Gray Girl Friday

My Gray Girl Friday sweater is finished and has already been worn for three days (not consecutive, although I doubt that really matters).

Girl Friday (mine ravelled here)

knit in Berocco Inca Gold in gray (discontinued color)

Inca Gold is 80% wool and 20% silk, and it's lovely and cushy. The sweater turned out longer than I had hoped, although I must take responsibility for that since I refused to knit a gauge swatch. I started with a sleeve instead, and then didn't bother to wash the sleeve.

After washing, this yarn grows in length... a lot.

The collar isn't as pronounced as I think it should be, so if I were to knit it again I'd knit the collar quite a bit wider. Even though I'd make some modifications if I were to knit this sweater again, I love it. It's warm and comfortable and pretty, and it will get a lot of wear.

Yesterday I wore this sweater, and today I'm wearing my Talamh. It's been a long, hot summer, and I am very grateful for autumn.

Pink and Sparkly

I've been knitting a lot.

But you can't see any of it.

One of my bestest friends is having a baby, and I've become consumed with the desire to knit for him (the baby, not the mom, although really I'm knitting for the mom since the baby won't care what he's wearing for quite some time). Her baby shower is the 29th, so I'll show you pictures after that.

In the meantime, here are some socks that I finished for my mom. I'm going to give them to her at Christmas.

Zigzag Socks (mine ravelled here)

knit in Knitpicks Stroll Glimmer, Carnation colorway

I've made socks for Mom before, and the last pair I made was, at her request, boring. She wanted them to wear with dress clothes while she taught. Mom retired at the end of the school year in May, which means I can knit her pink sparkly socks.

So I did.

Mum's the Word

Work at this time of year is filled with stupidity. There's nothing to do about it but take a deep breath, put my head down, and keep walking. Things will be fine soon, just not now.

After work yesterday, I was feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. I stopped at the grocery store, cursing the fact that there is no fairy who brings me bananas and yogurt. On the way inside, I saw a sign that stopped me short.

There was a whole table of glorious mums for $1.99.

I came home with the white and deep purple ones pictured here, as well as two plants for friends.

I hope there is enough time for them to establish themselves before winter. Mums should really be planted in the spring so they have ample time to get comfortable before winter hits, but good luck finding a mum to buy in the spring! Instead, they're forced to bloom in greenhouses and sold in the autumn. Many people in the Midwest treat them as annuals, but they're really perennials who are treated badly.

Poor mums.

My mood greatly improved and fortified by bananas and yogurt, I planted the white one in a front flower bed beside a mystery plant/weed. (I've e-mailed the Master Gardener helpline with a photo to see if someone can identify it. I built that bed, and I'm sure I didn't plant it, but it looks so healthy...) The deep purple one joined some white salvia and a perennial geranium around the mailbox.

I get such pleasure from plants. I love to pull them out of their pots, tease their roots apart, and put them in the ground beside other, hopefully healthy, plants, and carefully water them. I always imagine them to be hopeful--hopeful that this new home is a permanent one, hopeful that they will find good soil, nice neighbors, and plenty of food and water. I imagine them stretching out their roots and breathing a sigh of relief that they don't hit the plastic sides of a pot. I imagine them happy.

It's just what I needed yesterday. Well, that and bananas and yogurt.

Bud Vases

I have a Pinterest board of things I think I'd like to make. Last night, I made one of them.

Vase #1

The tutorial for it is here, although you don't need much of a tutorial. Just purchase soft copper tubing from a hardware store, use needle nose pliers to break it into the size you want (I made three vases out of one coil), and bend into whatever shape you like. I bought test tubes from amazon to use as the bud vase. I didn't use epoxy to attach the test tube because I'm pretty sure I'm going to want to remove and wash it after I have a flower in it for awhile, and it will be easier to wash if it's separate from the stand. The copper tubing seems to hold the test tube with no problem, so I don't think the epoxy is necessary.

Vase #2

It's a great little project. It was very inexpensive to make, and I cut the daisy from a flower on my front porch. Having it on my desk today has brightened an otherwise difficult day.

Nocturne Approves

I've started a sweater. Because I am lazy and didn't want to do a proper swatch, I started with sleeves.

Nocturne approves.

Girl Friday (mine ravelled here) knit in Berroco Inca Gold in a discontinued gray color

I'm working on the back of the sweater now, and the knitting is jerking me around a bit. I measured two nights ago to see how much farther I had before I started shaping the armholes, and when I measured the next day at lunch after knitting, I was half an inch shorter. Knitting sometimes lies. I'm trying not to think too much about it.

I'm trying to get this finished this fall before it gets dark. I am proud of myself for remembering that I should not knit gray during the winter. Gray is my favorite color, followed closely by leafy kelly green, and I am always drawn to it as a sweater color. September? Yes. January? No.