Deby

I hope that all of you in Deby's path made it through safely.  I love LOVE a good storm and well, Deby was a bit of a let down here.  I didn't even break out a single bottle of hurricane booze, nor did I eat all my hurricane snacks.

I spent Thursday, day one of Deby here in Virginia, knitting outside.  I am SO thankful for our covered porch. I absolutely love sitting outside when it's raining.  Thursday's rain was straight down rain with no wind so it was perfect for deck sitting. 

While I knit and watched it rain, I also read The Last One by Will Dean.  O. M. G.!  If you like psychological horror, it's a must read. A MUST read! There's nothing jumping out at you, there are no ghosts or bogeymen, but it is absolutely terrifying and I couldn't put it down.  Best book I've read in a long time. (And no, I'm not an affiliate, I just really, really liked the book.)

We did end up loosing one small, dead tree in the storm.  Other than being dead, I have no idea why it fell.  We never had any wind.  And oddly, the big, giant dead tree that leans a little more each day is still standing.  Other than putting a dent in our yard, the big one is located in a spot where it won't cause any property damage when it falls so we keep waiting for a storm to take it out instead of having to pay a fortune to have it cut down.  Maybe in the next storm....

I finished the hat I was knitting and added two pompoms.  And now, we just wait for the last tendrils of Deby to pass by tonight and pray that all of the flooding to the west of us stays to the west of us and doesn't flow downstream and flood us tomorrow.  That's what happened during Gaston, a storm that passed through in August twenty years ago and caused major flooding the next day due to the runoff.  Fingers crossed.

Happy knitting!

Market Prepping

I'm still market prepping and haven't done any personal knitting in what feels like a very long time.  Sadly, it doesn't make for very interesting blog fodder.  The severe thunderstorm we are in the midst of isn't helping any with the photos either.  At least we still have power.  It was off for a bit during last night's storm.

Today I have been finishing various things I've made.  Stuffing things, weaving in ends, that kind of thing.

Have any of you ever needed the 5 lb box of poly-fil?  I kept going through the large bags of it so I finally broke down and bought the more economical giant box.  It scared me when I opened it because as soon as I cut a hole in the bag inside the box, the poly-fil just started growing and growing and growing.  It was spewing out like a volcano.  I've used about a foot worth in height and there's still no pushing it back into the box.  I just have to keep using it up before I can reseal the box.  Shouldn't be a problem though.  I still have Lots of items to stuff.

I also have lots of hats and gloves to tag.  I bought these tags back in the winter, just after Christmas I think, but I've never attached them to anything.  Yes, I'm a bad shop owner and haven't listed anything new in ages.  I really like these tags though and was super excited to find that they sent me an extra 50 tags!  I ordered the rectangles and they sent me the rectangles I ordered plus 50 of the ovals, or at least what I'm calling ovals. If you are in the market for tags, I bought mine from RiseTailor Studio on Etsy.  (No affiliate, just happy with my tags.)  Shipping took a while, I can't remember how long exactly, but I do remember they arrived several weeks earlier than expected.

And just because I'm excited that I'm all legal now...

I have a business license, a banner and a tent to hang it from.  At least I hope I have a tent.  I have a very heavy tent bag.  I just haven't tried to take the tent out of the bag and set it up yet.  It's been back in the upper 90's and 4 gazillion percent humidity so the tent has remained in it's bag in the middle of the living room.  I'm going to have to start calling it an art sculpture if I don't do something about it soon.

Okay, time for me to get back to stuffing and weaving in ends.

Happy knitting!

Pumpkins

We finally got rain!

And the pumpkin patch began to grow.

I recently found out I'd been accepted as a vendor at the county fair and I've been frantically knitting for it.  I applied so long ago and didn't hear back so I thought I didn't get in but, Surprise!  So, yeah.  Frantic knitting has been happening.  The pumpkin patch is growing, and yes, I know they still need stems.  

