A Ticket to Paradise

 

The Mister and I spent yesterday morning emptying the closets of the clothes we never wear so we could take them to the charity shop. When we were done, I decided to inspect all the sock yarn I hide under my bed when I had a skein "explode" in my hands. It had only been tied off in one place and when it unwound, it really unwound. This naughty Static in the Paradise colorway seemed to be begging for attention. I know I already have too many socks on the needles but the poor thing just couldn't be ignored. I wasted a morning once again doing the cast on thing. Getting Static to match should be an Olympic event but I think I prevailed. 

What took the longest time was locating needles. I own a gazillion needles in all shapes and sizes but I can never locate the ones I like to use for socks. I'm always buying more.  Last week I received a new Zing for the two-on-the-same needle socks that I'm carrying around for my travel knitting. I really like this Zing. I might even have to order another one. 

Wednesday WIPs

 

This week's state of the socks. As I mentioned before, even though they are all in Halloween colorways, they are not for this Halloween. They are going into the gift box for someone's future Halloween so I'm taking my time with them.

I'm on the last of the leg pattern blocks on the Cozy Quilt sock before the heel. The neck ribbing on Bon Amie has been a problem. I couldn't find the right size needle. I finally went with Magic Loop and while it's still not a comfortable knitting experience, it will work. 

And...look at the Halloween puzzle. I haven't even put in one piece. It's keeping The Mister busy but this is the second year in a row he finished it without me-and it is finished now. Right after I took this photo it was done. Boooo.....

TNT: Crime and Punishment

 

My penance re-stitching of Patchwork Automne is progressing nicely. It's a good thing so much time has passed since I stitched this the first time. It all seems new to me. 

As for crime, I really wanted to kick myself yesterday when I managed to stitch that whole basket thing ONE STITCH too close to the other flower thing. I couldn't just ignore it or the top part wouldn't fit. Argh.....I had to rip it all out and that black floss did not come out willingly. I was tempted to put the whole thing away and get out my Halloween project but couldn't do it. If you do the crime, you have to do the time. I'm going to have to get that part done correctly before I can sleep well at night. 

The needlepoint stitching went better. You really can't mess this up since it's pre-printed. I like working on these smaller flowers on the border.

I'm working on the last Patchwork of the Crosses border. I still haven't figured out the corner situation yet but it'll have to be sorted out soon.

And....in this hectic week, I managed to show Dear Jane a bit of love. I really like how the center came together. As for those corner triangles, I'm going to cheat them by appliqueing the center to a solid square.  I'm done with Jane's shenanigans. I'm cutting corners wherever I can. 

Pumpkin Stew

 

Yesterday morning I listened to my favorite sleep story in the kitchen so I could put together the ingredients to make the stew.

It wasn't easy. Cutting up pumpkins is hard work. I'm not sure how Precious Ramotswe could come home from a hard day of detecting and throw this together for dinner. It was very messy.

The stew itself wasn't too bad but if I did it again I would just use the butternut squash the recipe called for. The pumpkin didn't add much to it. 

It's served with bread in the story so I made some. Halfway through the rise I realized I didn't use my bread flour. I really didn't notice that big of a difference to be honest.

While I was doing all this cooking, The Mister was down at the beach watching them haul a dead body out of the water. We don't have the full story yet on who or why. They've got everything blocked off and hush hush right now. You would know that all heck would break loose the one time I didn't go with him. Damn stew. 
 

Run Ragged

 

Thursday night Showgirl Listening Party. 

Friday Night Beach Cruise-In Street Fair. 

Saturday morning Farmer's Market. 

Saturday Afternoon County Street Fair. 

And then the SNL season premiere ( I ❤ Bad Bunny). 

A lot going on at the moment. Too much but I got french fries from a truck.

Speaking of Orange.....

 

Jack's back! I'm awfully darn close to finishing but somehow October days just fly by and I get nothing done. I do believe I started him sometime in 2016 (!).

