Early In the Morning or Late at Night?

Happy Thursday!

One of the things we need to do in our job as Grampa's Day Care Center is get Miss A out of bed for school in the morning (and me out of bed to get to my home office!).

Some days it's no fun.  Other days it's not so bad.

I am reminded of my own days as a kid at home, and my poor mother having to get any number of her seven offspring up at various times of the morning.

She used to sing a little song to us, maybe you've heard it before:

In addition she might do something like pull up the shade to let in the sunshine, or pull the blankets off a particularly lazy kid who wasn't responding.  I even remember once she used a squirt bottle of cool water that was on the ironing board to convince one of the boys to Rise and Shine.

 

Some of use might be risers but shining in the morning was not in our wheelhouses.

 

One of my brothers was a night owl and was perpetually dragging his sorry butt out of bed at the very last second.  Like the rest of us would be in the car ready to back out of the driveway and he would be saying "wait, wait!".



Not that I mind getting up early, if I get a good sleep.  I was never good at staying up late.  I don't watch late night TV on purpose -- what happens to me is I'm waiting for my turn in the bathroom and I fall asleep on the couch with a cat (or knitting) on my lap.  Then I am jolted awake by the crink in my neck, and some silly talk show is on, and what the heck, I have lost an hour or more! 

I get up, wash my face, brush my teeth, go to bed, and then I can't drop off immediately (I'm sure it's the face-washing) so I read for anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour.

Then my hubby says "you were up late last night".  Ha ha!  Not so much... it doesn't count as staying up late if you're sleeping on the couch!  I have stayed up the equivalent of a half hour longer than he did, appearances notwithstanding.

Tonight I plan to do it differently.  I will go to bed first and fall asleep second.

Fingers crossed!

New Years Resolutions

A few things I've heard about the New Year period are to end as you began, to begin as you intend to go, and when making resolutions try to make them achievable but not too easy... that's IF you are going to make any at all.

This year one of my resolutions was to finish some of the things I've started before starting new things.

Does un-knitting a project qualify as finishing?  It's no longer a UFO at that point, right??  LOL!

 

 

I was sitting in my normal knitting spot on the sofa and looking at what was around me.  Before Christmas I moved some things into the closet of the spare bedroom to make room for the Christmas tree room rearrangement, and I didn't have a lot of things sitting around me.  So I went on a search.

 

I found the green lace sweater that I started eons ago.   Well, in 2016...

 



 

This time of year it's nice to have a big knitting project in your lap in the evening!  Also a cat, but as I discovered this week, not a knitting project and a cat at the same time.

 

1. Too hot.  Yes, even when the weather is freezing, it's too hot to have both in your lap while sitting on the couch.
2. Cat does not appreciate knitting action.  She wants stillness.  If your leg cramps up from sitting in the same spot too long, too bad.

I digress.  I pulled out the project.  It was on the waste yarn I used to store the sleeve stitches while I knit the body of the sweater.  I went on a hunt and found the right sized needles.  But the cord options for the circulars I wanted to use were either too long or too short.

 

Too short was the better option, so that's how I started.  After a few rows it wasn't too bad but every time I put it down I was worried the knitting would slide off.  Off again I go on another search for what I did with the mid sized cord.

  

I found a couple of projects stuffed in knitting bags.  I peeled off a mitten that the intended recipient told me she would never wear, and put that ball of yarn back with its litter mates. 

I found a hat that was about five rows in but was not started with ribbing and I could not identify what pattern I was using.  I unraveled that and low and behold, the mid sized cord.  Victory!  Then I went back to the green sleeve and knitted about a dozen additional rows.

The sleeve is going to be very wide.  I might have to do something I have no experience with and that is alter a knitting pattern this complicated.  Note to self:  Whatever you do to one sleeve you must do to the other, so for goodness sake, write it down!!  Knitting the sleeve on the body of the sweater is different than knitting the sleeves separately, where you can knit them simultaneously.

I might have to consult the experts at my local yarn shop, or email the Yarn Harlot in Canada...

One thing I started in December is done.  I bought some Malabrigo yarn from The Loopy Ewe and started a Feather and Fan scarf before Christmas.  This is also a lace pattern, but it only has one lace row, the rest is stockinette.  For some reason it was easier to follow than the sweater, (and smaller) so I finished it.

Here it is blocked and drying on the ironing board:

The board is 54 inches long.

The cast on row is three peaks and two dips.

The bind off row is two peaks with a
big dip in the center.

I didn't notice the blues so much while knitting, but they really show up in the photo.  I wore it to church with a teal sweater.  It's very light and thin, but also very warm around my neck.

My third project that is ready for finishing is a quilt top.  I pulled the blocks from my parts department.  Yeah, that pile of stuff that had no purpose but was fun to do... 

Four patch blocks that ended up at 3.5".

Paired with 3.5" blue blocks.

I picture this top finishing at about a laptop size, 48x54 or thereabouts, and I would love to set them on point if I have the right quantity of blue for background in my stash.

So two UFOs started back up and one new project started and finished.  Begin as you intend to go...

Sew and knit on!