Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I have high hopes for 2020.  Honestly, I'm not sure how realistic my hopes are.  We'll have to see about that.  I'm excited to be unemployed and hope to have more time to spend on the blog and the Etsy shop.  My poor Etsy shop has seen no love from me in over a year.  I hope to change that in 2020.  At the moment, it's state is a bit of an embarrassment.  So far, since quitting my job in October, I haven't had as much free time as expected.  But, we did move in with my mother-in-law on November 1st and between getting settled after the move and the holidays....  I have higher hopes for 2020.

Besides spending time on the blog and in the Etsy shop,  I also hope 2020 brings more knitting time.  At the moment I'm struggling with a major case of startitis.  I'm supposed to be knitting the secret baby thing, I'd love to get my Weekender sweater finished in time to wear it this winter, and then there's the matter of needing to knit a shawl to replace the Reyna shawl that was supposed to be a replacement for the Colorburst shawl that I knit as a Christmas gift but didn't give away.  Apparently I'm not giving away the Urban Girl Reyna either.  Good grief!

But as I said, I have a bad case of startitis.  And a current obsession with gray yarns.

Knit Picks Simply Alpaca

I've had this gray alpaca in my stash for a while and I'm dying to knit a Cashmere cowl for myself.  The yarn is Knit Picks' Simply Alpaca in the Alfie colorway and it is probably the softest thing I have ever felt in my entire life.  I have no idea how I let it sit in the stash pile for so long.  I can't wait to knit with it and since the Cashmere cowl pattern is written for fingering and this is aran weight, the knitting should go super fast.  And yikes!  I see that it's on sale at the moment.  I'm supposed to still be on a yarn diet but.... 

Five By Five Scarf

I started and abandoned this Five by Five scarf back in the summer.  I'd like to finish it.  I'm also not sure I can technically call it a Five by Five.  The idea behind Five by Five is that it's five yarns held together to knit five columns of five-stitch ribbing.  This scarf has nine columns and only four yarns.  But hey, the difference between nine and four is five so....  Whatever.  The scarf uses up multiple skeins at once and its purpose, besides my current gray obsession, is to use up my yarn stash as quickly as possible.  The yarns are Knit Pick's Palette  in Silver, Mist and an unlabeled shade of white plus a skein of their Aloft mohair in Carbon.  If I'd only spend some time with it, it would knit up super quickly.

Simple Cabled Boot Cuffs by Sarah Leslie

And lastly, I have multiple gray skeins of Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes that I'd like to turn into boot cuffs.  

Breckenridge Boot Toppers from Ryan Page Haas

When they first became popular I thought boot cuffs were maybe the dumbest thing ever.  But, I wear a lot of leggings and I recently bought a pair of short boots... and now I see the need and understand their popularity.  Now that it's officially winter and January which means we're finally feeling mostly winter weather here in Virginia, boot cuffs are getting moved to the top of my knitting queue.

Did you notice?  Today is Three on Thursday and that was three gray things I want to knit.  Join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday link up.

Three Yarns for Three on Thursday

I'm joining Carol for today's Three on Thursday gathering and I'm hoping you can help me choose which of these three yarns to knit next. 

What to knit next?

I don't have the mental bandwidth to knit much more than flat garter or stockinette in the round at the moment.  Casting on may even be a problem.  I have to admit, the new living situation is taking way more out of me than expected.  I knew it wasn't going to be ideal but I was not prepared for the reality. 

I'm sure it will get better once we are all settled and the packing boxes are gone, but that won't be for another week or two.  My husband is still staying at the old house doing the final cleaning and punch-out type stuff.  He's living on a mattress on the floor so he's cranky and not available to help us and the MIL went 48 hours without sleep which means I went 47 hours without sleep so I'm cranky....  Oh, and there's a spider in the shower stall and Mike's not here to take care of it.  

The whole situation is an eye opening, frustrating adjustment.  But, we are getting to spend precious time with the MIL and as of next week, we'll no longer have a mortgage payment and will be 100% debt free.  I just need to keep reminding myself of that.  Besides, sleep is underrated.

Anyway...  Enough whining.  Let's get on with my three yarn choices.

