That Trough Between Winter and Spring

Really tired of winter and want it to be over.  Not ready for it to be summer and too damn hot to do anything.  Have a bad case of the blahs.  Shouldn’t go grocery shopping when I do because I blow money — especially going grocery shopping at Market Street which has things like spinach foccacia  and Seven Layer Dip.  Did it anyway and dropped $100 on four bags of groceries — good sized bags, though.  Still.  Got some things I shouldn’t have, like Gold Peak Raspberry Tea and Gold Peak Peach Tea, which is just loaded with sugar (32 g of sugar in 59 oz!).   However, in my defense, I do dilute it — about 4:1 with water.   I also got a couple rolls of prosciutto and cheese which our friends C&DK turned mom and me onto when we visited their cabin between Christmas and New Years.  Pricy stuff, but so, so good.  I also got some yogurt — a two-pack each of blueberry, peach and cherry — and some baby carrots, cherry tomatoes and some celery sticks, plus some Ranch to dip them in.  The lion’s share of what I got wasn’t junk food.

So for supper just now, I had some Seven Layer dip spread on a couple of pieces of spinach foccacia and shoved it into my little kisser pretty quickly.  The Seven Layer Dip is refried beans, guacamole, scallions, tomatoes, black olives, sour cream, and sprinkle cheese.  It’s all pretty much real food.   So’s the spinach foccacia.  It was that pint of Blue Bell Cherry Vanilla ice cream  I had for dessert last night . . . .

I got one of my club chairs and the ottoman moved back to the bedroom, plus the pole light and my little reader table, and now have a little knitting nook set up ready to settle in and do some serious knitting.  That area has the best feng shui of any place in the house.  ❤ ❤ ❤ ‘s to L&CB who helped with the chair.

I’m (still) working on a pattern for a shawl that has some garter stitch lace that has a 16-row pattern repeat.  The pattern I’m modifying is just “a little something on your shoulders” shawl(at left).  I want something much wider and in order to get what I want, I’ve got to work out either five or six sections to the pattern:  The beginning bit, the increases bit, the across the back bit(s), the decreases bit and the ending bit. I want it to increase  (and decrease) 1 stitch every other row up to a point, then I want to slow the increase/decrease rate and maybe stop it across the center back section.  I’ve got two monster skeins of “blue jean” colored yarn. It’s worked from corner to corner in three vertical sections with markers in between — a 3-stitch garter stitch border (E-marker), the body of the shawl proper (B-marker), and the garter stitch lace edging.   The stitch count for the border section varies from row to row so I have to note that in the pattern too. (B18)  This is the starting bit:

Cast on 21 stitches and knit 5 rows
Row 1: k3, E#, kfb, B#, k2, yo, k2tog, k4, yo, k3tog, (k1, yo) twice, k2tog, yo, k2. (B18)
Row 2: yo, k2tog, knit to B#, p1, k1, E#, k3.
Row 3: k3, E#, k1, kfb, B#, k7, yo, k3tog, k1, yo, k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2. (B19)
Row 4: yo, k2tog, knit to B#, p1, k1, p1,E#, k3.
Row 5: k3, E#, k2, kfb, B#, k2, yo, k2tog, k2, yo, k3tog, k1, yo, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k2. (B20)
Row 6: yo, k2tog, knit to B#, *p1, k1, repeat from * to E#, k3.
Row 7: k3, E#, k3, kfb, B#, k5, yo, k3tog, k1, yo, k7, yo, k2tog, yo, k2. (B21)
Row 8: yo, k2tog, knit to B#, *p1, k1, repeat from * until 1 st before marker, p1, E#, k3.
Row 9: k3, E#, k4, kfb, B#, k2, yo, k2tog, k8, yo, k3tog, k1, (yo, k2tog) twice, k1. (B20)
Row 10: yo, k2tog, knit to B#, *p1, k1, repeat from * to E#, k3.
Row 11: k3, E#, k5, kfb, B#, k11, yo, k3tog, k1, (yo, k2tog) twice, k1. (B19)
Row 12: yo, k2tog, knit to B#, *p1, k1, repeat from * until 1 st before marker, p1, E#, k3.
Row 13: k3, E#, k6, kfb, B#, k2, yo, k2tog, k6, yo, k3tog, k1, (yo, k2tog) twice, k1. (B18)
Row 14: yo, k2tog, knit to B#, *p1, k1, repeat from * to E#, k3.
Row 15: k3, E#, k7, kfb, B#, k9, yo, k3tog, k1, (yo, k2tog) twice, k1. (B17)
Row 16: yo, k2tog, knit to B#, *p1, k1, repeat from * until 1 st before marker, p1, E#, k3.

It’s one of those knitting projects where I need a sticky note line marker to keep my place in the pattern, and peace/quiet, no interruptions or distractions.  I saw a thing on a TV knitting and crocheting show about using dental floss for lifelines when knitting lace patterns, and I’ve got a roll or two of it.  I may need to use it for this.  Knitting lace can be a real hair puller.  Maybe put a life line in each time I complete a pattern repeat.