Rest

I have been taking a few days off. Well, I’ve been sort of taking a few days off – I think they only feel like days off because I’m not riding really far, and putting up a tent and taking it back down again and trying to manage email and doing nine jobs all at once. Instead I’ve been riding my bike a little, to get around town, and to the beach, and to the marina to sail with Joe. The house is a still a disaster, the mountain of neglected work on my desk needs my attention now, but it has felt good to snuggle a baby, come up with a plan of attack, and enjoy the summer a bit. Also – knit. Not little bits of knitting found here and there, not just a plain sock because it’s all I can muster, but real, proper knitting – done in nice chunks, with a fancy pattern and beads and concentration and without worrying that the needles will puncture an air mattress.

startshawl 2017-08-14

I’m tackling Snow Angel (a little ironic for a summer knit, I know) and it’s lovely. I had about ten million balls of Findley left over after Elliott’s blanket, and it’s such a pleasure to knit with that I’m using it again. (It’s got 730m per ball. I can’t explain the yarn insecurity that led me to buy so much. I’m rather glad I like it, because I’ll be knitting with it for the rest of my life.)

lacedetail 2017-08-14

I’ve still got a pair of socks running in the background, because beaded lace isn’t exactly the sort of knitting that goes well with taking the subway or walking or going to meetings, and also I’m me, so I wouldn’t quite know what to do with myself without a pair of socks in my bag, but I’m mostly knitting on this, and hoping to get it bashed out pretty quickly. The first section went by so fast that I got optimistic about it only taking a few days, but as with all things top-down, that initial thrill’s worn off as the rows get longer.

I’ve got just a little time to knit on it today before I head out for a meeting (and I have to do something about the kitchen. It’s sort of sticky. All of it. I don’t know how cupboards get sticky, but they are.) Maybe I’ll finish the first big chart – but I’m already dreaming of what I’ll make next. Shall I finish the paper/linen Habu thing? Maybe a pair of fancy socks? Perhaps a sweater for one of the littles, or a hat for the Christmas box, or… What are you making?

I promised I’d wrap up the Karmic Balancing gifts when I got back – so here’s a start. (It’s going to take a bit. You’re a generous bunch – I’ll do as many as I can each day.

Mary S found a wonderful way to give this year, she went for a nice long stash dive and came up with five (yup, five) beautiful presents for her fellow knitters. (Doesn’t she seem like a lovely person? Good taste in yarn, too.)

2 balls Suri Merino Luxury Indiecita, 55% suri alpaca, 45% extra fine merino (deliciously soft) for Lori N.
marysurimerino 2017-08-14

3 balls Woodland yarn, 65% wool, 35% nettles for Sarah M.
marynettles 2017-08-14
4 skeins Plymouth Earth Alpaca “Ranch” she’ll be mailing to Ariela G.
maryearthalpaca 2017-08-14
10 balls Libella Ballet, 74% viscose; 26% cotton for Cindy M.
maryballet 2017-08-14
1 hank Berroco Hip-Hop, 100% Wool for Flannery C who I hope makes a hat. (It would be gorgeous.)
maryhiphop 2017-08-14

221 thoughts on “Rest

  1. Ha ha, you don’t know why you have some much Findley. It’s called insurance for the yarn disaster that has been those massive baby blankets! Glad you like it though! I am knitting a lovey for one of my littles, because she asked specifically for it. And there’s a charity blanket square, and a scarf, and a hat for my husband as active WIP. Nice summer knitting. Enjoy!

  2. I am just getting ready to cast on Illas Cies by Anne Hanson – she had it on at the Great Lakes Fiber Fest and I quite literally and unabashedly bought the exact same yarn. It’s hemp, though, and a new fiber for me, so I’m a little nervous about the fabric and what it’s supposed to be. But, I’ve decided the best thing to do is to start and see how it goes.

  3. I was delighted to read that you always have a backup sock knitting project. I can’t not have one. It doesn’t mean I knit it in any order, and other “car” knitting sometimes comes along and bumps the socks. Right now I’m trying out that Shawl in a Ball yarn, knitting a Silk Moon Shawlette (Jaala Spiro’s pattern) and taking it in the car and on the couch. I’ve loved knitting this pattern before, and the results are always beautiful. This one is a gift for Christmas! Poor socks are waiting. LOL

  4. Maybe your next project should be a Rhinebeck sweater, so that doesn’t sneak up on you. You could actually relax while you figure out the yarn and the pattern. It seems the perfect time to knit something special for you after all your training and biking that you do for the world.

    My backup project right now is a pair of fingerless gloves. Almost like socks and yes easy to pick up and put down.

  5. I’m making a little turtle, a dishcloth, a pullover, a skirt… and there are a bunch of hibernating projects as well. Focus is currently aimed at things that can be entered in our local fair.

  6. I’m working on a Close to You with yarn I dyed in the microwave with food coloring and Kool Aid. The colors are inspired by a friend’s Funfetti Cake she made for New Year’s Eve.

  7. I was going to suggest you consider a Rhinebeck sweater as well! I’m on the third of my LYS’s themed summer projects. This one is the Emiliana shawl and I love it, but got lulled into thiinking the mosaic design was easy cuz part 1 flew by….part 2 (which is the same as part 1 except the colors are reversed) has been a bear! No idea why… Also have a ChArlie Combustible cowl on the needles, 2 Be Simple wraps, and am itching to start on a Fade sweater….happy knitting all!

  8. Your Snow Angel is gorgeous. As for the sticky cupboards, has someone been stir frying? That combo of steam and oil is usually what does it at my house.

    I’m knitting a simple T-shirt (no pattern) out of wonderful Indigo Dragonfly Chaingeling. I’m also knitting Piccadilly by Justyna Lorkowska. It’s a semi-circular shawl with picot stripes and a lace edging, and is one of those fun knits that keeps you going because just when you’ve had enough of one thing, it’s time to do something else entirely. I picked up this second project while out of town because even though I know better, I sometimes forget to have a backup sock project.

  9. Your knitting is beautiful, as always.

    A friend said today that he is over the hot and humid weather (North Carolina feels like a sauna). I said I’m not, as I have a hat, pair of socks, pair of fingerless mittens, a cardigan and a shawl to make. The look he gave me was the same as the one I imagine I’d get if I told him there was a silicone based life form sitting on his left shoulder.

    Now I want to knit all Boo Knits shawls! lol There’s a vanilla sock, plain hat and cardigan on the needles. There’s also the yarn barf from Hades being slowly untangled, ready to cast on as a Boneyard Shawl. There’s many things waiting in the wings.

  10. The shawl I was working on became rebellious and behaved badly, so it is sitting in time out while I get my temper under control. In the meantime I am making your vanilla sock pattern in a printed Regia yarn (always fun to see what the striping will actually look like), and about to start knitting a stalk of celery (bet you can guess what for!!). Fresh celery doesn’t last long enough.

