Elliot

Christmas

mildlygranola9 Comments

I hope you had a Merry Christmas. If you celebrate I hope all of your Christmas wishes came true. If you don’t celebrate I hope you enjoyed a quiet day at home alone drinking tea and watching movies (that is what I would do).

We were busy. The kids are still recovering from such a big change in their schedules. So am I, actually. We spent the Sunday before Christmas to Christmas at noon at my parents. After that we headed to John’s parents house for the night. They live in Des Moines, so we were able to spend Christmas night in our own house.

We went to church on Christmas Eve. The kids were actually good, thanks to the fancy coloring books I picked up in a panic an hour before mass when I realized I forgot to pack their quiet toys. Shockingly we remembered to take a family picture after church.

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Elliot wore his Harvey cardigan.

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The kids got what they asked Santa for. For Audrey that was an alarm clock and a stuffed unicorn. Santa brought her the unicorn of her dreams (and my nightmares). Kathleen made Audrey a unicorn horn, so she has taken to wearing the unicorn horn and carrying her unicorn around with her.

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Elliot never had a straight answer for what he wanted. He asked for “nothing” when he was feeling especially scared of Santa. He also asked for red presents. He got a red tractor. He is a big fan of tractors. He loved showing it to my Dad.signal-2018-12-25-083356701356889241158006.jpg

I didn’t take many pictures this year (most in this post were taken by Kathleen). I think that is because I was too busy shoving fudge into my mouth. I’m sad Christmas is over, but I’m delighted to have the treats out of my house.

Now on to the New Year. Where does the time go?

 

Peace Project 2018

mildlygranola, , 4 Comments

I finished my Peace Project 2018 Cowl earlier today. I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable the pattern was to knit.

I made a few changes to the pattern. I used DK weight instead of sport weight, because that is what I had in my stash.  didn’t adjust the needle size to accommodate for the thicker yarn, I prefer a dense cowl for Iowa winters. I only did 5 repeats of the small triangles, because I was making this for Audrey and little kids have little necks. I did not do an i cord bind off because the cowl is so dense I thought it would look weird, and also I just didn’t want to do it.

Audrey likes it and wanted to wear it when we went to look at Christmas lights tonight. Now to find a project to knit for my mother-in-law that takes less than a week to knit….

WIP Wednesday: 48/52

mildlygranola, , 8 Comments

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.

Have a great week! I hope you are productive!

Button Trouble

mildlygranola, , , 2 Comments

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.

Do you have a button resource that you recommend?

Elf Hats

mildlygranola, , 5 Comments

It’s amazing how much knitting a person can get done when they are watching the Hawkeye game.20181111_0845223324469343946049205.jpgThe elf hats were nice and quick, and now I’m back to knitting with natural fibers. I’m about to cast on a hat because I lost my Gretel Tam again. I am going to start a Sitka Spruce hat from Tin Can Knits as soon as I sit down to knit again. Hopefully I don’t lose or felt this hat.

WIP Wednesday: 43/52

mildlygranola7 Comments

Happy Halloween! It’s spooky how much knitting I’ve completed this week.

I blocked my Zadie Sweater. The bottom is rolling a bit. As I was knitting it I thought there wasn’t enough garter to keep it from rolling. I was right. I should have listened to my gut and adjusted the pattern. Other than that, I like the sweater a lot. It’s cozy and casual. I will wear it a lot.20181031_1345391764708635149838383.jpgI finished the gusset on the first sock of my current sock project. These are slow going, but when I actually pick them up to work on them they go fast. Funny how that works.20181031_1329258385867915150015255.jpgThe project that I can’t stop working on this week is Nightshift by Andrea Mowry. I find mosaic color work addictive. Most of the yarn I’m using is leftover from Mary-Claire’s Scrap Yarn Shawl Knock Off. As I knit the shawl I’m thinking about her, which makes knitting it even more delightful. I’m suffering from the delusion that often comes with shawls that grow wider as you knit them – I think I’ll be able to finish this in a week. I know that is unlikely, but I can dream.20181031_1330364299201495249290190.jpg

In non-knitting news, last night was Beggar’s Night in Des Moines. Des Moines has a weird tradition where kids trick or treat the night before Halloween. I did not grow up with the tradition and find it annoying, because it makes Halloween a bit of a let down for the kids. Stupid tradition or not, the kids were excited to trick or treat. 20181030_1805092335573696556768027.jpgI hope you get a spooky amount of knitting done this week too!