More Mazes and Pumpkins

Pattern: aMAZEing Dice Hat by Wyvern Knits - Size: D - Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Bone and Yarn Bee Soft Secret in Navy - Needle: US 4

  I have been really liking the results I've been getting from the aMAZEing Dice Hat, but I was wondering if I could make the top seem flatter, so it would be easier to see if you can solve the maze.  I thought that working it from the top down might fix that.

  I worked the crown chart from the top down, but worked the rest of the charts from the bottom up.  I skipped the first two rows on the charts used for the first ones of the body since the last rows of the crown are main color rows.  I know I could have probably worked all the charts from the top down, but I didn't want to make it even more confusing than I already have with everything else going on.  I then added back the two main color rows before the ribbing.

Rolls I got for this hat: worked ~> and \/

  Chart number w/row for wraps for 12th row

  Crown w/17
2 w/4 - 6 w/6 - 5 w/6 - 5 w/12 - 2 w/8
5 w/2 - 2 w/12 - 2 w/6 - 6 w/6 - 6 w/2
3 w/2 - 3 w/2 - 6 w/8 - 4 w/4 - 5 w/2

1 w/12 - 5 w/8 - 5 w/8 - 2 w/2 - 1 w/2

6        - 5         - 6         - 4        - 4    
  Brim

  I used a M1L to do the increases.  They were pretty tight but I like how they looked.  I think I might try a yarn-over and knit it through the back loop on the next try.

  I also had to fudge the top because I was going to do size B, but didn't notice that I started with size US 4 needles and not the US 6 needles I had planned to use, so it was coming out pretty small.  I know I could have restarted it, but I really liked how the fabric of the hat was turning out.  I just added a few more rows from size D to the bottom to make it bigger.

  The brim also wants to flip, and I'm wondering if that is because I used the wrong size needle.  It might not do that if I had actually used the 6s for the body and 4s for the ribbing.

  I went back and tried to go to the post about The Best Damn Pumpkin Soup and found that the page no longer exists!  I used TheWayBackMachine and was able to get the recipe.  Since I had trouble finding it, I figured I would share it here.  I'm not going to put the entire post here, just the parts that matter to what I use.  Though to be fair, I usually use a smaller pumpkin and whatever soup ingredients I have on hand.  I also tend to eat it right out of the pumpkin instead of putting it into bowls.

The Best Damn Pumpkin Soup

Erin McDowell

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Start to finish: 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients:

One 3- to 4-pound cheese pumpkin

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 leek, halved and thinly sliced

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Using a paring knife, cut a tapered circle around the stem of the pumpkin (as if you were making a jack-o’-lantern). Remove the top of the pumpkin and trim any stringy bits. Scoop out the pumpkin seeds with a spoon and discard (or save, if desired).

3. Place the rosemary, thyme and sliced leek in the cavity of the pumpkin. Pour in the chicken stock and season with black pepper. Add the grated Parmesan cheese, then replace the top of the pumpkin.

4. Transfer the whole pumpkin to the prepared baking sheet and roast in the oven until the exterior of the pumpkin is golden brown and shiny, and the flesh inside is very tender, 1½ to 2 hours. (If the exterior is browning too quickly, reduce the oven temperature to 375°F.)

5. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and take off the top. To serve the soup, scoop several spoonfuls of pumpkin flesh from the inside, place in a bowl and top with a ladleful of broth. Finish with more pepper and Parmesan cheese, if desired.

  We did Christmas at the cabin this year.  It is the first Christmas where Tank got to be with us for opening presents.  In past years we have gone to my parent's house and came back once we were done with presents and food.  Since we weren't going to be down for a long while, my mom decorated one of our outside trees and then we just had a live stream of a tree on the TV to put the presents under.  I was worried that Tank's bright orange harness wasn't going to fit, but it does, even though the part around his neck isn't adjustable.  I like this new tradition.

  My mom and I also made a drop-off of mostly hats at Lebanon Springs House Ministries.  They were very impressed by the items we brought them.  We also all sat down and had some tea and just chatted.  They are very nice and it was great to actually meet them.

It's Still Pumpkin Season

Pattern: Little Pumpkin Hat by Asita Krebs - Size: Junior - Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Bone - Needle: US 6

  I thought this was going to be worked like the BUN Hat by Andi OldTrout where you don't join it in the round at first, but I was wrong.  I had to go back and adjust some of the parts where I picked up and knit the wrap with the stitch because it was either being really loose or pulling the stitch in an obvious way.  Some are still a bit off, but not enough to make a difference.  I might try the Japanese Wrap and Turn method next time.  I also like how the first row of the ribbing is offset how you work it the rest of the time.

  The stitch pattern looked intimidating until I realized that rows 1 & 4 and 2 & 3 are the same to each other, just offset.  I just had to look at the beginning of the row, then I could just keep going without rechecking until the next row.

  We did a quick trip to the cabin, made sure no pipes froze or anything.  There was a limited release at the ABC store and Bill was curious what we could get down there.  We went to the closest one and were joking about random stuff with the people in front of us in line.  Bill picked out something and then we headed to the next one.  We ended up being behind the same people in line again!  He mentioned that there was another one a few minutes down the road and I said I was up to going to that one as well, but he wanted to go to Walmart to get some batteries.  We then went past the cabin the other direction and went to an ABC Store in WV and it was the smallest one I've ever been to.  It was a nice drive and the town it was in was very cute.  Some of the restaurants there looked pretty good as well, so I think we will head back there at some point.

