The Perils of Designing

 When I start a new design I have an idea in my mind of where I want things to go. Sometimes I even have a very crude outline of the design.  I have stitches in mind. This is all well and good until two weeks into working on a design element, it is not turning out the way I want it to be.  

Then I spend some time thinking about all aspects of the design. First and foremost. Can I turn it into a design element? Would I actually wear it with that particular design element? Can I further modify the design element to make it look better? Can it be blocked out? Would it look too wonky? Would anyone else want to wear it?  Sometimes this takes weeks. Sometimes just the length of a television show.  

All I know is that 2 weeks worth of stitching comes out in about 40 minutes.  This includes winding the yarn into balls. Sighs! Then I pick up the next yarn and try something totally random and different.  

If at first you don’t secede, skip the chocolate cake. Pick up your yarn and needles to try again.  With  the hopes that it will come out even better than the first design.  

Enter the design world at your own risk. Please leave your egos at the door.  

A Fantastic Day

 Today was one of the best days of my year.  My friends and I at Old Pueblo Knitting Guild were very busy knitting this year.  I was very excited and privileged to be able to deliver a trunk full of hand knit hats and scarfs.  Along with blankets, school supplies, and socks.   I was very excited to deliver everything to the Flowing Wells School District for their Clothing Bank. The staff was so excited that they emptied the back of the car for me.  I think they already had plans for most of the hats and scarfs.  

Holiday Gifts

 My holiday gift creation was in full swing this afternoon.  I was supposed to be resting, however I figured since I was sitting down while working that was the same as resting.  I got one set of gifts completely finished and in a box waiting for December.  Another one only partially finished due to broken and missing pieces from the kit. A trip to the craft store is in order.   By the way they wanted a review on the kit, I gave it a one star.  I very rarely do that.

I also spent the morning with friends. It’s always nice hanging out with friends.  Since this was my crafty group I took my oak shawl and added a few more rounds.  

A First for Me

 Today I had to have a root canal. Normally they make me cringe and then I get all tense. Making the experience trying.  Today I did something different, I started taking slow deep and relaxing breaths.  I kept taking slow deep breaths. It seemed like just minutes later the dentist was pulling out all the gear. I had actually slept through the root canal.  I’ve got to say that was the best root canal that I have ever had. I highly recommend sleeping through your next root canal. Also the dentist did not mind at all.  I think it made it easier for both of us.  

Also not a drop of knitting was done today. I promptly fell asleep after dinner.  I will have to try again tomorrow.  I am calling it quits for the night.  

My Tunisian Crochet Shawl

 Tonight I am working on a one of a kind shawl for myself.  With the work I did tonight, I have enough of the next section done to show off a little bit of the silk.  The orange and green silk work well together.  The orange and green combination helps bring out the color of the gold Llama yarn.  

You might have noticed that I filled in the corners using some of the techniques that I learned in the Tunisian hat class.  I have still not finished that hat yet.  I am getting closer.  I just have to be at full spoons to work on that project.  

Since I am giving myself some grace, I will not be writing a pattern for this shawl for many reasons.  The first being that I have not kept notes on the project as I have been working on it. The second being that this is a stash dive project, all the yarn in the project has been discontinued.  Third, I just don’t have the spoons to do the hours of back end work to get a pattern out.  Forth and foremost is that I wants one of a kind pice of wearable art that no one expect me has.  This is the artist in me speaking out.  Last but not least is that I am using some of the most expensive yarn in my stash for this project. I am at least $150 USD in and I am only halfway through.  I like to make my patterns affordable and this one is in the I am not affordable for the majority of knitters.  

So it’s time to take a peak.   

R & R

 I am taking a few days of R & R.  See you on the flip side.  

Be productive for me.  

Shiny New Things

 If you are anything like me, you like shiny new things. For me this includes yarn. Sometimes I am right in the middle of a project. I have the rhythm of the pattern down pat. My audio book is playing.  Then just in an instant I notice a skein of yarn.  It is saying hug me. Cuddle me. Make me into something beautiful.  Put down that project, just find a bag for it and finish it later.  However, I have a very bad track record of repeating this cycle over and over again.  

