A Month of Crutches and Panic Knitting: The Destash Project Update

It really has been a quiet month for me as I’ve been more housebound than usual as I slowly recover from bursitis and tendonitis in one (thank heavens only one!) hip. I’ve been doing my physical therapy, faithfully using my crutch whenever I have to do any prolonged walking (like going to the grocery store), and even started a gym membership so I can start on the reclined bike for the prescribed 5 minute workouts. It helps that it has been cold and I’ve been very motivated to get some projects done. I cleaned up my sewing room and started on some quilts, joined another book club, and began some serious panic knitting to get my yarn destash project back on track after a disastrous September shopping spree.

I entered the month with only 33.5 skeins out of the stash, and my goal is 50 skeins out of the stash before the end of the year. Yikes! I settled into the knitting chair, started an audiobook and began to catch up on knitting projects every afternoon into the evening.

I had two sweaters that were close to completion at the start of the month: the Climb Every Mountain (upper left) and the Koivua (upper right). I finished them up rather quickly (3 skeins used) and then cranked out the Understated sweater (bottom right) in less than two weeks, using up 6 skeins in the effort. Pretty productive!

This week I pulled out several skeins of yarn that were kind of rustic (not superwash), paired then with some mohair that I’ve had stashed forever and make MacKenzie (my very spoiled and demanding cat) a cushy padded sleeping blanket in three days flat while a series of cold fronts dumped a foot of snow and drove temperatures into single digits. It helped that I used big needles and 4 strands of yarn held together for the project.

I also managed to polish off a couple pairs of socks (very simple, mash-up socks that are winter workhorses…) that aren’t all that much to look at, but they used up another couple skeins of yarn.

See what I mean? These are just simple ribbed socks with a sturdy heel.

I have a couple of other projects on the needles at the moment, a cowl and another sweater that will take me through next month, and then before I know it I will be at the end of the year. The destash project kind of hangs over me so I have been knitting steady.

This sweater got started this evening and should really use up most of my Heilo stash. I have 20 skeins of the Heilo, so I have been saving this sweater back as kind of a ringer for the destash project. This is Barn from the book Knits About Winter (Emily Foden). It will be nice and warm for me as winter weather really arrives in the weeks to come.

This evening I totaled up the skeins used this month on my little spreadsheet (yes, I am that big of a geek!) and to my shock the total now is…

52 skeins!!!

I have made it! The destash goal is polished off and I will be way over it when I finish the Barn sweater. Whew! I can now shift attention to getting more sewing done and maybe even will be able to spin a little or do some weaving before Christmas if the hip behaves itself. Maybe bake some cookies. You know, go wild with the relief of having made my goal. Who knew that bursitis, tendonitis, and being on crutches for a few weeks would turn out to be a blessing in disguise? Every cloud does have a silver lining after all!

I will, however, be staying out of the yarn store until the end of the year! No more slips, no more slips, no more slips (chant along with me, people!), no more slips…

May your knitting be good, your books exciting, your chronic illnesses (if you are a member of that club with me) well behaved, and all your New Year’s resolutions met. Have a great weekend, everyone.

MacKenzie Speaks: Climb Every Mountain is Done!

Hi. I’m MacKenzie.

I’ve been helping the Mother of Cats for weeks now on her sweater knitting. Last week, finally, she got one of them done.

The weather turned nasty and I didn’t get to go outside for days. Seriously, look at how nasty it got…

The garden became covered in snow. Look at what happened to the hydrangeas!! I forgot that this stuff existed, but here it is again making my life miserable. Why does the Mother of Cats let this kind of thing happen?! She should care more about me!

Because we couldn’t go outside for a few days and there wasn’t any watering to do outside the Mother of Cats settled down and got some serious knitting done.

She finished my sweater and PUT IT ON!! How can I take a nap on this sweater if she is going to wear it?

Do you see how this sweater is the perfect shape for me to take a nap on it?

The Mother of Cats says that this sweater is really comfy and fun to wear; something like a swancho, whatever that is. All I know is that she is wearing my new, most favorite cat blankie. I need more attention. I need to have more cookies. I want to go outside!!

Sigh. The backyard has been kind of ruined for the year.

Laters. It is time for my dinner and I am going to demand extra cookies on the side.

I’m such a good boy!

Can I have those cookies now?

>^..^<

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

The sweater is Climb Every Mountain by Heidi Kirrmaier. This is a seriously comfy sweater that is going to be a workhorse layering piece for me this fall into the winter. My project notes are here.
I altered the pattern to put I-cord trim on the sleeves (instead of ribbing) and then added more I-cord to the top of the neckline ribbing as the sweater was a little loose and sloppy on me, probably because of the fabulous soft yarn that I used. Anyway, all was fixed once the I-cord was added and I’m really happy with the fit.

The I-cord as added by picking up the original cast on stitches and then binding off right away in I-cord. The stability added by the edge pulled the whole sweater back up off my shoulders.

The yarn is from Western Sky Knits and I scored it from their booth last spring when I went to the Interweave Yarn Fest. This yarn is seriously yummy!
Koivua is also done, but I still have some finishing to do with it. Next post!
Oh, yeah. I had a birthday last month and in a moment of weakness (it’s my birthday…. I get to have what I want!!) I bought some yarn. Okay, maybe a lot of yarn. It is really nice, however. I should probably write about how I’m doing on the yarn destash project… That will be another post!!
The weather change was really abrupt and dramatic. One day we were almost 80°F here in the Denver area, and then we dropped into the 20’s the next day and the drop just kept going overnight taking us into the single digits by the next morning. Crazy, huh. I moved plants and covered what I could, but the garden is basically gone now. Poor flowers!

