So.....how are you?

The current situation is quite horrible, especially for all the folks who are social and work outside their homes, (I know that is pretty much everyone).  Please know, I am worried about y'all.  Every. Last. One of you!
Around here at Chez JuneyWoollyThinker, life proceeds almost as usual.  While there is no popping out to the store or job interviewing going on,  I continue to knit.  It's Spring now, so there is gardening to be done.  I may even manage to pull out my sewing again.
On the knitting front, I cast on My Little Secret Crop last night, about 10:30pm after pillaging my yarn hoard for appropriate yarn.  I'm about half way through the body (I'm adding just a smidge of length) and am already plotting a second one.  The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport in the Aurora Heather, it's been in the hoard for years.

We'll see how fast I can finish it.  Wool tank tops seem rather sensible for Spring weather in Idaho.

With the start of the gardening and the putting out of the seedlings comes the War with the Squirrels.  There are rather a lot of the fuzzy little bastards around here.  They left my pea seedlings alone:

But for some reason the bean seedlings were to be dug up, sat upon, and in one case, eaten entirely:

The conspiracy of ravens that has been frequenting our house, as well as a local hawk or two (occasionally even sharing a tree) seem to have slowed them down today.  Honestly, I am completely okay with it.  I really don't want to have to keep re-planting.  Cayenne pepper and neem oil will be used liberally as deterrents as long as my supplies permit, combined with physically chasing them off and shouting, "Oi!"  Hopefully, something will work.

Stay safe.  Be well. (I still can only think of Demolition Man)

Updates and Not Knitting Bits

This evening we found out that Husband's classes will all be online for the rest of the Spring term.  Our new plan is for us to just hang tight and indulge our very introvert type selves for a couple of weeks.  We are a bit of a...wary lot (mostly due to Husband's public health background), so we have been slowly planning and setting up for this for a good couple of months.  (Not in the absurd, "buy all the toilet paper" way, thank you).
Happily, gardening season is starting, I have a garage that needs re-organization, a pile of needlework projects, new novels to read and a hoard of yarn.
My seedlings are doing well.  It should be warm enough soon to for them to go outside:

I put together a seed mix of sort of similar, older seed out of my collection:

Quite a lot of the mix is edible plants, including some random lettuce.  It will be a surprise to see what sprouts.
Then there is the vintage lace that finally got washed up.  My plan is to use some of it in a necklace.

In the process of digging out the lace, I came across some buttons that were ideal for the A Bit of Funk cardigan I have been planning.  I think they pair well with the lace I had already bought for the project.

Please, don't panic, take care of yourselves as best as you can, and listen to my sheep friend with their (slightly) modified message from Subversive Cross Stitch.

The Current Theme is Apparently Green

Despite the weather deciding to not be amenable to my Spring mindset, I continue to push forward in anticipation of warmer weather.
My garden starts are making their first appearances.  I may even be able to put them outside in a few weeks.  Mainly, peas, cucumbers and melons.

I pulled a cross stitch pattern from the top of my pile from Subversive Cross Stitch and got to work.

I cast on a giant color work shawl, the Boho Texture Triangle  Not my usual style, but in a forest themed color palette?  I am smitten.

I finally broke down and bought mesh produce bags.  They are quite good.  I also purchased some microfiber cleaning cloths/towels.  Yes, they are synthetic, but if I don't have to keep buying plastic wrapped paper towels?  I will call it a win.
I got some vertical planters for the mass amounts of salad I plan to grow this season.  They are heavy, well made pieces I will reuse for quite some time.  There may also be a half dozen other large planters in my front room.  I can't put in raised beds where we are at right now, so I plan to be Queen of the Container Garden.

The emergency radio I bought for our camping gear box?  Totally bought it in green.

Spring Prep

Spring seems to be starting to show itself around here.  This of course means that the Seed Hoard I've been steadily adding to over the last six months or so has been brought out for perusal.

Mostly salad greens and flowers of various types.  Peas and beans as well.  A couple of short season melon varieties to try out as our growing season isn't overly long.

I threw together some melt and pour soap, nothing fancy, though the mixes are minus the ingredients I have found make me itch, so worth the minor effort.

Of course I used Halloween themed molds.  What else would I use?

My votive candle molds are awaiting use:

The wicks I need show up next week.