I am currently in a cycle to finish UFO’s.  I was really excited when I made it through a whole basket of UFO’s.  Then started organizing the knitting room.  I found 2 more baskets and a very large bag of UFO’s.  I have since made it through most of the huge bag. I am also slowly moving through other projects.  So with the exception of car knitting, crocheting or class work. I am trying very hard not to start more projects.  

I also need to take photos and log them in my Ravelry account.  Then I will have at least 4 bags of finished projects will leave the house.  

I guess it is time to go back to pencil and paper for my to do list.  Here is my attempt from 2023. I am still going to try again.

Making Progress Everywhere

 My body is still trying to adjust to more activity due to cardiac rehab. I am finding that I had adjusted to less activity better than I thought. My calorie intake had adjusted to my activity levels.  I have just sent that out the window.  This has lead to eating at odd times and falling back asleep because my body is still trying to heal and manage calories.  I find that I can not eat as much as I use to.  I got up at 6 am for breakfast and then got sleepy. I slept until noon.  I had really intended to be at the mall around 10am for my walk.  I did make it there by 1:30pm. Take today for instance, I tried walking at the nearby outdoor mall.  I have not yet been cleared for graded walking so no walking around the block yet. I found that after 20 minutes of the 40 planned minutes I was very tired. I was walking too fast. I know this because my mileage was too high.  I have to figure out a way to walk slower and obviously it was not my current audio book.  I guess that I will have to ask what beat of music I should be walking to and creat a playlist. 

In Tunisian crochet, my Skill Builder Hat by aklori designs has picked up its pace.  I finished round 11 of the crown.  I am now have begun round 2 of the body.  Having never made a top down hat before has left me wondering when the body will turn into a tube. I can say with certainty that it will not occur in the first few rounds.  The body is the easiest part of the hat so far.  The body is also much faster to crochet.  

Time for tonight’s progress picture. When it is finished, if the orange is not the right color for me, I have the perfect friend to gift it to. It is starting to look very orange to me. 

Happy Halloween

 I don’t know about your trick or treaters post pandemic, we have had noticeably less trick or treaters.  Since I tend to offer candy and non candy items for the children I have found that they love the following items in order of what goes faster.  

1. Pencils and erasers. #2’s go the fastest followed by colored pencils, lastly pencils that are anything else. The animal erasers that you can switch the parts around, go the fastest. I never buy them around Halloween, but other times in the year when they’re on sale.

2. Candy - it does not matter which kind, just not marshmallows. 

3. Crayons  and bubbles for the younger children. 

4. 3D printing errors and benches.  All the benches come from printers that have left the house.  

5. Various Halloween items. 

This year to get some extra ice packs out of the house, I gave away sets to parents who were with their kids.  I still have one set left and it comes with its own canvas bag. Let me know if you want it.  

Have a good weekend.  

Boo-boo Fixed

 I had to rip out row 9  of the Skill Builder Hat by aklori Designs and crochet the whole row again.  I have to admit that the row looks better than trying to patch things up.  I am just not that good at Tunisian crochet yet. So I went with my strength and ripped the row out. By the way I prefer ripping out Tunisian crochet over knitting just because I don’t have to be as careful.  I just put a stitch marker where I want to stop and rip away.  Then I got to row 10 the hardest row for me so far. It required dropping 2 stitch markers to accommodate a change in the pattern.  As you can see from the picture below I am starting to add the 2 rows of curves for the medium size hat.  It took 1 1/2 television shows to get through row 10.  I think I should be calling them rounds, because I am crocheting in the round. Rows just sounds better to me right now.  

I have one more row to crochet before I start the body.  That sounds very easy after rows 10 and 11.  Just the Tunisian knit stitch and the Tunisian simple stitch for a lot of rows.  The good news is that I will be down to 1 stitch marker.  Then I get to the brim and have to learn 2 new to me stitches.  Wish me luck.  

Tonight’s progress.  You can see the first row of scallops that I added tonight.

It’s been a very hard day on my body so I am calling it an early night. 

One Booboo

 I have found 1 boo-boo on round 9 of the Skill Builder Hat by Aklori designs.  Tonight I just gathered up the stitches and put a stitch marker to hold it together.  Tomorrow I will go to the back side of the work and pick up the stitch.  I am hoping that the repair work will be similar enough to just pick up the stitches and put them in there proper places.  After all I have over 26 years of experience and people hand me their projects to fix all the time.  If it comes down to the worst case scenario, I will just take out round 9 and fix it.  I have really started to get my rhythm down on the crown work.  

