I don’t know about where you are, but I think we’ve hit our limit with the snow and storms out here. We are getting tired. We had the blizzard on Saturday. On Monday they closed schools because we can’t even get cleaned out from it. The large amount of rain before the blizzard left a significant layer of ice for the snow to sink into, and the plows don’t seem to be able to get that layer up. Now it’s super cold, so nothing is melting either.

Yesterday I went to work thinking surely things were ok. But, I quickly rethought that as my antilock brakes engaged regularly. Every intersection was a disaster. Even with a bit of an incline, cars were struggling to get traction enough to make a turn. I passed 18-wheelers unable to get up slick ice hills, then ending up blocking 2 lanes trying to get out of a precarious situation. At the bottom of large hills were car accidents and cops, the debris from the accidents quickly getting smooshed into the ice and snow on the road. Again, this is 2 days after the blizzard.

In our yard, we’ve got at least 2 inches of ice/snow on the back patio that won’t come up. Thankfully it’s snow-covered enough to not be slick. Yet. We’ve got a massive puddle of ice taking up the entirety of the bottom of our driveway, so we have to make absolutely sure no cars are coming before we pull out, as that sheet of ice means we end up slipping out into the other lane before being able to right ourselves. This is something like storm 3 or 4 with very little melt in between, so the snow is quite deep. In fact, it’s now over a good portion of Mr. Ink’s plants and plant indicators or cages. Many of his carefully planned preventative measures for knowing where things are in the snow are now completely covered.

So, he used the snow blower and a shovel to indicate the dog’s regular routes through the yard. This way they stay off the plants because they aren’t going to make things difficult for themselves when the snow is this deep. This’ll work until the paths turn to ice.

The dogs are starting to go stir crazy but walking them is impossible. For real. There’s just nowhere to go. Sidewalks in our area aren’t plowed nicely, there’s just too much snow and ice. Walking in the street is dangerous as it’s too snow covered ice to trust cars going by. Here’s now Rose is feeling about this:

Even I have been feeling completely stir crazy despite my love for being at home and knitting. Seriously. I am sick of knitting right now.

But here’s a work in progress. I’ve begun the Kernel scarf out of Miss Marja’s handspun.

This is the edging, the beaded border, and one repeat. Hard to see since it’s lace. So far I’ve enjoyed the pattern, but I think I am at a point where I am not thrilled with knitty patterns since the charts aren’t easily downloaded. I have come to rely on using my good reader app to track pattern progress, without that, it’s tedious. That’s why this piece made it to work. I can print out the pattern and then use the paper print out for the duration of the project.

It’s the last week of February. I am truly hoping that we are now on the other end of the snow. There’s no accumulation forecasted for the next 10 days. Prior to this, it’s been a storm every 3 days or so. There is snow forecasted, but not significant amounts. Unfortunately, there’s also no pleasantly warm weather forecasted either. 22 looks like the highest temps we’ll get in the next 10 days. Just high enough for an icy mess, but not high enough to help our situation. Mr. Ink is spending time thinking about how to dig a channel to drain the pool of ice from the bottom of our driveway and I continue to get frustrated with the lack of activity in our near future. I love winter and I love snow, but there is always that moment of realization that I am over it. It’s just hitting all the harder this year.

Yep, I got another done. This one had been residing at work and getting knit on during lunch breaks.

The burgundy is Miss Marja’s handspun and the gradient is some leftover handspun I had from a loop bump. The pattern was The Van Gogh Shawl though that ruffle at the end isn’t in the pattern. I just had leftover handspun and really wanted to use it ALL up. So I fashioned a garter stitch ruffle at the end.

Yarn stash now sitting at 115, give or take a few skeins, and 30% of my year-long goal has been met. I’ve started 2 projects this weekend so that I’d have one for work and one for home in the upcoming week. Pictures of those soon to follow.

It’s Friday, which is lovely! It’s going to storm this weekend, which is typical. Today I will be leaving work to go to the funeral of a close coworker’s father. Tomorrow evening we’ll be going to her 50th birthday party, 80s themed. It’s….been a whirlwind week.

Yesterday we also got a game plan going for Lizzie’s eyes. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it on the blog, but we’ve had one heck of a time getting her eyes comfortable since about November. They are constantly watery and itchy and red and sore. Treating them has masked the symptoms a bit but then they immediately come back. I think I did mention it on the blog actually. Anyhow, she has now seen the vet eye specialist. We will be treating her for a month for a hereditary eye issue and completely changing her food again, and adding supplements. I am super hoping it works!

