Another month down. And October is the busiest month of the year and is always packed. We always have something the first week of the month (generally it is Mendocino), then our anniversary, then the back to back train of birthdays, then Halloween. I am always exhausted by November 1. I am happy to report that I have made some stuff this month. I finished some projects, ended some projects, and launched into some new projects. It has been going pretty great and this will be a very long post.
Finished Objects:
Remake socks for Feebs using my vanilla sock pattern. I knit these (for the 3rd time) using the yarn from my old socks and a contrast heel, toe, and cuff.
Ribbed hats for teacher gifts using my self drafted ribbed hat pattern. Technically, I finished one on November 1, but I am just going to call it an October win. The yarn is Yarnalia Marvel held double with Dauruma Silk Mohair.
New cast ons:
The Traveler, by Andrea Mowery
Tonya Leg Warmers, by Victoria Chaplina
Works in progress:
Shatar vest
Knitting my Memories blanket
Advent day 25- apron
Goals for next month:
Finish the Advent gifts- apron and book marks
Sew the sleeve hoses
Cast on a hat for the Husband
Start thinking about 2026 goals.
I am so happy that I finished those socks for Feebs. Weaving in the last end felt like I had climbed a moderately sized mountain. I knit the original socks for me when she was just a bean and I didn’t have my sock formula down yet. I rarely wore them because they were too loose and the cuff was too short. They sat in my closet for a long time. When she saw them and loved them, I thought I needed to remake them in a smaller size. Little did I know how much Princess Thunder-Toes’ feet would grow. Knitting them a second time and finding that they were too small for her completely sucked. I am proud of myself for not just scrapping them. I have knit them a little shy of fitting me. That makes them too big for her now, but I feel confident that they will fit her before too long. The ribbed hat pattern is so easy and goes so quickly. I feel pride every time I knit one, because I figured out the pattern. But, when you have to knit 5 in a row it gets incredibly boring. I am happy they are done and I don’t have to think about them again. I started the apron project, and I think it is turning out so damn cute. I have no idea if it will be too baby for her, but I love the combination of the kitty print and the polka-dots. I know that my sewing machine isn’t appreciating the areas with 6-8 layers of fabric, due to the double layer, plus double fold bias tape. In fact, I had to take old girl apart completely and clean her because the needles kept bending. It turns out that I had broken a needle at some point and the tip was still in the bobbin carriage. It was also filthy, so it was good that it was cleaned out. The instructions say not to oil the machine, but the YouTube video I watched showed the guy oiling it, so who knows. Sadly, I got to the final stages of the apron and my machine just quit. It was starting to eat the fabric, so I had to stop right in the home stretch. It was incredibly frustrating. Luckily, I had found a travel/ kid size Janome sewing machine, still in the box, at Urban Ore a few years ago. I bought it for travel sewing (like I am that dedicated to sewing…) or for Feebs if she got a hankering to learn. I have to take my machine to get fixed, but I will bust out the smaller one to use in hopes of completing my projects before I lose steam. I finally found a couple of knitting projects that 1.) I am excited to knit (hooray!) and 2.) Use up a good chunk of yarn. I cast on the legwarmers using some of the Eco+ yarn that never seems to run out. I hope to use up at least one of the two remaining balls of that yarn. The second project took some serious Ravelry searches. I wanted to use a sweater quantity worth of yarn, and found a gorgeous knitting pattern that uses sport weight yarn. I reviewed the pattern info and it showed sizes XS- XL. I paid $9 for the pattern. I print it out and and go to start highlighting my size info and find that it is only in size XS. Darling, I am not an XS. I have sent a message to the designer, but have had no response. This really pisses me off. That was not a cheap pattern and it was false advertising. I don’t know if I can report her to Ravelry, but I will try. That is crap. So my search for a pattern recommenced. I now wanted to use sport weight yarn and found that there were a lot of The Traveler sweaters made. So, I jumped onto the bandwagon and bought the pattern. I was going to use the Houndstooth Fiber purple yarn for the XS sweater, but I wouldn’t have enough yarn for The Traveler. Instead I decided to use Knitpicks Recycled Alpaca yarn. I bought that yarn for a long cabled poncho with buttons on the side. Once I bought everything for it, I fell out of love with the pattern and shelved it. I am hopeful that this pattern will use up the bulk of the yarn. I don’t know if you noticed, but I no longer have the Kaylen Mesh Shawl under Works in Progress. I didn’t make the deadline of Sister #3’s birthday and the more I thought about it, the