Outside Things

Yay! Boo!

In my last post two days ago, I mentioned that our a/c went out. Well, we got it fixed before the house got too hot and afterwards the a/c seemed to be running better than ever. I even had to turn the thermostat up a tad because it was cooling so well and so quickly. It was pretty nice.

Well, that joy ended this morning. The air conditioning started making a weird rumbling noise and stopped cooling so now we are without a/c again. Sigh.

Last time it was a capacitor. Dan says this time it seems more like a fan motor issue. We've got a call in so hopefully we'll be up and running again soon.

Of course, worst case scenario, I'll just have to convince Dan to knock off of work early and drag him out to the pool. It's much cooler out there. Well, if you are wet. Dry and it feels a bit like an oven. (A wonderful, wonderful oven.)

Peacock Redux

I know my blog has been kind of quiet lately. I ran into some food issues so that's thrown me all off. But I think I'm starting to feel a bit better, so yay! Not that feeling better will necessarily increase the frequency of my blog posting. There are pretty things in the yarn but I haven't taken many pictures to share (though I probably should!) and otherwise there's not too much going on other than knitting, and knitting takes time.

There is a slight bit of news today, though. Our air conditioner is broken. Oh dear.

It's currently 82°F in the house and getting warmer. I might have to escape outside soon - the pool makes hot weather much easier to take. Hopefully the a/c will be back up and running soon. With seven cats, I dare not open a window and honestly, doing that would just mean we'd get hotter inside faster. (It's easily ten degrees hotter outside.)

The only other excitement here has been knitting related, and honestly I'm not sure how many people will actually find it exciting, but I'm going to share anyway because it is a bit of a triumph for me.

In my last post I shared a picture of the yarn I had picked for my next sock project. Well, I knew the pattern I wanted to do (Jaywalker) because I had seen someone else make some chevron socks with this yarn and it looked fabulous. However, it didn't work out so well for me. Unfortunate color pooling was the result, not the fun mishmash of random colors. Boo.

So I tried another pattern (Hermione's Everyday Socks) and while the blocks of color were smaller, the pooling was still rather unfortunate. Double boo.

Then I tried another pattern (Dalekanium) and that one almost worked but not in an exciting way. More of a meh then a boo, but still.

At that point, I was kind of stuck and frustrated. Then Dan (knitting genius that he is) said 'wouldn't it work to do something where you knit in wedges so the pooling couldn't happen, like the ones you just did?'

Why yes, yes it would! See, he's a knitting genius.

Of course, this means that this is the third pair of socks that I will have knit using this pattern. Rarely do I ever enjoy a pattern enough to knit it twice, but this pattern seems to be one of the few. (Though really if you think about it, to make a matching pair of socks, I have to knit pattern twice, so maybe I don't have the dislike of repetition when it comes to socks? Which is good since I like matching socks.)

That isn't to say that I necessarily look forward to doing a pattern three times, especially twice in a row like I am doing right now. But it does help that I think this time I've finally cracked the code of what you are supposed to do at the end of a round in this pattern. (I think the first rows should be K2, w&t, P4, w&t and then you continue on working 4 sts past the last w&t until you work the last w&t 3 sts after, leaving 4 sts between the final wraps. This seems to lead to neater ends to the round and matches up the tall bit and the short bit of each wedge better. And even if it isn't what you are supposed to do, I'm liking it so I'll keep doing it.)

While learning something new does make repetition easier, I do think it will be a while before I do this pattern again. I'm pretty sure I will do it again, though - Dan expressed some interest in some of his own and I really can't say no to that.

They Make Me Smile

I love ridiculous knitting projects. Though most of the ridiculous things that I knit end up being not so strong on the functional side of things. (I mean really, what sort of function does a knitted guinea pig have? Other than to be ridiculously awesome? None.)

However with my latest project, I think I have a lovely balance of ridiculous and functional. Shorts!

I'm wearing them now and they are so fabulously comfortable - and cute! But you can't say that hand knit shorts aren't a little ridiculous. Which, honestly, point in their favor.

I'm totally gonna make more. Because they are awesome! Their awesomeness has also encouraged me to think of knit pants. And maybe underwear. (Yes, there are patterns for that. No joke.)

Before I do all that, though, I'm (unsurprisingly) going to knit another pair of socks. Well, hopefully. I'm not too far into them right now.

You may notice that "not too far into them" actually equates to "haven't actually started them". But I've wound the yarn and picked the needles so actual knitting isn't too far away!

A Dash of Yard

Knitting Irony

May was Celiac Awareness Month. I had intended to make a pair of green socks for it (since green is the ribbon color used, because everything has a ribbon now). I didn't quite succeed.

Well, I made the green socks, but I didn't get them actually done during Celiac Awareness Month. In part, ironically, because I had a run in with some gluten and had to die for a week-ish or so.

But now they are all done and ready to wear!

Astute observers will notice that these socks are pretty much a slightly less obnoxious version of these. Yes, I actually did the same pattern more than once. Shocking. The knitting didn't seem to go quite as quickly as the first time around, but since the first time I did this pattern I cranked out my fastest socks ever (four days!), I suppose that isn't too much of a surprise.

Of course, it is a bit too warm currently to wear socks. (Finally! I've been waiting for sunbathing weather for ages! But it looks like the rain has finally stopped and now the tan lines have begun!) I don't think that will stop me from making more socks this summer, though. I wear them at least one season of the year!

But due to the (lovely, fabulous, delightful) summer weather now upon us, an argument can be made that my current (non-sock) project is more weather appropriate.

It doesn't look like much right now but it will eventually be a pair of shorts (see the holes where the drawstring goes?) It'll be like a sweater for my rear.

Still Breathing

I realized I've been quiet lately but contrary to recent speculation, we have not drown in all the recent rain. While there has been a ton of rain, the only issues it has caused us is unbalancing the pool chemicals, making the pool too cold to swim in, and making the grass grow really quickly.

Not much actual news going on here but I did finish a new knitting project: another sweater!

It was a nice, educational experience in that I learned a new way of doing contiguous sleeves. Sadly, the new sleeve method is not for me as it makes me broad shoulders look even broader, but not all sweaters can be perfect!

I'm working on a pair of socks that I had intended to finish last month but (obviously) didn't. But I've only got a little bit more to go on them so I'm sure I'll be posting about them soon!

The only yard news I have is from our front porch (because there has been too much rain to go tromping): we have more baby birds!

I've waffled a bit but I'm still thinking they are Eastern phoebes. (Eastern kingbirds are the other options, but it looks like the babies are all gray (no white chest) so I'm back to thinking they are phoebes.)