Half of a Pair

My knitting may have slowed but the socks are still happening here. I may have had to slow my sock knitting but it is not gone. Luckily if I take it easy my sock knitting and oh hey my plain old knitting can continue for a long long time

This lovely yarn is Lilliput simple sock yarn from an Oregon dyer bought on my first birthday there. I wish I had  bought more of this. It is such a nice round bouncy yarn. I can't wait to get it on my feet.  

I was shocked to realize when I bound off this sock I had nothing else on the needles. I guess I am successful at slowing down my knitting? Luckily I have the second sock on the needles and I joined another MKAL for a winter gnome. My first knit gnome, yay me.

But we managed to get the tree back up and Burt is thrilled. We have caught them cuddling in Gus's bed a few times. We do think more lights are needed this year. I'm trying to figure out how to put up lights on the front door. We have a beautiful metal door on our front entrance and I would love to outline the metal work. Good thing I have an excellent thinking cat to help me.

 

Mountain and Valley Wool Festival 2023

Ah, fall wool festival season I have missed you. I was able to attend a few wool festivals in Oregon but I missed my October wool show off season.

Last year they moved and renamed the Taos Wool Festival to the Mountain and Valley Wool Festival (MVWF). It was moved to Santa Fe. How convenient for me, I know how to get to Santa Fe.

I was going to link my post from last year but it was never written up because mom's life was ending. I was having a hard enough time just dealing with my emotions. At least I took a picture of what I bought so I can document here.

MVWF 2022

I have knit up one of those skeins, and spun up none of the fiber. But that is OK all of my yarny time is independent of the actual space time continuum, so I have not yet bought it and thoroughly enjoyed working with all of it, at the same time. I have used all the stitch markers I couldn't wait to bust them out. Last year I hit Yank Your Yarn first for all the delightful stitch markers and only found Noti Yarns by accident since they were the last stall in a barn I didn't realize had vendors in it. 

So now that last year is on the blog let's get back to the now that was several weeks ago. While Yank Your Yarn was on my list to buy from again, I only stopped in quickly to glance at her wares before heading off to my must see booth of this year, Noti Yarns. I was struck by her gorgeous colors, but only bought a skein since I was primarily a sock knitter last year. This year my hands and wrists decided they needed a break from sock knitting and I found true joy in knitting shawls. I kept kicking myself for not buying shawl yarn. I discovered the joy of combining colors in a way socks hadn't. I decided I wanted to have a palette. Plus her colors are named; Loyalty, Feisty, Lucky, Confidence, and Success. Who doesn't want to wrap themselves up in Bold, Feisty, Confidence?

Now you all know I have a messenger bag I love that I take to all the festivals to tuck my yarn in, well Ms. Noti Yarns thought I should show off her yarns with pride since I had so carefully selected my palette. Into a clear bag they went and I tell you it is a smart idea. I had plenty of comments about the colors I carried. I had to send my NY friend a proof of yarn/wool festival picture. 

I went back to Yank Your Yarn and got a few stitch markers and had a heck of a time picking which smart ass bag to bring home with me. In the end this one suited me the best. 

Zyarns had some amazing colors that I know will knit up into some amazing socks. Hey I haven't given up sock knitting entirely, I just slowed down a bit and that green kept yelling at me to take it home. I am a sucker for some neon green socks. I love them with all my heart!!!

Look at that haul that Mellie had to inspect. Good thing she is such a trooper. I'm already twitching to get some of it on the needles. I might have to let it marinate for a touch longer since I'm finishing a shawl and just cast on some vintage Oregon sock yarn. My NY friend voted to use some old yarn instead of new. Sometimes listening to your friends advice is hard, especially when you have such colors to pick from.

Happy Knitting!!!! 

Melissa: Self Certified Yarn Inspector

Mellie has declared herself my official yarn inspector. It does not matter if I wanted one or not I have a self certified inspector, end of story. But if a picture is worth a thousand words, get ready to see some poetry.

Here she is looking a bit as if my color choices are not the color choices she would have made.

Are you sure these will make shawls you want to wear? 

But then like a bloodhound she has picked up an intriguing scent. 

 

This one is nice but there is something deeper here, even more intriguing.

Oh yeah I'm on a trail now!

Warmer, warmer...

(Muffled) I found it! It is wonderful you picked the right stuff Momma!

Some shawls

Since my wrist and thumb revolted against me earlier this year my sock knitting has slowed quite a bit. I have given up on my knit 12 pairs of socks in a year and replace it with just knit what feels comfortable only as long as it is comfortable.

Which has lead me down the shawl road. I have found my larger than sock needles, cubic needles to be less aggravating for my hand. I also found quite a few shawl patterns that looked simple yet interesting. 

While I have not been knitting up a storm I have been knitting. I also discovered why this house has a bathtub. I kid I am not a huge bath person but it is nice to have a space to soak my woolies. 

Then of course you have the fun task of placing them perfectly so they dry in the right shape. I have blocking wires to make straight edges perfect but alas I am still me. Pat it into close enough for the right shape and I'm good. Burt however doubts my dedication to my knitting craft. 

Have faith my wee orange one I'm not leaving it like that, even I have higher standards than a pile of wet wool on a towel.

This would be the bed version of my blocking standard.  The great news about New Mexico is that blocking takes almost no time in the desert. We live with fans circulating the dry air all the time. 

And just like that I have a whole pile of woolies washed and waiting for that one cold day this winter. I will try not to wear them all at the same time. Although two of them work well enough together. 

Now if I can just talk to D's coworker that wanted to know if I take commissions because she would like a blanket. Blankets I don't do but have you heard about lighter wearable blankets we call shawls. I guess I do shawls now. Oh wait I always have. 

Kitty stories

Mellie would like you all to know yesterday was not the day she planned. Momma took her to the vet for a yearly checkup and didn't even give proper notification so she could hide. What in the heck Momma?

But before that Burt let her snuggle for a tiny bit.

He was sorry he bullied her over the weekend and needed to make amends.

He is also sorry the the puzzle is done and wants to know when the next one is starting.

 

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.