Do I knit a simple hat or maybe some mittens with that lovely brown wool from Love Ewe Farm?  My hesitation on that idea is that (1) I don't have the mental capacity to deal with dpns and I've never been a fan of magic loop.  And (2) I feel like that yarn deserves more than simple stockinette in the round.  And (3) this choice would involve winding the yarn and while I have unpacked my swift, I haven't come across my winder yet.

Or do I start a Close to You shawl with that pretty bluey, purpley, greenish skein of Mountain Colors Twizzlefoot I picked up at the Center of the Yarniverse's birthday bash/grand opening of the new, bigger shop a few weeks ago?  I'm dying to knit with this yarn, I think it would be an excellent match for the pattern and I've been wanting to knit a Close to You for ages.  But... this yarn needs to be wound too.  

My third choice is a Garnet Heather sweater out of Wool of the Andes Tweed.  I really, really want to knit myself a sweater but I haven't decided on a pattern and I'm not in the mood for gauge swatching.  Like I ever actually am, or even do, for the matter.  Who am I kidding here??  But.... while I don't want to swatch, I also don't want to knit a sweater that doesn't fit and the yarn looks thinner than 'normal' Wool of the Andes.  According to the ball band it's the same but...  I've never knit with the Tweed before so I'd be afraid to guestimate like we all know I will actually do when I finally start knitting a sweater.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

On the Needles

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While the Te Ara mitts sit in time out, I started something new.

on the needles

Isn't it fabulous how it matches my yarn bowl?  It's like they were made for each other!

I imagine you can guess what I'm knitting.

Yes, it's a dish cloth style blanket knit with the green set of Sock Labs Stroll from Knit Picks.   Eventually the 'solid' green will fade into the speckled but I have a long way to go before that happens.

Sadly the Sock Labs Stroll is sold out but... Have you seen the new Hawthorne Sock Lab yarns?  Needless to say I'm, once again, anxiously awaiting my UPS driver.

Te Ara

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I may be knitting a pair of Te Ara mitts, 

photo courtesy of Wikipedia

but I'm certainly not getting a tiara for my efforts.

Te Ara Mitts

Things were going so well until that last row of cabling.

I'm not sure what to do about it.  It's three rows back.  Three rows is a lot of tinking.  I know, I know, there are only 52 stitches per row.  It's not That much tinking... but it sure feels like a lot.  But frogging those rows and trying to pick the cabled stitches back up seems scarier.

This mitt may end up in the time-out corner for a while.

magnetic cable needles

It's only escape may be my fascination with my new cable needles.  I bought them because I liked the way they look.  They're bamboo with a metal section in the center.  I thought the metal was purely for decoration but it turns out, they stick to a magnet.  So, if you're using one of those magnetized chart keepers....

Magnetic or not, I love these new cable needles.  There's five of them in different sizes and the join between the bamboo and the metal is just course enough to hold the stitches well.  It's not so rough that it snags the stitches, but they don't accidentally slip off.  I wonder if that was planned.

As for project details, I am/was knitting the mitts with Knit Pick's Palette in Spruce and using a US2 needle.  I really like Spruce's bluey-greenness.

Off the Needles

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Today's Three on Thursday is a showcase (Showcase?? That sounds so fancy!) of three shawls I've finished recently.  And please excuse the lighting in the photos.  We've got weird, pre-hurricane light happening and my camera is not appreciating it.

Reyna knit from Hawthorne, The Pearl

First, Reyna.  Okay, so maybe Reyna isn't exactly a "recent" finish, but still...  Here she is, finished and no longer spread out on the blocking mats.  This one just may be my absolute favorite thing I've ever knit.  I can see myself wearing this almost every day.  It's light and airy yet surprisingly warm and I'm head over heels in love with the casual blues and taupe color mix.  Green is normally my go-to color but this Reyna is the new love of my life.

Hitchhiker knit from Sublime Eden

And an even less 'recent' finish.... Another Hitchhiker.  This one was knit with Sublime, a wool/cotton mix that I picked up at my LYS, Center of the Yarniverse.  I usually dislike knitting with cotton but I had no problems with this yarn and I wouldn't hesitate to knit something else with it. 

