Ta Da!

 

On this last day of September in the year 2020 I officially declare this epic project DONE.

It only took me 10 whole years.

It's big. Bigger than I am on all sides. 

It all started here with just the red center. Those are deer in case you hadn't noticed. 

It's called the Continuous Strip Afghan because you keep going around adding more edges. All the stitches are live on all sides. It was made out of all of my late Aunt Esther's vintage Red Heart. We cleaned out her closet before she died and for whatever reason only known to the yarn gods I took it all home.

All those stitches are on super long Knit Picks cables with stoppers on the ends. I didn't know what I was going to do when it outgrew my regular cables. Thank goodness Knit Picks introduced their super long ones at just the right time. It was a sign that this thing needed to continue and continue and continue. I could have even made it bigger if I had wanted-but I didn't want to. Enough is enough. 

It still needs a good wash. It's dusty and sneezy but as you can see it's been well loved in all of the ten years it took me to make it. 

There's a lot of memories in all those stitches. I think I must have about a million blog posts about my progress through the years...but it's all over now. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

My tiny needle mojo has been failing me lately but you can see that I did get another partial sheep and a rose bush on my lawn this week.

Where my little needles have been working the most is on the back of the HUGE Mosaic Sampler thingy. There are about a zillion ends to weave in. More than a few days worth for sure. It's taken me several sittings and I am still not done.

It was so good to finish that last section, cast it off and remove all those long cables that were on all four sides. I'll do a proper mug shot when I've tamed those ends. It's like a big fringy monster right now and it's so dusty it's making me sneeze. 

Flipped

 

What do you do when you wake up at 4 am and can't get back to sleep? I finish socks. 

Ta da....another pair of man socks done. These are in Berroco Comfort Sock and I didn't think I'd like them but I do. I've got more of this yarn in my stash and it needs to be socks. They really are soft and comfy for being just acrylic and nylon.

I've still got one more pair of man socks on the needle. My two at a timers are getting ready to have their heels turned. 

But what really kept me up at night was the Bubbles Cardi. The garter stitch hem flipped. After I finished the socks I ripped out the hem, decreased the last regular row, went down two needle sizes and I am going to add more rows than the pattern calls for to see if that helps. 

Closet knitting, middle of the night knitting...my pandemic self just keeps getting weirder and weirder. 

Drawing a Blank

 

It's not really cold out. In fact we still have the AC on to deal with the humidity but it's been raining. Really raining and we had a grocery delivery to pick up and a dog to walk yesterday afternoon so the first of the season's woolly socks came out of the drawer. I reached in and pulled out these crazy things. 

They have story. Daddio dyed them from a sock blank. Here he is doing just that in 2013. 

It seems just like yesterday that I watched him do it. He had a ball. He used to do Paint By Numbers when we were kids. 

I used to knit my own sock blanks back in the day but I am pretty sure this is one from Knit Picks. I've worn them many winters now and they have held up beautifully. The color hasn't faded one bit and they are still nice and soft.

Pup had a good time running off leash in the completely deserted huge Park and Ride by the grocery store and my feet stayed warm and dry in my woolly socks and Crocs. It would have been a great day if the store hadn't forgot to put Pup's salmon in the bag. We got all the way home before we realized. The vet wants her on a grain free fish diet until she can see her on Tuesday so that salmon was important. They didn't forget the catfish and the tilapia so there's that. The grocer did give me a $10 coupon on my next online pickup for their mistake. $10 worth of salmon here we come. 

Silver Linings

 

When the cat jumped up on my quilt and scrunched up the top I was pretty mad but he actually did me a favor. When I ironed the block to smooth it out I noticed it was easier to drag around the free motion machine. Now I iron them all good and flat before I quilt them and it's been much smoother sailing.

Last week I was cursing the rain and the gloom and yesterday I was singing its praises as I finally got a day where I could do some things I wanted to do instead of scrubbing the deck. 

Even Silvia got some love. She's got a chubby little tummy now (don't we all) and part of a leg. I was worried about how she would look with my hodgepodge of wool but I think she looks just fine. 

Wishy Washy

 

Guess what we did yesterday. What we've done all week. Washing the deck has been a much bigger job than we thought. It was filthy. 

