My Mom Got A Dog, or How We Got Here

If you follow me and Madeline on Instagram, perhaps you have noticed that I've been tagging my posts with a new location.  I left Chicago in December for the Hamptons of the Midwest.  Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, about eighty miles away.  Forty miles from Milwaukee.  I've been working in both locations over the last month.  Why did I do it?  Because the struggle to afford to live in Chicago became too much.  It was hard as two people sharing an apartment, but then the Man decided to leave us.  It was misery all around.  The apartment, unlivable, became unaffordable, and I couldn't afford to move.  So, I had to let go of some possessions, and some moved into storage.  I'm in a small temporary space while I lick my wounds.  I've done my best to try to make a furnished space home.  It's hard for a collector to be seperated from her collections.
I have said for years that I wished I could live in Wisconsin, it's beautiful.  It's the place of happy memories for me (although many are from road trips with the Man), and my mother lives here.  I see my mom almost every day, and Madeline stays with her when I'm working.  No longer do I have anxiety about the amount of hours I left her in a space that didn't feel safe (the Chicago apartment).  She now spends much of her time in a beautiful space.  I do miss the Man, he was my best friend besides Mad, and we had been together for twenty years.  We still talk from time to time.
I'm trying to view all this change as a new opportunity to be creative.  In my little safe place, I'm knitting more, and finally working on the Doggie Knits revival after wanting to for years.
As miserable as 2018 was, I did make the sweater(s) and quilt of my life.  The sweaters are The Twigs, and a Madeline version.  Those sweaters are just perfection for me. The quilt is one I started for my niece maybe ten years ago when she got her first apartment.  I set all the blocks aside, and put it together to be her wedding gift when she got married last May.   I don't know if I'll ever make a quilt that I think is as beautiful.
So that's the story.  I'm going to do my best to make a real home here.

2018, repeat 2017

More the same.  More dog sweaters. I've been thinking about some goals for this year.   Knit wise, the biggest is publishing the Doggie Knits designs as PDFs for individual download.  It was a goal for last year, but I really didn't have time, or make an effort to put aside time to do it.
For my personal knitting, I want to focus on finishing projects.  I have some warm weather garments that are needed in my wardrobe that I want to focus on beginning in March so I have them finished in time for wearing.  I also have plenty of sock yarn stashed away.  I desperately need socks.

My favorite sweaters have been taking a beating.  The worst is my Wake.  It's had some moth damage, and the elbows on the left sleeve have needed repair twice.  It can't take the friction from being rubbed against the arm rest of my car when I drive, which is a lot.  I used to knit a lot of vests in a previous work life where I wore a lab coat.  Now I think vests might be the answer for my rideshare job.  For years I've wanted to knit a fair isle vest--this should be the year I make it a goal.  I have been intimidated by color selection.  I could do something in Loft, because that color palatte all works together, or I might just purchase a kit from Ysolda's website.

Mad is wearing the first finished piece of 2018.  My own design, in a colorblock/easel combination.  The yarn is Harrisville Turbine, in the colors Barn Door and Farwell.  They have sport weight in the same palate, which would be fun to do a marl, or a consideration for my fair isle vest.

Because Austerity

I


Austerity measures in place here at the Lucky Penny Headquarters.  I've pared down my yarn consumption big time.  I think all the years before I was making purchases based on the thought that one day I might not be able to purchase yarn.  So, there is a big surplus.  Over the last few years my purchases were more driven by buying for a specific project instead of just buying a sweater quantity for something that I might make in the future.

I saw a sample of this piece at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival in September and I couldn't stop thinking about it.  All my purchases at the festival this year were for finishing projects that I had started, and one that I had planned for and needed another color.  I had all of the yarn to make this cowl in my stash or leftover from other projects.  It's the Turnagain by Julie Hoover, from Brooklyn Tweed's fall 2012 collection.  There's not many projects up on Ravelry and I don't understand why.  It's a lot of kitchener stitch at the end to finish it off, but other than that, it's just knitting.  I love this thing.  I have Loft leftovers from my Wake, my Woodfords, and a marled sweater that I knit for Madeline.
The problem is that now I want another, in a grellow type of color way.   I must finish a sweater that uses some Sweatshirt Loft so I can use it for Turnagain number two.

