December Updates

I wonder if everyone takes as long as I do to feel at home in a new place. I suspect that on a bell curve of adaptability, I would fall toward the end of slow-to-adapt. That said, I feel like I'm getting there in our new house. I have my new lair just about set up and almost always know where to find stuff I need within an hour of starting the search. Of course, if I had less stuff, I could find things within a minute or two. I'm working on the "Less Stuff" goal, but it's slow progress.

On Saturday, Mr. SABLE and I made a quick trip out to St. Vincent's to see if there were any couches we could live with. Our couch and comfy chair from our other living room are in the family room here. The living room here has been a big empty space, with some of my equipment camped out in it, but no real comfortable place to sit. Until we sell our old house, it was out of the question that we would go buy new furniture. We found a couch we both really like, in good condition, at a good price. Suddenly, the living room feels more like home. Then I was keeping an eye on Craigslist for a small table to go in the dinette area of our kitchen. Monday evening, Owen and I went and got a nice round table and two chairs that works perfectly. $30 for the set. Those two purchases have done so much for my morale, I might actually tackle some of the random boxes stacked around in corners and such.

Even though there's been little action in the blog, I've been doing stuff to keep my hands busy. I did a fair amount of spinning this fall and a bit of weaving.

Here's a scarf I'll be giving to my mom for Decemberween/Giftmas/Festivus/what-have-you:






She only reads my blog if I send her an actual link to a post, like when I compose a rant I think she'd enjoy, so I think it's ok to post it here.

I also knit a scarf for my mother-in-law, whom I also believe does not read my blog.






This is from the book 60 Quick Knits, which features projects using Cascade 220. I used some mystery yarn I found in my stash. I believe it's a wool-dominant blend that came to me in a big thrift-shop grab bag more than 10 years ago. Mr. SABLE and I agreed the color was completely right for his mom, though I seem to get different results on the color every time I photograph it.

I also knit a blue ribbed watch cap for my mother-in-law's husband and, finally, after months of dormancy, fixed and finished a sweater I started to machine-knit for my dad in March. I just need to get some stuff packed up and taken to the post office and then brace myself for the two-week school vacation which is fast approaching!

Various updates

Sloane Pullover

Here's the new cabled turtleneck pullover. It's coming right along. Yarn Thrower, you'll be happy to know that I did remember the short row bust darts. And I have just about completed the waist shaping, so maybe will get the body finished in the coming week.

Spinning Every Day
I'm not really a joiner: don't do a lot of memes or knitalongs or such. But there is a movement afoot to spin every day in February. I didn't officially put my name in for this, but I think I'm going to try. Even just 10 minutes.

The You Make My Day Award
In other meme-ish news, I've been blessed with the You Make My Day award by Marie Grace, Molly Bee, Cindy at Baxter Knits, and Yarn Thrower. Thanks ladies! I feel like one of the popular girls at school!

Funny timing on this, because last weekend, after Last Saturday Knitting, I was reflecting on what a wonderful group we have and how it's all because of the internet.

The award instructions read as follows:
"Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times."
My You Make My Day awards would go right back to the same gang, plus a few:
Teleknitter, who spins amazingly and chats with me online when we should both be working.
The Linnet Knits, who has taken up weaving as well as spinning and knitting.
Wendy at Knit and Tonic who is not only a big time famous blogger, author, and designer but someone I consider a friend.

OK, I know that's not 10, but if I keep going to get to 10, I'll soon find myself at 40, so I think I'll stop now. But you should know, if you're reading this then you make my day!

Knitting Machine Surgery
Last night I did some surgery on one of my knitting machines. The LK-150 is a great beginner friendly single bed machine. I've had mine about 10 years. Mr. SABLE got it for me lightly used. In the last year or so, I noticed it was getting more difficult to run the carriage across and began to fear that something expensive was going wrong with it. In the machine knitters group on Ravelry, I learned that a common cause of this might be something called the sponge bar. Clicking through on the Ravelry advertiser who sells knitting machines and parts, I ordered a new sponge bar for $6 and spent last night replacing it and cleaning all the needles while I was at it. You have to take out the 150 needles to do the job. Which means, you have to put the 150 needles back in when you're done. It's not a job I would want to tackle very often, but has made a world of difference to this machine!

Stay warm! Happy Knitting!