Redux

I haven’t felt much like writing these past weeks.  As I’ve said in the past, the 6 weeks between January 1 and February 15 are really crazy for our family, with birthdays, namesdays, several church feasts, and a memorial day.  

This year we had the added complications of flu, strep, and whooping cough for several members of the family, which meant we were all quarantined for five days with antibiotics and tamiflu for everyone.  And we are all vaccinated!!  Very frustrating.  Somehow I didn’t get sick (thank God, as someone had to stay standing!) but I was a little run off my feet for the ones who were.  But we do have a working vehicle again and the lady at the Genius bar fixed my laptop in like five minutes, plus replaced several keys that weren’t working, so I’m very grateful for all that!

The quarantine happened to fall over Old Calendar Christmas, so we had to miss church services that day, which was disappointing.

Sometimes, my life just feels like…a lot.  

Anyway, we got something like a foot of snow and ice yesterday, so of course the city is shut down and the kids are off school.  I’m hoping we can get our car out and reparked this week, since it is supposed to be very cold and I’d rather the kids not have to troop 20 minutes on either side of the commute to public transit as they usually do.  

Have you been following the news from Kamchatka?  Me neither.  Our priest mentioned yesterday that the province has received a historic 7 feet (!!) of snow in the first two weeks of January, which is a lot, even for them.  Someone sent a video of the city on our church group chat and the snow is up past the second floor on a lot of the buildings.  They have built some pretty impressive sledding hills from the drifts, several stories high!  (The link above has an embedded video of the sledding).

So our little bit doesn’t seem too bad by comparison!  Below is our back patio, which includes the snow shoveled off the roof.  That is a 55 gallon trash can, for reference.  (We have a flat roof, so it needs shoveling every time we have significant snow).  I told the boys to avoid hitting the raspberry canes if they could; if they break, we get no berries this summer.  So far, so good.

Ponchik is ready to conquer the pile:

I’ve been meaning to post these pictures for a while; they are obviously taken before the harsh weather hit.  The sweater might be familiar.  It is the Lightweight Pullover that I finished in December or January of 2023, just as I was starting my most recent (and so far, most successful) weight loss journey.  I’ve lost the equivalent of a 3rd grader: 60 or so pounds and 49”.  I’ve been maintaining since the spring of 2024, so I think that is pretty good.

But about the sweater: it had got a hole near the shoulder blade in 2024 that I repaired badly, but was willing to overlook, but then the hem had some holes this fall and that was the straw.  For the record, the hole repair was using the technique that everyone says to use for these sorts of holes, but it just didn’t look good when I finished. 

 I would have been better off repairing it the way I usually repair these sorts of things.  

Anyway, I frogged the body of the sweater up to the arm holes and reknit the whole thing, making the body considerably longer.  In retrospect, I wish I had added short rows to the back hem to make the back longer because my shoulders are so rounded forward, but I always forget to make this modification and then it seems like a lot to unravel and redo.

The original length never really worked for me, and even though I had lengthened the hem about 1/2” or so in 2024, it still was too short.  I could probably have stood another inch or so in the body, but this is a fine length too.  

It’s not really the right weather to wear it now, as the yarn is fingering weight, but I’m looking forward to wearing it in the spring!  Right now all my worsted sweaters are on repeat (with multiple wool base layers, natch), and it will be nice to rotate those few out in a couple of months.  

I received two sweaters’ worth worsted wool yarn for Christmas and my namesday, so I’m working on a super snuggly sweater right now that I’m very eager to wear.  I’m done the yoke and just about to put the sleeves on holders, so it’s been a quickish knit.  (That autumnal red Dorchas sweater I mentioned in a previous post has been frogged and reknitted to a different pattern and I still don’t like it.  I need to reassess my options for that yarn.  Le sigh).  

