This week I feel like I haven’t made much knitting progress. I feel like I have been running around trying to get things done for Christmas and haven’t taken time to knit. On Sunday I didn’t knit one stitch. That is incredibly unusual.
I’m making progress on my socks. I will have to pick up the pace if I’m going to wear them more than once before Christmas.
The Project Peace cowl is moving along. I’m not going to do all of the repeats of the small triangles that are called for, as I’m making it for Audrey not an adult. The pattern calls for an i cord bind off, but I think I’m going to skip it. I do love how an i cord bind off looks, but I’m knitting this in a heavier weight than called for. I think the cowl has enough heft without the i cord.
I haven’t touched my shawl this week. I love the shawl, but I have a hard time reaching for it when I sit down to knit. I think that is because I’m alternating skeins, which makes it less mindless than I’m in the mood for.
On Wednesday I mentioned that I was thinking about making a hat for my brother. By Thursday night I had moved from the idea of possible making a hat to selecting a pattern (Bulky Waffle Hat by Linda Suda). I pulled out some Wool of the Andes bulky from my stash and got to work…
…well, I tried to get to work, but I don’t have a pair of size 10.5 16 inch needles. I grabbed a pair of 9s instead and knit the largest size assuming it would work. I tossed it all in my knitting bag and headed to St. Louis.
Going down a needle size and up a pattern size worked out great. One thing that didn’t work? Forgetting a 40 inch needle to switch to magic loop at the decreases. Luckily my friend’s daughter likes colored pencils, so I grabbed them and told myself they were close enough to the needle size to work.
The pencils worked great, and I ended up with a hat I like a lot.
When I gave it to my brother he said “I already have a hat.” I had to make him take it at the end of our time together. I should know better to make a hat for someone who doesn’t care about knitting. It’s all OK though, as I now have less yarn in my stash.
I hope you were able to complete a project this weekend too.
I forgot to mention my everyday shawl yesterday. I’m slowly working on it. Having to alternate skeins means I’m less likely to pick it up. I do like how it is knitting it up. It will need a good blocking when I’m done, because it does look like a pile of yarn barf right now.
Happy Wednesday! Good news on the sweater front: the buttons don’t look as bad when the sweater is on. That is great news, as I have reached my limit for button sewing for the year.
I finished the first Up All Night sock in the Elliot colorway. I think I’ll get a lot of use out of this pair (when I eventually finish them, probably months from now).
I took the advice from your comments, and started candy cane socks. I love how fast self striping yarn works up. The socks are looking a little more Waldo than peppermint, but that is fine with me.
I also started the Project Peace 2018 cowl. Project Peace runs until December 21, ending on World-Wide Knit for Peace Day. I love the idea of the project. I don’t love the pattern. It just isn’t something I want to wear. The pattern calls for sport weight, but I’m knitting it with DK from my stash without any adjustments. I didn’t do a gauge swatch – it’s a cowl, what is the worst that will happen?
I’m thinking about casting on a bulky weight hat. I’m meeting my brother at the Kansas City Zoo this weekend. I think that if he will hang out at the zoo with me when it is below freezing he deserves a hat. Just because he deserves one might not be enough to get me working on it however, it all depends on how the rest of the week goes.
I finished Elliot’s sweater a couple of days ago. I waited patiently for the buttons to arrive. I found the perfect buttons from GloriaPatre Spin N Knit. The buttons were shipped off soon after I placed the order, I just had to wait for shipping from Canada.
Today was the day! The buttons arrived and I sewed them on. The timing was ideal, as I’m taking the kids to get their pictures taken tomorrow.
There’s only one problem.
Now that the buttons are here I realize that they are too small. I made an emergency run to JoAnn’s tonight. I left disappointed when I was not able to find toggle buttons that worked with the sweater.
I just ordered longer buttons from GloriaPatre Spin N Knit. I hope they are here before Christmas, as I would like Elliot to have a Christmas sweater with the right size of buttons.
As for photos tomorrow, I’m going to go with the too small buttons. I think it should stay shut, and it will look nice with what Audrey is wearing.
I read eight books in November. Of those book, only two are books that I would bring up in conversation when discussing books with a friend. The cold weather had me diving into themes: holiday romance novels, young adult books, and off the grid survivalist books (not how to guides).
A Lake House Holiday by Megan Squires. Have you ever accidentally read a Christian romance novel? I have. This was a predictable romance set in a picturesque lake town. It was not awful. I give this book two out of five stars.
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. Wow. This book is about a woman growing up in a survivalist Mormon home. Education is not respected. At 17 she gets herself into college and her life changes. This book is really good. Tara Westover is one tough cookie. Her parents are awful. I give this book four out of five stars.
Harris and Me by Gary Paulson. Maybe you are asking yourself “did she really read a book by the same guy that wrote Hatchet, the book I loved in elementary school?” The answer to that question is yes. This book for young adults is about post WWII farm life through the eyes of a foster boy. I really enjoyed this book because it was easy to picture my uncles doing the crazy things the boys in the book did. I give this book three out of five stars.
Snowflakes & Mistletoe at Inglenook Inn by Helen J. Rolfe. This book was supposed to be a mindless read. It lost me when a character suggested that a girl in the book might not want Legos for a Christmas present because there comes a time in every girls life where she loves makeup. The kid in question was in elementary school. I would have thrown the book across the room had it not been on my Kindle. Let kids be kids. Also, there are plenty of people who don’t give a big fat monkey butt about makeup (my swearing has gotten weird since kids). I get that when you read a romance novel there will be sexist drivel, but that was so ridiculous I only finished the book out of spite. I give this book one out of five stars.
The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson. This isn’t my genre. It was fine. It’s a thriller about a terrorist attack and a president trying to save the country. I give it three out of five stars.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. This novel is about a family that moves to Alaska to homestead in the 1970s. The father, a former POW in Vietnam, is not a nice man. This book is heartbreaking, but also a wonderful read. I give this book four out of five stars.
Hindsight and All The Things I Can’t See in Front of Me by Justin Timberlake. This book is written for the broken attention spans of a smart phone addicted world. It is mostly pictures. This book has the depth of a People article, is the length of an Atlantic article, and tells you nothing. It is a great book to read if you have two hours to kill and you want to read an entire book. I give the book one out of five stars.
One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. This novel, about a 12-year-old girl in foster care, was more emotional than I expected from a young adult novel. My heart broke for Carley, the girl taken away from her mother after being beaten by her step-father. I liked reading about Carley building a relationship with her foster family. I give this book three out of five stars.
In December I hope to read more books of substance. My to read pile continues to grow. I hope to get through these books this month:
I reserve the right to stop reading Crazy Rich Asians before I finish it. Two readers I trust have said it is not well written. I’m going to give it a shot, only because I loved the movie so much.
What did you read last month? Have you read anything I should add to my list?
