September Update

 September has been quite an eventful month. We officially moved to a new house in August and then had to unpack as much as possible with busy schedules and full-time jobs, and P is also completing a Master's degree on the side. My parents visited us in early September, which led to another round of unpacking more boxes. We are getting there, bit by bit but it is hard when we've accumulated so much stuff, and have varying attention spans and energy levels. Which leads me to the next challenge: 

Pregnancy. 

P and I are expecting our first child in January. She is one determined little girl because 2 weeks ago, she decided she wanted to come early. In mid-September. When she is not yet viable for life. Thankfully, the doctors were able to protect the pregnancy, sew in a cerclage, and keep everything intact. Now, I'm on modified bedrest while we figure out the next steps. 

I'm not sure where I am going. Am I just taking the time off on FMLA/medical leave for the next 4 months? Will I be able to have enough benefits stored so that I don't have to be fired for not working or have to leave parental leave early? Will I have enough money to pay my mortgage? 

There is also the concern of will my mind be so undisciplined when I return that I can't go back to working? 

So much going on in my head, and I don't know what the next steps are. 

But knitting has always been there. And I am so thankful for knitting being there, as a distraction, as a creative outlet, as a way to channel my energies and have some semblance of control over things. As a community that I can reach out to, to access, to do Zooms with. The Stockinette Zombies have a twice-weekly zoom, and the Knit Girllls have a once a month zoom, both of which are for Patreon/subscribers. And the mental benefit I've gained from accessing their resources has been invaluable, especially in the last week when I have been feeling particularly down and left out of my friend's wedding activities (We were invited but had decline the invitation due to the pregnancy.), as well as the inability to go anywhere. 

So, I've had the idea to start a knitting podcast, more as a way to help me keep track of my projects, stay accountable, and keep sane in this insane time. 

I want to do a finish-a-long, a stash-down, except that it is mostly projects that I either started or had kitted up, and never go around to doing it. I have several ideas of what I want to do, including a daily vlog, a weekly or monthly accountability check-in, as well as documentation of the several knit-a-longs that I've joined. 

I think it will be good for me. I'm slightly intimidated to put myself out there, both myself as an entity/video as well as literally my face, since I don't want my patients to find my videos and judge me for not being in clinic, and instead cavorting around on the internet making silly knitting videos.  

After much hesitation, I did put out my first video. It is poorly shot, poorly edited, but it is done. I have to think about what I want to do next, and how I can make it better. Certainly, I think I will keep not showing my face, and focus on the content for now. 

WIPS Update May/June 2023

What a whirlwind the last two months have been! But then, these post-pandemic times have been just flying by rather quickly. In May, P and I went to Korea and China, which meant a LOT of knitting/crafting time on the various planes. Before we left, I finally finished his DK scrappy weight vest, which was mainly knitted from Knitted Wit yarns mill ends/scraps, and added in a few Yarn Cafe Creations and Hue Loco Color Riot mini-skeins. 

In June, we had COVID (caught from my parents), and while that meant time at home, I ended up not being able to knit much at all, as COVID-brain meant I couldn't even do a 2x2 rib. For three days, I ended up knitting a row, then realizing the mistakes the next day, laddering down to fix mistakes, and then made more mistakes in the next row. It was miserable. 2x2 rib is something I usually can do in my sleep, practically. I've given lectures while doing 2x2 rib, watched movies, listened to podcasts, held entire conversations, etc. It is the first patterned knitting I ever did. 

Later in June, having recovered from COVID, we meandered to Minnesota, to finally attend the Zombie Knitpocalypse. It was a great deal of fun, and I was glad we finally got to attend, as last year we missed it...because we caught COVID. Somehow, June seems to be the month in which we catch COVID. Probably something to do with letting our guards down and doing more travel. 

I heard that Shana Cohen of Shanalines Designs was supposed to be at ZK, so I tried really hard to finish my Recalibrate, which I had started at SSK last year. I did not finish it at ZK, but I did finish it a few days after we got home, and I am LOVING it. I really want to cast on another one, as I basically don't have to do many measurements at all. It uses up random fingering weight yarn, and uses less than 3 skeins. It may replace the 3-color- cashmere cowl as my go-to for 3 skeins that just go together but I don't know what to do with. 

It will also go great with my long dresses and the skirts that I may be plotting to make. 

Hope everyone is doing well. 

 

Peter finished his scarf! Including putting on tassels.

Working on my Recalibrate- also may have bought fabric in Rochester, and marveling that both yarn and fabrit match the teapot at the Thai food place. 

I finished my self-striping OMG heel socks, out of Woolens and Nosh "I brought you flowers" colorway.

WIPS update April 2023

I've had quite the busy 1st quarter, but I did have some travel time and that means knitting. 

I've started on a vest for my husband using scraps from a Knitted Wit grab bag of DK minis from a few years back, and it is so addicting to knit on! 

I've also been working on some OMG socks in Woolens and Nosh in the colorway "I've brought you Flowers".

