2020 Goals check in

Nearing the end of Summer, but honestly it feels somewhat pointless.  There isn't even a start date for school for my 2 high schoolers.  My middle schooler is in a different district and is scheduled to start until September 8th...

I thought that this would be a good time to check in on my goals for 2020.  I recorded 2 or 3 in my last post of 2019 for fiber and I have 2 for food that have been long standing and finally gotten to.

For fiber:

First is my sweater project with Shirley Paden.  From the last post you can see it is going slower than I had anticipated but it is moving forward nonetheless.  There will be a new update on the tank next week!

Next, is a goal I can't believe I even set.  I decided to have all of my books put into my Ravelry library by the end of 2020.  When I set that goal my library was the same size as now...

...but I didn't have internet at home!  What was I thinking?  Not sure but the Lord has worked it out just fine.  That is a goal that I should meet just fine.  I currently have 547 items in my library.  179 of which are downloads.

I just passed the half way point of the knit section and I only started the beginning of this month when I realized that I could.

My final goal was to learn Imperial lengths almost as well as I know Imperial weights.  That's going okay.  While I can't convert everything quickly yet, I do know about what a needle is when told to me in millimeters.  I no longer have to go running for a conversion chart.  I know how many mm to a m and a km and all.  What I want to know better is how that compares to inches, feet and miles.
I also know that the best way to retain info is application, that's why I know that 100g is just under 4oz, from experience.  It will take time for all this to be quick info in my head but if I keep at it, it will happen.

My food goals for a while have been carrot cake and tamales.

I finally decided to make my spice cake recipe with carrots in it.  I was good, tasted like carrot cake but the color was off.  I will add pureed carrots as well as pieces next time.

Tamales have always been very daunting.  I've been told they are time consuming.  Like days...  I found a recipe in a book that I will share after I try it, that makes it be done in a couple of hours and makes 20.  My daughter and I will try them out, probably in September when the weather cools down a bit and I'll let you know how it goes.

I still haven't blocked my Fan Shawl.  It will get blocked this weekend after I finish my Stained Glass Cowl.  I try to have more than one item to block at a time so that I can use the water more than once.

On Friday I will be picking up and starting the border on my CoViD-19 shawl.  I've really enjoyed this piece and think it is going to be finished just in time for cooler weather.

Still working on getting that test knit call out so keep watch.

I have also been selected as a test knitter for Making Stories Issue 5.  The yarn is coming from The Fibre Company.

My current MKAL with Stunning String is going well.  We are working on BOTH ends at the same time so it looks like a mess.

I have receiving the Cast of Characters from Leading Men Fiber Arts since it began in April.  Each shipment comes with 5 mini 20g skeins of yarn.  They started at the beginning of the alphabet and will go through the end.  I am trying to decide what I am going to make with these yarns.  At first I thought I would make a granny square blanket and even swatched, chose a hook and number of rounds...  Then today I realized that if I knit 2 rows in each color that the ends could become the fringe on one end...  So I am going to work on that and see how much yarn that would take.

I was sorry to hear about the loss Tahra, one of the dyers of Brew City Yarns.  Her family and friends are in my prayers.  You'll be missed Tahra!

Stay safe to be healthy and please be kind to others and wear your mask!

Until next time...

Happy making!

Sheltering In Place

Sorry this is a week late.  The day I went to publish we had a freezer issue and so my daughter and I spent 3 hours saving food, defrosting and such.  This week you guys get one of almost everything.  The only thing I'm not posting today is a new Can't Stop, Won't Stop video.

The fifth and final KAL during my quarantine time is called Sheltering In Place.  It is from Andrea Jurgrau of BadCatDesigns.  I am almost finished with mine.  I am on chart 8 of 9 and have the border and edging after that,  I will have plenty of yarn though, which is nice to know.  I am using a lace weight yarn in 100% alpaca.  It is from a ranch that is local to me called Enchanted Fibers Guild LLC.  It is a nice gray, 2 ply yarn.  I have 2 skeins of about 100g each with 875 yards in each skein.

Here is a picture of my progress.

Last week I finished my Fan Shawl from Crafty Flutterby.  The pattern is the Twisted Minstrel.  I still haven't blocked it, but will soon.

Two weeks ago, I finished my Quarantine Release project and forgot to share it.  They are the Flores socks from Joji Locatelli.  I enjoyed them.  I even followed the directions instead of just using the stitch pattern with my usual recipe.  I like the way the heel is and now I have more understanding about sock decreases as a mirror knitter.  I will share more on that in the future.

I have put some more pictures and an update on the sweater page.

I have posted a short on picking up a dropped purl stitch here.  In it I mention my LYS as Longmont Yarn Shoppe.  While I love that shop, it is 92 miles away and that seems extravagant during this pandemic.  The LYS I mention in this blog post is Knot Just Yarn, which is only 51 miles from home.  Same as Walmart and Natural Grocer.

On August 4th, I will be releasing a new pattern.  It is the first in a series of four.  It is called Spring.  The collection is called "Seasons of Sophistication".  They will be available individually.  When they are all released they will also be available as a collection for a discount.
All four pieces are the same garment, a shawl with sleeves.  The shawl is a Pi shawl worked from the center out.  All the pieces have the same center.  The motifs differ from there depending on the season.  I chose motifs for each season that remind of that season here in the Eastern plains of Colorado.  This collection has been a long time in coming and I am excited to finally see it getting published!

I've been hard at work on few other designs as well and will even be putting a call out for test knitters for one of them in the next week or so.

CoViD-19 is still keeping us mostly home.  My daughter and I did go to a spin in at the LYS.  It was masked and distance but still nice to be around people.  We are getting near to when school should start, we don't have a start date yet here for Byers...