I've made about 1,000 things and they all still need something done to them. Ends woven in, seams sewn, eyes attached, stems attached, tags attached..... There's going to be a lot of attaching happening over the next two weeks.

I hope and pray I do well at the fair.  July has been an expensive month!  There has been, obviously, some yarn shopping.  Then our dryer bit the dust and had to be replaced.  My laptop also bit the dust and had to be replaced. I bought the new laptop, a vacuum and a 10 x 10 tent for craft sales during Amazon's prime days. I saved between $75 and $150 on each item so it made sense to get them but still....  I bought a Jeannie Gray Knits banner for the tent. Something went wrong with the mower's clutch and every time you'd engage the mower blades and start to go, the mower would cut off.  The a/c compressor in the car went out on a 98 degree day and we discovered that same day that the window control was also broken and the windows wouldn't go down.  That was one HOT ride home!  Sarah's prescription sunglasses broke. And hopefully last on the list of July expenses, my husband found out he needs a double hip replacement sooner rather than later.  Oh, and there may have been some additional, 'I'm having a nervous breakdown' yarn shopping. Yikes!  I'm going to need to sell a LOT of pumpkins!  At least I know I have enough yarn to make them.

And now, since the tent and banner both arrived a week early (when does that ever happen???) I just may take a day off from knitting and go see just how easy it is to assemble the tent by myself.  The write-up promised ease, but I have my doubts.   Honestly, I'm not even sure I can get it out of the shipping box by myself.  That thing is heavy!

Happy knitting!

Working the WIPs

First, let me just say, I am so, so happy February is over!

Now, let's talk knitting.

I'm so proud of myself!  Remember my plan to finish something from the WIP pile then knit something new, then something from the WIP pile....?  Well, finishing the Rambling Rows afghan that had been hanging around since 2020 felt so good, I've just kept on grabbing WIPs instead of starting something new.

I finished a simple scarf made from Homespun yarn that was given to me a long time ago.  (Big box store Homespun, not hand-spun.)  It feels good to have it off the needles because it's been hanging around for a long time too.  

And the beaded cowl is finished.  Obviously still needs to be blocked, but it's off the needles.  It's an infinity type scarf without the infinity twist.  I used Palette yarn and randomly placed beads on it.  I really enjoy doing beaded knitting.  I'm slow as molasses with it, but I enjoy it.

By the way, if you shop at crochet.com, which is affiliated with Knit Picks, use coupon code CROCHETMONTH during the month of March and you can save 10 - 20% depending on the amount of your purchase. A $75 purchase gets you 10%, a $100 purchase gets you 15% off and $150 and up gets you 20% off.

I am trying very, very hard not to visit crochet.com because this coming Tuesday will mark 150 days (basically 5 months) without buying yarn.  My goal is to go six months.  We'll see if I can make it that long.

But back to today's topic.... finishing WIPs.

I've beaded eleven more pairs of socks.  Okay, they weren't exactly considered WIPs, but I did have the socks laying around plus some of the beads, and I desperately need to get my shop restocked.  Plus, Hayden's birthday is coming up and she asked me to make her some more.  She specifically asked for rainbow, but I am head over heels in love with that blue/greem combo.  Just looking at them makes me feel like I'm on island water.  I could use some island water right now!

Anyway....

Not exciting looking, but exciting to me.... I'm on zebra striped sock #2.  Just three days ago, sock #1 was only a few rows past the ribbing.  These socks have been in the WIP pile for quite a while too.  Not sure why.  The yarn is Patons Kroy Socks which I like so.... Maybe I found the black and white stripes to be too boring.  Or the US 1 needles too small and slow.  Who knows.  Whatever, I'm on a roll with them now.

Once those zebra socks are done, all that's left in the WIP crate is one more pair of socks, a hat, and 2 shawls.  I really hope I can keep motivated to get them all finished.  I would love to end up with an empty crate.  

Happy March and happy knitting!

