Arm Warmers – Yarn, Books & Roses

Updates from the Knitting Front: Mitt Cycle

I’m in the part of my new sweater (another Weekender Crew) that is just stockinette all the way with a slipped stitch every now and then. I’m alternating skeins so I don’t get too much pooling, but the work is still… kind of mindless. Not mentally challenging. Okay, I am bored. No creativity in sight here, even though I want to get the sweater done… eventually. To make things worse we are experiencing unusually warm weather here in the Denver area and I’m not wearing any of my sweaters. I stuffed the sweater into its bin, parked it on a shelf, and started on some small products.

I decided to start on the mitts to match the grey/dusty purple sweater that I just upcycled. Yay. Let’s do mitts, kitties!!!

I decided to make a mitt that offered some options. It has a ribbed top that should go under the lace on the sleeve okay, and then a little panel of lace to match the ones on the body of the sweater. At the edge by my hand is a picot edge that matches those of the lace on the sweater. Cute, right? Sometimes I want a mitt that comes way down over my hand, almost to my knuckles, so I didn’t sew down the picot edge and knitted a long inner lining that can be pulled out. The final bind off is I-cord, giving a smooth finish to the bottom of the mitt. Yay! I like this mitt a lot. Did I cast on to start the second one right away? Well… no… that would be boring, right?

I pulled out the cat arm warmers because they are kind of the poster child mitt for NOT BORING, right? Over the last three days I got those little mice knitted in, and then I did the paws. Yikes. The paws required 4 colors of yarn for several rows. NOT BORING!!!! I learned a few things about yarn management while working on these, and in a nutshell, the most important one is to cut the yarn off the ball so you have a length of color that you can easily pull through tangles with the other colors. It is a lot easier to catch floats when you have a manageable length of yarn with no ball of yarn in sight, too. The knitting was really slow and kind of a nightmare until I figured that all out, but the last half of the paws went pretty quickly. Do you like the paws?

They look that way because that is what Hannah’s paws look like! Cutest toe beans ever!!!

Like everyone else on the planet I have been reflecting on the last year (thank heavens it is finally over) and thinking about plans for the next one (goals are good, right?) It’s a lot, and it definitely involves lots of yarn and books. As I planned this post I thought about what has been going on lately in my life and the world around me, and I finally thought about a plant that I brought in from outdoors this fall. It was a beautiful bougainvillea when I brought it in, bushy with lush green foliage and not a bloom in sight. I thought about leaving it outside but I finally dragged it into the dining room in front of a large window. Over the next few weeks every single leaf on the plant fell off. “Are you kidding me,” I asked the plant. “One little shock to your system and you give up the ghost?” Yes, I do talk to my plants.

The plant has replied by putting out new growth and blooms on every single little branch. It is literally covered with the tiny green buds of new growth, and the blooms, just now starting to grow out, are going to be something else. This plant is going to look amazing in just a couple of weeks.

There is a lesson here, somewhere.

May you all have an amazing New Year.

PS: I bought a new loom!!! Also, dysautonomia continues. May I present to you Crazy Heart 2026.

Hannah and the CoalBear: Snowcat Interlude

Hi. I’m Mateo, the CoalBear.

Do you see me giving the Mother of Cats a seriously evil-looking glare??

I was trapped in the house for days and days while the Mother of Cats played on her computer, cleaned out some files in her office, and made hats on her knitting machine. Usually I like the knitting machine, but I HAVE NEEDS!!! OUTSIDE!!!! NOW!!! Finally, the Mother of Cats relented and let me out. Yay!!

I have lots of fluffy fur and it is even on the bottoms of my feet. I went out every day this week; Hannah, that wimp, did not go out even once. She is kind of a baby about the cold. Okay, she doesn’t have the fur on the bottoms of her feet like I do, but still, she could try, right?

Hannah: that would be a huge NOPE little black guy… while you were out in the snow, I got double portions of kitty cookies!! Ha!

As the Mother of Cats worked on her hats this week she started to notice dropped stitches in the knitting. It happened a few times, and then it started to happen with every single hat no matter how careful she was. Then she realized that the yarn feeder had been worn down by the yarn and that it couldn’t catch correctly anymore… poor Mother of Cats… she was cranky and sad at the same time… what should she do with herself…

The groove is worn into the feeder inside that marked circle.