I've also got two Sugar Baby pumpkins on the counter waiting to be chopped up for cooking. For several years I've been listening to an Audible sleep story called Pumpkin Stew and every year when the pumpkins arrive I say I'm going to make some. I've got the pumpkins but not the will to cut the cute little things up. They look too innocent just sitting in my kitchen not knowing what horrors I have planned for them.

Orange is the New White

 

Happy Taylor Swift Day to all who are celebrating the beginning of the Orange Era. You know I am. As much as I loved the sad White Era, I'm ready for some glamour and glitz. At the time you are reading this I've been up all night at the midnight listening party for the new album that drops today. The poor Mister once again has had to deal with Sirius radio blaring the pop up Swift station on the Echo all week. I was sorely tempted to slip into my orange Crocs and join the watch parties today at the AMC theaters but not having had my flu/Covid jab yet I refrained from that madness. I can watch from afar like I did all 100 plus streams of the Eras Tour. 

Anyway...I did find that new Micheals. It's not fully stocked yet but it's open. It's not really that close to where I live so I'm not doing a big happy dance but at least it's in the county. Those of you who live in civilized areas of the country won't get how big a deal this is to us who live in the middle of nowhere. Fast food we have but that's about it. I counted 13 different places in our little town center. That explains a lot. 

It was a rather bi-polar experience walking in. Halloween in disarray on one side, Christmas in disarray on the other. 

I had a scare in the floss section. I had written one of the floss numbers wrong and that number didn't exist. Yikes. Thank goodness for cell phones. I looked it up right there in the aisle and had it figured out in no time. Whew.

No excuses now. It's time to get it started again for real. It's how I plan to spend my weekend. That and listening to the new album. 🧡

Trial and Error

 

The Mister's sister is in the hospital up in Annapolis so he went off to keep her company the other day which meant I had a quiet afternoon all to myself. I had that 3 needle bind off to conquer on the shoulders of Bon Amie. It wasn't fun. It was fiddly. My poor old Palette yarn must not have liked the waste yarn because it had gotten splitty and fuzzy making it difficult to work with.  

It wasn't fun to do but it worked so I steeked the neckline. 

The sleeves were a real gamble because I didn't want to increase any stitches in the upper arms because of the pretty pattern. I just changed needle sizes as I went up the arm to give me a width I could squeeze into. I wanted to test it out before I went any further so I basted one in and tried the whole thing on and....it worked. It's a drop sleeve design so the top of the sleeve is really half way down my upper arm and it fit perfectly. 

But....there was a problem. The neck steek was a bit too wide so I dug out my Alice Starmore Fair Isle books and went looking for a solution to the gaping neckline. I was hoping to find some examples of a deep corrugated ribbing at the neck and there were lots of examples so I picked up the stitches and started only to be interrupted by The Mister coming home and wanting dinner. At least it's all on the needles now. Everything is secure again so I can start dragging it around to get that neck ribbing done. 

Wednesday WIPs

 

Ta da. I beat the calendar and had them all done by the end of the month. Miss Bab's with the crazy afterthought heel on the left are mine, the rest are headed for the gift box.

I managed to get two more pairs cast on last night. I have one more pair waiting to be cast on. Although these are all Halloween colorways, I'm in no hurry to get them finished. They are all going in the gift box. 

The second Cozy Quilt sock has not grown this much this week thanks to my rush to get all the other socks finished but its time has come again. I'm back to working on it every night again. 

TNT: Goat Loaded

 

Done. Now it can join all my other stacked critters. 

These to be exact. As soon as I find the backing and trim I'm turning them into the little pillows the designer intended them to be. There's more in the collection but I wasn't tempted although there might be a winter holiday one in my future. 

Matter's House's alphabet and right side fence are now finished. There's a bottom border still to do but I think I'll do the birdy looking thing on the right before I wind it up on the frame more. I can't really stitch it until I do. 

