January and February, as is typical of winter months, were full of fun knits for the family. My customs order fell through for January, so I was left with plenty of time to work on things for us. Then, the winter crud crept in and with two full nights awake watching the children puke and a week of strep throat for me, there was PLENTY of time to finish even more than I had planned.
My current project is a sweater for myself. This is not the first time I have attempted this, but my first sweater turned out too small and I had to sell it for yarn money. Sigh... This time, it will not be too small. In fact, it may be too big. BUT big is okay when it comes to a comfy sweater, so I'll wear it anyway. Unless it looks ridiculous on me, and then I'll probably gift it to a sister-in-law, if it fits one of them.
The yarn is www.100purewool.com in their Aurora colorway. I had long-bemoaned the fact that this colorway was retired. Lucky for me, the brought it back! On the skein, I thought I might have made a mistake in purchasing it, but now that I'm knitting it up, I'm thinking it was a fine choice afterall. Unlike a lot of hand-dyed yarns, this one is not likely to pool and pattern up, since the darker blue patches of dye were sprinkled on randomly rather than painted in a predictable place. I still broke each of my 4oz skeins down into two 2oz balls and then alternated in an off-set manner to minimize any visual differences among the skeins.
I hope to be done with this project in the next week or two so that I can wear it!
I was fortunate, this month, to be gifted with some lovely yarn. I quickly turned it into this pair of pants for my youngest. This is the last winter that she'll want to wear knitted pants, so I'm living it up and knitting a lot!
I also worked on a sweater project for a fellow knitter. It was more than a little bit challenging. I generally don't think of myself as a novice knitter and can follow and figure out most patterns thrown my way. However, the first pattern I was sent was greatly in need of some tech editing. Even with a slightly smaller than required gauge, I ended up with a chest measurement that was more than 3" too large... on top of 3" of positive ease. I frogged it and reknit it with a pattern that I know and love. The yarn, however, did not love that pattern. I had to add 6 stitches, go up 3 needle sizes, add in a second skein, and alternate on irregular intervals to combat the pooling. It tried to become perfectly vertical stripes of color. BUT in the end, it was worth the fight and the sweater turned out beautiful. I made some buttons to go with it, too, but they ended up finding a new home with another knitting friend.
I worked up a pair of two-layer mittens for my youngest. she adored them until I added a string between them to keep them from getting lost. Now she won't wear them.
While my eldest had the stomach flu, i worked on a stuffed sheep. When I was JUST about finished with it, the dog found it and tore it apart.
Never fear, though. I put it back together and fnished it up right. My knitting group named it Clarisse.
Also on the project list was this little number. It's a modified version of the Tama is a Boy pattern available on Ravelry. I had bought the yarn intending to make my eldest a hoodie, but my youngest cried when I told her the yarn wasn't for her. So I knit a smaller sweater and have enough to do something for the youngest next winter. The up close picture is a much better rendition of the yarn's true colors.
I also worked on my mother-in-law's Christmas scarf. This was the second rendition of it as the first time, I chose a HORRIBLE yarn. This time, it was lovely.
AND... My husband got his R2D2 hat. Even though he told me not to out of frustration over the length of my to-do list. There were probably a few more projects mixed in there, but for now... this is a good review.