Luckily the Mother of Cats found a replacement yarn feeder for her Sentro machine for sale on Amazon and it is already on the way. There is even a YouTube video that shows how to replace it so she won’t even be needing my help. Unfortunately, the part won’t be here until the middle of next week, so in the meantime, she is back to knitting on some arm warmers that she is making to match her Scrunch Socks.

Pretty cool, right? I helped her with these too, but personally I think that the knitting machine is more fun to whap.

So, that was the week. Today the snow has returned, it has gotten really cold outside, and I’m trapped indoors while the Mother of Cats completely ignores my needs. It’s like she doesn’t even remember that I am a SNOW CAT at heart, even if I look like a little CoalBear.

Sigh. Guess I’ll just sleep until it warms up again.

This is the ~~CoalBear~~ SnowCat, signing off.

>^..^<

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

The armwarmers are on 2.25 mm needles (Size 1) and I cast on 72 stitches for the top of the arm and then slowly decreased 16 stitches as I worked towards the wrist. To mimic the rolled knit top of the sock/armwarmer pattern I bound off with 4 stitch I-cord.
I’m seriously fighting the need to buy more yarn for a new sweater. It’s cold, there is this cute-beyond-all-words new sweater by Caitlin Hunter that I want, and I’m pretty sure that I totally deserve it after two weeks of cold and extreme weather changes. I want squishy mail!!!!
My knees basically hate me today after yesterday’s huge air pressure change. Look at what happened!

I think that this is another reason why I deserve that yarn to knit a new sweater!!
What do you guys think about these colors?

These colors are (left to right) Dirty Panther, Elizabeth Taylor, and Elven Dark. I’m kind of set on Dirty Panther (MC) and Elizabeth Taylor (CC) because that resulting sweater will have the most flexibility in my wardrobe, but the Elven Dark is really tempting… All of these yarns are Tosh Vintage worsted weight yarn.

Hannah and the CoalBear: Trapped Indoors

Hi. I’m Hannah.

Do I look unhappy? I’ve been trapped inside ALL DAY LONG!!!

Deep cold has made its way into Colorado. It started Friday with an overnight snowstorm that descended with frigid flakes that piled up in the catio along with dropping temperatures. The stars broke through as the snow ended, gleaming unusually bright in the frigid air, and the temperatures continued to drop. Tonight, a new storm has arrived with more snow, and the falling temperatures and wind will make things truly dangerous in the next couple days for anyone outside without sufficient protection. The Mother of Cats says that applies to cats, too. She is so mean to us!!

Mateo’s winter coat is now in, but the Mother of Cats says that it isn’t up to the new cold that is pushing into the state. Mateo, the CoalBear, has been throwing a cat-tantrum over his restricted access to the catio. It is exhausting. Really exhausting!!

Here’s the warning alerts that arrived today on the Mother of Cats’ phone from the local news station:

Those temperatures are Fahrenheit, by the way. Luckily, the Mother of Cats had lots of time to prepare for this; her windows are wrapped, and she has a blanket over the largest one in the family room. The fridge is full of groceries, she got all the tuna, and she has yarn wound up and ready to go onto the knitting machine. Take that, cold weather! We are going to have days of chasing yarn while the Mother of Cats makes her little hats on the knitting machine.

Speaking of the knitting machine, the Mother of Cats took some action to make it easier to work with it. She loves the Sentro machine, but it wobbles around, and it is a little bit of a battle for her to handle the yarn, the machine, and the cranking all at the same time while a certain little black CoalBear tries to whap the yarn as it races into the machine. Ugh. I told the CoalBear to be a good boy, but he never, ever listens to me!

Anyway, this is what the Mother of Cats did yesterday to the knitting machine. She attached the machine to a small unused shelf that was lurking behind a bookshelf downstairs. She used the sticky strips that come with Command hooks to attach the feet of the machine to the shelf, and then the shelf with the attached machine can be clamped to MY coffee table. Why did she have to put it onto my coffee table right where I like to hang out in front of the space heater. The Mother of Cats never talked to me about this before she did it. So far things are going well with her setup and the worst problem that she is dealing with is a certain cranky, under-stimulated little black cat. I prefer to hang out under the coffee table where I catch the best heat from the space heater. Now that the knitting machine is easier to work with, The Mother of Cats is making a couple of hats a day, and she is also getting some handknitting done too!