Another Tricky Project

Pattern: Swirl Hat by Mandie Harrington - Size: Child - Yarn: Yarn Bee Soft Secret in Navy - Needle: US 6

   I decided to try the different decreases on this one.  It wasn't looking how I wanted it to, but I thought it was still pretty cool looking, so I kept going.  During Thanksgiving I accidentally added an extra yarn over and figured it would be quicker to take it out instead of trying to hide it.  I somehow missed getting both loops on a few of the decreases and next thing I knew I had some loops poking up from a few rows below.  I ended up having to take out about 5 rows before I got everything where it should be.  I kept going and it was still pretty good looking, but not how I pictured it.  Though when I flipped it inside onto to weave in my end, it looked really good.  I then flipped it back, wove on my ends on the previously right side, and I'm super happy with it.

Pattern: Moss Stitch Shawl by Sarah Zimmerman - Yarn: Caron Perfect Match in 7411 Evening Jewels - Hook: 6mm

  I forgot about this.  I went to block it in the guest room and just let it sit in there to dry for over a month now.  I kept wondering why I felt like I was missing something and then I remembered this project.  I love the colors.  There are some great variances in the pooling that repeat themselves in different parts of the shawl.  It looks pretty busy when it is small, like in the picture, but in person it isn't quite so overwhelming.

The Cursed Project

Pattern: Roll for Skulls by Wyvern Knits - Size: B - Yarn: Loops & Threads Capri Tencel in Slate and Teal - Needles: US 2(ribbing) and US 3(body)

  I had an interesting experience with this yarn.  It's my first time using it and when I looked up reviews, most people only had complaints about it splitting.  I was taking it out because I was getting gauge when just knitting, but when I started doing the colorwork, my stitches tightened up.  At one point I was winding it back up after taking it out and I noticed a bit where it looked like the yarn was wrapped on itself.  It also looked like a few of the plies were longer than the rest.  I was scared that I was going to have to cut it.  After looking at it I figured out that I had somehow managed to split the yarn and either the skein or the knitting had been passed through the split.  I gently loosened the top plies enough to get the skein through and everything smoothed out nicely.

  It also felt odd when I was wet blocking it.  I thought it became pliable feeling, like a clay.  My mom thought it felt like paper mache.  It went back to feeling nice and smooth when it was dry.

  I worked the pattern rolling for each section and midway through each chart as well:

Top twisted 1x1 ribbing

        Right Latvian braid

    3B - 3B - 2A - 6C - 5C - 1A

    2A - 1A - 4B - 2A - 4B - 2A 

    4B - 3B - 5C - 6C - 1A - 4B

    6C - 3B - 1A - 4B - 2A - 3B

    6C - 5C - 2A - 4B - 2A - 4B

    3B - 2A - 5C - 6C - 2A - 4B

        Left Latvian Braid

Bottom twisted 1x1 ribbing

  I also had an interesting experience at the dentist the last time I went.  They told me I was going to be in room 3.  I saw a lot of things that looked like the two-part epoxy but in different colors on the counter.  The person who showed me where to go asked me if I had any pain.  I told her that I didn't, and she looked at me with a really confused expression and asked if I was sure.  She then double checked my name and I hear Diane say that I was there for her from the next room over.  The guy who was supposed to be in that room was seated soon after I got into room 4.  While I was getting my x-rays done, I heard someone ask the guy in the other room if he had eaten anything particularly hard recently or not.  One of the people then tried to come over to us and steal the x-ray machine after my first one.  The second we were done she came back to get it.  While I was getting my cleaning done I heard various snippets from the other room.  She tapped on his teeth and asked which ones hurt.  At one point she was giving reasons why he might have this steady tooth ache for five days, but have the teeth all look okay.  She also mentioned that they might be able to just make a hole to get to the root of the tooth to fix the problem.  She also suggested that the pain from biting down might be caused by a break in the tooth below the gum-line.  She said that everything was too irritated to do a cleaning that day, even though it's been a while since he last got one done.  She was going to get him a few referrals for various specialists that would help them figure out what was wrong with his teeth.  Once she was done with him and was free to see me to double check Diane's work, I asked her what was going on next door since I had been sat there.  She laughed when I her about how I was asked if I was in pain and she said that they must have thought that I was her emergency patient who thought he might need to have four teeth pulled.  Luckily I had nothing that exciting done.

Worms for Wise

  I managed to get a few more worms done before I brought them to the Church knitting group to be taken to Wise, VA.  I wish I had managed to get a few more done, but there is always next year.

  These are all the ones I have saved and will be going.  I think there are around 230 worms.  Everyone at knitting was impressed.  Jenelle said my timing was pretty good because these would make good stocking stuffers for Christmas.

  I'm starting to think this project is cursed.  According to my row count, I've done 24 rows of this project and currently only have 8 rows of ribbing to show for it.  I decided I should start making a list to keep track of everything I had to deal with.

  Here is a list of the things that have gone wrong so far:

• Twisted cast on ~ frogged
• Wasn't sure I wanted to make the size I cast on for ~ frogged
• Cast on was too tight ~ frogged
• Forgot to change to larger needles after ribbing ~ back to ribbing
• Somehow started working on my project inside out when the ribbing has a clear "right" and "wrong" side ~ back to ribbing
• Decided to change charts mid-eye for one section ~ ignored

   I think I might still be slightly off on my gauge, but I think it will be fine once I block it.  It's also interesting to see how my tension is slightly different when I hold the yarn in my right hand versus my left.  I don't think I've ever noticed it before.

