2022: Wk of 11/20-26; Hubby Sweater and Holiday Stuff

Not a lot of knitting this week with the Thanksgiving holiday and prepping the house for the Christmas holidays. We will fly back from Florida for a couple of days at Christmas but won’t have time to decorate as our 3 days home are already scheduled up. I also baked a lot of cookies to have for when we return and to drop off some as we visit our daughter and son on the drive down to Florida. Probably won’t get a lot of knitting done this coming week either as we spend 20 hours in the car driving to Florida with me doing 80% of the driving.

ANOTHER HUBBY SWEATER UPDATE

I’m still plugging along on hubby’s sweater. I did realize that I had too many stitches in the sleeves and too few in the front/back sections. So I’ve modified some rows to do extra sleeve decreases and not do front/back decreases. I’ve spread the modified rows evenly over the length of the yoke so I’m hoping the slight jogs in the raglan will look like a “design element”. I know hubby is going to complain that the V is too deep (grumble, grumble) so I’ve bought him a long sleeved t-shirt for Christmas to wear under it and thus “fill in” the V. There still is a ribbed collar to add to the V which I hope will also help fill it in some. Suspect he won’t be asking for another sweater which is fine with me. Takes too long to knit a 52″ chest anyway.

NEW KNITTER??

I’m thrilled that my youngest son’s girlfriend has decided to take up knitting. She is doing fantastic. I’m so impressed with the consistency of her stitches!! I hope she sticks with it. She does tend to hop from new hobby to new hobby. She is currently knitting a blanket with some chunky yarn she already had. Poor thing was using straight needles so the stitches were soooo bunched up on the needle. Luckily I found a very inexpensive set of Knitters Pride acrylic interchangable needles with cords at Hobby Lobby. It’s the same set I bought 5 years ago when I first learned to use circular needles. I still use the needles! So I’ve given them to her as an early Christmas gift.

That’s if for this week. Today we load up the car. I’ve packed a bunch of knitting in addition to the projects I left last year and are waiting for me. Hopefully everything fits in the car!!

Hope you have a wonderful advent season.

This is a year of projects (YOP12) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog each week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts.  YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. I’ve been knitting for six years.

Advertisement

2022: Wk of 11/13-19; Hubby Sweater Update, Holiday Traditions

HUBBY SWEATER

Making progress on Hubby’s sweater. The sleeves have been joined to the body. Still can’t understand the pattern instructions so I’ll plan to kitchener the sleeve underarm to the body. I’m still hoping to have it finished before we leave for Florida in a week. It’s not too warm of a sweater since it’s a cotton/silk blend (Berroco Summer Silk) so he may be able to wear it on those occasional cool mornings in February. If it doesn’t fit, I’ve already warned him it goes to the long term time out corner as I’m not going to delay working on other projects to reknit this sweater that I now hate. (Fortunately due to knitting stripes and breaking the yarn after every stripe, lengthening the sleeves won’t be hard – just remove the cuff, add stripes and kitchener back onto the sleeve).

A GIRL AND HER WOOL

I’m especially glad I ended up ordering an advent calendar from A Girl And Her Wool this year. She announced this week that after almost 4 years, she is ending her yarn dying and thus her shop. I loved her concept of letting you order exactly how much yarn you wanted versus being forced to buy 100 gr skeins. I could order 60 gr of MC and 10 gr of contrast color to make a pair of socks and not have a lot of yarn leftover. Her business was doing well and that was part of the problem, it was taking over her life as she also had a fulltime job. I’m glad that she walks away knowing she can start-up and run a successful online business.

HOLIDAYS ARE HERE!

In the US, Thanksgiving is an opportunity to celebrate friends and family with food so it’s my favorite holiday. Looking forward to turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie with my in-town kids and father. Then it’s Christmas cookie baking on Friday followed by putting up the Christmas decorations on Saturday.

Hope you have a wonderful week.

This is a year of projects (YOP12) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog each week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts.  YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. I’ve been knitting for six years.

2022: Wk of 11/6-12; Hubby Sweater Update and 2023 Planning

HUBBY’S SWEATER

Making progress on the sleeves but this has been a slower go than I expected. The progress keeper shows how much I got done this week. I think the shorter rows resulting in more frequent changing to a new stripe keeps me from wanting to knit it. Plus the fear that I’ve guessed wrong on how many stripes the sleeves need. I have one more set of stripes to knit and then it will be time to combine the sleeves with the body to begin making the v-neck. I’m forcing myself to be monogamous as I know if I start something more “fun”, his sweater will get abandoned again.

2023 PLANNING – Year of the Sweater/Tee

Sorry, I’m a planner. My brother likes to tease me when I try to nail him down for a family gathering months in advance. So it’s no surprise that I’ve already started working on my 2023 knitting plan. In my defense, leaving for Florida a month before the end of the year kinda requires I have some idea what I want to knit in the first few months of my knitting year.