While out wandering locally, I came upon some distinctive cookie cutters that I felt needed to be added to my collection:

Llama, octopus, clover, moose, sloth and a wine glass. 

Some yarn did come in for a few summer tank tops I plan on making, in between the other three dozen projects on my "to make" list.  I haven't taken photos of the yarn yet.

Lately, it's been about cleaning house and re-stocking the pantry for Spring, accumulating gear to put in the camping gear box, and trying to decide on a rational number of plants/seeds to get started.  That last one being the most difficult, as well as oddly time consuming, of the lot.

Now for a bit of Cassandra's Soapbox.  Current events are....Not. Good.  This is the consensus of our household with our unique background in the Not Nice Stuff.  Please listen to the nice doctors and scientists and clever people who actually know what they are talking about. Be sensible about things.  Take what precautions you can.  Expect that you will likely have to help others at some point.  Don't Panic.  It won't hurt to have a plan, you have them for natural disasters and things right?  Take care of yourselves, darlings...I worry!

I told myself I had enough yarn....

And technically, I did...until Husband saw that the Geek Along Blanket theme this year was D&D.  I did not have yarn for that, though now I've made a start.

In my digital yarn wanderings I may have also found out that Blue Moon Fiber Arts has an Esme Weatherwax colorway

The other big skein is Clothos, from the same collection as Esme.  The small green and yellow one is called Tree Toots (how could I not get that?!?!)   The other two skeins are Oola Pikka for an Elfmail sweater.
Yarn for the Kawakawa Shawl was found in the yarn hoard,(I am afraid it is no longer just stash), in the Toad colorway.
Two patterns that came out really recently, the Indira Cowl and Buffalo Check Please? Throw were purchased immediately.  Yarn for the throw may have already been purchased.
Another two patterns, both from the same designer, are patterns I have swooned over for ages and finally decided that if I had the patterns, I could at least contemplate what yarn to use.  Adventurous and All the Lights are my favorite kind of cardigan style covered in glorious cables.

In the swirl of yarn fumes, I realized that I also wanted to start making beeswax wraps.  So I bought some dedicated fabric. Not overly exciting right?  Then I put the fabric with the yarn I bought to make a few kitchen towels. Only to discover I was accidentally color coordinated.

I already had easily thirty (which I really need to take proper photos of), probably more like forty, items of various craft types I wanted to make this year, and have quite recklessly added at least another dozen.  ( I may have heard a family member was extolling their love of cashmere recently.  Plans are being made.)  Which is why I went into the room that houses my hoard, grabbed the multiple skeins of bulky weight Bernat Blanket in the Gathering Moss colorway (it's a rather ishy color, but super soft yarn) and cast on one of the half dozen blankets I apparently think I am going to finish this year.

If I manage to clear all my works in progress off my needles and out from around my sewing machine, I feel like I will still be behind, albeit surrounded by handmade everything.

None of this includes any of my gardening plans.  So. Many. Seeds.

Happily, I can knit and read at the same time so at least I can get through my stack of unread books!

Happy 2020!

Confession:  I really enjoy January.  It's the month where you are actually expected to stay home while recuperating from all the holiday shenanigans.
I am especially appreciating it this year, as the visiting and socializing started in mid-September around here, continuing at a steady pace of one event (at least) every two weeks till the end of December.  This whirlwind of socializing (for me at least) culminated in a 2200 mile (round trip), ten day, road trip to visit my in-laws over Christmas.

Today is the day to start putting the house back in order, to plot and plan the crafting for the year, and randomly, popping ice out of the mail box so it will close. Yay Idaho!

My list of knitting projects to finish this year has about forty items on it, my announced goal is twenty-five projects.  I managed twenty-nine completed projects last year, my goal was fifteen.  I actually got mad at myself for a minute for not hitting a full thirty projects completed (200% sounded far better than 193% to my brain).
The supplies for all this knitting, except for the yarn for this lovely cloak, are kitted up and ready to go, (or already on the needles).
The sewing projects list has a dozen things on it.  Quite a few of those projects just requiring details like hems or patch pockets.  This list is flexible, especially since I have been contemplating another attempt at corset making.

The real goal for me this year?  Work with the supplies you have.

One of the first things likely off the needles will be the first Lisbeth set, which was fabulous travel knitting, when I had time to knit:

The yarn is Malabrigo Silky Merino in the Bosques colorway. 

