Well, that didn’t last

As predicted, the cleaning and organizing bug didn’t last and worse, ran out midway on a project or two which are now a slog, and a slog I need resolved fast, since this weekend is Thanksgiving and Christmas is coming, and…  our gathering will be still be very tiny, but there will indeed be a few people in the house and I’m aiming to have things as lovely as they can be. (You wait and see what kind of hum-dinger of a holiday we’re throwing when this thing finally rolls over.)

It makes total sense then, that as the pressure comes on and I should be making a grocery list and planning how the parsnips will be and deciding about cranberry sauce, that I completely abandoned all that and finished a shawl.

Pattern and yarn are from the Gauge Dye Works Summer club. I don’t belong to many anymore, but that one always turns my crank. No matter what they send I always adore it. The colours are pretty indeed, and the yarn’s mostly merino with a little cashmere, just to ice the cake. It was a pleasure, and fun and easy too. I mostly knit it while being interrupted by Ellie every few minutes, so that was much appreciated.  It’s a small-ish shawl.

I find the really tiny ones hard to find a use for – but this is just big enough to be useful without being unwieldy. The larger ones I might use for a layer, draped over my shoulders in a fairly classic fashion, but that was in the before-times when I went knitterly places. (Or, um… places.)  Shawls this size I wear like a scarf, piling and winding it round my neck as caulking against the cold. Or, that’s how I would wear it if it were for me, which it isn’t.  This one will go in the post a little closer to Christmas, which makes me feel a little bit like I’m planning for a future instead of just knitting.

With the rest of today I’m finishing a video for the Patreon, and then tomorrow I am going to alter the time space continuum, and finish another video, clean the whole house, sort the groceries, and I’m thinking I’ll finish a pair of socks that currently look like this.

I’m sure it will be a snap, and I won’t regret the shawl at all.

42 thoughts on “Well, that didn’t last

  1. I have such a vendetta against small shawls. I want a blanket you can wear, else call it a scarf. This is the pettiest hill, and I will die here.

  2. That is a very pretty shawl. Great colours! Oddly enough I have socks that look just like yours! Quite a few of them! LOL I abandoned the last part of a sock that could be finished this evening, to start a hat for our Hope Centre. Now I’m not sure I even like the hat, and the sock awaits. it’s the second sock too!

  3. Not sure if this is the best place to ask about the bike rally karma gifting. I still have the item that I sent an email about to offer as a gift. Is this still happening or is it all over and I should find another purpose for the item that I offered?

    • Exactly what I was wondering about mine. I will send it on somewhere else, if the karma gifting is a thing of the past.
      Knitting is far more important than a tidy house. Thank how untidy it will be when those people all leave. 🙂

    • My apologies, it takes a huge amount of time to do it, and I’ve been putting it off. I’ll sit down this holiday monday and make a big dent in it. Thank you for the prompt, and sorry for the delay.

      • Awesome! I’ve been wondering too, but really, no one wants to harsh a summer lake vibe!! (Great pics, and I was quoting Elliot’s “frosty!” while wading into the lake last week to retrieve a dog toy that was being unaccountably ignored…)

  4. That’s a lovely shawl. I just tinked back a cowl that’s going to become a different cowl because the one I started was too fiddly and no one has time for fiddly in October. Especially not after the past 18 months of : waves hands : all this. I need easy and mindless and some garter stitch will get it done and it will also go in the post closer to Christmas. Good on us for planning ahead and not just knitting. Our Thanksgiving is on the 16th. I haven’t sorted it out yet, but we have a date and time. Plenty of days left to get that worked out.

  5. You’re going to alter the space-time continuum and get all that stuff done? It’s frozen pizzas for Thanksgiving dinner again, isn’t it? (The shawl is gorgeous and the socks are … purple.)

  6. I kept in mind your idea that one should clean the house, I told a couple of friends and I nagged my grown children. Also made one banana bread and kind of swept the floor. So, I say it’s the thought that counts, and I will persevere. I have a great list for tomorrow….

  7. SO glad to see you’re human, like the rest of us (as in – you put aside the organization, cleaning and shopping list and *knitted*)!

    Except, perhaps, those socks. A-hem. Those will DEFinitely be a feat of super-humanity!

    And a Very Happy Thanksgiving to the Whole Pearl-McPhee Clan,
    Gratefully,
    Maura

  8. Since you’re already altering the space-time continuum, do you think you could somehow make me able to walk the dog to pick up the children from school while also knitting?

