Knitting and television

Is television even much of a thing anymore? I feel like maybe we're old school here by streaming only some and not all of what gets watched around here. There's something about choosing from the set menu of listings that is so restful.  

But not so restful that I forget my hands are about eighteen inches from the shelf where my various knitting projects live. I knit most of this watching episodes of Murder She Wrote and Columbo. 

Talk about restful! Jessica Fletcher is always going to figure out whatever happened, so all I have to do is watch for 80s and 90s nostalgia. And I already know everything on Columbo except how he's going to pin the crime on the killer. Plus: 70s and 80s nostalgia, and the big name guest stars.

Recently I watched one Columbo episode with Anne Baxter, then a few days later saw her again performing the role for which she deservedly won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in The Razor's Edge, which coincidentally I'd been reading with friends on Instagram. None of which has anything to do with knitting, but goes to show how many things are interconnected, like the stitching on my sock.

(okay, that was a reach... sorrynotsorry)

 

One last pic of Amy today:

 

She's dabbing her approval of my copy of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. Isn't she the best plant friend?

We've enjoyed Amy so much but it will not surprise you to know that she's beginning to shed her flowers now. I am not crying over it, because her beautiful leaves should be around for a few weeks yet, and they are so lush and lovely.

Hope you have a marvellous weekend lined up even if it's a quiet one, and thanks for letting me be part of it. See you next week!

Two down and a lot to go

It's February, and I've just finished a second project from my possibly five-year-old pile of in-progress knits! You might almost see a pattern forming here.

Probably I can't keep this up all year, or even until the In Progress pile has diminished. But it was nice to graft the toes on these socks and free up my needles. Maybe sometime in the next couple of weeks I'll get to run in the ends, and everything.

You may be wondering whether I gave in and cast on my friend's Present socks, or snuck over to the ones for me? Or not. Either way, the answer is:

I was good, and am now knitting a Present. 

I kind of regret my selflessness because these are really Halloween socks, with stripes in black, grey, red, purple, and orange. Hopefully they won't take me all spring to knit and I can still get in some of the socks for myself, to knit in the sun.

Anyway I'm glad to have another clear run of legs to knit because I've started being excited about Thursday nights, when Murder She Wrote is quickly followed by Columbo. I feel so nostalgic for these old shows at the moment and enjoy all the wonderful outfits and backdrops and cars. Technically not that different from today but let's face it, it was a different world.

Ready for the really big news? Amy bloomed this week!

Not quite in time for Valentine's Day, but perfectly so for Half Price Valentine's Chocolate Day which is frankly my preferred holiday. Isn't she beautiful? To think that six weeks ago she was just a pot of dirt and a dead bulb in a bag in the basement. 

I trust you have a lovely weekend lined up? I am going to be at my desk, working very hard, but I have fresh new socks to look forward to knitting at night and that's something, isn't it.

 

Thanks for coming by again this week and I look forward to seeing you next Saturday!

Oh look sock yarn

I finished the second sock of the pair I showed you last week, but I haven't grafted the toes. Do you delay that sort of thing, I wonder? I find I need a total zen state to do kitchener stitch, with nobody around for the ten or so critical minutes it takes to start and finish. I'd better hurry up though because I have two sets of sock yarn I could be casting on and enjoying if only I had needles available. Behold, socks-to-be:

If I were a responsible generous knitter I would cast on the ones with the purple stripes and knit them up for my friend Jan, to whom I have given a pair of socks every Christmas for many years (except last year, when my knitting crawled almost to a halt and I really couldn't produce a whole pair in time.)

Probably I will do that. I'm so tempted to start with the other pair, though. The stripes on it look super cheery for springtime knitting, even if they wouldn't appeal to Jan.

I should also mention how weird it is that I was able to take these photographs on our back deck in February, where we normally have several inches of now piled up. Hmmm. Maybe it's better if I don't mention that.

It wouldn't be so bad knitting black and grey and orange and red and purple stripes in February, really. 

Maybe it would be equally not so bad to rush through black and white and orange and turquoise and acid green for spring, so as to finish a second pair of socks by December. 

Either way, I've got to get the current socks good and grafted. I guess when I'm finally done that, I could toss a coin?

Here's something that requires zero decision-making and lots of excitement and admiration: Amy's about to bloom! 

 

You thought you were going go get through a whole post without seeing my amaryllis, didn't you. But I'm committed now to sharing her journey from forgotten basement bulb to pretty flower companion, so here we are.

I hope you have a lovely weekend lined up. You know what I'd like to be doing? Putting a fresh coat of paint on a room, or building a custom bookshelf. I don't need to do either of these things (or have space for another bookshelf) but I am weirdly missing fix-it-up weekends and enthusiasm for same. This from the girl who can't make time to graft a sock toe.

Whatever your arrangements - thank you so much for dropping by to visit, and I hope to see you again next Saturday!

There is knitting I promise

 ... but first, check out how well Amy is doing this week!

I know, I could come up with a more original name if I tried even the tiniest bit. But isn't she adorable? I wonder if next week I'll have a bloom to show you.

Okay so last night I settled in to watch a movie and thought I'd cast on new socks since I had grafted the toes on the previous pair. However, when I hunted up my needles I discovered some socks were still on them. Socks I had completely forgotten existed. So I finished one of them. Yesssss!

Sidebar: this is the beginning of February
and there is no snow or ice on our deck
which makes me wonder what the rest of this winter
is saving up for us

I still have to graft the toe on this sock. Meh, it'll keep. It's so much easier to graft two socks at once after all, and lookit:

The second sock is pretty close to its toe decreases!

And it's only the start of February, which means I'm staying on track to finish my various works in progress at a pace of one a month. Maybe, given my track record of late, this is too much to hope for. But if I can get even this one additional pair of cheery socks in play that's pretty good, don't you think?

 

Hope you got something satisfying accomplished this week as well. I have quite a bit more on my list so I'm going to wander off now, but thank you again for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next Saturday. With luck, there might even be a bloom at the top of the page. And... cue me rubbing my hands in delight.