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

Hey Everyone!

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.

What Weekends are for

Hey Everyone!

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.

Sea Dragon

Hey Everyone!

It’s been a bit since I have posted her, and even longer it seems since I finished a pair of socks.

Knitting has definitely slowed down since I started this job I am at. It’s OK for the time being since I do need to work.

I finally finished up a pair I had started back in November. This pair was knit up out of yarn from a small yarn dyer, who I found out about from one of you. The yarn shop is called Deep Dyed Yarn. I had ordered several hanks from her shop in two different yarn bases. The yarn base for this particular pair is the Figment yarn base, and I used the colorway “Sea Dragon”. I love how it turned out.

Sock yarn has definitely become one of my things. I love looking at it. All the different color combinations that people come up with is incredible. I love working with it, and feel it as I am working it up.

I have been told that I have enough socks and sock yarn, but really, can you ever have enough?

I know that the city life is not my calling and I am working hard now to get out of here, and live a life where I am outside more, and still living in a place that rains, or at least overcast, grey & misty / drizzling for nine months out of the year, where having good quality wool socks are a must.

Finally Getting Some Knitting Done

Hey Everyone!

It has been far too long since I have been able to post about knitting, then again it has been far too long since I have really been able to knit.

Life has been crazy busy since I started the full time job I am at now. I have been pulled in so many different directions, that Knitting dropped to a low priority. Other things like sleep were more important.

Knitting has become the reward for getting through another week of work.

The sock I am working on has been sitting a lot the past few weeks, and getting through the cuff seemed to take forever. I finally finished the cuff, knit the heel, turned the heel and got the gussets done so far this weekend.

Gauging yarn in yardage

Hey Everyone!

My tip for this week, is when you are yarn shopping, make sure you also check the yardage you will need for a project against the yardage per skein of yarn to determine how many skeins you will need. It is better to have a bit of yarn left over than to not have enough. Weights per skein of yarn are a good general guideline, but the yardage you get per weight will vary between yarns.

I figured this out because I barely had any yarn left over from a 16 ounce skein of yarn when I made a size 8 knit for kids sweater, when the guidelines say 14 ounces makes an 8. Then I got looking at the yardage for that brand of yarn, versus what the guidelines say for how many yards you need for an 8, versus another brand that makes a 16 ounce skein of yarn. That is when I tuned in to the fact that the yarn I had used was thicker, so you get fewer yards to the ounce, verses a thinner (yet still 4 ply) yarn from a different brand. So in the future I will just have to remember that I cannot make a size 10 with just one skein of the thicker brand of yarn.

Yardage is also important and useful when you are working with a pattern that you can use different types of yarn with, and they give you how much yarn you will need in yards. Again, I would rather have a bit of yarn left over than run out, and need to scramble to try to find more yarn, and possibly not be able to find the same yarn I had bought, and then not be able to complete my project.