Andoa Progress

 I have made significant progress on my Andoa sweater. All I have left to do is pick up stitches around the neck, which you can see I lowered considerably (to 7 inches deep) and make the neckband. 

Then some blocking. I tried it on and it fits so well! I'm very happy with how it's turning out. 

I have worked a little bit on my Estonian mitten. I'm decreasing the top. I figured out how wick decreases are done and I'm doing the half wick decrease. I don't care for how it looks, but I'll keep it cuz, well, it's an Estonian style mitten. Besides, I'm getting anxious to get the second mitten cast on.

You may have heard about the solar storm that hit our fine planet a couple weeks ago causing a spectacular show of the Aurora Borealis. I really wasn't expecting to see much that night, because we have so much light pollution around here now. It turned out to be a clear night, though, and my daughter wanted to try seeing it so bad, so around 10:30 pm she and I got in the car and I went looking for a place with less light pollution. While I drove, she had her eyes on the sky. I headed north on highway 41 for about half an hour, and about a mile or so north of Blanchard, there they were! I found a place to pull off and we spent about half an hour or so just watching the Aurora Borealis, and taking tons of pictures. It was FANTASTIC! I've never seen it so bright and colorful before. It was bright pinks and purples and greens and so amazing! I'm so glad I took her out to see it.

On the way home, highway 41 had lots of cars parked on the side with the owners and passengers sitting outside staring at the sky. It was kind of cool. I felt a certain unity with my fellow Idahoans that evening.

Here are my favorite 2 pictures I took. This one was taken north of Blanchard. The bright light at the bottom is the moon.

When we got home, I discovered we could see it very well from my own back yard. In fact, it was actually brighter! It wasn't that way before we left so it must not have appeared yet. I took this one from my deck.

For me, this was a bucket list item, to see the Aurora Borealis in all it's colorful glory. I can call it checked off and I didn't even have to go to Alaska to see it.

I took this picture last week. My Salome daffodils are blooming. They are so beautiful.

This last picture is the flowers my daughter and her partner sent me for Mothers Day. It came with a good size box of Godiva chocolates too.

I had a wonderful Mothers Day. Ruth made me some Snickerdoodle cookies with chunks of toffee in them. They were so yummy! 

My husband and Ruth took me out for lunch. Then we gassed up the pickup and headed into the Coeur d'Alene National Forest for a drive in the mountains. Last year there was a wildfire up there in the Chilco area and my husband wanted to see how much damage there is. It turned out to be not as bad as we expected. There are some totally burned out areas, but I'd say most of it was just undergrowth burn. The trees were still alive. There was lots of green plants sprouting under the trees, even in the decimated areas. I don't think it's gonna be long before it looks pretty good again.

I wanted to see wild flowers and animals.  I took my camera with me, but ended up not using it because I didn't see anything new. We were up there a little earlier than usual, so there were some flowers not blooming yet, though I did see one lone Fairy Slipper orchid. Mostly it was Trilliums, tiny yellow violets, and the occasional patch of blue Delphiniums, Glacier Lilies, and lots of wild Strawberry. 

Ruth wanted to find some snow. We did find a little bit fairly high up. Not enough to block the roads. Most of it is melted. It was a beautiful perfect day, weather-wise. 

On our way home, we stopped at a carry out pizza place to get an Artichoke Chicken Garlic pizza to take home for dinner. It was a very nice day.

Oh, one more thing. I finally got my Medicare card! I have my Medicare D card too. So all is well with the world.

Live long and prosper. \\//

WIP Wednesday 5-1-2024

 I've made a bit of progress on Andoa since my last post. I've finished the front 

and blocked both pieces.

I managed to join the right shoulders last night. You might notice I've lowered the front neckline quite a bit. I can't stand anything close around my neck like turtlenecks and high crew necks and whatnot. I haven't since I had globus hystericus in the mid-90's after an extremely stressful time in my life. It will recur whenever I have a lot of stress. Anyway, back to the sweater, I've lowered it about 7 inches. The neckband will raise it up a bit so it won't be too sexy. I will also be making short sleeves.