  11. Oh I just picked snow angel for a wedding shawl! But I’m frozen with fear. I’m anxious to hear your stories and see your progress. Do keep us posted please!

  12. I had to put Snow Angel in my favorites. Maybe someday….I’ve been knitting Bereavement Blankets for The Preemie Project. Of course, one needs hats and booties too. I’ve never found a bootie pattern that I really liked, so I invented one of my own. Fiddly thing though, tiny and tiny dpns. I’m afraid the ones that went before will be the ‘first pancake’. I just don’t have it in me to put (it/them) on a baby.

  13. I stared in puzzlement for a bit at your question about how cupboards can get sticky… And then I remembered that no young children live in your house at the moment. It is probably reasonable to expect to find surfaces that aren’t sticky. I, on the other hand, cleaned peanut butter off my closet door handle and an unidentified orange smear off my bathroom wall today. Neither room do I actually share with my children, but that doesn’t seem to matter.

  14. On the needles is a Cowichan sweater, Dreamy Weave cardigan that must get done, shawl, mitts(the Newfie ones) and as always a sock. A fit of startitis creates knitting pressure!

  15. I’m knitting Samarkand Night Market in Cima, Granito in Habu wool/silk, and a few other odds & ends. Have you thought about dyeing some of that endless supply of Findley?

  16. Joe: Your wife says she’ll be knitting with that Findley yarn for the rest of her life. But, she knits like the wind. Therefore, your mission is to obtain 5 to 10 km of that yarn, then hide it all over the house so she will be finding it for decades to come. Some possible hiding places include the attic rafters, the guest bedroom’s mattress, the refrigerator’s meat compartment, and underneath her stash. This message will not self-destruct in 5 seconds. Good luck, Joe.

  17. I encourage you to work on your Chr gifts. Come Christmas time, there will be so much going on in your life that you won’t want to be stressed by doing last minute knitting chores.

  18. Rhinebeck shminebeck. We all know Rhinebeck Sweaters come from the Rhinebeck Sweater Faerie… who happens to resemble a horrifying monster that brings only chaos and anxiety and destruction and.. blocking on the dashboard on the way through upstate NY traffic. Yeah… about that. Hey, nice shawl!

    PS click or touch the clock. You’re killin’ me Smalls. Tick tock…

  19. Desperately downsizing, couple of months ago I started crocheting my left-over yarns into origami pot holders. Since the left-overs weren’t all in the same place, the result has made some crazy color combinations. I offered about 14-16 pot holders to one of my lunch groups, and they all went home to a new kitchen. But I still have a lot of stash. (If you tuck stash around in places in several rooms, not all in the same place, your family never realizes exactly how much you have.)

  20. I’m trying to make Veronik Avery’s Hugo pullover for my son who’s leaving for college. Looks like I’ll have to send it–he starts in a week and I’m so not there! I’ve put aside a Dinner in the Eiffel Tower shawl to work on it. Both pretty fun projects, but not exactly relaxing. Need a cowl or mitts or something to unwind with.

  21. Am I the only one wondering if the Snow Angel is being made for a special occasion for a special someone? At last count there were still two unmarried daughters.

  22. Sticky kitchens, that’s how you know it’s truly summer! My current most loved project is the OM shawl in Gilliat, de rerum natura. It’s made here in France and it’s wonderful! I can’t believe I took this long to “discover” it! ( dererumnatura.fr ).
    And I think you might want to get started on you Rhinebeck sweater. Imagine the comfort and the pleasure of taking your time with that could bring. Three cheers for relaxing a bit after your long hard ride, good for you!

  23. I’ve taken on a far too ambitious crochet project, Samson the Sheepdog by Toft. My crochet skills are improving, but there’s more counting than my brain can really cope with when I only have little windows of time to work in! I’m sure it will be worth it, though: my daughter got hold of a made-up Samson in the Toft shop, and I thought we’d have a real job on our hands to prise it away from her! In the end we distracted her by showing her the giant flamingo…

  24. I’ve been trying VERY hard to knit from stash. I have a second sock on the needles; a sweater with yarn left over fro a baby blanket (for someone now 3-ish) AND a sweater for his little brother (2-ish), which I’m going to have to augment because there just isn’t quite enough of the lovely mustard yarn; a baby sweater for an unknown child so I can figure out how to do an Elizabeth Zimmerman SBJ in a size 8 for the local LYS owner; a dishcloth for one of the ladies in Quilt Group; and I think that’s all I am actively working on right now – and NONE of it is new (to me) yarn! Future projects? Not so much . . .

  25. I am knitting a teddy bear, a sock, and trying to decide on a summer shawl or a downright cozy midwinter-in-Ontario one. Stirfries and steam will definitely make cupboards sticky. Humid summers don’t help. Nor does dropping a bottle of gingerale…..

  26. I think you have your priorities quite in order after the rally. A dirty house can always be cleaned later, but knitting and baby snuggling are good medicine for the soul.

  27. Following a bout with breast cancer, I am making wild and colorful chemo caps using the stash left over from the multi color/texture scarves that were popular about ten years ago. So far I have finished 82 since the first of the year with two more on the needles. These are going to the oncologist’s office and the radiology center where they have been well received.

    • I’m a 1 1/2 yr survivor myself. What a great idea….I think I’ll cast on! (I did make one for someone in my post cancer exercise group and she loved it.) Thank you for being so generous.

        • I’ve made those, too. To my way of thinking, the caps are easier, and “One-Size-Fits-Most.” As I said, I am trying to use up all that fuzzy and lashy novelty yarn, and I don’t think it would work as well for the knockers.

          • In some cases that novelty yarn works great for knockers, after the skin isn’t so newly sensitive that is but I have made a few and they are well used. Fun and fancy can make a lady feel better even if no one sees but her. Just a thought.

  28. I’m working on a colorwork blanket for our baby, due this February. I’m also searching for a bunting pattern that can be knit in one piece. Any recommendations, fellow knitters? Thanks!

  29. I’m making a linen Metronome – and because my cousin said she liked the color scheme (pale grey, deep purple, neon green), she’s getting it and SHE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW! woot!

    Secret gift knitting is such a delight.

  30. The shawl is lovely! And how nice it is to be home and able to switch off projects at will.

    I just got back from vacation in Seattle, and it was so hot I didn’t knit very much on my travel sock. Now, I have the sock to finish, also the pair of socks I didn’t bring on the trip because they were 75% done and I didn’t want to have to bring two projects. A sweater of my own invention in process that just needs sleeves, and I hope to start a beaded cowl (pattern tbd) and I’m dying to make another Mini Mania scarf (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mini-mania-scarf) – I did one last year that was ridiculously, insanely, can’t-put-it-down knitting fun. I laid out my odds and ends of sock yarn in the order I wanted to use them, threaded a piece of scrap yarn through them to keep the ball-lets in order, and then just used them in order. It was a blast. (The only reason I haven’t started it yet, is because I know I’m going to drop everything else to knit it as soon as I do!)