Stupid February

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike the month of February?  February has never been a good month for me and this year .... Well, this year, February simply sucks.  First, I had that stomach bug that lasted four or five days.  Then I got the cold/sinus thing which is still hanging around two weeks later.  And for the icing on the February cake, we've spent the last 36+ hours in the ER.  My husband had a bit of a health scare but after about 45 thousand tests/procedures and even more medicines, they hope to send him home shortly.  We're just waiting for the final approval from the doctor.

On a more positive note, the hubster will be fine, although we may end up divorced after all my future nagging about taking his health more seriously.  

And, I finished the Rambling Rows blanket.  That photo is the best I can do from ER.  I never got around to taking a photo of the finished blanket.  But yeah, I went with the icord border and am glad I did.  I don't know why I was dreading it so much.  The icord knitting went super fast - much, much faster than a garter border would have been.  After being on the To Knit list for four years, I'm pretty dang excited to be done with that blanket.  I even already got the loose ends woven in!

Maybe February doesn't suck so bad after all.

Another Checkmark in the FO Column

Sorry this is a day late.  I've got the Norovirus and well, it was impossible to accomplish anything yesterday.  I don't remember ever being that sick before, but, the vomiting has stopped at least and I'm weighing 8 pounds less today than yesterday.  

Anyway...

I moved another project from the  WIP column to the FO column.

Actually, I'd finished the knitting weeks ago but the socks were still lounging around waiting to have the toes kitchnered.  I used Paton KroySocks in the Brownies colorway.  And no, they don't match perfectly but I don't care.  Thankfully, I've never needed my socks to be matchy-matchy.  It's a good thing because my feet are so big I have to use the whole skein.  I can't be wasting yardage trying to get the starting point to match.

I'm really enjoying this 'get everything finished' goal.  I thought I'd finish an old project, knit a new one, finish an old one, knit a new one... but it feels so good to get things finished and scratched off the list I just keep finishing things. Yay me!

Yikes!

Yikes!

I think I've made a decision.  And I am both excited and terrified.

As of today, my Etsy shop is closed and I no longer plan to blog on any kind of a routine schedule.  For that matter, I don't really even intend to blog anymore.  But you know me, I like to blather on about what I'm knitting so I may be back here sooner than expected.

And just in case I am making a HUGE mistake and instantly regret my decision, I'm going to put my Etsy shop on vacation rather than actually closing it.  I'll still be on Facebook (my personal page) and maybe I'll even post more on Instagram.  Maybe I'll even learn to TikTok, but I doubt it.  

Maybe I'll be back here sooner than expected.  But I'll no longer be thinking of Jeannie Gray Knits as a business.  Rather than a thing, Jeannie Gray Knits will simply be me knitting what I want, when I want, with the yarn I want.  I won't be worrying about what customers want and what they are willing to pay for.  

I've been thinking about this for a couple of months now.  Actually, that's not true.  I've been trying Not to think about it for a couple of months.  You see, back in January, I signed up for a class to help me take Jeannie Gray Knits to a level that fully finanically supports me.  And the class did what no other has done for me.  It finally made me face the fact that Jeannie Gray Knits is not profitable, nor sustainable.  At least not the way I've been doing it.  

So, I'm retiring.  I'm not quiting, I'm retiring.  I'm going to go knit what I want, when I want and with what yarns I want.  Instead of knitting for my Etsy shop, I'm going to knit for me, for my friends and family, and for the mutlitude of causes I've always wanted to knit for but never had time.  I'm going to learn to garden, maybe learn a new craft, and maybe, just maybe, even clean the house!  

I'm pretty excited about the idea.  I'm also terrified I'm making a huge mistake.  What on earth will I do with all the time I was spending on my business?  I may actually have to clean the house just to fill the hours.

But if I am making a huge mistake, it's fixable.  I'm not burning any bridges.  I'm just going on (semi ??) permanent vacation.  Thank you for sticking with me all these years.  I'm sure I'll see you around the web... and maybe at a fiber festival or two.  And maybe even back here in a few days when I panic because I suddenly have nothing to do but clean the house.  Yikes!