My travel knitting to our AAO conference in Colorado was two-at-a-time socks out of a Sweet Georgia Yarns sock blank. 

Hope everyone is doing well! 

-ZT

Gardening Update April 2023

I've really been getting into gardening recently, and as the days are getting warmer, the itch to plant delicious things for my family has grown stronger. I'm trying to use this as a way to document what I've done so far, so that I don't accidentally dig up the potato bed like I did last year...(oops), or halfway through the season, turn to my husband and say "Huh...what is this plant? Did we plant this?!"

Bed #1 has a TON of spring onions. I lopped off the early seed buds and ate them with eggs. The rest I'm letting grow for the many scallion pancakes I'm hoping to cook this spring/summer. 

Bed #2, I planted some arugula, which has just started to sprout. I have been lazy and haven't dug out the plant labels yet, so I stuck some sticks at the head of the row to show these rows were intentional.

I did plant some potatoes, and put some dead grass on top for mulching. 

I also sowed some arugula into a pot (so I could use up a seed packet), which I will likely need to thin soon. 

I planted some garlic, which I sprouted with water. I am hopeful these will do well. 

Thyme from last year overwintered and came back! Most of the other herbs did not make it. The mint did, as well as lavender, though: 

WIPS update- Jan 2023

Hi All! I made an audio recording (with some side commentary) of the post below. Check it out!

Happy New Year, everyone!

It is truly hard to believe it is 2023 already- every time my credit card company sends me an updated credit card, I look at the expiration date and think to myself, "Wow, I wonder what things will be like in that far-off year?" Well, the future is here.

Last month, I had listed my WIPS, partly in frustration of how many I had. Today, I will update what I have accomplished, and share my plans for what I would like to do next.

WIPS from last month:

• Quaere fiber/queen city yarns socks for me (1 sock done, working on sock #2) Still working on these socks, as they got misplaced in my travel backpack between Christmas break and New Years. I did turn the heel on the 2nd sock, and now am working on the cuff.
• Lollipop yarn sock (probably for P, might be for father-in-law or my dad) Finished! I focused a lot of travel time on these socks, and finished them in time for my Dad to wear them on Christmas Day, just in time for Florida to be in the 20's. As in, 27 degrees Fahrenheit on the beach. Good timing, right?
• two-at-a-time sweet george gradient socks from a sock blank (both at the instep, about to get to the heel) I turned the heel yesterday for both socks! I knit about an inch on each, and then turned the heels. Now am working on the cuffs.
• socks for me from souvenir yarn from Buffalo, NY, when P and I visited Niagara Falls in 2021. I devoted some time to working on these socks last weekend when we visited my in-laws for New Years. I finished the first sock, cast on the second sock, and finished the toe increases. This sock is now going to be my car knitting for a while until I can get to the heel.
• Sweater for P (Flax Sweater)- one sleeve down to decreases for the cuff. Finished! I tried working on this on car rides to my in-laws, and it was really hard- the bumpy road kept jerking my neck, resulting in neck spasms. Since I devoted the plane ride to Florida/New Orleans to Dad's socks, I worked on it on the way back from New Orleans/Florida, and completed it December 30th, just in time for P to wear it to my in-laws' house for New Years Day fondue. My father in-law in particular admired the sweater quite a bit.
• Sweater for me, in fingering weight yarn- V neck tee (probably going to try to make this either a cardigan or a long-sleeved top) Not much love on this yet, since I was working on P's sweater. I'm intending on picking it back up soon.
• Sweater for me, in fingering weight/handspun. Update to add that this sweater was designed by Bad Wolf Girl Knits, and is called the Frozen Fractals sweater. I've casted it on, and did 2 rows of ribbing on the neckline so far.
• handspun blanket I did work on this for a few rows, when the socks were not in a place for me to pick and and put down during one night of playing Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition video game with P. It is starting to get heavy, so I need to start using a lapdesk for me to avoid straining my forearms. I did wash and prep an 8 oz bobbin of handspun for the blanket over Christmas break, which is kind of like working on it?

Additional Updates:

I started the enormous task of re-organizing the living room and my crafting room, and while it is still early days yet, one of the more signficant things I did was to move my orange fuzzy dish chair to the crafting room, so that I would have a lounging chair where I could knit or read or just hang out in my little oasis. In order to make room, I cleaned out a black 9-grid, and we move that downstairs to house all of the board games that no longer work for P and our current lifestyle. The rearrangement has already paid off in that while I was sitting in the craft room contemplating what to do next, I started looking at some of the projects on my 9-grid, and decided to frog my worsted weight shawl WIP, which was a mystery knit along with Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting in either 2017 or 2018. I finished clue 2 or 3, and then just got stuck when life got busy. While I am not against a worsted weight shawl, I have plenty of other shawls and would rather put the time, yarn, and energy into a worsted weight sweater at this time. So I did cast on for a Brick Sweater, which I had been thinking about making for a while, since hearing about it from Dr. Gemma of the Cogknitive Podcast. I'm not sure at this time if the sweater is for me or P (we have the same width in shoulders, but he has a bigger belly and much longer torso.), but we will see as time goes by. If it is a quick knit, I might make the first one for me as an experiment and an additional one for him that fits him better. I also have gorgeous DK weight yarn we picked up at Around the Table Yarns with which I'm thinking about making him a vest. Many Plans!

