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.
All week I was lucky- my jury group didn’t need to report to duty. But after a super fun mom’s night out last night, I called the jury instructions and was told to come in this morning.
This morning I scrambled to find something mindless to knit on wooden needles (in case metal were taboo- why didn’t I do my research???). I grabbed some size 9s and two different yarns on my way out the door. In my ravelry queue I found Barley, a simple hat by tincanknits, and casted on as soon as I sat down. Thank goodness I’d tossed a random ball of cascade 220 into my backpack as well, because the first yarn wasn’t looking good in that pattern.
Anyway, after a pretty boring morning, I had a great start on this hat, and by the end the day, ta-da!
I have to go back to jury duty on Monday, and I’ll be better prepared, knitting-wise.
P.S. I got new glasses! They’re not too hipster, are they? 😜😳🙄
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:
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.
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.