Hue Shift

 I couldn't help myself.

I had to start the Hue Shift afghan.  I just couldn't stand to wait any longer.

Hue Shift is a mitered square blanket knit with Brava from Knit Picks.  Or at least, mine is.  The pattern also includes instructions for using Mighty Stitch yarn.  Knit Picks sells kits with several different color combinations and there's even a crochet kit.  

The blanket is knit in four sections that you can arrange in different ways before sewing them together to get completely different looks.  I'm a little concerned about my ability to power through this blanket without putting it aside to knit something else but, the frequent color changes will keep it interesting and as luck would have it, the last section contains my favorite colors.  I'm hoping that motivates me to keep knitting.

Meanwhile, Hayden keeps me in stitches by making funny faces.

Happy knitting!

Northern Lights

I probably should have titled this post Everything But Knitting.  Oh well.

I spent most of my time off from work this past week doing yard work.  Last summer we thought we were moving and so we didn't exactly keep the flower beds in tip top shape. But since we've decided to stay  here (Have I mentioned that?  Yes, we decided to buy out my brother-in-law's half of my MIL's house and stay put.  I'm very happy not to have to move.)... Anyway... Since we've decided to stay and take ownership, Sarah and I are doing our best to take back control of the yard.  It's going to take us 100 years I fear.

The point of that story was, I haven't gotten much knitting done.  I haven't even touched the Winterfest sweater but the first Northern Lights Patons Kroy Sock sock is almost finished.  I've knit a little more than pictured and have started the toe decreases.  I'm 99.99999% sure I will run out of  yarn before the toe is long enough but I have some coordinating yarn and it will just have to have a weird looking toe.  I'm okay with weird toes.

Yesterday was GORGEOUS and a perfect day to spend parked on the deck with my knititng and a book.  Books actually.  I'm also reading Stephen King's Fairytail but that one's on my Kindle and I read until the battery died.  The day was so beautiful my bee friend stopped by for a visit.  I was surprised how interested in my non-sweetened black coffee he was.

I can't wait until the danger of frost has past.  I bought this weeping pussy willow tree from the grocery store and expected to kill it the first week I owned it, but it's producing leaves like crazy.  I think it just might survive.  I'm pretty excited about this little tree.  It's supposed to grow to seven feet tall and eight feet in diameter.  I've always loved weeping willows and my mom loved pussy willows so...  And since we live on the edge of a swamp, it shouldn't be a problem that this plant's roots search out water sources.  It should be very happy here.

The poor dog has taken up a bit of time this week too.  He hurt his paw and he's been having some tummy problems so he's stuck wearing the cone of shame and he's enjoying a diet of nothing but chicken and rice.  The problem comes in that he struggles to eat with the cone on and gets rice EVERYWHERE!  He's one of those dogs who likes to take their food  out of the bowl, put it on the floor, then eat it.  Except now, the cone knocks the rice every which way and if we take the cone off, he eats his foot instead of his food.  We are now having to sweep the entire downstairs about 8 times a day.  

And most exciting, Hayden turned three recently.  My husband and I weren't able to attend her actual birthday party so we threw her a simple dinner and cake party.  She was pretty excited about the cake.

And now, I'm off to finish that sock before I have to go to work this afternoon.

Happy Knitting!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Thank you for all the picot sympathy and support.  Day four was the magic number.  I pretty much did nothing but picot bindoff all day long and got the shawl finished.  I still haven't blocked it, but I will - soon.  And then I'll show it off.

The Winterfest sweater sleeve-fest continues.  And continues and continues. I'm still on the first half of the first sleeve. It's a bit of a slog.  My sized sleeves in fingering weight, on US 1 needles, in dark gray makes for some mighty slow knitting.  But I am making progress. I imagine my need for a wool sweater is probably over for the season so I'm not stressing over it.