Thought I'd tell you about my latest tool craze. I got some of these cord stoppers.

They make wonderful stitch stoppers on circular needles. 

These ones will work on needles up to 8mm in diameter. 

There are lots of varieties of them in all shapes and sizes.  Some have 1 hole, some have 2. I prefer the round ones, but you might like some other kind. I love them. They stay on so much better than the traditional point protectors.

The weather has been very cool the last couple days. Chilly enough that Zoey has been wearing sweaters. It's been in the low 50's but with wind it feels so much colder. 

Speaking of Zoey, isn't that a beautiful face?

Live long and prosper. \\//

WIP Wednesday On a Friday

 

I finished the front of Andoa, as well as the back. The next step is blocking these two pieces before I put the shoulders together. I'm going to do that with 3-needle bind off. Can't start the sleeves until I do, so I'm motivated to get it done quickly.

Good things have happened since my last post. Finally---I HAVE MEDICARE! I got the notice yesterday. I have to say thank you to Senator Crapo's employees for fixing the problem. He has a whole squad who's job it is to help people having these kinds of problems. I am so relieved!

I got the cat mittens in the mail to my daughter. Hopefully, she will get them tomorrow.

My flowering plum is starting to bloom. My daffodils are blooming, and the Bleeding Heart and Peonies have sprouted. It's Spring! Looking forward to pink tree time.

I have fabric for a sewing project. My Namaste circular needle case is over-stuffed. I can barely close it. I found a sewing pattern for the exact type of case on Etsy. I'm going to sew myself a new needle case.

The cats is a lightweight upholstery fabric. I will use that for the outside. The other two are for pockets and lining. I need some 20 gauge clear plastic fabric for the tabs, but Joann's is fresh out. I looked around on the web for some, but I only need about half a yard. Most places have a minimum of 3 yards, and it's pricey. I'm going to come up with some other plan.

Today it's supposed to rain. Hoping it does. We could use it. I think I'll cut the pieces for my needle case as well as block Andoa.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Kisurakkaus Mittens

 I finished these mittens just in time. I need to send them to my daughter next week if they're gonna make it there by her birthday.

Pattern: Kisurakkaus Kirjoneulelapaset by Hanna Pesonen

Size: Womens Medium

Yarn: Lana Gatto Wool Gatto

Content: 100% Superwash Wool, Sport weight
Color: Black

Yarn: Berroco Comfort Sock
Content: 50% Nylon, 50% Acrylic. Fingering weight
Color: 1812

Needles: Circular size 3

Started: March 21, 2024
Finished: April 21, 2024

Comments: I learned so much making these mittens. I wouldn't recommend them for a beginner though, that's for sure! First of all, the pattern is written in Finnish, which I don't know anything about. The charts are pretty good though, so I figured I'd figure it out.

The designer made these with Aran weight yarn and got a gauge of 29 stitches to 4 inches. With ARAN yarn! I could not get that gauge using a light worsted weight (I originally planned to use Cascade 220 Wool) and size 1. I dug in my stash and found a skein of sport weight black Lana Gatto. I found two skeins of Berroco Comfort fingering sock yarn for the second color. Decided to knit with 2 strands held together of that. I got gauge with a size 3 needle.

I made a small change to the pattern. I started with 3 rounds of 1 by 1 rib. I felt the need for something to pull the fabric in just a bit before that first Latvian Braid. It has a kind of stabilizing effect.

The main motif on the back of the hand is this cute little Art Deco style cat. 

The pattern only has one chart, so I had to figure out how to reverse it for the second mitten so the cats would face each other. I scanned the chart into my computer as a jpeg, flipped it and called it good.

This is the palm side.

Here's a close up of the paw print.