One From the Vault

  I was doing some reorganizing of the yarn overflow area and found this scarf.  I had started it back in college and had made the cable needlessly complicated.  I had decided that it needed a purl between the knit sections of the cable.  I had set it aside to get finished by someone else, but when I took another look at it, I saw that it really only needed the other end done in seed stitch.  Six rows later I had it bound off.  It's the really old Super Saver, so it isn't very soft.  I tried soaking it in conditioner and water, and that really helped a lot.

Pattern: Hurricane Hat by Andrea Goutier - Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Shaded Dusk - Needle: US 8

  Since my mom has been telling so many people about how easy the Hurricane hat is, I decided to make another one.  I technically didn't have enough yarn, but it fits my head, so I figure that's good enough.  It also got a conditioner bath to help soften it up.

 

Pattern: Swirl Hat by Mandie Harrington - Yarn: Yarn Bee Soft Secret in Navy - Needle: US 6

  I had grabbed this yarn to make the Hurricane Hat with but needed to find a new project for it since I had used the ancient Super Saver.  I looked up the yarn on Ravelry, looked at project ideas, and this one was already in my queue.

  To get a fabric I liked, I had to go up to a size 6 needle.  For some reason it looked like it was going to come out as a giant hat with the largest size, so I restarted with the number of stitches for a 12m-2y.  I'm somehow now getting gauge, so I could have possibly been fine before, but it just looked so big when I was casting on the first time.  The yarn is so soft, like it claims.

  I looked through the project pages and liked the look of the hat when you couldn't see the holes from the yarn-overs.  So I knitted the yarn-overs through the back loop to close them up some.

  I have an idea to make a variance of this where I keep twisting the yarn-overs, but to do a ssk instead of a k2tog.  It will make the solid section that is traveling one stitch narrower, but I think it could be fun.

Just Some Thursday Things

   Last Thursday Shane and I went on a little adventure.  We started by looking around at the local VW lot.  Nothing really jumped out at us, not that we are actually looking for new cars anyway.  It was then lunchtime so we got some Sonic at one I've not been to before.

  After we left there we went to the small airport to watch planes take off and land.  While there he saw his friend/coworker's plane.  He then wondered if the SUV he saw was owned by the same guy.  Turns out it was his coworker/friend!  I got to sit in his plane and Shane got to reminisce about how much he missed flying.  Once we were done with that we made a quick stop at the Outlet Mall to try and put up some Rocky Horror fliers in the anime store, but they didn't have a bulletin board.  Then it was time for me to get home and wait for a package that needed an adult signature.  I should have brought some worry worms to work on, but I somehow forgot.  Maybe next time we go on a little adventure.

An aMAZEing Dice Hat or Two

Pattern: aMAZEing Dice Hat by Wyvern Knits - Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in SH957 Lavish lot14N4 and SH961 Moonstone lot11C5 - Needles: US 3 for brim and US 4 for body

  I saw this pattern when she was letting people test it as a cowl.  I missed out on that one but sent her a message when she said she was looking for people to test knit it as a hat.  I told her that I was willing to test any size and it seems the smallest size was the least popular.

  When I went to roll my first set of charts I rolled a 2 - 3 - 6 - 3 - 2.  That meant that two 2s would be next to each other.  I could have just changed it to a 1 or 4, so I figured I'd give it another roll and if I got one of those I would change it.  I rolled another 2, so I did what the Universe wanted.

Rolls I got for this hat: worked <~ and /\

  Crown
5 - 3 - 5 - 3 - 6

1 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 6
2 - 3 - 6 - 3 - 2

  Brim

Pattern: aMAZEing Dice Hat by Wyvern Knits - Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in SH957 Lavish lot14N4 and SH961 Moonstone lot11C5 - Needles: US 3 for brim and US 4 for body

  I had so much fun knitting the test that I cast on another one right after I finished, but since I don't need to follow the instructions to actually test the pattern and get the correct amount of yarn used, I'm going to do something a bit different.  She has the last row of the chart not add any slipped stitches because the random nature wouldn't let her anticipate what you might have had before on the new chart unless she had six versions of each chart.  Since I have a feel for the pattern, I'm going to add some slipped stitches to connect the charts.  I also didn't like how loose the double wrapped stitches looked on mine, so I'm just going to slip them without giving them the extra yarn.

  When I was adding the extra slip stitches on row 12, I rolled the D6 again and doubled the number, so I would get a row with wrap stitches.  I still slipped any stitches I was supposed to from row 10 and ignored the slip symbol on the bonus row I rolled.  I checked the stitch I was supposed to wrap with the row 2 of the new chart to make sure they wouldn't overlap.  If I rolled a 6, then I didn't add any wraps to the row.  A 5 would get a reroll or pick whichever on you want because then you would be trying to slip the stitches for a total of 4 rows instead of 2.

Rolls I got for this hat: worked <~ and /\

  Chart number w/row for wraps for 12th row

  Crown
3 w/4 - 4 w/8 - 5 w/6 - 3 w/8 - 2 w/2
1 w/2 - 6 w/2 - 4 w/2 - 3 w/4 - 5 w/4

2 w/8 - 4 w/4 - 2 w/2 - 1 w/12 - 3 w/6

3 w/8 - 2 w/6 - 1 w/2 - 2 w/4 - 1 w/2
  Brim

  While I doubt that I would want to exactly repeat any of these hats I make, it would be interesting to see how many combinations I get.  There will be even more combinations to make now that I've started joining the charts.  I'm also curious what it would look like worked from the top down.

