Should Have Knit More

If only I had knit more little things I would have created an awesome entry for the 2022 Mochimochiland Photo + Video Contest by now, right?  

I have this little pile of recent knits.

There's this other pile I knit before that.  

Then there's this other pile of little knits that have been just hanging out in a bag in my knitting bag by the couch.  

Don't forget the pile of tiny rabbits and carrots, 

or the gathering of little Elizabeth Warrens.  

Of course, we haven't even gotten to the biggest pile.  

Still, I'm coming up empty.  If the answer to music is more cowbell, the answer here must be more knitting, right?  I'm starting to think it's just not going to happen, and I am trying to be fine with that.  I just wanted to contribute to the event.  Oh, well.  Then again, I still have a few more days, so maybe I will manage to get something together.      

One Thing Leads to Another

Do you ever stop and try to figure out the paths your mind takes to get to a particular topic, activity, or line of thinking?  I do that pretty often.  Sometimes when I have a number of concerning things going on in life my brain tries to sort them into patterns, tries to make puzzling things make sense, works to understand things when I might not have enough information, and the next thing you know my mind has stirred up something seemingly out of nowhere.  I've got quite a bit of that going what with some family getting ready to move away, others appearing to be engaging in patterns of behavior that have historically meant they were not doing well, swirl that all up with the pandemic, climate crisis, inflation, and all of the *gestures broadly* stuff, and it doesn't take much of a leap to figure out why my brain is going the places it goes.  

Other times, the hop-skip-jump is lighthearted and fun.  Anna just announced the call for entries for the 2022 Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest and its theme, Sharing is Caring.  So, I had recently knit some corn.  Maybe sometime I'll fill you in on what got me knitting corn, but that's a story for another day.  Anyway, sharing is caring, inflation is terrible, people are in need, corn is food, I should knit more food and turn it all into an awesome stop-motion animation (a skill I do not possess) and let it join what I'm sure is going to an amazing crop (see what I did there) of entries for the contest.  So I flipped through patterns and the pearl part of the Joyful Oyster pattern from the book Adventures in Mochimochiland was a great starting point for an apple and a peach.  After that I knit a little banana, a tomato, and a lime.  At this point I get a bit mentally stuck in my bin of green yarns and unnecessarily lose too much time lamenting not having full-size skeins of Limeade Heather, Alfalfa, Green Tea Heather, and Edamame despite having mini-skeins of them all and only needing small amounts to knit tiny fruit and veg.  I can be a bit silly, for sure.  I have so much and can relax and enjoy.  Anyway, after knitting all of those healthful foods, you know I'm back to Adventures in Mochimochiland and knitting a donut.  Then my brain is back in the green bin and after another flip through Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi I've knit a little pear.  

So, yeah, I may see if I can put together an entry for the contest, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else does.  In the meantime, I think I need to knit a smaller donut and then maybe I'll try to knit up some little veggies (more green!), but maybe now that I've taken a picture and blogged these, I'm done knitting little food for now.  Sometimes I'm like that, y'know?  

Take care of yourselves and others, lean into love and allow yourself to experience the joy that is available to you. 

Let the Sun Shine (ready or not for all the hot)

Spring has sprung, and that means many things.  The weather is warming, the sun is often shining, and there is so much more green.  I've been doing a little yard work, and have added some lily of the valley plants to the flower box.  With the return of leaves on trees and flowers blooming comes pollen, and with that, nobody's favorite guessing game, "Is it Allergies or is it COVID-19?"  We're still staying home, for the most part.  It's just what makes the most sense for us.  The weather has been changing quickly; the chill of our winters jumped to the warmth of early summer, skipping over much of the milder spring weather.  Of course, I start typing this post, and weeks go by, so we are now seasonably warm.  I'm just saying, we jumped thirty degrees in a week last month and it has mostly stayed there.  Anyway, before it becomes too hot all the time, we are spending some time outside with family.   

