I’m one week back at work and feeling the stress!
Somehow I ended up with three finished objects this week. I’m close to finishing my colorful Flatiron Shawl. I talk about color-dominance in my Christmas stocking, how to keep a positive attitude by re-framing your thoughts, what a busy week does to cooking, and my thoughts on a novel. Enjoy!
Finished Objects
One Christmas stocking down and one to go! I finished my Steamer Train stocking by Ursula Almeida. It turned out incredible. I need to get the next one going… with school starting next week, my brain is going to melt away. This next one will take me much longer to complete.
I made only one modification on this pattern. The designer has the after-thought heel opposite the seam, which just didn’t look right to me. After moving the heel to center the seam… I know exactly why she did that. In order to center a heel over a round change you need to cut both of your yarns and join them back in- or else you’ll be very sad when you go back to pick out your waste yarn! Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy I moved the heel, because now the back of the stocking is truly the back.
I also finished my #slaythestash2018 July project. I had these two beautiful skeins of ballet-pink silk ribbon. I used a knitty.com pattern circa 2003 called Twins-Anna to create two bralettes. These sweet little things are really tiny… and I’m, ahem, not incredibly gifted in that area. However, they are perfect for wearing at home on a knit-filled Saturday; which is exactly what I intended for them.
The rules for Slay the Stash say that you must use your yarn down to the last three yards. Even after two bras, I still had a good bit left. I made this sweet newborn headband with my leftovers. No pattern, just chained about 12 inches, single crocheted one round, then did shells. For my flower, I used the “Basic Rose” pattern by June Gilbank. This silk yarn is so special, I might just have to keep it until I have a baby of my own.
One more FO for the week {thanks to long professional development sessions!}- a hat I will give my brother for Christmas. The pattern is a simple 2×2 rib and available for FREE. I made the same same hat for my husband back in February. This time around I decided to make some mods to the decreases. Instead of the four decreases the pattern calls for, I adjusted the counts to have five decrease points. You can see how I did that on my Ravelry project page.
WIP’s- Focus Projects
My Flatiron Shawl has continued to make me smile this week. I’ve made it to the third color- a bright, sparkly pink. Somehow, this color makes the funky, rainbow in the middle blend in a bit. I absolutely love it now! I’d like to finish it in the next few days so that I can block and wear it during the long, chilly hours of teacher professional development next week.
My new sock pattern is out to testers and I’ll finish up one of the pairs I have going this weekend. You won’t see the pattern release until the end of August. For now, just a blurry teaser, but follow the hashtag #knittynattydesigns to keep an eye on my testers’ WIPs!
Something New
My recent FO, Steamer Train, has me puzzling over a colorwork technique- color dominance. Take a closer look at the last section of my colorwork. Can you tell how the green not only contrasts with the white, but physically pops up? Hmm… not sure if that’s the color I wanted to dominate.
I’ve watched a few videos from fair-isle guru’s Arne and Carlos. They talk about color dominance depending on which hand you use to hold your yarn. It’s not as much about color contrast as it is about stitch definition. So, in this instance, I held my green yarn in my left hand to knit continental and my white yarn in my right to knit English-style {my preference when knitting most things}. I think I’ll try switching those colors in my hand for the next stocking and see what happens. It will be an colorwork experiment!
What God’s Teaching Me
Attitude. That’s the theme of my “back-to-work” week.
After my two glorious months off {teacher life}, I had to go back to work this week. I knew my attitude could be negative, especially given that the first two weeks consist of professional development. I wanted to combat that! I wanted to reap as much as possible from my training and not let the long hours of sitting and listening take away my joy.
I found a simple 5-day plan on the Bible App called “All About Attitude” and it really helped keep me in check. I read the message each morning before work. The part that stuck out to me the most was this: “For some, choosing our attitude starts with choosing our words. Instead of saying, ‘I have to,’ we start saying, ‘I get to.’”
So I started saying to myself: “I get to become an expert in teaching dyslexic students this week.”
“I get to go to work each day to support my lifestyle.”
“I get to work in a field that I feel helps others.”
Give it a try! It’s quite effective.
What We’re Cooking
This week was all about survival. We had Hamburger Helper one night. Kent sauteed some mushrooms to fancy it up a bit!
I pulled some chicken frozen with onions and diced green chiles to make an easy taco meal.
Next week we’ll be back to our routine- I meal plan, Kent shops, and I cook a few times. I’m hoping to gear in a healthier direction {a.k.a more veggies and less cheese} too!
What I’m Reading
A Spool of Blue Thread took an unexpected turn this week. I’m just over 50% of the way through the book and into Part Two. It’s an intriguing book because I still don’t see any clear plot or direction. We continue to follow different characters paths… and them BAM something happens that I didn’t expect, but I won’t spoil it.
Even without a clear direction, this book is so comforting to me. I can’t put my finger on why it makes me nostalgic- since Whitshank family is not like my own. It might be because the author makes the characters’ problems so real and undramatic. I find myself nodding in agreement to their mundane thoughts. I’m reading it very slowly… just 10 or so pages each night. It might take me two more weeks to finish at this rate!