In the midst of all that, I finished two projects. The first one is a cowl I knit on a whim. You see, I’d been digging through my scrap yarn to do all the coasters and came across a yarn that really had a good bit left. It was one which I had used to make a color affection scarf awhile back, a scarf which I regularly wear still. I decided to pair it with some handspun I had leftover from my Scottish Strips scarf because no reason to let that beautiful stuff go to waste!

Neither of these yarns were still listed as stash I had, so this project serves no purpose toward removing listed stash. But, it is still technically removing stash from my collection. I did use up all the solid color, though I was left with quite a chunk of handspun still.

I LOVED knitting this! Is it the handspun I love or the pattern? I dunno. But this was a really fun and fast knit. Both yarns have a high silk content so the cowl is extremely soft and while I haven’t worn it yet, I’d imagine it’s going to be rather warm as well. The pattern is called Ingrid’s Cowl and it’s a free pattern. I will likely knit it again. Maybe even soon!

And with this project, I am 28% of my goal of 40 projects this year. Very exciting!

I think I am done. Probably I am done. Though I recounted the guest list/potential guest list yesterday and came up with more than 30. Then I remembered that Mr. Ink, Miss Butterfly, and I don’t need a coaster, which brought me back under 30 and I have 36.

Anyhow, this is the latest batch. Again with these, I had a great time making some of them a little scrappier.

It was Mr. Ink’s 50th birthday last evening. We went out to dinner with Miss Butterfly and her friend. We then made a cake, frosted it, and stuck candy corn all over it as per Mr. Ink’s request.

Mr. Ink also received a gift basket from his brother. Once we removed the contents, I decided it was a pretty good basket to repurpose for the coasters, so here they are all, thrown right into that box.

I may arrange them in a nicer manner but I thought it was pretty clever and quick thinking to be able to find this delivery system before it left the house.

Last evening Mr. Ink told me that we should ALSO do our fun reception for local friends the same weekend as the wedding, Sunday evening. It’s a good idea but I think I am going to have to get him to agree to do the planning for that himself, as I really do think I’ve got all I can handle with the rehearsal dinner and wedding. If he agrees to it, that may also be a thing that is happening that weekend. I may need weeks to recover!

And that’s it from here today, back to more normal knitting type content soon. I am almost done with two projects! Also, for the record, finishing the coaster projects brings me to 1/4 of my goal of 40 projects this year.

I completed another 9 coasters this weekend with absolutely no grumbling about the project yet to be seen.

I really started to add in scrappier pieces in this batch. The left row all are coasters which use up multiple tiny balls of yarn. It’s not so much that I am running out of yarn, it’s more that I am beginning to get a little more adventurous with these. Plus, it is satisfying to see those tiny scraps disappear.

I am going to do one more batch which should have me well over the number of people who will be attending. Of course, as I say that and count my numbers, maybe I am wrong and maybe I should to two more batches. Ack! Anyhow, the next batch should get posted very soon and if I choose to do one extra batch, I will do so after allowing myself another project. I mean, at that point it won’t be critical so I can just get it done as needed.

Wedding invites went out last week, all except for Mr. Ink’s stepkids since he hadn’t gotten me their addresses. Those are going out this morning. Then I realized I might have missed one or two, so I feel like I need to work on that too, and then Mr. Ink told me it wasn’t clear that the paper that indicates that guests can plant their invitation and get it to grow wasn’t clear and he’d be confused and I was like “But why didn’t you tell me this BEFORE the invites went out?! Now I can’t do anything about it!!!” Plus, the person who is supposed to be facilitating the cake I desperately want hasn’t gotten back to me to tell me she’s received my order and that the baker can do it, and I keep forgetting to follow up, and, we met with our officiant and creating our vows scares me, and, and, and also last week was a really stressful work week. So, you could say those coasters are keeping me a little bit sane, and you could also say that I am finally in the thick of the wedding stress.

I am sure it’s all going to be fine, but I had a dream last night that Mr. Ink’s stepson had to come live with us and I couldn’t figure out where to put him and he brought a lot of stuff with him and now I KNOW I am having stress dreams as well which never do actually help stress levels.

So I’ll just be sitting over here knitting coasters whenever I get the opportunity and attempting to carry on. Hopefully this week there will be some forward movement on the wedding stuff which would definitely go a long way to alleviating some of the stress.

And now that all my stress is dumped out on an internet page, I’ll just be getting back to work and hoping to create a good week. I hope the same for you!

