Finishing Up January

Snow finally fell and made it really and truly winter. 


Good thing I finally finished my black sweater! It’s really heavy and warm. It fits me perfectly. 

Sorry for the bad picture, but it’s really hard to photograph a big black sweater, especially with one hand.

I also finished my Opal minis cowl:

I’ve worn this a lot already. I love it!

I am very, very close to having the evil Bungee leg warmers done.

Thankfully, I am done with the Bungee. Hallelujah! I only had two skeins of Bungee, so I knit as far as I could with each skein of the evil yarn and continued with some black yarn I had leftover from something or other. I just have about 7” of black to finish them. This project was definitely not process knitting; I never enjoyed the process. It was all about getting the leg warmers done so I could stay warm in them! I can’t wait to put them on. 

I’m pretty excited for February. The Bakery Bears are having an event for Patreon members called Valenvent, I believe. Basically, it’s a mystery knitalong that starts February 1st and ends on February 14, but you don’t have to be done when Valentine’s Day rolls around. This is the yarn that I am using for it:

Based on the yarn requirements and the needle size and length, I’m guessing it will be a cowl, or at least I’m hoping it is, because I really love cowls this year. They’re so warm and cozy.

 I love this yarn! It has golden sparkles in it and is so pink and squishy.

It’s hand dyed by Potions and Purls in Rhode Island. This mini set is their “Oh Deer!” set. 

It must be sparkle season in Rockport. I also got some Opal yarn that is sparkly too, and is waiting to be knit into socks:

I can’t wait to start! What is more fun than a sparkly cowl and sparkly socks??? I live in exciting times!

Hello World

Is it still January? What better time to wear my hand knit woolens!

I’m still working on my black handspun sweater. It took forever to knit the back, but now the back is done and I am speeding through the front. I just started the front yesterday and I’m already 6” along. Woohoo!

My long legwarmers knit out of the vile Bungee yarn, which is a chore to knit with, are half done. I knew I would run out of the Bungee yarn before it was done, and I used black sock yarn to finish the leg. I think these legwarmers will be warm and wonderful to wear, but they are a real pain to knit. The yarn is very grabby of the needle and hard to get the needle into cleanly, so I mostly just stab it in and hope for the best; it makes for slow knitting, but I want it to go fast because I don’t like to knit it much. 

Having got one of the legwarmers done, I took a break to knit my Opal minis cowl. Opal is a brand of sock yarn, usually dyed in self-patterning stripes and dots, and aside from 100g skeins, they make the cutest little mini skeins that are just irresistible. Unfortunately they don’t seem to be available in the US, but I got a set of 10 mini skeins from AnnaKnitterYarns in Germany.

I’m using these little 10 gram minis to knit a cowl using the Opal minis interspersed with black Opal, and it’s coming out pretty well. I can usually get one mini skein and one black stripe done in an evening’s worth of knitting. I have no pattern really, just cast on between 160 to 170 stitches, do about an inch of ribbing, go in stockinette stitch for about two feet, then rib at the end for and in or so and it’s done.


 I only have one finished object done so far this year: a pair of pretty, striped, hot pink and peach colored Opal yarn that I knit as a pallet cleanser to get away from black. I love them.

That’s all for now! Happy knitting!

Happy NewYear!

Time marches on. It’s a new year! Woohoo!

Let me get caught up, since I haven’t actually posted here in a month (advent calendars don’t count). 

In in November, I finished the Eastport pullover, it fits beautifully, and I love it.

I finished the Helgen socks which I’ve worn numerous times.

I finished the Hitchhiker Shawlette but don’t have a picture of it.

 

And finally, I knit a very simple cowl out of some handspun yarn that I spun before my stroke out of merino fiber that I dyed with goldenrod:

It’s a lot more bright yellow than the picture shows.

In December I knit the Mystery Advent Knitalong by AnnaKnitter, which resulted in this cowl:

I used up yarn from my stash. The rust colored yarn is Permin Estelle, sadly discontinued, the gray yarn is Swans Island fingering, and the light gray yarn is leftover from a sweater that I knit.

I knit a pair of Freezer Gloves too. What are freezer gloves you say? They are gloves to wear when you are rearranging stuff in the freezer to get to the bottom because everything you want is always on the bottom, even if you put it in there only yesterday. And frostbite sucks.

 I also spun a bit. Behold 4 ounces of merino top, hand dyed by Spunky Eclectic. 

 

So, what am I knitting now?

 I am finally working on my EZ Gansey, Reynolds #350 using the black Romney that I spun this year:

Not much to see yet.

 I am also making a pair of long leggings to keep my legs warm this winter out of brown Bungee, a Plymouth yarn that is discontinued. It’s mostly merino with a little bit of spandex for stretchiness.

I have about a foot done out of the 36” but don’t have a picture yet. It is unbelievably boring to knit, and the I’ll have to make another one. The pattern is from Lion Brand, in a 6 x 2 rib that decreases gradually. I’m sure they will keep me warm, but I really don’t like knitting them.

The future has much more bright colors in store! Stay tuned!