Nocturnal

I had another gaslighting moment. I woke up in the middle of the night  in my jammies and tucked into bed like normal but every single light in the apartment was turned on.

Again my first thought was someone had come in and had turned on all the lights as a creepy statement because who brushes their teeth, gets in their jammies, arranges the pillows and blankets just so but not only doesn't turn out the lights but doesn't even notice?

I have fallen asleep with the lights on before but fully clothed and on top of the covers because I was too tired to move. Obviously the overtime at work and the two continuing ed classes are getting to me. I must start getting more sleep.

Even with all that going on I still find a bit of time to knit at work either on break or at lunch. I keep a super simple project in my desk drawer.

This is Topographie and a fun way to use variegated yarns. The variegated bits are purled rather than knit. I did find it frustrating that I actually had to watch the knitting instead of doing it by touch but I'm ready to knit the pattern again.

I used up the last of the Malabrigo Silky Merino in Nocturnal so the two hats together count as a UILI project. My 7th for the year.

Sugar Covered Weekend

I had a nice full weekend. Saturday was eating out with friends at a Korean restaurant. Playing boardgames after at my place while eating mystery snack food from the Asian market. It's was decided that Korean snacks are the best and the ones from Japan... well, we didn't like those as much. It boiled down to the Korean snacks were sugar coated, even the potato chips, while the Japaneses snakes were lacking in sugar, even the candy. We do have our proprieties strait.

Sunday was with more friends and more boardgames. The highlight was both sets of friends pulled out Pandemic. It's no secret that it my favorite game. I only get to play it a few times a year so twice in one weekend is pretty great.

Another noteworthy incident of this weekend is I had to turn on my AC and run it on Saturday and Sunday. In November. In mid November. Isn't it supposed to be cold about now? My top floor apartment is naturally very warm but this is ridiculous.

A hat I finished for if it ever gets cold. Pillsbury by Erin B of the Doubleknit Podcast.  They have a new episode up that I'm going to listen to as soon as I'm done here.

The yarn is Malabrigo Silky Merino that I was gifted in a swap. The yarn and pattern are perfect for each other. The only modification I made is a folded brim. The Silky Merino didn't have much heft or memory to it and I was concerned that it wouldn't be strong enough to hold the hat onto a head. The double brim will be warmer and has the heft I'm looking for.

Vanity Sizing

My swim suit is a pair of men's trucks and a bikini top. Not very hip and less so since camping with family this summer all the plastic bits of the top broke and it's now held together with twine. Not really gym worthy but I figured I would make do. I did give it a test run at home and it turns out the trunks no longer fit. As in I can't get them up over my hips no longer fit.

I have a back up suit that I never liked. It has a plunging neckline kept a little more modest by a ruffle. Not a suit I particularly wanted to be seen but I gave it a test run in front of the mirror too. The plunging neckline was a real issue and would not stay in place. Seeing as how I don't want to flash whole world I would have to buy a new suit if I wanted to swim.

The only possible place to buy a suit in November would be a sporting goods store. While working the weekly overtime, I was having coworkers use their phone to look things up since there was no way I was going to type any variation of Dick's into my browser. I found it amusing that everyone was so willing to do it too. I was perhaps more demanding than asking and the requests were rather off the wall.

It turns out that suit shopping in November is the very best time to go. With only twelve different styles to choose from the picking out is easier and there is one of every size in stock. Also, there isn't a single plunging neckline or ruffle in sight.

This beauty is two layers of extra thick Lycra with high cut top and low cut legs. It's the first suit I've ever owned that I feel dressed in. The Lycra straps everything into place so there is not a bit of me that jiggles much less pops out. The whole thing is sleek like a dolphin and made for swimming and yet it much more attractive than all the bathing suits that come out every summer. In it I'm more attractive than I've been in a suit even though I'm inches bigger.

And that's another thing about this suit. It hasn't fallen to vanity sizing. This spring I bought new jeans for work because my size 8 were becoming too small. I was upset that I wasn't buying size 10. No. I was fitting into the size 6. The 6s fit so well that by lunch when they have sproinged out of shape I can pull them on and off without undoing them and I wonder if I would be better in a size 4.

I figured that all the jeans I bought this spring were a fluke and I started my fitting with an 8, then a 10 and finally I bought the 12. I'm now up to the same weight I was in 1991 and I was a size 12 then too so it is actually a relief to be buying a 12 now. Since I have a tendency to buy too large, once at home I checked out the sizing chart for the suit and the 12 exactly matches my measurements. It's nice to have some consistency.

I've already given the pool a go and it's wonderful but I've found that I really need flip-flops. Now where will I be finding a pair of those in November...