Detail of the thumb. Little cat heads. The back side is just the alternating dot pattern. The thumb gave me a hard time. When you put the thumb stitches on a holder, you then cast on just 3 stitches in the space made and carry on. When it is time to put the thumb stitches back on the needle, you then have to pick up 11 more sts, but there's only three in that space. I've not seen a thumb like that before. Fortunately, my daughter came to the rescue and found a video that explains how to do that here:

Picking Up Stitches For The Thumb

And, because people ask, here's the inside floats.

There was a lot of tinking and frogging for this project so I'm super glad to have them done. With any luck, I'll get them in the mail later this week.

I still don't have my Medicare card. I talked to them on the phone a second time which resulted in them sending me a form to have my husband fill out which confirmed I'm his wife. Then two weeks ago I found out my application has been denied for not having enough work credits. 

That was it! I've been waiting for 3 months! Friday of that week I finally called Senator Crapo, who is our Senator, and asked for help. Their problem solver emailed me a form to fill out giving them permission to look into my files, and I was told they'll get it fixed. Last Friday I received the official application denial from Social Security in the mail. Haven't heard from Crapo's office since sending in the form.

Contrary to what SSA seems to think, I am qualified to receive Medicare. I've been married to my husband for 42 years. I figure I've worked maybe a total of 7 years during that time. The rest of the time I've been the house wife/stay at home mom. Doug worked enough to qualify us both for Medicare. Sheesh, what a mess!

This year I bought my plants for the deck flower boxes early. Plants are readily available too soon by at least 6 weeks for my personal weather zone. I can't plant until after Mothers Day. I thought I could keep them alive by putting them out during the day, and bringing them in at night so they don't freeze. I got 36 marigolds and 12 strawberries. Yup. That didn't work out. I forgot to bring them in 2 nights later and we got a freeze cold enough to kill the marigolds (strawberries are fine). I was lamenting this to my friend on Monday and she told me about a tiny little greenhouse on sale at BiMart. She went with me to the store to help me find them. I bought one. I also bought marigolds to replace the dead ones. 

This little house works! It's surprisingly well made. The front has a doorway that zips closed. I've been putting a pot of tap hot water on the bottom shelf at night to make extra sure my plants stay alive, but it's supposed to be able to keep them alive down to 20F with the door zipped up.

I'm very happy with it.

Still working on Andoa. I'll talk about it another time.

Live long and prosper. \\//

WIP Wednesday March 20, 2024

 I finally have made some time to blog! Sheesh I've been busy. I've been away long enough for the programmers to mess with Blogger. Now I get to learn where everything is all over again. *sob*

Here's what I've been working on since my last post.

I have taken a break at the moment from this project, an Estonian mitten I started in February after I got the preceding hat done. It's not an easy one for me. I got as far as time for top shaping, which did not go well. I got really frustrated and it's in time out.

I put it in time out and started working on a new sweater for me!

Several years ago I made the Berroco Andoa pullover for my daughter-in-law. I loved the design and working on it and have wanted one for myself. I've decided it's time. I'm loving it too. I've been working on rather challenging stuff since Christmas and it's nice to work on something a little easier. I'm going to put short sleeves on this one because I get so hot when wearing a sweater.

I've also been trying to start a third project, mittens for my daughter, because her birthday is coming up. I found the cutest pattern on Ravelry, and it's a free pattern too. I have cast on twice making a test swatch and I'm not able to get gauge. You see, the mittens are made with Aran weight yarn with a gauge of 29 sts to 4 inches. The original was done on size 3 needles. I can't imagine how the designer got that gauge! I've gone down to 1 and still can't get it. It's so difficult to knit too. There is no way I can go to a size 0. I'm not going to be able to do it with my yarn, which is actually light worsted weight Cascade 220 wool. I don't have time to order thinner yarn, so I'm going to dig in my Pallet stash and see what I can do. I'm thinking knitting with 2 strands held together will be better because that puts it at sport weight. I'm pretty certain I don't have any sport weight wool in my stash.

