Unraveling

May 30, 2018 By Carole

Knitting and reading are two of my most favorite hobbies (journaling comes in close behind them) and today I’m joining with Kat and friends to talk about both.

I’m currently working on two knitting projects:

Socks. Very Halloween-ish stripes from Knitterly Things.

And A Walk in the Woods. I haven’t made a ton of progress but I do have this pattern section memorized (finally!) and the rows are getting long and I’m enjoying the process so much. The yarn is squooshy and wonderful and I’m taking my time with it.

Speaking of taking my time, I’m currently reading An Echo in the Bone, book number seven in the Outlander series. It’s long. It’s also wonderful. But long certainly isn’t setting me up for a quick start for Summer Book Bingo! Still, Jamie and Claire are like old friends and I always love reading about what they are doing – which is sort of how I think of them – as real people who are frozen in time.

And there you have it. What are you knitting and reading today?

Wednesdays Are For Knitting: Islington Shawl

May 23, 2018 By Carole

This shawl. Oh, this shawl. I love it and yet it has been a long long fezzle to get to this blog post. I started it on January 1, 2017. 2017. And then I finished it in November 2017. You know when I blocked it? Last Saturday. May 19, 2018. Good grief.

It’s lovely, though, and I’m so very glad it’s done.

The pattern is Islington Shawl by Kirsten Kapur and, like all of her designs, it’s well written, fun to knit, and really beautifully designed. Seriously, her shawl patterns get me every time.

The yarn is Woolen Rabbit’s Opal in the colors Chimney Sweep and Daddy Steelbucks and to me this section looks like stars on a night sky. It looks like a very complicated stitch pattern but it was really quite entertaining and simple to execute.

All in all, it’s lovely and I’m so very glad it’s done!

Wednesdays Are For Knitting

May 16, 2018 By Carole

On Monday night our town held Annual Town Meeting. This is something I always attend, many years ago as a Department Head and then for the last twenty-one years as a town resident and registered voter. I always sit with Dale and our friends in the same general area. And I always knit during the meeting.

You know where this is going, right?

Now that I am a selectman in town I sit up on the stage with my colleagues on the board and various other town officials. And I can’t knit, of course. You all know that I can absolutely pay attention while I’m knitting but the average non-knitter doesn’t know that and, let’s face it, I’m there to do a job and knitting just isn’t part of that gig.

Can I just say, of all the things I considered when I decided to run for selectman . . . the things I knew would be challenging . . . the sacrifices I might have to make . . . not knitting at town meeting never even crossed my mind. You know when it finally dawned on me that I couldn’t bring my knitting? About 30 minutes before the meeting. I can’t help but wonder, if I had considered this particular sacrifice back in January when I made my decision to run, if I would have chosen differently.

You know I’m kidding. Mostly.

If I had actually been knitting, I would have been working on these socks.

Halloween colors, yes, but at the rate I finish a pair of socks these days, well, I don’t think it’s too early to be working on them.

Wednesdays Are For Knitting: Jessica’s Socks

April 25, 2018 By Carole

We interrupt this Nashville travelogue to bring you breaking and exciting news . . . I finished a pair of socks!

They took two years and one week. Or something along those lines because they basically sat in a bag for two years with one sock finished and one just started. Once I set my mind to getting them done it took less than a week.

The pattern is Katniss and it’s a lovely design, I love the way those cables pop.

I’m just so happy that they are done and I am glad and I will be giving them to Jessica tonight.

#theend

Wednesdays Are For Knitting

April 11, 2018 By Carole

A couple of years ago I started a pair of socks. They were meant to be a birthday gift but I missed the deadline. And then I realized they were too small for the recipient anyway. I set them aside. And, you know how this story goes, right? I forgot all about them.

A few weeks ago I was straightening up my craft room (not well, mind you, because at the moment that room is a disaster) but in the midst of moving things around I found the socks. One was completed and one was about 25% done. And I thought, geeez, I really should finish these but they are so small and they won’t fit me and . . . who can I give them to . . . and then I thought . . . Jessica has small feet!

I had her try the finished one on that night when they came for dinner and it fit like a charm.

I haven’t finished the second one yet but I’m getting closer. Maybe by next Wednesday?

I can only hope!