Okay, this is more reasonable. I posted July way after the fact and was really considering just doing a combo post for July and August, but it helps my little brain to have them separated. August was a recovery month for me. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was packed full of stuff. But, it was less mentally taxing. I knit some charity hats and got rid of some of the nasty leftover colors from Doctor Who, I started perusing Ravelry for my next happy knit, and I am mentally gearing myself up to tackle the abandoned sewing projects from last year. So it was a pretty successful month, all in all.
Finished objects:
Charity hats using either the 80, 90, or 100 stitch vanilla hat pattern. I used up the Paintbox Aran yarns left over from Doctor Who and one of the balls of KnitPicks Wool of the Andes leftover from the Betty Cardigan. I want to use all of that yarn up and get it out of my stash. I believe I have two hats worth until it is finally gone.
Works in progress:
Shatar Vest
Kaylen Mesh Shawl
Re-knit socks for Feebs
Goals for next month:
Cast on a new happy knit with gorgeous yarn
Figure out and use the new budgeting app
Start sewing the Christmas gifts
Start knitting Christmas gifts
Well it wasn’t glamorous, but it was satisfying to knit eight charity hats last month. I got to use up yarn that did NOT spark joy and I got to check off some boxes on the Bingo card. I plan to mix it up and do more than just vanilla charity hats, but I had a goal to get those yarns out of my stash and it was the fastest way to accomplish that. I have another one on the needles and want to finish it and use up the rest of the green KnitPicks yarn. That color looks like death on me, and it really needs to find a new home. I really, really want to find a happy knit. I think I am ready to find a new sweater pattern and get started. I want something that will take some time and make me slow down. I also want to use up a sweater’s quantity of yarn that is in my stash. My goodness, I have some gorgeous yarn. I made a hobby of collecting beautiful yarn for a long time. Then I hit my knitting dry spell last year and now I am no longer buying yarn, but I not really knitting with what I have either. I need to get my knitting mojo back for real. I also need to get out my circular sock machine again and give it another try. I tried to learn it at the worst possible time, when my brain was completely attacking me. I got frustrated and just packed it away. I think it will soon be time to pull it out and give it another go. I would love to use up some of my sock yarn and what better way than to be able to crank out tubes? I also need to re-commit to sewing the CPAP hose sleeves that the Husband asked me to make for his friends last Christmas. I got a pass because I was barely hanging on by a thread, physically and mentally last year. I don’t have the same excuse this year. And I want to start on them on my own and not make the Husband bring it up. I want to do this for him. I bought all of the stuff last year, so I just need to sit down and figure out the very simple math and get them sewn up. I will start a separate post about them so that I can track what I need and what I do. This should help me if I have to take a break or if I want to make more in the future. I have three months till Christmas, so it is plenty of time to get my shit together. I also need to assess what, if any, Christmas knitting I need to do. I will need to knit an Advent hat for Feebs. I will knit hats for the teachers. Hm, this may need to be a Christmas knitting post too. That way I hold myself accountable for what I need to do. Transparency, and all, ya know… I think possibly a new Dream Knitting post, too. Actually, I need more completed to-dos and less dreams right now.