When I get too bored with the Winterfest sleeve knitting, I switch to Northern Lights socks.  The yarn is Patons Kroy Socks, which, as cheap sock yarn goes, I love.  The color in the photo is fairly accurate except that the really dark stripe that looks black on my screen is actually a deep purply maroon.  I'm totally in love with it.

But what I'm in love with most is my new light-up birdfeeder.  It's solar powered and lights up in the dark.  I absolutely love it!  If you love it too and want one of your own, you can find it here on Amazon. (And no, I'm not affiliated.  Just really, really happy with mine.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Picot

Why did I ever think a picot bindoff on this shawl was a good idea?

I'm on day four of binding off this shawl and I have just gotten to the midpoint.  Good grief!  Granted, I've had work and our washing machine broke so I spent yesterday doing my laundry at a friend's house instead of knitting but still.... Four days to reach the halfway point!  

Despite my poor choice of bindoff...  I'm loving this shawl.  I love the color combo and the yarn...  The yarn is Knit Pick's Capretta which is a merino and cashmere blend.  It's incredibly soft and wonderful to knit with.  I can't say enough good things about this yarn.  I'm totally smitten with it.  As much as I want to be done with that picot bindoff, I will be sad to stop knitting with this yarn.

And as much as I'm complaining about the picot bindoff, I really do like the look of it.  I can't wait to finish the shawl and get it blocked.  

...And then you can hear me complain about pinning all those little picot points. 😊

Meanwhile,  my granddaughter likes to help me feed the birds.

While I fill the hanging feeders, she feeds the big birds on the ground.

I can't belive Hayden is about to turn three.  Where does the time go?

As Promised

As promised, I present...

The Pumpkin Sweater.

The pattern was great.  Well written and fun to knit.

The problems came in with my knitting.  Or more like, my decision not to fix the knitting problems as they occurred.

Whoever invented the saying, "That'll block right out." should be shot.  Botched increase rows and major gauge issues rarely block out.

I ended up with a slight 'ruffle' running down the back due to the botched increase rows.  I kept being a stitch short when I got to the end of the increase rows so I'd just throw an extra one in... and it caused a ruffle effect.  My solution is to never cut my hair and always wear it down whenever I wear the sweater.  Problem solved.

The other issue is the sleeves.  They feel like I'm wearing compression sleeves.  Very, very tight compression sleeves.  

I used the same size dpn on the sleeves as the circular needle I used for the body.  Same manufacturer, needles made from the same material.  But for some reason, the sleeve gauge is WAY tighter than the body's gauge.  I noticed the gauge difference after only knitting an inch or two of the first sleeve but rather than do something about it, I decided it would block right out.

Yeah.

But that's okay because I get to try again.  This sweater was for my daughter but after this one had so many problems, I promised I'd knit her another one and keep this one for myself.  So lucky you!  You get to watch Pumpkin Sweater #2 being knit sometime in the (hopefully) not too distant future.

Winterfest

Why am I talking about Winterfest on the day we break a February heat record?  I'd planned to show off/laugh at the completed pumpkin sweater this week but I never got around to taking photos.  The weather has just been so spring-like and beautiful on my days off, I haven't been able to force myself into a worsted weight sweater.  So...

Instead of modeling the pumpkin sweater, I've been knitting on my Winterfest sweater.  If you don't remember (and why would you??,) I started the Winterfest sweater in November, 2021.  I was a vendor at Kings Dominion's Winterfest that year and decided to knit a sweater with the help of the kids who came through the booth.  I'd ask them their age and pull that many yards off the skein of their choice and then I did my very best to knit them in the order they were chosen.  It was a fun way of entertaining and including the kids while the parents shopped and it made for a, let's call it, exciting sweater.  

It's definitely colorful!

