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FO: ON THE GRASS SWEATER

Two or so years ago I bought a couple skeins of Miss Babs Yowza yarn, which is a DK wool. I would really call it light worsted. I loved this dark variegated colorway called “Berlin” – it reminded me of a city at night. Which may have been the point! haha

I started a sweater that eventually got chewed on by some sort of bug while I was still working on it.  I’d never had this issue before. But they nibbled right through the yarn in several strategic places. I picked them out and sealed up the half-knit sweater in an airtight container, ticked off that $80 worth of yarn was ruined.

But was it? A year and a half later, I looked at that bag of yarn, and got to thinking. So I took it out of its bag and began unraveling the sweater. I checked for bug carcasses – none. No new ones either. I looped the yarn into several hanks and gave it a soak in wool wash to unkink it. It dried nicely on my drying rack, and I started fresh**.

Here’s On the Grass by Joji Locatelli:

I knit the 2nd to last size and the largest sleeves – because despite my best efforts, I could not seem to pick up the amount called for in the pattern. It’s just as well because I think with the ribbed “stripe” there is a bit of unflattering attention paid to the upper arm if you knit too tight of a sleeve. Anyway, this was my first time knitting top-down set-in sleeves, which is a great skill to have! I highly recommend it. While I very much like raglan sleeves and they are very flattering on me, I do like other options in my wardrobe, and learning a new technique is always good for your skill-set as well as your brain.

The yarn, despite finding several areas that needed to be snipped due to unraveling (possible more bug damage…), was a dream to knit with. Not a dream: weaving in one million ends. Like for reals. One million ends. 🙁

For a long-sleeved sweater if you are knitting over a 42″ bust and using Yowza, I would recommend 3 skeins. I used just about every last inch of 2 skeins for my shorter sleeved version.

Next up: Finishing Papaver Socks #2 (which have been marinating for several years, oops), another pair of Monkeys I impulsively started last year,  Whitehorse by Caitlyn Hunter (bobbles and all!) – I am actually half done with this sweater already.  I also ordered yarn from Knitpicks (Palette in Stellar and Ice Lily) to knit her Zweig sweater, which is just absolutely gorgeous. When we go to Stitches West in a few weeks I plan on getting yarn for her Sunset Highway sweater as well… Can you tell I’m a newly minted Caitlyn Hunter fan??

**Someone asked me why I didn’t just get rid of the yarn since it got eaten. Well, for one thing, I spent a lot of money on it. Plus, there were no more moths or whatever in it and I washed the yarn… I see no reason to be wasteful when it’s not warranted.

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FO: XOXO HAT

Happy New Year! I spent the first week of the new year in LA and at home for a nice, cozy staycation. My first week back at work was busy and here it is another three day weekend already.

I finished a hat made with some yarn I got at Lambtown last October. I don’t think I wrote about Lambtown at the time, but it’s a local fiber festival in Dixon. They have yarn & fiber vendors, a junk/antique section, and 4-H events. They have a barn set up where you can see all sorts of fun breeds of sheep.

This year, to my delight, there were militant vegan protesters out front! When they tried to give me their pamphlet I just looked at them dead-eyed and said, “Sorry, meat is delicious.” Haha. Also, one of them got into a yelling match with one of the cops outside the gate. I did not see said protesters outside when I left around an hour later.

Anyway, so I bought this skein of yarn in basically what is safety orange, haha. It is Color Notes Yarn, which is a husband/wife team out of Antioch. It has a great hand and was a pleasure to knit with. I wanted to make an obnoxiously bright hat and attach one of the faux fur bobbles I ordered from Amazon – mission accomplished!


This is not any pattern from Ravelry or books or anything. I just looked up the XOXO cable online and charted out a hat. I think this would look really cute in hot pink and may make another one. I do, after all, have 11 other fur bobbles in various colors to use. Hah. With Stitches West coming up next month, I may try to get another skein of this yarn as I saw Color Notes will be vending at the show.

Coming up I am almost done with my On the Grass sweater, which had 4 million ends to weave in. I have a few of those left, and it needs to be blocked. It should be done by next weekend.

For my new project, I started Whitehorse by Caitlin Hunter. I love her patterns. I ordered some yarn from Knitpicks to make her Zweig pattern, and will be looking at yarn to make Sunset Highway at Stitches.

On another note, I saw that Ravelry has a new feature where you set goals for the year for your completed projects. I put ten down for this year. I think that’s reasonable. I have a couple of pairs of socks that need to be finished as well as some plans for sweaters and a couple hats. I use Goodreads goal feature for books as well (I try to read one per week, minimum) so I think this feature will be good for me for knitting as well. Since I’m definitely more in the mood to knit this year I think I can accomplish that pretty easily. I read one blog where she knit like 37 pairs of socks last year amongst other things and I was like, dude. I must knit hella slow. But, you know: #goals

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WATCHING / LISTENING 12.15.17

Over Thanksgiving weekend I spent some quality time with Netflix. I watched both Godless and The Punisher. Thoughts below!

TV:

Godless is a Western, about a mining town that lost most of its men in an explosion and is populated now with a majority of women. The plot revolves around the sheriff, who is going blind (not a spoiler), his sister, the women of the town, a stranger who rides into town and is shot by one of the women who lives on a farm outside of town, and the evil gang led by Jeff Daniels who is after the stranger for reasons that will be revealed. There’s a classic shoot-out, a train heist with dire consequences, a chopped off arm and more!

It’s so good, you guys! And has something of an unexpected ending. There is a truly cinematic feel to the way it was filmed, but it still feels like a classic Western. It’s not perfect, but it’s still great flaws and all.

If you’re looking for a show also about a mining town that lost most of its men in a mining accident but is way (way) less violent and also features a cute Canadian Mountie and is probably rated G, then you will enjoy the Hallmark Channel’s When Calls the Heart.


The Punisher is one of the Marvel TV series on Netflix. I have only watched Jessica Jones and The Defenders all the way through. I tried with Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, but couldn’t really get into them. I was bummed about not getting into Luke Cage because that cast is full of actors I like and I liked the character in Jessica Jones. Anyway, so I guess the gist of what I’m saying is that Jessica Jones has to be in the show for me to watch it all the way through.

But I heard that Jon Bernthal was the star of The Punisher, which I thought was kind of interesting. Some of you may know him as Shane from The Walking Dead (I FINALLY broke up with the Walking Dead. I feel so free!). I’ve liked his work so I decided to check out the Punisher aaaaaand watched the whole thing in like 2 sittings.

The plot revolves around Frank getting revenge for the murder of his family and uncovering a wider conspiracy. That’s basically it. But it has Deborah Ann Woll reprising her role as Karen Page from the other Marvel series and a good extended cast.

LISTENING:

Not much, just a couple eps of My Favorite Murder as I work my way through the series. I’m up to episode 24. I need to get back to the Babysitters Club Club. 😛