Cheering Hat - Test knit

I made a couple of test knit hats for a designer named Gabrielle Vezina, her design is fun and easy. Including pompoms, I-cord and nice comfy ribbing.

I love this pattern, and I got a kick out of testing it for Gabrielle prior to it's publication.

The first one came out snug and I decided to give it to my niece: project page. Ravelry

 

 

 The second hat I kept for myself: project page. Ravelry

It  got a lot of attention the other night when I wore it to community meeting.

I've also made a white version which I haven't photographed yet, it was my second attempt and I'd used larger needles in an attempt to create a fabric that was not so stiff as I'd made in my first attempt. Talk about one extreme to the other, it wound up quite loose and baggy - which has appeal as well. I need to make pompoms for it and decide who gets it.

Recently I cast on a plain and simple neck warmer in brown, and I plan on making fingerless mitts and possibly another Cheering Hat in the same colour. I have them in mind for my daughter, who wears a leather jacket I suspect the shade of brown might complement nicely. We'll see. I also promised her a totoro, which I haven't even added to my queue of upcoming projects.

Blanket for moccasins - 1001 Nights test knit

I'm nearly done the blanket I promised in exchange for the moccasins for my niece:

Its been a lot of work. Each star cost me more than 7 hours, Hexagons more than an hour and then attaching each star was around an hour's work including weaving ends. I'm still working on the boarder, which in time means 1/2 hr for corners and 8" an hour for sides so far.

There is a link to the pattern on my project page: 1001 Nights Afghan

I had the honour of test knitting this amazing blanket for an inspirational designer. She permitted me the use of worsted weight yarn as well as an alternate boarder to what she instructs in her pattern. All these details are on my project page, so I will spare you. Another 20-30 hrs to go.

The moccasins.
(I blogged about in early June, powwow, vendor, trade, blanket.) My niece is getting some good use out of them. I'd forgotten to mention that the two girls traded, the older niece wearing the moccasins that were painfully tight tried on the 'new-to-you' pair and the smaller set fit the younger sister nicely. Both were happy.

Since then our community hosted our annual fall powwow. My nieces arrived in more beads and feathers than they originally had, they've been working on their regalia with their friends and still continue. Gramma videod some of their dancing on her phone. They took their infant sister out on the dance floor as well. I'm most proud of them when they are dancing to our traditional hand drum songs.

I'm glad to see my nieces smiling. I'm glad to have been able to get the moccasins for them, there is never a small price on that kind of work. Having no money isn't any fun; and, being able to do this for my loved ones makes my knitting skills very precious to me. I may be broke, stuck home and sickly, but I can still add value.

Gypsy Dancer

My sister has a cat named Gypsy. She is a young girl-cat.

Gypsy needed a temporary home so as not to be underfoot as her owner heals from knee surgery. We didn't hesitate to help. Thus began a short adventure in cat sitting.

In the end, we only had Gypsy a few days. Upon arrival she seemed to  adjust quickly; but, I think the noises and number of people overwhelmed her (there are three of us, we are home a lot). The laundry machines are on frequently and the water goes and goes (with dishes, shower, cooking, cleaning, etc.) and there's also the noise of the fan, the tv, the turtle tank, and our neighbourhood in general.

I'm sure all the new unidentified smells were stressful in a kitty cat way. Most especially the wafting scent of local boy-kitties... an odor beyond human perception, thankfully, but torturous to poor young Gypsy. Poor, poor Gypsy.

Poor, poor Gypsy.

We were witness to the Gypsy dance of carnal anguish: chin up, belly to the floor, hind paws shuffling. Screeeeaaaam!

Balancing emotions at such a time is strange. Pity? Horror? Amusement? Embarassment? Helplessness? Disgust?

She'd be fine one moment then suddenly she is overcome with the bestial need to...reverse-squat; overrun by some ruthless unpredictable internal schedule; or, perhaps the random wafts of neighborhood breeze - bringing the musky promise of howling hissing tooth & claw battle.

What else wafts around my neighborhood? How far do odors go that leave my house? How much do our four legged neighbors know about humans in this way?

The poor cat's stay with us was stressful to her, she squirted a roommate's shirt and made a litter box of one bed. Maybe she could have eventually become happy to visit, but after catching my sister up on the goings on, Gypsy made the trip back home, taking with her the Jeckle/Hyde performance of fluffy kitty/fuzzy banshee.