  31. Pretty lace! I love beaded knitted lace. I just finished my first baby sweater, from a free top-down cardigan pattern on ravelry. It was based on a sock monkey theme, at the persistent request of my mother, who insisted it was too cute not to make. Indeed, it turned out adorable with the sock monkey face buttons putting it over the top. I’m trying to start another crochet afghan but I keep coming up with the wrong stitch counts. The search continues for a new pattern!

  32. Just finished Wonder Woman Wrap yesterday and a pair of socks today. Starting to make Cullum and thinking about beading it. Also thinking of starting up another pair of socks in Blue Moon Sock – Socks That Rock in “Purple Rain” in honour of Prince ( I thought you’d like that bit ;-D )

  33. You go on a long ride to support people, give tremendous amounts of time to people you have never met, yet, it so important to do balancing gifts. Are you a saint and haven’t wanted to let everyone know? Thank you for all you do.

  34. That will be a beautiful shawl – so glad you enjoy knitting with the Findley, and can make something(s) lovely for yourself out of the remainder. 🙂

    Regarding sticky cabinets: I’ve found that it helps when my husband uses a spatter screen while cooking on the stove. Anything with oil (really, anything at all) can make a huge mess in the air, which settles on the cabinets; and oil + dust is a horrible sticky mess. (We mostly only notice it when it also gets full of airborn cat fur. 😛 )

    Hooray for rest and relaxation, and thank you again for riding. 🙂

  35. About the cabinets – those who say it’s due to frying, especially if you don’t have a good exhaust fan, probably have it nailed. Even if you do have a good fan, it builds up over time, and suddenly turn to sticky yuck. Another cause might be if the finish is old, it can get even more sticky in humid weather than just steam-oil buildup.

    The new shawl is gorgeous!

  36. What to knit next: will Elliott get an Advent calendar this year? How are things looking on the Christmas spreadsheet? More immediately, there are your Rhinebeck sweater and knitwear for Elliott and his cousins as the nights and days begin to cool down.

  37. Congrats (belatedly) on completing the ride and raising the record amount!
    I just finished a stealth project for Christmas (or sooner) for a dear friend, and the first sock of a Regia Pairfect pair (Arne and Carlos colorway that I LOVE! PLEASE, Regia, may I have more?) I’m in the homestretch of a very long worsted cardi for my very tall niece, and I’m also working on Afterthought Everything Socks, planned as travel knitting for a visit to that niece that may not happen, dammit! (It’s perfect travel knitting because it’s just a long tube which gets divided in half and given heels and toes later. It can be made on dps or a long circ, but I use a 9″ circ. No dropped needles rolling down the plane aisle or slipping between my seat and that of my equally chubby seatmate, no heel turns in turbulence at 30,000 feet.)

  38. I’m going to be traveling soon, and you’ve just made my plane knitting stress free, so thank you!
    I’ll have to find a tutorial and learn the ways of the afterthought heel!

  39. I think you need to knit for the Christmas box. Every project finished in the summer makes the late fall sane. I try to finish by September so I can help my knitting students with their projects in the fall. I made 7 fancy Christmas stockings last year in the fall for other people.
    Julie

  40. LoLove, Love, love, Findley, you can never have too much. Taking time to knit & cuddle is a good thing. I realized recently that my knitting has really fallen to the side, in the wake of the necessary resistance here in the US (I’m a captain with the Women’s March). With that, and a friend’s impending loss (her mother is has begun hospice), I decided to cast on something simple and comforting. Your one row scarf looks amazing in Handmaiden’s SeaSilk. Thank you for all that you do, now go take a nap. ((hugs))

  41. I’m working on an Estonian Lace shawl for my niece, who is getting married next year, and my usual purse socks. I’m looking at yarn for Christmas sweaters, too. I usually start them by now, but I’m trying to get at least the center panel of this shawl done first. As I have taken 2 weeks to do one repeat and there are 6, I think I’m falling behind. On the other hand, the purse sock is getting a lot of attention because I can knit in it in phone meetings and my new job is 90% phone.

  42. Dear Stephanie,
    I know you are incredibly busy in your life, with your adorable grandson and the rest of your family, and probably with post-bike rally business and lots of other things like knitting and who knows what. But, since you are one of the few things keeping me sane down here in the USA I’d be so grateful if you’d give us a little post I can enjoy, laugh at, sigh over (photos of the baby, etc), and generally allow me a few minutes of escape from the INSANITY that seems to have taken over so many of my fellow citizens.
    Sadly for me, Canada doesn’t need my work skills so I can’t hang out over my State’s Northern border, soaking in Justin Trudeau and all the Canadian goodness, for long.
    Don’t get me wrong, I love my country, too, most of the time. Just since November 9, 2016 it’s been a lot harder.
    With love and appreciation,
    JudyinMT
    P.S. I understand if you’re too busy. I’m just longing for some knitting fun and I can’t stay on Ravelry – or knit and watch Netflix – ALL the time. 🙂

  43. I have been reading some past posts – congrats on pushing thru the back pain and finishing the race! That is one great accomplishment.

    I enjoy reading your books, the u-tubes and when I remember to check, the blog. I have looked and am having probably a blonde – senior – selective whatever moment, but I can’t seem to find a button – link – or box where I can sign up to get the blog automatically to my inbox.

    Please help this lost forlorn soul sign up for your amazing blog.

    Thanks
    Kathy Dahn

  44. I know we’re all being polite and supportive out here and all that, but: holy cow, are you alive???!? Some concernage starting to fizz around the outskirts of the Blogosphere…(though we are, as usual, placing great faith in the fact that usually when you are MIA for an extended time, you come back with seriously unexpected, kick-ass stories involving canoeing over rapids, etc…Just sayin’…)

  45. I’m knitting your Oatmeal Stout Cowl with some wool I bought at a supermarket in Iceland. They are crazy keen on knitting in Iceland even selling yarn in the airport! Also a tea cosy that looks like an Aran cardigan and a couple of lace scarves.

  46. Thank you Stephanie, for all the good you do. I have nothing on the needles, and have been trying to whip myself into a knitting mood, with little success. Reading all the replies to your recent blog garnered a twitch of knitting lust. I’ll have to look through my stash instead of going into my LYS and saying, “Help, I need a kick start on knitting.” And she’ll show me some delicious yarn, and I’ll buy yet more yarn for my stash and a knitting project. At least I’m supporting my LYS!

