A day late and dollar short...

 ...ain't that the truth!

 

I didn't actually plan to knit this pattern.  I discovered the Tip Top Tank FINE through helping my recently married (OMG - Congrats!!!) transcontinental fiber arts fellow, Julia, better understand the pattern.  

 

I started this tiny little top on August 23 and finished it on Sept 6.

 

Nope, I still haven't been saved but I did finally attend one of my stamp club meetings at Trinity Lutheran Church in my new top.

 

I didn't take the most professional photos when I did a fit check assuming (weather permitting) I'll be wearing this during Rhinebeck at some point and getting some better ones then.  

 

I knit the smallest size.  My boobs have changed sizes over the years but when I went bra shopping a few months ago, they were a 36 DD which is super annoying since I am not even 5' tall.  I used US 2's on the ribbing and US 4's on the body.  Instead of doing bow straps, I Kitchenered mine together.  To get my desired strap length, I knit 14 rows even on each strap, before connecting them.

 

This is a leftover hank of Anzula Cloud (80% SWM/10% Cashmere/10% Nylon) which is the perfect drapey fiber content for this type of garment.

 

As soon as I finished this top, I knew exactly what I wanted to knit - another one with a longer body and different fiber content.  I already finished it but it will be not be revealed until Rhinebeck!

 

This is a super quick knit.  This is how much I knit the first night I cast it on!  I feel like this is just the type of garment I could "mass produce" in a relatively timely fashion if I had buyers.  We'll see...

Anyway, I was planning to knit some elaborate stranded colorwork sweater (again) for Rhinebeck but I have had to face the cold hard reality that I literally do not have enough time this year.  So I'm going to try to bust out a Jethro Cardi ASAP.  These are the spooky colors I'm planning to use.

Wish me luck!  I'm gonna need it.

I'm still here and I made a lot of stuff!

OK, I will admit that it really has been a very long time since my last update.  I can’t believe it was all of the way back in March 2026.  Well, at least we’re still in the same year!  A lot has changed.  I briefly returned to work at ET.  They called me back before I was fully healed or finished with PT because so many employees had left.  I returned with a doctor’s note saying I should only being doing light desk duty and I needed a chair to sit on when necessary.  Most of my favorite employees had been fired or quit.  Most of the new people sucked.  The entire vibe was awful.  Unfortunately, my job in the bakery was “no longer available” (which I think is technically illegal for them not to allow me to return to it) so I was forced to be a cashier for a few weeks because they were so short staffed.  But then I got yelled at every time I complained about being in pain and needing to sit down.  So they transferred me to the Nourish Department which required me to constantly walk up and down stairs and push heavy carts filled with inventory.  I was constantly in pain and had to sit down a lot and felt like I might be causing more damage to my knee.  However, I continued to complain because I felt it was my right and then I was fired even though I never missed a scheduled day of work.  I was never late or left early once.  I always covered for other employees and stayed late whenever needed.  Then tons more people got fired and we found out that ET is now owned by a data center.  So that explains why everyone was transformed into total douche bags but I still don’t understand why they went through all of the trouble of begging me to come back only just to let me go after a few months.  

In a way, losing my job at ET was just the (re)awakening I needed to laser focus on Etsy, philately and fiber arts.  I realized that it’s really all I can handle until my knee is fully healed and the divorce is finalized, whenever that is...

So, for the past few months I’ve been a vendor at the Northside Flea Market.  We had a good thing going but sadly, I believe this Saturday is going to be the last one.  However, once I make more items to sell, I will definitely try to be a vendor at more markets and crafty events because I really enjoy the community aspect of it.  I know I need to list more handmade items in my Etsy shop as well.  It has definitely been a minute.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

I’ve have been incredibly active with both knitting and crochet.  Xena found this amigurumi kit at the flea market.  

 

I'm actually not a big fan of amigurumi.  It's just not mentally challenging to me at all.  Almost everytime I follow a pattern I find multiple flaws in the design.

 

I know people love Woobles but they're like crochet for dummies.  This particular kit was much higher quality than a Woobles kit but I think that a novice would struggle with using such a small hook.

 

This little kitty sure came out cute though.  Now Xena wants me to make her a large one.  

 

I am now realizing that I knit and crocheted so many things since my last update that I don't have the time or energy to document every single thing.

I wish I could say that these are just the highlights but there really is so much more.

 

For the sake of the flea market, I've been focusing on things I can make quickly.

 

Nothing beats a crochet granny square baby blanket, blocked in the VA sun!

 

Since I stopped working at ET, I have enjoyed quiet mornings at home so much!

     

 

I added length to Diane's sweater.

 

 

 

I am so stoked on those VTG Polo bikini bottoms Lauren found for Xena at the flea market!

 

I really enjoyed crocheting these colorful phone/sunglasses totes.

The flower shaped pouch is supposed to be for ear buds. 

My buddy Megan (also a former ET employee) found all of this handspun yarn for me after I found a bunch of beads for her.  I thrifted this blown out beanbag a while ago.  I restuffed it and crocheted around it.

 

I really wanted to sell it at the flea market but Xena loves it so much, we decided to keep it.  

 

I made it marled and scrappy since I had such random colors and quantities of yarn.

 

I would love to make more functional furniture like this but it takes so much bulky yarn, I really don't know what I would charge for it.  

 

The summer really felt like summer and we went to the beach a lot.  I knit matching watermelon socks to wear with Xena but by the time I finished, she had already grown out of hers!

 

Just look at how good my knee looks though, in comparision to a few months ago?!

I crocheted this super soft bathmat out of terrycloth yarn and have also been trying to sell it although Xena wants to keep it.

I just realized that I still haven't commented on MDSW or even mentioned Rhinebeck.  However, I promise I will write a post dedicated to the top I just finished tomorrow!