I did some crafting for my bathroom. For years and years I've had a vase with dried grasses and weeds that I found on our property and painted gold for decoration in there. For years it's been collecting dust, and I just plain got tired of it. It was looking pretty bad. Michaels was having a great sale on their silk floral stock so I purchased some choice items and made a new arrangement. Tossed the weeds out. I got purple poppies, lavender, ferns and something tall that I don't know the name. I love it.

Doing it brought some wonderful memories to mind. When I was about 5 years old, my parents refused to send me to Kindergarten. I really don't know why, but anyway, Momma took some floral arranging classes because she was doing the flowers for our church and wanted to be good at it. She couldn't get a sitter for me, so she got permission to bring me with her. I was so completely fascinated by the whole process that I ended up learning as much as she did. I remember the teacher just adored me and she'd give me the class materials so I could make arrangements with the grown-ups. Yikes! I've just realized that was 60 years ago!

Speaking of 60, I turned 65 this year. That means I had to apply for Medicare. You're fined if you don't.  I filed my application on January 9th, online, because that's how they preferred I do it. The web site said I'd have my card in 2 to 4 weeks. That was 3 months ago and it's been a nightmare of frustration ever since. Because of our insane health care system, I was immediately removed from our private health insurance. That's the law. I have been completely NOT insured for two months! That means no drug coverage, so I've been paying a lot of money for those. I'm hoping I'll get a refund when I finally get my card because it was supposed to start on February 1st.

After 4 weeks, I started calling the Social Security Agency and man! It took me WEEKS to finally get a human! I won't go into details, but it's a nightmare. I asked what was taking so long and they found out my application had been sitting, waiting for someone to do something with it and being ignored. They don't know why but I was assured they would take care of it right away and I'd have my card in 2 to 3 weeks. I'm still waiting. I'm probably going to have to try getting a human on their phone system again. NOT looking forward to it. In the meantime, I'm being extra careful so I don't injure myself and need a doctor. It's scary.

Now on to weather. It was cold and snowy a couple weeks ago. This is the driveway going away from the house.

Then the weather warmed up. Last weekend it got up to 70F degrees and it's been wonderful since. My daughter and I have been enjoying the deck doing much knitting in the sunshine. It's been bliss. It's starting to look like an uncomfortably early spring. The snow is all gone, the daffodils have sprouted, the leaves are budding on the trees, and my Crocus are blooming in the lawn!

These are tiny Crocus. They only grow maybe 2 inches high. I once had a flower bed in the front yard that was full of spring bulbs. I had it for a couple years, and then dug it up and planted grass because the deer kept eating everything. These tiny Crocus have been popping up in the lawn every since. They're the first thing that blooms at my house that isn't wild.

The weather is supposed to change starting tonight and cold is coming back in the form of rain. I'm hoping it doesn't go to snow or we'll lose our blossom buds. Keeping my fingers crossed.

So check out this photo. It's the Crocus above, but zoomed in. I didn't even notice there are 3 bugs on the flower on the left. Can you spot them?

Well, that's the news for now. I'm going to go dig in my stash for something to make a pair of mitten.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Snow Fern

 Finished the Snow Fern hat.

Pattern: Snow Fern Hat (DK) by Kalurah Hudson
Size: Large

Yarn: Berroco Vintage® DK
Content: 52% Acrylic, 40% Wool, 8% Nylon, DK weight
Color: 2192 Chana dal

Needles: ChiaoGoo circular size 2 and 3

Cast On: December 23, 2023
Finished: February 3, 2024

Comments: This was a fun knit. The stitch pattern is so pretty. I didn't find it particularly difficult either. The only real problem I had with this is when I finished the pattern chart, the hat was supposed to  be 8 inches long. It was 6.5, but I just kept knitting the chart until it was 8 inches. I had to figure out where in the chart to continue, which turned out to be row 14.

 On the top I put a matching button I found in my stash because the fake fur pompom has a tiny elastic loop at the bottom for putting it on a button. When you need to wash the hat, you just pop the pompom off.

This is the hat from the back.

I think this late Christmas present will be well appreciated.