I’ve got another batch of coasters to show off. And, I am not even remotely tired of knitting these yet. I adore how they are turning out, but even better is the enjoyment of knitting these and anticipating which colors I am going to pair next.

I am definitely not running out of yarn yet either, though I am starting to get a bit more creative with using up multiple similarly colored scraps in one coaster. I think that probably will show itself better in the next batch though, this grouping all looks fairly consistent. It is really surprisingly satisfying to watch all these tiny balls of yarn just disappear!

So, at this point, it really looks like I am going to be able to complete the project without even getting tired of it. This is highly unusual for me, but I am thrilled that what could turn into a huge slog has actually turned out to be ridiculously enjoyable.

I’ve wanted to take a photo of this for a while now, but the weather refuses to cooperate. This is my skye boat cowl out of my handspun. I did get an opportunity to wear it last week, and I really enjoyed that it has some shape to it other than the normal infinity loop.

The colored bits look a bit more subtle in natural light, they really become the focus in the above photo. I am glad to have knit this and am also glad to have another yarn out of my stash. I finished this before I decided suddenly to create 40 coasters, so now I’ve got one regular project hanging out at work for lunchtime knitting and then I am working exclusively on coasters at home.

And with that, I am 23% of the way to my goal of 40 projects this year. I am pleased with my progress so far. I realize that I am not leaving myself much spinning time at this point, but I’ve got a wedding to plan, then a new toy to play with, and that loom should really help with the using up of stash as well. Plus, spinning time comes in the summer anyhow.

We are talking wedding again, since with just over 2 months to plan it really is the top of everyone’s brain around here.

I’d been trying to figure out wedding favors. I’d thought about live succulents since that’s SO us, but since the vast majority of the attendees are traveling, that’s just not practical. I’d thought about seed packets. Then I thought about coasters, wooden ones, and Mr. Ink and I had kind of agreed on that. But I worried that the time between knowing how many we’d need and the wedding itself was just too short, I didn’t feel confident. I thought about a thousand other little things.

Then I got an idea. It wasn’t initially fully fledged, I just thought “Let me give this a try, knit up some prototypes, see what happens.” And, I knit up prototypes and I liked doing it. Then I ran it by my maid of honor, Miss Marja. She thought it was a great idea. I knit a few more. I blocked them. Then, the final step. I asked Mr. Ink what he thought about them. He loved them!

And that’s the point where I knew this was going to be A Thing. Handknit coasters as wedding favors. It’s just as kitschy and eclectic and non-traditional as the wedding itself. And here are the first 9:

I am using scrap yarn and the pattern calls for it held double. This makes things fun because I can add in another color when one scrap runs out. I’ve got gobs of scrap yarn. Some of it is commercial sock weight yarn and some of it is handspun. And while this doesn’t help my year-long stash busting project on the surface, it sure does make a dent in the tiny bits hanging around that get irritating after awhile.

And surprisingly, I can say that after knitting 17 of these, I am still not bored. It’s a great project, and I am sure that being full of excitement over the wedding itself helps. But, there’s also the added benefit of a million different potential color combinations making this project so interesting. Be prepared to see a whole bunch more of these because we’ve only just begun! While I don’t technically need more than 30, I have it in mind to do about 40 so that I’ve got extra, people can really take their pick of favorite colors, and I can then have leftovers around the house after the fact.

Meanwhile, I’ll take you on this journey with me, since I’ve got loads more to do. Stay tuned, the next batch should be up this week.

While we wait for my latest finished object to dry, let’s talk about what I started.

This is the Van Gogh shawlette. I am using two different handspuns. One is a Miss Marja handspun and the other is a leftover handspun of mine from a project. Neither of these seem to be listed in my stash so this won’t in the end easily count toward stash busting. But, it’ll still MEAN something.

The burgundy color is Miss Marja’s yarn. The green/blue is mine, and it’s a gradient that should be moving toward olive and then grey. So I assume that’ll give this an interesting effect if I do manage to get to the grey! With the long loops in the burgundy, despite the fact that I did have more of that yarn, it is getting consumed very quickly. If I were to knit this again I’d leave out the 5th and 6th row of the burgundy color in the pattern to even up the yarn amounts. Anyhow, it’s a pretty easy pattern, the colors are way nicer than they look in this dark photo, and I am cruising right along on it at the moment.

And that’ll have to hold you over until I get an opportunity to photograph the other item I just finished!

Almost completed work in progress.