Five Years of Madness

Five years ago, the Man and I drove to Northville, Michigan to add Madeline to our family.  She was in rough shape.  I was pretty raw from the recent death of Piccolo, and not sure what our new relationship would turn out to be.  They are all different.  Mad has proven to be an excellent, adorable companion.  Her funny personality makes people happy.  I'm pretty much obsessed with her, which may explain the explosion of sweaters.  Every day I try to work hard to be a better mommy to her.

Sweater weather is slowly returning to Lucky Penny HQ.  This is another easel treatment that I knit with Blackberry Ridge wool, colors Firecracker and Mill Pond.  I could easel a few more.

Doggie Easel

This is the sweater that was featured on the Mason-Dixon Knitting page.  (letters, 8/10/2017).  Yes, Madeline has many sweaters.  Instead of using Periscope to feature them in my annual Sweater Weather Month, this year I'm going to feature them in Instagram Stories.  To say that I'm obsessed at this point might be an understatement.  I'm thinking I need to re-channel my energies a bit to build my retail inventory back up.  As frustrating as I found shows to be, I find myself kind of missing them.  I still want to believe that Lucky Penny Hand Made will become a more sustainable enterprise.  Because that's what in my heart, I really want to do.

Mommy and Me

I finished, and posted this project to Instagram last month.  What a thrill to have it shared on one of my favorite knitting web magazines,  Mason-Dixon Knitting (see Letters, 8/10/17). 
I have been inspired to do an Easel treatment to another dog sweater, and shopped my stash to knit another Mommy and Me out of some Briar Rose Fibers Fourth of July that I've had for more than ten years.  Because austerity.
We've had another Summer of Misery at HQ.  Mad has had some back/muscle issues requiring laser and acupuncture treatments.  So her mommy's checkbook is on fire.  How do we even dig ourselves out of this hole to move?
I did purchase some yarn to knit a sweater at Stitches Midwest a few weeks ago, because, I'm an addict.  But today, I was in a yarn shop browsing for maybe thirty minutes and bought nothing.
I have stash for many sweaters.

July is for Finishing

Major blog neglect happening, because adulting is hard.  Especially if you live with one that is more or less a child.  I have to work on finally making an exit from this headquarters that has proven to be an unwelcoming and dangerous place that I can't call home.  The rent was raised yet again, so the hole I have to dig myself out of to accomplish a move has gotten deeper.  It will be Madeline and I going it alone, which I welcome, although in moves past, the Man has turned up after a few days or weeks.  I don't want that to happen again.
One more reason to hate this place--besides the other pests, there are moths.  I have had to discard some knitted pieces and yarn.  Things that could be salvaged were put into the freezer to kill anything lingering.  I hadn't seen this item for a long time, it was under a pile of stuff, so I checked it.  No evidence.   This is the Green Sweater of Sunday Holm/Elizabeth Zimmermann fame, which I knit in 2010 after going to Knitting Camp.  The style, color, and sport weight yarn still speak to me.  I'm working on just finishing projects this month, and this has moved to the top of the list, as it is one of the oldest unfinished objects that I have.

Now For Some Knitting Content

New mitts on a fresh manicure from a few weeks ago.  I used the Earl Grey pattern by Bristol Ivy as a jumping off point, and used the helical stripe technique from Mason Dixon knitting for the stripes.  The colors chase each other around, stopping three stitches short from the end of the round.  It prevents the seam that occurs when changing colors each round.  I turned the piece inside out so the purl side was public, and then worked the thumbs purl wise.  These are Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, colors Artifact, Fauna, and a few rounds of Hayloft when the Fauna ball went missing.  I decided to keep the imperfection when the Fauna cake re-apppeared.
I've been working like crazy.  Still broke, because after my car mishap, one of my molars shattered, resulting in a somewhat emergency dental visit that included a root canal, not covered by insurance.  When properly medicated with Xanax,  I don't care what they do in my mouth.  I found a dental practice that I really like, super nice and with a gentle touch.
My new diversion is the Hulu subscription that I got so I could watch The Handmaid's Tale.  I read the book many years ago, and the series goes deeper into the characters and relationships.  I would like to read the book again.