The Fairy GodKnitter

The last of the hats, new handspun and whatever

Here is the last of the hats:

This one is my favorite.  The pattern is Limpetoile and the yarn is the fabulous* String Theory Merino DK in Jade.

Connor went back to college yesterday, after his week home on mid term break.  He took the collection of 5 hats to his BGFs and the tweets/emails are trickling in. 

I miss him already, but he is really happiest at school.  He likes to be busy and this term is turning out to be very successful for him academically. 

He did get a haircut.  Before:

and after:

So much better. 

The week was fairly quiet with Griffin snowboarding in New Hampshire for most of it.  Griff had a terrific time with Mo and Ed and he was able to navigate the return trip home (3 hr bus trip to Logan and then alone to bag check and all that) without a problem.  Even though the weather wasn't as snowy as he would have liked, they snowboarded for 4 days in a row and on bigger mountains than we have. 

I did manage to ply together about 6 ounces of singles on the new Matchless.  The fiber is Merino/Tencel 50/50 that I should be carrying in the shop soon.  I really like the color shifts in my yarn:

The yardage is somewhere between 1400 and 1500, I should know, but every time I tried to count it, I was interrupted. 

This is sort of a lead in to something I have been trying to talk about for awhile now.  I am struggling with the day to day stuff of our living with my mother.  She has become a bit erratic and confused.  I/we are dealing with it**, but she is very stubborn and can be non compliant about doctors orders and will frequently do the opposite of what we have agreed to. 

I am not a patient person, but I am trying.  Between her, the boys and the Gary, I feel more and more that I need to be on duty 24/7 and that there must be some sort of plan in the works to overthrow me, although I can't imagine who would want to take over.  It's just a long stretch of being bossy and it's wearing me out.

I know that this has been brewing for awhile and my blog neglect is directly related.  I know that you all support me and I'm sure that there is lots of advice and commiseration, but I think I/we need to get Mom off one particular medication and see if that is the culprit because I think that it is.  If not, I just need my sister to give me the occasional break so I can get myself ready to accept that this time will be challenging. 

So bear with me, if you can.  I will blog when I can or have something to show and if things turn around the way that I hope they will, I'll make it up to you.

* I loves this yarn because the yarn is bouncy, the dye doesn't bleed and the colors are layered without pooling drama - it is DK but it is on the heavier side of DK, almost worsted, which works for a loose knitter like me.

** Called my sister the other day and told her to come help with this or expect a phone call from the train station in Toledo some night.  I never said who would be on that train but my sister will be here in a few weeks.

Look - another hat!

This pattern is Laurel and the yarn is String Theory DK in Lagoon. 

I loves this yarn more than any other store bought yarn I've knit with of late.  I loves it so much that I have started yet another hat from the same yarn in green.

In case you are all tired of hats, look- another wheel:

My replacement* Matchless in cherry**arrived on Saturday.  I'm now plying the Merino/Tencel singles that were spun from these batts:

I am also slowly trying to get myself back together after the hectic weekend. 

......................................................................................................................................

Connor***is home and that also means he is out visiting his local friends.

Griffin****is snowboarding in New Hampshire with Gary's sister and her husband. 

I am no where near caught up with the laundry, although I have been at it consistently.

 

*I sold my maple Matchless back in November to finance this one.

** In two or three years both wheels will be the same color I think.

***Boy needs a haircut or a career impersonating George Harrison circa 1965.

****He returns on Thursday but has to navigate Logan by himself - I'm gassing up the car just in case.

Somebody loves me

This arrived yesterday from Griffin's K:

It's not gone yet, but we are getting there.

I was also delighted to receive a package and card from our Margene.

Gary - who is sweet everyday - made sure that I woke up to a handmade card.

It has been nice to have such sweetness to remind me that the mid February slump comes and goes every year.  The days have been colder and damp, the house is a little torn up with another small remodel* and the weekend ahead looks crazy**, so I'm keeping my head down and working on hats.

This one is done and ready for the pile:

The pattern is Wurm, the yarn is some ancient STR mediumweight from the stash.  It was a mindless and somewhat boring knit, but I like the finished hat. 

For the next one, I'm back to cables:

It will be done soon, see you then!

 

* Mom's room has always had a sliding door to the back yard - but no exterior steps - plus it was always cold - so Jim has replaced the door with a window  and is putting things back together.  There is exterior siding drama and he better remember that the paint needs to be the eggshell finish or there could be pouting.

** Friday - Mom has major dental work in the morning, Connor needs to be retrieved from Elmira at 2:30pm (6 hours round trip), Miss S gets off the bus at 3:30pm, Griffin needs a ride into school at 7:30am with his snowboard and then needs to be retrieved at midnight.

Saturday - Connor will unleash a mountain of laundry, Griffin has a fancy date dance followed by a late stop for food with K, my new Matchless is scheduled to arrive.

Sunday - Griffin needs to be at the airport at 6am to fly to Boston and then travel onto New Hampshire for 5 days of snowboarding.

Hat Month continues

The yarn colors are really a little more vibrant, but when your model* always has that sour look on her face, it's best to just take the photo and leave it be.

I do love the hat though.  It knit up quickly, blocked to size and I will probably knit another one sometime. 

I've already started (and ripped and restarted) the next one - it's all hats, a little spinning and the usual nonesense around here.

I'm in the single digits on the countdown until Connor comes home for a week.  Our weather continues to be cold and cloudy and Griffin came home with a cold/fever this afternoon - the next few days could be quiet or awful - we'll see.

* 16 years ago, when we were first house hunting, we toured a house that had an entire line up of his and her wig/wig heads in the spare room - each of them had a hand written note with "Call me Sam" or "Call me Barbara" on it.  The homeowners were there the whole time and kept calling each other an assortment of names.

I know its a loud hat

but, trust me, it will look great on the person I'm sending it to:

(pattern: Plaited Tam, yarn: Tuscan Grove Bellagio in Cornucopia)

I've also started to knit the next one:

It's Autumn Vines in some STR medium weight from the now reorganized stash closet. 

And thanks to a few hours taming the mess that that closet had become, I've lined up enough yarn for 5-6 more hats.  Let's hope I don't tire of hat knitting before I run through the yarn.

Cleaning the closet (it was sort of foisted on me because Griffin had his BFF Patrick! over and if I try to work on either the drumcarder of the wheel, our Patrick! can not keep a safe distance from the fluff) was very satisfying.  My stash has never been so organized. 

This must be because I have not purchased yarn in over a year.  I may keep this up for awhile - just knit what I have and see how it goes.  But I do have an itch for some colorwork - buying a few new colors of Spindrift wouldn't be the end of the world.

In other news, my heart was all over the place this weekend.  In happy ways.  Part of it was with my dear friends in Arizona and part of it was with Connor as he volunteered to help run the Relay for Life at his school. 

I have a lot of ambivalence about some cancer charities (especially after the past week) but this event that promotes memory and surviorship is a good one.  Connor had an emotional time with some of it and sent me sweet text messages at midnight.  I woke up today to his tweets about being unable to do the limbo and a photo of him after 24 hours without sleep.

It's all good, very good.