2022 was the year of the sock with a goal of knitting a pair (or cowl/shrug) every month. 2023 is going to be the year of the tee/sweater. I already left 3 tee projects and a pair of socks at the condo in Florida so realistically I don’t need to bring much more. I am bringing the yarn advent calendars I bought so I think I’ll bring my cream (main color) yarn for a possible sweater. Plus 2 sock yarns. I’m sure I’ll have WIPs to bring as well as I know my colorwork “winter” sock will not get finished by the end of the month. This should give me some choices as that is definitely more knitting than I can do in 4 months. I hope to finish hubby’s sweater and have a Love Note cast-on before we leave. I do love using Google sheets for my knitting plan so that I can access it from my laptop, Kindle, and even my phone.

2023 Draft

FAMILY

Thanksgiving isn’t for another week and a half here in the US but I got an early Thanksgiving by having family gatherings with both sides of the family this weekend. Friday night was “kinda” a more formal dinner. Hubby made Beef Bourgoine and a flourless chocolate cake for dessert for 16 people. I placed cards at each seat with a question such as “what was your favorite memory from the past year” for some fun and getting to know each other a little differently. (Bought years ago from one of those Facebook ads)

Saturday we went to downtown Cincinnati with my youngest 2 kids and their spouse/significant other for lunch at a brewery in a converted church and to check out the murals on all the downtown buildings. It was very cold but fun to ride the streetcar for a quick tour of downtown.

Today we head up to my dad’s house to have a pizza dinner with my brother, sister-in-law, and niece. It will be good to check in with them to see how they are doing. My niece’s significant other headed back to Austria yesterday so they may be especially feeling down. It will be good to have some distraction.

IT’S SNOWING!!!❄

How crazy is our weather.😵😜 Thursday I was clearing leaves from the driveway in shorts, yesterday we got 2+” of snow!!😳 We aren’t supposed to get above 40F/4C all week! Winter is here!

Hope you have a wonderful week.

This is a year of projects (YOP12) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog each week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts.  YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. I’ve been knitting for six years.

2022: Wk of 10/30 – 11/5; Hubby Sweater Update and another Charlie Harper Bag

HUBBY’S SWEATER UPDATE

Finished the body and now I’m knitting the sleeves. I forgot with bottom up that the sleeves are knit separately. I’ve never knit the cuffs first. Since I also knit socks toe up, this whole starting with ribbing from the cast-on was wonky for me. But it’s done and now it’s off to the races. Even knitting two sleeves at a time, each row is only a third of the number of stitches that the body had. This will definitely be my last bottom up sweater. I hate that I have to guess what stripe to start with to achieve the desired length. Yes I’ve measured the target garment and thus in theory the sleeve should be 17″ long. But I know only too well that estimated doesn’t equal target. Ripping out the cuff and adding a stripe doesn’t really work since the stockinette stitches would be in the wrong direction. Fingers crossed I’ve estimated correctly.

FINAL PHOTO – CHRISTMAS STOCKING

This time I mean it, last photo. I made an i-cord for the stocking hanger and duplicate stitched my granddaughter’s name. May I say how much I HATE duplicate stitch. Not a labor of love, just labor!! Used leftover bed sheet material from my Covid masking making days for the stocking lining. But it’s done and winging it’s way to Indiana. My stepdaughter has already requested stockings for her and her hubby. Something to put on next year’s knitting plan.

PROJECT BAG #2

Since I had to get out my sewing machine to make the lining for the Christmas stocking, I decided to sew the second project bag out of the Charlie Harper cardinal fabric I had. It was already cut and the interface fused to the fabric so it was a very quick sewing project. I do love these tiny bags which are perfect for a pair of socks. I may add a long strap to one bag so that I can wear it for my Florida “walking while knitting”. I already have nylon bags for this but the fabric is just so cute! Cardinals are year round birds here in Ohio. They give our dreary winters a spark of color.

NOVEMBER HAPPENINGS

I’m excited that my daughter and son-in-law will be back in Cincinnati this coming week to attend one of her high school friend’s wedding. A much happier reason for a hometown visit. It’s so weird that I’m seeing her 3 times in 4 weeks as we will stop for a day’s rest on our drive to Florida the end of the month. Normally I only get to see her twice a year; on our drive down to Florida and our drive back to Ohio. This year it’s 5 visits!! Not complaining. We will have a preholiday get together with my husband’s side Friday night and with my side on Sunday.

Hope your November is off to a wonderful start. The leaves have fallen off the trees here in Ohio. Everything looks like winter outside which fits with our coming holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Weird this year is that even most of the oak trees dropped their leaves. Maybe the drought fall we had?? We are having very unusually warm temperatures (after an unusually cold October). The air temperature feels like early summer. I’m wearing shorts and a t-shirt! We cut the grass one last time. Hubby is enjoying this warm weather before heading south.

This is a year of projects (YOP12) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog each week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts.  YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. I’ve been knitting for six years.