Today I’ve begun number 22 which means that all of my Arne & Carlos Mini Nordic Jumpers Advent Calendar through number 21 are finished!!! Yay, me!
I’m so excited to be coming near the completion of this project. It was WAAAAAY bigger than I had imagined considering that these are little teeny sweater ornaments. Regardless, each one takes about a day to knit, seam and block. So, I’ve spent the better part of a month by the time that these are all finished – and it’s going to be so worth it! I can’t wait to hang them up at the end of November and fill them with little treats for our Advent calendar this year.
We have some of the original windows from the original house here in Maine that we saved before the house was demolished. The windows are the wavy hand-made windows and we’ve hung two of them at the bottom of our staircase. I’m going to hang a red and white butcher’s string on the two windows and hang the jumpers from the string. I’ll post a photo, of course!
This morning I was thinking and I feel like I’m finally feeling more like myself. The last round of Covid that I had in April (after the round I had the week before that got me “stuck” in New York City) must have affected me more than I had thought. I thought it was a mild case but it left me with some pretty severe fatigue. It seems like that fatigue is finally lifting and I am able to DO more than I have been able to do BUT I also realize that I have limitations and I need to listen to my body and quit when I am ahead.
We decided that we had to hit a few of our around-the-house chores this morning before we give in and do something more fun. I’ve been thinking about cleaning some of the more disgustingly dirty screens in our bedroom windows and in the upstairs bath. I’m happy to report that the inside part of this chore is done. The outside chore will be waiting until next spring when N is (hopefully) fully healed and has his full balance back after his hip replacement surgery. It’s been four months now and he’s made (is making) lots of progress but he overdid this week and he was hurting yesterday … enough that he got his cane out again. He’s out sanding and cleaning/refinishing our teak dining set that we have moved onto the front porch. It’s a little bit big for the porch but we are finding we like using it out there and we will probably like it even more in the early fall.
I’ve been knitting and sewing this week. I’m aiming to hand-sew something every day in order to have it become a daily habit. I’m working on a “Love Note Quilt” inspired by Heidi Parkes. I have been taking her class on Creative Bug and I really like the artistic quality of her quilts. They’re in no way traditional pieced quilts but they’re each unique and I find I am liking having the creative license to stitch what I want. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to completely quit the traditional quilting yet.
I’ve stitched another needle case. I find these little projects very fulfilling and I have an idea about what I will do with the ones I make. I will continue to show you the ones I make but I’m not going to tell you my plan. Haha. (*evil grin and hand-ringing) The most recent one used this cute vintage-y cowboy fabric and I stitched it with red floss which I think looks really cute. I didn’t applique another piece on it because I really wanted to focus on the cute little cowboys.
I’m working on a stuffed toy for my granddaughter for her birthday. She’ll be one year old in just a few short months and I’d better get moving because life is bound to get busy. My daughter, her mother, loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar book and I’m knitting a caterpillar and a sweater for S. The caterpillar pattern is free on Ravelry and you get what you pay for with this pattern. It’s not very well written and I could think of several ways that I would change it if I was to knit it again. I may actually pull out the ends and Kitchener stitch the head to the body rather than finishing it as the pattern suggests. I’ll update my project page with whatever I decide.
I knitted the little shells top for my granddaughter. This was my daughter’s idea. She asked me to knit a top to go with the mermaid tail that I made for S when she was born. Her mom wants to take some photos at the beach and we can’t have a topless mermaid, now can we!? Yaya to the rescue! I hope that I made the top so it’ll fit but I’ll bring my tools to the beach in case we need to make any adjustments. Photos will be coming soon.
I have also knitted another chemo cap for a gift for a friend who just announced that she has cancer. I wish I could do more but this is what knitters do when they can’t do more. And if she doesn’t lose her hair, she can gift it to someone who will. Passing on the good will and the love and healing wishes in every stitch.