Out of Winter knit with Sock Lab Stroll

And, Out of Winter.  This shawl was knit with Knit Picks' Sock Lab speckled Stroll which is apparently completely sold out now.  It was lovely to knit with and I really wish I'd bought every color set they offered.  

I do have one question about the yarn though.  Is the top of the shawl more speckled because it's made up of shorter rows or was one end of the skein much more speckled than the other?  Since there's such a definitive line, I'm leaning towards the skein being unevenly speckled.  Have you ever experienced this before?

Out of Winter detail

I wasn't too happy with the lace border at first but I quickly learned to love it.  There's a 'knit four stitches together' row and I was using extremely blunt tipped needles and found it nearly impossible.  But, I quickly realized I could use a smaller, much pointier dpn to knit the four together then transfer the stitch to the blunt needle and all was well.  If you're looking for a quick, mostly mindless, two-color shawl pattern and you have pointy needles, I highly recommend giving this one a go.

Join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday link up.  Hopefully, assuming Hurricane Dorian doesn't blow us away, I'll be back here tomorrow to show you an even more recently finished project.

Knit Night Knitting

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I feel like a bad grandma, but I put down the newborn sweater and have been focusing on my Out of Winter shawl.  It's amazing how much more you can accomplish when you knit monogamously.

Knit Night Knitting - Out of Winter Shawl, Sock Labs Stroll yarns

A couple of hours spent knitting rather than eating and drinking at Knit Night and I'm ready to start the lace border.  My goal is to finish it before Labor Day. 

I'm excited to be done with the shawl so that I can move on to knitting All the baby things, but at the same time, I'll be sad to put this yarn away.  But that's okay - I have more!

Assuming the lace border doesn't take a full skein, I should have enough of each color left over to knit either two very tiny baby sweaters or a larger striped one.  And, I've enjoyed knitting with this Sock Labs Stroll yarn so much, I ordered more.  

Sock Labs Stroll

I'm pretty sure there will be a baby blanket using the green set on the needles soon.

And while I was ordering the green Sock Labs set, I may have ordered a few skeins of plain Stroll sock yarn and perhaps a skein or two of Stroll Tweed sock yarn too.  I'm all things Stroll these days and currently on a mission to ensure my grandbaby stays toasty warm during his/her first spring.  I also want to make it easy for the new mama and papa and want everything I knit to be easily washed.  I may not have the best memory these days but I do remember how much laundry a newborn creates.

But what I really wanted to talk about today was why I love the Sock Labs so much.  First of all, it's machine wash and dryable.  Who doesn't love that??  

It's unbelievably soft.  Even my daughter who has become THE world's most picky person regarding wool around her neck, says it's soft and she'd be happy if Mom would knit her a speckled cowl.  

And the colors!  Oh, the colors!  The colors are so bright and cheerful and slightly less harsh in real life than they are on my screen.  

The yarn glides through my fingers and across my needles, even when it's 98 degrees outside and I'm hot and sweaty.  

The yarn isn't the least bit splitty and while it's hard to tell from my loose gauge and stockinette shawl, I have knit when I should have purled a few thousand times and based the appearance of those accidental stitches, the yarn has fantastic stitch definition.  

And best of all, or worst of all depending on how you look at it, the Sock Lab yarns are limited editions so not everyone in your knitting circle will be knitting with the exact same yarn.  I like that.  But I do feel the pressure to grab some more while it's available.  The purple set has already sold out.

Three on Thursday - An Oops Trifecta

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I'm experiencing a trifecta of oops's this week.

First, and most exciting,

Reyna knit with Hawthorne's The Pearl

My Reyna is on the blocking mats.  Yay!!  But good grief!  Look at that squiggly edge I have pinned.  Good thing this one's for me and it will be casually worn because it's almost completely dry and I'm not going to the trouble to re-wet and re-pin it.  Despite the squiggly edge, I'm going to love this shawl.  While the yarn is called The Pearl, and it does look like the inside of an oyster shell, it also looks like denim and you know how I have a thing for denim.  Now, let's just hope my daughter allows me to wear it with my jeans without accusing me of wearing a Canadian tuxedo.

