Red Scarf number 3, 456...

 Probably not that high, but it feels like all I knit is red scarves. Well, that's pretty much all I do knit, with the exception of the white cardigan. I was looking at a crochet dress pattern but I don't seem to have appropriate yarn (unbelievable but true). 

Here's another scarf, inspired by the thick and thin ribbed one from the last red scarf post.  

It's a really basic ribbing, 1x1, but with a little twist!

It's a little hard to see, but it's one row of each of the two yarns. One row thick, slide back to the start. One row thin. Turn. One row thick, slide back, one row thin. Super easy!!

When I hung it up for the photos, it seemed to have a hole, but it's just where the thin yarn had been pulled tight across a few stitches.

The texture is really cool. When it's relaxed, it almost has a crocheted feel because the thin yarn retreats an the thick yarn doesn't have anything to hold the stitches tight and in their proper shape. Add some tension, and you can see the stitch definition better.  This scarf took 89 grams.

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out: 89gr + 1756gr = 

Balance:  1845 gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

New Life

 Many years ago I made a beautiful brown lace tank top. It was such an indulgence for me, but it just didn't work out for me. At some point I gave it to Lucy, because she had a pair of brown pants. Recently, she actually wore it to work! I was so happy!

She didn't really want to pose and be on the blog, but how could I not?

I now the pictures are a little fuzzy, but she wasn't as excited as she was when she was 8. The most interesting thing I noticed though, is that she had it on inside out! I looked for the shoulder seams, and there were none. I'm not surprised I grafted the shoulders, but it still looked good around the armholes and neckline. She really thought this was the right side.

It looks so good on her! I'm so thrilled she's wearing it, even if it's inside out!

All You Need is.....Red

 Red, red, red.  I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out of red yarn. Yes, there's other charities to knit for, though one local just posted that some items aren't required for awhile. 

This one I worked on while taking Megan to Thunder Bay; 2 day road trip and a flight home.  96gr

Above--two basic rib stitch scarves, 125gr and 110gr.

Below:  This one is the most recent, it went to Calgary/Banff with me. It's a two yarn brioche/slip rib. It was kind of tricky to set up since it's done flat, on one circular needle. 85gr

One side has the thin yarn as the knit stitches, and you can see the thick yarn being carried

The other side, you basically see only the thick yarn's knit stitches.

Makes for an interesting reversible fabric. You're basically knitting a 4 row pattern:

Row 1--thick yarn, knit every other stitch, slip the purl stitches

Row 2--slide stitches back to tip, use thin yarn and work the purl stitches, slip the thick knits

Row 3--Turn, work the purl stitches with thick yarn and slip the thin knits

Row 4--slide back to tip, use thin yarn to knit the thin knits and slip the thick purls.

It took awhile to post these because I washed the ribbed ones, and there was something in the load that left fuzz all over them. I finally got a sweater shaver and now they look okay.

Currently working on a ribbed one that one row thick yarn, one row thin yarn--again, on circular needles so I can slide the work back as needed. It has a very interesting texture! Almost a crocheted look.

Still haven't bought yarn. Thought I might on our family trip but I was out voted when it came time to choose free time LOL

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out: 416gr + 1340gr =1756gr

Balance:  1756 gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

Back to Red

 I still have the red yarn I bought in the early fall, so I'm still pumping out red scarves for World AIDS Day later this year!

A pretty simple crochet stitch from a stitch dictionary.  I did have to start it several times though. Too wide, take off what the math says should come off. Try again.  Too narrow.  Add back half of what you took off. Why does yarn math do this?!

I realized after I started that if I just crocheted the length, the two ends would match. So I crocheted 3 feet, and stopped. Then I went back to the original chain, and worked the other direction for 3 feet. Just a simple thing but it makes it look so much nicer in the end.  This one took 115 grams.

I also knit up a ribbed hat to use up the rest of the navy yarn from the booties. This one I re-did several times for a variety of reasons. I'm not fond of worsted weight for newborn hats, but it's done. 

I swear, it's navy blue, not slate blue. I guess using my black chest freezer for the backdrop wasn't a good choice.

It took a whopping 26 grams of mystery navy yarn.  

Remember how I had found 3 unstuffed mice, a few blog posts ago?  Well, even though this storage ottoman is quite small, I found a bunch more when I decided I was going to take everything out and see what needed finishing.

Some came out a little wild looking--those two green ones!  One has a squished in nose, the other one has a nose like an alligator gar (a fish), or an anteater!

These took a total of  218 grams.  To stuff them, I used yarn ends, a baby photo prop hat that was in the bin that got wrecked when I washed it, scraps of yarn I had in this bin that I didn't like, etc. And catnip!

