2023: Wk of 5/21-27; Ranunculus FO, Sea Glass Tee Cast-on, and Other Knitting News

RANUNCULUS FO

Final photo of this project. Very happy with how it turned out and that this pinkish yarn is now in a project that I’ll wear more often. Not thrilled with how mohair sheds but it’s kinda fun to be a “fluff ball”.

“SEA GLASS” TEE CAST-ON

Tee FO means it’s time to cast-on the next tee. I have so many I want to knit!! Sea Glass Tee won. I am using the Sea Glass Tee pattern but this time I’m switching between light and dark yarn every other row instead of every other stitch. The intent is so that the tee isn’t double thick as it is when you have to carry the yarn for every other stitch. I am using Figment by Deep Dyed Yarn in the Danger Danger colorway. I bought it at the local wool festival a year and a half ago. It’s a colorful variegated yarn with a metalic thread. I’ll use it for the dark color changing yarn. I’m using Berroco Quinoa in the Basmati colorway as the light color. It doesn’t change color but has an interesting texture. Too early to be sure but I think the alternating rows are working as I had hoped.

STITCH MARKER/PROGRESS KEEPER ACQUISTION

Big splurge! I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some charms for a summer theme. Note the flower charms hanging from the stitch markers on my Sea Glass Tee. I had gotten those honeycomb stitch markers a while ago and never used them since they weren’t colorful. Now with the flower charms hanging from them, I’m loving them for this tee. Also, the honey bee progress keeper. It’s my goal to have seasonal stitch markers and progress keepers.

YARN OUT

I’m happy to share that this has been a very good year so far for Yarn Out. I was surprised to realize that I’ve had at least an FO every month and a tee FO every month except January. My yarn out has actually been twice that of my yarn acquisitions. This is good because my local yarn dying friend just announced yesterday that she will be doing an advent calendar this year afterall!!! (I had reached out to her a month or so ago and she said it wouldn’t be till 2024.) Thankfully I never ordered the advent calendars I was eyeing. I will definitely order hers. This will be in addition to the stitch marker/progress keeper advent calendar I bought. Now the question is, do I delay again the I yarn advent calendar I bought last year and not open it until 2024?? Three advent calendars does seem a bit excessive. But hey, they make cute Christmas decorations for our Florida condo rental. Since I do love my stash yarns, it’s been easy to focus on projects that use the yarns already in my stash. It is kinda my goal to reduce my “yarn wall” although I just love looking at all my colorful yarns on display along the kitchen counter that separates the kitchen for the living area.

“WINTER” COLORWORK SOCK

Got the heels done on both socks and working my way down the foot. Loving the self striping yarn I’m using (Lollipop Yarns) although there isn’t enough to finish the foot. I have another ball of leftover sock yarn that I’ll use to finish. I used Natalie Sheldon’s Advent Sock 2019 for the stripe patterns.

HEALTH UPDATE

Hubby and I are both recovered from Covid and back to our normal activities. Well, with the exception of acknowledging our age limitations for some household chores. For the first time we hired someone to power wash our wooden deck and pergola. Hubby tried climbing a ladder to power wash the overhead beams and quickly realized it was no longer a good idea for him. We did do the restaining of the wood ourselves. The person that did the power washing also does grass mowing so we are hiring him to cut the 1/4 mile (400m) of driveway we maintain (it’s a shared driveway so neighbors cut the parts that are by their property). It is very uneven ground and even with a “self propelled” lawn mower, it is getting too much for me. We will still cut the flatter lawn that surrounds our house.

Hope you have a wonderful week of crafting. This is a Ravelry YOP post. A fun group of bloggers that post once a week on our yearly crafting plan. Sticking to the plan is not required. 😉

Advertisement

2023: Wk of 4/16-22; WIP Updates

PROMENADE BLOUSE

Oh goodness, I just can’t resist this project so it got most of my knitting attention. The colorful top just makes me smile. Plus I can wear it as soon as I finish it. I’ve separated for the sleeves and I’m working on the body. I clearly did not read the yarn requirements correctly. I will run out of the “confetti yarn”. Fortunately I have enough left to match the body stripes to the sleeve stripes. Also fortunately I have some solid yellow, orange, and blue from an argyle sock project I never finished that I could use for the remaining stripes. They are fingering weight so I’ll have to hold them double. I think the solid color stripes will make a nice finish to the confetti pops of color on the upper portion. If not, I’ll have to reach out to the dyer to see if she plans to dye more. It was on clearance so maybe not. She still has one skein of fingering weight so again I could hold it double. I think the double strands of solid color will be preferable to the double strands of confetti colors. It does fit and blocking will help. I think I will go up a size for the next one since it’s intended for autumn and therefore I will probably wear a shirt like this one under it.

