Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

I finally finished a knit project this year. Actually, two projects. As I previewed in progress last month, I've now finished my drink carriers. These are the very first items I've knit in 2023, other than the sample socks for Blue Ridge Fiber Fest. Something I've learned: a drink caddy is essentially a sock with a flat circular toe, no heel turn, and a strap at the top. Implication — if you see a sock pattern you like but you only want one, you can turn it into a drink holder instead. Both pattern are worked in versa lace. You could, of course, work them in regular lace. The advantage of versa lace in this case is the stretch. Linen yarn is not elastic. That's great in the strap. Having a little give in the holder is nice, as it makes the cozy "grip" the mug or water bottle. And the versa lace provides more room for error or, alternatively, allows the cozy to fit a wider range of bottles and travel mugs. The spiral...

There's nothing quite like a Ravelry Projects Page to remind you how little you have accomplished. I've accomplished a lot this year, but very little of it involved knitting, crochet, spinning, or weaving. The only two finished objects I have for 2023 are a couple pairs of socks I made for Blue Ridge Fiber Fest. Sometimes desire pushes something to the top of the queue. Sometimes necessity. In this case, it has been the latter. I have two Joe Mo XL travel mugs I use daily. I joke my car will not go without the drink. The mugs came with fabric carrying sleeves. I've had these mugs for 15, maybe 20 years? The travel sleeves have torn. Time for the trash bin. Replacements are not available on the Highwave website. But I still need to carry my mugs! The bottle holders are a quick versa lace project. The spiral one worked up very quickly. The other one is taking longer because it has reversible double-decreases in it. Dang, those are slow! I...

Today is six month's since my mother died. Grief is a complicated emotion. You don't want to move through it too quickly or too slowly. I burned off a lot of my anguish and anger in January through March. In the end, everything was worse than I thought. There were many, many monkeys to wrangle from multiple circuses, not of them mine. There will doubtless be future moments of grief that crop up and smack me. But at this point, I've made it through my birthday, Easter, and Mothers' Day. I've watched barren winter transform into verdant summer. Gratitude abounds. Sometimes the ending of a path is necessary for another path to open.  I am grateful for: Helping my sister. Being present in Pennsylvania. Being there for her. Helping my brother in the nursing home. I got him set up with streaming television. He likes Star Wars . Now he can enjoy Disney+. Now he can watch airplane videos on YouTube. Encour...

I've been in a bit of a knitting funk for awhile now. On the flip side, I've been doing a lot of other creative things. I have lost track of the number of items I've repaired from my mother's house. The first was a saucer-sized decorative plate with a very clean break. It just needed to be glued together with a drop crazy glue. There was already glue in a drawer in the kitchen. It took less than 10 minutes. I lost track of how many times I went back to that opened tube of crazy glue to repair other things. There were multiple items that needed wood glue, including a chair. Did my mother not know what wood glue was? Had everything become overwhelming; but she didn't want to ask for help? Or was it like my household, where you walk by something and think, "I'll get to that another day?" My most recent trip was the bring stuff home trip. I had moved several of the lighter or smaller items between locations. However, this was the d...

You, dear knitter, already know that gauge matters. Sometimes it is nice to see proof in the world. The Quotidian Quest socks I designed for Blue Ridge Fiber Fest were originally designed using some scrap sock yarn. I think this was the yarn from Merike Saarnitt's dye class at STITCHES South 2013 . It was basic sock yarn. That worked . . . until I got the yarn from Blue Ridge Fiber Fest. That yarn turned out to be much thinner. It's good yarn from Mountain top Fibers, but not what I anticipated. There are a couple ways to deal with this. Since getting a sample worked up and photographed was a high priority, I did the easy thing and worked the yarn doubled. This gave me something close to the gauge I expected. The pattern was designed for 24 stitches in 10cm/4 inches. The sample sock is 28 stitches in 10cm/4 inches. It fits a slightly smaller foot than mine. But, overall, it works. I realized from swatching this fine yarn would make a lovel...

Well, 2023 is definitely turning out to be not a year I envisioned ahead of time. It isn't all bad. It just isn't what I would have chosen from a menu. In January, I slept not at home 15 days. In February, 18 days. In March, 16 days. In April, 10 days so far, and another 6 coming up. The first 120 days of the year (which takes us up through the last day of April), I will have slept somewhere else 65 days and at home 55 days. I am spending about as much time at my mother's house in Pennsylvania as I am at home in Georgia with my Cuddly Hubby. Thank goodness Cuddly Hubby is home to take care of the house, the plants and the Siamese feline pharaohs. As I write this from home, I'm at the end of a quick fortnight in Georgia in between two three-week trips to Pennsylvania. I have not put a single stitch in the big orange blanket in over a month. It will likely be at least another month before I do. I hope I remember what I was doing! On th...

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. To be accurate, the vernal equinox is at 17:24 EDT tomorrow. Winter is supposed to be a time of rest, reflection, and renewal. It is the time to recharge ourselves so we are ready for the opportunities spring brings. Of course, this is not how my winter has gone. I think I need to stop saying out loud what I want, because I seem to be tripping a jinx. I wanted to spend more time with my Cuddly Hubby. I wanted to stay home for the end-of-year holidays. I wanted to catch up on Disney+ and Netflix. I wanted to travel less in the early part of 2023. I wanted to catch up around my home, play more games, and get work done on stalled projects. What happened in my life instead has been a big, "No!" Tomorrow I head back to Pennsylvania for three weeks of resetting my mother's home. This process is increasingly bittersweet. It is good to connect more with family and friends. There are things I find that kindle ...