      • I can’t recommend this. My dogs pulled me over and I face planted on the pavement. Cracked ribs, a concussion and a chin that looked like an aubergine for several weeks. I’m lucky it wasn’t worse.
        Maybe just walk faster ?

  9. I am so happy to have found a baby sweater neck-down pattern for which I can use those little balls of left-over yarns. It’s poorly written and I’ve had to tweak it, but it works quite well.

  10. Our baby granddaughter would love, love those purple socks where did you get the yarn. I also love your shawl, I’m more of a cowl person. Just getting my cowl mojo going for the 2 daughters in laws & 15 yr old granddaughter. Going to have eye surgery Monday so I don’t know how it’s going to affect the knitting. I’ll just go as a pirate for Halloween Happy Halloween & those of you doing the other holidays too. Jennifer

  11. That shawl is the colors of the yarn my mom bought when we toured a mill at Prince Edward Island when I was a kid. It’s very pretty.

    That purple! Someone else is going to be very very lucky, too!

  12. That is beautiful. II really love the colours! That’s an impressive sock; the design looks intricate and very challenging Teehee.

    I didn’t realise that Canada celebrated Thanksgiving… That probably makes me sound like an idiot? Well I am in England and it’s a long way away, although I have once celebrated Thanksgiving in Seattle, so not so far really from Canada at all. Enough waffle!

    • Oh, we’re thankful here in Canada, too—just earlier in the fall since it’s MUCH easier to feel thankful before the weather turns freezing and gross!!!

  13. The shawl is lovely and will make someone very happy. I don’t really go many places these days, but I’m just as happy to wear a shawl around the house, even if it’s fancy and no one will see it.

  14. Love, love the knitting! And no one is going to check under the chesterfield-they all know that you are are an amazing housekeeper, you are!

  15. One can never regret a shawl! And thanks for alerting me to the wonders of Gauge Dye Works – I am wearing my rainbow Hydrogen shawl this morning. I don’t buy much yarn anymore since I’m multiple times SABLE in that department, but I do love Gauge.
    I always figure that the housecleaning goals can be adjusted almost infinitely as time contracts…

  16. No matter what happens, you will not regret that shawl! I’m working on mine and loving it too!! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!!

  17. I love your approach to life! It wouldn’t make me laugh so hard if it weren’t so close to mine. Except I always forget I have to alter the space-time continuum, so my results aren’t as good as yours.
    On the other hand, inviting people over is still the only way I know to motivate myself to pull things together, let alone tidy up.

  18. Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Love the shawl and I have seen pictures of your holiday spreads so I think everything will be spectacular!

  19. I’m finishing up a blanket. It’s taken me a YEAR to knit it … pandemic, homeschooling against my better judgement, working full time. I’m finally feeling like life is getting back to normal. Hubby and I are working normal hours. Kids are back in school. I’ve been trying to decide on my next project … I’m going to make a shawl I bought yarn for a couple of years ago in DC. Thanks for the inspiration!

  20. Your shawl is absolutely gorgeous, and just the right size in my opinion. You are so good with colours!
    I see a super-nifty pair of socks in the making. Again, the colour makes me drool.
    You are certainly one person I will be very thankful for this Thanksgiving.

  21. It is so nice to have you back on the blog. You were missed. And I wanted to say how much I enjoy your Patreon classes. I’ve been knitting for over 60 years, but I find I learn something in each one. That proves even old dogs can learn new tricks.

  22. Thinking of you and your family and wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for all you do to inspire, support, and, yes, entertain so many people around the world. You are much appreciated, today and every day.

  23. I haven’t knit a shawl since last year as I’ve discovered I have a large collection of unused small shawls that barely get an outing unless I have a cold neck on a chilly autumn morning. It was also a good use of that “souvenir” sock yarn purchased a fiber festivals or while on holiday (remember those?). I think the next one will have to be a nice big one wrap around me for the next time I go to knitterly places!

  24. I wear knitted things with pride and always hear only compliments. I don’t think knitting is old-fashioned, I don’t even remember when I was seriously interested in knitting. I perfectly understand that my work is not perfect and therefore I never even tried to knit to order. This business is exclusively for the soul. I really rest and get distracted when I knit. And on your site I get inspiration. Thank you!

  25. There are some intriguing times in this short article yet I don’t recognize if I see all of them center to heart. There is some credibility however I will hold viewpoint up until I consider it better. Excellent short article, thanks and also we want more!

  26. Thinking of you and your family and wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for all you do to inspire, support, and, yes, entertain so many people around the world. You are much appreciated, today and every day.

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