The Linen/Moss Stitch Obsession Starts Here

Pattern: Love Wins by Bag-O-Day Crochet - Yarn: Caron Cakes in Red Velvet - Hook: 6mm

  Some people call this linen stitch while I've seen others call it moss stitch.  I followed the pattern until it was a bit wider than the back of my neck, I then added the two extra corners to allow it to fold over the shoulders a bit better.  I know a triangle shawl is classic, but I think ones shaped a bit more like this sit on the shoulders nicer without a shawl pin.  I do wish I had known how to increase on the ends about half as much, or possibly made the corners only ever couple of rows to make the top more of an arc rather than a cut-out.

  The yarn was really nice and I wouldn't mind getting more in the future.  It feels like fancier Caron Simply Soft and I like a lot of the color combinations.  I'll have to keep this one in mind once I work through more of my over-flow.

  

Pattern: Moss Stitch Triangle Scarf by Kylee Keller - Yarn: Big Twist Natural Blend in Sage dye lots 629936(x2) + 631201 - Hook: 9mm

  I wish there was a 9.5mm crochet hook.  Using the 9mm was a bit tighter than I would want for this, but the 10mm was way too loose and floppy.  I tried blocking it so that it might relax a little, especially since it has wool in it, but it stayed mostly the same.  It's not too stiff that it can't go around your shoulders, but it rides up in the back some if you try and pull it tightly closed in the front.  I put the odd dye lot in the middle of the other two, and you can almost see it in the picture, but I can't tell when it's in person at all.

Pattern: moss/linen stitch - Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Country Blue Ombre - Hook: 5.5mm

  I didn't know how far this yarn would go, so I just chained an odd number of stitches that was big enough to easily slip over my head.  I like how some sections of the colors are thicker than the others, even though I didn't change anything about how I worked it.

  I actually found the red yarn under some books next to my bed.  I don't know where it came from or why I put it there.  It's also feeling really good to be able to get skeins completely finished once I finish the larger project.  I've started labeling the partially finished worms so that I can remember what hook I liked with that yarn and easily be able to grab what size I need when I have a new project finished.

  I am thinking of taking a little break from the linen/moss stitch shawls and go back to hats for a bit, but when I saw this skein of yarn in my stash I knew I wanted to use it for a triangle linen stitch shawl.  I have three skeins of it, so I might be able to make something to go with the shawl, though I might also just make a giant shawl.

  It's really interesting to see what kinds of yarns different brands have tried to make over the years.  I don't know how to tell when this was made, and I have looked online and it seem to be discontinued.  I couldn't find a date for that either, but it looks like this ball band (skein band?) went through at least two different designs before it was retired.

Tank's First Big Road Trip

 Wednesday

  I didn't think he would have any troubles on the car ride, as long as he didn't need to use the restroom.  He really liked it when the windows were down because he got so many interesting smells, but otherwise was content to look out the windows.

  When we got in, I put him in his harness and on his leash so my mom could watch him while I set up his new litter box.  My dad was worried that if it was upstairs in that bathroom that Tank would crawl all over him during the night.  I just hoped that Tank would use it and not find a random spot.

  The first night Tank alternated between hiding user beds and exploring the cabin.  My mom was impressed by how much exploring he did on his first night.  Tank also made friends with a screw in the wall by squinting at it.  Not long before bed he completely missed seeing a mouse run out of the bedroom.

  At one point before we settled down for bed, he got very restless.  My parents had decided to sleep in the open area upstairs, so I couldn't follow him when he went up there.  I didn't hear any sounds of him digging in the litter box, so I shook his food until he came back down.  He was still acting very restless and doing laps around the living room, so I tried taking him outside to see if he wanted to pee out there.  He ate some grass, smelled the bush in the corner, and even decided to try a going on an adventure when he found the walkway leading from the front door of the cabin.  Before too long he started to get nervous and lead me back inside.

  I gave him some wet food to eat at Bill's suggestion and Tank spent some more time upstairs before it was finally time to snuggle up in bed.  Bill pointed out that normally when we go to bed we do it upstairs and maybe Tank was just trying to do that here.

  He was in and out of the bed all night, probably based off of the strange noises he heard all night.

Thursday

  Tank went and used the kitty box for my mom in the morning, so now I can hope that he will remember where it is on his own.

  While Tank took a nap on the bed upstairs, I took a walk to check the mail before helping stack the firewood.  It turns out that Jake (the firewood guy) is indirectly related to the Hodges because of an aunt who married into the family.

  I tried to take Tank outside after we were done, but there were too many strange sounds going on for him to want to go out.  I spent some time on the porch sipping on my sweet tea and crocheting.  Tank saw how much fun everyone else was having outside and decided he wanted to come out.  We wondered around until my dad used a power tool and Tank wanted to come in.

  I finished the sage colored shawl with only about an inch of yarn left over.  I wasn't sure that I was going to win that game of yarn chicken or not.  I sprayed it and put it on one of the spare beds to finish blocking.  I went to get the pony beads out of my bag to work on some Worry Worms and found that I had forgotten my main bag of beads and only had the bonus bag I grabbed in case I ran out of the first one.  I was worried that these were going to look a little more unhinged than the normal ones, but I think I did a good job.

  My mom made some random things for my dad to eat before the VFW meeting and the rest of us waited until Bill was done with a work call before we headed to Village Pizza Too!  This time we tried the white pizza with added meatballs.

  Bill started a small campfire for all of us and my mom and I roasted some marshmallows.  The almost full moon was even so bright at times that I had a shadow cast on the ground.

Friday

  Tank decided that even though everyone else was up and even though my mom had already given him his breakfast wet food, that he had to come and wake me up to open the bathroom door for him so he could see what was going on.  His litter box is not in that bathroom, so he was just being curious.  He then guarded the door when I used the bathroom.  He's just proving more and more that I'm his emotional support human.

