Life Changes

So I promised a post about life changes, because I've had a lot of those recently. Most obvious is the move from my parent's house to my(our) own apartment. That has been amazing and wonderful.

The most important life change was actually that in July I quit my job. It just wasn't working out for me; I was pretty miserable. I spent part of July, August, and September unemployed, and thinking really hard about options and also relaxing. To jump to the end of the story, I am currently employed two days a week as a nanny to year-old twins who are wonderful. I love working as a nanny. I do need to figure out another part-time job, but for the first time in two years, I don't dread my morning commute, so this feels like the right thing for me at the moment.

I took a road trip to New Mexico with my sister, which was wonderful. We took two and a half days to drive to New Mexico together, including stops in Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, and Wind Cave National Park - which I'd never heard of before. In the photo below, we were pulled over to view the land, and she was checking the grille for the bird we thought we might have hit. There was no bird in the grille of trusty Elvira (my Subaru), so all was well!

Our final destination was Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, where my sister and I joined my parents on their camping trip. We took several hikes, but also took in some hot springs, and the Tesuque Flea Market (also known as the Santa Fe Flea Market). It was a great almost-family vacation (we were shy my brother, who was working.) On my last full day, we had an amazing storm system roll through, and you can see some of the drama of the lighting in the photo below. We watched the storm roll in over the mesas, and thought it would miss us, but that night, it just poured and poured. The storm was right over us, with thunder and lightening and wind. It was super cozy in my tent, listening to the rain pound down. It was a great end to the trip!

Of course, I still had the drive home, which I actually did solo. I love solo road trips almost as much as I love road trips with a buddy or two. I took a circuitous route home, hitting the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, and Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park in South Dakota. I opted not to visit Badlands a second time because it was late at night, the campground was full, and I needed to press onward. But I did visit Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota, and drive back to the cities via back roads. 

The trip was exactly what I needed. I got to spend time with my family, but also by myself. Plus, visiting the Ranch was really important to me. I've been going there since I was a babe-in-arms, and have missed it as I've moved away from family vacations. This trip reminded me that I am certainly capable of heading out there myself! (Oh, and for all of you who are wondering about this, yes, I did bring my knitting, and yes, I did knit - with mohair! - in New Mexico in July).

(look for a part 2 on this coming up soon!)

After Photos

As promised: after pictures! I realized once I had uploaded these that it really would have been a good idea to look at what photos I had included last time and try to mimic them. I think just use your imaginations and you'll be fine!

My room, now purple, with Moxie on the bed.

Dining room, with art, and the avocado green table I made Britt move from UT to MN.

This is the heater that heats the whole apartment. We call it the fire breathing dragon.

View into the dining room. My desk to the right.

Britt's room, now blue, viewed from the shared closet.

view down the hall into the kitchen.

kitchen!

Kitchen, plus the new tea cabinet between the window and the door.

Bathroom, now blue and white (with purple trim on the door). 

Before Photos

Well it's been a while! I've not got really good excuses, except that I moved to a new apartment with Britt and we had a fair amount of cleaning and painting to do. We have finished (finally!) and are loving our new place. We're just outside downtown, and are having fun exploring the area. We have good freeway access, and easy access to other fun parts of the city. We do miss having grocery stores nearby (our last apartment, it was 4 blocks to the nearest grocery), although I should admit that Whole Paycheck is within a half mile. It's just not really useful for us!

Plus as I mentioned in my last post, months and months ago, I was working on some awesome life changes, which I will totally dedicate another post to, along with an "after" photos shoot of out apartment, since it now looks friendly and welcoming and like us.

Here's our before pictures:

Entry way, view straight through to the kitchen

My room - the first thing to go was the blanket/curtain.

Dining room view through to kitchen

Our friendly black wall - we think to cover graffiti?

Kitchen sink, with our water heater to the left

GAS STOVE. And a pot rack made of a footboard.

Bathroom painted in U of Minn colors, including the ceiling

Kitchen entry, with Britt's door open

Britt's room. Black with white trim, it was actually the best looking room.

Summer break?

On accident, maybe.

It is hard to knit anything, but especially wool, when it is in the 90's with 80% or more humidity. So knitting takes a back-burner in the summer. I garden. I road-trip. I camp. I bike. I run 5ks (omg, who even am I?)

Sometimes, though, it's August 4, and it never gets much above 76. Those days, it's a great day to pull out your knitting and pick up an old WIP - or maybe start a new one.

Granmom, knitting the afternoon away.