SOJOURN SCARF

I’ve made a little progress on my patternless scarf. It’s a bit wider than I intended but I think it will be fine. You can see I’ve added a YO “lace” row every 20 rows just to break up the very basic purl row pattern. This should be pretty paired with black or brown sweaters that I tend to wear in the fall. Not as motivated to knit this project since I won’t wear it till late fall. But it’s a good “travel” project. I took it to the soccer game last night to knit on while I waited for traffic to clear.

COLORWORK SOCKS

Really didn’t do much. I need to catch the second sock up to the first before starting any new stripes.

ADVENT CALENDARS

Arg!!!! LDSVenus posted about a stitch marker/progress keeper advent calendar. I had been strongly considering one this year. AdoreKnit offers many versions plus 25% off if ordered before 5/15. I could not resist getting cute progress keepers. I did resist the versions with stitch markers since I already have plenty of those. So I will have at least one yarn advent calendar and a progress keeper advent calendar for 2023. I’m really lusting over the Yarn Only version of Southern Skeins advent calendar. I am worried the color palette will be too similar the one I already have for 2023 and I already have too many minis. Resistance is futile, especially when they offer versions that don’t include all the bells and whistles that I don’t want making the price point more reasonable.

Hope you had a great week. This has been a Ravelry Year of Projects post. Bloggers are encouraged to share their fiber plans for the year and then post weekly updates. Sticking to the plan is not required.

2023: Wk of 4/2-8; Buttercup Tee FO and What’s Next

BUTTERCUP TEE FO

As predicted, I didn’t get much knitting done this week. I did get my Buttercup Tee finished.

While it’s a much thicker yarn than I like, I think I will enjoy wearing this tee. It is tunic length so it will pair with leggings.

My daughter did like the Deschain as knitted so she kept it. I will now use some stash yarn to knit one for me. Sadly I have a 50g skein of hers leftover that I have no idea what to do with it. Tempted to buy a second skein and knit mine in the same color/yarn. The Sea Glass tee was a bit large on her, as it is on me, so as expected it came home with me. I will knit another one for her with less ease. I thought about possibly giving it to my stepdaughter but my daughter and friends have encouraged me to keep it since it looks so great. Definitely too warm for Florida but would be good for spring and fall in Ohio.

YARN ACQUSITION AND NEXT UP

I was welcomed home by some yarn I ordered. I think this will make a fun top, white with bright color speckles. I plan to cast-on the Promenade Blouse tomorrow but I’ll make the sleeves taper and probably only three quarter length. Close up that neckline too.

SOCKS

I didn’t get much knitting done on my socks. The Fixation socks will become my car project to have on hand if I find myself waiting. I do want to focus on getting the Vivaldi Spring socks finished. Not sure what small project I’ll work on next.

ADVENT CALENDARS!!

Arg!!! The advent calendar sales have started!! I already have one for 2023 since I bought 3 last year. And I don’t need more minis!! But, but…… (as I stare at my wall of yarn). Maybe I’ll continue my “prebuying” trend and promise myself it’s for 2024??? Are there any you are already looking at for advent? I’m really tempted by Southern Skeins’ advent calendar.

GREAT WEEK

Hope you had a great week. Today was my birthday and yesterday was my stepson’s 50th birthday so my daughter flew in for the weekend. What a wonderful treat. She was able to get a cheap flight arriving Thursday night and then left tonight. We got to get in a visit with my dad and brother on Friday. Then she went to the MLS soccer game with me last night and WE WON!! Today we had a quiet Easter dinner with the “Cincinnati boys” plus my daughter. Could not have had a better birthday.