  47. Hi Steph, hope everything is ok. We are all starting to worry about you. Hope it is just that you are on a well-deserved holiday and getting refreshed. Take care. ❤️

  48. Howdy Steph,
    Missing your posts so I’ll just send you one. Thanks for the years of entertainment. Can you send a signal your well, or being taken care of?
    We (The Blog) can always go into the older posts (back to 2004!). Thanks for keeping them up on your server.
    Sending well wishes and smiles of happy knitters enjoying your humor soon.
    Blessings,
    Peggy T

  49. I’m going to add am “I’m worried” post as well. Obviously the new grandson is keeping you hoppin’ and all the million other things in your life and all the good that you do. But at the risk of driving the guilt bus, we miss you.

  50. My daughter was only 2 years old when the Yarn Harlot started the blog. As my daughter has grown I’ve read posts out loud to her and my daughter has read Stephanie’s posts to me. We both enjoy her writing and books.

  51. I’m sure Steph will be back with us when she’s ready.

    In the meantime, I can entertain you all with the story of how I put all of my boo-hoo-ing into making a blanket that I just left far, far away with The Hurricane, who could not possibly be old enough for college. (But he’s taller than me so it must be true.)

    I found a website that flipped a .gif of the school logo into a stranded colorwork knitting pattern, which enabled me to say, “Love you. Have fun.” and walk away in one piece rather than collapsing into an embarrassing puddle in the middle of his dorm.

    And so now my wee baby is warm and cozy in a super-bulky twin-sized backed-with-fleece blanket that killed my wrists but contains all of my separation anxiety and probably some of my hair…and it’s barely long enough to cover him from neck to toes.

    Now I feel guilty that it’s not bigger.

    • It is hard (at least it was for me) to deliver your child, whether it’s your first or last one, for his/her first day of college/uni far away from home. A big day for both parent and child. Good on you for holding it together . . . at least until you’d left his dorm.

      Now is the time to be gentle on yourself. It’s not the same as a death, but definitely the end of a phase of life, BUT there are great things ahead as your son continues to grow and your relationship changes and deepens.

      (It took me a while to recall that you refer to your son as The Hurricane, so I was picturing you and him in the storm in Texas.)

        • The quietest car ride of my entire life was after we dropped our baby girl off at college.
          I used to say if they don’t go away, I can’t miss them. Both of our children have grown and left home. Even though they live close, they’re busy ‘adulting’, and we do miss them. On the plus side, we’re a couple again, and that’s been fun, too.
          Good luck to your Hurricane and to you, too.

      • “Back to School” is definitely a time of transition and it always surprises me that we humans do so poorly with change since that’s the one constant in life.
        When my oldest went to college my youngest (9 1/2 at the time) missed her big sister so much she crocheted an afghan in the first month big sister was gone. Seventeen years later it’s still treasured.

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    • The fact that blog is not being swept of things like the previous post has me….concerned a little. I hope Stephanie is off in a lovely, remote place knitting with a cup of tea and a baby making delightful faces at her…..

  53. Also, somewhat concerned and sending good thoughts in case anything is wrong but hoping that you’re just taking a long and well deserved rest. Not nagging. Just wanted you to know yet another devoted fan cares.

  54. Presbyteria: You have the right idea – the Blog isn’t just Steph – it is ALL of us. So let’s Blog back to each other and to Steph and tell about our current projects. I love that you (Presbyteria) made the effort for Cranky/Hurricane. I’m currently on my THIRD try to make a shawl from 3 colors of Sun Valley MCN and just can’t feel it (originally Color Affliction (or Affection but I have none for that pattern) then added two more colors hoping it would morph into Starting Point and am now trying for Lilli Pilli and am just going to gift away the yarn. (colors are nutmeg-y browns). On a positive note, I finished my In The Spice Market last week and love it.

    Ok now, who’s next to share???

    • I fell in love with this project about six years ago.
      https://www.brooklyntweed.com/notebook/noro-scarf/
      Three I gifted. When gifted to non-knitters I’ve come to the conclusion it’s unreasonable to expect feedback: how it washed, is it useful, did it last?
      All three were non-knitters, all showed pleasure after opening package, one has filled me in with all the details unprompted! (She must have knitting relatives or friends). One out of three isn’t so bad. So now I confess, I’m hoarding the Noro Silk Garden skeins and sending guilty glances at my stash.
      I stopped knitting due to dry eyes and allergies, but this one would be the next when I pick up the needles again. Motivation may come when I find the right person to give it to.
      The Blog is full of appreciating gift receivers I’ll bet.

  55. I’m working on the Hue Shift afghan by Knit Picks (original rainbow colorway), and wayyy outside of my color comfort zone! The first quarter of the blanket is knit with a dark wine, bright pink, cherry red, orange, and gold; most of the blocks are alternating two of the colors together, which make for some eye-dazzling combinations. I’m really hoping that by the time I get the other quarters knit with some of the other colors (there are 11 or 12 in the whole blanket, besides the black border), they’ll all blend more harmoniously, or this thing is going to the first 8 year-old who can stand it. 😉

    LeAnn in Oregon, where it’s terribly smoky and the heat wave has persisted past it’s welcome.

  56. I’m working on the Hue Shift afghan by Knit Picks (original rainbow colorway), and wayyy outside of my color comfort zone! The first quarter of the blanket is knit with a dark wine, bright pink, cherry red, orange, and gold; most of the blocks are alternating two of the colors together, which make for some eye-dazzling combinations. I’m really hoping that by the time I get the other quarters knit with some of the other colors (there are 11 or 12 in the whole blanket, besides the black border), they’ll all blend more harmoniously, or this thing is going to the first 8 year-old who can stand it. 😉

    LeAnn in Oregon, where it’s terribly smoky and the heat wave has persisted past its welcome.

    (corrected for possessive “its”; I know better.)

    • My mum and I just finished making our own versions of the Hue Shift afghan, and they turn out really lovely! I did the pastel one, and mum did the jewel toned one with a few colour substitutions…don’t despair I’m sure it’ll come together!

      • Thanks, Margie! I’m sure it will be fine; pink and orange are not my favorite colors, so that was the most painful quarter to knit – probably good that I got it out of the way, first. Quarter 2 starts with a deep, royal blue and the wine color, so it’s been more soothing, although blue and pink is next. 😉

  57. Been in a bit of a knitting funk lately. Have a skein of fingering that doesn’t want to be knit. Started a scarf, didn’t work out, made a slouch hat, too big, it’s yarn again now. Time to stash dive or support my LYS. Seeing some beautiful fall yarns on Instagram, time for a season change, I think.

  58. Having made cowls for everyone I know., I finally worked out that the person who would most appreciate one is me! So that’s my next project.

  59. My current projects?
    Socks for my mom and sister and daughter. Lots of vanilla pattern socks with brightly hued yarns in the hopes of reducing the stash a bit. Then it’s on to the long-delayed Mother’s Day 2017 MKAL by J. L. Fleckenstein (which, even though it’s not a mystery knit anymore since the whole thing’s been published, it is to me).

    Steph, I hope that your corner of the world is sunny, pleasant and filled with love and yarny goodness. And I will look forward to your posts again when you are ready.

