You'll Just Have to Take My Word on This

This picture is thrilling.  You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.  Maybe you're having a second look at it, trying to decipher a hidden meaning.  It can't be that wiggly-looking bit of a partial ball of gray yarn being celebrated, can it?  Ah, but it is.  It is the remains of ball one (of two) from the Hue Shift Afghan kit meant for the border, and I have completed the first two sides.  Now you get the excitement, eh?  The worry of running out of yarn has been lurking around throughout the knitting, but now it has evaporated.  Even though the last two sides are the long sides, I will have enough yarn to complete them.  So, yeah, the picture itself may not crank anybody else's tractor, but it tickles the stuffing out of me.  I can't wait to see how far I make it on the third side with this bit of yarn.    

A White Tiger and a Regular Tiger

In the vein of time being impossible to track and possibly being meaningless while also looming larger than ever, I finally knit these tigers just as the Year of the Tiger ends.  Sure, the new pattern for the Lunar New Year helped prompt me to get going with this, but that wasn't all.  My nephew recently had a birthday, and it was a special one.  It's hard to believe that he is now twenty-one.  He was a precious little baby, a precious little boy, and is now a precious young man.  I want to post picture after picture of him, but I'll resist the impulse.  

You know how small children often like to share animal facts and their enthusiasm regarding their special favorites?  He was no different, and tigers were there at the top of his list.  He loved tigers and was especially intrigued with white tigers.  Still, in his young mind, to declare a favorite would have been disloyal.  So when he was asked about his favorite animal, he would most often respond, "A white tiger, and a regular tiger."  I managed to crochet a regular tiger for him when he was little but never got around to making a white one.  So, for the occasion of his twenty-first birthday, I added a white tiger and a regular tiger to his birthday presents.   

Two Years Later

A lot was happening two years ago today.  I have many thoughts on what happened that day and in the days since, but I'm not the right one to write about it all.  I remember dyeing my hair purple while watching and wondering about what was happening.   

As it also happened, it was my sister's birthday (she has one every year on this day) and so I sent her a birthday present.  Because it was a milestone birthday, I got her something extra special--a Hue Shift Afghan kit.  I got one for myself, too, and we made plans for a knitalong.  Back then vaccines were rolling out, and we thought that by the time we had made significant progress on our afghans we would be able to gather together, put on a movie marathon to accompany an end-weaving marathon.  We weren't right about so many things.  I've made much more progress on my afghan than she has on hers, but that's neither here nor there.  I can hope that when she makes it as far on hers as I have at this point, we can weave in ends and watch movies.  If it works out, I would even help weave in ends on her blanket for her.  Realistically speaking, that only seems likely if her progress stays at its current pace.  

Anyway, here's my progress shot.  I have not woven in a single end.  My next step is to stop gazing at it, unpin it, and start seaming.  Then I will decide if I feel like picking up and knitting one million (nah, it's only around 250-300 or so depending on the side) stitches and working the border or weaving in all those ends.  I don't dread any of the next steps, really.  The seaming is my least favorite because I am neither as skilled nor as speedy as I would like to be.  That being said, I will gain more experience, and that may help me to improve.  It's a win-win, or something, right?         

New Year, New Blog Post

We made it!  That last bit was a bit rocky, (no need to worry--life is like that sometimes) and for the last couple of weeks of the year, I had a lot of trouble keeping track of what day or time it was.  Much of that lingers, but it seems a little less difficult.  I don't have a personal 2022 wrap-up, and I'm just fine with that.  We're still here, and that is enough. 

Anyway, you're here for amazing knitting content, right?  My Featherweight Wrap to Knit has all its ends woven in and it even had a nice soak to wash away the years and, well, you know what a difference a dunk makes.  I don't feel like a modeled photo shoot, and it laid out on the floor is not all that impressive for a picture.  It is a mainly stockinette, three-quarter-ish-length sleeve, black, lightweight, cardigan.  You'll just have to trust me on the finished status, mkay?  I like it and might even knit another of this pattern one day.  

I finished knitting the final quadrant of the Hue Shift Afghan.  I really thought I would have sewn the quadrants together or worked in the ends during the ultra-cold weather, but that didn't happen.  I didn't even drag out the other pieces of the blanket.  I'll get to it someday.  I have some shows I want to watch and I think working on this while I do so will be a good match.   

I knit some little bits for the nieces and nephews.  I wanted to make many more tiny things, and I even thought of sewing little stockings for each of them to fill with doodads and little knits, but that was not to be, and it was probably just as well.  In the end, a snowperson and a chocolate chip cookie felt like the right amount of knitting to attach to their Christmas gifts.  

Welcome to 2023!  I'm glad you're still here.