2023: Wk of Feb 5-11; WIPS and Beyond

KNITTING WIPS

Not a lot to report on this week knittingwise. Still plodding along on my Sea Glass Tee. Getting close but still not done. Fingers crossed I’ll get it finished this week.

Also I made progress on the socks. I’ve started the second sock but I’m still on the foot of both socks. I need to knit about 3 more stripes on each sock before starting the heels. The recipient has requested crew length so they will take a bit longer to complete than the ankle length I usually knit. On the other hand it will be nice to use up the yarn.

BEYOND KNITTING

That’s it on the knitting front. This was more of a social week which is good too. I had a wonderful day on Wednesday going birding with another couple and the man that used to run a bimonthly birding group at our condo complex. Sadly he can’t walk very much any more so we aren’t having the birding sessions this year. We went birding mostly from the car and the parking lot of a bird sanctuary but saw lots of wonderful birds. Then we took him to lunch to celebrate his 81st birthday. Thursday night was the Valentine’s dinner and dance at the condo complex. My husband and I love to ballroom dance so we enjoyed the evening. Saturday we met up with some of my old college roommates that also winter in Naples, FL. for lunch by the water. Today it’s watch the Super Bowl and indulge in lots of snacks.

RAVELRY

Also this week I ended up doing a yarn swap via the mail. Someone on Ravelry reached out to me to see if I planned to use the full skein that was part of my AGirlAndHerWool advent calendar. She had also bought the calendar and was making a shawl with the yarns but needed more of the large skein as her main color. I had no plans for the brown tonal skein and truthfully it wasn’t a colorway I would have bought. She offered another skein that she had purchased from AGirlAndHerWool, a brown and gold skein. That yarn will be perfect for the pair of socks I want to knit for my daughter’s friend who served as the officiant at her wedding last year. So our skeins are in the mail and should arrive to their new homes this week.

Wishing everyone a good week, knitting and otherwise.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). YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. You can find more detailed information about my projects on my project pages in Ravelry (MaureenHD).  I’ve been knitting for six years.

2023: Jan Review, Welcome Feb

“Borrowing” an idea from Backstage Knits, I plan to do a brief “end of the month” review – what projects were on my needles at the beginning of the month, what projects came off, and what projects got cast-on.

JANUARY

JANUARY 1 ON MY NEEDLES To start the month I had 3ish carryover projects from 2022 on my needles.

1. a hat for my son using “rainbow” yarn he had given me for Christmas
2. a reversible hat that uses leftover Christmas stripe yarn for one side and leftover “dark” stripe yarns for the other with a ivory brim yarn in the middle
3. a pair of colorwork socks.
4. “ish” Wasn’t on my needles but decided to put my hubby’s sweater back on my needles so I could redo the hem.

The colorwork socks are “low priority” so they will likely be “on my needles” for many months.

JANUARY CAST-ONS I cast-on 3 new projects.

1. Sea Glass Tee – consistent with my knitting plan, I started the year off with a new sweater/tee cast-on. I’m loving this tee but learned I need to alternate with other knitting so as to not overstress my thumb and cause it to hurt.
2. Second “Rainbow” Hat – turns out the first hat I knit was too small for my son’s head. I was afraid of that since I’d never knit him a hat before so I just followed the instructions for a large sized hat. This project wasn’t on my ’23 knitting plan but I wanted to get a replacement hat to my son as soon as possible. He is enjoying the bigger hat and his girlfriend gets to wear the first one.
3. Vanilla Socks – the hats were my “walking” projects so I needed a new “brain dead” project for my daily morning walk. I love the self striping yarn I’m using and since it’s planned as a gift, I get a lot of joy out of knitting it.

JANUARY OFF MY NEEDLES 3 FOs for Jan

Both “rainbow” hats were completed in January. And I finished the reversible hat which one of my stepsons is enjoying. I did tink the ribbed hem of my hubby’s sweater and replace it with a garter hem. So it was kinda on my needles and off my needles in January.

Rainbow Hats

Reversible Hat – Christmas Stripes

Three FOs in one month is highly unusual for me. The fact that they were hats and 2 were already started prior to the month is a big reason that 3 got finished. I will not likely have that many FOs in future months.

