Cat Mad Crochet

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

How is it almost June? Time is flying by at an amazing clip. I’ve been working on the shawl but am still reveling in finishing the doily. Never again with doilies for me. I cannot make another. Happily, the work on the shawl, which is nothing like a doily, goes on and goes well. 

I finally finished the first cone of thread. I was beginning to think it was a magical thing that would never run out. I swear the first half of the cone was worked into the shawl faster than the second, and I worked on the shawl more steadily after the first half of the cone was gone. Perhaps my concept of half is skewed. The whole cone also went way farther than I thought it would, which is awesome, but also means I may have purchased the third cone unnecessarily. Oh well. Another project already to go I guess. Perhaps there is enough thread for a narrow rectangular shawlette sort of thing.

The empty cone has gone off for the chinchillas to destroy. They seem very amused by this turn.

I did the math for the border I want to put on. The first and second bits are based on three stitch repeats, which will be fine because the original stitch pattern follows a three stitch gap between rows on the sides and I’m pretty sure I can fudge the short edges. Wait! No it doesn’t. It follows a four stitch repeat, which the first bit agrees with but the second bit will need more math and some sort of greatest common something or other. Could be least common. I don’t know. The numbers need to hold hands and make nice is what I am saying, which means math needs to be done. 

The last part of the border is based on an eight stitch repeat. I think this means I have to have an edge stitch count in a number divisible by 24. Of course, I also have to take into account the number of stitches I will be adding for each corner as I work through the border. I will get there. It’s just going to sit in my mind as a nebulous, unfathomable number until I decide to run the math. I will, invariably, utterly flub that number but not know until I have to create the last rows of the border on the fly. This is when my crochet gets the feeling of being held together with wishes and moonbeams, and I grow uneasy that the border will dissolve in harsh sunlight because the truth of its construction will be revealed.

It makes no sense. I think it anyway. Here we are.

The circles and the horrors of our time continue. Some days making a little circle feels quite trite, yet I keep going. 

I took my mother-in-law to a doctor’s appointment yesterday and, while she was being seen, took myself off to the resident LYS. I have not been to an actual yarn store in a while because no one near me carries the Malabrigo lace weight yarns I love, so I was a bit surprised by what I found. Why is everything superwash? I do not like superwash. And if it isn’t superwash, it has nylon added “for durability”. Listen, leave the nylon out and I’ll just make another whatever it is when the first one wears out slightly before one with nylon would. It’s fine. Save me the plastics and contaminates, please. At least I can compost the one without nylon, and it will not leave a weird nylon husk of itself to be found and analyzed in generations to come. 

I am happy to report that I did find some yarn.

The pinks will pair with the brown for a shawl and the mustard color is going to be a scarf or a cowl. It’s Juniper Moon Farms’ Findley, which is a 50% merino and 50% silk blend in a two ply lace weight. There are nearly 800 yards of yarn in each ball, so I can do a lot with these. I’ll just tuck them in the stash for now so they can get cozy, and I can think about stitch patterns.

It’s been raining, so the seedlings haven’t needed me. Hannah has most of them planted, anyway, so they are no longer mine to care for. I’m an inside plant woman for the most part. The airplants I care for are doing very well and back to gracing the windowsills since the threat of frost is past us. I hope.

It’s been cold along with the drizzly rain, so Meg has needed extra snuggles, which is never a bad thing.

May your week be pleasant and your yarn never tangle! Happy crafting.