Last but not least, I’ve pulled my Favorite Pullover for Women out of time out and have started to make some real progress on the yoke. This sweater may not even fit me. The sizes were a little bit too close to zero ease for my liking but if I add a few stitches to the under arms when I cast on after the yoke, I think I can make it work. It’s a lot of work to be sure, especially if I don’t know it’s going to fit. I have a colorwork sweater that I love the fit of and I’ll be measuring this one against that one when I get the yoke complete and before I go further. The good news is that I am wrapping up another WIP (work in progress, Muffin.) This design is only found in a book called Norwegian Knitting Designs, 90 Years Later. I’m knitting it with Norwegian wool that I bought from Knitography Farm after taking several of her classes online.
chemo about all we’ve been up to on the lake. It’s been a string of several lovely late-summer days. The lake is getting quieter as the summer people head back home to get the school year started. Maine Arts Academy, on whose board I serve, welcomes teachers and staff back tomorrow and the kids come the following week. We start this year in our new building in Augusta and we are all so excited to be independent and free to have activities after school, etc. which we couldn’t do before. We are also developing some wonderful partnership with Augusta Arts and civic groups. I’m so proud of our school!
I’ve got zucchini to grate. I’m making fritters this afternoon.
We started our day today with coffee on the porch but it was too warm for a bathrobe. We must be heading into a few days of summer heat again. It’s all good. We have thoroughly enjoyed the cooler mornings over the past few weeks.
I’ve finished a few more little things and wanted to share them with you. I’ve been taking classes from Creative Bug – they had a special deal going with 60 days free to try it out – and I’ve taken a couple of Cal Patch’s classes and a couple of Heidi Parkes’ classes and they’re all sewing classes. While I was watching Heidi’s class on making a needle case, I was inspired to actually sew it myself right then. I went to my fabric stash and found two favorite fabrics – a lobster print and a hummingbird print – both from the days when I was making fabric masks for the family. I made a lot of masks. I appliquéd the little hummingbird patch onto the lobster fabric and then bought a piece of felt to sandwich-ish in the fabric to make the little needle case. I’ve learned a lot about needles, stitching, hand-work and sewing from these classes and while my FOs aren’t big, they’re mighty. They mark a stepping off point for me and a new potential passion, too.
OutsideInside Finished!
My second FO is also a sewing project. I have had this little panel since attending the quilt show in Augusta, ME probably 10 years ago. I bought a few similar panels and remember making one as a gift somewhere along the line, but this one has been sitting in my cupboard for almost (or maybe more than) a decade. It was time!
This is a fabric (much edited) version of the little golden book, The Tawny Scrawny Lion. I wasn’t familiar with the book but I love the idea of little books without words. The reader can make up the story to go along with the illustrations (or the reader can Google the book and tell the same story.) Regardless, this little book will be winging its way to New York City to a very special little girl who is so deeply loved by her Yaya! I know that she’ll love this little book and she won’t rip the pages.
Pom Pom Socklets by Purl Soho
Last but certainly not least, a pair of “peds” as we knew them back in the day … but these aren’t the sedate peds of my past. I decided to knit up some fun, bright, color-blocked shorties and this is the first pair for my daughter, Kate. I decided to make them all crazy and different. The only thing missing from these finished socks are the pompoms that will be attached at the back of the heel. Just like my mom did in my childhood days … and I did, too. I’ve got several more pairs to knit. My thought is to make a pair for all of the “girls” at our family beach gathering in September. Think I can do it? Three more pairs before September 5? Time will tell. This is a free Purl Soho pattern that I used to make the U of F socklets for my favorite graduating (graduated) senior that I cared for when I was a school nurse. The kids used to ask me to knit them socks when they came into my clinic and my answer was always, “no!” (and emphatic no to be sure!) But this kiddo was different and I’ve stayed in touch with her family and when she graduated, I knew just what to send her for a gift (and a gift certificate to the U of F campus store.)