Please remember that a little bit of kindness goes a long way! May good things find you and yours this year!

Taking a Pause

Sitting in a nice hotel room, balcony door open, listening to waves crashing on the shore.  The sensation of not having to do anything or be anywhere, alien and welcome.

This year started with great stress.  The year before that was rather a lot as well.  

Being able to pause, take a breath, and maybe regain a little balance before the new year begins seems like a really good thing.

I am incredibly  grateful for it, (it's  my third  vacation-type excursion  in twenty-four years).

May you also manage  to find some breathing space. At some point.  Eventually.  Far more often than once every  eight years! ;-)

Happy Winter Solstice!

Because festive bats should totally be a thing!  May your celebrations bring you joy!

A Pea on the Windowsill

My winter windowsill garden actually produced something!  Which has me wondering if indoor window boxes are a thing and how would that work? Can you get them built in?  Because I must grow all the plants!

It's a wee thing that brings great joy.  There are tiny tomato plants too!

Most of my knitting hasn't been overly exciting.  I adore the pieces; wearable, simple and useful.  Two sweaters, Morticia and the Felix cardigan (done in black and dark charcoal gray), a Little Black Skirt (done in black of course), off set by my second Ripple Bralette worked in Nerd Girl Yarns Glow Cloud.

The finished pair of fingerless mitts are for Daughter, the blue ones in progress are for Son, using leftovers from the hats I made them in January.

Really, I sit in a rudimentary fort made of partially finished socks and sweaters, hoping that proximity will equal progress, waiting for (yet more) yarn that I may cast on my Lisbeth set to perfect my ever more Addams Family-like wardrobe.

Mostly pictures

My inner Cassandra has been shrieking at me for the last two weeks solid, leaving me endlessly agitated.  So instead of trying to be thoughtful and coherent, here are some stills of my house in it's natural state (inspired by a challenge a friend is doing on Facebook).

Sticker courtesy of Subversive Cross Stitch. 

It started as an endeavor to be practical....

Use what you have to make what you use.  Simple enough, right?

It began with the idea to plan my knitting out for the next year.  Purchase patterns and supplies to stash away as needed. Knit through everything on the needles, move on through the planned list, no muss, no fuss.  I should have all sorts of lovely finished items at the end as well as stashed projects in potentia to last me through a good portion of 2021, which does not include any of the embroidery, cross stitch or clothes sewing projects already hanging around.

Then, I started contemplating the yarns I was using; most are some flavor of wool, sometimes blended with other fibers.  How were they going to wear?  What environmental impact had I overlooked in my search for the "perfect" yarn for the project?  What was wrong with "plain" wool?
Nothing is wrong with wool.  I own quite a lot of it, mostly in half-finished projects from most of a decade ago.
Well, why didn't I rip out the unfinished items and re-use the yarn for something I might actually finish?  Brilliant.

We've been doing a lot of planning for back packing and camping trips lately (that started with a discussion about re-doing our emergency kits that escalated quickly into must have all the gear)....why not make a lovely wool blanket for that?  I had two skeins of Cascade EcoWool now available.  Unsurprisingly, I also had a pattern I could use.

It's working up beautifully, but...it's a bit lacey and a bit prickly, not the snuggly thing I had in mind.  So, flannel backing seemed like a good idea...but soft, cotton flannel gets soggy easy, (it's the PacNorthwest, lots of things do).  Hmmm, a layer of duck maybe, then the flannel?  (Trying to avoid plastics and the like).  But would that be enough?  My brain helpfully reminded me that there is wool batting.  Now my simple, use my stash wool blanket project has become a camping quilt with a hand knit wool top.

Then someone in the house pointed out how useful boot socks would be.  Boot season is pretty much here, all the local stores that stock socks have them....but I do like to have a non-store bought option available...for pretty much everything, and I do have a knitting pattern.  I haven't yet gone stash diving to see if I have enough yarn.  Husband has some rather large feet, so I may let myself buy some sport or DK weight sock yarn to speed up the process a bit.

I may have also bought a coffee plant, as well as an orchid:

And maybe a yerba mate too:

Is this all practical?  Sort of.  After a fashion.  I suppose.  Mostly, it makes me feel better.  Is security puttering a thing?