Look at these fun knits!! The Mother of Cats got the new DK weight arm warmers done just in time for the cold weather, and she also knitted up some more of the emotional support little chickies. I think that the new chickies make good cat toys, but she put them away to donate to her community knitting organization.

So, that was pretty much the week. The only other thing that has been going on is my new wooly blankie. Look at what the Mother of Cats gave me!!!!!

Okay, it isn’t really a blanket. This is a shawl that she knitted a few years ago. Isn’t this the perfect blanket for me?????

I really love my new blanket. Like, I really, really loves it!!!! I’ve been grooming it all the time and it is gradually getting nice and soft and fluffy. PERFECT!!!! Okay, the Mother of Cats was a tiny bit upset when she first saw what was happening, but she loves me so much she is letting me keep it. Also, Mateo has been pulling out strands of yarn with his teeth, so it is ours now!!

The Mother of Cats says I can keep the blankie as long as I leave her sweaters alone. Hey, it is a deal. Do you see how much I love this blankie!!!

So, that’s it for the week. I’m still trapped indoors with the CoalBear, and he is really causing a lot of commotion as he wants to go out onto the catio really, really badly. I stuck my face outside yesterday, and I do have to say, the Mother of Cats is right about this one. It is too cold for any CoalBears, no matter how fluffy they are. Maybe I should go chase him around again for a few minutes to give the Mother of Cats a break. Then we are going to make another hat. That will cheer Mateo up for sure.

Note from the Mother of Cats

If you are wondering what the pattern for the arm warmers was, I kind of wrote it up in my last post here.

All the New Things

It’s been a little more than a week now, and so far things are looking up in 2025. Here are the highlights of the week:

That’s right. A new pattern came out for Emotional Support Little Chickies that are just the right size to put into your pocket to take with you on the go. Yay!! I bought some cheap multicolored yarn to make a bunch to send off to the organizations that my community knitting non-profit supports. These guys would make the day at one of the cancer infusions centers, or maybe at Ronald McDonald House, or they can even ride along on the ambulances that respond to mental health crisis calls.

Then a present came in the mail from a sister. A Pink. Zebra. Striped. Furblet. It makes noises. It has one little CoalBear pretty darn concerned…

Isn’t that the cutest thing? I burst out laughing when I opened the package and saw what it was. Mateo, however, is not laughing!

Speaking of new things, do you see this new winter coat that Mateo is sporting?

I also have been ignoring the few little knitting projects that were still active at the end of the year. It’s a new year, I need new things!!! I casted on and started a pair of new arm warmers that are coming right along. New is good, right? Look at how bright and happy these colors are.

I found this yarn in the stash, and these warmers will be soooo cute with all of my grey sweaters.

I kind of used a pattern to get me started on these arm warmers, but after I had looked at the notes to see what size needles were used and how many stitches were cast on I just took off and did my own thing while checking for the size from time to time. I mean, look at those things: how hard does it have to be? If you crave some of your own, those needles are size 4 (3.5mm), I cast on 48 stitches using DK yarn, and when I got close to my wrist (these are knit from the elbow down towards the wrist) I decreased twice to get the stitch count down to 44 stitches before the wrist ribbing. I put a marker in the decrease rows so that I can make the second arm warmer match. See, easy!! But fun. And new.

The other big new is the new car! I took an Uber down to the Subaru dealership the second day of the new year, and after 5 exhausting hours I drove home my new Subaru Forester. Yay! New car is good!! Exhausted and stressed to the max, I made the last turn towards home in the dark of the early evening, and there ahead of me, enormous in the western sky as it just began to tuck itself behind the Rocky Mountains for the night, was the new moon.

I took this picture the next evening. The moon is a little bigger than the tiny sliver of a moon that I saw when I brought the car home, but you can see how new it still is. That is Venus right next to it. New Moon, new car.

It’s been a pretty good start to the year, don’t you think? I went yesterday to get some medical testing done, and everything is looking pretty good. Yay! 2025, let’s do this!!

My African violets are also starting out the year right.

Hannah and the CoalBear: Caturday Updates

Hi. I’m Mateo.

I’m all grown up now. I should be trusted outdoors on my own, right?