YARN IN/OUT -182g

Three FOs really helped my yarn out even though they were only hats. So 180 grs out and none in. Course getting a lot of yarn in December helped control my desire to buy more. 🙂

STITCHES – 68,489

I got a lot of knitting done this month. It’s winter (even though it feels like summer in Florida) so no gardening or traveling taking up my time.

2023 is off to a great start!!

FEBRUARY – ON MY NEEDLES

Heading into February I still have 3 projects on my needles.

1. Sea Glass Tee
2. Vanilla Socks
3. The ’22 carryover colorwork socks is low priority. Does that make it a UFO instead of a WIP??

A goal will be to finish the Seas Glass Tee in February.

SEA GLASS TEE UPDATE

I decided to do an icord bindoff for the sleeves instead of the sewn bindoff the pattern calls for. I just think an icord looks so much better. I did have to rip out the cuff as even though I used the same needle size as the collar it was still too big. I’m noticing that my tee sleeves are all too loose. I wanted it to fit fairly tightly on my arm. I’m always afraid my tees are going to be too tight but instead they are too big. I think I need to drop down needle sizes as I work down the body so they are less “boxy”.

VANILLA SOCK

The sock is coming along fairly quickly although the Sea Glass it’s getting most of my knitting time. I did start the second sock but ripped it out when I wasn’t satisfied with the toe. I’m pretty confident I will have the socks done by the end of March so that I can give them to my daughter’s friend.

Wishing everyone a good week, knitting and otherwise.

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. You can find more detailed information about my projects on my Project Pages in Ravelry (MaureenHD).  I’ve been knitting for six years.

2023: Wk of 1/8-14; Plan Changes Already!! and Lessons Learned

CAST-ON, FROG, RECAST-ON; SEA GLASS TEE

Well, that didn’t take long. I already changed my mind on the yarn to use on a project although so far so good on pattern choice. I knew I needed a light colored yarn to use with my minis and I planned a cream colored yarn that I had bought years ago for a tee. But since my advent calendar from Emma’s yarn had a lot of light colored yarns, I decided that I would use the light colored minis from the Emma’s Yarn calendar with the dark colored minis from A Girl And Her Wool advent calendar for my Sea Glass Tee. I’m actually thrilled to be using only advent minis for the tee. So this is a change I’m happy with. I also didn’t realize the Sea Glass Tee is a “colorwork” sweater so I’ll be knocking off that goal too by knitting this tee.

I’m knitting the “light/dark” colorwork version. I love it!! I can see making more of these tops for my daughters. Colorwork means the fabric is double thick so it’s going to be warm. But we get cool days in the spring and fall. (Or I’ll just crank up the AC!!) I was given the yarn ring below for Christmas. I’ve never used one before but it’s perfect for this 1×1 colorwork!!

Full confession – I’ve already frogged the sweater shown below. It is my fault. I used the ring to knit my swatch but was having trouble learning how to use it. Much of the tee was knit with one yarn in my right hand the second in my left. This resulted in a MUCH tighter gauge. It tried on the tee (LOVE top down) and it was going to be more of a turtleneck!! In addition to the gauge being too tight, I think I need to do the increases more frequently than the pattern calls for. I’m making a smaller neck opening so I think that’s causing the need for faster increases. I’m not upset. I see the first attempt as learning how to use the ring and figuring out the neck. I’ve already recast it on and I’m finding it much easier to use the ring. I’m doing increases every 2-3 rows instead of 6 as the pattern calls for.

Swatching with Yarn Ring

First Attempt

MORE LESSONS LEARNED 😦

Starting my 2023 plan took a one week hit as I hated the hem on hubby’s sweater so I ripped out the ribbed hem and put in a garter hem. I learned that the yarn does not “unzip” when pulled from the “bottom”. Since it was a bottom up sweater, I ripped out the cast-on and thought I’d easily be able to “unzip the ribbed rows”. A one day project. Instead I had to “unpluck” almost stitch by stitch pulling the yarn through each stitch. So ripping out 2″ of hem took a week!! I should have removed the hem from the first stripe like I did when I lengthen the sleeves. Since it took a week, this is likely a lesson I won’t forget.

