Mikknit

Remember the other day when I said that I hoped to finish my shawl this weekend? Yeah. That’s not gonna happen. I haven’t managed to knit a stitch all day (I’m still on Saturday, though it’s technically Sunday).

What on earth have I been doing with my time, you might ask? Well, first I had to spend several hours sanding, washing, and scraping wallpaper residue, poorly (and thickly!) applied patching plaster, and duct tape off of my bathroom walls in preparation for the remodel.

Yes, I said duct tape. In exhibit #234902 of my case proving that the former owners of our house were crackheads, I found a spot in the bathroom where they’d patched a crack with duct tape and then put patching plaster over it. WTF???

Other exhibits in the case include:

#234103: Damage to wall repaired with wallpaper still in place. This made removing that wallpaper extra special.

#42091: Wallpaper in living room and dining room was suspiciously similar to a Magic Eye picture.

#92341: Hardwood floor covered directly with linoleum tile, then 1/4″ plywood, then another layer of linoleum. I can’t figure that one out either.

#4128: Wallpaper in the closet.

#4129: Wallpaper on the ceiling.

I can’t come up with much more right now without getting completely irritated with them again. We bought the house because it had/has lots of potential, but good lord, there’s a lot of potential that’s been screwed up by their efforts.

Oh, aside from working on the bathroom walls (which look pretty good for 93 year old plaster), I also did some sewing. The bag for my Secret Pal just needs to have the inner and outer put together and the topstitching done yet. Hopefully I’ll have energy after the State Fair tomorrow to do that - I’d really like to put it in the mail on Monday.

But first, sleep.

I got my final package from my secret pal today. What did she send?

I’m not sure if it was on my wishlist or if it was a book she just thought I’d like, but whichever it is - I am thrilled! There are so many cool things in this book!

Thank you so much, Lisa! You totally made my day

No, I didn’t get washed away by the spectacular storms yesterday. I just have been busy cleaning, decluttering, and removing $%@&*! wallpaper from my bathroom walls in preparation for a remodeling project. Fun.

But I have been knitting, and sewing a little. KSKS is over and my partner has received her package, so it’s safe to post it now.

Outside view

Under the flap - lots of pockets

Inside, with swag

Details: I used denim for the outside and a fabric from my collection of Japanese prints for the inner. It was fun to have a project to use it on - I’ve been hoarding the fabric for years. I interfaced both the outer and inner with Decor Bond, available from your handy dandy local fabric shop. There’s a zippered pocket inside, plus some pockets similar to the ones shown on the front (under the flap). I used a magnetic snap closure as well. This is my own pattern, if you can call it a pattern - I just figured out the finished dimensions I wanted, did some figuring, and went from there. I only goofed up a few times, heh.

And there’s been knitting, too:

I had to test-knit the pattern I sent to my KSKS pal, after all!

Those are the Japanese Feather Lace socks. I love them! I used Koigu in a vivid lime green and it was absolutely the perfect yarn for this pattern. I’m looking forward to cooler weather so I can wear them!

I had to try them on, of course. They fit like a dream!

I’ve also been working on the Flower Basket Shawl in some sportweight alpaca that’s been waiting around for the perfect pattern. I have an acquaintance who’s going through radiation treatment for lung cancer that’s spread to her liver and brain, it’s so sad. There’s not a lot I can do for her, but I’m knitting all my love and healing thoughts into this shawl. I’m on pattern repeat #13 of 14 or 16, depending on how it looks when I get to 14 and how my yarn supply is. I’m *hoping* to finish it this weekend, but with a trip to the MN State Fair planned for Sunday, I don’t know if I can manage it. We’ll see.

It’s beautiful and so soft. No picture can do it justice. I just hope it helps her to feel better. If anyone’s inclined to pray, light a candle, whatever, her name is Patsy.

I’d better get off the computer and get the kids dressed and out of here before they kill each other.

I got a package from my KSKS pal the other day, and it was filled with a bunch of really cool stuff!

She made the bag from some recycled, felted sweaters, so cool! I neglected to take a picture of the back (and my camera batteries are dead now), but it’s got a snowboarder and a couple of snowflakes on it, which I love. You can see that little ruffle on the top of the flap - that’s crocheted right into the fabric.

What you see there is the following: two skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in Tuscany, a copy of Sockbug’s River Rapids pattern (PDF alert), a handy dandy notebook, a nice pen, a pair of scissors, a tape measure (with keyring attached!), a couple of coilless pins, a couple of stitch markers, a little mirror that’s backed with fabric and velcroed onto the bag (great idea!). She put a velcro closure on the bag, which has already given way - the stick-on velcro doesn’t stay stuck for very long, unfortunately, so I’m considering my options on that. I’m not a big fan of velcro for closures, since it tends to accumulate hair and lint, both of which are in no short supply around my house. Not sure what would work though.