  Tank got toasty in a sunny spot on the carpet while I had my breakfast, my mom showered, and Bill and my dad put up No Trespassing signs along the road.  So, we all had a pretty good morning.

  The glitter pony beads that I added some nail polish to were finally dry.  I had let them dry for a few hours the previous day before trying to use them, but they were still tacky and I ended up smearing some sticky nail polish onto the yarn.  I don't know why it took them so many hours to finish curing, but at least my experiment worked.  I'll get to use the lighter colored glitter beads easily and use up some really old nail polish all at the same time.

  While Bill was stuck working and my dad went to hang out with some of the neighbors, my mom and I went into downtown Staunton.  I wanted to go check with the owner of Made by The People For The People to see if she's received my emails about possibly selling in her shop.  I talked with one of the managers and she gave me the basic rundown of the rates for sales.  She also took my information to pass on to the owner because she has a different full time job and sometimes emails between her shop and job get mixed up.

  Since we had some more free time, we stopped in at Staunton Books whose hours are "lunch-ish to dinner-ish" on Friday to Sunday.  We then went to the Staunton Olive Oil Company to see if there was anything we wanted to go with Bill's bread.  We got a dark chocolate vinegar and a blood orange oil to go with his lavender bread.  My mom learned about putting vinegar in sparkling water.

  Rick, one of the neighbors, came over for dinner so we could hangout some.  Tank was nervous and hid when we would go back to the cabin to get things to eat in the lodge.  Bill and Rick went over to Tom's to drink whiskey and smoke cigars after dinner.

Saturday

  It's a good thing that I brought the shoelace because Tank's ribbon went missing.  He got hyper after having a bit of breakfast and I couldn't find his ribbon anywhere.  We eventually found it by the side door on top of some bags.

  The guys waited to hear when anyone at Tom's place was awake so they would know when to head over to hangout some more.  My mom and I had plans to have a fun girls hangout.  My mom and I started out by going to the farmer's market in downtown Staunton.  We got there a little later than we wanted, but quickly found a parking spot.  There was even some live music!  We got some Macoun apples.  My mom got chocolate raspberry and strawberry rhubarb spreads at Rachel Jane's Jam & Berries.  I got a hot chai from Chai Dhaba, it was so good once it cooled enough to drink.

  There was a lady who was doing watercolor and she was with Sketch Staunton.  She drew and painted one of the vendors.  For a pre-lunch snack we got the Spiced Red Lentil soup from Bijou, she is planning on opening a restaurant soon and says she will offer soup flights if you can't decide on just one.  My mom got a Beet Watermelon Kale juice from Wind Runner Farm.  We talked with Janice from AbellaPaca Boutique about her alpacas and her yarn.  A couple of the buildings in the area had bubble machines in the window.

  Before we headed to a used bookstore we stopped in at the Thrift & Sips store, it is a combination of coffee shop and thrift store.  I got the Bethel Family Cookery Cookbook from their free library.  The girl working kept suggesting books for us to take and we somehow ended up with a whole bag of them.  She also convinced me to get a Spiced Pumpkin Chai Latte with oat milk, though to be fair, that wasn't very hard to do.

  The owner of the Avocado Pit used bookstore says he does most of his sales online because the shop isn't the best place for a bookstore.  We were able to find the book my dad was looking for though.  The owner suggested we also check out Bargain Books because they have a larger location and a bigger selection.

  We stopped in at the green room to get the green room tots (manchego, parsley, black garlic mayo) and the pate + pickle sandwich.  I also got a Smuttynose sour beer.  This is the kind of place where I could see myself hanging out at a lot.

  Once we got back, checked the mail, and put everything away, I made Tank his dinner.  My mom got us all of our Girls Weekend treats.  We had two kinds of crackers, smoked Gouda with bacon, lasagna rolls, Curry Kitch'n Cook's potato chips (local), orangedew melon, apples, sangria and banana pudding moonshine.

Sunday

  Found out in the morning that one of the guys is a bee guy and he wanted to look at our "bee tree".  He says as long as they don't become aggressive they will be fine.  They would have filled the space they found with honeycomb and don't present a danger to the tree.

  Tank's definitely getting used to a lot of the sounds that happened around the cabin.  It's still scary when someone comes in the door, walks around upstairs, or walks down the stairs.  However, he's started running into the second main floor bedroom and looking from there instead of hiding under the bed.

  My mom, Tank, and I had some snacks while we waited for Bill and my dad to get back from going back to Tom's to help clean up.  A short time after they got back we had some visitors to check out our place.  My dad gave the grand tour to them.

  On the way home we stopped at 7-11 to get some drinks and gas.  When Bill ran in to get the drinks I threw away my ice cream cup.  On the way back to the truck I noticed that the Subaru two cars down was running.  They had a carrier and cat with them too!

  Tank was so comfortable on the way home that he even took a nap.  He also ignored me when I got back into the car when Bill and I were waiting for our food to be made at WaWa, he was having a good time watching the cars drive by.

  It will be interesting to see if he's completely forgotten that the cabin exists when we go back or not.  I'm really hoping we won't have to start all over the next time we take him there.

A Report From the Trip to Wise and Hazard

Pattern: random stitch I saw on Instagram - Yarn: unknown donation - Hooks: 6mm and 5.5mm

  I saw this stitch randomly on Instagram and wanted to give it a try.  It looked different from the post when I used it to make the scarf, so I decided to make a hat out of it as well.  I used the linen stitch to make the brim with the 6mm hook so that it wouldn't flare out too much when I switched stitches.