This is my granmom. (Yes, I know I missed the "d". That's how I know I'm talking about my mom's mom, not my dad's mom). She's a knitter from way back - she knit all the family Christmas stockings. She doesn't knit those anymore. I think that job has so far fallen to my cousin, but may come 'round my way soon. Granmom just bought that spindle-toy for color work, and is working on a pretty sweet shawl from StevenBee, a local yarn store. 

Trying to figure out where the missing place marker goes. Fittingly, I did the figuring on top of the puzzle.

One of the cool things about knitting with Granmom is the exchange of information. These days, it tends to flow from me to her, but I certainly have learned lots from her! Probably the most common thing I do for her is decipher patterns - turn the knitting language into plain English, and then teach her the newest stitch, or increase. In fact, I just finished "translating" a pattern for her, so that she can have every single row written out, double-spaced, in a bigger font. 

Rechecking the pattern. The page is too small!

Knitting is kind of a community thing in my house. When I started taking photo's today, she'd stepped into the kitchen to make tea (remember, mid 70s in August), but Britt was knitting with us too. She's working on a hat, using a viscose and linen yarn. It's working up lovely, but complaints about needle size - too tiny! - are flying fast and furious. 

The hat, abandoned for tea making. 

And, of course, we are currently a household of 5 cats. All of whom want to be in the room with us as we work. Very helpful, I can assure you!

A fuzzy photo of Monster, the youngest. I've just pulled my yarn out of her mouth and she is NOT happy about it. 

I have some pretty cool life changes that have happened/are happening/will happen, but I'll save those for another post, so I actually have incentive to post again this month!

The 'truth' comes out

Sometimes I think "I should grab my knitting." But this is happening:

so I don't. In this case, "this" is my notoriously uncuddle-y cat cuddle-ing.

Now you know who to blame when I don't have FOs. Its ok, Olive! I love you anyway! Or blog posts. For over a month.

Or actually, instead of blaming my cat, you could blame the crazy that has been my life. My BFFL moved here May 10 (by here I am referring to "my house," otherwise known as the place where I live) and due to work conflicts/crazy, I did not actually spend any appreciable time with her until May 28.

Britt, knitting. IN MY KITCHEN!

So as you might imagine, I haven't spent super a lot of time knitting. I am still working on the Liesl Cowl, not too much farther from where I was when last I wrote. I am still in love with everything about that pattern and that yarn. I have also started a new project (oops!) from Churchmouse, which I will write about another time.

But yes. Life. It is crazy. My parents have just finished hiking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, which sounds like it's been amazing and wonderful and I can't wait to hear all about it. Two cousins and an uncle have come to visit, and that's been wonderful - I love family! My sister just got back from a long trip to LA (check out her blog here). I am starting a few personal projects to work on improving my quality of life; one of those projects is already helping a lot, and I'm sure I'll talk about it at some-point, but at the moment all I can say about is that making that decision has been almost as amazing for me as enacting the decision will be.

Liesl Cowl Part Two

So it's been a while. This blogging thing is hard. Life is very full, which is most definitely not terrible, but does mean I knit less, and have even less time to blog than I have to knit. That said: Oh man. I am in love with everything about the Liesl Cowl. ALL THE THINGS!

One pattern repeat in - can you see my provisional cast on?

But really. The yarn. The color. The pattern. The needles. Getting to use my ball winder and yarn swift.

I have started the 4th ball of yarn, and theoretically, I should hit the designated length when I finish this ball (if only I were paying anything even resembling attention to gauge). I do have a 5th ball in case, and also because I like long scarves. Also because I don't think I'll be tired of this pattern repeat by the time I finish the fourth ball. This might be my favorite pattern ever. I mean, I already knew I loved me some cables, but these cable braids just win. It's a simple pattern that works up quickly, but looks absolutely amazing.

The cowl stretched out on my work table (it's kinda a mess)

And since it snowed last night, and is supposed to snow tonight, maybe April isn't too late in the year to be knitting an all wool scarf? (maybe. Wool is pretty heavy even for Minnesota in April). 

But seriously. Get a load of those cables. Don't they look cozy? And lush? They are, by the way. They feel soft and have some give and I really can't wait until this is finished and I can wear it! 

Quince & co., I hereby vote your yarn and this pattern a win.

Bird Cage Mittens

So I am halfway done with the knitting on my birdcage mittens, meaning I have one mitten complete. I set my knitting down for about two weeks in the middle of it, and you can definitely tell right where I picked it back up again because the gauge changes so drastically. Also, my bind-off on the top is ugly. And the thumb. I do not like the way the thumb worked up. BUT! It turned out, and I'm pretty pleased with it for that reason alone - you can tell what the image is. That counts as a win in my book. Even if my technique does need some help.