Not in the ottoman but in the drawer where I keep some other knitting related stuff were some bear parts. I had previously bagged them, there were two bears plus a body and a leg.  I had some trouble keeping track of parts, and I forgot I had used different sized needles...I had to reknit one leg...I used the first one to stuff the second one! 

I love these guys. I tried to stuff on the looser side so they'd be squishy. They took 70 grams.

I also threw out a hat I had made but had issues with and took partially apart and never got back to it. Just threw that sucker in the trash. No trying to save the yarn (I did like the yarn!). And you know what? It felt good! 

The ottoman is still full though. A bag of mice, a baby set, three bears, an old Christmas tree skirt section, and a bag from Lewiscraft...which closed in 2007 (I actually thought it was much sooner than that). I think this came from a friend of my mom, or my mother-in-law. There's a pair of very tall light blue socks, one finished, one almost finished, and a pair of burgundy gloves, also almost finished. I guess I might as well finish them. It might show a difference, but to someone that needs these items, I'm sure they won't mind. Both are too big for me.  

So in the need-to-finish list, I have:

• these socks and gloves
• Christmas tree skirt (started in 2000 I think)
• 3 Sophie purses that need handles attached (the pattern came out in 2004, and I worked on one while in the hospital having a baby so that would have been Megan in 2005). 
• several baby sweaters that need buttons

I've also started on another red scarf! 

I also got rid of a giant skein of yarn I bought from the last time I went to the Spinrite sale in 2009.  I had quite a few people interested and some even wanted me to ship it. Perhaps I should have asked more than $5.  It was huge, but needed winding and had some over dye on some of it.  I figured no one would want it!  I'm not including it in my yarn totals because it was from before I started keeping track and really, it would have made my numbers so skewed.

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out: 115+ 26 + 218 + 70 + 681gr = 1110gr

Balance:  1110 gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

Something other than Red

 I'm taking a few sick days, and blogging is something I can manage.

These are NOT slate blue.  They are totally navy. Weird. They're Free Flat Knit Baby Socks. I used Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand taht I found in the stash. It's a "Medium 4", 16st/22rows on 5.5mm/9. I used 4.5mm. I really wouldn't want to go with a smaller needle. I casted on flat but then knit them in the round. You do end up with a fake seam at the back, but I think it looks nicer than most seams I see. I sewed the sole as per the instructions. If I do them again, I will cast on 2 less than half the stitches, then pick up in those stitches and go back to the start. On the first row, increase into each of the centre 4 stitches.  These were really quick to make, and I love how they are deep for the instep. Babies have thick feet. Like, there's no flat part on the top of their feet, they just angle up from the toes to the calf LOL.  However, there are so many baby bootie patterns out there, I like to try different patterns.  These took 42gr. I'm trying to use up the left over yarn on a hat but I just don't think I have enough. 

This is the second pair of mittens I made with the Country Style DK yarn. They're a size 4 and I remembered to do the plain rows after the ribbing before the thumb gusset! They took 47gr.  Gram by gram I am chipping away at the stash!

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out:  89gr + 592gr =    681gr

Balance:  681gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

New Mitten Outlet

 Winter hit Ontario. We were spoiled last year, and made up for it this February. 

We even had a true snow day--not just no buses, but schools were closed!!

The school I work at one afternoon a week noticed a need for winter gear and other school supplies for students. The principal took an unused small room/closet and created the Lion's Locker, where students can go on their own to grab mittens, a sweater, etc. I knew this would be a great place to donate my bag of mittens that I used to take to work when I was a lunch supervisor. I've added a few pairs in the last couple years as I was working at a small school, but I'm not there much anymore and they don't have kindergarten. I made another pair last week, and started a pair this week. I have so much yarn!

52grs, it's Sirdar Country Style DK weight. It's only 15% wool, but I double stranded it and knit it fairly snug. However, I didn't like the thumbs! They seem too long and thin. After, I started the next pair and I realized I misread the instructions and forgot the 4-8 plain rows before starting the thumb gusset.  Oops. The other pattern I use starts the thumb gusset right after the ribbing, but at a slower rate of increases. They'll still keep someone warm!

If you have small amounts of yarn that's a wool blend, I highly recommend making mittens to donate. Superwash wools are ideal, but even wool blends can be warm (as long as they don't get too wet). Knit slightly tighter than you would normally. You can even turn them inside out and pick up stitches at the top of the ribbing and knit a liner (I wouldn't knit the thumb on a liner, unless I made them bigger). 

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out:  52gr + 540gr = 592gr

Balance:  592gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

Red, Pink, Purple

 It's been an interesting summer. I'm back to daily supply (substitute teaching) list. Let's leave it at that. 