My sweetie and I took a brief road trip to the coast yesterday because I needed to get some sewing supplies. I thought my time at Fiddleheads would be brief but I was looking at the fabric store with new eyes – the eyes of a garment sewer. It was exciting and intimidating. There is so much to learn about garment-worthy fabrics. I’ve learned that quilting cottons are not always a good garment fabric because they don’t have the same drape. But I managed to do some damage and bought a bit of a cotton lawn and a pattern to make some harem pants for my Sylvie. And I also bought some hand-sewing needles and wool felt to make more needle cases. They’re fun and quick. I found a basket of bolt end cuts of fabric and they had two pieces of linen that I had to take home with me, too. One is a 3-yard cut of a khaki colored linen that is enough for a dress, I think. The other was only a bit over a yard of fabric but it’ll make half a shirt or a pieced shirt … time will tell. I feel so fancy talking sewing!
Today’s my daughter’s birthday and the day started off with my calling her at 6:30am by mistake. There was a notification from my phone when I opened my eyes and when I tapped on it to see what it was, it called her. I thought I hung up before it rang but I didn’t IRL. Later, when they were having their coffee I got a text: “did you call me at 6:30 because you were on a plane that was crashing and you only had a few minutes to say goodbye?” Ha! ha! I was lucky to have a good reason that I called at at ungodly hour on her birthday. Her grandmother used to call every year really early … it was not a favorite family thing when the kids wanted to sleep in the morning.
All of that is just the long way around saying that I’ve finished my Lane’s Island Pullover by Lori Versaci. AND … I love it! In fact, I wore it today because it was a bit cool this morning when I was heading off to work. I love the weight of Remix Light and I love the style of the sweater. Today’s outfit wasn’t much different from the day I modeled it for my husband and he took this photo …
I’ll be excited to wear this by itself in the fall and with a tee or blouse in the winter. It will go with everything because it’s just a light neutral. Remix is a recycled yarn with nylon, cotton, acrylic, silk and linen in it so it’s quite soft and a little bit nubby. I like the texture, frankly. And I adore the pockets. I also love the fit – boxy and cropped a little but not too much. I didn’t even bother to block it, I just put it on. I’ll wash it after I wear it a couple of times. haha.
I’ve just finished reading a couple of wonderful books, too. I read Hello, Beautiful by Ann Napolitano. This was my first summer book club book. I really enjoyed it. The book is about the Padavano family. Charlie, the father, may be a bit of a drunk but he greets his three daughters with, “hello, beautiful” whenever they enter the room and he loved them each for who they were. He was the glue that kept the family together. The book is set in 1960 and begins on the day that William Waters is born and there’s a bit of a twist. I’ve never read an Oprah’s book club book to the end before this one. I’d recommend it for sure … and it’s on Barack Obama’s book list!
I also read Chemistry Lessons by Bonnie Garmus and I may have liked this one even more. Quirky characters make this a fun read … who doesn’t like a book with a dog named Six-Thirty! Elizabeth Zott is a scientist in the 1960s where life isn’t quite equal and certainly not in science. I’m not giving any more information but my husband thinks he will read this book which is very unusual.
Lastly, I finished being the president of our lake association. On Saturday it was the Annual Meeting and the board and members voted in a new president. I will be handing over the reigns when I “train” her on Tuesday. I will be so happy to reclaim 20 hours or so a week that was spent (well spent but spent) on lake stuff and do some more sewing. I’ve just jumped head first into Creativebug’s website and already want to make a couple of quilts and some clothing. I need to find some simple fabric to make 6×8 inch squares (twenty of them) for a “Love Note” quilt. More about that will be forthcoming. Suffice it to say that it will be a love note to my husband and me in honor of finding each other again after several decades.
Tomorrow is my Saturday to work and I’ve got a school board working retreat on Monday and lake association president training on Tuesday but I have Wednesday off before starting my work week over again on Thursday … who said life wouldn’t be busy when you got older?
Let’s talk about the miracle of blocking hand knits. There are a bunch of different ways of blocking your knitwear and sometimes, I’ll admit openly, I don’t block things. I seldom block socks, for example. They get all stretched out when I put them on my feet. If I’m gifting socks, I may lay them flat in a nice way and hand “press” them. But some things really benefit from a true process called blocking – steam blocking, wet blocking – often it depends what I’ve knitted that decides how I block it.