This has been a busy week at Casa Mother-of-Cats. The shower broke and she had to get a plumber to fix it. Hannah practically teleported into the closet for that! Then the Mother of Cats had to go get some blood work done for her crazy scleroderma and she has been dragging sadly around the house waiting for the doctor to call. Finally, the Mother of Cats pulled herself together and went to the garden center to buy roasted green chiles: Yeow! Those chiles are stinky!! Hannah refused to go into the kitchen while the Mother of Cats was packing them up for freezing. Late in the week the Mother of Cats got some knitting done and early this evening the doctor messaged her, and she has finally perked up.

Through the whole week she took a lot of pictures, so here they come:

There is a bunny hanging out in the front yard that makes the Mother of Cats happy every time she sees it.

These mums came home from the garden center with the green chiles.

The leaves are starting to change on the trees.

I managed to escape from the catio last night and ran wild through the yard under that supermoon for a couple of hours before the Mother of Cats came looking for me. So. Much. Fun. I looked everywhere for that bunny, but I couldn’t find it. There was a garter snake in the yard last week too, and that sounds like a lot of fun, but I couldn’t find it either. Unable to have really outstanding fun ~~or a bunny snack~~, I just ate a bunch of bugs and threw them up on the bed after I came back in… why does the Mother of Cats get worked up so easily?

Hannah: I was a good girl and stayed on the catio.

Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. There was a lot of knitting that went on this week, too.

This heap of pink mess is the beginning of the new Weekender Crew sweater. I’m sure that it will actually look like a sweater some day.

The sweater is being knit inside-out, so the Mother of Cats tried to pull the knitted tube open so you could see the part of the sweater that will be on the outside. It is totally a mystery to me, but hopefully you will kind of get the idea. The color is nice, right?

The Mother of Cats really made progress on the new arm warmers. The first one is done, and she has started on the second one; they are so long they go up above her elbow. The next time she had a medical adventure they should help keep her nice and warm!

Well, that’s all for now. I’m going to carry on downstairs for awhile to see if I can get Hannah to come chase me.

Hannah: that would be a big NOPE!! CoalBear. It is bedtime for me…

Happy Caturday, everyone!

This is Mateo the CoalBear, signing off.

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

The last few weeks have seen the emergence of new symptoms: my hair is falling out, I have more edema, bruises are popping up everywhere, and I get sudden muscle cramps. Itching has become a problem, and cuts are slow to heal. Fatigue is back in a big way. I finally contacted my doctor, and she ordered some testing to make sure I wasn’t going into kidney failure.

Kidney failure!! Cue the panic sirens!!!!

Seriously, one of the things that I fear most is kidney failure. Last year, when my lung disease was so bad, letting my kidneys go to save my lungs was an actual topic of discussion; I was a hard no on that treatment option. Ironically, a low kidney function test was one of the first clues that led to my scleroderma diagnosis, but my kidneys have improved over the last couple of years to a comfortable stage 3 level of disease. Discussion of kidney failure again seemed like a huge blow, and I have been sad this week. I cast on the arm warmers during the afternoons when I’m stuck indoors on oxygen during the heat.

The message from my doctor today was reassuring. My kidney function has maintained, but I am very low on protein levels in my blood. This is kind of a scleroderma thing too, as digested food doesn’t get absorbed well through fibrotic intestinal tissue, but I’m so immunosuppressed, it might be because I can’t make antibodies. More testing is on the horizon, but I’m not losing any sleep over this. I am, however, going to be much more careful about wearing my mask!

I’m making good progress on those arm warmers… if I hurry, I can cast on another project like maybe those pressed flowers socks early next week. 🙂

Have a good Caturday!

The Saturday Update: Week 25

What a week this has been. I have a new kitten, we broke a heat record this week, and then there were a couple of days of cold and rain. The garden came through all of it in good shape. The kitten has already wrapped me around her little paw. The Covid-19 pandemic is calming down in my state, but the states around us are experiencing skyrocketing numbers, making me feel like we are in the eye of the storm. This is the evening of the summer solstice; the shortest night of the year. Momentous days continue.

Knitting

During the cold days last week I struggled to stay warm, especially my arms. I cleaned out the yarn room and kept looking at the left over yarn from the Sweet & Tartan socks that I made. Gee, I really liked those yarns while knitting the socks. You know that I had to make arm warmers…

I decided to just stripe the yarns instead of making the tartan pattern using the two main colors of the socks. I added the bright pink I-cord to the socks after casting off. My Ravelry notes are here.

