A weekend of knitting

 This weekend was full of lots of Christmas knitting, but not for a good reason.  I have been sick the past week.  An evil (what turned out to be) sinus infection has been whomping on me all week.  It was all I could do to get through my court schedule, make dinner, then retire to the bedroom to try to get enough sleep to start over again the next day.  Nyquil was my only hope for a decent night's sleep.  So I finally went to the doctor, which diagnosed the aforementioned sinus infection, and prescribed antibiotics.

The good news is that there has been marginal improvement in my sinus congestion.  The bad news is that the side effects of the meds have been to wreak havoc on my guts.  So I have spent the weekend snuggled under a blanket, knitting, napping, and watching Hallmark Christmas movies.

My sweetie was hunting all weekend, and the kids were camping, so at least I was alone for my misery and comfort hobbies.  (And didn't have to share the bathroom.)  I made significant progress on the Ravenclaw scarf.  And when everyone came home, I worked on the Teacher Mitts.  

It turned out to be a productive weekend for all.  My boys worked on Scout advancement, and had fun.  My sweetie bagged a large doe, and has been butchering it all day, to fill our freezer with deer meat, and had fun.  I knit, and well, didn't exactly have fun, but I survived this illness.  

Christmas knitting countdown:

1 pair kid mitts: finished

1 Ravenclaw scarf: 40%

1 teacher mitts: one down, second cast on

1 Teacher ear warmer (Mrs. Loveless already has mitts from two years ago):  finished

One embroidered tablecloth:  This one is hard to judge, and optional for Christmas. . . .  This one probably requires an explanation.  Next time.  There are people in the house that are going to be demanding dinner soon.

Today, it is all about the seasonal focus.             

Decision time

 This is why I should check patterns on Ravelry before attempting to knit.  Because when over 16,000 people have knit the same shawl, surely SOMEONE has some good advice.  

I have been working on Color Affection, and everyone and their mother made this shawl years ago.  I just started the second color, but I am starting to have my doubts.  The inside edge is simply too tight.  The part that would rest around my neck and drape around my shoulders is very tight.  

So today, I got the bright idea of going on Ravely to check people's comments.  Sure enough, a bunch of people mentioned the followed Yarn Harlot's advice and added a yarn over at the beginning/end of the row, then dropped in the next row, to make a looser edge.  A number of people also change the type of increase to something far simpler.  

So now I have a decision.  Do I plug on?  Or do I rip out and start over, with the modifications?  I know what I SHOULD do.  I should start over.  I hate that idea, but I know that it will always bother me.  It isn't just an extreme curling edge, the edge is so tight that the increases are puckering.  Maybe those puckers will be hidden by my hair, but I would know that they are there.  

Today, it is all about the dilemma.  

Christmas starts in July

 At least Christmas knitting does.  I decided to gift my children with knitted items, and possibly my Sweetie, so I have started my Christmas knitting early this year.  This is particularly challenging as I can only knit when they can't see me.  

So far, I have one pair of fingerless mitts finished for my youngest son.  I am optimistically hoping to add a hat to the mitts, but wanted to get started on others first.  

Second, in progress, is a new Hogwarts scarf.  My oldest son pointed out that the design of the scarves changed in the later movies, and now that he is in high school (?!?!) he wants the older student design. He identifies as Ravenclaw, but likes to dress up like Harry Potter.  So I asked which house he wanted, and he said "both".  Of course he did, twice the knitting.  

Then there are the annual Teacher Mitts. . . . I may not have started early enough.    

Today it is all about the early starts.     

So many ends

 My kids and my sweetie went camping last weekend.  Yes, the Boy Scouts are a hardy lot.  They camp in January in the upper Midwest.  In tents.  I am not a hardy Scout.  I stayed home.  36 glorious child-free, husband-free hours.  Just me and the doggies, snuggled warm and cozy inside.  I never even stepped outside, but I did think of my guys as I woke up to single digits outside.  

Mostly, I watched cutesy movies on the Hallmark Channel, and I finished knitting.  I had a shockingly large stack of items that I had finished knitting, but hadn't seamed or tied in all those loose ends.  One item after another.  I kept digging in the knitting bag, and I would find another unfinished item.   

The final count was two ear warmers, one baby blanket and four placemats.  

Today, it is all about the stack of completely finished objects.  

So which part do I do now?

 My last post was about missing knitted winter gear.  Over the course of the last two weeks, my sweetie and I have been cleaning out closets and rearranging things.  More him than me.  He has had the past two weeks off, along with the kids on Christmas break from school.  I, on the other had, have had to work those two weeks.  Other than the obvious, Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, I worked my job,  I am self-employed, but sometimes my boss (that would be me) if very mean.  The problem comes in that if I am not working, money isn't being earned.  

Anyway, in the course of our efforts, I found a pair of fingerless mittens, and an ear warmer.  My missing winterwear.  My ears and fingers are warmer for the finds, but the knitter wants matchy sets.  The ear warmers are an adorable pink and gray, but I only had enough yarn to do the one item.  The fingerless mitts had a matching ear warmer, two actually, but they were flawed.  The first was too narrow to cover my ear effectively.  The second had a flaw: the seam in the middle of my forehead.  (I had since learned a technique to prevent.) 

   

I had started the new set with a new yarn.  I am almost finished with the new ear warmer.  So now what?  Should I make the fingerless mitts in the new yarn?  Or should I make the new and improved design in the old yarn?  I mean, I am eventually going to make both, but it was 27 degrees outside today, so the weather requires that I be as efficient as possible.  

So what do I work on next? 

The second consideration these days is the stash.  My beloved knitting group, Knittervention, is having a stash exchange tomorrow night.  Bring your unwanted yarn, and exchange with others with their unwanted yarns.  One knitter's neglected yarn is another knitter's droolworthy treasure. I have a few things in the bin.  Plus, for some reason three people have gifted with me with an elderly family member's stash.  "Here is all Grandma's old yarn, some of it is decades old, can you use it?"  So I have some of that, plus a few nicer things that we in my stash, but not as beautiful as other things in my stash.

Ironically, my sweetie and I spent Thursday cleaning out and rearranging the Foyer closet.  He put some things in the new gun safe, and a few more things in the barn.  He moved a set of shelves from a corner to closer to the door, and I used those shelves for kitchen pantry overflow.  Those items had previously been in my room.  My office/craft/workout room.  Then I spent Friday cleaning out my room.   I went through everything in that room.  I went through the yarn.  I went through the recipe books.  I separated garage sale stack with kid toys and clothes that are nice enough to go to Once Upon a Child.  I went through EVERYTHING.  There is a lot more room in that room today.  

Meanwhile, I have two bags of inherited yarn, plus one bin of my stash ready for the exchange.  I have told my sweetie that the real challenge is not to come home with more yarn that I left.  Or is it?  I have so many exquisite skeins, but you can never have too much beautiful yarn.  Am I right?

Today, it is all about the rearranging.