Sleepless Knitting

I didn't think yesterday would be as productive, knitting-wise, as it was, but I managed to slip a bit of knitting in a couple of unexpected places. First, I stopped home at lunch for a couple of things and while I boiled some eggs, I finished the mittens:One, it turns out, is slightly shorter than the other -- I'll either add a couple of rows to that one or shorten the first. We'll see.

Then, after dinner, I rewound what was left of the Eco Duo and started knitting another hat:
Two knitting friends at church on Sunday had hats they were making out of the black and white Eco Duo and the color patterns were quite interesting using just one strand (I alternated strands of two different colorways in my son's hat), so I thought I'd see what I got with my leftovers. I think the colors are close enough that I can switch to the second one when the first runs out, but it looks like I'll have enough for a whole hat.

And then, I was up for a while in the middle of the night, worrying about something that I shouldn't worry about. I knew that I could just lay there for over an hour and worry, or I could get up and read or knit and get my mind calmed so I could go back to sleep. I chose to knit. I picked up a project that is perfectly designed for picking up and putting down -- my new Jojoland Melody Swirl Shawl. It is a series of hexagons knit together, knit one at a time, in a yarn that magically changes colors by itself so that each hexagon appears to be from a different skein of yarn. It is so pretty and unexpected! I must, however, start weaving in the ends after knitting each hexagon or I'm going to be very unhappy when this shawl is complete.

I Break for Quilts

I've also been known to brake for quilt shops, but this is a break from my knitting to work on a quilt. I noted in my New Year's post that I finished a quilt top for my mother on New Year's Eve. I've also had a quilt for my sister that was even further along, but guilt about how long it has taken me to do this quilt for Mom prevented me from working on my sister's quilt. All that is left to do on hers is the binding - a hand-sewing task that is really enjoyable at this time of year because you are warmly wrapped up in the quilt while you work on it. I made enough progress that I'm nearly half-way done:
I did, also, get almost done with my son's mittens -- just half of one thumb left to do. You'd think I could have stayed up and finished just that little bit last night, but after watching two episodes of "Eureka," I had laundry to finish and just never sat down again to finish. I'll have the delight of finishing a project to look forward to after work today.

Now for Mittens

I intended to blog every day this year, but missing yesterday keeps me from getting to the point where I anxt over breaking a perfect record sometime later in the year. Phew!

We were up early and out the door yesterday to take our son to the airport for the return trip to college. Between here and there, we stopped for breakfast with my parents -- our son has a job lined up on campus for the summer and is likely not to be home again until next fall when there is a family wedding to attend, so we wanted to give his grandparents another chance to visit with him. We'll undoubtedly get to visit him at college sometime before fall, but his grandparents aren't able to travel that far.

Things were a bit tense as he packed up on Friday night (should we ship a box to him or pay for a second suitcase to be checked with the airline was just one of the "issues" discussed, money another). Although it is normal for there to be tension in preparation for a transition, I have to say it isn't as negative a feeling (on both sides) as it was when they were younger -- it used to feel like they had to create bad feelings in order to separate from us and it doesn't fee that way anymore. He was happy to return to his own life, we were happy to return to ours, even though we do miss him and his brother more often than they might imagine.

I managed to get a couple of inches of mitten cuff done on Friday -- that is what I would have shared with you yesterday morning if I'd stayed on schedule. The car ride to Portland and back gave me lots of good knitting time, though, so I was able to finish one mitten before getting home and start the second. I took a quick photo this morning before I did any more knitting and here is what I have to show for the past two days:I'm knitting the second pair with the thumb increases on the end of the rows instead of at the beginning because the switch in colors, where I pull the new color under and around the previous row's color, leaves a slight ridge on the inside and I don't want to have one ridge on the top of the hand and the other on the palm for the wearer to notice. It isn't hard, just a bit different after using this pattern to knit literally dozens of pairs of mittens over the years. This pattern comes from a very old book that my mother had when I was a child. Some time ago I inherited the same book from an aunt. I also still have the paper where I hand-copied the 4-needle mitten pattern to take to college with me -- it is that old!

By tomorrow -- finished mittens!

Hat Complete

Yesterday was another busy day at work, full of ups and downs. The biggest up was attending the Jan Plan course I helped create -- the students we've got doing observational internships got to talk a bit about their experiences and hear from the instructor doctors and a PA trained to lead reflection groups for physicians. I told the doctors afterwards that I was "jumping up and down inside" throughout the class as I saw exactly what we hoped would happen unfold before me. The doctors are terrific teachers. It was fabulous.

So, I definitely needed a bit of calming down after work. I went out to dinner (Asian Cafe) with my son who will return to college on Saturday, and then finished his hat. The pattern had two decrease-to-finish options and I tried the first, but we found it was a bit too short, so I pulled out those 10 rows and re-did it with the other option, which is 19 rows long. It doesn't take long, and it was nice to have it finished. Now for some mittens and then to see what is left that I can use to make a tassel or pompom (son's request).

The Eco Duo has held up pretty well in the knitting, frogging, knitting, frogging, knitting process. As yarn, it showed some wear, but knit up it looks fine. I think the tighter this is knit, the better it will wear, but it will definitely develop a "halo" of fibers and probably pill some. But they will be very warm.

Long Day

12 hours, 5 presentations to over 165 students later, I got home last night around 8:30. You'd think I'd be too tired to knit, but a half hour of knitting helps me to calm down after a long day of having to be on my toes both physically and mentally. I made a bit more progress on the hat -- I haven't measured it, but am probably within an inch of needing to start the decreases and once I do that, it is a fast knit to the end.
You can see from the photo that once I'm back at work fulltime, other things start to slide into disarray -- like our dining room table.

Hat on Track

Last night was a late one at work -- kicking off our career planning program for first-year students -- so there wasn't much knitting time or energy. Tonight is another late night too. Slow and steady will be the progress on the hat, which is the only thing I'll be knitting until it is done.

A Little Progress

Yesterday was back to normal for my husband and I. Don returned to teaching at the high school where they have just about 2 weeks left of the semester before mid-term exams. My college has a January term which started classes yesterday. Not all students are on campus, but enough that it is lively again. I started out the day at one of the local hospitals with 14 students who are in a Jan Plan course I created called the 'Pre-Med Academy.' Each student is going to spend 80 hours over the month shadowing a local physician, doing a project (research, writing, data-gathering) for that physician, and attending a weekly class led by the college physician and a physician/administrator from the hospital. My role has been logistics and it was very exciting to see it come together and then hand it over to the instructors for the month. Yesterday morning was orientation at the hospital and a tour, which I participated in. I'll also get to sit in on the class meetings to hear what the students are experiencing. And, I'm still involved in the logistics of a dessert reception/ experience sharing event at the end of the month. Fun!

On the knitting front, I actually made a little progress -- and more than you can see in the photo. I pulled out the hat I had knitted, re-wound the skeins on the ball winder, and cast on for the next version:
This is going to fit much better! I should be able to get the hat done before Zeben goes back to PA on Saturday, then will start the mittens. Love this yarn, though it will be interesting to see how well it wears.