The pattern for these arm warmers is Armelitas by knitcats Designs. I have to be honest: I didn’t hunt up the pattern this time but just went with the general memory of the pattern and kept making adjustments as I went. I tried to write what I did into the notes on my Ravelry page.

The finished arm warmers are a big hit with Hannah…

These arm warmers are longer then others that I have made. I can pull them up above my elbow or just let them bunch up around my wrists. Either way, these will be warm and really handy later on when I’m cold.

Do you see the knitted Maya cat that I’m holding in my arms? She was there for the picture because I’ve been working on her adding fluffy fur to her the last couple of days while listening to my audiobook.

She needs her new fur brushed out, but I’m trying to not handle it too much until I’m done so that I don’t pull too much of the mohair out. She is getting really furry, don’t you think? The original cat is extremely fluffy!!

Garden

Things are exploding into bloom all over my garden!! A couple of years ago I bought a few 6-packs of some bedding plants to put into the front flower bed along the walk up to the front door. They bloomed, and were okay, but amazingly they survived the winter and came back looking bigger and better last summer. This year they are back again looking just stupendous!! Ladies and gentlemen, let me present this year’s Dianthus and Dusty Miller combo.

My roses are looking pretty good, too. I’m so happy that they are making such a good come back after the late hard freeze and high wind events of this spring.

My Cinco de Mayo rose is looking great. I just love this color.

The rose that is just thriving and covered with blooms is my Princess of Alexandra of Kent rose. Look at how many buds are surrounding this bloom. I usually don’t like pink roses, but this one is the perfect color.

The front roses are also blooming like champs, but how many roses can go into one post? I have to save some for next week. 🙂

Books

I am back to reading The Mirror & The Light. I’m not done yet, but I am entranced by the language and the building story. It is finally dawning on me that this book is about a great transition and upheaval in the power and social structures of England through the machinations of King Henry VIII and his right hand man, Thomas Cromwell.

I am finally at the heart of the story: Henry is the Mirror and the Light above all other princes, and Cromwell draws some power by existing in the reflected light. The corrupt practices of the medieval church are being overturned and the bible is being translated into English. The new churches will provide registries of all births, marriages, and deaths so that common people will have a recorded history. The roads will be improved as jobs are given to the needy. A comprehensive plan for the defense of England is being set in place. There is a big, over-reaching plan in motion here, and Cromwell is very aware of his limits. He feels the history of his time all around him, is burdened by ghosts everywhere he goes, and he is deliberately building the infrastructure, human and physical, that will need to be in place after his passing. The past, present and future are continually coming together as Cromwell reflects and acts in the service of his and Henry’s vision for the nation. This is bigger, much bigger, than I expected. I’ve been avoiding the end of the book because, well, things don’t end well for Cromwell, but now I’m kind of thinking that maybe they do…

Were you wondering how Hannah is doing? She follows me from room to room, and when I’m working downstairs she has found a little niche for herself on the bookshelf.

Hannah is turning into the easiest kitten ever to raise. She wants to be with me as much as she can, and just now is starting to play with toys in another room as long as she knows where I’m at. She sleeps through the night. She already has a favorite toy and rockets around the house with it in her mouth or tosses it around while she’s playing. She calls for me if she doesn’t know where I am. She is a huge chowhound and I have to be very careful when opening the refrigerator because she wants to climb in. So far she hasn’t caused much destruction, but I have discovered that she can sever yarn with one chomp of her little kitten teeth, so knitting is happening really carefully. Luckily she naps a lot!

Have a great week, everyone!!

Read a little, knit a little, and garden like your heart can’t live without it.

It’s the Little (Mash-up Knitting) Things…

My hip is in full rebellion these days and I am spending a lot of time off my feet trying heal up. For reasons beyond my understanding MacKenzie views this as an invitation to make constant demands: Pet me! Feed me!! More cookies! Let me go outside!! I must be on your lap!! You exist to serve me!!!!!

He stands next to me as I knit crying sadly, trying to move onto my lap and into the yarn and knitting. It is sad. So sad. Right up to the point when the yarn chomping starts and the claws start flashing. Sigh.