Making it harder is the fact that it is about 15 feet in the air. Getting to the outside has been tricky. Now it all has to dry so we can put a sealer on it. That's not going to be fun either.

 I did get a few minutes before dinner to finally sit down and cast on something with the Knit Picks Mighty Stitch I bought a while back. I hated it. The yarn is slick and splitty. It's got no definition at all and looks pretty awful. It's getting ripped back then I'm tossing the nasty stuff in the stash. It might have its use but I can't think of any right now.

How about something more miserable than lousy yarn? Poor Pup. Her fall allergies are kicking in and she's been chewing her legs. Her new cone of shame is working wonders as are the multicolored bandages much to her dismay. It's too bad dogs don't just sneeze like us humans. It would make things so much easier for us both. 

Smile Every Day

 

I was very happy to see this box in my mailbox yesterday. I needed a smile. I admit to being down in the dumps lately. When you are staring at four walls for days on end little irritations and worries seem to get blown out of proportion. I needed a chill pill.

The box of goodies helped. I got a pack of pretty fall paper and a new stamp set that I've been waiting to be released.

It's called Den Sweet Den. They had me at knitting bears. 

I put it away telling myself I had to finish the Christmas cards I started in July. I need 20 and I'm up to eight. I've still got a lot to do but......

....then I thought it wouldn't hurt just to try the stamps out. I needed to see if they worked, right?

The next thing I knew I had a card.....and a big smile. Those bears are just so darn cute. 

Loose Ends

 

It's almost sweater weather here so I had some weaving in to do yesterday morning. Mosi has been sitting patiently all summer. It was time she was finished.

It didn't take long at all. Thank goodness for being able to strand the colors up the side. She got a good soak in the tub where to my horror she turned the water green. I've never had Palette bleed before. 

Lofoten is now at the scary part. Short rows for the shoulders. I hate short rows. I tried German short rows this time and I did pretty well on one side but not on the other. I had to go back and fix some holes. 

The Bubbles cardi looks like this now. I've learned a lot of new things using this pattern. It is very clever.

Man socks are here. I knit these at night in bed watching Gilmore Girls episodes but after day two of power washing the deck I couldn't even hold the needles last night. It's killing my back and shoulders but we are almost done.

My long lost giant WIP has only FOUR rows to go until I can put on the edging and call it a done deal. Hiding in my closet to knit is actually not such a bad idea. No one can find me so I have a little bit of guaranteed quiet time. I might just stick another project in the bottom of my closet when this is done. 

Something New

 

My new scroll frame is here. 

It's sort of a scroll frame/Q snap hybrid.

I like it. It won't fit in my floor stand but I can balance it on lots of things to make it work. I wish it helped me count because I had a lot of ripping out to do again yesterday. 

It's hard to see but in that left hand corner you can see the beginning of another little sheep. That's as far as I got this week on my other sampler. Now that the weather is nice the outside is calling. We've got so much work to do to make up for the summer of neglect. I spent the day power washing the deck while The Mister tackled weeds and leaves. It's a jungle out there. 

Rough Water

 

We went off for a ride to the dump and Pimpeliesse came along. I usually bring socks for this journey but this poor thing has been sadly neglected. It needed some attention. 

We started at the dump and ended up across the county at the bay. It was kicking up a fuss. This is my favorite bay weather- gray, chilly and windy. I want to hear it crashing on the rocks. I love that sound. 

My one pandemic silver lining has been that I no longer have any qualms about parading around in my flannel jammies. No one's getting that close to judge me so who cares what I look like anymore. I've seen worse down at the beach. Way worse. 

Aux Champs-Élysées

 

Thanks to TCM I finished the last of the Tour projects in time to arrive in Paris. Dark Victory, Camille, Ninotchka, Grand Hotel-I could have spun this and more. 

I like to take a walk down memory lane when I finish a project this nice. Here's its baby photo....

....and its first steps. I was a lovely spin. It's so soft and the colors didn't bleed a bit. Thanks to Covid it took forever for this fiber to get here but it was definitely worth the wait.

Now I have all my 2020 projects in one place for one last look. It certainly was a Tour to remember-in so many ways.