked at the studio about a decade ago.

I figured if I used a shorter wash cycle, warm and cold water, the extra delicate cycle and wool wash, it couldn’t hurt them right?

They are now air drying on my drying rack and came out just fine with the precautions I did take.

It’s going to make my life a whole lot easier and save my hands knowing I can put them in on the gentlest cycle and warm water then air dry them.

While they were washing, I did go through the Laundress New York Wool and Cashmere Shampoo I have and did get rid of the ones who’s lots are part of the recall, just to be on the safe side.

I know I have talked about how much I have loved the Wool and Cashmere Shampoo from the Laundress New York. I have been looking into what is best for washing woolen goods, and I have found that using a wash that contains lanolin, which is the oil naturally found in Wool is actually better for it, I am not going to be using the Wool and Cashmere Shampoo anymore.

Eucalan was one of the top brands I found that contains lanolin, as do Kookaburra wash and Outback Gold, all of which I have some of in my wool wash stash. This also explains why what had been my favorite yarn shop while it was still in business, as do many other yarn shops I have been in, carry Eucalan wash.

Snow Day Activities

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We started seeing snow fall Wednesday morning, though we really didn’t start seeing it stick until Wednesday evening.

With the roads being snow covered and the temperatures dropping below freezing I chose to stay home yesterday and today.

Yesterday my mom and I made cookies, and I have also been working on my current pair of vintage santa socks.

Vintage Santa

It’s been an incredibly busy month and it’s nice to have a couple extra down days to relax and allow my body to continue to adjust to not working nights. It’s been nice to actually put some time into my knitting and see progress take place over a shorter amount of time and see more socks take shape.

Now that I am getting back into a more regular schedule where I can knit more and get more done, and I do have a little more energy to do the things I enjoy doing.

Snowy Pine Socks

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Yesterday, I finally finished up the pair of Snowy Pine socks I have been working on for the past month.

It’s been a crazy month. I finished out working freight, completely switched up my schedule going from working nights to working days. I started at my new store this past week, and trying to be healthier.

Snowy Pine is the colorway of this yarn, it is on the coquette sock yarn base from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm.

I have been working through my Christmas themed yarn I have in my stash. I am trying to get all my Christmas socks knit up before moving on to other yarn I have. I still have a few more pairs to go. Though with my schedule of my new job, I have a little time in the afternoons and evenings to work on my knitting and get a few rounds done. The second sock knit up a lot quicker than the first because of this change in my schedule.