I just love everything! The yarn colorway is not one that I would’ve bought for myself, it’s just not the colors I usually think of myself wearing when I buy yarn. That said, I absolutely love it! It’s fun to see someone else’s interpretation of my preferences (from the questionnaire) - sometimes it seems like they can figure me out better from that than I can! I also have this pattern saved to my hard drive for “someday”, so she definitely has my number there, too.

She linked me to her blog, which I haven’t had much chance to look at yet. But what I’ve seen looks great - she’s a spinner as well. She’s also got some better pictures of the stuff she sent me - you can see the back of the bag over there.

Thank you, Christina!

Finally, the pictures I promised a few days ago. I think I’ve been jolted out of my knitting blahs, but we’ll see if it lasts.

First off, the finished Opal Rainforest Parrot socks. These are going into the Christmas gift box, along with several dishcloths.

Next up, my Japanese Feather socks. I was researching lace patterns for my KSKS socks, and fell in love with this pattern as I was swatching it. Whipped out this lime green Koigu that I’d fallen in love with (I’m not a Koigu person, I just don’t think it’s so exciting that it’s worth that price, generally) and cast on. I charted out the lace and I’ll post the pattern once I finish writing it up (and once my KSKS pal gets her package!)

I’m on the heel flap at the moment - Eye of Partridge once again. I love that!

Lastly, the secret project I mentioned earlier - a log cabin pillow cover. I’m planning to make three of these for the living room. I’m currently stuck trying to decide if I’m going to continue the log cabin pattern to the edge or if I should do a mitered border. If this were quilting, I’d definitely do the border, but I’m kind of stuck on whether or not to knit it. DH is no help, either - he has no opinion on the subject other than he likes the square so far.

I’m not sure which color I’d use for the border, but I’m planning to use the charcoal for a corded edging and for the back. Our couch and chair are tan, so I don’t think I’d use the tan for the border (not to mention that I don’t like light-colored borders on quilts/quilt-like objects). So that leaves the red and the green. Hmm. And no matter which I used, I’d have to do another round of log cabin before the border so I don’t have the same colors together (anal? Me?). So here it sits. If anyone’s got a suggestion, I’d love to hear it!

Okay, off to work on the heel for a bit!

I received a package from my Secret Pal the other day, which absolutely made my day.

She’s got my number - I got another package of wintergreen Lifesavers, yum!

Two felted bowls, one of which was filled with the Lifesavers, and the other one held three sample-sized packets of a wool wash I’ve never heard of. I’m looking forward to trying it out! There are also some sweater-shaped DPN holders, and that white thing is a card with a knitter on it - I didn’t notice the glare until just now and the camera batteries are dead. Oy.

Also, check this out -

She sent a red silk Lantern Moon bag that’s the perfect size for a sock project. Excellent! I had to put it to use immediately - it’s holding my Japanese Feather sock (picture forthcoming). You see the bags hanging on the opposite doorknob? All of the doorknobs in this house, I swear, have at least one cloth bag hanging on them. Some of them are just my grocery bags, but several have knitting in them.

Thanks, Secret Pal! You rock!

I’ve been fighting the knitting blahs here. We drove out to Arapahoe, NE last weekend for a family reunion, and DH drove almost all the way. He said that he might as well drive since if he were the passenger he’d just be bored and stuffing his face. Can’t argue with that, so off we went.

I think I can attribute some of my knitting blahs to the fact that I had almost finished the ribbing on sock #2 and pulled out sock #1 to compare. Guess what? I had been doing 1×1 ribbing on sock #2 and I’d done 2×2 ribbing on sock #2. Bugger. So I frogged that and restarted but lost interest again after about 1/2″. I did end up finishing the sock on the trip - I think I did the kitchener stitch on the toe somewhere around Faribault.

Another contributer to the lack of knitting has been my sewing room closet project. I decided to put some shelving in there, but needed to clean it out first. Then I decided I should patch the plaster and paint. Then I noticed that some bonehead had put wallpaper on the upper 1/3 of the walls and on the ceiling in there. Who does that? Argh! So I took the wallpaper down yesterday, DH prepped one long crack for patching and has one more to do. Hopefully he’ll go do that soon and I can patch tonight, maybe prime too if the kids go to bed easily (ha!). My mom has offered to watch the kids for me on Tueday so I can work. It’d be great if I could get it primed tonight, painted tomorrow, and then do the shelves on Tuesday. Cross your fingers for well-behaved kids for me, please?

I’ll have some pictures in the morning, hopefully. I’ve got a project that I haven’t mentioned yet to share - I’m pretty excited about it. Not excited enough to actually work on it, but…