Happy 4th of July

 

 

 

 

What a Month

And I don't mean that in a good way. I've been MIA and not keeping up with this as much as I wanted to. But frankly June has been a rough month; I'm kind of holding my breath for the next three days.

The month didn't start too bad - J got his cast off and E and I celebrated our 13th anniversary. But they went downhill from there. I got a staph infection and ended up in urgent care to have it drained. A month later and I'm still being treated, although the end is in sight. Five days after the urgent care visit we had to say goodbye to our dog. Jack had a good long life - he would have been 14 this week - but I still miss him. He was such a good dog! I never thought we would survive those puppy years, but he grew up and became one of my most beloved dogs ever.

A week or so after that a stomach bug hit our house, taking us each down one at a time. At first I thought I was lucky, because C had it on Saturday and I was fine. But then Thursday afternoon I got knocked down for the count. This week has been fairly tame (knock on wood), just insanely busy.

Hopefully July is a little friendlier than June.

 

Looking Back, Looking Forward - 5KCBWDAY7

Last year I was not so good at keeping up with Knit and Crochet blog week on Eskimimi Makes so I don't have a Looking Forward post from that time to reference. I do however try to assess my knitting goals at the beginning of each year so I will use that as my starting point.

In this past year I didn't really add much in the way of new skills - the only new thing i tried was making clothes. I finished a cardigan but I wasn't super happy. My gauge was off (I even did a swatch!) so it ended up too big. I tried another item of clothing again, a shirt for my niece, which was a little more successful but I still think I have work to do in this area.

However looking back through my old projects I found that I actually improved my knitting in a few areas I had already learned. For one thing I became a bit of a sock knitting machine. Last year at this time I was on my second pair of socks. Since then I have completed those (bottom left), plus made some for my kids (middle and bottom right), a pair for hubby (top left) and another for me (top right).

I also got much better at stranded knitting - making hats for (clockwise from top left) my son, aunt and niece.

Looking forward to the coming year there are a few things I would really like to learn. I'd like to learn entrelac. I've downloaded a Craftsy class on the subject but haven't taken it yet. The other thing is Intarsia. My plan is to conquer that after the entrelac. Unless I need to sooner (there is a really cute Elsa and Anna doll set that involves intarsia that would be super adorable for my niece). I would also like to start crocheting. I know the fundamentals but my brain goes squirrelly when I see a pattern and I'd like to change that.

Search for 5kcbwday7 to see what other knitters and crocheters have to look back on and forward to.

 

Something a little bit different - 5kcbwday5

The challenge day 5 of Knit and Crochet Blog Week with Eskimimi Makes is to do something a little different. This is absolutely the hardest one for me - to shake things up in my blog. Last year I managed to come up with an infographic. This year I thought I'd do a Top 5 list.

So here are my five favorite knitterly things:

• My Hiya Hiya needles, especially my interchangeables. Best money I've ever spent on needles. I'm allergic to nickel but prefer metal needles so my options are sort of limited. These fit my needs perfectly!

• Sock yarn! (I may or may not have a problem with buying too much)

• Being able to make things for people. This blog is well populated with things I have knitted for people over the last four years.
• My knitting needle holder. I'm super proud of this since I sewed it myself. I was looking for a project to work on my sewing skills and this was great because it was all straight lines. Plus it's useful too!

• The fact that knitting relaxes me. Picking up my yarn and needles is the fastest way to get rid of stress.

So that's the top five, on day 5. For other creative posts search 5kcbwday5.

 

Experimental Photography and Image Handling - 5kcbwday 3

Day 3 of Knitting and Crocheting Blog Week focuses on photography and image handling. This is definitely an area I need to work on. I'm not the best at taking professional looking photos in the best light. It's more about getting a pic up quick before I forget to take one.

The other thing to focus on is how I present them. Right now it just goes back to getting something up quick. I think sometimes there may be more useful ways of presenting the info. For instance, this:

For Easter I knitted seven bunny nuggets. I was originally going to do a picture of all seven but I ran out of time and gave four away before I finished the last three. So I never got a picture. A collage allows me to combine them into one cohesive photo rather than just picture after picture. (And aren't they cute!)

For more creative photos, search 5kcbwday3!

 

Project Dating Profile - 5kcbwday2

This week I am participating in the 5th annual Knit and Crochet Blog Week, hosted by Eskimimi Makes. Today's topic is to write a dating profile for a project.

Name: Mitt Envy

Age: 5 months

Description: 6 inches tall. Colorful with a little bit of a dark side. A little bit complicated

Likes: Traveling - been traveling since an early age as a skein of yarn beginning in Iowa and traveling through Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico before heading to Arizona. Cold weather, but not too cold. An office that has the thermostat too low or a nice, sunny December day in Arizona is perfect.

Dislikes: Weather that is too hot or too cold. Doesn't like playing in the snow, but can't stand the heat.

Looking for: A warm weather knitter, who occasionally needs a little warmth. A sentimental knitter who will look at me and smile when she thinks about where I came from.

For other knitters' profiles, just search 5kcbwday2.

 

A Day in the Life of... - 5KCBWDAY1

Today kicks off Knitting and Crocheting Blog Week, hosted by Eskimimi Makes. The first topic is A Day in the Life of a Project. Since I tend to give away a lot of what I make I thought I would describe what life is like for one of my WIPs.

The Story of a Sock

As a sock to be, I am a very portable project. That means I get dragged around and plopped down everywhere until I am done. However I have had a more adventurous life than many of my fellow other socks. I was started the weekend before Mother's Day by a crazy knitter who thought there might be a chance of finishing a pair in a week for her mother, even though she had never done that before.

For the first two days I grew quickly, first ribbing, then cuff. Then life got interesting. I traveled in a purse to the doctors office, to occupy the knitter while she waited with her son to see the orthopedist - J broke his arm the previous week and was going in for a follow up appointment. Turns out he needed to go to the surgery center to get a few pins in his arm the next day. So that night I was knitted on quite a bit as the knitter couldn't sleep well, worrying about the next day.

On Tuesday I was crammed in the purse again, and travelled to the surgery center (along with a bunch of toy cars). I mostly sat in the purse, but did get worked on for a few minutes, while the knitter was sitting next to my intended owner. (Luckily she had no idea what the knitter was up to and thought the socks were for the knitter herself.) Then I went home and mostly sat on the table next to the knitter while she watched her son sleep, occasionally growing by a row.

At this point the knitter realized it was madness to try and finish both socks by Sunday so things slowed down a little bit. I was worked on some throughout the week and finished on Saturday evening. I was promptly put in a basket with some other goodies and a note pinned to me saying "IOU 1 sock". Unfortunately in her haste, the knitter neglected to take a picture of me.

I was taken out of the basket on Sunday afternoon, and tried on by my owner. I'm pretty sure that now I will get to relax a little as I wait for my other half.

To read other Day in a Life adventures, search 5KCBWDAY1.