The Arne and Carlos Mini Nordic Jumpers that I’ve been chipping away at over the last couple of years are a good example of how blocking changes the look of the stitches. In the first three photos below, you can see that the stitches as I’m knitting them are a bit wonky and not all the same size.
But the last photo, above, shows how they look after a good steam blocking. In this instance I used my steam iron, on the linen setting, and a damp white hand towel to gently steam the stitches. I place the damp towel on top of the little sweater and then gently press with the iron to apply wet and heat which tames the stitches. I always feel so accomplished when the stitches are all the same size and look so orderly.
All of the little items above were made for my granddaughter. I didn’t block these the same way at all. These garments are all cotton or cotton blends and as such need to be handled differently. I hand washed them and then lay them flat to dry. In reality, when her parents wash them, they can be machine washed and dried flat. It’s just easier for me to wash them as I finish … and I may be a little less busy than Kate and Spencer. The lace romper I stretched out a little bit so that the lace and bobbles show off appropriately.
My lace shawl, was wet blocked. Left to soak for 15-20 minutes so that the yarn is soaking wet all the way through. It’s then gently squeezed dry, dried more by stepping on it while it’s wrapped in a cotton bath towel and then stretching it out aggressively and pinned into place. When it’s totally dry, the edges are so stretched that when I unpin them, they don’t bounce back at all. They stay where I put them. It goes from being a mangled mess to a stunning pattern of lacework and the textured stitches are clearly visible. It’s a miracle!
Today our first Day Lily popped. We wait and watch for them all spring. Some days it feels like you can actually see them growing because they grow so fast. But they stay green for what seems like forever. One day one pops open and from that point it’s anyone’s guess.
Today I wrote two newsletter for work. One for tomorrow and one for the week that I’ll be at camp for my sewing retreat. Next week I’ll write another two. I’m learning how to plan ahead and write newsletters that will be scheduled for days that I will have something better to do.
I spent the afternoon knitting in my studio and I am so happy to have finished a special gift for a very special person. When I last saw this kiddo she looked like this:
Laine on the right at Woodlands Elementary eight years ago
When we still lived in Florida, I was the clinic assistant at an elementary school in Longwood, It was my neighborhood school so i could walk or ride my bike to school. I supervised the “health” of about 500 kiddos in pre-K through 5th Grade. These two kiddos were some of my favorites. I saw Laine twice a day and sometimes more. Needless to say, over the course of a couple of years, she and her family became very special to me. We all worked together to keep Laine healthy.
Fast forward eight years and I got a graduation announcement from Laine’s mom. She’s grown up over the years and is now a beautiful young woman. We’ve exchanged Christmas cards every year so I’ve seen Laine grow up but I was shocked to see that she was graduating from high school. I put the announcement on the fridge and knew that I wanted to send her something to commemorate her graduation but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to send. So I gave myself a bit of time.
One day I knew what I wanted to send her. I texted her mom and we had a sweet exchange as we used to have eight years before. I had to giggle when I heard that my text came up as the clinic at Woodlands all these years later. To give you a bit of background, it’s important for you to know that I did a lot of sock knitting when I lived in Florida and when the clinic was quiet, I used to knit. I can’t tell you how many kids asked me if I’d knit something for them. My answer was always emphatically, “no!”
To date, I have knitted for two kids: a hat for Caden and a pair of slippers for Laine. But I knew that a good gift for Laine would be a pair of socks. Socks were something the kids always wanted me to knit for them. I was unwilling to start a precedent needless to say.
But for Laine’s graduation … this I could do. She will be attending University of Florida next fall and I knew that the school colors (orange and blue) would be in her socks. And I also knew that I couldn’t see her getting a lot of use out of socks that were too warm so I decided that a pair of low socks would be a good idea. And then I found the pattern on Purl Soho’s website: Pom Pom Socklets. I had bought several colors of Zitron Trekking Sport sock yarn on clearance at the yarn shop and two of the colors were blue and orange. I had a plan.
The first sock was knitted with an orange cuff on a blue sock. Since the socks are so short, I got this baby finished in just a couple of days. Then I had to decide about the second sock. Did I want to make a pair of identical socks or did I want to have fun? I voted (vote of one) for fun and cast on a blue cuff. I would knit the body of the second sock in reverse of the first.
