Last night I finished a bear! This is Grayle, another one named for a character from Dr. Who.

I like the kind of retro vibe that the pea green gives to the rainbow color scheme.

I wrote a blog post about it for my knitting group: https://purljamsf.wordpress.com/

Yesterday, after a very rainy soccer playoff match (the Girl and her team did great but did not advance), I attended my knitting group’s annual stash exchange!

I ended up taking home about the same amount of goods as I had brought, but most went into fabric or bear yarn stash, so basic yarn-wise, I came out ahead. Here’s a bit of my booty:

I was feeling good about not having taken too much home when a mom friend from preschool put out the word that she needed yarn for a parent-led activity. I snagged some of the leftover yarns from stash exchange for her today and ended up with a bit more bear yarn for myself:

It was a good time, and I’m excited to knit and sew up my new acquisitions! 

This week I skeined some handspun that had been hanging out on a bobbin for far too long. Here it is before washing:

And after:

Quite a difference, eh? 

My handknits in action! 

The first pussyhats I knitted were for my cousin and her family, who are currently on their way to D.C.

And about a week ago, I gave a knitting lesson to someone (a hardworking immigrant mom, with a son who has really depended on the ACA for his *survival*) to make pussyhats for herself and others for the D.C. march. I’m happy to say she’s done great!

I love this project, and am looking forward to showing you our SF versions in a few days. ✌️ ❤️ 🌈 

Yesterday during a successful park play date, I was able to finish two projects:

A swiffer cover (mistakes abound! But hey, it’s a reusable cleaning product, prettiness is secondary to reducing waste):

And one last pussy hat.
This one was a mix of Malabrigo and Encore Worsted. Until the end, I didn’t know if the tiny ball of Malabrigo would hold out, but I had enough, as it turned out. Phew! 

There’s a craftperson whom I follow on Instagram who has gotten me really interested in Sashiko-style visible mending. Her name is Katrina Rodabaugh, and her blog and IG feed are a treat for your eyes.  http://www.katrinarodabaugh.com/    and https://www.instagram.com/katrinarodabaugh/?hl=en

Tired of my growing pile of things to be mended, I finally gave visible/Sashiko mending it a try!

Here are some of my and the Wee Boy’s jeans, in various stages of mending (he and I wear our clothes the hardest of the four of us!). I drew straight-ish lines with a water soluble marker so my lines wouldn’t be too terrible.

And after:

Looking back at Katrina’s Instagram feed, I think I might go back and stitch some more lines between my current ones.  We’ll see.

Anyway, I’m glad I finally gave this technique a try.  I think it’s going to be more successful than the weak iron-on patches I’ve used before!

Do you have experience with visible mending or sashiko stitching?

Four years ago, the Girl chose some of my handspun (which I combined with complimentary commercial yarn)for me to knit her a Tiny Tea Leaves cardigan. 

It was pretty cute, but unfortunately, it was tossed into a bag of wet tidepooling clothes and snuck into the laundry, where it was felted.  

It sad sadly until yesterday, when I turned it into a pussyhat and reclaimed the handspun (which did NOt felt), and the buttons. 

The arms might be made into leg warmers for the Girl, so she can have a souvenir of the sweater, and we won’t waste the materials! 

There’s a lesson here somewhere, aside from the obvious *don’t machine wash your hand knit sweaters unless they’re 100% super wash*. Something like waiting for the purpose of something to present itself to you at the right time?  Having the patience to rescue precious handspun from clingy felted O-wool?  At any rate, I’m glad I never tossed the sweater out, and that I finally figured out a use or two for it.