Without further ado, here is the current picture. 

Not So Visible Progress

 In the not so visible progress I managed to start the next round of a bespoke shawl for me.  I am only using “luxury yarn” from my stash.  I am 3 full skeins in with skeins 4 and 5 currently being added.  So far I have used a merino and silk blend for 2 skeins.  One skein of llama.  Currently being added are 2 skeins of 100% silk yarn.  The center panel is Tunisian Simple Stitch.  The first 2 color blocks are a half double crochet.  The current round is Tunisian crochet in the round. Honestly it went much faster once the stitches were picked up off the half double crochet round.  I am not sure how big it will become.  Whether or not, I will add more yarn to the project. Or call it quits once I go through the current skeins that I have picked out.  Only time will tell, and of course more crocheting.  

I added a couple of more rows to a charity scarf tonight.  All progress stopped when the television shows became too interesting. 

Of course 30 minutes of house work and organizing required a 2 hour nap.  The antibiotics are just zapping my spoon level to the basement.  I even sat down to sort the silverware.  I have to say it was a little awkward, although everything was put in the proper place.  

My new Apple Watch is a bit more jumpy than I expected.  Putting away the plates triggered an alarm for loud noise. Excuse me have they ever had a baby crying in their ears nonstop? Smashing a bug that landed on my arm,  elicited an alarm for “did you fall? Do you need medical assistance?”. Cleaning and organizing has had multiple alarms for me to sit down immediately and rest.  At this point I’m not even sure if I bought a watch or a portable mother hen.  I have been using smart watches for a long while.  I have never had one this jumpy.  Of course my last watch refused to give me the temperature in Fahrenheit, one day it decided all it would do with Celsius no matter what I did. When it started dying I gave up brand loyalty and switched to an Apple Watch.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make the watch less jumpy? I would love to hear your thoughts.  

Visible Progress

 Today I made some very visible progress on finishing my UFOs. With only one project left in the bag, the big bag was empty,  I emptied the project from the big bag and placed the project in a smaller bag. Going through the yarn in the sheep bag, since it was not super wash yarn I put it in with the weaving yarn .  

For knitting projects completed today, there were 2 charity projects completed. One child’s hat.  One scarf for a teenager.  Now they are headed to a pile of finished projects waiting to be photographed.  Then off to be used by my favorite knitting charity. The clothing bank at the Flowing Wells School District. If you would like to help the Flowing Wells School District, just go to their website and click the donation button for the activity of your choice. For residents in Arizona, the money you donate can be taken off your taxes. Please contact your accountant for details.

You might have noticed the pin on the front of the larger knitting bag. It is in support of Ukraine, with the colors of the Ukrainian flag and national flower. Please remember the heroes in Ukraine. They did not ask for this war, but they will finish it and win..

A Salvage Mission

 This is the yarn from the 7 times failed hat project. The yarn has been in time out for about a week. Of course the idea popped into my head after dinner. With not enough time to finish it before tomorrow in honor of Malabrigo Day celebrating 20 years in one of the most difficult business to become successful in. 

 If you follow my blog on a regular basis you will know the trouble this yarn got me into.  Now I have a perfect solution for this lovely yarn.  A striped scarf using Malabrigo , I think it is Caprino, but don’t quote me on this. I got this yarn in a class with no labels.  I am using a 6 mm Tunisian Crochet hook. I am doing 5 rows of Tunisian Simple Stitch. Since I have not yet learned to invisibly hide the yarn carrying, I am using a similar method that I use in knitting.  I am getting better as I tweak each row.  I am on row 15 of actual rows right now, so that would be half way through row 8 in Tunisian Crochet.  As you can see from the picture below, the yarn is very happy in this new pattern.  This is what the yarn wants to be.  I think I will add a bit of fringe on the ends since my side edges are not curling.  

Round 7 Completed

 It took an entire hour.  I have completed round 7 of The Skill Builder Hat by aklori designs.  The piece is still flat. The rows look fairly symmetrical. I took the pattern one repeat at a time and made sure it was as perfect as I could make it before I went on to the next repeat.  That is why it took an hour for this round.  I am happy with the results so far. So it was well worth my time. Forward progress has been made. 