I think these socks are so much fun! I can see them peeking out of sneakers at a football game or another sports game. Ha! Ha! The last bit of this pattern is that they have a pompom at the back like the peds I grew up with. I got out my pompom maker and made an orange and a blue pompom. Trimmed them up, attached them to the socks and …
I’m loving them! They’re fun and youthful and I hope that Laine gets as much joy out of them as I do. She’s a very special young woman and I am absolutely certain that she will make a difference in our world one day soon.
Pattern: Purl Soho Pom Pom Socklet; Free pattern on the Purl Soho webiste (find the link on Ravelry.) Yarn: Zitron Trekking Sport which is actually a fingering weight yarn. I own a bright green, charcoal gray, orange, blue and a raspberry colorway. Great colors. How appropriate that I had an appropriate blue and a close orange colorway! I love these socks! I’ll be knitting more of them for sure. Needles: US 1 1/2 DPns. Size made: US shoe size 7 or 9 1/4 inch long foot. I made the third size (cast on 64 stitches.)
Finally! The sun came out today and it actually feels like summer may happen this year. We went to a buffer planting workshop yesterday hosted by Friends of Messalonskee and it was gray and cool until we were almost done. It’s lovely to see the sun! And I’ll be happy to pack away my sweaters for a couple of months.
Since the sun came out, I decided to take a walk around the yard and see what’s blooming. My wild roses (they’re invasives but they’re surviving lakeside) are blooming but my white one took quite a beating in the rain. We have scapes and blueberries and the lettuce is going crazy! Salad for lunch today, for sure. The only plant that seems to be thriving in our “bed where nothing lives)” is the blue Iris and they’re absolutely gorgeous right now. I love our yard!
The Day Lilies and the Hydrangeas are getting ready to pop open and we have some daisies coming along, too. I’ve got a couple of beds of Black Eyed Susans coming up but can’t see any blooms yet.
I finished and blocked #19 this morning as I was ironing my linen blouses. I love what happens to colorwork when it’s blocked. 17 and 18 are not blocked (and need some seaming, but here they all are.
I’ve even begun #20 and have finished the body and most of the first sleeve. I’m making progress and just need to cast on the next one when I bind off the current ones. They’re not difficult to knit or time consuming, I just had to make the commitment to get them done! I’m getting there!
I’m back in the east coast time (and I’ve adjusted to the time change) after a wonderful week in California. My daughter and son-in-love and their daughter and dogs have moved to San Diego for three months for my daughter’s work. She’s performing a new play about Billie Jean King called Love All at the La Jolla Playhouse. I was brought out to California because they needed childcare for a week when dad had to travel for his work and I was all too happy to oblige!
My granddaughter is sitting up all by herself now and starting to get up on her knees and rock. She is a professional sleeper and loves to eat just about anything you feed her … but she doesn’t like eggs. We took lots of walks, played on the floor a ton and snuggled a bunch. It was wonderful spending the time with her. Bonus – I got to spend some time with her mother, too. I love seeing my daughter with her daughter. It absolutely fills my heart.
We visited the San Diego Zoo Safari Park which was incredible! We even saw a platypus. They’re much smaller than I’d thought they were. We walked all over the park and it was amazing. The weather was cool and overcast so it was a perfect day to see all the animals and they weren’t hiding in the shade. We too their African Cart ride and saw so many animals up pretty close. We all agreed it was a wonderful place and worth every cent!
Most mornings I walked from my AirBnB to my daughter’s apartment and along the way I enjoyed the flora and fauna. (Luckily I didn’t see much fauna other than birds.) The plants, though, according to my daughter and I agreed, looked very much like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. Little did we know that Theodore Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) lived in San Diego/ La Jolla from 1948 until his death in 1991. So, when you’re reading Green Eggs and Ham or the Cat in the Hat, you’ll see exactly what La Jolla looks like! Some of the plants I loved are pictured above. The trees with few leaves and huge red flowers were among my favorites!