There is nothing for it but to put the knitting aside, gather the cat up onto my lap and deliver unto him all the hugs and attention that he is craving. Then some cookies!

Caught between a ill behaved hip and a demanding cat I have abandoned the sweater that I’ve been working on and switched to small projects that are easy to move away from chomping teeth and flashing claws. Projects that can be worked on in bed, outside in the garden swing, and downstairs by the television. Projects that can be easily moved to safety or stuffed into a project bag.

Ta-daa! I finished these cashmere blend yummy socks to wear while lounging around and in bed. These socks are knit a little loosely and sport garter stitch heels and toes, so they aren’t suitable for daily wear, but they sure are perfect for my cold feet while babying my ill behaved hip, and were easy to complete while evading a cat.

The socks were knit from the toe up and have cleverly shaped garter stitch heels and toes. I added the garter band to the top of the sock before putting on a K1P1 ribbing at the top. Please ignore the little gap there in the ribbing… I took the picture before the final finishing as I was losing the light. Here are my Ravelry notes. The sock pattern is Om Shanti Bed Socks by Alice Yu and the yarn is Serenity 20 from Zen Yarn Garden in the colorway “Burning Bush.”

Do you remember the light blue ribbed socks that I made a couple of weeks ago? They were just simply ribbed socks based on my rote 64 stitch vanilla sock that is basically the Dave sock by Rachel Coopey with a different rib that I liked when I knitted the No. 5 Union Street socks and then saw again in the Emily’s Favorite Socks pattern in the book “Knits About Winter.” Hey, when you are immobilized by a cranky hip and hounded by a demanding cat, you start to just invent new combinations of socks, right? In this circumstance it is just frankly impossible to have any charts or patterns involved in the knitting, so it is “have some fun” time. Anyway, there was some yarn left over from the socks, so I kept knitting…

And these simple wristers (short arm warmers) just fell off my needles.

To make the wristers I just kept expanding on my theme of stealing design ideas from other projects and smashing them together to make something that works for me. I had made some Geology Socks recently, and the top edging was a nice use of the feather and fan pattern, so I re-used it for the top of these warmers. Then I knitted the body of the wrister using the K3P1 ribbing and finished off with an I-cord BO.

I kind of like to wear these with the I-cord edging down by my hand.

But I think that they look pretty good with the lace at the wrist also.

These wristers will work well this winter under sweaters and over long sleeved shirts in my usual struggle to keep my fingers warm, but I’m wearing them alone right now whenever I get exposed to air conditioning. Pleased with my sock pattern inventiveness I cast on another sock last night…

This is another mash-up of ideas and patterns that grew from my earlier projects. This yarn, Fancy Monkey sock, is another cashmere blend for my cold feet. The edging is the same one used for the wristers, but I’m making K3P1 ribbed socks again once I’m past the edging. I’m debating putting on garter stitch heels and toes like the Om Shanti socks. It will be fun! It’s a knitting adventure, I tell MacKenzie.

Who has been watching me steadily from the foot of the bed, waiting for an opening to move onto my lap, computer or no computer. He resents the computer even more then the knitting. Let’s not even start talk about books and reading…

Isn’t it cute that MacKenzie still likes his mouse? The tail has been chomped off at this point, but he still likes to bat it around.

Hopefully my hip will start behaving better in a few days, MacKenzie will become less needy, and I will be able to get back to the Kouvia sweater. I’m getting adventurous with that project, too. I can’t wait to blog about the sweater, and I’m working myself up to a couple of hip/scleroderma posts as I’ve been racking up adventures in that part of my life also.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Hello Summer: Rainy Day Knits

Yesterday was the first day of summer. It was a cold and gloomy day. It rained, it hailed, it snowed in the mountains. The afternoon was filled with flashes of lightening and the booms of thunder. I kept the television on and watched the footage of a storm chaser stalking a supercell on the plains east of me while I knitted. (Here’s a supercell shot by Meteorologist Cory Reppenhagen last month.) Yep, just another crazy day in Colorado.

Hello summer. I thought you would never get here.

There has been so much water over the last two weeks it has been astonishing. I’m not complaining, really I’m not. The water is free, I don’t have to pay to put any on the lawn, and unlike many others in the United States, I haven’t sustained damage. Okay, the roses have taken a couple of hits and there was the matter of a destroyed tree, but I’m still grateful that we weren’t hit by a flash flood (even through the phone went off with a flash flood alert one day this week…) or baseball sized hail. Life is good.