In all seriousness, I had a pretty hard week at work, (several 13 hour work days), so Saturday I just chilled at home, spent most of the day resting on the recliner, watching YouTube and working on projects. I opted out of playing board games with P and his friends. It was very relaxing, but at the same time, it made me realize for the first time just truly how many WIPS I had. I'm hoping to decrease the numbers for a bit, and focusing my attention on finishing things this year. (Yes, I know, I just cast on for another sweater with plans for 1-2 more, but planning for more intentionally finishing things before starting more.)

Thus, I spent some time and hand-wrote out a list of WIPS that were active, just scattered around my chair, and it was so helpful to see how many projects I already had in place, and made me certainly second guess starting the vest and the Brick at the same time. I had all this startitis energy because I had finished a few things, but this exercise helped remind me to pull back on the reins a little bit, and devote some of my energy to those things I've already started.

I think my theme this year is going to be Intentionality. What about you? With love and respect, Z

WIPS

Quick check-in, as work as been insane. My boss is about to be my underling in less than 10 days. We are all a little stressed around here. P and I are trying for a baby, and we are going to visit the fertility doctor in 2 weeks. Hopefully, she will have more productive things to say than just "exercise, lose weight, and get on Metformin." I feel like the theme of the last few months has been "too much to do and so little time." My craft room is migrating, one skein and one bump of fiber at time, down to the living room, where most of the fiber activities happen. The craft room is where I make my cards, in the occasion that I have to make cards, and where most of the supplies are stored. But I feel like I have so little time with P, my husband, that I would rather craft in the living room, so that we can have a peaceful coexistence, ignoring each other but basking in each other's presence. Of course, this is also Advent season, and all of the boxes are flowing in from various fiber companies, and I am perplexed, as I have already forgotten what I ordered in June. I almost submitted another order for a Sweet Georgia advent, until my subconscious reminded me that I perhaps may have already purchased one. In terms of WIPS (and this is just what I am currently working on): 

 - Quaere fiber/queen city yarns socks for me (1 sock done, working on sock #2)

 - Lollipop yarn sock (probably for P, might be for father-in-law or my dad) - two-at-a-time sweet george gradient socks from a sock blank (both at the instep, about to get to the heel)

 - socks for me from souvenir yarn from Buffalo, NY, when P and I visited Niagara Falls in 2021 

- Sweater for P (Flax Sweater)- one sleeve down to decreases for the cuff. 

- Sweater for me, in fingering weight yarn- V neck tee (probably going to try to make this either a cardigan or a long-sleeved top) 

- Sweater for me, in fingering weight/handspun

 - handspun blanket I have so many WIPS stashed in the yarn room, that I need to start working on them.

 We cleared out a section of the room to move a 9-grid shelf, and I found more WIPS. Oy. I don't want to frog any of them, not yet. I just need to designate more time to knitting, I suppose, or at least be more mindful about what I buy and what I use. Hope everyone is doing well, and having a good start to their holiday season.

Return of the Knitting Mojo!

I've been working on socks here and there and started some sweaters, but all of the sudden this fall, after a certain nuptial event, I started wanted to make all of the things. Partially because I don't have to worry about the Boyfriend Sweater Curse, and partially because now I don't have to do wedding prep/planning anymore! I should get started on thank you notes... Between knitting for DH, replenishing my sock stash after the Unfortunate Great Apartment Flood of 2018, and knitting for my new baby cousin, I've got startitis. So here is the list of what I'm starting/knitting/finishing/working on: Socks for Peter, out of sock yarn that we picked up while we were on vacation in Buffalo, NY/Niagara Falls a Baby Sweater out of White Birth Fiber Arts (Wee Envelope, by Ysolda Teague), for my baby cousin Rex

Socks for me in Beyond the Pines Socks for Peter out of Quaere Fibres, Heirloom Carrots colorway (these were initially meant to be socks for me, but I ended up getting too large of a gauge, and they seem to fit Peter perfectly in the foot so far.)

Socks out of yarn I got for Christmas, in sweet georgia yarn, in a double knit sock blank

I am also starting a sweater for Peter in Fibra Natura LIMA yarn that I've had from Tuesday morning for a long time, and I'm knitting the Tin Can Knits Flax Sweater I also want to work on a couple of patterns for me: the Ripple Bralette and the Shelley Top. I'm trying to get as much done and clear the needles as much as possible, since Jan 1st will be the start of the ZK (Zombie Knitpocalypse) knitalong, and I want to participate as much as I can.