August was equal parts happy and sad. I don’t know where summer vacation went or how the hell the new school year came so fast. But, I am getting ahead of myself. The month started with the big family barbeque. This may be the last year that Sister #2 hosts it. They are working toward selling their house and downsizing. If the spouse gets his way it will have no pool and a postage stamp sized yard with no maintenance. That will be the end of an era and so I cancelled our trip to Yosemite so that we could go. It was a good time, all in all. I had a lot of anxiety about going, since my sibs are all on my shit-list. I was worried that one of them would say something to set me off and I would turn feral. Luckily, that didn’t happen. Feebs had a wonderful time with her cousins and the pool. I can’t believe how old all of my rental-children are getting. They are all becoming adults and starting their lives. It is beautiful to watch, but it is bittersweet too. That week was the first day of 6th grade. Holy crap, how are we already in middle school? How is my baby already heading into this next chapter? We went back to school shopping, for real, for the first time the previous week. The Mother went with us and we had lunch and made a big fuss over it. It is so fun to see Feebs start to develop her own personality and style. I wouldn’t usually do such a big shopping spree, but we had been holding out on getting her new clothes to replace the ones that she had finally outgrown and worn out. Seriously, almost everything was passed down to the cousin and we had to start from scratch. We even got new shoes to replace the ones that were trashed and just starting to get to too small. It was like getting there with my little girl, and leaving with a young woman in training. She was so excited to have her new things and to get to feel “very Junior High” (direct quote). She picked out a cute new outfit and headed off to her first day with confidence, and lipstick. She looked adorable and happy. Side rant, we ended up having to buy her a rolling backpack because there are no lockers at her school. She has to take everything with her to school each day. Her backpack weighs 22 lbs.!!! She only weighs 75 lbs. I am appalled that they don’t have lockers for the kids. Not even PE lockers that they can keep their gym stuff in. Complete garbage! That weekend we had the big/ little cousin over. This will probably be her last visit with us before she leaves for her year in Japan. We took her to the Benicia Peddler’s Faire. We had never been before, and it was really cute. It was pretty hot and the parking SUUUUCKED, but it was fun to walk around and look at everything. It was also nice to walk through main street Benicia. I haven’t spent any real time there in almost two decades. The rest of her visit was very chill. I am always boggled that she wants to come stay with us, we are so boring. The following week was back to school night. I got to meet her teachers and see her classrooms. I wonder if my middle school was as small as hers. It seemed huge to me at the time. I wonder if it would still seem as big to me now. I had treatment that Monday and Tuesday. Nothing super exciting, but I didn’t remember to hydrate properly that week and ended up horribly sick on Thursday. Note to self- hydration that week is a MUST. If you don’t, you will pay dearly for it. That weekend I took Feebs and the Husband to get pedicures. I don’t like having my feet messed with, but my nail guru opened his own shop and I wanted to support him. And they love their daddy and daughter pedicure dates. Feebs had picture day that week, and oh my God, she looked adorable. Thank goodness they did pictures in PE class and hers is 1st period. She wore lipstick and had her hair done up. She looks ridiculously grown, but so pretty. I am happy to report that we did absolutely nothing that next weekend. It was glorious. I took naps, sat and doom scrolled and knit. The Husband and Feebs chilled. It was spectacular. We probably won’t have another weekend like that any time soon, so we enjoyed the hell out of it while we could. The following weekend Feebs and I went to spend time with the Father. It was a really nice visit. We tried a new restaurant and played games. We had dinner with his other. She is a delightful person, but I stand by my confusion of why she stays with him. He really is a terrible boyfriend. Oh well, her choice. That was also a three day weekend, so we got an extra day to relax and decompress. I can’t tell you how much I needed that extra day. I can’t remember exactly when it came up, but at some point during the month, Abs and I got talking about terrible books and wonderful books. We came up with the idea to create a list (of course I suggested a spreadsheet) to document the books that we have read and give them a review. So I created a spreadsheet and shared it with her. I have been having SO MUCH FUN entering books, both from past reading and recent reads. We are commenting on spice level (because of course they are all smut of varying degrees), character and story development, how the narrators are since we are both mostly audiobook girlies, and if we would re-read them. I have also added Sister #2 to the sheet so that she can contribute. I am hoping that Abs shares it with her friends too.
The month was really a good one. I am grateful that my girl is onto a new chapter of her life, and so far is mostly liking it. (Of course homework issues still plague us.) I am grateful that my family was able to get together and enjoy each other. I am grateful that all of my nieces and nephews are doing well and becoming pretty cool people. I am grateful that I have my husband and daughter and they make up my whole heart. I am grateful that my health issues seem to be behind me right now. I know that doesn’t mean they will be gone forever, but I can bask in the wellness that I am experiencing right now.
Here is the updated Bingo card. I am sooo close to my first bingo!
Loves,
M
Mrs. Collins Makes Stuff 