Still Knitting…

I know it has been a day or two, maybe a week. I went on an epic journey, consisting of a drive lasting a total of 28 hours and taking approximately 3 days. My amazing grandmother, Freddie, joined me for a good portion of the adventure to go see my brother, Jacob (adorable baby niece Payton’s dad) graduate from college! So so so proud!!

Jacob & Freddie 🙂

Jacob and the most beautiful little lady in the world 🙂

It was so nice to be with family so close to the holidays. Sadly, I won’t be making that trip again for the holiday, but we will be celebrating here in St. Louis.

Don’t worry, I’ve been knitting and finishing things!!

First up, my mom sewed the buttons on that darling sweater. I asked her to help me since they are placed a little close to the mouth of the baby wearing it and I wasn’t going to be the reason for my dear niece to eat a cherry button.

 

It’s officially finished and it fits!!

Second up, I finished the Black Hat turned Balaclava…

Only I’m not sure the recipient would use it. Bah!

I also finished up the Tweedy Honeycomb Toque for my brother-in-law’s girlfriend, Shayna. I know I was uncertain about it as it was coming along, but I LOVE IT!!!

The pompom just makes it! It’s definitely loosening up…I was very concerned initially because my floats were a wee bit tight.

I’ve put a few things in hibernation.

Array Cowl

Skinty Stripe Scarf

Technicolor Socks

Never fear, I am still working on my #MEalong (from A Playful Day) Settler Shawl by Libby from Truly Myrtle…Woah! Talk about link-tastic 🙂 I wanted to participate in the #Grinchalong with the Knitmore Girls, but I was also technically knitting gift :(, but they may or may not have necessarily been for Christmas. Oh well, missed that boat.

Anyway, I’m absolutely loving the way this thing is working up! I just got to the cool border stitches and I just feel so cool knitting it! And the colors. And the yarn. And. And. And!

It’s for me. 🙂

I will try to keep this little corner updated, but I’m not making any promises. With short day light and lots of family time, I will probably spend more time unplugged than usual 🙂

Until next time! Happy Knitting!

v’s & bumps, (or knits & purls)

Jenna

 

I Swear I Swore Off Gift Knitting…

How come even when I have this whole idea about gift knitting that has been in place for several knitting years I have somehow managed to rack up at least 4 gifts I want to finish in the next few weeks????

After my first Christmas as a knitter and the crazy notion that I could knit everyone something then, and failing miserably at that challenge…so much so that 5 years later, I STILL have yarn and projects queued up from that holiday, I made the pledge that I would not knit for the holidays. Instead, knitworthy folks would receive birthday presents. Even those time lines would stretch out, I would present people with their gifts days, weeks, and months late.

So instead of following my own rule of no holiday knitting, I have been  swept up in the gift knitting that seem to be sweeping blogs and podcasts and all the knitting groups I knit with. And let’s face it, every time I come across a pattern I think would be perfect for someone, I queue it and if I’m feeling particularly weak, I pull yarn out of my stash to cast on…and if I don’t have the yarn, I go to the store. I know.

It’s a good thing I’m not on a yarn diet. And I’m relatively weak willed when it comes to yarn and knitting and gifts for people who I think would love them.

So let this serve as a reality check. I CAN’T CAST ANYTHING ELSE ON!!! At least until I finish something. Anything. Let’s check in. Here are the gifts I began…

A hat for my brother-in-law’s girlfriend. We were talking over Thanksgiving while I was knitting on the next project and I offered to knit up something he had in mind. After a little pattern searching I came across the Tweedy Honeycomb Toque by Kent Turman. It’s free on Rav and I figured I could tweak it by adding an additional color into the “comb” part.

 

I’m using some Berroco Vintage Chunky and I’m stranding the colors behind…only problem is that its a little tight and the second color is really, really popping forward. I was hoping it would have fallen back more. And I probably should have made a better effort to keep my floats loose. I’ve already ripped once, I may have to do it again…here’s a link to my Rav page.

Next up the the black hat for my other brother-in-law I told you guys about last week, the Jacques Cousteau Hat. Well, I did a little ripping there and rethinking. While I don’t want to change the rib or the hat decreases, I wanted the piece to be more versatile. Enter this version of a Balaclava by Jacki Kelly and I tweaked my original.

It’s ready for the bind off for the eye slit. This thing is not too far from being finished. I’m using Universal Yarn’s Deluxe DK Superwash in Ebony. It’s not as pure a black as I’ve seen, but the details do disappear when in the wrong light.

I’ve also got two other projects that I started a while ago and want to finish those up. Like the Array Cowl I started. I ran into a road block with this project. It was about a week ago. And I was knitting away and I kept hearing a creaking sound. I check the joins in my interchangable needles, everything was still screwed in tight. Then, “pop” the cable popped out of the join. I need to send them in 😦

So I bought some more needles and got it switched over. Its just a little tedious with all the slipped stitches but it is nice and mindless and I love the colors!