!! Eureka !!

 Sometimes, I personally find that when I frog a pattern too many times, the yarn picks up bad karma.  So I switched the color way and yarn out.  Tonight, I used Tunisian crochet on the Skill Builder Hat by aklori designs along with the yarn Born This Way and Amber dyed by Twisted Ambitions Yarn in Wicked DK.  I am using Amber as the main color. Born this way is the contrasting color.  I changed out all the stitch markers too using a red mushroom as the start / end of the round like I do in knitting.  After all red does mean Stop. Yes, a hard stop.  I am going old school with a Post it note pad and pen to count the rounds. That way if I forget to move the wasbi tape, I don’t repeat a row by mistake.  The first 4 rows are now complete.  Wish me luck, I have seven more rows to go before the pattern changes focus. This is my first crochet hat ever, so it is my current challenge project.  

I need to stop rambling. So without further ado, rows 1 through 4.  

A Restart

 The Skill Builder Hat was frogged one too many times.  They yarn started to felt together.  The felted yarn will not be wasted, they will be going into a dog pillow for our local humane society.  So I decided it was time for a restart.  So I went into my knitting room.  Looked at the shelves of yarn.  The first package of yarn that caught my eye was a package of 2 coordinating skeins of yarn in DK by Twisted Ambitions Yarn in Wicked DK.  The colors look great together.  They are Born This Way and Amber.  So as you can see both skeins are wound and ready to go tomorrow.   It was meant to be.  

This time I am not relying on taping under the rows, I will use a small pad and pen to keep track of the rows.  This way I don’t crochet the same rows twice.  I am going back to pattern basics.  

The new colors are below and are in super wash wool.  

A New Recipe

 I have a new recipe that is supper quick to put together.  The recipe is good for potlucks, a casual snack between meals and of course good with lunch or dinner.  A low calorie/ low sodium tasty delight.  As you might have guessed it is also vegan.   So without any further ado, here it is. 

Sweet Potato Squash Casserole 

1 18 ounce package of pre cut Sweet Potatoes or buy fresh, then peel and make 1 inch cubes

1 18 ounce package of pre cut Butternut Squash, or buy fresh then peel and make 1 inch cubes

3/4 cup of water

Pumpkin Pie Spice, I used Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pie Spice, however you can used your preferred brand

1 large ovenproof casserole dish, I used my LeCreuset soup pot.

Pre heat your oven to 350f or if using a glass casserole dish to 325f

Rinse the Sweet Potatoes and Butternut Squash. Place the Sweet Potatoes and Butternut Squash in your casserole dish and toss. Pour water over the mixture.  Liberally sprinkle with your Pumpkin Pie Spice. Cover and bake for 1 hour. After 1 hour the mixture should be fork tender.  If not fork tender add additional cooking time in 10 minute increments.   

This dish can be enjoyed hot or cold without any guilt.  The picture below is the casserole minus 2 servings.  I do have a valid excuse. The casserole smelled wonderful straight from the oven and I was hungry. Please give it a try and let me know what you think.

The 5th try worked

 Ok, I ripped out the hat again. It’s my fifth try and I think I figured out my mistake. My end of roasted marker was to alike in color so I kept missing it. So I’m using an earring right now for my end of roast marker. That is until I can make a red glass bead stitch marker for crocheting. Or finding in an inexpensive pair of red earrings. Of course, red means stop much better than black-and-white. Below are my before and after pictures. For right now it will have to be a white and blue heart. 

All the other stitch markers have been put in a separate jar for crochet stitch markers. The top photo was beginning to look like a brain.

Where should I work on my project?

 Have you ever wondered how I choose which projects To work on while watching Television? Even which projects will never make it off a table with lots of light and lots of room to work, and never be done in front of the Television. Perhaps to take to your knitting group.

First off how complicated is the pattern? Is the pattern a simple garter stitch pattern. A simple broken rib. Is it a lace pattern with lots of yarn overs and knit 2 stitches together? Is it a pattern that requires more than 20 stitch markers? These are all things I consider when choosing which projects to do while watching Television.

