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.