Not a Rubber Chicken

The other night we looked out our back window and thought a plastic bag was caught on our fence or tree. Still it looked full and odd, so my intrepid hubby went out to take a look. It was a chicken roosting on our fence and mostly protected from view by our tree. Smart bird.

Then I thought what if she is sick or dying? We just left her there in peace because there was no blood or random feathers. She looked smooth and calm.

The next morning she was still there till she hopped down and had a nice bug breakfast in our yard. She made the best TV show my kittens seen ever! Mellie would not move from the patio door. TV even got better when she came up and bawked at Mellie through the window.

We think she is a new addition to our neighbor's yard. But she is welcome to come over and roost with us. She came back last night too.

My inner farm girl is very happy with this situation. All of the fun, none of the responsibility.

I'll try to get pictures when I can.

Partial Sock Parade

The other day I counted up my WIPs (Works In Progress) and came up with two pairs of socks and two shawls on the needles. I then corrected the socks to three pairs, then to four. Yeah I cannot even spell monogamy when I am knitting. Good thing I am loyal in other areas of my life where it really counts or else my hubby might just want to have a talk with me.

So far two of these are for him and two are for me. But I never really know till the toe finally appears which one of us is the winner. OK fine he usually gets the boring brown ones and I definitely get the lace ones. But still I am never certain.

These all seem to be languishing a bit because one of the shawls is garter stitch and I just love knitting garter stitch. It is so soothing to my mind and soul. And don't we all need a little extra comfort right now?

Finding Happiness

I know that money does not buy happiness. I'm a saver. I didn't have an affluent childhood so I tend to over analyze purchases, and then not buy things. My needs are weighted heavily against wants. If I don't NEED something I tend not to buy it. There is nothing wrong with this, it helps me feel safe. 

But sometimes it is enough to want something, buying something is not a guarantee of happiness but it can make you happy. One of the tricks is to find balance. 

While staying home for the past four months, yes four months, remember I started staying home before staying home was cool. In those four months I have had plenty of time to spend with my stuff and find ways to admire it anew.

One of the first things that I looked at and thought I am still happy I bought, is this basket at last year's Black Sheep Gathering. Honestly I always thought the people buying baskets at Rhinebeck were a bit silly. Possibly because I was on the receiving end of a basket thwack too many times.

Turns out I had just not met my compatible shape and size baskets. Plus look at those gorgeous colors.

While we were in Czechia last fall I had the opportunity to visit a couple of book shops. I love book shops even when I cannot read the language. One in particular had a school supply/stationary section. And we all know I how much I love school supplies. On my last day there I decided I needed some nice graph paper notebooks for my knitting. Look at how lovely that book is. This brings me happiness too. It is a great help to me to rewrite some patterns. It helps me visualize and understand them better.

Happiness can be found in finding the right pattern for a yarn color that you never would have looked at when you first started knitting. I hated orange and yellow, now I don't. I appreciate color so much more now that I knit beautiful things with it.

And speaking of finding happiness, it helps when you have two fantastic felines to guide you to a comfy chair to look around and appreciate.  Oh look my basket is there to be appreciated too.

So take some time to gaze about you for something that brings you joy and say and extra thank you to someone.

Diving into the Stash

Like so many others I've taken the opportunity to take a walk down memory lane with my stash. My stash holds more than yarn, it holds memories. I used to be able to tell you where and when bought each skein. Now it is mostly remembering it was a Rhinebeck or that's vacation yarn. Since I bought most of my yarn at Rhinebeck it made it pretty easy. What can I say I like buying yarn at festivals.

While I was ankle deep in my stash, see what I did there? I found these two and thought they would make a great shawl. But which shawl? la-mer or Ilo or Tokerau? I don't know either...

Yesterday I was texting back and forth with my knitting buddy trying to figure out the opposite side of the dilemma for her. She had a pattern and was trying to figure out the yarn. Buying yarn online is so hard. Plus I think we share the trait of not mixing yarn brands in a project. Maybe she got over that but I have not. Guess that's why I've never made scrappy socks or anything else with my leftovers. And yet one pattern designed to use leftovers has called to me forever. Maybe it is time to buy that one too and start knitting.

Wait what about that other two color shawl you've been dreaming about for years, you ask? Well it turns out that simple knitting was all I could manage for a while after my accident. It is always nice to dream but I don't like beating up my yarn. So that one is still waiting for its moment. I do believe this could be its year though... I did manage to finish two year old socks, and I am pretty proud of that.

So yeah I've been knitting and dreaming about knitting quite a bit this year. Maybe next time I can show you something on the needles.