less I thought she would want another shawl. That woman owns every piece of clothing she has ever had and a million and six accessories. I finally sat down and ripped it out. It just didn’t make sense to keep going with it. I am also pondering ripping out Knitting my Memories and starting over with a different design. I am still very much considering adding a light neutral color and knitting hexipuffs. I like the idea of them and I think the design could come out really freaking cute. I could do it like Retro Claude and make groups of flowers to attach. I could also wait and finish all of the hexies and arrange them in a way to get a cool faded striping pattern. I don’t want to spend a $1m dollars on contrast yarn, and I am not having much luck finding cones of natural color superwash yarn. I may wait till closer to Christmas and check out the Knitpicks holiday sales. Another cool thing that happened is I found a ton of t-shirt yarn at a craft thrift store in Berkeley. I really want to make a crocheted handbag like I saw Amazing-ish Grace make for her friend’s birthday (Loose Ends Triangle Tote, though I accidently bought the Dusk Bag). I am not great at crochet, but I would like to give it a try. I probably bought enough yarn to make 12 bags, but… Oh well. I have never done something like this before and I don’t want to run the risk of running out. I won’t let myself start on it until after all Christmas making is complete.
October was it’s usual brand of craziness. We generally start the month out with our Mendocino trip, but we had to mix it up this year due to conflicting schedules and as it turns out, a family wedding. The wedding was in Sonora and wow, was that a chaotic trip. We left after work on Friday and headed up. We ended up staying at the modern day Bates Motel with a plethora of problems. We didn’t eat or drink enough the entire weekend (oh, did I end up paying for that!). And the weirdest thing happened to me emotionally. I loved Sonora when the Parents lived there. I had dreams of getting a job at the prison and moving up there and buying a little cottage in the woods. When I found out that the wedding was happening there, I was so excited. Fast forward to actually being up there, and I got absolutely bitch-slapped with sadness. It was crazy! As we drove around the town, I remembered where I was when they lived there, where they were when we lived there and all of the unhappy memories came down on me like an avalanche. I had not anticipated feeling like this AT ALL and didn’t know how to process it. The weekend was pretty crazy and I couldn’t wait to go home. The wedding was lovely, though. The following week was treatment. Due to the aforementioned malnourishment and dehydration, the nurses could not find a viable vein on either day. I had a total of six IVs over the two days. It sucked. I will NOT make that mistake again. Then I took the Mother to a throat specialist and I got to see the inner-workings of her esophagus, which was pretty cool. The following day I went to Reb Bluff to see the red-headed badass and help her for the weekend. The Female O came up on the Friday and we got a lot done around the house. It is so great to see my girls thriving. The following weekend was the Husband’s birthday celebration weekend. We spent Saturday frolicking and enjoying him. We went to breakfast with Feebs and the Mother, then they went to her house for a sleepover. The Husband and I went to Mare Island and then to Santa Rosa. Little did I know at the time, but I ended up leaving my prescription glasses at the restaurant in Santa Rosa. I realized it when I went to use them on Monday and they were no where to be seen. I can’t remember all that happened, but that week was incredibly Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events. It was crazy. That Friday we ended up back in Santa Rosa so that I could pick up my glasses. Ridiculous. After that, I went to have sleep over with the Mother for her birthday. We spent all day Saturday together, plotting out her kitchen. Then we went to Horatio’s, which I hadn’t been to since Grandpa was alive. It was still very good, and I will take the Husband on our next date night. The last week of the month was spirit week at work. We did stripes on Monday, onesies on Tuesday, denim on Wednesday, red carpet on Thursday, and Halloween on Friday. It was so fun and I was really happy with how many people participated. For Halloween, my group were the characters from Inside Out. Naturally, I was Disgust. She is the role I was born to play.
The month was busy, but still very good. I am grateful that I got to celebrate another wedding anniversary (13), another year for the Husband, and another year for the Mother. There was a lot of time spent with my favorite people and that always makes me happy. Work was really busy, but feel like I am starting to get a lot done again. I am not nearly as foggy as I was even three months ago. I am grateful that my health seems to have stabilized. I am grateful for the people that I love. I am excited to see what the end of the year has in store for us.
Loves,
M
Mrs. Collins Makes Stuff 