Another red scarf in the bag. This one is crochet, a worsted weight, 4 rows of Double Crochet, and 2 rows of Double Crochet in the summer fine yarn I've used before (I have a giant cone). As I worked it, the fine yarn sections would contract inwards, and the scarf had this interesting bubble effect. It made it rather narrow though but I didn't know if blocking hard would straighten it out. I stretched and steamed and it seems to be behaving now.  99grams.

I finished the really large shawl I've been working on since mid-March (I think). I don't remember exactly where I found the pattern but it's a drop stitch lace, similar to the shrug I made last summer). You increase on one edge until you get to the width you want, then knit a wide section, then decrease. I wanted a large stole to wrap around me and almost be blanket like. It was really hard to stretch it out on the needles to check the width though. It's two strands of fine coned yarn (Spinrite tent sale?), and the black cone has a sticker indicating it's likely 50% wool, 50% acrylic and made in Spain. For those that understand the numbers, it's a 2/16. The other strand is a white and black plied together, totally unknown fiber. Originally I was going to use just it, but recognized that would take me a long time LOL.

I could have made it a little bit wider, but that straight section felt like it was taking forever! The decrease section got faster and faster, but I decided I didn't want to wind more balls of the yarn together so that I didn't end up winding too much and have a ball left over that I would never use, so I was carrying around two large cones of yarn. In the end, while the shawl is quite long, it's almost too long in the inc/dec sections. So, after washing and blocking I decided to cut off part of the narrowing end. 

Yup. Snip snip along the top of one pattern repeat. Gently pick out the stitches until back at one complete row and then I went back a few more rows to get to the start of the repeat. I casted off in pattern. This makes one long increasing section, a wide section, and a decreasing section that comes to a blunt end. 

It was at 299gr before I chopped the end off, that took off 12 gr. I'm going to keep it as 300gr because it's not like I can re-use that 12gr.

I'm also working on tiny bears for a local charity. I did two in a marled purple. I thought I grabbed the next size needles for the second purple bear but it seems I might have actually grabbed the next size smaller. They're the Bill and Ben Twin Bears from www.craftbit.com. That pattern sucks though, so I re-wrote it. If you'd like a copy, click HERE. There still might be some errors, so just let me know!

Disco Bear on the right. Sometimes they get their own personality. I see I forgot the mouth on the one on the left!

I got a large donation of yarn and the pink chenille and the purple were in it. The charity requests no animal fibers. I could not find a mid brown in my stash that wasn't at least some bit wool, but it was washable....I didn't want to risk it anyway. I don't like this brown but oh well.

Cut little bunny tail and freestyled floppy ears

Disco bear LOL. I don't know what happened when I sewed him together. The lower half looks like the toddler potty dance, the upper half is waving to the teacher to get their attention. 100gr for all the bears.

I bought 6 balls of red worsted yarn from Facebook Marketplace for more red scarves.

That's 1186gr of new yarn that I don't think I'm going to get knit this fall, but I'll be ready to go for next year. I was rooting through my bins and found a few balls of red Astra I had bought when I was making custom Christmas stockings. It's been awhile. Do I dare use it for scarves?

I've also been sewing but I'll save that for another day.  I've been trying to blog this post for a month but Blogger, on this account, has not been working for inserting pictures on my laptop. I can use a different account, and post pictures in the blog I have on that account (Ontteachertracy if you're into music teaching). I was down in the basement doing my morning yoga and thought I'd give the desktop a try. So at least I can post this way. It feels so retro LOL. Stuck in the cold (Air conditioning) basement!

Oh, and I'm test crocheting something and needed to buy yarn for that but I'll save that for another post.

Yarn In:  1182gr
Yarn Out: 1005gr + 500gr = 1505gr
Balance: 323gr more OUT than in
Costs: $20

This is such a falsified total LOL. All those bears were from donated yarn which I didn't count in my Yarn In total LOL.

Red Scarves

 I had intended to knit as many red scarves for World AIDS Day as I could this year. I've contributed in the past, but then I think they weren't collecting during Covid, and then life moved on. I don't have a ton of red yarn, but I do have some, and I do have a giant cone of very fine red yarn.

This one is two different thick, textured yarns; one was a Bernat yarn, like Illusion, or Homespun. 134grams.

I did a brioche, so it's pretty thick and dense. Cozy.

This one is a generic red worsted weight acrylic, knit 4 rows, then 2 stockinette rows of the very thin yarn. Total, 83gr. 

One edge has kind of a pointy effect; the other edge is where the yarns were carried up and is straighter. 