Walked a Crooked Mile

I just did something rather impulsive. Today, at work, I decided to join a gym. After work, and realize I get off work at 9:30 pm, I drove by a local gym asked to be shown around and bought a membership. Time elapsed from thought to signed contract was 2 hours.

Although, not really. Last spring I took photos for an online sweater fitting session. The photos showed that I've become crooked. My shoulders and bust line aren't square anymore. This was quite concerning but some sessions of yoga at home made an immediate difference.  While I will bring this up with my doctor, I think it's a lack of core muscles from sitting and from leaning on my desk at work all day.

I can't think of anything more dull than yoga at home except, maybe, ab crunches. I lasted less than a week. Ever since then I've thought I should join a class.

I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. Classes come with the membership but what I'm excited about is the heated lap pool and the sauna. It seems the perfect way to spend the winter.

Keep on Flying

My first pair of mitts with fingers knit out of Silky Wool help double. Jayne inspired for the Joss swap.

I started out using the Wabi pattern but my gauge was off . Also, I don't have a printer and I wanted to knit them while lying on the couch, not sitting in front of my computer.

Most patterns I read through at the computer, put a few numbers on a post-it note, then knit it from memory. That wasn't going to happen with fingered mitts so I used my copy of Ann Budd's  The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns because I could lay it next to me.

While I know that "lying on the couch" is correct and to say I knit them while "laying on the couch" is not, I much prefer how laying sounds. It sounds lazy laying around all day.

Check in on the dog dish. I found it! It was under the water dish. I do pick up the water dish to fill it with water and I just put it back in the wrong spot. I'm rather relived to have found such a mundane explanation.

Gaslighting

I feed Joey every night half an hour before bed. I fed him last night half an hour before bed. I remember the munching sounds and the scritching sounds that signal he is done and wants more. Besides, I was allowed to sleep which would never happen if a meal was missed.

His food and water bowls set into a holder to keep them corralled. So this morning when I got up and his food bowl was missing leaving an empty gaping hole I found it rather shocking. Then I found it very disturbing.

My first thought was someone had come in the middle of the night and taken the bowl as a statement.  I don't know what kind of statement breaking in and taking a dog dish and not touching anything else sends, but it was beyond creepy.

My next though was I had picked it up and wondered off with it. That happens with my phone but not a dog dish. I don't pick up the dog dish, instead I scoop the food into. Even so, I looked around. Then I looked harder. This is a small apartment and I have made a point that everything here has a place and it's not cluttered. There aren't that many places to look.

Still no dog dish. This time I started looking in the crazy spots. I looked in the bathroom, the freezer, the oven, under the fridge, in my bed, in the dirty laundry, in my knitting needles storage, in my desk drawers, and in the trash. No, no, no, no, no, no, and no. There is no place left to look. I'm back to thinking this is creepy statement. Or the cat is Gaslighting me. Yeah. That's it. The cat.

Hurricane Hat knit in Plymouth Yarn Tweed. A nice simple pattern with a pretty spiral for when things are clearly spiraling out of control.

Like a Tea-tray in the Sky

Nothing much, but I posted the other two handmades of the swap box so I'll go ahead and add my third.

'it's always tea-time,and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.'

 A nice washcloth made from partial balls of yarn. I wrapped it around one of my bars of orange spice soap that I relabeled as Tea and Marmalade. The name worked well, not contrived at all, because the spice has a nice cardamom note.

Pattern I made up as I went.

Lobster Quadrille

Another of the handmades for the Alice swap.

This is some of my oldest stash. Thin thin thin yarn that I spun from silk hankies back when I was seeing how thin I could spin silk. This lace weight yarn is a 3 ply. No, I don’t know what I was thinking. Yes, I am sort of insane.

I've been saving this yarn as too special to use for years now. It was the UILI challenge that inspired to go ahead and use it. Such an exquisite yarn needs a suitable pattern and Fragile Hearts is the perfect choice. I heavily modified it and the pattern is so well written that changes are effortless. It was the knitting with such thin yarn that was difficult.

However, the color wasn’t fitting for the recipient. I don't know if aqua, rusty brown, and acid early spring yellow is right for anybody.

It's been a long time since I pulled out my dye pot and it's just as fun and satisfying as it's always been.

It floats on the barest whisper of a breeze. I’m so pleased with this I could burst. The sun washed out the photo a bit, the red is tonal from true red to burgundy and it's stunning.

Croquet with the Queen

I don't usually post photos of the projects I make and give on swaps. I don't know why. 

This Alice in Wonderland pin cushion is so stinking cute it hurt to give it away. Never mind that I don't sew. My downstream partner does sew, professionally.

 

 He was very well received and is now working in the wardrobe department of Cirque Du Soleil.

I started with the pattern Hedgehog Family and went on from there.