“endingย to keep a firm hold of something; clinging orย adheringย closely.
“tenacious grip”
or
not readilyย relinquishingย a position, principle, or course of action; determined.
“you’re tenacious and you get at the truth”
or
persistingย in existence; not easilyย dispelled.
“a tenacious local legend”
When I am working on something I can seem stubborn. But I would rather think of it as tenacious. Sticking to it until I become better, sticking to it until I have a product to wear, or give to someone else to enjoy. The following are my newest slippers and socks.
These are a pair of this-and-that slippers using up leftover yarn. If they don’t turn out well, I will keep them and love them myself!
These will be the smallest no-show socks for a sweet little girl who is a size 1 child. I hope they turn out to be her size. I have to admit my own size is easiest to do as I have my own feet available to check as I go.
I tenaciously cling to the idea of learning to play new instruments while maintaining the ones I know. My recorder is always near me. I’ve finally gotten the idea of how the Baroque fingering for F and F sharp is different than the fingering I learned at first. I like that it sounds right now.
The last time I tried a stringed instrument was a guitar I had as a young teen. I named it Herman. I gave up because it hurt my fingers. So, I thought a ukulele would be easier. Definitely easy to tote around. Nope. I’m only on one-finger chords, and it already hurts. But now I have a group on Facebook helping me learn to keep practice times down to 10 minutes until my fingers develop callouses. I plan to stick it out. And still get back to my piano. No sense in letting that go when it has been with me since I was 5. 69 years of piano? I ought to be at the concert level! No. I just want to enjoy it and learn more.
Remember this guy? I was working on him a year ago. I gave up because I didn’t like to do the last steps. But I finally finished sealing the painting. Tomorrow, I will frame the work with the tape in the upper left corner. Then he and the leg-warmers will go to their new owner.
Through the limbs of the mesquite, you can see the tenacious snow that won’t leave the driveway despite the rain we have had for a couple days. More rain is expected. Somehow, I don’t think I will see snow tomorrow.
My brother has a new but beautiful enemy. We have about 6 of these guys hanging around our yard and our neighbors’ yards. Though I would appreciate them dealing with all the mice around here, they seem to be going after the chickens and small stray cats and rabbits that hang out in our area. My brother got beak to beak with one as he tried to save one of his chickens, but the owl had already won. So he strengthened the coop so that owls couldn’t get in. Sadly, our chickens are free-range during the day, and that makes it dangerous for them. When not being pests, these large birds are gorgeous. And probably more tenacious than any other predator around here.
But I can’t leave this prompt without this tribute:
Look what I found at BiMart when I went to town last. $14.99 I thought it would be fun to learn.It is a cheapy but to learn tuning and chords will be fun.3 more inches to heel turning.Here’s the nightmare. I was working the socks below on another pair of these. And the joint between the needle and the cord broke. May I advise you, never buy Knitter’s Pride Royal cable needles. The way the cord curls up and tangled with the yarn will have words coming out you didn’t think you knew.So I transferred from the broken cord and needles to Double ended needles and then to these shorties. I don’t like working socks singularly. Ugh! So I transfered back onto those hateful Royals until my new Chiaogoo red-laced cable needles get here. At least I don’t have to stop working these fun slipper socks.These I found tucked away and forgotten. But a birthday or Christmas gift is closer than I thought.
I actually started editing the NaNo Empty today. There is more I need to write but going through bit by bit will help me see where parts of the untold story go.
Didn’t go half as far today. Even at 11am it was too hot and humid. Tomorrow we need to walk far earlier or evening.
Instead, I thought I’d better capture the greenery while I can. We are green usually only early Spring. But here we are nearly July when yellow and hot dust is the norm for the desert Outback of Oregon.
Looking south. The hay barn has the first cutting of alfalfa.
Looking south-west.
The sagebrush is taller than me! But still green.
I don’t know if this is edible but it looks like wheat. All similar plants are green.
Looking northish. Just enjoying the green scenery.
Looking west towards Table Rock mountain. So green!
Another looking northish. Sky blue with green fields.
The yellow butterflies from the beginning of summer have faded away. Now we’re getting white ones. This one has spots and is showing off!
The science says this proves the high moisture in the air. But I’ll accept love and promise, too. But really, the humidity is part of why we had to cut the walk short.
~~~~
So, I think I know what I want to wear for my daughter and her fiancรฉ’s October costume wedding.ย Crone witch! I can make my own hat and cape! The crone part is built in!๐คช
So at the beginning of the weekend I was working with Scarlett Royal’s loomknit witch’s hat. But I learned there would be a lot of sewing.ย
I had socks on the Flexes so I transferred by way of a skinny set of ChiaoGoo Red-lace Circular Needles. I had started on the 12 pegย loom for the brim and the 36 peg for the hat. That was when I noticed I’d have a lot of sewing ahead.
In the past, I learned I could do a nice decrease using the Flexees. But for this witch hat I needed to get a good point. I didn’t feel I could figure that out. Here’s her YouTube if you want to try.
I have made a couple hats by her including a beret I was quite proud of. And I do love the picture of this hat.
I think this next one by PleasantSeas may do the trick. After tinking and frogging all weekend, I found and started working on it.
I read the pattern featured on the YouTube page. That I can do. I told myself. It starts similar to my Toe-up Two At A Time Socks. So I followed the pattern about 17 rows in. Then I noticed that it seemed the author got the numbering wrong. Once again, my tracking was off. Still I was liking how it was turning out.
Here’s what I should have done:
But here’s what I have at Row 17.
Yeah. I’m stuck with the Knitter’s Pride Royale circular needles. See how the cord coils up? Ugh! But all my other needles are in use.
