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.

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.

Alaskan Yarn and Life Update

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Last week a new to me indie yarn dyer came across my Instagram. Some of the colors, I couldn’t resist buyer. This yarn shop is called Bad Sheep Yarn and is based in North Pole Alaska.

My order arrived today. The colors are even better in person than pictures could show. It makes me want to go to Alaska that much more.

I am so excited to get to work up all the new yarn I have picked up recently. With the way that Gas prices and inflation keep going up, I need to work on the yarn I have. Since I am wanting to go to Rhinebeck, I am saving my money so I can go. We will have to see how the next 15 months go.

Besides the inflation and rising gas prices, the area I live in is apparently back in the high covid risk. Masks are being highly encouraged in indoor spaces and non essential public gatherings should be avoided, regardless of vaccination status. While I don’t know what to make of it all, I am pretty ok with staying home for the most part besides going to work and my doctors appointments. I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually see another mask mandate here in my state. Since I currently work at a grocery store as my primary job, I do most of my grocery shopping at work, so I don’t have to make too many extra stops.

With that being said, with spending a lot more of my free time at home again, thanks in part to dealing with a chronic health condition, I will hopefully be posting more and have more content for you all.

The Girl with the Cute Handknit Socks

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Today, I needed to run to the grocery store. While I was out, I went and looked at roses and went yarn shopping. The roses and yarn shopping were a spur of the moment thing.

I ended up going over to the West Side of the metro area. At first I thought I would go see how busy the test gardens in Washington Park were, they were too busy, so I googled yarn stores on that side of the river and found one. So I went there.

It was a nice store with a really good selection of yarn that I hadn’t seen in other stores. I had been looking for Hedgehog Fibres yarn in store for a while. I had made one of my very first pairs of socks, before I really knew what I was doing out of Hedgehog Fibres yarn, but those socks didn’t turn out. I had purchased that yarn from a yarn store that is now closed, so I couldn’t go back and get more, and I have been wanting to work with it again. Hedgehog Fibres is an Irish brand of yarn from Cork.

Like I mentioned previously, it was a nice store, with a good selection. Though IDK if I will go back. It was in a strip mall, and just didn’t have the same character as the ones I have been to here on the East Side. Not to mention the traffic on the West Side. I do hate coming back highway 26. The traffic coming into Portland from the west side is always a nightmare.

Before I had gone over to the West Side of the Metro area, I had stopped by one of the Rose Gardens in Ladd’s Addition, since it was one of the first real warm summer days we have had, and see the roses.

Portland is known as the City of Roses, since roses do grow really well in the climate we have here. With all the rain we have had this past winter and spring, it just feels like all the colors are so much more vibrant this year. Even the leaves on the trees seem more vibrant.

I am not one so much for putting patterns in my socks (yet), I definitely gravitate towards colors and colorways that pop, and some that are more utilitarian. I like a mix of both. I wouldn’t mind being known as the Girl with the cute hand knit Socks.

Portland Yarn Shops

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Welcome to the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Here in the US Memorial Day Weekend is the “Official start of Summer”. So everyone who works a typical M-F job has gone back to work now after the long weekend. I worked this weekend, like I have been doing every weekend for over a year. So now it’s my weekend.

I have been wanting to go do some yarn shopping at some local yarn stores, so I finally went to a couple today. Both were in Portland proper (aka in city limits).

I went to Starlight Knitting Society on SE 52nd Ave – a few blocks south of SE Woodstock Blvd.

The other was CloseKnit on NE Alberta St at NE 22nd Ave.

I had been to Close Knit once before, this was my first time stopping at Starlight. I had driven by Starlight so many times but had never stopped, I decided it was time to stop there and see what they had to offer. I really liked Starlight Knitting Society.

I bought some sock yarn at both shops.

These are the three sock yarns I bought at Close Knit. Teo are a lighter weight sock yarn, and the one on the right is a medium weight sock yarn.

These are the five hanks of yarn I bought at Starlight Knitting Society. The two purpley-pink hanks are the same yarn, I would just need to hanks to make a pair of socks. The blue and greens are all a lighter weight sock yarns and will make great summer socks for getting back into hiking.

Not only was I looking for pretty colors, I am also amazed at the wide variety of weights that are all considered to be “fingering weight” which is the weight most commonly used for socks. The lighter weights require a smaller gauge of needle and more stitches to make a sock, where as the heavier weight yarns require a slightly bigger gauge needle and fewer stitches.

One of the yarns I bought is from Paris France, and another one is from Germany.

I love supporting American Indie Dyers, I also enjoy working with yarn from other places.

Bridgerton Season 2

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I recently ordered two hanks of yarn from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm. These two hanks are from the new Bridgerton Collection, based on season two.

I ordered the Eloise and Kate colorways, both on the Coquette yarn base.

I wound the two hanks up today. The Eloise hank (the lighter one) wound up super quick, and easy. The Kate hank (the darker one) was a royal pain in the butt to get wound up. It flew off the winder at least once. I had to restart winding it multiple times. The hank of yarn to get wound up was kind of similar to the character in the show it was created after – stubborn, difficult and mind of it’s own.

Of the yarns in this collection, these were 2/3 that I liked and I was actually able to get that I hadn’t already gotten. The Lady Danbury and The Duke of Hastings colorways were brought back from last year, and I had gotten those two. Daphne colorway as already sold out.

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.

Graveyard Smash

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I can’t believe that it took me two months to finish a pair of socks, yet I can at the same time.

October and November saw so much craziness and upheaval around here that it is good to finally be able to sit down and knit and actually be able to have my days off be days off.

Last night I finished the pair of “Graveyard Smash” socks I started back at the beginning of October.

This colorway is on the bubble sock yarn base from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm. The bubble sock base is made up of 80% merino and 20% silk.

A lot has changed from the last pair of socks I finished, but I am able to get back to knitting more on my weekends, and get back to putting more time into my blog as well. I have missed being able to post regularly. Life was just so busy and demanding the past couple of months, and I needed to prioritize other things during that time.

I definitely have some plans for this winter as life calms down even more. There are some yarn stores I want to go visit in person on my weekends. With working full time now, I am able to put more money into what it takes to do what I love. I know I have said it for a while, but I have been wanting to put more into my blog and now I am able to do that.

How is it November already?

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I totally meant to write this post a couple days ago, but my weekend got away from me.

I had received the two yarns orders, that I had ordered in the mail earlier this week. One was from Deep Dyed Yarn, the other from SavvySkeins.

I got them wound up Wednesday morning, and I love how they look wound up into cakes.

I am definitely excited to get these knit up. Most of these will be knit up after the first of the year, since life is pretty busy right now with work and everything else going on.

Wednesday morning I also made my mom’s birthday pie. Her birthday is always the week of, or even on Thanksgiving, so I started making her, her favorite pie the first week of the month so she can enjoy it and pumpkin pie. Then I usually get her something else for her actual birthday.

Second Week of Work

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I had ordered some more yarn from Bumblebee Acres.

I also still have a couple hanks of yarn from a previous order. I am also am waiting for the “road to Rhinebeck” sock kit to arrive, so I can get all the hanks wound up.

I still have one more shift at work before my weekend. I have already worked three shifts in a row, tonight is shift #4. After tonight, I have three nights off before my next round of 4 nights in a row. After tonight, I will be done with my second week of my new job.