Here at home, life continues much as it has, but now with a little more knitting.  No, not the Hue Shift Afghan.  I haven't much felt like working on it, but knitting little things has appealed to me.  It started with things to put in some Easter eggs.  At first, I thought about knitting a different pattern for each of the kiddos' eggs, but knew that was not a good idea.  Instead, I chose Tina the Tiny T-Rex (still waiting patiently for Tori the Tiny Triceratops to make it over to Mochimochiland instead of just being available on Knitrino).   For a bit, it looked like we would have rain for Easter and we would not be able to attend, and I thought about knitting a dinosaur for everyone in the family.  I quickly recovered from the ill-conceived idea, and just knit at my own pace and let Bruce pick which ones he thought were best to put in eggs.  We were so very fortunate to have nice enough weather to celebrate Easter and Mother's Day outside with the family. 

Being out of practice checking up on knitblogs (yes, some are still active out there, and I think there should be more) I missed when a post on twitter by Anna Hrachovec showing a sunflower gif then yielded a pattern for us all.  Anyway, I caught up, donated and got to knitting.  These sunflowers are brightening things (we are in need of cheering, for sure) and the pattern is presented for free with a requested donation to groups helping Ukrainians--double yay!!  Since I'm not yet satisfied with my petals, (I kept ripping out and re-working, and that's not the answer) I believe I will be knitting more sunflowers.  

I hope that some good light is making its way to you and yours.     

Merry Christmas

From all of us here to all of you wherever you are, Merry Christmas!  (volume up, if you would like a little music, too) 

Now, with Music (volume up!)

So, have you been listening to any Christmas music?  I have, and that's what brought on this idea.  The whole thing is a bit horrible, in that, part of it has helped reinforce buying weird things on clearance and keeping them forever (well, and also the fact that I am not good at this, but, whatever).  You see, I found these little bells that I had bought years ago for a few cents in the clearance bin.  Anyway, I heard a song, and soon I had a plan.  I don't think I have a future with stop-motion animation, but I still think this kind of works.  So, here you go; turn on the sound.
 

Tiny Knits Away

Since some far-away-family continues to have a hospital adventure, I wanted to send a little Christmas cheer through knitting.  It wasn't hard to find some Christmas-themed patterns from Mochimochiland.  Narrowing down the selection to a manageable few was, especially knowing the (often bigger) challenge of getting them in the post was yet to come.  However, I managed to just start knitting and that helped with the decisions.  First up--Christmas trees--one for the hospital and one for the house.  Then I knit a snowman, but it had to wait a bit for its embellishments.  After that, it was time to try something new--the Special Little Snowflakes (currently free with any $5 purchase) pattern.  After that, it was just time for photos and the post office.  Pro tip:  The photo session is extra challenging when the tiny knits are all so close together and they all have strong magnets inside them.  As it turns out, the post office was the easiest part of this.  I know, right?     
Now they're all on their way, and I can only hope they help to brighten the days!       

Tree Up

 
Yesterday was Mom's birthday, so I put up the Christmas tree.  I'll probably add to it this month.  There are some new pieces already this year, as well as some missing ones that I've given away since last year.  That's how it always goes.  

In keeping with the theme of things going the same way as usual, I just received confirmation that a package I mailed arrived.  Yeah, I boxed up and addressed that knitted Thanksgiving meal and it went on our North Carolina adventure and I didn't get it out in the post until this week.  I'm terrible and I know it.  Anyway, I'm told it will make it's next journey to the hospital tomorrow.  I think I'll knit a Christmas tree next and maybe I'll even get it there in time.  I won't box it up the same way as the last package, so that should help.

Do You Have Your Costume?

So, these were actually made back in the spring when I was thinking of giving them to my nephew for his birthday.  I wasn't sure whether they would be sturdy enough for a preschooler, I did not complete as many as I had planned, and then they just went to live in my craft room.  I'll probably add them to the collection of toys for the kids to play with when they visit; I just haven't gotten around to it.  

However, there is one that will not be handed over to the babies.  I knit the Prince as Batman/Joker when Prince died.  It still makes me a little bit sad, but knitting this little finger puppet helped.