Breeze

There's a nice breeze in my office today. I enjoy having the windows open for fresh, cool bits of air. It seems to buoy me up just as I feel swamped by a weighty, weighty day in a challenging week in an intense month.


Fittingly, for the season, on Friday I started knitting Wisp from Knitty in a periwinkle-evoking blue Malabrigo lace. It might even be for me. (If it isn't, I have another color of the same yarn, and that can be for me.)

Almost done with the market bag. Enjoying the neat and tidy look of the garter stitch strap.

Thinking today of friends who've received difficult health news and of friends who've come through long stretches of health challenges.

I hope they, too, can find some little breeze that lifts them up, comforts them, or brings them ease on difficult days.

It's something.

I don't really have a whole lot of time for anything right now. I'm not enjoying that. Makes me feel like a lousy manager of my time, when the truth is really that there are just too many things I have to do. I am overloaded.

I went home last night "early" - which meant I left before 7:30. This gave me the chance to stop at a few stores - sympathy card store and wine & martini store, to be precise. Because the truth of the matter is, that I have to try to do a few things that make me feel human, regardless of the overload. I need to have sympathy cards on hand so I can get them sent OUT when the occasions arise, and sadly they do. (Nothing close to home in this story - families of colleagues.) I need to have a moment in a weekend when I can sit down and relax with a little glass of something, turn on some music, and do one little thing. Read, maybe. Or knit. Even though I really didn't get home until what would be pretty late to be considered "home early," I did still have a little glass and a little knitting.

I worked a little more on this Hemp Market Bag (the name of the pattern) in Cotton Fleece.


Tomorrow I will work a little bit on the finger bits of this first mitt.


Meanwhile, this was my break in a working Saturday. Had a morning meeting to sing through a musical. There's another production tonight. I have a few hours to get a few things done. Since I left ALL of my reading glasses at home, including the LEAVE THESE AT THE DESK pair I wore home the other day, I am going to go out in search of a pair of reading glasses before I develop a big headache.

This was one break. Walking to go glasses shopping will be another.

It's something, anyway.

Norbert

FINISHED.

Somewhat inaccurate as a dinosaur, but that's because I just needed to finish and stop dawdling.



His spine is a little wonky.



Asymmetry is a fine thing in a dinosaur.

Really, I do knit for myself, but it's not in this post.

Elizabeth, Marcy, and Batty - thanks for your kind words. I have to admit, I was thinking of Elizabeth as spokesperson for letting things go free when I was home coming up with this scheme to give away a sweater. It helped me steer clear of hanging onto something I just couldn't make good use of right now. (Bad sentence, but you get the drift, maybe?)

I finally FINALLY F I N A L L Y stitched up the Norberta I began working on - what, last October? I will take a photo tonight or tomorrow. (I've just chucked the camera into my bag to be sure it goes home. I don't know what took me so long.

Okay, maybe I do. I needed to pick up stuffing. I also needed to feel UP to putting the spine-spines on straight AND also up to easing them onto the back, as it seemed I had different measurements of pieces. And then I dawdled. Done dawdling.

I opted for black yarn eyes, no nostrils, no fangs. Well, and no wings, as this Norberta is no dragon. More Norbert the Somewhat Inaccurate Dinosaur.

Will be sending him off as soon as I can. He has a book companion for his travels.

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Meanwhile, I can't figure out what I DO want to start making for myself. Working on the niece and nephew request knitting so I have them done in time for birthdays (October and December). Took a break from them and looked through patterns. Ended up tidying up the knitting pattern folders. Of course, I've been ignoring the sweaters in hibernation. Didn't feel like waking them up this weekend, so I kept on with the paper frenzy and cleaned out a huge basket full (ie. the "clear the desk by putting it in one place HERE" basket) of paper that needed filing, pitching, tidying, etc.

This will not sustain me as a substitute for knitting for myself. Maybe I just need more time to think.

Maybe I need to make some dishcloths.

A Good Sweater Day

Today is lovely, sunny, and a little cool - a perfect sweater day. Good day to catch a picture of the finished Greenjeans, done in Malabrigo yarn - Velvet Grapes the colorway.



I realized this morning that I didn't want to keep this sweater tucked away for when I'd lose enough weight for a good fit. So I devised a plan. Had colleague try on the sweater for a photo. Knew it was a good color for her. Asked if she was allergic to wool. She admired the sweater. I noted that it was actually a decent fit for her. Put it on to demonstrate my fit problem. Asked her if she would like it.

I gave away the sweater. She was delighted. Really.
She already ran in a couple hours later to say she's wearing it already.

I'll knit the pattern again, though maybe not instantly.
And I'll size it better for who I am today.

I think that's a pretty good sweater day!

I Could be the Cubs

Great season and then a few games that don't go so well, that's me.

My Greenjeans sweater is done. Picture soon. On a hanger. Or on the dress form.

Not on me.

Seems the blooming I got when I swatched didn't transfer as well into the cabled ribbing.

Seens I may have overestimated the amount of bloom in calculating the finished size.

Seems the 10 pounds I lost this summer aren't enough progress to make this sweater look really good.

Seems I need to think more carefully about how to make button holes behave. Of course, less girth around the middle will also keep that button hole from stretching out so much.

What are the lessons here?
Swatch and wash the cables, too.
Keep up with the healthy meals. I've just had a nice tomato & veg salad.
Take a walk this afternoon.

I'm not going to despair of failure in the knitting. It wasn't a win, but it's still a good looking sweater.

I hope to wear the sweater soon. I could still have a winning season. Go Cubs.

A Proper Gift, Juno Regina!

This is a gift for a good friend. I'll have to call now and find a time to bring it up. I don't want to mail it!

Blocked out to 16 " wide - could have been wider at the largest cross section of the diamond ends, but I opted for straight.

Length blocked out to 72" or so long - I think it was about 60" unblocked.


I am truly pleased.