Usually the winter break is so nuts that I don’t get anything done, but somehow, even with all the illness in the house, I managed to find time to make an earring and necklace set for our choir director at church.  She is really into preserving and making Russian folk costume and has a folk singing group for whom she made all the outfits: 

Her work is really amazing; she makes stunning pieces, particularly these elaborate kokoshniks that she sells:  

She’s also trying to work aspects of traditional folk costume into her everyday wear without looking costume-y, and I really love some of the pieces she’s come up with.  (I’m also taking notes!)

Anyway, she has been wearing a lot of amber this fall, and I thought it would be fun to make her a set that featured amber and ivory.

I’m quite pleased with how it came out.  The square glass beads are Czech glass, and the big brown bead is from a pair of earrings I took apart a long time ago.  The beads on the wire are wood; everything else is amber or ivory.  

Other news: Piglet turned 18 and we had a bit of a wrangle to get my proxy access for his health care stuff restored.  Can I just say that I hate HIPPA laws with the white hot burning passion of a thousand suns?  For the record, he wants me to help him manage all that stuff, so to just suddenly cut off access for him and me because he turned 18 and then make it hard to restore was super frustrating.  The pediatrician’s office process was very straightforward and easy, but our other providers have been a bit of a pain.  

Thankfully it is all up and running again.  I imagine there will be another upheaval when he heads to college this fall.  He got into his first choice college with a decent scholarship, so we are all happy and relieved about that!  

I was telling a friend last week that I suddenly had this panicky feeling, like the fall semester had been the ski lift to the top of the mountain, but now we had summited, it was going to be a fast swoosh to the bottom and I’m not ready for that!  

Peter Pan: An Homage

 

 

...or something like that.  I got my rear in gear yesterday and pulled out my sewing machine.  I had to fix one of my husband's cassocks (the top stitching had come loose on the pockets), and figured I might as well get on with the green version of the cord skirt I mentioned in my previous post.

 

 

Did I mention that one of my kids was up for the day at 4:00 a.m. yesterday?  *cough*Boo*cough*  Which meant I was awake at 4:00 a.m.  Needless to say, I wasn't firing on all pistons yesterday.  

The topstitching repair was very straightforward, and the skirt cutting was quick because I didn't have to mark darts, but I made a small fitting error on the back piece that was only evident after I'd finished the thing.  Namely, that when I made the gold cord skirt last month, I forgot that I took another 1/2" out of the back piece.  For whatever reason, that was fine in the heavy weight cord (maybe the zipper+fixed waistband made a difference?) but it pulled uncomfortably across the hips in this lightweight version. 

 

This make was full of mistakes, from start to finish.

The first was applying the waistband to the hem, and finishing the whole thing (elastic insertion and hand sewing the gap) before realizing the mistake.  And since it is corduroy, all the seams are finished with zig-zag, and the seam allowances are sometimes finished as one...you see where I'm going with this.  

 

I grumbled and gracelessly unpicked the waistband from the last seam sewn, but quickly realized that it wasn't worth the effort to unpick where it attached to the hem, so I decided to make it a hem facing and call it good.  (I was going to use bias tape anyway, so it saved me some trouble--call it a happy accident?  I've been watching Bob Ross lately 😊)

 

I recut the waistband and attached it to the top and finished it, albeit about two hours later than I had anticipated.  Tried it on...too tight in the hips.  What the...?  

Then I remembered the additional bit I took out of the back and decided to narrow the seam allowances on the sides from 5/8" to almost nothing, tapering in to the waistband and again about 4" from the bottom.  (Like making a big arc over where my hips are, if that makes sense).

 That gave me enough room across the hips, but the thing was too long, so I turned up the hem facing once (for another 2") and stitched across and called it good.  I'm hoping the slightly thicker hem will help the skirt to fall nicely, as that is one problem with this lighter weight cord--it wants to ride up.  So far so good.

