Fledge 2 -- Happy Birthday to me

Megan Goodacre at Tricksy Knitter does some wondrous things with style, yarn, and photography.  I've made her Fledge Shawl once as a gift.  Very wonderful and so I decided on a second journey through this wonderful pattern.

The first time thru I had some yarn challenges, as in "not quite enuf."  So I bot some coordinated yarn and finished the last of the border (2 rows and bindoff) in the contrast.  Worked out great.

Even better, the leftovers from the skein of Really Red Chugiak, Pagewood Farm, sock yarn had yardage sufficent for a second Fledge Shawl.   Ooooh.

Yup, it's Really Red.
It's a hand-dyed sock yarn from
www.pagewoodfarm.com

Megan's design is just wonderful.  She includes charts and words, plus careful instructions on how to change the size.  In her latest blog she has included notes on choosing a heavier weight yarn, perhaps a sport weight instead of sock.  

She advertises email support with each design and I can attest to a promise fulfilled.  I found what I thought might be an error in the written words in one row, they didn't match the chart.  I emailed her and she agreed and made the correction for her downloadable PDF.

Final dimensions:  48" across the hypotenuse (long side for the geometry-challenged!) and 24" down the center of the back.  The border points are done with a clever stretchy bind-off combined with knitted chains.

Rest rows are inserts of stockinette with yo at ends and center
of each row.  They are a nice break.

So, I will have a new shawlette to adorn my shoulders when I visit friends for lunch on and around my birthday.  It's Really Red -- did I mention that? -- so this accessory will take me into Christmas.

I'm a lucky lady -- I knit and now and then I have enuf yarn to adorn the edge of a gift for a friend and then make something just for me.

Life is good.  Sure hope your knitting adventures are taking you into joy-land.

That #Completion Thang

If you Blog, Read, Knit, Quilt, Run, Weave, Spin, Rebuild Cars, Boat/Sail, or whatever you know this for sure -- Life is what happens when you're making other plans.  Old maxim, but oh so true.

• Spent four days at Ocean Shores, WA, with grandson and husband.  Built some great sand castles, ruined my hips on the back of an intractable nag, and flew a wonderful Red Baron kite.  #Knitting -- well only a bit.

• Spent a few hours on two occasions in two different local ER's.  Husband seems to be having a hard time right now.  Slammed thumb in the car door -- 5 stitches.  Last night did a horrible face plant on the aggregate concrete of our front porch resulting in broken nose, abrasions that bleed like crazy, two shiners, a pulpy upper lip, and 4 stitches in knuckle of right index finger.  #Knitting -- not so much.

• Spent a week prior to Ocean Shores with grandson at our house.  Saw the latest Wimpy Kid movie, cleaned out paperwork in office, taught him how to knit, took him to play in the lake.  #Knitting -- not so much.

So I am proud to report the #Completion of a wonderful Fledge Shawl, designed by the talented Megan Goodacre of Tricksy Knitter.  Yarn is by Sweatermaker Yarns, 50 silk / 50 merino.  This yarn is what we will all be using when we reach heaven; it's that wonderful.

Several pix to show you WIP and FO.

Still proud to report I have not started anything new, tho friend Darliss and I went to a sale and bot great yarns.  I gotta tell you I am very very very tempted.  #RestrainingMyself

Free to Knit

Everyone in the US will do their own personal homage to Independence today.  We're free to do that, to speak and write as we please, even if sometimes our words and pictures offend.

Everyone in the US will have some sort of celebration, probably including food.  We're free to feed the hungry when our own abundance overflows -- and when it doesn't, we still are free to feed the hungry.

Everyone in the US will go about their daily life without restrictions.  We're free to do that, to drive (within the framework of the rules of the road) and to visit and to convene.

But perhaps, just perhaps, all of us here do not recognize that we are also free to do the right thing, not just the thing we think best for us.

Perhaps, just perhaps, this 4th of July will be a reminder that it's not all about me.  There are others who are celebrating, crying, laughing, sharing, and worrying.  We are free to be part of their lives and to lift them up.

We are free to think about others and their needs.

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Finished the Arimono Shawl, while on WRT (Waiting Room Time, first cousin to HT, Hospital Time.)

During the last week of finishing, Megan Goodacre of Tricksy Knitter announced the release of another wonderful pattern in hand-painted yarn from SweaterMaker Yarns.  Fledge Shawl in Romance  Great customer service.  Megan emailed me when she realized her pic of the yarn was mis-named.  She held two colors for me until I decided which I preferred.

I'll wind the yarn and cast on for this one.  I promised myself a new something when I reached 2 minutes on bridge/plank.  Done!  and done more than once.  Getting stronger.  Better for knitting.  Core strength helps with everything you know.

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We US Catholics are finishing a Fortnight of Freedom.  I am celebrating the freedom I have to be a professed Roman Catholic, to take this belief and faith into my daily life, to worship, to give, to share, to be joyful in Christ.

Happy Freedom Day to each of my US followers and readers.  

Hospital Time

There's God's time, earthly time, and Hospital Time.  If you've been a resident there or sat by the bed of a friend or relative, you know that HT elapses at a pace unknowable to mankind.  I don't think even the docs and nurses and aides can explain HT to you.  HT has a willful mind of its own and can be slower than glaciers and then pass more quickly than synapses in the brain.

Second verse -- sorta same as the first.  Another set of chest pains, a call to 911, EMT's at the house, ambulance trip to St. Joe's, boocoo tests (as in blood, x-ray, dye stress tests), and lots and lots of waiting in between -- all on HT.