Oops! 

Yes, there is a baby sweater on the needles.  That's a sleeve with a pen for size reference.  The pattern says it's for newborns up to three months but my gauge is off (imagine that!) and it may fit a three year old, not a three month old.   Oh well.  It's scrap  yarn, good practice, and babies come in all sizes.  Besides, both my kids were huge at birth and neither of them were able to wear newborn clothing.  Is size hereditary?  If it is, sorry Megan!

Oops

And easiest to fix but the most disappointing....  I must have knit on the purl side of my Out of Winter shawl.  There's also something funky about a row's worth of stitches a bit above those knitted purls.  

Or are they purled knits?  Who knows.  Either way, they'll have to be redone.  I'm frustrated about it because I didn't begin to make as much progress as expected while traveling to this past weekend's family reunion.  I ended up riding in the back seat of a minivan and got horribly car sick every time I tried to knit.  I've never had that problem before and hope it was a minivan back seat issue and not a general riding in the car issue.  If I can no longer knit and ride, my life may as well be over.  

But while I'm frustrated about having to fix those stitches, I'm happy to spend more time with this yarn.  This Sock Labs Stroll is unbelievably soft and a delight to knit with.  

Join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday link up.

I'm so excited!

News Flash!

I'm about to become unbelievably obnoxious because....

I'm SO excited!

I've only known for a few days but people at work have already told me I'm starting to annoy them.

Can you guess why?

photo courtesy of barnesandnoble.com

A grandma!  I'm going to be a grandma!!  My precious baby boy is going to have his own baby!

photo courtesy of 123rf.com

I don't know how I can ever stand to wait until March to meet the little blueberry. (That's how big he/she is right now.)  While I plan to be the favorite, cool grandma, 

photo courtesy of 123rf.com

I know I will also be the knitting obsessed grandma.  I've already got three notebook pages filled with patterns I want to knit. 

photo courtesy of freep.com

But at the moment, I'm feeling like cranky, mean grandma.  They don't know the baby's sex yet and they want pastel baby stuff, not brights.  And "their girl baby won't wear blue and their boy baby won't be wearing pink."  Between the parent's rules and my dislike of and thus lack of pastels in my stash, I'm having a Very difficult time choosing what to knit first.  

photo courtesy of 123rf.com

But you can bet, a yarn order has been placed.

Meanwhile, I seem to have an abundance of brown baby weight yarn.  I guess I  can always add a pink flower to it if the little blueberry turns out to be a girl.


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Out of Winter

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Another super short update....

Out of Winter knit with Sock Labs speckled Stroll

I didn't get a day from work this week so not much knitting has been happening, but I have made enough progress on my Out of Winter shawl to know that I LOVE this Sock Labs yarn.  I love it so much I just ordered a bunch more even though I already had the rest of 2019's knitting planned out.

You know what they say about plans...

Stay tuned.  I'll share what I plan to use all the speckled yarn for next week.  I have some pretty exciting news that deserves it's own post.  A post that I spend more than three minutes writing.

Meanwhile, happy knitting!

Out of Winter

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My plan for today was to show you a photo of my finished Reyna.  I finished it on July 31st and planned to at least have it on the blocking mats if not already blocked and dried.  But something got in the way.

Out of Winter knit with Sock Labs Stroll

I mentioned yesterday that Knit Picks had sent me a two skeins of their new Sock Labs speckled yarn to play with.  Knit Pick's timing couldn't have been better.  Mr. Mailman was leaving the yarn on my porch as I sat in the dentist's chair across town, frantically binding off Reyna.

As soon as I got home from the dentist, I tore into the package, photographed the yarn and began searching  Ravelry for the perfect pattern.  I couldn't decide.  I started with a list of eight designs which I narrowed down for yesterday's Three on Thursday post.  I asked for your opinion...

And then couldn't stand to wait.  I chose Out of Winter, which was odd because it was my least favorite of the three.  But the moment I started knitting it, I was hooked.  I'm loving the pattern, it's super simple.  And the yarn!  I've knit with Stroll before so I knew the yarn would be a joy to work with.  And the speckles!  It's so much fun to watch the speckles appear.

