Perplexed, but Not in Despair

Happy Saturday, friends! I've been working my needles harder than usual, and coming up with unwearable results, so lol! My granddaughter requested some very specific socks, and I am so excited to come up with something for her...in fact, I have already finished the first sock! It is stranded color-work, which means even the inside of the sock is mesmerizing!

But, and I knew this was happening as I kept knitting, it will never fit a human foot! 

Too long, too skinny, too tight!

I could let this distress pull my knitting soul into the pits of despair, but I have chosen instead to use sock one as a learning experience. I will have to knit at least two more socks, but I have learned that I need larger needles...and I should start right into the colorwork at the toe. I've actually already started (see photos above and below), and it seems to be going well, so yay! 

For what it's worth, I am pretty sure that I said the exact same thing about that first sock, but I was dead wrong. Murphy's Law abounds in stranded color-work. Well, it does, on my knitting needles anyway! Lol! 

I promise you finished photos when I get there, and I am thinking of writing this pattern up (since I have already gone to the trouble of 10 charts!), but that's probably a little ways down the road. So, what can I give you for free today? Well, what about photos of fall at our favorite park...

And on the path, beyond the pond, in the apartment complex next door...

And boys with their brothers, and their builder robots, and Pop Pop, and the tire swing!

It has been another full-and-good week. I have recovered from the discouragement of sock one so completely that I have not only started sock two (of 3 now, lolz), I have also cast on a special request pair of baby booties for a friend of my daughter's, as this knitter is wont to do!

I know, this is just yarn. Isn't it pretty, tho?

I encourage you to pivot perplexed moments into learning lessons, rather than allowing them to drag you down to despair, because life is much more enjoyable with a positive attitude! Remember, if you have a choice between laughter and tears (and I know, sometimes there is no choice, but sometimes there is), seek the smiles!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health and smile often!

Baby Shower Day!

From the time we heard that she was expecting, I started knitting and crocheting. Today is the baby shower...

...so I can finally reveal some secrets! By the time you read this, she will have opened sweaters and hats and blankets, oh my!

Washcloths and booties and giraffes, oh my!

And my favorite, the piece de resistance...the item that started as many tiny, triangular, tee-pee-looking cones...

A colorful puzzle ball!

All of those cones are sewn into three sections, then wiggled together into the final toy. 

It was fiddle-y, but fun to make, and I hope our grandson enjoys it!

Oh, and the stockings. Yeah, I put the stockings in there, too...one for Daddy, Mommy and Baby...

...and one for the little dog, too!

Super fun, and now not secret Christmas knitting I can share at a baby shower! Now, back to the super-secret, Christmas knitting I cannot share until Dec. 26th for me!

I hope you have some fun in your day today, and everyday! Find some fun wherever you can, and it will get you through the drudge of everything else.

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Go Ask Alice

This post is a little sad and a little fun. Let's start with the fun. 

You may or may not know that I knit. Hahaha! OK, we all know that I knit...like a maniac...a little bit obsessively perhaps? Be that as it may, and even though yarn is to me what vodka is to the alcoholic, knitting has brought me so many good things! For instance, had I never knitted, I may never have known how much I like photography! See the hand-knits on my porch?

Nice composition, perfect lighting (no filters), and joy in the stitches! I really do like to take pictures, that has never been a secret...but there is something about capturing the yarn in this way, in the cool of the day, with the morning sun not yet glaring down but just coming up...sigh!

Yarn is never self-conscious. Yarn never says, "Wait. You want me to do what? So you can take a picture?" Yarn never has a bad hair day, or a goofy smile...it just poses and waits patiently for the photographer to snap the shot!

Yarn is like Jenny.

Speaking of Jenny, had I never knitted, I may never have met many of the members of my Thursday night knitting group, CKW (Cleveland Knits West)! 

One cannot capture in a photograph how much fun these ladies are, or how varied their personalities. Of course, one can try...and Alice will always oblige!

