The blanket finally feels like a blanket. I have about two more years of working on this blanket, one square a day, until I’m done. Tomorrow I start my Garden Wool & Dye advent calendar, and I’m looking forward to working some of that yarn into the blanket.
I’m now going to try to sew the pockets on to Elliot’s Harvey sweater. I don’t mind seaming, but these are fiddley and I might end up throwing the sweater across the room and giving up on pockets.
Happy Wednesday! It’s cold here, so naturally we spent the morning at the zoo. I love the zoo in winter. The animals are active, so they are more fun to watch. We are usually the only people there when the temperature is below freezing, which means the kids can run around without running into people. I don’t know why more people don’t visit in the cold, but I suspect it may have to do with their lack of fleece lined jeans.
I really enjoy the start of winter. I like sipping hot tea and knitting whenever possible.
This week I almost finished Elliot’s Christmas sweater. It is currently blocking (please excuse the bad photo, in the winter I block in the basement). I still have to sew the pockets on and weave in the ends. The pockets look awful right now, so I’m hoping that sewing them on will fix them. If not, this sweater might not have pockets after all. I am hoping the buttons get here next week.
I’m working on the toe of my first sock. I am almost ready to start working on socks again.
I’m about to cast on my next project. I’m making the everyday shawl. Instead of using a gradient kit I’m using Shibori-dyed yarn. I’m going to alternate skeins.
This is what the yarn looks like in hanks.
And this is what it looks like in cakes.
Once I wound the yarn it became obvious that the are too different to knit one skein at a time.
Other than the shawl, I’m thinking I might knit up some mittens for the kids or slipper socks for my mother-in-law. I usually make her some felted slippers, but I really don’t like felting projects and I don’t think I have it in me this year.
Are you knitting any Christmas gifts this year?
Happy day before Thanksgiving. I did not get any knitting done today, as I was busy making pies. Honestly, I needed a day off from knitting, as I’ve been so obsessed with Elliot’s new sweater. I have been knitting when I should be cleaning or parenting or cooking.
I think it will be worth it, as Elliot will have a new sweater for Christmas. The pattern is Harvey by Jennifer Weibe. Earlier this year I made her Elwood sweater for Elliot two sizes too big (I had the yarn, so I figured why not use it all). This time I’m making the sweater for the size Elliot is right now. I hope he will get two winters out of it.
As you can see, Elliot cannot be bothered to stand still for a picture, so Audrey volunteered. I’m halfway through the button band. I need to knit the sleeves and the pockets. I thought I had the perfect buttons for the sweater, but it turns out I had the perfect buttons for another sweater I plan on making Elliot, so I found some on Etsy that I hope will arrive in time for Christmas.
I’ll get better pictures of the sweater next week. My kids are so excited for Thanksgiving they are in constant motion. It was a crazy day.
One of the best things about Thursday morning swim lessons is the half hour it gives me to knit. Today I used that time to finish my Sitka Spruce mittens.
These mittens will be great for early winter when I don’t need a heavy mitten. If I were making them to wear all winter I would have at least doubled, if not tripled, the cuff. I don’t like having cold wrists. If I make these again I will change the final decreases at the top of the mitten to make them less pointy.
Now I’m off to decide what to cast on next. Wish me luck.
I’ve had a busy week with knitting! I finished another hat, this one for myself. I’m happy to be done with hats for now.
The pattern is Sitka Spruce from Tin Can Knits. I like the look of it, but I found the stitching a little fiddley. I don’t know if that is because it was a difficult knit or because I have a cold making it hard to concentrate. I suspect it is the latter.
Now that I’m done with the hat I’m making a pair of matching mittens. I hope to finish the mittens quickly and move on to a sweater for Elliot.
A note on the yarn I’m using for this: yes, it is that bright. I don’t know why I bought fluorescent green yarn, but I think it is safe to assume I was either buying yarn on-line after two glasses of wine or it looked less bright on the website. I don’t hate the color, but I would normally not pick it. I keep losing hats, so I’m using this yarn (if I’m going to lose another hat I don’t want it to be made from yarn I adore).
Happy knitting!
My shawl is blocked. I love how it turned out. It is huge, which will make it nice and toasty this winter.
Side note – did you know that you can sing “I’m a Shawl Blocker” to the same tune as the late 80s jingle “I’m a Wheel Watcher“? Good luck ever blocking a shawl again without singing that to yourself.
I had so much fun knitting this shawl. I love that I was able to use yarn from my stash (mostly leftover from Mary-Claire’s wrap) to complete this shawl. I kind of hope someone asks for this for Christmas next year so I can make it again.
Another side note – I might add photography to Audrey’s preschool home school curriculum so I can have someone else take pictures of me in my knitting.
Have a great week!
mildlygranola 