Another project that I’ve had on the needles for far too long is a scarf for my sister-in-law.

This was featured in a few early blog posts as the Skinty Stripe Scarf. It’s Purl Soho’s Diagonal Pinstripe Scarf. I saw this featured on their blog and new it would be perfect for my sister-in-law. Only hang up? It’s laceweight yarn on US Size 3 needles.

But I did finish up some baby socks to go with Payton’s Wee Envelope Sweater. I knit these in one day!!

That hasn’t totally stopped me from working on things for myself…like my Settler Shawl…

And there is the predicament of these socks. I’ll tell you about later this week…

And I may be pondering casting on a Rikke hat for myself out of some lovely Malabrigo Rios and my Turia Sweater…I even wound the yarn because I have zero self-control. I can at least take a little comfort in at least not casting on yet. That’s not to say that I don’t have needles and patterns at the ready.

Don’t worry, I’m not just thinking about me for future knits, I have yarn to make Payton another sweater and my other niece Nora has requested a scarf in her “colors.” How can I say no?

Plus I’m thinking about frogging a few things.

Bah! Humbug!

(not really, I love the holidays!!)

What about you? Have you given in to the gift knitting bug??

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

Giving Thanks

The previous stretch of Blog Silence brought to you by the Season of Thanksgiving!

I had at least one small intention to post last Wednesday before the holiday here in America but that quickly fell apart as my day slipped away. I was thawing a turkey, making cornbread for the cornbread dressing, and being generally lazy 🙂 Thursday turned out to be wonderful! I didn’t burn or dry out the turkey and it was my first one! My husband and I stayed in St. Louis and spent time with his brothers and his mom. It was just so nice to be around family. I enjoyed it so much that even though my husband had to work, I spent time with everyone anyway.

I have always been one to enjoy my family. My parents, brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and now nieces and nephews, and in-laws are all fantastic people! Since I was a kid, my favorite part about any holiday was getting to see everyone and spend time together. We traveled a lot when I was a kid because my parents do not live near their parents or brothers and sisters. We would load up the car and go 🙂 I can probably count on one hand the number of times we stayed put for a holiday!

This holiday was different because I did not have to travel any great distance but was still able to spend it with some pretty great people! It certainly made me miss spending time with my parents and brother and grands and aunts and uncles and cousins, but this was a great holiday 🙂

On to the yarn.

So here in the US there is usually a huge shopping day following Thanksgiving on Thursday. It’s Black Friday and all the businesses here go nuts. It’s gotten so bad that some businesses are opening on Thanksgiving day, calling employees in from time with family just to make a buck. I was an employee who worked last year on Thanksgiving. Every time a customer would come in, I would have to fight the urge to berate them for leaving time with their family to come have a cup of coffee. Maybe because that is where I wanted to be?? So before you spend your money at a business open on a holiday, think of the employees. By supporting those businesses on those days, you are saying it is more important to spend money on that day than to spend time with your family.

Oh that was a fun tangent. I was supposed to tell you in there that I went over to Knitorious Friday and bought yarn. Then I went to Hearthstone Knits on Saturday and bought yarn.

Really, the yarn.

You’ll be happy to know that I have pretty much finished up the adorable pink Wee Envelope sweater for Payton.

It’s been blocked. I’ve woven in the ends.

The only thing missing are the cute buttons! I can’t quite bring myself to sew them on! Ridiculous! And I have so much extra yarn…those might need to be socks for her. DK socks go so fast!

I pretty much considered the thing finished because I bought more yarn to make her another sweater. This time maybe a cardigan. I’m thinking the Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down in some fluffy Plymouth Encore Dynamo. It’s an Aran weight 75/25 Acrylic Wool Blend and I’ve got 400 yds. I saw the cutest sample cardi knit up in it at the shop and had to make one for little bit.

I just love the colors. They are so subtle.

It has been super cold here. Like real, real cold. My niece and nephew have already worn their fluff hats in the snow. I noticed that their dad could use a cozy hat, too. So what did I do? Cast one on. I wanted to make him something that he could wear to work. So I chose….

black!

I know, I must be nuts. I keep wondering that myself. I try to just get in a rhythm where I don’t have to look down and see what stitch is next. It’s the Jacques Cousteau hat. I modified it just a touch so that the brim could be worn double for extra warmth. I even reversed the ribbing and started knitting the other way so the brim rib and the hat rib would line up. I know, nutty.

Last but not least in terms of active, fun things I’m working on…the Settler Shawl in my Two Grey Dogs yarn. (that link takes you to their etsy shop where they are having a Cyber Monday sale…)

I love it.

It makes me so happy. Whenever I want to drop kick the black hat, I just set it down and pick this up. I’m loving the crescent shape!!

I think that is all for now. I’ll stop in Wednesday with some fun thoughts. This is truly the season of giving and people have been very generous in both words and patterns 🙂

v’s & bumps,

Jenna