Catch up on knitting projects.

I've been really remiss on keeping you up- to-date on all my knitting projects.  

Over the last few months, I have been knitting more than I have been quilting.  

My goal was to get some older projects finished with a few new ones thrown in for good measure.  

In January I made....

Juniper hat

Alder mittens

February was the.....

Tuesday hat

Anita's fingerless mitts

March found me finishing the 

Cromwell sweater

Kitty Ankle socks

April was the .....

Summer picnic socks

and I just finished the Ingrid Sweater in June.

All these patterns can be found on Ravelry.  

Because I have sandbagged all these projects, I have spared you all the details, but feel free to ask if you have any questions.  

Some Spring knitting.....

Before my last sweater was done, I had already bought some pretty yarn from Sprinkled Fibers .  I have been wanting some bubble gum pink yarn for a shawl/scarf for a very long time. In fact, I originally saw a kit available on Purl Soho but it cost nearly $500 and I wasn't about to do that.  Of course, it was cashmere, but that's besides the point.  

Anyways, I follow this gal from Sprinkled Fibers on Instagram and she was offering this set of gradated pink for a specific shawl and there was no hesitating.  I had to have it.  Didn't matter that I didn't know how to do this particular stitch for the shawl.   I would learn. 

I was so ready to work on something bright and fun after working on so many wintery things. 

I am just getting started here and you can see the adorable stitch marker made just for this kit (Linzer cookie). 

This next picture shows where I am almost ready to bind off.  I managed without too much trouble to conquer the one-color brioche stitch.  It wasn't all that bad, but it is one of those stitches that if you make a mistake, it is pretty hard to go back and make a decent correction, so I have to admit that I did have to rip back a couple times back to my life line and start over.  Oh well.  When you are doing something new and have to do it over a 500 stitch stretch, its a bit scary especially  being a newbie at it, but you have to tell yourself you're bound to make a mistake or two.  It's all in the learning process.  In the end, it is so worth it.

 

Here it is on the blocking boards.  

Next was cutting fringe and attaching it.   

Here is the finished shawl.

This is the close up showing off the lace and the brioche.  I really love how this turned out.  

This shawl feels so summery and now that the weather is warming up (in the 60s so far), I will be able to wear it often.  

Next post will be a quilt, so stay tuned.

Knitting binge.......

I've so needed to get back to my quilting, but there  were stitches on my needles and I hated to put them down until they were done.

I started out with this.

Here's my colorwork at the yoke.

I was making a few modifications so that I had more of the turquoise in the pattern.

Right about here I have reached the waistline.

Sorry about the sideways look, but the body is done.  Now on to the arms. 

Yup.....one arm done.

All done and being blocked here.  

I've worn it and it fits well  and is super warm.  

But if this wasn't enough, I had some downtime in the hospital waiting room and didn't want to drag a big sweater with me, so I found some sock yarn in my stash and cast on a pair of socks for some easy knitting while waiting.

This is what I started with before heading to the hospital.

By the day after the hospital visit, I had my first sock.

....and now there are two.  

This was an extra skein of yarn that I bought when I was buying for my Find Your Fade Shawl, so it did come in handy.

Never fear.

There is more knitting on the horizon for me, although I am going to take a bit of a break because there is quilting to do.  

Up next will be the Boho Beauty Shawl with this lovely bubble gum pink yarn that I got from Sprinkled Fibers. 

I just loved her packaging with all the little sparkly hearts, lips and doilies in there.  She even sent along a bright red pencil.  

The really nice bonus was this stitch marker that replicates a Linzer cookie from Little Bitty Delights.  How special is that?!

For this pattern though, I am going to have to teach myself a new technique  so getting this one started and finished may take some time.

But like I said, there is quilting that needs doing even though in between all this knitting I have been sewing backings together, cutting batting to size and just getting ready in general to start up my quilting.  It all takes time.  

See you when I come up for air.

Christmas aftermath......

 .....and just like that, Christmas is over.  How does that happen?

We had a lovely holiday celebrating with family on Christmas Eve.  The "white" stuff didn't show up until Christmas Day.  

So I thought I would share with you some of the highlights from our holiday. 

My daughter brought this great spinach/cheese breadstick tree.

Yummy!

I tried a new recipe that was a real hit.  Pretty easy to make and as my kids said, it was very gourmet.  This was suggested by my friend, Sharon.

It's a roasted squash salad with cranberries, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, rosemary and honey.  Sooooo goooooood!!! 

 .

The most heartfelt gift I received this year was from my daughter who cross stitched US with the grandkids.  I just love it.  If you look closely, you can even see my bird Peaches who is 25 years old!

She had us all down to a "T".  These little characters can be found from a book by the The Stitch People.  She made one of these for each family and they were a real hit for everyone.

For the last couple of months, I had been working on some knit projects that I couldn't share until Christmas.   I was knitting Jodi Brown's Slipped Rib Hat .  There was a hat for each of my girls.

They were really simple to make, so I used up the remainder of the yarn from the rose and the green one and made two more.

Then with the left over plum yarn from my GoldWing Sweater, I made yet another one....

 and that's only because I have so much mohair left over from the other hats.

Here's my girls with their hats.

I managed to get a pair of socks finished Christmas night.

This was yarn I purchased at the Pittsburgh Yarn Festival back in 2018 and I was looking to do something with my hands in the evening (like I have a shortage), but was happy to get these started and done.  

At this point, I thought I would pack the needles away, but oh no!  

At the last minute I pulled out some yarn and made this baby hat.  It used up some yarn I had left over from a hat I made a couple years ago and it  utilized a pompom that I had lying around here.  

The hat pattern is Clover and can be found here.  

Although 2020 has felt like this......

I have to admit that it has made me knuckle down and get lots of quilting and lots of knitting done.  So that's not all bad.  

Still, here's hoping that 2021 will be a whole lot better in a whole lot of different ways

Hot little needles

 Actually, these were hot "big" needles and this  project worked up pretty quickly,

I saw this pattern on Instagram (I really need to stop getting influenced on Instagram).

It's called the Leaf Sweater Winter Edition.

There was a yarn I wanted and it was out of stock at the time I was looking for it and lo and behold, there was someone on Ravelry who had exactly the amount I needed in their stash for sale......SOLD!  

There's a close up of the leaf pattern.  

Using the large needles and the chunkier yarn, this worked up so fast.  Look at how puffy it is looking.

In no time at all, the body was done.  All I had to do was the sleeves.

Here it is all complete. It's a bit scrunchy. Needs to be blocked and get that lace opened up.

After a little soaking, putting the sweater on the blocking boards and giving it a bit of a stretch, the lace opens up.   It will dry overnight.

......and after all that, it fits!!!

Wish I could admit that the needles have been put away, but I have already started a pair of socks.  Oh well,   I am keeping the hands busy and before we know it we will be in the depths of winter, so this is a great way to pass the cold winter months.  

Let's see what will be next.  There are plenty of things on the docket, but which one will be finished first is always a surprise.