Tag: Knitting

Clean Out Stash, (Re)Start a Sweater

This weekend was a very busy one as we cleaned out things, such as old computers (taken to an e-waste recycling place), sold a bunch of books, and finally hit the stash of yarn and spinning fleece in the garage.  From 45 boxes, I am down to 22 with yarn and fleece.  Some things were thrown out – such as a bag with a big, black spider, most likely a black widow.  Other things were boxed up so my MIL could come and take what she wanted.  The rest is going to be delivered to a local senior center where they use donated yarn for charity work, or they can just take yarn home for fun – not everyone has a big income, and yarn can be a luxury.

Oddly enough, going through everything didn’t take that long.  I think I spent about 6 hours at the most.  It was easy to choose, too.  Nearly anything that was unfinished was cut off the ball of yarn, discarded, and the yarn ball put into the “to be donated” bin(s).  Tacky or sticky or scratchy fleece was discarded as not worthwhile.  All balls of handspun yarn were saved, regardless as to length, unless they didn’t feel good to touch.

And in the middle of this, I have a sweater that has been sitting in the knitting pile for some time.  It is a cardigan, but I decided to try steeking with it.  Well, that fell by the wayside.  I ripped out the entire sweater, re-balled the yarn, and started over.  Much happier, even though purling is not my favorite knitting stitch.

I restarted the sweater, an Icelandic pattern, and have done a few inches.  I think this will be my night knitting, when we are watching TV.  The lower edge, as with most Icelandic sweaters, is a patterned border, but the main body a plain color.  Instead of using Icelandic wool roving, which pills and is too itchy for me, I am using an acrylic yarn with a bit of halo.  Yeah, not the most sophisticated of yarn choices in a “natural” world, but for me, right now, it is perfect.  I need a cardigan – and one with as little sewing as possible!  I hate sewing things together, and never finish anything that requires too much of it.

It feels good to have a knitting project on hand again.

Blues

blues

I’ve pulled out a few old lenses.  This is a Vivitar 30-80mm from the 70s.  I took this checking out the focus, to remember how to use it, as well as check for lens creep.  Knowing all these helps when out shooting.  This lens has lens creep, but it is a really sweet lens to use, with film or digital.  Pure happenstance occurred when I took this – I was focusing on the ridges in this shawl, and didn’t see the notebook next to the folds.  Only when I saw the picture did I realize the coincidence.

Projects, or, Wonder Woman Does Not Live Here

3-365-corner-of-the-world-autumn-rain

We have been enjoying rain for the past several weeks, and it shows.  Colors are more intense as the winter grasses emerge, the cold is shaking the leaves into color, and the subdued light intensifies the beauty of the trails nearby.  Of course, post-production helps, too.  I’ve enjoyed the weather – wind, rain, clouds, sunshine, cold.

The variety of weather has really helped, too, as this past week I’ve been dealing with dental problems and dental pain.  I didn’t know my teeth could be so annoying!!  However, things are calming down, and thank goodness for dental insurance, and good dentists.

Around here, there are a lot of things afoot, and not enough time to do them all.  I have been doing the following:

I thought I would be able to do it all, and still work my silly schedule, but it may be that I will need to scale back a bit.  I really want to do all these things, but find that an 11-hour day is so long that by the time I get home, I can just function.  This means eat dinner, do the dishes, and either fall asleep or watch a bit of TV, and then fall asleep.  How dull, eh?

What I am finding useful, though, is to actually schedule my creative time.   This means sit down and decide what I want to do on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  If I don’t, I get distracted, and other things just won’t happen.  And trust me, there are lots of things to distract me (besides aching teeth).  If I stay focused on my projects, I become a recluse and don’t get out of the house.  Friends and family help to keep me human, not a raving, obsessed something.