In progress - you can see the bottom of the cage. 

I think the other reason for dissatisfaction is this: the sense that if my gauge hadn't gotten looser, I wouldn't be able to wear the mitten at all. I went down two needle sizes, and maybe only needed to go down one. But to be honest, it was more about which needles in my collection were available than the swatching I didn't do, and I had 3s and 4s, not 4s and 5s. So we'll see how the second one goes - I really like the look and feel of the tighter first half of work on the mitten. I've definitely got enough yarn to frog the first and knit a new left hand mitten with the leftovers from the skein if I need to. I think the skeins would almost make two sets of mittens, if I was careful with it.

A peek at the inside of the mitten. Eventually the floats will mat down on
each other to form a second layer of yarn to keep my hands extra warm. 

 These photos were taken probably a day before I set the project down for a few weeks, so the mittens look neat and tight up to about this point, and then they get a little raggedy. Okay, not even really raggedy. Just less tight. And I suppose that knitting looser meant that I stopped pulling my stitches too tight at the "corners" where my dpns met. Blocking should fix some of that, but blocking is not a cure for crappy knitting technique, even if it might hide some of my lesser failings!

Corrugated rib. I love it. 

I think I want to knit corrugated rib forever and ever. I love it. The way it looks, the way it knit up, the way it feels, the tautness of the fabric. I love me some lace, but this was an amazing thing to work up. Plus I love the sturdy-ness of it. Some mother somewhere created this stitch in the hope that it would keep up with her adventurous, curious children. Or maybe to put a cuff on a sleeve for a sweater with loose sleeves she'd created for herself. It seems so utilitarian and useful, but it's also really pretty. Form and function, hand in hand!

Basketweave Cowl Idea - WIP

I know I mentioned a basket-weave cowl in my last post. This is the very start of it. I'm very pleased with how the stitch pattern is working out - it looks nice and cushy and also a classic looking pattern. I'm working it up in the remnants of the brown eco-cloud. This project is also a way to work on my ability to connect something with a Kitchner stitch. I've cast on provisionally and it's really hard! Well, I mean, it isn't - once I got it, I got it, but until that point, I struggled. You can see the provisional cast on in the second photo. The grey yarn holds the loops for the kitchner stitch when the cowl is long enough. I do think I missed a loop somewhere along the way - something seems to have gone wrong. Of course, I am currently stalled out due to lack of yarn. I sometimes have to not buy yarn so that I finish other project which are languishing in a variety of w-i-p piles. I can think of four off the top of my head. Scratch that, five! I'm sure there are others that I would notice immediately if I went downstairs. 

I am a little stalled on my Abigail handwarmers. They look really pretty but I had hoped a) to have them done by now and b)to give them to my mom for her birthday. But as I've worked on them, they just don't seem right for her! BLARGH. This is very frustrating as I literally have three rows left on the first hand plus I think 7 on the thumb. So I should just get on that - and now I will know the pattern a little better. I am discovering that as much as I love the snowflake/star/flower of fair isle, I really dislike not doing pattern repeats. To do the "cuff", you knit the given pattern twice, which means you have to really pay attention to the pattern, and that makes the knitting a little more frustrating. I have to be sure to have the book, and I really have to do a good job of tracking where I'm at. As I sat in the airport in Denver last weekend, I noticed that I skipped an entire row in the hand pattern, so some of my diamonds don't have points. Oops.

On an entirely unrelated note, I am trying to figure out a good schedule for blogging. I am finding that I am very tired after work, and sometimes leave projects sitting for weeks on end. I think that if I could get into a blogging routine it would by necessity force me into a knitting routine - I don't have much else to write about! Plus, I enjoy both knitting and blogging, and unfortunately, that means they are often the first things to fall off my plate of "important things I must do this week". One of my new years resolutions was to work on that; looking back over January and February tells me I haven't been doing the most awesome job of that. So wish me luck while I try to be better about scheduling my life! There are so many interesting things for me to do with it, if I can just make the time to do them!

Bandana Cowls Part 2!

 So I've been a busy bee recently. Work has been pretty intense, which eh. I've worked a bunch of 10+ hour days recently, which is hard - it feels like I don't really get any time at home or by myself. As an introvert, I need that time! It makes me cranky if I don't get time by myself to rejuvenate and spend time alone. I work in a small office, so we're all in each other's pockets all the time, which almost always is nice. However, it does mean I can't take time to myself at the office.

