Gradient

Oh goodness did we ever have a good evening. We headed up to visit with Mr. Ink’s stepdaughter and her wife. We brought a birthday gift for stepdaughter and we took them out to dinner as it was their 1 year anniversary. We saw their place. As wife mentioned, “We are kids, you can’t expect it to be tidy!”  We didn’t. We were also informed that we were the first “adults” they’ve allowed in the place. So, naturally we felt pretty good about that. It was a perfectly serviceable first home, and the yard was well kept. The neighbors? Wow. Not so awesome. Very boundary breaking. But, they seemed to be handling it pretty well. We brought stepdaughter a weed trimmer, as she’d mentioned hers didn’t work. She was absolutely thrilled! Wife mows their small patch of yard with a reel mower, and stepdaughter had been trimming the weeds with scissors to keep it tidy. I think she’s appreciate that trimmer quite a bit. The “not tidy” bit was certainly along the lines of what I’d have called acceptable at that age, when I was working super hard more than one job to keep afloat. They may consider themselves kids but they are adulting perfectly appropriately for their age I think.

I told Mr. Ink we should head up there more often as we’d had such a great time and both the girls seemed to be even more comfortable in their element. Wife often looks vaguely uncomfortable and awkward at our place, but out at their town she was perfectly comfortable, which made it all the more enjoyable.

I’ll have to ask them if they want any plants at their place. Next time we are uprooting things we could take them up there and build them a nice little garden space.

I did get my gradient yarn soaked and dried last evening, thank goodness for the heat and wind.

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I ended up with 255 yards of 2 ply. It’s probably around a sport weight yarn, and it’s super soft. Somehow, despite the fact I’ve been making nice soft yarn for years now, it still amazes me. I guess I spent too many years making high twist slightly ropy yarn to realize that I changed a number of years back. The gradient blue has these hints of gold sparkle, sort of like someone gilded the plies here and there.

I’ve also been working on a great linen stitch scarf. I mentioned it awhile back, that I’d wanted a linen stitch cowl but “be careful not to twist” bit me, and a few rows in I realized that I’d twisted and had to yank the entire thing back out. In any case, I decided to just do it as a scarf, horizontally.

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And gosh it’s coming out pretty ! So, the yarn is a super scrappy 2 ply that Miss Marja created simply to practice on her new wheel. I saw the finished skein on her coffee table and practically begged for it. As I was helping her move furniture at the time, she quickly handed it over, and I took it home, washed it, and balled it up for knitting almost immediately. She was worried that the yarn was a practice mess, but it was actually really awesome yarn, quite soft, pretty even, and I loved all the surprising color changes. Linen stitch has been fun with this yarn because it seems like each ply color really pops separately, while still maintaining a blended overall look. I am about a row and a bind off away from being done with this scarf now, it’s been a few days since I took this photo, and I admit I can’t wait to see it off the needles. It’s all bunched up on too short circs, and I want to see this thing in it’s glory!

That’s about it from here! Hope everyone is having a decent week. I am really looking forward to the weekend and my short time with Miss Butterfly. I get to pick her up at camp Saturday morning and then I’ve got a brief time with her before she spends a little time with her dad and then heads east. Can’t wait!!!

5 thoughts on “Gradient

  1. Mr . Ink’s stepdaughter and wife sound so lovely. Im happy you had such a great visit. sometimes I think, as you’ve pondered, that some people like being in their element to be comfortable. Great that you can go with it. ! And to donate plants, how lovely . We just got a string trimmer for here and it is a wonderful thing.
    We had Huge and I mean Huge storms last night. I have a dental appt this afternoon that I am dreading. But I have new yarn to start a new shawl with so life’s going to be fine.

    • Oh no! I saw them, they started east of us, and I heard that they stayed strong while moving east! Hope all is ok for you!

  2. it sounds like a load of fun! And so much better because you both took it easy the night before (relatively speaking, that is.)

    The yarn, is of course, beautiful, and I can tell it is soft. I am afraid I still make slightly ropy stuff, but it is knitting up soft, and that is what matters, right? I am hopeful that yarn on the new wheel will be softer. We will find out in just a few days when I get to start my TDF spin.

    So what have you two got planned for tonight? Marathon gardening? Spinning en plein aire? 🙂

    I am going to clean the kitchen and bathroom floors. Sound like fun? Come on over and save me from having to do it. lol

    • I don’t know what we have planned for tonight. We were pretty sure it was just going to be a very rainy evening, but looks like that has changed. I guess we are playing it by ear. The house could use a bit of a clean up by me! Floor cleaning. Decidedly not fun. Clean floors. Decidedly satisfying. 🙂

      • I hear you on that score! I did the kitchen and bathroom floors last night. The whole house looks like a tornado hit but those floors are clean!

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