I take a lot of photos at knitting on Thursdays. Most of them you do not see on Facebook, or even the blog, though we often share them phone-to-phone, with open-mouthed guffaws (I refer you again to the photo of Alice, above). And sometimes, days after taking a grainy photo of a friend, and still finding a way to use it for fun, I find other things in the picture. I mean, if I zoom out, you can see that Alice and Michelle were at first oblivious to the photos, but not Diana. Diana is tuned in...

...and then someone says something silly, and everyone laughs!

Finally, Alice sees me...and poses...and that picture above is forever captured for the world wide web. But Diana clearly disapproves! lol!

It's like that time in 2010, at Woolapalooza, when Ali noticed Michelle going a little crazy with the brown sheep...bwaaahahaha!

So, yeah. We have a lot of fun, and now I will get to the little bit sad part. Alice has been a member of our little band of banshees for the last 3 years, while her hubby has been stationed in Cleveland for his Coast Guard job. Alice has been a great friend to me, through thick and through thin...through better and worse, whether there are knots in my yarn, or stitches slip smoothly over the needles. Sometimes I just want to go ask Alice, and I have, and I am a better person and friend for knowing her.

Today, Alice and her hubby and the kidlets are on a new adventure. The next duty station is only a few hours away, but too far for weekly Thursday meet-ups (sad face here) but she plans to be back for the semi-annual retreats at Lakeside and (of course) Woolapalooza each May! Alice, we are gonna miss you, but we wish you all the best of everything!

If you have an Alice in your circle, someone who can be serious and silly, as needed and pretty much on demand, treasure her! And though I can no longer just go ask Alice in person, I thank God for technology! Marco...!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good health!

Babies, Bunnies and Buttons

I have tried to write this post three times, and deleted it twice. What this tells me is that I am not really ready to say what I want to say. Sometimes when that happens, it is better to just post some baby knitting, so here you go:

As some of my friends of child-bearing age are starting to wait until birth to learn the gender of their newest additions, this forces my knitting creativity. Here is an idea I've used before, but I do not believe I blogged it all the way through.

I know, I know. It is a baby hat. Not that impressive, but here is what makes this one special: See the bow? It is removable! It buttons on (or off, and the cute bunny stays), and I will package it with this poem:

I know there's a bow,
Even though you don't know
If Baby's a "he" or a "she."
You can keep the bow,
Or un-button it so
The hat can be both, you see!

Put together with a sweater and a pair of booties, in gender neutral colors, and voilà! Baby gift for boy or girl!

Bonus: if you add some cute little bunny buttons, gah! The cuuuute! The cute will do you in!

So, I suppose that is what I blog today. Babies and bunny buttons. After all, as I say from time to time, this IS a knitting blog!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Playing Favorites

Bolstered by my favorite morning cats and coffee,

and my favorite donut (from my favorite donut shop),

I think I found my new favorite baby sweater this week!

I've had the Baby Sophisticate pattern in my Ravelry queue for some time. Last Saturday, I cast on a cute little hat, and then followed with a sophisticated sweater to match! I love the way they turned out, and I plan to cast on another today! It is like springtime around here, with all the new babies and pregnant friends, so I think I may actually knit a few of these before I am done. (This would not be a new concept for me...lol!)

May I present Exhibit A?

Just a few of the baby booties I have recently knit, from my favorite Bootie Pattern...and Exhibit B, just a few of the baby hats I've knit this year. I do tend to knit multiples when I find a favorite pattern. When I have cute, little baby things to give away after the knitting is done, well...that's just a bonus!

Do you have a favorite pattern? Yarn? Donut? Cat? I'd love to hear about some of your favorites in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit (your favorite things) in Good Health!

All About Yarn...and more!

I told you to ask, and you did not disappoint! And, since you asked...

Pajamapat wants to know about the Thank You Scarves - 

The worsted-weight yarn I used was from Heirlooms, or Scandanavia Knit and Weave, and the colorway was Hemmingway! I have some more in my stash, in a different color...one with some pink. I did not see a link to this yarn anywhere on Ravelry, and since I bought it at the Great Lakes Fiber Show in 2015, I'm not sure it's even available online...but I have given you a link, and I hope you can find it! It was a little rough while knitting, but softened up nicely after a wash!

Tom - If you have not figured out where babies come from yet, I think you should consult the internet. All of the information on the internet is helpful and good. Good luck with that.