  Here is how I worked the scarf, for the hat I didn't have to worry about needing an extra place to get a loop from.

  Chain one more than the number of stitches you want.  Chain 2, turn and start row.

  Pull a loop through the third and also fourth chains from the hook so you have three loops on the hook.  Pull the last loop on the hook through the middle loop, yarn over the hook and pull through the two loops.  Put hook into the fourth chain again, pull a loop through, put the hook into the fifth chain and pull a loop through.  Pull the last loop on the hook, yarn over the hook and pull through the two loops.  Repeat until you run out of loops.  Chain two before turning.  Repeat using the chain 2 from the beginning of the previous row so you keep the same number of stitches.

  Here is the report we got back from the most recent trip out to Wise, VA/Hazard, KY:

  We had a great trip (although it did pour rain the whole day of unloading). The teachers/staff at Viper Elementary were astonished at all the school supplies, socks, underwear & comforts, and just kept saying over & over “I can’t believe that people in Northern Virginia care about us”. The Hindman Settlement School (who lost every thing they had in the floods last July) were just over the moon with the weaving looms, art supplies, weaving books, etc. These supplies will enable them to get right back into class teaching. The Care Cottage was absolutely thrilled with all the lap-size blankets we brought them. The teen center could not get over the feminine hygiene products, the toiletries, the socks, underwear. The teens came out & helped us unload their items, then they walked right up the hill to the church that takes our clothing & household goods for distribution, unloaded all in the pouring rain, courteously & so helpful & strong (4 LARGE, BIG older teen guys) – they were such a blessing as we were so tired by then – and when finished they each wrapped us in huge bear hugs & one said “it is so nice to know someone cares”. I have been so struck ever since by them and the teachers using “care” so openly.

  The church that has always accepted the clothing & household goods has asked us to please stop bringing items to them. They have lined up volunteer groups to come and help with re-building/re-habbing homes. They have to have their Fellowship Hall to put cots in for volunteers to sleep on, they have to have their kitchen for the volunteers to prepare their meals. I completely get this – getting people back into housing & out of tents & FEMA trailers has to be a priority as cold weather is coming and these people have been out of their housing for over a year. SO, if you have already collected clothing & household items & can hold them until we find another place to deliver to (we are working on this) that would be great. if you can’t hold on to them, please find a good place locally to donate – we are out of storage space at our house. 

  We are in communication with Wise about the Angel Tree for Christmas – they expect approximately 200 foster children again this year to be on the Angel Tree. I have sewing groups working on making Christmas Stockings, we have some knitting blankets, we have some hand-made quilts, a group is working on toys. Hats & scarves will be worked on.

  We will continue to collect & take to The Care Cottage, The Teen Center, Viper Elementary, etc., we just need to let the church in Hazard prioritize the volunteer groups to work on housing.

  We delivered 360+ hand-knit/crocheted comforts to Viper Elementary – one for each student (about 200) for 1st day, and the rest the school counsellor has for new students, students who have a trauma or some other special circumstance in their lives throughout the year. The school counsellor just cried when she received them.

Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Retro Stripe: Is It the Best?

Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Retro Stripe 

Overall ratings: 4.6/5 from 441 votes (Amazon) - 4.5/5 from 79 votes (Jo-Ann) - 4.2/5 from 989 votes (Ravelry)

Average Cost: $6.31

  I am taking a slight variance with this challenge and picking out a specific color of yarn.  At one point this colorway was so popular that whenever anyone saw it, they cleaned the shelf of it.  Most of the people I saw doing this were the ones making the double thick knitting machine hats, but I decided to try it out for myself.

 

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M. - Hook: 5.5 mm

Good grief, why is this so popular?

This yarn is wildly popular on Tik Tok so I decided to give it a try. I've never used Super Saver, but I enjoy a good acrylic yarn. This is weird, like spun plastic. There are 100% acrylic yarns that don't feel like this does. I really wanted it to work on my circular knitting machine, but it seems to be impossible. I make a lot of hats on my knitting machine, but I cannot get this to work without slipped stitches. So disappointing. At least it was on sale so I don't feel too bad about donating to someone who might like it.

Angela (7 months ago) 1/5 stars

  I had seen it in stores a few times and thought the colors looked alright, but nothing amazing.  I had even considered buying the four skeins I saw on the shelf to try and resell online.  Though knowing my luck, the craze would have died right before I got them listed.

Pattern: Lucky Bamboo Hat - Needles: US 8

not so good

Some of this yarn is nice and some is rough and not well colored. I wish the ppl who filled these orders would take notice of dye lots. And there seems to be a big difference on quality depending where the fiber is spun. Those lots made in India are nicely colored and soft, those spun in Turkey are a weird tone and rough and almost feel like you could get a splinter from them. I had to re-order several times just to get the same consistency in the skeins to finish a project.

Kind of disappointing. Beware of ordering Aran I ordered Aran and received a dye lot that originally said Soft White and had an Aran sticker over it. It was not Aran.

~ 55 years of crochet (a month ago) 2/5 stars

  The colors you see in pictures and seeing it wrapped in the skein don't do it justice.  I can see why people like it so much.  All of the colors flow smoothly into each other, except for the cool pink, that one is a rather abrupt change.  Though I do think I prefer it in the crochet hat versus the knit.  I don't think I'm going to go crazy over it and buy 34 skeins for my stash, but I might consider buying it again.  Like Angela said, it feels nice for a Red Heart Super Saver, which means that while there are nicer acrylic yarns out there, I don't want to use this to get dried food off of my dishes.  It is also very interesting what 55 Years of Crochet noticed about manufacturing location.  I will have to check the ones I have and see if I notice a difference.