I've never before had such a strange house guest; I've never had cause to wonder about neighborhood wafting either (waft, wood smoke, waft, bbq, waft laundry softener, waft, turkey dinner, waft, pollen, achoo! Waft, waft, how far does it all go?).

Woodpecker knocking on my roof

Deep sleep is so rare. I was enjoying rest last night until, first thing in the morning, a woodpecker woke me by banging on my roof. Groggy and uncoordinated, I got up and raided my recycle bin for ammunition, waddled out onto the balcony and chucked a tin can in the general direction of the banging noise. The can was satisfyingly loud and the ricochet landed it somewhere in the front yard. The woodpecker was huge, it swooped into the nearest clump of trees - a blur of grey with a glimpse of wings, almost too quick to focus on.

I had a glass of water and headed back to bed, but I couldn't sleep again till I was finished being resentful of being woken by holes being drilled into my house.

The can will remain hidden in my unkempt scraggly yard until next spring thaw reveals it, to be picked up if I happen to have a good day that I am willing to spend on such a chore.

Spending a good day is a greater challenge than achieving restful sleep. Anticipating a good day, is near impossible. I wonder if today would have been a good day -after deep restful sleep- had the woodpecker not disturbed me.

It's been a good day

I woke up feeling human.

My ribs were a bit sore, my head ached a bit. A short while of moving around and a cup of coffee fixed me up though.

I was able to rise up out of the armchair without any moans or groans, I was able to walk without shuffling, I moved from room to room without first contemplating weather or not to use my energy for such a thing, I passed through doorways without my memory being erased of my purpose for going to any particular room. I was able to eat full meals, get up and refill my cup without a silent self-motivation talk. I made several annoying 'one-thing-at-a-time' trips without feeling drained and upset. I spent long lengths of time upright without flopping over and closing my eyes for awhile. My feet and hands didn't accumulate pain as the day went on. I was able to do some reading and hold the new thoughts in my brain for awhile. I was able to be supportive and listen without slipping into despair. I felt hopeful of a trip out of the house, although it didn't happen, maybe tomorrow. I knitted a few ladybugs and watched a tv program at the same time. I rested once, but not because I had to.

I wish every day were like this. Today I appreciated the air I breathed, and enjoyed the space I took up. I felt human until bed time when my limbs began to get heavy again, needing rest.

Pattern Testing Completion

My feedback on the pattern I test knitted turned out to be 5 pages long in the word document I composed it in. I'm glad to be on the home stretch, all I've got left is to do the repeats of the final two rows until the leg portion of the sock is long enough. I actually got stressed out about this being my first ever test of another designer's pattern. I tweaked and added to my feedback today and posted it on the forum and sent it to the designer by email. All but my picture and the length of time it took - I neglected to time myself.

Pacing the testing of the sock as well as trying to keep up with he questions and comments of the knitters testing my pattern was really challenging. I am glad both are over. I need to go through the feedback I received on my pattern and make adjustments to it, then figure out how to post it for download on Ravelry.

Sleep. I need to go to bed and rest. Good night.

Pattern Testing

Pattern testing has been a challenge not without stress. I braved posting my own quick simple pattern for MM Needle sleeves on Ravelry and I volunteered to test another designer's sock pattern. I got too excited about the beautiful socks to not volunteer. Doing both has been a challenge. I learned a lot and am grateful to my volunteers who caught and exposed the stumbling blocks I unintentionally built into my pattern, and I am grateful to the other designer for trusting me with her beautiful creation to seek stumbling blocks in her work.

The pattern I put up for testing is the same one I was meaning to post here. Posting to volunteer pattern testers was intimidating but I am glad I did it, the revamped pattern has more potential for being understood than what I was going to offer originally.

Now I need to go over the feedback and get to work on making my pattern understandable. This new challenge I have taken on is fantastic and I'm glad I dared. Knitting will never get boring.

The sock I'm testing is coming together well. I've only pointed out one thing myself, but as I call up the forum on my screen I discover that the observation I was going to voice has already been brought up. So I've only clicked on agree buttons since my first contribution. My notes on my work need to be typed up and sent by PM instead, I think, just so as there aren't many people posting the same stuff repeatedly. I'm still in the middle of this test, and still nervous about it.

Back to the needles.  So far: