Catching up at the end of November and in which there are Photos

The last time I sat down to write a blog post when life was quiet, a full tide of activity descended upon me and did not ebb for a week or two. After a delightful period with much scope for usefulness, quiet has again descended on my little sphere of life and I turn my attention to writing a blog post. Most of the busyness has been in computer field, and that makes for very poor blog fodder. Creating fields, granting permissions, and uploading 45,000 (total) rows from 30 spreadsheets into a database - twice, since one critical column was missing from the first 30... only a project manager could read that with pleasure. Knitting is more interesting. I delight in how God sends me knitting just when I need something to balance the computer's siren call. First, there was a test knit. A few days later, I had another request - and scant hours after that, a third. I finished off the current counterpane square, wound cakes of yarn, and dove in.

Let me have cakes!

Hours of fun!The cakes in the back left have become cycling knitting.  I'm not crazy enough to try knitting while riding my bike outside (especially in a Minnesota winter -- knitting in insulated gloves?  That would require too much concentration) but since I have a bike on a trainer (turning it into a stationary bike), I can exercise and knit in peace - and listen to an audiobook, if so inclined.  To make sure the yarn doesn't get caught in the chain, I have the ball sitting at about elbow level next to me.  The delightful red and white yarn in the front became a swatch.

Swatch

The size of a finished knitted item depends on a lot of things.  The yarn used, the needle size used, the number of stitches, the stitch pattern, the knitter, the blocking ... and even the knitter's mood (which affects the stranglehold, or lack thereof, she exerts upon the yarn while knitting) and needle material.  This swatch was worked up to see what range of gauges would work well with the yarn. I always love an excuse to get out my needle case labelled 0 00 000.  (4-0 through 6-0 are also in there). 

Swatch and a friend

Once I'd finished the swatch, the need for another arose.  Different yarn, mostly the same needle sizes, and a whole range of different gauges.  

Our next knitting photo comes from Filia's knitting. She hasn't been bitten by the knitting bug lately, but we've had a few craft gatherings lately - and when one attends a knit-in with one's mother who happens to be me, one MUST have a project. But it needed to be not just a project, but something that could conceivably get finished.  And be useful.  There are enough abandoned WIPs and non-useful collections of looped yarn in the world, more need not be created.  And it had to be something that could be assembled from what was available to us, with about 30 minute notice. 

What one knits when one's mother cannot tolerate inactivity at a knitting gathering

And so, after assessing the available yarns, I decided that she could knit the Cape Spear coverlet.  A task not unlike copying the Rosetta Stone, for lack of other material to copy. Except this, I think, will take longer.  So long as I acquire the rest of Lisa's stash of cotton carpet warp in this lovely blue color, Filia should be set for maternally-dictated knitting for the next few score of years.  And I, should I finish my counterpane and be at a loss for what to knit, can knit up a triangle or two while pondering what to do next. 

The rest of life:  My new bullet journal and I are getting along famously; Christmas gifts are knit and awaiting wrapping, but I need to find a good source of not overly-chocolate-coated espresso beans, our pellet stove is beautifully caulked and keeping us warm (and drying my swatches overnight), and all is well. 

Until the next blog .... adieu!