I am currently working on two different hats. The hat I will take anywhere only has four stitch markers. These markers are my original counting markers. These markers will tell me one to increase or to decrease. So this hat, I will take anywhere and work on at any time. The second hat is a skill builder hat that I have been working on for a little over a week.  Each row in the pattern is different. I have more than 40 stitch markers and I’m only on round four. This pattern at this point will never leave the table. Which means it’s going to take longer to knit or crochet. 

How do you decide where to need a project?  I would love to know. Please let me know how unit or crochet.

The Skill Builder Hat

 I have made it to round 4 of the Skill Builder Hat by aklori designs. It is beginning to make more sense.  I have switched the stitch markers to the first stitch of every repeat.  So I have extra open stitch markers ready to go. I am making the medium size hat for me.  And move the last round of stitch markers as necessary.  When all is said and done, I am seriously considering having a separate cookie jar for my crochet stitch markers.  I seem to be accumulating them fairly quickly. Just keeping ahead of running out.  

This is definitely not a project to do when watching television for me.  

The latest update photo.

A Cookie Jar Full of Stitch Markers

 I don’t think that I have ever talked about my 26 year collection of stitch markers.  I do admit that I have a cookie jar full of stitch markers.  The size that holds a little over a pound of cookies.  I personally have never weighed my stitch markers. I have stitch markers over various projects and in my kit bags of accessories, I have more than several.  So all my stitch markers are not in the jar at any given moment.  

I use stitch markers for almost all my projects.  Whether it’s to mark the beginning and end of a row. To mark increases and decreases. To mark the repeats on some patterns. Of course to share when some when someone needs one.

I personally find that it is easier to keep track of repetitive patterns, such as lace or shawl work. The most stitch markers ever used in one project was around 50. I have found a new use in the hat that I’m currently working on. I have started the Skill Builder Hat  by aklori designs. I have restarted it more times than I wish to admit to.  Even though it is not a complicated design, it has enough repeats to drive me nuts and send my head spinning.  So I decided to mark every single Tunisian Simple Stitch with a stitch marker. Yes, this is a Tunisian Crochet project.  This has helped tremendously as I have finally got the rhythm of the hat down. I haven’t finished row three yet, but I’m sure I am going to be diving into my stitch markers to get more until I get to the body of the hat. Then I will be down to one stitch marker marking the end in the beginning of the row. I have had to replenish my stitch markers for this hat three times so far.  You can tell by the picture below that the stitch markers weigh more than the yarn at this point. I found it appropriate that the back side of the panda marks the beginning/ending of each row. More pictures of the hat will be forthcoming. 

If you would like to crochet this hat too, just go to www.akloridesigns.com. You will find Lori’s patterns and books. Also links to tutorials. The yarn is available at Birdhouse Yarn in Tucson Arizona or most of your local yarn shops. 

Hopefully a Soultion

 For the last couple of years I’ve have been I have made a very bad habit of misplacing my phone. It was the first time that I had gotten an Otterbox cover that matched the color of my iPhone.  I would lose it in the house and my purse.  After a really bad mishap last weekend, I knew that I needed a new protective cover in a bright neon color.  Since I could not find a neon or glow in the dark Otterbox , I bought a bright yellow cover.  It’s time for the experiment to begin. 

I also had my first chance to try out the WoolAid merino wool bandage from New Zealand.  It was the only bandage in my purse when a blister opened up while we were out at dinner.  I can say that the package was easy to open and I did not need help to properly place the bandage.  It feels comfortable on my wrist. It is not scratchy on my wrist.  Best of all it foes not feel like any other bandage that I have tried in the past.  I saw a sample package while I was out shopping and decided to get it for my purse.  I am so glad that I did.  Now I just have to google WoolAid to find out where to buy more.  This is definitely my new bandage.  Did I mention it has a nice color and soft feel to it too?

Things will be on the very slow track around here again.  I might have over done it a little bit on vacation last week. In addition to trying a new configuration of one of my medicines, which did not work out as planned.  Then accidentally leaving my iPhone in the hotel room, yes my husband and daughter retrieved the iPhone for me while I had a panic attack.  Like everyone else, my life is on my phone.  

Now it’s time to try for a full not of sleep.  Sleep will definitely aid in my recovery.   TTFN