It’s been cold and raining in Colorado for almost a week.  We’ve had minor flash flooding, mudslides, and hail.  The perfect time to finish a summer tee!

This is the Boxy Lace Tee from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.  It’s a simple, relatively quick knit.  The lace pattern is easy to memorize.  I knit mine out of Woolfolk Strå, which is 50% merino and 50% linen.  The mix of the two fibers gives the yarn a heathered, somewhat rustic look.  It’s nice yarn.

My color is S2.  It doesn’t know if it’s beige or pink and it probably veers more towards beige than I’d like.  Still, it’s a wearable neutral.   The pattern comes in a cropped or longer length.  Cropped garments aren’t my friend so I lengthened mine.

I had a lot of trouble taking pictures because of the weather.  Lucy almost blew away when I posed her outside.  Scroll down to see what was in the meadow that day.  Cuteness overload.

Triplet fawns!  So adorable but what a handful (hoof-ful?) for mom.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BIG SISTER!

One of the worst parts of COVID has been not having any knitting adventures together.  Sure, we talk on the phone almost every day but it’s not quite the same!

Here’s to (everyone) having more fun in the coming year!  In the meantime, please wish Susan a Happy Birthday with me!

PS from Susan — Thanks for the birthday greetings.  It really means a lot!!

Yep.  The final Niebling of my knitting career.  I decided I just can’t knit certain things anymore due to the arthritis in my hands.  I’m a bit sad, but resigned.  I mean, I can still knit!  But, not everything.

For instance, I thought I lost a favorite glove (a Snapdragon).  I was bereft, not for the glove per se, but for the fact that I couldn’t knit its replacement.  I really doubt I could do ten fingers on those tiny needles!!

Jesien is supposed to be easy as Nieblings go.  Right off the bat there was a pattern error.  Okay, regroup and move on.  On infamous round 123, another error.  I wasn’t sure which direction to go, so I threw caution to the wind and went off the grid.  Mistake.  Huge.  Had to rip back.  But, you can’t rip out 750 sts!  It would disembowel if you just pulled out the needle!  So I inserted a smaller needle through each stitch 10 rows back…and it actually worked!!  Jesien was saved.

I figured out the issue with the pattern and soldiered on.  I had ideas on how to “jazz up” Jesien, but in the end went old school.  Sometimes simplicity is best.  No sense in gilding the lily.

I used Aunt Lydia’s Crochet Cotton, which some look down upon, but I have liked knitting with it before.

I measured every point for consistent distance from the center and the next point.  If you don’t do that, it’s noticeable.

Pre-blocking:

So, if you see me knitting another Niebling, chalk it up to “007 Syndrome” — never say never!! 😉

PS to Suzan: Cotton is particularly hard to knit!  But, it was weird.  My wool Mulled Cider killed my hands.  It was very rustic yarn.  Soft merino is easier on my hands!!

PS2 to Annie: Good luck with your cataract surgery.  I just had both eyes done in March and April.  Still can’t see!  They zapped my eyes with a laser last Thursday to help improve my vision.  I’m hoping it will get better soon.

PS3 to Renee: More about cataracts.  I think it’s weird that most eye surgeons tell people who have been near sighted their whole lives to become far sighted.  I had lasik surgery 16 years ago ago and had mono vision: right eye near vision, left eye far.  My husband did it and hasn’t needed glasses since!  My brain kind of fought it: the near eye blurred the far one and vice versa.  So I opted for glasses…pretty weak ones actually.  I can see to my bathroom mirror and dinner plate perfectly and can pass my drivers license exam without glasses.  I decided to keep mono vision for my cataract lenses because it’s what I’m used to and I didn’t want to give up what I had.  I had hoped to get multi-focal lenses (the expensive ones) but discovered you can’t get them if you’ve had lasik!