I’ve been meaning to knit the Skye Boat cowl for quite some time, and I had the correct handspun in my stash. This is a handspun I created out of one single of louet dyed fiber, black with a smattering of white silk, and on single of Loop! cloud colorway circus. (I think. Something to do with circus anyhow. Black with pops of color.) I plied those two together and ended up with a very pleasing, to me, handspun yarn.

The pattern has a nice texture. There’s a slip stick rib at the top and at the bottom is a fairly easy to memorize lace pattern. I got quite a lot of this knit over the weekend and am closing in on a finish very soon!

In fact, it’s already so close to being done I am in the beautiful place of anticipating my next project. As usual, can’t wait!

I mentioned when I showed off the handspun scarf that I had a hat as well right? Well here it is:

Now, I don’t generally like to knit hats but this one was surprisingly enjoyable. I don’t know if it was the fact that I barely had to think about it or what, but it was really lovely. I might have to do that sock head hat next! Added bonus, another quick project for my goal of 40 this year.

In dog news, after 5 days of Rose throwing up in the early mornings, the 5th morning causing me to be up at 3 am and then miss almost half a day of work for being so ridiculously tired and headachey I couldn’t continue, I called the vet. Who suggested the simplest thing I should have been able to work out myself but didn’t manage to, probably due to exhaustion. Put her back on her bland diet. This is what we had to do with her in October I think it was? When we were getting up every 45 minutes to 2 hours to take her out because her system was so screwed up. That time, the bland diet worked a treat in short order. So, Friday I picked up more bland diet food from the vet, got her on it that evening, and got to sleep until 6:30 am Saturday morning. After waking up between 3 and 4:30 all week, it was quite a relief! Vet said since she’s got a sensitive stomach, sometimes we may just have to do that to reset her system. I am on board with this now that I realize that it’ll also help the throwing up! And she’s more comfortable too! A win all around.

That’s it from here. I was too tired last week to really get much of anything done. Knitting felt like it really suffered, wedding planning was almost a complete wash, it was quite a set back. Hopefully this week will be easier now!

Hey, I have a finished object and I’ve had it for like a week and failed to show it off.

Miss Marja made this worsted weight handspun 3 ply out of 3 different braids of fiber. A lovely combo spin project. It entered my stash at the end of last year and I was very eager to knit it up! I wanted to choose a pattern that was free and that also one that showed off the colors. This is the type of handspun color shifting that made me fall in love with handspun in the first place, isn’t it glorious?!

I ended the scarf at a point where I’d have enough left over yarn for a hat. I knit that hat, finishing it right before our desperately cold snap this week and have been wearing it ever since. But, have completely failed to get a photo of it.

It’s been quite a week really. It started with a crazy disturbing amount of wind which upset Rose so much that she was unable to do her business and threw up instead. Since then, every single morning between 3 and 4:30 she has thrown up. Sometimes multiple times. Our rescue group has made a number of suggestions, and one of them was to make sure she eats slower, so we’ve worked on that and it has helped the volume, but not the actual throwing up. I’ve been up since 3 am this morning with a still pukey dog. Just called the vet, who suggested that she just might be one of those dogs who needs a full bland diet reset when she has any issues at all. So, we are going to try that next.

To add to my exhaustion, on Wednesday evening we went to see the ballet. Which was lovely. And then we went out to eat. And then we got on the interstate to go home and got stuck in the most horrendous traffic jam. We sat there for an hour going almost nowhere, as the interstate was fully closed and there was a college ball game getting out at the same time we entered the interstate. No exit anywhere near. I saw some stuff I thought I’d never see, including people going the wrong way on the interstate as well as turning around at the end of the exit ramp and going back the wrong way on the ramp. There was also a ton of shoulder lane use and because it was -6, there were also stalled cars that couldn’t take the stress of the cold and the idling to maneuver around. When we finally got to the exit, and then got back on at a spot where there wasn’t an active accident investigation, there were almost no cars at all on the interstate, it was so uncanny!

Anyhow, it’s been a long week after a long weekend, after a long week. So I am really hoping for serious downtime this weekend. The weather is supposed to be significantly warmer. Like, melt snow warmer. Looks like the weather is trying for a reset too, and hopefully, we’ll all get what we need out of the weekend.

And here’s a photo of miss sleepless because she’s the cutest even if she’s being needy. This is her “Who is touching me?” look. Actually, this is the look she gives us if we are paying attention to each other instead of her. Just upside down since she was facing the other way.

She’s needy but she’s amazing!