Debbie asked what my favorite "guilty pleasure" food is, and I answered on Facebook that it was Ramen Noodles. Now, that very much IS a guilty pleasure food for me, and I don't have them often (read the label...these are TERRIBLE for you!), but then I got to thinking...they're probably not my favorite guilty pleasure. That position should be reserved for chocolate-creme-filled donuts from Donut Land, in Brunswick, where I grew up. As a kid, we had Donut Land donuts more often than we should have, I am sure, and that is my favorite donut in the universe. Yes, hands down, there is no better donut. (Hmmm, I feel more strongly about that than I probably should. It's a good thing I don't live too close...lol!) These days, I don't live around the corner, and I have that donut only every few years...I am thankful that I got one in 2016. It may have been the highlight of my year!

Lauren asked, "What is your favorite yarn to work with?," and this was, by far, the most difficult question I got this round! Usually, my favorite yarn to work with is the one I have in my hands! I am truly not that picky, and I will knit with just about anything, so I really put on my thinking cap and went through my projects to jog my memory. Good News! I have an answer! Well, actually, I came up with a couple answers, because you just cannot use the same yarn for every project. So, here you go, Lauren:

For any DK-weight project that I really care about, I will seek out some Destination Yarn in the Souvenir base! This is the softest, squishiest, superwash I have ever worked with, and I just love everything I've made with it! There have been a couple of shrugs for the girls, 

a hat or two, 

and some other things. You can get this yarn online at Jeanne's Etsy Shop, or you can see her in person at some local yarn stores and festivals from time to time. She's got great colors in so many varieties...there are not enough hours in the day, week, month, or year to knit all of her fabulousness! Honestly, check her out!

For socks, hats and other fingering-weight projects, I will always tend toward Knit Picks yarns! My current favorite there is Felici, a self-striping yarn that comes out with new colors each year. If you're going to make something that takes more than one skein, make sure to get enough up front, because even though they may get more of the same "colorway" next year, something is likely to be a little different...the stripes may be wider or narrower, or the color sequence may be slightly different. But, in any case, this stuff knits like a dream, wears like iron, and is as soft as butter! I fondled many of my friends' socks-in-progress before I finally jumped in to this pool, but I currently have socks in about 6 of the colorways, and there are at least that many in my stash, just waiting to become something fun! FYI, Felici makes really fun baby booties,

and mittens!

Whew! That wasn't a lot of questions, but they were difficult ones. Thanks for asking! You guys should get credit for writing the blog today, so thank you to Debbie, Tom, Lauren and pajamapat!

I'm still working on my Hitofude, (in Shimmer, a hand-dyed, alpaca/silk blend lace-weight yarn that is lovely to work with...sorry, this colorway is discontinued...),

and some other things...and this holiday weekend should give me a little extra knitting time...yay! I hope you also have some fun plans, especially if you have an extra day off on Monday.

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

I'm not pregnant...honest!

Lately I've been knitting booties. It's just become a thing. I promise that I am not "on the nest!"

But there are a few women who are expecting in my world lately, and there is so much joy in new life! After knitting booties for the twins a couple months ago, I decided that I loved that pattern so much that I would knit some more! So far, I've knit 5 pair, and already given two of those away...here are the remaining 3:

I started with two, gender-neutral pair, in gray, like this...

and then I started to go through some sock leftovers, looking for the softest and best yarns for booties! I'm starting with neutrals, waiting to hear the gender of a couple of the cuties I will meet in the next few months. I think the rainbow booties (in KP Felici) are neutral, but Sweetie doesn't agree. =/ Informal survey: What do you guys think? Neutral or girl only? 

There is also some secret knitting...it's always a secret when knitting gifts! Wanna know my secret? 

Hmmm, will she tell? Or won't she? I think she will...

I LOVE SECRET KNITTING!!! lol! Not that secret, I know, but I do. ;o)

That's all the secrets I can share today, but I've got to get back to the knitting! The weather people are all promising a washout...that means perfect knitting weather! Whatever your weather, I hope that you are doing something you enjoy today, too. 

Thanks for stopping by, and knit in good health!