It is considerably more fitted than the blue version, but I like it--it strikes a nice balance between my very fitted cold weather skirts and my less fitted summer skirts.  The wider waistband is more finished looking, but the ban-rol keeps it comfortable (I think I could wear something tucked in and it would look okay, whereas the blue skirt doesn't look that great with a tucked in shirt).  

I almost wore the skirt with a newly thrifted green top, but I wanted to wear this set of jewelry and the greens clashed.  I've been kind of obsessed with this color palette since I saw a bouquet of flowers with a similar palette at church a few weeks ago.  The bouquet also had a pale lavender, which was pretty in the floral arrangement, but didn't look right with the beads.  This past week there was another arrangement that was similar but added a light blue hydrangea to the mix.  Anyway, I made this set from a bunch of odd beads in the right colors and I like the eclecticism of it, but also the unifying color palette.  I've been craving some brighter jewelry in silver tone, and this was just the thing.

Yarn Along: Picking up the Pieces of December

Along with vastly increased coronavirus restrictions, our state essentially closed its borders just before Thanksgiving, seemingly unconcerned with the large number of people who commute in or out of the tri-state area for work or school.  

For the most part, we have inhabited a square mile this year, rather than traversing hundreds of miles toing and froing.  While I desperately miss my family, who live far away, and am still disappointed my mom couldn't visit in October as planned, I find I am more settled and grounded in this smaller life. 

But enough about that.  On to fiber and books, m'kay?

~knitting~

After a quick start on my Stripes! Stashbuster sweater, I stalled out while the kids have been home for the past two and a half weeks, remote schooling and having an extra long Thanksgiving break due to some Covid concerns.  I will say that the knitting itself is fairly speedy so far, as you don't spend more than 7 full rows on a color, so my interest level remains high.  I'm pushing my gauge on that light mint color, as it is heavy fingering weight and I'm a tight knitter, but my yarn weights are all over the place on this thing, so I think I just have to lean into the wonk.  

I've made zero progress on my Footfall shawl I showed last month, after casting on and completing the initial chart plus a full repeat (including ripping it all back numerous times before I got the stitch counts right.  I seem to gravitate to the Stripes! piece before this one, but I'm sure it will call to me again sooner or later. 

~reading~

I finished re-reading Sarah J. Maas' Court of Thorns and Roses series ahead of the next installment due in February, and decided to stick with the author and have a go at her better-known series, The Throne of Glass.  The universes are completely different, and I find the female protagonist slightly unlikeable, but I'm four books in, so I guess I'm on for another three?  These books are all a big departure from my usual genre, but I suppose this is the year of trying new things.

I did set it aside this week to again pick up We Two, which I've been reading in little snatches of delight since it arrived.  The narrative is quite riveting and I'm learning so much about how the European royal houses were connected and how the 18th century slid into the 19th at a dynastic level.  My brain has exploded with all the connections.  There was an explanation of genealogy in the section on Albert's upbringing that helped me understand the familial ties of the current royal family better, although right now I can't call the specifics to mind.  (Remote schooling + extra long Thanksgiving break=brain mush).

~crafting~

 Since I get palpitations every time I consider sewing something (or even attacking the sewing machine-necessary mending pile), I've continued on with my beading and jewelry adventures.  It turned out to be the perfect thing to do while supervising the girls' remote schooling this week.  (Piglet is totally independent with his stuff).  It is creatively satisfying, easy to set down and pick up, pleasingly tactile, and generally diverting from the news of the world.  

I still keep up with sock darning (although my darning pile grows ever larger--I did all the black socks this afternoon and this is still left!)  It's sort of a dogged determination at this point.

~watching~

Not that much, to be honest.  (I know, you are shocked.  I'll give you a minute to recover yourself).  I continue to meander through season 2 of Poldark, but in a rather desultory way.  Aidan Turner still doesn't do it for me and this season has not endeared Ross to me At.All.  (I'm largely in it for Eleanor Tomlinson's Demelza). Lately, I'd rather read or work on beading instead.  (Hence the rather large number of books read in the past month!) 

