Winner Winner Chicken Dinner . . .
Today's look at the Amaryllis! I've given it a turn counter-clockwise. Now you can see the third sprout again that was being hidden there for awhile.
AND - lo and behond, some knitting content :-D
The yarn is sport weight Zwerger Garn Opal Rainforest in the Marien kafer (Ladybug) colorway. The pattern is Zugspitze, by Manuela Burkhardt. My first completed YOSS socks of the year!
And, unfortunately, a chemo hat for a friend :-(
This is the Eyelet Rolled Brim Hat, by the Kramer Yarn Shop. It's in DK weight. The yarn is Bernat Softee Baby - the softest yarn I have found for these and completely machine wash/dry. You don't want to use wool for chemo hats. Not even a blend. I have found this to be the best chemo hat pattern. It's my understanding that many people who lose their hair from chemo like to sleep in a hat - this one has no ornamentation to cause interference. I don't even knot yarn when I make these - who would want to sleep on a knot bump? It would be bothersome.
Also on the needles: Mojo, by Donyale Grant, in Noro Silk Garden Sock. I'm knitting them top down instead of toe up. The foot look freakishly short, but that's because of the roundy sections. They bunch up until you have them on.
I am NOT enjoying knitting with this yarn even though the end result is gorgeous. 50% of the yarn is fiber with no give (silk and nylon), and there is a small percentage of mohair in it as well. It's a singles (one of those weird words that looks plural but in this instance isn't - a singles is a yarn that has only one ply), so the mohair and wool help hold the silk and nylon together. But it might as well be wood fiber, like bamboo, for how much it is tearing up my hands :-S I will be really glad when these are done.
It does feel good to be knitting and getting somewhere with it again, even though I still have some things to finish on the Big List.
Such great comments on my Cycles . . . post a few days ago. Thank you! Mention and discussion of outgrowing something. Apropos where plants are concerned :-) I don't think I have lost my interest in my African violets or outgrown them - I just need a break. A good long one. There are other things I want to be doing at this point in my life, so the plants are taking a back seat.
I got up from my computer after writing that post and my number of varieties went from 31 to 24 in very short order.
Then, Ely left this comment:
Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding!!!!! Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!!
How many times have I said nearly the same thing to beginning spinning students?! Brand new spinners who are worried that they are going to "ick up" some beautiful fiber because they're "not good enough" yet. Time after time I encourage them to spin it anyway. I say to them, "don't worry, there is always more fiber."
Jesus. I'm doing it myself! I have never spun up what I call the "Iona fiber" because I'm afraid I'm going to mess it up and there's no way for me to get more wool from Iona to add to it. It's been sitting in the bag - processed and ready to spin. I've been waiting to spin it because I was afraid I would mess it up and there's not much margin for error because I wanted to make a sweater out of of the yarn and based on tests that PatsyZ and I did, I will be cutting it very close to get enough yarn out of it.
There will always be more plants. There will always be more fiber to spin.
Get on it with it, A . . .
AND - lo and behond, some knitting content :-D
The yarn is sport weight Zwerger Garn Opal Rainforest in the Marien kafer (Ladybug) colorway. The pattern is Zugspitze, by Manuela Burkhardt. My first completed YOSS socks of the year!
And, unfortunately, a chemo hat for a friend :-(
This is the Eyelet Rolled Brim Hat, by the Kramer Yarn Shop. It's in DK weight. The yarn is Bernat Softee Baby - the softest yarn I have found for these and completely machine wash/dry. You don't want to use wool for chemo hats. Not even a blend. I have found this to be the best chemo hat pattern. It's my understanding that many people who lose their hair from chemo like to sleep in a hat - this one has no ornamentation to cause interference. I don't even knot yarn when I make these - who would want to sleep on a knot bump? It would be bothersome.
Also on the needles: Mojo, by Donyale Grant, in Noro Silk Garden Sock. I'm knitting them top down instead of toe up. The foot look freakishly short, but that's because of the roundy sections. They bunch up until you have them on.
I am NOT enjoying knitting with this yarn even though the end result is gorgeous. 50% of the yarn is fiber with no give (silk and nylon), and there is a small percentage of mohair in it as well. It's a singles (one of those weird words that looks plural but in this instance isn't - a singles is a yarn that has only one ply), so the mohair and wool help hold the silk and nylon together. But it might as well be wood fiber, like bamboo, for how much it is tearing up my hands :-S I will be really glad when these are done.
It does feel good to be knitting and getting somewhere with it again, even though I still have some things to finish on the Big List.
Such great comments on my Cycles . . . post a few days ago. Thank you! Mention and discussion of outgrowing something. Apropos where plants are concerned :-) I don't think I have lost my interest in my African violets or outgrown them - I just need a break. A good long one. There are other things I want to be doing at this point in my life, so the plants are taking a back seat.
I got up from my computer after writing that post and my number of varieties went from 31 to 24 in very short order.
Then, Ely left this comment:
"If you're struggling to maintain a passion that seems to be waning, heck ya downsize your plants. Maybe a number way less than 10 is more your speed, where the time needed for upkeep is lessened and you're not running multiple stands. And, there will always be more plants if you ever want a full house again... (italics mine)"I've absolutely been thinking that fewer than 10 might be best for me. One stand. As of this morning I'm down to two - I moved the two streps and one trailer from the basement stand up to the sunroom stand.. One stand does sound enticing, however . . . I'll see how that goes, because, as she said, "there will always be more plants."
Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding!!!!! Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!!
How many times have I said nearly the same thing to beginning spinning students?! Brand new spinners who are worried that they are going to "ick up" some beautiful fiber because they're "not good enough" yet. Time after time I encourage them to spin it anyway. I say to them, "don't worry, there is always more fiber."
Jesus. I'm doing it myself! I have never spun up what I call the "Iona fiber" because I'm afraid I'm going to mess it up and there's no way for me to get more wool from Iona to add to it. It's been sitting in the bag - processed and ready to spin. I've been waiting to spin it because I was afraid I would mess it up and there's not much margin for error because I wanted to make a sweater out of of the yarn and based on tests that PatsyZ and I did, I will be cutting it very close to get enough yarn out of it.
There will always be more plants. There will always be more fiber to spin.
Get on it with it, A . . .
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