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.

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.

Road to Rhinebeck 2022 Socks

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Yesterday afternoon I finished up my pair of “Road to Rhinebeck 2022” socks, two days after Rhinebeck ended, not that I got to go anyway.

This was the second year I ordered the “Road to Rhinebeck” sock set from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm.

The finished product

The main colorway is “Road to Rhinebeck 2022” and the accent colorway was called “All the Wine”. They came as a set and are no longer available to order. The yarn base is the Coquette base.

The Coquette base my favorite yarn base to order colorways on from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm. I like this base because it is a 3 ply fingering weight so it knits up the thickest, cosiest socks without being too thick.

This morning, just before sitting down to write this post, I washed up this pair of socks as well as the pair of Crackling Fire socks I finished recently. I used the Wool and Cashmere Shampoo by The Laundress New York to wash these socks. The scent is called Cedar, but I don’t know exactly how cedar specific it is, but it has an amazing woodsy scent to it that I love. I love this wash for new socks. For socks I have worn and need to wash I prefer using the original Kookaburra wash that has and smells like tea tree oil or Outback Gold wool wash that also has tea tree oil. I prefer either of these two for socks I have worn because Tea Tree Oil is an antiseptic / anti bacterial / anti fungal properties to help kill any funk that might be in my socks and want to grow and cause problems for my feet.

Monday evening, I hadn’t really felt like finishing up the Road to Rhinebeck socks so I cast on the first of many Christmas socks. I decided to start with the yarn called “little drummer boy” it is the darkest of all then Christmas yarn I recently ordered, so I decided I would tackle it first before our weather and days get much darker and dreamer, leaving the brighter colorways to work as the days get even shorter and rainy.

With the socks I just cast on, I went back to my good ole’ trusty wooden needles that I prefer. I definitely do not like metal needles.

Wool Wash

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I took the time yesterday to wash the three pairs of socks I had finished.

I went into the cupboard where I keep the washes for my hand knit goods. I have multiple brands of delicate wash / wool wash, and only a few I actually seem to use, and in different situations. It also seems that each yarn store I have been to has their own preferred brand of yarn wash. One store had Soak, my favorite yarn store back in the day when it was open carried Eucalan, and at the studio I worked at we used The Laundress New York Wool and Cashmere Shampoo.

I also have Kookaburra Original and Outback Gold washes on hand.

My favorites / go to washes are the Wool and Cashmere Shampoo from The Lundress New York for new Knits and washing anything but socks as needed. I also love the original (not lavender scented) Kookaburra wash when I can get it for washing socks once I have worn them. The Outback Gold works well too, and it has been a little easier to come by lately.

I like the Wool and Cashmere Shampoo because it is formulated specifically for wool items (not just delicates), and I love the smell and consistency of it as well.

I like the Kookaburra and Outback Gold for socks I have worn as they both have Tea Tree Oil, which is claimed to have anti bacterial, anti fungal, anti microbial and antiviral properties. So I feel like it helps keep my socks from growing not so great stuff after being worn.

Now, after years of washing my knits and testing out different products, I finally have decided to stop trying different ones, just because I have washes that work good for me and what I make.

Festival

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This weekend (my weekend anyway) I finished up the pair of socks I had been working on.

This is the festival colorway, on the fern yarn base by Barker Wool. I had purchased this yarn at Starlight Knitting Society in Portland, Oregon.

This pair of socks took a while to knit up, in large part due to work and doctors appointments. The last one has been seemingly never ending for the past 3 months.

I also recently ordered some more yarn, like I already didn’t have enough. I ordered from Bad Sheep Yarn and Expression Fiber Arts.

The first picture is of my expression fiber arts order and the second is of my bad sheep yarn order. Expression Fiber Arts is from North Carolina and Bad Sheep Yarn is in North Pole, Alaska.

I definitely haven’t been posting much, since life has been so busy the past 3ish months, that I have been doing all I can to keep it together. It’s looking like August will be the last month where life is insanely busy as far as having medical appointments is concerned. I should hopefully have a couple month reprive, before the holiday ramp up occurs at work. I am also glad that it is looking like September and October should be more chill, and be calmer. Fall, and specifically October is my favorite time of year, and I want to be able to enjoy it.

Strawberry Fields

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Today I finished up the pair of Strawberry Fields Socks.

The yarn is one from my stash. The colorway is on Coquette yarn base from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm.

This colorway is from a spring collection from a few years ago. When I cast it on, I was in the mood for something springy.

I have been off work this past week to take care of my health. Knitting has been part of my day as I try to recover.

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.

Fury

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I couldn’t have finished these socks at a more perfect time in my life. But that tea is for another day.

Last night, I finally finished up a pair of socks that has taken me months to knit up.

The yarn I used for this is from Deep Dyed Yarns. It’s the “Fury” colorway on the Good JuJu sock yarn base.

I ended up having to reknit the first sock, which is part of why this pair took so long.

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.

Finally Getting Some Knitting Done

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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.