Finally!!!!

I've been knitting and actually finishing stuff. Today I am so happy to say that after a year and five months I finally have colorful and bright shawl unlike anything I have knit before, or will again if I have any say in it.

I didn't talk about it too much but, in March of 2022 a knitting friend asked if I wanted to do a mystery knit-a-long. Now I am not a fan of knitting to a schedule but I was missing my friend and thought it might be a fun thing to do so many miles apart. With all I am going to say shortly I need to say it was fun and I am glad I did it. I showed off my colors in March along with the inspiration quilt a friend gave me. I talked about it in May 2022. I admitted my many struggles in January 2023. Oh my goodness I am not cut out to be this kind of a shawl knitter. I get a challenge but nope that is just not me.

I finished another clue and let it sit for a bit. Then I finally wanted to just finish it. I picked it up and realized the next row was a bobble one. I just couldn't knit another bobble let alone a whole row of them, so I didn't. I turned it into a striped stockinette section and sent a picture to my friend asking if it looked ok. Burt said it looked fine so I could knit on.

So close I can taste it, only one corner to go! (And all of those ends to weave in!)

In my second to last section my ending stitch count was off.  After venting to my friend I set it aside and made my decision in the morning. I ripped back and started over with the same but slightly different problem occurring. Now I was just done with playing around with this so I just started fudging to finish. 

Burt was not sure it was the right decision but figured it was time for him too to sleep on things and let me learn my own lessons.

My lesson was fudging is fine once in a while. Sometimes the knitting just needs to be done. Just look at those ends! That part did not turn out to be quite as big of a slog as I thought it would be.

Mellie is deciding if she should let me wash and block it all pretty before staking a claim, or just claim it as is. Kitty decisions are tough.

Now I only have one pair of socks on the needles so I'm off to make some color decisions and start a new shawl since the larger needles don't aggravate my wrist and thumb. I have reclaimed a knitting basket, two knitting needles, four knitting bags and a whole inventory of stitch markers. It is good to be the knitting queen!

In the Garden

I was very excited when the previous owners of our house left the raised garden beds. We have two of these metal beds, and I would like to add more. But I am a cautious unskilled gardener so I figure start with what you have and keep busy planning out more for next year. 

When the weather turned nice I so wanted to buy and plant all of the things. But my inner farmer's daughter told me it was way too early. Early April or late March is still too early even in New Mexico. But I planted some cold/cool weather seeds, and I held off for a few more weeks. I figured a few flowers wouldn't hurt me .

Then the urge overcame me, mid May should be pretty safe, right? I have all my pots from the last house sitting here empty and forlorn. Surely mid May is safe?

I pottered and planted to my heart's content.

Then I added much because we live in New Mexico and I need to learn how to water better.

 This year I am trying three types of tomatoes, a tomatillo, three types of peppers, six zucchini plants, two types of snow peas given by a friend, some swiss chard, nasturtiums, and beans from seeds I had leftover from Oregon. 

As we can see clearly I should plan the layout better and I have room to possibly plant some other things but I've got enough to learn from for the time being. So nice to have my hands back in the soil and growing again.

Still slow knitting. It is going to be around for a while.

I finished a shawl! We even took it out for some beers. Shawls are really nice to have along in case the night turns colder while you're out. Living in a high desert area it is really likely. Part of the reason we love this area so much. Bright sunshine days that heat up and nice cool nights.

Burt and I decided it was so much fun knitting shawls and using up some of the stash, that we picked another one to make. 

No really that is his approving face. I swear.

I love how the colors are playing so nicely together, but that cast on edge was just too tight for me. So I pulled it all out and started over. Took three attempts to settle on something not too tight and not too loose. The perfect balance for this one is adding an extra yarn over on the right side and dropping it on the wrong side. 

Speaking of slowing down, Mellie had a bit of an upset stomach and did a dramatic barf over the stairs. It was truly impressive and neither of us woke up for it. Don't worry we cleaned it up and gave plenty of belly settling rubs. Mellie decided to apply Momma's lap directly to the belly to aid healing. 

Burt decided a bit of Momma lap goes along way in preventative health maintenance. 

 Guess we all need to slow down around here for a bit. Hope everyone takes time to allow for some healing.

Slow knitting

I think these are my March socks but they are going no where fast. My wrist and thumb are showing their age and all the knitting they have done. So my knitting has slowed some for the better. At least for the healing better, not knitting better. 

I have been knitting with larger needles on a shawl I have long admired, Whippoorwill by Carina Spencer. Took me years to buy the pattern and years to admit some fancy yarn I had would look great in this pattern. I will be happy to show it off once it is done. 

In the mean time Mellie is happy to show off her relaxed kitty pose. She works hard on it so we can all enjoy.

Twisted, the first yarn store I visited in Portland OR, closed this year. I could not resist getting one last yarn haul from them. My first visit was way back in 2010.  My second visit as part of our own yarn hop was in 2015, the year before we moved out there. I know I made it back there for at least two Rose City Yarn Crawls after we moved. Sad to see them go and I wish them well.
 

Still knitting

Will you look at that? I have some knitting to show you. These socks are not even for me or D, can you believe it? One of my old Oregon friends is going to Ireland this summer. So I thought she should have nice comfy feet for the trip. 

She really liked the yarn I brought back from Czechia. She will join and elite group of two others not married to me that have socks knit by me. 

Mellie is bummed because she came to me with her own socks and Momma won't knit some for her. 

Actually Momma I like sitting on clothes not wearing them. It is OK, you knit for the humans.

Don't look at me Momma I came with white socks too. I like cuddling on your lap, not wearing knitwear. Plus Daddy already is sparky with his socks and the dry air here. We don't need even more static electricity.

 Seriously Momma?!

Mom's birthday would have happened this week. Sometimes it feels so odd to know she is gone. Even though I know her suffering has ended. 

The other morning I woke up from a nightmare. Mom and I were in an airport trying to fly somewhere. But then she complained of a headache and passed out. I awoke after carrying her around the airport trying to find water and chocolate for her? Dream logic makes no sense to the awake mind. It bothers me that dream me could not recognize a medical emergency and act properly. Maybe by writing this out I'll be able to forgive dream me for being dumb and insensitive. 

In other news, I don't think I ever showed off the painting my sister did for me. Two alpacas in love. I absolutely adore it.

 

Hubby mitten and no knead bread

There is something about snow and colder weather that just makes me want to knit mittens.

These are for hubby. Nice manly colors don't you think? Boy, can I tell a difference in my knitting speed for my thicker hand spun yarn and fussy sock weight yarn. With my thicker hand spun it took just over a week to knit them. These fussy puppies took over a month?! I found them languishing in the knitting basket all the time and never making the decision to work on them. Silly how things don't just knit themselves when you want them too.

 

As for reasonable excuses to not knit something you don't want to knit I tried making no knead bread for the first time. How have I not tried this yet. It is fantastic! It comes out of the cast iron Dutch oven so crusty.

 No need to put in any preservatives either because it was gone in a day. Hey maybe I need to mix up another batch now. Why yes I think I will.

Happy bread baking!