Shut Up & Knit!

Checking In...

 

Having a fabulous long birthday weekend, thanks.

Ran up to Reno on Saturday and spent some time with PinkyD.  After a fabulous lunch, we went to her LYS, Jimmy Beans Wool.  Maybe you've heard of it.

I needed yarn for the new Ysolda Along that started today.  I'm still trying to finish the decreases on my hat but the Along is in my plans for today.  Along with painting my nails and maybe a nap.  Oh and maybe getting caught up with email but I know that's crazy talk.

I've also done some organizing of the yarn stash and am once again trying to adopt No More Yarn as my personal mantra. 

Meanwhile, I'm waiting for yarn to arrive in the mail.  Yeah...

Are you having a long weekend? 

Are you having a good time?

Are you knitting along, too?

Links added for the benifit of my Stalker in AZ, who needs all the help she can get and the people of Buffalo, who will never figure shit out.

Then I ate the cookie

 

But he was asking for it.
Or...

The lemon made me do it.

This is what happens when I'm in a good mood.  Be afraid...

Lovely Monday

Fabulous day for a fake rage-making holiday Monday.  At least, the wind stopped.

Isn't it fabulous?! 

 

This arrived in the mail over the weekend.  It is a Stitched By Jessalu wedge bag.  She did two different prints for Halloween this year, and this is the one that I fell for.  Not hard to see why.

Had a wonderful, supportive chat with a much loved friend this morning.  We don't talk enough but, when we do, I always come away feeling better for it.  Now that all the (bad) crazy, judgy, and downright dreadful is gone, it's a joy to have the people I have in my life.  This morning was a wonderful reminder of how lucky I am and how loved.  It's that whole thing about making your own family in adulthood.

If the weather apps are to be believed, it's looking like summer is over.  Time to switch around the wardrobe and ponder going boot shopping.  No switching of bedding until next month because I don't trust the weather apps.

There are still man socks happening...

Okto Socks

The color of the yarn is off but we're not surprised by that.

Love the pattern!  Love the socks!

I had to add 2 stitches on each side to get the right stitch count but that was an easy thing to do.  I knit this pair of socks toe-up with CCSRs and a sewn bind off.  The chart is fun, easy to follow and easy enough to memorize.

Planning on re-watching the new Lewis & Hathaway mystery and perhaps spin a bit.  Yes!  The new upright for my wheel arrived over the weekend also.  Changing things around wasn't too involved and I'm back in the spinning business.  Good thing with Rhinebeck this weekend..

Hoping your Monday is happy, too.

Sometimes I do as I suggest

I linked a girlfriend to the Citrus Coaster a couple of months ago. She's a stylish thing, who enjoys crocheting, and is always looking for something fun and creative to do.  After knitting Happy Half Moon, I had some leftover yarn and an evening with no real plans...

where I found out I hate crab stitch...

I made exactly one.  Thought it was cute and moved on.

A week or two later, it is my coaster of choice and I may need to make more.  Make more if I ever finish that sweater. 

Yes, I am really still working on that sweater. 

Yes, I am shocked, too.

Yes, I know...

Wrapping it up...

Tomorrow is Labor Day here in the US. 

That marks the unofficial end of summer and the official end of the Summer of Socks.  For as long as I've been involved with the Summer of Socks, every summer, I have knit socks.  Until this year.  I have not knit a single sock, have not missed knitting socks and have only talked socks twice.  Once with my best friend, who may be getting socks sooner rather than later and with a lady I met this morning at the yarn store.  I tricked her into joining the Rav group before I left.  That's my good deed for the day...

However, I did buy sock yarn.

I will never admit to how much sock yarn has been purchased this summer, but this is the most recent buy.  No, not for me.

Why no socks this summer?

Because last summer was such a nightmare and, in a way, all I did that summer was knit socks.  Oh, I did other stuff, too.  My mother was dying and there were trips to the ER and hospital stays.  There was bullshit drama, fake friends and people who just don't get it... and a lot of mindless socks knit while waiting.

No, not my normal socks full of love and magic.  These were socks full of sorrow, frustration and loss.  There will never be another summer of socks like that, and, for that, I am truly grateful.

So no socks.

However, it really is okay...

I'm working on a sweater.

A sweater from a pattern with no issues, dramas or mistakes.  It's sort of brillant compared to recent projects.

Still no spinning.  Still don't miss it.  Although, occasionally fluff follows me home.  Not entirely sure how that happens, but I don't mind.