We went to the La Jolla Cove and walked along the coast after lunch. There were sea lions everywhere sunning themselves. And there were lots of babies. Living along the hillsides were hundreds of cormorants, some with nests and young. And more flowers on the hillside to make things pretty. It was a fascinating walk and fun people watching.
I have been knitting, too, I just didn’t get a lot of knitting done when I was in California. I’ve finished socks for my daughter, Libet. I used my favorite sock pattern by Yankee Knitter (#29 Classic Socks) and some deeply stashed yarn which turned out to be Dream in Color yarn. (All the details are on my project page in Ravelry.) I love the way these socks turned out. The colorway is an incredible mix of purples of all shades and they’re subtle until you look at them closely. I think she’ll be pleased. The color doesn’t photograph well and falls somewhere between the two photos below. What’s a knitter to do?
I finished the Tybee Sweater for Sylvie before I left and gave it a good wash and block. It’s so cute and it fits!!! I loved knitting this sweater, it’s soft against the skin and the colorway is brilliant – rainbows in softer shades. I love the buttons that I found for it at RIx Rax in Montreal. They’re vintage orange plastic (washable) and they’re perfect for this cardigan. The baby wore it several times in CA.
Tybee Cardigan in Berroco Vivo
I also finished my Old Port Hat by Andrea Mowry. This was a fun hat to knit – and I still don’t like myself in hats. I’m not sure there is a hat in this world that I will like on myself. I knitted this hat in a collection of left-over yarns that were in my stash. I had some left over bright pink alpaca that I used for the ear flap lining and then I had some Patagonia and some Rowan Felted Tweed. They are all, for the most part, used up. Woo! Hoo! I love it when I decide to knit something and don’t have to buy new yarn for it. The hat is really interesting to knit and I love the way it looks. I may decide to wear it this winter even though I don’t like it on me. It will be nice and warm!
According to my records, that means that I’ve finished 27 projects so far this year. Remaining WIPs on my needles are: My Favorite Genser (Norwegian pullover), Three Season Cardigan, and I just started while I was away a summer sweater, Lane’s Island Pullover by Lori Versaci. The original design was two-color stripes but I’m knitting it in one color (ivory) in a recycled fiber, Remix Light by Berroco yarns. I have another sweater (or two, now that I think of it) in this yarn and I love it year-round. This white one will be really versatile, too. I’ve completed up to the arm pit decreases and have a few more inches to go on the front. It will have 3/4 sleeves. (No photos.)
I’ve still got a few of the Arne and Carlos mini Nordic jumpers to finish and one of these days I’ll just get it done. I’ve finished through #18 … seven are left. I have until December, right?
I also have a pair of mittens that I started eons ago. They’re super cute but they seem to be coming out too big (again!) I’ve started this pattern once before and I’m not sure why they’re so big. I’ve got to measure the gauge to see if I’m on the right track … and if they’re way off, I may put these aside forever. Or at least for awhile. Or forever.
I’ve just finished the finishing on the Tybee Cardigan that I’ve knitted for my granddaughter. I knitted it in Berroco Vivo. The colorway is so bright and happy and I love it. The cardigan is a simple bottom up design with a “shawl” collar.
The pattern is by the Berroco Design Team and it’s a free pattern on Ravelry. The construction is simple, a garter stitch bottom band and then the body is knitted in one piece to the underarms. The button bands are knitted with the body of the sweater. The sleeves are knitted separately and then added into the body of the sweater and the raglan sleeves are knitted and the collar stitches picked up and knitted. Ta Da! Ta Done!
I bought the wonderful buttons when I was in Montreal and they’re perfect for this little cardigan! I absolutely love them! They are vintage with a shank and a little bit of color variation.
This was a fun little knit and it should be machine washable, dry flat. Vivo is a cotton yarn, DK weight, with some “thick and thin” action going on. The sweater, as a result, looks a little bit “slubby” and It makes the cardigan even cuter.
I wove in the ends and added a dab of Fray check. Cotton yarn is a little bit slipperier than wool and I want the ends to stay put. Once it’s dry, I’ll give the cardigan a little bath and it’ll be ready to go to California to be tried on my super special model.
