Monday, October 28, 2019

Inspiration

You guys know that I haven't been knitting in months, thanks to my brain being out of order due to pain and pain meds (Gabapentin has been both a blessing and a curse for me).  I've tried knitting on the socks I'd started before the herniated disc, but it's still not clicking for me.  I did start a very basic beanie on large needles, just to get my hands in back to that knitting movement, but I don't have a pattern and I'm at the point of needing to decrease at the top to finish it, so it's languishing at the moment.

But inspiration has arrived:  Karen and Jimmymeow returned from a trip to Vermont with a sweet surprise for me - yarn from a farm that that they visited:
It's undyed and has more of a sheepy texture than the usual superwash merino yarn that I buy.  I really like it.
See the little bits of dried grass/hay/sheep debris that came off when I wound it?  You can tell it's been minimally processed which adds to the lovely natural color and feel.
Sounds like a fun place to visit!

I started thinking about knitting a classic cabled winter hat, which brought me down the rabbit hole of patterns on Ravelry.  You can search by yarn weight but if you don't have a general idea of what you're looking for, it'll take hours to narrow things down.  Since I wanted cables, but not a charted pattern because I've never learned how to read a chart and now is definitely not the time to start, LOL, it was fairly easy to find a hat that looked cute with a written pattern.

I wound the yarn yesterday, pulled out my needles, and cast on.  I fully expect to make mistakes, be dissatisfied at my fabric (too tight or too loose), undo a lot of it, and possibly restart the entire hat, but that's my normal knitting process and I am thrilled to be in the thick of it, finally.  And all it took was a tapering off of the Gabapentin (still have a couple weeks to go, but the dosage is much less) and some really cool yarn from some really good friends.  Creative, too:
This was attached to the gift bag of yarn - Karen is so clever!

15 comments:

  1. Yay for returning to knitting! I'm so glad you're feeling up to it and look forward to seeing what you create!

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  2. Enjoy your return to the knitting needles and the cool yarn you were gifted. I'll look forward to seeing the finished object. I took last year off and returned to knitting earlier this year with making really simple garter stich baby blankets mindless knitting at its best!

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    1. I am looking forward to finally having a finished object to show! And baby blankets are always so nice to make and give.

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  3. Its so great to hear that you're knitting again! And some wool from Vermont sheep is really nice to have!

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  4. Well, this just makes me happy to read!

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    1. Made me happy to finally get to write something like that! :)

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  5. Vermont, thoughtful friends, and doing normal things are beautiful!

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  6. Such a nice gift! Can't wait to see the end product. You'll do a great job, I know.

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  7. Yay for getting your knitting mojo back!!!! ‘She’s back’.....or at least coming back to normal!!!!

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    1. Haha yeah - more like coming back to a shade of normalcy.

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  8. Wow, what a gorgeous yarn. I love that it's natural and undyed. It's just beautiful. I bet it looks even better in person!

    And I am glad it's working out well to knit with it. YAY!

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    1. I'm still on ribbing - I'm of the "knit ribbing until you are tired of it" before beginning pattern mindset and I think I'll be beginning the pattern today. :)

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