Category Archives: knitting

four things | sixteen

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Well, it’s been that kind of a week. The spring on my garage door broke. The garage door repair man didn’t have the right size spring and had to order it. We’re still waiting to hear back from him.

I have gout and it really acted up this week. It was so bad, I went to the doctor and got a shot in my knee. It’s much better now.

The clasp that holds the strap on my Fitbit broke. I tried to fix it but nothing seemed to work. I ordered a different brand which has more bells and whistles and I’m trying to figure it out..

What a week. At least it’s not snowing.

what I’m reading

Our Book Club chose The Secret Life of Sunflowers by Marta Molnar. It is based on the true story of Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law. “Johanna inherited Vincent’s paintings. She was a 28 year old widow with a baby in the 1800s, without any means of supporting herself, living in Paris where she barely spoke the language. Yet she managed to introduce Vincent’s legacy to the world.”

I’m only half way through and I have a hard time putting it down.

what I’m watching

It was the end of a dynasty. Sparky, his harem, and all of his offspring are swimming in the warm tropical waters wherever guppies go when they pass on. Mr. Aitch bought Sparky, a male fancy-tail guppy, and two female consorts back in 2004. They did what guppies do and soon we had more guppies.

The life span of a guppy is about 2-3 years. Our three original guppies and offspring produced hundreds more in the following 21 years. The last of Sparky’s progeny passed on earlier this year.

Our aquarium was looking rather bleak until Mr. Aitch picked up six Rainbow Boesemani fish on Thursday! They’re only about 2-2 1/2 inches now and will get about 3-3/12 inches long. The males are brightly colored and the females have a faint yellow stripe. We have three males and three females and with any luck, we might get more!

what I discovered

The old seeds were too old. It was a long shot that they would sprout. They just smelled bad.

what I saw on my walk

This beautiful deep purple iris said, “Look at me!” So I did.

Enjoy your week.

four things | ten

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Our weather was quite warm at the beginning of the week then took a turn for cooler, breezy weather Thursday afternoon. But the sun is shining and it looks warmer than it is. Such is Spring weather.

I host our Book Club Monday afternoon and decided to freshen up the front door with a new wreath.

Actually I made that one a few years ago until some birds started making a nest in it. I love the wild birds in our area but I don’t want them nesting, pecking, chirping, or pooping on my front door. Looks like I might need to polish the door knob again.

what I’m watching

Since Gene Hackman was recently in the news (RIP, Gene), Mr. Aitch found several movies Mr. Hackman was in. We just watched Enemy of the State starring Gene Hackman, Will Smith, and John Voight. We both remembered bit and pieces of it when it first came out but really enjoyed seeing it again.

what I’m working on

A fellow knitter asked me for a sweater pattern I knit in 2014 for my then one-year-old grandson. Isn’t he a cutie pie? He just turned twelve in January!

Fortunately I still had my notes though they needed some lots of clarification. I was able to reconstruct them in a couple of days and sent them to her. I also updated that blog post with a link to the pattern.

what I’m growing

I started a window sill garden.

Ignore the Jade plant in a glass on the right. It isn’t edible.

I saved two Romaine lettuce ends, stuck them in water and they sprouted. I tried this a few years ago and got enough greens for a decent sized salad. I tried to regrow them one more time but they were finished. My understanding is that one can usually get one “crop” by doing this so why not? I also have a celery stalk and a few onions. The celery is showing signs of life. The onions not so much though I do see some roots forming. Maybe I should put them in soil…

what I’m loving

The Bob Newhart Show from 1972-78 was a great TV show. Mr. Aitch and I didn’t watch it the first few years as we were in college and either didn’t have a TV or the time to watch it. We probably caught the last few seasons way back when and love streaming the show in the evenings. The cast was perfect. The storylines were perfect. The characters were perfect.

We’re only into Season 2 and look forward to finishing the series. It’s fun to see so many different actors appear as “patients” who went on to star in other shows.

Have an awesome weekend and week.

My Trailblazer socks

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I joined my first KAL last month with a free sock pattern, Trailblazer Socks, from Winwick Mum. It looks like a cable running off-center down the front and back of the leg but it doesn’t require a cable needle or holding stitches in front or behind.

The secret is a new-to-me stitch called the Right Lift Increase or the Left Lift Increase along with ssk or k2tog. She has a great tutorial if you need a refresher. It’s relatively self-explanatory but sometimes a picture IS worth a thousand words especially to a visual learner.

I am farther along than these pictures show from the weekend. In fact at this time I’m just a few rows from the toe on the first sock.

The dark yarn makes the cable a little hard to see but I still like the texture it provides.

Speaking of the yarn, this Regia 4-ply is a workhorse of a yarn. I’ve used it before and the yarn doesn’t pill or get holes in it, at least I haven’t had those experiences yet. I plan to knit the toes in one of my hand-dyed yarns leftover from a sock from couple of years ago.

The KAL has ended but as there was no official deadline, I’m going to keep on knitting.

  1. Have you ever joined a KAL, MKAL*, CAL* or MCAL*?
  2. Did you finish the item?
  3. Did you like the finished item?
  4. Would you do it again?

My answers:

  1. This is my first.
  2. Not yet but I will.
  3. So far so good.
  4. Yes, if I like the end product. I don’t think I would do a mystery KAL just because I like to know what I’m investing my time and yarn into.

On to knitting…

Patti nona

Broken Seed Stitch pair

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I finally finished the Broken Seed Stitch socks last week. I love how the dark green of the Knit Picks Stroll in Aurora Heather toned down the bright green, aqua, and yellow hand-dyed yarn.

The broken seed stitch looks like fish or mermaid scales that illuminate and glimmer.

The yarn color pooled a bit on the first sock (below left) that is more noticeable on the sole.

My tension changed with the second sock (below right) as I tried to tighten the stitches where the color changes. The seam isn’t as visible even if I can see it. Will it make a difference when worn? I doubt it.

I prefer the Eye of Partridge heel flap as I think it is more durable. (I must say that I’ve never had to reinforce or repair any of the heels on the socks I’ve knit whether it’s the standard slipped-stitch or Eye of Partridge heel flap so it’s just my personal preference.)

I found this sock “recipe” by Hanna Levämiemi to be a great stash buster for an ugly-duckling ball of yarn as it can be transformed into a swan with the right contrast color.

I’ve already got another sock on my needles.

Patti