But! I've also been working on my knitting, of course. I've finished two of the bandana cowls I've been working on, and am about a third of the way done on the third cowl. As I noted before, I'm using Cascade's Eco-cloud, and I really love working with it! It's nice and cushy, and knits up quick - I can't remember the last time I worked with anything heavier than a worsted weight. Each bandana takes just under one skein, and I'm very grateful for my new umbrella swift and ball winder! The three colors work nice together, and I have an idea for one of the two cowls I will still need to make when this last one finishes. I'm working on a what will become a basket weave cowl with the extra brown. I have extra brown because I got distracted while working on the brown cowl and definitely screwed up my counting of the decrease rows. I think instead of putting three rows in between the decreases, I put two.
I corrected the mistake on the light grey cowl, but I think the two rows might work better! Oh well. Definitely not the end of the world!

In other news, my sister has moved back to the 612 from LA! I'm so glad she's come back - even though I fail at calling her regularly, I miss her like crazy when she's so far away. We're making plans to be super sister-y and go rock climbing together this Saturday, and I couldn't be more pleased! She also came back with her super adorable kitten, named Monster. We actually sort of traded cats - my brother just moved out to his new place with his cat Xena.

The photo's below are of my lovely sister - you can read her blog here - and the brown cowl. We didn't work at getting the cowl to lay flat, because let's be real - when I put a cowl on, I yank it on over my head and run out the door. Isn't she wonderful?! I think so, certainly. She's super fashion aware and creative and gifted. Plus, green hair and glasses. (Obviously I think she's wonderful for many, many more reasons than those listed here.)

Liesl Cowl

I have completed project one of the epic project fest. I foresee a lot more knitting this weekend, as I really need to buckle down on the abigail warmers. 

BUT! Way more exciting than project updates: My biggest, most adventurous project has just arrived, and I couldn't be more excited. First of all, I'm excited to be using yarn and a pattern from Quince & Co, an American yarn company. I discovered Quince & Co through a college acquaintance who has published several patterns with them. I get their near-daily mailing and love all of it. I recently ordered a copy of the shade guide, which is absolutely beautiful. Even if you don't have a pattern in mind, I would recommend ordering it - the colors will certainly inspire you to new knitterly heights!

Since I'm all about supporting American companies, local yarn stores, and independent businesses (or at least, I try to be that way!), I decided that my big project for the new year's winter knitting season would be from Quince & Co. I chose the Liesl Cowl because I am a sucker for cables. Also, a little bit because I want to be the model. 

After an incredibly long and arduous process, I selected the color 122, also known as Marsh. It's an olivey, marshy green. The photos don't really do it justice - but I think it's super lovely and I'm really excited to start working with the yarn. It feels wonderful and I CAN'T WAIT. 

More yarn shots because, in all seriousness, I can't get over how much I love everything about this yarn!

New Year, New Projects!

As we all know, it was just the holiday season! I hope everyone had a lovely one - I know I did! I got a ton of knitting done, even if I didn't finish anything. I got two very exciting gifts - cross country skis from my parents and a yarn swift from my granmom! Thanks family! You rock!

I'm still working on the intense fair isle grey and purple fingerless mittens - also known as the Abigail hand warmers. The first one is about 75% done, which is exciting, but also daunting - there's a whole 'nother one to go when I finish! (This is why I'm afraid of socks, actually).

I told myself I couldn't use my new yarn swift until I got my room organized. I failed. I used the swift - and my Christmas present to me, a ball winder - just a few days ago. I have yarn wound for four projects. Three will be very quick. The fourth will take longer, and I think I need to finish the first fair isle project before I start a second!

These are three skeins of Cascade Eco-Cloud. When I do a proper post on the projects, I'll note the colorways. The project: knit bandana cowls for my housemates from college. We're getting together for a mini reunion of sorts in early April, and I've got a ways to go. Four of my five housemates will be there, plus each of them has a significant other. I'm set on one of the s.o.'s project (it was meant to be a housewarming gift, but they moved in July, so it can be an "almost one year in your apartment" gift instead) but I have several others to choose - and frantically knit. I maybe set myself up for failure on this one. We'll see, I suppose. 

These are two skeins of Cascade 220. The project: Birdcage mittens from 60 Quick Knits, which is published by Cascade. This is the book that started me knitting, even if I think I've only knit 4 of the 60 possible projects. My first non-scarf project was a pair of mittens knitted flat from this book.

Anyway, happy new year! What are your projects for the new year?