I will be making some more. I think I have enough for a thickish one, maybe with random yarns, and who knows how many with the very thin yarn but I'll machine knit those.

Yarn In:  0gr
Yarn Out: 217gr
Balance: 217gr more OUT than in
Costs: $0

It's March?

 I can't believe it's March. 

I have been knitting--we've had several road trips to the kids' university/colleges, my mom's place, etc. But nothing has gotten finished. 

I had some sort of reaction to a scarf that I made a year (?) ago. It's mainly wool (I think), and I had started using a retinol product, and always made sure to do my neck. I broke out in a rash...weirdly, I had been using the product for a month, and I'd been using the scarf for a couple months, so I don't know what happened. I stopped both, and have now restarted the retinol with no issue. I haven't worn the scarf again. It's a fairly rough wool.

I have been working on brioche mittens to match the hat I made myself, but every time I knit them (in the truck), I get congested. The hat makes my forehead itch. Sigh. I've become very tender in my old age.

Anyway. 

This school year, I was hired as a 0.5 LTO position--mornings only, teaching music from grades 4-8 at the school I accidentally worked full time at last year. In January, I was asked to also work the afternoons, teaching math and science to grade 7/8. The science was no problem, but I can not do math. It was supposed to be a week. They tried to find a teacher to replace another teacher so she could do this job, but there were no applicants. So the teacher that was the afternoon 0.5 LTO (the other half of my position--neither of us could do the whole position), was going to take over, but they had to find someone to take over her English classes. I ended up spending all of January teaching math and science. Often, another teacher would come in to do the math while I covered their class. However, the kids were a challenge to start with, and got worse as the month went on (mainly one class). I had an actual, on the ground, fist fight break out near the end of January. So I said that was it, Jan 31. I'm back to half days, with a few afternoons also supplying. Behaviours have gotten terrible. It's sad. 

Then, just before the long weekend in Feb (like, Feb 15?) I found out the teacher I was replacing, was going to come back early!! WTF?! I had planned the entire year, with projects that build upon what they learned. I was learning digital composition to teach them! The original teacher is more old school--paper and pencil, listening logs to boring songs. She's been on a return to work program, so she's been coming in every other morning for two weeks, but not in the classrooms yet. She'll start that soon, observing, helping with small groups, etc. I told two of the grade 7/8 classes today, and many were almost as upset as me. I was really looking forward to "graduating them" since I've known them for 4 or so years. Other intermediate teachers only know them 2 years; I got to know them earlier because of being a supply teacher. 

I had been thinking of opening a Teachers Pay Teachers store this summer, but I'm going to start early. It sounds like my last day of this position will be March 22. We have a week off after next week. The store will be called Stay Musical. I have started a blog  and can be found on Twitter with the same name as the blog (OntTeacherTracy). On Instagram, I am www.instagram.com/staymusical_ I'm not giving up on this blog, but considering how little I knit, there might not be a lot of posts. It's been an awesome 18 years!

Finished Some Things in the Nick of Time

 I really wanted to finish up some projects for the end of the year. However, I found new projects that created a bad case of startitis. A road trip to my Mom's and a couple late nights though and somethings got finished. 

Woah, using profile mode on my phone makes the glass table look like it's not there! That's kind of freaky.

The hat is Triangles Brioche hat, available for free. I recommend having some brioche experience. I may have made the brim triangles a bit short because I misunderstood the pattern.

I used Noro "Kuryeon" and Peace Fleece, I think 4.5mm needles and I knit the smaller size. It fits perfect, perhaps a teeny tiny bit loose on the forehead but it's okay.

Rob said I needed a pompom because it'll make me look taller. I dug out the pompom maker (from a Klutz kit).

I used both strands together. I stopped midway through the first half, cut the yarn, then started the second half. Wrapped it full, then went back to the first half. I wanted the yarn to blend more, and not create blotches.

When you cut it open, it looks terrible. It's more football shaped and scraggly. Trim it up (somewhat aggressively!). Then swing it around by the long strand so it gets fluffed up. Then steam! Yes! Especially with natural fibers. The steam opens it up and makes it fluffy and dense.

I sewed it on but it was really floppy. I watched some YouTube videos on how to fix this but I wasn't happy with them. Instead I used a button inside and thread the yarn ends through the button so I could pull them tight and knot, and not have the knot work through the knitting. It seems to have worked well. 96 grams.

I finished the hat in the last 1km of the drive to my Mom's (did the pompom at home). So I went to the back up project, the mitts that have been in my purse for months. As I approached the top of the palm, I had a sneaky suspicion that there wouldn't be enough yarn. So, because they fit me, I switched to making them handwarmers, with ribbing. I tapered the pinky side because I have short pinkies. I'm not planning on keeping these though LOL. 58grams.