A second “lesson” comes from a review of last year’s stitches per day analysis (thanks Backstage Knits). Turns out Sundays are often when I get the most knitting done. Not too surprising as I tend to knit while watching football games. Fridays on the other hand are when I get the least knitting done. Friday evenings are usually spent enjoying a pizza dinner with my son and his girlfriend followed by an evening of card playing. I will cherish these evenings for as long as they last. I don’t plan to make any changes based on this analysis. It was just interesting.

FO – HAT

WOW, what a quick knit a hat is!! Finished the rainbow hat for my son early this week. It was a very basic ribbed hat that was a free pattern on Ravelry, RibaRoni. He loves it although it’s a bit too short so it doesn’t completely cover his ears. I have enough leftover yarn to knit a second longer hat.

DOUBLE HAT WIP

This is now my “brain dead” project for social knitting and walking knitting. Similar to the Musselburgh but it starts in the center with a provisional cast-on. I haven’t done the decreases yet as I’m waiting to make sure I like the length before closing off each end. It’s Christmas stripes on one half and a “winter” stripes on the other. Not sure who is going to be the recipient. Maybe it will be stashed away for a future Advent gift.

Well, the year has had some initial stumbling but I’m happy with the changes and learning to use the yarn ring. Hubby likes his sweater much better with the garter hem. I love the projects I’m working on. I hope your 2023 is also off to a good start.

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 12/11-17; Hubby Sweater Save!! and Cropped Ranunculus FO

HUBBY SWEATER SAVE!!!

Well, I intended to put my hubby’s sweater in time-out but I couldn’t resist trying a few things. So I went ahead and knit the collar. It really helped make the sweater look better!! Then I decided to lengthen the sleeve. I had hubby try it on again with the changes. Good enough. Sleeve could be longer and is definitely tighter than I like. I will try to stretch it more during blocking. “Dry” blocking helped stretch the body so it doesn’t look too tight. He likes it long although I think it’d like it better about 2 stripes shorter. Neither of us are a fan of the excess material at the underarm but it’s livable. (NEVER again bottom-up/cuff-up). This way he has a sweater to wear on the flight home where we are having an artic freeze. The temperature will be well below freezing when we land and again when we leave. I will give him the black undershirt I got him to wear under it before we fly out on Wednesday. He is hiding the second arm because I still need to lengthen that one. Not a great sweater but fine for around the house wear.

MOHAIR RANUNCULUS

This was a quick knit, especially since I didn’t have that much yarn. I think it makes a cute outfit when I combine it with a tank top and leggings. It’s funny how different this one is from my first one. I never would have guessed that going from a US 10 to a US 11 and adding lace weight mohair would increase the gauge so much. But it’s loose and fluffy just like I had imaged. Since I cropped it, I made a garter hem rather than a ribbed hem. I wanted the hem to hang straight vs a ribbed hem that tucks in. Fingers crossed I like the feel of mohair.

ADVENT CALENDAR MINIS

I am enjoying my advent calendars and looking forward to starting a Sea Glass tee come January with the mini set on the left. It has a lot of darker colors which will be perfect paired with the lighter color MC I plan to use. In this week’s Grocery Girls podcast Jodi mentioned a stitch marker advent calendar, Ocean Loops Studio. I think it would be a good idea for next year. Especially since I already purchased a yarn advent calendar to be opened in Advent ’23. Here’s the minis I’ve opened so far. One more week.

Wishing everyone a wonder filled last week of advent and a very Merry Christmas. You will have to let me know if my blog pictures are better. Hubby couldn’t resist buying us new phones for Christmas.

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 12/4-10; Hubby Sweater Time Out, Starting another Ranunculus

HUBBY SWEATER

Hubby’s sweater was almost done except for the collar so I could finally have him try it on. YUCK!!! Hate it so many ways. What a disappointment after 84,000 stitches and 2 months of knitting. 1) The stripes just don’t look right. I like it when it’s just laying on the table but it just doesn’t look good on. 2) Could be because it’s a little too tight. He usually wears looser sweaters. 3) The length is too long. I wanted more a mid-hip length. 4) The V is WAY too deep. I would need to rip back to where the sleeves are joined and knit several inches before starting the V. 5) The sleeves are indeed too short. Fortunately the too short sleeves and the too long body are not a big issue since I knitted stripes. I could just remove the cuffs/hem and add length/shorten before kitchenering them back on. I’m putting the sweater in timeout for a bit before finishing the collar and attempting the lengthen/shortening. If I still don’t like it after aggressive blocking then I will frog it and hopefully reuse the yarn in another striped sweater. This time top down!!

