On-the-go knitting project

I love to knit all kinds of projects. But my favorite projects are ones that can easily travel around with me during my day-to-day life. This Shift Cowl has been exactly that. It's easy enough to sit and knit a row or two here and there. This project began as a companion knit for one of my students. She wanted to learn a few techniques and this pattern had a few of them included so we decided to make it. I casted on a few days prior to the lesson to be prepared to teach her. And I haven't stopped knitting it since! It's kept me company drinking coffee in the mornings, gone to the beach a few times, fishing in the canoe, to a trip to Northampton and Amherst for my son's college orientation, around town and last night in Spring Lake as I waited for my son to finish work.

I'm using a combination of three yarns. The pink is "Mewsic" from Green Mountain Spinnery. Green is Cascade alpaca from our farm store. The multicolor is Feederbrook Farm (it's GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!)

The cowl is worked flat and it uses mosaic knitting for the color work. It's a fun way to do color work because you only use one color at a time. The cowl will then be seemed up the back and it looks so easy to wear. I'll be sad when it's over! I'm already thinking about my next one...

What are you working on these days? Any good on-the-go knitting projects in your bag?

 

Read a book...

 

I saw this list posted on a Facebook group I am a member of: "What Should I Read Next". I get a lot of ideas from the group and enjoy recommending books as much as getting recommendations.

I'm not really a book challenge person and this is too many books for me to read in a year. When I looked at the list, I had a lot of books I have read that came to mind, so I'm going to go through it and list books that I have read and would recommend. I'll try to list more recent books. If there are blank ones or you have any recommendations, I would love to hear them!

Here I go...

1.With a color in the name The Yellow Wife

2. Set in a foreign country: A Long Way Down

3. Recommended by a friend: It Ends with Us

4. Part of a Series: The Summer I Turned Pretty

5. That you should have read in school: Great Gatsby

6. On The NY Times Bestseller list: Where the Crawdads Sing

7. Already on your bookshelf: Cutting for Stone

8. With an animal in the name: Water for Elephants

9. From an author you already know: Four Winds

10. About Health and Wellness

11. With a pretty book cover: The Keeper of Lost Things

12. More than 20 years old: The Thornbirds

13. Released in the year you were born: 

14. Published this year: Reminders of Him

15. Translated from another language: My Brilliant Friend

16. With a female protagonist: Olive Again

17. That's a memoir: From Scratch

18. With a one-word title: Brood

19.That was made into a movie: Where the Crawdads Sing

20. Over 500 pages long: New York

21. Under 100 pages long:

22. With a music or art theme: Maybe Someday

23. Involving water: 28 Summers

24. With a green book cover: Evvie Drake Starts Over

25. Set in the 1800s: 

26. With a magical element: The Time Travelers Wife

27. That's a one-hit wonder: The Guernsey Literary of Potato Peel Pie Society

28. About nature: The Four Winds

29. With chapter titles: Punch Me Up to the Gods

30. With an index

31. With a map on the front

32. That you heard about from a co-worker: White Dresses

33. Bought from your local bookstore: The Goldfinch

34. That's a young adult novel: 

35. Only published as an ebook

36. About sports: The Art of Fielding

37. That's a murder mystery: 

38. Featuring the LGBTQ community: This is How it Always Is

39. By an author who shares your name

40. On audiobook read by the author: Broken Horses: Brandi Carlisle

41. That's a Guilty Pleasure: The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc

42. Written by 2 authors

43. Of poetry

44. About business

45. About current events

46. Everyone is talking about: It Ends with Us

47. Based on a real person: Open Book

48. That's a coming of age story: Mary Jane

49. About science

50. That makes you smile: Nora Goes Off Script

Creating Knitters, California Poppy and a Cute Cat

Over the past month I started teaching knitting lessons again. It's been way too long! You all know how much I love to knit. I think I like creating knitters just as much. To see people fumble with yarn and needles at the beginning and then leave with rows of stitches is so rewarding. This week's weather was perfect for outside lessons overlooking the baby alpaca's field.

These two friends left knowing all the basics of knitting and I'm excited to see them join the knitting world!

After lessons (and a full day of work) I enjoyed some quiet time on the porch with Sox.

I planted an entire pack of wildflower seeds early summer and only ONE flower appeared. ONE! Well, it doesn't help that Sox loves to dig and roll around in the flower bed. But this one is so pretty! I did some googling and figured out it's a California Poppy. Apparently it's illegal to pick in California. 

Enjoying the calm and cooler weather today and brought the laptop outside to work. Sox joined me. He's the cutest little coworker. Keeps me company all day long.

I am teaching a past-student some new techniques tomorrow. She wanted to learn a few things and I found the perfect pattern that combined most of them! I've been wanting to knit this Shift Cowl for years and it's the perfect reason and time to make one. I love how it's coming out so far. 

I am knitting with (left to right)...Green Mountain Spinnery "Mewesic", Cascade Alpaca, Feederbrook Farm. The pattern is knitted using mosaic knitting. Very fun to work on!

Summer Knitting

Ahhh, summer knitting. Knitting on the beach, the porch, watching the sunset, while Chase fishes, you get the drift. I knit all year round. I had started this sweater a few months ago but I hadn't been focused on it. I took it out of hibernation and have been knitting on it non-stop the past few days. I plan on knitting this with 3/4 sleeve length. Maybe a Rhinebeck sweater? Not sure yet...

The yarn is from my friend, Paige's yarn shop, Frame & Fiber in Point Pleasant, NJ. It's O-Wool fingering merino wool. It's lovely to work with! That's Paige below, knitting on my sweater! We were together for a 4th of July BBQ at my sisters and she picked it up and knitted a bit! I love that I have friend stitches in there :) She's one of my favorite people on the planet. If you've ever had the pleasure of meeting her, you'll agree with me, I'm sure! 

Hope you're all doing well. We are all healthy again and back to normal life. Which means I'm back in the office twice a week. It's a good thing I guess......I do love working from home but it's a good thing to get dressed and leave the house and talk to other adults!