The weather has turned wet. Today it's just at that temperature where it wobbles between snow and rain. It's probably going to be that way this whole week. We need snow in our mountains. We've received way below average this year which usually leads to a very dry summer.

We've had a lot of furnace guys around here. When the new furnace was installed, it had a horrible rattling sound. It took 4 days to figure out why it rattles. The blower is defective. The last repair guy showed up this morning and figured it out. He put some kind of cushion between the blowers screws and the surface they're screwed to and the noise has gone away. I want them to just replace the defective blower. Not looking forward to the phone battle.

Over the weekend I worked on getting an Estonian mitten pattern put together. I'm picking the various parts from one of my mitten books called Eesti Labakindad Ilma Laande Laiali by Aino Praakli. It's written in both Estonian and English. It's been out of print awhile but I've found several places selling it, including Amazon. While doing this I've learned so much about mittens coming from that area of the world. It's been rather fascinating.

Live long and prosper. \\//

WIP Wednesday February 7, 2024

 We've got furnace guys all over and under our house. They're installing the new furnace. I can see the old one lying in the front yard on it's side, looking old and worn out, waiting to be loaded in the truck. Poor thing. I hope it gets recycled.

I'm getting two new projects ready to start.

1- A new sweater for Zoey. It will feature stripes of ruffles. The ruffles are made with ribbon yarn. The actual required ribbon yarn is discontinued and hard to find so I'm substituting a Red Heart ribbon yarn that is very similar. I have half the yarn so far. 

I've ordered purple ribbon yarn from Etsy. It's supposed to arrive some time next week. I knit swatches too. Got gauge the first time. (Whew!) That saves me from having to rewrite the pattern for a different gauge. Getting very antsy to start it.

I found a pattern on the Lion Brand web site that is so cute. I'm not actually using the pattern. I'm going to apply the idea to my own pattern I've customized for Zoey.

2- This purple yarn is for me. Several years ago I knit a sweater named Andoa. It was the first sweater I made for my son-in-law-now-daughter-in-law. I love the pattern so much and I've wanted to make one for me. I'm going to use Lion Brand Heartland yarn. I used some of it two years ago to make a hat for KnitWits. I've been wanting to knit a sweater with that yarn ever since. Luckily, Joann's had it on sale last month for a very good price.

I'm planning to make it short sleeved so I'll actually wear it because I'm almost always too warm. I need to make some calculations first though because, as usual, the pattern does not go up to my size. I hate math. Ugh! 

I'm seriously thinking about starting a third project so I have 3 going on at the same time. I'm not working toward a deadline for these so it would be fun to have that many going at once. I've got yarn in the stash. I just need to decide on a pattern and which colors to use. Going to do some Estonian mittens.

That's what's happening for WIP Wednesday.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Snezhan Socks

Haha! That title almost sounds like a sneeze!

Today is my birthday. I'm 65 and officially a Senior person. I've signed up for Medicare, though my card hasn't come yet. Sweet Hubby took me out for dinner to Applebee's, and my daughter has made a cake! I didn't have to make it myself. It's been a good day. 

The sun actually came out. All the weather reports were saying cloudy with rain/snow and the sun came out. It feels like mother nature has given me a birthday present. I went out and enjoyed it for a bit. It felt so warm on my skin. It's clear tonight and I can see the stars.

Yesterday I went to knitting at the library and the gals had brought a cake and a card. I was so surprised! I felt so appreciative and loved I almost cried. The cake was really good. Home made Apple Spice cake with Cream Cheese frosting. Yum!

I have finally finished the socks! Hurray!

Pattern: Snezhan Socks by Alena Malevitch

Size: Large

Yarn: Cascade Yarns ® Heritage Sock

Content: 75% Merino, 25% Nylon, Fingering weight
Color: Turquoise and Dusky Coral

Needles: ChiaoGoo circular size 2

Started: September 12, 2023
Finished: January 26, 2024

Comments: These socks were a serious challenge for me! I've done slip stitch socks before. In fact, I even wrote a slip stitch sock pattern for a friend some few years ago. So I was not expecting a challenge.