MacKenzie Speaks: Crutches, Mountains, and Squirrels

Hi. I’m MacKenzie.

Do you see this ball of yarn? This is my most favorite yarn at the moment. So soft. So nice to cuddle with. The little flecks of color are my favorite.

The Mother of Cats has been somewhat difficult to work with lately. She has been limping all around the house, and yesterday her physical therapist finally told her she needs to use crutches for the next few weeks. HER CRUTCHES KEEP GETTING IN MY WAY!!! What is up with that? She doesn’t go outside as much as she used to, and she started knitting this simple sweater with just one color of yarn instead of the Koivua sweater that I just love. There are more colors to chomp in the Koivua, and it is now so big she can’t keep me off of it while she knits. Is she working on the sweater that I can sleep on while she works? No! She is not!! She says knitting with the one color is easier to stuff into a bag to haul around with crutches. Whatever. What is up with the Mother of Cats? A little adversity and she totally folds: I’m so disappointed with her!

Except I do really like this new yarn so I’m starting to forgive her for putting the Koivua into time out. This sweater is called “Climb Every Mountain.” What is a mountain?

Today the Mother of Cats finally let me go outside while she took pictures of all of her knitting and we watered all of the outside flowers.

Look at what happened to the blooms on the hydrangea plant over the last few days of cool weather. The flowers have turned pink again! The Mother of Cats was really happy to see the flowers. I was like… meh… laters… I have to go have a chat with that squirrel…

While I was chasing the squirrel around the yard she took these pictures of the new sweater. It is starting to look pretty good, isn’t it? It is kind of nice to sleep on…

She is now below the sleeves and getting ready to use her last ball of yarn.

Oh, yeah. Look at the new stitch markers that she made to use while making this sweater. How cute are these? She should use these to play with me!!

Now it is late in the afternoon, the squirrel has left to do whatever squirrels do, and the Mother of Cats, the crutches, and I are back in the house. I just got some yummy salmon to eat and the Mother of Cats is getting ready to knit again. Hmm… that new sweater is getting pretty big now. Maybe I can sleep on part of it while she is working. I’m so handsome and the yarn really looks nice next to my fur. Maybe she will be reasonable for once and will let me do that. IF she loves me I will get a quality nap on yummy yarn.

I’m such a good boy.

Can I have some cookies now?

>^..^<

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

The sweater is Climb Every Mountain by Heidi Kirrmaier. That yarn that MacKenzie loves is Tweed DK by Western Sky Knits, and it really is nice to work with. My Ravelry notes are here.
How ironic is it that I’m knitting a sweater called “Climb Every Mountain” while trying to master walking with one crutch?
The hip has become even more challenging. I met with the physical therapist yesterday who had printed out the notes from the hip specialist that I met with last month. Things are worse than I realized. I have IT band syndrome, inflamed tendons associated with my hip adductors, and then there is the severe hip bursitis. I need to rest the tendons as much as possible as I stretch the IT band and use the topical anti-inflammatory gel that we hope will get the swelling down. Since I can’t walk without limping and the adductors need a rest I’m on crutches for the next three weeks at a minimum. I’m truly a mess as I can’t use a cane (bad wrists), ice (thank you, Raynaud’s), or work in a pool (Sjogren’s, I really hate you right now), so things are challenging, but I’m really motivated since I want to stay mobile as long as possible and I’m a poor candidate for a hip replacement.
MacKenzie is learning to stay out of the way of the crutches, but he is taking the whole thing personally. Poor thing. I have started giving him more cookies… I have NOT surrendered any of the sweaters to him.
Koivua is waiting for the first snow fall as I rush to finish two transitional sweaters. Winter, take your time…
Finally!!

Knitting the Snowpocalypse

I live in a city just east of Denver, Colorado. It snows here. You’d expect that we would all be used to it by now, but each time there is a major storm predicted you’d think it was the end of the world. The grocery store is mobbed. Gasoline sells out at the gas station. There are constant warnings and updates in the media, and a bright red “winter storm warning” message begins to scroll across the bottom of the television screen. Snow trucks begin to roll before the first flake even flies. It is particularly bad when the winter storm is predicted to unfold over several days and double digit snow is expected.

It is the Snowpocalypse!!!

OK, I did go to the grocery store to make sure I had milk and stuff for several days of meals. I filled the car with gas. I went to the yarn store. Hello. I might be cut off for days! I mean, it is the SNOWPOCALYPSE!!!

Sweater start — I picked the pattern Mountain High by Heidi Kirrmaier for my sweater. Isn’t this color nice? It is called Jupiter and reminds me of the planet each time I pick up my needles to knit. I cast on late last week so that I would have something started when the snow arrived Saturday. Here’s what it looked like by Monday morning when we had (an underwhelming) couple of inches on the ground.

The predicted snow storm was actually a two-punch affair; the weekend snow was just the warm-up for the main event. Monday afternoon the snow started in earnest and once the wind picked up it began to drift. Schools were closed, most of my neighbors stayed home from work, and there was almost no traffic on the roads. Lovely. Seriously, it was lovely. I settled down and power knitted for a couple of days with breaks to forage for food (yep. I am seriously recovering from the flu and my appetite has come back was a vengence!) and snow shoveling outings. This morning the sun was out again and I got the last bit of shoveling down.

Sweater in progress — Look how much of the sweater is now done! Looking good! Here are the project notes on Ravelry.

I am now almost 2 inches below the armholes and it is started to look like a sweater. The yarn feels just wonderful. I am so happy to have so much progress after just a week.

A friend just sent me a message: there is another snow storm predicted for early next week.

Woohoo! Maybe I should head to the knitting store and stock up again.