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Tag: knitting

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March Ramble

JOOJOO UPDATE:

Ok! I went from having no real motivation to knit to ALL I WANT TO DO IS KNIT! And spin. And make leather journal covers! Oh, and also do more embroidery and lino carving. I just wanna make shit. All the time.

Honestly.

I can barely find the motivation to go to my day (and night – haha) job… which I need to pay for yarn and fibre and leather and tools. Thank baby Jesus I can knit at work.

Ugh!

Does anyone else feel like this?? Annoyed that they have to do actual grown-up things? It’s total bull-shit right?

I have these on the go right now:

  • Weekender Crew out of handspun held with alpaca/mohair
  • A pair of socks out of a few leftover/minis
  • A shawl design out of stash Cascade Eco +
  • A hat design out of Brooklyn Tweek Arbour (which is now discontinued – boo!)

I wish I could stay home and start all the things. In the famous words of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot), “I have startitis”.

THINGS I’M OBSESSED WITH:

I’m currently listening to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. SO. GOOD!!! It would be even better if you’re a giant science geek and you know what he’s talking about.

I’ve also been reading/listening to a lot of books on peri-menopause and menopause. Hahaha. Yes folks, I’m there! If you’re looking for a good audio podcast on the subject, I can totally recommend UNPAUSED with Dr. Mary Claire Haver. She also has books. 🙂

When I started thinking of my simple shawl design, I went stash-diving. I haven’t used Cascade Eco + in many many years. I can’ honestly say that I have a renewed love for this yarn! It’s so squishy!!! And I have two giant skeins of it. How big do I want this shawl?

I’m quite passionate about finding sustainable products for my home and for personal care. I might work on a little video for my YouTube channel that talks about how I have a plastic-free shower.

Anyway, it’s 9pm as I write this and I’m working days tomorrow – which means I’m up at 3:30 to do my little morning routine and get in a workout before my 12-hour shift ’cause I’ll never do it after.

Also, I really hate Trump! I’m not big on sharing my opinions about politics on my socials but…. OMG!

What are you working on?

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Frustrated with Social Media

Do you ever wish you could swear off social media forever? Do you sometimes wish you could go back to when we were kids (I’m 48) and times were simple? I know the Internet has a zillion benefits to it but sometimes… Uggggggggg!

I’ve been so preoccupied with trying to get back into a Facebook “page” (I think) that I managed to lock myself out of, that I did NOTHING creative for DAYS! Tragic, I know!!! I was so frustrated and so down on myself for not just walking away and doing something I actually love. I just really wanted to get the issue resolved.

I finally did. I think it must have taken me pretty much three whole days! But I ended up having to start over with a new “page” and corresponding IG account. But I got there in the end.

So I’ve been knitting on the Icelandic sweater like MAD the last two days. I want to get this thing finished by the weekend so I can weave in all the ends, block it and ship it off early next week so my friends can have their pretty sweaters by next weekend.

GOALS!

Have a great rest of your week. Also, feel free to share your frustrating social media stories in the comments.

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Word of the Year: Creativity

Firstly, my newest Youtube video is out.

I tried Canva and made a cute thumbnail. What do you think? My son asked me if I was wearing make-up. When I asked why he would think that, he said “because you look good”. Hahahaha. As if he was surprised.

Anyway, I talked about how my “word of the year” is CREATIVITY. I never make New Year resolutions because I strongly believe that we can choose to be better versions of ourselves any time we want.

As mentioned in my last couple of poopy posts, 2022 and 2023 were rough. 2024 was for recovery. But towards the end of last year, I started feeling the bubbling of inspiration – the overwhelming urge to MAKE and CREATE. That’s how my word was born.

Over the years, all my creativity was funnelled in to knitting and fibre-related art forms, but I was really feeling an urge to write and draw and try new things (like embroidery). It’s been like extra energy stored up in my core that is dying to escape. If I could actually draw you a picture of how that feels, it would look like this: A girl is standing with her arms wide open. Her hair is crazy. Flowers, rainbows, butterflies and stars are exploding from her gut. 🙂

My overwhelming urge to create propelled me in to finally writing out a knitting pattern I had in my brain’s “filing cabinet” for years… and the Horeez Hat was born.

Last week, I purchased some basic embroidery supplies and actually scheduled time during my upcoming days off to try it out. I’ve been watching YouTube videos on all the stitches. There are so many. Who knew? Not me.