The sweater is a simple ragland, knit with a zillion different colors of Palette on US 1 (2.50) needles.  The sweater was pretty loose on me in 2021 and I pray it still is.  I haven't tried it on since pulling it out of the UFO pile.  At this point, the goal is to finish it, not necessarily wear it.  Part of me thinks the sweater is too colorful and hideous while another part of me is hopeful that the asphalt gray waist ribbing and sleeves will calm down the wild colors.  Winterfest ended and I ran out of kids to choose the next color so I decided to go wih a neutral dark gray, again, hoping the gray will calm the sweater down a bit.  The third part of me just wants this beast finished. off the needles and off my To Knit list.

Whether the sweater fits or not, I just want it done.  I've knit on it too much to quit now.  I can't fathom how many stitches this giant, beast of a sweater already has in it nor do I even want to think about how many more stitches I still have to go.  Once that waist hem is completed, I still have the sleeves to knit.  I'll probably still be knitting this thing in 2024.

Good grief!

I hope that wherever you are, you are also experiencing beautiful spring weather, although maybe not as warm as it is here today.  We hit 81 degrees, beating the previos record by six degrees!   Of course tomorrow will bring normal temperatures and it will be back down below freezing by tomorrow night.  Nothing like spring in Virginia!

Anyway, hope you are having nice weather and your knitting is going faster than mine.

Capretta

 

Yes!  We've had a few warm, spring-like days recently and one of them happened to be on my day off.  You know I spent the entire day outside, sitting on my butt and knitting.  It was glorious!  Okay, I did get up a few times to do about 40 loads of laundry, but otherwise, I spent the day sitting and knitting outside.  It was awesome!

I finished the pumpkin sweater and started a shawl.  I'll show you the sweater next week.  The fit is... well, let's just say, the sweater has a few problems.  (My problems, not the designers.)  I'll explain more when I show you a photo.  Before I model it, I need to gain about 20 pounds in the bust area and loose about 20 pounds in my arms.  I had a slight issue with my dpn vs my interchangeable needle gauge.  It's a good thing the pumpkin sweater is for Halloween becuase its fit is frightful.

But this shawl....

Oh my!  I'm using Capretta from Knit Picks and it's Heaven!  Pure Heaven!  The yarn is a merino, cashmere and nylon blend and, I just noticed it's also a superwash.  And now that I've noticed that, I'm headed straight to Knit Picks to buy more.  I desperately  need to knit a few more pairs of socks for myself.  Cashmere socks.  How decadent! 

Oh, and the yarn  is currently on sale!  Woo-hoo!

But back to the shawl.... I'm not following a pattern, just making it up as I go.  I knit a while, get bored with a color, add a thin light gray stripe, change colors and repeat.  My plan is to do some kind of lacy edge with the light gray and to knit each color until I run out of yarn.  Each skein has 230 yards so it should be a fairly large shawl.  

The yarn is so nice to knit with and feels so good in my hand, knitting a large, garter stitch shawl shouldn't be a problem.  It's quite meditative.

A Better Week

Thank you all for the get well wishes.  They worked!  The z-pack from the doctor helped too.  Man, that z-pack antiobiotic is some serious stuff!  It knocked the mucus part of the respitory infection right out.  Now I'm feeling 1,000 times better and only cough when I talk.  The doctor promises the cough will go away in two to three weeks, once my airways are no longer inflamed.  

Anyway, thank you for all the good health wishes.  I much appreciated them.  And, while I'm saying thanks, thank you for sticking with me and this blog.  I realize it has not been exactly titalating reading lately.

Since I've been feeling better, I've been able to get some knitting done.

I finished the Selbu hat.  It obviously hasn't been blocked yet, but the knitting is done.  I'm pretty pleased with it.

The hat has a hemmed brim and I guess you could consider it reversible, except I'm not sure I like the way the sewing line looks.  I used a regular cast on and picked those cast on stitches up and knit them together with the stitches already on the needle when I hemmed it.  It's a super simple process but it does leave that line.  How do you handle hemmed hats/items?