I had planned the next project before I left home, so I was prepared. I had somehow found Hyperbolic Mobius Fidget toy.  Well, isn't that cool. I wish I had my own classroom so I could keep a stash of these. The first one, I did have to start it three times LOL. The third one, I had to rip out after 2" because I had forgotten the increases. Once you figure it out, it's easy! 

The first two, I did this weird yarn for the last round. It has these 2" caterpillars of fluff every 6". Instead of trying to crochet them, I treated them like a bobble (crocheted the start of the fluff with a SC, skip ahead to the end of the fluff, crochet a SC into the same stitch). The last row made it a bit too thick though. I should have not crocheted as many rows before doing that. The third one, I used a plain black for the last row and made tiny bobbles. I figure this way, I can hand it to a student, and say "find the start of the black row" and they can work it through the centre, driving themselves either crazy or calm. Please watch a video of these fidgets in action. While I did finish that last black row today, I'm going to include it in 2023 totals. I just didn't want to get up last night to get the black yarn LOL. 70gr + 31gr 

Alright. Year end totals. 

2023:

Yarn In:  0g
Yarn Out: 255gr + 620gr = 875gr
Balance: 875gr more OUT than in
Costs: $0

2022:

Yarn In: 940gr

Yarn Out:  1264gr 

Difference: 324gr more OUT than in

Costs: $28.78/365 days = $0.08/day

2021:

Yarn In:  3109gr

Yarn Out:  1053gr + 4586gr =  5369gr

Balance: 2530 gr more OUT than in

Cost:   $44.66, 365 days, $0.12/day

2020:

Yarn In:   6477gr
Yarn Out:  11482gr
Balance: 5005gr gr more OUT than in!
Costs:  $140.68/365 days = $0.39 per day

2019                                                                          2018

Yarn In:  2485.5gr                                                  Yarn In: 1501gr

Yarn Out: 3384gr                                                   Yarn Out:  4142 gr
Balance:  898gr more OUT than IN                      Balance: 2641 gr OUT
Costs: $90.24 = $0.25/day                                     Costs: $41.39 = $0.11/day

2017                                                                      2016
Yarn In: 2442gr                                                     Yarn In:  11 223gr
Yarn Out:  4900gr                                                 Yarn Out: 11 260gr
Balance: 2458gr more OUT                                 Balance: 37gr OUT
Costs:   $67.30 = $0.18/day                                  Costs:  $507.27 = $1.39/day

2015                                                                      2014

Yarn In:  9989gr                                                   Yarn In:  10 076gr

Yarn Out:  9272gr                                                Yarn Out:  8061gr
Balance:  717gr more IN                                     Balance:  2015gr more IN
Costs:  $430.10 = $1.18/day                                Costs:  $511.49 = $1.40

2013                                                                     2012
Yarn In: 16 153gr                                                 Yarn In: 21 096
Yarn Out:  16 805gr                                             Yarn Out:  16 849gr
Balance:  625gr more OUT                                  Balance:  4247gr more IN
Costs:  $378.91 = $1.04/day                                 Costs:  524.43 = $1.43/day

I was surprised last year at how little I bought, and knit. Well, this is my first $0 year. I wish I had started keeping track sooner. These 12 years do represent a huge range of life situations. I was doing some custom knitting, some for sale (which rarely sold after I knit it; I gave away a huge lot of items to my MIL to sell/donate at her church's bazaar this past November); I've done a lot of charity knitting. Some years I had lots of money to spend on yarn, some years I didn't. This past year, I could have spent a lot--but I didn't have time to knit! 

Twelve Year Totals and Averages:

Yarn In:  85 491gr

    Average: 7 124gr

Yarn Out:  93 663gr

    Average:  7805gr

Balance: 8172gr more OUT than in

Costs: $2765.25

    Average:  $230.44 or $0.63/day

I wonder what this year will bring. I'm still drawing a lot. I'm working on creating digital resources for work, and potentially to sell. I'm hoping to sew more (I just bought a bunch of fabric to try to use up some fabric LOL). I'm going to keep knitting. The charity I used to donate blankets to has stopped, so I'm not sure what I'll knit. I was going to make some fingerless gloves to go with the hat from this post but really, the yarn is thick and they should be mittens. The fingerless gloves I wear daily are from the end of 2015 and are in sock yarn. I still love them even though they've faded. Heavy worsted weight for fingerless gloves seems a bit wrong. Clunky. I could knit a scarf but I really don't need one. More bears? Gnomes?