RANUNCULUS #2

Well, the only way to handle the disappointment of my hubby’s sweater is either retail shopping (nope – already have too much yarn and I have my advent calendars. Also have plenty of project bags and knitting “toys”) or cast on a fun project. I’ve been going back and forth between a Ranunculus and a Love Note with this yarn but finally decided to go with the Ranunculus. I only have 58g of yarn so I need to make a very cropped top that will be worn over a sleeveless top/camy. It’s my first time to knit with mohair as well. I’m loving knitting with mohair. It’s definitely the right “feel good” project to finish off the year.

ADVENT CALENDAR UPDATE

Here’s this week’s advent calendar minis. I’ll post a “group” shot after I’ve opened them all. I think a Sea Glass Tea will definitely be my New Year’s Day Cast-on with the Girl And Her Wool minis (left picture).

I hope you are enjoying the holiday season. While it doesn’t “feel” like Christmas here in south Florida, hubby and I went to a Christmas Dinner and Dance at the condo complex. We love to dance and I got to wear a long dress that I haven’t worn in 15+ years.

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 11/27-12/3; Blogging 5 Yr Anniversary and Advent Calendars Begin!!!

I started knitting 6 years ago and started a knitting blog 5 years ago last week. In the beginning my blogging was erratic and was meant more as a personal journal of what I was learning. It’s fun to see how my project bags for example have changed over the years as I find what I really like to use. (I have ~10 mesh bags from Michaels that I need to give away.) I have enjoyed the past few years of writing weekly blogs with the YOP Ravelry group. Thank you to everyone that comments and encourages me as well as all the inspiration I get from reading your blogs.

WEEK’S KNITTING

I didn’t get much knitting done this week since it was primarily a travel week from Ohio to Florida. It was a great trip. The weather was good and indeed I did do 80+% of the driving so very little knitting. But I did get to watch the US men’s soccer team beat Iran and a fun evening out with our daughter and son-in-law. We visited a “sippin santa” bar. The company Sippin Santa takes over a bar and fills it with Christmas decorations. Our daughter knows how much I love Christmas lights so this was definitely a treat for me to have a cocktail surrounded by Christmas lights. The next day it was off to our son’s and a fun game of parcheesi. Our daughter-in-law had a really neat 3D game set she got on Etsy.

I have already gotten to reconnect with one of my Florida knitting groups. This is the one that’s residents of the condo complex where we rent. It’s pretty casual with at least half that only know how to crochet blankets. But I just enjoy being with them each week. Ginette runs the group and is a highly skilled knitter so she’s a great resource for me. I got a few rows done on hubby’s sweater. This coming week I will reconnect with my other group. They all are knitters and have made sweaters and shawls so we do more pattern sharing/discussing.

I’ve restarted my “walking socks”. Taking a morning walk each day is definitely a treat of being in Florida. It is not easy to do in our “no sidewalks” and hills home in Ohio.

ADVENT CALENDARS

I brought 2 advent calendars to Florida to enjoy. The one with Emma’s Yarn 20g minis is shaped in a wreath with red and green bags. The bags aren’t numbered so everyone that bought one will have a different order as they chose which ones to open. The second one is 10g minis from AGirlAndHerWool with a full 100g skein of “contrast”. It came in a box with the each mini wrapped in tissue paper and numbered. I decided to make a twine clothesline and bought mini clothespins so that I could hang the wrapped minis under the TV as a decoration with a tiny strand of LED lights. Our Christmas decorations are a bit scant at our Florida rental so I’m happy to add some yarny decorations.

Landon Donovan too!!

Emma’s Yarn Calendar

Here’s the mini’s I’ve opened so far for Days 1-4 for each. I’m really happy with the rich colors from AGirlAndHerWool.

Hope you have a wonderful week. I’m hoping to get some serious knitting done this week now that packing and driving is in the past. Gotta get hubby’s darn sweater done in 2 1/2 wks so it’s done by Christmas!!

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 11/13-19; 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.