Remember the pumpkin sweater?  It's been in the UFO corner for a long time.  I pulled it out and am determined to get it finished.  All that was left was the waist ribbing and the two sleeves.  Now, it only has half a sleeve left to go.  That one sleeve seems to be taking for eeeeeever to finish though.  After the z-pack and before I was allowed to return to work, I got the waist ribbing and first sleeve done.  The second sleeve however.... I've been working on it for almost a week and it still has a few more inches to go before the wrist ribbing starts.

Do they make z-packs for second-sleeve-itis?

A Slow Week

 It's been a slow week knitting wise.  Everything wise, really.

The most knitting I've done this week was while I was at the doctor's waiting for my Covid, Flu and Strep tests to come back.  Mostly, I've spent the week staring blankly at the wall, blowing my nose and coughing up a lung.  

Thankfully, all the tests came back negative.  It's just a simple respirtory infection and I'm now the proud owner of a z-pack and some prescription cough syrup.  I haven't been able to sleep all week because of the coughing and choking on mucus (TMI??) so I'm really looking forward to the cough medicine tonight. It promises to make me sleepy and it must be pretty strong stuff.  Instead of coming with a tiny dosage cup like most liquid medicines, it comes with a baby syringe becuase the dosage is so small.  I can't wait for bedtime!

What a week!

This has been quite an exciting week!

I finished the Mimosa sweater for Sarah.  I even sewed it all up and she's worn it.  Of course I forgot to take a phot of it.  Next time she wears it...

I finished knitting the Squish blanket and bound it off.

I even wove in all the little ends and have been enjoying snuggling up under it the last few nights.  The blanket really is aptly named because it is incredibly thick and squishy.  If I can stand that many long-term projects, I may have to knit one for each family member.  I love it that much!

And, most exciting of all....

The Cadbury eggs are stocked and on the grocery store shelves.  This pleases me to no end.  My weight-loss doctor, probably not so much.

Continue-itis

You've heard of start-itis.  Well, I'm suffering from continue-itis.  I just keep knitting on the same items and never seem to finish them.

I'd forgotten how much I dislike having mutliple projects on the needles at once.  I mean, one simple, knit while I read type project and one complicated, gotta pay attention project on the needles at the same time is okay.  It's a good thing actually.  But more than that.... and it's just a bad case of continue-itis.

I did finish the knitting part of Mimosa and one side seam is sewn.  But that other side seam....  I really neeed to finish it before Sarah beats me over my head with my knitting bag but....

But when given the choice between sewing seams and knitting....

Even when the knitting is slightly boring and never ending, I'll choose knitting over seam sewing any day of the week.  There may actually be an end in sight for Squish.  I guestimated its length this morning and it looks like I only need to add four more color stripes.  And that means, by next Friday, I should, hopefully, be showing off a finished Squish.  Fingers crossed!

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it, but my husband gave me this book, Selbu Patterns, by Anne Bardsgard for Christmas.  How he knew I wanted it or where to find it is beyond me but he really came through this year! 

 

And of course I had to immediately cast on a hat.  It's not a true Selbu designed hat, but it is using a Selbu design element.  This is the one knitting project without a deadline or a waiting receive so of course, it's the project I want to knit on most.

I could have knit this hat 16 times by now but I'm struggling with the chart color vs my yarn colors.  See how the chart is black and white?  Actually, it's charcoal gray and white.  My yarn is charcoal gray and yellow.  On the chart, the background stitches are white and the pattern is gray.  But my yarn, the background is gray and the pattern is knit in yellow.  I can't tell you how many times I've had to tink back and switch my colors.  

I'm at the halfway point of the chart though so 16 more tinks and reknits .... and I'll be back to solid color knitting.  If I focused, I could have this hat finished by next Friday too!

Wish me luck and happy knitting!

Mimosa Part 2

Knitting on the Mimosa sweater continues.

I don't understand why it's taking so long to knit this sweater.  The fabric grows quickly and it's the only thing I've knit on since Christmas.  I'm sure it has nothing to do with spending 90% of my spare time eating leftover Christmas cakes and candy instead of knitting.