Many of the predictions I have made about CoViD-19 along the way are beginning to come true.  The only prediction that I made that didn't happen was I thought that they would never shut the USA down economically because we wouldn't survive it.  Well half true I guess..

The others...

That because CoViD-19 is a corona virus, like the common cold, you will be able to get it again, it won't be one and done.

There will be no cure, it is a virus.

The summer months are not going to make it any less prevalent.  Look how hard it hit Australia in February 2020, a very hot summer for them.

I understand the feeling torn on what to do right now.  The numbers here in the states, real or not, compared to those of other countries show that we shut down too late, not hard enough and not long enough.  I understand that our government is different than many, most other countries out there.  I also understand that Americans are very spoiled and selfish.  This shut down was for public safety reasons.  I know logically looking at H1N1 of 2009 and we did nothing really makes you scratch your head at this.
Where the government is and what they are doing or not doing right now is causing both loss of life and loss of the economy.  There isn't an answer for the US that will preserve both, it is going to have to be one or the other.  With numbers going up and the government not doing anything, looks very irresponsible.

My current prediction for CoViD-19 is a bit more long term.  It will never be totally gone.  It is going to be added to the list of 4 corona viruses that cause the common cold.  It will be that some people die of the common cold each year, like people die of the flu each year.

My other prediction is on herd immunity.  That if the number of cases keeps doubling at the rate they have and based on current US population, it will take until about September or October of next year, to reach that 70% ish mark.  I doubled the current death rate to a full 1% and that makes a loss of about 2 million people.

I know loss of life is hard, devastating, it is part of life though.  We can't live forever.  Am I saying that we should be reckless and just say forget it all?  No I am not.  I have no problem with the masks in most situations.  The situation I'm struggling with is having to wear it in the hospital while in labor...  As a woman who went through natural, but induced labor 3 times, I can't imagine trying to breathe that way.

I think having virtual doc appointments when possible is good.  Having shopping hours for people in high risk categories, yes.  I think that this country not being open 24/7 is a good thing and we need to get back to more of that.  Eating out is a fun treat, not a way of life.  It's time for Americans to slow down and get back to basics.

I'm praying that the things we have done and learned during this pandemic will be applied in other areas of life.  As a pure life educator I'm really hoping people will apply these same principles to their sex life.

Be smart, be kind, stay safe and until next time...

Happy making!

Switch when 2 or more

This is the first from last KAL that I worked on during quarantine.

Mom and I have been working on these mystery shawls from Stunning String together.  This one we didn't get to cast on together because of the lock down.  I cast mine on in the back yard all by myself.

This one is called Family Tree.  It has lots of cables and is worked in DK weight yarn; Stunning Strings Studio Dynamic.  Mom and I chose to do the smallest size which comes out to be an overgrown scarf.  We were each sent 2 hanks of yarn in our color choice.  I chose a blue and Mom a green.

From the beginning I decided to alternate my balls of yarn.  Stunning String is an indie dyer out of Illinois.  When working with yarn of the same color from an indie dyer it is suggested to alternate between skeins if you are using 2 or more skeins of the same color in a project.  Mom worked through skein 1 and then went into skein 2.  Below are our finished pieces and difference that made.

This is Mom's scarf.  You can clearly see the line of the skein change, no it is not the lighting.

Here is mine.  The color differences are there, but a more even.

I put up a new video on YouTube today about working with multiple skeins of yarn in the same project from an indie dyer, check it out.

After wearing the decision to not become a Creator on Patreon, I'm good with it and I'm not going to do it.  I am supporting a couple of makers there and love the work they are doing.

A few weeks ago Nijah and I started a new project, called Instead of Estes.  It was a special project of yarn from Six and Seven Fiber, the new Monet minis using the Sea Glass pattern, that we decided to do together since we couldn't go to Estes for the Estes Park Wool Market this year.

Nijah finished hers and mailed it off to a friend in Oregon before I caught a picture of it.  She only used 5 of the 10 mini skeins of yarn.  The pattern calls for 800 yards of yarn and she only used about half that, following the directions as written.  It came out full size when blocked.  I was about to change to my 4th color and was going to have the same problem.

 
I bought these 10 colors to used together and I wanted to use them all.  So I ripped out the shawl.  I rewound the yarn back into balls and have put it away for now.  I am planning to do the Longma's Cowl fading the colors.  The way Rachel put them in the package.  I know it's more yarn than called for but I think I can add some repeats in both directions and have a couple of styling options.  Keep an eye here to find out.

This past week in the town that I consider my hometown, Aurora, Colorado, there was a protest to get justice for Elijah McClain.  I learned just a couple of days ago that Elijah was killed by Aurora PD and an EMT literally just stones throw from my apartment building.

I have been driving past this memorial for months.  It was just the cross and a string of lights until the last week or so.  I drive by this memorial when I go to visit my Mom each week.  This is Elijah's memorial.  Tomorrow my daughter and I will go place items we've made there and pray for the friends and family who are grieving and want justice.

The world has/is changing in many ways, yet I still see many that stay the same, selfish people, racism that my Mom taught my sister and I so vehemently is wrong.  Which was a difficult task with parents born and raised in the south in the 1940s who were part of our daily life.  I miss Aurora very much.  The diversity and the culture.  Lord willing I'll get back there someday, but if not I am so very thankful that I can visit and interact with so many different people.

The Lord Jesus made us all, has a purpose for us all and loves us all.

Will the true followers of Jesus please stand up!  Stand with those who are being hurt and help them.

Until next time...

Happy making.