I had a very hard time with getting even tension this time. Especially on the needle changes. I kept getting ladders there no matter how tight I pulled the yarn. I never really solved the problem, but when I washed the socks, it went away. Everything evened out on its own.

There are actually two types of slip stitches in these socks. There's this one which combines both slip stitch and traveling stitches techniques. 

As you can see, the slipped stitches travel over a purl back ground and it's very 3-dimensional. It's a pretty cool looking fabric.

The sole has just plain slip stitch in stockinet. I like how the zigzag matches the traveling stitch pattern.

These socks have the sole gusset too, which is my favorite.

After finishing the socks I got busy working on the hat I didn't get done in time for Christmas. For the most part, it's done now. I finished the knitting over the weekend. I'm just waiting for a fur pompom I ordered to put on it. The pompom should be here tomorrow.

We are getting a new furnace tomorrow. Last week I had the furnace guy come for the regular maintenance check up I get every year. I mentioned to him the problem we had with the furnace not being able to keep up with the cold during our recent January very-cold spell. We discussed the condition of the furnace, the fact it was too small for the house, and it's 31 years old and getting close to failing. We arranged to have one of their sales guys stop by a couple days later. 

The sales guy was pretty good at his job. Gave us a good deal on a more powerful new furnace that will work better with our heat pump. We decided to finance it. I had the deal put in my name cuz my credit rating is super excellent. The financing is for 10 years, but I plan to pay it off in 5. There is no penalty for doing that. It is going to be installed tomorrow morning. I am excited!

So, what's my next knitting project? I'll talk about that tomorrow.

Live long and prosper. \\//

WIP Wednesday January 15, 2024

 I'm finally making progress on the socks. I finished knitting this today.

Needs some serious blocking. I'll do that later. I've cast on for the second sock. I sure hope it goes faster than the first one did! That's all I've been working on. The birthday of the receiver of these socks birthday is coming up and I am hoping to get them done in time, but I think I'm being foolish that I will accomplish that. It'll be late for sure.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Heat Please

 I'm talking weather today. Good grief! It  took a huge nose dive into freezing over the weekend! On Saturday it was -17F degrees when I got up around 9am. The floors were so cold I needed slippers. Our furnace was working very hard to warm the house up. It ran continuously the whole day. The warmest it got in the house was 58F. By the time it was evening and I was in the kitchen cooking dinner I could not stand the cold any longer. I dug out the wood stove. In other words, I pulled all the flammable stuff away from and off the top of it so it could be used. Then I sought out the husband and told him I couldn't stand it any more and we should be using the wood stove.

He went out to the garage and got some fire wood and brought it in the house and started a fire. It made a HUGE difference! We've been using it every day since. Saturday morning was the coldest, but it's been well below zero every night and days are getting barely into the single digits over 0. Bitterly bitterly cold. It's been years since we've had cold like this.

We have a great heating system as long as it doesn't get below 22F degrees out. We have a heat pump which is a very efficient way to heat a house. When it gets below 22, though, it doesn't work because it's too cold. As back up we have what has turned out to be a gutless electric furnace. I'm so glad we have the wood stove!

Speaking of last week. One of my Christmas presents was a powered portable car battery charger. It can be used to start the car if the battery dies. I took it out to put in my car's little trunk. My Prius is a hatchback, and under the floor is what I call my little trunk. It's just some storage space where I keep a few things like a can of tire inflator, bungie cords, the original license plate frame that came with the car, and stuff like that. 

Anyway, when I opened it up it was completely full of bird seed and bits of shredded insulation! Our local squirrel is using my car for winter food storage! I cleaned out over half a 5-gallon bucket worth of bird seed. I threw it out because it had insulation mixed in it which isn't something I want to feed the birds. I need to find some way to get that squirrel to move somewhere else!

Rumor has it that the temperature is going to go up into the 20's tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.

Live long and prosper. \\//