It’s been a beautiful but cool day. We did squeak in coffee on the porch before the breeze started to make it too cool and I got one shawl blocked last night and another this morning. I have a few ends to weave in on one and ends to cut on the other (even though I wore it to work today). This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and the weather is supposed to turn warm (or hot!) on Sunday. I don’t love hot …
The first FO is my Orbit shawl in Urth Uneek Cotton yarn. I think I “won” this yarn in a drawing at work and it’s been in my stash for a year or two. I have decided that I really like long, narrow shawls (aka scarves) in the warmer season for a “pop” of color. This yarn was asking to become something and I really didn’t want to have to buy more or have any left over. So, when I researched different projects for this yarn, I initially wanted to make the Easy Scarf by Diane Augustin but I decided that knitting the Orbit shawl was going to be a little bit more interesting. I used one skein of Urth Uneek Cotton and I searched for the pattern on Ravelry’s “pattern ideas” tab for the yarn.
I have to say that knitting this shawl/scarf was fun enough. Not difficult for sure. But I didn’t love the way the colorway transitioned from the fall-like colors that it started with and then it transitioned into springy-y colors. I don’t love it but it’s ok. The most displeasing piece of this project was the knot in the yarn. It was early in the skein and it was a tiny knot. I am so glad that I found it and that I pulled on it (and it came apart). In my humble opinion there should not be knots in premium yarns. Yarn companies should do better. This knot had to have been tied by a human being and it should have been pulled and discounted immediately.
My second FO is the Falderal Shawl by Romi Designs. This was a MKAL for 2023 and I had never knitted a Romi pattern and I chose to start with this one. I am really (really) happy with this project. It was fun to knit, Romi provided plenty of support and videos to help knitters through the “rough spots” if they didn’t have a lot of experience. I work on Fridays which was when she had the live zooms but it’s all good – they were on her YouTube channel.
I chose two colors of Emma’s Yarn Practically Perfect sock yarn in a purple speckle and a deep purple-y gray. (Details are on my Ravelry project page.) Purple is not my “normal” color choice and I’m trying to live outside of my comfort zone a little bit. But I loved knitting this shawl, it was challenging but not too challenging and there were a few new techniques that I learned by watching the playback of the live sessions. It’s always fun to knit lace and then watch the magic happen when it’s blocked. I really didn’t know what it would look like until it was sopping wet and being stretched out on my guest room bed … and bonus, it dried yesterday when I was at work! It’s really dry here in Maine right now and that worked to my benefit!
On the needles and hoping to be a FO soon (very soon!) is my Tybee cardigan for Sylvie. This is a free pattern from Berroco for a little cotton cardigan with a shawl collar. Raglan sleeves make it easy to finish up at the end. Bottom up construction with only a couple of short seams. I love the feel of the Vivo cotton yarn. It’s a thick and thin yarn so the sweater will be easy to care for (machine wash, dry flat). I love the colorful yarn that stripes randomly. It’ll be a cute sweater for cooler late summer days or evenings.
I think I will be spending a little bit of time, too, before I cast on another significant project*, finishing up a few more Arne and Carlos mini Nordic jumpers for my Advent calendar. I think I’ve found how I will display them in our house. I can’t wait to try it but first I have to finish the knitting. I think I have enough yarn to make the rest of them. (Crossing fingers!) #19 is up next.
I have a pair of socks for daughter #2 on the needles. She picked the yarn out of my stash and I want to have the socks finished for her birthday. I won’t have a problem with that and I have plenty of time. The first sock is nearly complete – toe decreases are in process. Sock #2 is likely to be next week’s focus.
Gone knitting.
*Oops! I did it again. Cast on to do the Old Port hat KAL with Andrea Mowry. I’m using stashed yarn and a couple of left-overs, actually. Starting with the lining in bright pink alpaca and then I’ll be transitioning to charcoal gray and a light gray. I’m not sure which will be color a and color b. Stay tuned.
Queen Bee Knits 