Sock Labs Stroll

This gorgeous limited edition yarn is selling fast so if you're interested, go take a look right now.  You won't want to miss the chance to stash some of this gorgeous yarn!

And on a woo-woo note, at the beginning of this post I mentioned I'd bound off my Reyna shawl on July 31st.  Guess what I was doing exactly three years ago.  Yep!  You guessed it.  I bound off my first Reyna on July 31, 2016.  How freaky is that??

Tangerine Speckle

I'm going to be right up front about it.  Today's Three on Thursday post contains affiliate links.  Knit Picks sent me two coordinating skeins of their new speckled Sock Labs Stroll yarn to play with and I couldn't be more excited.  The colors are Tangerine and Tangerine Speckle.  I normally lean towards much more subdued colorways and most likely would never have chosen these colors for myself but I absolutely LOVE them! 

Now, the question is, what do they want to be?

Sock Labs Stroll Tangerine and Tangerine Speckle

I'm leaning towards the Rayas Cowl.

Rayas Cowl

I feel like the brightness of the Tangerine calls for a simple design.

Even the 'solid' color is slightly speckled.

But then, with all that speckle, perhaps I should knit a Speckle Tonic shawl.

Speckle Tonic Shawl

I love how the solid and speckles yarns play together in that one.

Fingering weight speckled sock yarn from Knit Picks

Or perhaps an Out of Winter shawl.

Out of Winter shawl

What would you recommend?

The Pearl

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I've made some progress on my Reyna shawl.

Hawthorne's The Pearl

The plan was that I'd focus on knitting Madli's Shawl and Reyna would be my 'knit while I read my email' project.

Oops.

After working on Reyna exclusively at my Wednesday night knitting group, I find I only have 20 more rows to go, including the bind off row!

I'm fascinated with this colorway.  The yarn is Hathorne, The Pearl from Knit Picks.  The more I look at the knitted fabric, the more it looks like the inside of an oyster shell.  But it also has that faded denim look.  Well, maybe acid washed denim since there's so much fluctuation in color.  What ever.  I love it!  As for not focusing on the Madli's Shawl, I'm not sorry at all!

Wedgewood

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First, I'd like to give a shout out to the guys (or more specifically, guy) from Ron's Auto for helping me out the other day.  It was an absolute sh*t storm of a day and that dude will never know how much I appreciated his help.  Sue had her surgery that morning, I had to deal with both DMV and broken eyeglasses, attend a funeral, got tangled up in the traffic jam caused by a cop's mayday call and the actual air temp, not the 'feels like' but the actual air temperature hit 103... and the car overheated.  Ron's to the rescue.  The dude gave Little Red a pat on the head, told her she could do it, told me to maybe slow down a little, and sent us on our way with no more problems.

But what this post is really about...

Wedgewood Shawl

I finally blocked my Wedgewood shawl.

Wedgewood knit with Capretta from Knit Picks

I finished it back in April but was in no hurry to block it because it was tiny.  Barbie doll sized.  Way to small for my wide, linebacker shoulders.  I was so disappointed.

Shawl cuff from Howling Hills Studio

Thankfully I finally forced myself to block it.  As always, blocking worked miracles and what was a Barbie doll sized shawl now fits me perfectly.  I am SO happy because I absolutely LOVE the shawl.  It was getting ready to storm when I took the photos and the light is pretty bad and the shawl's color doesn't show well.  The yarn is Capretta from Knit Picks.  It looks like the yarn is being discontinued which is a shame because it's heavenly to knit with!  Anyway, the yarn's colorway is Eliot and the color is...  well, it's pond scum green.  I don't know how else to describe it.  It sounds horrible, but it's the most gorgeous golden green color.

Pond scum or not, it looks great with my new leather shawl cuff from Howling Hills Studio.  (And to give credit where credit is due, I bought the cuff from my LYS, Center of the Yarniverse rather than directly from Howling Hills.)

I can't wait for fall!

Three on Thursday

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I have three new projects on the needles.  Well, okay, one of them you've seen before.  But the other two are new.