Keep calm and take some refuge in your stash if you want.

A Sock Tale

A couple of years ago on our anniversary I started a pair of anniversary socks. We were on a lovely trip to the Oregon coast and it seem like a good time to start a special project, so I did. I cast on Nancy Bush's Anniversary Socks from  This was the year I would finally knit them. 

You see I knit a lot of plain socks because... I enjoy knitting them. I have knit enough that I just to round and round and round, you know how the world is supposed to be going?

Every once in a while I think that I should finally knit some special fancy socks. You know from one of the many sock knitting books that I own. But there's the rub, you have to pay attention to fancy socks. Nonetheless I cast on to mark our anniversary.

Lovely right?

I had trouble memorizing the pattern till I figured out that I need to rewrite patterns for myself. It is almost like winding up the yarn you're going to use, it is part of the getting to know you process of a project. Once I did that boom zip I had a sock and the start to another one. Mind you it took me a year to figure this out. A year of this special project staying in my mind and on my needles just not being active with either. 

But then I got suspicious, and received confirmation. I ran out of this fantastic red yarn. Then I broke myself and I let it sit. 

But hey I have the same yarn in this nice blue color. Red and blue go together, and even if they don't I don't care I like special socks remember?

I thought about just adding the blue and going plain just to be fast and finish it up. But that's how you get Frankensocks so I stayed fancy. 

I think Burt approves.

Happy anniversary hubby these socks are for me.  

Let's talk knitting at home

With all that is in the news, I waffle between Keep Calm and Carry On and Yikes, Yikes, and oh man more Yikes. So I guess this post will be about the former because it is really all we can do. So let's talk about knitting at home. 

I finished some socks and even remembered to take a picture of them. You know the best thing about being laid up with a broken ankle? When you finish a sock that's all you need for the moment. So I started wearing this pair when it was only a single. I tried them both out at the same time last week. Turns out compression stocking + wool sock + boot keeps a lot of heat on the foot. Way too much warmth. So I am back to singles for the time. 

Once those were off the needles I realized I had no socks on the needles so I had to cast on. I dug out one of my beloved Zauberballs. Hey they are already wound up and ready to knit, and it is not like I will need this ball for easy travel knitting anytime soon.

I'm very glad I bought that nice stash bag on my last trip to my LYS. It is a nice sturdy canvas tote. Nice to have a treat once in a while.

The next day I cast on more socks because really we need upstairs and downstairs knitting on the go.

Burt would like you to know how to deal with that annoying coworker that always tries to take the best chair.

He says it is not really a solution if your coworker doesn't care if you sit on them. He got up before she even budged. It was probably her best Burt scenario.

Try to remember to Keep Calm and Carry On.

Knitting through trauma

OK fine I admit it. When D was laid up with his break in 2016, I thought once or twice to myself, "If that was me I would get so much knitting done." 

Wrong, wrong, you're so wrong past me! Turns out trauma and then surgery trauma does not equal good knitting time. The week prior to surgery all I did was get myself to and from the bathroom, try to find a comfortable position for my leg and fret about my first surgery. Knitting peeps D was very clear on who has dibs on the stash. Although he said he would keep some as a reminder of me.

When I went to the hospital I did not even bring knitting with me. I know you should always have an emergency supply with you at all times, but it seemed like I had so much stuff. I didn't pack a suitcase. I just had an over the shoulder bag that D brought back from one of his New Mexico trips. This thing is my new best friend. I should show it to you one of these days. 

But honestly you're so focused on just healing and what comes next that you don't have any brain power to spare. And lord knows all energy is spent on knitting bones, not yarn. 

Then I had a week post op that went well but really I just had yarn near me that I could pet and look at but knitting? Meh. I know I was a bit worried too.

After that week my brain fog started to lift and I finished a couple of first socks that were almost done to begin with. Then I thought about finally knitting some vacation yarn into a shawl. I searched and searched for a good pattern. Something easy for my brain to not concentrate on. Sure enough I was knitting again. And it felt good, ever so good. 

I saw the doctor again had my stitches removed and got a fancy boot. I was feeling bad about how much time I had taken off. I went back to work part time. Whew, going to work is hard. Trying to balance recovery and work expectations is hard. Then a pandemic finally got to us. Now I am working from home and much more comfortable. I would never have wished this on the world but it did make it just a bit easier to do my job. I am safer and happier at home. 

I wish this pandemic had not happened but I hope all of us can learn from it and make ourselves stronger because of it. I hope the devastation, loss, and hopelessness leaves us quickly. I hope that we can pick up our knitting and be happy once again.