Category Archives: Knitting

Last Day of January 2018!

Wow and yay!

I don’t know about you, but January is typically a hard month for me. The lack of daylight, after holiday blues, cold temps that keep from my daily walks—it all adds up to make January my least favorite month.

However, this year was easier for me—I had a weekend reprieve from the cold in Florida, and my daughter was home for the first half of the month. So, for me, it’s just been these last two weeks… and I got through them. I’ll take any and all the help for January to roll along on the positive side.

By the way, how many weeks until spring? 🙂

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I think I showed you the skein of merino yarn I dyed. You can see that post here. Well, that skein is all knit up in a cowl. I used the Spikelets Cowl pattern by Victoria Groger. It’s a free pattern on Ravelry. I thought those cables looked daunting, but wanted to give it a try. There were a couple of rows that caused me to pause and make sure I was doing things correctly, but with the included chart as a backup, I figured it out. I love it and have worn this warm and cozy cowl numerous times already!

I can’t remember her specified cast on or bind off in the pattern. I used the lace cast on and the sewn bind off for maximum stretchiness. I wanted to make sure it would slip on okay because no, I didn’t swatch. And, I only went down one needle size for the ribbing, instead of the specified two.

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The second sock for my second pair of socks is coming along nicely. I find knitting socks to be very relaxing, and the perfect thing to do when I am tired and don’t want to think about anything too taxing.

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I’ve started another cowl. This one is basic “will go with anything” white. I’m using Galileo sport weight from Knit Picks. This cowl is simply a 3 by 1 rib that melts into the Eyelet Mock Cable Rib stitch. My new Hiya Hiya Sharps make this stitch easy to execute. I LOVE these needles!

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Last week I spent a couple of days figuring out how to knit tiny hearts. I’ll share those with you next time.

Until then, enjoy! Thanks for stopping by, my friends! ❤ ❤ ❤

Bittersweet

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Over the last two days, we took down the Christmas tree and put away all of our decorations. We brought our daughter to the airport this morning so that she can begin her second semester at college. We are back to ordinary every day life.

I am trying to be positive–not dwell in the past, but I cannot help remembering when holiday break was just beginning and it was all ahead of us. If I could, I’d love to do it all over again. *sigh* Goodbyes and endings are sooo very hard for me. Do you find that too?

When I look back, though, I see that it was a productive holiday break. I knit some “to be worn by people” items: a cabled headband and a pair of socks for my daughter, and also a cowl for me. My daughter got bitten by the jewelry making bug. She made countless necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. My gold-filled chain is totally gone. I gave her free reign on my stash. I have so, so much!

My first pair (not just one) of socks was made for my daughter. She’s wearing them, for the second time, right now! It really and truly warms my heart! They were knit with Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in Garnet Heather. They fit her pretty well, however, even though I used a stretchy bind off the cuffs are still pulled to the maximum when putting them on. I need to research and find a stretchier bind off. I used the Russian Bind Off for this pair and made the stitches as loose as possible… or I thought I did. Any suggestions? Anyway, she loves them!

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After frogging (rip it rip it 🙂 ) my first cowl with this lovely colored blue yarn, I made another on much smaller needles and used a broken rib pattern. I wanted a fitted looking cowl that sort of hugged my neck. This came out exactly as I had hoped. It is made with Knit Picks Shine worsted in the Clarity color. I used my new Hiya Hiya Sharps interchangeable circular needles in size 3, although I cast on and knit the first row on DPNs. I used a lace cast on (110 stitches) and bind off and the broken rib stitch for the entire cowl. I knit around and around until I used up almost the entire 100 grams of yarn.

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Hmm, now that I’m looking at my quilt… I need to get some work done on that, don’t I?

And, I haven’t totally neglected my little girls. Gina, my Little Darling, is all cozy and rosy in her new pink ensemble. Her tights still need to be made, but look for this OOAK ensemble very soon. Just like us real people, she’s decked out in hand knitwear and accessories. Here’s a sneak peek of dear Gina.

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Hope your having a lovely day, my friends. Thanks for visiting with me on this bittersweet day. I love your company!

❤

Are You Staying Warm?

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I am . . . as long as I am staying inside. It’s still very cold here in northern Illinois, but it has warmed up a bitty bit from the negative minus twenty-something wind chills. I still haven’t been able to get outside for a walk though—same old story as last time. Oh well… maybe soon, I hope.

I forgot to wish you all a very happy 2018, so Happy New Year!!! I hope it’s a great year for everyone; we all need one of those.

Have you noticed the moon lately? One night we watched the full moon rise in the east and the next morning saw it setting in the west at daybreak. For some reason it seemed quite wonderful to me; I’ve never noticed it before like that.

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The sunset that evening was pretty ~~noteworthy~~ pictureworthy too!

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I am still knitting socks. This is my third sock… and it’s not a mere test sock; it will have a mate. This one got finished yesterday—it fits my daughter, and the second sock was started today. Yay. This was made from Susan B. Anderson’s Crafty class, “My First Toe-Up Socks”. I used Knit Picks Stroll Tweed Sock yarn in Garnet Heather. I am still perfecting the fit for the next pair. I think the size large would fit my daughter even better with the foot about a 1/4″ longer. These fit me perfectly though, so this will be my pattern when I get to knitting a pair for me. 🙂

My Little Darlings have been calling to me. I think they want new sweater coats with cute li’l pockets for their tiny snow people to snuggle in. Here are Gina and Lucy wearing sweater coats from last winter. They really do look toasty warm, don’t they? I need to get my needles busy.

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