I like hats.
This is the Ryegate Hat in Knit Picks Swish DK (forest heather). It took about a ball and a half, and I made it deep so that there is plenty of band to fold up over her ears.
Once again, you can see the place where the cast on is joined (I go around extra since I don’t like it to come loose). You’d think I’d start checking for that before I take the picture.
I think this was a very nice beginner snow I think. The unofficial total (calculated by scientifically sticking a ruler into a flat place) was nine inches.
Snow is much easier to move out of the way than sleety ice mess.
New things: snow plows, parking ban (because snow plows), snow shovels, piles of extra snow to move off of the sidewalk (from the snow plows), all the noise melting snow makes the next day, massive piles of snow (from snow plows) in parking lots, the bonus sunshine reflected off of the snow was an extra pleasant surprise
Torrential rain (for here that totals about 2.5″ which is nothing compared to my previous experience with torrential rain, but this is the Land of Poor Drainage so) and a high of 54F is expected Tuesday and Wednesday, so we’ll see what all is left after that.
I am learning so much.
Second verse, same as the first!
Last year’s word ‘yum’ was our all time favorite, so we’ve opted to keep the deliciousness around for another year.
I read a few books this year. I didn’t finish a few more. I only finished one that I wish I hadn’t. (Lots of other people talked about how good it was, so I figured there must be some kind of pay-off at the end. But nope! I still get a little mad when I think about it.)
Here’s my list (in two parts because each of my planner book things only holds six months):
FSRC is our third annual Family Summer Reading Club where we choose a book and read after lunch each day during the summer months. There will not be a fourth year because we opted to make it the Family Reading Club (FRC) and just read the same book at lunch each day. The Minority Report (an actual hard copy of the one short story from the library – hinged on the short end!) was a Family Reading Club book. We just watched the movie (Sunday night is movie night) and are a little confused about whether Steven Spielberg read the same book that we did.
Anything with a star or a heart was something I particularly enjoyed.
Some of these books (House of the Scorpion, Raybearer) are part of Eleanor’s English class, The Hero’s Journey. Oak Meadow has some spectacular high school language arts classes. A couple that are listed (The Maid, The Girl with the Louding Voice) are re-reads for the Fiber Arts Book Club (!!!) at our new library.
You may notice that I read The Kaiju Preservation Society back in May. This was followed by a bunch of other books by John Scalzi. It’s nice when you find a new favorite and they’ve already got a body of work waiting for you!
I’ve got my 2024 book log printed, a stack of library books, and a really bad attitude about holidays that make me stay up past my bedtime. I guess that means I’m ready for a new year. See you there!
It’s like they’ve never heard of turnip greens up here.
This is as tragic as the pimento cheese situation.
This one is for Eleanor. She wanted black, but I said I couldn’t do it because knitting with black is no fun. Dark green is the compromise (Knitpicks Swish DK* in Forest Heather) to make a Ryegate Hat (which I almost made for myself so yay I will make both). It should get more exciting when I get past the band.
*I am nothing if not brand loyal.
Crochet!
The new Girl Scout troop is going to work on the fiber arts badge in January. I had to learn so I can teach. I opted for crochet because it requires fewer tools and has less of a learning curve before you can actually make something recognizable. I only know three stitches (chain, slip stitch, single crochet) and have written my first pattern (for the mug cozy). If we are good at crochet, we will make mug cozys! If we are bad at crochet, we will make bracelets!
We are also going to kool-aid dye some wool to make tassels for book marks. We’ve got to have hot water for that, and hot water leads to bring-your-own-mug for tea, and mug for tea leads to make a mug cozy.
The hardest part of crochet is not holding the yarn in my right hand and wrapping. I want to crochet like I knit.
I am sorry that you get to see the awkward place where I joined the stitches.
Gro Hat in leftover KnitPicks Twill (Sea Salt Heather). I read the comments and added another pattern repeat to make it larger. I am not 100% sure that I really needed to do that, but the hat fits and I have no complaints. I especially like how the decreases grow out of the leafy cables and come together on the crown.
Blocked on the radiator!
So I’ll make a new one!
(Yarn Miracle did a little site migration. I’m catching up on my back posts.)
When we were packing up, I came across a couple different project bags with half-finished projects inside. Years-Ago-Me was super thoughtful and left pattern notes with the unfinished projects so Future-Me would be able to finish. Which probably has some deep, personal lesson about hope or organization or forward thinking or something.
Anyway, I finished these these for Michael yesterday. I think this yarn was part of a swap with a knitter in Germany. It’s worsted, washable wool, and I used my super tragic Worsted Weight Basic Socks pattern with a broken rib for the leg and instep. I wrote that pattern so long ago (decades) that I’ve lost the original and have no way to edit it to fix the mistakes. If you decide to use it: the gauge is wrong, the heel turn is wrong, but everything else is fiiiiiiiine!