Park Adventure

The Husbando  and I went to a park today, we had a good time! We walked, talked a lot, saw some swans and a squirrel  (I didn't know we had those in Kentucky), and got way to hot and sweaty.

The Husbando climbing a mountain 

Ducks!

I had planned on doing some knitting at the park but instead we went for a nice little walk around the trail and talked a lot. It was really nice to spend time with him. We talked about how I get tired of knitting for others, which sounds selfish but knitting is "me time" and I'm a process knitter and I put a lot of pressure on myself to make handknits perfect if they are gifts. It sometimes makes knitting not so fun, especially since I already spend a lot of my dedicated to helping others around the homestead and the animals etc. He helped clear my head and told me it's okay to want to knit just for me and that maybe next year I shouldn't try to knit gifts for everyone for Christmas. I agree. He's very smart, and very caring, just a few reasons I married him. 

Then we talked about books and how I'm not in the mood for mysteries or things gritty, how I want to reread Harry Potter but worry people will think I'm weird, how I want Oprah Book Club-esque style books and memoirs. He told me it's okay to read those kinds of books, that reading is for fun, he also pointed out there are people who rewatch TV shows over and over again so there really isn't anything weird with rereading my favorite book series. 

He's a swell guy. He interrupts my knitting, blows his nose in an annoying way, talks too loud late at night, and is messy as heck, but he's really really perfect for me. I'm glad we got to spend the day together.

Which is the story of how I spent my afternoon reading Harry Potter and knitting my Nell's Sea Silk Scarf.

Today's blanket square is the Mesh Pattern and I am feeling LOVED. 

ALSO Halloween candy SO EXCITED. 

A Relaxed Hot and Rainy Saturday

I spent a good bit of last night having a heart to heart with my sister and laughing and having a good time. It cheered me up quite a bit from my cranky mood.

And I slept in with the Husbando this morning so it's been a good start to the day.

It's still super hot here in Kentucky. And my head still hurts. I got a few more rounds done on my dad's Christmas hat and measured it, I'm about 2 inches away from slipping it onto double pointed needles and starting the crown shaping. Which is a bit scary. And the hat seems quite large but I suppose I'll just have to see when it's done.

I'm pretty excited to see where it will go. And I've been reading the seaside knitters mystery series again, it's been very good so far! I'm excited to see where it will go.

And I did a few more rows on Nell's Sea Silk Scarf. The pattern is starting to show up, and I'm starting to get the hang of knitting it. It's really pretty but I'm still sweating bullets over lace knitting. I'm worried it's too thin, too impractical, that no one but me likes it.

And it did rain today, I was hoping the rain would cool it down some but no, still hot. Other than that it's been a relaxed and nice day. 

I tried the Nell's Scarf pattern for my blanket today. I wasn't sure if I would like a lace pattern for my blanket-even in worsted weight yarn, so I did two garter stitch rows as a reinforced border. I seems decently sturdy. I probably won't do a lace pattern again for the blanket but it's okay for one square I think. 

Migraines and Hot Days

It's at least four billion degrees here in Kentucky.

On top of that I've had a headache for a week on and off that's morphed into a two day migraine. It's making me cranky. I was really hoping my prevention migraine medication would stop me from getting migraines like this. I feel like my head is going to explode. I don't want to check ravelry, comment back to anything, play nice with anyone, or anything. I want my HEAD to stop HURTING.

I'm cranky.

But I did finish the dishcloth for The Husbando, he wanted it to be a bit shorter than the pattern called for. He wanted it as long as his hand but not much longer than I already knit. So that worked out for me. I chose this yarn because each fall we watch scary movies, the x files and other creepy crawlies and alien like things. It seemed a perfect fall fit for him. I think the yarn was a bit too busy for this pattern though.

The pattern is Campfire by Knit Picks and I knit it as part of the dishcloth weekly knit along group on ravelry.

I also worked a bit on my Seaside Knitters Nell's Sea Silk Scarf. I had to frog it twice last night. But now I'm six rows in and I think you can see the wave pattern showing up. This one's a tricky lace pattern.

And today's mood blanket square is moody because headache and hot weather.

The Finished Teddy Bear Sweater and Sold Dishcloths.

Today has been a day for knitting. Quite a day indeed. Last night I finished both sleeves of the Furrowed Teddy Bear Sweater.

See, I have been knitting this for The Husbando's childhood bear. The bear's name is Rose. She has been with him his whole life. She has gone on many camping tripa, comforted him when he was sad, and still sleeps in our bed. She is well loved over these last two decades. Because of this, she is missing some fur on her stomach and some stuffing in her arm joints as you can see in the picture below. 

I decided to make her a sweater to protect her a bit from further damage. I chose the furrowed rib as it was the most like the texture of her fur, and a k1p1 ribbing on the arms to give it more structure and hold them up a bit more. 

It was knit flat, in pieces, bottom up. Using a fingering weight alpaca yarn I hand dyed. I used size 9 US needles the front and back are cast on 25 and knit in (k2, p1) repeat to last st k1 for row one, then for row two you p1, (k2, p1) across and repeat these two rows for 5 inches. On the next 2 rows Bind of 3 stitches at the beginning leaving you with 18 stitches(place stitch markers at bo points). Work a K1P1 ribbing for the collar until you reach 7 inches or desired collar length.

For the sleeves cast on 19 and work in K1P1 ribbing ending with a k1. Knit until they are 5inches. Bind of.

Seem the front and back together up to your first stitch marker for the arm holes. Then take your sleeves and seem them in along the arm holes. Flip work inside out to hide any seems and tada! Furrowed teddy bear sweater.

I can't believe I finished it today! 

It turned out really well for my first sweater. And I only panicked a little. I know the ribbing on one sleeve goes in a different direction then the other because of my seeming, but I've never been very good at seeming. I think it offers good support for her arms and will give her bare spots some protection. Which hopefully gives her a longer life, bringing The Husbando more comfort for a longer period of time.

The Husbando loved it. He thought she looked lovely in it and so soft and it was so sweet.

Anndddd, on his way home from his work meeting he dropped off the dishcloths I made for the woman at the artists guild! He said she loved them, and I got paid for my knitting! Five dollars. He brought me home a celebration milkshake. 

And I made more progress on the dishcloth knit along dishcloth. If I do four more repetitions of each 4 rows everyday until Sunday, including the cast off row, I should be done that evening.

And because I got a WIP done, I started another. That way I still have 3 WIPS too go between.  I started my Nell's Sea-Silk Scarf based on The Seaside Knitters Mystery Novels by Sally Goldenbaum. The pattern was in the back of the first book and calls for 1 skein of a 70% silk 30% sea cell yarn but it's expensive and I don't feel confident using it so instead I'm using my special yarn from The Husbando called Halloween Town's Finest Trick or Treaters from MsMonstersCreations. I hope to have this done by my birthday so I can wear it out to a yarn shop an hour away from here!

So today's blanket square is a happy stable neutral one! Even if I do have a terrible migraine! 

Also check out my sweater on Ravelry!