Alas, the Patchwork Automne re-do didn't get far. I realized I didn't have the colors I needed to work on that important center block. I hope to pick it up today when I go into town for a doctor's appointment. There's supposed to be a new Micheals down there somewhere so I'll have to go looking. 

All Wound Up Again

 

The socks I was knitting for one of the Grands were too small which was not a problem because look what happened. A knot. Ugh. I tossed that sad cuff right in the trash bin.

Then I took all of the rest of the sock yarn I had planned on using this week and caked it up looking very carefully for knots. I didn't find any more, thank goodness. That's the finished pumpkin patch puzzle in the background. I told The Mister I'd have it done by October and by golly, I did, with days to spare. 

While we were away this Kroy showed up in the mailbox. While winding it up I noticed it's thinner than the old Kroy I had been using. I never could get the yardage I needed for socks out of Kroy so I stopped using it but still had some in the stash. I'm hoping to get a pair that fit out of this. I remembered to measure and trace the Grand's little foot this time. 

I also tried a new pumpkin bread recipe yesterday. I used half the sugar that was called for and it was still very good. I wanted one that used oil instead of butter because I never have butter. I was so tired yesterday from all the weekend fun that my willpower was gone. I ate an entire little loaf in bits and pieces throughout the day while spending most of the day on the couch. Diet and exercise routine start again tomorrow.

Full House

 

Kids, kids everywhere. Little boys solving math problems. 

Little girls putting together puzzles.

Caged monsters discovering the joys of a good book and a newborn that was quietly taking it all in from a corner on the couch. Thirteen kids and the parents that brought them.

There was a lot of food. Too much. Daughter picked these beauties up on Friday as a treat for Middle Son and his boys. They are heading back north this morning. Goodbyes were hard. It was the first time in years that we had so much family in one place and it will probably be years, if ever, that it will happen again. 

All Wound Up

 

I only had a couple of sock toes to finish on the ride up to Daughter's yesterday so before I left I got out the fall yarn to wind up so it would be ready to go when I get home.

I didn't wind up the Felici but now that I'm thinking about it, I should. I hate surprise knots that ruin the stripe pattern and Felici can be very naughty.

I was cleaning up all the project baskets and bags and putting away all the leftover balls when I noticed how many I have. I've got a nice collection. I keep telling myself I'm going to do something with them but I rarely do.

Once upon a time I knit them all into a giant tube, cut it in half, cast off each half and had a pair of interesting leg warmers. I'm thinking I might do the same but this time graft the ends for a very interesting cowl. 

On the Road Again

 

We're off again today to Daughter's house. Not to babysit this time but to visit. Middle Son is driving down from Detroit with the Grands and we are all getting together over the weekend. I took yesterday off from crafting to get packed and to help The Mister work on this puzzle. I bought it for him not realizing how hard it would be and I really need it off the table by October since I have a Halloween puzzle I want to get started on. No complaints. I like a challenge and since I started working on it, I've become completely obsessed with it. 

Auxiliary Report

 

Thanks to my obsession with getting all those socks done this week, the auxiliary projects haven't seen much love. I did get started on the scarf I have on the loom. The jury is still out on it. It seems a little flimsy. 

I did get the wool strips cut for the latest rug on the frame and one flower done. This one won't take long to finish if I would just sit down and work on it. 

I had a scare with my big paper piecing project. That blue doohicky went missing. I need it to pop out the papers. I've tried other ways but this is the best thing for it especially if you want to save the papers for future use. When I went to buy a replacement, I realized that I've had it for so long that I didn't know where I got it or what it actually was. Finally I thought about using Google Search and it turns out this little doohickey is a die tool for paper cutting. I found another one and ordered it and then...sure enough, I found mine. Somehow it got in the bag with the Hexie Runner. 

This Hexie Runner to be exact. I'm happy to say I got to move the hoop this week and finished most of the hexies inside of it in spite of having all those socks to finish. 

For those keeping score: At this time I have 3 socks finished and 3 more to go.