Cascade Heritage Waves Hat

1.  The hat.  You've seen this before.  I knit it while watching Stranger Things.  I had about an inch of it done when I started the show, binge watched the entire thing over 24 hours and all that's left is the decreasing and a pompom.  I knit the hat extra long and floppy so that I can stick my hair up under it if need be.  I  have a lot of  hair so the hat is extra long.  

I didn't have a pattern.  I just cast on enough stitches to be able to knit in the round, knit around and a round, purled a turning row, knit some more, picked up and knit the cast on row with a regular row to form the hemmed brim and kept on knitting.  You can't see it well in the photo but the yarn is a gray gradient which makes a nice, neutral but not too terribly boring hat.  And the yarn, Cascade Heritage Waves, is unbelievably soft.  If I had any sense, I should have knit it into something that would be worn next to my skin rather than on top of my thick head of hair.  But, I think I have enough left over to knit a pair of matching fingerless mitts. 

Reyna

2.  Reyna.  I needed a new basic, garter or stockinette in the round project since the hat was almost complete.  I must always have a simple project OTN to knit on while reading.  I almost started another Hitchhiker but I wanted to use this yarn and I didn't need another blue Hitchhiker.  So... Reyna.

Reyna shawl knit with Knit Picks Hawthorne (#affiliate #ad)

The yarn is Hawthorne in The Pearl colorway, which I believe is one of their newer colors.  I've knit the pattern before and enjoyed it.  It's a simple garter and mesh/lace triangular shawl.  And this time, I'm even following the directions!

yarn from Unplanned Peacock

3.  Eclipse.  The pattern and yarn are both from Unplanned Peacock.  The purple (Starling) will be the main color and the green/blue (Lagoon) will be the stripes.  I've knit this pattern several times before.  I absolutely love this design.  It's shawly enough to wear as a shawl but it's also scarfy enough to wear like a normal scarf.  And don't even get me started on how much I love the Unplanned Peacock's yarn.  

Both Reyna and Eclipse are mostly garter stitch so I can read while I knit them.  But, they also both have a touch of open mesh or lacework that I can't work while reading.  So, the plan is to switch projects when I get to a lacy section.

Want to take bets on which gets finished first?

Joining Carole for Three on Thursday.

Knitting with Stranger Things

And so it begins...

Every summer, as work takes over my life and the weather gets hotter and the weeks seem longer, I begin to skip regularly scheduled posts here and there until I suddenly realize I haven't posted in a week.  Sometimes two.  This year I promised myself that wouldn't happen, even if I had to resort to 'phoning in' the posts.  I picked a bad year to make that promise to myself.  I think I've previously mentioned that I'm having a lot of dental work done.  Anyway, I've been averaging 60 - 65 hour work weeks and since mid May, every day off has been spent either at the dentist or taking Sue to the chemo doctor.  The schedule is wearing on me.  The schedule (work schedule that is) also got messed up this past week and I had Sunday off instead of a weekday... and I just had to say, "Ef it!  I'm spending my day knitting and binge watching Stranger Things, not writing a blog post."  So sorry, not sorry. 

My new chart keeper is helping me knit Madli's Shawl (affiliate link)

Anyway... I did knit.  I knit sixteen rows on my Madli's Shawl while I finished binge watching Roswell on Netflix.  Yes, my TV viewing tends to be that of a 12 year old girl.  Laugh all you want, I don't care.  It was a good show.  And there was more than one Buffy reference made and y'all know how I feel about Buffy.  Anyway, I've finished 20 and a half pattern repeats, only ten and a half more to go.  My goal is to have it blocked and finished by October 1st.  I wanted to keep knitting on it but....

Stranger Things!  I'm not coordinated enough to knit beaded lace and watch Stranger Things at the same time.  I put down the lace and picked up a simple stockinette hat. 

knitting with Stranger Things

The hat is knit with Cascade's Heritage Wave yarn on US2 needles and it's taking forever!  It is my 'only knit while I read' project which is one reason it's taking so long.  The other is, well, to quote my mother when she'd get really mad, "Dammit all to Hell!"  A fellow blogger recently posted about how their ball winder had started messing up and causing big loops of thread to hang out of the skein.  I smugly thought to myself, "That never happens to me.... except for the skein I just wound yesterday did have one weird loop sticking out of it..."  Of course that skein was my Cascade Heritage Wave.  And of course, karma!  After knitting about five rounds, that loop started causing all kinds of problems.  I have No idea how that one little loop sticking out could cause SO many tangles but.... ever since, I've knit about half a round, spent five minutes untangling and freeing enough yarn to knit another half round... and repeat.  Over and over and over again.  Dammit all to Hell!