~life in general~

We started the Nativity Fast last weekend, and today celebrated the Presentation of the Theotokos in the Temple.  The breaded fish patties for sandwiches are in the oven along with tater tots that don't have sunflower oil (a December miracle!)  I am looking forward to some fried potato goodness for dinner.  With breaded fish sandwiches, natch.  There isn't much I can eat lately, and when I find something I can get down without zofran, it's cause for celebration!

 

Lastly, this one wins the Internet this week:

 

 

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along!

Pottering About

I don't have anything pithy to share today; we have a short stretch of remote schooling, and my mind has turned to mush.  I also realized this weekend that I feel best when I'm doing stuff that is not computer- or phone-based, and so have tried to limit my time where I can.  (Yesterday was a complete disaster in that regard; turns out being off my phone and computer for more than 48 hours left me with a lot of loose ends that needed tying up).  Today has been more intermittent, so that's good.

I'm pottering with jewelry making, and made an orange bead necklace to match the earrings I showed earlier this month.  I've been wearing it with an orange jersey dress I thrifted last month.

The silver earrings below are a pair I bought last year on etsy (they are styled after Aethelflaed's earrings on The Last Kingdom) and I love them, but the original earring post was so thick that they hurt my ears.  I realized if I swapped the post out for an earwire, the earrings would be a lot more wearable.  It was a three-minute fix and I've worn them a bunch of times since then.

A while back I cleared out a bunch of jewelry I wasn't wearing any longer either because it was too heavy, not my style, or was broken, and I realized I can harvest them for parts for new pieces.  I have in mind to make some gifts as well. The owl charm (below) was a pair of earrings originally, and while I like the owls (it is our school mascot), they were too big for my face.  So I separated them from the earwires, added a jump ring and put one on a necklace chain.  I'm saving the other one for a possible teacher gift.  I made the earrings to coordinate.

On the Thanksgiving prep front, the turkey went into the crock pot last night and spent the night cooking.  The smell was disorienting in the night, but it looks pretty decent today.  I had ordered a breast and, much to my dismay, got "upgraded" to a full turkey for free.  The frozen turkey was bigger than the space in my freezer and I couldn't quite fit it in my 7 qt crock pot.  In a bit of a panic, I baked it frozen at a low temperature for two hours yesterday, covered with foil and sitting in a water bath, just to make it flexible enough to break the sternum and rib cage so that I could fit the thing into my crock pot.  It was a tight fit, but I made it!  

Today I roasted the sweet potatoes, and made one of the pies.  I need to take things in small bites, so I have a list of what I need to make each day, so hopefully on Thursday, I only have to reheat most of it.

We're nearly into the Nativity fast as well, so I'm also trying to have us eat down the non-fasting food in the freezer and fridge.  

 

Andrea Mowry came out with her Stripes pattern last week, and I immediately threw my knitting queue to the wind and dove into my stash to cast it on--I very rarely do this!  The picture above is from my attempts to figure out which colors to put where.  I think I have enough to make it, and in similar colors to her cropped version on the cover of the pattern (which I adore, by the way).  I was determined to make this a stash-buster sweater, so I am using light worsted superwash on a few stripes, but my tension is such that it works out okay.  I've just had to adjust my row count. The not-nice thing is having to swatch all the yarns for gauge, but at least three are the same yarn in different color ways, so that helps.  

I don't love short rows, but I found a little tutorial for picking up wraps that is better than anything else I've seen, so that helps.  I also figured out how to read on my kindle while knitting, so I've been enjoying Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass.  I just finished re-reading the Court of Roses and Thorns series (ahead of the next book's release in Feb) and was eager to stay with the author's style and genre.  I don't like Throne of Glass quite as much (and her writing has improved since that one), but it is a long series, so I can see sticking with it.

That's it for me today!  I'm off to knit a few more rows....