  60. Steph will blog again when she’s good and ready to, I’m sure … as to current projects, I’m in the middle of a wedding shawl for a young neighbor of mine. She’s scheduled her wedding for October, outdoors, in the middle of New York State, and she’s wearing a strapless gown! The silly child is likely to freeze her shoulders off, so in keeping with her “autumn leaves” wedding theme, I’ve got “Falling Leaves” from the book Lavish Lace nearly finished.

    Also sending good vibes toward all the folks who’ve been devastated by the storm and flooding in Texas.

  61. Sending Blog love Stephanie – I think the lovely thing about these comments proves something. How many of us wonder if we ever disappeared for a while, would anyone notice? Have I made a difference? Would my absence be felt? And obviously, the answer is yes. I hope you are knitting and drinking tea and enjoying a snuggle with Elliot.

    Love, one of the tribe of Blog.

  62. BTW, I think your tweet that you don’t think human rights are political is very good. I’m going to use that! Thank you!

  63. Rest is a wonderful balm for soul and body. You are missed but what an effort on so many levels! I reread the report and am inspired anew.

  64. I hope you and are your family are all right, and that you are taking so much needed time for you. Or at that very least, that you are just crazy busy grammie-ing. Which is you time too, right?

  65. Missing you Steph, and your wonderful view of the world through knitting. Hopefully all is well and you are off on a wonderful adventure recharging.

    My current primary project is a simple baby blanket in brown with pink accents (new nursery schemes these days are adorable) made of bamboo.

    I am also thinking of starting a ten stitch blanket in an interesting colorway when I finish the little one in bamboo.

    Deana

  66. I love reading “Blog posts” from The Blog! Can I admit that I’m a multi-crafter presently working on counted cross-stitch wedding samplers? The season of attending new baby events for nieces and nephews and throwing them for my children which took up my time in the eighties through mid-nineties is starting to come around again in a wedding version. But now I have time to make a sampler for each of them. Still beauty and a pattern, just an embroidery needle instead of knitting needles and floss instead of yarn. Time-filling and peaceful, though, just like knitting.

  67. Let’s keep this going until Steph can get back to us. She already knows me for an unrepentant troublemaker and natural bossypants, so I have nothing to lose.

    I’d like to know (for science, of course) how many WIPs you have going and how old they are.

    Because (speaking for a friend, as one does) I know that some people have maybe ten projects on the needles (this is purely anecdotal, you understand) that might be as many as five years old (not that yarn goes bad or anything) and yet still decide to cast on something new with a completely unreasonable self-imposed deadline (for example, a giant fleece-backed blanket).

    You?

    • Does the WIP have to be something that you’d seriously consider or intend to get back to working?? I mean, sometimes they hang around long enough that, let’s be honest, you’ve grown out of any urge to re-engage…

      Haha, the Blog is moving to new levels of self-entertainment!! Stephanie, now you’re either just messing with our minds, or waiting to see exactly what the heck we’ll get up to if left Unattended…!

      • My oldest WIP is a bunting I started for my now 41 year old son. It moved from Ithaca NY to California and back to Vermont. I found it and decided to finish it for a potential grandchild, but then realized that it was a self-designed pattern that I had absolutely remembrance of how it was supposed to go. I’ve decided to repurpose it into hat and mittens for my existing granddaughter.

    • I don’t know you Presbytera, but I really like you! I’ve been know to instigate a few bits of mischief now and again.

      So, you want me to count WIPs? Hmm, that would take some digging. My last effort to do some kind of clean up in my craft area, resulted in 7 project bags. It’s possible that a couple of them have more than one WIP in them, but I don’t want to think about that. Then there’s the pile of WIP sewing projects, but let’s not think about that. Just finished a pair of socks for my husband – for THIS Christmas! I’m not going to let that glow wear off by thinking about WIPs, OK? And I just finished two Knitted Knockers for a dear friend. I don’t think any of my WIPs are older than my children (youngest is 24). None of my WIPs is a Gansey.

    • Pres,

      I may take the cake and run away and eat it all myself. I have Yarn from 1978 and a sweater that I front, back and one sleeve but that one sleeve is missing so I have to make 2 sleeves and a collar. If anyone has something older that is saying something. The sweater stares at me every time I am in the knitting room. Oh and I lost the yarn but had to order more from Briggs and Little and the color matches precisely! not even off a little!

      • 1975 … above referenced baby bunting. Now my son, for whom it was started wants a (gasp) gansey. I’ve got the yarn and started the design.

      • I learned how to knit in the summer of 1968 at a local yarn shop class. My project was a bright purple acrylic sleeveless sweater (I was 12 and it was the 60’s). I got halfway done with the front. I ran across it recently in a box in the basement. I don’t think I’ll be finishing it any time soon, but it is still on the needles…

    • Knitting: Three massive projects for completion before the Whistler retreat in November! A cardi, that I am having to make up as I go along, to resemble a picture I found on the internet. (Oh, the maths! Ouch) A big-ass shawl, for which I am going to have to spin before I can even knit it. (Does this count as a wip if I haven’t actually started it?) and a pair of owl mittens, because I am going to freeze to death in a Canadian winter. Especially coming from an Australian near-summer!
      That epic afghan from the Learn-To-Knit book. I think I have about 11 squares out of the 70-odd.
      Sundry vanilla socks.
      Weaving: my second ever warp on my Saori loom, and like a lunatic I decided to make a 6 metre warp. There are no words. Well there are, but you don’t want to hear them.
      Quilting: I took a day class on making a TUFFET. It’s adorable. I have done an eighth of it. It’s not going anywhere til the Canada knitting is done.

      Do you ever get the feeling that you have so many craft (i.e. leisure) projects that they are actually a stressful burden? LOL

      Love to you, Stephanie.

    • I think my oldest WIP is a baby blanket I started when my DIL was pregnant with our youngest grandson. He was six two weeks ago

  68. I have 2,640 patterns in my Rav library for just in case I run out of ideas.
    Currently on my traveling needles, I have a feather and fan scarf in Sidar Colourwheel-autumnal colors and
    The Melody Shawl in Chaos by Holiday Yarns.
    I’m doing long hours of hospital sitting, but not getting much knitting done.

    • Ugh. Hospital sitting is the worst; you can practically see your mental energy draining out onto the floor.
      Sending prayers for peace (since that’s kinda my thing).

    • will hold you in my prayers while you are hospital sitting. I’ve been in that neighbourhood more times than I want to think about. My go-to for that is a bag with dishcloth cotton and needles. I can grab it and go – if I don’t knit, nobody loses and I don’t mess up something special. Surprising how many dishcloths I can identify as “hospital knitting”.
      Peace be within you and yours.
      Chris S in Canada

  69. I have (somewhere) a sweater coat that just needs the button band added (I think I did the sleeves already–right? Or maybe it became a long vest) done in handspun rare Wensleydale, for the 1999 Spinoff Rare Breeds contest. The fibers were both soft and spiky-feeling and I never did finish it but I loved the story that handspinners had helped save the breed from extinction and loved being part of it.