But back to topic - Stranger Things!  Have you watched it yet?  Besides being a fantastic show, I'd forgotten how much fun it is to be visually carried back to the '80's.  And that outfit that Nancy Wheeler is wearing in the photo, I had the exact same outfit!  Well, almost the same.  Her stripes look gray while mine were a faded blue.  I remember not wearing the skirt much but I practically lived in the shirt.

And now, I suddenly realize I'm running late and have to go get ready for work so I'm cutting this short.  Until next time, happy knitting!

Red, White and Blue

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I'm gearing up for the fourth of July.

While watching Outlander reruns on Netflix I started knitting a red, white and blue can cozy.

Except I drink coffee, not cans.  

The coffee sleeve is knit from scraps of Knit Pick's Palette on US2 dpns.

On The Needles

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I'd planned to have the prayer shawl blocked and ready to show you today but life got in the way.  I use my dining room table for blocking and it's currently unavailable.  We're remodeling our kitchen, (repainting the cabinets and replacing the counter tops and sink) and every single thing that used to live in our kitchen is now spread out all over the dining room.

Stroll Cowl knit with Stroll Tweed from Knit Picks

So, instead of a blocked and finished shawl, I have my Stroll cowl to show.  And I'm not even doing a good job of showing it.  It's dark and stormy - again - and the light in our house is awful.  And yes, that is my mitered square blanket over my legs.  It may be 90 degrees and 4,000% humidity outside but it is Freezing inside our house.  And looking out the window at the storm clouds and wind-blown trees just makes me feel that much colder.

But it's okay to be cold.  I have yarn.

Three on Thursday - Serendipity

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Serendipity!  It's Three on Thursday and I have three projects on the needles.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Only three!  The Kroy blanket is finished!  More about that later, when I can stand to look at it long enough to discuss it.  For now, the blanket is off the needles and tossed in the corner.

But today..... Today, I have three projects on the needles.

Madli's Shawl

1.  Madli's shawl.  I haven't touched this one in over a month.  Luckily, I was waaaay ahead of schedule when I tucked it away to focus on other things.

Prayer Shawl

2.  The prayer shawl.  I was all gung ho for this project at first and then.... I showed it to Sue without telling her who it was for and she wasn't the least bit impressed.  I thought she'd at least gush over the color but....  I'm not sure if she A) just didn't like the color and/or feel (although it's incredibly soft) or B) simply couldn't visualize it.  Whatever the case, I lost my enthusiasm and decided to focus on finishing the ^%#$^%* Kroy blanket.  

Now that the Kroy is done, I'm back to focusing on this shawl.  And if I'm being honest, I sort of hope Sue doesn't like it.  I wouldn't mind keeping it for myself.

As for the pattern, I'm making it up as I go.  I'd been trying to decide if I wanted to knit it in solid garter with a lacy edging, or if I wanted to knit occasional *yo, k2tog* rows into it.  Problem solved.  I accidentally left out an increase row, so to solve that issue, I made up for it by doing the yarn over row without knitting two together a few times to make up for the missed increases.  Serendipity!

Knit Picks Stroll

3.  A  cowl.  I don't think I've mentioned this one here before.  I haven't even listed it on Ravelry yet.  It's another 'make it up as I go' project.  I'm knitting it with Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in stripes of Wellies Heather, Barn Door Heather and Down Heather.   My plan is to knit the Wellies (black) and Barn Door (maroon) in stockinette and add some lace or texture of some kind for the Down Heather.  The Wellies and Barn Door are both dark and much more tweedy than the Down.  I don't think patterning would show up as well on them.

As much as I'm looking forward to wearing this cowl this winter, the project is on the back burner for now.  Winter is a looong way off.