I had a flight instructor who explained Flight Instructor Time to me this way:  hours and hours of boring flying punctuated by seconds of sheer terror  (remember there's a student pilot in the left seat, Pilot In Charge.)

HT feels the same way.  Long periods of boredom, bad food, interruptions for vital signs, and then finally a minute or two with someone who can explain test results and next steps.

Meanwhile -- I've grabbed my knitting bag on my way to the hospital.  Of course!

Here's what I worked on, all depending on available mental energy, interest level, and access to decent light.

Snug Sockettes -- from Vanessa at Mixed Martial Arts and Crafts.  Vaness at Mixed Martial Arts and Crafts.  Also on Ravelry if you wanna log in there.  I used stash, left-over Harry Potter sock yarn.  It's Cascade Heritage washable.

All the pics today were taken on the deck, as we finally have a bit of overcast sun.  We call them sun breaks here in PNW, USA.  It's a situation full of hope as in "we see enuf sun we can hope for the full dose soon."

Arimono Shawl -- Megan Goodacre from Tricksy Knitter.  I'm completely addicted to Megan's designs.  Just bot two patterns at her end-of-summer sale.  You might still be able to find a kit for Arimono, using Sweatermaker Yarns.  I gotta tell ya -- this is some of the most wonderful yarn I've ever worked with.  It's silk and cashmere, hand painted.  Tricksy Knitter.

Manchester United scarf -- my design and first experiment with Double Knitting.  Yarn is Patons Astra, sport weight acrylic.  This is very fun.  I encourage you to try something in Double Knitting.

We're home now and much improved.  We both enjoy being on our own time and away from HT.

Me, I prefer KT.

Knitting Time.

Oh, the places you'll go . . .

Dr. Seuss was right.  Life is full of journeys and adventures.  Not all of them involve knitting, but as you'll read, I do my best to include the yarn and needles as often as possible.

Husband spent almost a week in the hospital waiting for a stent to be inserted in a blocked artery.  The adventure began with chest pains.  I will admit to all readers that, yes, in addition to my purse I grabbed my knitting tote and stuffed in a project on my way out the door to take him to the ER.  I carried that bag back and forth with me every day to and from the hospital.  Some knitting occurred.  Just some.

He's home now, much improved. He's got a renewed sense of life with all its glories and riches.  We both have a greatly renewed sense of the power of God and the talented, caring people He has placed in the world of magic medicine.

In summary, take one 86 yr old guy who walks every day.

• Give him a blocked artery (and won't we all have them after 86 years despite diet and exercise?  86 years is a long time for a body to work on itself!)  
• Take him to the ER with chest pains.  
• Transport him by ambulance within the hour to the main hospital and have him scoped and cathetered to discover three arteries blocked.  
• Work on him for a week to get BP and hemoglobin and kidneys at top form.  
• Send him back for a catheter procedure to ream out the worst of the three arteries and insert a stent.  
• 90 minutes later have him back in his room, awake, alert and enjoying a visit from grandson.

Now them's some miracles and wonders, dontcha think!?

We're home and glad of it.  My week looked like this

• Try not to worry; he's in good hands.
• Knit and pray
• Wait and pray
• More knit and pray
• More wait and pray

Well, you get the idea.

I worked on a pair of sox and the Arimono shawl.  Both were non-taxing to my brain but allowed my hands to be busy.

Fabulous color wave and great pattern.

Hoping life will again take on the dimensions of "boring normal."

Blessings on all who serve.  I wouldn't be knitting or enjoying my new husband without your contributions and sacrifices.

Oh, but tis soft . .

Cashmere.  And the combination with silk is unbelievable.

I've often thought that technology has yet another leap to make -- we've gotten to video sharing with Skype and FaceTime, but still there are a few things missing.

• We can't smell the food that looks so delicious on the plate.
• We can't have our thirst quenched by the bubbly drink offered in the ad.
• We can't shake the hand of a new friend.
• We can't touch the soft yarn in the picture.

Maybe someday.

Meanwhile I'm knitting the Arimono Shawl by Megan Goodacre of Tricksy Knitter.  This is my second Goodacre pattern -- both are grand, error free, easy to follow, include both charts and words for lace patterns, and they make me happy while I'm knitting.  You'll want to check each pattern.  I've already got my eyes on a third one to add to my Goodacre collection.

The kit from Tricksy Knitter was my Mother's Day gift.
Pattern and yarn are both still available.
Megan's most recent email said they had just restocked the
wonderful yarn.

I bot Pansies at Dusk -- don't you love the name!  It's from Sweatermaker Yarns, and uses both cashmere (30%) and silk (70%).  Pattern for Arimono Shawl comes in the kit, though you can also download it to your pdf reader after purchase.

Yarn and pattern -- 

Fabulous skein wrapper with the illuminated "S".  The yarn is
hand-painted and did I mention that it is glorious!?

Enjoying this one a lot.  Glad to have some relaxing lace to knit in between other projects.

Speaking of other projects -- that experiment with the Mitered Crosses?  I frogged it.  Addey used the best word to describe what I had tried to do -- it was 'fiddly.'  I knew I wouldn't knit another and didn't really wanna spend the extra time weaving in the ends for this one.  I do think the afghan would be lovely in just the yarn the designer suggested -- a variegated Noro, on US#6.  I used a cotton on US#8.  

Bottom line -- it didn't scale well to bigger yarn OR bigger needles.  It happens.

Sure am glad there's no fee in this establishment for re-stashing.