    That’s my oldest UFO. On the needles is some good Canadian Camelspin yarn for a potter friend I’m going to see this weekend. I’m going to make sure she rings up my new stoneware before I let her see it.

    • Looks like we have a date to beat…anyone with something older?

      Wish we could post photos here…does it have dolman (aka bat-wing) sleeves? Colors? Pattern?

      Inquiring minds and all that.

      Also, knitting extortion is totally a thing.

      • I have a quilt I started when I was 13 or 14, it’s wonky and not quite finished. I was 50 last birthday but as you say these things don’t go off.

      • If you take how old a WIP is (A) as a percentage of how long I’ve been knitting (B), I think I might be a contender.
        I have a sweater I started in April 2014, making A=40 months old. But I only started knitting in March of 2013, thus B=53 months.
        40/53 * 100 = 75%. This particular WIP has been in my project bag for 75% of the time I’ve been knitting.
        Did I win???

  70. Another member of the Blog who hopes all is well with you darling Steph.

    I am currently working on a test knit for a dear friend, a summer sweater which is likely to be finished in mid November at this rate and I just finished a beautiful Creatrix, double sided lace shawl that I just adore.

    I spent the last week cat sitting for a friend who went to view the eclipse from the path of totality and she spoiled me silly with lovely yarn and stitch markers and the new Coco Knits kit for holding live stitches. I can’t remember the name of it, I know it just came out at TNNA but it consists of a leather cord and an internally threaded needle. The joy of it comes when, instead of re-threading your stitches from scrap yarn back on to your needle, you can knit them right off the cord. I can’t wait to use it!

  71. For knits, I have my very first sweater from 1997 when I was young and gung-ho about knitting a sweater, but had absolutely no idea how to knit one. It is still there, patiently waiting to be finished…along with several parts of shawls and a Stephen West blanket made with yarns that I had from my crocheting days.

    We won’t talk about those partial crocheted afghans and unfinished quilt tops from decades ago.

  72. Oh my, WIPs……
    My Rhinebeck sweater (Fair Isle cardigan) just needs buttons so that almost doesn’t count. I have a beautiful pair of rainbow striped socks – one done and ready to turn the heel on the other. A great stranded knitted hat from Charlene Schurch’s book “Hats On”. A pi shawl that’s on the border bind off but the work came off the needles and I have to figure out where in the lace pattern I am. A quilt for my son who is 34 now but was 7 when I started it.

    Does recently purchased yarn and pattern count as a WIP if it’s still in the bag but will be my grandson’s Christmas sweater count? If so, count that in too.

    Stephanie, we miss you and are sending good thoughts your way

    • Forgot about the Alice Starmore Fair Isle mittens. One completed and the wristband on the second is done. They will be lovely someday!

  73. Lots of WIPs here but they are not really abandoned, just resting. My oldest, however, is a mostly done afghan started in 1976 which just needs a few more rounds to be finished. It was one big crochet granny square in 70’s colors of gold, cream and brown and I seem to remember even buying enough yarn to finish it – I just have to find the box it is still packed in. I sure wish now that I had enough money back then to buy good wool rather than cheap acrylic! But if I can find it, and finish it, I even have a room where those colors will work!

    • “Cheap acrylic” afghans are not all that bad. My almost 50 year old son is still using one I made for him when he was in college, and I have a couple that my mother made even before that. Easy wash, easy dry, and we never feel like we have to be really careful when using them. Long live Super Saver!

  74. On needles – A hat friends baby, Afghan for nephew, A Little Tern just because. Oldest wip is a seater – front, back, one sleeve done started in 1999. I messed up the pattern on the sleeve , noticed when I as done with no idea what I did. Someday I’ll frog the sleeve and try to follow the artery

  75. Oh, wips. I am not sure at all that I want to discuss these in public….a Shale Baby Blanket (Aug 2017), a shawl MKAL (July 2017), a shawl MKAL (Jan 2017) Apple Pie hat (Nov 2016), a mostly done shawl for me [the border does. not. end.- really I only work on it on Tuesdays because it sucks the life out of me!] (Truly Tasha, Nov 2016), a gansey afghan for my son that must be finished before he graduates (just starting his junior year) and a hooded sweater for another son started back in March 2014- it still fits, so I better finish it. Of course, those are only the wips that I remember. I am afraid to go look.

  76. Another member of the tribe of Blog checking in and hoping all is well and this is just a much-deserved break. Not to demand anything, but to show evidence that there are corners of the world where the lack of your presence is felt. Plus, I really like your yarns about yarn. Patiently awaiting your return! And in the meantime I shall read about everyone’s WIP’s while pretending I can count my own WIP’s on one hand (I can’t).

  77. I agree completely with Knit-a-Nurse, I am glad you are taking a break, I can’t count all my WIPs on one hand let alone both and both feet but hey, who needs to count them. Also, I am concerned, I have been checking daily to see if my favorite blogger/knitter/author has posted here and on IG and on Twitter….I miss you and have been having a bad feeling that something is not right. Praying for you and your family just in case something is not right and hoping to see your next post soon. Much love to you.

  78. I usually only “lurk” here bit feel I would just like to say I always enjoy comments by Presbytera and by Rams!

  79. OK, I can play this game! A Kaffe Fassett whirling stars sweater and three patchwork quilts from before 1999 when I started putting dates on things, a K F Tapestry leaf jacket from 1999, two more recent quilts (no that should be three as I started another one last week and didn’t list it yet), two cross stitches, a shawl I sort of made up but am stuck on the border, toe-up socks to my own pattern as I’m supposed to be teaching them in two weeks (!) a heavily cabled cardigan in Rowan pure wool Aran and a very plain v-neck sweater for idiot knitting when my brain won’t work.

    And Steph… whatever is going on, we are all on your side – have a virtual hug!

  80. among all the losses down in Texas and Louisiana there must be a lot of stashes that are now a sodden mess. Maybe when things dry out and YH returns The Blog can get a Restash plan going — starting with the remaining karmic balancing gifts?

  81. Presbyteria: I accept your challenge. I remember a sweater in a gansey style with a hood from sometime in the mid 80’s. I started a baby quilt for my first nephew and he’s 34 now. I have yarn I shipped back from Switzerland in 1984 still waiting for a project (definately from a now closed French yarn company-project planned, colors purchased, woefully out of date. Fair isle if I remember correctly). I am properly publicly now “out” as a WIP-er. New project (yes, the nutmeg colored shawl is my newest WIP) is a Handmaiden kit of Tilting Blocks cowl in a lovely green cashmere/silk yarn.