Anyway, I think I’ll continue as I am going until the “wearable” part of the hat gets close. Then I’ll increase faster as PleasantSeas does. I think I want the point high or curly. We’ll see how that turns out.
Meanwhile, the socks I pulled off the Flexee looms, looks like this:
Two more inches before the Fleegle Heel. These would fit me right now. But these are for someone else.
Sadly, the Flexees are empty. Back to just needle knitting for now.
But now I need to drop the needles and hop on the stationary bike to see if I can make up the mile(s) we missed this morning.
Finally the heels are done on this bamboo yarn pair of socks. The leg and cuff are left. That doesn’t take long. So maybe these will be featured on Finished Friday?
Four miles on the stationary bike and three walked. Woo hoo!!! I’m tired! I hope all this starts paying off somehow.
This is my fourth pair of the Beginner Sock. I bought the pattern at my local yarn shop, Willows. But you can find this and other pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple
Here is her Ravelry page: Knitting Pure and Simple. I decided to try this heel on the pair below.
So I started (over and over) this pair in an attempt to learn to work cuff down on HiyaHiya Fliers. I was using the following YouTube.
My problem was my ADD and this heel were not playing nicely. You see, the stitches on the heel were *slip stitch as if to purl, knit* for a row. Turn then purl the whole row. My hands couldn’t remember which row they were on. So I used the above heel by Knitting Pure and Simple and it’s kind of working.
The heel is turned, the gusset is shaped and now I’m on to the foot.
At this stage the heel makes me think of the mouth of a hand puppet. Which gives me an idea for a future project.
This is my favorite pair. The Caron yarn is soft. The ChiaoGoo red-lace circulars, US 6 make these so much easier on my hands and brain. For this and the next two pairs I’m using the following YouTube
The yarn and needles for this and the next pair are thin and a little more wearing on my hand but their getting done!
I just started this pair (again) today so the toe is only a few rows done. I’m loving the color and feel of the yarn, it’s just a bit thin so it’ll take a bit to get done.
We just finished Star Trek Discovery. You know you loved it when you’re crying and laughing at the end!
Four seasons. My son says 5 is coming, but I think it ended well on 4.
What doesn’t seem to have a finish is what I’m calling Sprinter.
Our only other season is trying to start: Summer, Fire season.
Four heels! I wanted to see if I could math my way from a 40 stitch Cast-on to a 60 stitch Cast-on. Wahoo! It worked!
The heels are the brown cotton blend.ย I have not been a fan of the acrylic (the blueish white) or the cotton. The fibers are not as soft and they separate. Ugh! Oh, these are with theย HiyaHiya Fliers needles.
Double Pointed needles (Knitters’Pride Dreamz) the Cascadi superwashed yarns are very soft. I have the needles pointed to the heels. These four, tinks included, took me all day. But I feel accomplished on this first day of spring.
By the way, this day started out like this:
Progress has been made on other socks over the weekend.
Softer yarn but thinner and the ChiaoGoo red-lace circulars are a US size 1. But almost to the heels! Yay!
Caron is the softest yarn and I love these colors. ChiaoGoo red-lace circulars US size 8. Easiest on my hands.
Yay, despite the weirdness of life knitting happens.
Knitters’Pride Royale Circular Needles, Caron Jumbo, (can’t find the label for colorway). I shared the videos I followed a couple days ago. Learning the Fleegle heel and a stretchy bind-off I really found easy.
On the other hand… I found Knitters’Pride Royale Circular Needles a pain to work with. This happened a lot:
The cables curled up and got in the way a lot. In my personal contest, ChiaoGoo red-lace circulars wins.
Here’s a nearly finished pair of cotton socks on ChiaoGoo red-lace circulars. The cables stay out of the way.
Meanwhile, here’s the ‘atmospheric river.’ Pretty, but I feel it is too little and too much too late.
By the way, is there anyone in the country that likes Daylight Savings Time?
I’m doing my best to be my usual positive self despite the mully grubs of reality.
Snow. Lots. Just not all at once. It gets to this level, melts and reflakes.
We’ve got a couple more hours then it will be windy.
Meanwhile, my therapy of knitting keeps my hands moving while I process life, pets, and loved ones no longer with us.
My son and his girlfriend are traveling up. Snow or no snow. These socks are for them.
Nearly all the yarn for both pairs has been used up. I hope I’m done by tomorrow evening when they get here.
The reason for their scary mission is a memorial for my first dear sister in love. That’ll be Saturday in Portland. For my son it will be a 12 hour or more drive in much worse conditions than we have here. That’s how beloved Barb was/is for us.
I wanted to go. But my body is telling me that’s too long to be in a car. I used to handle long drives. But, especially being emotionally distraught from the losses of my furry friends, it seems far too much.
My older son is being picked up by the younger couple on the mission. I must admit to being very worried for all of them. As much as I would love to see my nieces and nephews, and sharing my condolences, I just can’t. I think I’ll write a letter or record my thoughts for them.
All of this plays on the huge housecleaning we need from our poor sickly Kali. We’ve done some but we are exhausted and can’t do as much as our younger selves could have accomplished.
One thing at a time. Doing what we can with what we’ve got. Sending and accepting love. Healthy mind and body.
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
Hi! my name is Sebastian (You can call me Seb!) ...welcome to my Blog. I'm a photographer from Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Thanks for dropping by! I hope you enjoy my work.
Books, games, music, and life โ filtered through the mind of a writer, drummer, and philosopher who thinks too deeply about all of it. If it moves something in your chest, I'm interested.
Darswords 
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