I’ve been attacking the yard in the short rain-free openings in the weather, but mostly I have been knitting. There has been lots of knitting. Check it out:

I’ve made a lot of progress on a Suburban Wrap (Joji Locatelli) for my extremely knitworthy niece. This is such a fun knit: because of the color and pattern changes I just keep knitting and knitting so that I can get to the next fabulous section. My project notes are here.

I’m also knitting on my new arm warmers that will match my No. 5 Union Street socks that I made a few weeks ago. I’m having so much fun knitting on these in the evenings while listening to The Clockmaker’s Daughter. The book is excellent, full of rich detail and compelling characters who are introduced as the story evolves; the story is centered around a remarkable old home. How fitting that I’m listening to this book as I knit arm warmers that are designed to reflect the architectural details of an old home located at No. 5 Union Street in Stonington, Connecticut. My project notes are here.

I have another What the Fade?! shawl going too. I love brioche knitting (after surviving a rather traumatizing learning curve that left me dreaming nightmares that involved picking up dropped brioche stitches…), and this shawl is the one that I pick up in the evenings while binge watching Netflix. My project notes are here.

Finally I have this little sock going as there always has to be a small project that can be stuffed into a bag that can head out on a trip with me at a moments notice. This is another of my ubiquitous 64 stitch vanilla socks based on the Dave pattern by Rachel Coopey.

Today is the second day of summer, and guess what is happening outside? Yep, you guessed it: it is raining!

As soon as I get this posted I will be settling down to knit. Again. June is going to be a pretty productive month when I total up all of the yarn that has been used up this month. The “Get 50 Skeins Out of the Stash” resolution project is looking pretty good at the moment.

I just have to get some of these projects done! Maybe I can just weigh them to figure out how much yarn has been used by the end of June? Must knit faster!

Have a great (knitting) weekend everyone!

MacKenzie Speaks: Busy Days

Hi. I’m MacKenzie.

Cat helping hold yarn. — Do you see how much help I am to the Mother of Cats?

The weather has turned nice and the Mother of Cats and I have been busy working in the yard, knitting lots of projects, and getting yummy things cooked in the kitchen. I love hanging out in the kitchen with the Mother of Cats since she gives me extra attention, cookies, and even plates of tuna. Sometimes the Mother of Cat can be fun. Sometimes.

I have been so busy that I hardly know what to do with myself. Now that I am able to get back into the yard there is a lot for me to do. I need to inspect every corner of the yard, nap in all of my favorite places, make sure that all the other cats in the neighborhood understand that I am back (ahem… I do my business in all the right places…), and then there are the plants that I like to chomp. And bugs! The moths are back and every night I have another epic moth hunt that goes on for hours. The Mother of Cats hates the moths…

Cat munching on catmint in the garden. — The very best thing about summer is that I can get back to my catmint!! I can take naps under this plant when I’m not snacking on it. Next time I chat with all of you about the yard I’ll send some pictures of the flowers. The Mother of Cats likes the flowers, but for me, it is ALL ABOUT THE CHOMPS!!

Unfortunately, the Mother of Cats doesn’t let me stay outside as much as I would like. Always, we have to go back in before I want to. The Mother of Cats just doesn’t place my needs first like she should. She can be so MEAN to me! Okay, there are some thunderstorms in the afternoons… If she loved me she would make them go away so I could stay outside!! Why can’t the Mother of Cats understand how important the outside is?

Cat sleeping with ball of yarn. — But she does let me take care of her yarns while she is knitting in the afternoons.

Cat asleep with knitting. — This knitting is also a blanket for me while the Mother of Cats is taking a break. I kind of like this shawl. It is going to be really big when it is done. My new Blankie!!

The Mother of Cats spent a few days working on the new shawl (a What the Fade?! shawl by Andrea Mowry) and then became completely distracted and started working on some arm warmers to match the socks that she made not that long ago. I can be reasonable… I helped her knit those, too. After only two days of knitting in bed listening to an audiobook she was able to get one of the arm warmers done solely due to my devoted attention. Look at how nice it looks!!

Arm warmers in progress. — I don’t know when she will wear these as it is pretty warm these days, but you never know. For some reason she was just on fire to get these all knitted up. Here are the socks that they will match.