  82. So glad the blog reader have become blog writers. Finally got concerned enough (she does goes off on adventure sometimes) to look at comments to get a hint.
    WIP – does in the needles in a bag because it’s old enough (10 years?) to be too small now, count?
    Current – just sent one off yesterday that was a 9 month, twice-knit pair of socks. Other oldie, 1 year from roving to 3/4 completed shawl that is coming out of the bag as the weather cools down.
    Wherever you be, Steph, sending appreciation for all you do!
    Donna Lou

  83. I finished a WIP this last bit that was 4 years in time out. Made of lace yarn and I ran out of yarn 20 stitches from being cast off. Finally I dragged it out. Used something close enough to finish cast off and sew up. Blocked and done. Why? I have yarn I bought in Newfoundland in the 80’s. Mill is long gone. Likely fair isle project. Every time I see it I think I should let go. But it’s sentimental in many ways. Maybe I should put in a big glass vase and display. I think it would be too Sheepy to wear against my skin. Harlot give me some suggestions… I miss your cool wit and funny posts.

    • Maybe a vest like one of Ysolda’s designs? You’d be able to layer a shirt under it, eliminating the next-to-the-skin issue.

    • I like the idea of putting the project in glass and displaying it. For me, more than half the attraction is the color and texture.

  84. GULP. I have a project from 2008 that is a blanket. It needs one square & to be put together. It is of Malabrigo Merino wool so yummy & warm. It wouldn’t be so hard to put together so WHY? I don’t know but I do know I miss reading about YH but hope she is in exotic ports of call like CUBA. Resting & leaving the woes of the world behind.

  85. Skip and a Jump down, A Briggs and Little yarn with turned into a sweater with cables and texture awaiting 2 sleeves, zipper (I have and it matches) and a collar. Yarn from 1978, sweater started 1979. 3 moves, 3 states, 6 jobs. still waiting. I have ordered yarn from Briggs and Little and all is here and waiting. There will be a party when done!

  86. Well. All of you are highly entertaining, and I thank you for it.

    And while some of these lists are frankly alarming, it all constitutes justification for my WIP basket should my husband be so foolhardy as to inquire.

  87. Presbytera: surely your husband knows better than to do that.

    I moved to my home four years ago. There are still packed boxes. Don’t want to know how many WIPs are there. There are at least 10 WIPs in my living room, and I don’t want to know how that happened. There are two sweater WIPs and the patterns at one end of the island in the kitchen.

    Stephanie, I hope you are enjoying a break, sailing and snuggling Elliot, having fun with Luis and Frankie, and generally enjoying your family. Be well.

  88. My WIP stories include the fact that when we moved 20 years ago I had to do all the packing and supervising of the move myself. We rented a storage bin to keep stuff in while paring down our belongings to show the house we were leaving. Not all of it ever made it to the new house. (4 children 16 and under at the time of move, my mother died the next year, etc, etc).
    This summer my 26 year old had a few free months and tackled the storage bin in exchange for food and lodging. WIPs reappeared!!!! The winner is an afghan my mother-in-law inherited from her aunt and gave to me to finish. It’s close to done, too.
    The treasure is a needlepoint kit my mother gave me, a unicorn based on one of the tapestries at the Cloisters Museum in NYC. So happy to be reunited.
    The loser is a matching mother-daughter sweater set I was going to make for my now 35 year-old daughter and me when she was 8. Although maybe I could resurrect that one for her and her daughter (?? – better check with her before launching that one!)
    All in all we are providing plenty of counter-examples for Prebytera’s husband, LOL.

  89. Steph’s computer is probably broken. Has happened before. Let’s stay calm and carry on.

    My oldest WIP is a dark raspberry woollen sweater with extensive cable work that I started in high school around 81-82. Occasionally I take it out and wonder what to do about it. Strange how thin I was… Apart from that my WIP collection is approximately.
    1 blanket (soon two…)
    2 shawls (at least)
    3 sweaters

    Just finished a sweater an hour ago. It’s striped made of thin wool, hand dyed with plants (didn’t do the coloring myself)

    • 1981! Pretty impressive. I don’t think you’ll be finishing that one unless you find a very beloved person it would fit.

      And did you just finish that other sweater so you wouldn’t have to report 4 WIP sweaters? Motivating . . .

    • Instagram is from the phone. And that’s been silent since Aug 21. Trying to stay calm but also sending positive thoughts Stephanie’s way just in case.

  90. Um, after confessing some of my sins, I mean, wips lanquishing in project bags (we do not speak of those hiding in the depths of the closet), would it be amiss if I acknowledge that I cast on a BSJ in bright rainbow self-patterning yarn this morning? Even if there is no recipient in sight? Because, you know, I wanted to.

    • It is never amiss to admit casting on a BSJ, especially in bright, entertaining yarn.

      A BSJ is really architecture, so I don’t think of it as knitting (except for the knitting part). No worries.

      Chris S in Canada
      (ha – touch the light bulb – great idea, bright colours – perfect!)

  91. Ladies, My first real project (not a doll scarf) was a pair of baby booties I knit my younger brother while he was in utero in 1959. I started a matching sweater for him, which I finished for his daughter in 1992. The hat, alas, is still on the needles. Baby green orlon. I may be a winner.

  92. As long as we’re only talking knitting, my WIPs are firmly under control: 2 pairs of socks on the needles (OK, one is in silk thread on 000 needles and has been extremely slow going since Sock Summit 2009), one Estonian stole with nupps that are in time out, one active shawl, and the Hue Shift blanket mentioned above.

    The bobbin lace pillows went through a culling last year, so I’ve got the never-ending pink edging for demo days (I think it’s about 3 feet long), one Beds circular edging, and one other edging (Tonder, I think). I cut everything else off and put the bobbins back in the bins.

    We are *not* discussing the cross stitch, crewel work, or sewing projects that are languishing. I have plans for retirement; they’re on the list.

    I had a wicked case of “finish it-itis” a few months back, and have been taking advantage of the momentum to get things off the needles. I’m trying really, really hard not to give in to start-itis. 🙂

  93. At first I thought I couldn’t play because my only WIP was the cotton dishcloth I cast on yesterday. And then I remembered the pair of socks that is awaiting kitchenering at the toes. And the pair of socks knit down to the heels for a class in which I was supposed to learn the fish lips kiss technique, but didn’t (despite the patience of the wonderful instructor). And the log cabin blanket consisting of 20 medium squares that have yet to be seemed into one great big square. And the two dishcloths and one scarf and two shawls awaiting the weaving in of ends and, in some cases, blocking. I think that’s it, except I may end up casting on something else before I weave in the ends on that dishcloth I cast on yesterday…

  94. Wips? In knitting: at least a dozen. Beading before that: 8 or 9. Then bobbin lace: 5? Needlepoint: and crossstitch: couldn’t say; too many.
    My oldest unfinished project is an embroidered dresser scarf I have lugged around since high school – late 60s, which I’m now approaching.
    One that gives me a wry grin is a crossstitch wip that says how much more fun it is to start something than finish it.
    Sending Steph good thoughts.