The body is completed, except for sewing it up, and I've started the first sleeve.  I don't think I've ever knit a cuff-up sleeve before.  This one looks like a giant mushroom.

I'm waiting to do the sewing until the sleeves are done.  I knit the required number of rows on the front and back but they look a little short to me.  Hopefully it's just that I'm freakishly tall and the sweater will be plenty long and oversized on Sarah.  But if not, I have a plan to elongate the shoulders.  Hopefully that plan will not need to be executed because I'm afraid it will look weird once the sleeves are attached.  We'll just have to wait and see about that.  

Hopefully by next Friday I'll be writing about a completed sweater.  I'm just about out of Christmas candy. (Thank goodness!  I'm not sure my waistband can stand much more!)  Hopefully I'll be spending a lot more time knitting and a lot less time opening mini Reese's wrappers this week.

Happy knitting and happy Friday 13th!

Mimosa

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.  Ours was really nice.  New Years wasn't much.  The family slept and I worked but Christmas was wonderful.  

I was so proud of Hayden.  She'd spent Christmas Eve Eve at her other grandparent's and she normally has a little too much fun there and comes home exhausted and a little grouchy.  I was a bit concerned about how she'd behave Christmas Eve at my nephew's house, in a strange house, with people she rarely sees, make that loud people she rarely sees, and withoout a nap and past her bedtime...  But she did fantastic!  She walked in, made herself at home and had a blast playing with my sister's grandkids. She even sat at the kid's table to eat and didn't need any help from her parents. The only time she got upset was when we took the book away from her so that someone else could do the traditional reading of The Night Before Christmas.

As for my Christmas Eve Cast On project, I cheated and cast on a few days early.  It's a sweater for Sarah that was actually a Christmas gift for her.  I thought I'd be safe because Sarah announced she wanted me to knit her the sweater early to mid December.  The pattern is Mimosa, a free pattern on Ravelry.

The sweater's design is super simple.  It's basically just a few rectangles sewn together and it's knit with US15 needles with mohair-like yarn.  Being free and so simple, the pattern doesn't even provide gauge but it does mention what yarn the designer, Ola Otuli, used.  I decided I'd use the same yarn just to be safe.

A brief internet search for the yarn took me to an Etsy shop, DewKnit in Lithuania.  I was pretty excited because Etsy's shipping esitmator thing said the  yarn would arrive between December 19 and January 5th.  Perfect, I thought.  It would never arrive before Christmas so I could wrap up a note and there'd be zero expectation of having a knitted sweater under the tree on Christmas morning.  Or so I thought.

Well, the yarn arrived on December 20th.  Thankfully Sarah is an understanding big girl these days and still didn't expect the finished sweater to be under the tree.  She has, however, checked on it's progress daily ever since  the yarn's arrival.

The sweater is knitting up quickly and I'm enjoying the yarn.  It's hairy like mohair but it's a wool/alpaca blend rather than being actual mohair.  And I'm loving it.  Mohair tends to make my hands sweaty and I feel like I end up with more fiber in my eyes and nose than on the needles when ever I've knit with it.  But this  yarn, this yarn doesn't shed like mohair.  It doesn't shed at all.  I can knit wearing my black work pants with no worries at all.  It's super soft and did I mention how fast it's knitting up?  If it wasn't for that pesky job of mine, I probably could have had the sweater knit and under the tree Christmas morning.

If you decide to knit yourself a Mimosa sweater, and you plan to use the yarn, Drops Melody, as mentioned in the pattern, I highly recommend you order from DewKnit.  Yes, the yarn had to travel from Lithuania, but it made the trip quickly, even at Christmas.  The yarn was packaged well and the customer service was great.  I won't hesitate to order from DewKnit next time.

And now I'm off to knit a few more rows.  I can't wait to hear about what everyone else is knitting in the the new year.