As you can see, I am just terrifically busy. Taking care of the Mother of Cats and the yard is kind of a full time job. Then there is my mouse. Do you remember how badly I needed a mouse? The Mother of Cats bought me a mouse (she says it is a hamster… whatever!) a few months ago and last week she moved her downstairs to be with us in the evenings while we knit.

Cat snoozing with hamster. — I love my mouse! I spend a lot of my time right by the mouse cage every evening when she wakes up for the night. She makes me happy, and the best thing ever is that she RUNS IN A WHEEL! She even has her own little cookies to eat. Miss Pitty-Pat is my best friend these days.

I can’t believe how much I have to do every day.

I am such a good boy.

Can I have some cookies now?

>^..^<

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

My neighbors (I have the best neighbors in the world!) have been collaborating with me to spruce up our yards. Mulch has been spread on the side yard, a new flower bed started, and I’m even moving bricks to extend the patio/deck area in the back (we all had a brick swap!). Wait until MacKenzie sees the new patio umbrella I bought this weekend!
The downside of all this yard work is that sunshine is not kind to people with autoimmune diseases. After a week of bravely tackling yard projects in the late afternoons the flare arrived anyway and I had to hole up in bed for a few days being kind to myself. Not wanting to manipulate multiple balls of yarn with MacKenzie sleeping on my legs I switched over to the small arm warmers. The project notes for them are here. They are based on the No. 5 Union Street socks that I made earlier this spring.
I have several other projects going right now, but the major one is the What the Fade?! shawl that I am working on in shades of rusts. My project notes are here.

Yarns for shawl. — Check out the yarns! And no, this new shawl is NOT a blankie for MacKenzie!

I’m still deep in my flare, but I am knitting and listening to audiobooks like crazy and eating comfort food ; I am still in charge here, you bad boy autoimmune things!! MacKenzie isn’t happy about not being in the yard all day, but his issue is really with scleroderma, not me. Somehow he isn’t grasping the finer details of the situation… What can I expect? He is a cat. I bossy, self-centered cat who drips entitlement like none other. Seriously, I couldn’t function in a flare without this furry monster at my side. 🙂
It looks like we are going to have an epic miller moth season; every time I open the door to the garage another moth flies in. Great. MacKenzie is specializing in 1am moth hunts these days…

The Color Continues…

Last week I was having the time of my life knitting up some fun socks in perfect fall colors found in a skein of Colorful October dyed by Chasing Rabbits Fiber Co for my favorite LYS, Colorful Yarns. By the end of the week the socks were done. Check these babies out!

Finished socks. — The colors of my yard captured in a pair of socks. My project notes for these socks can be found on Ravelry here.

Leaves. — The leaves in my yard have now all fallen off the trees, but there are still lots of trees out there showing off. This tree was in a parking lot by the grocery store. I love these leaves! My mood lifts with each new vista of fall colors, and every trip out of the house makes me want to knit more of the bright fall colored yarn.

You know that I had to buy another skein of this yarn. Last Wednesday I threw caution to the wind (I already have a stash that will never be exhausted in my lifetime…), bought more Colorful October, and gleefully cast on to knit a pair of arm warmers to match the socks. I’ve got to hurry here: fall won’t last forever.

Hey, notice any difference between the colors in the arm warmer and the socks? Yep. The colors in the arm warmer really did pool, huh. I kind of expected that something like this would happen because… stitch count. The arm warmers that I have been knitting for myself are knit from the elbow down towards the wrist with a stitch count that decreases from 72 to 64. Look at what a difference a few stitches made.

Pooled knitting. — The portion of the warmer knit with 72 stitches really pooled.

Wrist cuff. — That pooling disappeared when the count dropped to 64 as I approached the wrist

Huge difference in appearance as I came down the warmer towards the wrist. The part of the warmer that will show while I’m wearing it under a sleeved top will exactly match my socks, so I’m happy with the look.

Socks — That’s why my socks, knit at a stitch count of 64, didn’t have any pooling with this yarn.

I’m working out my pattern for these arm warmers. They are pretty darn simple knitting, and each time I knit myself a pair I record all of my changes in my project notes on Ravelry. If you want to make yourself a pair too, feel free to check out what I’ve done and cast on a pair for yourself too.