  95. Wip’s? I think 9, if I counted right. Would have been quite a bit higher, but I’ve been turning Wip’s back into yarn this week, at least 5 or 6. The remaining Wip’s are trembling. On the plus side, I now have a lot of missing needles. Next step: get the stash out and see what all is in there. (Wool Gathering is in 2 weeks, making shopping list.)

  96. Just got back to our home in Houston. We had traveled to Dallas for a retirement celebration thinking this would be “just” another tropical storm. Got stranded in Dallas but that worked out fine.
    Reading Steph’s blog over the years is always a centering experience. I have missed her sorely.
    Life can get very frayed and communication difficult – as when you are separated from your home.
    It’s the not-knowing that is the worst.

    • Wow. That sort of shocking uncertainty has hit me a few times in my life, and it’s a stress unlike any other.

      I think we all forget sometimes how quickly things can change — and that the ‘important’ things suddenly vanish when we snap into Survival Mode.

      Hoping all is well (or getting there) with you and yours.

      [And could it be more fitting? I had to touch the umbrella to post this!]

  97. Another lurker de-lurking to let Steph know that she’s in my thoughts and prayers. Hope all is well.
    I’m currently knitting my way through my second set of Deramores (UK knitting shop) safari animals – made Larry the Lion, and Henrietta the Hippo so far. Casting on Eddie the Elephant today… This is in preparation for a new project I’m about to start – teaching young people (who have ASD) to knit!
    I’ve got Indigo Cones OTN too, but lost my mojo for that at the moment – it got lost in the many many preemie hats I knit earlier this summer. Thankfully my friend’s extremely small person is no longer quite so small, so, once Eddie is done, I’ll be knitting the third hat size I’ve knit for her!
    Loving reading all your WIP stories – thank you so much!
    Bless you Steph, wherever things are at. xx

  98. Stephanie, I always check for your blog post because I so enjoy it but since you havent posted in over two weeks, I check it to see if everything is okay with you and your family. Good thoughts coming your way.

  99. Most of my WIPs have graduated to UFOs: they’ve been sitting so long I’ve forgotten what they were supposed to be and should probably transition to the frog pond. Except for that chenille Tunisian crochet “something”: no way to safely frog that, so it’s probably bound for the fiber recyclers. At this point I’m more worried about my stash: I worked in an LYS 1978-81 and still have yarns from that era. Are they considered antique yet? And here I’m facing Labor Day sales at two hometown LYSs when I already have projects to last into my third hundred years!

    And we don’t need to talk about fabric stash (or do we?). Having multiple fiber-related hobbies is very dangerous. The fine wools are living in my deep freeze in giant ziploc bags until I decide I’m really going to make those Kinsale cloaks my daughter asked for.

    In YH’s absence, I’ve been re-reading her books to get my daily fix. She said it best: I’ve hit SABLE!

  100. Hmmm…WIPs. I have 6 or 7 but none that have been terribly neglected. Do we dare ask about projects that are waiting to be cast on? (Do we have an ancroymn for those? PWTBCO?) I mean the ones where pattern and yarn are purchased and just waiting for us get to them. (We don’t dare discuss the patterns waiting in our Ravelry libraries.) I have a few PWTBCOs from recent travels. I love seeing them all packaged up and waiting for me.
    Every time I go yarn crawling with friends I hear myself say, “I don’t need more yarn; I just need more knitting time.” Too bad no one sells that.
    As much as I would love to think of Stephanie frolickling on a beach somewhere with Eliott’s baby toes in the sand, I can’t help but think that it’s more likely that she is facing something hard. I hope she feels all the love and support that is available to her from this beautiful community she has created known at “the blog”. And yes, the picture identification is watching. I will touch the world to remind Stephanie the world of support surrounding her.

  101. Chiming in with prayers for health and hope for you, Steph, and all whom you love.
    On the trival note; WIPs: I have the ribbing done on birthday socks for my husband, I am stalled on a shawl and want to knit a million other things! I’m not counting the 3 things that I haven’t touched in years, or the dishcloths that ride in the car for traffic jams and super long traffic lights ( don’t judge).

    • You are not the only one who knits during long traffic lights. I admit I am always afraid I’ll get pulled over and the officer would probably give me a very strange look. I will offer to teach them how to knit, though!

      And yes, the “click or touch” icon is watching us.

  102. I’m trusting Presbytera here because I suspect she knows more than she can say. So, if she assures us Stephanie is (or will be) okay, I’ll trust them both on that…..As for the current discussions: I am currently actually working on a Christmas box, which thus far contains three pairs of socks and two men’s hats. Long ago, the adults in our family agreed to give each other the gift of not having to shop for the grown-up :-), but that’s always bothered me a bit. So, this year, I hope to just let everyone take whatever they want from the Christmas Box. As for oldest WIP, does crochet count? A lovely rose crocheted afghan with hearts that I used to tempt my late mother in law when she was ill. The afghan was hers when she got better. When that didn’t happen, never had the heart to complete it. 1997.. Also, the hand quilting on an argyle pattern quilt, begin in Scotland, 1987. Now, that one is shameful.
    Hugs to you, Stephanie. All will be well.

  103. Also checking for info re Stephanie…
    Recently learned about Twiddle Muffs, for people with dementia. A great way to use yarn leftover from other projects – I’ve completed two.
    Anyone else knitting these?

  104. A bit scary to actually consider WIP’s, but probably a good exercise. So, from current to way back:
    Compass shawl, coming along nicely.
    Pink sparkly hat for granddaughter.
    Whales sweater for me, probably procrastinating because I really don’t want to have to put in a zipper.
    Swirl shawl, three rows down and two to go.
    Thrummed mittens as I ran out of roving and then steam as I acquired more.
    Booties, when I realized they were too small for intended recipient. Really, only need grafting on one to finish!
    Ditto with baby socks, although only one finished.
    Laceweight sweater, abandoned when the dye lot for new skein on sleeve was dramatically different.
    Sexy vesty that probably won’t fit, and I don’t love the yarn.
    So, not as bad as some, and certainly can be dealt with in a reasonable time by either finishing or frogging. Now if we want to talk about PIW’s (love that acronym), that’s another whole story!

  105. I’ve seen patterns for twiddle muffs too and keep thinking it would be a great way to de-stash. Other WIP are scattered and possibly not to be counted…. But I know I have a half finished sweater from yarn bought for a significant birthday 8 years ago, and possibly one older then that. Oh dear.

    Also sending best possible wishes to Stephanie.

  106. Now we know …. on MSF International website it is possible to make a donation in memory of someone ….
    Don’t know if it works on the North American ones but would expect so. Just saying.

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