Worm on a Berm

Pattern: random stitch I saw on Instagram - Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable in Earth Ombre dye lots ??, 2019-02-WL 198782, 2019-08-WL205401 - Hooks: 8mm for chain and 5.5mm for body

  This scarf now has three different colorways on it.  The last one was different than the other two and it even had some extra dye and got purple toned dye on my fingers as I was working with it.  I do like how it goes from lightest to darkest.

Worm on a Berm

  Last weekend was the Frankie's Invited Guests yearly showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Maysville.  Since it would cut a bit of time off of the trip, we stayed at the cabin before heading over there.  While there I finished making the sample for my Worm on a Berm I plan to list online, and we had a little photoshoot.

  We were "greeted" by an older lady when we got to the hotel.  It sounds like her son and herself have been here a while.  This Holiday Inn wasn't as fancy as the place we stayed at last year, but it was nice that some of the people who traveled to help with the show stayed there also.

  It was interesting how the shows were run this year.  Last year everyone played the same parts, and we just did the whole thing twice.  This year we had two different crews casting each show.  My plan had been to just be moral support, but I got roped into bringing out a chair for the throne during Sweet-T and being the tank with a red sheet for Toucha.  I also grabbed things off the stage and lower area so no one would risk tripping and falling.

  We decided to do some adventuring before leaving town and headed to the New Riff distillery.  We waited too long to book a tour, but we decided to visit, look around the gift shop.  Bill found some new things he's interested in trying and I found some honey that sounded good.  We got a better discount than we normally would have because the person working the register thought we had been part of the tour.

  We saw a sign for Braxton Labs Taproom and Brewery with an arrow telling us it was to the left of the parking area.  We went that way so I could try a beer, but even though we found the electric car charging area, we didn't find anything that looked like an entrance to the taproom.  When I checked a map, it looks like the actual taproom was almost two miles away.

  I hadn't thought to check for any, but we weren't far from a Skyline Chili.  If we had thought about it before, we wouldn't have stopped for lunch before leaving Maysville.  I'll have to remember to keep an eye out for them more when we are out that way again.

It Turned Out to be Opening Weekend

   The reason Bill really wanted to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival last weekend was because Jacques Ze Whipper was preforming and that was going to be his only weekend so close to us.  If you haven't heard of him, he used to be a radio journalist who missed the performing life he knew when he was a kid.  His father was a clown in the circus who used a whip in his performances.  If you are too far away to see him in person, he has videos posted on various social media platforms, they are really funny, and he even does tricks sometimes.  In the picture he was showing off how he had already been gifted so much Old Bay in such a short time, there was even a keychain!  We didn't realize it was opening weekend at first, and this is the first time I've been to it so early in the season.  Usually I've gone more mid-season, when it's cooler out.

  We saw two of his shows that day and I got a pin each time.  For the second show we got there earlier because he was on one of the smaller stages and standing room filled up quickly.  The shows were both great and I'd love to see him in person again someday.  We also went to both jousts that day.  The first time we picked a spot with shade where we could see, then later we wanted to be loyal to our knight, Sir Keegan.  I got my giant turkey leg and Felicity (mead and raspberry wine).  I didn't get to check out the venders as much as I did the other time, but there was nothing I was looking to buy this trip anyway.  I'm hoping to get a few things made for myself to wear.  Last time I had the same plan but forgot what I wanted to make.  This year I've made a list of projects I hope to work on for myself.

   You can see the color differences between the first and second skein of yarn.  I've been working on the new skein for a few days now, but I only just noticed the differences at K&CC get together.  Until this outing, I thought the colors were dark brown, copper, and tan.  I didn't even know there was green or blue!  I guess that's what I get for starting a new project in low lighting.

  I had put a poll up to see what shape I should use for my Christmas themed worms and the round shape won.  I then looked online and ordered some 6mm beads.  I also found out that Amazon can fulfill their two day delivery promise out to the cabin.  When they arrived I thought they looked too small for some reason.  I did a quick search and was reminded that pony beads are 6x9mm.  So now I've ordered new beads and will return the ones I got before.

Some Quick Cabin Trips

Trip 1:

  While we waited for my dad and Bill to get back from running some errands, we found out that Jake from LingoNetworks drives an '88 Pontiac usually.  His grandparents have a similar place to ours and when he was 8 years old, his grandparents had deer that would eat from your hand.

  Later that day we met Carol, Rick, and Buddy from the Boys Home Christmas tree farm.  They were very nice, the kind of people you invite over.  Rick offered to let Bill try his thermal scope, but warned him that it'll probably end up costing him money because there will be a good chance he will want one of his own.  They had really good timing because it was just before we started packing up to go out to dinner.  They had seen the new mailbox and had decided to take a chance.  They were hoping that we were full-timers, but we had to disappoint them.  Though with how often Bill and I have been out last month, we are almost there.

Trip 2:

  Got in and then quickly unpacked the car so we could enjoy a fire.  There is supposed to be a big meteor shower on Saturday night, but it got started on Thursday.  I saw about 11 shooting stars the first night we were out there.

  The coyotes were wandering around and yelling at each other.  One was even about 275ish yards away at one point.  Bill confused it with his flashlight.  It seems that either the tree frogs or the whippoorwills get to call to each other.  So far I've heard one or the other, sometimes both in one night, but never at the same time.