This year, I’ve also decided to say “yes” to more things that scare me or make me nervous – or things I’m afraid I won’t be good at. How else do we grow?

On Tuesday, I was chatting with my girlfriend. We hadn’t seen each other in a while. When I told her I was free and could get together that night, she told me she had boxing but that she was thinking of skipping so we could get together. My solution? To go to boxing with her.

So I tried something new! I was afraid it would be hard, that I wouldn’t be able to keep up or that I would be really bad at it. It turned out to be a blast and I am seriously considering getting a membership to the club.

What other new thing should I try?

What new things have you tried or do you WANT to try? Tell me about it in the comments.

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Bringing the Blog Back

How ridiculous is that!  Is anyone still here?  Who knows how many people read my blog years ago when I was consistent but I suspect they’ve all gone now.  That’s what happens when you drop the ball!  Haha.

It’s definitely not because I haven’t been busy knitting!  Let me tell you.  I don’t even know what to do with all my knits.  Does anyone else have that issue??  How many hats can one head realistically wear?  And don’t we usually go for our favourites??  Which are usually the most recently finished hat we have on the shelf.  Tell me I’m wrong (I probably still won’t believe you).

My friend Louise and I went on a little roadtrip to Montebello, Quebec yesterday.  The shop name is Wööl and it’s small and charming.  Naturally, I spent too much money.  I got some construction orange yarn to knit myself a Musselburg that will match the zipper pulls on the coat I purchased in Iceland (oh yeah!  I should probably write about my visit to the Alafoss store).  It’s a ridiculous color, honestly.  I’m also not sure I can pull it off.  But I’m gonna do it anyway because it makes me happy.

This year will be all about doing things that make me happy – all the creative things.  I also saw an embroidery kit that I almost purchased but didn’t because of the guilt I felt over the amount I spent on yarn.  But I think I’ll try to figure it out on my own with some cheap felt at Michaels – that way, if I mess it up, it won’t have cost $40!  (Coupons baby!)

Back to the yarn…  I also got some alpaca/silk yarn by Emilia & Philomene (which I’ve never had the pleasure of using) to pair with the yarn I spun for my Traveller Shell.  

I HAVE TOO MANY THINKS I WANT TO KNIT RIGHT NOW!  

I have to finish the Icelandic sweater I started for my friend Sandy but forgot the colourwork at the bottom of the body and sleeves – he wants it “authentic” so I ripped out the hems and am adding the color work now.  Let’s not tell him I made it top down.  He won’t know.

I then have to make the same Icelandic sweater, but smaller, for his wife.  How cute is that!  Same same.  

I have a colourless Icelandic sweater to make for my brother-in-law.  I’m not sure why he wants one because I’ve made him sweaters in the past and have never seen them on him.  But they paid for the yarn and I’m going to be knitting something anyway.  So whatever, right?

I also have two sweaters’ quantity of yarn from Iceland to make MYSELF sweaters but at least one of those will wait.  Do I want to make the green one or the orange (not construction orange this time) one?  

The Traveller knitalong will totally be over by the time I manage to cast on my Shell but the yarn is spun and the fluff is purchased so it’s getting done.

Is anyone else feeling pressure to knit with their stash because they recognize that they have TOO MUCH YARN?  It’s like very time I come into my office to use the computer, the yarn is giving me the gears for having sat there too long.  RUDE!

I also want to make the Nimh Shawl by BohoKnits.  It’s been in my queue forever and I’m pretty sure I have enough Cascade Eco in my stash to knit it. 

My sister wants a shawl but she wants a Gro Shawl by Fiber Tales but I don’t have yarn for that.  It’ll likely take her forever to get to the yarn shop to buy some so I’m off the hook for a while I think.  (Fingers crossed.)

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have seen that I put together a mystery sock thing.  I went through my stash of fingering yarn and picked out 12 skeins I wanted to knit sooner than later.  I put each skein in a paper lunch bag.  The skeins that weren’t too heavily variegated or self-striping got assigned a pattern I had in my queue or in my library.  Then I folded up the lip of the bag so I couldn’t see the pattern and put them all on my yarn shelves.  None of them are marked or numbered in any way. So on the first of each month, I’ll pick a bag and knit those socks.  I was really excited for my January socks – self-striping by Mudpunch (Canadian dyer extraordinaire). 

That’s it for me for today.  I have too much to do and packing for Boston this weekend.  Woot!