  I made some savory oatmeal while Bill did boring work stuff.  On our way out to get some parts to fix the mower, we saw a FedEx and a UPS truck making a delivery at the house with the pony and really cute cows.  We hadn't seen the animals out front lately, but we saw them back again today.

  The first place, Pleasant View Repair Shop, lost their storage facility to a fire at the end of December and are rebuilding it.  So while that would be a good place to go to in the future, they currently don't have any stock.  They do have a very cute cat who came right up to me for pets and rubbed against my legs.  There was also a pug in the office that Bill gave some attention to.

  We tried one other place, but they also didn't have stock at the store.  To make ourselves feel better, we got ice cream at Smiley's.  The Coconut Pie ice cream was really good.  We saw an adult and a young turkey when we were almost back to the cabin.

  Bill played around with his new metal targets while dinner cooked in the slow cooker.  I found a small black snake on and in the big stump by the front door.  From the size, I think it's the one I got the whole shed of.  I was then rude to him and tried to take some pictures with flash.

  We ran out of time to make another fire, but we did manage to play Future Me Problems.  We've brought that game with us about 3 times now and have never played it before.  It was a pretty fun, chill kind of game.

  On our way out we saw about a dozen turkeys.  Some were younger and smaller.  It's fun seeing all the various wildlife.

Rocky Takes the Garden State

Thursday

  Missed seeing Mamma Mia being shadow casted, which sounded interesting.  There will probably be another chance to catch it at another Rocky Convention.

  We stopped in at the big rest area and got some quick dinner that we were all a bit disappointed by.  Steven managed to order from Nathan's Famous hotdogs before their ordering kiosk stopped working and they didn't know what to do.  Wendy's was then swamped and the food took quite a bit of time to get out.

  One last thing we did was that Steven and I used the massage chairs at the rest stop.  All the various delays, including being stopped by a car accident on a bridge, meant that we didn't get in until 12:34am.  The first people we ran into that we knew were Alex and Husband, which is funny because they were the first people we saw that we knew at the last one.  The lady who checked us in used to work at the larger hotel and said she liked doing the event check-ins and that ours was no big deal.

Friday

  While I was curious what all Rocky Fit Club would entail, there was no way I was going to be up and ready to go to be able to get down to the registration table by 9am.

  Our shower was interesting.  The temp was either a bit too cold or a bit too hot.  When you switched it from bath to shower only about half of the water switched over.  At one point I had noticed that the tub was slowly filling up, but once I had finished shampooing my hair, I noticed that the drain had caught up.

  The price of breakfast at the hotel was a bit steep, so we went to Pierce Street Bagel Cafe.  I got the Egg Sandwich with Beef Bacon on an egg everything bagel.  We then saw Alex and Husband again.

  We found out that late last night one of the elevators got stuck with some people in it.  Turns out one of them was claustrophobic, which is why there are signs on there today saying a max of 6 people at a time.  It didn't really help anything because there were many times the elevators would move up and down slightly when the doors were still open and everyone onboard was standing still waiting for the doors to close.

  Since there weren't any panels we wanted to see at the time, we stopped in at Bottle Republic to see if there was anything we couldn't get at home we could get here.

  While putting some Worry Worms out I found out that one group was leaving tiny plastic ducks around and another was leaving 3D printed dicks.  I love the fact that I'm not the only one leaving things for people to find.

  I got to see more people I knew before going to Stateside Tap + Tavern for dinner.  It turns out there were 30 casts represented at this con!  That's kind of crazy to think about people coming from Texas and California!

  It was unsurprising that Shock Treatment was really good.  Everyone always puts a lot of effort into their costumes and performances.

  At one point when I was hanging out in the smoker's area, someone came up to me and told me that I was really cool because I had a cigar.  I hadn't meant to, but I ended up staying up until 3:30am.

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in 302 Kaleidoscope - Hook: 5.5mm

Saturday

  Since I got to bed so late, it was a slow morning.  On our way out one of the elevators tried to smoosh me between the doors.  Got a bite for lunch and then hung out briefing before Repo the Genetic Opera.

  It was another great showing of Repo this year.  One of the people who played the grave robber did it again this year and I was really excited to see them do it again.  There were some great callbacks and while I would like to remember them for next year, I will probably forget them.

  Lubrano's Pizza was our next stop before it was time to get onto the bus for the big show.  We took the First Student school bus to The Brook Arts Center.  While waiting outside one of the people in line in front of us went to Tacos Pizza for a quick slice.

  We were told that the theatre has lots of ghosts.  Their prop bags had little poppers in there for the Frank/Rocky wedding scene.  They had a bit of trouble raising and then lowering the screen.  It became everyone's favorite character, and we chanted Screen often.  Sal Piro got one of the Guiding Star awards, it was passed around to everyone so we could all be part of it since he's not with us anymore.

  During Eddie's scene they had 6 Columbias, 6 Eddies, and 4 Franks to then kill the Eddies.  We also learned a new callback of "It stuck to her thigh, like a whole stick of butter" and I might be using that from now on.

  We hung out for a bit more when we got back to the hotel but made sure to get to bed before 3 am this time.

Sunday

  Nothing officially was going on, but lots of people were loitering in the lobby getting some last minute hangout time with new friends or anyone they hadn't seen in a while.

  Since it's a callback we do, and we were near one, we stopped at a White Castle on our way out.  I've actually never been to one before now.  I got the cheese sliders and some chicken rings.  The chicken rings were the best part, though now I've tried it.

  It was so much fun to see all the people I met last year and to also make some new friends.  Friday Nite Specials held a good convention, and I was able to get 30 worms distributed.  I already miss being there, even with the scary elevators.